Caitlyn look to the others, hoping they will speak up when she asks, "So to Qualinost then?"
Jakun nods to Caitlyn, "To Qualinost. This has been a difficult trip, we lost Goldmoon and our dear friend Gavin to this evil. W owe it to them to discover the mysteries behind them. These seekers if they are in league with goblins are not to be trusted.
I know you do not trust magic Caitlyn but the Council is full of wise men and women of all races. It would be best if we had their input on this matter.
Plus once I take a complete my test, I will have access to their Library, one of the foremost repositories of knowledge in the world. Perhaps we can discover what those things we encountered are, some sort of lizard or dragon man. Their like I have never seen or heard of before, not even in the tales of Kaz, Magius, and Huma!"
Yay! Qualinost! I haven't been there since I went to the Moon!
We must be careful approaching Qualinesti with two minotaurs with us.
Autumn Harvest 21, Day 9. Noon.
Resolved to take the direct route to Qualinost, the Companions set out from Xak Tsaroth the next day. Three days later they emerge from Forsaken Pass and look out across the plains of Abanasinia. In the far distance they descry the shadows of the Sentinel Peaks.
Great pillars of smoke rose there, a grim sign indeed. How many of the vallenwoods must have fallen to flame? The hot, dry summer augured well for fires but ought else. A cold autumn wind bit into the Innfellows.
From their vantage at the foot of the mountains, telltale lines cut through the dry grass. Many carts and men had passed, thousands perhaps, and no living thing from errant sparrow to plainsman herd presented itself. Instead, great black scars stretched for hundreds of yards. Nearest them, the village of Que-Shu looked to be nothing more than jagged black remains.
Thistletorp whimpers and climbs up atop Mittens' head to gain a better vantage point.
This is horrible! Why would someone do this!?
Thistletorp whimpers and climbs up atop Mittens' head to gain a better vantage point.
[dice=Perception]1d20+12This is horrible! Why would someone do this!?
Miles away, Thistletorp saw a ruby-scaled dragon break from its southwesterly path into a wide turn. It circled for a long moment, losing considerable altitude as it did, before breaking off and continuing on its way.
I saw a dragon! A red one this time! Wow! I wonder how many kinds there are! Are there pink dragons?
Jakun squint and looks Perception
"Another Dragon? What is going on? We must get to Wayreth as soon as possible!"
A red dragon? First a black and now a red? Are the screaming hosts of the Dragon Queen arrived again as in the time of Huma? I wonder if we should not go to Solamnia and inform the knights of what is taking place remarks the Revered Daughter.
The Solamnic Knights are funny! They alqays make funny noises when I'm around, and they're so serious!
Perhaps too serious for a fun loving, sneaky kender she says.
The distant smoke gives Caitlyn a terrible foreboding, something awful was happening. "The Valenwoods!" she gasped, hand covering her mouth. Her resolve to go to Qualinost was wavering, she hadn't known Solace and perhaps her family were in danger. Sounding distraught she begged the others, "What do we do?!"
Thistletorp nods emphatically Ya! We have to save our home! We can't let them destroy everything! Otherwise, what are we trying to save?
Jakun grimaces, "I understand this is a difficult choice but we only stopped the first Dragon out of great sacrifice.
Solace was nearly in the hands of Goblins when we last left, do you think we can defeat several dozen Goblins and a Dragon with just the five of us?
What we need is knowledge and powerful allies. Those two things we will receive at Wayreth".
Thistletorp frowns at Jakun. [b]That's true, but we have to do something. What good is getting power to save our loved ones if everyone we love is dead? We have to do something. We stopped a dragon, Jakun. A DRAGON! We can do anything. At the very least, we can go and learn what's going on in the town, and what we can do to help, and then, if we can try something, we can. If not, we will know what help to ask for when we find others.[/b[
It was the power of the gods that killed the dragon, Thistle. We no longer have the Blue Crystal Staff with us. I am not sure what we can do. We have only 2 members of the Holy Orders of the Stars here, after 350 years. I have the feeling that Paladine wants his church and the churches of the gods of light to be re-established. The power of faith is something that people will rally around. says the Revered Daughter of Paladine.
Route Planning
From your present location, you can take roads into Solace. It's about forty miles, over plains for 30 and mountains for the remainder. Call it two days for the plains and then another day and a half to two days in the mountains. So four total.The most direct route to Qualinost is also mostly on roads, though it does lose them at one point. Thirty miles (again) by road (two days) then a stretch of 10 on trackless plains. That's a day. Then twenty back on the road down to the White-Rage River at Oldroad Bridge. A day and a half for that stretch. From there it depends on whether or not you can get a ship of some kind to go upriver. If you can't, you're on trackless forest for 25 miles. That would mean another three days. Grand total 7.5 days.
If you can get a vessel to take you upstream then it would vary depending on what you can secure. The White-Rage has a pretty strong current, so poling, rowing, or being towed upstream would be difficult and probably slower than walking. But if you got a sailboat you could in in Qualinost in half a day from when you got on board. That would be a best case of 5 days.
Going to Solace also takes you a bit out of the way, but you might be able to get a vessel in Solace. The White-Rage current would work with you most of the way. You'd have 35 miles of river suited for anything that floats, easily traversible in a single day. Then about 20 upstream where you could disembark and walk it in two and a half days. So Here to Solace to Qualinost could take about as long as just going straight to Qualinost. Assuming you can get a vessel and no trouble in Solace or elsewhere along the way. Given the fires burning thereabouts, those may be bad assumptions.
Thanks
Thistletorp frowns at Jakun. That's true, but we have to do something. What good is getting power to save our loved ones if everyone we love is dead? We have to do something. We stopped a dragon, Jakun. A DRAGON! We can do anything. At the very least, we can go and learn what's going on in the town, and what we can do to help, and then, if we can try something, we can. If not, we will know what help to ask for when we find others.
"I know my friend truly I understand but what good will it do if we are captured or killed by these same forces? The dragon-men captured us and we were lucky that they were so sloppy in their security that a rescue was possible.
Can any rescue succeed with a Dragon watching over us? Mariel is right, the Staff is gone but hope is not lost. We can rally the Wizards and bring the knowledge of the True Gods to those people's who are not already occupied by these Dark Forces. That is what we can do best to help".
Caitlyn stares at the distant smoke, and feels like crying. Her voice is thick with emotion when she speaks, "Maybe the wizards can fight dragons, the village of Solace certainly can not. Yet this is bigger than them isn't it? We need allies. The elves and the mages may help." Those words cost Caitlyn to say and she found it too painful to continue, feeling that she was abandoning her friends and family.
The half-elf thinks to herself sadly, The elves do not even help one who is daughter to one of them. but smiles to encourage Caitlyn.
"The Elves? From what I understand they'd shoot us on sight, we'd have a better chance negotiating with the Goblins of Solace. No, it's the Wizards we must see. I would agree, the elves aid would be invaluable but how would we go about getting it?"
And we go uninvited to Wayreth? I doubt we will find the magical forest.
Aren't they all kind of along the same path? We could swing by Solace, then head to Wayreth and then end up in Qualinost, right?
And we go uninvited to Wayreth? I doubt we will find the magical forest.
"I am invited I assure you. With me, you shall be as well".
I'm okay with Solace
Autumn Harvest 23, Day 11
Resolved to see Solace before trying Qualinesti, the Companions start out across the plains. For the remainder of the day they traveled through surroundings that improved not a bit on closer examination. The village of Que-Shu in the Eastwall foothills was no more than ruins, bodies strewn about. The road between it and Que-Kiri bore numerous signs of battle. When it took them to Que-Kiri, they found still more devastation.
The Companions camped a safe distance from the road, up in the foothills of the Sentinel Peaks. There they slept through a tense night, the pillars of smoke heavy on their minds.
They woke in the morning to find themselves facing a strange forest. Where they expected the high conifers of the Sentinel Peaks, they found instead dead trees, bearing gray leaves, twisted and deformed with sagging boughs reaching toward the ground and white-knuckle roots rising up to meet them. The trees stood in neat rows, evenly spaced, with a thick gray mist clinging to the ground and washing the sky with its pallor. No breeze stirred the leaves. No sound broke the silence. Strange shadows with glowing red eyes moved across the tree trunks and in the distance.
And wherever they turned, ahead to the Sentinels or back toward the plains, the dead forest stretched on until all faded into the mist.
[B] The magical forest of Wayreth? [/ooc]
[b]Woooooooow![b/] Thistletorp climbs atop Mittens' head to look around.
Then, he darts down the paladin and scampers about the path, looking at every rock and tree. He moves to step off the path away from the group...
]he Basicly is using detect undead but it's quite aware of his powers.
[b]Woooooooow![b/] Thistletorp climbs atop Mittens' head to look around.
[dice=perception]1d20+12
Then, he darts down the paladin and scampers about the path, looking at every rock and tree. He moves to step off the path away from the group...
Thistletorp found a fascinating variety of...the same sorts of trees and mist.
Jakun straightens up waking form his sleep, "As I said. Wayreth seeks me. Come, the sooner I take my test and we confer with the Wizards Council the sooner we can do something about this Dragon".
Jakun walks into the Forest.
The cleric will look at Caitylin, worry in her face and in her voice. Paladine walks with us. she states.
Wooooooowe! This is amazing! Look! there's mist and mud and rocks and trees! But they're from a magic enchanted forest with a tower that just appeared! Woooow!
Tears glistening on her cheeks, Caitlyn whispers, "It's been defiled! How could this happen, what could cause such devastation?" All she could do was put one foot in front of the other, walking mechanically ever onwards towards Solace. What might she find there, she couldn't bear to think!
Jakun straightens up waking form his sleep, "As I said. Wayreth seeks me. Come, the sooner I take my test and we confer with the Wizards Council the sooner we can do something about this Dragon".
Jakun walks into the Forest.
The tangled trees parted before Jakun, bending into a smooth arch above and drawing back to either side to form a clear, straight path. Between his first and second steps into the forest, the mists rolled away and all about branches straightened and burst a riot of bright green leaves. The air came alive with the sounds of birds and the breeze through.
Jakun and Mittens found themselves standing in a forest fit for the Isles, all towering mahogany and snow wood clothed in air fit for swimming. Thistletorp saw the mountainside forests of Hylo. The others saw the vallenwoods of their home towering above. All felt the warm springtime sun shine down from above, casting pleasant green shadows despite the fact that they were well into the fall.
Wow! Hylo! I'm back in Hylo!