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Kn: Religion: Coterie gently shushes the pack-happy kobold away from her bag, intently studying the wall mural before them as Katerina is patched up. An amulet around her neck glows, causing her turn with her eyes a clear golden color and her thick Dwarven accent back. "Yer right t' dislike these altars, Agnar. 'Tis Charon, Fairyman of th' Dead. But they're mighty old. Can't recall last time ah've seen somethin' like this." She taps one of the candle basins. "These 'ere? Meant to be lit and the smoke symbolized souls returnin' t' th' land o' th' dead. They're also used t' magically seal doors. You'd hafta ask the Kobold how those work." She taps the medallion around her neck with the symbol of a crossed wand and dagger, as the gold light fades and is replaced with a deep purple/black glow. "Tesrain earn respect to be called by name!" an oddly squeaky, growling voice suddenly came from the four-armed Investigator. "Tesrain great mage! I no go to school or study with Humans, but I turn to great mage! Tesrain knows much about magicks!" The purple fades into gold. "Aye aye. Jes' keep focused already. I'd rather see Raul come out of this one in one piece." Then the voices fade completely, and Coterie blinks several times, taking a seat on the stone floor as she drinks deep from her canteen. "I could use some healing too, if it can be spared." She comments, sounding winded.
With the last zombie gone, Coterie chugs the other vial she had prepared, shoving the iron container into her bandolier as it begins to take effect. She was far from a powerhouse herself. However, she could do far better with more limbs. Her skin turned slate grey and a second set of harms sprung forth from under her armor, wings sprouting form her back. She beat those wings and flew off towards the gate, flexing her new limbs and ready to help.
Coterie felt the thump of heavy iron hitting the floor in her chest, hearing the ceiling grind open to let in a torrent of rushing water. 'Was afraid of that.' she thought to herself, glad she was prepared. She pasted an iron vial to Prazil, saying, "Drink it, quick!" before heading into combat with Kateria, chugging another vial and shoving the container back into her bandolier, stopping beside Katerina as her buckler seems to shimmer and ripple with some invisible force. Parry Roll:
While Coterie doesn't stop Katerina from her action, she does take this moment to mix together a few items into her iron vials, fitting them into the bandolier on her torso. Once she checked to make sure they were clear, that her weapons were clear, and that she felt she couldn't craft anything else in this moment, she drew a single Rapier and nodded to Katerina. Fully expecting something other than water to flood in from the ceiling.
With their kobold ally rescued and the monster dead, Coterie heads for the surface, but stops just under the water. She takes a deep 'breath' and pokes her head out of the water, saying to Katerina, "I can technically do this for everyone, but it takes me a good while to prepare it for multiple people. Also, this form lasts for several minutes, and can't breathe" She ducks back down and comes back up. "on land. So I'm going to be in the water for a little while until this wears off."
Coterie catches the sound of something hissing overhead, quickly refocusing her gaze on the giant fish as it tore into the small school of sharks surrounding it. She felt her mind sharpen, her body feeling even lighter and more nimble in the water, almost eager to strike. She let loose a barrage of steel and fury, jabbing furiously at the giant fish and tearing further into it. Attack:
Damage:
Coterie watches the waters grow dark, before feeling a surge of life being poured into her body from above. Taking a deep breath and seeing the huge beast within stabbing range, she re-gripped her rapier and got ready to lay into this thing. Nodding to Prazil, she easily moves into flanking with him, giving her counter-attack with renewed vigor. Attacks:
Damage:
"Gods Dammit Kereek!" Coterie swore loudly as she slammed a vial from her bandolier, drawing her rapiers and diving into the water after her kobold allies. She hit with a splash, and felt her body shift and change in the dark waters. She could feel the webbing in her hands and feet grow wider, her skin growing slick and scaled, a thick tail sprout from inside her pants, sitting over the band, and her held breath was released to take her first deep breath of oxygen-rich water. Her transformation complete, she took off in a hurry for Kereek, her new eyes illuminating the dark waters and allowing her a stab at the beast once in position.
Attack:
Coterie sheathes her rapier as the large zombie falls, seeing it dispatched quickly thanks to her powerful allies. It seems she barely got a chance to prove herself in combat since meeting them, something that nagged at her slightly as they moved on. She followed along side Katerina, the path shown by her light source, until they arrived at a large pool. Perception: She's able to see the stairs leading down deeper into the water, commenting aloud to Prazil, "Sadly, I don't have anything that'll make Spike a better swimmer. My mixtures can only work on other humanoids."
Perception: Coterie heard the sound of combat up ahead, drawing her rapiers as she pushed past the big dino, now standing near the blast-happy kobold, shooting at another Undead giant. Reaching into her bandolier, she downs a potion and coughs, her mouth tasting heavily of iron shavings. A shimmer formed over her right arm, visible but partially corporeal.
Coterie moved in behind the mounted kobold, her darkvision proving very helpful in the cave they came across. She occasionally stretched her wings out, having not been in this form for awhile and still trying to adjust to having such features. When she saw the pair stopped up ahead, she peers over Kereek's shoulder, checking the area for herself along with the sack of gold he had apparently found. Kn: Arcana -
Before she should deliver a single strike, the Wyverns were blasted out of the sky and hit the water with a lifeless splash. Sheathing her rapier, she flew over to the bank and landed, folding her wings against her back and looking to the rest of the group. Her form would last for several more minutes, so if nothing else she'd be able to watch their progress in the skies above.
She watched her allies engage the flying beasts, ready to join the fray from the opposite bank. Uncorking another iron flask, she poured the contents into her mouth and spat it back into the container, corking it before the change began. Her skin turned from a soft blue to a slate grey, her limbs became bulkier and more defined, her eyes shifted to cat-like orbs that focused sharply on her foes, and gave a challenging roar as wings sprouted from her back. She flapped hard and took flight towards the beasts, wings beating hard as she wobbled some on her flight path, headed straight for the fight.
Kn: Arcana -
Coterie watched the triceratops mount slowly lift up off the ground, floundering some through the air, and then slowly drift along across the river. Her attention was perked when she heard the cries of some beasts, identifying them quickly as Wyverns. Reaching into her bandolier, she quickly coated her mouth in a chalky white substance, keeping her hand hovering over a white vial of the monsters start to attack once in range.
Coterie couldn't see a faster way across the river that didn't take several hours of work. She went along with the plan of riding on the back of a flying triceratops. A thought that amused herself and her other selves. She wasn't sure how many the dino mount could carry, waiting if needed to be picked up for a second ferrying.
Coterie nods in agreement and settles back down onto the ground to resume the last bit of her watch. She keeps herself awake by checking the condition of her weapons, making sure they're sharp and shiny. As well as occasionally muttering to herself while she lightly turns a medallion between her finger and thumb. Seemingly discussing something with her other lives to help keep herself focused and awake until her shift was done.
She gives a shrug to the kobolds. "Possibly. It's much more difficult for the two of you, if only because you don't have any kind of direct link to a past life that you're aware of. Samsarans, because we're consistently re-born, become very aware of that link. For anyone else, I guess they'd have to visit like a Seer or a Shaman or something, someone that can speak with spirits, if you two want to see what your past lives were."
She pauses for a moment when Kereek asked her point-blank why her voice changes some times. She reaches up to play with her hair some, pulling it all to one side as she considers her words. "Why indeed... To start, if no one knows, I'm a Samsaran. People who are regularly being re-born in new bodies, retaining our memories and experiences while attaining a new body every time. In my case, I can actually talk to a few specific past lives of mine." She holds up her necklace of medallions. "To make it easier on the people I work with professionally, I had these made. Each one corresponding to a past life I can interact with. Hence my voice and inflection changing any time one personality comes forward."
Still wound up from the fight, Coterie decides to put some of her excess energy to use. Sitting down and taking out a few choice items from her Haversack, she starts mixing together some choice items into vials. Corking them and passing one to each party member. "Antiplague. Beat disease. We fight'n Undead. Would hurt not, case Holy Man go down." This time when she spoke, the medallion with the Goblin on it glowed for a moment before fading away.
SHe nods at the kobold's comment, making sure to keep an eye on Kereek just to be safe. Addressing Kat next, she speaks in her normal voice, the gold from her eyes gone now. "That was a Soul Eater. They're summoned to devour the souls of the living. And for some reason, this one wanted Kereek's soul for his own. If this becomes a regular occurence, we may have to look into getting him an Amulet of Sanguine Protection. It sanctifies the blood and damages Undead if they happen to get some of your blood on them."
Coterie leapt up from her sitting position, seeing the ethereal form of the creature jabbing its claws into Kereek's body. Darting forward and drawing her rapiers, she closed the gap and start jabbing with her enhanced weapons, eyes glowing with a golden fire as she commanded, "Back t' th' Eternal Abyss with ye! Ya shan't take this one's life, so long as I still walk this plane!" Kn: Planes:
Attacks:
Damage:
Coterie was similarly unhelpful when it came to finding shelter outside the city. Having largely worked in towns and cities, she'd gotten used to finding at least a decent in to spend nights in. Still, as her new acquaintances were setting up camp, she did was she could to help. Since they had encounter enemies on their way up, she didn't want to risk a fire. She instead set up a small ring of stones and started pulling multiple tools and items from her haversack, soon having a small table set up with her various equipment. Coterie spent a few minutes mixing various liquids and powders together in the middle of the stone circle, soon having a large black cube sitting in the middle of it all. She took a dagger and cut it in half, stowing the other half away and starting to rub over the surface of the black square all over, no doubt looking odd to her new allies. She quickly yanked her hands away when she was done, saying to the confused group, "Blackfire Clay. You rub it long enough and it creates heat. Combine enough of it together and it generates enough heat to be a lightless, smokeless, odorless campfire. It won't last all night, but better than having nothing at all." Craft Alchemy (DC 20):
She watched with some surprise at how quickly those undead fell to her new allies, making a mental note to stay on their friendly side as things progress. Sheathing her rapiers, she walked up to the corpses of the fallen, taking a moment to look them over. She eventually spoke, the medallion shaped like a piece of currency glowing, and her voice taking on a distinct accent. "In mah exper'ence, it's usually th' work o' Necromancy. Rare occasions it's raw emotion that can bring bach th' dead. These buggers though? Necromancy, fer sure." Kn: Religion:
Laying eyes on the lumbering, decaying monsters before them, Coterie drew a rapier and a vial from her bandolier, downing it with a grunt and putting it back in place before moving up with second rapier in hand. Her skin started to turn a deep brown color, hardening over her body and coming up across her face, forming a protective mask. She only moved in about halfway between the group and these enemies, waiting for the more armored kobold to move in first.
Coterie looked over the various stone scattered about the place, each bearing that strange writing. She shook her head at every stone she stopped at, murmuring to herself, "Not something I recognize. Anyone else know it?" From a distance, her various medallions glowed and faded as she continued to mutter to herself. Seemingly content, she waited for the rest of her new allies to move on with her, seeing there isn't really anything they could learn from these since no one appeared to be able to read them.
Coterie blinks a few times and the glow from her medallion fades, her eyes changing back to their neutral white color. Seemingly unaware of how she responded to the group, she speaks up, the change in her voice gone. "Let's keep going. I can't read any of these stones, so no point in hanging around here. Let's just find what we're after, and leave."
Coterie takes a moment to get herself acquainted with Fang, allowing him to sniff her over and inspect her before they moved on. Striding past the totems, she makes sure to keep an eye out for anything moving among the earth and bone. She uncorks an iron vial from the bandolier under her traveling cloak and downs it. The contents smelling strongly of fresh ground coffee as she tucks it away. When the group arrives at the collection of tall stones, Coterie quips back to armored kobold, "What gave it away? The stones bigger than us with strange writing, the lack of wind or animals, or that the entrance to this place was marked by bone totems?" Her voice had a slightly higher pitch to it, carrying the same tone as a seasoned adventurer. The medallion around her neck bearing the relief of the tree bough and sword glowed lightly when she spoke, and her eyes shifted from a clear white to a soft gold color.
Coterie gave a polite nod to Katerina, and to the rest of the party in turn. "A pleasure, Katerina of Restov. Since you four are also searching for something, perhaps we can help one another? If you're willing to provide a description of what exactly you're after, as far as what this priestess' daughter is involved. In return, I'd like to ask the four of you to keep an eye out for a particular set of remains; Those of a Dwarven Cleric of Torag. They.. may still have a holy symbol if it's here."
Howdy group! The only things I've crafted are the Alchemical items. Everything else I bought and had made. Also, I'll be making a clear note in Raul's dialog when someone else is speaking for her. And yes I'm aware of the name I gave in character. When you travel largely alone for as long as she has, you tend to be wary around new faces. Particularly when two of them are well-equipped, intelligent kobolds.
"Answers." She replies, switching to Common with seemingly little effort. "I was directed this way by a Shaman, one that dealt with spirits and the afterlife. Hoping to find answers to some... personal questions of mine." Her hand shifted some, the elbow now resting on the hilt of a rapier, with her fingers lightly drumming against her gleaming mithril armor. "And what brings such an, assorted, group out to this same boneyard?"
"Dammit, nothing so far..." She mutters to himself as he picks through various piles of bones with her boot. Her gaze seems intently focused on the ground until she hears footsteps crunching towards her. Prompting her to look up and lay eyes on a pair of kobolds, well protected by the looks of one, and another that seemed to have an air of the arcane about him. Another compatriot stood by her horse, staring rather intently back at her. Seeing the two more monstrous individuals before her, one hand resting on the hilts of her rapiers, she replies, in very good Dragonic, "Neither of you two look all that big to me. Or terribly heroic... As for who I am? You may refer to me as Coterie."
Her background is, unfortunately, vague. Because of the aforementioned quirk of having trouble parsing memories between herself and her past lives, she simply doesn't know, or isn't entirely sure. Why she's in the Stolen Lands is simple; It's where her quest has taken her in order to find answers about herself. As far as the personalities go:
These would be the past lives she interacts with. Each offering something that she can benefit from. Combat prowess, arcane knowledge, scientific process, streetwise, or religious lore. She can speak with one past life while in deep meditation, but any more than that and she risks becoming completely overwhelmed and blacks out. Or worse, become overwhelmed and have temporary amnesia. |
