The group makes camp, Fyr heads off to hunt.
After an uninterrupted night's rest you wake up as Myrianna is making preparations for day travel. Fyr has returned and may even share from her hunting.
She pulls a few logs from her marching cauldron and pulls out one that is on fire, which quickly makes your campfire. She begins to pull out most of the items within and finally instructs the cauldron, "Up you go, now bring forth potion brew 37." After the liquid pours in from a spigot within the cauldron She grabs a ladel and begins stirring as she chants.
She sleeps by herself or in the loving embrace of Myriana, in her sleeping roll. Though there are quite a few down pillows to rest upon too. Most of the comforts of her hut are with you now.
When she wakes up she restocks the fire unless someone has already done so and calls up, "Stew 5 please. Thank you!" She then offers to the group, "Stew for breakfast! Fyr do you have any meat to share?"
On the route North she keeps her eyes open looking for threats
She just follows, likely close to Myriana to enjoy the shade.
Desseer wakes up and begins concentrating. "It looks like my used spell stuff is back." He then looks down and realizes that his aasimar guise is gone. "Oh, right."
Again he rubs his hand through his hair and his visage changes back to that of the golden haired, bronze skinned aasimar. "That's better."
"What are you up to Iris?"
"Huh, I think So'ren is headed back to...the south."
With a smile she states, "Its just stew! Come and get your fill, I know most of us still eat... food."
Soon after Desseer's observation about So'ren, you see Breaking Dawn coming down to land near the group.
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Riding behind So'ren you see a unnaturally strong and healthy man who nearly glows. His nearly white skin looks to not seen the sun for years. You barely notice that his skin radiates a glow. He sits just a foot over Soren and weighs easily 300 pounds. He is rather thick for a human but has a lot of muscle too. His dark black straight hair nearly absorbs the sun's light.
You find some more but scare them off. They heard you... but you do scrounge up some roots and tubulars.
Fyr will return with her prizes ans grumble at the lack of it but still comes back, making sure the group hears her
" I want a forest or larger game. Stupid rabbits!" She sets the things down and then sits down and looks at the other.
" Someone make soup! Im not a cook, especially here" she chuckles put down the rabbits and tubers and roots.
"Wait is he food?" She says seeing the man then sighs.
"How goes it"
Once they reach the group Galahad notices the witch accompanying them
"Hey! I see you folks made a new friend while we were away. We did not meet anyone new, but we did get some gorgeous booty."
He says with a chuckle and taps the load being carried by Breaking Dawn and then realizes by Fyr's reaction that he hadn't explained the situation yet
"Oh, no Fyr, he's not food. This is Morgrave, he's just a little more... alive. It happens that his organization still had his body and a table of ressurrection, pretty handy if I do say so myself."
"And who would you happen to be, young lady?" - He asks the witch
She steps forward and bows, gracefully saying, "Thank you for the recognition oh Great One. I am Kristrille Iris witch of the Green. Not associated with the kingdom anymore though. Please help yourself to some stew the cauldron stays hot as long as I will it. The Mistress of the Underdark graciously provided for the stew!" As she speaks the cauldron drops off the items that were residing in it and begins to boil with the stew again.
Galahad nods, so she was indeed a witch. By Mistress of the Underdark he assumed she was talking about Fyr so that was likely made with the meat she had hunted. Which did made him curious about how it'd taste, but awakened no hunger on his undead form.
"I appreciate your offer, but unfortunately I will not partake. I believe such meal would be wasted on me." - Galahad says, grabbing a small spoonful of the liquid portion of the stew and pouring down his mouth, which immediately phases through his jaw and lands on the floor.
"One of the downsides of being the Untouchable, I regret"
He looks around for a moment
"Tell me, I realize this path is not the way we came from, are you all heading somewhere?" - He asks, intrigued
Fyr giggles." I like this one, I will not eat him!"
Fyr giggles as she the tilts her head." Are you talking about me? I'm Fyr the Hunter, Weaver of Death, Mistress of Webs, Princess of Spiders. I am not rhe Mistress od the Underdark. That is more appropriate to another"
Fyr took a bowl and heartily ate as she looked down at the others." I am a master hunter and trapsmith. Focused on the wilderness."
Another bowl is consumed and she giggles."Each of us here have titles earned. Grueling adventures and quests that tested us and made us who we are"
"Mistress of Webs then, unless you don't want that title spoken?" She says and nods in consideration.
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Fyr giggles." I like this one, I will not eat him!"
A bit sardonically he asks, "Does that go for your babies too? Though with a web weaver the possibilities for BDSM are magnified!" He then gives Fyr a wink.
"We are glad we met you on the way. We were heading towards the fishing village you were investigating. So where are you heading now?"
Myriana enjoyed snuggling with Iris, she was used to such things with Konda at night and she had troubles sleeping alone. Of course she quickly found out that she couldn't sleep. Apparently her undead physiology made that impossible but she could still rest. She quickly found herself in a meditative state and that seemed to be as close as she could get to true sleep. It also gave her a rather sizable amount of practice in ignoring the warm blood within easy reach.
When the next morning came around Myriana was already awake, she had to be if she were to survive, and had begun to cast her protective spell on herself at regular intervals. She found Iris' skills with her cauldron to be fascinating and watched with interest as the pot cooked. When Fyr returned with the rabbits Myriana went over to look at them and asked, "Do they still have blood in them or did you drain them already nya?" She figured she might as well drink their blood if it was not already drained out, waste not want not.
When the others caught up to them from the north Myriana was a bit surprised and when Galah'ad asked who Iris was Myriana let her lover speak for herself. When Iris asked him if he wanted some stew and he demonstrated the folly of it the catgirl couldn't help but snicker a little. It was around then that she noticed Fyr staying close to her nimbus of gloom she cast a copy of it on her so she had her own patch.
Unless I'm miscounting, So'Ren has 6 slots taken up by her magic items, and the headband will be slot 7; she will carry what she can of th erest in the chest for an 8th slot and then 2 more slots of items, filling any slots Breaking Dawn has with surplus or bulky items.
So'Ren accepts some of the stew. Her ring prevented her from having to eat, but she had to admit to some curiosity as to what rabbit tastes like. "John's old hangout was ruined but still had some worthwhile finds. The table that gave him new life in this clone body, for example. We've got some gear you all can choose from if you want; much of it was either not our style, redundant, or just unusable by those of us who went to the ruins."
Desseer continues eating the stew as the others do introductions. His thoughtful gaze lingers on the warlord after he had been identified.
When he finishes his stew, he clears his throat and speaks up. "That fishing village is part of the Veil Kingdom. Which is run by a mage king. To the north and northwest is the Dwarven Empire, apparently. We were heading north to the town of Drother and then likely continuing north after that to the capital to meet Hawthorn the king."
"Also apparently knights and paladins roam around 'keeping peace'. So, during our travels we are taking measures to not start a war."
Galahad frowns when he hears the word "Paladin", enemies of undead and evil creatures. Not a great match for their group, he understood why Desseer wanted to avoid them.
"Mage King... they were the ones at war with the undead centuries ago. Morgrave, you know anything about this Hawthorn? If he's human then it's unlikely you've met all those years ago, but maybe the name is familiar."
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He nods at Desseer's words and chooses to not make a comment.
He looks towards the likely source of information, Iris, "Sorry I hadn't introduced myself l. I am Warlord John Morgrave Sorbin, it is nice to meet you Iris. Which Hawthorn is currently ruling, the 2nd?"
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"Yes, I was alive during that time. Somehow I became a ghost. Many of my memories are hazy at best. I am sure the important ones will return."
She bows in response, "He is Hawthorne the 5th, though since Hawthorn the 2nd we have had ten rulers. Each with 10 to 50 years of reign. I wont bore you with all the details. So that means you are from the Age of the Mage Kings. I would love to hear your view on the histroy!"
"You are weird man, and my Babies are at the Guild. Threadimg and thriving in the many datk reaches..." Fyr looks away blushing and then eats some more soup. As she does she composes herself and then looks back at him.
" Mages with a history of fighting undead...hmmm, I would assume there defenses are extensive and keyed to keep undead out.I doubt though a smaller force couls probably inflitrate.They probably have anti vermin magics. I mean I am no arcanist, but all such things have flaws if you look in the right places." Fyr says as she thinks. As she does she inadvertantly begins to sharpen her sickle.
: I could probably get in and kill this king. Assuming the gaurds srop birds from coming in and out. Though gettinf out would be tricky but I doubt impossible." She giggled.
" Or I could kidnap him and bring himback for my babies!!! They have never had a king before, I might partake my..." she stopped and then looks back down.
" Sorry, I used to do all this monologinh before a potential mission afk or at least muted. Apologies everyone I was rambling" the deider says forgetting herself for a minute. She had a bad habit of doing that.
Galahad turned to look at Fyr, worried
"I don't doubt you'd be able to infiltrate the place Fyr, but... fighting by yourself a wizard whose powers are completely unknown to us sounds incredibly dangerous. I remind you that this king's great-grandfather was at least partially responsible for the device that trapped me, Morgrave and Lady Tearsu. We shouldn't approach this carelessly. I mean, why are we even talking about killing him actually? We don't even know him, are you trying to get something from him?"
"I doubt we want to bring the weight of a Kingdom down upon us at this point, Fyr. If you want your babies to have a king, we'll need to find a suitable feast and begin long-term planning for the web you lure him into. Fortunately, if we're careful, we all have long lives to live and accomplish such goals." So'ren says.
"That is indeed one of the benefits of the forms we have now, the ravings of time won't be a bother anymore at least and taking over a kingdom does seem an interesting manner to occupy our time."
"I'd be lying if I said I am not curious to see what lies within the city but going back to the Guild would be necessary if we want to stash the items we took, unless you folks wanna claim some of these for yourselves first... which reminds me, would Breaking Dawn be allowed to enter the city? And if so wouldn't people be... shocked?" - He asked with caution, a Pegasus was a rare mount by YGGDRASIL standards, but he had no idea if winged horses were commonplace in this world
" Lure him into a web..." Fyr thought about it and her face blushed more and she shook." ,,,No, I could never .I never really did that in my..well you know from before. BesidesI wanna figure out how to alter myself to be more bidepal sometimes. I mean honestly a nice meal amongst people would be interestinf...I bet they have some amazing food! Oh and clothes. I need to know the fashion here. I wanna make sure my masterpieces are truly works of art. Clothing fit for a Queen!!!" she exclaimed as she rose up and placed a hand on her chest ans tried to appear fanciful.
" True I doubt Franklin would be welcome. Jimmy...maybe. As for living a long time. HOPEFULLY i mean Im not undead. But yeah I do wanna enjoy this life. I mean look at this beautiful countryside!!! Its nothing like back home!" Fyr says as she gets more soup.
" I think our more humanlike members should go to the Capitol. At least for now.At least thats my vote. Thrn woth the information of"spoonful"...Paladins , we should be more alert then ecer! she slurps somemore of the soup and then looks at the others. As she does she wipes her chin and smiles.
" Good stuff. Now of only they had Takoyaki"
Desseer nods, "Yes I was planning on investigating some more things in Drother before traveling north toward the capital. I would very much prefer to have more information before my inevitable talk with the king."
"That said, I am curious about the items you have found."
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He looks around and realizes, "Well the ghosts should be able to pass for humans. It seems Desseer can change his form. Myriana could easily pass for one too, just stick to the shadows. Hmmm..." He looks at Fyr and analyzes her for a bit. "Nonetheless I think it would be best to get to Drother and rent out a house or the top rooms of an inn. It would help all of us collect information faster, also then we can spread out the wealth we found. Or we act in squalor here..."
Galahad tells Desseer and all the others who are listening about the items they found, how they are already using some but there are several others they either couldn't use or couldn't identify.
"I apologize for this Fyr, unfortunately my ability to disguise doesn't extend that far, unless one of us has an illusion or transformation spell in hand I believe you'll have to be in your wildshape, at least in public"
He nods at Morgrave's idea
"An inn... yes, that would likely give us the space we need. Ah, staying at an inn truly would feel like we're real adventurers!" - He said, excited.
"... Though killing someone and taking over their house would be cheaper and could also work... what, no, why did I even say that? Please ignore this, slip of the tongue." - He said, a little frightened over how the thought of killing someone he never met seemed so normal and logical to him.
Desseer pauses on his way to investigating the recent loot. "Oh, that is probably unnecessary for the moment," he says turning toward John. "Drother is just a small stop to gather a little more information before heading for the capital. If we are going to set up somewhere, it will likely be best that we set up in the capital. This is either for the sake of a forward base, or for manipulation, depending on the best way to deal with Hawthorn."
"It still might be possible that setting up in Drother is best. But we won't know that until we have been to the capital. We are at the scouting stage. Let us not get ahead of ourselves."
"And John," Desseer says, looking the warlord in the eyes with a serious expression. "I need to know that you are going to be able to keep your composure. I know you have an axe to grind that is many years in the making. But, this is going to take some time."
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He seriously responds back to Desseer with conviction, "Yes, I will keep my composure. They may be the descendents of those that I fought but I won't hold that against them. Now if insult is put in my face, I will follow your lead before acting." His hand is upon his blade as his words seem nearly an oath.
☆☆☆
As the conversation dies down he asks Soren to produce the table. It is a large stone table large enough to lay upon. Then he begins putting items down including:
Weapons:
Frost +1
Thundering +1
Silver amulet with saffires (unidentified)
Righteous fist amulet
Scabbard of honing,
Bracers of verdant vine,
and the rod of ice
"Depends, I guess, if we want to truthfully tell people in the capital that we are from Drother. If we have a residence there, it might aid the less deceptive among our ranks to have a version of the truth to offer." So'ren suggests. "In any case, we didn't fins any hats of disguise or anything like that which would be useful in disguising your natures."
" I mean we could once we get more acclimated begin some sort of industrial goods to sell. No organization is worth much without capitol."Fyr said as she adjusted herself, eo she was more on the others level. Being as tall as a person astride horseback wasn't easy.
" As for the magic here it seems these things could be possible." Fyr says then elavorats."Something about my appearance. Though maybe I could look somwthing like Ren with fairer complextion and blonde hair!" she gigfles rhen sighs.
" But My urge rihhr now is to find someone to hunt down and capture, or kill! Wonder if it has somethinf to do with my Weaver of Death title?"
Desseer shrugs, "Fair enough. It certainly can't hurt to have a residence in Drother. By the by, I plan to keep some distance from you all while among the people of this kingdom. I don't mean any offense. "
"None taken, but why would that be? Other than Fyr all of us look or can look perfectly humanoid, or is it that you're planning to do something you don't want us to see, oh leader?" - Galahad asks with a sarcastic chuckle
"Speaking of which, what would our disguise role be? Adventurers? Mercenaries? Diplomats? We need to make up a convincing story as to why we arrived at the city, better yet if it's related to our goals... whatever they are. Also fake names might come in handy."
When Fyr spoke of trapping someone in her web and then started stumbling as she tried to explain what she meant the catgirl couldn't help but giggle and said, "Aw, if you need help learning Fyr-chan I Can help with that nya. That's how I survived before, I enticed men and women to take me as their mistress..." Her form drooped beneath her cloak a little as she added, "which makes it concerning I haven't been pulled out yet nya. I'm guessing it means we can't be nya."
The discussion shifted to where they would go and she nodded in agreement as she said, "I agree we should not go to the capitol yet nya, and that we shouldn't rely on spells to do it safely nya. Even polymorph abilities can be seen through if you are strong enough nya."
"Fine by me Desseer. Why not start now?" So'ren smirks. "Just kidding."
"I don't know what their initial reactions to my form will be, but I'm sure between carefully chosen words and the proper applications of spells, I can have them eating out of my hands in no time. If we go the noble route, I can function as either the nobl eor the bodyguard/"
"That is a conversation for later, I have thoughts, " Desseer quickly interjects after Myriana's comment about not getting pulled out.
"My thoughts, Galah'ad, were that if I am more separate then if either of us are found out, we will not ruin the other's efforts. Also, we are much more notable as a big group as opposed to smaller groups."
"I do want to get a head start in Drother. With you alls leave, I will check on the loot and then head out."
Galahad nods at Desseer's remark
"Ah, divide and conquer, I like this idea. So you would go alone to do your own thing? Or are we splitting into groups? Separating to avoid suspicion might be good, but splitting too much doesn't seem like a very good idea" - Galahad remarked, still with a videogame mentality, YGGDRASIL was a social game, so exploring alone was rather unadvisable.
Hearing So'rens words Galahad remembers that the witch mentioned the Underdark
"That is a good question So'ren. Tell me witch, you have mentioned the Underdark. I assume that Drow are a familiar race to humans? Perhaps with a better reputation than the undead?" - In YGGDRASIL the Drow were one of the few humanoid races who were usually evil alligned, however that might not be true to this world as well.
" No, I..you.." Fyr blushed as Myriana spoke flustering the latger drider. She then fiddles with some spidersilk and begins to weave it i to fabric.
As they talk Fyr looses herself into making silk. As they finish she has a good ten foot long bolt of silk cloth and then blinks."Sorry I weave when nervous. Or sew. I did in my.." she was gonna say past life but cut it off.
" Here Desseer, have this silk you can say you are a merchant looking to sell silk. I assume silk isnt common here? Tight?"The former office worming forester said holding out the 10ft long x 4 foot wide, by 2 inch thick spoder silk.
" At least it vmcan help you seem legitimate"The drider says looking up not as flustered
Hearing So'rens words Galahad remembers that the witch mentioned the Underdark
"That is a good question So'ren. Tell me witch, you have mentioned the Underdark. I assume that Drow are a familiar race to humans? Maybe with a better reputation than the undead? - In YGGDRASIL the Drow were one of the few humanoid races who were usually evil alligned, however that might not be true to this world as well.
"Drow are a familiar race known for taking slaves also known for their cruelty and merciless attitudes. Better than undead, yes, but not by far. There are dark elves which are more akin to Drow than the other elves but they are nomadic and live as barbarians."
"That is a pitty, looks like you'll have some trouble mixing in too, So'ren
"Wait, Barbarian elves? Are they berserkers too?" - Galahad said with a laugh
Elves with barbarian class levels were rare in YGGDRASIL because of their penalty to physical toughness, of course that creating an optimized build was not obligatory in the game, there was always that one player who thought playing a barbarian gnome was the funniest thing ever, but usually elf players would be spellcasters or dex focused martials like rangers or monks. The idea of seeing the slender and graceful elves going into rage in real life was something that tickled even his undead funny bone.
"That is something we just have to see!"
"Keep up the yuks and you just might get your wish." So'ren says in her best faux gruff voice, then breaks into a smile. "Nah, cant't do it with a straight face."
"My cover is a stranded planar traveler looking for a spellcaster able to send me back. My journey is likely to take me to the capital. If any of you can come up with an aligning story, I welcome you to join me."
Desseer shrugs again and continues, "My plan B is to get to the capital and set up or take over as an information broker. Knowledge is power, pretty much always."