"Magical swords are special," Elena says to Finley, her voice soft despite the normally harsh edge her accent provides. "I can promise that one of us will use the blade, if you want. But if you want to adventure, I can help you by adding the appropriate magic to your heirloom weapon. You would just need to be patient with me. Are you willing to wait? Or would you prefer a release?"
Elena makes her case, but as soon as she makes a promise to the ghost Finley begins to fade. At the last his morose expression turns to one of peace...
Noroc blinks twice to be sure the ghost is actually gone, then heads toward the northeast corner of the room to find the sword. A promise is a promise.
In the northeast corner of the room, a loose floorboard hides a secret compartment holding the magical sword and a leather pouch containing 120 sp.
Noroc hands the coin pouch to Bibi for counting and looks over the blade. Dunno if you have a name, he muses to the blade, but I shall call you Sting Finley's Promise.
He allows Elena to determine its properties before securing it to his waist.
Tal cannot help but smile. This is the life he'd lead, this is his path.
He points north.
"We've one maybe two chambers there, and there's another structure outside that adjoins the porch. North?"
Elena takes a minute to examine the magical blade.
Elena concludes that it's a mystical blade that is enhanced strike harder, but also make the wielder invisible. Probably not more than once per day.
Tal leads the party north to the first of two remaining rooms in the house. This bedroom is starkly appointed. A wooden bedframe has slats but no mattress, with a battered trunk at its foot. On the other side of the room is a small, simple table holding a ceramic pitcher and a matching, empty bowl. Tightly latched shutters over the windows block out the light.
”With a few feather filled mattresses, this could turn out to be a lovely place!”
...I just wanted to put my grandmother’s sword to good use...
Bibi's eyes widen. Waitwait...Finley, who was your grandmother?? Was she Otari???
”With a few feather filled mattresses, this could turn out to be a lovely place!”
Yes, but it definitely needs some touches, dunnit??
Bibi checks the trunk.
Well, you'd have to let some sunlight in first, Noroc says. Even the attic at the Rowdy Rockfish has some light.
He moves over to the trunk and gives it a once-over.
Tal goes stern and hard, nocking an arrow and readying to shoot the trunk if it moves or threatens his friends.
Sadly Bibi is disappointed when he replies that she was not. Noroc finds only an empty trunk
"That leaves only... There!"
Tal leads the way out onto the porch and over to the last unexplored areas of the property.
"Or rather... THERE!" Tal says, amending his earlier jump to an erroneous conclusion.
"Bibi, get the door."
Carrufikus follows the others and looks around thinking about changes they could make to really make this their home.
This bedroom is starkly appointed. A wooden bedframe has slats but no mattress, with a battered trunk at its foot. On the other side of the room is a small, simple table holding a ceramic pitcher and a matching bowl full of leaves. Light streams in past one of the shutters that hangs slightly ajar.
Resting in a wash bowl is a cat-sized creature, a winged snake with iridescent scales and bright feathers. "Hi! I'm Olli!" it says with clear Taldane.
Elena takes a moment to study the winged snake, attempting to recall anything about such a creature before she speaks.
"Hello, Olli." replies the gnomish pilgrim with as much grace and reverence as possible. "I am called Carrufikus. I am a humble servant of the Song of Spheres. I am honored to meet you."
Elena, confident that this is a scalliwing, is put at ease. The smallest members of the couatl family, Scalliwings resemble their larger kin but are roughly the size of a house cat, and a irascible mischievous streak tempers their kindly nature. "Song of the Spheres is a good start. That reduces the odds that I'll have to call down powerful magics to explosively untie all your bellybuttons."
"What brings you to my lair?'
"Are you going to untie my belly button?!". Carrufikus exclaims as he looks. He then realizes that he is being joked with by a beautiful couatl like creature.
"What brings you to my lair?'
"Most noble, Ollie, we did not realize that this was your lair. We are sorry to intrude. We ourselves were looking for a place to call home for a little while. Had we known that this was your home, we would not have bothered you. Have you lived here long?"
Olli tilts her head and grins, showing her sharp teeth. “I suppose you could stay here... if you do me a favor first! That mean bully in the dining room keeps sending its spiders to catch me in their webs. If you can make it leave, then you can stay here! I've lived here for some time.
Not sure how long. Time is a thing creatures with fingers and toes worry about.”
Tal is amused. He bows his head with respect.
"Mighty One. If you mean the Spider Shepherd, we have dispatched it, and slain all the spiders we could find. The dining room is empty now. If there is another... Elsewhere... We companions will see it through."
“That’s wonderful!” she exclaims. “You’re such good friends—of course you can stay here. You can even pick out your own bedrooms! This one, obviously, is already taken. Other's? No. I'm not a fan of rat, but I think you may have a rat problem in the outhouse.”
Olli grins mischievously. “I suppose, with your hands and fingers, that you’re very good at catching fish? If there are fish, I don’t see any reason to leave. I'm happy to keep an eye on the camp and drive away minor pests while you’re out on your adventures."
Bibi's eyes widen at the creature. Wow...you are positively LOVELY!! I'm Bibi, and...and can I just touch your wing, see what it feels like??
She reaches out unconsciously, but doesn't actually approach without permission. She's clearly quite taken with Olli.
"No touchy the magnificence fren."
She stops her hand, then lifts it open-palmed, and backs away, still wide-eyed and smitten. Ok, ok, sorry, it's just so pretty.
"I mean, you're not wrong."
"Wow! You are letting us pick out on own rooms and we get to live here with you! This is amazing!"
"I KNOW, RIGHT‽"
Elena takes in the whole conversation with an amused grin on her face. When Olli mentions rats in the outhouse, she says, "We should deal with the rat problem. It would be nice to... be able to use it undisturbed."
Even approaching the outhouse is enough to see that it's not an outhouse, it's a storage shed. Approaching is also enough to hear the noise of a handful of giant rats inside....
"I'm quite tempted to burn it and the rats to the ground. But I suppose that endangers the rest of the structure. Hrm. I don't suppose any of you can summon some sort of Giant Holy Housecat, can you?"
He takes a position by the door.
"If not... I'm ready when you are."
"Actually, there is something that I can do. It's not a cat, but a snake should do the trick. Be ready to open the door."
And with that, Elena performs the necessary magic to summon a ball python.
Elena summons up a snake just as Peldur opens the door. A full half dozen giant rats pour forth! They seem less interested in a fight, and more interested in running away. A large hole chewed through the wall means they also burst south and out the southern (broken) door!
You get a quick glimpse beyond. This square room holds shelves of boxes and stacks of crates. Nets, gaff hooks, rods, and other fishing gear hang from the walls. The filthy wooden floor is strewn with ragged scraps of sackcloth and gnawed bits of wood.
Round 1:
Rats: Flee!
Peldur: Go
Elena (and Snake): Go
Bibi: Go
Tal: Go
Carrufikus: Go
Noroc: Go
Initiative assumes Talborel is Scouting
Avoid Notice (T)
Detect Magic (A: +1 (U), N: +8 (T), O: +1 (U) , R: +8 (T))
Investigate (A: +8 (T), C: +8 (T) M: +1 (U) N: +5 (T), O: +7 (T) , R: +5 (T), S: +8 (T))
Search (E)
Avoid Notice (E)
Scout
Elena lets out a very Ulfen curse. "That worked better than I'd planned!"
She focuses on the magical tether between her and the python, willing it to strike out at the food.
The snake coils and strikes out twice, slipping on the wooden boards asit does so.
The diviner then waves her hands in the appropriate forms, creating crackling electricity that leaps out at a pair of fleeing rats.
Bibi stabs at the rat she's flanking with Peldur
Elena's snake misses on the first bite, but Elena herself:
PASS
FAIL
kills one rat and wounds another.
Bibi kills another, but can't follow up the opener.
ROUND 1:
Rats: Flee!
Peldur: Go
Elena (and Snake): ATK and Kill
Bibi: Kill
Tal: Go
Carrufikus: Go
Noroc: Go
-----------------------------
Location: The Fishery
Green: 10
Noroc politely steps in front of Peldur and the snake — pardon me, good sir, and it's not readily apparent which good sir he means — and chops at the nearest rat with his "walking stick"...
...before stepping back out of the entryway.
Noroc steps up and nearly beheads a rat in a single blow!
ROUND 1:
Rats: Flee!
Peldur: Go
Elena (and Snake): ATK and Kill
Bibi: Kill
Tal: Go
Carrufikus: Go
Noroc: Hit
-----------------------------
Location: The Fishery
Blue: 6
Carrufikus casts Electric Arc on both the Green and Yellow Rat.
Carrufikus fries two more rats!
ROUND 1:
Rats: Flee!
Peldur: Go
Elena (and Snake): ATK and Kill
Bibi: Kill
Tal: Go
Carrufikus: ZAP
Noroc: Hit
-----------------------------
Location: The Fishery
Blue: 6
Tal strikes a rat with his bow...
Vs. Blue,
He steps forward and fires a second shot at Red
Vs. Red,
Tal expertly puts down the remaining two rats. The commotion, however, has attracted the house's final two squaters, a pair of ornery crocodiles!
ROUND 1:
Rats: Flee!
Peldur: Go
Elena (and Snake): ATK and Kill
Bibi: Kill
Tal: Kill
Carrufikus: ZAP
Noroc: Hit
Crocodiles: TBD
-----------------------------
Location: The Fishery
Blue: 6
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Tal starts to yell in surprise!
Wanting to protect the casters, Peldur drops into Crouching Tiger and rushes the croc.
Peldur steps up and lands a pair of glancing blows, but the croc's skin is tough than that. He's going to have to land a more solid blow if he wants to hurt it.
The croc fights back, gnashing at the brawler:
for
It then grabs hold of Peldur!
To the north the other croc finds more food with Noroc:
for
It grabs the man and then tucks its legs and rolls:
for and knocks Noroc prone!
ROUND 2:
Peldur (47/60, Grabbed): Go
Elena (and Snake): Go
Bibi: Go
Tal: Go
Carrufikus: Go
Noroc (21/44, Grabbed, Prone): Go
Crocodiles: TBD
-----------------------------
Location: The Fishery
Blue: 6
Carrufikus looks to the ornery crocodile, points his finger at it, and cries out, "Fizzlefrost!". to cast a Ray of Frost at Green.