Magmara, as always, goes following her "sister" to keep her safe.
|
(Althea will grab the "well-made" looking things from the treasure pile (pan flute & boots) before moonwalking out of the seasonal grove. If anyone mentions some of the items are magic, Althea will grab those too.)
Althea will gently suggest Andros take off his armor this time before jumping in the water.
She easily swims through the portal.
Neither Willard nor Andros can identify the boots but the torches are everburning torches.
Eventually, everyone swims in the frozen lake and ends back in the Deepstead well. The objects that vanished during the group's first crossings appear in each character's hands. However, each item has randomly absorbed a bit of First World magic, transforming it.
-Althea's sap: if the item is dropped from more than 2 feet up, the item bounces
-Andros's morningstar:?
-Grax's hot weather outfit: the item cries if Grax leaves a room without it
-Willard's bar of soap: the item giggles and coos when used
-Soleil's whetstone: the item giggles and coos when used
-Magmara's waterskin: the item emits a mild pine scent
-Ecthelien's longsword: ?
Ecthelien's longsword: when placed on a flat surface, the item rotates slowly counterclockwise.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Hey, my sap is back!" Noticing the odd traits everyone else's objects have picked up, she insists hers more closely and notices it is slightly squishier than usual.
She narrows her eyes and raises the sap to chest high, only to release her grip and let it fall. When it hits the ground it BOUNCES, and she catches it on the rebound. "Huh. This could be... interesting.
|
Javon hops over to the clothing, standing and addressing it. "What's wrong? Now see, here. We won't tolerate that from you. He must attend to his armor and sword, you see. We'll be off soon enough together again! We must file a splendid report on this! Of course, you'll be a part of it too. We all should be. And I suspect Jamila will be very interested to meet you. But of course, you'll stay with us!"
Andros's morningstar: when in use, the item repeats everything its owner says in a singsong voice.
|
Soleil is delighted when she finds that her whetstone is back. She quickly moves to sharpen the blade of her short sword only to find it cooing and giggling, which makes her giggle, which makes the moose-rat make weird gurgling noises which makes Soleil giggle harder and sharpen more enthusiastically which makes the whetstone coo and giggle even more which increases all of the other giggling, gurgling, and cooing.
Magmara is pleased to have her waterskin back, though mildly curious about the pine scent. For the moment, however, she is content to watch her "sister" play with her newly enchanted whetstone and First World critter.
Upon the otherside, Jamila and Falbin had prepared a short ritual to close the planar rift and reverse the effects of the verdant zone. The first step in the ritual is to give Azure their colors back. The gnome practically dives inside the bindle bag in their eagerness, an act that not only resaturates the gnome's colors but also restores the sorcerer's joyous, flamboyant personality.
Jamila and Falbin complete the ritual while Azure lavishes praise upon the Pathfinders. They ask each one to recommend a tattoo for the gnome's skin that best exemplifies that Pathfinder's personality.
They also notice something at the bottom of the bindle bag: a handful of tiny glass chips that flicker with elemental energy.
|
|
Soleil is overjoyed at Azure's return to colorfulness and flamboyance. She hugs and dances happily with the restored Gnome.
When asked about the tattoo, Soleil says, "Ooo, fire! But a girl. A fire girl. That's beautiful! A beautiful fire girl! Like me!" and she smilesand waits for Azure to confirm to her that she is, in fact, beautiful.
Magmara gives a slight bow as Azure suggests the tattoo in their honor saying, "You honor me with your request," and after hearing Soleil's suggestion says, "Perhaps simply a hammer behind the beautiful fire girl?" she suggests, adding in the repetition of beautiful knowing full well that Soleil is waiting to hear it.
|
|
Laughing at Azure's joyousness returned, Willard tears his eyes away from the ritual being conducted by Jamila and Falbin.
Might I suggest a small raven, holding a book? Jerking his thumb at the nearby raven, This little one has shown me more enlightenment and knowledge than I thought possible; we're sort of stuck together.
|
|
Althea laughs and dances along with Azure & Soleil for a moment, glad to see the gnome restored to herself again! In response to Azure's question, she ponders shortly and decides "Since it was the blessings of Desna that sent me upon your path, I think a blue butterfly like mine might be appropriate. Perhaps she will see fit to gift your travels with luck and dreams as well." She lifts up the side of her shirt to show a Varisian-styled blue swallowtail butterfly tattoo on her hip.
On the journey back to Bellis, the Pathfinders notice the tropical winds cooling and the overgrown vegetation slowly retreating. When they reach town, they find the streets abuzz with talk of a great stone beast that appeared suddenly in the town square.
As the Pathfinders approach, they notice an elephant that appears to have been roughly hewn from solid rock that towers over tents and kiosks in the Bellis market square. After a moment, a statuesque suli man emerges from behind the elephant, scanning the commons with his electric-blue eyes. When he spots Jamila, he smiles and waves her over.
"Typical," mutters Jamila, folding her arms but smirking in spite of herself, "Even when he's late, Ashasar knows how to make an entrance. Or should I say, especially when he's late."
Ashasar ( warmly greets the Pathfinders (doesn't look like any of you have met him before). "I am Ashasar, Liaison to the Seat of Balance of the Concordance of Elements, as well as the newly appointed liaison between the Concordance and the Pathfinder Society. Lets go to the cozy inn so you can deliver your reports. Perhaps over tea sweetened with Bellis's famous honey.
As they walk, he practically bounces with excitement. The stone elephant shrinks when they arrive at the inn. [b]"He likes to be noticed, so I used a bit of magic to help him put on a show.". He winks at the Pathfinders.
He hands the innkeeper a bag of rocks and several gold pieces. He asks her to heat the stones on the stove explaining that his elephant enjoys resting atop warm rocks. As the Pathfinders settle in, he comments, "Truly, I'm jealous of all of you for getting to go on such a fascinating excusion, but such is the way of a leader, doomed to delegate. Please, tell me what you found, and don't spare the details."
|
|
"Well," Soleil begins, plopping herself down probably, well definitely, a bit closer to her superior than would be proper and slightly snuggles her shoulder against him as she continues, "there was an adorable fey friend who was blue but not like the color but like sad because he didn't have colors though blue had been one of the colors they had but not the sad kind and then we went through the well because they told us to and we had to leave stuff but before we got there we fought frogs and I couldn't get a frog skin jacket but after the well we fought a monkey girl and her dogs and then went to the big circle clearing place where the bumble bags hung from trees and then the fun friends who like games came and we played some games and they left and then we got the stuff and I got this!" and she holds up the furred and mildly growling bindle bag and says, "and watch what it can do!" and she pulls out another strange First world critter and then cuddles it on her lap and she leans against Ashasar. A moment later she looks up, as if suddenly remembering that the rest of the group were there, and says, "Oh. Did I miss anything?"
|
|
Listening to Soleil's very serious description of what happened, Willard smiles, I think maybe a few details Soleil, but that was a great starting point! Ashasar,[b]he begins, pulling out various treasures from the first world, [b]We were able to take samples of the water from the Deepstead well, where the portal was located. We also gathered this skin from some first world frogs which had crossed over. We also have these frozen flowers, flames, and bireds. It was fascinating entirely! Oddly the grove where Azure's colors were trapped had a rapid seasonal change, and I rediscovered by hayfever from when I was a child. Which, I suppose, isn't that interesting, or beneficial. I hope it goes away again...
Willard passes over as many of the items as he recovered, and any of the extras he may have been carrying for Soleil.
|
|
Althea nods matter-of-factly "You covered all the main events, just left a few details out. The 'adorable fey friend who was blue but not like the color' was a gnome named Azure who had their literal physical colors stolen by one of the Eldest. Their subsequent emotional disruption was what opened the portal. We found the stolen colors in a bindle bag within the First World portal and returned them to the gnome. Actually we found them in a very strange grove that changed seasons every few moments, and you could only exit by walking backward. Very strange." She pays very careful attention to everything to Ashasar says, as she is very curious about the Concordance faction. Also he ain't bad to look at! But Soleil got the drop on that, so she is content to be attentive.
|
|
"Yes, the seasonal changes were quite interesting! I suspect the First World was touching various points of our world, but either at wildly different places or even at different times. With the instability of the portal, it could have been shifting faster than the blink of an eye and that was reflected in the changing seasons. The force of them was perhaps magnified by the inherent power of the fey world. I believe that..." Javon prattles on for several minutes about the theory of the worlds touching. Some of it seems quite insightful, while other parts sound like the ravings of a lunatic. When he says something about the fey world's inner light being blown around by psychic noise, even the most dutiful listener tunes him out.
|
|
As the others speak, Soleil continues playing with the fey creature she's holding, at least for the first five minutes of them sharing, and gives varying degrees of attention. She pays the most attention while Althea is sharing, and a decent amount less to almost everyone else, but perked up more as Willard was sharing and adds in, "And I helped him get all that," as she reaches up and boops Ashasar on the nose.
Partway through Javon sharing in lengthy fashion, the Fey creature disappears and Soleil lets out an, "Oh poo!" after which she snuggles that much more against the Suli man and closes her eyes as if she's going to take a nap.
Magmara simply watches her "sister's" silly behavior with a disapproving look, though she says nothing. She just hovers somewhat close keeping an eye on the other Ifrit and the Suli.
|
|
Althea will bump Andros on the shoulder and suggest he get some swimming lessons at the Pathfinder Society. Then whispers conspiratorially "Honestly, I'm not that good at swimming either, I just got luckier than you and caught a current."
She makes sure in the retelling of their adventure she gives full credit to Jamilla being the one to suggest the alternate plane theory.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Althea will pointedly ignore Soleil's molestation of Ashasar, unless he seems uncomfortable with it.
Before parting, Althea will take each of the adventurers aside in turn, offer them a sip of her waterskin filled with her favorite alcohol (rum from Sandpoint) and tell them how she appreciated their help on the adventure, and wish them good fortunes on their future endeavors. It seems the most heartfelt goodbyes go towards the more introverted members of the party, oddly enough for this otherwise gregarious half-elf.
To Andros, she will apologize for her earlier exuberant flirtation "I was only teasing, I hope you weren't too uncomfortable. Plus, you're the first person I got to show this ring off to!" She holds up her hand, and you (probably) recognize the symbol of Amal al-Sahba, an influential high priestess of Sarenrae.
To Ecthelien, (in Elvish) "Having a friend with magic abilities is always beneficial for someone like me so heavily reliant on physical damage. I think we can benefit each other in many ways, so if you're interested let me know of any leads on jobs you get!" She considers teasing him about his swimming skills for a moment, then remembers he's an elf and probably wouldn't take kindly to teasing.
She will also ask how deep his knowledge of Elven culture and history is, then show him a signet ring and ask if he can identify the symbol.
To Javon, she will politely thank him for sharing his knowledge and hopes the Pathfinder Society can help lead him to a way to return to himself again.
To Grax, she will hestiate shyly a moment. "Even though I feel I did not get to know you as well as some of the others, there is something about you... I feel you must be blessed by the luck gods or something." She puts a small piece of wood that has been whittled with a swallowtail butterfly into your hand. "May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind always be at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, and until we meet again may Desna hold you in the palm of her hand."
To Willard, (in Skald/Ulfen) "I had a close friend among your people at one time, but alas he did not survive an adventure in Irrisen with the Society. I have missed speaking his tongue." and repeats the offer of friendship she made to Echthelien, above.
To Soleil & Magmara, she will seriously thank them for their allyship on this adventure. "I see why Valentina befriended you. Or rather why you, Soleil, befriended both of us."She laughs momentarily, then gets serious again. "Any friend of Val's is a friend of mine! Please watch out for her if you work with her again, I'm sure her skills have grown since I've seen her last, but a sister worries. I hope to see more of both of you in the Society in the future. Magmara I'd trust you at my back anytime, but keeping Soleil out of trouble must be a full-time job!" She winks. "And Soleil, keep in mind that sometimes telling the truth works better than lying. But then again, sometimes it doesn't!" She laughs lightly and subsequently makes her plans to leave, off to another adventure.
Magmara gives Althea a bow and a smile and says, "You speak wisely, my friend. I would be pleased if our paths cross again some time," and then she turns and heads off after Soleil who is in the midst of insisting that she is a samurai now since she has two swords.
|
|
No..it's fine. I can tell you were just messing around. Kinda hard to float with 30 pounds of chainmail on your back...my cousins Doran and Karlos can do it easily...the big brutes they are. Oh, my...you've met her? he seems to positively squee with jealousy as he sees the ring.
She is among the most revered in the clergy. I am envious.