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Raseri pulls out a sheaf of papers and a stick of charcoal from her pack as Scram begins to sketch the knife she wants. After a few minutes of copying the sketch and refining it, the priestess turns the drawing around for Scram to inspect. "Do you want something like this?"
Raseri looks at Luthael, eyes wide and and mouth half-opened, for a moment before she shakes herself. Noticing Ingryd's state, Raseri quickly does her best to make the bearkin less of a fright. "Scram, you said you wanted me to make something for you," she asks as Gunnar finds them seats.
I'll do it if that's what we decide to go with, but I'm honestly not that thrilled about 5e as a whole, and less so about the 2024 edition. I enjoy the game because of the players and the roleplay, and that's why I stick around. As for downtime, Raseri is going to spend time forging Scram's new dagger and working with Luthael on his swordsmanship. She'll also be working through what happened in the hag's tower and her role in letting the hag escape. As for the party's former companions, I think we should ask where they all were, because the hag didn't have a doppledoll of Arianna or Zove. Weren't the others in Narg? As for what Raseri wants to do, long term, she wants to track down the rest of her arsenal that she had before losing it somehow.
Raseri twitches at Scram's berating, out of anger or pain is difficult to say. The Thorsdottir otherwise ignores the halfling, listening to Gunnar. "Did we face all of your former companions," she asks.
Raseri flinches at Luthael's question. She had expected it, but it still flicks her on the raw. "I erred, and it nearly cost us our lives," she says, not able to meet Luthael's eyes. "Because of my folly, the hag likely escaped, and the cost was a measure of our strength."
Raseri keeps her distance from the others after they land. She's obviously shaken by what happened when she and Luthael were on the Shadow Road. Her head stays bowed as she wrestles with the demons her failure had revived.
Raseri and Zove would be interesting. As for downtime, I know Raseri would like to get the gem out of her sword. She'd also spend time smithing stuff for everyone. I think she could really use the reminder that she's not a detriment to the party.
I'd say Scram is our party's Saruman. ;) What I had wanted to do was track the hag down and call in the dragon. I figured we could let them fight and do what we could to help lay the hurt on the hag. But alas, the dice did indeed have other ideas. It appears Raseri's about to reprise some of her arc from Mishima's Courts of the Shadow Fey. Apologies to Jubal who's already had to endure this once as a PC, though Ras does like Luthael a lot more than she ever did Carnadine. Joking aside, Raseri is definitely rattled by what happened and almost getting Luthael and herself stranded if not killed in the process.
Woo! Post coming tomorrow. Trying to figure out what and how Raseri's feeling right now. I think she's horrified by how close she came to getting herself and Luthael killed, and worried that she's more of a detriment than a benefit to the party. I do know that I would like for her and Luthael to talk, but not sure how to go about making that happen.
I think Raseri and Luthael found something that told us the hag and chipmunk did some subterfuge during their jaunt on the Shadow Roads, but then things happened which Raseri is definitely going to be talking to Luthael about.
Raseri nods and follows Gunnar, though she sticks by Luthael's side as much as she can.
I'm more in favor of putting some distance between us and the dragon. It may be on our side for the moment, but it's an alliance of convenience. "Well, now that is done, I need one of you to make dinner for my hatchlings. Not the halfling. She smells pickled and alcohol isn't good for newborns."
Raseri, too rattled by everything that has happened to think, follows Luthael's pull as he ushers everyone out of the strange flying contraption. It's only as the thing plummets to the ground that she realizes that Scramsax is inside. "Oh, no. Gunnar, did you include Scram in your spell of flight," she asks in a small, horrified voice.
Buoyed by Gunnar's magics, Raseri, with Luthael's and Gunnar's help, lands in the cargo bay of the strange flying contraption. She does her best to keep her composure and an eye out of anything reappearing.
Her lungs burn, her whole body aches, and her head throbs from where debris from an explosion had rattled her nearly senseless. Still, she hadn't worked long hours at a forge for nothing. She growls away the pain and the doubts that had filled her heart and mind. She has a goal, and she will reach it with Luthael. She sees Gunnar and feels herself grow lighter as Luthael's boots help speed them forward. With a last rush of adrenaline, she bursts through the gate, her arm around Luthael's shoulders just as his was under hers. "Close the gate! If you value our lives, close it," she pleads almost before the two clerics' heels are clear.
That is quite the image there, Scram. Also. Hello! I'm back and catching up. :)
Luthael and Raseri: Raseri nods and begins praying again, begging forgiveness and doing her best to observe all the proper epithets and deeds of Thor.
Hey all, hope you're getting ready for a great Christmas with your family and friends. I wanted to give y'all a heads up that I won't be able to post for a couple of weeks due to work and Holiday stuff going on. Bot me if needed.
It is, and I'm worried that our clerical pair are about to subject to some bots trying to turn us into hamburger.
Luthael and Raseri: "Maybe," Raseri says, unable to meet Luthael's eyes.
Luthael and Raseri: Realizing that she's trapped Luthael and herself on this horrid plane nearly shatters Raseri's mind. Bad enough she's gotten herself mired so deep in trouble without bringing one of her friends down with her. She timidly takes Luthael's hand after the gods-awful noise had hammered them both to their knees. As she follows the Sun Prophet, she notices him reaching up to the holy symbol on his breast. "I--I'm sorry," she apologizes. "I've doomed us both."
Luthael and Raseri: Raseri nods and tries to focus on finding a way back to Midgard. She reaches out for that whim of steel that Luthael sees in her, but she finds nothing. Still, she has to try, and her voice quivers as she tries to open the doorway between worlds that leads back to Midgard.
Unfortunately, memories and doubts from when she left Zobeck for the Courts of the Shadow Fey come back with a vengeance. Flickering images of failure after failure, of nearly being gutted by a strange fey doll in Zobeck's library, of falling into a spike pit and being unable to free herself, of being banished from the Courts to the Black Prince's hunting lodge, and of a hole in her memory where now there is only a sense of shame and frustration flit through both her mind and Luthael's. Her tongue stumbles clumsily over the prayer she says, and with each stuttering word, her panic and despair only grow. What would happen this time? Would she and Luthael be sent somewhere even worse? Would she find herself in the clutches of the Gray Ladies or worse, the hag that had taken her in and killed her again and again and again in her quest for a perfect daughter? Would she doom Luthael and herself to be forever lost to the void of Ginnungagap? A thousand terrible possibilities flowed through her mind as she tried to find the way back home and something in the pit of her stomach told her that she had failed once again.
Luthael And Raseri: Realizing that something has gone horribly, terribly wrong, Raseri feels all of the confidence she'd spent so long building and rebuilding crumble leaving behind a frightened young woman who clings to the priest she's beginning to develop feelings of something more than friendship for as if he is her only chance at salvation. "I'm sorry," she whimpers as Luthael can feel her shaking. "I'm sorry! I'll make it right!"
Some might be surprised to learn that Raseri was mostly self-taught, having spent uncounted years lost in the Black Prince's Hunting Lodge and its extensive library, but she had some formal training under a fey lady whom she still can't remember, even after the return of most of her memories from her lifetimes spent under the thumb of a powerful hag and her silver-eyed sisters. Never mind that Thor's clergy has never been the most studious minded. So it is that she never recalled all of the dangers of walking the Shadow Roads and had grown far too comfortable traversing the perilous paths of this twilit realm. "I think it's time to get back to Midgard," she says before grabbing Luthael hugging him tight as she reaches for the doorway back and pulls them both through it.
Gunnar, could you grab those marbles? I think they may have our erstwhile allies in them.
Raseri's grin fades as she feels the oppressive weight of unfriendly eyes on her and Luthael. She concentrates on breaking through the wall and hurries herself and the Sun Prophet through it. She looks at the doors and pauses for a moment before picking the larger of the two. "Let us go this way. I fear dallying over long will only bring more unfriendly eyes on us," she tells Luthael in a soft voice, as if keeping quiet will keep more of the fell things of this realm from finding them. She silently curses herself for a fool that didn't remember the horrors of this place. All the while, she keeps a keen eye and ear out for any signs of the hag or of the two would be hunters becoming the hunted.
Raseri grins as she sees how easily she can force her way through and proceeds to batter the wall down.
Yeah. I dunno if I'm not phrasing things clearly enough.
I tried to grab Luthael and pull him through my last turn.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I'd say teleport prisoners out. I think Raseri can follow the hag on the Shadow Road, but that's more up too the GM if it actually is possible. Besides, you'll have Raseri's weapons with you if you want to teleport to where she is or use them as scrying foci.
I was planning on slowing the hag while Luthael called her in. That was my plan at least. I'd head to the Dryad's grove if we're teleporting out, though.
"Good, but I think we can do better than goblin-make," she says as she hands over Hugrekki and Heiður. "I expect them back from your hands. I've already had to run down a goblin carrying Heiður once." She ushers them over to where Vee and Katrina are, now that the horde is gone. "Scram, can you free Luthael's parents? We need to get them out and call on our dragon friend before that hag escapes!" Confident in the trickster's ability, she grabs Luthaeel's shoulder. "Ready for a hunt," she asks him before with a wild grin before she tries to pull him through to the Shadow Realms to follow the hag's trail.
Raseri growls as she sees the arcane eye, but she forces herself to look around instead of acting solely on instinct. With Gunnar and Ingryd flying to the two girls' aid and Scramsax freeing Luthael's parents, the priestess feels that the older couple she freed need her the most. "Can either of you use a blade to defend yourselves," she asks.
No worries. We'll be here.
Yup. But we're back. And the plan was get them out through the shadow road, then get them to Scram for the Teleport-a-roo.
I think there's a bit of a mix-up with what Raseri's intent was. I wanted to pull any prisoners we had out through the shadow roads, then join back up with the others when she had the chance. I didn't know who the closest prisoner still locked up was, so I left it vague when I probably shouldn't have. That said, I'm not sure retconning what she did is worth it.
"Well this is embarrassing," Raseri says as her cheeks turn red. "My apologies," she says to the strange fellow as she bows and hurriedly closes the pathway. "Maybe I should just get everyone out of the cages, first," she mutters before walking over to the next cage and trying to free its captives.
"Stay close," Raseri tells the couple before hustling to the next cage. She draws her sword as she concentrates on the threads of the weave around her. Whatever it is that's noticed her isn't likely to be friendly, but the priestess hopes that speed will let her get away with her trickery. With a deep breath and a prayer for luck, she tugs on what she thinks is the right thread to open a doorway between Midgard and the Shadow Realm.
Interesting. If I didn't feel like I'm running on fumes, I'd play around with it.
The posts are public and honestly, this is the kind of thing that I think AI should be used for. I've got no issues with it.
Gunnar and Luthael do, I believe. Aterro left when I was still playing Arianna, so Raseri doesn't know any of them. She might feel a connection to Kali, given how similar their backgrounds are. That's a long shot, though. Honestly, I'm hoping we can snap Kali out of whatever has a grip on her. I really don't want her tale to end with her getting mind controlled then killed by people she liked.
Raseri walks over to one of shadows of the cages that hold the captives. Traps and even bars mean little when you can walk the paths between, but it's not without risk, even if their foe wasn't a wily old crone. Still, it is better to try than to give up. Once Raseri is by the couple that had helped the party in the small village they had set out from, she focuses on the threads that bind the world together again and seeks to open a door to let them through.
Hey all, sorry for not posting today. Busy day at work and I just clocked out. Not sure I'll get one up tomorrow, either.
Raseri reaches back to her time studying in the library of the Black Prince's hunting lodge. She'd read many texts there, and she remembers rituals that some cults used to enter the Shadow Roads at will. She smiles as she finds the threads she needs and gently tugs on them. She may be the kind of person to rush into a fight surrounded by thunder and lightning, but that never meant she didn't have a subtle side to her. If this works, she can only imagine the howling and cursing the hag will do. And if it doesn't, well, it's not like anyone's likely to remember her failure in song anyway. With deep breath to banish the fear of failure, Raseri steps through the doorway she's made for herself and vanishes from Midgard.
The hag isn't going to appear until the minions had a chance to wear them down. Unfortunately for the old crone, Raseri likes playing tricks of her own from time to time.
Feeling drained. I'll try to get a post up tomorrow.
Oh, if Scram's climbing down, then Raseri could have included Emilee in the casting of Feather Fall.
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