Vorq attempts to heal Leonard at Vincent's command.
Vincent stabs the denizen again before stepping 5ft behind the eastern dog, charging his spear.
Vorq does not manage to activate the wand.
Vincent stabs the denizen of Leng twice with his spear, killing it. It's body begins to fade away.
One of the hounds sinks its fangs into the unconscious Leonard, while the other tries to attack Vincent.
Leonard convulses for a moment as the fangs enter his skull, then his body lies very still.
The other flies closer and tries to attack Vincent, but does not manage to bite through his bark-like skin.
The first sensation you are aware off is that your head throbs, as if someone has clobbered you. You smell varnished wood and feel you are lying on some kind of hard surface, twisted in some weird position. You hear the sound of rapid breathing near you, as well as Claude's frightened hisses. You see nothing.
Vincent stabs at a dog studying it and sighing.
Vincent kills the dog with two stabs of his longspear, despite his longspear not being fully effective.
The other dog floats a bit higher and continues to bite him.
Vincent is dragged down to the ground by the dog.
"I think I'm blind now."
Vincent attempts to parry.
He then steps back 5ft and attacks after studying the next victim.
Vorq aids in Vincent's defense.
Vincent parries the bite with the haft of the spear, then stabs the hound twice, killing it.
Searching the hound bodies yield no loot.
Vincent grunts and looks around. Before giving up and leaving he sees if it's possible to turn in the quest trinkets. He does however drink his mutagen and barkskin.
Vincent does not see the Yellow King from where he is.
Feeling that it would be unrealistic to continue alone, Vincent wakes himself up.
Well, the creatures are dead, but I thought it best to leave afterwards to collect you rather than press on. he says as he opens his eyes and sits up.
Vincent wakes up on the Sellen Starling. Seamus and Howard look like they're recovering from their panic attack. He sees Leonard rolling on the floor.
Vincent knows Leonard contracted a madness after the dog mailed him like everyone else who died, so he goes to check on him.
Still sitting in the corner shivering, Seamus watches as Leonard rolls around declaring his inability to see, "Well that can't be good."
As Vincent reappears, and immediately moves to look at Leonard, Seamus shift his dancing lights to move around the two so Vincent has more light.
After some time, Leonard makes his way to a sitting position. "Well this is unfortunate."
Don't worry, friend, I'll help to show you the way. Stand now and sit in your chair. Up.
Leonard, on shaky legs, slowly stands. He moves slowly but surely, stopping and listening regularly, until he arrives at his chair, where he sits. "I don't suppose we've another scroll, perhaps we should speak to the captain and see if there isn't a convenient port which might sell us one."
Vincent examines Leonard - there does not seem to be anything wrong with his eyes. His pupils constrict when one of Seamus's dancing lights are placed in front of them, and dilate when there is no light source near.
There is some swelling at the back of his head, and Vincent suspects that his visual cortex might be damaged, causing his lack of sight. The prognosis isn't good - the blindness could be temporary or it could be permanent - depending on how badly damaged his optical cortex is.
"Well, I guess that means I'm blind. At least for now." Leonard's knuckles turn white against Angiliath, "shouldn't be insurmountable." He shrugs nervously, "I guess I'm alive, right?"
"Well, I suppose I'll go let a few people know I've been blinded, then we should probably rest, prepare, and see if we can't be done with this dreamlands business." Leonard stands up confidently, walking slowly out of the room and nearly bumping into the doorway. He keeps his hands low and casual, except when the boat rocks.
'Wonder if he needs a hand.' Flinching a little as Leonard starts to head out of the room, Seamus stands and dusts himself off and offers. "Um, Leonard, do you need someone to, you know, guide you or anything? I was thinking about going above decks anyway. do you want some help?"
As Leonard walks slowly up on the deck, he hears a familiar voice, "Ahoy, didnt ye see me wave at ye earlier? Do ye needs a rum or any pineapple juice?"
He sees a stout sailor with blonde hair and storm grey eyes and a weather beaten face address Leonard.
"I think I'll be alright, Seamus, but if you're going to be going up anyway...well...um. Sure." Leonard walks over slowly and places a hand on Seamus's shoulder, following him around. Angiliath is still clearly giving him some direction.
"In fact, I cannot see you even now," Leonard says in the man's general direction. "Gone a bit blind, but it'll pass with time.
I hope."
Leonard makes his way to the kitchen first, finding the cook.
"Well I'm blind," he says matter of factly, stopping in the middle of the room. "I've known a few blind people before, they were functional and could cook. I don't suppose that describes me yet, but we'll get there." Leonard keeps his left hand fixed on Angiliath while he speaks, which he normally only does with strangers.
Leonard leaves the kitchen and heads above deck, searching for the captain with Angiliath. When he finds her, he approaches and then, after an awkward moment of fumbling, leans on the nearest solid object, trying to look casual while also steadying himself against the boat's rocking. "I'd like to inform you that I've gone blind," he begins, "which I'm telling you so that you know that it wasn't your fault. We were engaged in a magical practice belowdecks and I made a poor judment which resulted in lasting consequences." Leonard nods once, which is awkward because he's not really looking at the captain.
"Wha'? Ye've gone blind?" The sailor's mouth falls open. "Wait do ye wants me t' brin' ye t' Damien? He might be able t' help."
"Wha'? Ye've gone blind? How did that happen? I'll go get Darja."The swarthy sailor who spotted Leonard in the storeroom answers, then goes out on deck.
5 minutes later, he returns with a large muscular Mwangi woman whom Angiliath recognizes as Darja, in polka dot pajamas, who's rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Akaghi was babbling something about you being blind in the middle of the night. Tell me e's off is wocka', please." Darja tells Leonard.
'Shouldn't let Leonard wander around unattended, don't want him to fall overboard.' With Leonard's hand on his shoulder, Seamus leads his blind friend above decks. Nodding at the friendly sailor, he agrees with his friend. "Yeah, he's blind for now, but Howard will figure out how to fix him up. He's really smart."
Leading Leonard to the galley, he nods politely to the swarthy sailor. As Darja comes into the kitchen dressed in her polka dot pajamas. He turns and smiles to Vincent winking then whispering to Leonard, "You didn't tell me she comes to the kitchen in her lingerie."
As she nears Seamus smiles. "How you doin'?" nodding his head, he answers her question. "Yeah Leonard got himself blinded, I don't know how it happened, I was awake at the time. I'm sure he will tell you all about it. If you don't mind I will leave him to your care and go back to the cabin." Pushing his friend toward the friendly cook, he wanders back below decks.
” So you wa' awake and you didn’t see ow e got blinded?” Darja gives Seamus a disapproving look. Darja looks at Leonard speculatively. ” Tha' doesn’t seem anything wwong with is eyes, they’we not wed, no' a' tha' any mawks on them though.”
” About ow I’m doing? Not good. Twy being woken in the middle of the night and finding out that yoa' student jozt became blind. “ Darja replies testily.
” Anyway, ow did THAT appen? Leonawd, you’ve got some explaining to do.” Darja glares at Leonard with her hands on her hips, but he doesn’t notice it. Angiliath does, though.
With Darja’s help, Leonard makes his way to Captain Skywind’s cabin. He hears something stir from within, then he sees a blue eye through the peephole after he knocks, then a tousled hair Skywind Freeling opens the door. ”Oh so it’s you, Leonard. What is it at this time of the night?”
After Leonard explains his predicament, Captain Skywind sighs, as she buries her head in her palms. ”Ah Desna, what am I supposed to do now that the people I was entrusted with have now gotten themselves into a mess. And I’m not magicker to fix this kind of thing. I don’t think Damien can help. I mean he does his best…but lets say he isn’t very far along his way yet.”
”What am I going to do…” Captain Skywind paces around agitatedly. Then she looks at the maps once more and thinks about the problem. ”I know the Stardust Augurs have an enclave around here. They’re worshippers of Desna and spend their time outdoors mostly studying the constellations of the heavens, and researching dreams. I’ll pilot the Sellen Starling to them – they might be able to help you. We should be there in about by afternoon.”
"No, that's alright, I don't think Damien can help me." Leonard carries on, staying relatively close to Seamus and not doing anything stupid.
"My eyes work, my mind doesn't. That's how it seems, at any rate." Leonard takes a step away from Seamus and turns slightly, so that he's closer to a corner and so that he's between Angiliath and Darja. He's standing nearly sideways.
"I was conducting a magical exploration in the guest room, there are a few unimportant details. Suffice it to say that we encountered difficulties and I failed to protect myself properly, resulting in rather unfortunate consequences." Leonard turns slowly towards the centre of the room, changing the subject abruptly. "I don't suppose you've got the ingredients for pie, do you?" Leonard shakes his head, "no, not at this time of night, better to wait till tomorrow."
"Stardust Augurs...hmm...I can't say I've ever heard of them. But if it's that close, perhaps we can make a short detour...I should speak with my companions." Leonard continues leaning against the wall for a moment, then straightens himself before turning sharply and taking three steps forward. He reaches out with a groping hand, looking for the doorknob for a moment before finding it.
Vincent shrugs, Fine with me.
"No not at this time of the night. You shouldn't be in the kitchen in yoa' ca'went condition. People who a' bo'n blind ave leawnt to compensate fo' it." Darja answers, with a slight note of sympathy.
Captain Skywind agrees to plot a course to the Stardust Augurs. In the afternoon, the party docks at a clearing by the river side, and Captain Skywind leads the party up a path leading towards a serene, forested mountain. The party sees plants with vibrant colours, and birds of paradise, with feathers shimmering like jewels as they ascend to the summit of the said mountain.
As they reach the summit, they see a stone henge, with floating swarms of gemstones whirling around, giving the place and ethereal quality. Several elves with symbols of butterflies at their belts sit on the grass, admiring the sunset, along with a very familiar human.
Vincent and Howard identify those floating swarms of gemstones as Ioun wyrds.
One of the elves rise from their seats then asks, "So what brings you here to the abode of the Stardust Augurs?"
The human glares at the party, his brown eyes flinty hard. "Those were the people I was telling all of you about. The half elf tried to kill me, then left me in an acid pit to die. "
With that, a horrified gasp runs through the gathered congregation. "So you were the ones." Another elf remarks. "You tried to kill Nestor, then left him to die in an acid pit." He shakes his head. "Leave now. You are not welcome here." He says coldly to the party.
Who is Nestor and why would we do that? We never left someone in an acid pit. I would remember leaving someone in an acid pit.
"Oh yes, I remember you." The human glares at Vincent and points. "He's the one who tried to kill me."
Vincent does recognize that human was the one he ran into in the Dreamlands in the enchanted forest.
"Shall I refresh your memory? I was trying to WARN you about the trap, but instead you came after me with your spear aimed at my heart, triggering it off." He answers Vincent cuttingly. "Then when I was trying beg you to cut me free through my gag, you climbed out of the pit yourself, leaving me to die there."
Vincent snorts, That is utter nonsense. Did they drug you also? I was charging for whoever the invisible entity was trying to blind us. I couldn't tell from your strange nonverbal cues there was a trap.
He paused and looks at the man in annoyance, And to refresh your memory, I climbed out of the pit, and when I turned to offer you my spear you grew wings and helped yourself out. I couldn't help you get out if I was dead, could I? Preposterous! And if you had wings, why did you not help ME from the pit, or lift me up to rescue the others instead of fleeing like a coward? Hmm? Hmm?
Vincent mutters, Asinine logic..
"I was gagged and any movement on my part would have triggered the trap, resulted in me falling into the pit. Not to mention those creatures were horizontally opposite of my direction. Sure, like I'd believe you." Nestor snorts disdainfully.
"And no, YOU NEVER offered me your spear. You just left me in the pit. At least by Desna's grace the acid burned up my bonds which were restraining me from growing wings and I was able to save myself. Why would I save you after YOU got US dumped into the pit in the first place? And YOU got out of the pit before the acid ate through my bonds, so I couldn't grow wings either." Nestor snaps back.
"Look. You're clearly upsetting our friend Nestor here." The elf tells Vincent pointedly. "He doesn't want to have anything to do with you, and neither do we. Now leave."
Vincent grunts, Fine, I will leave, since it seems to be upsetting your brain-addled friend here, but there is no reason to turn away this blind man seeking aid because your Nest egg has a problem with myself and reality. Unless you are worse than he claims me to be..
With that he returns to the ship.
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Once Vincent has left, Howard pinches the bridge of his nose, and sighs.
"Look, I am not going to try and defend his actions. Vincent can be acerbic, stand-offish, and frankly, a bit of a prick at times. I am not, in the least bit, surprised that he did what you say he did.
I would, however, appreciate it if you did not tar us with the same brush. Frankly, I never had a chance to see you - we were ambling along through the forest, and then suddenly, I (and several others) were blinded by some invisible force; we felt our only recourse was to flee the Dreamlands as quickly as possible, so that is what we did.
I know that it may not seem like it, but Vincent's clumsy, nay, murderous 'assistance' may have been a blessing in disguise; certainly, it caused pain, but still, even if it was for all the wrong reasons, it allowed you to escape."
He then turns, and points at Leonard.
"This man was ripped apart by Denizens of Leng in the Dreamlands, and his mind has lost the ability to process visual input, effectively rendering him blind. Captain Skywind suggested that you might be able to help. Please, prove that you are better than Vincent, and do so."
'What Vincent did what? That was a dream, none of those things really happened.' Shocked at the accusations Seamus stands gap mouthed staring from Vincent to his accuser. Dumbfounded as Vincent leaves, Seamus is unable to determine what to say or do until Howard speaks up. Nodding his head in agreement, Seamus chimes in. "You should listen to Howard, he's really smart and our friend Leonard still needs your help."
"I did see all of you and was trying to warn you away from the trap."Nestor explains. He rolls up his sleeves to reveal acid scars."Yes all of you were lucky to be there in dream form, but I was actually there in person, pursuing a big-game hunter named Kelvetta Brix, who has been slaughtering its denizens of the Dreamlands as trophies."
"Then after he tries to murder me, he attempts to paint himself in the best possible light, even claiming I am addled. I do not forgive such a callous one such as him."Nestor answers angrily.
"Firstly he is a rude, acerbic prick who shows no empathy for other people. And claimed the person whom he tried to kill is out of his mind to cover up for his misdeeds."The elf replies. "We will have nothing to do with him, nor those whom he keeps company."
The elf turns to Captain Skywind,his tone softening, "I'm sorry, but we will not help you this time. I don't blame you for bringing them here, as they are your paying passengers, but we will have nothing to do with them. Should you require our assistance in the future, you're always welcome to drop by."
well that sucks. Offended by the elves attitude, Seamus begins to hum a jaunty tune to inspire, and drawing an arrow, fires it at Nestor.
Hearing the sounds of combat, Vincent spins on his heels and runs back.
"No! What are you doing?!" Captain Skywind exclaims in horror. "You're attacking my friends because they refuse to help you? I can't let you do this!"
"The rest of you, stand down. We don't want to hurt you."The elves tell the party.
Seamus stopped singing for a brief moment, "No I'm attacking your friend because he's a lying piece of shit, it didn't happen like he says. He must be an evil spell caster, having used some kind of nefarious magic to convince you to believe this tripe, evil people who misuse their powers must be brought to justice."
He then continues singing, drawing two more arrows.
Seamus manages to shoot a surprised Nestor, who yelps in pain.
"This is a truly regrettable state of affairs. You attacked one who is in our protection."Another of the elves state."All that were exchanged were words, we told you to leave, and you resorted to violence."
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Howard shrugs.
"If that is the attitude you wish to take, fair enough. I certainly can't compel you to assist us. I am disappointed, it is true, that a well-reasoned argument was not able to start to build a bridge across the gulf between us, but it would seem that cannot be helped."
He then nods to Nestor.
"I am sorry that we encountered you under less-than-ideal, to put it mildly, circumstances. As I said, I went blind before I was aware of you, and immediately left the Dreamlands. I had no way of knowing either a) you were trapped there in corporeal form (although I would be interested in hearing how you got there, as I am trying to help a party of friendly vooniths to get home), or b) knowing anything about the pit, since I had left before that happened, apparently."
When Seamus shoots Nestor, Howard is momentarily left speechless, then sighs.
"Seamus, stop that. Let's go. We need to find someone else to help us, if we can, or just work with what we have."