Arean continues to wander, seemingly unaware of events...
"The beast did slay, the beast did sup
'Til fallen prey o'er-filled its cup
And heaved, and twist, and beast-spawn thrown
Of shattered wrist, of broken bone..."
...she read from an unseen tome, tracing the words with one smoldering fingertip.
Furnok will grab a chakram and if he can see the creature, he will throw it. If not, he will move down so he can target it.
Seeing his allies being thrown left and right is making him mad. "Hey, punk. Why don't you try that move on me." .
A grappled creature cannot use Stealth to hide from the creature grappling it, even if a special ability, such as hide in plain sight, would normally allow it to do so. If a grappled creature becomes invisible, through a spell or other ability, it gains a +2 circumstance bonus on its CMD to avoid being grappled, but receives no other benefit.
for
for
for
for
Braden fails to grap the beast, then everyone hears the howls of a dog pack as Arean's dogs plus one rush down the stairs and fling themselves at the beast in a swirl of snapping teeth and fur. Its too much for the beast, it collapses into a rapidly widening puddle of foul smelling goo.
Combat over
"...the goblin king was dead, bent crown
and too, his horn, the hob's stir.
But hobs cut at, cut up, cut down
The foulness of the Globster."
Arean eventually returns from her daydream wanderings, her eyes dimming, if not clearing. She smiles at what seems success, and goes again to the captain, again to conjure healing.
The captain stable, Arean praises her hounds, but when they come seeking kisses, she wards off the foulness at their muzzles, with an open hand, and a pointing command to the stairway... "Up..."
Following them, she'll find Furnok, and heal him as well.
My thanks. Just what was that thing?
"Just a guess here, but I'd say, 'a monster'. More specifically, 'a dead monster."
"A globster", Arean says, recalling from her daydream. "But how did it get aboard?"
"Are there other wounded we might save?", she asks.
"You all did a great job!"
Ikvvy gets back on the stairs and send her dancing lights to illuminate the deeper corners of the room:
"Dancing Lights!"
Eldrian leans against the wall, clearly injured. "I just need to regain my breath. It smells disgusting. We need to get it off this ship."
"Hold still, Eldrian... if I may?"
"Thankyou Arean. That helps greatly." For the first time since meeting you he actually gives a genuine smile.
Captain Maridun thanks you all. "My lords and ladies thank you for your timely aid. I know it's late. You probably want to retire to your cabin's, clean up and get some sleep. Come see me in the morning after breakfast, we have some more things to discuss and I think I have some things that may be usefull to you."
You all are among that band and you watch as your leader holds up his sword and says in a voice much like Rowan’s “No farther may you come I Bar the way.” A brilliant white light brighter than lightning sweeps outward and holds steady. Demons, devils, and undead that cross into the light burst into flame or crumble to dust, while all around you are renewed, restored and encouraged. Only one creature of darkness comes into the light. She seems human enough until you see the blood dripping down her fangs. Small bolts of lightning dance across her fingertips and up and down her arms. Her flesh constantly chars and then renews as she steps into the light stopping about thirty feet from you. She looks remarkably like Tassira.
“Hello Darling, still protecting the cattle I see.”
“Alonna, there’s no cattle here, just people trying to live their lives.”
“They’re flies, here one day, gone the next, even you, my sweetie, last no longer than the flash of a bolt of lightning to my eyes. I watched Tuma be banished at my Lord’s side per his desires and was there when the gates of Grey Port fell. No one will remember Haviel in time, Rodger, just as no one remembers lost Arcadia, or Perun, or Arth. Except for me that is. Have you thought about my offer?”
“Have you given thought to mine? Sarenrae brings not only light but redemption. She can help you choose to help, and to heal. You don’t have to live in darkness. No one is forced to live in darkness you can choose to be free. Alumananx is not a god nor will he become one.”
“He’s given me more power than you could ever believe. I think today at least I choose not to seek the path you lay at my feet. Take your flies and go from here Rodger. My troops and I shall see that Bane’s beasts do not interfere. Till we meet again my love.”
Another bolt of lightning and the dream fades away.
Arean gets a good night sleep.
Eldrian wakes in the morning covered in sweat. What a terrible dream. Was that what happened to his peoples grand city? Who is that woman? He shakes it off and grabs a bite to eat before going on deck, finding a relatively untouched spot and doing his morning workout and stretches to try and forget last night. It is about an hour before he stops, chest and back covered in sweat, the dream still vividly in his mind.
Furnok wakes up thoroughly sore and miserable. Ugh, slime and nightmares. He shuffles out after getting washed and dressed so he can find the others.
In the morning Ikvvy seeks her brother to share the news. "Eldrian, I had some kind of ancient vision in the form of a dream! It was about Raviel, I'm sure of it!"
"The woman who refused to burn in the light? I believe I had the dream also. Why I am not sure. Perhaps going there is not a wise idea. Something terrible may sleep there, what if we were to accidentally disturb it."
"Any more monsters to slay? That one yesterday was a real stinker, but we did okay."
Marcos dons his armor and equips all his weapons, even before breakfast or coffee.
"You too? There's something weird in this. We're not going for the ruins, but maybe there's something there we need to find out! Should we tell this to the others? Maybe someone know something we do not."
"Perhaps it is our Elven connections to the place. Let us wait and see."
"The woman who refused to burn in the light?"
That fit too well to ignore. For all Arean hoped to respect the truer- or at least, earlier siblings' privacy, lives, even souls, were now in the balance. Arean marshaled her awareness toward the two...
"I believe I had the dream also. Why I am not sure. Perhaps going there is not a wise idea. Something terrible may sleep there, what if we were to accidentally disturb it."
"And what if it, is not asleep?", Arean asked. "What if the fanged woman is already, or still, working in service of the lord she named? And, even if she does slumber, is not evil and magic awakening everywhere else? Are we better to wake her, or to hope she sleeps in?"
Aware of how she'd made them aware, of her awareness, Arean apologizes, "I'm sorry. I overheard. But we can't afford secrets, in any case. As apology, I'll wander in my dreams past racks of burned books, for answers to questions you pose. I'm too little a scholar, even to choose the questions well." Arean smiles, and shrugs.
"Bah. Dreams are dreams. They're not reality, and as far as I know, no-one ever got stabbed or lit on fire in a dream and died. Not like being eaten by disgusting monsters that smell of month-old rotten garbage. It's all well and good to talk about shared delusions we may have had in our sleep, but there's plenty of real danger, right here in the real world."
I had that dream as well. Mayhap it has something to do with the future and we'll be running into her.
"I had that dream too. I saw a vampire much like Tassira, and a man much like Rowan. Seems too real to be a coincidence. We should tell them about the dream when we get the chance."
Ikvvy seems angry that they were listening her conversation with Eldrian, but she gets worried about everyone having the same dream and thus keeps the subject alive. "So it seems we all had the same dream tonight. I bet it was about the things we learned and discussed yesterday, so it might happen again. While no one apparently knows the reason for it, it is clear to me and Eldrian that we saw something at the former city of Raziel, whose ruins lay very close to the Silver Leaf village we decided to stop by. Do you think we are in danger by stopping at the village? If not, we can gather more knowledge there and see what danger lies ahead of us. Arean, if you know so much, what we saw happened how much time ago?"
"Let me try and learn more of it. And her. And him... the sword?"
Arean sits, and the shine in her eyes brightens...
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“Well what do think Faith?” Haviel is overrun, if that stubborn Elf had just listened to me this didn’t have to happen. You say to your long time friend and companion while thinking unpleasant thoughts about the King of the Silver Throne.
”I think we should have brought an Army, my liege,” says Faith, her shining mithral armor hidden under her elvish cloak. She looks a lot like Captain Maridun. Wait, who is Captain Maridun? Shake off that thought no time for the odd thought now got to focus.
”Stop calling me that, I’m no one’s liege.” no real heat in your voice Faith will be Faith.
”You will be.” You start to retort but Faith waves her hand ”Never mind Rodger, I think we should forget about the walls and focus on the docks. Well you should. I’ll take my Hand and see if we can’t make a quick pass through the city and then meet you there in say two hours?”
”Fine. Two hours and then I’ll come looking for you”
”Yes my liege.”
A small sigh escapes your lips. “Just go.” She and her Hand ride off.
”You should marry that one, Rodger,” a voice weathered by years in the sun says to your right. The tall dark haired Medjay warrior at your side adds “She’ll keep you on your toes and give you many fine sons and daughters.” His huge war dog at his sides yips in agreement.
You stare at your friend with disbelief ”She’d drive me mad within a week, Hakim, and you Rasnesh keep your canine opinion to yourself.” You could swear the dog snorts back at you dismissively.
Hakim on the other hand says ”Fine I’ll marry her.”
And then you are among the undead striking back and forth from the back of your warhorse with BAR the sword passed down generation to generation in your family but only choosing to reveal its full nature when you swore to the old code. You wait for the right moment the creatures of darkness have you and your friends surrounded, lift the blade and swirl it around your head and the holy light of day sweeps forth destroying the unnatural creatures around you.
A short ride to the docks and you start issuing commands to the remaining elven guard.
Then she is there.
“Hello Darling, still protecting the cattle I see.” her voice brings back many memories of hot nights spend in cool sheets before you discovered her nature or your own calling.
“Alonna, there’s no cattle here, just people trying to live their lives.” you see that your holy energy is burning her but she’s healing just as quickly. It’s not the light of day, Alonna’s far too old for that to have any effect on her but the holy warmth of Sarenrae that you are producing as it is amplified by BAR that harms her.
“They’re flies, here one day, gone the next, even you, my sweetie, last no longer than the flash of a bolt of lightning to my eyes. I watched Tuma be banished at my Lord’s side per his desires and was there when the gates of Grey Port fell. No one will remember Haviel in time, Rodger, just as no one remembers lost Arcadia, or Perun, or Arth. Except for me that is. Have you thought about my offer?” To join her in the darkness and live alongside her, that is not for me
“Have you given thought to mine? Sarenrae brings not only light but redemption. She can help you choose to help, and to heal. You don’t have to live in darkness. No one is forced to live in darkness you can choose to be free. Alumananx is not a god nor will he become one.” Her storm magic surges up and down her arms, electricity dancing across her skin.
“He’s given me more power than you could ever believe. I think today at least I choose not to seek the path you lay at my feet. Take your flies and go from here Rodger. My troops and I shall see that Bane’s beasts do not interfere. Till we meet again my love.” And she does love you, there’s no deception, no twisting of some other emotion in her that she could mistake for love, the odd gift you've had since you were a child where no one could tell a lie in your presence that you could not see though kicks in and you know that she does love you and that gives you hope that she will be redeemed for the truly unredeemable have not the capacity to truly love…
...
...
...
…“I’m going to kill you Rodger” you scream. Sparks leap off your hands inadvertently striking the midwife. She however has been here with you three times before and is wearing a protective amulet … and a ring … and has cast a protective spell about herself. Have you really done this three times before? What were you thinking?
“Rodger I’m going to rip your head off and feast on your entrails!” you scream out your fangs extending as another contraction hits. You look at over at your oldest daughter, Tassira at fourteen already a beauty, gifted with storm magic and being pursued by …
“If that Alenkine boy lays a finger on you before you you’re eighteen I’ll rip his manhood off and feed it to him.”
”Mother!”
”Argh! Where is that worthless husband of mine!?”
”I’m believe, that Ambassador Hakim and General Gratz have him chopping firewood for some reason” your daughter answers.
”Now push your Majesty, the first one is almost here.”
wait, FIRST ONE?!
"RODGER!...
Her senses appearing to orbit the reality they shared, Arean's eyes focus on Ikvvy. "Ten years before the founding of the Empire", Arean answers the stale question. [b]"Maridun was there, or at least her dame, 'Faith' her name, and whispered words of the future in her mind. Or soon, to have been. And Alanna, the vampiress, at the battle, and then the bed, birthing siblings to that earlier Tassira. For Alanna, who fought against them that day, loved and lay with Rodger, and children bore."
"So, whatever happened there, it means we're probably ok to come close to it. We're not even approaching the city, unless something changes, right? I see no reason to going to the ruins. Do you?"
"Nothing that I've seen of import, was where I looked for it. I don't know what might be learned by going, no more than I know what might be learned by staying here. I do not command the visions. Rather, the opposite. In absence of guidance from them, I will follow you.", Arean says, and smiles.
"So, cousins, to the Silver Leaf Village?"
"Very well, let us go there if that is what people want."
"Sounds good to me."
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You go eat breakfast in the same cabin where you ate dinner last night. Afterwards while a crewman cleans the table, the Captain arrives. The Captain greats you with a nod and once the crewman leaves she unrolls a map of the Old Heartland of the Empire on the table. “I don’t know much about you plans but I want to make sure you have a good map. I’m giving you this one. You asked yesterday about where old spells might be fading and magical creatures might be appearing. This map has a lot of places on it you might wish to investigate at some point.”
“In addition to terrain features, such as mountains, forests, and rivers, and the major cities, this mapped has marked most of the well know and many of the lesser known ruins, temples, and places of mystical importance in the Old Heartlands.” She shakes her head “the map’s not annotated; you’ll have to do your own research. Hopefully this will help.”
“I also wanted to give you these,” she knocks on the table loudly, and 2 crewmen come and place some weapons and other items on the table. “A ship that can sink in a storm is not the place to store precious heirlooms and other treasures so these things are not everything that I want to give you but, as with the map. I hope that these things will be of some use to you.”
Now on the table you see:
5 Quivers each holding 20 arrows; each arrow has a cold iron arrowhead which has been honed with a whetstone and coated with a silver weapon blanch, and a durable shaft.
1 longbow
3 cold iron daggers
3 alchemical silver daggers
1 temple sword
100 ft of silk rope
6 vials of Holy water
2 tanglefoot bags
Furnok will take a quiver of arrows and a vial of holy water.
"Now we're talking. This is some serious hunting equipment. Anyone care to guess why we'd need cold iron AND silver?"
Marcos takes up the longbow and tests its draw. Assuming no-one objects, he slings it and a quiver of arrows over his shoulder and scoops up a silver dagger as well.
"I'll guess it was no guess, just the hat and mittens any mother would insist on, for a child going into weather."
To the captain, Arean says thankfully, "Your gifts are generous, Captain. What might we do in return? Oh, I know, the ship may be mine, but we'll both agree, it and its sisters more truly belong to the nation aboard them, than any hoped-for queen. How may we earn our next passage?"
Brad takes a cold iron dagger and silver dagger and tucks it into his belt. He then gauges the balance of the sword in his hand. "A fine specimen - worthy of Tien martial styles."
Ikvvy detects magic on the weapon and items handed to them, before picking what she would need. She specially analyzes the bow.
She handles the bow to Eldrian with an inquisitive look, probably asking for an expert opinion on the quality. She also takes a Cold Iron dagger, a quiver and a Holy Water flask. But she turns to the Captain instead. "You did said this were Heirloom Weapons. Why's that so?"
After she had answered, the Sorceress continues:
"Thank you for your help Captain. Did you manage to find out how that thing got on the ship?"
"Do we have an estimate of arrival?"
The Captain responds "You misheard me. I said we don't keep our heirlooms on ship. Too much of a chance that a ship will sink and that something that was just sitting in a chest will be loss forever." She shakes her head, "no, these are just good weapons and a few useful things that I thought might be of use."
She goes on. "We're making good headway, we should reach Queisce a little ahead of schedule, tomarrow morning."
"As for how the globster got aboard the ship, our best guess is that it washed aboard durring a heavy storm a few weeks ago and then managed to make its way into the bilge."
Eldrian opts to take an alchemical silver dagger and one of the quivers. "The bow is well made but no better than yours, and it has less range."
The following items remain on the table:
1 Quiver holding 20 arrows; each arrow has a cold iron arrowhead which has been honed with a whetstone and coated with a silver weapon blanch, and a durable shaft.
1 cold iron dagger
100 ft of silk rope
4 vials of Holy water
2 tanglefoot bags
The Captain says "I'll put these things in a spare backpack and you can take them with you or not as you choose. As for earning your next passage you've already done more than enough."
The rest of the voyage to Queisce is unremarkable.
Brad holds any of the extra items others have not taken.
"I confess that I am still unsure of everything the professor said Ikvvy. Lines are never simply black and white. But perhaps we can figure it out." He inspects his dagger closely, the metal would act like silver to those creatures negatively affected by it. He hoped not to meet such. "What do you sense? You were good at reading people, this new 'family'. An ancient fight we know almost nothing about. It was easier when it was just you and me surviving in the forests."
"Indeed it was. But don't worry, they are as lost as we in this. Thing is, there's something guiding us, and I always knew this moment was coming. If we don't embrace it there will be no world left for us to live in. We have a choice, but it is not a real one. Destiny."
"I am ready. Especially with these new tools our illustrious captain has granted us, we are prepared to battle."