"What foul thing is this, made of Rotten Meat given animation?"
"Claw is my bodyguard. And he might technically not be alive, he is cetainly not rotten. He's a golem, not some sort of zombie."
"Huh. Such dealings, though,......too many fools with a bit of skrit make such things. You dabble in nefarious arts."
You guys are able to make it back to the Stone Giant's Hold easy enough.
The stone giants seem ill at ease around these Vanir Eladrin. Nobody says anything, but you feel like you've brought two warring factions together for a pic-a-nic.
Elgan shapeshifts into various forms, as he rarely plays with magics other than his usual, natural shifting abilities. During the conversation he floats over to Altai as a glowing ball of,... something,... possibly a will o wisp, lands gently on the wizard's shoulder, and Altai feels a surge of healing magics pour into him. Elgan then turns into a butterfly and flaps away,...
"Now, there's a kin of the eladrin," one says of Elgan, "and mayhap another;" he nods, smilingly, at Emrael.
Pip pouts
"HEY! Troubadour of Stars here! Like song master of good, shredder of evil, the axe man of Celestia.."
"Aaaah. How fares that court? We haven't consorted with them often.
Well met, nonetheless....."
Pip turns into an Eladrin
Eladrin Form
"They're OK. It's been a while since I've paid my respects. What with the smiting of epic evil and all"
"A knight bachelor then;" he raises one eyebrow. "Well met, Sir Pip. Well, Skald; what know ye of these demons making incursions into the Hero Home?"
Pip shrugs
"I know the snake-demon was very interested in our pet turtle Svipdag. Perhaps because he was once a dragon, before crossing our path."
Janosz leaves the eladrins with the other party members and heads over to Snøfrisk's hall. Claw drops off the drow carcasses at the ship and follows, carrying the dragon head. Once he sees the giant chieftain, he gives the him a quick summary of the fight and its outcome. "There is the carcass of a great linnorm in the pool; we left the decapitated, very dead giants outside in the sun. If you use the pool or its headwaters for anything, it needs to be cleaned up. As a token of our gratitude, I'd like to present you with the dragon's head - its skull will look suitably imposing behind your throne or over your hall's entrance."
"I'm confident we'll be back soonish after our trip to the court of Lady Lagertha. If not, I'll take the opportunity to thank you for your hospitality."
Pip shrugs
"I know the snake-demon was very interested in our pet turtle Svipdag. Perhaps because he was once a dragon, before crossing our path."
"You have conquered Svipdag?" they look impressed.
The giant Jarl nods at Altai.
"You have done us two great boons. I gift you as well;"
he proffers 55,000 gp in rubies.
"I wonder what those chainfolk were doing here. Alas. They feed ravens now."
The eladrins nod.
"Shall we off?"
"We might as well get going. Xaaara, please take the ship out."
Before leaving, Altai collects Beldan and Evindra. "Some elf magicks will do both of you good."
"Now, there's a kin of the eladrin," one says of Elgan, "and mayhap another;" he nods, smilingly, at Emrael.
Emrael respectfully bows at the recognition, but says nothing.
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"Hold on," says an eladrin.
The ship flies up into the air. It enters a spinning long cavern with walls of swirling wind......the center of a tornado perhaps. The wind screams, and the alien wood of the ship groans.
"She'll hold together, o my captain!" one of the eladrin says. His eyes seem to say "we're all mad here." The ship gains speeds heretofore unimagined as it plummets down the wind tunnel.
"Now, there's a kin of the eladrin," one says of Elgan, "and mayhap another;" he nods, smilingly, at Emrael.Emrael respectfully bows at the recognition, but says nothing.
One of the two eladrin starts chatting her up with an unforgiving insistence when he catches wind of her recalcitrance to blather about anything.
Like George Clooney in Gravity, he unleashes a merciless barrage of small talk.
"Where are you from? Do you have any brothers? Sisters? What's your favorite shade of green?
What would you be doing at 8 pm back on the Island of 1,000 Pines?"
Most of the fifteen rescuees seem kinda frightened of this mode of travel. One or two may be on the verge of madness though. They are smitten with glee.
Oh, yess.........hatter......we are all quite rather mad here,.....
Pip maintains his Eladrin form, and stands at the bowsprit, his face gleefully staring down the sidewise tornado
"I'm King of the Multiverse!" he crows into the gale
One of the two eladrin starts chatting her up with an unforgiving insistence when he catches wind of her recalcitrance to blather about anything.
Like George Clooney in Gravity, he unleashes a merciless barrage of small talk.
"Where are you from? Do you have any brothers? Sisters? What's your favorite shade of green?
What would you be doing at 8 pm back on the Island of 1,000 Pines?"
"My parents were travelers. Home was wherever we were."
"No. No. The green of a pine bough."
"Meditating on my day. What do you know of the Island of 1,000 Pines?"
"Now, there's a kin of the eladrin," one says of Elgan, "and mayhap another;" he nods, smilingly, at Emrael.Emrael respectfully bows at the recognition, but says nothing.
"She'll hold together, o my captain!" one of the eladrin says. His eyes seem to say "we're all mad here." The ship gains speeds heretofore unimagined as it plummets down the wind tunnel.
"You'd better be right. I killed a lot of moonbeasts to get ahold of this ship. If it is wrenched apart by these winds, I will be most displeased."
"Nothing at all, alas."
heh heh
The ship comes out of the wind tunnel over Elysian fields and forests of massive trees.
"welcome to Vanaheim," says one of the Eladrin.
"Well, that wasn't so bad. Then again, I grew up in Rauxes." Altai's face splits into a huge smile as he contemplates the forests and fields. "Looks great, doesn't it?"
It looks pretty halcyon.
The Eladrin guide the ship to a massive city built on a high crag.
"That is The Jarless' stead."
Pip slips over to the Vanirfolk
"So any good fletchers in this steading? Fighting demons burns up a lot of magic arrows"
Elgan looks over the side of the ship.
"Now DAT'S a purty site!" The elf says.
A perceptive observer might notice that the elf is glancing sideways, towards where Emrael and the neriad are also looking over the side.
"Dis place iz ALIVE! Iz,... niahce." He continues, looking once more at the forest below.
"Aye. We've fletchers aplenty. The best in the universe. The wind does love arrows."
"Take the ship in, Xaaara. And make the landing smooth - we don't want to look like amateurs in front of an entire city."
Altai wanders over to the refugees from Leng. "Well, folks, I think it might be time to realise that you are never going home. Not only do I have no idea where any of you are from, it also seems likely that at least some of you have crossed barriers of time as well as space. As such, you need to make some ecisions about what to do with yourselves, and you are now in the quite literally best possible place to restart your lives. Do any of ou have any skills that would be useful here? Walk arund a bit, and see what you think of this place."
One of the Eladrin says, "cheer up. You're in heaven folks! And we can indeed petition Heimdall; his rainbow bridge can take you just about anywhere. If you wanted to leave heaven, for some reason.
You will be free, one way or the other. It's a great place."
Some of them seem a little less shellshocked now.
The ship lands, on a crag next to the Earl's Hold. There's a bridge across a chasm to the immense wooden redoubt.
"We must speak to Lagertha!"
They usher you guys forward, into the hold.
Lagertha is in her throneroom, with three other eladrin. The hall is massive, and wooden pillars stretch upward to hold the roof above.
She and the eladrin are practicing archery inside.
She can do what she wants......she's the Jarless of these Eladrin.
Elgan looks over the side of the ship.
"Now DAT'S a purty site!" The elf says.
A perceptive observer might notice that the elf is glancing sideways, towards where Emrael and the neriad are also looking over the side.
"Dis place iz ALIVE! Iz,... niahce." He continues, looking once more at the forest below.
It feels like ozone, and constantly as if a thunderstorm may break out, even though it's sunny and somewhat windy.
"It is good to be the queen." Altai holds back a bit, assumng that their eladrin guides or the party's elven members will do the introductions.
They do so.
She stops shooting, and looks at the adventurers.
"Tell me.....why this demoness attacked your cohort, if you know.
This is distressing, that demons should run amok in this plane, even if it is in Jotunheim."
Elgan stands next to Altai in a relaxed, ready attitude of eternal youthfulness. His wide eyed gaze takes in the sights as eagerly as he ever did in the early days of his adventuring. But his child like wonder belies his readiness to spring into action. The heady presence of potential thunderstorms on a clear day seems to have invigorated the druid as well.
The little druid seems suitably impressed, if not overly so, at the Eladrin. After all, as far as he can tell, they are simply really, [i]really[i] tall elves.
It's kinda big and black and ugly and metal......like a windjammer.
Windjammers ugly?! I... *sputter*
Or are you thinking of spelljammer?
This one is.
It's a moonbeast's craft, and they have no eye for aesthetics.
that humans or the sane can appreciate.....
"Tell me.....why this demoness attacked your cohort, if you know.
This is distressing, that demons should run amok in this plane, even if it is in Jotunheim."
"Certainly, ma'am." Altai makes a gesture towards Claw, who lifts up a cage holding Svipdag the turtle. "This here is the ex-dragon Svipdag. He is currently in the form of a snapping turtle, but can be restored to his previous shape and capabilities. For the record, I have no intention of ever doing this. Now, we have been attacked several times by creatures desiring to capture Svipdag. Previous assailants have stated that they were acting as representatives of, uh..." Altai ivoluntarily grows pale and twitchy. "Ah, Iggwilv, the Witch-Queen of Flanaess and the mother of Iuz the Old."
"Needless to say, this is a unpleasant situation to be in. The best way to stop the attacks is obviously to get rid of the turtle dragon. But how? I'm considering flying to the Mountain of Celestia and entrusting him to the archons there."
"Huh. You have conquered Svipdag.
I know this Marilith. Ixaxtli. Her mother Cazoztl, is a patroness of dragons and all manner of reptiles.
Perhaps you should pay her back in kind. She should be made to pay for attacking in the Hero's Realm.
I don't know what she'd want with Svipdag, but she does mate with dragons......hence her daughter."