"We are hitching a ride on a Roc, so that would be pretty risky in my opinion. I do have rope so I guess I could tie us together and hope for the best." After finishing, Nasar stands there still in thought about making this work.
Marissa heads back to the room giving a small friendly but passive aggressive wave, "Goodnight, I'll be here...sleeping..."
"Goodnight Marissa, enjoy your rest." Nasar takes his leave, giving the other two a wave while leaving. Done with the things he had left before leaving for BirdTaxi, he heads back to his dorm.
As Nasar gets back to the room he sees Deract sorting his gold and shoving it in his pillowcase. He puts his daggers and such in his pack and Nasar's hat of disguise is on Nasar's bed. Lily is finishing her preparation putting a few vials of liquid into her bandolier. The group seems ready to go when Nasar is.
Nasar notices what Deract is doing "We could invest in a chest; I have a decent collection of locks, one in particular that even I have trouble picking with my tools." He picks up his hat and puts it on, turning the disguise into himself with his old armour.
Deract waves his hand in disregard. Now packing the remnants of coins into the underside of his bed. "No its fine I used to do this in jail, best place to store your stuff your always either sleeping on it or have it with you."
Lily looks at Deract questionably, "Weren't you on like the part of the jail that's super protected?"
"Well yea, but whenever they found out I got gum they'd take it away. So under the bed it'd go, it warmed it up for later too which was a plus,"
Lily makes a face of disgust and slight embarrassment in seeing what used to be the Jester of the Shadowkeep, the second strongest being in that part of the land... act like such a little kid.
Nasar shakes his head at Deract's weird antics, "Ohkay that's...whatever I'm probably going to get one soon so I can leave stuff here and not worry about it. Are you two ready to go?"
They both agree and are ready to depart. As they make their way to the dock they see many people surrounding a large bird on the edge of one of the piers. A giant brown feathered bird stands about 25 feet high. A large saddle on his back, he speaks in a tone recognizable as Dendar,"Hmm? Yes yes I am just a half-elf in a animal form no need to be afraid I am very much tame. No I don't give rides." He spots the party of 3 nearing the dock. "Hey guys ready for your ride!?" to which everyone that was crowding him turns and glares at Nasar and his crew.
Nasar waves towards Dendar "Good morning Dendar, we are ready to depart. Thank you for the lift."
Dendar gets them on his back and takes off into the seas horizon. The lift off is a little shake but after a second it evens out to a fine glide.
After a minute or two Dendar breaks the silence. "So what're you guys going to a cave for!?"
Nasar holds back the feeling of vomit from all the motion of take off and speaks up first. "We had some trouble in our last mission and now we need this stuff to fix our problems." Nasar looks towards the other two, expecting them to be taking this fine and judging him for wanting to puke.
As Dendar sails through the sky he remarks, "Ohh yea I know that feeling, one time I accidentally got my friend Harry stuck in a magic jar. But I didn't have a thing to get the cork out so I had to go to the Plane of Water to get some special spirit grease."
Lily seems hopelessly confused, " How... Did you get your friend stuck in a magic jar? "
Dendar laughs, " With magic of course! "
And with that Lily throws her arms up in a I give up fashion.
Nasar looks back at Lily ”You’ll get used to it I promise”. He then turns his attention to dendar, ”So what’s the thing you keep wanting to ask my help for?”
Dendar stays silent for a second. "So I have this thing under the library that I work in. I don't know if you've ever been to like different Planes there's a ton of em. But this one is a little pocket Plane, me and my friend Harry who I got out of the magic jar made it and have kept it running good for a few years. 2 summers ago we introduced living creatures into it. First animals and then a lesser species to exist like we do. Kobold were my first desicion, they thrived there uninterrupted for like what seemed like an Era in there time. And then I introduced myself to them. " Dendar stops talking to collect his thoughts.
Deract pipes up. " You introduced yourself, like caveman to some being in the sky. "
Dendar laughs, " Well yea pretty much I uh... I told them I was there god"
”Sooooo what’s the problem?”
Dendar snaps back to reality, "Well when I first contacted you, some kind of thing got teleported into my Pocket Plane. It's like some kinda purple cloud, it's very violent and it keeps goigg around yelling about Alexandria wherever that is. The kobolds tried to stand up to it but like half of em are dead so far. I need someone to exterminate it from my Plane. Or teleport it out. I can't go down there because if I fight it it probably won't like perish with one blow. And then they will know I'm not all powerful. So I've just been silent for these 3 months. Which is practically like 15 years for them in the Plane. Time moves faster there."
”Well if we went and brought you, you could wear a hat of disguise and then the kobalds wont know its you.”
Dendar glides silently in thought. "Hmm... Thats a good idea, they don't really have magic in the Plane they think what I do is God powers. A hat of disguise why didn't I think of that."
Lily murmurs, "Your head would probably smoke before you figured that out..."
Nasar starts snickering at Lily’s shade. ”I don’t mind helping but if you could give a bit to get ready for whatever it is you have going on, gives us time to figure out how to handle it.”
Dendar agrees, "Yea of course, it's waited like 4 months it can wait another hour. Besides Leo will probably want a word with you when we get in about the whole cave thing." The natural break in the horizon starts to form as the Cypher gate comes into view, "And here we are ladies and gentlemen, Riddleport in all its scum and corruption."
After another minute or so of flying Dendar passes over the pristene marble structure and lands in the back alleyway. Transforming back into his regular half elf form he takes a look around before waving to the pile of bones hanging on a nearby lamppost, "Can yo believe that guy never went home? He just kinda chills out up there now. I always wave at him but he never waves back. Weirdo,"
Deract looks back and forth at the skeleton then Dendar, "You wave to a skeleton in an alleyway? Wait a second..." Deract comes to a clear realization. "Isnt that the same place he hung that guy by his shirt?"
Lily gives a worried look.
Dendar gives a Mhm before keying open the door and leading them all into the hallway then downstairs.
Leo is currently holding a pencil lightly scribbling on what looks to be blueprints talking to Owlbearto. He sees the party descend and begins rolling up the blueprint. "Good to see you made it here in one piece and that Dendar didn't drop you in the sea. What took you so long to come back I had to start getting random people to get my jobs done. You did so well the last time I only found it fair to use a party that didn't fail me. "
Nasar looks at him confused then at Deract ”Did...did we pick up work that i forgot about?”
Leo stares at Nasar for a brief second with a Are you serious? look. "Yes you delivered a parcel for me with Owlbearto. Of course you would be the only one that remembers these 2 weren't around." He then looks at Lily who is intently staring back at him. He turns back to Nasar, "You switch groups very often Nasar, haven't found the right ones yet I suppose,"
"Yea yea I know that job, I thought you were saying that I was doing a job and never followed up with. If you meant for these past few months, Deract and I were in the shadowplane for a little bit which ended up being 3-ish months here. And now we have this lovely lady working with us. Lily, this is Leo, an alchemist that we've worked with in the past."
Leo gives a look of a king looking down on a subject of his. "Your an alchemist too, people don't carry around a bandolier of vials for fun? And gives a smug exhale from his nose.
Lily nods slightly intimidated by Leo's setup behind him, so many different workstations along with notes on notes. The amount of knowledge in this one place is probably unfathomable compared to Lily's 3 notebooks. "Nice to meet you Leo, yes I am also in the alchemical studies and I hope to pick up a few things from being here."
Leo smiles and puts his hands together interlocking his fingers before sarcastically retorting, "Well we will see about that, He then turns towards Nasar, " So Nasar what exactly are we cave diving for, minerals, bugs, new plants, or maybe just body looting the people before you? "
Lily pulls out her small card with the ingredients on it and passes it to Nasar to hand to Leo.
Nasar hands rhe note card over ”This is what we’re searching for, but hell I’ll loot a couple bodies here and there if the chance arises.”
Leo takes the card, "That never definite that's always up to accessibility and danger level of the cave itself. Let's see... Dragons tounge needs a warm climate to thrive, you can probably get that above ground before entering a cave. Blue fluorescent mushrooms need a cold subterranean setting to grow. And a bat's heart is as easy to find as rocks when your down there. If your gonna make more than one get a dire bat's heart or a bigger species able to have a bigger heart. More tissue for more batches. And an Elfs blood? I can help with that. " He walks over to his desk and grabs something small like a pipe,
Lily cuts in, " Half-Elfs blood wor-"
To which Leo interject, " I know"
To which he walks over to Dendar tidying his bed and stabs his back with the pipe. Dendar shrieks for a minute before Leo pulls the syringe-thing and it's filled with Half-Elfs blood. He tosses it to Nasar.
Nasar catches it. He hangs on and puts it away. ”That went exactly as I expected, thanks.”
Leo points to a nearby book shelf while walking away to clear off a nearby desk. "Owlbearto please grab me the map on the second shelf of the Lurkwood area."
Owlbearto grabs the map and unravels it on the cleared out desk. Riddleport is to the left of this area that seems to be geographically craggy and mountainous. Leo points to the bottom of the craggy area, You'll wanna head east of town, when you start to reach the mountain area you'll start to see open areas of the ground, you should be able to pick some Dragons Tail there, get extra for me. Farther north east you'll reach a large chasm you'll descend and from there you should have no trouble finding what you need. Just make sure you have a way out once your done. Also get me some mushrooms as well, including any other flora you might find you don't want. I utilize most types of carbon based flora and if I don't already have a use I'll research it." He walks over to his main workstation and grabs a few hide bags for Nasar to put his extra goodies in. " Shouldn't be more than a days walk east then northeast once it gets craggy."
The Lurkwood has a bizarre reputation. It seems to have become unhinged from the normal passage of time, with trees displaying fall colors in spring, and stories of travelers venturing within, emerging much younger or older than when they entered. Whatever the truth may be, Lurkwood is a place best avoided, and even the few locals who dwell near it make sure to lock their doors and windows at night.
Nasar takes the bags ”East for dragon tail, northeast chasm for the rest. And get a couple souvenirs for you too. Sounds easy enough, can’t wait to see how this goes horribly wrong, right?”
Deract looks at Dendar, "We got kidnapped after our last mission, he's obviously paranoid. We will take our leave now,"
And with that Deract starts to leave and Lily follows suit, "Been a pleasure meeting you Leo,"
Nasar leaves with them ”Hey its been a while since a mission didn’t go t!@% up so give me a break”
Deract chuckles as they begin to leave. However before they make it to the stairs they hear the rapid thumping of someone descending. A white human man wearing what looks to be tan hide pants, some kind of bright orange vest showing a buff chest area, and a thick yellow helmet runs down. He rushes over to Dendar and holds a wand in his hand, "Dendar my man this might be the spell we need to clear out that souleater in the Plane. We can turn you invisible and we might able to sn-"
Dendar stops this new character before pointing to Nasar and friends, "Harry, we found a solution. These guys are gonna use a hat of disguise on me and we're going to go in and take down the monster. So it dosent have to be one blow. We're just gonna be like gods disciples. Like the tarrasque to Rovagug."
The now named Harry looks at the ragtag team standing before him. He gives a slight wave before looking back at Dendar worried, " You gonna let Leo's drug runners do it? How are you sure there not gonna blow your cover down there? he's now gripping Dendar bath robe by the collar.
Dendar shrugs, " Well they haven't let me down before. Besides Nasar the pale one he makes really good traps, blew my box with a stick out of the water for sure.
A group of deadpan faces can be seen on almost everyone. A lull in the conversation gives anyone a chance to speak up.
Nasar looks at Deract and Lily calmly”Let’s go before i give in a kill someone”
Dendar looks at Harry hopeful. "See look he's raring to go! Enjoy the caverns Il be here waiting!"
Harry gives a stinky look to the departing party.
The party leaves the building and are now in the back sidewalk. Joined only by the skeleton hanging on the lamppost.
Deract looks to the two, " Any preparations before we depart? "
Lily rubs her forehead, "Physically no... Mentally I don't think I'll ever be ready again. Your telling me that Half-Elf and Elf are partners? And they haven't rung each other's necks out. The minute I met that druid I felt the need to mentally vomit. He's worse than your paladin friend! "
Nasar rubs his head ”I would say you get used to him but...he left the poor soul hanging up there...” He rubs his face just filled with disappointment ”Should grab some chalk for caving so we dont get lost and maybe a grappling hook so we can climb up any terrain while dealing with the chasm.”
They both nod in agreement.
After the team gets the items they begin leaving town for their caving adventure. For about 2 hours the walk through the mountainy regions is uneventful. As they scale a rocky hill the silence is broken by what sounds to be a scuffle on dirt or rubble coming from ahead.
”It’d be cool if this was something that could stay as not our problem, but I doubt we’ll get lucky.” Nasar tries to focus on the sound to make it out better.
Nasar and his friends hear the sound of fighting, and the occasional grizzly bear grunt, and another grunt that can't really be determined. After a minute or so of listening they hear the bears nails get scraped off the ground before a loud roar can be heard and a big thud hits the ground. The sounds cease for the time being. Large breaths can be heard being taken in.
Nasar sighs and uses his hat of disguise to make himself look like a big intimidating half-orc probably named andiron or somethin idk. He looks back at the two ”Hopefully if it’s just an animal i could scare it away.”
Lily turns back into her demon form and Deract pulls off his hat of disguise to revert back to his form, "Intimidation time I like it."
Now that the crew is ready, Nasar leads the pack over the hill to see what is at the top.
Over the hill and through the bend,
Nasar and friends find a bear subjected to rend.
A large bulky troll is standing over top the slain grizzly, he is currently pulling off the bears leg and proceeds to put it in his maw. His massive underbite holds the leg perfectly as he grinds it down to a meaty pulp.
Now seeing what the source of noise was, nasar reverts back to normal size and gets lower to the ground. ”Ohhhkay that is not what I was expecting. Maybe it didn’t notice us yet.”
Deract and Lily wait behind some rocks in the background as Nasar gets low to the floor.
The troll continues to consume this bear, he smells the air as if catching a whiff of something new and tasty. But continues gorging on his catch.
”Nasar when you grow up you should go to Uni, Nasar don’t hang out with those kids they’re a bad influence, Nasar why do you sneak out at night? Well watch this mom, cause i’m f%$$ing brilliant regardless.” Nasar takes out a potion of invisibility, he then gets within 20 feet of the troll, taking out the other pound of horse meat that he bought for bean and accidentally brought with him.
I’ll use the smell of meat to lure this bastard away and then we can pass through, that or distract him for the demons to jump him, whichever happens first.
The troll is still chewing on the bear, tearing whole pieces off of it and gnawing on it. It almost seems oblivious to the small amount of horse meat.
Ok don’t want this than maybe i can do something else. He puts the meat away and grabs a handful of rubble and throws in the opposite direction of the party in hopes of drawing its attention elsewhere.
The troll cares not for the random rocks that occasionally plummet from higher elevations, he continues to rip and tear at the bear.
Ok, i really tried to avoid combat but it doesn’t care about anything i’ve done so let’s just do this.He makes his way back to the party while invisible and speaks quietly.
”I don’t have much time invisible and I tried to distract it or lure it away so if we are gonna attack we need to do it now, I’m ready if you two are or if you have better ideas.”
Lily looks around and her wings twitch. "If this dosent work jump him before I get my nonexistent balls rocked by this guy."
She jumps out from behind the rock and does a sensual spin and puts a hand on her waist and one on the side of her head. The trolls spins around to see what the sound is when Lily winks and her eyes turn deep blue. " Hey there big boy," And she throws a wink his way.
The troll growls at the woman before him before his eyes also turn deep blue. His face goes placid before his eyes turn back to normal. She walks over to him and touches his big belly sensually. "Cmon fatty let's go to a cave and do some business." She begins walking as the troll now trails her. "Well I didn't wanna do that but I have a super fan for a week, so let's put him to good use. Let's keep moving."