Recognizing at least two of those in the other group, and realizing that they came from that same nice town that Jerrica's friends were in, helped her visibly relax a little.
Seeing the ice princess hesitate she says, "Come on Frosty, everything is fine now." Shading her eyes, Rosa looks up at Arista, "We really need to tell you what we found down there too."
Hearing the nickname that only one other used to call her causes her stop mid step. It wasn't right coming out of Rosa that way, and even though she knew that Rosa didn't know about that part of her life...it still hurt to hear someone else call her that.
Sticking out her lower lip she says, "Don't call me that." Turning around quickly she heads back to Arista's, not wanting everyone to see the hurt look on her face. Remembering Sugar Snap still made her a little sad and homesick.
Rosa looks bewildered, "What did I say now?"
"I'm sure the new arrivals want to hear it too," Arista says to Rosa, turning to go back to the house.
She nods while looking after the retreating Frostine, "Okay....sure. Jerrica has the old journal thing, I'm just gonna...." Looking at the others she nods towards Frostine before taking off after her.
Catching up to Frostine she puts out a hand to stop her, "Hey, wait a minute. I don't know what I said, but I'm sorry okay? I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
Waving a hand dismissively she says, "It's fine...I mean...it's not your fault. I'm not upset at you really...someone else used to call me that and I just...I guess I still miss them sometimes. It's not like you knew. I think we still have some stuff to figure out, so let's just concentrate on that for now okay?"
Rosa looks at Frostine for a moment before shrugging, "Alright, but if you ever want to talk about it...well, you know."
Rosa waits for Dagmarr and takes her hand as they go back in the house.
Frostine nods and waits for Thorgr. As he comes up and puts an arm around her, Frostine just sighs and leans into him as they go in the house.
Thorgr gets a pensive look on his face. "I think our adventuring days are over...and...well, what do you want to do? I'm pretty sure Jerrica and Sig will go back to Valwick. I don't know about Rosa and Dagmarr. Arista...I guess she wants to rebuild this place...it might not be bad to stay here and help with that. What do you think?"
Frostine looks up at him confused, "Oh? I just...I didn't know if there was anything else left down there that we needed to take care of. I didn't know you felt that way, or what you would want to do....but I'm not even sure what Ms. Arista wants to do, or what's going to happen next. All I know for sure, is that I love you and wherever we end up will be okay with me, as long as we're together."
"We can't do anything about the door down there, I'm sure," Thorgr says. "I'm not sure there's anything left to do here, hero-wise."
Frostine puts her head on his shoulder, "Hmmm...I guess not." She sort of shrugs, "Well...I don't want to assume anything about what Arista might or might not want to do...I guess we'll just see okay? I'd be okay staying here and helping out with other stuff though, if that's what she wants to do." She gives his cheek a kiss, "Like I said, anywhere is home to me as long as you're there."
Arista opens the door for everyone. She looks to Sadhana, Sienna, Cyna, Celia and Roshan. "Make yourselves comfortable. I have tea, if anyone wants any."
Sienna shakes her head. "No thanks. I appreciate the offer, though."
Roshan goes inside and takes a seat, "Some tea actually sounds nice after all that, thank you."
"I'm good but thank you for offering," Sadhana says, her eyes still taking in the similarities and differences between this woman and the Arista she considered like a sister.
"Tea would be nice thank you." Celia graciously accepts.
Arista goes into the kitchen and sets the kettle on the stove. A few minutes later, she returns with two cups of tea. "So, Rosa, what did you find down there?"
Looking around, she pulls out the journal they found and hands it to Arista. Nodding at the journal she says, "Well, along with a lot of really gross stuff...we found that on a long dead guy that didn't become a gross undead guy because of some thing he wore around his neck I think. Then there was a door that we couldn't do anything with. The journal said something about only a "Gods touched" being able to go past it, but also mentioned something about a "Guardian"...so, we're not really sure what all that meant, other than it would probably be something we wouldn't be able to deal with. We got rid of everything else though."
After Arista hands him the cup of tea he gives her a grateful nod, "Thank you very much." Roshan says before Rosa begins her explanation of what they found.
Frostine looks over at Arista, "I think I'll just go get some milk while you are all talking about that Ms. Arista."
Giving her love's hand a squeeze, Frostine gets up and goes to the kitchen. A few minutes later she comes back with a cold tankard of milk and a spoon.
Holding the tankard in her hands, ice starts forming around it and the liquid inside begins to freeze. Taking her spoon, she stirs it around while applying a little magic to make it the flavor that she wants.
She sits there quietly as she scoops the frozen chocolate treat up with the spoon and takes bites of it while smiling and leaning into Thorgr.
"Thank you." Celia says, taking a sip and enjoying the warmth of the mug in her hands.
Sādhanā listens intently, raising an eyebrow at the mention of one touched be a god being required to unlock whatever it was that lay below.
Interesting
Frostine takes another bite of her frozen chocolate treat before shrugging, "Yeah, so since none of us has been imbued with any special kind of power from a God or anything, we just thought we would bring that journal back to you and let you know about it Ms. Arista. Like Rosa said, we did take care of everything else in there though, so the way to the door is clear. We were in the process of bringing you what we found when we ran into these people outside, and well...here we are. The question I have is what they're doing here. It doesn't seem likely to me that a group of people would come allll the way out here, just to deliver a letter." Frostine says, her piercing blue eyes coming to rest on the tall tattooed woman with the shocking white hair.
Getting a curious expression on her face, she asks the woman directly, "Soooo....who are you exactly, and why did you come all the way out here? What is it that you're after exactly?" After asking her question, she continues tuo eat her frozen treat, her attention otherwise solely focused on the strange woman in front of her.
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Sādhanā smiles, realizing that having obviously come from elsewhere in the world, the sight of an Anizari was well outside of the ordinary for the petite blonde spellcaster.
"We came traveling to Ilneas from Valwick, in search of some sort of an artifact to aid in preventing the coming of an ancient evil of unimaginable power....Cthulu." she says making eye contact with...Artista, to see if she registers the name. "It isn't overstating things to say that the fate of everyone in this reality hangs in the balance." she says somberly.
Frostine seems to think for a bit as she takes in everything Sadhana says.
Finally looking up at her she replies, "Ooohhhhh....well, that sounds pretty important. I think some of that is right over my head, but I don't take you for a liar, and you don't seem crazy....so it must be true. We've seen our fair share of crazy and impossible things, and none ofv us are from this world either sooooo.....what you're saying doesn't seem strange to me. Though....I still don't know who you are, let me start the introductions."
Finishing her frozen chocolate treat, Frostine puts the cup down and stands. Standing she comes to about five foot six, although petite, her eyes have the look of someone that has seen much.
Extending one of her petite hands she says, "I am Frostine Finnison, and this gentleman is my husband Thorgr. These two ladies," Indicating the Skald and thed rogue, "Are Sig and Jerrica, and our two more recent friends and companions sitting over there are Dagmarr and Rosa. We came here from....well, it's kind of hard to explain. We were helping Wooden to free his kin from Loki's nefarious schemes and deceptions. One night we all had the same dream involving Ms. Arista and her troubles here, so we felt compelled to come help. Wooden brought us to Valwick to meet up with some friend's of Jerrica's, and then brought us here." She leaves it there to give her a chance to take it all in and introduce them to her and the rest of them.
Feeling a little lost she asks, "Sooo...what's a Cathulu, and how do we stop it?" Unsure if she was even pronouncing it correctly, Rosa waits for an explanation from someone.
Arista's face doesn't change at the mention of the cosmic horror. It's as if something else is on her mind.
"I'm Sienna and this is my wife, Cyna," Sienna says, patting the other tiefling's arm. "Don't mind her, but she's not very talkative."
"That dream thing happens quite a lot these days. End of days and all that." Cyna chirps.
Frostine notices the distracted look on Arista's face. Sharing a look with Rosa as Cyna talks about things she doesn't really understand, Frostine gets up and goes over to Arista. Rubbing Arista's arm she gets a concerned look on her face, "Ms. Arista? Are you okay?"
Rosa looks back at Cyna, "End of days? That sounds pretty dire."
Sādhanā absorbs Frostine's introduction with a nod. "It is dire, entire worlds and realities are being destroyed, and we're determined to keep it from happening to this one." the Anizari says gravely.
"To that point, I may be able to get past the barrier you were referring to. The gods-touched requirement may not be a problem."
"As the chosen of our god Aroden, and the one who carries the same shield he carried in battle, Sādhanā is likely the best chance of bypassing the wards set there." Celia says after a moment of consideration.
"I'm Celia by the way."
Rosa looks at Frostine and Arista again as she takes a couple minutes to think things over in her head. It was obvious to her that Frostine was concerned about the way that Arista had seemed to just sortg of zone out.
Leaving Frostine to see to Arista she looks at Sadhana and the others, "Well, it's good to meet all of you. When we were called here, we weren't exactly sure in what way we were meant to help, we just knew we needed to come here. It is obvious to me at least, that maybe you came here to do that which we could not. I've never heard of this Cathulu entity before, so I'll just take your word for it that it's very very bad." She pauses slightly again as if thinking about something, "I think that once you get the door open, that however many people want to, could enter as long as they meet the specified qualifications. That guardian or whatever was made to sound pretty badass, so I'm not sure fighting it one on one would be the greatest idea ever. If you need some time to rest and prepare yourselves for the next battle, I'm sure we could make some space for all of you. Once you're rested and prepared, we could lead you down to where the door is if you'd like." Not one for beating around the bush, Rosa just sort of lays her thoughts on the matter on the table.
Not having gotten a response out of her, Frostine gently shakes Arista's arm again, "Ms. Arista? I asked if you were okay. Can you hear me?" She asks, the concern clear on her face, as well as in her voice. Truth be told, Arista going blank like that sort of freaked her out a little bit.
"I'm fine, Frostine," Arista says. "My mind is in many places at once right now."
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"Oh and we're looking for some trouble-making dark elves too," Sienna adds.
Thorgr strokes his beard. "We haven't encountered any here, though we've fought quite a few before we came to this world."
Sienna frowns slightly. "It's okay...they probably would have avoided coming anywhere they could be spotted."
Frostine nods, "Oh...okay, I just....you seemed really far away. I'm sorry if I was pestering you while you were thinking. If you want or need to talk through any of that stuff, we're here." She replies, unsure of exactly what she should say. She wanted to just let Arista know they were there for her, but she didn't want to seem like a pest.
Still looking a little confused she asks, "Soooo....you are hoping to find what you need down there behind that door?"
"It's definitely worth looking into." Sādhanā replies.
"Did you want to go down there now, or wait until you have had a chance to rest?" Rosa asks.