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Grateful for the break from the recent relentless marching and combat over the past few days, Isilme takes advantage of the lull to find a corner and just sleep. Since the sacrifice of the hilt of the blade she'd been trapped in, sleep had gradually changed in nature for her. While she still dreamt of elysium most nights, the dreams were distant and hazy, not nearly as vivid as they had been before. A lot of her dreams recently were of the time she had spent alone with Ai'sintar there, another marked change from the solitude of the dreams that had come before. She wasn't sure whether that was a result of never having shared her home with someone else--she had never taken Elan there--or whether it represented a fundamental change in who she was. The dreams were nevertheless quite pleasant, and after a night's sleep she wakes up rested and ready to return home as soon as they finished the day's activities.
Unable to truly tell time anymore, she had taken time to prepare spells before sleeping to prepare her spells for the day, choosing some to aid with possibly freeing Old Ironfin, and some to aid in the coming feast and discussions with Grila about moving to join the underfolk in Drezen. Now all that was left was to put them to use. At the very least the underfolk and freed slaves would have a chance to enjoy themselves for a day.
Gathering her things, she heads to join the others, surprisingly relaxed and oblivious to what is going on within the village.
True to herself, Hinagiku spends much of the time her companions sleep to stay awake and help out the tribe. Finally, when fatigue begins to slow her mind, she retires to the forest of fossilized wood were she meditates. Her thoughts focus on the troglodyte, their strife and way of life, as well as her own place in the world, the fact that she could not direct them to the Master of masters in such as short time. And so, she simply lets go of the feeling of guilt.
In the morning, Hinagiku wakes up and reads one of her books while waiting for the others to stir out of their covers.
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After eating a variety of interesting-looking fungi for supper, Ehren settles down for the night (or day, or whatever time it happens to be on the surface). For whatever reason, the Gunduara tribe's territory has a certain hominess that makes it easy to relax in, perhaps owing to its connection to the Green. Sleep takes him quickly enough, and after a peaceful night(?) of rest, he wakes up bright and early(?).
Ehren chooses a quiet place to meditate, where the abundance of moss covers the cavern walls, and reflects on the greater mysteries of the Green. As he has over the past several days, he focuses his thoughts on Underdark, and its role in the unending cycle of nature. He thinks of the many strange creatures that dwell there, most of them beyond his ken, yet every bit as natural as the wild beasts on the surface. Of the countless different types of plant and fungi he has seen there, that can only grow where the sun does not touch. And of course, of the people that lived there; just like on the surface, there were those that lived in harmony with nature, while there were others who only saw it as something to dominate. As a whole, it was all a part of the very same Green he has known for all his life.
But soon it will be time to go home, he thinks, finally stirring after an hour spent in almost total stillness. Since rescuing Javyn and the others, his feelings of nostalgia were being increasingly undercut by the need to return to Drezen, to Sarkoris. Still, he is not in such a hurry that he cannot treat poor Old Ironfin, or that he must skip out on a well-deserved celebration.
Lann meets up with everyone as they start to regroup after their rest. He stretches and sighs. "Ahh. Good morning. Or...well....you know what I mean," he finishes, awkwardly. When he lived underground, they used water clocks to keep time. Their forefathers were unable to give up that aspect of living on the surface, and so the telling of days by virtue of the sun persisted through the generations. But now, he felt completely disconnected from the surface in a way that he had never been before in his life. It served to make Nar-Voth only feel that much more alien.
"So. What are we doing now?"
"Perhaps we should decide first if and how we are going to aid Ironfin," Isilme replies to Lann's question. "Once that is sorted out, then we should give people notice of the feast and gather everyone. Afterwards, we can talk to Grila about our proposal. Anything I have forgotten?" She looks to the rest of the group then, waiting for their input.
"If we are fortunate, Old Ironfin will have returned to his lair... and he will remember Ary," Ehren says, looking over to the ranger. If not for her aid, Grila might not have succeeded in befriending the beast. Remembering what they discussed the previous night, he points out something to consider about their plan. "Share language may be of use, but keep in mind that he is still essentially an animal. Though we can grant him the power of speech, we will likely find that he is even less eloquent of a speaker than those troglodytes we met."
"But assuming we can overcome that obstacle, it is just a matter of us removing those metal plates and claws."
"Well then, we should inform Grila to see if she wishes to join us, and then head out immediately."
"Agreed." Ary says, nodding to Isilme, "Though I suggest requesting that Grila come with us, so that she can deal with a less... inflammatory Ironfin." she says, pausing.
"If we're trying to communicate, I could take off bits of my armor to show it what we intend to do while you try to explain it. Taking off the gloves when you explain taking the claws off might help it to understand our intent, and so on." Ary explains.
"This is going to be... delicate. And regardless of how it turns out... I'm looking forward to some good vibes." Ary says, twisting her wring and intoning, to get herself clean once more.
Xanderghul retrieves his any-tool from his haversack and hands it over to Ehren. "This will probably be useful during the surgery situation," he says. "You can reshape it like clay into the form of any tool you want."
"This might be a bad idea," Xanderghul suggests haltingly, "But I can use the staff we retrieved yesterday to disable the bulette." He scratches his chin. "It's a risk, but the staff has powerful magic. Alternately, I could become a shadow and drain Ironfin of all his strength. Somehow I doubt that Ironfin will simply lay down and let us cut into them."
"No. I think consent is key. We're doing this to help him, and if he doesn't want it, even if he doesn't want it due to a misunderstanding, we have no right to force it upon him." Ary says, in response to Xanderghul's suggestion at making it forcibly comply.
"I disagree," Ehren says to Ary as he turns the any-tool over in his hands, experimentally bending the ends of it into hook shapes. "He is an extraordinary beast, but a beast nonetheless. His mind is a primal thing, driven by instinct. Beyond that, he only has hatred for those who inflicted unspeakable agony on him. He might well be incapable of comprehending that he is in need of help."
Looking to Xanderghul, he continues. "That said, I would rather not we not have to rely on that staff."
While the heroes discuss their plan amongst themselves, Lann and Javyn immediately leave to retrieve Grila. When she returns, she pauses and looks over them a few times before turning to face only Ehren. "Bidh do charaidean a ’dèanamh daonna air beathach. Chan eil mi cinnteach am b ’urrainn dhomh a chumail bho bhith a’ marbhadh agus ag ithe sinn uile."
"Your friends humanize a beast. I am not certain I could keep him from killing and eating us all."
The proposed operation is technically possible, but would require a high level of skill on the surgeon's part. It would also be excruciatingly painful. A poor job on surgery could cause permanent pain or disability. It would also require specialized surgical tools - very large ones, such as those used to treat injured horses back at Drezen. Working with substandard tools would make success more difficult.
She tilts her head and continues, eyes wide. "Ach, ma tha thu airson feuchainn, bheir mi thuige e. Tha an cearcall ag ràdh gur e an aon rud as slaodaiche a thèid ithe."
"But, if you truly wish to try, I will still lead you to him. The circle teaches that it is only the slowest which gets eaten."
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Xanderghul shrugs nonchalantly. He was relaxed and calm and not zealous about any of the ideas. "I'm not terribly excited about this idea, nor do I think it has a good chance to work. I suspect that we're driven by greed more than generosity." He sets his pack down and goes through it, trying to see if anything would be useful now. "We're not terribly well-equipped for this situation, and we're needed back in Drezen. But," he adds, grinning, "I can't exactly let you guys walk into the lair of an enormous beast and get eaten by yourselves."
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Her meditation having quelled the guilt she felt for not helping the troglodytes, Hinagiku feels less of an emotional pull to help the landshark. Yet, there was still something about helping it that felt like it would be the right thing, if only to provide the Gunduara with a new ally.
"Mr. Xanderghul, if we attack Ironfin, it will taint what follows because the beast will remember us being with the Guanduara and might take to hunting them..." Hinagiku answers, not thinking it likely that greed was influencing any of her companions.
"I'd prefer to think of it as Charity, Xan." Ary says, shaking her head, "If we aren't doing it out of kindness, we shouldn't be doing it at all. If you're worried about it being greed, we can just donate the adamantine when we get home - or to the Angradd folks to make chain breaking tools."
"It may also be that we don't want to do it just now, regardless. Ironfin is likely a more powerful ally to the Gunduara in his current form, so long as he can be kept away from eating them... and when we have a greater mastery of our abilities and the situation, perhaps even doing research on the topic, we could come back and do things right. Especially if we can find a closer-by Ley-line... but I suspect that getting all of us together to journey across the world again may be an... uncommon occurrence, given the last few years."
"To aid ourselves and Ironfin both can hardly be called greed. We are at the forefront of a war against the literal Abyss, every advantage we can get will be necessary in holding the line. Removing the armor thus serves both the greater and lesser good simultaneously. But, of course, we should do no harm. If we cannot do so without risk to Ironfin's life, we should wait and return some other time should the opportunity present itself... Though you are right that such a window might not occur again. Our continued incursion into the worldwound will eventually force the demons to mount another offensive against us."
"Go raibh maith agat, Grila. Agus ná bíodh imní ort, tá a fhios ag an tréad seo conas creachadóirí a láimhseáil," Ehren says to the other druid with a grin, thankful for her assistance. He could not blame her for doubting them - it is a crazy plan. But he was not planning on letting anyone get eaten today. Looking down at the traveler's any-tool, he thinks on their plan further, ignoring the discussion about their motivation. As a servant of the Green, his stake in this should be self-evident.
"Grila has agreed to take us to him. I believe I can handle the procedure, but it will be exceedingly difficult," Ehren says finally, after deliberating on the operation further. Obviously, he has never performed surgery on a land shark before, but having literally butchered one not so long ago, he is familiar enough with their external anatomy to have a good idea of what needs to be done. He taps the any-tool against his palm, no longer certain that it can serve his purpose. "Even more so without the proper equipment. Old Ironfin is exceptionally large - I would need tools like the kind we use on injured horses back in Drezen. I could do without, but failure would likely mean leaving him worse off than he is now."
"In either case, delay pain will be essential. Even if we calm the beast enough to let us work on him, the pain of removing all those bolts could throw him into a frenzy. If it comes to that, we would have little choice but to subdue him."
Grila chuckles at Ehren's response. She rummages around in the satchel she keeps tied to her shoulders, going over its contents one last time before departing. "Leig fios dhomh nuair a tha thu deiseil airson fàgail agus falbhaidh sinn."
"Let me know when you are ready to leave and we will depart."
With killing far more her forte than healing, Val leaves the particulars of the discuss of how to help Ironfin to her more informed allies. Granted, once half the conversation switches to the language of the druids, she can't follow it anymore anyway.
Xanderghul stands, stretches, checks the laces on his boots, does a couple of little hops, and then cracks his neck. "I'm ready to go whenever," he says. "Let's just try to get this over with quickly."
"If we're employing my shadow form, I will need us to stop some distance away from Ironfin so that I can safely project."
"I'm against paralyzing him with your shadow form. It'll leave a sour taste in his mouth when it comes to us and the Gunduara, if he's forced to just lie there while we do whatever we want with him. That... sounds horrible." Ary says, shaking her head, as she also gets ready to move out.
"I think our best bet is to explain the situation as best we can. Maybe he's not going to be particularly intelligent, but we can at least try to help without forcing things on him. I... do understand the argument that doing something for his own good when he doesn't understand it is has merit." she adds, chewing her lip, before looking to Valaria. "What do you think about all this?"
"I have delay pain prepared, as well as share language, so perhaps we will be able to convey what will be happening to him. Let us try that first before we attempt a more aggressive intervention. We should get moving now, the sooner we reach him, the sooner we can determine if and how we can help."
Grila leads the heroes out of the petrified forest and into the tight, winding tunnels of Nar-Voth. Javyn doesn't accompany them - remarking that he wasn't particularly good with animals. Lann hesitates for a moment before bidding him farewell and breaking off to follow his friends.
After at least an hour of travel, Grila halts the group, turning to speak to Lann. Lann smiles and shrugs apologetically. "Grila is not coming. She says she wants to watch from afar. His lair is just around the next bend."
Arueshalae grins. "Me? Get in trouble? Whatever gave you that idea?" she smiles impishly over the rim of her cup. "I haven't seen the hag in a couple of moons, so maybe she gave up. Probably not though. Probably off in the Abyss, hiring more goons to chase me with!" she laughs. She leans back and turns a bit more serious. "I'm trying to root out any leads on the Blackfire Adepts. I told you about them our last meeting, remember? They're another armaggedon cult." She rolls her eyes, dismissively. "They don't worship demons, though. So I want to figure out why they've allied with Templars of Baphomet. If I remember my old contacts right, though, there's a Baphomet safehouse here in Absalom. Seems as good a place as any to start sniffing around..." she trails off.
The pretty tiefling looks genuinely disappointed when Valaria brings up she isn't near Absalom. "Oh.... that's a shame. If only it were as easy to stumble into you in person as it is in dreams." She drifts off, staring at her, before instantly growing embarrassed for having stared too long. She clears her throat.
"So... you're in the Darklands, fighting slavers? That's a new one." She winces. "Not drow, I hope."
Irabeth: "Good to hear you are safe. Things are well, here. Nothing to report that cannot wait until you have all returned."
Bellandrus: "Understood."
Bellandrus had become sort of distant and sullen, since Xanderghul's return. Whatever connection the teenager had formed with his mentor before he went to Heaven, it had long since fizzled out to nothing. His devotion to his research was no less intense than ever, he simply did not idolize Xanderghul the way he once did.
"Perhaps we should limit who approaches to begin with. Flight and invisibility could make it easy to approach unnoticed," she offers as a suggestion for how to proceed. "If we can get him to accept delay pain and share languages, then we can move everyone in slowly."
"I would prefer to go with you and Ary, but you are right that it is wiser to go with only a few people... Ary mainly, and the two of us as we are the most familiar. However, I do think that approaching Ironfin stealthily might be dangerous. We don't know what the land shark would do if surprised.... and, last time, we were able to approach without too much trouble."
"Whoever approaches first should accompany Ary," Ehren says in agreement, not wanting to provoke the creature. By now, he has hopefully wound down from his attack on the duergar. "I would not go so far as to resort to stealth, though."
With his contributions unwanted, Xanderghul crouches down comfortably and drapes his wrists over his knees. He sets his haversack on the ground in front of him and uses it as a prop to balance on. From there, he waits with Grila. "I suppose it's up to... Ehren, Isilme, and Ary? I truly and honestly can't see how any of the rest of us could possibly contribute to this situation."
"Very well, how about Hinagiku and I accompany Ary, everyone else try to remain sixty or so feet behind us." Placing a hand on Ary, she imbues her with heroism, hoping the magic will keep her focused enough to calm the bulette long enough for her to land her spells upon it.
"Val could offer a lullaby, or maybe help keep time?" Ary suggests, as she starts to move forward. "You could... be ready to teleport someone in need of critical care out?" she offers to Xanderghul, "And Daisy can keep it from moving around too much while we run for our lives?"
She doesn't slow as she approaches the burrow... all of what they had planned was in place, and everything was at a point where it could explode in their face if things went wrong. But... that was kinda their job. Having things explode in their face to make the world a bit better... and generally to survive such facesplosions.
As soon as Ary sees the Bulette she lowers her head to it, but keeps her eyes on him. She holds one hand forward and makes a downwards motion, attempting to tell him to stay calm. She goes through the motions, once more, of telling him to accept help, stern, but gentle.
Hinagiku, Isilme, and Ary move ahead, the way lit by Radiance. The light didn't matter. He'd sense them coming no matter what. The tunnel here is long and narrow, and it leads uphill into a larger cavernous structure. Ironfin's den. The tunnel here is difficult to walk on, as the ground is uneven due to Ironfin's comings and goings.
As they approach, before they can even see him, they can hear Old Ironfin growl.
Grila follows the others, staying as far back as the tunnels will allow her to. The light made it possible to see the three women from eighty feet of distance, before the up-hill terrain cut off their range of vision.
Old Ironfin's dorsal fin flattens against his head as Ary comes into view. He clearly remembers her. He huffs once and lays back down on his side. One enormous amber eye remains open, staring at the two women she brought with her warily.
With Ironfin clearly at ease despite their presence, Isilme begins to weave the same spell she had last time they had been in this situation, though this time from memory instead of creating the effect from her own divine magic. She takes time to intone the spell softly, her gestures smooth and fluid. When she finishes the magic washes over the bulette, hopefully being accepted by it again.
Old Ironfin blinks and huffs as Isilme imbues the creature with a touch of Desnan magic. Its mind is too simple to really connect what is happening to it back to the theurge.
He is likely tired. He expended a lot of energy yesterday, and predators tend to only operate in short bursts. It would be easy to put him to sleep.
Studying the giant bulette, Isilme can't help but feel the creature's exhaustion.
"He looks worn out from the battle yesterday. If we could figure out how to get him to sleep, it might make things easier," she whispers to the group.
"I think that means the lullaby would work. If we can keep him focused on Val and myself, we could cast that spell you'd mentioned to make him understand us... then Val might be able to sing him to sleep." Ary whispers, keeping her focus on the Bulette.
"That sounds like a good plan," she replies to Ary, "Val want to lend us a hand?"
The tiefling's lips twitch up into a smirk. "I would love to see you in person. Dreams have a tendency to color everything a bit. I want to meet the real you someday. I bet your even lovelier in person." She takes Arueshalae's hand and places a kiss on the back of the other tiefling's knuckles.
"Duergar. Thankfully we didn't have to go deep enough to run into drow. We did have to pretend to be them at one point for a little sneaky bit. I'm starting to worry about how good I am at pretending I'm evil." She winks playfully at her own joke.
Val nods once as they consider how to lull the old bulette to sleep. [smaller]"My singing voice is... passable, but I can at least do soothing and rhythmic without a problem." She takes a deep breath and begins to sing an old Chelish lullaby, slow and soothing.
Arueshalae flushes pink at Valaria's gesture, then smiles, embarrassed. "Ah, you're so sweet... I hope I don't disappoint." She frowns, staring into her cup. "I've done a lot that I need to atone for. And even now, I worry about falling into old habits."
Old Ironfin stares blankly at Valaria. He blinks heavily, and yawns. He was tired, and his body felt numb, but his eye doesn't waver from watching the tiefling sing.
With Ironfin distracted--by a lullaby of all things--Isilme takes advantage of the situation by approaching the bulette slowly. Once in range, she gently reaches out and touches the large creature between his adamantine plates, channeling yet another spell into the poor beast. This one was intended to give it the ability to understand their words, even if only on the most rudimentary level.
The old bulette doesn't pay attention to Isilme, he's too fascinated by Valaria's song.
Isilme nods at Valaria, giving her the signal to go ahead and try to put Ironfin to sleep. Immediately afterwards she gestures for the rest of the group to begin advancing slowly.
As Valaria lulls the poor, exhausted bulette into a stupor, Ehren quietly prepares for the operation, sifting through his magical healer's satchel. The various herbal medicines it contained would be useful, especially once the stakes were removed from Old Ironfin's flesh. The druid also regards Xanderghul's any-tool; it could not imitate an entire specialized set of tools at once, unfortunately, but it is better than nothing.
"You can rest now," Val murmurs, her voice layered with innate power and soothing magic. "Sleep and when you wake, your pain will be like a long ago memory."
With Val in the process of putting the creature to sleep, Isilme approaches Ehren, whose responsibility it was to successfully remove the plates from the creature. She enchants him in much the same way she had Ary, but imbues the spell with a divine rune to enhance its power upon him.
The bulette doesn't resist Valaria's suggestion, and quickly passes into a deep slumber.
Val lets out a soft sigh of relief as the massive armored landshark peacefully falls asleep. "So far so good. Should probably get on with it before he decides he's done his nap."
Only when Old Ironfin finally falls asleep does Ehren dare to approach him. He very gently rests a hand on the slumbering bulette, knowing that what happens next will change the creature's life. Whether that change is for better or worse is entirely up to him.
"Ary, I'll need you to lend a hand. I won't be able to remove these huge plates of metal by myself," he says calmly, visibly emboldened by Isilme's spell. He carefully inspects the adamantine plates, determining the best place to start, and then sets his tools down. "All right. Let's get started."
Ary stays close to Ehren, constantly making motions to aid him as he works, using water from a spare canteen to clear out blood to enable his vision, removing plates, holding them steady while he works, and keeping the beast from stirring fitfully and rolling over the druid. She also watches its breathing and tries to keep up with its heartbeat, whispering for healing whenever they finish removing a full plate.