Nari startled at being addressed, and then her eyes flashed briefly. Her entire posture changed, she held herself ramrod straight and looked Maelrim boldly in the eye, her expression at least as haughty as his, slightly more so. Her lips curved into a non-mirthful smile.
"He is half human, and no he is not my servant. Or did you not hear him when he said he was the leader of the Silver Rose Company? Perhaps you have something in your ears?" she suggested just a little too sweetly for sincerity.
"We are strangers to your world and unaware of the local customs. If we continue to go on in this fashion I cannot see how we can avoid continuing to offend each other unintentionally," she said pointedly. "Perhaps you would be so kind as to provide a quick summary of who is who and what customs we would be expected to know?"
Though he turns a bit red at the elf lord's rebuke, Isaac keeps in mind his own falter in courtesy.
"Many thanks, Naridre.", he says before bowing to Maelrin. "My sincere apologies, Lord Maelrin of House Garadian, I meant no offense."
"Ha," Karrin says in common, a false friendly smile tacked onto her face, "these folks never saw a human, catfolk, or tiefling before. Better let you take the lead Nari, other wise I might have to mop the floors with this fop to show him how much we respect his royal bumpkin butt."
"Please tell his excellency" Karrin says to Nari in elven, "that our leader means no disrespect and assure him that we will stop addressing him directly."
Diplomacy
Remembering something she learned on a diplomatic trip years earlier, Rhiannon subtly shifts, her spacing from those she addressed perfect, her inflection and body language expressing the exact degree of respect a visiting individual on business of great importance would display.
Diplomacy1d20+7
Remembering something she learned on a diplomatic trip years earlier, Rhiannon subtly shifts, her spacing from those she addressed perfect, her inflection and body language expressing the exact degree of respect a visiting individual on business of great importance would display.
Maelrin turns to Rhiannon, looking more impressed with her armor and body language
"You, good lady knight. I assume you are a knight? You have the look of proper breeding about you. I am interested in hearing more of your journey. Perhaps you would do my the honor of walking with me?"
Nari startled at being addressed, and then her eyes flashed briefly. Her entire posture changed, she held herself ramrod straight and looked Maelrim boldly in the eye, her expression at least as haughty as his, slightly more so. Her lips curved into a non-mirthful smile.
"He is half human, and no he is not my servant. Or did you not hear him when he said he was the leader of the Silver Rose Company? Perhaps you have something in your ears?" she suggested just a little too sweetly for sincerity.
"We are strangers to your world and unaware of the local customs. If we continue to go on in this fashion I cannot see how we can avoid continuing to offend each other unintentionally," she said pointedly. "Perhaps you would be so kind as to provide a quick summary of who is who and what customs we would be expected to know?"1d20+13
Maelrin flushes under the rebuke.
"I am accustomed to dealing with personages who address me with proper deference." He says curtly. He nods grudgingly at Issacs offer of apology.
Jenadiel speaks up
"Maelrin, you are being churlish yourself! These people are obviously from another realm of existance. If the Ice Spider wished to harm us, I'm sure he would not come at us with humans and other beings not of this world. Why that is suspicious enough!"
She turns towards the stone path
"Come, let us take them to our lady grandmother. She can discover the truth of any matter. "
Jena whistles, and four large silver ferrets come out of the bush. One sits across her shoulders and three ease themselves into a large bag Jena carries. She nods at Issac and Nari
"Come, if you wish, I will take you to Meralindiel."
"It would be a great honor my lord,"
Rhiannon replies, completing a curtsy that despite all logic manages to be quite graceful despite her plate armor.
A small smile crosses her face.
"I would enjoy the opportunity to experience the elegant beauty of your world, brief though it may be."
Her accent in her elvven speech indicates a formal education in the language from an early age.
"You have got to be kidding me.....Am I the only person here who can't speak a word of elvish?" Merle sounds more than a little annoyed but with a slight hint of something else perhaps envy.
Ekuur starts with surprise. "Elvish? You cannot mean to say that they were speaking Elvish. I do not speak it, yet I understood them all clearly. It was the common tongue of these planes, as far as I heard. It must be the doing of my ... new friend."
Ekuur waits to take his place behind Jena, in the middle of the group as Isaac had decreed earlier. He briefly looks to the elven woman, and says, "I am now curious. Do you understand my words?"
"So I am the only one that has no idea what there saying." Merle laments
Ekuur starts with surprise. "Elvish? You cannot mean to say that they were speaking Elvish. I do not speak it, yet I understood them all clearly. It was the common tongue of these planes, as far as I heard. It must be the doing of my ... new friend."
Ekuur waits to take his place behind Jena, in the middle of the group as Isaac had decreed earlier. He briefly looks to the elven woman, and says, "I am now curious. Do you understand my words?"
Jena turns to Ekuur
"Why yes. You seem to be speaking fluent Elvish to me. Your accent is by far the least strange of all the speakers to my ear. What friend is helping you?"
"It would be a great honor my lord,"
Rhiannon replies, completing a curtsy that despite all logic manages to be quite graceful despite her plate armor.
A small smile crosses her face.
"I would enjoy the opportunity to experience the elegant beauty of your world, brief though it may be."
Her accent in her elvven speech indicates a formal education in the language from an early age.
The tall elf lord nods, and a faint smile comes to his face. It looks unaccustomed to being there.
"Our little corner of the world is all that is left of a land that was mighty from the First Days. Our city was founded by our patron, Hanali Celani, goddess of beauty, magic and dreams. She danced upon Carangil, the rock Hanalindali rises from, when she first dreamed our world into being. She created the Hanalindrim here, blessing us with her own blood. For long ages we have dwelt here and many other places in the lands."
Maelrin's visage darkens
"Then the Ages of Discord began. The Winter Queen, Mistress of Spiders, Smoke Mirror of Death, came to our world with her many Svartalfardrim and their slave minions. She hated Our Mother Hanali, and she pressed our people fiercely. Eventually, all that was left was Nan Thoron, the Vale of Eagles. Thanks to the power of Meralindiel, my grandmother, we are fenced in with a wall of mystic protection. That and there are no entrances to our vale an army could use."
Maelrin walks on
"Tell me, Lady Rhiannon, why does someone of your breeding accomany such a rag-tag group? It seems .. common, if you will pardon my observation."
"So I am the only one that has no idea what there saying." Merle laments
Phaumee, who has hung back, chitters at Merle
"Me no speakie elf stuff talking cat."
He looks around somewhat nervous, clutching his spear tightly in his rodent-like claws
"So I am the only one that has no idea what there saying." Merle lamentsPhaumee, who has hung back, chitters at Merle
"Me no speakie elf stuff talking cat."
He looks around somewhat nervous, clutching his spear tightly in his rodent-like claws
Merle nods and seeing how she cant understand any of the conversation begins going through her items to pass the time. scrounging around she eventually comes across a parchment she collected some time ago.
"Don't suppose you know what this is?" Merle asks showing Phaumee (or anyone else that is interested)
Planar Common;
"Yeh didn't miss too much, Phaumee. They've never seen folk like us around here, that elf was mad at his cousin for talkin' with us when he would have rather attacked us first and caused trouble. Then he called me a fat golem and got angry that I didn't immediately recognize he was a nobleman. Now we're off to the temple to make the exchange. The young lady elf seems to be the reasonable one here."
Ekuur starts with surprise. "Elvish? You cannot mean to say that they were speaking Elvish. I do not speak it, yet I understood them all clearly. It was the common tongue of these planes, as far as I heard. It must be the doing of my ... new friend."
Ekuur waits to take his place behind Jena, in the middle of the group as Isaac had decreed earlier. He briefly looks to the elven woman, and says, "I am now curious. Do you understand my words?"
Jena turns to Ekuur
"Why yes. You seem to be speaking fluent Elvish to me. Your accent is by far the least strange of all the speakers to my ear. What friend is helping you?"
Ekuur chuckles. "Least strange? And I am likely from the furthest away.
"As for my friend, let's just say it is related to what my elven companion mentioned before: we carry something for your grandmother for trade. And I am guessing it is allowing me to facilitate that trade more easily."
"Don't suppose you know what this is?" Merle asks showing Phaumee (or anyone else that is interested)
Phaumee looks at the parchment.
"That a map. Glittereye has some at hutch. Dots are portals. Not know writing. links show which portal goes where."
Planar Common;
"Yeh didn't miss too much, Phaumee. They've never seen folk like us around here, that elf was mad at his cousin for talkin' with us when he would have rather attacked us first and caused trouble. Then he called me a fat golem and got angry that I didn't immediately recognize he was a nobleman. Now we're off to the temple to make the exchange. The young lady elf seems to be the reasonable one here."
Phaumee glances at the elf nobleman aside Rhiannon
"Him look like Hrr-squee-squee-grrk-k-k."
Phaumee notes incomprehension on Issac's face.
"Umm ... him ... nut-hoarder-who-talks-too-much."
Phaumee looks around.
"This place nice, but there is danger near. No animals play, no birds sing."
"As for my friend, let's just say it is related to what my elven companion mentioned before: we carry something for your grandmother for trade. And I am guessing it is allowing me to facilitate that trade more easily."
Jena smiles
"It must be a very puissant item to barter for something like the Chrysagmir. That jewel has been in Hanalindali since Our Lady of Dreams left it with my grandmother's grandmother in the First Age."
Ekuur:
Bearer. These beings, they are elves? Will they be my tenders when I am planted? Or will it be the dark ones coming here?
"As for my friend, let's just say it is related to what my elven companion mentioned before: we carry something for your grandmother for trade. And I am guessing it is allowing me to facilitate that trade more easily."Jena smiles
"It must be a very puissant item to barter for something like the Chrysagmir. That jewel has been in Hanalindali since Our Lady of Dreams left it with my grandmother's grandmother in the First Age."
Ekuur: ** spoiler omitted **
Ekuur's brow furrows in concern.
Planar Common;
"Yeh didn't miss too much, Phaumee. They've never seen folk like us around here, that elf was mad at his cousin for talkin' with us when he would have rather attacked us first and caused trouble. Then he called me a fat golem and got angry that I didn't immediately recognize he was a nobleman. Now we're off to the temple to make the exchange. The young lady elf seems to be the reasonable one here."Phaumee glances at the elf nobleman aside Rhiannon
"Him look like Hrr-squee-squee-grrk-k-k."
Phaumee notes incomprehension on Issac's face.
"Umm ... him ... nut-hoarder-who-talks-too-much."
Phaumee looks around.
"This place nice, but there is danger near. No animals play, no birds sing."
Isaac chuckles dryly.
"I'd say ye have him figured out, cutter..."But he listens closely to Phaumee's observation and keeps a watchful eye out.
Perception:
Ekuur's brow furrows in concern.
** spoiler omitted **
Ekuur:
But he listens closely to Phaumee's observation and keeps a watchful eye out.
Perception: 1d20+15
Issac:
Common:
"Step lively, cutters: we're being watched."
Elven:
"The path has gone awfully quiet. I do not believe we are alone, honored hosts."
Ekuur: ** spoiler omitted **Ekuur's brow furrows in concern.
** spoiler omitted **
Ekuur immediately pulls out his trikal. "DROW! I have seen them, riding wolves the size of horses! I do not know exactly where, but I believe nearby!"
Ekuur grasps his obsidian holy symbol, and intones a prayer to the Sacred Flame, asking to be shielded from harm. The blue flame around the orb expands to surround him in a barely-perceptible flickering glow.
"Ahhhh crap" Merle (if she has time.) uses her wand of mage armour on herself.
Justin, while fluent in Elvish, is a bit rusty from not having used it in a while, and was taking a bit to get his thoughts wrapped back around the language. When the 'misunderstanding' between Isaac and the uptight elf happened, the mage was formulating the correct reply, but Nari stepped forward (or was it the 'other' Nari? either way, she did good. Put the uptight elf back in his place far smoother than He could have done.) and then Rhiannon, and things were again all friendly before Justin could finish formulating his sentence.
The wizard gives a small smile to Phaumee at his description of the elf lordling. "A fairly apt observation Phaumee." He grins. Then looks at the map the squirrel is holding from Merle.
"Interesting, wait a minute,.. I think I recognize a few of those runes. May I Merle?" He asks, leaning over Phaumee to look at the map himself,...
The wizard reaches over, plucks the map from Phaumee's grasp, turns it upside down, and gives it back to the squirrel.
"Ah. Yes. Now it makes EVER so much more sense!" He says excitedly. Reaching over Phaumee's shoulder to point at the map.
"See here? This says,..." And he is interrupted by Ekuurs cry of 'Drow'! And spins in a complete circle, eyes wide, before he realizes that Ekuur is warning them, and not seeing them.
"Drow is it?" The mage composes himself with a grim smile. "We can deal with them. Although maybe we should keep our usual collateral damage to a minimum, eh Ekuur?" He asks the flame priest wryly.
"Can you tell how close they are Ekuur? Or even which direction? I don't want to torch the wrong way!"
;P
Ekuur tries to refocus and see if the seed can give him a better idea of where the enemy is ...
Justin:
Ekuur tries to refocus and see if the seed can give him a better idea of where the enemy is ...
Ekuur:
The newcomers are down the road, not far from here.
Maelrin, Jena and the three other elves whirl when Ekuur sound his warning.
"Svartalfardrim? Where?" Maelrin demands.
The three elves string their bows and nock arrows. Jena's four ferrets tumble out and ring themselves around her. Maelrin pulls his blade from its scabbard. The blade is black as coal, with pale glowing glyphs writhing down the central blood channel
Maelrin, Jena and the three other elves whirl when Ekuur sound his warning.
"Svartalfardrim? Where?" Maelrin demands.
The three elves string their bows and nock arrows. Jena's four ferrets tumble out and ring themselves around her. Maelrin pulls his blade from its scabbard. The blade is black as coal, with pale glowing glyphs writhing down the central blood channel
"I am told they are down the road. Not far."
"Do they know if we are here?" Merle asks whilst casting mage armour from her wand on Seph
Rhiannon brings a hand up to her chest as she breathes in deeply, calling upon her birthright. She feels he skin toughening, reinforcing along her entire body.
The rasp of steel sounds as she draws her sword, shield coming up into a guard position.
Isaac strings his bow and chuckles dryly.
"You thought I was ugly before, just wait until you see this...", he says in Elven while pulling out a beetle elixir from his potion satchel. Downing the brew, he shudders slightly as his skin grows chitinous and antennae sprout from his forehead.
As the group readies itself, the sounds of approaching riders becomes noticable. A group of ten riders rounds a bend, and stops about 100 feet from the party. At the distance everyone can see that they are dark-skinned elves with white hair riding white wolves in ornate barding. The elves themselves are wearing plate suits and are armed as knights. There is one dark elf not armored or riding a wolf. That one is dressed in leathers and is astride a flame-snorting horse with some sort of whitish blanket on its flanks.
Perception rolls (read all you make roll for):
DC 15 :
DC 20 :
DC 25 :
DC 30:
Perception:
Perception
As the dark elves reign up Rhiannon touches the onyx braceleton her wrist, a swirl of shadows enveloping her to clear a moment later, leaving her mounted atop her coal black destrier, whisps of smoke and shadow trailing from his ash grey mane.
All righty, time to get fun sized! Karrin activates her belt of giant growth.
Seph Perception
Merle perception
Justin checks to make sure the tell-tale shimmer of his protective spell is still there, then grabs a bit of component from his coat pocket. After a moments thought, he pulls out his new wand too.
Jena looks around.
"Be ready. We are in grave danger. I will cast haste upon us should we have to fight."
She gestures and blows a bit of glittery dust on Maelrin. Three of her four ferrets scurry off into the underbrush. Jena pulls a light crossbow off her back and ratchets in a bolt.
The riders wait. The armored ones seem to be in a spiky red armor, as are their wolves. They seem to have some sort of long spear and large sword in saddle sheaths. One carries a banner depicting a white spider. A female voice rings out.
"Will you parley? Or shall we just slay you?"
(Assuming they are all speaking elven) Merle's eye begins to twitch as she fingers one of her scrolls. "Can no one here speak normally?" she asks no one in particular
The riders wait. The armored ones seem to be in a spiky red armor, as are their wolves. They seem to have some sort of long spear and large sword in saddle sheaths. One carries a banner depicting a white spider. A female voice rings out.
"Will you parley? Or shall we just slay you?"
"That's funny. That's usually OUR line!" Justin calls back in elvish without thinking.
"Are you certain that you don't want to try an introduction a little less self-destructive?!?"
Isaac sighs.
"Honestly? Parleying always sounds good in principal but never works out. So let me save you some time: you will either threaten us and our hosts to make yourselves feel big, maybe you'll demand we hand over the elves because that's the way the wind is blowing on this plane or you'll demand something we have on pain of death. Scary scary, look at you, not like we've heard it dozens of times already."
He rolls his eyes.
"But we're professional mercenaries. Really powerful ones. We've destroyed things you haven't even dreamed of yet in all your decades of life; hells, half the time it was by ACCIDENT too. I shudder to think of what we could seriously ruin if we put our minds to it. And we can't even lay down to get some rest without someone trying and failing to shake us down. So, being professionals, I'm going to take an educated guess here and now and assume that any and all of your terms will not be acceptable to us."
"But I can see you don't believe me. Here's the deal- get out of our way, no one gets hurt. Very simple. Nari, you're far better at explaining things to people than I am: will you tell this nice young lady and her little dog what happens when people threaten us?"
Nari stood a little apart from the group as she stepped forward. She smiled sweetly. Her eyes glowed bright gold as the wind around her began to pick up whipping her hair and small loose objects, pebbles, leaves, pinecones rose up, circling her.
"I do so hope you won't surrender. It's been such a very long time since I had a chance to really let loose and destroy anything. Surely you don't want to ruin my fun, do you?" she said in perfect court elven, her tone courteous and slightly bored.
Rhiannon sheathes her sword, reaching down to catch up her shining lance from its clasp in the saddle. Locking eyes with the mounted woman she salutes, an act that carriess with it the finality of last rites.
Justin interlaces his gloved fingers, and stretches his arms out, popping them. He shakes them out with a small, tight smile,...
Ekuur grasps his trikal and speaks the command word for it to burst into flame. He grips his obsidian holy symbol tightly, a fireball spell on his lips, ready to fly ...
The nine armored riders position themselves in front of the female who shouted out, spears at the ready. She calls out again after Issac speaks
"I know not who you are, or your reputation. Judging from your mein, you are from the Outer Realms, something that is very out of place for this world. You also hold something ..strange. I would fain see it."
When Nari talks the tone changes.
"I will not surrender, but we do not have to come to blows. Perhaps we can exchange information? The disputes of this world mean little to persons of your obvious power and wisdom. Why get involved with them? Are you the servants of these Halanidrim?"