The Legacy of Marianasu - DM Downrightamazed

Game Master downrightamazed

Min nods to Van-Haera, at least now he knew how the Chain of Command of Stormfare was a little better. "Apologies for my grievous error there Milady. I guess I will ask them if I see them but I'm not sure I will be seeing anyone like that before we take our leave once more. If you need me for anything, please don't hesitate to ask, but I best be off to do some research and thanks again for your concern." He gives her a warm smile, bows politely and heads back into the library proper(?) to do some research.

Just in case the previous rolls weren't used because our path diverged. Here are some new ones.

K-Arcana - Knowledge about Felltouch 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

K-Geography - Possible location of Felltouche's Lair (Long Shot I know) 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

K-Planes - Everywhen 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11

K-History - Historical knowledge of the Lionheart/Dwarven Fort We stayed at. 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11

Looks like the dice roller wanted me to Take 10. xD K-Panes/History are both untrained hence I can't get higher then 10 anyways. :) Thanks DRA!

Sense motive(the glances at Servais):1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13

After the odd conversation with the Warbanian Maiathreen shrugs his shoulders and heads off with Livain and Belsarious. "Belsarious did you discover anything new while you were here?" He asks hoping that Belsarious has at least learned something after leaving everyone to fight three devils by themselves.

a few minutes later

"Gods I hate this city. You sir, He call out to a man as he heads by. Do you know where one could find a merchant who handles both magical and mundane items. Also there is a bar I wanted to find called Charna."

untrained diplomacy:1d20 - 1 ⇒ (9) - 1 = 8

@Mai: No need to Sense Motive; it's plain he recognizes and doesn't trust a blackblade. You'll need to talk to him to learn more.

The fellow you ask gives you a brief glance and points toward the shopping district. "You'll find pretty much any store out in the Merriweather district, between Merriweather and Muskie streets. As for "Charna", that's a Gnoll bar, you sure you wanna go there?" He's looking at you in mild disbelief, as if he's sure you've got the wrong bar.

"Yes that's the one. So do you know where it is?

@Mai: The guy shakes his head as if you're crazy. "Oooookay, then! Most dogmen around here ain't keen on elves, but don't say I didn't warn ya. Charna is near the wharf, on the edge of those slummy student housing blocks off Spume street. Some of the kids like going there 'cos they make some of the best stew in the city, and it's cheap as hell, and also 'cos the kids think it's "dangerous" or something. Idiots." With a final slow shake of his head he resumes walking down the street.

LOL Min that's awesome. Maybe you should have come with us gnoll hunting

"Payment service, sounds like sir D talkin bout duty an honor jus different words an differin ideas an values."

...am I supposed to respond to that? Is that even respondable?

@Belsarious: The Warbanian soldier ignores your comment, if he hears it at all. A mercenary is used to people questioning their livelihood.

Hey Bel, If you're responding to a comment made a few posts back, please mark it as Earlier, or something like that and note with whom you're conversing. Took me a second to figure out who you were talking to, as well.

Carry on, Mai.

@Mai: The guy shakes his head as if you're crazy. "Oooookay, then! Most dogmen around here ain't keen on elves, but don't say I didn't warn ya. Charna is near the wharf, on the edge of those slummy student housing blocks off Spume street. Some of the kids like going there 'cos they make some of the best stew in the city, and it's cheap as hell, and also 'cos the kids think it's "dangerous" or something. Idiots." With a final slow shake of his head he resumes walking down the street.

Mai can't help but give a small sardonic grin when the man says gnoll don't like elves. ::That's nice...cause I don't either..:: He thinks to himself but says. "Thank you for the warning." And with that heads towards "Merriweather district". Upon arriving he heads towards what seems to be the most promising shop.

@Mai: The three of you arrive at Merriweather and fourth just as a bit of light rain starts up. The shop district here is loaded with "Glimmers", local slang for store signage that has minor magics placed on it to make it jump out at tourists more; various prestidigitory spells and minor glamers make signs seem to come alive, or sparkle, or spin around and dance. Against the usual Stormfare-ian backdrop of grey skies and drab buildings, the signs seem like a veritable explosion of color and life. It's easy to see how people could be taken in.

You walk around, noting the craftsmanship that went into some of the spells on some of the fancier signs, looking for a magic shop that doesn't seem too cheesy or desperate, but the market for magic goods in a huge and wealthy port city/college town like Stormfare is too big and too competitive for a non-native to be able to tell one store from the other; they honestly all just look the same to you. It's impossible to tell from the outside (or without local knowledge) if any one store is better than another.

Maiathreen looks hopelessly around at the different shops, with a sheepish grin to his wife he heads into a shop that from the outside seems to have a large selection. He decides that even if he can't tell which shops are Tue best he can at least check out their wares and the one that seems to have the best selection will be the one that they sell all the items to. I almost want to handwave the shopping....but I have this feeling that we shouldn't

The comment was exactly that a bit of muttering not really directed anywhere.....

@Mai, @Livain, @Belsarious: The shopping trip does not go exactly as hoped. It seems there has been a huge glut in the market for exactly the longswords and daggers and armor you're trying to unload, so it's damn-near impossible to find a buyer not looking to rip you off. Eventually you locate a fellow who gives a price much better than anyone else will (though still much less than you might get in a different town), on the condition you sell him the hammer of disruption, too, for which he gives you a surprisingly good price, WAY higher than you would expect. Everything else goes for about its usual value, and while some of the items are so common the shop owners are hesitant even to take them, one merchant takes them in exchange for information; she informs Maiathreen of a certain jeweler known to have an interest in cursed or otherwise undesirable gemstones, much like the bloodstones you got in the Mana mountains when you destroyed Valk. This jeweler's name is Camilla de Vestrille.

"I go there"

@Mai, @Livain, @Belsarious: Camilla de Vestrille's shop, which is a severely weatherbeaten outbuilding just off the north end of the wharf, looks dreadful from the outside but is a twinkling, glorious, elegant shop on the inside. She has all kinds of gems available for sale and trade, and purchases all kinds of gems as well. Everything from the lowest, most worthless fake jewel all the way to precision-cut gems of incalculable worth abound in her shop, which is suspiciously devoid of guards.

The lady herself is a tall, wan, half-elven dhampir whose pale complexion lends her unearthly beauty an almost undead pallor, though she is clearly at least partially mortal. Her eyes are a bright, mossy green that matches her hair, which hangs heaviy like willow branches over brackish swamp, all the way down to her ankles.

When the three of you walk in, she is standing in the center of her shop with perfect posture and erect carriage, a tiny smile playing on her lips. "And what beautiful creatures you are." she purrs. Her dress is a deep midnight blue that serves to make her inhuman eyes and hair appear even brighter and stranger. Her hair may or may not be moving slightly. "Mother was right about you. Do you have the stones?" The smile does not leave her face, and she makes eye contact with all of you.

All three of you please make Sense Motive checks, also K(Geography) if you have it.

Sense Motive:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22
No geography here....

sense motive:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19

Something about the jeweler Camilla puts Maiathreen's defenses up. Especially that comment about mother being right...

"You seem to have us at a disadvantage, you seem to already know about us and why were here. Yet we were just informed of your existence not an hour ago. How is this possible?"

The smile widens. A coy look; "As a magus, surely the ways of a conjurer are not unfamiliar to you? And how easy to scry one with so clear a marking on their very flesh." She nods knowingly at the two Silastrix.

@Min: As you are struggling in the library, you feel a touch on your shoulder, gentle and soft as a dove's wing. A young woman -- no, no woman could be this ethereally, celestially beautiful. She must be some other creature. -- is standing next to you, looking earnestly up into your eyes. "My lord," she says, and her voice is as soothing as her touch "my lord forgive me for intruding on your reverie, but are you…are you Min Ramaloce, the scout? The great dragonrider of Heartland?" There's something about her that looks familiar...

Min pauses and sets the tome he had been perusing back on the shelf and was about to deny this Lord business but, when his eyes fell on the woman before him, his train of thought stopped. He suddenly found himself at a loss until she spoke again. Turning slightly red in embarrassmen he nodded and spoke somewhat hesitantly. "I am him, please forgive me miss but you look familiar. Have we met before?"

@Min: The celestially beautiful young woman bashfully averts her eyes. The act is somehow simultaneously disarming and alluring. "After a manner of speaking, I suppose. Do you recall the escape from Heartland? Lord Kirion's...child." She pauses to let you recollect. "That child was me." She looks you in the eye and you know it to be true. You were never completely clear on Lord Kirion's daughter's lineage, but to see the shining creature before you, clearly she is of celestial descent. There is no other explanation for her bright eyes and shining, almost metallic hair.

"My lord, Tuatha -- your homeland and mine -- is in dire need. The black dragonflight surround her even as I speak to you now. Their orcs and trolls and gnolls and hobgoblins and who-knows-what-else surround her borders. They do not attack, and we do not know why, but there are rumors...dark rumors I dare not believe. I would raise an army to defend her, but I was not welcome in the war halls of Izmir, and my age kept me barred from the muster in Lesotho. So I traveled here, hoping for assistance. I cannot believe my luck in finding you! Surely, you -- The Hero of Hearland! -- surely you can aid me in this? In bringing help back to Tuatha?!" She looks at you searchingly, clearly earnest and honest in her beseechment.

"There is as far as I know only a small number of people who know about us...and most of them are members of the Black Dragonflight." Maiathreen says as he increases the mental link between himself and Servais.....just in case.

"That is true." says Camilla. "But I am not, and neither is mother. Now; you came here for a purpose, yes? The stones? They are with you. I can feeeel them. They're worth more than you know. Come, would you like to be rid of them? Rid of them, and with a clean conscience knowing that you were not responsible for the damnation of those trapped inside?" She gives you a bemused look and a wryly arched eyebrow. "Or shall we instead stand here staring each other down like wolves from rival packs?"

Livain steps in front of Maiathreen and lets out a slightly embarrassed sigh. "I'm sorry, don't mind him. We just ask questions as a form of caution. We have been through a lot. It is a pleasure to meet you I'm sure you already know my name but I'm Livain and this is my husband Maiathreen and the quiet one is Belsarious. We do have the stones and just what are the worth?" Gives a gentle nod to her husband along with a glare asking him to behave and bring out the stones.

Maiathreen takes a step back at the intensity of his wife's look and quickly pulls out the bag of gems. He'd rather face a dragon than be on her bad side. He can swear he hears a slight snicker in the back of his mind. He quickly glances down at the blade hanging from his hip.

Min smiles momentarily as he remembers her, Little Sophitia, although she wasn't so little anymore. At first he was elated to see her but as she spoke of Tautha he started to regret where the conversation was going. It wasn't until she suddenly called him the Hero of Heartland that he sighed. Being a child then she could not have understood what he had to do to win, what he forced Lin to do. He wasn't by any means a hero, he fought, he killed and they survived by any means necessary...

But to her, back then, he was a Hero.

Without another word he waved for her to be silent and to follow him so they could sit down, the aisles of books were making him feel hemmed in. Even more with their topic of discussion, he wanted to make sure that if anyone over heard them that he could at least spot them listening in.

They sat down in a corner of what appeared to be a study area and he looked at her, his thoughts were distant but her words hadn't fallen on deaf ears. After several long moments he finally spoke, resting his cheek against his singed gauntlet as he spoke quietly. "I have heard that Tuatha was besieged by Orcs and others, but nothing of dark rumors, nor them not attacking. As much as it pains me not to aid in the defense of Haelith I am bound by word to aid Izmir in ways I cannot explain." He kept an eye to their surroundings, ever watchful for someone listening in as he continued speaking. "Until my quest with my Skyknight brethren is complete I cannot fully commit Us in aiding Tautha."

He pauses again, considering his next words and aching at the pained look on her face as she possibly thought that she was to be denied yet again and this time by someone she trusted...

He took a deep breath and looked away from her, watching the aisles but mostly looking at nothing at all as he spoke. Thinking, Planning and hoping for the best outcome. "Its going to be a hard sell..." He tried not to smile as he imagined the look of hope brightening in those beautiful eyes. "Convincing men to fight a war not there own, while the one who asks them to fight is off flying to who knows where. I also don't have a lot I can commit in funds for proper equipment either, just took on some orphans here recently. But..." He looked to her then, smiling despite being unsure whether he was going to regret this or not as he said. "I never could say no to you. Could I?"

Belsarious takes in the exchange all the while still not so much interested in the additional information, he makes a mental note to check into the everwhen in depth later, perhaps Dolo wrote something about it.....

After looking over tha buables in the shop his eyes settle upon the woman, conjuration she named and yet her elven heritage shone through

"You a conjurorer? Seems like something more."

He moves towards her his heart beating fast....

he leans towards her ear....

whispers...

@Belsarious: Camilla arches one eyebrow and gives you a dubious look. "Bit forward for a wood elf, aren't you? Anyway thank you, but I'll decline. I have other hobbies."

Maiathreen raises his eyebrows slightly at the exchange between Belsarious and Camilla. "Now that we've got the... Leveling a neutral glance at Belsarious. pleasantries out of the way. Can we get to the stones?"

@Min: Sophitia's eyes get big. "Oh but of course you could say 'no', I just...I..." she looks down. "...I so hope you won't." She thinks for a moment. "If...if you don't mind my asking, Lord Min, who are the "Skyknights", and why exactly are you bound to Izmir?"

@Mai, @Livain, @Belsarious: Camilla takes the bag of gems that you found up in the Mana mountains. She stands there for a moment just holding it, her eyes closed. After an uncomfortably long pause she speaks. "Each gem was stolen from a daemon of some sort or another, and contains the soul of a hero. These were once all each set in profane pieces of jewelry and worn by the daemon that conquered the hero trapped inside, as tribute to that daemon's power. How they came to be collected in a bag like this, I do not know. I doubt anyone knows. But there is a choice to be made..." She turns and walks back in an elegant glide towards a display table, where she clears other items away and gently deposits the bag on the table's surface.

"I am willing to purchase these from you, and it would gain you a small fortune, but know that in so doing, I would be buying souls, and you would be selling them to me. Alternately, I could tell you how to free those within, and you could instead offer to buy something from me."

She gazes intently at Mai and Livain. "I know where you were made. I can tell you how to get the Inkwell of Vicious Intent, and I believe those contained herein -- " she gently lays her hand on the bag "-- would be of great help in so doing. If you are willing to pay my price..."

Sense motive 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

"I had hoped tah speak with you about tha subject but in privy, yet you mis-read mah invatations. Darn myself an not werkin well in places like these an tha crazy situations, where I blurt tha wrong ting an hold mah tongue o matters o import. I long fer tha trackless wood where mah actions an words do not harm an doom them I mean tah helps."

"Forgive me tha places an people err too much an overwhelm me, a sea o' faces, sights an sounds, confuses an beguils mah senses. I am a stranger in a strange land."

Belsarious lowers his head into silence, his hair shifting over his face.

Sense Motive:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12..well her goes norhing

Maiathreen's eyes widen and then narrow in less than a heartbeat which is the only reaction he gives at first. "What exactly would we need to buy from you?"

@Min: Sophitia's eyes get big. "Oh but of course you could say 'no', I just...I..." she looks down. "...I so hope you won't." She thinks for a moment. "If...if you don't mind my asking, Lord Min, who are the "Skyknights", and why exactly are you bound to Izmir?"

He waves off the Lord business as he continues looking at Sophitia. "Let's keep our talk simple, no need for titles or honorifics. Now, The Skyknights are an elite, mobile and independent fighting force. Comprised of individuals who are skilled in a number of different occupations and fighting styles. We do what others can't and we are precise in completing our goals, while remaining mobile enough to avoid capture. The only other thing I can say is that there are a lot worse things in this world then armies of Gnolls and Orcs... I can't say any more then that." His thoughts drifted to the Lionheart souls still trapped and unconciously he flexed his free hand, curling into such a tight fist his knuckles cracked, as he tried to refocus. Yet another quest undone, for now. Tanner Stormblade was always near his thoughts and may the gods have mercy on them because Min sure the hell wasn't going to when he found them.

At her concerned look he shrugged apologetically. "Sorry there is someone I'm looking for, its not your concern. Now I said I would help and I will, let's think on what we can do to muster aid for Tautha. You say this army is just sitting there, not invading? That is strange but leaves them open for a Shadow war. Just like how we took out the enemy camp when we were fleeing Heartland..." When she looked at him blankly he sighed remembering she wasn't part of the massacre that night. He quickly moved past the subject, hoping it wouldn't go further as he remember his mothers teachings. “'When the enemy advances, withdraw; when he stops, harass; when he tires, strike; when he retreats, pursue.' My mother taught me this simple saying and in this instance it works perfectly for what I have in mind. We don't need a massive army, we need a mobile fighting force that can turn the terrain against our enemies. By remaining mobile we can outwit our opponents, set traps and reduce their numbers by either killing them or injuring more then they can handle at one time. Cut off supply lines, Target officers, healers and mages and break down their morale. A hungry army without direction is more of an enemy to itself, CoC breaks down, infighting occurs and disbanding becomes possible. We win without having to face them in a pitch battle. But this requires a lot of skilled men and woman, those who know Tuatha's terrain and the funding to make sure they are well supplied before heading into the field. Where to find such people is the problem...”

@Mai, @Livain, @Belsarious: The dhampir gives a sad smile. "I understand your fear and frustration." she says to Belsarious, "But you have a greater calling now, and must learn to comport yourself among the people of the Land, and in the cities and buildings as well as the forests and trees. For the sake of your companions, and all the innocents, and all the Land, you must try."

She then turns her attention back to the Silastrix. "I need a small amount of blood, from each of you. A trivial, tiny amount. And I wish audience with the entity that is bound to the magus' blackblade. These are my price." She gazes levelly back at you.

"I shall try.....my blood is tainted by a former bond to tha abomination, is tha a consideration, I agree if my fellows do as well."

Maiathreen closes his eyes as he thinks.
::I'm sure you've been listening...what do you think of her price?:: He asks Servais through their telepathic link.

Sense Motive:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22any kind of duplicity in her voice about the blood

@Min: Sophitia nods eagerly. "That is my problem exactly. Most cities and city-states are stretched too thin and will not spare troops, and those that might would not release them into the command of, well, into my command, or even to my cause. They need someone more known, or someone they can trust, at least." She gives you a significant look.

Sitting back in her chair, Aylaeth lets out a long sigh. She'd been at this for a while, but she was finely convinced that she had gleaned everything she possibly could from Pike's notes and the Library resources at present.

Taking a few moments to rest, she finally gathers her copious notes and goes to track down one more lead in Stormfare. Asking around, she eventually heads off to try and have a meeting with one Professor Sundine.

*bump*

Min nods in response to her look and then shrugs. "I am not so sure of how well known or trusted we are in Stormfare but if the conventional way doesn't work out then we just have to do it the hard way. Recruitment on a small scale will work because there are a good number of folks who want some payback with the Dragonflights. It would also give us an army more driven to follow a cause then be driven by the ideals of a single homeland."

He scanned the aisles more for the weaving and bobbing of Aylaeth as she had been hard at researching for hours now and he was surprised he hadn't seen hide nor hair of the woman. More then likely a rabid tome had eaten her, or something else had caught her attention. Shrugging it off he looked back to Sophitia, with a small smile growing on his face. "Your gonna be shocked when you see Lin. She's changed since the last time you saw her. She's laying down in the quad if you wanted to take a look. For now I think we have a good enough start and we will work on it further as things progress." He didn't to kake it sound like a dismissal and he couldn't help it that his smile was a lot broader now, especially because he too was still surprised on just how big Lin had become.

Damian walks into the library, only to find that Aylaeth left moments before. He catches up to her outside as she receives directions to a Professor Sundine's office. He politely waits for her to receive the directions, then asks her to come with him. Even when she informs him of the need to speak to the professor, he firmly insists and leads the way to find Min. The pair find him speaking to a beautiful young maiden. Damian introduces himself and Aylaeth to her politely, who responds with grace and excuses herself to look for Lin in the quad.

Damian bids Min and Aylaeth to follow him to a more secure location, settling on a small room inside one of the many small libraries that dot the city. With the door shut behind him, Damian informs them of what he has learned. "One of the Abominations has been located, but at great cost. Na-Calanon is dead. He went to the Empire of Mists to seek an alliance in the war from their Emperor, but he was ambushed and slain using an evil artifact, a magnifying glass of some sort. Na-Calanon was ancient and as powerful as any being in the Land, thus why I believe that this artifact was one of the Abominations. Aylaeth, has your research found anything about a magnifying glass with the power to kill an ancient gold wyrm by reversing its lifespan to nothingness? It appears that an agent of the Red Dragonflight, a Warbanian mercenary named Kyras, possesses the artifact. He may actually be a vessel for Kalaroth as well, though he does not possess all of Kalaroth's immense power. Unless your research has shown the current location of any of the other Abominations, we now know of one's location as of earlier today. We have an opportunity to not only recover the Abomination, but to strike a blow in the Red Dragonflight by killing this Kyras."

The moment of enjoyment with Sophitia was over, his previous Mirth forgotten as he listened to Damian's news and Min was nearly floored by the news, Na-Calanon was gone...

Completely unmade...?! By a single abomination...

He shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe this could have happened... I agree completely sir, take down this Kyras and secure that artifact, before its used on any other ancient dragons like, gods forbid, the dragon general of Lesthoto..." Min shook off the creeping pessimistic attitude before it took hold, instead focusing on moving forward with preparations for departure. He informed them that Mai and them had left to sell the excess goods and informed Damian of his plans. "As soon as Mai and them return I was get Lin fitted and work through the night if I have to to secure supplies and update our ammunition. I will see if Lin can be outfitted with a larger saddle or something else so that Mai and livain can ride with me as well. It means more weight but it'll increase our speed."

"Time is of the essence. Can we replicate the path through Limbo to safely teleport to the Empire of Mists? Aylaeth, I presume that you are well-acquainted with the Empire and its traditions. I do not want to alienate them, as they are still a potential ally - or at least still a neutral party." Damian's normal attitude of determined optimism has been replaced by a certain grim fatality, as if they are fighting an enemy that can only be stymied at best. It is a marked difference than the leader that stepped through the Everywhen, but he seems just as committed to the fight itself.

@Mai: You feel the distinct, strange humming sensation that always precedes communication with Servais, then the blade's voice is in your mind, deep and flat, just like the color of the blade he/she/it currently occupies.

::...mmmmmmmagus. I can see no harm in it, though she may be in for more than she bargains for. Not all can speak with me so easily, and it has been the folly of many a presumptuous conjurer to think they could.::

Maiathreen gives a quick nod in response to Servais' acceptance of the payment. "Are yo OK with this payment Sia Itova? He asks Livain.