"Yes, we see no point of furthering this conversation. "One of the elves state.
Nestor gives a long suffering sigh. "No, you saw me, and yes, I had my friends planeshift me in in order to stop Kelvetta from killing more denizens of the Dreamlands."
"We must save these elves from the evil mind control of this man." Resolute Seamus continues singing and cast snowball at Nestor.
Seamus throws a snowball at Nestor.
It hits him, and staggers him, but does not seem to do as much damage as it should.
His friends take offence to that.One of them begins to cast a spell.
Leonatd, Howard and Vorq recognize the spell as harm.
Then he moves and reaches out to Seamus with his hand glowing an eldritch blue.
Seamus does not manage to fight off the spell successfully and feels his life force drain away.
Another of his friend casts another spell then reaches out to touch Nestor with it.
Everyone recognizes the spell as Cure Critical wounds.
The rest of his other friends move up and ready to do something.
Nestor returns the barely standing Seamus's gaze, then returns fire with a sigh. "Just because you REALLY shouldn't be accusing people of enchanting others without proof. And in self defences since you attacked first."
Howard, Vincent and Vorq recognize the spell as magic missile.
The party sees two golden missiles streak towards Seamus's chest as he falls unconscious to the ground.
As Seamus falls, one of the elves reiterate, "Now take him away and leave." The elf gestures at Seamus's form lying on the ground. "And don't ever return."
Vincent eyes the cleric as he runs back in time to watch Seamus brutalized, speaking as he grabs Seamus off the ground. Your friend is a liar, you refuse a request for aid from a blind man, and now you nearly kill a half-wit... Mark my words, we will meet again.
With that, he hefts Seamus over a shoulder and turns his back on the wicked elves. He makes sure to make note of their location for in the future.
"Spare yourselves the trouble. We really don't care for your company. Your rancid presence turns out stomach, not to mention your disregard for life. " One of the elves reply.
"Skywind - on second thoughts, don't bring any of your passengers here. We don't care for our friends being atacked."Another elf calls out.
The elves and Nestor leave the party alone to carry Seamus back to the ship.
"You know, I sorely regret bringing all of you here, and I'm beginning to regret helping Cessadia out." Captain Skywind gives a resigned sigh. "But I suppose I'll have to see this through. " She says mournfully.
"If they didn't want to help you - for whatever their reasons, whether justified or not, that is their choice, and we were free to leave at any time. Instead Seamus chose to accuse Nestor of witch-craft - then attacked him claiming he was evil.And they are my friends." Skywind looks at the distant horizon. "I'll frankly tell you - after this trip, you're no longer welcome on my ship."
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Howard pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs mournfully, as Nestor and the Elves depart, shaking his head as he regards Seamus.
"Well, that could have gone better..."
When the Captain makes her pronouncement, Howard shrugs.
"So be it - it is, after all, your ship. I just wish people would stop with the whole guilt-by-association thing; I have tried to be perfectly reasonable throughout, as has Leonard, and yet we keep getting tarred with the same brush as others who have been responsible for trigger events."
He them smiles bitterly.
"However, emotions tend to run hot, especially when pain and friends are involved, so I appreciate why events have happened, as they have happened. Are you still happy for us to interact with you and the rest of the crew, trying to help out as best we can, or would you prefer us to stay locked in our cabin for the rest of the journey?"
Vincent grunts after healing Seamus. Just do your job, Captain.
He then turns his back on her, looking at Leonard. Drink? he asks shortly, putting a hand on his shoulder so he knows he speaks to him, as he goes to the cabin.
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...
Finding himself healed and the enemies gone, "Thanks for healing me Vincent and Howard."
Seamus follows the party back toward the river. Watching as he goes, looking around trying to identify different parts of the path so that he won't forget. As they stand on the bank, Seamus looks at the boat, then up and down the river. He asks the captain. "Captain, what part of the country is this called? What is the nearest town up river or down river? Are there any not-elven settlements nearby?"
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Howard nods curtly to Seamus, then, upon helping him to his feet, and seeing that he still has a murderous look in his eye, frowns.
"Seamus, don't be a fool. For starters, you saw what two of them did to you... and there were substantially more than two of them. Sometimes, you need to know when to take your lumps; sometimes, there are battles that we just can't win. Moreover, technically, you *did* strike first, so there reaction was, technically, quite justified. I agree, they were quite rude, but think about it... if the tables had been turned, and they had come to us asking for help, and one of them had done to one of us what they said we had done to Nestor, would we have *really* been willing to give them a hand?
I know that revenge is a very tempting dish, but don't let yourself get distracted by what is, ultimately, a fairly petty issue. If you leave the ship now, you are likely to never get your memories back, and you are unlikely to ever catch-up with Lowls. Moreover, we need you. Leonard and I certainly can't continue this undertaking by ourselves..."
"The nearest non Elven settlement is Tymon, downriver. If you wish to make your way there on foot, by all means, though the route is all the way across forest and river crossings. It's not what I consider safe, but go ahead if you do. I will not wait for you, but will set sail to Cassomir." Captain Skywind answers.
Vincent realizes that what Captain Skywind says is correct. He also figures it will take 2 days of trekking over trackless forest to get to Tymon.
Vincent and Seamus attempt to make their way to Tymon, but since neither of them are trained in survival, they are never seen again from the forest.
Leonard and Howard continue with the Sellen Starling, and they eventually manage to get Leonard treated, and Leonard lives out his life in peace.
Howard takes over the journals left by Count Lowls then begins to study them...