(In a sing-songy voice) "I found fresh aiiiirrrrr!!"
"Pinna found shinieees!" She dumps onto the bed a nice set of bracers, ring, scroll case, and bag of coins and stands cocking her head at the note, examining it with one eye, then the other. "Bah! Cannot read it. Is the fire still burning? Any more snakes around?"
Pinna peeks in Door #1. "No snakes, but... uh.. necessaries. No bath." She picks a bloody feather from near a wound and drops it into the hole, watching it to see what happens.
"Pinna, are you sure this isn't your place? We're up in a tree, after all."
She picks a bloody feather from near a wound and drops it into the hole, watching it to see what happens.
It disappears through the swirl of color.
"What an odd assortment we are. What happened to that unholy-looking fellow who disappeared?"
Lanwin looks at the scroll case and the note to see if there is anything useful there, as well as the other items.
Lanwin looks at the scroll case and the note to see if there is anything useful there, as well as the other items.
The scrolls are arcane and the note is in a language you don't know...
(Draconic)
She picks a bloody feather from near a wound and drops it into the hole, watching it to see what happens.It disappears through the swirl of color.
"Ooooh!" Pinna sticks a crossbow bolt head into the swirl, then pulls the bolt back to see if the head is missing.
"Pinna, are you sure this isn't your place? We're up in a tree, after all."
"Um. OK, this is Pinna's place. Please help put out fires before it is charcoal?" Pinna checks the main room again to see if the fires are dying down or if the structure is burning. If only portable items are ablaze, she tries to haul them to the outer door and shove them outside, if it's doable without setting any more alight.
"Don't know where we are. Don't know who we all are. Don't know how to get back. We need this place."
"I don't see any water."
<Looks around for a convenient water-filled bucket>
"Ooooh!" Pinna sticks a crossbow bolt head into the swirl, then pulls the bolt back to see if the head is missing.
The head is still there.
Pinna checks the main room again to see if the fires are dying down or if the structure is burning. If only portable items are ablaze, she tries to haul them to the outer door and shove them outside, if it's doable without setting any more alight.
Picking up burning items probably isn't the best move. You can probably smother things if you'd like. Water could help.
Still trying to figure out what everyone else is doing. E and Pinna are looking through doors, mostly. (After Pinna looted the wizard snake creature.) Lanwin was interested in what Pinna found.
Anyone else?
After combat had ceased, Vassago let out a sigh of relief. Finally..., he thought to himself. I could use a drink; my lips are parched of thirst as if I were dying. He was expecting the visuals to fade and for reality to return. But nothing. He's still here. In here. With them. Very funny, Melek. You know how haps annoy me. Profusely.
He materializes while the rest of the individuals scamper and chatter amongst themselves.
This is ... amusing. You no longer need to continue the charades, gentlemen. Polymorph back to your true forms. We have other things to attend to ... after I down a couple of Quinlan's fine blue ale. Shall we proceed? And to the magus that dressed up this illusion, I have to commend you on your attention to detail. But a monastic avian? That has to be you, Gronaagir. I have to admit you move very fast without your quarterstaff. I'm beginning to feel you've been holding back on the rest of us with your usual slow pace. Your secret's out, old man! Ha!
But nothing changes.
Seriously. Dismiss this.
"What are you babbling about?" Vortic says, "And who are you for that matter? I thank you, though, for the assistance you provided with that spell."
Vortic rubs his own shoulder and pulls his hand back bloody, "Hells."
"Bucket bucket bucket bucket...."
Pinna patters around looking for buckets in rooms #4 and #5. She yells to E., "Buckets!" Then she patters around the rooms again with an empty bucket. "Water water water water.."
"We'd better get out of here. Whatever these beasts were, they spoke the language of dragons and I don't think they expected us." Vortic says.
"You say fresh air? That sounds like a way to go."
Elysia uses a quick prestidigitation to repair her appearance and curiously pokes her head in to all the rooms, not sure which to look at first.
"I don't know what you're talking about strange man in the scary mask, but I am most definitely not a gentleman. I am and always have been a girl which I think would be obvious. I mean I know you big people have trouble paying attention to anything below your noses, which by the way could often use a good trim for you know the hairs that stick out, eeeeww, but anyways, the point is it's rude to call me a gentleman when I'm obviously a girl. Oh no, that looks like it hurts, Mr. ummm...well, whoever you are, the other big person that isn't a bird. I'd offer to help but I'm really bad at that sort of thing and it's much too high for me to reach. Maybe if you kneel down I can try to bandage your shoulder?"
Vortic kicks the sword laying on the ground, "It made the big one dumbfounded."
Vortic kicks the sword laying on the ground, "It made the big one dumbfounded."
"I believe that I would work better if you picked me up.
This is my home but I now seem to be at the mercy of others for mobility now."
Amusing ... but only a little. Let us dispense with the ruse and move on... but he chooses to pause for a moment to reassess the situation and decides to take it in a different tangent to 'play along'.
If you must know, I am [#1]. I am on a mission to [#2]. You are more than welcome to accompany me [#3]. Besides, I was unaware that there existed a [#4] with your aptitude. From where do you hail?
"You talk funny, I don't know those words. Hey, if you're around long enough do you think you can teach me that language. I love learning new languages. Last year I spent a whole month learning how to talk demon from a crazy wizard that wanted my dad to make him a special amulet that was supposed to help him go exploring some weird underwater place and I really wished could go with him cause it sounded so interesting but Raven had another one of his stupid schemes that he needed my help with and that was in between break ups so I actually stayed more's the pity. But now I'm here and I bet this is just as interesting as underwater exploration cause I don't even know where I am and there's all you interesting new people."
"You talk funny, I don't know those words. Hey, if you're around long enough do you think you can teach me that language. I love learning new languages. Last year I spent a whole month learning how to talk demon from a crazy wizard that wanted my dad to make him a special amulet that was supposed to help him go exploring some weird underwater place and I really wished could go with him cause it sounded so interesting but Raven had another one of his stupid schemes that he needed my help with and that was in between break ups so I actually stayed more's the pity. But now I'm here and I bet this is just as interesting as underwater exploration cause I don't even know where I am and there's all you interesting new people."
I mean, the Thayan Wizards are cruel, but ...
I'm also superimposing Vassago on Picard --> "Computer ... End Program!"
"No one can understand what you are saying, sorceror. Now then, we have buckets, but no water. It looks like we need to flee this place. I say we gather up this equipment, as it may either tell us why we're here or be useful in getting out, and then get out of this deathtrap."
Pinna approaches Vassago with two empty buckets. "You have magic. Can you stop making funny sounds and make water? The fire grows!" She sets the buckets by Vassago and searches the snake-people for any blood-soaked clothing - capes, shirts, etc - that she can tear off and use to beat down the flames.
"No one can understand what you are saying, sorceror. Now then, we have buckets, but no water. It looks like we need to flee this place. I say we gather up this equipment, as it may either tell us why we're here or be useful in getting out, and then get out of this deathtrap."
"No! Put out fires! We are in tree, at height - good defensibility if more snake things try to kill us. There is food, shelter. This is a good place to be until we figure out what is happening. If we do not roast alive. Put out fire!"
We are in tree, at height ...
Actually, not at height. The door came out at ground level. (Sorry if I caused some confusion on that.)
"Oh, look at that. There's only a 6-inch drop to the ground. You can understand how I thought it was so high up."
"I did forget to mention the big lizards, who might be dragons--I don't know, since I've never actually seen one. They ignored me, though, so maybe they're used to people."
"WARK! Dragons?! Dragons eat birds. You, short woman. Come in here and blow out flames. You can do it!"
Amusing ... but only a little. Let us dispense with the ruse and move on... but he chooses to pause for a moment to reassess the situation and decides to take it in a different tangent to 'play along'.
If you must know, I am [#1]. I am on a mission to [#2]. You are more than welcome to accompany me [#3]. Besides, I was unaware that there existed a [#4] with your aptitude. From where do you hail?
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
Vortic shakes his head, then turns back to the others. "Little friend with the fair hair, you are a healer are you not? Could I persuade you to use some healing magic on me? I was fairly wounded in that last fight..." he turns to E. "Did you say dragons?"
Vortic heads over to the door and peers out.
"WARK! Dragons?! Dragons eat birds. You, short woman. Come in here and blow out flames. You can do it!"
"Oh, people get that confused all the time. I've had lots of chances to experiment since well, this isn't the first time I've accidentally set something on fire like a house or a store, or that one time a theater, boy was that awful, and as it turns out, blowing on the flames only makes them bigger and then they spread even faster so you know you never want to hit a fire with a gust of wind spell and we don't ever, ever, ever mention this again cause there's at least one city where I'm pretty sure they still want to arrest me, which is totally unfair because it's not like I meant to set fire to an entire city block."
Vortic shakes his head, then turns back to the others. "Little friend with the fair hair, you are a healer are you not? Could I persuade you to use some healing magic on me? I was fairly wounded in that last fight..." he turns to E. "Did you say dragons?"
Vortic heads over to the door and peers out.
"As long as we are in this together..."
"WARK! Dragons?! Dragons eat birds. You, short woman. Come in here and blow out flames. You can do it!""Oh, people get that confused all the time. I've had lots of chances to experiment since well, this isn't the first time I've accidentally set something on fire like a house or a store, or that one time a theater, boy was that awful, and as it turns out, blowing on the flames only makes them bigger and then they spread even faster so you know you never want to hit a fire with a gust of wind spell and we don't ever, ever, ever mention this again cause there's at least one city where I'm pretty sure they still want to arrest me, which is totally unfair because it's not like I meant to set fire to an entire city block."
"Say, what city was that? Mistress Luck chose to grant me a boon during a visit to, hmm I can't remember, where I owed some paltry amount of gold to some disreputable gambling hall owner (trumped up, if you ask me). At the center of one of the biggest fires I'd ever seen was his building. No more debt for E after that."
I mean, the Thayan Wizards are cruel, but ...
** spoiler omitted **
"WARK! Dragons?! Dragons eat birds. You, short woman. Come in here and blow out flames. You can do it!""Oh, people get that confused all the time. I've had lots of chances to experiment since well, this isn't the first time I've accidentally set something on fire like a house or a store, or that one time a theater, boy was that awful, and as it turns out, blowing on the flames only makes them bigger and then they spread even faster so you know you never want to hit a fire with a gust of wind spell and we don't ever, ever, ever mention this again cause there's at least one city where I'm pretty sure they still want to arrest me, which is totally unfair because it's not like I meant to set fire to an entire city block.""Say what city was that? Mistress Luck chose to grant me a boon during a visit to, hmm I can't remember, where I owed some paltry amount of gold to some disreputable gambling hall owner (trumped up, if you ask me). At the center of one of the biggest fires I'd ever seen was his building. No more debt for E after that."
"You know, I don't rightly remember. I travel a lot, and I don't really keep track of my direction. It was something deep. Not Waterdeep. But it definitely ended in deep...or maybe it was keep. Anyways, I'd know it if I saw it on account of having to run from the guards what with the arrest warrant and all cause it was a really big fire. It probably was the same town, so hey, at least something good happened from it. That's really neat the way that things that seem to all tie themselves together like that, and come to think of it, there may very well have been a gambling hall attached to that theater, and really if the magician didn't want to use real fire on stage he should have told me before the performance."
She smiled brightly, and looked back at the growing fire behind them."Speaking of which, we really should step outside now. I know from experience when a fire has decided that it's ready to stretch its feet so to speak and I'd say that one is just about ready and since I don't think any of us are particularly keen on getting burnt up we should really exit the building now."
"As long as we are in this together..."Vortic shakes his head, then turns back to the others. "Little friend with the fair hair, you are a healer are you not? Could I persuade you to use some healing magic on me? I was fairly wounded in that last fight..." he turns to E. "Did you say dragons?"
Vortic heads over to the door and peers out.
"Thank you, friend." Vortic says, offering a handshake, "I am Vortic, follower of Helm. That helped quite a bit. I feel much better." He rolls his shoulder back and a series of pops and clicks sound from it, "Ah, that's just about right." He grins.
*shrugs toward Elysia*
Which one of them is Melek Taus, anyway? His ruse is very exceptional this time around, he thought to himself. He listens to the halflings chatter -- with annoyance.
You. With the parchment. He addresses Lanwin. Might I peruse it? I suspect I will be able to read it just fine.
With the buckets offered by the tengu, he replied with an uninterested tone as if he has become bored with the charades. Sure.
*casts Mage Hand to carry the empty buckets outside*
Definitely not in Waterdeep, he said to himself. Which is unfortunate ... for this tree. It shall return to the soil and others will return in its place. Such is the circle of nature.
Lanwin shrugs and hands the scroll and note to Vassago, then returns to Vortic, "Lanwin of the holy order of Lathander. We ought to continue our introductions outside." Lanwin heads out the door.
She sets the buckets by Vassago and searches the snake-people for any blood-soaked clothing - capes, shirts, etc - that she can tear off and use to beat down the flames.
You get what you can together to help put out the flames and notice that the flames are quickly dying. It looks like there wasn't as much to burn as it initially looked like. Many of the books on the bookshelf aren't damaged at all. The bookshelf itself, however, was what was actually burning and has pretty well burned itself out. Same with the table, although everything that was on the table is pretty much ash at this point. The southern shelves also burned, and most of the containers were smashed there. The few that survived seemed to have been made to withstand fire. The floor and walls of the room are scorched and little more. Hard to tell at this point what they are made of -- definitely not wood, but not really stone either.
Helm and Lathander? What kind of [#1] joke is this? Vassago continues his train of thought as he takes the parchment from Lanwin.
Obliged, uh...Lanwin. And yes, outdoors is good. The smoke is counter-productive.
He proceeds to exit. When he steps out, the mage hand(s) drop the empty buckets upon the ground, then using the mage hand(s), proceeds to take the parchment out of his own hands to unroll and read.
** spoiler omitted **
*shrugs toward Elysia*
** spoiler omitted **
"You know, we don't have to speak of them as if they're not here." Vortic says to Vassago, "We are in kind of an odd situation." Vortic further explains, "The tongue of dragons is that which the smallest of the scalykind speak, a nuisance to my people... as are others."
Lanwin shrugs and hands the scroll and note to Vassago, then returns to Vortic, "Lanwin of the holy order of Lathander. We ought to continue our introductions outside." Lanwin heads out the door.
"Right behind you." Vortic follows.
Lanwin shrugs and hands the scroll and note to Vassago, then returns to Vortic, "Lanwin of the holy order of Lathander. We ought to continue our introductions outside." Lanwin heads out the door.
Vassago looks at the scrolls and parchment...
The parchment gives explicit instructions that they were to capture (dead or alive) the planar inhabitant of this place. It looks like you are in Chult currently. The inhabitant was an Eladrin. (Roll Knowledge: The Planes to find out more about that.) The important thing is that the body needed to be mostly intact. The pouch contained 100 gp as an initial payment with 900 more upon completion. It concludes with "A new world born of chaos is upon us. We must not delay its coming."
The scrolls are two scrolls of teleport (caster level 15) to aid them in getting their target back quickly.
She sets the buckets by Vassago and searches the snake-people for any blood-soaked clothing - capes, shirts, etc - that she can tear off and use to beat down the flames.You get what you can together to help put out the flames and notice that the flames are quickly dying. It looks like there wasn't as much to burn as it initially looked like. Many of the books on the bookshelf aren't damaged at all. The bookshelf itself, however, was what was actually burning and has pretty well burned itself out. Same with the table, although everything that was on the table is pretty much ash at this point. The southern shelves also burned, and most of the containers were smashed there. The few that survived seemed to have been made to withstand fire. The floor and walls of the room are scorched and little more. Hard to tell at this point what they are made of -- definitely not wood, but not really stone either.
Pinna bustles around conveying unsalvagable items to the 'throne' and dropping them in to watch them vanish. She drags the snake people outside and collects all the stuff in the room to the table, leaving the outer doors propped open to clear the smoke. She utterly ignores the others.
"It looks like the dragons have wandered off. Strange...I thought dragons could fly. Oh well. It's rather warm out here. Lucky, since I forgot to pack cold weather gear."
Vortic gives Pinna a hand dragging the bodies out.
Lanwin shrugs and hands the scroll and note to Vassago, then returns to Vortic, "Lanwin of the holy order of Lathander. We ought to continue our introductions outside." Lanwin heads out the door.Vassago looks at the scrolls and parchment...
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
Pinna regards Vortic as he helps with the bodies. "Thank you, human. You are not so bloody now. The fire is out. There are books and bottles that are unharmed. Do you know why Pinna is here? If not, she will look through the fire room to find out."
Pinna regards Vortic as he helps with the bodies. "Thank you, human. You are not so bloody now. The fire is out. There are books and bottles that are unharmed. Do you know why Pinna is here? If not, she will look through the fire room to find out."
"Your guess is as good as mine... Pinna is it? I've never seen one of your kind before."
You know (or at least believe) that they are natives of (at least) one of the Good aligned planes. Not much more than that at this point.
"It looks like the dragons have wandered off. Strange...I thought dragons could fly. Oh well. It's rather warm out here. Lucky, since I forgot to pack cold weather gear."
"You packed for this trip?" Lanwin asks innocently.
Pinna regards Vortic as he helps with the bodies. "Thank you, human. You are not so bloody now. The fire is out. There are books and bottles that are unharmed. Do you know why Pinna is here? If not, she will look through the fire room to find out.""Your guess is as good as mine... Pinna is it? I've never seen one of your kind before."
Pinna bobs her head. "Pinna, yes. I am tengu. Some call us the old word, kenku. You are human? You fight well. You are...??"