"Gotcha. Hextorians are suuuuper stuffy, and manipulative, yeah. We fought a few of them back in Diamond Lake but I guess I never picked up the god's title."
In the spare time she's not scribing scrolls, Astraden researches the spells Tanith asked for. "I think it was because he's afraid of me. Doesn't want to make a dangerous enemy."
In the spare time she's not scribing scrolls, Astraden researches the spells Tanith asked for. "I think it was because he's afraid of me. Doesn't want to make a dangerous enemy."
"I suppose that makes sense."
Rodrigo teleports Eben back to Greyhawk and goes off to party.
Astraden quickly tests out some of the more accessible spells Tanith found. "The others are gonna need more work. And money. I've got a thousand gold left, but the rest is going to have to come from you."
Page by page, formula by formula, Carina spends the days in solitude, poring over every scrap of alchemical knowledge she can find. Her experiences in the Wind Duke's tomb have sparked the flame of inspiration inside her, and fuelled by memories of utter helplessness in the face of its many-eyed demonic guardian. Her pistol lies off to the side, lonely and all but forgotten.
Can't afford to keep getting hurt like that last time. Need to think of something that can protect me more effectively...
She looks at the explosive vial resting next to her, its volatile payload held in place by little more than a cork. The fluid within glows slightly white. At least I've managed to brainstorm something that'll help the next time we run into a monster that relies on its eyes to cripple its prey. Enough of these new bombs, and even the most hardened beast ought to be blinded from the flashes.
The syringes arrayed before her are all expertly made and kept immaculately clean. Carina smiles as she pokes one of them with a gloved finger--the glassblower she met with was a true master of his craft. His skills were worth every gold piece. I hope nobody in the party is afraid of these things. They'll be invaluable in providing first aid.
She leans back in her chair and rubs her eyes, sighing with exhaustion before looking back at her formula book. Two new extract formulae are penned on its yellowed pages--one to create a layer of protective stone on her body, the other to restart a man's heart before Nerull takes him. "These'll do. These'll do."
...I really need to take a break.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Whoooooah. Gotta sit down. That was... weird..." Eben says upon experiencing his first teleportation. "Thought that would be just like your dimension dooring, but it felt... completely different. Going through a door it's just like taking a shortcut through the world, but with that it felt like the world is moving through you!" He looks down over himself, patting his clothes as though looking for a set of keys and not remembering what pocket they were in. "Are you sure that doesn't leave any body parts behind? Like, internal ones you don't even know about? No? Ok, well. Thanks for the lift, I'll meet you back here at, say, tenth bell after you're done giving the local festhalls a workout. Try not to pass out because then I have to go looking for you and I always feel like they're trying to hire me when I set foot in one of those places..." he bids farewell to Rodrigo and heads towards the Artisan's Quarter.
Along the way he makes two stops; first, the practical one of stopping at a fletcher's and refilling his quiver, and then a more frivolous one as he finds a florist's shop. After spending quite a few minutes debating over the merits of various flowers (Roses? Mmmm. Maybe a bit more of a statement than is appropriate. Violets? A little too simple. Sunflowers? Too... big. But then again, she's really tall...) he has the florist pick out a bouquet of bright yellow and white daisies, adding in a few blue-violet calla lilies to make the arrangement's colors pop.
Walking the rest of the way to the Screaming Blade with his bouquet in hand, he extracts the hawk mail letter from his breast pocket and rereads the missive again. She doesn't sound angry, but... Just to have the element of surprise on his side, he casts vanish on himself before entering the shop, making his way past the salesroom and into the forge out back, the sound of pounding metal helping to cover his unseen but not exactly silent footsteps. When he eventually finds Lowri, he clears his throat and lets his spell drop, but still holds the flowers in front of his face like a screen. "Now, remember, if you swing the hammer at me for leaving without a word, you'll also be hitting the pretty flowers. Think of the flowers...."
Lowri is in the middle of hammering out a bar of hot iron, and she jumps when Eben suddenly appears—pounding a deep dent right in the middle of it.
She turns. "Eben!" She pauses, then, appearing to notice she still has the hammer raised, lowers it. "How did you—it's great to—" She stops, folding her arms. "No, wait, no. How did you get here?"
Finding Carina experimenting within their smoke-filled room, Tanith taps her on the shoulder.
"Hey Red, you mind taking a break? You need to get fitted for... reasons", the big man says ominously as he struggles for a good alibi. "It's for a present!" he finally admits.
"I wanted it to be a surprise but I couldn't come up with a way to get your measurements that wouldn't look like I wasn't up to something anyway. Surprises are hard."
"Uh?" Carina groggily looks up as Tanith taps her on her shoulder. "Oh--sorry about all the smoke, I kinda tried to open the window, but it got stuck shut..."
She trails off as Tanith talks about getting her fitted for something. "A present?" Her face brightens and she gets up from her chair. "I... well, thanks."
"And what do you need my measurements for?" She starts walking over to the room's door.
I thought you'd be quite familiar with them by now. Tee hee.
"You'll see..." he adds with a smirk. "You'll probably figure it out when we get there."
"Let's get a move on, then." Carina practically bounces out the door. "I need some fresh air anyway."
Eben grins, and lowers his flower shield. "Um... well, depending on what you mean by 'how I got here'... I thought I'd surprise you, so I just turned invisible for a minute and slipped by Thandra. She looked busy with a customer, anyhow. But if you mean that in a more general sense... well, turns out Rodrigo just learned how to distort the fabric of the universe in a whole new way, and can now go long distances in the blink of an eye. So after I got your... um... hawk... yesterday, I bummed a ride to the city off of him. I imagine I've got most of the day before he finishes his usual tour of the pleasure halls. So..." He extends the flowers once again. "I felt like apologizing in person for just disappearing like that. We got news of a dragon attacking the town we're from, and had to leave right away one morning. Which involved having a naked wizard take us through the plane of shadows, and then rescuing multiple friends and allies from an ancient tomb in the Cairn Hills, and... well, it's been a weird couple weeks, let's just say. Sorry I didn't get to drop by and let you know I'd be going off."
Lowri hears Eben's apologexplanation out, a torrent of emotions crossing her face: Anger, amazement, amusement, and an expression he can't quite place.
When he's done, she stands there, nodding for a moment. "Okay." She takes the flowers. Her hammer hand is still free.
She smiles. "This was really sweet, Eben, and I'm glad that Rodrigo can distort the fabric of the universe...I think...I mean, it's not like he can do any major damage with it, right?" She coughs. "But what does this mean for us? You'll just teleport in whenever you and Rodrigo have a day free, buy a bouquet, and smile that bard-smile and hope I forget how much I...missed you?"
The stone giant is curt and direct as she takes Carina's measurements. "Smaller than him. Better. Takes less material."
The strong stench of vinegar pervades the giant's small (well, large, but small by giant standards) stall. Carina has noticed that smell around Tanith a lot lately, ever since they left Diamond Lake.
Farrukh simply splits his time between training and reading.
He considers trading up to heavier armors, considering how little use his acrobatic talents have gotten recently.
Once she's finished with the scrolls, and with researching Tanith's spells, Astraden finds she suddenly has a lot of time to spare. She gives herself a few days to rest, then starts experimenting with Olidammara's powers. She works on accelerating her channels, opening a conduit to the positive energy plane in ever-decreasing time. She also spends time in the library reading about the magics of other religions (there being a paucity of books on Olidammara), finding out about spells that she may one day be able to use.
Other than checking on his leather goods and helping Astraden with spell research, Tanith's routine in Magepoint doesn't differ too much from what it was like before. Each day, he rises early for a jog to Gorrim's shrine at the edge of town where he performs his morning workout/prayer session. Afterward he and the elf swap tales and have deep philosophical discussions about Kord's dogma and teachings, most of which end with yelling and a few thrown punches.
During the day, he explores Magepoint with Carina (when she's not seeing to her own interests) or catches up with his friends. He checks on Farrukh less than the others both because he trusts the slayer to take care of himself and because the library's keeper continues to give him dirty looks. On occasion he spends an hour here and there bending another iron bangle into shape to wrap around his enormous biceps.
Evenings are spent with his friends or carousing in the All-Seeing Eye's common room. During this time he gets into a couple brawls (at least one of his own engineering) and is pleasantly surprised to see many of the Eye's patrons join in gusto. It had been a long time since the Kordite had the chance to throw a punch in a non-life or death struggle and he wears his bruises earned during these brawls with grinning pride.
Most nights end with Tanith and Carina making love in their room - too often and too loudly for some of their neighbors in the All-Seeing Eye.
Rodrigo eventually goes looking for Eben. He's surprisingly sober when he finds the bard. "Hey man. I'm ready to head back whenever you are. Took a day off drinking to walk down memory lane, and visit my apartment complex. Playing on a slide that looks like yourself is really fun. But now I'm all shaky. Need some sauce soon, but I don't think I should teleport us drunk."
Astraden stumbles across . . . something.
Farrukh also makes a hard choice after some contemplation. He buffs the nicks and scrapes and blood from his trusty tentacle Scimitar...and goes off to find a buyer.
Assuming he finds one, he gives them his best sales pitch.
"I've killed just about every type of creature you can imagine with this sword. Demons, devils, oozes, creatures both natural and unnatural and just plain disgusting...but it's time for us to part ways. Think you can find somebody who will kill just as many things with it? I wouldn't want it sitting on some shelf with nothing to do."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"But what does this mean for us? You'll just teleport in whenever you and Rodrigo have a day free, buy a bouquet, and smile that bard-smile and hope I forget how much I...missed you?"
Eben stumbles, suddenly less smooth than normal. "Well... that's what I was hoping we could figure out. Okay, here's where I stand. First time I saw you, I was pretty awestruck. I mean, okay, being shallow, you were beautiful, but also so strong, and brave, and not even remotely a damsel in distress. You looked like you were ready to take on Tanith if we didn't give an explanation right now. So... I left that wanting to get to know you. And it looked like we'd be parked in the Free City for a while, at the least. Well, that was my plan, this is my hometown and I'll always come back here. If anything I'd rather be based in Greyhawk and occasionally teleporting out around Oerth for fun and profit. But it looks like that's not in the cards right now. We're in the middle of a literally world-ending prophecy, and... I could quit that, come back here, get a respectable job with the Guild, and get to regularly take you more appealing places than Everything Fried. And that might make no difference to my group; they might find someone to replace me like that," he snaps his fingers, "And that might just be someone who can do more than shoot arrows that never seem to hurt anything anymore. Or they might not, and the day the skies split open and green worms start raining down on the world, I'll wonder if there was something I could have done to stop that." He frowns, pausing in his somewhat breathless dialogue.
"So I guess what that means is that I'm not going to be based out of the city for the foreseeable future. And I'll admit... I was hoping that might be enough. That I could just take semi-regular trips back here and keep things going like they were until things are different. (Although that involves relying on Rodrigo, and, well, he's not exactly super reliable...) But it's unfair for me to make the assumption that that's a good plan for you. So... yeah. That's just where I am right now. If that's too... unstable a possibility for you, I get it."
So what Farrukh actually does is find a dude crazy enough to melt down a priceless historical artifact and make a shield out of it.
So what Farrukh actually does is find a dude crazy enough to melt down a priceless historical artifact and make a shield out of it.
Carina does her best to put on a brave face as the stone giant takes her measurements. ...why am I not surprised Tanith found this guy?
-------------------
As the days go by, Carina divides her time between refining her extracts and actually going outside for fresh air and hanging out with the rest of the team. She's quite happy to wander around Magepoint with Tanith, peek her head in to bug Astraden while she's working on refining her channeling power, swing by the library Farrukh holed himself up in, as well as catching up with the others as best she can.
The evenings at the All-Seeing Eye are... quite pleasurable for her, to say the least. She's becoming more adventurous with Tanith lately--though she does her best to keep her noise down.
There's still something bothering her, however. As they lie in the afterglow one night, Carina crawls on top of Tanith and pokes him in the chest. "Tanith, I've been meaning to ask you this, but..."
"...why do you smell like vinegar? You've been smelling like that ever since Diamond Lake."
Farrukh speaks at length to Kinkan Pattlewarrick, gnome craftsperson. They are fascinated by the ancient metal, and seem somewhat disturbingly gleeful at the prospect of "defiling" such a notable treasure. They ask only one thing: "A klar is, as I understand it, meant to bear the skull of some beast. But we do not deal in calcium! We are workers of iron!" They clap their hands dramatically. "Or mithral, in this case. So, assuming you wish me to craft you a metal 'skull', have you any preference for what it should resemble?"
Farrukh brandishes his Klar.
"This one is already Mithral, so not a big change for me. You notice it's usually crafted to look like a big lizard, but I'm feeling a bit sentimental. You know what a spinysaurus looks like?"
"...And if you say 'a big lizard' I will smack you with this Klar."
"Aren't they those things Spiny's Six is named after?"
Eben stumbles, suddenly less smooth than normal. "Well... that's what I was hoping we could figure out. Okay, here's where I stand. First time I saw you, I was pretty awestruck. I mean, okay, being shallow, you were beautiful, but also so strong, and brave, and not even remotely a damsel in distress. You looked like you were ready to take on Tanith if we didn't give an explanation right now. So... I left that wanting to get to know you. And it looked like we'd be parked in the Free City for a while, at the least. Well, that was my plan, this is my hometown and I'll always come back here. If anything I'd rather be based in Greyhawk and occasionally teleporting out around Oerth for fun and profit. But it looks like that's not in the cards right now. We're in the middle of a literally world-ending prophecy, and... I could quit that, come back here, get a respectable job with the Guild, and get to regularly take you more appealing places than Everything Fried. And that might make no difference to my group; they might find someone to replace me like that," he snaps his fingers, "And that might just be someone who can do more than shoot arrows that never seem to hurt anything anymore. Or they might not, and the day the skies split open and green worms start raining down on the world, I'll wonder if there was something I could have done to stop that." He frowns, pausing in his somewhat breathless dialogue.
"So I guess what that means is that I'm not going to be based out of the city for the foreseeable future. And I'll admit... I was hoping that might be enough. That I could just take semi-regular trips back here and keep things going like they were until things are different....
Lowri lowers the hammer to the floor. She leans in, and, assuming Eben doesn't object, kisses him softly.
She pulls back. When she speaks, her voice is soft. "I thought about you every night after we escaped. I mean, your whole band, but...you were the one who did everything in his power to make sure everyone made it out. You were so caring, so noble and handsome...And I heard later that someone—" she lets out a faint laugh, "crashed into one of those fancier restaurants with a half-starved invisible cow, and I remember thinking, 'It can't be the same cow we heard. It can't be the same fop.'" She pauses. "Sorry. They called you a fop in the press releases. The point is, I...spent a while wondering. And hoping.
"And then I met you, and I was so happy, because you were alive, and you were still just as compassionate and caring. And that's why...it's...I mean, I don't think I could love you if you just quit what you have to do. Because that wouldn't be you. You aren't a coward, and you are not," she shakes her head, glaring, "replaceable. Not to me, and not to them, and not to this world."
She takes a deep breath. "And you know what that means for me?" The smith smiles, rubbing her eyes. She holds the flowers up for emphasis. "It means I'm dating one of the most remarkable people in Oerth. And, with any luck, I'll be supplying one of the most important parties in the multiverse with gear, which, you know, money." She winks. "I think I care enough about you and your goal to let the odd visit be enough, for the time being. I think your team needs you just as much as I do, and as long as you can visit at least once a week, we can probably share. Those people are really going to die without someone with your charm and sense directing them."
Lowri turns away, wiping her eyes with her free hand. "And I bet, between the lot of us, we can work something out with the arrows. I know metals better than anyone. Everything has its poison."
Farrukh also makes a hard choice after some contemplation. He buffs the nicks and scrapes and blood from his trusty tentacle Scimitar...and goes off to find a buyer.
Assuming he finds one, he gives them his best sales pitch.
"I've killed just about every type of creature you can imagine with this sword. Demons, devils, oozes, creatures both natural and unnatural and just plain disgusting...but it's time for us to part ways. Think you can find somebody who will kill just as many things with it? I wouldn't want it sitting on some shelf with nothing to do."
Kelloran Blint, unscrupulous trader, happily purchases the creepy scimitar—after realizing Farrukh knows how much he paid for it and can't be conned into getting a quarter its worth. "I promise you, every weapon I buy gets used to kill something."
"Oh?" Tanith says, interrupting the trail of kisses he's planting up Carina's naked thigh. "Are you sure that's not my usual scent? It could be the smell from the container the goblins gave me to preserve the dragon hide."
Eben does not object to the kiss. At all. And is quite happy to return it in kind.
He also, when the issue of the rescued cow is brought up, tactfully avoids mentioning the fate of the pig.
"So... dating? Good." he says, beaming. "So, on that topic, I know I'm interrupting you in the middle of work and took you by surprise, but you have to take a lunch break sooner or later. We can do more fried food, if that's easy, and spend the time working out a proper time for something... nicer at a later date."
"Once a week, at the least, should be easy enough. I mean, aside from Rodrigo's... diversions, he and Tanith both own property in the city and must need to check up on it. I actually told Tanith I'd see how construction on his temple was going before I headed back to Magepoint, but I'm sure he'll want to visit himself. And... well, even leaving Rodrigo out of the picture, after seeing what shadow-based magic can do recently, I've got a few ideas brewing myself. Don't know if I'll ever be able to travel like Rodrigo can, but I might be able to work out a way to send messages back and forth..."
After finishing up his talk with Lowri, Eben strolls out front to let her finish her current piece of work and chats with Thandra, Zadoc, and the other ex-prisoners for a while until Lowri is ready to take a break. Over a leisurely (if somewhat greasy) luncheon, he breaks down some of his own 'spend downtime in Greyhawk' plans. "Even without Rodrigo, I think I should be able to work out a way to get here and back with less than a day's travel. And messages... we shouldn't have to rely on hawkmail, although that was kind of fun. Just... if a talking ball of light appears in the forge with a letter, don't be too surprised. Just take the note and give it one back, if you have one. I mean, I know this is a bit weird, but I think it'll work..."
After eating, he invites her for a walk down to Midnight's Muddle to accompany him on his 'inspection' of Tanith's property, and generally does his best to contrive her to spend as much of the afternoon as possible with him before her sense of duty prevails. And after said duty rears its ugly head, he spends some time wandering around old familiar places himself, a little reflectively. Until finally the time comes for him to meet up with Rodrigo and head back to Magepoint.
Over the next few days Eben gets a few things done around Magepoint. Upon Astraden and Farrukh's reccomendation, he stops in to see Pattlewarrick himself. "So I've seen these cloaks that kind of shield you from magic and other stuff..." he says. "And I've occasionally tried them on, but the thing is I've already got these shoulder wraps and somehow they cancel each other out. And it's so useful, being able to carry more than I normally could, but I can safely say it also sucks to suddenly be unable to move or do anything when there's a fight breaking out around you... do you think it's possible to get that 'watch your back' protection added on to these? Maybe sew them into some kind of mid-shoulder length cape, but something with a neutral color, so you can wear it with a variety of outfits and it won't clash...oh my gods I am a fop."
Another activity that occupies his time around the town is likewise visiting the library. In spite of his professed disdain for 'book learned magic', the ideas he has regarding guiding his own natural magical style in a specific direction need some research. He pays the base admission fee to the librarian without bothering to try and 'win' free admission, because really, he doesn't have a lot of knowledge to show off.
[ooc]Curse my thinking that Pageant of the Peacock is too cheesy!
There, he spends his time filling his head with somewhat boring magical theory on the nature of shadow magic. And while most of the details soar far, far over his head, the base concepts filter down into his unconscious to hopefully guide his innate sense of magical trickery an entirely new direction to grow in. Ph'rexis walked us through shadows from greyhawk to Diamond Lake in just a few hours. What if I could somehow imbue Grifter with that? Or if not that, maybe I could just... summon a horse out of shadow stuff? And it would naturally travel faster?
And lastly, he stops by an alchemical supply shop and picks up a number of (to him) really odd seeming ingredients reccomended by the shopkeep, and delivers them to Carina at the end of the day. "I know you've got your own stuff you're making, so no rush, but if you could whip up those weapon blanches when you've got a chance? I've got a little bit of everything here..."