Alice's beast uses both of its claws now.
Her shadow mimics the beast, clawing into the boar.
Alice eyes Ms. Darkling, shifting her head slowly from side to side. The boar was most likely dry of blood by now, its wounds deep. When it collasped, Alice would lift a hand,"Pick it up."Her beast would do so, carrying the boar's bloody body behind it when they continued on.
"If it does not kill me, then I will heal. I wish to return. I want no involvement with the fae."
As Delman reaches through the gate his arm presses against cold metal in order to reach the skeletons. It causes, perhaps, a haphazard jerk back in case it was a trap, but quickly resolves as simple temperature of the room.
Titus watches and gives a low roar in approval and amusement as two of the four armed skeletons fall before the other two make it towards the gate. Their bones crack and rattle as eight sworded arms swing furiously against the cold steel metal.
No matter how many blows fall the cold iron bars of the gate hold steady against their attacks. Titus simply paces back and forth, waiting until the skeletons are eliminated before pulling back the crank with a wide, golden scaled grin "Hmmmmmm." His voice carries a wonderful confidence as he thinks outloud "Perhaps he thought there was something else that needed his attention, or the traps were more dangerous than predicted. REgardless.... The heap you have made is quite impressive."
The gate cranks open with ease as both sides slide into the stone walls nearby "I suppose we should go... To floor three... I have no idea what is there. I am no longer of any help or guess..."
Titus and Delman would walk down the brown stone paved hallway and several torches that had lit the path. If they investigate the dark areas they only see traces that Mudra Skeletons patrol them and nothing else of value, or interest.
At the end of the hallway a small portal seems to open as a familiar faceless face greets with a mouthless smile and voice "OOoooh you made it! Wowow! Hahaha here you are!"
He throws two bags each at the players with a smile as glints of silver pop from their canvas bags "Ooooh I'm so HAPPY when I see someone coming through my home... I can't believe it! Of course... It'll be done soon anyways.... This next area, well...."
The Doorman gives a small tiptoe skip as he begins to hop back towards the gate the players had walked through. As his feet clack he sings in their heads while fading into the ground- or perhaps even the air- as a shadow "mmmmmmmHMMMMM, tiiiiiptoe, THROUGH the window, by the window, come tiptoe, through the tulips, wiiiith meeeeheeeeee. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Haaaaa-ah."
As he vanishes, the brick wall in front of the players in the opposite way seems to open up into the visual of a giant pool covered in rather large lillipads.
".....I do not think I'm going to enjoy this one...." Titus gives a gruff observation as he looks onward, wondering what waits ahead.
When you step through the portal you are in Sanctuary with Ironfist and the portal quickly closes behind you. Come we will go to my hovel. he quickly says and leads down the alleyways until you see an archway. He opens the doors and within is a 50 foot by 50 foot courtyard with training materials sparsely set around the perimeter and a three story house about 50 feet wide. "Home in Sanctuary." He states before approaching a table near the entrance. With a wave of his arm the materials appear again. "Strip down, it will be best if you have no restrictions between the training gear and your own flesh. Then stand with your arms up." Once you comply Ironfist begins to apply strips of leather to your skin and secure them with cords of leather and chains. You can feel them biting into your skin. Only once he is done and snaps his fingers do you feel the immense weight on your body.
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Can we collect the weapons from the skeletons?
Seeing the water and the giant lily pads he shakes his head, "This is crazy, if we had gone below it would have just been piles of enemies after us. Simple but many, this is a death trap, then again we do have the pearls up here. Not below. Shall I lead?"
"Impressive residence", he complimented, glad that they were getting directly to training. He was not hungry yet (would he get hungry?), so now he would get to see how long he could train until then. When Ironfist snapped his fingers, it was a significant amount of weight that he had to compensate for, but it was not unmanageable. He was certainly restricted, though. Adjusting, he swung his arms and legs around, checking to see how much trouble he might have moving around.
"Good, a challenge!", he exclaimed with a grin, determined to weather this training with a smile.
Flynn continues to walk towards Lord Lloyd's Estate.
"Now what would you like to work on martial training, mental training, or go out and spar?"
The Cheshire follows and inquires as you walk, "Meow give me boots and a hat, in return Meow guide you through Lord Lloyd's estate?"
"I will let the cat guide you here then and go see if the others need my help, good luck to you and I will see you back at the green house later." Orik offers.
Happy that the four of them are moving again, he tries to run ahead... Soon he is running up from behind and frowns at the Cheshire. Grumpily he whines, "I hate paradoxes, please let me go cat. You have these two to toy with."
"Yes Meow, but three is better." The Cheshire says as he walks beside Jeffery. Then he looks at Circe, "Why Meow change? Meow back."
Assuming Jeffery agrees to the Meow's terms, the group catches up to Tristan who is waiting at another gate. Large roots twisted and smashed together make up the wall of this gate, some 10 to 12 feet high with thorns the size of short swords.
He looks at the five of you and shakes his head, complaining he asks, "Really did you have to get a Cheshire you do know how much luck they bring?"
He sighs and looks at Baris, "We can either break the door down or you can try to knock on it and see if it opens to you. It should since it is now your place. Lloyd was an odd duck even for us Fae, he used to be the old wizard master until he fused himself with a giant of some kind. He also infused himself with so much magic that he went a bit bonkers."
Baris walks up and raps on the door which unlatches and opens a few inches. With a quick push and a tumble back, Baris sees that there is nothing there. He then strides into the place and shakes his head. "Look we got ourselves a cottage! Wait you said he was a wizard right, bigger on the inside than the outside... what kind of traps are we possibly talking about, any of you can sense traps? At least besides the Cheshire?"
Alice curls her hands into fists, scraping her palms with dirty nails, "One boar will be a fine meat...bag, or dinner. Let's kill other things."Her black teeth smile. For fun She took a long look around, her hand pointing in a random direction, her beast and shadow prodding alone that way. Alice follows the macabre parade, turning to eye Ms. Darkling, "You almost hurt the innocent creature. I'm almost surprised."
Circe rolls her face forward, hand catching her chest, as she contains blatant laughter,"Here here, poor Chesire. I am mwa-, your ears are just filled with too many words to hear me mwa-."Her gaze catches the others, waving at them. "Traps? Just find some poor shlob on the street, tell him nicely that you'll do anything if he runs through the entire house. You know, to find a shady place to fulfill his dreams."
"Ya, you go do that for us." Baris pointedly states pointing at her looking rather perturbed. He shakes his head and begins to grumble. He just walks in along the path. Gets to the door knocks and enters, slamming the door behind him.
Cheshire looks at Circe and his eyes turn red... then he disappears in a puff of pink and purple lined smoke.
He looks at Circe and shakes his head, "I can't believe..." then he runs directly away from your group and the estate, off the path and into the woods.
Circe stands with her hands bent along her hips, looking between those that left her, "Come now, guys, I was only jesting! We can still be friends, right?" Circe followed Baris into the house, opening the door with a "Yoohoo? Traps, are there any traps in here? Honestly, who traps their own house?" She totally would. Closing the door behind her, she emitted a burst of pink and purple smoke, changing into the Cheshire cat, "Now we are styling, meow. Look at this duds, meow.' It's time to have a look around!
Circe finds herself in a simple cottage, nothing seems special about it.
Titus looks over the area with keen eyes and a sigh "... I'm not entirely sure... How far can you jump? The first lily pad seems to be close enough for us to reach... but the others.... We need to exercise as much caution as possible."
As Titus and Delman approach the water at a much closer distance they notice it glows with a nice blue tone, making the area almost as if it had been lit by a blue shaded sun.
The water is crystal clear and appears smooth and clean, though it doesn't ripple even the slightest. Instead it is still, flat, and noiseless. Nothing can be seen under the surface.
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He steps up to the edge of their platform before the first lilly pad and fishes a stone from his pocket. He drops it into the water hoping to see it sink below in the clear waters and see how deep the water is currently.
As Delman drops the stone it does not fall through the water as if it were natural water. Instead it plops and spins in what breaks out as something made of jello-
This was absolutely some sort of ooze. A massive, giant, sickening and crystal clear blue ooze. If you had to guess, it was some sort of lake variant, but your knowledge couldn't reveal anything else on it.
The lillipad appears to be within ten feet of Delman, and the pads themselves don't appear dangerous in any sort of way.
The rock is dissolved before it even reaches half-way through the ooze.
Titus gives a gruff sigh "Hmmmm.... It seems.... We are just going to have to give it a try..... You don't have any other way over, do you, Delman?"
Lost in thought Flynn offers said items to the Cheshire, agreeing with it that it should guide them through Lord Lloyd's estate.
He contemplates the situation of the strange new estate along the path, a wizard involvement, and Baris showing signs of un-Baris like behaviour. If I had to defeat us, I would frustrate Baris in a perception loop. Definitely would not confront him directly.
At the cottage. Not much of an Estate. The purpose of an Estate is to say "Hey, look at me. I have power." Either political, which this is not - being so far away from Loarim. Militarily, this doesn't suggest fortifications. It could be magical: along a ley line or contains a Pool, especially relevant due to wizards allegedly involved. Doubt that holding this cottage provides much prestige as an estate that stays in a family for generations.
Flynn opens up his map, seeing if there is more to the estate than what is visible. This estate could be simply controlling the trade route into Loarim or it has a renewable resource that could provide wealth to Lord Lloyd. Loarim is a hidden city, so trade routes would use nondescript cottages to move goods in and out.
A look of mild disappointment in Flynn's expression. Another use of an estate is banishment of a rival/family member.
Looking at Cheshire. As my guide, are you also in contract with another party that could be considered by us to be in opposition?
Sighs. Is everyone here basing their persona on a character from a CW show?
Circe gave a nod, her paw gesturing to the bland furniture, "Such poor taste, meow! Meow would do much better in furnishing meow's house, meow."
She hopped onto the table and stretched out, kicking over a chair or two, "Oh no, meow, never meow! I'm by meowself, meow, and I, but I would never consider meowself to be opposition to meow; I am, in meow-fact, only in opposition to those that oppose meow. Which is purrfectly natural, meow."
At least there are furnishings. If there is nothing else here, at least we have that. All we are out is a poor boots, a hat, ten hours, and friendships built to survive a combat-filled world... I like you fine, Ms Meow. Flynn keeps the map open keeping an eye on the icons of his friends. Flynn also notes the coordinates he is at to confirm his sense of placement is correct.
With Baris acting all nervous, makes me think we are still at the new Wizard estate. It would be typical of Fey to place us under an illusion. This bland estate is not what I figured Lord Lloyd would possess.
Flynn surveys what should go back to the Green House.
Looking himself over, he grunted slightly, though the weight had not left. "A good start", he declared with a satisfied smile, moving to stretch his arms and get a sense of motion in what he was now wearing. He was certainly restricted by the weight that still existed, but that was fine. "Let us start with martial training, yes?"
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Unless something stops him he will just keeping moving and jumping, hoping to keep his momentum.
As luck would fall out from under him, he does not keep that momentum and misses the lillypad.
Flynn sees the floating smile in front of him and the Cheshire says, "Perhaps my other contract forbids me from saying so. Dum dilly dum."
There is a sturdy looking table, four chairs to go around it, and a few other essential items. The cottage seems to be above peasant grade and the few items within match.
Baris's icon has disappeared, Tristan's icon is off in the distance just on the edge of your minimap.
What secrets does this Estate have that have not been revealed, Brightly Smiling Chesire? Can you remove any illusions that have been placed around here? Do you know where the secret doors are? Flynn praises the Cheshire Cat in a genuinely friendly voice.
Rueful at the lack of material from the Estate. Not what I intended to find at the Estate.
Flynn opens some of the cabinets in the cooking area.
"Meow, the secret door is the one you passed through." the cat says cryptically.
Flynn finds pans, dishes, and an assortment of cooking utensils.
Flynn adds the pans, dishes, and assortment of cooking utensils to his inventory.
Flynn responds to the cryptic statement by heading back to the doorway, to feel along the edge of it. The doorway is a secret doorway? Then it must rotate or shift to show the real Estate. There's a joke in that statement, I would wager if I was in a different profession.
The sounds of the city echoed over the walls, and he was surprised at how normal it sounded. There were the distant ringing sounds of a Blacksmith, and some odd scents that he was surprised to notice— more that smell was something that got conveyed, than anything— but could not identify. There were not as many sounds near where he was, though. Perhaps some running water from somewhere?
As Delman falls into the puddle he feels himself slowly sinking-
Titus gives a small snarl as he begins to attempt the jump as well himself-
Titus' golden scales, however, weight him down nearly twenty feet away from Delman. He begins to chop and shred through the gelatin like water to reach Delman with a snarl at every other stroke as he does so.
Titus reaches the next lillipad and manages to hoist himself up onto the one Delman missed. He throws his arm out to aid Delman in coming back out of the gelatin like substance as it begins to roil where the golden dragon once was.
The same patter begins to form around Delman as he does so....
Flynn now has a bag of banging kitchen stuff. Searching for a lever, button or other activator ends up fruitless.
The day passes quickly as you train with your mentor. He points out when you have an opening sometimes jabbing it lightly. At the end of the day he takes you into the house which is very spartan. He shows you the bath, kitchen, and your room before retiring himself.
Jeffery and Circe hear a door open and close but the only door you see is the front door and it stayed close.
Circe pawed at the air lazily, laying on her side on the table, "Are you looking for something, meow? Why not just ask the one who ran in here? I can send him a message if you'd like, meow, because obviously, he's not in here right meow."
She looked about, palm on her chin, "Strange, meow, someone is opening doors around here. Also, meow, I am not the only cat. I'm very used to being the only cat, you know, meow."
As Delman struggles to get onto the lilly pads, Titus gives a nasty snarl in an attempt to lift him up as he watches the bubbles slowly chew at Delman's clothing and softly burning his skin-
Titus takes out a purple potion seemingly from nowhere and in a needle like fashion injects it under a scale and into his chest. A purple aura bursts from his body as he flexes- a red and white aura join in as he rips Delman from the ooze and onto the lillipad with him "GET. UP. HERE. GRAH."
Even with the newfound strength of the golden dragon Delman hardly makes it up safely onto the lillipad. Titus gives a long sigh "I'm... Going to have to... Swim with you on me... If you cannot jump the proper distance... My strength in this form is limited, and if I'm caught in the waters when they vanish I will surely drown.... Come! It is rare to have to do a daring thing, human Delman, we must flee across to the other side!"
Where's the door sound coming from?
Psst. Cheshire? Who opened the door?
Is there a mirror? Probably not.
Any Wardrobe?
No mirror or wardrobe, there is a ramshackle small chest in one of the corners with a few pair of extra clothing.
The door opened from the direction of the front door, the only door of the cottage. The footsteps are getting farther away as if out in the garden.
The smile merely says, The master of the house.
Alice staggers after her beasts, the blood of the boar leaving a streak along the ground. She held up a hand and they stopped. Alice dropped to her knees and idly dug through the boar's body, probably looking for gems, "I believe so. In everyone, everywhere, everything, all the time." And she repeated those four short phrases over and over again, her body finally shuddering as she shook it off.
Standing up, she took notice, for the first time, at the fields of boars. Alice turned her head slowly towards Ms. Darkling, "Why..did the Hunt not kill off these boars? Feyyyyy.." She grinds her teeth, the last word seething with hatred. Alice eyed the travelling boars, dropping her gaze to the boar body. Digging into it, her hand emitting a darkness that seeped out, she started whispering. From the air, a brief image of a man yelled out and collided itself into the boar's body. The boar's legs kicked out, snorting, before it righted itself.
Alice gestured towards the boar group that was the closest, "These creatures are in my way..kill them." Her nagakin beast strode forward, her shadow and her boar following behind and off to the side.