Silvia lurks back from the fray, looking for an opening.
- What should I be on the lookout for?
- What is about to happen?
- Who’s really in control here?
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"Oh. Oh Varis, that is very kind of you! I will be certain to repay you." "And you two aren't going anywhere without me!" Silvia seems thoroughly emboldened by the return of her eyebrows, and stands with hands on hips, pouting at the owlbear and the half-ogre.
Silvia looks surprised to be noticed. She looks surprised at absolutely everything. She's more than a little distressed to be missing her eyebrows among civilised peoples. "Yes please..." she whispers, mortified.
Bond: I never liked the default one I have with Tear. I'm thinking "Tera makes for an excellent lookout, he could give me the edge I need." +1 I also think I'll fill in my open default bond with Tera as well. +1 Alignment: Not so much. Questions: Definitely learnt to be careful of what is being summoned! +3 Puts me at 8 XP -> 0 XP and level 2. +1 Dexterity and "How Clumsy of You".
I relay what I know about the dagger to the group, and then look at Gorn with a hopeful expression.
Face still stinging, Silvia slides up next to Vanadin and taps the tooth with a fingernail. "Is that a Jabberwocky fang? Maybe a baby one... or..."
Silvia's lack of eyebrows gives her a permanently surprised expression. She can't contribute to the situation, as smoke inhalation has her coughing and spluttering like a diseased chimney, but one might get a strong intimation that she completely agrees with Varis.
Silvia throws herself to the ground, wrapping herself up in her cloak in an effort to smother her smouldering clothes.
As the creatures arm bursts into evidently eldritch flame, Silvia narrows her eyes. Surely she's seen this before, or at least, something like it...
"W-What he said!" Chimes Silvia, darting from the undergrowth to slide in next to Gorn. "Gorn, be sure to draw it out completely so we can fl- Be sure to kill it real good, ok?"
Sometimes, all one needs is a good, solid, push in the right direction. In this case, the direction being FUN. Of the Dwarf Fortress kind.
The changeling smiles savagely to herself as the thing responds to her voice. Only one thing to try now. Silvia's lungs contort in ways no mortals were ever meant to move. A throbbing resonance builds, fae magicks moving swiftly along her ribcage.
"I said, Reveal Yourself Right Now!"
Silvia staggers back to her feet, scanning around wildly. "I know you're out there! Call off your minions and let's talk!"
Even as Tera crumples back to terra firma, Silvia is already moving. She heard that *pop* and did not like the sound of that at all. "Hold still." she mind-beams firmly.
Calling upon her faint links to Tera and Vanadin, she strengthens them with a few mental exercises a pixie taught her until the tenuous bond allows thoughts to filter through. Friend, what do you see? I will inform the rest post-haste. Silvia is also peering through the brush for any approaching threats. She should be safe where she is, but the others...
Who is really in control here?
Silvia draws upon the leaves themselves, coaxing an echo of their form into a quiet piece of camouflage. She backs off the path as she does so, merging with the undergrowth.
Silvia, still halfway between intensely curious and overwhelmingly embarassed, bobs her head and leaves with Varis. She'll commit this place to memory, and maybe come back here some day. There might be answers here. Or at least a place to start looking.
Silvia can't make heads or tails of what they said in secret, so she ignores it. For now. "Yes. I mean, yes t-to the first one. A friend. That's me! Haha..." she trails, off, blushing furiously at her gauche manner.
Silvia slows as she enters the room. "Hello V-Varis, I see you've... made contact with the locals." Belatedly, she remembers her manners, and curtseys hurriedly. "H-how do you do?" she squeaks.
Silvia attempts a decent impression of a curtsy, then coughs daintily into one fist. "Excuse me, I do believe a few of my companions are located at the top of this tower. Would you mind if I join them?"
Silvia makes a note of the churches location and decor. Just in case there's a witch-burning scheduled for this afternoon, she doesn't dawdle too long. Making her way back through the crowd, she spies the owlman entering the mages tower. Shrugging at the reasonably bizarre sight, she makes her way across the space and raps gently on the front door. No need to use conjourers cheap tricks to pass unnoticed, the real magic is the invisibility of demure respectability.
Silvia makes her way delicately through the crowds, meandering to wards where Varis says the chanting is coming from. She wouldn't call this reconnaissance, more like... sightseeing. But the goals are rather similar.
Silvia drops her disguise and makes her way carefully back into camp. She has no need to modify her more-or-less human features, and the glamour could potentially be sensed by one of those casters. Then again, she wouldn't exactly jump at the chance to confess her nature to these refugees...
Silvia observes the orcs from the undergrowth, then weaves a few dozen moonbeams into a passable illusion of an orc.
She retches silently as her vocal chords lengthen, and her spine creaks as she adjusts her posture into that of the average orcish warrior. It's a sturdy one as well, and should be able to hold up under considerable roughhousing. It won't hold up to scrutiny via mirror though, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue.
What should I be on the lookout for?
Additional unnamed throng, gotcha.
Just to be sure, is the caravan just us players + named survivors, or the entire town?
Silvia never sleeps much. As soon as camp is made, she evaporates into the forest. Where she goes, nobody knows, but she usually returns just before dawn, in the grey hours, with either a twinkle in her eye, or with a slow, heavy tread, like that of a half dead horse or a moody teenager.
Hmm, maybe you've got a point Varis. Sure! And I like all the other bonds as well.
I actually have no idea. Not so sure about the origin thing, considering "Oh, I'm actually not a human" isn't as big a deal considering one of us is an owlbear. So...
[Vanadin?] knows more about me than they realise. I trust [Nobody, ha! Unless someone wants it], they have seen the real me. [Tera?] frustrates me with their lack of social grace. I find that it makes life easier when I don't tell [Gorn] the whole plan. [Varis?] and I have a special secret, just between us two.
Test post please ignore
Oh! Well there's a 50/50 chance between Silvia being a changeling and just thinking she's one. I'd imagine if its the former, then Defying Danger when exposed to a concerted anti-fey array of charms, and if it's the latter... Well, the psychosomatic reaction would probably be much the same! Does this sound fair to you?
Two ways to prevent unwanted interaction with fey and faerie creatures: appeasement, or repulsion. Saucers of milk, fresh eggs and sometimes more... potent sacrifice can encourage minor fey to leave a household alone, or even earn a little favour with local spirits. Others, especially the more pious, prefer salt, cold iron, rowan wood and othrt such charms to keep away goblins and ghouls. This sometimes work. Some sects of the church despise any dealings with the fey in any manner, encouraging prayer and abstinence in place of tried and true methods. The fey find this hilarious. Silvia herself? Why would she ward off fey influences? She's one of the family. Maybe a minor adopted cousin, but still. She belongs to them. Doesn't mean that Verdant-Maple-Boughs won't turn into a swan and try sire a few children with her, but that's no different for everyone else. Men included.
Not so much a survivor, but Evening-Light-Glade (the nymph) is still hanging around somewhere. Depending on her mood, she's a mentor/mother/sister/irritation to Silvia, always asking for tiny, insignficant favours that always have hilariously destructive consequences. Ulysses is a "fallen" paladin that was infected by some strange eldritch virus, the scars of which still mar the old mans face. He was rescued and cleansed, but not before losing most of his fighting capability and all of his faith. The raw strength of may be spent, but his eyes hold the secrets of a hundred campaigns. Sometimes, Silvia sees reflections of how people see themselves. Kings, queens, warlords and tyrants appear as angelic, avenging creatures, sent from on high with a halo of fire and a burning golden gaze, while the broken and dispirited grub about in the earth for sustenance. Very few men or women truely see themselves as demonic or unnatural. Those that do are worth watching. Silvia wants revenge, and to indulge in power. She wants to break things, people and societies, to take what she can get and run, screaming with laughter. For now, she needs allies, contacts, resources and protection. She will have her vengeance for how she was treated, how she was abandoned. Also, she's a massive hedonist. So there's that.
Silvia is probably a changeling. She was probably stolen by those wicked, wicked goblins, with a replacement infant left squalling in the wooden crib. She was probably the protege of a bored and manipulative forest nymph who's tree-home was threatened by the expanding goblin settlement. The confusion stems from the fact that Silvia murdered her goblin "mother" at age thirteen. Then, wearing her visage, murdered the goblin "father", followed by the rest of the village. Trekking cross country for three months, she returned to the human town and spread the blood of her negligent human parents across the living room, before turning on her replacement. One of them survived. Naturally, Silvia slipped through the cracks, and has been drifting through the bottom feeders and mud-dwellers of society. Nobody can be quite sure if the corpse of Silvia left in that house was the original or the doppelganger. Only one thing is certain: Silvia isn't telling. Inquisitor Varon Zeth has not created a profile. |