Mydravos grabs the rope with Sven, well we should pull him up rather have one idiot die than two.
Together, Sven and Mydravos are able to pull Ashok back up the ramp and extinguish the flames from his unconscious body...
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Damned fool! curses Ashok, watching helplessly as the flames burn the motionless Rowena at the bottom of a blazing slide... Only a few seconds pass as he struggles internally, self-preservation finally losing out to his code of chivalry... He curses again, under his breath, and begins to quickly tie one end of a 50-ft-long silken rope around his waist, handing the other end to Sven... Mighty Shiva, please let this rope be long enough... he prays, before leaping onto the flaming slide and sliding down toward the burning, unconscious changeling...
Ashok screams as the flames envelop him, and he collapses on top of Rowena, burning and unconscious!
Wait, Rowena... warns Ashok...
Ashok follows Mydravos...
Chuckling, Ashok moves a few feet forward, grin replaced by stern countenance. He closes his eyes a moment, looking at the kobolds with his third eye chakra, seeing the red glow of base selfishness that radiates from their auras...not strong enough to blaze the infrared of true evil yet...
To his allies, he whispers: I shall play along, my friends... To the kobolds, in a loud and commanding voice: COME FORWARD, LOWLY LIZARDS OF TIAMAT! THROW DOWN TRIBUTE BEFORE THE MIGHTY HERALDS OF APOCALYPSE, LEST WE CHOP OFF YOUR HEADS AND USE YOUR SKULLS AS DRINKING VESSELS!! Grinning back at the others, eyebrows raised, the Hindi paladin whispers: Was that good?
Ashok readies his sling with a lead bullet for ranged attacks as soon as the green kobolds come within a hundred feet...
Who knows what the gods were thinking when they devised this distraction? We are a diverse lot, with differences in ethos and morality, to be sure... Perhaps this will make it more interesting to them for us to be challenged by our differences when we most need to cooperate, and empowered by them when the time comes for us to compete. Ashok accepts the healing wand from Mydravos without hesitation.
North of here stands a ziggurrat filled with raiders and treasure. Shall we try there? Or do we want to explore this Citystate more first?
What about these Towers of Travail that lay outside the canal, where various outlaws and monsters lair and gather loot from raiding the fringes of the Urban Domain? Might that not be the first places the gods have set for us to try? They are, after all, closest to our central palaces...
So, if we are intent on taking this Urban Domain first, let us visit the Guild houses, temples, military barracks, and other important factions, get an idea of what is going on here, yes?
We should consider the possibility that this Urban Domain might actually be the hardest one to conquer. Maybe one of the other domains would prove to be easier to pacify? The infrastructure and society here seem complicated. Maybe one of the other domains just has a bunch of monsters to beat into submission, and then we can use them to attack the city? Just a thought.
His wound fully healed by the soothing divine bath water, Ashok climbs out. Sorry, I fell in...
B+%%$#+S!! Get in here, handsome! chuckles Rowena, and she grabs Ashok by his shoulder pauldrons and pulls him into the hot bath! Ye saved me life, boyo! Ye deserve a good hot bath 'n more, for that. She adds lustily... *KER-SPLASHHH!!!* AHH! Okay... I'm still wearing my armor... Um... In my society, you would technically be in a caste specifically called the Untouchables... and I'm flattered and all, but, um...
*GASP!!* Am I in Tir Na Nog? This feels niiiice...Ah, good, you're awake. You're not in paradise, my lady, but at the Hamam in the Urban Domain, Which they call the Free Citystate of Pandora... Wiping water off his face, Ashok grimaces... Uh, yeah... We only looted enough gold off those raiders for you to have a bath, my lady... I figured you needed it more than I...
*GASP!!* Am I in Tir Na Nog? This feels niiiice... Ah, good, you're awake. You're not in paradise, my lady, but at the Hamam in the Urban Domain, Which they call the Free Citystate of Pandora...
With the loot we took off the raiders, we barely have enough gold for one of us to take a healing bath... sighs Ashok, Let Rowena have it. I'll manage...
"Few days?" Sven scoffed. "Ye all think that there was a band of hobgoblins just riding about? This entire area has been made by the gods for their enjoyment. They were created and sent at us. Or summoned as we were. I doubt that we'll be allowed to sit around licking our wounds. Not that I blame anyone here. Just speaking reason. Let's make our way to this city. Perhaps we can find something there to see to these wounds. But like I said, very much doubt we'll be allowed to sit still." Pausing to hear Sven out, Ashok reconsiders. Perhaps you are correct, sir. There may be a healing temple somewhere in the Urban Domain where we can have our wounds tended... Ashok gently lays the unconscious Rowena down on the cobbles. Looking at Ealsealf's clockworks (Jingle and Jangle), he says: Can you have your automatons carry her gently, please, Ealsealf Greenleaves? He stretches and slowly rotates his wounded shoulder through its range of motion, wincing painfully...
Ashok lifts Rowena over his shoulder and carries her back to her palace, giving her over to the care of her clockwork servants. He then returns to his own palace to nurse his own wound.
Wincing in pain, Ashok says: Although most generals would advise against dividing forces, it would seem that, with out divine healing magic, we have little choice. I will need a few days to recover from this wound... And who knows how long she will be out... he adds, nodding at the unconscious Rowena.
Ashok watches in disbelief as the three remaining hobgoblins and their axe beaks run away from the bemused summoned dire rat, who vanishes after six seconds back to wherever he was summoned from... Haha! Well, we shall have to catch some rats to keep as pets to ward off the cowardly hobgoblins of this land... Rubbing his wounded shoulder tenderly, he looks at the unconscious changeling. She looks so peaceful right now... I never imagined she could look so serene... Can any of you heal her?
SHIVA PRESERVE ME!! shouts the beleaguered paladin as the hobgoblin raider on its axe beak bears down on him... He swings his longsword at the charging beast... and draws blood!
Badly wounded, Ashok raises his shield and carefully withdraws out of the reach of the hobgoblin raiders' blades... I'm sorry, my friends... If I take another blow, I don't think I can stay on my feet... mutters the humbled paladin...
OUCH!!
Feeling blessed by the fey Ealsealf's fairy magic, Ashok swings his longsword at the downed hobgoblin... slashing a bloody gash in its shoulder!
Now that there are two hobgoblin axebeak riders within sword's reach of him, Ashok swings his longsword at the axebeak on his right hand side...
[ooc]Initiative They look evil even from here... Shall we form a line, or go run amok?
From interrogating the pair of automatons I found in yonder palace, I have gathered that there are six Outer Domains adjacent to and surrounding this central Courtyard. Our first quest is to pacify each of these quarrelsome realms, and to place one of us as Overlord over each. Is that what you have also come to understand? Ashok asks to no one in particular...
I confirmed with my eyes what my nose was telling me... There's an evil smell in the air hereabouts... But no matter... We have a Game to get on with, yes?
Eyeing the hulking woman with suspicion, and also the horned tiefling, Ashok clears his throat. Forgive this brief assessment I must make of your auras, my new companions... But I must know what I should expect from each of you... Ashok gazes at each of his new companions briefly, as if examining their karmic auras...
Ah... So... Thank you...
"Merry meet to you, our newest companion in the Game of Mortals." Merry meet to you, as well! replies the armored Hindi with a smile and a bow.
A tall, armored warrior steps out of one of the palaces and walks toward the others that are beginning to gather. Namaste! I am Ashok Raven, a sacred warrior of Shiva. I will do my best to represent my patron honorably.
Looks like I'll be Marduk's pawn... |