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"Give me an hour or so for the shopping, and then we can go. We'll need a horse to go along with our carriage, plus supplies for us and it. Anything else you can think of that we might need?" She asks, as they head back up to their room so she can retrieve money.
Emme shakes her head "No, I think that makes sense. It sounds like a smart plan, at least." Finishing eating, she asks "We'll leave soon, right? If so, we'll want to make sure we stock up on supplies before we go." She goes quite, thinking for a few moments. "Our enemies are looking for a raven and a young lady with bright red hair, on foot. They might know about Arshee, but it's going to be hard to determine if she's a normal cat or not. What if we disguise ourselves? We could buy a proper carriage, nothing too fancy, but better than our little cart. Your current form is unknown to any save myself and Arshee and I can use magic to alter my appearance. We'll still stick to your plan, but if we look nothing like how we're supposed to, that gives us even more of an advantage, right?"
"Bren, we have no idea what we're facing, or even if my family is still alive. We have to at least find that out! I know you might be scared, but you have both Arshee and myself here to help protect you." Emme says, a bit teasingly.
Emme pauses eating to reply. "Mr Brennus, I know you are very excited about unlocking the true power of your new magical staff, but in case you've forgotten, we still need to go to Daggermark and figure out what happened to my family." The young lady says, just a bit crossly.
"Good idea. Okay, let's go shopping first, and then we'll go talk to Holgarin about the staff. Umm, you're going to probably need to assume your tengu form to make sure the clothes fit properly. Maybe use an illusion to make it look like you aren't naked?"
Thankfully, Emme was *not* drinking this time, as she probably would have spit out her juice. She chuckles at her teacher. "Yeah, I don't think suddenly being a naked person is a good idea. And yes, hands are wonderful." She says with a laugh.
Almost choking on her orange juice, Emme takes a few moments to process what Bren just said "You can do what now?!"
In the middle of forkfuls of pancake, Emme asks "No offense Mr Brennus, but what might a raven need to go shopping for?" GM stuff:
"No, and it's entirely possible that once we leave the immediate area I'll return to Heaven." The warrior replies. Emme places the staff on the disc with the rest of their spoils. "Wasn't this shrine the resting place for the staff? Maybe it was hidden here like the rest of this stuff?"
Haroth swings his greatsword at the ghoul right in front of him, intending to then strike a second ghoul.
Emme, seeing how badly hurt the last two ghouls are decides to finish them off, hoping to impress her teacher. She fires another pair of force bolts at them. Thanks to whatever power is infusing this place, the two missiles are also stronger than usual, and drops both ghouls.
Haroth fails to make his save, and grunts loudly in pain as the negative energy rips through him. However, he's a veteran of Heaven's wars with evil, and stands his ground. Meanwhile, Emme doesn't like that her friends have gotten hurt, and invisibly sneaks up behind Haroth, and tries to heal him. However, something rather unexpected happens. A wave of positive energy washes over all at the ritual site, healing Brennus, Haroth and Arshee and damaging the undead. Wait a second. How the heck is Emmeline casting a healing spell?!?
Emme fires a pair of glowing green missiles at the ghast, slamming into it's chest. She then promptly disappears. Bren successfully steals the staff, however it's just a bit too big for him to catch. It lands below him, in clatter. The ghast registers the theft, spinning around looking for who or whatever was so brazen as to rob it. Unfortunately, this leaves it unprotected for a flying furious cat of claws, teeth and doom.
This rather devastating attack is enough to disrupt the ritual, but not free the couatl. The undead now turn their attention to the cat that just ambushed their master.
Emme gulps hard. "I've never been in any sort of real fight. I guess I'm ready as I'll ever be. I think I can carry out your instructions. I'm nervous, but we got to do this, right?"
Emme visibly groans at Bren's report, and question. "Yes, that's it exactly. I'm guessing that's the staff the ghast has?"
"You and Arshee can fly, I can't. It's a half a days ride to the Tomb. It would probably take the whole day on foot. I'm not sure getting to the burial place of a powerful wizard that manages to attract undead at night is such a great idea." Emme says, then nods at Bren's comment about the cart. "Yea, we definitely don't need the cart. Unless of course there's treasure we need to haul away." She says with a chuckle, not really believing that to be the case.
You find each of the pages of from your earlier studies exactly where they are supposed to be. Emme returns with breakfast a short while later. "I asked around, and the Tomb is a little under half a days ride into the Wood. Because it's become rather famous locally, there's a tiny game trail that a horse could walk."
Emme sits there in stunned silence for several moments before excitedly exclaiming "That. Is. So. Cool!! You're gonna be the greatest teacher *ever*!! And yes, course I will keep it a secret, my lips are sealed, promise. " She blurts out in a rush.
A couple hours later, just after you made your startling and monumental breakthrough, Emme returns carry a small platter of food for her teacher. "How goes the studying??" She asks simply.
"Yes papa Bren." Emme teases, before going downstairs for dinner. "Do you want me to bring you back anything?"
Emme is rapidly catches on to your lessons, and it's obvious she's growing in power under your tutelage. "There's a tiny town that guards the main the road into the Wood, we can ask within about the Tomb."
"Well, we're in luck then. I spoke to Holgarin, the smith, again last night, and he suggested we investigate the Tomb of the Sevenstars, the mighty wizard who wielded the staff against the forces of Razmiran. It's about half a day's ride from the edge of the forest, and can't be missed."
"Oh neat! In that case, feel free to help yourself to whatever you'd like." She says, and points to a variety of different fruits, nuts, breads and meat. "I asked for directions to the Exalted Wood before we left, and if what I was told was correct, we should be able to get there just before nightfall."
"Brennus, when was the last time you ate something? I don't remember you eating yesterday at all. Umm, you probably can't eat the food I got for myself and Arshee, huh?"
Emme chuckles softly, and does exactly that, gently carrying her teacher friend downstairs and to their waiting cart. She carefully places you inside, and covers Bren with a blanket. Arshee hops in, and curls up next to you. Hitching the horse up, she slowly heads out of Tymon, but soon sets a decent pace, once past the town limits. You're awakened several hours later by your apprentice, fully rested and restored. "Afternoon professor, we've just stopped for lunch. It's an hour or two past noon."
"But, I need you too. You're my teacher, and you gotta to be well rested. Besides, as good a guide as Arshee is, she doesn't know all that much about the Material Plane, which means I need to rely on you even more."
Emmeline wakes about an hour after you make your startling discovery, yawning. "Bren, you stayed up the whole night with that book, didn't you? You better nap in the cart, so you aren't useless to me!." She says a bit crossly.
"I did what?" Emme asks rather confused. After you explain what happened, she shrugs. "I have no idea how I did that, but sure, I can try for a repeat performance." Unfortunately, she's unable to turn invisible again, and you quite certain she didn't cast any sort of spell. Whatever she did that made her disappear, she can't do it again. Over the next few hours, you practice some slightly more advanced basic magical technique, and Emme is able to quickly pick up on them, showing much progress, and a ton of potential. Whoever this girl is, she could easily become a great mage. Finally, however, after several yawns, she admits she needs to head to bed. "Goodnight Brennus, thank you again for everything. You're a good bird."
At one point, about a half hour into your practice session, Emme promptly disappears.
She laughs at Bren's reply "You are a very greedy little bird! But, yes, that too. No, the best part is, I was able to buy us a rather inexpensive cart and horse, which I know how to ride. Ya know, having grown up on farm. Meaning, you and Arshee can travel in the cart, and we'll make much better time!!" She tosses a pouch at your feet. "Two thousand, two hundred gold left over."
"Sure thing Mr Brennus, I'll be back in a little while. Come on Arshee, keep me company while the Professor studies." You make your way up to her room, which is decently spacious, with an open window, and a tiny porch. Settling down to read, you manage to read about twenty pages before Emme returns. "Ok, I got a Wand of Magic Missiles, a dagger just in case, and some basic supplies! But that's not the best part." She says with a big grin, and waits expectantly.
"Yeah, we have a room on the second floor. Umm, I think I should be fine on my own. What all do you think I should get, aside from the obvious essentials?"
"I think it might be a good idea to at least try and help him out. Maybe we can use the reward to hire some people assist us in finding my family." Emme says, and Arshee nods her agreement, doing her best to stay 'in character'.
Emme nods her head, and whispers quietly "You got it Mr Brennus. I'll be right back. Don't get into any trouble." She says teasingly. She's gone for about ten minutes, but stays within your line of sight the whole time. "So, Starfall is a powerful magical staff. It was lost about six months ago in the Exalted Wood. Mr Smine says that's where we should start our search." |
