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Alara shakes the man's offered hand, and Bernard speaks up. "We're in the business of plotting safe caravan routes for trade between Varisia and the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. We see much value in the goods these lands have to offer, and we believe that the establishment of a proper and safe caravan route between Kalsgard and the city of Magnimar to the south would yield great profit for us both."
Oop! Right--gonna get caught up now!
I just noticed Psychics get Bluff as a class skill. Now I'm regretting not putting points into it.
Alara looks down at her feet and thinks for a bit. "...I might have an idea." She nods and addresses the party. "Bernard, while Lyraesel's spell is working, how about the two of us get some fancy clothes and pretend to be a pair of nobles interested in making some deals with the Rimerunners? We've got time to look for some nice clothes in order for us to blend in, and the others?" She grins. "You could be our bodyguards!"
"I might know someone who can do that..." Alara ponders.
"Pretty sure they don't really care about either cold iron or silver weapons--just as long as they're not on fire or dripping acid." Alara shrugs. "Also, they're native outsiders--so any weapons specifically designed to kill outsiders would be welcome in dealing with them."
"Well, they can change their shape... and they can regenerate like trolls. Bring fire or acid against them if you want to make sure they stay dead."
Alara's expression darkens. "I get the impression that one of my incarnations tangled with a lot of oni: I know them for what they are." "Evil spirits clad in humanoid flesh, with a perverse longing for the sins thereof." She takes another gulp of stew. "Some were once kami who failed their wards, and countless more were once kami who knowingly abandoned their sworn duty. Some were even black-hearted mortals whose spirits were remade in their image upon their death." "Much like the kami, most oni very much stand for order--but the sort of order that ends in misery, pain, bloodshed and torment. We know what these Five Storms are--we can take measures to properly prepare ourselves to face them."
"Oni..." Alara ponders them.
"Oh." Alara looks disappointed for a moment, but promptly bounces back. "Good thing I showed up when I did! I'm not letting you go through this alone, Ameiko-chan!"
"And you're a cassisian angel, too?" Alara stares at the helmet-angel. "Cool!" "So... we know who we're dealing with now." Alara then looks back at Ameiko. "And you said you had a vision before?" "Are you telling me you were a fellow psychic the whole time?"
Alara stares at the mystical talking helmet. "...well, thank you for the help, Mr. Talking Helmet." The elf blinks. "You've got a lot of faith in us, even though we're more or less stumbling around in the dark." She smiles. "That's... that's motivating."
"Oh, yeah. That's a tengu feather." Alara whispers before the priest's loathing of ninja rears its head. Her ears turn pink and she snorts. She opens her mouth to issue an indignant retort... and stops. ...was there ever a ninja who didn't serve the wealthy and amoral? I mean, there was Hattori Hanzo and his loyalty to Tokugawa...
"Not sure--I've never tried."
"It's blue whinnis poison, incidentally." The elven psychic scratches her ear. "Don't prick yourself with the dart--it might still be potent enough to knock you out."
"Uh..." Alara approaches the dropped blowgun dart. "...why is there a dart down here?" "Especially one covered in a knockout drug?"
Yeah, for clues like that, you waive the check. Maybe have additional clues that the PCs can find with a good enough Perception, but the really critical clue should be a gimme.
Alara stands over the shattered remains of the earth elemental, her face pale and her hands shaking. "That... who even summoned that thing?!" She points her crossbow at it, as if afraid it'll suddenly reanimate for a second round. "And how was it so powerful?!" And most importantly, why was I so USELESS during that fight?!
Also, I just have to say, the longer I run this adventure, the more terrible design choices I find. For example, putting a big-ass earth elemental against a bunch of 4th-level PCs.
Alara grimaces, loads up, and fires again.
Alara reloads and shoots at the elemental again.
Why don't I have any proper offensive spells for this?!
Alara yanks out her crossbow, aims, and fires.
And menaces a faraway piece of stonework.
Alara musters up the last of her minor reserves and throws one more bad luck spell at the walking mound of earth.
The elf winces as Morgrym is practically buried under a pile of rubble and invokes another episode of bad luck on the rock monster...
GM? We're waiting on you.
Alara gives the blood-feathered raven only the briefest of glances, especially when Bernard takes a potshot at it. Alara's eyes widen when she sees just how big the elemental trashing the shrine is. "Th-that's a big elemental! Hit it as hard as you can--if you feel like you're not doing enough damage, that's normal! Just keep hitting it until it falls apart!" "That, and as long as it's in contact with earth, it's going to be stronger! Watch out for its long arms!"
She focuses on the massive mound of earth, imagining all manner of terrible things happening to it... First, they're gonna hack you up until you look like a mound of dirt instead of a big hill. You're gonna get turned into mud. And then, with how cold it is up here, you're gonna freeze. You picked the wrong part of the world to wreck! "We're gonna ERODE your sorry ass!" The elf yells at the walking mound of earth. She probably didn't mean to say that last bit out loud.
"Oh my!" Alara, seeing the carnage and the others racing to stop it, follows them in.
"...so that means they might send much more next time. People rich enough to afford ninjas generally don't appreciate being told 'no'."
"Okay, ninja that are rich enough to get their own guilds & strongholds generally festoon them with traps & such. But I'm more concerned about the fact that we had to deal with several ninja at once." "That gives me the impression that someone with a LOT of money is after us. One ninja would likely be enough for just about any job. Two, if the job is REALLY big." "Either that, or they were looking for something else entirely and we just had the bad luck to run into them."
Incidentally, a bit of clarification regarding Alara's name: I wanted to name her in accordance with Japanese naming convention. Surname first, birth name second. So her name is Alara Shinrin.
The question causes Alara to pause. And then to seriously think.
"You think so?" Alara's eyes are twinkling. "I mean, I know they're probably not going to be happy that we killed several of their ninjas, but I still can't help but be intrigued by them." "I think I *was* a ninja in a past life. That's why I like them so much."
"Apparently. They're the ones we just fought on a burning Ulfen raider ship."
Alara blinks and points into the sky. "Oh! I remember where I saw that symbol before!" "It belongs to the Frozen Shadows--they're a local ninja guild. They even take contracts for ninja services." She tilts her head. "I imagine that includes things like stabbing, stealing, poisons, kidnapping & whatnot--but I wonder if that covers secretarial duties as well? Like, could you have an honest-to-Desna ninja secretary?" "...that'd be COOL!"
*ahem* The historical Hattori Hanzo was a samurai, not a ninja, though he did work with the peasant militias of the Iga region, which many historians credit as the historical basis of modern ninja myths. Unlike his many pop culture portrayals, he was not particularly famous for crafting swords, but rather for saving the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu and his fighting skills with... a spear. "Shush, you! Lemme have this!"
"I'll be happy to look into this bird-symbol affair. I'm pretty sure I know a thing or two about ninjas--I love reading stories about them. Did you ever hear of the one named Hattori Hanzo?..." Alara starts in this vein while racking her brain for information.
Spooked and more than a little eager to get off the ship, Alara makes her way to a nearby canoe and tries to climb into it.
Alara aims at the last ninja standing and fires.
Oh heavens. O_O I hope things get better for you soon!
Alara points her crossbow at one of the blinded ninjas and fires!
Alara blinks, then focuses on the two ninjas attacking the berserker. She imagines a rainbow of colours striking them in the back, and puts a little extra into the spell to ensure it sticks!
Alara nods. "Yeah--we gotta go. We gotta go now."
Alara cringes at the sight of the undead Ulfen and summons forth a layer of psychic resilience!
Alara follows them down, her teeth starting to chatter in the darkness.
Alara hauls herself onto the deck and gracelessly flops onto the ship. "Oof."
Despite her inexperience, Alara manages to row steadily.
"..."Please be careful, there's kind of a shortage of elves around here." "Hey, I'm here, aren't I?" Alara speaks up, scratching her head. "Granted, I was pretty useless in that fight, but still..."
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