Gansu nods as he recognizes the healing energy as similar to his own.
He walks directly over to Kessa. "My Lady! What an honor to see a true Warrior of the Dawn Lady! Please, if there is any way I may be of assistance, you have but to ask!"
While Alex talks to Kessa, Gansu steps over the body, and quietly speaks in Brother Guiness' ear.
"It doesn't mean he is good, as the gods define it, but an evil priest could not do what he just did."
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While Alex talks to Kessa, Gansu steps over the body, and quietly speaks in Brother Guiness' ear.
"It doesn't mean he is good, as the gods define it, but an evil priest could not do what he just did."
Guiness answers Gansu quietly as well, "There should be two more people with them according to Mistress Kagnin: a small female with long spears and a strange pet, and another elf with an unusually broad sword. I am keen to hear what happened to these people before we decide if we can trust these others..."
With combat over, Tamlara walks slowly over to stand beside Tangar, studying the newcomers.
I am Tamlara. I believe the others you asked about are Ozzie and Zero. They left us to go their own ways before we entered here. The gods keep them safe on their journeys. . . and who are all of you?
Eying the dwarf suspiciously, she crosses her arms and waits.
Why is he looking at me like that? Did he talk to someone in town who doesn't like me?
Having narrowly avoided the automaton's bits and pieces as they exploded out into space, Aldhranhald steps into the room behind his barbarian guardian, and next to his friend Tamlara. Before introducing himself to the group, he leans over to Tamlara and whispers, "Remind me to talk to you about something later in regards to that construct." He gives her a smiling side glance to let her know it's nothing to worry about. He then speaks up to all the new arrivals and says, I'm sorry, but that was quite the whirlwind of names. I'm going to need those again, if you don't mind." He pulls out his map making equipment, and gets his quill ready to write down the names for posterity. "I am Aldhranhald, Elf, former slave, Inquisitor of Irori, amateur alchemist, amateur investigator, and newly practicing cartographer, at your service." The tall dark haired elf then offers a sweeping and courtly bow, one arm draping across the debris filled floor as he sweeps it up into a proper military salute.
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”I am called Guiness, or Brother Guiness by those who share my reverence for the holy art of brewing strong drink. I am pleased that we were able to overcome that evil goblin and his strange construct together.”
Turning specifically to Tamlara, he speaks humbly,
“You may not remember me, kind lady, but I remember you. Nearly a decade ago, you rescued me from life on the streets of Rolgrimmdur, feeding me scraps of food you could spare from your shift at the tavern and introducing me to Jorrud, the dwarven mercenary who taught me to fight. And here you stand, looking no older than the day I last saw you, at least as far as I can tell in these shades of gray the darkness allows. I would repay your kindness, if I could, for your mercy shown these years past.”
I'm sorry, but that was quite the whirlwind of names. I'm going to need those again, if you don't mind."
Gansu smiles wryly and bows again. "It's Gansu. Gansu Kaichuta. My father was what in these lands you might call a knight, but I have no title. I am honored to meet you."
Gansu comes over, and looks at what Aldhranhald is writing.
"Here... it is spelled like this:"
He gently takes the stylus from Aldhranhald. He writes:
ガンズカイチャタ
He hands back the stylus with a smirk.
"Your group... what is it you seek here in the Emerald Spire?"
Still looking at Brother Guiness with suspicion, Tamlara straightens her shoulders.
I fear, good dwarf, that you have me confused with someone else. It would be impossible for us to know each other. A decade ago, I was a child still living at the orphanage, and had never yet set foot outside the walls of Ft. Inevitable.
How interesting that there is someone out there who looks just like me! And this dwarf knows her! Is the world really so small? Or is he just trying to play some game to gain my trust? Hmmm, I'll have to keep an eye on him. . .
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"I have seen many strange things in this world, and heard of a good many more. Perhaps this is one of those cases", says Brother Guiness, though he doesn't looked convinced. "I will consider it a good omen, then, that you bear so striking a resemblance to the gentle soul who showed me such kindness." This is a mystery I will have to delve into later, but now is not the time.
”In any case, there is a defeated enemy here—let us see if there is anything useful to find in the remains of our enemies or stored in this room.”
"True! We've laid low this foe. Um... I didn't mean for that to rhyme," says Sama. Her hair and clothing continues to float eerily around her.
"We are not actually travelling at the moment, merely conversing at the scene of a small battle. Are you allowed to talk to people not of good will, miss ...?"
Replies Boudacia to the armoured lady's question, while thinking now this is odd. As is the dwarf thinking Tamlara was his savior when he was a dwarflet. And this Gansu boffin seems to want to play noughts and crosses with Aldranhald, then there is the other lady with the independently acting hair and garments. Real bunch of weirdos.
"We are not actually travelling at the moment, merely conversing at the scene of a small battle. Are you allowed to talk to people not of good will, Miss ...?"
Replies Boudacia to the armoured lady's question, while thinking now this is odd. As is the dwarf thinking Tamlara was his savior when he was a dwarflet. And this Gansu boffin seems to want to play noughts and crosses with Aldhranhald, then there is the other lady with the independently acting hair and garments. Real bunch of weirdos.
Aldhranhald watches Gansu Kaichuta write down his name in his native language, and smiles. Then says, "I forgot to mention I am also a bit of linguist... Perhaps you'll do me the favor of teaching me your language as moments of down time provide? Regardless, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance one and all. To answer your question, Gansu, we are here for several reasons, seeking a cult of undead, seeking treasure, seeking glory, and, for my own part, seeking knowledge. I would assume your group is here for much the same. Perhaps, as our goals align, so should our groups? More allies is always better than fewer, and I'd hate for us to run into one another in less fortunate circumstances in the lower levels."
He waits a moment as other conversations take place and then asks everyone, "What say you all? Should we take this fortuitous circumstance to forge new friendships, and join our ranks?"
"I am on a quest to find something specific, but overall I think we are here to fight evil and hopefully reap rewards for doing so."
"It would make sense for us to join forces if our goals are compatible with yours. But know this: I have been tricked before, thinking that someone had the same values as I, when in fact they had nothing of the kind. I will brook no betrayal."
"I heard this place is full of old monsters and treasures. I'm less interested in the monsters and more in the treasures," says Sama wryly.
"I heard this place is full of old monsters and treasures. I'm less interested in the monsters and more in the treasures," says Sama wryly.
Tangar suddenly lets out a groan and collapses to the floor. Various people rush over surrounding him and checking him out. Soon someone discovers a bad gash on an upper thigh. How did it get there and when? No one seems to know. The two healers looking at it, both agree the wound appears to have been there for some time. The brave warrior must have been suffering for a while but ignoring it so as to continue helping protect his friends. The wound goes deep in the thigh and for some reason unknown to the healers it does not seem to want to heal properly despite any healing magic cast upon it.
When Tangar drifts back to consciousness he admits he's been hurt for some time, but did not want to admit to it hoping it wasn't serious and would heal with time as other wounds have done before. He now realizes he cannot continue like this as he would be a detriment to the group and only slow them down.
Alex speaks up, "I gave my solemn word that I would help protect this group and heal their wounds. Now I have failed. I must take Tangar back to Fort Inevitable and seek out aid to get him properly healed. You all seem to be planning to continue on together with these new fellow adventurers and you have both a capable healer and a servant to the Dawn Lady to help protect you and heal your wounds." He looks solemnly deep into the eyes of both Kessa and Gansu in turn. "Please promise me that you will look after them, take care of them, protect them to the best of your abilities, and heal them when hurt? Lady Kessa, by the Dawn Light, will you give me your word on this? They are good people, seeking to vanquish an evil foe! I swear to the best of their intentions by Her Holy Light! And you good dwarf sir, will you also please help defeat their foes giving them the best defense there is? And you miss? With the unmanageable hair, will you please use your lightning and what abilities you have to help my friends defeat this evil? I am sure they will share any treasures with you." He turns to Aldhranhald and Tamlara, "My friends! I have come to care for you deeply in our short time together. I do not wish to leave your side, but my duty binds me to those most in need of my help. Please say you will release me from my oath of protection and healing to you so that I may accompany Tangar back to town and see he gets the proper care? Perhaps Tangar or myself shall be able to join you again one day, but for now I have a need to aid him."
Gansu listens to Alex's speech, nodding. This one takes his oaths seriously. That is good; I hope the others are the same.
Gansu looks over the body of the goblin.
"This is a healing wand. I can use it, but I have healing abilities of my own, so if someone else wants it they can carry it."
"And this blade is of fine quality, though I am happy with mine."
"That wreckage may have some value, but we can leave it here for now. If we wish to come back for it later, we can."
"Ah... some sort of laboratory?"
Gansu also has a look at the alchemical apparatus in the room.
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”And you good dwarf sir, will you also please help defeat their foes giving them the best defense there is?
”Well said, Holy man. I will indeed protect these who were in your charge to the best of my ability, should they agree to join with our group in good faith. I consider it a matter of honor to fight side by side with those with shared purpose.”
”And speaking of healing wounds, I could use a touch more healing before we wade into the next combat.”
Aldhranhald places a hand on Alex's shoulder. "Of course we release you from your vow. You have done everything we could have asked and more. Now our friend Tangar needs you more than we, and so, you are still fulfilling your vow. Go and be well, may all the good gods grant you their boons." He says, and then gives both Alex and Tangar a warm embrace.
Turning back to the business at hand, Aldhranhald eyes the curing wand and says, "If the group agrees, I would be happy to use the wand to heal what wounds I can as need arises." He looks around for the assent of everyone in their turn. Not seeing any disagreements, he takes the wand and expends a charge, touching Brother Guiness to help heal his hurts.
Seeing that the magic did very little, he expends another charge.
"There, that seems to have healed you up good as new." He says, smiling at his new dwarven companion. "You know, you remind me a lot of a friend I met on an adventure in Andoran..." He remarks, trailing off into fond memories.
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"Excellent, thank you for the healing Aldhranhald.
What you saw in the combat is my favored tactic. I move in and face up against what appears to be the strongest enemy, taking what hits I must as my companions with the large weapons maneuver around for best advantage. Together we provide a screen for our allies who use ranged and spellcasting abilities. Will that work well with the rest of your tactics?"
Brother Guiness looks around, and thinks for a moment.
"Perhaps we should compare notes on what we have found so far in the spire as well."
Sama coughs and murmurs, "Which isn't much."
Flitting about the room a bit, she examines the goblin's strange contraptions and tools, reaching toward them but then hesitating and stopping herself from picking them up. Occasionally she cocks her head as if trying to figure out what a given item is for.
When Tangar drifts back to consciousness he admits he's been hurt for some time, but did not want to admit to it hoping it wasn't serious and would heal with time as other wounds have done before. He now realizes he cannot continue like this as he would be a detriment to the group and only slow them down.
Kneeling next to Tangar as the healers go about their business, Tamlara grasps his hand.
"You're a large, pig-headed fool, Tangar Tarbad! Take yourself off and get better then come back to us so we can conquer this tower together, you hear me?"Looking into his eyes, she brushes her fingers across his cheek briefly, then stands abruptly.
"Now, where were we? Oh, yes, what is all this stuff?!?"
And if anyone so much as mentions tears or crying or anything close to that, the Gods help them, I will. . .
Sama coughs and murmurs, "Which isn't much."
"Indeed. We really just arrived."
When Tangar drifts back to consciousness he admits he's been hurt for some time, but did not want to admit to it hoping it wasn't serious and would heal with time as other wounds have done before. He now realizes he cannot continue like this as he would be a detriment to the group and only slow them down.
Following Tamlara's reaction to the pair announcing they are leaving, Boudacia grasps each of their hands in fairwell, saying "You are too valorous for your own good, Tangar. Rest and you will heal. And you should not blame yourself Alex, you have done all that could be asked of you. Hopefully we will meet again soon."
"What you saw in the combat is my favored tactic. I move in and face up against what appears to be the strongest enemy, taking what hits I must as my companions with the large weapons maneuver around for best advantage. Together we provide a screen for our allies who use ranged and spellcasting abilities. Will that work well with the rest of your tactics?"
"That should work well indeed with me. You should all know that I am a Bloodmarked Skinwalker; I can transform into a bat. This gives a few advantages, for scouting, mobility and surprise in combat. I am a Witch, definitely not an evil Witch Kessa, and I can use my Hexes as a bat. I put enemies to sleep, briefly, in combat, and those in the front line like you Brother Guiness can prevent them getting up.
"You should all know that I am a Bloodmarked Skinwalker; I can transform into a bat."
"Truly? I had heard that such people lived in the Valashmai Jungle south of my homeland, but I had not expected to find such people here. "
"I am human, but I seem to have a gift to be able to see in the dark a short ways, like dwarves do." He nods towards Brother Guinness.
Gansu looks around at the green rubble scattered around the room. He begins picking up pieces of it. "I think I will keep some of this for study later. I am curious as to what kind of stone it is. A seer described this place as 'a column of jade' but this is definitely not jade, though they look similar."
"I wonder if that's why this is called the 'Emerald Spire'," notes Sama. She nudges one of the chunks of green rubble with her toe.
"If they were real emeralds, the contents of this room would make us rich beyond imagining. But just as my seer called this 'jade' no doubt others called it 'emerald' being the only green stone they knew. But I suspect it is something far more interesting!"
"What now? I don't know about you but we are still fresh and able to face more dangers. Tell us what you have explored and we can see where to go next."
"Well, as to the showing you what we've seen so far, I will be a measure of some great assistance. You see, one of our benefactors, Lord Royst, has tasked us with mapping and documenting everything we find. So..." Aldhranhald pulls out his sketches and notes for everything they've encountered thus far, and after making notations of the enemies and contents of this room...
He hands the contents over for all the new folks to take a look at. "Here, have a look. Once everyone is satisfied, I believe we are ready to continue on, though with this size of group, our sneak in first, ask questions later mode of operations might need a bit of tweaking. The dark haired elf remarks and gives Brother Guiness a wink.
Gansu has a look at Aldhranhald's map.
"Hmm... interesting. The room we just came from has two exits that remain unexplored. Perhaps we should start with those?"
"This central void is interesting. Do you suppose it is a courtyard? Or perhaps something very significant, thanks to its central location? Perhaps we should explore this outer room first."
"It was fortuitous that you found a patron to pay for your explorations. We just came straight here."
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"Here, have a look. Once everyone is satisfied, I believe we are ready to continue on, though with this size of group, our sneak in first, ask questions later mode of operations might need a bit of tweaking. The dark haired elf remarks and gives Brother Guiness a wink.
"Indeed you have a point. I am not the...quietest...of warriors. Should the stealthier members of the party wish to scout ahead, then provide tactics based on a case by case basis to the rest of us, that seems wise to me. Should reconnaissance fail us, I am more than willing to open the door to the unknown.”
Sifting through the remains of the strange construct, Brother Guiness seems to be looking for pieces of value…That strange creature’s fist hit pretty hard—I wonder if any of its materials would work well in the crafting of a warhammer. For that matter, I wonder how durable this green material is & how easy it is to work."Shall we move ahead to the next unexplored room then? I will remain a few steps behind so as not to ruin your chances of taking an enemy unaware."
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After saying their sad farewells, Alex and Tangar will leave the party to head back to town.
As the rest of the group searches the rest of the room, they realize there is nothing of any value or higher than goblin-quality (useless) materials on the alchemy table.
As some of you study the green glass-rock material you realize it looks just like the spire that you could see outside jutting up about 150 ft in the air in the middle of the ruins. The top of the spire was clearly broken off in a very jagged manner. Could it be that some of these pieces were at one time a part of a higher part to the Spire?
You also remember noticing that there was some structure/s still - as in small, higher, floors potentially? - surrounding that spire.
As Brother Guiness studies the material, he comes to realize, to his complete and utter amazement, that his axe would break before he could cause any of this green glass-rock to break! Easy to work? More like
So, if that's the case, what on earth could have been so powerful as to make this enormous Spire which was perfectly rounded and smooth from what you could see outside?
And worse yet - WHAT WAS POWERFUL ENOUGH TO BREAK IT OFF IN SUCH A HARSH JAGGED MANNER?!?!?!
"Shall we move ahead to the next unexplored room then? I will remain a few steps behind so as not to ruin your chances of taking an enemy unaware."
Tamlara looks around at the new group expectantly.
"Yes, I believe it is time to move on. Which way, then, east? Or shall we head into that round, central room to the west? I suggest the eastern doors, just so we can hopefully make sure there is nothing in there to follow us as we traverse the other rooms. I can continue to scout ahead, unless someone else would like to . . . Or a couple of us could go together."Tamlara looks slightly pained at the idea, not sure of the abilities of her new companions.
"I sure hope they know how to move quietly if they plan on scouting with me. I can hear that dwarf clanking as he breathes!"
"I will scout with you Tamlara, in bat form. And starting East and working West was what I was going to suggest. Perhaps we should be about it, we are using a scroll so we can see in the dark and it will not last forever."
Boudacia, Tamlara, and Wayne carefully approach the eastern door. They hear no noise from inside the room. They find no traps, the door is unlocked. They open the door!
A plush, human-sized bed stands in this chamber, along with a table holding a bone scroll tube and jars filled with eyeballs, claws, and teeth. Various automaton parts lie scattered around.
There is no one present in the room besides the adventurers.
The scroll tube on the table contains a sheet of parchment on which is drawn a complicated magical sigil in iridescent green ink.
"Hm. I suppose this must have been the goblin's bedchamber. Anything of particular use he probably had on him, but we should search the room anyway."
"Well, let us press on then. Perhaps the central chamber? Or do you wish to go to these areas around the other side first?"
Boudacia, currently a bat, squeaks and starts to move towards the central chamber.
"Hmmm, most intersting." Aldhranhald says as he recognizes the rune. "This arcane mark is the Azlanti numeral six. Not sure what, if any, significance that has, but it may be the piece to a later puzzle. We'd best hold onto it." Aldy says and then pockets the scroll and tube. He immediately takes out his map and sketches the drawing and note for this room.
"To the central chamber then? Tamlara, Boudacia, let us know what to expect." He says smiling at his two capable scout friends.