Sylthain fires off another stinging rain of blows against the weird creature, trying to keep it from Lyra as much as he can.
Wow think of all the hits you might have cheated yourself out of :-)
The creature gurgles and slumps over in a mess of ectoplasm and goo as Victors last sword swipe slashes through.
The half-orc grunts softly, sheathing his weapons as he turns from the creature and walks over to gently scoop up and sooth the screaming girl.
Some sort of metal glints under the light from inside the goo of the creature slain....
"I'm glad the small one isn't hurt," Naiethua says as she sheathes her sickles. "It's a good thing you've been here to keep her from harm, Grawk."
The elf grabs a stick and start prodding the ectoplasm, trying to get at some glittering object she noticed under the creature. If she remembers the stories right, the ectoplasm will fade away before too long, but Naiethua's never been a patient woman.
Naithua wastes no time! Taking a stick and prodding it into the goo until she lifts up the stick. A thin chain of a necklace hangs from it with a small medallion on the end, a closer look at the medallion shows a small etching on the surface, three horizontal lines below an open circle. The metal itself while it easily glints under the light its a deep brownish green color.
This symbol etched into the medallion part is the holy symbol of the god Chaniud, The Lawkeeper. None of his known clerics would create foul undead creatures.
Naiethua shows the necklace to her companions, "Does anyone know what this means?"
Seeing no other immediate threats, Sylthain took a quick look at the medallion Nai was holding. It looks like the symbol of Chaniud, The Lawkeeper. Although why it would be carried by one such as this I don't know.
Lyra pipes up, "...It looks magical."
"Magical, huh?" Naiethua says with a grin. "Why don't I ever check these things before I start messing with stuff?" She then concentrates on the necklace.
The necklace gives off a strong enchantment and divination aura, and a weaker combination of abjuration and conjuration.
"You're right of course, Lyra. This necklace is magical. The essence feels like it may provide some kind of protection," Naiethua says as she puts the necklace in her hand.
Naiethua, almost as soon as the necklace rests in your hand you feel like its a good idea to wear it.
Naiethua puts on the necklace.
Do not treat the following as something you are told but as if you could be thinking it yourself, nor do you HAVE to do what it saysm
South! Go South, all your friends are South, South is safe!
Naiethua drops to her knees and clutches the necklace. "South, why south?" She asks with a bewildered look in her eyes. "Why do I want to go south? I, I, I just got home. Why go back? But my friends are there and they're safe. But I have no friends there. South is home and safety. No this is home, Sura-Khiri the Forest Home. But South, the direction of Hazuk. I want to go there, the place I thought I'd never go back to. That is where I want to go."
The elf looks at the others in the clearing: Grawk and the child, Thaddeus, Sylthain and Lyra, and finally Viktor.
Nai? Help you? What are you talking about? says Victor while kneeling next to Naiethua. He looks at the necklace hanging from her neck as if it could reveal its name under his gaze.
He turns to his comrades I think she needs help..
Oh boy. Failed....
Suddenly your limbs begin to operate on their own and you stand and start walking in what you believe is the southern direction, if you try to speak you find you cannot, yet.
Naiethua suddenly stops freaking out and calmly stands up and begins walking south without another word to any of you.
Sylthain watches Naiethua closely, keeping himself between her and Lyra. Once she walks past, clearly ignoring his charge, he follows behind her. The necklace clearly has a hold over her.
Moving quickly, he attempts to tackle the druid to the ground to prevent her from continuing on further.
Sylthain barely manages to grapple Naiethua with her necklace on, bringing her do the ground, she struggles trying to get free even as he does it but makes no attempt harming him in return.
Just after Sylthain tackles druid, Victor rushes to them and tries to quickly take the necklace off her neck watching not to touch the medallion.
Naiethua struggles to break free of Sylthain's grasp to continue her journey south.
Victor you are unable to grasp the necklace as Naiethua continues to struggle against Sylthain's. Although she continues to struggle she has still made no attempt to harm Sylthain as he holds her down.
Sylthain wraps his legs around the struggling elf's waist and pushes her shoulders tight to the ground, her movements halted for the moment. Someone please deal with this cursed necklace while I still have a hold of her.
Oh I'm trying but she keeps moving! Says Victor and immediately tries again to take necklace off and throw it on the ground..
Oh I'm trying but she keeps moving!, says Victor and immediately tries again to take the necklace off her and throw it on the ground..
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I must get free. Free to keep moving. No, free of this urge. I don't want to go south, really. But I have to. No, I don't. Yes, south. Naiethua struggles vainly to free herself from the mental compulsion. She tries to wiggle free of her irrational desire with logic, but the compulsion grabs her arguments and drags her back to the need to head south. Every time she thinks she can force her way free by sheer will power, the compulsion pushes her will down. Her mental struggles are mirrored in her body's futile efforts to get free of Sylthain's hold. Must prevent whatever's doing this from learning how I can... Lightning, that's it I'll fry the filthy human. No, in the name of Eanius, no!
Then Victor grabs the necklace and rips it from Naiethua's throat and the elf goes limp under Sylthain. She takes a few deep breaths then says, "Thanks, friends. I never realized what a tricky trap my own mind could be. Not sure I could have gotten out without you." She sits quietly for a few moments before adding, "But I'm fine now. So Sylthain, you might want to get off of me before we give Miss Lyra the wrong impression."
Even as you felt yourself struggling against Syl with Victor reaching for the necklace, just before its yanked from your neck...
No!... Your friends... to the south... they need you! Been away too long!
Victor does manage to grab the necklace by the chain, even holding the chain Victor you almost feel like you should wear the necklace.
"Victor, everyone," Naiethua says. "Handle that necklace as little as possible or it may end up handling you. What is that anyways, and why did I feel the need to go south when I was wearing it?"
Victor drops the necklace. He stares blindly at it for a moment, yet he manages to look back at Naiethua. His mind is slowly processing her words as he is overcoming the need to take the necklace. "I also felt something.." pauses for a moment, and looks back at the magic object "For that brief moment - 'was like an another voice in the back of my head.. What should we do with it?"
Come to think of it... what was that Syl said? Chaniud... this makes sense now, especially given the experience you just had with it.
Over a hundred years ago in the last great war a small sect of Chaniuds followers pleaded with the god for an advantage over their enemies... the followers of his opposing god Orcus. Chaniud blessed the adventures with four intelligent relics that would help them more as they progressed against their foes... it actually helped turn the war... during the war one of the adventurures were killed and their item stolen by an opposing follower luckily with the rest the enemies were still pushed back but that item remained lost. After the war, the remaining adventurers separated and went their own ways while only one items owner is still known to be around, progeny of the original owner. The rest were lost through time... it was even a little of an embarrassing joke that one item... a necklace had been lost in a gamble... while others say it was pilfered by a novice rogue in any story the general theme was that the necklace never got any more use after the war.
This necklace, Divining Light is part of that set, every item in the set was designed to be able to always know the immediate direction of its nearest counterpart, wishing to be near them as a whole in an effort to remain united against the foe they were designed against. While most of its abilities are not exact as each item learns on its own, you do know it has some defensive capabilities.
The necklace is by no means harmful, perhaps only misunderstood.
"Galaedros's beard," Naiethua exclaims as she takes a better look at the necklace. "I'd heard about this when I was a girl, but never thought I'd see it. If I'm not mistaken, this is Divining Light, a thinking artifact created by the Lawgiver himself to better fight Orcus. How did Grandpa tell the story?" She sits thoughtfully then starts reciting the tale from memory.
Chaniud blessed the adventurers with four intelligent relics that would help them more as they progressed against their foes... They actually helped turn the tide of war... During the war one of the adventurers was killed and their item stolen by an opposing follower. Luckily the rest of the enemies were still pushed back but that item remained lost. After the war, the remaining adventurers separated and went their own ways. Only one item's owner is still known to be around, progeny of the original owner. The rest were lost through time...
The druid relaxes for a moment then continues her story. "This necklace is one of the four items and its name is Divining Light. The legend says that the items would always know the immediate direction of its nearest counterpart. They want to work together as a team against the Demon Prince and his minions. That's why I 'had' to go south. The necklace wanted me to find its friends."
"If a thing like that," Naiethua nods towards the horror which attacked earlier. "Had this artifact and brought it into the light of day, could Orcus be on the march again?"
The deadly serious look that has been on Naiethua's face since she recognized Diving Light suddenly fades. "OK, big guy. Seriously, it's time for you to get off of me," she says giving Sylthain a playful shove. "We have a trinket to talk to."
Sylthain's face reddens as he quickly gets to his feet. Looking at Lyra then back to Nai, he clears his throat roughly and moves back. It sounds like we should be careful around that item, yes.
"We need to be careful with the necklace, but we also need to work with it," Naeithua says as she stands up and straightens out her clothes. "The question is: Who will take it? If the legend is true, it has a mind of its own, thus we should be able to reason with it. I hated how confused and helpless I felt when it was controlling me, but now that I know what to expect I may have an advantage. I also doubt that I could stop Sylthain or Victor if they put on the necklace and decide to head south without doing more damage than the couple scrapes and bruises Sylthain left me. What do you all think?"
If you are sure you can reason with its magic then, I agree says Victor and slightly turns his head to see what orc and little girl are doing. He looks back at Naiethua and Sylthian and almost whispers What about girl? You think she's the one we look for?
"She's got to be the girl," Naiethua whispers to Victor. "How many Bazareene girls with draconic blood are found orphaned in Sura-Khiri? My question is does her father really want her found? I'm a decent tracker, but we found her in less than a day."
Sylthain nods at Nai's first comments before shaking his head. I agree this can't be anyone other than the girl we seek. But do not be so quick to discount her father's desire for her. Regardless of the ease with which we found her, that was our task to accomplish.
Naiethua looks from Grawk and the child to Lyra. She then whispers to Sylthain and Victor, "The girl will be better off in town with the Highmarks than in the woods, but I don't want to remove her from Grawk by force. We need his agreement with this. He has been the closest thing to a father the small one will remember. We should include Lyra in this conversation, she is the girl's kin after all."
Grawk as since soothed the girl from the encounter, seeming to pay none of you any mind. The girl seems much calmer now, speaking to Grawk in the same language as before, you see him gently dusting her doll off, waving it in front of her as he rumbles something low in the same language and the girl suddenly giggles.
Lyra, this whole time seems to be watching the exchange carefully and quietly, whatever the woman is thinking is not easily determined by her current stance.
Grawk suddenly stands up, hoisting the girl up with him. "It get dark soon, we make camp then me and Saa leave and not bother huumon city. I make work... make gold for travel, moving on again now."
The half-orc doesn't wait for a response before walking through the brush towards the cave nearby.
"Grawk!" Naiethua shouts at the retreating half-orc. "Please give me a moment to ask a question." She takes a second to make sure she has Grawk's attention then continues in a normal tone, "Will you be able to train Saa when she comes into her powers? Can you teach her what it means to be a sorceress without her hurting you or herself? I don't think my powers are the same as Miss Lyra's, but they're close enough for this talk. If my Grandpa hadn't been there to show me the ways of the druids, I probably would have hurt a lot of people learning to control the winds that course through and around me. Saa needs someone like Lyra to show her the way."
Grawk glances down at the girl, shaking his head. "Grawk teach Saa about forest... huumons leave her, I not." It isn't difficult to see the half-orc is quite attached to the girl.
"I didn't say you should leave her, Grawk," Naiethua replies. "You love her and she needs you. I won't try to separate you. Learning about the forest will be a good thing, but she needs to know about her powers and she'll need a human sorceress for that."
The druid takes a glance at the woman who has been silently taking in this scene. She asks, "What are your thoughts on this, Lyra? What do you think the child needs?"
Lyra answers almost arrogantly, "My cousin belongs HOME with her family, not out in the middle of a forest. We're taking her back with us."
The half-orcs eyes narrow and his grip on Saa tightens a little, but nothing that would harm the child.
"Really?" Naiethua asks. "Then you're prepared to invite Grawk to a place of honor within your house? You and the girl will need him now as much as they'll need you when she comes of age. She doesn't even speak the Trade Tongue!"
Sylthain moves between Lyra and the half-orc, assessing Grawk quickly for any threat. The young girl belongs with her family as the Lady said. She will need to come with us.
He looks to Nai, his eyes set. You're right, we're not asking him to abandon her, but she needs to return home. It is what is best.