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Ugh. One of my posts last week got lost somehow. Mea culpa. Was travelling over the weekend. I'll get caught up tomorrow
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Welp, didn't take long for Christoph to give up the game.
Jitters, combat trained and provided by the Pharasmin church to their appointed Speaker, finally begins to calm down as the distance between him and the giant predator opens. Christoph listens and, despite the mutual incomprehension, tries to clarify, "Yes, a message. Telling you that the Professor passed away. Faded, you said." "Ah, you're saying Lorrimor was important to your people -the Kin?- and like with any other important person, many came to grieve? Be sad and remember him?" As he listens, the cadence of the elf's speaking and her wording becomes more clear, though still requiring him to pay close attention to interpret. "It sounds like he was a true professor. A man of great knowledge and who knew many things. Did he visit the -ah- Kin to learn more about the islands and your people?" Christoph glances sideways and watches carefully, "Or something else?"
Christoph mouths silently, "oyster cankers"[/b], before comprehension dawns, "You traded pearls for your lessons? Hard gemlike shiny spheres" He looks on, torn between sympathy, suspicion, and amusement, "Many languages for many people. This is Taldan we're speaking. I also speak Elven -Kyonin Elven-, Skald, and..." he trails off with a pained expression, then finishes, "And Varisian" He's silent for a moment, wrestling down the old familiar screams and [i]sounds that never seem to fade. Clearing his throat, he continues huskily, "Maybe if you tell us how you got here? We can work back to where you came from and what we call your lands? He adds mentally to himself, If we know the name.
Patting Jitters reassuringly as the horse rolls its eyes and tosses its head as the massive snake and it's rider approach, Christoph himself eyes the serpent warily. She may ride it as easy as a horse, but that doesn't make it one. "A complicated canvas rope, right..." He nods along with her rambling explanation with only moderate comprehension, his concentration split being making sense of her accent and avoiding Jitters bolting. He glances at the baggage she mentions and says, "I see, so you're paying your respects to this Master Lorrimor? I assume the message wasn't good news if you're paying respects to him. Lady of Graves give your friend his due rest." He rides in silence for a moment studying this strange elf that had joined their company. If she's with the Way, she's some kind of good actor. He asks conversationally, "So who was this gentleman? Mister Lorrimor? It sounds like he was an expert of some sort or another. He helped your people somehow? And come to think of it, I'm not even sure I heard who they -your people- are..." He trails off and waits.
It seems like a great plan given the number of missing folks and that it's got to be a lot of work for you. You've done a great job with it, by the way. Are you thinking about seeing off all of the DM PCs or only a subset? Mechanically, 2 add ons with some arcane/front liner coverage seems like our biggest missing gap.
Ok, megapost is up. I'm all caught up and posed a question for Sunny
At the weaverworm's lair:
"Oh..." she answers his query, "it, uh... kinda just came to me? Sometimes, when I hold an object that someone found meaningful in life, I just, kinda, like know things about them. You know?" Christoph's stern demeanor softens for an instant, fast enough that anyone not looking for it might well miss it. "We can hope. Perhaps Pharasma hasn't taken him yet. Only She knows his true fate. This ability of yours is curious." "Hunh...psychometry. That's a very rare talent." His eyes flicker to Rhia as she explains, then back to Aliseya. Not for the first time, he ponders, Clearly no ordinary Varisian soothsayer... new power on new power... nothing to do but our task, I suppose. Taking a moment once the retrieved bodies are settled, Rhia sits beside the body of the hunter woman first closing her eyes for a moment. As she opens her eyes, they glow with an ethereal white light as she rests a hand on the corpse's chest, breathing out as her exhalation flows into the woman's mount like a sudden inhalation of breath as her magic calls across the veil. "Why were you here?" Christoph tenses, the magical nature and the possibilities of what Rhia is doing shocking him. She wouldn't... As the corpse begins to answer, he watches sternly from nearby with his arms crossed. The habits of long years as a hunter of necromancers are not so easily set aside. If he is bothered by the sights and sounds of a broken body being coerced to answer, he doesn't show it. "I lost my way... when... diabeł w szarości... bewitched me......."] The language, never forgotten but rarely spoken and only with trepidation, catches him off guard and he takes a moment to remember. Devil in gray?, he glances at the dead weaverworm and nods at it, "diabeł w szarości, is the devil in gray in the local tongue. Appropriate." At the end of the interrogative, he waits for the body's final slump to go and study for a moment. "Well enough. Deftly done, Miss Van der Geist. I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with that." He glances at Sookie for a moment and arches an eyebrow with the faintest trace of a smile on his lips. "Let's see that these two laid to rest."
Christoph sighs in relief as they make it to the hut and his pessimism is proved wrong. He "I'm glad your hope was proved justified, Miss Belododia. I have the bad habit of always fearing the worst." Trailing the others into the house, he positions himself to keep an eye on their horses -and snake- from a convenient window. Otherwise, Christoph let's those whose social grace might recommend them in good company break the bad news. He stays further back, and tries to avoid looming darkly behind the others in the man's hut. He bows his head and murmurs, "I'm terribly sorry for your loss, master Marduszi. Both miss Van der Geist and I are Pharasmin agents if you would like us to say some words." Despite his best efforts, he finds himself constantly following Sunny's eyes as they flit about the room from shiny to shiny like a magpie. If I don't break my habit of watching what my companions watch, I'm going to go insane. Kjell would be rolling and laughing if he could see me now - skurwielu. He smiles fondly at the thought of his mentor.
He comes to the same conclusion as Aliseya after a moment's reflect. He glances at her, "You're a font of knowledge, miss Belododia. I had to think on that for a moment before I recognized it." Christoph, likely surprising no one, opts to 'rough' it as he has innumerable times before. He takes the time to prepare an alarm before he sleeps and keeps his weaponry close at hand.
Waking refreshed, Christoph opts to spend his time before the funeral in meditative prayer. The past weeks had been trying and the familiar routine of silent prayer and readings from his worn copy of The Bones Land in a Spiral are a balm. After one unexpected and blushing encounter with Sunny's morning routine, Christoph makes a point of facing the hut for the remainder of his meditation. Lady of Graves help me, have I met anyone sane since this quest began? Relieved that propriety has reestablished itself for the funeral, Christoph offers his condolences a final time. At the ring, he shrugs and says, "I only know that nobles are more likely to have the time to get into trouble that requires my attention. Not much else."
As they ride, he makes a point of keeping the newcomer in his sights. She's coming with... but we never did figure out why. His natural propensity for suspicion flares at the mention of the name Lorrimor. He asks, casually as a suspicious inquisitor can, "Who is this Master Lorrimor you're looking for?"
Sorry for the extended absence! I did have some computer problems/work stuff/health issues but I think I'm back in a better place. I'm going to try and get caught up here tomorrow/Weekend. I wrote a big catchup post back when I last posted on discussion and lost it and then the rest kind of cascaded. :( I really like his character, especially the background we came up with together. I'm glad! I really like him too. He's probably my favorite character background that I've played. Looking forward to getting going again.
Just a heads up I'm still here but had a series of unfortunate events to deprive me of a laptop to make it possible to get caught up (including a winter storm that shut my power down for the better part of a week). I just got back in town and will try to get caught up tomorrow.
Christoph lowers his bow and watches their monstrous foe for any sign of movement until Naught unceremoniously lops its head off. Nodding his approval, he finds himself confronted by the energetic elf and her outstretched hand. Looking down, he pauses a moment before tentatively taking the outstretched hand with his free hand and shaking firmly. He elaborates, very slightly, on Aliseya's introduction, "Speaker Christoph Metzger." The Speaker returns his bow to its case with practiced ease as Sunny moves to the others in the group. With his stocky build and height, Christoph Metzger looms like a statue or gargoyle. With his black and red uniform, he would blend into the gloomy interior of the tower if not for all the webbing. His face, set in disapproval, may as well have been carved from rock for as much as it varied as he watches the proceedings. As the investigation begins, he moves closer (though he warily eyes Chauncy as he does so) and studies the corpses. "From what I know of weaverworms, it seems entirely likely they did eat them."
Kneeling by the corpses, he opines distractedly (as Chauncy continues to move around), "Neither is anyone I know. The woman was killed a few weeks ago and the man only a few days ago. Their blood was drained, but I couldn't tell you much more." He listens to Aliseya's explanation, then nods thoughtfully, "If she's been gone for weeks and he's not been able to fetch water, I fear the worst. We could go and seek him out, though I'm curious why you think they live -lived?- nearby?" As he says this, he notices the letter that Sunny and Zelda had identified. He steps over and takes it when they seem to leave it be and opens it carefully (with the aid of his dagger if needed).
In fairness, it's hard to beat a rogue with sneak damage. :D I'm going to try :)
Christoph, having had time to study his foes movement, lets loose with another flurry of arrows. An new ominous whir accompanies each arrow as it leaves his bow.
The Speaker, waiting and watching diligently, bursts into motion only fractions of a second after the monstrosity he had been expecting erupts from its den into view. "Face your judgment, beast of Urgathoa!" True to his words, he launches arrow after arrow with ease of long practice. As he fires, he steps away a few feet to keep a clear line of fire on the creature.
Happy Thanksgiving to those in the states. I've had a few busy weeks of work leading up to a vacation this week and then I got Covid while travelling. It's been a mild case (congestion, mild cough, intermittent headache) but it and some weird technical glitch so that I couldn't login via my laptop delayed my posting.
Forgot to mention the spell I'm casting is Weapons of Awe.
"Not normal, this is a weaverworm's den. Think room sized insect and human monstrosities. Pretty sure we're on the menu and nothing, not even magic, will change its mind. Probably." Christoph watches the room warily for sign of the creature. How is something that big still hidden... Don't like the idea of this thing behind us. Picked off too many with whatever drew them here. With his course of action clear (in his mind at least), he chants again and an ethereal dagger glowing blue white materializes overlaid with the arrow nocked but not drawn on his bow. Wispy tendrils of mist the same color seem to encircle the bow. "Right, not sure if we can get away, but this is a menace. I'd prefer to end the threat."
Christoph glances at Aliseya and nods before returning his attention to the still charmed Zelda. Grunting sourly when his magic fails to return the apple pie addled woman to sanity, he nods his agreement with Sookie. "A trap." Motioning for her to follow, he says, Let's not antagonize our new 'friends' and deal with this threat. I'll take front in case I can see anything." He pauses a moment to chant again in prayer, "She who judges, grant me your sight." Eyes glowing softly, he pushes past Zelda with bow at the ready. He scans the room with an eye for the foes that are sure to be lurking.
Also still here. Hopefully Kartari is doing well.
Christoph gives off shaking his companion with an irritable grunt. Brigh's buttocks! What a damn mess. Before he can decide on his next course of action, a massive serpent -elf woman in tow- crashes into the glade and parks itself directly in front of Christoph and Zelda. Christoph's instinct outruns any conscious thought and he has an arrow nocked and ready to loose long before rational thought has time to catch up. He holds off shooting as the elf women cheerily greets him and then slips away just as fast as she appeared. Leaving the gigantic serpent directly between Zelda and her apparent destination. For a long heartbeat, his fingers are ready to let slip arrow after arrow before he slackens his bow and grunts, "No reason to think things would start making sense now. Damn forest..." Potential crisis averted (for now), he catches up to the muttering women -apple pie?- and chants the prayer familiar from his earliest days as an acolyte, "Lady of Graves, grant your guard against the wicked." Tracing the Spiral, he touches Zelda on the shoulder and hopes will work.
The whispering sounds of the harp echoing through the forest momentarily enthrall the Speaker. He feels that he should remember the melody and he strains to remember where he could have heard it before. Losing himself in it, he even almost crosses The Boundary into the memories of the before-times; he almost opens a door that hasn't been opened in many long years. A sense of warning, like a bell going off and overriding the haunting melody, breaks his ensorcellment when Zelda breaks cover. What on earth? With the fog on his mind clearing, the overwhelming feeling of alarm makes the next deduction trivially simple. The Speaker curses, "Dawnflower's dung! She's enchanted." Sparing no further glance, he tosses Jitter's reins around a the knot of a tree and says, "Be ready and make sure noone else follows. There's still that thing in the tree. I'm going to try and break the enchantment on her." With bow in hand, he pauses only a moment to chant in prayer and the holy Spiral, glowing soft white, appears above his forehead for a moment before dissipating.
He then follows Zelda at speed, keeping a wary eye on the forest, and wracking his memory and lessons for any hint of what creature may be luring Zelda into the forest.
Christoph nods his acknowledgement of what Rhia says as he silently fetches his bow from its case and strings it with easy familiarity. ------
With bow in hand, Christoph Metzger keeps a careful watch on his surroundings. Long experience tracking through forests every bit as eerie as this let him filter out the creaking of the branches and the normal sounds of a living forest. The soft cry -for help?- draws his attention off the trail and to his right.
He nods agreement with Rhia and opens his mouth to answer when he spots the serpentine creature at the same moment. Drawing an arrow, he slips from Jitters and tracks the creature with hands steady on his bow. What was that? He flushes slightly as he sees that Aliseya is correct. Riding starkers in the forest. On a giant snake. Pharasma protect... He glances at Zelda as she proposes to take the lead, then nods in acknowledgment. She'll be better at it, I expect. Keeping his hands on his nocked arrow, he follows behind her at a distance doing his level best to avoid making more sound then needed in the forest undergrowth.
He halts, some distance behind the elusive rogue, when raises her hand in alert. Having not heard anything to raise an alarm, he strains to see or hear anything that would give her cause for worry.
Hi, sorry I'm here just been brutally busy. I'm trying to get caught up.
Sorry, I lost access to my account for a bit there due to a password reset issue. Hope everyone is doing well/is still around.
Breathing breath of the still brisk morning air, Christoph studies the edge of the Shudderword from the path with stoic reluctance. If they're expecting us, there will be plenty of cover for them. The passing thought was similar to the ones that had been running through his head since their harrowing encounters in Schloss Caromarc. No use waiting for an unpleasant task to get less unpleasant. Just finish your duty, Speaker. Turning to the rest of our party, he gestures to the head of the trail and says, "That looks like the Silent Path that the Judge told us about. If we push hard, we can be at Ascanor Lodge soon enough; a few days, perhaps. I think we'd best push in, but keep an eye out. It'd be an easy place for the Way to deal with us permanently and none the wiser. Never mind the natives who'll be in there." Once he sees that the others are ready, he starts Jitters to walking with a click and a gentle tap of his heels.
Nodding pensively, Christoph gives the Varisian dancer an appraising look as her lengthy speech draws to a close. "Your reasoning seems sound to me, Miss Belododia. The Way can add this to their numberless crimes. With the souls of the engineers at rest, this discussion is only of interest in outlining the powers of the foes we hunt. That the Way is dangerous is not news to anyone, I hope." A smile, small as it might be, graces the Speaker's face as Aliseya's more normal character reasserts itself. Curious... He nods, "Away from here sounds like a fine idea. I'm ready when you are."
Level 8 - Inquisitor
Grunting sourly, Christoph looks down at the remains of the wights. "Pharsma, Lady of Graves and Judge of the Dead, grant the souls of these men a swift passage to their final resting place." As he recites, he traces the Spiral on his chest with his free hand. Taking out a rag, he cleans the head of his mace but doesn't return it to
Unbothered by the too familiar stench of death, Christoph chants the short words of his orison and a light flares up from morningstar.
He cautiously listens at the opening from which the wights emerged and then (assuming he hears nothing else) holds his morningstar up to the opening to see whatever is on the other side.
Christoph, his hands still numb from his misplaced swing into the wall, moves with preternatural speed to bash the remaining wight attacking Zelda.
Christoph, with further undead encroaching, can spare no more time for the wight descending the wall then a preternaturally quick swipe of his mace.
Recovering swiftly, he turns to the others and wordlessly bashes at the emerging wights. The gibbering voice, always lurking when he fought the undead, is tamped down ruthlessly as he focuses on what he's been trained to.
Christoph's training overrules his first surge of fear as he swings mechanically at the creature that Zelda has manhandled so adeptly.
"These are wights! Don't let them touch if you can as it's unnaturally draining. If any are so unlucky as to fall to them, they'll become a wight themselves so be wary." The grim recitation by the Speaker doesn't stop him from swinging with divinely gifted speed at first the creature between him and Zelda and then at the next to come in reach.
Coughing to clear his lungs of the dust from the wall's partial collapse, Christoph peers into the darkness that he and Zelda had cleared. His eyes widen and he starts to shout a warning but before he can the skeletal hands erupt from the darkness. "! If these are the workers, they're undead. Damn that Caromarc!" With his reserves of magic depleted and the threat unknown, Christoph wastes no time in using the most powerful of what he has available. "Blessed Pharasma, my Lady of Graves, grant me strength and insight to confound these abominations."
[ooc]Not sure if I have cover and therefore am not threatened; DC is 21[/dice]
Congratulations on the new role! Sorry for my absence as well. I'm working to close multiple projects at once on top of a bunch of personal stuff. Please feel free to DM-PC me as needed for the next 2-3 weeks. Looking at a reply now.
Sorry to hear you're sick Naught. Hope you and yours recover well! As far as the wall goes, napkin math suggests it'll take Christoph about 3.5 minutes to break it down but Sookie should do it much faster.
Pulling himself back into the hallway, Christoph is silently pensive. No way to secure yourself why you break the wall, that won't do. He looks again at the wall and, as he does, he starts as inspiration strikes. "I think we best break through in here. There's no foothold or other way to secure ourselves out there. We'd have to hold a rope at best. Not the best condition to swing a hammer or mace." Motioning to the others, he says, "Let me try this wall, unless we'd rather get Sookie up here." Once he has room to swing (without hitting one of his companions), he begins to batter the wall with his morning star. somewhat futile attacks:
Christoph, having battered furiously at the wall, frowns at the few chips and holes he'd made so far. Breathing heavily, he shakes his head and calls to Sookie, "I think you're going to have a better chance of breaking through then I am. Care to give it a try?" He'll offer his morningstar to her if she agrees.
Christoph grunts sourly and pulls himself back to safety."I could try, but I don't think this spell will last long enough. I hear groaning -weak- from the other side of the wall. we best hurry about it. Your rapier sounds helpful, but I think we might want something with heft to start." He fetches the heavy metal-headed weapon from its straps as he says this. Christoph looks for somewhere he can tie off a rope or otherwise secure whoever will be bashing the wall.
Listening to the scratching, Christoph follows the sound as it gets louder to the end of the hall. We searched here. Trusting that he'd have seen anything unusual with the wall, he instead leans out slightly into open air (having taken a firm grip of a crack in the stone) and looks at the wall of the tower itself to see if anything unusual is out there.
Assuming he can immediately see the patch of smooth stone:
Seeing the unusual patch of wall, he asks Rhia, "This... uh... help from your ancestors-" he grimaces slightly, "how much longer will it keep me in the air?" Assuming Rhia immediately responds that it will last ~a minute: The Speaker nods and moves quickly to the end of the hall, he takes a good grasp on the corner of the stone wall and steps into open air. He studies, quickly, the smooth patch of stone as he looks for some evidence that it leads to the source of the scratching sounds.
Christoph, still retching from the stench of the room, has to focus a moment before he can say to Naught, "Invasive surgery: no. Parasites: it depends. Is this something from today, or something from..." his eyes flicker to Aliseya, "Or something from before? I might be able to help." Christoph motions the others to return to safety above as his nurses his still recovering stomach. That hasn't happened in a while. I'd thought I'd gotten past that sort of thing. Casting another quick glance around the room, he follows the others up.
"So the sound is here, clearly, but our earlier search turned up nothing. Do you have another idea? We could take longer to search, of course."
Christoph takes in the sights of the room well enough. There was nothing here that he hadn't seen before. But the intensified stench as he enters, perhaps combined with his fatigue, is enough to cause him to retch. Seeming to master himself before he can stumble, he takes a few panting breaths through his mouth as he concentrates on avoiding losing whatever of his last meal that might remain. "Right... not here. Up it is. Any idea where we haven't looked up above? Just across, right?" He suppresses another urge to vomit and adds quickly, "I'd prefer to move on quickly and discuss where else to search outside the room if we can."
Christoph nods his thanks to Sookie and Rhia. he gives his own answer to Aliseya's question, "Hopefully just my paranoia, given what else we've seen in this place." With the tight quarters, he puts his bow into his magical quiver and fetches shield and morningstar. He looks to the rest of the party once, asking, "Ready?" If no one objects, he opens the door.
If Christoph reacts to the humor directed at his predicament, he shows it by scowling. That he's already scowling makes it impossible to tell if he's bothered by the party's amusement or not. At least my stomach isn't ready to empty at the drop of a hat anymore. He listens a moment to Aliseya's story as it is told again to the newcomer. No more control then before either, not that I'd expect much progress in a day. Heaving a sigh and resigning himself to more worry, he focuses for the moment on his task. He stares suspiciously at the doors. Despite having heard nothing, the stench is almost overwhelming. With everything else we've seen so far, this can be nothing good. He glances upward and nods to Zelda as she appears, "Yes, I think it would be best if all or most of you join me. There's something awful smelling on the other side and we should be ready for trouble."
Stomach still churning, Christoph surveys the room as he tries to decide how best to proceed. I'm ready to be done with this tower. He gestures towards the double doors below the rest of the party. "I can take a look if I can be lowered and towed towards the wall." Fetching a rope from his pack, he ties one end to his waist and tosses the other coiled end to Rhia.
Christoph twists to bring his bow to bear as his spin worsens. He looses another pair of arrows as he begins to do loops in midair.
Christoph has no time to ponder the strange threads of fate that have lead him here and with these unusual companions. Instead he's focused only on the elimination of the remaining threat. Despite his increasing instability in flight, he looses arrows with furious speed. He begins to softly spin in mid air.
Christoph, having heard Sookie's suggestion, nods and with only the slightest hesitation turns side on to the door and pushes himself off from the ledge towards the middle of the tower room. With his stance now facing the fungus creatures from above, he fires again ().
Full attack:
Gazing down at the fungus creatures, Christoph gages their rate of closure and wordlessly nocks, draws, aims, and looses. Two arrows quickly follow one after another towards the violet fungus.
I doubt it will help me all that much here. :)
Woops. All I can say is I was tired. :P Should I copy the post into play keeping my rolls?
"I'd recommend finding something to throw." Christoph reacts quickly after Zelda's surprise assault. He quickly takes aim with a flurry of arrows at the nearest of the plants.
Christoph is thinking we all go in the next room together. Glad to hear everyone is home and hopefully doing well Rhia.
Stashing the wand and potion in his pack to be dealt with later, Christoph contemplates their dilemma as the even more keen eye'd Zelda fails to find the source of the sound. He calls over the chasm to the others, "There doesn't appear to be a way to the sound in here. Perhaps the other room will, but it has the violet fungi and basidrond. If we're going in there, it'd be best to be together. I think we need to try if we want to find the noise's source."
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