I have a lot of knowledge points it's true.
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Rosalind smiles, listening as Dylan whispers a short reminder. "A good thing I was sent with us then, this is a simple enough town. In many ways the life here is almost idyllic. Although, they do have a reputation as man eaters, several visitors of the manly persuasion have gone missing. Outsiders probably assumed they settled, but if so I've heard no word of it. No, I suspect we can all guess how they might have been settled. Why, If you can play human enough, you might turn the tables on their local predator Thulmere, Murnau." She nods to the two, her lips twisting in a smile. "I can help with that, I think. Let's see, we'll need to disguise the beast. Ourselves. Dylan, you'll need to be invisible I suspect, and the lovely Allizsah will appear our leader, just in case. Yes." She nods, thinking quickly, then continues. "The beast is beyond me I think, but I can shift the rest of our appearance towards life. That should allow for easy entry to the city, assuming you all consent? It will only last slightly more than an hour, however, so best to find ourselves lodging quickly once we are accepted." She nods, and looks over her spellbook, then glances up at the faces of her companions. "I am not always the quiet daughter of a dangerous woman, we all have our masks to wear, yes? Mother swears it will be the redeath of me, but here, here it might be useful."
"I wouldn't worry too much about Dylan, he's perfectly capable of keeping pace with the rest of us. Likewise, Appearing alive is a simple enough bit of magic if needs be. Still, a cart is more comfortable and leaves time for study, so by all means procur a cart."
A good point. If it is as simple as damaging a set ward, my domicis might be able to assist. He is alive, and not barred by the same set of wards that I am. The tall man smiles and nods, once.
The boards have been a mess since last Wednesday night. As a result I have fallen behind in all games. I'll get to this one within the next few nights if not tonight. I think we're all here in our games. (I know I'm playing catch up and was still watching the goblin eat the server gif half the time I tried to get to my usercp this morning)
I like darklands more than assaulting random elftowns, but I'd really like to just fastforward to whichever gets us into actual encounters so if elflands is easy for Shadow to run and Darklands takes effort (or vice versa) go with easy.
I'm in favor of darkland adventures asap. We are bogging down in 'talk big do nothing' vampirism atm. Thoroughly trope appropriate, but yeah.
"I think the method of the orc's disposal will have to wait on knowledge of the orc living arrangements. Still, sneaking into a fortress is usually no trouble. Living creatures have needs, and where there is need there is weakness. Weaknesses we will exploit. As for creating an army of them, I for one have no interest in embracing orcs. I desire more notable companions. I'd think, after watching lener offend half the council, the rest of you would also hesitate to consider an Orc for a child." Rosalind seems indifferent to the orc fortress, but shows real emotion at the last as she shudders when she speaks of spending eternity responsible for someone like Lener. After a pause, Rosalind shrugs then gestures to Allizsah with a smile. "Our lovely host offers a stark contrast to an orc, does she not? Far more interesting for a century of talk. Now then, what is the fastest path to Deepgate? The sooner we start, the sooner we can move on to more pleasant things."
Rosalind enters the room, dressed in armor and traveling clothes. Her fine dress set aside. Behind her, a large man in a cloak, armed with an elaborately wrapped scythe looks impassively over the room. "While it might be entertaining to assault the elven homelands, I agree that a trip through the darklands is almost certainly the simpler course. The drow are no fools, so we can safely assume the elves will be watched, and those watchers almost certain to have magical means of communicating. The beasts of the dark? They'll be left to the warding of steel. Even the most paranoid drow matriarch isn't going to assign her daughters to watch the stable, or the trade entrance. That's a job for lesser talents, and thus our entry will be...calmer. Once inside the walls, well, a tragedy might befall the houses of Zirnakaynin. I imagine we'll all be simply ravenous by the time we meet our hosts."
New mission - talk our way through every encounter. We might need a way to cast awaken on a hostile animal though. We return to the council with our part of the puzzle in hand having been elected high muckety muck of the drow, the council is still talking about which group to smite with space rocks, then the other group walks in covered in blood from slogging through everything. Amusing.
She smiles as Allizsah wins, then winces as Murza yearns for life. "Don't let my mistress hear you speaking of life so earnestly young one. She'll cure you of your delusions, and you would not like the curing. I find this existence strange, but not bad. My advice to you both young Murza and Allizsah, freely offered. Embrace your youth. While it is true my senses changed as Mistress Thuvia's gift took hold, and not all for the better, it was time that truly changed me. Time changes me still. It was time that changed our ancient companions. Drink what wine you may, taste the tartest fruit, the most succulent gifts. Love, Mourn, make friend or foe. Enjoy your time with the vast unknowns before you. There will be heartbreak enough, but what wonders you might see as well. Do not yearn to be that which you are not yet become. Instead strive to be all that you are in the moment." She smiles, a bit sadly it seems, remembering. "We are all damned, after all, no matter how we might argue otherwise. If I am to be damned, better to be wholly myself and not wishing to be something else. A good night to you, young Allizsah, Murza. To you as well Murnau. I believe I will return to my books, if only to refresh my memory of the underworld." She wanders off to whatever room she's been given if the conversation ends here.
Rosalind follows Murnau. "Do you want to be the sane one or the crazy one when we have to talk to the drow? They don't respond well unless someone is unhinged, but they're also a matriarchy devoted to a spider. They've been culling their brightest minds for generations at this point and we can probably go either way with them."
Rosalind bends knee behind Voracia, and speaks softly, her head near the ancient one's ear. "Mistress. Time is the enemy of all things, and we are no exception. While we plot grand strategy, time passes. While they bicker, time passes. While some wait for the perfect moment, time passes. When we are dust, and our world is dust, and the sun we fear so much is dust, time will continue on. If the drow have done this thing, and I do not doubt they have, then we must move more quickly not less. Our enemies, numerous and fleeting, will not have our patience. They are more keenly wed to time, and will heed her beating drum. They will move, are moving, and one of them at least already has this weapon. Let the council sit and decide what is to be done with the weapon, whatever form it takes, but before we can use the weapon we must first possess it. Surely there is agreement there. You could send a group of us to retrieve it, and discuss the use to which it might be put when it returns." She keeps her place of deference to her mistress, but her eyes are alert as they travel across the council and guests.
Quite the parlor trick, the arcane or divine might... She shifts restlessly but keeps silent, her eyes on the events unfolding.
Rosalind's eyes widen as she looks over the gathered goddesses in their Avatars, then she controls herself and is once again the dutiful daughter.
Rosalind follows, weighing her mistress's remarks, and stands cordially at attention in the chamber after seeing Voracia seated. "Thank you, mother." It's always a risk, to claim kinship. Now to see what horrors lie in store for us. She looked over the remaining delegates, then smiled politely, her face a serene mask.
Voracia:
"They seem like children, although dangerous children, for the most part. Every one their own master, every one determined to be more invincible than the last. Allizsah and Thesing seem the only two with more concern than their own damnation." She steps back after answering her mistresses question and looks the room over once more, then leans in again. Voracia: "They have potential, if they can cooperate long enough to use it."
FYI, this is Creepy.
Rosalind winces at the outburst, glancing at Voracia and then settles as she sees her mistress otherwise occupied. She gives Thulmere a second glance, curious, then turns away. "I suspect they keep bottles. As for fun, I also suspect you'd be unhappy if our hosts had too much fun. It would likely come at your expense. By all means keep asking for it, though, it might amuse these ancients to give it to you." She turns to the room at large and addresses the ancients gathered there.
Rosalind tries to draw her mistresses gaze to more pressing matters. "If we know nothing, and we are the heads and representatives of our families, that is still something worth establishing. Thuvian agents are working their way through rumor and lies, but we have not found a clear agency behind the event. Leads dry up, like water in the sands. Witnesses seem non-existant. Divinations seeking the source of the event return merely empty voids. Less precise auguries pointed toward this meeting as shedding light," she laughs "on the matter. So we have come, but we did not come to sit in a waiting room. We came for answers, as I'm sure did the rest of you. Let us find those answers then. Did any of you turn up more? If not, we must go and find our missing councilors and demand answers." She sits, pleasantly, beside and slightly behind Voracia.
I am so happy about Voracia being full crazy. I feel like Thuvians are a mix of (in order of likeness) Toreador/Ventrue/Ravnos but it's nice that old crazy is present regardless and maybe I should add Malk to the end there.
"Mistress you may drink as you please, but not every cup is as still as the sea. You might prefer the novelty of a fine glass, yes?" She speaks softly, but in time with Allizsah's offer, and looks for the nicest of the available glasses.
"Yes, the shockwave was certainly interesting. It ruined several fine sculptures, and nearly as many plots. We assume you've learned the reason for it?" Rosalind seems if not on edge, sharply attentive. She seats her Mistress, then stands elegantly beside the ancient one. Her smile is relaxed, even if her posture is not.
"Yes, mistress. So you said. He is quite skilled, if blunt. Perhaps." She looks him over thoughtfully, the shakes her head. Her blue tresses flow together as she turns her attention back to the Lady. "A bladed guardsman would have avoided the bite, but not provided such entertainment, Mistress. I think perhaps I shall see where our hosts are. You should not be kept waiting. With your permission?" Rosalind bows elegantly, then after Voracia Thuvia nods, she walks toward the human guard. "Child, where is the stablehand for my mistresses horse?"
Routing as described by Rosalind:
"We traveled east. The old witch dragging us through the night, killing horses and buying new ones after butchering the corpse to hide our taste. I was daughter, lover, neice, sister, dull witted servant, and once even the distraught displaced woman. She didn't care what my preference might have been, she ordered, and I dare not disobey. Not after Thomas. She tore him to bits and fed him to us. Like we were animals too stupid to know how to eat." Rosalind shudders, then continues. "At Profit's Flow, we struck north. She produced fine garmets all in white, and told me we were now Profits of Kalistrade. To sneer and silently weigh the price of each good we saw for sale, and find it wanting. To stay all covered up, even to the eyes. What a trick it was to move thus hidden by her power. I was taken with wonder by it, the witch is a monster, her monstrosity has a beauty all its own, and she will not be balked. We boarded ship and sailed the gulf, not that she'd let me see the sea of course. I was confined, sick she claimed. My grip on the captain grew with each night, again at her direction. He begged for death at my lips. She denied him. When we disembarked, she'd painted the room with his blood, fed me choice bits of it like a dog in a silver dish, and then made me clean the place. She has a sense of humor, I 'died' for the fourth time in that room. Some nameless passenger made to look like me and left to rot. Shelyn have mercy on us all." She collects herself then starts again. "The true horror was the rush to this gathering. All of it by carriage, through Ustlav of all places. Two days and nights of Thuvia recounting all the ways in which a careless vampire could die here. All the ways in which a careless vampire might be made to wish for death. Promising them all to me if I disappointed her." She grins, fully and without a hint of the horror that filled her voice a moment ago. "So you see, hunter, there's very little you can do to me. Very little that has not already been done. The worst you can do is torture and kill me. Believe me when I say that that seems a childlike dream of candy and flowers. You are no Thuvia, and I? I will not disappoint her. Not for all the forgiveness in creation. I'm afraid our talk is over, hunter. Give my regards to Pharasma. I shan't be seeking her after all."
Updated Thuvia paypack, still need to spend gold on spells - anyone have any wizard buffs they know they'll want?
Dot - I have a pretty busy day today but I'll try to finish up the details in the alias soon. I need to buy 2,000g of spells, and 4,000g of mundane gear for the haversack, but I'm pretty happy with the other stuff. I don't know if I'm going to get any of house Thuvia's blood powers, because the other stuff they get (cohort + metamagic) eats feats like candy. |