Search Posts
"Besides, we are the ones that found it, so we can do what we think is right. No need to get upset about what might have been. Unfortunately, when the spirits started manifesting I put them back to rest before we got much of a clue as to the source of their pain. Hopefully the pillars can shed some light?" Kip said quietly.
"Sort of. Honestly, this is going better than a lot of the time when we try to make new friends. Sometimes they just attack outright. Though once we rescued one of our old friends from enslavement and mind control, and now she's one of the strongest defenders of our town, so I'd say it's always worth the try."
Hope you're having fun!
Kip stood up to his full height and bowed, lowering his hat enough that a small pufferfish could be seen waving a fin at the halfling. "I'm Kip, and this is Gerald and Oorka. That's Vicki over there, and she's heading over to talk to Ema. Simon was the one yelling earlier, but don't be afraid, he's normally quite nice. Everyone has been on edge for weeks now what with the faceless types skulking around wearing our friends' faces, and I'm afraid you popping up was just the final bit to kick it over. Don't worry though, I'm sure they'll calm down soon. We're actually here to rescue the captured villagers and put an end to the abductions for good." Suddenly noticing the confused look on Oorka's face, Kip quickly gave a short summary of what had been said in Azlanti, and introduced Oorka to Calamity.
Kip stood to the side in utter surprise as everyone exploded at one another. After Simon had stepped back, Kip slipped up beside Victrix and spoke quietly. "You're both right, you know Vicki? He could have said it better, but it's probably smart to be cautious. Why don't you go talk to Ema, and I'll check out our new friend. If you hear me screaming, come back and get to choppin' though ok?" The grippli turned back to the halfling and called out to her. "All right Lamity. We need to be sure that you're not secretly gonna turn on us, and I happen to know an excellent way to find out. Are you hungry? The faceless types can't hold down proper food for long, so come have a meal with me, the more you eat the better." As he spoke, Kip began pulling various biscuits, meats, cheeses and cookies out of his pack. "It's always a good idea to be prepared, and even better when it's tasty preparations."
Woooooooooow. Things went downhill quickly!
Ok, sounds good. Unfortunately my situation is not likely improve in the foreseeable future, mostly because work breaks were my best quiet time to post before it was blocked. I look forward to reading up on the rest of the story as it unfolds, and Kip will of course continue offering up sweet barbecues and intelligent orchards even when you don't need him to help rescue colonists or fight sea monsters.
I almost chose rain of frogs as one of my 2 4th level spells... The shaman spell list is weird.
Before they left, Kip gathered up his friends and met with Ramona. "Before we leave, I can see if the spirits will let me see Carver. It might give us a hint about how they're being held, or... if they haven't made it. It could help if we have one of his belongings too, or anything else that has ties to him to make the connection stronger." Once the materials were gathered, Kip conjured water into a wide bowl and sat down in front of it and stared in. The water seemed to ripple for a moment then calmed to glassy stillness and began to refract the light in strange rainbows of color.
Yes. I'm really very sorry my availability dropped off so dramatically. Between a new baby and my work blocking the website, my time available to post is very limited. I fully understand if you'd like to drop me from the game, I know it can be a hassle to bot a player, and I don't want to slow the game down for you guys. If that's the route you'd like to go, I'd suggest retiring Kip to a town NPC, and I'll follow along and drop in every once in a while. I've had a lot of fun with this group, and I don't want to abandon you guys, but I don't want to hold you back either. What would you like to do?
Kip regrouped with the others while Victrix sought to carve information out of Not Carver's ally. "Simon, do you think they actually have a base on one of the other islands, or could it be underwater? Do you think our friends underwater have been able to find any of the stalkers in their city?"
Sorry about that. Was away this weekend for my brother's bachelor party. Victrix, please remember that if you need healing while we're out of combat, Kip will happily heal you with the wand of cure light wounds. It's currently got 13 charges left (in my profile under "Tracked Resources", and if you post how many charges you're using I'll update the tracker as soon as I'm able to post.
Kip's rapier continued its attack even as the grippli climbed back up the window and launched a wave strike with his tongue. , ,
With the battle turning in their favor, Kip helped press the offensive. After a moment concentrating, a spectral rapier flashed out to harass Not Carver.
Sorry if I messed up the order. I couldn't tell if the Cure Mod was this round or last round.
Kip glanced left and right, with horrible monsters all around and the blood of his friends splattering the walls. If they were going to get out of it, he needed to keep them on their feet. Wary to keep his distance, from the downed faceless stalker, Kip filled the rest of the room with healing energy to give his friends a fighting chance.
"Vicki, I know you haven't flown much, but keep off the ground; they can't surround you if they're all below you!"
Wow, just caught up and it looks like we're having a bad day. I've got one more channel that could help after this round, though I'd be healing the enemies more too, and 3-18 is a really big range, and doesn't help as much when we're getting cut down for almost 40 damage in a round. On the map, who's the brown haired person? I assume the upside down/white haired person is Kalikk?
"Wait just a moment. Ema, can you ask your friend if all of the people are evil inside, or just the ones that are holding the swords? Also, we just left Ramona with Antona and Sighra. If you two are here and not shapeshifty beasties, then who's with Ramona right now???" While they discussed, Kip also took a moment to heal and cast some protective wards.
"If we want to go in through the window, I can make someone fly. Maybe Vicki, and she can carry up Simon?"
"More creepy face twisty guys?! Go get 'em Vicki!" Kip exclaimed as he summoned a ring of inspiring bubbles.
What was the effect? Can Remove Curse or Remove Fear help? I could prepare those after we rested.
"Vicki, I'm sure with a bit of work, we'll have you feeling just right in almost no time! We can walk together. Aeroclyse, do you want to come with us? I'm not sure if our priests will be able to heal your eye just yet, but they can probably help us figure out what we'll need."
Kip replied as he helped Simon with his search and inspection, "Hmm... I think you might be right. Think a barbecue would help? Once we get back home we could get the whole town together, and there could be dancing and I've got some new fruits that should just be about ready to eat. That might help get her back on her feet? Oh, and we should get you back in fighting shape too, and we can do that right now."
"That hag was really nasty, and I've heard they can get into your head with their creepy stare. Not that this one is staring at much of anything now that we're done here. Do you think it will be hard to get magic to fix our new friend's eye?"
"We... did it? I mean, we did it! Yes!" Kip climbed the rest of the way up the railing and raised his rapier dramatically. After a few quick slashes through the air he seemed to remember what had just happened. "Did she get any of you?" Kip started darting around, inspecting his companions for wounds, serious or slight.
"Simon, can you tell what this big thing is?" Kip asked, motioning at the massive device in the middle of the room. "Maybe she wrote some of her plans down? She said she didn't have any captive colonists, but she could have been lying, and we should make sure to do a thorough search."
With his friends attacking from the front, Kip scurried up the side and attacked from atop the railing with a powerful blast from his tongue. ,
"You will not attack the colonists! Other people are not your tools or playthings."
With everyone scattered about fighting, Kip stamped his feet, then stretched out his hand in a wide arc. Iridescent bubbles sprayed out, filling the room, then quickly popped leaving only a faint shimmer in the air that seemed to bolster his friends.
Kip hurried up the stairs after Simon to seal up his wounds, but first caught sight of the nasty hag.
"I've seen worse," Kip shrugged, then conjured a powerful blast of healing magic.
"If it comes down to sticking her with my rapier, I think things have gone horribly wrong, Simon. But if you have an extra, I'll hold on to it for now just in case. Ema, I don't think the mage armor would do much for me, I've got the real deal already. But yes, I'll hold on to that restoration just in case one of you end up in a real bad place."
"Oh no! The mists--" Kip cut off as Simon erupted in flames, "are incredibly flammable! Good job Simon, now keep your blood inside and let's go take care of the other one!" He punctuated his statement with sudden pulse of magic conducted along his tongue to staunch Simon's bleeding.
"Sounds good. I want you to be wherever is safest for you. We'll be back soon, and soon after that, we'll be getting you out of here to freedom!" "Guys, how do you suppose ol' Hel the Hag managed to get to the Shackles? Does she have a ship of her own? Aeroclyse, do you remember how you got here?"
"That's fair. We'll be on our guard. Do you want to stay here while we clear the place out, or would you rather come along and stay in the back?"
"I'm sorry you've been mistreated so, Aeroclyse. As Simon introduced me, my name is Kip, and I can't stand those who inflict such pain and misery on others. After we've dealt with Helekhterie here, I'll be happy to look into if there's anything we can do to restore your eye. And we're not all human, though a large portion of our group are. I'm a grippli!"
"Do you know if she usually keeps anyone guarding her alchemical lab downstairs? Or are the two nasty trolls the bulk of it?" Kip thought for a moment, then added, "If her claims at prophecy have any basis in reality, it seems likely that she'll be prepared for our arrival. We should probably equip ourselves the best we can before we attack her. If she can create lights... Ema, any idea on how we can protect ourself from... light?"
"That looked like it hurt Vicki! How about something a bit stronger?"
"Nice job, Vicki! Now take the other one down!" Kip cheered his encouragement while he whirled the wand around and sent a pulse of healing out along his tongue.
Kip slipped back with Simon and tapped him with a wand. "We need you in tip top shape!"
"Oh, hi there guys! We're just here... for the tour? Do either of you two know what the deal is with the fancy statues out here? Why does she have a blindfold. Does the butterfly lady have a surprise for her? Uh.... what's that over there?!" Kip used his hurried distraction to step close and tap Victrix on the back, causing her skin to rapidly toughen.
"That's a great idea! Probably something nice and fat that looks like a tastier meal than stuff drifting along the surface like us. Even better if it's fast enough to swim just out of reach to draw it away while we row away. A bunch of those dolphins might work, or have you figured out how to call in something even more appealing?"
Kip split his time in town between caring for his garden, preparing a written list of recipes for Oorka and trying to twist his tongue around the words of her native language. If they were going to be neighbors, it'd be best to be able to actually talk to more than just a few!
"I don't know if they could talk. I hope so! I just read about it being possible, and I've been learning how to use magic to grow plants faster too, so I hope to be able to make them smarter some day too." "That would be great! I can even write down some of the recipes I've created for you guys. Maybe we'll come up with even more new tasty treats by working together."
Once they had returned to town and had time to rest up from their journeys, Kip found time to pull Oorka aside. "You mentioned kombucha... do you think you could show me how to find the mushrooms... and how to brew the tea? I'm always looking to expand my repertoire." The grippli showed the various patches of his ever expanding garden. "I've been gathering lots of different plants that we've found in our explorations of the island and bringing them back here, as well as planting some of the things we brought from our old home. When we're not out finding ancient Azlanti ruins or meeting amazing new friends like you, I like to experiment in my kitchen and grow new plants. In fact, I'm planning to grow a community of intelligent fruit trees over there soon. Well... as soon as I can grow the trees and figure out the trick to smarten 'em up."
Wow! I had some friends come to town for a surprise visit, and my wife's family had an early Christmas event so I haven't had the time to catch up. You guys have been crazy busy!
We haven't taken Oorka back to meet the other people in town yet, right? That should be an interesting thing for her.
"If you remember it... maybe they gathered everyone up and then opened up a gateway through time and jumped into the future so that their enemies would grow old and wither away. Though they'd have to be pretty sure that they'd do that... otherwise their enemies could just get even stronger and create new magic and weapons. And that doesn't explain how you ended up alone and unable to remember how you got there. Maybe the final solution didn't work right?"
As they traveled, Kip helped fill Vriskirsa in on their their recent adventures. "The lab looks like it was the victim of some horrible blast that destroyed a large portion of it and killed the people there. We found the remains of some of those people melted into a wall and fortunately we were able to put their spirits to rest. As Simon mentioned, we made contact with Oorka and her people. I had no idea there are people living up in the trees!"
"Maybe not. Maybe the priests back in town can help with that?"
"Vicki, tomorrow morning I can prepare a spell that will make your weapon extra sharp in case we find that thing again, though it only lasts a brief time. Should be long enough for you to do your awesome chop-choppin' thing though."
"We did it! At least these gillmen won't be preying on their own kind again, even if the demon did get away. This place never stops surprising me with all its many secret denizens... some more friendly than others, that's fore sure." --------- "Don't feel bad, Simon. How were you supposed to know that they were craaaaazy. All you can do is try to be vigilant so we don't bumble into more fights like that last one."
Kip hopped back and cast another spell. As soon as he finished casting, his tongue stretched out once more with the force of an icy wind. ,
,
Kip's ghostly rapier continues its assault, stabbing at the gillman spellcaster. , A moment after the grippli's spell stabbed downward, his tongue darted out with the force of a crashing wave.
"You've got it Simon, keep it up!" Kip cheered as he wagged his tongue to heal his friend.
His spectral rapier continued to stab at the spellcasting gillman. ,
Kip scurried closer to the others so he could see the enemy spellcaster, then called up a spectral rapier of his own to harry him. ,
|
