Lily seems to go along numbly, aware that she is now little more than a prisoner. She seems to seesaw between putting her formidable mind to work looking at the organization and how it is defended and built to prevent escapes, and lapsing into distress over the realization that with her spellbook gone, she is effectively powerless and devoid of the decades of study that previously defined her life.
The hard manual labor does not go over well. As the day goes on, Lily continues to become increasingly ragged.
By the time the group is assigned to copying texts by candlelight, she is barely awake. Fortunately, even though she is not a trained linguist, her long hours working with spells have given her enough familiarity with the scribe's craft.
Etam goes through the day terribly bored by the preaching, which lends a particular pleasure to the physical activities. Whenever he can, he tries to take of the weight off his companion's shoulders and, seeing as he cannot really meaningfully communicate with them, starts developing a certain, limited appreciation for Asar's comments. During the last sermon of the day, he even discovers that, apparently, dead men possessing other people's minds not only can mind-snore, but also do so very loudly.
The transcribing almost breaks down the warrior. 'Steady, Etam. You need to understand their routines to get a chance at understanding what these people want with that amulet.'
Even if against his will (and with some measure of embarrassment), he is very glad with how the transcribing turns out.
Sato seems to follow the directives without complaint.
He's not aware of the little game they're playing.
Showing clear signs of distrust Jaed does not touch his breakfast (or any other food served during the day) until he sees everyone eating and not falling asleep. And even then he barely eats something.
Clearly, that was a bad decision that takes its toll during the day. He can barely keep up with the hard work.
Even if he manages to not fall asleep, Jaed is immerse in his own thoughts and not paying much attention during the sermons. Who would say that I would miss fighting skeletons in a filthy crypt. This is booooring.
At the end of the day, although he is exhausted, Jaed manages to transcribe the text astonishingly fast. All those stories I read and all those books I "borrow" when I was a teenager have proved to be useful.
Artair eats the breakfast, and trys hid best to learn what he can about them during the day.
Apparently this has paid off. And now to roll for his transcription:
And I get a good night sleep as well.
Tired after the long day, many of you simply collapse one of the beds in the shared sleeping quarters. The half-elf practically seems to pass out and begin snoring slightly. Luckily, you're all too tired to care much.
The following day passes very similarly to the first.
7am: Wake up and have breakfast
7:30am: Simple labor in the yard
11am: Prayer and tutelage with the other acolytes
12pm: Lunch
12:30pm: Cleaning the first floor, though this time it seems a little bit easier.
3:30pm: Afternoon prayer
This time Artair isn't quite as fortunate and nods off at one point. When the sermon is over, Krant pulls Artair aside and directs one of the gray-robed individuals to take the rest of you out into the yard for your 4:30pm training.
After not too long , the dwarf emerges followed by Krant to join the rest of you in the yard as you practice moving as a group. This time after an hour, Krant begins to show you how to force someone to donate money, how to mock other faiths to make Razmir seem more powerful, and how to deal with local guards and others who would interfere. Before he sends you off to dinner, he nods in approval. "Yer shaping up nicely. Or at least, most of ya are." He gives a pointed look at Artair, most likely glaring behind his mask. "Keep this up, and I'll give ya all an op-er-tune-nity to show me ya deserve yer weapons back tomorrow."
The routine from the previous day then continues.
6:30pm: Dinner
7pm: Evening prayer
8pm: Transcription
And I am OK taking my lumps. Though it might have been fun to rage out a bit...
Etam wakes up and follows the orders without question, focussing solely in looking like a nice, obedient soldier.
During the cleaning, he tries to help the exhausted Finnrick by scrubbing an area much larger than he should. Greatly overestimating his own resilience, Etam is left with painfully sore muscles.
The rest of the day passes by in a bit of a haze and he completely misses Artair's beating. During the evening, the warrior uses all his concentration to transcribe things as quickly as possible. After a pitiful result, he shakes his aching muscles a bit and manages to get an acceptable transcription and drags himself to bed.
Finnrick's muscles are tired and his head is cloudy. Atleast he knows that Millsy is safe but the manual labor is taking it's toll on him. The time spent working in the yard is nice because at least he gets to spend time outside.
It takes Finnrick 3 hours to transcribe the work. When he is done he looks around to see how the rest are fairing. Etam seems to finish up around the same time.
During the work Finnrick keeps his eyes open for time when a higher ranking cultist is not observing them.
I feel like a groundhog repeating the same day again and again.
Believing they will not drug them again, Jaed eats all his meals which is results in a better performance during the day.
"I really hope we will do something more interesting tomorrow when we have our weapons back," he mutters. Otherwise we should go exploring during the night. This is leading nowhere.
Artair stays up much the night attempting to finish his transcription. Long enough that the cultists watching him is replaced by another. At 2am he finally finishes his work and begins trudging back to the room they've been sleeping in. Somehow he manages to brush off his lack of sleep the next day and seems pretty much his usual self.
The next day passes remarkably like the first two. Breakfast. Chores in the yard. Tutelage. Lunch. Cleaning . Afternoon prayer that this time Jaed falls asleep during.
He directs everybody to a different corner of the courtyard, taking Millsy to stand next to him. "No pets. Yer cat'll have to sit this one out." He points to Finnrick as he says this. For good measure, he also throws a heavy flail* in the center. "To make things in-ter-esting-like." He calls to a small group of cultists who have begun to gather to watch the upcoming fight. In response, they give a few hoots and hollers of approval.
When he's out of the way, he raises his hand for silence. After a pause, he drops it. "Begin!"
[ooc]Remember that none of you are wearing armor and if you're not proficient with martial weapons, you take a -4 when using the sap or flail.
Lily tries to keep up, but it's clear that she's wilting under the confinement and the fear of the place. Even though she manages to catch enough breaks to keep from being totally exhausted by the day's labor, she remains quite noticeable both due to her elvish frame and her nervous behaviors like clutching at her fingertips or starting when one of the senior acolytes walks by.
When tossed into the afternoon "training," she handles the sap oddly, unused to its weight. She hunches over and does her best to get near someone else, her hands dipping toward her beltline occasionally and then clenching and unclenching - having seen her in a fight before, the motion is clear: She has no spell component pouch, which means that even with the few spells that she does have prepared, she is mostly helpless.
Etam goes back to his old shape and again takes a sort of curious pleasure from the manual labour with very strict and simple rules.
The training sours his mood. 'I am not battling my own companions, mates.' Sap in hand, he waits for the half-elf's reaction.
With a smile, Etam turns to Artair: "Shall we spar? It's been sometime!"
Etam gets close to whoever the half-elf attacked and whistles: "Care to take on someone of your size?" he says, swinging the sap at the stranger.
"Uh, sir?" Sato asks as he's handed a sap. "is this supposed to be a 'fighting' kind of challenge?" he asks. "Or are we allowed to use any method to win?"
"Fair enough." Sato replies, shrugging.
Sore from before but with the adrenaline still pumping through his veins, Jaed rushes for the flail. He picks it up, dropping the sap, and turns to Krant defiantly:
"Why don't YOU come here so I can show you how well I can handle myself. Or are you only brave enough to beat unarmed people?"
I'm not going to hurt the others to please this fool. I'm no ones a pet. But if this guy wants to pick a fight, I'm ready.
Several of the spectators laugh at Jaed's challenge, but Krant merely shakes his head. "Are you truly that selfish that you would rob your brothers and sister of the chance to prove that they're capable of handling those weapons they were carrying? Not to mention the chance to drink fine wine instead of tran-scibe-ing ho-ly texts? All for some petty, little grudge over some love taps 'cause ya couldn't get through the afternooon without yer little nap time?" The spectators begin jeering at the rogue, urging the rest of the group to take out "the weak one" first.
Lily cowers.
So I prepare my spells at the begening of the day and I chose some that I would have probably prepared, most of them are more utility so I hope these are okay.
mending, detect magic, detect posion, purify food and drink; at will
aunt haul 1
Hydraulic push 1
read weather 1
wave shield 1
bulls strength 2/day
Finnrick debates what to do while Jaed has words with Krant but before doing anything he turns to the half elf and in a tone that he doesn't often use proclaims.
"Āmi parōẏā kari nā ki niẏama āchē, bhā'i. Āpani ēmanaki nārī āmi asustha habē āmāra tōmāra upara biṛāla dikē agrasara karē."
I don't care what the rules are, brother. If you even move towards the woman I will sick my cat on you.
Millsy growls.
"I would rather we not fight with these silly sticks, but If we must I do believe that you and I Sato are pretty well matched. Just to be clear we mearly need to be the last one standing correct?"
the last part was directed at Kant.
Krant nods. "Indeed. Last person still standing is the winner when all else have fallen is the winner."
He begins to cast Bulls strength on himself but it fails. "Blast I forgot that I needed my component pouch for that one."
Finnrick looks to Sato for a response but keeps an eye over his shoulder at the other half elf.
"Or perhaps us two half-elves could see who is best,"
"I may have bitten off more than I can chew with these challenges, too late now"
Finnrick turns to face the half-elf hoping he can deal with both him and Sato and prepares to be assaulted.
The half-elf looks at Lily and then back at Finnrick. Making up his mind, he charges the druid. "Ceart go leor, má bhraitheann tú mar go láidir, feicfidh mé ionsaí díreach tú in ionad."
He easily jumps over Finnrick's sloppy leg sweep, swinging his sap with all his might at the man's head before he has a chance to fully stand back up.
Sato didn't see enough of Finnrick's spell to identify it. However, to maintain pretenses, he's going to act confident. He holds his empty hand up, green-tinted arcane power lacing off of his fingers.
"Forgot you didn't have your components?" he brags. "Shame."
Sato then moves to be in melee range of his opponents, unhindered by the (hopefully) plant growth.
As vines grow up to wrap themselves around ankles, the spectators ooo and ahhh in appreciation of the show.
Etam gets ready to rush to Finnrick's side, but as hte takes a step forward vines grab his feet. Tumbling forward, ripping vines that after a moment regrow and force his legs back to the ground, he only manages to reach Jaed's side. He whispers to the rogue: "Not sure it's the best moment to rebel, master Zandoria. I would rather we take out the half-elf and just pretend master Shisui's vines are poison ivy and fall. I'm sure we could use one of ours becoming their favourite."
Sato's spell and Etam's words take Jaed out of his anger state, which was being aggravated by Krant's response. He turns and looks at the fighter with incredulity. Are we really going to play the fools now? Fine, I suppose the mission goes first, but later I will give this Krant what he deserves; that's for sure.
Jaed whispers back: "Ok, you wanna play, let's play. We'll take out the half-elf together but after that it's hammer time. Well, flail time." He looks at the heavy flail in his hands. I have to be careful. I don't want to really hurt anyone and this thing seems dangerous. And I have never used one before...
Artair stands around, not quite sure what to do. Meanwhile, Jaed nimbly moves through the undergrowth and tries to disarm the half-elf of his sap. The half-elf quickly gets out of the way and uses the opening to try to punch Jaed with his sap.
But Jaed is too quick. "What is this? You'n your buddies all going to gang up against me? C'mon, that's not fair!" The half-elf looks at Krant for help, but the black-robed cultist merely shrugs.
Lily shoots an angry glare at Krant but continues taking a guard position.
"If you don't attack my friends there's no reason for me to fight back and protect them!" Etam throws a glance towards the cultist "You may anger someone else, though."
[b]"Ouch,"[b] Cries Finnrick as he take a hit from the half elf.
He takes the opportunity to look around for a weakness
Hmm, haven't seen him before?
He almost misses the opportunity while the half elf is distracted by Jaed to attempt to trip him again.
"He's the one that challenged me." The half-elf yells indignantly pointing at Finnrick. "Besides, are your friends really so weak that you must gang up to 'protect' them in a non-lethal combat?" The half-elf then points at Jaed. "He's the only one with a lethal weapon. And he clearly doesn't have the faintest idea how to use it! Who knows what kind of damage he might do! He could--ompf" The man is interrupted mid-rant as Finnrick knocks him down. He quickly attempts to stand once again.
Sato moves up to Jaed and tries to swat him on the shoulder with a hand, but can't get a touch in while he's moving around.
"I have stated my terms…sir" Etam says in a cold voice that hesitates towards the end, unsure how to properly address the half-elf. As soon as his foe moves to attack Finnrick, the warrior strikes back:
Finnrick swings the sap at the elf as he tries to get up
The half-elf that nobody seems to yet know the name of begins to look woozy but is still standing despite the solid blows by Etam and Finnrick.
"I'm armed and dangerous!" Jaed mocks the unnamed half-elf and then tries to disarm him again.
Jaed finally manages to get in a lucky swing and knocks the sap out of the half-elf's hand. Artair meanwhile struggles against the vines and moves towards the general huddle of people.
If I can I will go for the sap and continue to stay defensive. Was not expecting to be without internet over Xmas.
Jaed is surprised by Sato's attempt to touch him. "Keep your hands to yourself, Sato. You're not my type." As a reaction, he tries to trip the sorcerer using the flail's handle.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Woodland Stride (Ex): At 3rd level, you can move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at your normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. Thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated to impede motion, however, still affect you.