Kalhar Draven's page

He shook his head and sighed softly, putting his arms through the loop of his shield and rotating his shoulder to re-limber it up. "A Taldan would not shake in his boots like this. Your country should be ashamed of you."

Looking down for another moment more, Kalhar turned to leave, tossing a silver piece onto the floor to pay for his drink. Jogging slightly, he caught up with Daegan and matched his pace.

"Do you figure the witches have such a chokehold on this town that visitors even coming here are a 'threat'?"

"You look plenty capable of bringing trouble upon yourself, as far as I can tell."

Kalhar stands up, and frowns, looking down her. "I'm not from here, but in my part of the woods when you get visitors it's good because they bring coin into the coffers. I think it's clear we're not leaving; you'd best stop acting like a startled chicken and start explaining what's going on!"

"Sir," with more than enough sternness in his voice to make the gravity of the situation clear. "If you seek to make this a confrontation of blood I do not think the odds favor you. If you shoot at her, we will certainly not leave, as you will have harmed a dear friend of mine."

He stood slowly, raising his hands to make clear he was not armed (at least, not with a weapon). "You should reconsider your hostility before it ends regrettably for all."

His armored digits curled around the mug, and he took in the aroma of the ale, before taking a sip of the liquid. After a refreshing draught, he set the mug back onto the table, and his eyes scanned the room idly as he waited for his companions to finish their business here.

He met eyes with Daegan's, his face slightly worried but intrigued, and his eyebrows raised for an instant before falling back in place, conveying a message of distrust for his surroundings.

Kalhar smiles curtly, and shuffles into a barseat, his armor shifting and clanking as he settles in. "Trouble comes to the nicest of folks; we don't bring any with us, but if it does come while we're here we'll be more than happy to lift our weight sorting it out."

Kalhar purchases some new armor, and then returns to awkwardly following Axel around.

can we magic hop to the blacksmith?

Kalhar glanced back at the trader, and then left with Axel. "I need to learn this language. Can you teach me Skald? How long would that take?"

Kalhar puffs his lip into a slight frown. "We'd need to visit the blacksmith, Axel, for my request." he answers, in Taldane. "Is there a problem? This has taken some time and they do not look pleased."

"I will accompany you, Axel. I want to know why this village looks exactly like mine."

He crosses his arms, leaning up against a wall and raising an eyebrow.

plus I gotta buy s!#!

"So," he says, looking back to his group. "Do you all speak skald, except for me? It would seem as if I am suddenly out of my element."

"I am a southerner." he replied, his tone quieting slightly, and his eyes drifted to the window as his hand waved an idle hello towards the kids. What's going on here? Where am I?

Kalhar's face betrays a growing confusion mixed with a strange comfort. "This is strange. Look," he points subtly, trying not to draw attention "The layout is almost exactly the same as Heldren. This architecture is obviously more northern, but it's almost like I know where I'm going, or I've seen these people before."

Kalhar looks around for an apothecary.

"We live in an Age of Lost Omens. Don't think too much of it."

Kalhar springs into action, taking quick note of the hirelings and emulating them as best possible, scrambling with direction to do what was asked of him. The urgency in her voice needed no explanation, not yet, and he worked quickly and quietly.

Kalhar did not answer that question, his heart still jarred from his recent enchantment and subsequent portal-riding. "Pale Tower, you say? And a hostage daughter, at that? We may be similarly aligned in purpose, if my conclusions are correct."

"My homeland has at least something to reciprocate the nastiness that this portal has brought it." he muttered, eyeing the storm with increasing trepidation.

Kalhar drags himself last into the conversation, the chest in tow. He extends a gauntleted hand to the woman, his face businesslike, and he speaks plainly. "Kalhar Draven, Taldan Apothecary. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Is there a settlement nearby? And, on that note, are you all perchance merchants?"

"The bug doesn't know the way to the tower we want to go to. They might."

Kalhar starts combat by advancing as quickly as possible and then attacking with his shortspear while using Combat Expertise. If the bug attempts to continue chasing the merchants he will attempt to reposition it.

----- Flex Time - After the Portal -----

Kalhar lets his grip on the chest relax as his name floats out of Sarlene's mouth, and he lets out a pained exhale. "I must admit I feel more than a little sore from the machinations of that little devil." and with that, his arm moved to wipe his brow, only to come back stained red upon the sleeve. "My face stings and my body has been chilled greatly. I can keep going, one second," he added, slipping his hand inside a pouch and slowly raising one of his extracts to this lips, drinking gingerly.

1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Kalhar takes a deep, surprised breath as the old man kills himself, but soon the ritual flows through him and he closes his eyes, focusing on his breath. His heart beats faster. His muscles harden and strengthen. His bones harden, and his lungs expand. The exhalation is powerful, and he opens his eyes once more, a sense of sturdiness lit within him.

bonus for me going to CON

Turning around, he trudges back to the chest with conviction, grabbing ahold of one of the handles and snatching up the spear with the other hand, stowing it in his spear hangar with the other before bending at the knees. A neutral, determined look on his face hides the exertion as his muscles tense and bulge, and he drags the container out of the snow with one massive heave, placing it atop the snowbank and dragging it towards the portal. He reaches the others, looking between them wordlessly, and then crosses the threshold himself.

Kalhar nodded with perhaps a shred of humility. "Thank you, friend."

The crunching of snow betrayed Kalhar's return to the portal, and with a resigned grimace the man rejoined the ranks of his companions. "If you're all going you'll surely get killed without me." he muttered, still glancing back behind him as if a rescue could come at any moment.

Kalhar stops as the words echo behind him, his back still turned on his companions but frozen in place. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say. "Is there no other?" he ventured, weakly.

Kalhar's face remains in numbed shock, and he turns back the way he came Heldren...Willowbark...Everyone. These guys are just going on an adventure. I'd be leaving them behind. He seems uncertain, teetering between futures and locked in his own thoughts, before shaking his head and standing up, starting to trek away from the portal. "No. This is madness. I need to get back to the shop. I need to get back to my village." he stated, his voice feigning resolution but tinged with fear.

"Where does this portal lead? Are her forces on the other side?" he looks back at his companions with uncertain eyes, and then back at the old man. "...How do we stop her?"

Kalhar blinks twice, his mouth opening slightly in surprise as his head drifts away from the man for a moment, trying to take in his words. After a moment, he speaks again. "Betrayal? How has she betrayed Baba Yaga? And what does that have to do with this winter spilling forth on these lands of summer?"

Kalhar surges forward, falling to his knees and cradling the horseman in his free arm, protecting him with his shield. His tone is worried and his words come quickly, "Who are you? Where do you hail from? Who did this to you?"

Turning back to his friends, he once again bellows over the shrieking cold "This magic comes from the other side of this nexus! If we are to close it, we will need to venture through!"

"This must be what is causing all of the cold! This has to be what's creating this horrible weather!" he shouted, trying to overcome the roaring wind. "We have to find a way to turn it off!"

Kalhar holds up his hand to shield himself from the new blast of cold, and slowly walks towards the monoliths, silently taking in the bizarre wonder unfolding in his vision.

Furrowing his brow, Kalhar trudged over a few steps to where Sarlene and Axel were standing, and his eyes too went wide. "S%*+!" he echoed, staring down at the riches.

Kalhar breathes heavily for a minute or two, and then finally speaks. "Thank you, Axel. I thought for certain I would die frozen to this metal." he coughs, a bit of soot escaping his lips. Kalhar wipes some off of his armor as well, and nods a second silent thanks to Sarlene. Pushing his way through the snow, he buries his spear in one of the undisturbed banks nearby and shields his eyes from the blizzard's wind, eyeing the spear.

"Is this spear magic, then?" he asks, before shifting his vision to the other things gathered. "And what of this mirror? Didn't the little doll have one of those, as well?"

Taking his place at the front of the group to soak up the incoming hurts, he nods to Sarlene and whispers "Cheer, friend. It's slow and stupid; it'll be dead in naught but a moment"

Be smart, lest they spill ours first. Don't pick anything up you don't know what it is," he added, a burning glance to Axel lost entirely by the blizzard "...and report anything out of the ordinary. Trolls are dreadful creatures; my mistress chitters endlessly about their awfulness and I would very much like to return to her with a head to say for it."

Advancing ever forward, he pulls fabric over his face. Will this ever end?

"How much further do you figure these trolls and witches are, exactly? It seems like we've been gone a week yet, or maybe more, in this harsh cold."

He drinks his drought of endure elements for the day, and reseals the vial, putting it back into his vest.

"I hope we aren't just chasing fairy tales.", he reiterates, and lazily hefts his spear up onto his shoulder as they begin pacing forward ever on. "Or are there an infinite number of snares between us and these villains who curiously seem to know they are being followed!"

Kalhar blinks for a second, his eyes blurring and then unblurring, and realization washes over him. "Damn it! Damn you, you witch!" he yelled, and took three giant steps over to the doll, his armored boot slamming down on the mirror to shatter it once and for all.

"Is she alright?" he added, his head snapping to Sarlene. "I don't... I don't know what came over me. Foul magic."

"What? What's going on?"

Kalhar shakes Sarlene awake. "Watch the camp for a second, I'm going to see what she's on about." he said, the pronoun said with the ease of an old friend or family member. His curiosity piqued, he stood as soon as the girl stirred and snatched up just his shield, walking off without a second thought.