Reta, Alaric għandu jitfa 'jespliċitaw fuq innifsu sabiex ikun jista' jifhem inti. I se tkompli tittraduċi kliem tiegħu lilek, imma hu jaf eżattament dak li qed tgħid.
Mel's voice is calm, as if she has slightly disconnected herself from the conversation between Reta and Alaric. As if she is trying to give them privacy despite her actual presence and role in the conversation.
Myri joins Mel by the chest. "Anything that would go with my scarf or outfit?"
Lio would, of course, cast light on something for Rhost when he's exploring the water.
Lio looks over to Myri, who's about to get in the water. Her expression is a little concerned. "Shuld yu be swamm'n en 'e dark?" As Myri seems dead set on going in the water, Lio shrugs, and casts light on the end of the blade, holding on to the end for a moment, so she can talk to her friend before swhwn Myrihe jumps into the dark water. "Byddwch yn ofalus, os oes rhywbeth yn digwydd i chi yn y dŵr nad wyf am i fod yr un sydd wedi egluro i eich chwaer sut wyf yn gadael i chi gael eu hanafu. Nid Im 'gonna yn gallu gwneud hynny hud iachâd eto heddiw, ac roeddwn yn arfer y gymysgedd oeddwn yn cario. "
Myri stands in the dark and the cold, until Lio touches the blade of the wakizashi & it begins 2 glow silhouetting her figure in the sudden light.
As she returns from her swim, she has been visibly affected by the cold water. She looks gratefully at Mel when the water "hops" off her body.
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Not having any reason yet to know that Alaric can understand her, she turns to Melinda, and says in a calm voice:
"Għid prinċep tiegħi jkun ukoll aċċettabbli jekk huwa adotta lili bħala bintu."
Alaric's eyes go as big as dinner plates, like he's just seen a bear with chainsaws for arms. "Um... what would that entail exactly?"
"You know, Lio, I'm really kinda surprised. Starting out I really thought these guys were only doing things 4 the money. But look, I don't think even one of them mentioned one thing about decapitating Gutwad or chopping off Goblin ears. I guess they all just do good 4 goodness sake. I'm really, really surprised. She looks back at the rest of the group & gives them a broad smile.
In addition to translating Alaric's question, Mel racks her mind for any information that may be relavent.
Knowledge. Local
When Mel hears Myri's comment to lio she just smiles, I did it because of whole protect the homefront not for the bounty.
Myri raises an eyebrow, "Protect the homefront...? I wouldn't have taken you for a follower of Erastel.". Myri raises her right hand and flicks an unruly lock back and out of her eyes.
Lio looks over to Myri, who's about to get in the water. Her expression is a little concerned. "Shuld yu be swamm'n en 'e dark?" As Myri seems dead set on going in the water, Lio shrugs, and casts light on the end of the blade, holding on to the end for a moment, so she can talk to her friend before swhwn Myrihe jumps into the dark water. "Byddwch yn ofalus, os oes rhywbeth yn digwydd i chi yn y dŵr nad wyf am i fod yr un sydd wedi egluro i eich chwaer sut wyf yn gadael i chi gael eu hanafu. Nid Im 'gonna yn gallu gwneud hynny hud iachâd eto heddiw, ac roeddwn yn arfer y gymysgedd oeddwn yn cario. "
Myri stands in the dark and the cold, until Lio touches the blade of the wakizashi & it begins 2 glow silhouetting her figure in the sudden light.
** spoiler omitted **
Lio doesn't argue with Myri about going in the water, she has said her piece, and lets the younger girl go, once she has cast light upon her blade. She stands vigil with her recently retrieved bow at the ready, until Myri comes out of the water once Rhost has declared there isn't anything to be found.
"You know, Lio, I'm really kinda surprised. Starting out I really thought these guys were only doing things 4 the money. But look, I don't think even one of them mentioned one thing about decapitating Gutwad or chopping off Goblin ears. I guess they all just do good 4 goodness sake. I'm really, really surprised. She looks back at the rest of the group & gives them a broad smile.
"Tru." Lio teases, "Yu 'r 'e onlei un who ascks fer pr'tte 'ings."
Unlike her halfling friend, Myri is not so inhibited. She makes a face and sticks out her tongue at Lio. Laughing heartily afterward.
Unlike her halfling friend, Myri is not so inhibited. She makes a face and sticks out her tongue at Lio. Laughing heartily afterward.
Lio smiles at Myri's antics as they trudge through the marsh, and back to civilization. She thinks about what Melinda has said, about protecting her home. Briefly she wonders what that's like.
She wonders if Walthus is going to come with them, or return to his little hut. She ponders the words he said to her all those hours ago. Maybe she should head straight to the druid circle, she thinks, rather than head into town. But she has some things to talk to Shalelu about, and she didn't know how her party had fared.
Myri raises an eyebrow, "Protect the homefront...? I wouldn't have taken you for a follower of Erastel.". Myri raises her right hand and flicks an unruly lock back and out of her eyes.
Erastil? Nope. But you have to respect some things about the old codger. Mel says completely irreverently.
Myri raises an eyebrow but says nothing for an instant. Then looks away with a smirk.
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Reta seems slightly puzzled by the question, but launches into an explanation.
"Ukoll ... l-soltu I jissoponi. Inkun u ubbidjenti, u fl-ritorn inti tagħti. Nixtieq u kull gidma li inti mhedda bil-mewt, u inti tagħmel l-istess għalija. Meta jiġu eventwalment jaslu ssejjaħ għalija, inti jistabbilixxu lilhom serje ta 'ħidmiet li jipprova tagħhom." She pauses for a moment, trying to decide if there should be anything more, and the adds, "Ikun preferibbli jekk meta inti sibt mara, kienet sabiħa b'qalb krudili li kkurati lili, imma jien suppost li mhux attwalment ir-rekwiżit jekk l-gosti tiegħek ma jmorrux il-mod."
"It would be preferable if when you found a wife, it was a beautiful seductress with a cruel heart who treated me unkindly, but I supposed that's not actually a requirement if your tastes don't run that way."
Barring nothing goes wrong (i.e. Anaconda v.s Gatoroid), Lio will assist anyone who needs help trudging though the marsh to help everyone get back safe and sound to town.
Survival
Knowledge Nature
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Mel tries really, really hard to stifle the laughter that is caused by Reta's comment. There is nothing mocking in her laugh, only pure joy at a completely unexpected surprise. Her voice still bubbling with joy, Jien ma nafx jekk Alaric se tadotta int jew le, iżda Jekk inti tidħol għall-ftehim tal-bniedem jew le, naħseb li inti tagħmel jixirqilhom mgħarfa personali tiegħek stess. As she finishes speaking she pulls a shiny, bright spoon from her bag, and presents it to Reta.
Reta takes the spoon with the expression of someone whose dreams are at last being fulfilled.
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The trip out of the swamp is relatively uneventful. You feel confident that, for the moment at least, you have made the nearby region safe once again for travelers. Well, barring swamp monsters and such. (But in Golarion, that kind of thing is just part of the local color. It’s kind of amazing that anyone even leaves the house, frankly.)
Walthus indeed bids you goodbye when you reach the path that leads back to his house. His tolerance for dealing with other people seems to have expired for the day, although he gruffly reminds you that his offer for you to stay at his place if you need to is a ”Permanent invite, Halfling style.” He shakes hands with all of you, and perhaps casts Liothonae a significant look, before he trudges back to his much-desired isolation.
Whether Reta comes with you may depend on the conclusion of a particular conversation, so that shall be left ambiguous for the moment.
In any event, when you leave the swamp, and begin your walk down the now-safer Lost Coast Road, you feel a sense of accomplishment, almost as if you had just completed
,
coupled with a growing sense of anticipation, as if the letter you bear is somehow about to lead you into
The contents of the letter appear to rattle Hrunndalf enough to rob him of his speech.
Fighting down his agitation, he takes a few breaths, then speaks in slow measured words: "Mother, father, traitorous brother, and now grandfather, all died a gruesome death. Ameiko has suffered enough for more than one lifetime. We shall break this curse and bring an end to her enemies once and for all! Who is with me?"
When Brinewall is mentioned, Hrunndalf adds: "I know the place, it is not far from where I grew up. Three hundred leagues to the North. We shall need horses."
After a few hours on the road, you finally arrive back at the Rusty Dragon in at the end of this very long day. The sight that greets you is convivial – Shalelu, Sandru, Ameiko, and Koya are laughing with each other around, gathered around a warm fire. Also there is a fifth man, one none of you know.
This dark man's outfit is the cleanest, whitest ensemble you have ever seen. His breeches and tunic and turban are spotlessly white. His necklace of rune-marked capsules? White on a chain of tiny white pearls. His collection of leather-bound, travel-ready religious texts? White. The scrollcase hanging on his hip? White. His teeth? Every one you can see? White; perfectly white.
Everything is even more obviously white given how dark his complexion and hair are. Here and there are accents of gold (earrings, turban pin, belt clasp, a bracelet on his right wrist), but these serve mainly to draw the eye back to the white turban, the white belt-sash, and the white gloves. And when this man (beamingly, gleamingly) smiles widely and laughs, his left upper canine is exposed and revealed to also be golden, which only makes more evident how shockingly white all the other teeth in that smile are. Blindingly, flawlessly white, and polished to a liquid glow.
Nothing natural, other than sunlight, is as white as this man's radiant smile.
As you draw nearer, you catch the tiniest hint of mint scent, and are aware of the briefest, astringent note of some kind of cologne. The evidence slowly comes together: the golden metal length alongside his scrollcase is a sunrod, the capsules at his neck are vials, and the endless scented white whiteness is evidence not of prestidigitation but of exotic soaps and dry cleansers. This clean, unblemished man before you is living better through alchemy.
You are all greeted warmly as you come through the door.
”Guys!” says Ameiko. “Come on in! How did it go for you? Our trip was just boring – there was supposed to be some big goblin village there, but it turned out to just be a few stragglers. Was it the same for you guys?”
”Oh,” she continues, ”And you’ll never guess who showed up today. This is an old friend of mine, someone I haven’t seen in more than a decade. Guys, this is Hrithik. Hrithik, that’s Melinda, Kalimac, Liothonae, Rhost, Alaric, Myriana, and Hrunndalf.”
(Let us pause here, for the space of a single post, to examine a curious moment. There is, perhaps, an odd bit of a pause when Hrithik and Hrunndalf are introduced to each other, a certain quality in the air that tells you that something is going on, even if you are not quite sure what that something is.)
(Perhaps it is simply that the two men present an unparalleled study in contrast, this Southern Vudrani and this Northern Ulfen. One dark, one fair. One lithe and finely slender, one broad and thickly muscled. One a student of the most mathematical branch of the arcane, one a conduit for the most mysterious powers of the divine. One a dedicated developer of the mind, the other a lifelong devotee of the physical. It would be possible to go on in this manner all day, frankly, but let us not extend this paragraph even further.)
(Why are these coincidental differences, this chance meeting of complete yin and total yang, being highlighted here? Perhaps for no reason at all. Who can say?)
(At any rate, the moment is broken when Sandru, looking back and forth between the two of them, coughs and mutters, ”Did somebody set up a mirror of opposition in here, or something?”)
After the introductions, Ameiko suddenly frowns when she notices the scratches and wounds still evident on a few members of your group. The others notice, too.
”So,” says Koya. ”Not just a few stragglers, then, I take it?”
|
Hrithik's gaze lingers on Hrunndalf, appraisingly and curiously, and his face breaks into an even broader smile. "Purification is always to be admired."
As if catching himself, he turns his gaze and looks through the remainder of the group. "My apologies, everyone. If I'd known so many friends of Lady Ameiko were to be here, I would have crafted more gifts! I hope to be as pleasantly acquainted with you all, in time, as I have been with those here. But it would be rude of me," he says, turning to the proprietress, "to leave you alone ungifted, Lady, before turning to these new friends."
With a short bow to Lady Ameiko, Hrithik reaches into the white pouch on his hip and produces a small red paper package, tied together with silver thread and pinned with a long tail feather dyed in the colors of the rainbow ascending from stem to tip. (To those with good eyes, it is clear that he has been practicing that fluid draw, but has not yet practiced enough to try to do it as an effortless exertion of sleight of hand.)
Hrithik hands the package to Lady Ameiko and removes the feather-pin, causing the stiff red paper to curl back along the silver wire and reveal a small red leather travelling book bound in silver binding, and inlaid with a songbird atop the hilt of a silvery rapier pointed downward along the length of the book. At first, the book appears to be backward, bottom-side up, until the title is made out along the silvery spine written in Tien characters.
This is a book composed in the methods of Tian, with the pages arranged and read in the opposite order from those in works of Varisian and Taldan make.
"Tales for the tale-singer!
"Oh, it's lovely!" says Ameiko as she takes the book, looking it over with pleasure. "Thank you."
As always, Hrunndalf's spirits rise as the roofs of Sandpoint appear in the distance. This time, though, the weight of sorrow bears down on them as well, drowning out the elation.
Back at the inn, he stoops through the door with a practiced motion and hangs his greatspear from its customary peg among the coathangers. He attempts to greet his friends with a smile, but most likely they know him better than to see past his worries.
”So,” says Koya. ”Not just a few stragglers, then, I take it?”
"Not quite. It looks like we got the hard part, and the goblins were not even the main threat. Good thing it befell us rather than you, or else we would have to come to your rescue now," he says with a half-hearted grin.
His face then loses the last traces of levity, and his voice becomes ominously quiet. "Ameiko. We bear grave news."
(Why are these coincidental differences, this chance meeting of complete yin and total yang, being highlighted here? Perhaps for no reason at all. Who can say?)
(At any rate, the moment is broken when Sandru, looking back and forth between the two of them, coughs and mutters, ”Did somebody set up a mirror of opposition in here, or something?”)
Hrunndalf murmurs in his direction, "Feeling left out?"
Hrithik's gaze lingers on Hrunndalf, appraisingly and curiously, and his face breaks into an even broader smile. "Purification is always to be admired."
Hrunndalf returns the smile and the gaze unfazed. "As is moderation."
It can be handled a number of different ways, including you don't specify and just toss off jabs until I decide one is good and make a roll, or you do specify and let me know when you're making an attempt, but I thought I'd check in since I wasn't sure how you wanted to handle it.
You can take the jab at Sandru as an Insult, if you want, but I doubt it will be the last one in this scene. ;)
By the way, does it hurt my relationships if I give friendly characters a jab every now and then, and gifts to competitive characters? If you don't mind the retconning, I'd like to have brought along the Kaijitsu Star's name plaque as a gift for Ameiko. I intend to deliver an Insult along with it, once we become a Caravan. (Or will that be too late for this level's Insult?)
At Hrunndalf's cue of "grave news," Kalimac turns to Ameiko and the rest. "Indeed. Briefly, we found the Licktoads' base, which had been overrun by the undead. We tracked the undead to two shipwrecks, the Kaijitsu Star and Kaijitsu's Blossom. The undead from the ships had holed up in a cave. The lead undead, a former samurai, bid us carry this letter to you, we believe, after granting him and his men the final death they craved."
Kalimac hands the letter to Ameiko, and gestures to the Certain Amount of Stuff the team had decided was Ameiko's by right. "We believe this to be your inheritance, Ameiko."
(Turning from his presentation of gift to Ameiko, Hrithik pulls out various ointments from pouches along his white belt and turns to the group.)
"Who needs further healing ministrations?"
"It's nothing a few days rest wouldn't cure, but I'm not one to refuse an offer of aid," says Kalimac, subtly indicating where he was run through by the Samurai Skeleton.
From the back of the group, Mel waits through the introduction of the Vudrani man. She had agreed with the group that Ameiko's mystery inheritance should be the first stop. She had seemed slightly uncomfortable in the travel grime, but now confronted with such antiseptic whiteness, she is even more so.
”So,” says Koya. ”Not just a few stragglers, then, I take it?”
Mel whispers a response, which carries itself to Koya's ears.
Then she waits, calmly, through Kalimac's presentation to Ameiko. Her eyes watch her mentor's face, knowing that Ameiko is far stronger than most.
Lio glances sideways at Hrunndalf as he makes his passionate declaration of how much Ameiko has suffered. The set of her face becomes just a little hard, but it's dark, and she isn't walking near enough to anyone that it's really that visible. She could give him some ideas about suffering, but says nothing. Clearly the large blonde man was yet another Ameiko obsessed... her train of though is derailed when he calls for the rest of the party to join them in his madness. She uses casting another light spell as an excuse to fall behind the majority of the party, and takes up the rear guard position, listening to the conversations of the people in front of her. Shouldn't it be up to Ameiko to decide what she wanted to do, and who knew if she even wanted to go on a fools errand? And who said she would even ask for any of their help.
When Walthus leaves the group, she smiles at him, hopefully in a reassuring manner, and watches him go down his trail part ways, before she catches up with the party.
In town, Lio stays towards the back of the group. She looks at the newcomer introduced by Ameiko briefly, files him under the category of too clean to be a bounty hunter, and her eyes seek out Shalelu. She gives the other elf a meaningful look.
Her expression turns neutral when Kalimac and Hrunndalf start sharing the news that they discovered. She wonders why they are doing this in such a public place, but it's clear the two of them both want to be the ones to tell the object of their worship, and have thus completely forgotten that maybe somebody doesn't want to hear bad news in front of everyone they know.
"That does sound like a story I'd like to hear," says Koya to Melinda. "But now is not the time, of course." She, too, circulates among the group, offering her services to those who are wounded.
Ameiko frowns with concern when Hrunndalf speaks of "grave news", and at Kalimac's further explanation. She takes the letter from Kalimac's hand.
** spoiler omitted **
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Hrunndalf returns the smile and the gaze unfazed. "As is moderation.""Absolutely!" enthuses Hrithik. "The paradox of the element of Void, being at once at all outermost extremes of perfection and centered at the innermost calm of balance and humility."
With another admiring glance, Hrithik says, "You clearly have been working hard on your perfections, sir."
Reta seems slightly puzzled by the question, but launches into an explanation.
"Ukoll ... l-soltu I jissoponi. Inkun u ubbidjenti, u fl-ritorn inti tagħti. Nixtieq u kull gidma li inti mhedda bil-mewt, u inti tagħmel l-istess għalija. Meta jiġu eventwalment jaslu ssejjaħ għalija, inti jistabbilixxu lilhom serje ta 'ħidmiet li jipprova tagħhom." She pauses for a moment, trying to decide if there should be anything more, and the adds, "Ikun preferibbli jekk meta inti sibt mara, kienet sabiħa b'qalb krudili li kkurati lili, imma jien suppost li mhux attwalment ir-rekwiżit jekk l-gosti tiegħek ma jmorrux il-mod."
Muttering to himself: "What have I gotten myself into?" Then, louder, to Reta: "My answer is yes. Now I just have to find someone that makes pickles."
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"Evviva!" shouts Reta. "I se jkun il-bint aħjar minn qatt qabel, missier, u jien se biss dawl fuq nar il-poplu inti."
She skips most of the way back to Sandpoint.
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"Evviva!" shouts Reta. "I se jkun il-bint aħjar minn qatt qabel, missier, u jien se biss dawl fuq nar il-poplu inti."
** spoiler omitted **
She skips most of the way back to Sandpoint.
In a soft, gravelly mutter: "I've made a huge mistake." He stands, gives Mel a shrug, and tries to make sure his "daughter" doesn't skip her way into any quicksand, or gator tummies... being a dad is hard!
Ameiko reads the letter over. Her hands start visibly shaking about halfway through. When she has finished, she checks quickly to see who is in the room, and decides to read the letter aloud, translating into Taldane as she goes.
After she is done, there is a moment’s pause. Then she turns to her oldest friend.
”I have to go there, ’Dru,” she says. ”If, if my grandfather left some kind of family legacy up at Brinewall, if there’s some kind of enemy behind all the deaths in my family ... I have to know.”
”It sounds like it could be dangerous,” Sandru says perfunctorily. She shoots him a look and he waves a hand airily, somehow acknowledging that the statement was simultaneously both idiotic and necessary to make. ”All right, all right. I’m coming, obviously. How are we getting there? Brinewall is hundreds of miles away.”
”What about the caravan?” Ameiko asks. ”I’d be willing to finance the journey myself. I can get together maybe 2,000 in gold on short notice.”
Sandru grimaces. ”It’s the start of the festival season. I already let all the seasonal help go at the end of the last trip. They're long gone by now. We’d have to gather together an entirely new crew. And that means going to Magnimar, putting up notices ...”
”And vetting them all,” adds Koya. ”Otherwise we’ll end up with a lot that’ll rob us blind and leave us in the wilds. We’ll have to check references, hold interviews ... it’ll take weeks, possibly even months.”
”Are you willing to wait that long?” asks Sandru, his question seeming almost rhetorical.
”No,” Ameiko answers in a voice that brooks no argument. He nods, as if this was nothing more than what he expected. ”What about taking a ship?”
”That still means going to Magnimar, and then waiting to see who might be going north,” he answers.
”Could be weeks or months, again,” says Koya. ”And besides, no ship is going to take you to the ruins of Brinewall. You’d have to put in at Riddleport, which is a, a ...”
”Wretched hive of scum and villainy,” Shalelu supplies quietly.
”Yes, thank you. So even if you get out of that godsforsaken town with your life and purse intact, you’d still have a hundred miles left to go, and no good way to get there.” Koya finishes.
”All right,” says Ameiko, ”All right, so the caravan is a better idea, if we can just figure out how to get together a capable, reliable crew in a hurry. We’ll do it somehow. We’ll, we’ll call in all our favors, talk to everyone we know, ask all of our friends ...”
There is a momentary pause and then, almost as one, the four of them turn to look at the rest of you.
Kalimac raises an amused eyebrow to the interplay between Alaric and Reta. Not speaking the goblin tongue, he trusts that Alaric will fill the rest of the party in on his huge mistake in due time.
He gives Alaric an inquisitive, yet undemanding, glance.
Kalimac raises an amused eyebrow to the interplay between Alaric and Reta. Not speaking the goblin tongue, he trusts that Alaric will fill the rest of the party in on his huge mistake in due time.
He gives Alaric an inquisitive, yet undemanding, glance.
"I have a daughter now, apparently. I'm... I'm really not looking forward to her dowry."
"I have a daughter now, apparently. I'm... I'm really not looking forward to her dowry."
Kalimac chuckles. "You lead an interesting life, Alaric," he says with no trace of irony in his voice.
”All right,” says Ameiko, ”All right, so the caravan is a better idea, if we can just figure out how to get together a capable, reliable crew in a hurry. We’ll do it somehow. We’ll, we’ll call in all our favors, talk to everyone we know, ask all of our friends ...”There is a momentary pause and then, almost as one, the four of them turn to look at the rest of you.
"Sandru, you know I'm game. Besides, I haven't done a caravan with you in ages."
A little earlier as Koya passed her,
Travel, adventure, the chance to continue... Mel's eyes flick over the group, if they rest momentarily on Alaric and his goblin child who wold be able to tell? A great big smile, and loud enough for her voice to carry, Hey, Mom told me to go get a job, would this count?
A gift to a competitor or an insult to a friend does carry some risk ... as I read the rules, if the insult is a little too cutting to a friend, or the gift a little too, I'd call it, outside the context of the established relationship for a competitor, it can actually reduce your relationship score.
It's of course OK to joke with a friend, or hand Ameiko a knife to keep when she needs one, or what have you, but essentially, giving Ameiko some kind of elaborate gift might weird her out a little, given what she expects of you, or an insult that strikes too close to home can estrange a friend a little.
So I guess I'd say, use your judgement if you want to try this.
As the other adventurers turn to look at the party, Alaric turns as well, certain that a hero has wandered in. Chev of Cheliax perhaps, or maybe the Red Rooster of Rayburn. Wait, they mean us? He looks down at Reta, an absurd thought pops into his head: I'm a father now! I can't just wander off and..., but he cuts that off with a laugh. Feeling eyes on him for his gaffe, he tries to turn the laugh into a manly throat-clearing. "Yes, of course I'll go. Mel? Would you explain the situation to Reta and ask her if she wishes to come?"