Arianna's mouth goes dry at the sudden turn that's been taken.
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Arianna is surprised at first, but couches it under an easy smile and some genuine shyness. "My lord, if you insist. Unfortunately, I can't say I have nearly so much in the way of gossip. Out in our neck of the woods we're mostly just trying to keep our heads above water. We're so busy that I can't say I know nearly as much as I'd like about what's been happening up north. And what I do know, well." She affects a grimace. "I can hardly blame you for wanting to avoid the politics."
I still try to look in every few days.
Arianna enters the ball beside her companions wearing a clean set of clothes, cleverer now than she was a year ago if not better dressed. As she steps in the door, Arianna takes a moment to retrieve a brooch from her belongings. As she goes to pin it on, she stops a moment, uncertain.
I'm still here, I could have sworn I had posted something more recently but I guess not. I wonder if I saved a draft somewhere...
In metagame terms, we're too early into the campaign to have battles. This is something you guys sort through adventuring. Thanks for saying this outright, I've had at least one experience on these boards when I missed some hints the GM dropped about how we were expected to proceed, it might seem like an odd line of comparison but I didn't pick up on the fact that we were supposed to make a deal for information with a Lovecraftian entity and got one of my party members killed, more or less, he ended up as a vegetable, and I left the game out of embarrassment soon after. I lost track of the genre of the game we were playing, which was starting to happen here.
Arianna is flustered by Kesten's sarcastic remark and takes a minute to not be totally red in the face. "At any rate--if we're aiming to do research while in Restov, I know someone who might be able to help." She unconsciously relaxes a little at the thought of Lucille. "I think I'd like to accompany you to Restov."
been lax in checking the boards for new posts but I'm here.
Arianna is unperturbed by the cold as an extract flushes her with comfortable warmth. Still she has a hot tea to keep her mind sharp. "Bold, hm? Don't know if this would be considered bold or not, but we should at least consider whether to take preemptive action against the Kobolds."
I'm making an assumption about who or what Ilthuliak is but given what race we're talking to here I don't think its a stretch.
Arianna listens, and her frown deepens with every word. "Redcaps," she says quietly, recalling childhood stories and more recent research, none of which does justice to the reality. "And more horrors, besides. I don't think any would be inclined to care much about kobolds or Brevans beyond their immediate interests. That said, I don't expect immediate trust between our kinds from the outset. Until the fey threat can be mitigated, we can coordinate our activities against them. Thereafter, perhaps we can arrange a, a neutral zone that separates our territories, such that we may each have some security. There's a lot of room out here, certainly. I don't expect any great love between our people, but there's no reason we can't collaborate."
After listening carefully and thinking it all over, Arianna sighs."I'll follow your lead on this, Aivar," she says. "If nothing else, to watch your back."
Karinna:
"Oh? I don't disagree," Arianna says. "But I'm still forced to deal with it. My little brother and little sister, my half-siblings, are indentured. Their names are Daniel and Clara. To be honest, most of my purpose in going on the initial expedition into the Stolen Lands was to try and accumulate wealth and influence so I could find a way to free them. They were indentured to House Lebeda, as my father and stepmother were, but last winter, their indenture was sold to House Lodovka. It's...unusual, to be sure, but I haven't been able to find out much more about it." Arianna unfolds the letter from the Seneschal of House Lodovka. "I'm getting a little worried, now, because while I've done my best to keep in touch with them and support them, this was the reply to my most recent letter." She shows it to Karinna. "So, I'm a little...worried. More than I was. I had a point, where was I going with this? Right, in an ideal world, I'd buy them out of their indenture. But I have no idea what precedent there is for that, or how much gold it would take to do that. "I had also considered, although for a lot of reasons this is not great, asking Aivar to let me arrange for his household, such as it is, to purchase their indentures. It would be with the gold I earned from our explorations, of course, every last copper, but I can't own an indenture. He can. That said, I'm worried about how safe it really is out here, especially after that damn werewolf, and if it would be too...unusual...to let them live outside of his territory. I just don't know enough." Arianna sighs, and rubs her eyes. "Do you have any thoughts?" Arianna knocks on the table absently. "I think we should also consider the feelings of the people on this. Peace and interspecies unity is all well and good--" She says this a little sarcastically. "--but I don't think many people would be happy to see kobolds walking down the road." She frowns. "Not that I'm saying we shouldn't hear them out, but, we just need to keep the potential for conflict in mind."
When the greater portion of the business for the month is finished, Arianna approaches Karinna. "I beg your pardon, Karinna. There was a matter I hoped I could get your thoughts on. It's not...it's a personal matter, to be honest, and if you're uncomfortable with that, I understand, but I'm just...a little lost. Do you know anything about indenture law?" -- At the news of the arriving kobolds, Arianna huffs. "This oughta be good. Forgive me if I'm a tad cynical about this, after what we saw before."
Arianna slides her letters aside as the meeting begins properly. "Is there enough housing to go around? It gets colder by the hour, and if everybody has a warm bed to return to it might help tamp down on any unrest."
Nariel can also make magic items without having the prerequisites, it just increases the Spellcraft DC.
Arianna raises a glass with the others but doesn't drink very much. When Arianna gets time alone, she packages up a few letters she wrote during nights on watch. The first to her family, asking how things are and sending some money along; the second to Daniel and Clara, similarly asking how things are and how they are being treated by their masters in House Lodovka. The third letter goes to Lucille. Dear Lucille,:
I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write, things have been very busy but I'll be better about it, I promise. Our work is progressing steadily, if not always easily. I owe you a great deal of thanks for your work with the map. Regarding what you found strange about the map, I've been to the edges of the region and confirmed that the map, against all sanity, is true to life. We've even encountered a friend of sorts who was able to shed some light on why the region is so strange, but I fear I couldn't do justice to the tale in the written word. I can say quite confidently that it is magic, a very old and very powerful kind, magic that may even be otherworldly. It's all got me unsettled, but writing this, knowing that you will read it, brings me no greater comfort. I hope that this letter finds you well. Yours, Arianna Wending After the financial crisis and before anything else happens, she also goes to see Aivar when they're both free. "If you have a moment, Aivar, there's something I wanted to discuss with you."
Arianna listens with rapt attention, her frown deepening. "That's...this is unbelievable. A Queen of the Winter Court? A unicorn leading a counterattack? A, a land just appearing? It's so nonsensical so why does it explain so much?" She counts out on her fingers. "The dead unicorn, the Stag Lord rising to prominence, the dwarven maps, the rivers running the wrong way, and now..." She turns to her friends, and says, "How are you being so casual about this?!"
"I don't know that it's wise to encourage trade if there's plague," Arianna says, once away from the village. "Don't get me wrong, I know that this village would benefit if we could get trade moving thisaway, but disease, disease is really bad, with how fragile things are."
Arianna takes the flask and drinks from it. "Urgh. Disgusting. The plant, not the drink. The hell is with the plants, anyways? They're huge, and eat...anything, seems like."
Arianna moves in--and looks up at the creature now towering over her. "Oh, shi--" is all she gets before it snaps her up. For a moment, in the literal belly of the beast, her limbs lock up, and she would scream from the acid if her jaw weren't stiff. She doesn't think, just acts, pushing through the paralysis with force of will backing up the strength of her body. Nevermind that she can't see, she knows she has her axe in hand and desperately, angrily cuts away.
Arianna rushes in, rounding the plant creature and raising her axe. "Raquel! Are you okay!?"
If Haste is in Effect, Else, Ignore: Arianna quickly studies the monster, though she isn't certain what it is, and swings at it.
Arianna shouts, spewing curses as she tries to move forward through the mud while racking her brain and coming up with nothing. As she runs she pulls out a glass flask filled with swirling oils, which she pours onto her buckler, and her handaxe. The gases sting her eyes and choke, but she is resolved and has eyes for the creature.
Arianna returns to Thornhold eager, and is encouraged by the sight of a Watch--and stays stoic at the sight of the men (and boy) in the watch. As opportunities arise, she introduces herself to the members of the newly-assembled town watch and tries to put names to faces. At the meeting, she does her best to keep up. "We did make some accomodation for festival days, they were, erm..." she says to Tristan, and flips nervously through her journal.
Arianna glances at the map, tracing the route Nariel suggested. "Hm...we could do that, I just hope that we can rely on being able to cross there."
Arianna follows with some hesitation, recalling stories from her childhood of those who went to fey places, believed themselves there only briefly, only to return and find a lifetime had passed. She keeps her wits about her and watches closely for any sign they are being tricked.
Still alive, just getting over something I got from my little cousin.
Arianna pats Dimo on the side. "Just hold on, buddy, there's something weird," she says. She checks the map (briefly pausing and smiling at Lucille's inscription, god a letter was long overdue), and traces the river. "I wonder...we're nearly to the edge of the map, maybe this is connected to the other strange things about the Stolen Lands...or maybe it's just a fey trick."
Arianna braces herself through the hit, part of the impact dulled by the wind currents swirling around her body, and she launches into her attack. Once, she misses, twice, she hits, and with a flash of insight, her axe bites deep.
Today is not a great day for Arianna to try making acrobatic stunts to avoid attacks, but even so she still ends up right next to a scythe tree. She studies it and takes aim, striking as hard as she can.
You can tell I've never played a character who used Power Attack much because right as I was about to post I decided to check and see if the effect was on the attacks individually like I thought. It wasn't, but at least I figured that out myself.
Arianna steadies herself and with a quick glance, picks out the little details. "Scythe trees, plants, weak to fire, watch those branches--" In the corner of her eye she sees Nariel right before the elf vanishes. "Okay you overgrown weed!"
She misses once, reassesses, and delivers a more careful attack that aims for an opening left by Aivar's assault.
I am sorry, but I have actually been spending Thanksgiving with my family and don't have a computer and cannot figure out how to edit my profile and stat line on mobile (nor do I really want to, I'm afraid of accidentally deleting something important). I'll be back home tomorrow but in the meantime, I have HP 51/51, CMD 17,Per +7, and saves are F+5 R+9 W+4. Active effect is Ablative Barrier
As the trees lurch to life, Arianna is calculating in her head, and what her calculations come up with is that she is within reach of the trees' furthest branches. The air around her ripples with the influence of her new extract, and that bolsters her confidence...
Maybe too much so. She comes out past Aivar and downs another extract, this one enhancing her shield.
Level up notes
Draconic is a tad obscure but it's the major language of arcane magic and there's a kobold colony not far from our settlement. Ablative Barrier has hours/level duration and it's the only 2nd level extract I have so I'll take it in the morning and after midday so it'll always be active while we're travelling.
I do have access to Fox's Cunning but two things, one, Alchemy as a class feature is weird, you can't take item crafting feats and technically I don't even have a Caster level, two, I only get one new extract each level and have no other use for Fox's Cunning. ...and on top of that Arianna is irritated enough to not want to ask Nariel to let her look at her spellbook...
IDK where you would buy a scroll of Fox's Cunning, we don't have a magic shop. It's unfortunate you can't copy spells from my formula book seeing as I have good reason to invest in Int, too. Anyways this is a very good level for me, I get 2nd level extracts, Studied Combat, and Studied Strike.
So on one hand I don't know that transporting this guy to Nivatka's Crossing is a job for the entire party, but you don't split the party and I don't want to put it on NPCs cause I'm afraid he'll get free and kill somebody. And also I don't have any subordinates to tap to help transport.
"And to think you almost had me fooled!" Arianna says in wonder, and pushes the werewolf forward. "Move it."
Arianna watches in wonder, but also checks to make sure the rope doesn't come loose with the transformation. She looks upon the werewolf with suspicion evident, but there's also some irritation aimed squarely at Nariel.
"Abadar grant me patience," Arianna says quietly. She wants to smash the werewolf's face against the ground and claim it was an accident, she wants to open the werewolf's throat with her knife, she wants to get angry at anybody, but she doesn't. Instead, she speaks very clearly. "I'm placing you under arrest, on suspicion of--of serial murder. God what am I going to tell the poor bastards at Nivatka's Crossing..."
Arianna pauses to listen to Nariel, closes her eyes, and sucks in a breath. "Nariel, when you were in the service of House Lebeda, did the late Baron ever arrest a criminal, personally? What about Dame Sarrona? My family was all servants, so maybe I'm wrong, but I really doubt they did, because things like that were..." She makes a look of disgust. "It was beneath them. Things like this is the job of myself and Yuri." She checks the knot again. "I also want to point out that we don't have the means to imprison someone, let alone a werewolf. If Aivar--if Lord Kurisyl," she emphasizes, "Wants the werewolf to have a trial, then I will do my utmost to make sure that happens. But the werewolf will need to be transported to Nivatka's Crossing tonight."
And if Raquel or Aivar had delivered a coup de grace I wouldn't have batted an eye, it's a werewolf, I would have done the same, but he's not only unconscious and helpless but his Lordship wanted to bring about justice so it looks like I'm arresting a werewolf. I thought we were in Brevoy, not Ustalav.
Arianna is thrown into shock at first when the werewolf just drops asleep on the spot, so much so that she doesn't react at first. "I...oh, hell. Give me that," she says. She takes the rope herself and ties the werewolf's hands, very snug to keep him bound but trying not to cut off circulation. The task she was given was vague at best, but she believes that it is her responsibility to ensure the safety of prisoners in her care.
"I'm going to wake him. If this is what's happening we'll do it right. Damn it, I should have said something as we approached, but there's no changing that."
That's a really long and roundabout way of saying 'are you sure you want to do that?' :) So here's the difference between what happened to Oleg and this werewolf: this werewolf wasn't being backed by a G!@ d*%n noble capable of hiring a Hitman after he outlived his usefulness. What happened to Oleg was a tragedy, but we are not the absolute authority and even if we were! It would be suuuuper sketchy to hold a trial with us involved. There is a reason that in the real world, judges recuse themselves from serving if the case at hand involves them or their personal interests, it's to prevent corruption. You can't honestly tell me you would give this guy a fair trial, can you?
Arianna makes an expression of disgust. "Gross," she says. She moves forward, drawing her weapon and taking an extract.
Really I could have just as easily done Diplomacy there, my modifier for Sense Motive and Diplomacy are equal, but it never hurts to put a little more effort into these things.
Arianna puts some work into investigating the information Tristan found, particularly working out what sources might be credible and what can be safely discounted as rumors.
With the effects of Tristan's clumsy efforts to allay fears making themselves known, Arianna considers the situation. She goes to Aivar, and she says, "I think Yuri's right, something needs to be said so people know we have this under control. What we know is this: there was an animal attack, and somebody has been killed. We're looking for the creature responsible for the attack. If you start throwing around theories about wargs or...other things...then that's when people go throwing around accusations at the neighbor he doesn't like."
Arianna stands bolt upright at the sight of the body. She, too, never came to know Merrim very well, but the poor girl. It might be selfish of Arianna, but her status hits close to home, too. She buries her emotions as she approaches to take a look. "Who-or-whatever did this, there was a reason behind it. She might have been targeted or just been unlucky, but to go out of their way to mutilate her body. Maybe this is supposed to send a message?"
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