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Post by Celestial on Apr 27, 2019 17:07:10 GMT -5
Moni wrote a little fic of Contractual Obligations (Meallan/Crezonis) and since me and Thorn are in the same room, we thought we'd take a crack at voicing it. So here you all go, for your pleasure. =D The Date, a Dramatic Reading
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Post by Moni on Apr 27, 2019 18:55:34 GMT -5
Moni wrote a little fic of Contractual Obligations (Meallan/Crezonis) and since me and Thorn are in the same room, we thought we'd take a crack at voicing it. So here you all go, for your pleasure. =D The Date, a Dramatic ReadingI do like this reading a lot! you guys captured the awkwardness perfectly! and don't forget that it features Thundy! with music!
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Post by Thorn on Apr 27, 2019 19:34:14 GMT -5
Ft. also me starting to ramble at the end...oh my goodness Thorn, at least wait until you know they've stopped the recording. xD
(I love this so much, thanks again for providing that ridiculous script Moni!)
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Post by Thorn on Apr 28, 2019 15:32:07 GMT -5
Four days until session 12! Me, Celes and Thundy were hanging out in a museum, and I thought "you know what? Tev and Ten would really like museums!" Museums were one of Tenacity’s absolute favourite things in the whole wide universe. There was no better way to get a feel for the people, perceptions and priorities of a new area than by visiting a local museum. Tomorrow she would receive her final assignment (which was all that stood between her and the full privileges of the Extratemporal Bureau) but, for today, there was a museum of her choosing, and a time and plane of her choosing, and she was just going to enjoy herself as much as she could.
“Tevineri! This one!” she blurted, jabbing at the glass “Isn’t it cool?”
“Mmm. Careful with those fingerprints.”
He seemed distracted. Tevineri looked different today, and she suspected he’d shifted seasons, but she wasn’t sure whether it was polite to ask. Was he worried about her assessment? There was no need to be! Tenacity was more ready than she’d ever been- her books were filled with sticky notes and she’d set aside a whole new notebook for research on her final assessment. Besides, Tevineri didn’t get nervous. He was the exact opposite of anxious!
“How long do you plan on looking at pottery?” he said at length.
“We have plenty of time,” she frowned. “Is something up?”
“I’m fine.”
“You sure? You usually love this stuff.”
“I have a date this evening.”
She looked at him disbelievingly.
“What? ‘Minor interventions’- I have a permit, Tenacity, and soon you will too.”
“Yeah, but-” she was lost for words. “We’re only here for tonight.”
“Your point being? A lot of people like this ‘no-strings’ kind of arrangement.”
“Is that why you’re all...?” she gestured.
“All what?”
“Different. Uh...green.”
“It’s simple biology, Tenacity. You don’t have to be oblique. Anyway, I’m in spring because I’m happy. By your measure, ecstatically so. I didn’t change my appearance to try and score a date, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“That’s not what I mean,” she retorted, blushing, “because, anyway, you were sparklier before so I don’t think you did it for aesthetic reasons, but also, I was actually wondering if the prospect of a romantic entanglement put you in the right mood, because I do know that seasons are at least partly connected to emotions, and only sometimes connected to actual planar seasons.”
“You use sparkles as a measure of beauty?” he smirked.
She squirmed. “No, I didn’t mean it like-”
“Look at this vaguely glittery rock! Isn’t it so much nicer than these beautiful refined vases?”
“That vase depicts a dryad doing something very inappropriate to a tree. So, yes, I think the granite is far superior.”
He squinted. “I genuinely think she is just hugging the tree.”
“Yeah?”
“Stereotyping non-humans is very big in that day and age.”
“Huh. Is that why that tiefling was waving a pitchfork? Remind me never to go there.”
He turned away from a mosaic of a dragonborn eating a gnome. “You’ll never have to go anywhere you’re not comfortable, Tenacity. Anyway, I should leave very soon. Do you want to browse one more small room?”
“There’s a room dedicated to the big earthquake! Sixty years ago, there was an earthquake, and so much was destroyed but the people were so, so brave and this one guy pulled like a hundred people out of the rubble with his bare hands. Can we look at that one? It was back near the entrance.”
“I don’t see why not.”
“Then can we see the gift shop?”
“I have twenty minutes, Tenacity. If you’re quick, I’ll buy you a novelty pencil sharpener.”
EDIT: This led to a really excellent conversation with Moni about how this isn't minor if you end up with a kid and have to spend 70% of your income on timey-wimey child support...
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Post by Thorn on May 2, 2019 7:54:33 GMT -5
Five more hours until session 12! =) (sourced from d&d memes on Reddit.)
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Post by Moni on May 2, 2019 22:55:58 GMT -5
session 12 recap (yeah I know, i'm starting with the most recent and i don't want to like... overlap with GLQ...)... PART ONE. holy textwall batman: Basil has a cold; Amani left the scene, drifting into the city outskirts. I wonder where they'll be...
The party sans Tally has taken down the terrifying spider monster. Everybody is super emotional and wants to fangirl over them. This isn't new for Anthony--he's used to being the hero and plans to bask in this heroic glory; he's always glad to be a hero. Meallan tries to make himself small, now that he's in firbolg form, and wants to remain as unnoticed as possible. Khamet is pleased with himself since another demon bit the dust.
Rauliso comes and is told of their heroic deeds, and as a reward, offers them room and board. Athenos dorms next to the professors, and Meallan, Khamet, and Anthony are dorming together near the students! But Meallan will probably spend most of his time in the forest anyway.
Athenos points out there there was another person with the group; Tally hasn't really told him where she is, except that she's gone back to the lords. Crezonis is still around Dyventain in a holding cell-thingy, guarded by Rauliso's most trusted advisor: the senior student mage. Meallan asks for access to the school so he can learn more, but ends up kind of burning the school by saying "not that I think I can find anything here," which Rauliso doesn't appreciate. There are no burn centers in Eaine for educational institutions to shake that off, oof!
Athenos asks for the mortal possessed by a fey spirit. Meallan also wants to see Athenos, and Khamet immediately jumps at the opportunity to join them:
"Wow, yep, that guy! He is my 2418th best friend! He is very important to me, so I would like to meet him, and say hi, and hey Anthony, do you also want to meet him and say hi?"
Anthony: "Uh, yeah, sure."
"You guys realize that you could come and see him anytime, right? I mean you brought him here and are responsible for him..." Rauliso points out.
Khamet: "Okay, okay, but it is really important that we see him right now because, I--"
Meallan: "It's fine, you can say it out loud, you just don't trust me with him."
Khamet: "I mean, I trust you a little bit with him--"
Meallan: "I know you do not trust me with him, and that's fine. I don't care."
Khamet: "Hmm... I mean, yeah, I'm sorry, Meallan, you are kind of--" He makes the cuckoo gesture with his hand. "You're kinda this, I'm sorry."
"I'm kind of a what?"
"Like... not... not... you know, imagine your mind is a house. And there are people responsible for cleaning up the house, making sure it works, and let's just say that some of these people went on vacation, and the rest are having a hard time keeping things together."
"Khamet, I am not crazy."
"Hey, I said nothing about being crazy."
Rauliso interrupts. "Did you want me to take you to him, or not?"
They all agree. Meallan tells Khamet not to worry: he does not want to kill Crezonis, and that his still not his intention. Khamet responds by saying that there are a lot of other things that can go wrong: for example, Meallan can hurt Crezonis's feelings, and that's too bad, because Crezonis is his 2418th best friend! Meallan is not amused.
Rauliso takes them back to their rooms. He takes them to a building in a heart of Dyventain.
Meanwhile...
Tally is at the Lords' place to see her bae. Her bae has a guard outside of her room, because she's a controversial figure: a drow. She knocks on the door, saying, "it's me!" Bae asks her to come in, she's sitting on the edge of the bed and contemplating something. She has a nice, wine-y color pallette, with tons of burgundies and reds. Bae pulls Tally into a hug, telling her that she missed her, and Tally responds me, "I have missed you so much, my moonflower," picks her up, and spins her around once.
Bae is just so happy to see Tally after all this time! "You were going to fight bandits? But I didn't know when you'd be back, or if you'd be back."
"Of course I'd always be back. Did you hear what happened with the expedition?"
"Lu'hais... as soon as she left, well, they're discussing it now."
"She told me that you had a very productive conversation with Anzi, and she's thanks you so much for that."
Bae bites her lips and is not completely happy with this.
Bae: "I believe you were right in your letter, I think he did need someone to speak to."
"At least Lu'hais seems pleased by what you did, which is a good thing because I did a horrible blunder, and you are keeping a good relationship with the lords! heh."
"I mean, she was very pleased. So, did she... tell you anything about me speaking to him?"
Tally: "No, she didn't give me any details."
"He was planning to travel north to inform the sister of a deceased wood elf from Ur-Zaihar of the seds(?), and I prevented him from doing this. I think that was the right thing to do, Tally, but the thing is, Tally, but he trusted me enough to tell me this, and I... well..."
"Aw, bae, it must feel very awkward when somebody trusts you with a secret, and you want to keep it, but it might not be the right thing, when you might need to not keep it. Did you feel good when he trusted you with it?"
"I felt conflicted, mostly in the way that I couldn't let him do this. If the news reached Shaan like this, they would wonder why we haven't contacted him officially, they would have doubts... I mean, it is what it is, I guess. We couldn't let him run off like that and endanger himself."
"It's not like you betrayed his trust thoughtlessly. You gave it some thought, and if he trusted you with this information, he was prepared for what you would do with it."
Bae: "I hadn't thought of it that way."
"I'm not sure if that's correct, but..."
"That's... a nice thought, and I don't think my thoughts are correct either, and yours are certainly more pleasant to think about."
Tally sighs. "Well I just hope Anzi can understand your reasons for it." She sums up the situation with Crez and his situation, and the experiment.
She's staying in Zaihar for that extra week, and asks Bae to stay the week for a holiday, and not rush to the village. Bae thinks about this. It's only a week: the work that Tally is doing is quite important--and if anything goes south, she tells Tally, "we can work it out together like we always do." Tally performs a new dance for Bae, inspired by the party, using the new umbrella she got as a prop.
They tacklehug at the end of the scene. Back to Khamet, Anthony, and Athenos.
Crezonis is being kept in a closed space, because it's spring/summer, and the mages like to train outdoors. The apprentices guarding him are outside: when Rauliso asks whether or not he should be there with them, the party lets him go. Meallan knocks on the door and puts his ear on the door, hears the clopping of hooves, and says, "yeah, he's in there." He opens the door and the party follows.
Crezonis is kinda chillin with no changes to his appearance. Still has his wounds--lost finger, dark scar on one of his knees, etc. Meallan looks away.
Khamet: "Hey Crez, what's up! I miss talking to you, and I brought Anthony, and the two other people wanted to come! Do you want do do something, because you are my 2418th best friend?"
They play Go Fish again. Khamet loves this game, because "it is a game of strategy, deception, and trying to fake your opponents out." He whips out his deck of cards and shuffles it, giving Meallan and Athenos the side-eye.
Athenos: "Athenos would like to play Go Fish. Athenos is very good at fishing!"
Khamet tries to indulge him, but Meallan points out that it's not *that* kind of fishing. When Khamet explains the card game, Athenos becomes bored quickly. He stares Crezonis and stares at him.
Meallan tries to push the bird a little bit back.
"He knows about you. He's still looking for a mortal possessed by a fey spirit," he says.
"Athenos knows what he is doing," says Athenos.
Crezonis is confused by the tiny armored bird. "I thought we agreed that it was my evil twin brother."
"Well, he found it it was actually you," says Meallan.
"Smarter than he looks."
"Give him credit." Meallan pats Athenos on the head, which Athenos kinda doesn't appreciate too much.
Anthony wants to get some equipment. Meallan asks Crezonis if he's staying, to which Crezonis replies "Yeah, I guess I don't have much of a choice." He asks Crezonis how the posession thing is going, and Crezonis says "I think I'm fine. I feel all right." Due to a poor insight roll, Meallan believes him, and remarks that he'll hear if Arcaito does something nuts. Crezonis agrees.
Khamet wins Go Fish by cheating. Crezonis doesn't realize it, and nobody else in the room does. Meallan is writing in his journal to the side.
Anthony is going on a shopping spree and asks who wants in. Khamet initially tells him to have fun with his shopping spree, and to tell him if he finds anything pretty--he's looking forward to seeing Anthony all decked out in new equipment, because he's sure he'll look good in it. To which Anthony replies, "I always look good."
Meallan asks what Anthony is going to buy--Anthony says he's going to buy a shield or something, because that's all he can afford. He doesn't have enough money for magic items, but Meallan wants to buy something, so he decides to leave and let Aytal stay behind. But wait! Khamet suddenly wants to go too! He needs to buy very important things! Meallan notices this ~~strange coincidence~~.
"Are you following me?" he asks.
"I'm not following you, I just want to ask you a question."
"Can you ask me now?"
"Oh yes, absolutely. You know you have a ring in your hand, right?"
"I do."
"I was wondering how somebody as socially inept as you can get married."
"This represents the bond between me and my lady."
Khamet is fake-horrified. "Oh god. My god! Okay, okay, Meallan, let me give you some advice: women don't generally like it when you make slavish pacts with them. That's not how you usually get into a relationship, I don't know if you should do that. I mean, Anthony, back me up here, Tyzol doesn't like that, does she?"
"No, I can't say that she does," replies Anthony.
"Exactly, Meallan, you don't have to make a pact if you love your lady so much." [some dialogue snipped, editor's choice.]
"I want to. She offered this to me. We made this pact, she created the stone, put it into the ring... and it's... whatever you think, it is mutual. Both of us wanted this," says Meallan.
Khamet: "I see. Well, I was just concerned, because you are my best friend ... number one million ten thousand and fifteen, and I care about you, I really care about you from the deepest depths of my heart."
Meallan: "Of course you do."
"Of course! Exactly, I'm glad we can agree on this, New Best Friend!"
Meallan doesn't know how to respond. His ears are lopsided with confusion.
Khamet pats him on the shoulder. "Yes. We are going to be best friends. Forever!"
"Of course we will be. That's... yes..."
"Yes! I'm so glad. Hey, Aytal, don't you agree, we are the closest of brothers, right?"
Aytal hops on Khamet's head and winds around his shoulders. Khamet: "See, Aytal likes me! He agrees. This is Aytal agreeing with me. I'm so glad that we are friends."
Meallan takes Aytal away and puts him back onto his own shoulders. "Aytal likes everybody."
"Does that answer your question, Khamet?" asks Meallan. "If so, then we should go."
"Aw, are you going to take Aytal with you? I like him. I mean, he's... not my spirit animal, he's your spirit animal, I don't know how this stuff works, but... you know, I'm going to teach him so many things!"
It turns out that Meallan is staying anyway, because he needs a short rest to renew his disguise! Khamet joins Anthony in his shopping spree, while Meallan waits in Dyventain with Crezonis and Athenos until his disguise is refreshed. He scribbles in his journal while Aytal just chills around.
Khamet and Anthony go shield-shopping first. They find a shield shop, and Anthony gets a rare natural 20! Wow, he never gets these in combat! That's a feelsbadman. Anthony buys a decent shield for 10 gold--made with wood supplemented with metal. Anthony is really happy with the shield.
"This shield makes me feel like I'm not about to be poisoned!" he says.
"How would a shield prevent you from being poisoned?"
"Well, I'm not going to be poisoned from the direction that I'm holding it in front of. It cuts down on the angles."
"It does cut down on the angles..." says Khamet, "but what if you poisoned yourself?"
"Well, that just seems to happen whether I want it to or not."
"That's true, very true. Well, I'm glad that you can no longer be poisoned. You look very nice with the shield... with your puny frame. It really adds balance."
"I can hide behind more of it."
"Yep! That's it, that's exactly it! That's very tactical, I like how you think Anthony, I really do."
Khamet decides to look for a person that "looks like they know what they're doing" so he can get a job, or to get work. With Anthony's help, they find a local guard who matches that criterion, because he feels a kinship with the guards. He very awkwardly decides to approach them to ask how a paladin that needs money can find some by working a job. He's kind of short on money, which he needs to afford things; he's quite desperate.
The guard gives him a task: a very annoying thing that she should do, but that she doesn't want to do. She's willing to pay 50 copper pieces for it. The task is as follows:
"There is a creature I need to go find... there's a cloaked figure out in the woods. Kinda big, a little bit firbolg-ish. And when we go to look for this creature, it goes and hides in the forest."
"I wonder what that could be! Right, Anthony?" says Khamet.
(OOC: everybody laughs.)
Anthony tries to stifle a laugh.
"I think we can find this firbolg for you," continues Khamet. "Actually, you might want to speak with the headmaster of Dyventain! I was talking to him recently, and he mentioned seeing a firbolg. You can talk to him, or I can talk to him... do you want me to, like, bring you the firbolg, or do you want a portrait of the firbolg... or...?"
"Honestly, I just want you to do this. If I do it myself, I won't pay you... just find out what the firbolg is up to, I guess?"
"I will absolutely find out! Okay Anthony, I think we can do this together, right?"
Anthony: "Yeah! This seems like a good job for men of our caliber!"
"Exactly."
(OOC: "Khamet is a sellout.")
Meanwhile, in Tally!Land... it's approaching nighttime. Tally is pretty hungry, she didn't eat at all while watching Crez, and has only 15 gold. Still, that's enough to buy... something... a bit of food! Tally clings to her bae at nighttime and entices her to dine with her! She spins around happily.
Tally is hungry, but also wants to dance around with bae! But then, that's not the only complication to this story! Because this date has a very sour turn: people are on edge at the moment. There's been some uncoordinated attacks to the south; a drow-looking elf stabbed somebody, and, well, people don't like that that much.
Tally sorta panics at this information. "What? What?" She gasps and completely forgets her growling stomach. "When did that happen? How did that happen? Have they kept the drow in custody? Who is it?"
"It was a few days after you left, and I'm not sure of the details, but I'm pretty sure they're not still alive."
"Ah... but do--does anybody know what kind of armor or equipment they have? What kind of techniques they used?"
Bae has a little stash of crackers and offers her one. "I don't know, I wasn't there, I don't know exactly what happened. None of us do."
Tally wordlessly grabs a cracker and tearfully gulps it. "But they didn't tell you? Why aren't they telling you what happened?"
"They don't know either... we just know rumors."
"Okay... is there any way I can see the body? I have to know what they were wearing, who they attacked... I have to ask the guards, see the evidence... I..." she sniffs.
"Tally, this wasn't in Ur, there's not a lot we can do."
"Ah..."
"I heard about it a few days after you left. It was Nar, I think, near the border, maybe near the temple of Vinistra, but not within Ur."
"That far? Oh, no..."
"It wasn't close, but you know what some people are like."
"Does the village know about that? Have you written to them, or gotten contact with someone?"
"I thought about it, but it obviously wasn't--I don't know if it would have been the right thing to do... do we need them to worry that it could be someone they knew? If they were conditioned for it?"
"Yeah, that would be even more worrying than anything else. I told you in my letter that I was trying to avoid letting all the interesting people that I met from wandering too close to the village... and... but I've had second thoughts about them. Keeping everyone isolated from the real world and unable to meet different people... that didn't go well. So it's not like keeping them isolated here will help them either."
"I suppose... I would have to think about it. Not totally sure what my opinion is."
"Thanks for giving me the news, and I'll try to get some food to keep my mind off it."
"We could just... eat the rest of these crackers. I can easily get more."
"Yes please."
They chow down on this comfort food under the blanket. Crackers: best date ever. Tally occasionally twirls the umbrella.
[[break, i'll stop this here. my fingers hurt.]]
yeah. this is half. edit: part of the other half, because i am not letting this go to waste: (superhero transition to meallan and athenos!)
Meallan plays with Aytal, writes in his journal, keeps an eye on Crezonis. He's kind of tired and kind of annoyed at how the battle with the spider demon went. (Honestly, Athenos had the full rights to be tired on that one, he's the only guy with more than two brain cells.) He's just a little down, tired, and singed.
Athenos plays with Aytal... little bird and little not-weasel-sable! It is all quite sweet. Crezonis wanders about aimlessly. Meallan asks him if he's getting all antsy about confinement. Crezonis tells him it's really boring. Meallan offers to give him whatever books he can find in the library.
"What would you be interested in?" he asks.
"I don't really... read books. I don't read much." says Crezonis. (what a pleb!)
"You don't read?"
"I *can* read... I just don't read that much."
"What a shame. I think you might enjoy it, it would help occupy you."
"Why don't you just read a book that you think I'll hate, because it will probably be something I actually like."
"All right, I'll bring you something. Druidic magic fine by you? Nature magic, not arcane," says Meallan.
"I guess? I don't really know the difference myself, but I'm fine with that."
"Nature magic comes from nature, and arcane magic comes from... outside. It is more about the manipulation of reality."
"Is it that different, for example... for Arcaito? He has a lot of magic, lords over nature, but he is also 'outside' of this reality, and..."
"He is *of nature*. We all are of nature.. But Arcaito would be arcane."
Meallan rolls a nat 1 on investigation while in the library. He dislikes nature magic, and doesn't really understand what he's looking at when he picks out the books. Not all the books are on magic, though... and he can't even find anything about a topic he likes. Fs in chat for our Library Firbolg, which is right on cue, because guess who turns up again!
... It's just Rinn.
"What are you doing?" she asks.
Meallan gives her the best forced smile that he can. "Hello, Rinn, it is lovely to see you."
"You're not trying to hide that you're a furry bolg today."
(OOC: protecc Rinn!)
"Well, I... can't. I suppose it's late enough that I can get away with it. But you're up studying, and being diligent I see!"
"Well, if I could be a furry bolg, I would be a furry bolg all the time, anyway," says Rinn.
"Why would you want to be a firbolg."
"You're really tall, and nobody wants to bother you about stuff... I dunno, it just seems kinda cool! Like..."
"It's nice in some ways I suppose, but it's not as freeing as you imagine it to be. They are... strongly traditional. Resistant to change. Don't listen to... new ideas..." As he says this, Meallan's face gets darker. "You wouldn't like being with them."
"I would also get to be really tall and tell people what I really thought of them, and that would be awesome."
"You would not get to tell people what you really thought of them, that would end up very badly in firbolg society."
"Uh, whatever. Anyway, if any of the books look like... water-damaged, or ruined, just don't... just tell them it wasn't me. I wasn't here. I was in my room all day."
"Water damage?" asks Meallan. "Did you break something? If I help you... I could help you, perhaps, fix the problem."
Rinn holds out the book; it's completely waterlogged, and it wasn't bound so well in the first place, so that just makes the book look even more precarious. It's falling apart in her hands. Meallan casts mending on it. It only fixes the binding--but the rest of the book is still in total shambles, the ink is running on the pages.
"Thank you for trying," says Rinn. "I'm just gonna leave this here, and I'm gonna go back to my room, and please pretend you didn't see me."
"Why don't you just destroy it? They'll just think it's lost."
"I can't do that."
"Why not?" (Meallan would make a great archivist)
"This is the kind of thing they expect me to do... but if I were to destroy the book completely and they would be, like--that would be bad. I don't know, that's just bad!"
"All right, if that's what you want."
"It's a bad people thing, and I'm not bad people, okay?" Rinn is unaware that Meallan is beyond mere concepts of good and evil, all he cares about is if something is useful or not!
"What do you mean... 'what they expect you do do?'"
"I will... you're probably going to find out eventually, anyway, but I will tell you if you tell me about your magic, because you -- tell me something about the magic you do, tell me something you wouldn't know, because that would be really useful."
"What do you wish to know?"
"A useful think, I don't know, I mean how did you what you just did? Do you know how to take the water out of it?"
"I wish I did, but I haven't been taught that just yet. My magic comes from a very, very good teacher."
"And you can't teach me how to use a little bit of magic? I'm not--I'm not meant to learn the magic properly."
"I could certainly try to teach you, but I don't know how much I could do."
Rinn shakes her head. She tells Meallan that she's a not-very-good sorcerer, even though she tries very hard, and that's why she lives in Dyventain despite being super young.
"Oh!" says Meallan. "What kind of sorcerer are you?"
"I don't know what you mean by that, I'm just a sorcerer, I just do storms. So rain, sometimes thunder and lightning and stuff."
"How very, very curious. How did you acquire this power?"
"Oh, I just had it... listen, I'm just gonna go back to my room... because this conversation is making me very, very uncomfortable..."
Meallan convinces her to stay by just a hair, then asks her a couple of questions.
First one: "Why do you feel that way? I don't know what you've heard of firbolgs, but we are generally very peaceful."
"I didn't hear anything bad about firbolgs."
"Exactly! Because there's very little bad about them. Your magic... have you tried to seek someone else who could help you?"
"I don't need anyone else. That's why I am here."
Meallan: "You do need some practice and tutoring."
"That's why I am here."
"I don't think here is a good place to you."
"Strange, given you don't even come from Ur."
"Yes, but... I left my own home to continue practicing and studying magic to be better! Perhaps if it's not working out for you, you shouldn't find a different path. I'm not saying you should leave, but if you feel it's unsatisfying... seek something else. That's my advice. That's what I did."
"I will have time to think about it, I'm sure I'll see you here again."
"I'm here for the next week, so I'm sure I'll see you again. In the library, where less people can see."
"I don't have anything against firbolgs," says Rinn.
"And I have nothing against you, either," replies Meallan.
Meallan takes the waterlogged book back to Crezonis. He is most unimpressed. Meallan has succeeded in giving him something he hated. Meallan himself would hate waterlogged books, so... Crezonis would hate it! Finally, something they have in common, because Crezonis hates it too, and thinks it's disgusting.
Meallan casts frostbite on the book to freeze it and make it stop dripping on Crezonis.
Meanwhile, while the human bros are walking together in the place... they are walking... and doing things... and not buying things... and Anthony has a few questions for Khamet! I'm sure you'll find this plenty exciting.
"Let's say, hypothetically, you were being trailed or followed by a law enforcement personnel... and technically, hypothetically, you yourself had done nothing wrong or illegal, but they know that you knew someone that did do something that was potentially, hypothetically illegal... and... you didn't want them to get in trouble for it. What would you do in that kind of situation, hypothetically speaking, of course?"
"It really depends on what they did. I mean, if they endangered the fate of the world, then that might need to be addressed. But if they, for example, stole bread to help a starving family, then I don't think..."
"Well, I think it's a bit more illegal than the bread thing."
"Okay, let's do this in increments, to find out how illegal that is. Let's say... jaywalking. Is it as illegal as jaywalking?"
"Way, way more illegal than that."
"How about killing somebody?"
Anthony: "Um... it could lead... well, here's the thing, it could kind of wipe out time as we know it, potentially. If certain things were to happen."
"I see, and just so we're on the same page, here, there law enforcement people are part of this extra-temporal bureau--hypothetically."
"Hypothetically, yeah, they would be the time feds."
"Okay, they would be the time feds, as you say it. Have you ever tried talking to this friends? I mean, why did he do what he did?"
"He just kinda did it just to do it, really. But at the same time, hypothetically, this hypothetical guy I know, Frank, wouldn't have met this met this hypothetical dragonborn lady he met, named... not-Tyzol."
Khamet: "I see, so this hypothetical guy wouldn't have found love if he hadn't went arms-blazing into the time-space... thing... is that right?"
"I think they call it a continuum."
"The time-space continuum... um... I'm not really sure what time and space have in common..."
"Several hundred years from now," says Anthony, "a guy in a Swiss patent office is gonna think long and hard about that question."
"I see. Well. That's exciting. Very, very, extremely exciting. so this man is the same guy who did the wrong thing, or does this man simply know a man who did the wrong thing?"
"He just knows the guy who did it, because he was the guy it got done to."
"Well... hmm... and if the time feds, as you call them, catch the guy, would he be forced to give up Zotyl person?"
"Well first of all, the hypothetical guy would go to time prison, and Frank would get probably get deported."
Khamet is confused. "But why would they punish Frank for someone else's crimes?"
"Because Frank's not supposed to be here."
"I see. Well, that's a difficult situation. Obviously the right thing to do is, since the guy is endangering the time-space continuum, would be to tell the truth. However, I don't know if that is what Frank would like to do in his own best self-interest."
"Hypothetically, Frank ain't no snitch, either."
"Frank isn't a snitch... that is true, I mean, if you snitch, how can anyone else know to trust you, right? It's a very, very, difficult situation, but... well... let's just add a hypothetical person to this situation, let's just call him Mankarah. And let's say that he'll stand by frank and help him navigate this conundrum.
"All right, that sounds good."
Anthony and Khamet shake on it. Mankarah's got Frank's back, and Frank's extremely happy about that.
One more thing... (uncle from Jackie Chan Adventures voice)... Anthony needs to buy a poison antidote, with a whole lotta 5 gold! Khamet leads him to the apothecary he bought the preservatives from. This time, the proprietor of the ship is around and not on break, and he asks for 50 gold for this antipoison.
"Would you take an IOU?" asks Anthony. (no)
Khamet reveals a plot twist in the most elegant of manners:
"This might be a bad time to tell you this, but... I can heal poison after a good night's rest."
Anthony is more than a little bit indignant at this revelation: "You could cure poison this whole time?"
"Well, let me explain: I have like a pool of divine energy that I can use to heal people, and if I use a certain amount of things from that pool, I can heal poison. But every single time you've been poisoned, I'd already used all of it to heal people."
"You could cure poison the whole time?"
"Yes, if you could get poisoned early enough, I can cure poison!"
Anthony, completely shaken, asks the proprietor: "Mr. Apothecary-Man, where's the nearest tavern, please?"
Apothecary just points to it. "It's right next door."
Khamet asks, "Are you gonna save up money for that antidote, or...?"
"I'm just gonna see how far I can make five gold pieces go before I pass out."
"Here's the thing: if you pass out, the space feds might take Frank while you're not looking."
Anthony, remembering that the last time the time feds got him, it was in a tavern, says, "Well, it's not the same tavern. There's gotta be more than one bar in town, right?"
"If they're trailing him... I mean, they might be following him throughout the city!"
"Aw, man."
Khamet suggests that he buy alcohol to go instead, and Anthony does just that, but just after asking if the apothecary sells that high-strength rubbing alcohol. He ends up spending 50 silver on two pitchers of bottom-of-the-barrel wine, and labels it specifically as "NOT POISON."
Khamet and Anthony find Meallan at some point. Tally is staying with her bae overnight; she doesn't ask for dinner because she's too embarrassed about bringing a wanted, possessed bandit to the Lords' doorstep. Anthony, Meallan, and Khamet are staying with a couple of students, and Athenos is staying with a professor. yay.
[[stopping again, plz help]]
okay sooo uhhhhhhhhhhhh 16 days later, i finally finish this?? maybe??? ((superhero transition noise)) THE NEXT DAY...
Khamet wants to finish the job that was assigned to him! He goes to Rauliso and asks him to procure a letter about the mysterious firbolg to the guards. Khamet is very thorough! Rauliso agrees, and writes this note:
"I have sighted the firbolg with my own eyes within the city walls. It was drawn by the magic of this place and I have no reason to believe it lingered. You should turn your attentions rather to the fey creatures who persist in endangering our students."
Meallan asks Khamet and Anthony if they want to look for Tally with him. They both agree. Anthony drank a third of one of his pitchers--lots of wine servings! He passes his CON save, and is only slightly hungover/tipsy(?) for the moment. Tally does her morning routine nonchalantly, has breakfast with bae and the lords (finally, real food!) After he's done, she leaves with a polite bow. Alyzraena (the bae!) is offered to be taken to Crezonis!
The guards send a few of their own with them, given what happened recently, which Tally is not really excited about. She asks if the guards would still go there if bae didn't come--guards answer yes, Tally and bae go off to meet Crezonis-chan in Dyventain. Tally feels bad for giving them trouble, the guards are like "we're paid for this!" Tally is like, "okay."
(Anzi: "I could go with you!" Guards: "No.")
The debate on whether to just go direct or to have fun. Izzy doesn't really want to randomly have fun right now, and assures Tally that "one day we will have all the fun, the umbrellas, and the cracker-dinners."
They just wander aimlessly around town. While they're doing that, the B-team (Khamet, Anthony, and Meallan) are going to rendezvous with them just now, and nobody notices them approaching! Tally starts conversing with her bae.
"Izzy, would you like me to tell you more about the party with whom I traveled?"
"Absolutely, they sound like a most intriguing bunch of people."
"I already told you with some of them, their morals were rather questionable."
"I was inclined to agree with you there."
Tally: "Yeaaaah, I mean, some of them are kind of worrying. At least the human bard, he's kind of clumsy sometimes... he does do his best, and I definitely have faith in his intentions at least. And the halfling is definitely a decent person."
"Intentions aren't everything, Tally. You still have to be careful there."
"Yeah... still, they're the two I'm most tempted to maybe one day... let into the village, maybe, if they wish, of course, after we consult the others..."
(Now the B-team is within hearing range. Meallan rolls a nat 20, khamet rolls a 10. Meallan hears the following convo, Khamet does not, really.)
Tally (still to Izzy): "The half-elf sorcerer... they're generally really amazing, but I really hope they're as independently-minded as they seem, because if they were roped into working for the wrong person, they could be devastating. That's what worries me. They seem alright, though. And the high elf... um... the very tall high tall elf with a secret that I can't tell you about yet, he did some of the things that shocked me most. But I think of him as somebody who might have had to focus on his own survival for too long."
She starts to empathize with him and ramble a bit, and bae squeezes her hand. "Well, how about you take me to them, and we can share our opinions?"
"Yeah, you're always better at people-reading. But Izzy, I must tell you, out of all these people, the one whom I trust the LEAST is the human paladin with a mustache."
"Interesting choice... I would have thought it'd be the halfling, but you seem quite attached to him."
"Um... I wouldn't say attached. It's just... this paladin... the way he talks, it's so confusing he can talk you around in circles, I think he can convince anyone to do anything and it can be deliberately confusing and--that's so uncomfortably familiar to me."
"Possibly a manipulative sort, yeah?"
"Or not, but... dangerously persuasive. So that's the one with whom I'm most cautious, but I might be wrong, you've always been a better people-person than me. By the way, that human paladin... I think I might be biased against him, though, because he kind of reminds me of the way we were, when we first got here--"
Izzy stops talking and makes frantic hand-signals as the group approaches.
"--he's also ridiculously handsome, and it's just not fair!"
Khamet only spots that Izzy was trying to make Tally stop talking, but as discussed before, nothing else.
Meallan: "I don't think he's that handsome, Tally. Hello, by the way."
Khamet: "Hi!"
Tally and bae: "Hello!"
Khamet: "We've been looking for you?"
Tally: "What? What did I do?"
Meallan: "You disappeared last night; we were wondering where you were!"
Tally: "You disappeared first!"
Khamet: "We had to fight a spider demon!" Meallan: "... We had a good reason."
Izzy: "So... are these Talsindra's friends I've heard about!"
M: "Yes!"
Khamet: "Yes!... Wait... wait... you are a drow... and she is a drow... are you like, her girlfriend?"
Tally lets Izzy answer that one in case she doesn't want to reveal it. Izzy replies, "We're greater-than-usual significance to one another. You spend a lot of time with this other human and this elf. Are they your boyfriends?"
Meallan looks startled. Khamet says: "Well, Meallan is one of my best friends. He is best friend number one-million ten-thousand and fifteen. And Anthony is a bit higher up in the pecking order of my best friends, but... I am really disappointed that you're not Tally's bae, because I was really excited to meet her, but I guess... you being a regular drow is okay too."
Since "bae" has an important meaning to both of them, Izzy and Tally both blush. Tally clings to Izzy's arm in a way that would definitely suggest that they are baes.
Khamet: "But I'm glad to see that you're okay with your friend, Tally. I... we missed having you around! And I bet Crezonis would love to see you again! Because he was rather bored."
"He was incredibly bored," says Meallan. "I tried to find him a book, but I didn't find a good one. I'm being rude, I should introduce myself." He holds his hand out to Izzy. "Meallan. Meallan Lynxheart."
Izzy reveals her full name--Alyzraena--in her own introduction.
"I heard many things about you from Tally."
It's getting awkward, a bit. Izzy "reminds" Tally that she was going to show her something interesting in the city. Tally forgot, what a coincidence! Izzy asks if her friends want to accompany her to this interesting thing.
"It might be nice, as long as it doesn't take too long," answers Meallan.
Khamet: "I love interesting things!"
One of the two guards asks that if Meallan, Anthony, and Khamet are going with them, could they go back? Tally is faux-offended that they would ditch them like that, to which the guard replies, "Well, if it's an interesting thing that will end up in me being dead, then no thank you. But if it's not that... then maybe?"
[[i'm really tired and don't want to do this. ow ow ow my hands.]]
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Post by Moni on May 4, 2019 0:11:22 GMT -5
khamet's journal: there are no stories this time. sadface... and also not much of a recap... what, do you think khamet's a competent writer? You are thumbing quickly through the journal now: you don't know exactly why, but Khamet's ongoing epic about Mankarah and his friends is strangely compelling! You want to know more about Inima's silver eyes, Sandy's secret mission, Weylin's dark secret, how Oregano learned his knife tricks... but for a long stretch of time, there are no more such stories.
You used to make fun of bad fiction, and now, you feel weird being a semi-fan of it. You've even skipped over a lot of Khamet's real journal entries to try to get to the latest installment.
When you decide to stop, you notice that you come upon pages upon pages of mere documentation: he draws a simple map of Eaine and then of a very specific city: Ur Zaihar. There's what you believe to be a fairly accurate urban map, as far as wood elven urban maps go, and a few "places of interest" including: "the preservative apothecary," "Dyventain," "the tavern where I saw the pink tiefling and the strange green man," and "the armor shop."
At one point, you come across riveting facts about the city. For example, did you know that the dirt on the roads smells like the dirt in the forest? Well, now you do. Did you also know the various species wood elves use to construct their buildings? You do now. Oh, and the particulars of the sewage system? Yeah, that's in there too.
... And this building, in Dyventain, is where Crezonis will stay for a week! It is very boring, but hey, it's better than a dungeon or something! And I'm sure the elves will give him good food... as for intellectual stimulation, I will try to visit him every day and give him things to do! The good news is that there is no sign of possession, so maybe these nerdy wood elves know what they're doing after all.
So that is nice! And I get to stay here for free in the next week! Granted, I have to share a room with Anthony and Meallan, but Anthony is okay! And Meallan is... Meallan! He sleeps in the forest like a homeless person anyway, which... is ... at least a great way to save on housing. I have said many things about Meallan, but at least he knows how to be thrifty.
Oh, did I ever mention why we got room and board in the first place? Well, we met the lords, who very kindly let us help Crezonis! Then we went to Dyventain, and then a giant spider demon attacked! It wanted my cool new weapon, the one I pawed off the demon, and it was mine! We dispatched of it quickly, after it hit me a bunch with fire, and... I was really impressed with the little bird, Athenos! And Anthony! And Amani! And Meallan! And Basil, who tried to make the spider demon into his new pet!
Khamet details how Basil jumped onto the spider demon at great peril to himself, and then spends the next few pages wondering how hard it would be to keep the demon as a pet. He never properly describes the battle, especially since he did so 12 pages ago, but he does make plenty of inferences about its life cycle, habitat, and diet based on how it fought.
He determines that it is best to smite spider demons, and not try to tame them.
And Meallan apparently speaks the language that demons do, because I heard him and the spider conversing! That is very suspicious indeed, no? I must know more about where he learned that--if he did not learn it formally, then it was probably a "boon" from his patron, Malka, and I don't disbelieve that some fey can speak with demons, but... something's wrong about him, I just know it. Meallan has been outwardly secretive since he's joined the party, and you have to wonder what he's hiding either way. As long as he has his guard up, I'll never be able to ask him about it.
Anthony saved me from the brink of death! He is a very good team player, and even encouraged me to take shots at the spider, even when I thought it was pointless. He is very inspirational and I think he really helped everybody! I think you would have liked him a lot... even if he has... interesting people after him. I forgot, did I tell you about them?
You don't know if he did.
Well, the other day, I was in this tavern with him, and two very interestingly-colored people showed up looking for him! One was Tenacity, a really pink tiefling, and the other was a green wood elf! His name is... Tevineri! I suppose green is a foresty enough color, so I don't think a green-colored elf is too out of the ordinary, but I must find him again to ask him more questions! Where is he from? Were his parents also green? Does he not eat plants because they are his brethren? Rest assured that when I do find the answer to all of these things, I will tell you all of the answers to these questions!
You are, for one, extremely ... not excited to learn all the answers.
Anyway, they wanted some time alone with him, and asked him a few questions! I was never really skilled at the art of camouflage, so I tried to eavesdrop on them, but it didn't work out so well, but I did learn that they were part of the "extra-temporal bureau", that they were "cops," and that they wanted something from Anthony! And later that day, Anthony told me all about them! He is in quite a predicament and asked me for advice, and I didn't know what advice to give him!
See, these people are apparently the "time feds," who police something called the "space-time continuum." If you're confused... that's because I am, too! I have no idea what space-time is supposed to be, or how they even relate to each other. I mean, that's crazy, right? I guess they're related to each other when you talk about the speed of something, like, I don't know, Cepith told me that speed was just the rate of change of distance with respect to time! Perhaps they police the speed of things? But then... why not just call it speed? I don't understand this very much.
Khamet spends a lot of time trying to discover special relativity. Unfortunately, he is largely unaware of even basic Newtonian physics, so it is mostly just him being confused.
I mean, there has to be an answer to all this, right? I would have brushed all this off as Anthony being insane, but... he has a lot of things I have never seen before, and the snippets from the people who are trying to track him down match too cleanly. Perhaps it is as he said, that somebody in a "patent office" will eventually discover something beyond our imaginations! Isn't that fun?
Anthony is on the run from these time feds--because he knows somebody who broke their laws and endangered this "space-time continuum" thingy. He does not exactly want to help them, though--because he will be deported from our time, and separated from Tyzol! I have to say, his love for her is touching, even though he has questionable choice of partners. I told him that the technically right thing to do was to inform the time feds... but I do not know if that is worth giving her up, or even if he would want to do so.
I don't really know if I could do the right thing in that situation, because--
The sentence is continued, but it is plastered over with new paper. You don't think you could decipher what he initially wrote down even if you wanted to, because Khamet added an additional layer of protection: he's scribbled all the words beneath, too.
I guess all I can do is support him and think hard about a third option. It doesn't matter what I would do or what I would think, because this is Anthony's life, not mine, wouldn't you agree?
This point is punctuated by a long, meandering philosophical discussion on the nature of freedom and free will... and epistemology for some reason. You eventually forget what the original situation was in the first place, and apparently, so did he, because starts talking about Tally.
I don't know why she didn't join us in the fight against the spider demon, but I suppose she takes her responsibility of watching Crezonis very seriously! ... Even if we could have used her help, but she couldn't really have known. She kind of just spent time with her bae, who she hadn't seen in a long time, ever since she went on this bandit-job with us! I guess when you've been together for eighty years, it can be hard to stay separated!
I met her. Not Tally, but her partner. She seemed nice enough, I suppose, and I gather that her favorite color must be red, because she was dressed in it from head to toe. They were talking about something when I walked up to them, and I think maybe they were talking about an attractive man, because Meallan heard what they were saying, and told them that whoever they were talking about, he wasn't that handsome.
(I am very surprised that Meallan has standards for attractiveness, but I guess... well, firbolgs have to find other firbolgs attractive, otherwise they would not be able to have families! So I guess he would have a standard for attractiveness.)
The weird thing is that Tally's bae didn't really want me to know that she was her bae! She told me they were friends, asked me if Anthony and Meallan were my boyfriends, which... well, they are my friends. Well, Anthony's my friend, Meallan is more of a business partner. It was an interesting way to try to hide that fact, but then the fact wasn't really well-hidden after all. It's... kind of strange. After speaking about Alyzraena--that's her name, by the way--you'd think they wouldn't try to pretend otherwise, even for a second. Maybe they were just nervous about Meallan?
Yeah, that must have been it. He has much trouble with empathy, and social skills, and intelligence, and... many other things.
A blank page. Attached to it are two letters: one from Raia, one from Cepith. Both of them have been read and re-read, judging by all the creases in the paper. Raia's letter is written partially in Common, but there is another language she utilizes heavily, one that you haven't seen before. Cepith's letter is written entirely in this foreign script.
Dear Khamet,
I am glad to hear from you, and am happy to hear about your travels to Varentar, and I hope that your time in Eaine will treat you well. Do be careful about dealing with wood elves: they can be territorial, and you should not put yourself in more danger than is necessary. I want to see you again--alive--or I will personally journey into the underworld and chastise you.
You say there is a kingdom of dwarves and humans to the north; if you ever feel too different in Eaine, the bright side is that you will eventually go there, and perhaps then, things will feel more normal. As for the party of people you are traveling with... a fellow human, a half-elf, a halfling, a high elf, and a drow... I have to admit, that last one is an interesting choice. I hope you have judged her character well.
The bulk of the letter is unintelligible to you.
Oh, and one more thing you may want to know: I have recently found a cat that does not eat mice; I think you two would get along quite swimmingly! Her name is Nee.
With love, Raia
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Post by Thorn on May 13, 2019 6:10:48 GMT -5
Apparently I didn't do a lighthearted recap for 12- what is this??? I'll do it when I go over the recording in preparation for session 13 (which as of yet does still not have a set date.) For now, the characters can enjoy a bit of downtime! I've attached a document with information on the matter. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
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Post by Gelquie on May 17, 2019 23:06:20 GMT -5
Session 10:(In this session, the party splits up to do their own things. I'll do the first block before then as one, and then do multiple spoilerboxes thereafter.) Going to Ur Zaihar. They're in the forest again, getting closer.
Meallan: “I identified your pike last night and I confirmed my suspicions?” Crez: “Those being?” M: “It's an arcane focus; it connects you to your patron. ...I'm curious. If it were destroyed, would it help sever your connection to Arcaito to some extent?” Crezonis doesn't know, but says maybe? But he's hesitant. Amani thinks it could work and could be worth a try. Crezonis wonders why they would want to do that? M: “Does it matter to you? The pike?” Crez: “I guess you could say that.” M: “How does it matter? It's only a weapon.” Crezonis feels cornered and gives a pleading look to Tally and Khamet. Khamet walks up. “Okay, okay, that's a very interesting theory you have there, Meallan; where if you break the pike, it breaks Crezonis' connection to Arcaito. But I thought we were going to Ur Zaihar to kind of reconvene with the experts first? So if we're going to do that, maybe this is something we should bring up to them, and not something we should try now. He's clearly uncomfortable with this, and who knows what might happen ifyou break it? Maybe Arcaito might get angrier for some reason. It's not worth the risk of breaking it right now. I think we should wait until we get the opinions of the experts in Zaihar.” M: “Arcaito does not scare me.” (Amani: “Who cares if he's uncomfortable-?”) K: “Listen Meallan, honestly, what passes for your expertise has not impressed me so far. So how about we wait until we see actual magical experts and not just your suspicions?” M: “...I will not argue with that.” Tally: “It was a good idea Meallan, but Khamet has a point.” M: “I was only curious. I will keep this for now.”
Tally: “Hey Crez, quick question. Juniper. Did you meet her after you made the pact with Arcaito?” Crez: “Yes.” She didn't take her to the Grasping Wood. He says he doesn't think he was even in the Grasping Wood at the time.
Khamet: “Hello Anthony! Do you feel better?” Anthony: “Yeah, I think so. I just gotta stop drinking this poison, or being poisoned, or being near poison in general.” K: “So next time you're near a wasp. you're not going to collect poison, correct?” An: “No, I'm still gonna collect poison! Just not get stung by it.” He thinks it'll come in handy. For trade, using it to get rid of 'some things', that sort of thing. Khamet thinks that's a machiavellian way of thinking about it. Khamet asks about the scratches on Anthony's face. An: “Oh, yeah, that, that is fine. Don't read into that!” K: “You realize that by telling me not to read into that, I've already read into it.” “Ah haaa... It's... Uh, don't worry about it! I'm sure they'll heal soon!” “Ah, yes, you really don't want to be walking through Zaihar like... that.” “Ah, well, then people might be a little intimidated by me, y'know? Maybe we won't have any trouble!” K: “...Yes. Intimidated. That's exactly my worry. ...Okay, well, good talk.” He pats him on the head. Really hard. Then continues on. Anthony: “...Well, whatever.”
Amani's walking, being quiet and introspective, occasionally speaking up but not all the time; just not into everything. Tally tiptoes up to Amani. Tally: “...Uh, about last night. I'm sorry.” She goes on to say that she's not good at guessing things, but is sure she annoyed Amani, unsure for how long, and that she's sorry. Amani goes: ?? What?? "You aren't annoying me?” T: “Okay, but, last night, I was pretty sure it wasn't going too well while we traded, when you woke me up from watch...” Am: “Oh! Um, you know, I barely even remember that. I mean, I kinda do, but it was... really late?” “Yeah... Oh, for you, it was, yes.” “Yeah. It's just, um... Yeah, that's all there was to it.” “Really??” “...Yeah.” “Oh! Okay! Well, if there's anything I do that bothers you at some point, please tell me. I'm really bad at reading between lines and, uh, well, guessing things people have tried to imply, so,” Nervous laughter “Sorry. I'm glad I'm not annoying you.” “...I mean, I think your bond with Crezonis is misguided regarding keeping him alive so he can murder people later, but um... you don't annoy me. I don't know if that makes sense, but...” “It does! Thanks.” “You're welcome?” Tally scuttles back. Amani awkwardly thanks her for the talk?
Khamet approaches Tally. “I wanted to ask you a few things!" ("Yes?") "You are one of the few drow I have met so far, and I'm trying to catalogue just... some of the local customs of the local peoples, and I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about your spiritual or religious beliefs.” T:“My beliefs? Religious...” K:“Yes!” T: “Oh, that's easy! I have None Whatsoever! Are we done?” K: “Okay! Oh, is that common among the drow?” T: “No. But then again you said you were cataloguing local customs and drow customs would not be... local.” K: “That is very true. But I'm always very interested in different modes of thoughts people have. So if you know anything interesting, please tell me, because I would love to learn more about it.” T: “...No, I don't know anything interesting! Not by my standards! Well, I do know that-” K: “Oh, well, interesting, I'm sure there are a lot of things you think are uninteresting, but would indeed be very interesting to me-” T: “Okay okay okay! Okay. Okay. Okay. So, an interesting thing, according to the main religion of the drow, you, my friend, are a filthy sun-stained impure lifeform, and when the Shadow Queen returns to extend her rule over the entire surface and exact her revenge upon the Everqueen at last, you will be obliterated!” … K: “That is extremely interesting! What are you talking about? ...That's not very charming! But, uh, hopefully we do not encounter many people who believe in this religion.” T: “...For your sake, I desperately hope so. And for mine as well.” “And for yours? Um, do they... go after you, for disagreeing with them?” “Um... I mean... I wouldn't be able to... You don't really survive disagreeing in general.” She's getting a bit panicky. Khamet: “Okay, okay, Tally, Tally, you... don't survive disagreeing? ...It's okay, I... I... I understand, somewhat. In my homeland, there is somewhat of a similar situation. Not with the religion, and... actually, nevermind. There's a situation such that, for example, warlocks do not usually survive utilizing magic that is not approved by the gods. So... I knew someone like that, and losing him was... was devastating to me. And I promise you, that if I have the power to do so, I won't let anyone kill you because they disagree with you.” T: ...*Relieved sigh.* “Thank you Khamet. It's really difficult to even say that to you?, because as far as I've been told, you might just use that information against me, and... Even now, I still believe you might. ...I mean, I suppose you understand why I'm even on the surface, in part, now.” “Yes. Listen Tally, it's fine. Thank you for at least trusting me with this information. I have no intention of ratting you out to people who want you completely dead. It's fine. ...Do you want anything? Like a hug or something, or a handshake, or... whatever comforting ritual is nice?” Tally agrees to a fistbump. They perform one.
Meallan approaches Tally. “A thought occurs to me. If we bring Crezonis to Zaihar, and the guards find out he's the leader of the bandits, he might die. And I think that's what you wanted to avoid?” (Tally says yessss.) “I don't think we should take him to Zaihar if that's what you want, then.” T: “Uh... They're not that bad?” M: “In any case, we shouldn't bring him in his current state.” Tally suggests grooming him first? Meallan rejects this because he might be good at it. Tally might be good at it, though? M: “I'm also thinking, perhaps it would be good to get the guards away from him, divert suspicion, if that's what you want. I have the journal. If we go them and tell them the bandit problem has been taken care of, they don't need to hunt for the leader because he's now dead. It might help with keeping Crezonis alive.” Tally: “Um, hmm... Maybe if we chop off his tail?” Amani speaks up. “We could just... tell them exactly what we want to do? Talk them out of getting onto them until we figure this out. Tell them exactly our plan. We don't need to lie about it.” Basil: “Honesty is the worst policy.” Meallan: “...I actually agree with Basil here.” (Basil: “Wow!”) Amani: “What are we supposed to lie about? What's more convincing than the truth here?” M: “Quite a few things. We can tell the truth, as much as possible. But also tell them that he's dead.” Tally: “You want to fake his death.” Amani: “We're not gonna fake Crezonis' death while we're keeping him alive!” M: “Not fake it, just... let them believe that he's dead.” (Crez: “...Um... ...okay...”) M turns to Crez and smiles. “We're not going to kill you. Tally has made sure of it and so has Khamet.” Tally: “And what happens later, when Crezonis wants to travel around and live his life, and he's supposed to be dead, and someone eventually recognizes him, and he becomes such a nice target, and anyone who talks to him might want to sell him out?” She relates this to Meallan's disguise situation if he were on the run. Meallan's cut by this remark, but he tries to brush it off. Amani: “Well, if he returns to banditry...” Meallan: “It's... we simply tell them the bandit leader is dead, they stop hunting for the bandits, we don't have to say it was Crezonis. Although... they will know, his name's still in the journal, but if he changes his name... It doesn't take much.” Anthony: “Are we still gonna get paid?” Amani lets out a deep sigh. “I'm not comfortable helping a bandit get out.” Anthony: “Yeah, I'm not entirely on board with this either.” Amani: “He's never actually apologized for what he's done.” Meallan: “Well if he goes rogue, we hunt him down and kill him ourselves.”
They all continue arguing and arguing. Mid-bickering, just through the trees, a tall glaive is swaying side-to-side with a white flag with a green tree design just below the blade. Meallan and Crez see this; Meallan immediately puts on the elf disguise. Meallan: “There's someone here besides us.” Khamet asks, and Meallan points. After a couple minutes, a 2'8” owl bird creature without wings (smaller than Basil) in chain-mail armor comes out of the trees. Squees ensue.
Khamet squees and babytalks. “Oh my god!! It's so cuuuute! Hi, what's your name?!!” Amani says 'hello' in Sylvan. Anthony: “Woah guys, hold up you can't trust birds these days!” (Am: "Maybe you can't.” Khamet: “Yeah, that sounds like a you-problem.”) Meallan: “I think it's fine.” He drops the disguise and kneels down. “What's your name?”
Bird: “He is Athenos. Athenos has some very important questions to ask you!” M: “Yes? How can we help you?” Athenos: “Are you currently, or have you ever been, previously possessed by a fey spirit?” Meallan strokes Aytal on his shoulder: “That's a fey spirit, but I'm not possessed by him.” Anthony: “No, can't say I have.” Amani: “Nope, no possession! No possession here.” Khamet: “I would never be possessed by a fey spirit.” Meallan: “I... would not mind if my lady possessed me, but I don't think she has.” Crezonis: “I don't even know what a fey is!” (Meallan and Amani: *Staaaare*) Khamet: “Yeah, he doesn't know what a fey is!” Anthony: “I've got a fey-ce book!”
Athenos: “Well, Athenos knows you can't be lying because fey can't lie! So I know you might be safe. Do you know anyone who's been possessed by a fey spirit?” Party: “We-ell...” Khamet: "Well, we do have... Amani: "Wait, th-that depends! That depends!” Crezonis: “I have an evil twin brother who was possessed by a fey spirit!” (M and K: “...Yes, yes!”) Amani: “...Why are you asking?” Athenos: “Athenos was asked to find the being possessed by a fey spirit!” M: "Why are you looking for that?" Ath: "He was asked to find the being possessed by a fey spirit." Amani: “...Could you narrow it down?” Khamet: “Yeah, you'll have to narrow it down a bit. In the wilds out here, there are a lot of fey spirits, and a lot of possible people that could have been possessed by fey spirits.” Crezonis: “My evil twin brother moved to Varentar!” Athenos: “Oh! Could it be your evil twin brother that Athenos is looking for? ...You see, Athenos is very good; he's seeking to destroy evil." Amani: "Well, I mean, just someone's possessed by a fey spirit doesn't necessarily mean they're evil. It can mean that, but it doesn't always." Ath: "Athenos is looking for an evil fey spirit." Crez: "And my brother is definitely evil! I just said that! Amani!" K: "Well, why are fey spirits evil, little guy?" Ath: "Athenos was told by another fey, and fey can't lie! So therefore, this fey has to be the evil fey because the good fey says he was the evil fey!" K: "And who is the good fey that told you this?" Ath: "Athenos doesn't know their name." Am: "Do they have a name they go by?" Meallan: "Was she perhaps... blond, tall, elven women wearing pink, black, and gold?" Ath: "Athenos doesn't think so?" Am: "Can you tell me specifically who you're looking for? Physical details?" Athenos: "Uhhh... They are possessed by a fey spirit! Athenos is looking for someone possessed by a fey spirit!" K: "Well, among this group, there is no one currently possessed by a fey spirit. Are you looking for people potentially possessed by a fey spirit?" Ath: "...Athenos is looking for a mortal possessed by a fey spirit!" … K: "I retract that, this thing is not cute. It is just annoying." M: "I still think it's very cute, if a bit confused." Ant: "No, I'm on board with Khamet on this one!" Amani just backs away a few steps. Meallan's still trying to pet Athenos on the head. Athenos just stands there allowing it as he continues asking questions. They're the same questions.
K: "...I don't think the animals in this place are very intelligent. Even when they speak, they don't have much to say." (Athenos tries to speak-) M: "You're just not listening to them." K: "Yes, I'm not listening to them. Or maybe they could just go to school, like civilized people." M: "None of my people go to school, are you calling us uncivilized?" (Am: "And who says school is a good idea anyway?") K: "Well, judging by your general demeanor and your outlook on things, if I were to use you as a prototype for all your people, yes, I would consider you uncivilized." M: "I'm not like most of my people, Khamet." K: "Oh, that is a good thing! For your people. For the appraisal of your people." M: "I'll take that as a compliment? ...Athenos! Do you want to come with us? We're going to Zaihar. Maybe you'll find what you're looking for there." Athenos looks to the party for confirmation. T: "Excuse me Athenos? Um, was Athenos given instruction on what to do after finding someone possessed by a fey spirit?" Ath: "Athenos doesn't know what he was meant to do when he found this person possessed by a fey spirit." T: "...Maybe Athenos should go back for instruction." Am: "Why don't you contact whoever gave your instructions?" K: "Yeah, why doesn't Athenos ask for clarification? And while we're at it, why doesn't Athenos stop speaking in the third person?" Athenos isn't sure how to respond.
They start walking towars Ur Zaihar with Athenos, talking along the way. K: "So Athenos, who told Athenos to seek somebody possessed by a fey spirit?" Ath: "A fey spirit. Athenos was told by the other fey spirit to find this mortal possessed by a fey spirit!" K: "Okay. So, what is the name of the fey spirit that Athenos is following?" "Athenos did not ask." K: "Y-y-you just- Athenos just followed a fey spirit without asking it?" Ath: "Fey spirits cannot lie! If a fey spirit told Athenos to search for an evil fey spirit, then it must be the evil fey spirit Athenos is looking for." "Wait, how can a fey spirit be evil if it cannot lie? Is it just up-front with its evilness?" "Athenos is not sure." K: "In that case, what makes Athenos so sure thay fey spirits cannot lie?" "...They're fey spirits." Am: "Athenos, the fey who hired you, do you have a bond with this fey?" "Uh... Athenos met the fey! Athenos thought he got along quite well with the fey." Amani examines them to see if there's evidence of a bond, but they don't find anything. The glaive has vine-like designs, but doesn't seem to be magical. Meanwhile, Aytal climbs onto Athenos and tries to sit on his head, but can't, so he walks alongside him. K: "So Athenos! Where does Athenos live?" "Athenos lives in the forest." "So, where does the fey spirit who told Athenos to defeat the evil fey spirit, where do they live?" "Athenos met them in the forest. Athenos is not sure where they live because Athenos likes to go for walks! Athenos takes walks away from where people live. So maybe the fey spirit had gone for a walk, and Athenos happened to meet them on a walk." K: "I see! What did the fey spirit look like?" "Athenos does not remember that clearly." M: "Let him be. He is clearly very confused."
Ath: "Athenos remembers they had big wings!" K: "Big wings?" (Am: "Well that narrows it down…") M: "Like dragonfly wings?" "Athenos thinks they were like a moth?" K: "Moth wings? That is an interesting thing!" Am: "Oh. Hm." Meallan tries to hide a smile. (Khamet rolls insight to gauge the others' reactions. An: "Oh, so like the guy from West Virginia!" Am: "...Sure?" They shrug and look away. Meallan is smiling. Tally is stony and suspicious, watching the bird from the back of the party.) K: "...Ah, I see. Well, you know, just because a fey told Athenos to do something doesn't mean Athenos must do it." Ath: "Athenos is protector of the forest. Athenos must act in the best interests of the forest! The forest is Athenos' own!" K: "So the evil fey spirit is threatening the forest, is that correct?" "Athenos thinks the evil fey spirit is threatening everything!" "Well, I would imagine it would be quite a great threat! You need help and research before taking on this threat. Would you like to go to Zaihar with us? There is a library there. We can research what's there about the fey spirits." "Athenos thinks this is a good idea!" Am: "Yeah, maybe we can suss out what you mean. If it's an evil fey spirit we're familiar with, our goals might align." Meallan agrees.
Athenos runs on all fours with the party. Aytal tries to race him. Khamet thinks it's cute that the bird is trying to be a person. At some point, Meallan gives Crezonis an extra (grey wool) shirt to replace the horrible bloody one. Crezonis does the swap. They rest for an hour to give Tally time to use a disguise kit on Crezonis. She covers up the worst of Crez's bruises and cleaning up his hair. Just so he looks less messy, suspicious, and gross. They don't bother with the missing finger or the scar that's under the extra shirt anyway. They also untied his legs to make it look not weird.
A couple hours later, they reach the border of Zaihar, guarded by 7 guards. They ask to see the party's passes. (It's a round wooden/metal token.) Tally and Anthony pull out theirs. (Anthony keeps the pass inside the passport. "I got my visa right here!".) The guards check out the passes and look over the rest of the party et al. Their gazes linger on the centaur and the tiny owl thing. "What business do you have in Zaihar?" M: "I wish to go to Dyventain academy." T: "I'm checking in with the lords of Ur after I stayed with them for the festival, and then they sent me out on an errand." One of women lets Tally in. "I'm a little more concerned by the centaur. I'm not sure what that is with the giant glaive." M: "They're both friends." K: "The centaur's with her." He points to Tally. (Basil doesn't talk to cops.) The guard shrugs. The drow diplomat bringing a weird creature with her seems legit to her. Athenos asks the elven guard if they are currently or have ever been possessed by an evil fey spirit. Guard: "...Do you think I'm an idiot? No, I haven't. Very suspicious question, Mr. Tiny Bird." K: "Okay, this bird thing has been asking us this question since we found it in the woods." (Am: "He's not an it.") "We promised it that in order to defeat and" quote marks "the 'evil fey' that it supposedly found, we would do research!" Guard: "Some kind of very simple creature, yes." "Yes, very simple." T: "Athenos is a very passionate scholar and we thought we might help Athenos to visit the great halls of knowledge contained within Zaihar." M: "He wants to protect his home and his forest." Guard: "You are responsible for him. Anything weird, and it gets back to me." Meallan promises no trouble. The guards return the passes and let them in.
M: "Athenos is a he, he's not an it." "...Right. I'm sorry. He is a he." "Yes. Please be respectful." Crez: "You're one to talk about respect, Meallan." (Amani: "I don't think you're one to talk about respect either." Cue a glaring contest between Amani and Crezonis.) K: "Yes, I understand how you feel about animals." M: "I respect them. I believe animals deserve respect." "Yes, but not people." "It depends on the people." K: "Okay, why are people contingent but not animals? What if there's a bird who's kind of a jerk and needs to be punched in the face?" An: "I agree with Khamet on this one! There's plenty of birds that might need to be punched!" M glares at them both. K: "People just have a greater mental world than animals." M: "Animals are simple. They do not lie, they do not cheat, they do not restrict, they simply are." (Am: "Not necessarily.") K: "You don't think animals have intentionality behind anything that they do? They never lie or cheat?" "They have intentions. They have intentions I simply prefer to humans." K: "Okay, what is the intention of an animals? I've been around livestock, and let me tell you, animals intentions, are, well... All animals need to sleep, need to eat, need to procreate." Tally creeps up to Khamet and whispers: "That's funny. That's exactly how the drow would talk about you." K: "Yes, and... yes? ...Yes, I'm not saying- Listen, This is part of a thought experiment. I do not actually believe animals are all stupid. I am disputing Meallan's assertion that animals cannot have bad intentions because they are so called 'simple creatures'. If they are simple creatures, they only require these three things. But obviously they require more. ...I'm just wondering. What makes animals so pure compared to people?" (Crez: "I once had this dog that sleeps too close to the fire and singed its tail, so... y'know, not... smart." K: "Yes, but I once had a dog, and the dog was very dear to me. I left him in fact with a very dear friend of mine when I left, and I'm sure he's happy right now. The argument I'm making is that Meallan thinks that animals are all simple creatures and therefore they cannot all be bad. But without emotion or intellgience, eventually bad can come of it. So I'm wondering why Meallan thinks that people are somehow exempt from this." Meallan's ears are flicked back. "Let's just say that animals were the only things that were there for me during very difficult times. When I was alone, all I had were the creatures of the forest. They did not judge me, they did not think anything of me, they simply were. I think animals are much better than humanoids. They do not judge, they simply exist. Either they like you or they do not. And I admire that." K: "I... ...Alright. I assume you have never spoken with a cat in our homeland. But y'know, you are free to believe whatever you want." M: "I have spoken to many cats. I do not understand them, but I have spoken to them." "But not cats in Mul-Hurand." ((Note: placeholder name))
An: "...Yeah, as fascinating as this conversation is, now that we're back in civilization, does anyone wanna head to the tavern?" M: "I do not drink." An: "More for me!" Crez: "I don't think we were going to a tavern, I would rather not be here." Am: "Well, you have to stay with us, so tough." Crez: "Why would you drag me here just to get drunk at a tavern?" An: "Hey, look, I've been out of town for days, I need a nice hot meal and a drink. That is not poison!" Crez: "I need to not be tied up and dragged around everywhere for something promised that doesn't seem to be happening particularly fast." Am: "Then you need to not kill people!"
T: "Oh, um um!" She speaks very fast and mentions she forgot to tell the guards she wants to meet the lords and plead for Crezonis.
Athenos: "Athenos wants to know why you're talking about centaur like he's your prisoner?" Party: "....…" An: "Uhhhhh... Yeah, I'm going to the tavern!" Stuttering among the party. Amani: "It's an injoke! You see, when we first met him, he was this bandit, but we got along, and he doesn't do that anymore, and now he's our friend, but we like to tease him about it sometime!"
Tally goes to find a guard with Crezonis. Amani, Meallan, and Athenos come along. Tally approaches a random guard and asks about getting an audience with the lords of the city. They take her to someone who would know, and they get passed around from superior to superior, until they get to someone who asks about the nature of the meeting. T: "Um... You see, I was staying there during the festival, and we were sort of sent on a mission, and we got back! (Me and a few trusted travelling companions.) We were sent to investigate the bandits up north, and now we're back to report the results of this investigation." They remember Tally, but not everyone else. But they agree to arrange something for this evening. They get scheduled to meet the lords at 7pm. Not guaranteed that both will be there, but Lu'Hais at least will be.
It's currently 11am. Tally sits down on the ground near where they will be collected and waits. Meallan passes Tally the bandit journal to examine It's as before. There is one point in the book where the owner jumps from Kai'sariel to Crezonis with no explanation. M: "Might be difficult to plead your case." Crez looks away. "Crezonis is my evil twin brother." Tally gets that the book is incriminating. She goes "Meallan, are you very attached to it?" In her other hand, she starts the elemental attunement ability to create fire. Meallan tries to snatch it back! But she was just offering, and she gives it back. M: "I'm not going to give this to the lords of Zaihar." ("Okay!") Unless, we decide to say indeed that Crezonis--this centaur's evil twin brother..."
The guards come over. "Please don't do that here." Am: "No magic allowed here?" "Magic, yes? Fires? I know you can understand…" "Oh! Oh, yeah, yeah, alright." The guards walk off.
Meallan asks Tally what she's going to do. T: "...I have no idea!" Am: "I still think we should just be open about this. Because, at the end of the day, he's still... our..." They stare at Athenos and trail off. Aytal runs over and invites Athenos to play.
And now... party splitting time! ~*~Party split!~*~ Fans? (Anthony, Khamet)Anthony goes to the tavern for drinks and tries to perform and make money. Khamet goes with him. The place is not the binge-drinking type, but otherwise the place is inn-like. Khamet notices a sort of elf in flax tailcoat, and a very exciatable pink creature with two pointed horns, dressed in purple 3-piece suit. They look very out of place, in terms of their appearance and clothes. The purple creature seems very excited when Anthony walks in, but Anthony doesn't see this.
Anthony goes right up to the bar. "Hey, what's up! I'm Anthony the traveling bard, and I'm here to regale about the tales of our adventures, which we've just conducted, for some drinks and some pay!" "Oh, we've heard of you! We've heard of Anthony, the one who saved Riverside. Of course! You can perform!" Ant: "Good! I've got my roadie here with me." He gestures to Khamet. Khamet waves weakly, looking unimpressed. Anthony sets up and performs. Wood elf stuff is usually pretty tame, so Anthony's performance is super fire. He earns 6 gold. He then has some drinks and eats some food, and gets some for Khamet as well.
Khamet approaches the green elf. "Hello. Can I sit next to you?" "If you like, yes! Who is this fine gentleman to whom I'm speaking?" K: "My name is Khamet, I am a traveler from a land far from here. Who am I speaking to?" "You are speaking to Tevineri. I am also from a land far from here, as I suspect is your friend." K: "Yes, indeed. He is... not from around here." Pink lady: "Ha ha, you can say that much!" The elf nudges her to shut up. K: "Yes, indeed! Um, I noticed, uh, that, um, you looked very excited to see him! Do you know him, at all?" Pink: "Yeah! He's like, super famous around these parts. Because he saved all of Riverside, from, uh, I think it was, uh... rampaging giant badgers? Or, maybe…" Tev: "It was just a fire, Tenacity." Ten: "Yes! Definitely! It was a fire, but it was a rampaging fire and he saved it. The town of…" Tev: "Riverside." Ten: "Yeah! He saved it from a fire!" K: "...Ah, yes, he saved Riverside from a fire! And you are all very oddly dressed. Are you from thes ame place Anthony is from?" Ten: "Not quite from the same place. I would say more like his place than his place. But this place is way cooler! Because, it's just so... fly. And I've never met someone who did something so cool!" ((Note: Riverside is more commonly known as Ur Ruvarin, the second largest of the Ur settlements next to Ur Zaihar.)) K: "Interesting! I wonder why Anthony never really told us about that. I'm going to ask him for more faithful interpretation of the story since you two seem to have very bad memory." Tev: "She's just so excitable; I can remember perfectly fine. I apologize for my associate." K: "No, she seems extremely... pleasant. But we'll have food and drinks. Do you... So you know Anthony. Does he buy food and drinks often like this?" "I would say I know of Anthony. I wouldn't say I know Anthony well. We more just know him by reputation." K: "Ah, okay. Well, it's nice meeting you. ...Uh, you are a very handsome guy, but I have to ask. Why are you green?" Tev: "...Um. Why are you brown? Is that a question you normally go around asking people?" K: "Why am I brown? You know, that is a good question. I never really thought about why I was brown, but I suppose it must be the sun. I know some humans are more white than me, and they live in very cold areas, so maybe the heat has something to do with it. But this is a very odd shade of skin; I never encountered anything like it. I just wondered if it was a natural shade in wood elves, or an aesthetic choice of yours…" Tev: "...I mean... I'm an eladrin, so that might have something to do with it…" K: "I see. So your skin's just like that." Tev: "I'm supposed to be green." K: "Okay, you're supposed to be green! Okay, I'm glad. I'm just a little bit alarmed, I'm not used to seeing this, you understand. Um, I'm very pleased to meet you, Tevineri, and I hope you enjoy Anthony's great musical performance." Khamet then scuttles into his own corner to eat like a jock.
Anthony eats his meal (rabbit stew) and asks Khamet: "How are you enjoying your stew?" K: "It's good. How did you enjoy performing?" Ant: "Oh yeah, it was great! Really knocked 'em dead with that performance!" K: "Yeah. It was quite interesting to hear. So, do you play an instrument to get that music on? Or does the thing in your hands, is it enchanted in some way?" Ant: "Uhh, I guess you can say that, yeah! This thing can play pretty much any music I want. But I can always play a couple instruments as well! I can play the guitar, and I can play the triangle!" K: "...The triangle?" Ant: "Yeah! I'm really good at that one." K: "I-I see. So... you have a skill with using this thing that plays music?" ("Yes") "I see. Interesting. I met a few, uh, people who seem to recognize you from the time you saved Riverdale from giant... fire slash beavers. ("Yeah!") I was wondering why you didn't tell us that tale of great courage." Ant: "I didn't think it was worth mentioning! I thought you guys already knew that! Just doing this thing for the common good of all people!"
The pink person is now standing not far behind Khamet, watching the conversation. An: "Who's your friend over there?" K: "Uh, some strange girl, and some strange boy, and they both seemed very excited to see you. So, maybe you should talk to them?" Ant: "Yeah, I guess I should go meet them!"
So Anthony walks over to meet them. Khamet tries to stealth-listen in.
Tenacity leads Anthony back to the table with her eladrin friend. After Teveniri ensures no one is listening in (and did poorly at it; Khamet can pick out pieces here and there), he leans forward and lays his fingers on the table. Tev: "So, can I call you Mr. Gale, or should I call you Anthony?" Ant: "Please, Mr. Gale is my dad! Call me Anthony." Tev: "Do you know why we're here, Anthony?" Ant: "Um, no? Big fans of my work?" Ten: "Aw, I mean, I think I really genuinely did think what you did at Riverside was really really cool! I wasn't making that up. But um, so we think you have suffered the effects of some kind of illegal (operation?)." ("Um...") "We generally investigate such matters, and we were hoping you would point us in the direction of the last known location of a certain wizard?" Ant: "...Wait, wait. Are you cops?!"
Ten: "Oh, no, technically, we are from the Extratemporal Bureau. And we're just hoping to set things right, keep the timeline straight, do all that nice stuff. And we think you know someone who's been hindering our efforts to do such things." Ant: "...Look, I don't know nothing about any of this! Okay? I've been out of town with these guys the past few days, you can ask any of them!" "Why are you dressed like that and carrying a cellular device?" Ant: "...Uh, I found these things! They were just laying around!" "Mm." Ant: "Now look, I don't know how I ended up here! But I'm certainly not involved with any sort of wizard." "I mean, if you say so. But my case notes seem to say-" Ant: "Look, I got an alibi, and witnesses for these past few days." "Past few days?" Ant: "Yes, I've been out of town." Ten looks at Tev and goes: "What do we do? You said this would be an easy one, you said this would be a really good chance to test out my skills, and I don't know what I'm doing...!" Ant: "...Should I have my lawyer with me? Am I being detained?" "No, we're not going to detain you. We're perfectly capable of stabilizing the timeline on our own. We just thought you would help us out with the timeline-" Ant: "Well, look, I ain't no rat." Anthony stands up. "And unless you're detaining me, we're done here. And you'll be hearing from my attorney!" "...I don't think I'd worry about your attorney, Mr. Gale." Anthony walks away to Khamet, visible sweat down his brow. The others are watching him the whole time. (Tev is comforting Tenacity, who's crying all "oh no, I screwed this up so badly, this was supposed to be my chance, to graduate, and do this properly, and they were gonna be so proud of me...!")
Tavern-time over. Anthony cashes in his favor with Meallan to send a letter to Tyzol. Khamet looks for an apothecary, and he's pointed to one. Unlike the one in Deyn, this one is not empty for looting. Sads.
Khamet knocks on the door to the apothecary. "...I mean, come in?" Khamet enters. He asks an elf assistant: "Excuse me. I'm trying to preserve a large amount of leaves. And I'm not sure if you sell products that would help me do that." EA: "Um. Uh... For what purpose are you preserving these leaves? For perhaps a leaf collection, a nice artistic piece for your wall, maybe?" K: "Well, it's more like I'm making a sun umbrella out of leaves, and I want to preserve the leaves so they don't rot." EA: "Um. So, I can't say I've heard of anyone want to do that before. But this one, it would be 2 gold or a trade of equal value. Would keep from rotting." K: "Is this thing a little bit waterproof?" EA: "Um... I've never been asked that! Usually people just want that for preserving leaves for…" K: "It's just, if it drizzles, will that ruin the preservation?" EA shouts: "Hey, is this waterproof?" Yell-back: "Yeah, sure!" EA: "Yeah, I think it's waterproof?" K: "...Is it...?" EA shouts: "Is it really waterproof, or did you just say that?" Yell-back: "Technically I'm on my break, so sure, it's waterproof!" The elf shrugs. "...How about. Do you have any water with you?" Khamet offers a waterskin. EA: "So this dries pretty quickly. I've used it before, I'm pretty artsy myself. If we spread some out on just a few of your leaves, and we can put some water on it and we can see!" Khamet takes out a few leaves for testing and puts some of the substance on the leaves with a brush. Then after 5 minutes, he dunks some water on it. The elf waves it around and it doesn't fall apart. EA: "...So it's not falling apart. Does that answer your question?" K: "...It is not falling apart." He checks to see if the water has eroded the preserving fluid. It seems to hold up well! (Against Khamet's 3.) So Khamet agrees to buy the preservation fluid for 2 gold.
He spends the rest of the day before the meeting assembling his umbrella. Dyventain Diversions (Athenos, Amani, Meallan)Amani turns to Athenos. "You wanted to go to the library in Dyventain, didn't you?" "Athenos would like to go to the library, yes!, and read about the evil fey spirits." "Why don't I come and help you out?" They pass a note to Meallan and Tally as they prepare to go with Athenos. The note says: "At the end of the day, he's still a criminal. Just tell them what you told us about having him tried as himself and removing Arcaito's influence, and what we're trying to do. I'll be back before 7." M: (to Tally) "Are you okay with this?" Tally shrugs. M: "Where are you going, Amani?" Am: "I'm taking him to the library at Dyventain." "I would also like to come with you. Tally, will you be okay out here on your own?" (Am: "With Crezonis?") T: "We'll be okay." "The sun won't bother you?" "Yes it will." Meallan leaves Aytal with Tally. He climbs on her head and puts his tail over her eyes. Tally: doesn't dare move. "I- Can you please not do that?" M: "...Okay." Meallan instructs Aytal to climb down. "Do you want him to remain here with you, or shall I take him with me?" Tally tentatively agrees. He leaves Aytal there to keep an eye out, and to send Aytal if they need to. Crezonis shelters Tally from the sun. Amani, seeing that there's guards around and with Aytal there, is fine with Meallan coming along.
Meallan, Amani, and Athenos head to Dyventain, in the heart of the city. Amani and Meallan are behind Athenos. Amani whispers to Meallan: “I think we can tell him about Crezonis. I don't think we need to keep this from him." Meallan disagrees, in Sylvan. (OOC: "Uh, Athenos speaks Sylvan.") "What doesn't Athenos need to know?" Athenos just... turns their owl head around 180 degrees. Amani stops dead in their tracks. "Look, Athenos... We know a bit about what you're after, and we may already be on a task for that. So... Just follow our lead for now!" And Athenos gets onto the other two for talking about him behind his back and that he has a brain, surprise! Athenos: (to Meallan) "If your fey says they're a good fey, then they're a good fey because they cannot lie! Simple! If your fey knows where the evil fey is, he will listen." Amani and Meallan talk for a while, then: Am: "Athenos, whatever your fey has in mind, I'm sure we can trust her too. Especially if we're going after the same evil being you have in mind." Amani decides to be open a clarify a bit, saying that they're on a mission to stop an evil fey, and how the centaur has something to do with it. So they're on the same side, so he can trust them.
They get to the gates. The wall is made of a mix of trees in particular shapes, and parts made of wood. And the guard at the gate is recognizes them, and is very "uhhh...", for they are the same guard who fell off the wall from Session 0, went for help, but was too late. Meallan recognizes him, tells Amani, and goes “...uhhh... ...I guess we should go apologize? I mean, we need to get past him to get in.” Meallan agrees.
They approach. “...Hiii!” The guard recognizes them and is surprised that they're back. "I honestly didn't think I'd be seeing you again, What do you want?" Amani launches into an apology, that maybe they got a little out of hand, and maybe some rash decisions were may, and maybe people who didn't intend to be hurt were hurt, and that wasn't directed towards the guard, and they're sorry. Guard: “You almost killed that tiny halfling person!" Am: “...Well, he did bad things!” M: “He's our friend now!” Am: “We-ell, acquaintances now.” “He's with us.” “Yes.” The leader of the group steps in and goes "State your business in Dyventain." Am: "We're here to go to the library." Leader: “Are you students?” Amani gets defensive, and notes that no, they may not be students, but they're hunting an evil fey, and this would be helpful to everyone. Leader: "What's the weird thing? Is it a pet? Can I pet it?" Am: "Uhh... He's a friend! Say hi!" Ath: "We're looking for an evil fey possessing a mortal." Am: "...Yes!" They mention that they're going to the library to find information for this goal. The guard leader sends the other guard with them. (Am: "We're just going to read!" "I'm sending him with you because it amuses me.") The other guard is very "nooooo" about this.
The guard brings them in, and becomes more confident over time. He talks about the school as they enter. There's a beautiful garden outside, filled with vines and leaves.
Am: "Every school's gotta have these…" Meallan thinks it's beautiful. Amani reluctantly agrees. Guard: "I've never studied here myself, but my sister did! And some other people I know." They ask what she studies here. Though they're not close, the guard notes that she could cultivate plants. And that this place is generally for nature magic. (Am: "Not arcana?" The guard confirms yes, and it's just for nature magic. Am: "Ah. That explains the garden, then.")
They make it to the library. The library is fairly sizable, though not as druid-y as the rest of the place. There's little alcoves and windows to the outside. There's two students, one sitting in an alcove and one sitting with a big stack of books. Meallan: “...I've never seen so many books in my life.” Amani: “...I've seen more.” M: “Oh? Where?” "It was a long time ago. Not anywhere near here, if that's what you mean.” “You'll have to tell me more someday.” “...It's in the past.”
Amani: "I guess let's find the librarian." Meallan whispers to Amani, referring to the guard: “Should we get rid of him?” Amani: “...No. I don't think we need to.” The guard heard this, and his eyes go wide. And asks why they want him to go away, why the hostility? what the heck?? Meallan states how they just prefer not to be disturbed while reading. Guard: “I mean, I can wait by the door; there's no other exits." Am: “Okay, well, we'll just call when we need you.”
Meallan and Athenos dive right into the books. Amani wants to ask someone for help. With the lack of a present librarian, Amani approaches one of the people sitting at a table studying with a messy stack of books. Am: “Hi.” The person looks up... And his eyes go wide. And he gasps in shock. Am: “...Hii? What?” "I remember you! It's you guys! I wasn't supposed to be watching, but I was. And oh, I should be really quiet about this, but oh, I saw you chasing that, oh, and the magic, it was so much cooler than the magic they teach us here!" Am: "Oh you saw?" =D "Yeah!" Am: "Oh yeah, I heard this place was more towards nature magic, we were more towards arcana. I didn't know you were watching!" "Oh, I wasn't supposed to be watching, you see, I had to be-" Am: "Oh, it's fine, it's fine!" "Yeah! My name is Talvimiare; what's your name?" Am: "My name is Amani. And-" Talvi: "You have a tiny bird man! Oh!!" Am: "Yeah, he's new." Talvi: "Oh! Any of the others here with you? Can I meet them?" Am: "There's some more scattered through town. They're kinda busy right now, but we have tall elf here and Athenos if you want to talk to them later. We're looking for some books right now, so we might be a little busy, but you can meet them, sure!" Talvi: "Oh, I got some books here! Mostly boring rubbish stuff, but this one's, a little bit about the wizard stuff in Varentar, which is pretty cool," ("ah...") "and stuff from Arentium, which is even cooler, little bit farther away though, I don't think I could go there, but I could definitely go to Varentar one day!" Am:"Do you... want to...?" Talvi: "Of course I do, yeah!" Am: "Well... it might not be what you think…" Talvi: "Well, magic's like, I wanna be able to throw ice and fireballs and stuff! Not like make a tree do... things, and summon a stupid animal that attacks you if you forget to pay attention to…" Am: "Well, you can summon animals with arcana magic as well. That's what my sister does. She's a conjurer, and still summons animals with arcana." Talvi: "That's not my kind of thing; I'm more about the fire and the cool ice and the stuff." Am: "Hm, well, I suppose Varentar would be a good place for that if you're already talented at magic." Talvi: "I mean, I like to think I'm pretty talented, my teachers think I'm talented!" Am: "What kind of magic do you cast so far?" Talvi: "Ahh, little spikey things with the plants... I mean, I'm not like the most experienced wizard, but I mean, I could do some things! I could do…" Am: "Well, you can do magic at all, if you already have some ability, you might be able to get in." Talvi: "I mean, that's not that great, but I figure whatever's the first step towards making ice, which is what you guys do, and that's way cooler!" Am: "Ah, well, I'm not so good at the- I could give you a few pointers if you want to be better at it." And the two geek out for a while, totally distracting Amani for a while.
Meanwhile, Meallan and Athenos are searching through books, which are mostly really boring and dry. There are some books from Varentar and Arentium, which are more flowery and nicer to read. Meallan is annoyed that the library in a nature school has mainly books on nature magic, ugh. =| Athenos is having trouble reaching books, oh no! Meallan helps out. Meallan finds... nothing. Athenos finds a book on different types of fey. There's minor fey, then medium fey, then archfey. There's plenty of common minor few, and very few archfey. There's a list of 5 local archfey:
Illastra Maero, Night's Peace Illastra Noctuo, Serenity of Shadow Luhine Arcaito, Lord of the Wild Spaces The Lady of Pines
(Meallan goes, “they're missing one,” before realizing that the book is about local fey and wouldn't have any Varentarian archfey.)
Question is, which one is the evil fey? Athenos speculates that these look... very fey-like. The one with a title is very short, and to the point. Like evil!" Meallan points to Arcaito's name and goes “well, that guy's kind of a jerk.” "A bit of a jerk? Well maybe this one! Or maybe this one, like, shadows."
Meallan looks through other books for spells, but can't find anything conclusive. He was very thorough and learned nothing.
After a while, Amani finally gets back to work and asks what the others found out. M: "I found nothing." Am: "Nothing at all?" M: "Nothing I could use. Athenos found something." Amani asks Athenos what he found out. He found out that the evil fey possessing the mortal is one of five spirits! Amani hears the list, and briefly looks a little puzzled, but says: "Well, the evil fey we're looking for is Arcaito, so it's most likely him. I don't know anything about the others, but…" Amani spends the remaining time before the meeting researching the other fey.
Meallan has since lost his elf disguise and has been hiding while researching. At some point, while he's reading, he hears: "I've never seen a firbolg before!" Meallan's ears flick up, and he goes invisible and darts somewhere else. "...I've never seen an invisible firbolg and I guess I still haven't!" The source of the voice is a female elf student sitting in front of his alcove. Meallan sneaks over to the alcove. "My name is Rinn!" M: "Hello. I suggest you never tell anyone you saw me here." In that he cast suggestion. But it fails. Rinn: "Um, I mean, I don't see why I would tell anyone anyway! You're just a firbolg. It's not like you're a rampaging ogre or something?" Meallan smiles. "Well, you know, my kind are quite rare, and I don't want to draw attention to myself. That's all." Rinn: "I can understand that. I'm a little bit rare as well. Technically, I'm pretty young and I shouldn't be here. But they thought I needed some special guidance, so here I am!" M: "How about this? I'll give you a little guidance, and I don't tell anyone that you're here, and you don't tell anyone that I'm here." Rinn: "I mean, I'm allowed to be here! So, why would I tell anyone that you're here?" M: "Exactly!" Rinn: "Then why are we having this conversation? My name is Rinn, what's your name, Invisible Firbolg?" M: "You can call me that. You can call me Keskil." Rinn: "Keskil. That's a nice name, I think that's a nice name. If you're a bit shy, that's fine, I'll just go back to my corner. Um, I've never seen a firbolg, I've just read about you, so I thought that was pretty cool." M: "Well... What if I'm an illusion? If you're imagining me?" Rinn: "If anyone can cast an illusion that good... Tal might like to think he can. But... probably not, no, no way, nuh-uh." M: "Perhaps. With all due respect, I will go back to my reading now. Thank you, it was lovely meeting you." Rinn: "I'll go back to my reading too. It was lovely meeting you too, Keskil."
Money 8D (Basil)Basil heads into town by himself to see if he can sell off his stuff. He uses his thieves cant, ends up in the market, and easily finds some dodgy buyers. He sells off the stuff he looted from the bandit caves, such as the weapons and the platinum ring. He gets 28 gold, 3 silver.
Basil then kills time. It never stood a chance. We'll just Chill Here (Tally, Crezonis)Meanwhile, Crezonis is helping shelter Tally from the sun by standing up to size so his shadow falls on her. Tally's half-dozing; aware of her surroundings, but half-meditating. At some point, Tally yawns and opens her eyes.
Crezonis speaks. "Tally, are you awake?" T: "Yup. ...I think?" Crez: "...My mind has shifted a little bit. I think that means he's watching again? I don't know what that means." T: "You feel he's more alert?" Crez: "I think he's... yes. I couldn't feel him before, but... like before, when I could feel him." T: "...Thank you for telling me. Crezonis, do you want me to bind you?" Crez: "Uh, if you want, that might be good?" T: "Yeah, as a precaution, y'know?" And so, drow bondage happens! T: "Do you feel anything else, Crezonis?" Crez: "...I mean, my feet kind of hurt. What do you mean?" T: "I don't know what to do for you. Do you want me to try to move somewhere more secure?" Crez: "Um... I don't think I know, Tally. What you think is best." T: "Okay, well, thank you for letting me tie you again. We'll be fine. Just keep me posted, take deep breaths, and maybe just stay centered, stay in tune with your inner mind, and we'll keep track of what's going on." Crez: "...And you still have the letter, don't you?" T: "Yup."
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Post by Gelquie on May 19, 2019 19:08:38 GMT -5
Session 11:Intro and the MeetingTally's tying up of Crezonis looks... very weird to the guards. The party regroups with Tally just before the meeting is set to take place. Khamet, at long last… K: "Tally, I made you this sun umbrella!" He gets out the umbrella. "It's very fashionable!" The shaft is just a branch, and the umbrella part is just a bunch of leaves cobbled together and stuck well on each other. K: "I made you this umbrella! I worked really hard on it. But I think it will help protect you from the sun. Here you go!" Tally: "I... for me?" K: "Yeah! For you! Because, y'know, you seem uncomfortable in the sun, so I made you this umbrella!" Tally takes it and holds it overhead. She stutters and is flustered. T: "I... Y-you shouldn't have. It looks like, it looks like... it... took a lot of... work?" K: "Ah yes, I worked very hard on it! In fact, me, Crezonis, and Amani, spent a lot of time gathering only the best leaves!" T: "All of you...?! What! I-I-I I don't... I don't deserve this! Uh…" K: "Nonsense, of course you do!" T: "H-how much did it cost, Khamet?" K: "Well, the leaves and branch didn't really cost anything. But I had to pay a bit to find a method to preserve the leaves so they don't rot!" T: "I-I'll pay you back at some point. Treat you to something. Thank you." K: "I'm glad you like it, Tally! You will no longer suffer under the sun!" T: "H-how do I store it?" K: "...What?" T: "...Nothing! I-I'll just keep holding it!" K: "Okay! I'm so glad you like it!" Khamet is so happy! Amani returns with the others, a roll of paper in tow. Amani: "Well, I did some research with Athenos, and I found some information about the archfey. It looks like the only one we know much about and really need to worry about is Arcaito. I can give you more information if you want, but I wrote this all down." Khamet and Meallan are curious. Amani hands the paper over for the party and Athenos to read over. docs.google.com/document/d/1kNdjmh3R18ZMxwN9mDRvlad9tfwTdH9MJy4l8XEm_5kAfter the party has finished reading it: Meallan: "So, the one Athenos is looking for is Arcaito." Amani: "That's what I think. And I think this even gives me a idea for how we might be able to take care of Arcaito; break that bond. If you notice at the bottom, about the rituals to ward away for Arcaito, if that could be reduced to a person, maybe that could work?" M: "Yes... Perhaps? It's certainly worth trying." Am: "I mean, I don't know how to do it, but maybe they would." M: "We can always see if they will let us. It's worth investigating." Am: "We could bring it up with the lords, maybe; maybe they know something." M: "Perhaps. That's why we're here, after all. To see what they know, and to ask them to at least give us a chance to do this." By this point, they've arrived at the door, and they enter. They go through a few corridors of the fancy large wooden building. There's no windows. There's a lantern bound to the floor in the center of the room, and towards the back there's two steps leading up to a platform, where Lu'hais is sitting. There's 2 other guards, the guard captain, and two lanterns on either side of the platform with her. Tally takes a moment to see if Lu'hais is reaaaally Lu'hais. Lu'hais... just looks like she's waiting. Meallan sees that Tally is visibly nervous. He leans down: "You'll be fine." He puts his hand on her shoulder. "Here's some guidance." In that he casts guidance, which gives Tally an advantage to one ability check in the next minute. Khamet approaches, uncertain of how to talk to these lords, but... he's just gonna wing it. The doors close behind the party. Lu'hais speaks: "Ambassador Talsindra, esteemed Anthony Gale, and guests. You wish to speak with me? Concerning the bandit attacks?" Khamet: *Whispers* "Hey, Tally, Tally... say something!" Tally: "Yes, your lordship, we're here to report about the bandits you had us investigate. And thank you for having us all." Lu'hais gestures for Tally to proceed. T: "Most of this party are the travelers who set off with me to investigate the disappearance of the guards north-northwest of the city, and that's where we found the remains of the attack. And we eventually tracked down the lair of the bandits and made sure that they no longer operated in that lair." LH: "Yes, our son has informed us of this much." T: "...Yes. Um. Yes, so he got back safely?" LH: "Yes." T: "That's really good to know. He was really good, and he saved us from an ambush, and I'm really sorry that we couldn't stop him from coming along, but at least he was fine." M: "He was very competent. I would not discount him." T: "After we dealt with that lair, which was slightly west from the Shrine of Luhine, some of us located a journal that contained information about the rest of the bandits' organization." Meallan gestures at his book-bag. LH: "May I see this journal?" Meallan presents the journal to her. She passes it to the elf besides her. Then gestures to Tally to keep going. T: "So using that information, we managed to intercept the other group of bandits where they were supposed to be meeting, and most of the group was... dealt with. However, we were too late to save Deyn." LH: "I had wondered in particular about Deyn. And it is obviously highly regrettable you could not do more to save it, but I'm... (?)" T: "We did come across two of the main instigators of the violence, one of whom escaped." Awkward shuffle. LH: "Yes, I've been informed of a centaur. I would not think this would be that centaur because you would not be so foolish as to bring bandits in here." T: "Um... ...Well, the thing is…" Amani gives Tally an encouraging look to continue. Athenos: "It was the evil twin brother!" LH: *Really now?* Amani looks to Athenos and shakes their head. Meallan just smiles. K: "Yes, his evil twin brother!" Quotation marks with fingers. Anthony: *Under his breath.* "Shut uuuuup!" Tally crosses her hands in a gesture, like "nope! not our opinion!". LH: "Perhaps you could enlighten me as to what truly is the situation here if, as you say, this owl is mistaken." T: "Your lordship, I wish to hear, before we proceed, I wish to hear if it's not too much trouble, what you've been told about a certain centaur." LH: "Only one person from Deyn initially. They simply told us there was a centaur involved. One of the two major threats, the ones who actually set the fires, there was a centaur and there was a halfling. Unless the one that escaped turned into a tiny owl creature…" Party: "No." LH: "If you could tell me why I should not have the centaur executed right now…" Amani: "Because it's more complicated than you think it is! I-I can explain." LH: "Please explain." Amani: "Tally, do you mind?" Tally: "Please go ahead." Amani steps forward. "Here's the situation. There's more to these forces than just bandits. The centaur in question has been possessed by an archfey named Arcaito, or is in the process of being possessed. And we were wondering if there may be a way to remove this influence." Meallan: "Surely, it is wrong to punish someone for crimes they had technically no part in committing, Arcaito is-" Amani: "Weeell, let's not go that far!" Meallan: "Arcaito is the real danger here, not Crezonis, he is nothing." Tally steps forward, emboldened by Amani. "This centaur is indeed possessed by an entity, and I have an obvious way to tell if he has been possessed. It is a simple change in eye color; it is very easy. The only time this centaur displayed hostility towards us were when he was being possessed by the entity. And when his eye color returned to normal and was no longer being possessed, he was cooperative. And just earlier, your own guards witnessed this centaur purposefully allowing me to bind him, to make sure that the entity wouldn't allow him to do any damage if it possessed him. And so, he willingly allowed me to bind him. He is cooperative. He. Is. Redeemable. He may have done things. But he as a person is redeemable, if only we could find a way to break the pact that binds him to the entity." Lu'hais: "...This still does not precisely explain, if this centaur has been possessed by some outside entity, why you have brought him in here with us." Am: "W-where else would we have put him...?" Simultaneously, Khamet and Tally notices that one of the guards in the back corner has drawn their sword. They look as if they're going to attack Crezonis. Khamet: "Wait, wait wait! Okay, be calm, don't kill him. Okay? Trust me, he is less dangerous to you alive than dead. This entity that's possessing the centaur, is a fey. And for some reason or another, either the fey is not able to leave the centaur, if you kill him, the fey will just find another one. You know how they are." Anthony: "It could probably be you!" Guard: "...Possessed or not, he did kill my friend!" Amani: "We don't dispute that. We just want to make sure that, in Tally's words, he's tried as himself." Meallan: "Yes. Do not punish one for crimes they did not commit willingly." Am: "...Well, wellwellwellwell." M: "Tried as himself, as in, we just want to get rid of that fey influence first." LH: "I heard one of you mention Dyventain. And I believe, I'm not confident on this, we haven't heard of fey possession for some time now. But they may know something, it wouldn't be a quick solution…" T: "Perhaps it could be an opportunity for research." LH: "I'd rather it did not take that long for the centaur while they sort this out. I'm not having it run around this city." Am: "No, I agree." M: "Nobody is disputing that. You can imprison him while you wait. Just... don't kill him. It took a lot of effort to bring him this far alive." LH: "I wasn't saying I would-" Anthony: "Are we still gonna get paid??" LH: "I don't remember saying anything about payment. I wasn't saying I would imprison him personally. I believe you and your colleagues should be directly responsible for this creature." Am: "...That's what we figure. We're making sure to keep a close eye on him in case people get hurt by him again." T: "I could bear the responsibility." Anthony: "Oh man, I got poisoned four times and we're not even gonna get paid??!" LH: "Well, maybe you should have discussed the matter of payment with me before running off and fighting bandits, esteemed Anthony Gale." Meallan subtly steps on Anthony's foot. "Shut up." T: "I could bear the responsibility alone. I dragged the others into this course of action." Amani: "No, I'm coming along too." Basil: "I did help with the dragging a bit." K: "I helped with the dragging a bit too." Lu'hais noticed Basil. "Wait wait, that's not the halfling creature I was told about, is he?" Basil: "No! I've never seen you before in my life." LH: "...I'm sure. Thank you, Talsindra for bringing this to my attention. Before you depart to Dyventain, is there anything else you require?" T: "Crezonis, do you wish to express yourself?" Crez: "...I mean, I don't think I can speak for myself better than you already have, Tally." T: "Right." M: "You don't want to say anything in your defense?" (Crezonis shakes his head.) "A bit cowardly of you, but, alright." Am: "What's there to defend?Tally has been holding onto the umbrella and is nervously spinning it. (Khamet, under his breath: "Says the firbolg who's too cowardly to be himself in public.") Crezonis looks up. "Well, what am I supposed to say, Meallan? That I really don't remember enough to say what, that I'm sorry for something I don't remember?" M: "You could've mentioned that you didn't remember it." Crez: "I didn't see what use my input would be." K: "To be fair, Meallan, you have never listened to him before." M: "...I don't deny that. He has very little of value to me. But." He looks up to Lu'hais. "He remembers nothing of what he did. Isn't that more consideration that his crimes are not quite his own?" Am: "Well... Let's not forget that he'd go back to Arcaito." M: "Oh, yes, of course. Well, we should not let him go back to Arcaito, Arcaito is the real threat here." LH: "If that's the case, then why not just kill him here? You're not making a very strong case for your guest." Am: "We're not denying that he did anything wrong. We're merely trying to find a way to see if we can break Arcaito's influence. If we can manage this on Crezonis, we can try this on oth- on Arcaito in the future." M: "Because what is the point of cutting off something that would only be replaced? Why not go to the source. Crezonis is only a small part of Arcaito's influence." LH: "Well then, you may find the answers you seek at Dyventain." Lu'hais tells Talsindra how to get access to Dyventain, involving a token and mentioning Lu'hais' name. They need to speak to Rauliso of Dyventain. (Amani: "Back to school…") Amani: "Thank you. If we can't figure this out... I'll leave you to whatever justice you want to mete on him." LH: "I appreciate that, unknown guest. It seems you have some sense. What is your name?" Am: "My name's Amani." LH: "You're most welcome here Amani. But for your friend's sake" ("We-ell...") "I hope you find what you need." Am: "...Thank you." M: "Thank you very much, Lu'hais. We are very gracious." Lu'hais nods. T: "Lord Lu'hais, I defer entirely to your justice as I depend entirely on you for anything. One more thing; is my bae staying with you?" LH: "She is; would you like me to pass on a message, Talsindra?" T: "Ah, ooh, yes, that would be so sweet of you. I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit her yet. I'm still dealing with the... consequences of my travels, and I'll get to her as soon as possible and I love her very much." Lu'hais agrees to pass on the message. Tally thanks you. LH: "How much longer do you expect you'll be away from this place?" T: "Huh... ...Depends on grandmaster Rauliso." LH: "Your bae has been in service as of late. I'm sure she can fill in the details, but my son was going to make some truly unfortunate life choices, and I'm very glad she was here to put a stop to it." T: "That's my bae!!" M: "Should we not be successful, we will return Crezonis to your care and justice. But thank you for allowing this opportunity. I'm sure many of us would appreciate it." He bows. Lu'hais asks for his name as well, and he gives it; Meallan of Varentar. "Esteemed Meallan of Varentar." She dismisses him. Grandmaster RaulisoThey go outside. Anthony wants to get armor! But the rest of the party is keen on going to Dyventain. He tries to divert to go shopping. Amani keeps walking. Meallan grabs Anthony to stop him. "Yeah, Meallan, you're all fine there, being a giant, and like, with all your spells-" Meallan steps on Anthony's foot again for the giant thing. Ant: "You're packing a full foot on me when you're like that, that still fits!" M: "Yes, I suppose. But I am quite literally giant-kin, so please, throw that word around sparingly." K: "How's the weather up there?" M: "It's fine. It's the same as where you are." K: "Are you sure about that?" Meallan lifts Khamet up to his height for a time (because apparently he can lift up to 660 lbs because giantkin). Others are taken aback. M: "Did you enjoy the weather up there? Is it still the same?" "It's actually a lot worse! Wow. I feel so sorry for you." Meallan rolls his eyes, smacks Khamet on the back, and continues on.
Tally uses her token to get in. They meet Rauliso in his office, nerding it up at his desk with a bunch of papers. The papers are very dry in content with poor handwriting. There's reports on what a magic thing did, a note about the latest apprentices who went into the woods, and notes on fey that harass apprentices that go in the woods.
"I'm Grandmaster Rauliso. I see you have a token from Ur Lu'hais. What brings you here?" M: "We are looking for information on how to purge fey influence." GMR: "Not so much about purging fey here, Mr. High Elf. What precisely do you mean by this?" M: "If one was possessed by a fey, how would you get rid of it?" (Am: "A fey named Arcaito." M: "Yes.") GMR: "I have heard of Arcaito, yes. You must understand, in my lifetime, I've never heard of someone who's been directly possessed." Am: "Well it happened." GMR: "I do believe... I don't entirely know how the pact might be broken, although I could certainly look into that. There is probably a way to prevent the archfey from accessing its mine." M: "For what it's worth, I do believe we have the focus of the pact's channel." The pike is presented. Rauliso takes the pike for examination. "...Even without this pike, I'm confident... Do we know precisely who is possessed?" Every single party member (except Basil?) gestures/points/finger-guns at Crezonis.
GMR: "If Ur Lu'hais has sent you, if I spend some time with the centaur, I should prevent some kind of grasp on his signature, and we should be able to stop the being... Arcaito apparently possessed. ...Now tell me, why is he here?" Am: "How else are you going to de-possess him?" Rauliso looks at Amani like they're stupid. "But if you bring him in here, and he's possessed by Arcaito…" Am: "He's not possessed right now!" GMR: "Then how is him being here going to help if he's not currently being possessed?" Am: "He still has the bond with Arcaito and he can come back any moment. Right now, Arcaito has kind of fled from us, like the cowardly archfey that he is." M: "He will not come here again, and if he does we will fight him. We fought him twice before, we can take him again." GMR: "I would rather you did not fight him inside Dyventain, I've gotten quite attached to this place." Am: "Only if he comes back." GMR: "I would rather not speak of this too much further when I suspect Arcaito could be listening in. I can talk with you more if you take the centaur away, but then I would need to spend some time with it." Am: "Just ensure you're not alone with him." M: "Do you have a safe place to put him?" Ant: "You mean like his stables?"
GMR: "I was thinking it wasn't strictly essential for all of you to be here speaking with me about what we're doing next?" T: "Yes, I can wander away with him for a stroll around your beautiful school... not the whole school, just very close." K: "And watching Crezonis is Amani's favorite hobby!" Am: "It is, but so is figuring out how to deal with this." K: "I don't know, you have watched Crezonis more often than you have figured out how to deal with this, so-" Am: "I don't know how to- …" K: "Overall, I think watching Crezonis fits the definition of a hobby better than getting to the bottom of this. Just saying-" Am: *Bristling* "You think I can't get to the bottom of this?!" K: "I don't know. I mean, if you could have, we wouldn't be here." Amani glares. Meallan steps in front of Amani. "Oh Khamet, why don't you figure out how to do it, then?" K: "Well, because I do not have that much of an ego. I am humble enough to admit when I do not know how to do something." M: "Well so is Amani." Am: "You know what-" (cross-talk) Am: "If you're so competent, you watch the centaur. I'll stay here and show you otherwise." M: "I think that's a very good idea, Khamet. Why don't you go ahead?" K: "Hmm... hmm... well, Talsindra, are you going to stay here while I spend time with Crezonis, or one of us should probably be here-" Am: "No, I meant both of you go. I don't think he should be alone with any of you either. As long as you don't let him go or something." Tally is sticking with Crez, which Crez appreciates. He's open to the offer. K: "Well, okay, you know what? Crez is more socially competent than you, I like him better. Hey, Basil! Make sure these guys don't mess anything up! I'm counting on you!" Basil: "Will do."
Meallan, Amani, Basil, and Anthony are staying. Tally, Khamet, and Athenos walk out with Crezonis.
After they're gone, Meallan puts a hand on Amani's shoulder, the latter who is visibly upset. M: "Don't mind Khamet. He's an idiot." Amani says nothing. Meallan pats Amani on the shoulder. "I think you're very talented." Am: "...Do you?" M: "I do. Not everyone is born with powers such as yours. And not everyone knows how to use it like you do either." Am: ".....Thanks." M: "You're welcome. Don't mind him. He doesn't know what he's talking about and he clearly thinks he knows more than he does." Am: "...Well, that much I can agree with." They smile faintly. Meallan laughs. "I'm glad it's not just me." Am: "No, it's not." They let out a light exhale.
Rauliso says the procedure would take about a week. The bond is rather strong, but they're gonna try to make a bracelet and use that to block Arcaito. Am: "How would we keep him from taking it off?" GMR: "I mean, we can't. Unless you have another suggestion, perhaps?" Am: "...No." M: "I was wondering what would happen if we broke the arcane focus that binds Arcaito to Crezonis? The pike that I've shown you?" GMR: "I don't know; I would have to look into it myself. I don't think that a mere weapon would break the connection with an entity as powerful as an archfey, however. We could try, but-" Am: "When Crezonis is repossessed by Arcaito, he's able to summon the staff to him." M: "I personally think it would be safer if it was broken." GMR: "If you wish to break it, I don't have any strong opinions on the matter. You can break it!" Meallan doesn't break it right now, though.
M: "And one more thing. Is there anything we can do to help with these rituals?" GMR: "I don't think so. We still need to... It would be a good exercise for the apprentices, perhaps some of the masters as well. We'll need to do some research before we put this together." M: "It's nature magic, right? Or is it arcane?" GMR: "I don't think there's a significant difference?" M and Am: "Um, uh…" GMR: "It's nature based magic." M: "Oh." He withdraws and his face goes a little dark. Am: "Is it all nature-based magic?" GMR: "If you think about it, all magic--I'm not a high elf; I can't speak for them. But I feel like all magic comes from nature to some degree." Am and M: "Mmmmno." GMR: "Unless you're going around making a pact with an angel or a devil or… An archfey can be derived from nature." Am: "I mean, maybe? That doesn't mean all magic is natural." M: "There is a very significant difference between nature-based you practice here and other forms of magic." GMR: "Okay, I'll bite. What do you consider a significant difference?" Am: "Well, what I'm wondering is, if it would just take nature mages or if it would take arcane mages as well to do the de-pacting." GMR: "I think we're fully capable of doing this on our own. If you'd like to contribute, we can certainly come and find you when we've made some progress." M: "There's nothing I can do if it's nature-based magic. Nature-based magic requires a connection with nature. Which I…" GMR: "Forgive me. I don't know a lot about your home, which I can only assume is Varentar. Where do you draw your magic?" M: "From a different source." GMR: "...If you want to keep secrets from me, that's fine. I haven't studied in Varetnar, I don't have any claims to your field."
Basil: "Uh, as much as I enjoy dry academic debate, here's what I wanna know: Can we kill it?" M: "That's something I would like to know as well." GMR: "What are you actually asking?" Basil: "Arcaito. Can we kill it?" GMR: "I mean, everything can die. I would not... kill Arcaito myself. I didn't think a fey would possess a mortal." Am: "But only if they made a bond. I don't think he possesses people willy-nilly. I don't think it works like that." Anthony: *In the voice from Predator* "If it bleeds, we can kill it." GMR: "No, I'm sure it can bleed." Ant: "...Wait, yeah, actually, does Arcaito actually bleed, guys?" Am: "Don't ask me." GMR: "How would you survive him if that's what your after?" M: "Would a stronger fey be able to kill him?" GMR: "I assume so? A stronger elf can kill me, I assume a stronger fey can kill Arcaito." M: "Good." Meallan smiles. Ant: "I like what you're suggesting, Meallan, that we turn Arcaito into a fey thunderdome??" M: "I don't... I... What is a... thunder-dome? Is it a dome, that's... loud??" Ant: "Oh it's real simple. Two fey enter, one fey leaves!" M: "Oh. Alright, then, yes, I suppose that-" Am: "Wait. Should we risk the life of the good fey to save the bad fey?" GMR encourages the party to not say what the party suggests to Crezonis. M: "Risk lives? Whose life would we be risking?" Am: "You're suggesting that a good archfey fight a bad archfey, and just assume it would go alright? ...Uh, not that-" M: "I know it would go alright-" Am: "I mean, not that... it would... necessarily go that way. Just..." M: "I know it would go alright. My lady is far stronger than Arcaito."
Rauliso tells the party how to find the Grasping Woods, and now they have directions. It's not like a normal forest; they'll know when they find it.
Am: "Here's what I'm wondering. Are we... strong enough to face Arcaito? An archfey? Of all beings?" M: "Hmm. If my lady were here, I would not fear. But... I know the power she can grant me. But I'm not at that level yet." Ant: "Archfey smarchfey! I'll give him a taste of my wasp poison!" Am: "It's not that simple." M: "I agree with Amani." Ant: "Look, if I can get poisoned 4 times, this guy can get poisoned once. I'm just saying, don't rule it out!" Am: "O-kaaaay... What I'm saying is... Can we do this? I'm not against it, but... can we do it?" M: "We don't have to do it now." Am: "Well... then what do we do in the meantime?" M: "Get stronger?" Am: "If we put a stop to Crezonis, that would put a stop to Arcaito for a good long while. But we have to make sure that Crezonis is dealt with, one way or another." M: " *Sigh* I would love to do that. But Talsindra seems to think he can be saved." Am: "Well... At the very least, we should try to break the bond with Arcaito. I don't trust Crezonis and I do think he should meet justice. But if there is a way, I think... well, I don't think it'd hurt to... know how to do that in case Arcaito…" Rauliso is in favor of this idea. "If we can break the bond with the cenatur, that's a good thing. But if you have to kill it…" Am: "If we have to kill it, I'm, fi--... I mean, he murdered people in Deyn. But if there's a way to break the bond, I'm all for that." Ant: "If we're gonna save more lives by killing him, then... Uh, I dunno. Map's obviously on that side." Am: "I agree. But I think we should figure this out." M: "I would like to kill him, but there are others who would not."
Outside: The other group is taking a walk down the hall, trying not to stray too far from the nerdy office, and token in hand to avoid questions. Crezonis is shaky. Athenos is staring at him. Tally and Khamet are also there. There are some older not-students around, and they overhear rumors: -Fey annoying people -Tall cloaked figure that they tried to investigate, but it disappeared; what is it; fey, spooky, a ghost? -A sorcerer living at Dyventain summoned a storm in one of the reading rooms, and ruined peoples' shoes; rude! =|
Khamet: "Oh wow! I heard your bae helped people. That's really cool!" T: "Yeah, she's very cool. She does that." K: "Yes, I'm sure she does that! So how long have you been together? I'm just curious, you don't have to answer that." T: "I would say, uh... Depends on when you call us together, uh... 8 years? 85...? ...I would go up to 90, but I don't think that counts." K: "Huh. That's a very very long time! I would probably be born and die in that time, actually." T: "Ha ha! You're a baby." K: "Well yes, I'm a baby compared to you. Goo goo ga ga." Because lol, elves.
Athenos is super old! He's been guarding the forest for a long time! T: "How long?" Ath: "Like, twenty years! Long time!" T: " *Gasp!* Wow!* K: "Wow, Athenos. So what do you guard the forest from?" He guards it from wild beasts, weird creatures, and sometimes evil wizards. K: "Okay. So I'm here for the last two categories, but don't wild beasts _live_ in the forests?" Ath: "Well, there are some evil wild beasts that will attack other things in the forest! Like Athenos!" K: "That's very unfortunate! How did you survive all these wild beasts?" Ath: "Athenos has been protecting the forest from the beasts!" K: "You remove the wild beasts. Interesting, interesting. So, do you like animals very much?" Ath: "Sometimes!" K: "Yeah, that's my opinion." Ath: "Sometimes he likes animals! But sometimes animals don't like him!" K: "That's very true."
A young-ish elf runs by back the way they came, clearly quite distressed. Athenos wants to follow the elf. K: "Hello, elf! What's wrong." No response, because big building full of elves. "...Hello nervous elf who is currently running; what is wrong?" Briefly turns. "Aah! I'm gonna talk to Rauliso!" K: "...We can talk later? Okay! Where will you be later?" They're already gone. T: "Grandmaster Rauliso is pretty busy right now!" She runs after the elf. "Do you need some time we can deal with?" Tally and Athenos run after the elf, but the elf gets in the door first; they don't barge in after. Khamet shrugs his shoulders. "He'll be back."
The elf hammers on the door, then falls in, and goes: "There's this hole in ground in the forest, and it feels like it wants something, and I don't know what it wants! We were out there together, and the others were still there together, and they're still out there, and they thought we shouldn't leave it, but there's this hole in the ground in the forest, and it's very dark and we can't see anything, but we heard a voice, I don't know what it's saying, but... there's this hole that shouldn't be there in the forest!"
Rauliso comes forward and tries to get the elf to calm down and talk. Basically, some apprentices were out in the forest doing some training. They found this pit in the ground; they can't see anything in it even with darkvision. And "it feels like it's waiting for something." And then it started talking to them. The one elf came to get backup in Dyventain.
Meallan looks to Amani. "Are you curious about this?" Am: "Uh... Yes, I am. I don't know what it could be, but, if it's something that-"
The voice isn't something they could understand, but they think it's abyssal or infernal or one of the "bad languages." M: "If you take me there, I could certainly tell you if it's infernal or not." Amani also offers their help. "I might be able to see through darkness?" "I might be able too. I have the ability." Elf: "Thank you so much!" Rauliso agrees that the group can go investigate this hole.
The others are brought up to speed. Ant: "If we're going to go into combat, I really think I should upgrade my equipment." M: "Or you could just stay back." "No, I gotta put myself out there! For Tyzol!" Khamet is moved by Anthony's love for Tyzol, and joins. Tally stays with Crezonis.
Basil wants an equipment upgrade too. But the elf says that they'll get others if they don't go right away. So the group goes right away. Ant: "Alright, alright fine! But if I get poisoned again, that favor I owed you, we're even!" Meallan agrees to this.
And so they go out into the forest to investigate the pit. The Pit of DoomThe group follows the elf into the forest to the pit. There are four figures (total 5 apprentices) looking at this huge black hole in the ground. It feels warm as they get closer. They cannot see down into the darkness at all, save for Meallan.
As the party approaches, something rises out of the pit (that only Meallan can see). It's a very pale spider monster with a torso and huge mandibles. It looks over the group and speaks in infernal: "I've been looking forward to meeting this little god's pet that has taken something from me." Then he speaks it in common.
Meallan steps forward and speaks in infernal. "What do you mean 'the god's pet'?" The fiend laughs and goes back into the pit. Fire begins to glow in one of his hands. Roll initiative! (Anthony: "This is why I wanted to go shopping first!")
The fiend throws a fireball at Meallan, who's closest to the pit. Meallan is badly singed. (He still has the disguise on, so he looks unaffected. But he yells in pain and clutches himself. Aytal's fur is singed and is hissing (flavor text).) Amani casts mage armor. They stand 5 ft away from the pit. Pit is 20 feet in diameter. Meallan casts hex on the creature, and then eldritch blast, but it doesn't hit. Meallan then moves the heck away from the pit. (30 feet) The apprentice run away! Because no!! (But before they do, they cast little fireballs into the pit; it's unclear whether they actually hit.) Aytal does nothing. Khamet does the Help action on Meallan. Anthony casts Bardic Inspiration to Meallan. "Meallan's on fire, someone put him out! You gotta stop, drop, and roll!" He plays Disco Inferno. ((Then he attacks with the tire iron.)?) Basil... runs! (He's still scoping the situation.) He gets 20 ft away, and draws back his bow in case a target pops up.
(Meanwhile, Tally is just chilling with Crezonis, whistling a little tune.)
The fiend throws flame at Amani, badly singing them. (But at least their mage armor goes sparkly and pretty when they're hit with fire! That's the only saving grace for Amani.) Amani casts chaos bolt, but misses. They surge, and then fire again! ...And they miss again. Then they get as faaar away as possible, after that very effective turn.
Meallan gets up towards the pit and hisses in infernal: "I can see you." And then he casts eldritch blast. And hits, with the help of Anthony's disco! But he is off-put by what Meallan says, and didn't expect him to be understood. Meallan turns invisible and steps back 5 feet.
Three of the apprentices go hide behind some trees and watch. Two other apprentices back up from the edge of the pit and try firing at the fiend again. The fire goes in, and it disappears.
Khamet casts sanctuary to ward Amani. (On a failed wisdom save when an attacker targets them, they're forced to redirect their attack to someone else.) Then shouts: "Hey spider, I bet you're ugly and this is why you hide in the darkness! It's okay, not everyone can be beautiful!"
Anthony casts True Strike to gain advantage on their next turn. Then he casts Bardic Inspiration on Khamet. "Khamet, you can't say your abilities in combat are useless; you gotta go up and bash this spider with me!"
Basil gets a little closer and attacks the fiend with his crossbow, standing next to an ally to allow him to sneak attack. But he misses. Athenos moves to stand behind Basil and Khamet.
Spider-creature speaks to Khamet: "Give me the key, and I won't have to kill you or your friends." Meallan knows what's going on. Amani is confused. Khamet is briefly confused before he realizes. Anthony: "Oh man, I think he wants my car keys!" Amani: "What is a car- nevermind, it's not important. Why does he want it so badly?" Khamet: "...No, it's mine! I won it fair and square. If you didn't want to lose it, maybe whoever is in charge of you shouldn't have been an idiot! Maybe! Ever thought of that?" The fiend throws a bolt of fire at Khamet for a chunk of damage.
Amani: "What's so special about it?" Khamet: "Um, uh... Yeah, it's a key to a demon realm, and uh, this thing is probably a demon spider? So…" Amani: "What if it wants to go home?" Basil: "Break it!" Amani: "Well then it'll definitely kill us!" Amani looks around for anything to use, such as something to fill the hole with, but they don't find anything. (DM: "You could throw the 5 elves in the pit and see if that appeases the demon?" GLQ: "...No.") Amani readies an action, and shouts out: "Try to find something that'll help!" K: "That'll help with what?" Am: "This! This whole situation! The pit!" Amani steps back a little further.
Meallan casts Eldritch Blast (breaking his invisibility), and hits for 9 points of damage. (Meallan, by the way, is a firbolg again and is Singed; some of his ears are smoking.) Then he says in infernal: "If you want the key, you have to come out and get it!" Then he runs away from the pit. "Or else I'm going to keep hitting you!" The fiend just laughs. M: "...Then I'll keep whittling you down."
The 2 remaining apprentices throw more fire cantrips at the fiend.
Aytal scrambles down from Meallan, runs over, and scrambles up on Khamet's shoulder. He chitters to direct his attacks, Helping him out. Khamet attacks with his Ossius Metallicum and Divine Smite! He hits for a chunk of damage! Anthony bashes the spider with his tire iron! ...And misses. Khamet pats Aytal on the head. Aytal gives him a lick. "Good boy." Basil Helps Meallan.
Athenos suggests that everyone should move away from the pit! (So that it actually comes out of the pit.) And then he does so himself!
The spider-demon throws fire at Khamet again, and it burns him a bit. Khamet loses concentration, and the sanctuary falls from Amani.
Amani considers using mage armor, on the one person who doesn't have armor (Basil)... But thinks he's fine and won't get attacked. (Chains: "Thanks.") So they just back up further. They mutter: "I can do so much more than this..."
Meallan also backs up more and readies an action; as soon as it comes out, he blasts it. The apprentices move back as well. Aytal stays on Khamet's shoulder and continues to Help him, despite being singed. </3 Khamet and Anthony disengage and move away. Basil also moves away from the pit.
Everyone's fairly far away from the pit and they wait. After a few moments, A leg reaches out far for the edge and a large spider creature emerges from the pit. Meallan and Athenos set forth their readied actions, with Meallan's attack (that hits!) and Athenos'... missed attack.
The spider-demon claws Athenos, then smacks him with a longsword. As it hits, the end of the sword lights up with fire; Athenos is hurt. Then the spider-demon walks towards Khamet.
Amani casts Mind Spike on the vaguely-centaurish creature; they seem to be in the habit of this! The spider-demon is able to shrug some of it off, but is still hurt by the attack... a little. (The spider-demon is still looking okay. Amani steps back a little further.)
Meallan hits with his Eldritch Blast with Basil's help, and hits strong! It recoils and hisses. In infernal: "Not so strong without your shadows, aren't you?" He clacks his mandibles at Meallan.
The apprentices are terrified by this giant terrible spidery thing! Three of them retreat behind the trees; the others can no longer see them.
Khamet is doing badly, but attacks with Aytal's help, for his cuteness inspires him! And he still has bardic inspiration! And he hits! ...For. Some damage. Then he runs away, provoking an attack of opportunity. He's hit by the claws, and he goes down.
Anthony goes over and casts Cure Wounds right away! He heals 8 hit points, bringing Khamet back to consciousness. Anthony then gives Khamet another bardic inspiration. "Have another one! You almost got murdered, and then you haven't, and now you got to turn the tide!"
Basil takes a rope, tries to lasso him, and goes to ride it! And the party goes wild! It sees him coming and tries to attack, but Basil lands right on it! So now he's sitting on the back of this spider-monster. And then he tries to tame it! Basil: "Hey, I can get these guys to stop shooting at you if you be my new best friend. I'm really good at it!" Demon: "They're doing very little to me, really." Basil: "Oh well; fair enough."
Athenos attacks the monster with divine smite and thunderous smite! There's a thunderous explosion in front of him, and then this blinding light. The demon is badly wounded from this. The spider-demon sees how much Athenos can do. He looks to Khamet.
"Give me the demi-planar key. I know you can't do this much longer." "Hmm... Why do you want the demi-planar key? It's mine." The demon, very slowly: "It can open the demiplane." "But it's mine!!"
The demon opens his mandibles wide and screeches, attacking Khamet, Anthony, and Basil nearby. Their ears are hurt, but Basil is stunned; incapacitated. When the demon screech, the Ossius Metallicum reverberates in a way it hasn't before.
Amani casts Mind Spike again, this time hitting to full effect! But not as much damage as desired, but he still doesn't like it.
Meallan casts mirror image on himself. That creates 3 duplicates of himself. And then he gets up in the demon's face to distract him.
Two apprentices fling tiny daggers at the spider; one hits, one doesn't. (The one who hit was brave enough to move forward for it.) It does middling damage. The one that misses nearly hits Basil (B: "thanks bud"), the one that hits sinks into the spider-demon's armor.
Aytal scrambles off of Khamet and jumps in the spider-demons face. Then winds around the feet of the Meallans.
Khamet claps his hands and heals himself. Bam! Anthony casts True Strike, moves in close, and readies a two-handed attack with a tire iron. Basil... hangs out, because that's all he can do when he's stunned. Athenos whacks the spider-demon with the butt of his blade, annoying the spider-demon.
The spider-demon, not doing well, just tries to yank the Ossius Metallicum from Khamet. But he easily keeps hold of it.
Amani casts chaos bolt, but utterly misses. They yell to Khamet: "Get back if you can!" They fill themselves with energy, using the last of their sorcery points to allow them to cast another quickened chaos bolt at the creature! ...And still misses. They stare at their hands where they've been casting spells from and... sighs.
Meallan tells Anthony and Khamet: "Run; I'll distract it." Then he moves away. The demon spider swipes at him, and hits one of the mirror images, poofing it out of existence. Once Meallan is out of range, he casts Eldritch Blast, which misses. So he gets back in front of his face now. Aytal is still running around his legs.
The apprentices all group together. One of them hits with an attack, the other goes back to hiding behind the tree.
Khamet hits with a smiting attack, doing a chunk of damage! Now there's even more light; almost like an explosion.
Anthony bashes the spider demon, but misses.
Basil stabs with a rapier and sneak attack, but can't quite manage it due to difficulty balancing. So he tries strangling it.
Athenos attacks with the butt of his glaive, and that does it! The demon collapses, and falls half-back into the pit. He's down!
...Uh. But Basil is still on his back. (OOC: Chains: "You never see me again." GLQ: "Bye!" Chains: "Bye-bye!") Basil manages to jump off the spider-demon and out of the way before the latter falls in the pit, but takes 2 damage in the fall.
All the apprentices are crying. "Oh my god, it's over!!"
Amani, after looking to see Basil is okay, is just... standing there, staring at the ground. Meallan waves away the mirror images, looks around, and then pets Aytal. He doesn't look at the spider demon.
Khamet goes forward to check if it's dead instead of just down. It looks dead… "Yup, this is perfectly de-!" Amani shoots ray of frost at the spider-demon, barely even paying attention. Purely out of spite.
The demon's sword falls to the ground. Athenos inspects it and concludes... It's a normal sword! (Natural 1.)
Meallan wants to scavenge the body. Anthony checks if the spider-demon has eyelashes for him to use. The hideous spider-demon turns out to have weirdly beautiful eyelashes! Anthony helps himself. ((What am I writing...?))
Anthony then checks if he has poison!
Khamet blows raspberries at the dead spider. "Yup, it's mine now! Not yours. It's my personal property and you cannot seize it! Because you are not part of any government." M: "You are more than welcome to have it, Khamet. I don't want it." K: "Yes, it is mine." He really likes it! Khamet is also hurting in his face, head, and everything. "Thank you Anthony for healing me; that was pretty good." Ant: "Yeah, no problem! Anything you need man, I got it!" K: "Yeah. Do you wanna go to the store together? I think we've earned it." Ant: "Yeah, I really really need to go to the weapons and armor store!" K: "Yeah, great, awesome. We'll both go."
The party is very, very keen on returning and just... chilling, after all of this. Amani's not saying anything; they're already walking off.
Basil is hacking off a spider leg, because he wants spider nuggets! "...Meallan, will you help me with the leg?" Meallan helps Basil carry the leg. "Do you want a lift?" "...Sure!" Meallan gives Basil a piggy-back ride.
The apprentices thank the group repeatedly. They thought they were going to die instantly, and they're so happy!!
Khamet: "Basil; I knew you could do great things! Look, you slew this vile demon!" "I did absolutely nothing during that entire fight!" Ant: "You tried to ride the spider again!" K: "Yeah, but y'know, if you weren't distracting it, it wouldn't have died as quickly! Yeah." B: "The important thing is, one day, I will get a giant bug pet." Meallan holds up Aytal. "Are you gonna thank Aytal as well?" K: "Aww!, yes, I will thank this cute little weasel, who actually helped me, and who is cute, and adorable, and not ugly! Aww, I love you Aytal! But not you." Aytal boops Khamet on the nose with his own nose.
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Post by Moni on May 21, 2019 1:43:38 GMT -5
I should post an out-of-context discord quote. no, i'm not giving you the context. it's better this way.
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Post by Moni on May 28, 2019 11:45:04 GMT -5
SO Liou challenged me with these fighting words: well i present to you this exact thing... that i wrote in a sleep-deprived frenzy. don't thank me yet, because i promise you will suffer. I do not think that they would understand That I now have only sixty odd years To find that special person, and yet six odd years have I then wasted completely. My first romance--if one could call it such-- Had asked of me to tell her my status, If I were sickly or weak, and not just Me, but my family as well! I should Have known as of then that she did not care for me. She asked the question rather blunt And I of course refused. Yet I went out with her a few times more, before a knight her face saw and slew her. "A succubus I smote," said he, "but do not quite despair, For demons cannot sense pain." Grisly though It may have looked, these words did comfort me, though her red dying eyes haunted my dreams. My second romance was an aasimar With beautiful and silken black long hair Who was quite infatuated with me. A problem, however, he had. Fallen From light, he sought to retrieve it once more, When I brought to Raia him, her fist curled And dug into his face. A fraud he was, Too fallen to be saved, forever darned, Forever vile. We turn to my third such doomed romance: It lived a short while before He one day left. Once per week we would meet At night and speak for hours--and woe befell upon me once I realized that I Would speak to him no longer. Thereafter I found a rat who squealed with joy when I Approached. He lived with me the remainder Of his rat-life: one year. I still miss him. My fourth romance was more substantial, yes: I met her while she wrote a dull report. Our eyes met briefly and to my surprise A rendezvous she asked for. Often we convened, and so enraptured and so blind I was to leave her serpentine habits Entirely unnoticed, till the day Inevitable when decided she That she would not betray her comrades dear For mere sentiments such as love. She thus Tried stabbing me to rid herself of this Attachment. Survived I thanks to Raia, Who fought her off and offered me solace. So sixty years I have to find the one, but I do fear that it may not suffice. yeah so if you made it this far, your eyes have rolled out of your skull. sorry.
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Post by Thorn on May 29, 2019 7:22:33 GMT -5
The Generator 3: Return of the Shipping! WHAT??? I- I just...no words. Uhh... Moni...is it meant to do this...? 10/10 best role model. Given that Gesthiria was one of the guards assigned to Dyventain, I hope like heckity they don't see this fanart...awkward! Is this...how Tally approaches conflict resolution??!!??!?
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Post by Celestial on May 31, 2019 14:54:28 GMT -5
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Post by Thorn on Jun 5, 2019 23:07:18 GMT -5
Hey guys! As discussed in the server: the suggested date for our next session is Thursday 20th June, 7:00pm BST. Please let me know if this will be an issue!
In other news related to something posted in the server: after today I have realised that shipping any combination of EuroAtlantis paladins is. Absolutely hilarious. (Khamet, Raia, Cepith and Athenos.)
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