Operation: Blackcrown (Inactive)

Game Master Signore di Fortuna

Laenid changes back into her sleepwear and gets into bed with Jin, wrapping her arms around the kitsune.

"I suppose that's something," Auric says, walking onto the porch of the house.

"Don't worry," Toni says. "Nothing's going to happen to you here."

She unlocks the door and holds it open for Toska and Auric. "There's plenty of capable people in Valwick."

Jin snuggles into Laenid's embrace, "Mmmm...I love you NeeNee." She says, sounding a little sleepy.

Drago let out a sigh, I could have done that better, He thought to himself.

Now he wasn't sure what to do with himself. Then a thought struck him and he headed back to the barracks to get a little time with the training dummies. Perhaps it would help with the conflicting emotions on his mind.

"Love you too," Laenid whispers as she closes her eyes.

The weather being as it is, Drago finds himself alone with the training dummies.

The next sound Laenid hears coming from her sweet dumpling is a light snoring as she falls asleep in Laenid's safe and warm embrace.

Before choosing his first target, Drago drew his silver blade. Looking at it, he said, "I feel like I should give you a name. Any input?"

"Why would I need a name?"

"Well, a lot of magical weapons do, especially the intelligent ones. And it would feel fairly silly calling you sword all the time." A thought occurred to the Dhampir, "Do you have any other abilities besides talking?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I feel reservoir of power within my being, but I am unsure what it does exactly. Perhaps we'll find out someday."

"Well, in the meantime, we still need to figure out what to call you."

"Let's just table that for now and get some practice in."

Malyoxa closes her eyes for a moment, visualizing Hitome's words. "Mmm, that one's very nice. Appropriate too."

Hitome beams at the appreciation from Malyoxa. Continuing to read, she pours out a vivid expression of her artistic self, sharing perhaps her most vulnerable thoughts and ideas, freely.

Drago hears a voice behind him as he is practicing. "Bored?"

Malyoxa listens to everything that Hitome shares with the same care a historian would preserve ancient texts and artifacts, knowing these were important to the woman who had changed her view on life. The aasimar's poems revealed a side of her that could not be found in her duty to Jin nor in their explorations of soft flesh and physical pleasure. The drow did not know of anyone else willing to share that much with her and it warmed Malyoxa's heart in a way she could not explain. Hitome opened the door to another world for her, one that did not include the rigid hierarchy of drow culture or the impending grimness of the Summoner's plight. For a moment, she could see herself with the aasimar...perhaps with an adopted child along with some scruffy mutt rolling around on the floor, begging to be petted. It was a vision of a life that required nothing more than her participation in it. The drow dwells on that freedom from duty that she never knew she wanted before reality slowly settles back in.

After a while, she sits up and gently closes the cover of Hitome's journal. "As much as I'd like to hear more, save some for another time, okay?"

Turning to Barclay, Drago answered, "Not really, just honing my techniques. I'm going to be setting out with Toni and the other Summoners soon, and I'd like to not cut myself by accident."

Barclay chuckles. "A good idea."

Sheathing his silver blade, Drago asked, "Barclay, would you happen to have some practice blades available? I'd like a little more practice with a live opponent if you're willing."

Barclay nods. "I should have some around here."

He goes to the side of his house and produces two wooden swords. The paladin tosses one at Drago.

"Let's take a look at this house," Auric says, stepping inside. "Coming, Toska?"

Drago gave the blade a couple swings to get the weight of it. Taking a stance, "Care to make the first move?"

"Usually, no," Barclay says, shifting his weight. "This time I'll make an exception."

He closes the distance between himself and Drago, leading with his body rather than his sword. The dhampir barely sees the paladin begin his horizontal swing.

"Is there some way to identify them?" Toni asks as they reach a modest house near the town's northern wall.

"Let's take a look at this house," Auric says, stepping inside. "Coming, Toska?"

Toska lets out an audible "Hm!" when Auric catches him adrift. "My apologies, lost in my thoughts again, hopefully they will begin to settle." he says as he steps into the house.

"No need to apologize," Auric says. "Just don't do that if we're fighting something though."

Toska and Auric see that the house is minimally furnished with a couch, a small dining table, four chairs and a wood-burning stove. There is also a strange box in the kitchen. There are three door leading from a single hallway, two leading to individual bedrooms with a bed, nightstand and a dresser. The third door leads to a bathroom.

"Michael's a bit of a tinkerer, so that box in the kitchen keeps things cold and you should have hot water in the house," Toni says. "He uses 'elemental crystals' or something like that. Anyway, I better go talk to Barclay about those dragon guys. If you need me, you can find me at the tailor's shop not too far from here."

She waves and departs, leaving Toska and Auric to themselves.

Auric closes the door as Toni leaves. "Alright, I guess let's meet Sareash in the flesh...or whatever."

He closes his eyes, reaching out with his mind towards his eidolon to draw her forth onto the Material Plane.

An angel appears out of a portal of white light. "Greetings, Auric, I am Sareash."

She then nods at the duskwalker. "It is good to see you again, Toska. And so quickly too."

"You weren't kidding, were you?" Auric asks Toska.

"That's actually what most of my thoughts had been about," Toska reassures the halfling.

As Toni points out the adornments of their new home he nods along. "Thank you," he tells her as she leaves.

When his Summoner is ready to begin the Midwife nods and steps off to the side.

Edit

"Is it good to see you again as well, Sareash," he replies with a smile towards the angelic woman before turning to Auric. "Nope!"

The unexpected rush most certainly threw Drago off, but wasn't that the point of this bout? The Dhampir managed to block the blow, however it left him completely exposed.

Barclay spins with practiced but surprising speed to bring his wooden sword against Drago's side.

"As much of a relief as it is to see you, Sareash," Auric says. "I'm not sure what to do now."

"It is fine, Auric," Sareash responds. "Whenever you need me, I shall be available."

Auric dismisses Sareash with a thought and turns to Toska. "What should we do now?"

His side exposed, Drago couldn't bring his weapon around to block. The solid thunk was a painful reminder of how not to keep one's self open. Stepping back, he cast a spell. In moments, a disk of glowing runes appeared in front of him for protections. Cast Shield.

Barclay grins. "Here I was thinking that this was practice, but you apparently don't want me to take it easy on you."

He casts a spell, his armor seemingly becoming lighter than air. Cast Effortless Armor.

The paladin quickly circles around behind the dhampir to ready another attack.

Dang it, I keep forgetting I use Psychic magic now.

Drago smiled back as he turned to keep Barclay in front of him, "Hey, I figure some a little magic wouldn't hurt. As long as neither of us needs a Cleric afterwords."

Focusing on a memory of his childhood, his body shimmered and Images: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 copies of him appeared. "Which one is me Barclay," They all say in unison.

Barclay closes his eyes and focuses before rushing at the dhampir and starts his swing high before changing course and going low. He lands a hard blow behind Drago's knee. "Not every opponent needs to see."

His leg nearly buckling under him Drago grunted, "Thanks for the note." With that, the Dhampir made two quick attacks one to get Barclay to block, the other spun around quickly and struck the old man in the shoulder.

"I was going to offer her a muffin." Toska states as the angel disappears, unsure if she left on her own or was dismissed (Unless he would be able to know what happened?). Shrugging he turns to Auric. "I don't know, what do you want to do?"

You'd probably be unsure.

"I don't think she eats muffins," Auric says. The halfling thinks for a moment. "Let's see how this house is, provision-wise. We might need to do a little shopping. And we can keep an eye out for those guys."

Using Drago's strike as an indicator of his position, the paladin deftly uses his sword to disarm the dhampir. He grabs the sword as it spins in the air and opens his eyes. "Fancy tricks won't help you if you can't keep a firm hand on your sword."

He holds out the handle to Drago. "You're putting your body too close to mine when attacking. You leave yourself open for unarmed attacks or even a stab from a dagger."

Toska nods. "What do you think she eats? We'll see if there's stuff in town. Also what do you like?"

"I don't think she eats," Auric says. "It wouldn't hurt to ask the next time I call her, though. As for me, I like fish..."

He smirks. "I guess I should explain. I grew up in a fishing town, so I used to work with my uncle and my Grandpap on their fishing boat with my sisters. My parents were fishmongers and we always ate what they didn't sell for the day. I developed a taste for it, I suppose. Lived off of it for so long, I never really thought about eating anything else."

"Lesson learned," Drago said as he took his blade back and readied his next move.

"....okay." Hitome says blinking for a moment. Looking into Mayoxa's eyes, she sees the intensity of some unspoken emotion in them, a light that brings a smile to her lips and fills the aasimar with a warmth and positivity unlike anything she'd felt before. "We have time."

Toska nods, curious what the angel might eat. He nods again when Auric gives his answer and is about to answer as well when he notices the smirk.

Listening along he smiles as the Halfling talks about happy memories. "I like fish too. I have some coin left over from my travels here, I was going to use those for lodging but since that has been graciously provided for us perhaps we can look into obtaining a boat of our own?"

Auric's eyes widen. "How much money do you have?!"

Malyoxa smiles. "So, now that you've entertained me for a bit, what can I do for you?"

Barclay adopts a relaxed stance and waits for Drago to make the first move.

Toska shuffles his backpack around and looks inside. "If I counted right on my travels here I should be somewhat shy of a thousand."

"Oh, that's a fair bit," Auric says before going into the kitchen. "Ah, we have no food. I guess that was a bit too much to ask since we got a house and furniture for free."