It's 7:15, the rain is abating. They're at Deyn still. Basil tells the others they're taking a walk, then takes off with Juniper.
Amani: “What are
they up to?”
Meallan raises an eyebrow and flicks an ear, but says nothing.
Tally is surprised Basil and Juniper are going so fast but is so happy that they're seeing to their needs and supports them. She tells them to have fun and be safe.
Anthony: “WOO HOOOOO!”
Khamet thinks Basil and Juniper will be good influences on each other and will not get up to any trouble whatsoever!
Amani: “I don't want to know.”
Crezonis' left little finger is missing; he keeps running his fingers over the stump. His clothes are torn. Dark grey necrotic scar across his torso thanks to Meallan. It still hurts.
The elves and centaurs regrouped over the slightly charred house.
Tyzol moves to the elves and centaurs. Her hand doesn't leave her axe and she still has her eye on her Crezonis.
Meallan: “This town; how badly burned is it?”
One elf: “Well, there's not an awful lot left, I mean... It wasn't razed to the ground exactly, but... there's not a lot left.”
“Is the apothecary still up?”
“I don't know--”
Anthony: “Was the tavern spared?”
“I don't think you're asking the right questions here...”
Meallan: “Did you manage to evacuate them?”
“No.”
Tyzol: “Well, the apothecary was not spared. If it's ingredients you're after, you may be able to find something.”
Meallan wants to find healing herbs and incense.
She indicates that they might have incense, but says she doesn't know much about magic. (While handling her axe.) She points Meallan towards the apothecary, and Meallan heads there.
Anthony: “And which way was the tavern?”
“We didn't actually have a tavern. It was a small-- I can see this troubles you greatly. (Some IRL thing happened with Thundy.) … I mean, I probably have some sort of alcoholic beverage back where I'm staying. You did do us a great justice. ...I mean, you didn't kill that one, but-”
Anthony: “I'll drink to that!”
They go off to drink together.
Amani wants to make sure that Crezonis is tied up.
Crezonis insists that Tally or Khamet tie him back up.
Amani: “So long as someone does it, I don't care.” And so long as it's done well.
Khamet: “I suppose I'll restrain him if all of you are alright with that.”
They let him.
(OOC: “Khamet is just like extremely competent at tying people up; don't question him.”)
Amani watches because the other ones
somehow became loose. Amani legit doesn't know.
Khamet doesn't know how that happened, it was so weirrrd. =o
Amani helps Khamet tie Crezonis up.
Khamet... does poorly! The knot... is tied.
Kha0met looks happy with the knot he's tied.
He brush-claps his hands together. “This is perfect, Crezonis cannot escape at all! Okay buddy, it's you and me!”
Amani examines the knot (Crezonis is edgy when Amani approaches; Amani doesn't care) and notices that the knot around his legs isn't tied well at all. Crezonis could just wriggle that off.
Amani turns to Khamet and just... points at the rope and stares.
“What exactly is wrong? The rope is tied...”
“The rope isn't tied very well.”
“(something about Crezonis) seems leery.”
“I want to talk about the rope. Specifically how it might fall off him.”
Khamet investigates the rope and notices that it's not as good as he first thought it was.
“Oh. I guess I never really trained in my knot-tying skills... Well, if you want to take a crack at it...”
“Uh... If you want me to? I, uh... um, okay! Um, okay!” They try to tie the rope!
Amani... Also does poorly!
(Crezonis: “If I knew how to properly tie myself up, I'd help you. It seems you're having trouble.”)
Amani: “Um. There!”
The rope is slightly better, but... not by much.
Meallan picks up some charcoal. (Amani grabs some too.) Then he looks around for anything undamaged; herbs and incense. And he manages to find some.
He drops his disguise (because no one can see him anyway) and starts a ritual; it takes an hour. And since he needs a short rest afterwards, it takes about 2 hours.
Anthony: “What's up with the healthcare system in this place man?”
Ty: “I don't think we have one.”
“Well, you're right, you're right. In the future, we got hospitals, you just go there when you're injured. None of this healing stuff...”
Ty: “It's been 10 minutes, why are we acting like this already?”
There's OOC joking about chugging the alcohol, and Anthony using some of his own stuff.
“What is this, dwarven stuff?”
“There's just this wine bottle that's-! Uh oh...”
((OOC, we all lose it.
Thorn: “You're gonna kill my favorite NPC!”))
They fail their saves and are poisoned.
“Hey, you okay? Hey, that tall cat guy was gonna search for some healing stuff, let's go find him.”
“That might be a good idea. I feel like my throat is closing up a bit.”
“Ugh, what's in this stuff?”
“I don't know, you gave it to us! I- gah!”
They go try to find Meallan for help.
(Anthony: “At least we know it works!”)
Amani and Khamet... talk. About finding a topic of conversation to talk about. They talk about rope-tying first, then spider webs, then spiders and whether they're actually good at spinning webs. Then the weather, which Amani vetoes, then philosophy, to which Amani wonders whether it's stale academic philosophy or actually finding peace and meaning in your life, then Khamet arguing that the two intersect, Amani disagreeing, and them arguing briefly about that. Crezonis is very bored. He stands there not looking at the village.
Tally moves further away from Amani and Khamet's senseless conversation and goes to check out one of the houses with the elves. She asks if she needs any help. The elf (same one who spoke to Meallan) replies: Yes. Her brother went missing when the bandits attacked. He chased off an injured bandit during the raid and he went off into the woods. It's been a few days and he hasn't been seen since. She appeals to Tally to help find her brother. If Tally finds him, she'll give Tally her magic spice pouch.
(Tally: “Well, that would be useful to bribe somebody else I know...” (Regarding getting the others to help. She mentions that she might have some difficulty there.)
Tally agrees.
The elf says that he went towards the treeline. (About the same direction Juniper went.)
Tally mentions how it'd be difficult to find him after a few days, but “The least we can do is try.”
Elf: “I mean, he wouldn't just leave. But I just don't want to not try.”
The elf says that her name is Venali.
Khamet: “Well Amani, it seems like you are an independent young, uh, person. Do you want to, y'know, party it up in the nearby burned settlement with the others? Or do you want to watch Crezonis?”
Am: “I mean, I think at least one of us should keep an eye on Crezonis. Even if he is telling the truth, we can't say the same for Arcaito.” So Amani still wants to watch Crezonis.
Khamet feels bad that Crezonis is just in one place. “Hello Crezonis! Do you want to pick things from the forest with me, or are you content just staying here, with our dear friend... friend... Amani?”
(Am: “It's okay, you don't have to flatter me.”)
Crezonis says they would much rather stay with Khamet.
K: “Okay. In that case, I will keep Crezonis company, and I will try to find leaves for a very special project of mine. And Amani, if you wish to look for leaves with me, you can. If you wish to stare at the clouds, you can also do that. And also, I think academic philosophy and the philosophy about finding peace
do intersect, and in fact, the reason anyone goes into academic philosophy is because they need to--” he rambles on and on.
Amani eventually interrupts. “No, I guess I don't have anything better to do than watch Crezonis, so, I can follow you to help you pick... leaves... or... whatever it is... you... do... out... in the woods.”
“I need really big nice leaves.”
Crez: “Okay, I'm gonna ask a serious question, Khamet. ...Do you want me, to slip out of these, very very skilled knots? Or should I just hobble along and pretend they're working?”
Am: “We have time.”
Khamet says he trusts them enough to not slip out of these very skilled knots, and they can always try again.
Am: “Even if you trust Crezonis, you can't trust Arcaito.”
“Well, either way, he might still get away from our very, very, well done knots. I don't think it matters either way. He's more comfortable free than hobbled, I think.”
C: “Thank you.”
Am: “...I still did a better job than you did.”
K: “You aren't wrong, Amani. You aren't wrong. But I still think he should... We can try again.”
“I'm not worried about trying again, I'm worried about in-between.”
“But it won't make a difference.”
Amani tries to keep Crezonis' legs tied, and won't let Crez take them off.
“I don't really have advice on how to make this stay on better, but why don't you go find Meallan? He's good at this.”
K: “Mmmnaaah”
C: “I promise I won't run off. I can't even move very well in a forest. If you keep that in mind, it should be fine.”
K: “If Arcaito does show up, the bindings aren't going to do anything.”
A: “...I suppose if something happens, I'll just mind-spike him.”
C: “Don't do that. ._. Was that what that was? That was, not great.”
K: “Well, I guess sometimes drastic problems sometimes require drastic solutions. I trust Amani will be more judicious about mind spike.”
They take Crez into the woods with the poorly tied knots.
Tally sees them go off, and Crez having trouble moving. “...Okay?”
Tally has other things to deal with.
She asks the elves: “Before we- before I head off, are you planning to try to rebuild this town? Is there anything that can be done specifically?”
“We don't know, we have to hear back from Ur about what they want us to do, and we're just not sure at this stage.”
“You've already managed to contact them?”
“Yes, it's been a few days. We actually managed to contact one of the guards, and they came back, we got centaurs, they've been helpful. But we just don't know, we still need to hear what Ur wants us to do with this place. We can wait for Ur, it's fine.”
“When we go back to Zaihar, we can tell them the news and remind them.”
“Thank you.”
They exchange names.
Venali: “Thank you. And I hope you can find my brother.”
Anthony and Tyzol stumble out into the street.
In the bar, Anthony: “No one's been poisoned, no one's been poisoned!” Goes out. “
There's plenty more poison where that came from!”
Tyzol: “Anthony!”
Anthony: “Yeah, okay. MEALLAN! MEALLAN!”
Ty: “WHERE WAS HE GOING AGAIN, I FORGET”
An: “HE WAS GOING TO THE APOTHECARY, WHERE'S THE APOTHECARY”
Ty: “I DON'T KNOW I CAN'T EVEN SEE PROPERLY”
An: “OH! MY EYES ARE BURNING SO MUCH”
Ty: “MY FACE IS ON FIRE”
An: “MEALLAN!”
Ty: “IT'S LIKE WHEN YOU CAN'T FEEL YOUR TOES WHEN YOU'RE WEARING TIGHT BOOTS”
An: “UGH I FEEL COLD AND HOT AT THE SAME TIME”
Ty: “MEALLAN!”
Tally and Meallan both hear this. Meallan pays no attention.
(Amani hears screaming of Meallan and something about shoes being too tight.
Amani: “Oh, Meallan's complaining about something petty. It's nothing.”
Khamet fake-solemnly puts his hand over his heart. “Poor Meallan.”
Am: “May we remember him and his untied shoelaces.”
Kh: “Yes.”)
Anthony and Tyzol go to Tally, and Tally excuses herself from the elves to head to the two poisoned idiots. Tally asks what's going on.
Tyzol: “WE CAN'T SEE, ELF LADY!”
Tal: “Ah, but you can see I'm an elf.”
Tyzol stammers unintelligibly. “I can see shapes!”
Anthony: “Tally help, we drank the wasp poison!”
Ty: “It was wasp poison?!”
Tal: “Why did you drink the wasp poison?”
Ty: “ANTHONY!”
An: “I was trying to impress her!”
Ty: “I'M GOING TO BITE YOUR FACE OFF! SO HARD!”
An: “Aw man, that's not what I wanted! I mean, kind of similar, but not exactly!”
Tal: “I've had bad dates before, but not exactly.”
Ty: “NOT A DATE!”
An: “Wait, really?? Aww!”
Ty: “A DATE WOULD NOT FEED ME WASP POISON!”
An: “Agh!!”
((Thundy: “Oh please don't let this be how my character dies.”))
We talk for a bit about how to treat this poisoning without magical intervention.
Tally suggests they drink water, and shortly after just tries to fetch Meallan. Anthony and Tyzol follow.
Meallan has drawn a circle, lain things out. He's sitting at the edge of the circle, reading, starting to light incense.
Tally bursts in. “Hi.”
Mea: “...Yes?”
Tal: “I know, I know, you're very disturbed, and-”
Meallan is quickly putting away all his stuff.
Tal: “What are you smoking?” (Anthony and Tyzol argue in the background for a bit.)
Mea: “I'm not smoking anything. I was trying to summon something.”
Tal: “Yes, I am sure I disturbed you in something extremely important, and that is absolutely awful-” (Mea: “Yes it was.”) “and, uh, I would only have done this if an absolutely idiot had ingested, drunk, poison, and that is exactly what happened, and if you heard any screaming, that is probably what it was all about, and we have a wonderful opportunity to save peoples' lives right there, and maybe have them indebted to you, and maybe owe you a favor later if that's your thing, so, basically, DO SOMETHING PLEASE!”
Mea: “...What do you expect me to do? I don't know much about curing poison.”
Tal: “Probably a bit, better than me!”
Mea: “I suppose I can try.”
(Anthony: “Oh god, it feels like a percussion orchestra in my stomach!”
Tyzol: “I HATE YOU!”
Tally: “Does it have a good beat?”)
Meallan looks around for anything in the apothecary that could help. ...Nat 20!
Apparently, giant wasps are just a problem in the area, so there's a convenient potion in the corner labeled: “Wasp poison antidote.”
Meallan: “...This should do it.”
Anthony: “...Give it to her first! It's my fault!”
Tyzol: “...I still hate you.”
Meallan's a firbolg, which is new to Tyzol. Her reaction: “You look taller!” (He's 7'7”. A bit taller than Tyzol.)
Tyzol drinks the antidote. Disgusted sounds. “What was that sorcery?!”
Mea: “It's antidote.”
Ty: “...You got fluffy ears!”
Mea: “Yes, this is, a... disguise. I was preparing.”
Ty: “It's nice. This is not very good.”
An: “This stuff tastes like Satan's butt!”
Ty: “I don't know who Satan is!”
Meallan pulls back Anthony's hair and forces him to drink the rest of the potion, and casts Spare the Dying on them both just to be sure.
Then he sighs deeply. “Please do not disturb me again. I'm trying to complete something.”
Tyzol's already storming off.
Anthony: “I'll call you!!”
Tyzol: “...I'll still bite your face off!”
Meallan: “...I do not know what you're doing. I don't care what you're doing. Please don't disturb me again.” And he goes back into the house.
Tally wants to apologize, but trails off.
Khamet, Amani, and Crezonis are off in the woods to find herbs and leaves! (Moni: “But most importantly, leaves.”)
Am: “So, what kind of plants are you looking for?”
“I'm looking for leaves.”
“What kind of leaves?”
“Leaves. Pretty ones. Pretty, nice, solid leaves.”
“...Why? Wh-what are they for?”
“I'm going to make an umbrella for Talsindra, because she needs protection from the sun.”
“Oh! Um, okay.”
Crezonis is bit more relaxed after stepping away from Deyn, but he's confused by Khamet's motives.
“One will make due with what one has.”
“How do you plan to make an umbrella out of...?”
“Okay. Leaves + Twigs = You get a very good umbrella”
Am: “Or a very bad one.”
Crez: “I have questions.”
Kh: “Or a very bad one! Well, it's not like I have anything better to do.”
Am: “...Me neither.”
So they look for leaves! Amani also looks for herbs, components, and anything edible, while occasionally picking up whatever leaves they fine. They get moss, mushrooms, and sorrel.
Crezonis wants to help, but he's still pretending to be tied up.
Khamet wants to give him a bit more freedom. Khamet asks Amani if they mind if Crezonis helps.
Am: “Sure. If he tries to give us anything poisonous, I'll do something about it.”
Kh: “...I mean. They're leaves.
Crez: “I just assumed they were all poisonous.”
Kh: “You know, that's not a terrible way of looking at plants, Crezonis.”
Am: “It isn't until you're hungry, or starving.”
Crez: “
I don't eat leaves!”
Meallan tells Tally: “If you want to watch, you can, I don't mind.”
“...Um, I really appreciate that. This set-up isn't really my thing...”
“I'm not asking for help.”
“Um...”
Meallan says she can watch so as to see he's not up to anything suspicious. Tally agrees for a little while.
Anthony goes out for a walk all depressed. Cue sad music.
Amani realizes: How is this umbrella going to be kept from rotting; preserved?
Kh: “Hm, I guess we could look for a hive, cover everything in beeswax. First we create the leaf sheet, then we'll cover it with this substance sometime in the future.”
They walk back to Deyn, and Crezonis goes quiet again.
They argue a bit about whether it's a good idea to melt down a beehive for this. Khamet argues against killing any bees. Am: “Well, you're destroying their home.” Khamet talks about creating a new home for them out of wood. Am: “Okay, I don't know how to do that?” They argue for a bit. Amani's new suggestion: Take the honey while Khamet deals with the bees. They talk about this for a bit, and Khamet feels guilty about one other time with bees. </3
Finally, they decide to look around and see if they can find... well, anything. Amani's not picky. They decide to try to find something in the ruined houses for anything. Amani's starting to think this won't work.
They go out searching, and they go into a random house to find preservatives (like honey or beeswax) for the umbrella! It's a normal house. There's a jar of jam.
Um. Well, turns out... there's an elf within, as they chose the house near the elves?
Venali (who they haven't met) goes: “Um... What are you doing?”
“We're looking for something to preserve the leaves in the forest.”
“So you're like a leaf collector? Well, have you tried magic spells to preserve leaves, or something like that...?”
Am: “Well... Oh. ...Um...” They look embarrassed.
Kh: “I... regrettably have a very small amount of money.”
Venali: “Oh. Well, um. Well, I mean, I'll help you if I can. But. It so happens that this is my house, and I just feel a little bit... if random strangers are in it, it's not... I'm sorry.”
Am: “...Um, no, no, I'm sorry. Um...”
Kh: “We're sorry. We shouldn't have assumed this house was uninhabited.”
Ven: “It's perfectly fine. Um. Seeing as most of the houses aren't inhabited right now. But um, I would recommend maybe asking the proprietor of the premises next time, before just going into their house.”
Am: “...I understand, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.”
Kh: “I apologize. That is good advice. I will take your advice in the future.”
((It's very, very awkward.))
Amani walks out of the house embarrassed and sits down next to the house. And eventually realizes “oh crap, Crezonis!”, and sits down near him.
Khamet asks Venali, properly, if she has any preservative material.
Venali: “What are you hoping to use these leaves for? Because I really think magic is the best course here.”
“I'm going to use these leaves to make an umbrella for our drow friend.”
Venali recognizes her. “I think that's a wonderful idea! It's ambitious to make an umbrella out of leaves. Um, I have some jam...? It's sticky, I think it works as a preservative, um, do you want jam...?”
Khamet agrees and asks how much for the jam. Venali doesn't make him pay for the jam. She also directs him towards the apothecary for possibly something there. Khamet goes to look for the apothecary. The two introduce themselves to each other.
Khamet goes to grab Amani to go to the apothecary. Amani... is not standing up. Amani's not even listening.
Kh: “...Hello Amani! There's an apothecary somewhere in this village! Do you want to go with me?”
Amani's quiet for a long while. Then: “Yeah, I guess...? ….I'm trying to find a spell? I... kind of forgot I had them...?”
((Incredulous laughing OOC comments.
Someone OOC: “You have one job!!”
Am: “I know that sounds silly...”))
Amani eventually stands up and quietly follows Khamet while whispering lists of spells they could possibly use.
Amani decides to stay behind with Crezonis while Khamet goes ahead. Amani calls out: “Let me know if you need prestidigitation!! Or ray of frost!!”
Kh: “Got it.”
Tally eventually leaves Meallan to his ritual, who's chanting in Sylvan. Tally goes out and sees Khamet. Khamet hears the chanting and whispers loudly:
Kh:
“Hey! Talsindra! What is our resident firbolg doing??”Tally forehead-slaps and whispers into Khamet's ear. “He's very busy and must not be disturbed until he finishes.”
“Okay Tally! How important is it? Is it so important that it would be rude to interrupt him! Very rudely? Or is it not so important that I
can interrupt him very rudely?”
Tally says no, it would be very rude, and he should not interrupt unless someone is about to die, or if the house is about to burn down, or if a flood is coming, but he would never forgive Khamet if he interrupts.
“You must have done something very interesting while we were watching Crezonis. Um, anyway Talsindra! I'm looking for something to help me preserve the leaves of a plant! Can you help me?”
“...No.” … “I mean, I wish I could, but I mean, I'd rather be honest with you.”
“...Okay. ...Um. When do you think Meallan will be done with his bathroom break?”
Tally tries to clarify that no, the chanting firbolg warlock who is burning incense and let Tally watch is
not taking a bathroom break.Tally asks Khamet: “So you say you
were watching Crezonis?”
“Um, n-no, I just came here.”
“...Okay, shall we go watch Crezonis now?”
“Oh, Amani is watching Crezonis now!”
“Okay, let's go watch Amani watch Crezonis.”
“Can we come back when Meallan is done?”
“Yes we can.”
They reunite with Amani and Crezonis. Amani is keeping an eye on Crezonis, but otherwise not doing much besides looking glum.
Tally: “...Do you like what you see?”
Amani is startled. “Um! Um, no! Um, I... I'm just watching him, that's all. Um.”
Kh: “And Amani is very good at watching people!” He touches Amani's shoulder with his elbow. “They are very good at watching things!”
Crezonis: “I'm not a thing!”
Amani: “...Don't patronize me.”
Kh: “I'm sorry. You looked very upset.”
Am: “Ah. It... It's nothing. Um, did you still want a spell for what you're doing? I can, try...?”
Kh: “Um, sure! Let's try a spell.”
Except Amani doesn't know a spell. None of their spells really work. And they need to put the umbrella together first anyway. They decide to wait for Meallan to finish.
Amani is suddenly interested. “Finish what? What's he doing?”
Kh: “You know, Talsindra wouldn't tell me, but it seems like he needs some private time to himself.”
Am: “I see.” They stand up. “Can you watch Crezonis for a bit? Um, I just want to go out for a bit, I don't want to disturb Meallan. Can you tell me where he is?”
Khamet gives them directions to the apothecary. Amani thanks them, goes off in some direction away, and then circles around to the apothecary where Meallan is.
Tally examines Crezonis. He's very anxious, he's not looking at Deyn. When Amani leaves, he seems a little less tense, but he's still anxious about something.
Tally asks Crezonis if anything happened while she was gone.
“...We looked for leaves? Got some mushrooms or something? It was weird, but not anything particularly bad.”
“O-kay?”
“I don't get it either.”
Anthony returns from his walk. He's on his phone, yelling, near Tally and Crezonis.
“I don't know! I guess it turns out I should not try and serve poison to women I'm interested in! I know right? I said I'm sorry! I know... Yeah, I guess you're right. Um, I'll call you back! I gotta go!”
(??): “...What the hell?”
An: “Um, telemarketer.”
Tally confirms that poison is not a good step for a healthy relationship.
An: “I seem to have gathered that!”
Tally: “I really should not offer you any dating tips, but...”
An: “Maybe if I offer her flowers? Non-poisonous ones!”
Tal: “Flowers... Well, unless she's allergic to them?”
“Do you know which flowers are not poisonous?”
“...Only one way to find out?”
“I'm not eating the flowers!”
“How about some kind of candy?” Some kind commonly eaten.
“Sure! See any
lying around here?”
“No... Maybe next time you cook a meal?”
Khamet: “Anthony! I have a great idea! Okay? You should just become very very strong and prove yourself in one-on-one combat! Tyzol is clearly a warrior, she will appreciate it!”
“Ah, right right right, I got an idea, Khamet! We'll have a fight! You take a dive, right? Don't worry, I know Cure Wounds, I should be able to undo anything if I punch you in the face too much!”
Crezonis: “Is he trying to date the dragonborn, Talsindra?”
Tal: “I mean, good taste, right?”
Crez: “I don't know!”
“It might sound like a very far-fetched method in the first place. But actually, something quite similar, after many many different adventures, turned out to work for me, so...”
“I don't think you know what a healthy relationship is.”
“No really, really, it--”
An: “Neither do I! I don't even have access to Tinder out here!”
(??): “Tinder? Everything burned here!”
Crezonis thinks they all have messed up relationships.
Tally: “I promise it works out better than it sounds.”
Crez: “I hope so...”
“But it took about 40 years of being messed up before it got better.”
An: “Aw man, I'll be old by then!”
An: “I'll just make her a peace offering. If that doesn't work, uh. I guess we're off to the next town!”
Kh: “I guess that's a strategy?”
(??): “Do you have any strategy in mind?”
An: “Music!”
People seem okay with this idea.
(Crezonis to Khamet: “Humans are just weird...”
Khamet: “Humans, well, I wouldn't say we are weird, but I'm a human, so perhaps we are very strange to you.”)
Amani goes to apothecary, but not to interfere. They try to sneakily peer in. Meallan is still chanting in Sylvan. The words they pick up with their limited Sylvan language knowledge: “bound, linked, fey of Varentar, come here, master”.
There's a ball of light in the circle that's getting bigger, now the size of a cat.
The ritual ends at the end of the hour. And the little battle of light turns into... a little furry sable! <33
Amani can barely hold back their squeeing!
Meallan is just delighted at the arrival of his little sable. <33 It climbs onto his shoulders and Meallan pets him and they bond~
Amani leaves and lets them have their moment.
Amani returns to the group to this conversation (but doesn't hear Crezonis):
An: “Okay, so I'm gonna play the music, but I'm also gonna challenge her to single combat. Thanks Khamet!”
Crez:
“I don't see how fighting is very romantic...”Tal: “Just one thing, if she doesn't, give her the option to refuse combat.”
An: “Well, yeah, I'm not a barbarian, jeez!”
Am: “Why are you fighting Tyzol?? ...Also, I'm back.”
Tal: “Because he's desperate!”
Kh: “Anthony will fight Tyzol.”
Am: “...Why??”
Kh: “ because she's a warrior and appreciates fighting.”
Am: “ So like, a friendly duel? At a time like this?”
Kh: “Something like that.”
Am: “I guess that's a way to... take out her anger... on the bandits... for what happened?”
They're very confused??
They didn't hear the part that this was about romance.
Meallan dashes through Deyn so no one sees him as a firbolg. He returns to this conversation:
Khamet: “Combat is the best way to make peace!”
Am: “Not necessarily...”
Meallan's ears flick a moment. “Hello. I'm not sure what you're talking about, but it sounds very interesting.”
Tal: “We're talking about Anthony's love life.”
Mea: “Oh, then I don't want to know anymore.”
Amani goes “wait, Anthony's love life?? This is for love? Is this how people flirt?”
Tal: “Well, they're not very good at it, but it's a work in progress, and it takes a very long time to improve.”
Amani: “Well, I didn't think this was how people flirt, but if this is how dragonborn flirt...”
Meallan is so not interested. Amani is just confused.
Meallan introduces the others to his new little sable, saying his name is Aytal. Amani finally squees aloud. Anthony takes a picture.
(One convo snippet:
Anthony: “At some point we drank a lot of wasp poison.”
Amani: “Whyyy?”)
Meallan just happily pets his sable. Amani offers to pet. The sable allows it, and petting happens. The sable is
so soft. Amani is happy.
Aytal climbs onto Amani's shoulders and curls up like a scarf.
“Oh, uh-um, okay! Um, what do I do?”
M: “You just let him be. He is happy.”
Am: “Um, o-okay!”
Tal: “You're not allowed to move.”
Amani stays very still and does not move!
Crezonis asks after Khamet's leaves and branches. Khamet explains that he's put them together into a curved sheet. Khamet's thinking about the preservatives in the apothecary.
First, Tally asks the group about the sidequest given to her by Venali, and how she offered to help track her brother down. She asks how many want to go along.
(Anthony mentions how saving someone could help win over Tyzol!)
All the others agree to go.
Amani: “I want to help, but someone should keep an eye on Crezonis too.”
They discuss having an NPC in town watch over Crezonis. Amani's uncertain of their abilities.
Meallan suggests tying him up somewhere.
Khamet: “Crezonis, do you think you can watch yourself for a little while?”
Meallan points out that that won't work if Arcaito comes back.
Khamet goes to town to ask someone to watch Crezonis. He runs into Tyzol, who's stomping around grumpily while mumbling about losing some copper and a comb. It takes some persuading to convince her to
not murder Crezonis while they're gone. He says that murdering him would be rude (“I think burning down my village is a little rude.” “...I can see your point!”), and then that they can get information from Crezonis, like their creepy warlock friend wants. She sighs and says: “I suppose...”
But she doesn't know anyone else who can help babysit him.
Tyzol: “But, after! You will find my comb!” Which, that comb wasn't even hers, she was holding it for a friend. She tasks Khamet to find it. (After finding the missing person; that's obviously priority.)
Khamet returns. (Aytal has since returned to Meallan's shoulders. Meallan babytalks them in sweet Sylvan. Amani also tries their hand at babytalk Sylvan, but mixed up the word “soft fur” with “pancake”. Meallan corrects them, and they note that in a little book. Celes and I improv the linguistics of a fictional language.)
Khamet brings up the plan to leave Crezonis with Tyzol. The others are all “uhhhhh”.
Crezonis grabs Khamet's arm and says “no, she's going to kill me!”
“I convinced her otherwise!”
“She would want you to think that!”
“You believe her?”
“You know what? I'll ask her really nicely again!”
Amani: “Wait, wait, why don't we just take Crezonis with us?”
Crezonis agrees to come along. They all agree to this.
Khamet: “Fine, we will take Crezonis with us. You will be safe. I trust Crezonis!”
Meallan: “I don't.”
Amani: “I don't, but we'll keep him on a close leash.”
Meallan: “If you misbehave, we'll have to bring you back to Tyzol!”
Amani: “I still have mind spike!”
Crez: “You don't have to threaten me, I'm not going to misbehave.”
Mea: “If Arcaito comes back, we'll simply knock you out again.”
Crez: “Thank you, I appreciate it.”
Khamet: “The worst that will happen is we'll bring him back to Tyzol! Who will be very nice to him because I told her to be very nice!”
“Khamet, you are an overly optimistic person, has anyone ever told you that?”
Mea: “For once, I actually agree with you.”
Amani: “Yeah...”
Kh: “Yes, many people have told me that I am optimistic. But you have to be optimistic. Otherwise, you would just be upset all the time.”
Mea: “Optimistic isn't the word I would use.”
Amani: “...There's other ways. There's other ways to find peace.”
They go into the woods, and Crezonis is... still poorly tied.
They all make survival checks. Aytal is sent ahead to help, and is relying on their vision and hearing (which overtakes their own), so they rely on someone else to assist Meallan during this.
They follow some footprints, a broken twig, a scrap of fabric; stuff like that indicating quick fleeing.
At some point, 3 giant (horse-sized) greenish lizards shuffle out of the trees. Meallan speaks and tries to assure them that they mean no harm.
The lizards look, then keep ambling on by.
Anthony: “Have you lizards seen this guy we're looking for?”
The lizards do not respond, shockingly.
Amani suggests Meallan ask, and he does. The lizards look back, move side to side, then just walk off.
They wonder if that's a no and they should backtrack.
Tal thinks that this doesn't confirm or deny anything. Amani agrees and suggest they keep following the trail. They all do.
Eventually, the traces stop. Tal and Amani look up. There are two elves hiding up in the trees (though only Tally sees the second). One of them hisses at them.
((OOC: “Is this normal elf behavior?” It's not.))
Amani speaks to them in Elvish. “We don't mean any harm; we're looking for someone.”
One of the elves comes down to a lower branch in the tree. “Who are you looking for?”
They mention they're looking for an elf named Illuthryn, who goes by a particular description... who looks like the elf Amani's talking to now! “Are you Illuthryn?”
“Did Venali send you?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to hurt her?”
“What? No. We're friends. Uh, acquaintances. Uh, she sent us here to find you.”
Meallan sends Aytal up to the elf. Illuthryn asks “What are you doing with that, firbolg?”.
“I'm only sending him up to check on you. He's friendly.”
“I'm fine.”
“If you were fine, you wouldn't be in a tree. Most elves don't live in trees.”
He's speechless for a moment. “I-I can be in a tree if I want to.”
((Note: Elves tend to make trees into houses, but they don't live up in trees.)) Amani notes this to the others.
Meallan: “Yes, but most elves don't clamber up trees.”
Amani: “Unless you were running from something.”
Tally: “Are you alright up there? Do you need medical assistance, among the two of you?”
Illu: “Not so much medical assistance, no... We're fine, thank you, in our tree!”
“Um, are you intending to get down from your tree and return to Venali at any point?”
“Are you intending to stop asking so many questions and leave us alone at some point?”
“No!”
(Meallan sees through Aytal that Illuthryn's not injured. But he is tense. Just like everyone else.)
An: “Hey, everyone's worried about you back in Deyn, they sent us to come get you! So come back with us, lickity split!” (Persuasion with Tally's help.)
Illu: “...Is there anything left of Deyn?”
Amani: “There's your sister, and Tyzol, and others. There's not much there, but there's... family.”
Illuthryn comes out of the tree. “Okay. But... there's someone I want to bring back with me, and you have to promise you won't hurt her. Her name is Solaria, and she is my friend. And she made some very bad life choices due to some very bad circumstances. But I'm looking after her now, and you're not going to hurt her.”
Anthony: “I make bad life decisions all the time. Like earlier today, I just drank some wasp poison!”
Illuthryn laughs at that.
Am: “Well, if she does no harm, I don't see any reason to get onto her.”
Mea: “It cannot be worse than the life decisions he's made.”
Tal: “We just have a lot of experience protecting people who made questionable life decisions from the wrath of impulsive other people, so yeah, I think we should be able to keep your friend safe.”
Solaria comes down... And she's wearing the same mismatched armor that most bandits have.
Crezonis goes “uhhh”
Meallan: “Do you know her?”
“Uh, somewhat? We weren't close. ...Uhhh... No, I don't know her! I thought she was someone else! I mean, wood elves, their facial features are all kind of the same.”
Somehow, his bad lie works on the others...?
Amani: “It's not that hard...”
“You can't talk, you
are like an elf.”
“Sure, but I didn't grow up in Eaine! Entirely.”
Mea: “Elves do look a little bit similar. It does take me a little bit of effort to distinguish between them.”
Crez: “They're like, the same color all the way down. I'm at least two colors!”
Tal: “Three- no, four if you count your eyes!”
Crez: “Oh, thank you for noticing!”
Am: “It's more than just color!”
Crez: “So no, I don't know her!”
Solaria is all “mmmMMmm, don't know him!...”, tight smile. Amani's the only one really looking at her, and can tell she's obviously lying and acting really suspicious. Amani puts it together and organizes a group huddle.
Am: “It looks like she's one of the bandits. But if she doesn't hurt us, I don't see any reason to hurt her.”
Mea: “We've killed their leader, we have their other leader. Why should we care about scattered bandits? We let that other one go.”
Anthony: “We can take her back to town anyway, doesn't really matter what we do!”
Am: “That's true, we can let them deal with her; I don't care.”
Tal: “We can just start a collection of former bandits who just tag along with us everywhere.”
Am: “I don't think this changes anything. I think we just take her back.”
The others agree, and let the town decide what to do. So they take them both back.
They start heading back to Deyn. And on the way back, a raven-person comes out of the trees and stares at the group. Which, really, is a very weird-looking group, if you think about it.
“...Hi!”
Kenku: “...Hello!”
Mea: “What's your name?”
“...What's
your name!”
“I'm Meallan. And you are?”
“Hatchet Split!”
Mea: “What a funny name. What are you doing out here?”
HS: “What are
you doing out here?”
Am: “We're helping a local village!”
HS: “...Cool!”
Am: “Cool. What are you doing out here?”
“Hatchet Split. Woodcutter.” He holds up a hatchet.
Am: “...Okay!”
Mea: “Do you live in Deyn?”
HS: Headtilt. “No!”
Mea: “Do you live nearby?”
“Yes! Not telling, not showing strangers.”
“That's fine. You may go on your way.”
Amani wonders something and whispers to Meallan if there's any village near Deyn. But they can't think of any.
(Anthony: “You can be quite far away as the crow flies!”)
Crezonis doesn't even know what Hatchet Split is.
Amani: “Looks like a kenku!”
Crez: “I don't even know what a kenku is...”
Am: “There's a kenku!”
Aytal runs from Meallan's shoulder and runs to Hatchet Split. Hatchet kneels down and pets. “Soft!”
Tally has no idea what that is and doesn't like the bird-like look and so stays behind others in the group. But she emerges a bit when others have peaceful interactions.
Tal: “I have a completely random question for you, Hatchet Split. Do you know a way to preserve leaves?”
HS: “No! Maybe elves! Magic! Good at magic!”
Amani sighs. Tally goes “okay.”
Then Amani tries to wave off Meallan's questions of “leaves? what?”
Am: “It's not important, don't worry about it.”
HS: “Can I help you?”
Am: “I mean... I don't think so? I think we have this.”
HS: “Okay? Goodbye? Nice to meet strangers.”
Tal: “Can
we help you?”
HS: “No! You seem, busy!” Looks at Crezonis. “Rope! Feet!”
Party: “Don't worry about that.”
They part ways. “Bye!”
Am: “Just watch out for bandits!”
HS: “Will be careful!”
They walk off peacefully and with no IC suspicions!
On the way back, they take a short rest, and Meallan takes this time to put on his elf disguise once more.
They return to Deyn. It's been a couple of hours. Tyzol is with the elves.
Venali sees her brother, and there's instant relief. She runs forward and embraces him. Solaria is just kind of... awkwardly... there.
They thank the party. As promised, Venali gives Tally a small bag, the Handy Spice Pouch. It's a magic spice pouch with 10 charges. When holding the pouch, can use an action to expend one charge. Speak the name of any nonmagical food seasoning, and you can remove a pinch of desired seasoning for the pouch; will season one meal. Every dawn, the pouch regains 1d6+4 charges.
(We joke about the character Jordan Flamsey existing to comment on this.)
Solaria gets a few weird looks as she walks around the town. They don't really know who she is. Illuthryn lends her clothes that isn't scrappy bandit armor.
Anthony goes to Tyzol! With witnesses. Y'know, in case he embarrasses himself. No one volunteers to wingman. But Meallan follows out of curiosity. Amani is there too.
“Tyzol!!” Anthony holds his phone above his head.
“You poisoned me!”
“I know, and I'm sorry! But, we found your friends! And, uh... uh...”
“Good, so you're not a complete waste of space!”
“I wrote this song for you!”
(
And he plays a song!Meallan is so. Confused.)
“That was... so beautiful, Anthony.”
“Again, I'm so sorry I poisoned you.”
“I had no idea you felt that way.”
“Yeah. So, um, can I buy you a drink? That's not wasp poison?”
“How about? We go back to my place, and
I pour some drinks?”
“That would be lovely.”
And Anthony and Tyzol head off.
Meallan is confused. Amani has no context to this entire situation, nor do they seek it.
Tally approaches Solaria and asks for a word in private.
Tal: “Just wanted to check, um, did you actually really want to stay with him and follow him back here?”
Sol: “...I mean, it's very kind of you to check. I mean, yes, he's my friend. Thank you, for... helping us?”
Tal: “I don't know, he said he was looking after you, but I didn't see any of it, so I wanted to check if you were okay with him.”
Sol: She waves an arm out. “I mean, yeah, he helped me, like that. And I don't really know what I'm going to do now. But I'm not dead and that's a good start.”
Tal: “That's always a good start. Just remember, even if you feel you owe him for something, you never have to stay with somebody. As long as you're okay with him.”
Sol: “It's not like that.” (Tal: “Okay.”) “But thank you.”
Tal sees that she's tired, but sincere.
Tal: “Well, I wish the two of you the best of luck, then.”
Sol: “Thank you.”
By this point, Crezonis is literally holding the rope with one hand to pretend it's tied. The party
finally re-ties the rope.
Properly.Meallan moves to re-tie the rope. Crezonis asks for Tally to do it. Tally helps.
Crez: “Yes, this is much better. I can't move my legs properly, so.”
Mea: “I'm surprised you're so happy about being tied up.”
Crez: “I'm not happy! You just gotta take what comes your way, y'know?”
Crez: “Well, I'm glad you're submitting to your feet.”
Amani approaches Illuthryn.
Am: “So, I know what she is. Are you... sure, things are okay, with her sticking around?”
Illuthryn bristles. “What do you mean 'what she is'?”.
Am: “Well, a bandit, obviously. But she's also not taking it further. Trying to change her ways.”
Illu: “Have you actually talked to her? At all?”
Am: “I'm not accusing! I'm just wondering if... Well... How did you meet her? Just curious.”
Illu: “Well, we've been friends for a long time, we've been friends as children. I haven't seen her for a while. I don't remember how we met.”
Am: “...You've been friends for a long time. And at some point she turned to banditry?”
Illu: “Um. There are many reasons people might turn to banditry.”
Am: “I can think of a few.”
Illu: Sigh. “I think you should talk to her about this. It's not my place to explain.”
Am: “I mean, I'm not trying to get on her case if she's not going to do anything.”
Illu: “She's not going to do anything. She's fine. She ran away because she saw what they were doing and she didn't want to be a part of it.”
Am: “...Alright. ...Alright. I-”
Illu: “If you want to know any more, you're going to have to talk to her because it's not my place to tell you.”
Am: “Okay. ...I just wasn't sure about approaching her myself.”
Amani walks over to Solaria, who just finished talking to Tally.
Am: “...What are you going to do now?”
Solaria: “I don't know, genuinely.”
Am: “...I hear you've been friends with Illuthryn for a while. ...What made you change your mind?”
Sol: “About what?”
Am: “About banditry.”
Sol: *Long siiiigh.* “I saw what they were doing, and I didn't particularly like it. I mean...”
Am: “I wouldn't either.”
Sol: “Yeah, I mean, yeah, you wouldn't want to watch a village get burned down! And you got him with you! I don't know... where that other thing went. Halfling.”
Am: “The halfling?”
Sol: “Yeah, the other ringleader, I don't...”
Am: “Ringleader? Wait, are you saying there's another ringleader?”
Sol: “Yeah! The halfling with the staff and the freaky tree powers, the...”
Am: “The druid?”
Sol: “Yeah, the druid.”
Am: “Oh! We have her in custody. ...Or I mean, I think we do.”
Sol: “That’s not very reassuring!” (Amani agrees.) “Um, I just didn't want to be a part of it. Is that enough of an answer for you?”
Am: “It is. Um... I wasn't trying to pry, I was... I was just wondering. I... Well... I'm happy. Um, I'm... I'm glad you're doing this. And I hope you manage to find another way. Maybe you can stick with Illuthryn for a while while you figure that out.”
Sol: “I think I will. But I don't know what's happening here. And I don't know what I'm going to do next? But I'm hoping something will come up.”
Am: Heartful sigh. “I... I don't have any easy answers to that. But... maybe you can find peace.”
Sol: “How did you decide what to do?”
Long pause. Amani takes a breath.
Sol: “Was it like, have you always wanted to be an adventurer? Did you do special training?”
Amani exhales. “......I... I've always wanted to... I... I've always wanted to be good at spellcasting. And so... I... So now I am.”
Sol: “Ohh... I- I guess that's probably easier when you're good at magic.”
Amani: “It- it is. Yes. It... it changes everything.”
