Awful news. So sorry for your loss, and please take care of yourself and the family.
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Hey there, still here as well! Sad to see you go, Wocket, but I understand the difficulty of keeping up especially without regular computer access. Good luck indeed. :) Taliesin, I will respond to your questions/request for actions during the 3 months in a bit but I'm not able at the moment.
Coming in behind Wocket and Charmaine, Talia takes her place before the Cardinal and graces him with a small, somber bow as Wocket presents him with the pendant. Following the gnome's lead, she adds, "I hope that this shows our readiness to be admitted fully into your service. The Nine Lessons were quite educational." Meanwhile as she's speaking, her elemental familiar is taking in the room for the first time since becoming fully aware, and cannot seem to shut up about it. She does her best to ignore the stream of erratic comments and pointed observations.
Talia does so, along with the dropped weapons of the other fallen draugr. "D'ya think there's anything interesting in Balin's room here? I'm a bit curious how he ended up here in the first place - and why he didn't seem to realize that he was underneath Thorn's sanctum."
Also, unless anyone stops her, Talia checks the draugr for any worthwhile gear they might have, though she isn't optimistic.
Before she helps gather up the equipment from Balin, she examines him closely to ensure that he is truly dead.
Sic semper jerks, her familiar chimes in. She then helps the others collect and carry his gear. She doubts she'd get much use out of the armor and shield, or the weapons either, but she's fine carrying them back as necessary.
Man, if I'd known a crit was coming, I might have done another earth blast instead!
Talia moves up on the draugr, coming to a stop near Tressa. She considers hurling a broken chunk of flagstone toward its head, but realizes that with Charmaine and Silarsha there, precisely aiming something so bulky would be difficult at best. Instead, she spies an opening and lunges forward with her longspear in an attempt to catch the beard of its axe at the apex of its swing.
No problem, Taliesin!
Talia steals a glance at Heverly's prone body even as the lurching draugr continues to brandish its axe. "Hang in there, Tress."
Talia launches another attack against the undead creature, then approaches it with spear in hand. "I might be able to bait this thing, if it comes to that," she says to her gathered allies.
Well, I was just assuming we could use it after the draugr goes down, or if it's too hardy, after we lure it away from her.
Sorry, I had a post ready yesterday but couldn't see Silarsha on the map at the time. I figured she was moving her pawn and I'd post it later. Also, from what I remember didn't we get a potion from the Branderscar guards? Does anyone still have it for Heverly?
Talia sees Balin go down to a wicked slash from the draugr. "No one will even know you died, Sir - they'll only know that you abandoned your post one day never to be seen again." A wet growl from the corpse standing nearby jolts her from her gloating, and the pebbles under her feet tremble as she fires another blast.
She sees the unmoving body of Heverly nearby, and her earlier words about the draugr's undead resistances echo in Talia's head. Hope this thing goes down quickly, for your sake.
Talia sees the enormous axe bounce off of Balin's armor and grits her teeth. This'll be a fight. Again she raises a hand, forms a densely-packed ball of earth, roughly shaped the same as the ball of a morningstar, and launches it at her foe. "Treachery is something a servant of Talingarde would recognize, isn't it?"
Talia sees Silarsha taking a step toward Balin and raising her sword, and knows the time to strike has come. She squeezes her companions' hands before releasing them, and outstretches one toward the wounded knight. Get him, the voice in her head whispers.
Committed to selling the act, Talia hangs back with Charmaine and Wocket at the rear of the fighting, while Balin engages the source of the noise beyond. "W-what's that noise?"
Talia looks down at Charmaine and places a hand atop her head, playing along along with the deception. Her gaze sweeps upward to catch Balin's eye, but not before stealing a glance at his necklace. [b]"There were children here, sir. Children. It's unthinkable. Will you help us? Timeon spoke quite highly of you."
Talia agrees with Timeon and will continue to hold Wocket's and Charmaine's hands to keep up appearances, unless one or both decide otherwise.
Talia feels Charmaine's gentle tug and she moves accordingly. However, despite all she's encountered, she finds the coffins especially disconcerting, and finds herself almost subconsciously moving more slowly and deliberately, and never taking her eyes off of the lids.
I assume the room with the waterlogged coffins is not pitch black like the one before it?
"Sounds good, Tr-Timeon." Talia waits for Wocket to detect magic, but otherwise is ready to take her hand and Charmaine's and try to guide them into the room.
A second or two after Charmaine's question, Talia responds, "Not that long. Or, perhaps a long time, I'm not sure. I never thought of doing it before just now." Her voice is distant, but she seems to be otherwise quite lucid. When her snake returns, she ceases concentrating and the creature seems to disintegrate. Well, that was fun. My first outing in a physical form and I get to explore a dark room. Thanks for the opportunity, it projects sarcastically into her mind. Well, how was I to know you couldn't see in the dark? she responds defensively. Addressing the rest of the group aloud, Talia passes along what had been shared with her: "The room seems dark, and too large for it to make out much of anything. it didn't seem to pick anything up via smell either." She reflects for a moment, tucking a strand of hair back into place as she does so. "Hey, didn't Timeon mention a 'shrieker that summons four drowned men when in the light?' I don't know if this is that room, but if it's dark in there, it might be something to keep in mind."
Seeing Silarsha begin to open the door, Talia holds up her hand. "Please wait, she says politely. "I have a way to scout ahead safely." Her eyes lose focus, and she hears a familiar voice in her mind. No need to ask, I already know what you want. Almost instantly, a collection of earthen detritus amasses on the ground, seemingly out of nowhere, and forms into a tiny rocky snake. It slithers toward the closed door before stopping, seemingly waiting for it to open.
GM: Now, purely for flavor I've been having it speak to her while in her mind, although by RAW it should only be able to communicate empathically. At the very least I assume that will be true while manifested, but if you want to retcon the "speaking to her while in her mind" stuff also, I understand. Assuming the party is fine letting its scout ahead into the room, it has a +20 Stealth and +10 Perception w/ low-light and scent.
Talia just stares, partially in awe and partially in admiration, at the raw destructive power of this enormous spiked ball. She spends a moment trying to guess how much practice she would need with her gift before she could create something similarly potent. "That was definitely something, Wocket," she says, after letting out a low whistle.
Talia lingers a moment longer at the staircase in the event that she hears anything, then crosses the room to follow "Timeon."
Yep, that's where I had in mind (assuming Sil has no issues being up one space instead). :)
"Nope," Talia responds to Silarsha, "you're not the only one." She looks warily at the dragon pendant for a few moments, but when "Timeon" sets off to check for the secret door his "predecessor" had mentioned, Talia snaps out of it and proceeds in the opposite direction, toward the stairs. Taking care to stay out of sight of anyone on the landing, she hugs the wall for the last 10 feet or so and creeps to the edge of the opening. Once there, she listens intently to see if she can detect anything above.
Talia looks on with relief at the second snake is defeated, and her jaw drops open when Silarsha mentions that they are made of mithril. "Incredible." She'd heard of the rare metal's intrinsic strength and opulence, but had never seen it before. She doubted anyone she knew had either. As Timeon passes, Talia mutters under her breath, "Tough luck, kid. Didn't have the strength to make it through this."
Having seen the snake dodge projectile after projectile, Talia rethinks her strategy, forming a tremendous stone axe head which she hopes will slash the creature in half.
The axe carves a partial furrow in the ground on its way to the snake, but Talia can see that the snake will almost certainly get out of the way. At least you're learning its movements, she thinks in a glum attempt at optimism.
Aggravated to no end at these difficult snakes, Talia begins cursing under her breath. The line of profanity doesn't end even as one of the creatures finally falls. Instead, she merely steps over Timeon's unmoving body, and channels all her power into a single projectile spike seemingly made of polished granite. She hurls it at the metal serpent.
The blasphemies are no longer under her breath.
As the snake moves to attack Genevieve, Talia stabs her spear forward in the hopes of catching it as it goes by.
Sadly, the snake once again proves too agile, and her spear clangs off the floor.
As the snakes slither forward with terrific speed, Talia takes more time to properly aim her next blast.
She then grabs her longspear with both hands and carefully watches for the creatures' next move.
Talia had never been much of a liar; her main advantage was having little compunction against it if the target was someone she held little or no respect for. Timeon certainly fit this category. But while part of her wanted to just let nature take its course on the boy, another part thought that he might still be useful yet - provided he survived this present danger, of course. She'd just have to spin up a story about her powers if he asked. Talia steps up past "Tressa," just behind and to the left of Timeon, and unleashes a blast of rock shards.
As they proceed down the hallway, Talia hangs back and attempts to stay in the shadows and watches the door carefully as the boy opens it. Good luck, kid. If you prove to be stronger than we expect, we might even try and recruit you, she thinks to herself. Fat chance, the voice in her head responds with gleeful malice.
Talia listens to the boy describe several threats, though she is unsure as to whether or not these are true accounts, or merely the exaggerated fairy tales of a hero-worshiping, starry-eyed green boy. Out of the blue, a flash of insight hits her and she remembers the plaque on the first room: Self-deception is death. Deceive thy enemy but never thyself. And she starts to wonder if this apparently gullible boy might be a bit too perfect.
As they exit the room, her attention is drawn to the walls and the ground as they walk, looking for anything of note.
Talia mostly keeps out of the way as the others discourse with Timeon, leaning casually against one of the nearby walls and listening. She does speak up after Charmaine's little display. "Hah! Yes indeed, little one," she says to the "child." Turning to Timeon, Talia asks, "As you can see, we're a motley crew. But there could be more of us that need to escape? Where did you say you left Sir Balin?"
Talia marvels at the deceased - is that even the right word? - shadow thing lying pulled on the floor. She starts to kick the toe of her boot at it, as if to try and find out what sort of substance it is composed of, but the groans from Genevieve make her rethink this act. She does, however, spot a shard of the now-shattered gem, which she picks up and eyes for a moment before tucking it in a chest pocket. She then follows the others out of the room, and is bringing up the rear when they enter the room with the torture rack. After reading the plaque set upon the archway, Talia privately allows herself a little bit of relief. As a survivor, she could accept ruthlessness in pursuit of a goal. But gratuitous cruelty? Her people had been on the bad end of that relationship time and again, and she had no patience to further that sort of injustice. What about Wendell Farr? What about Smiley Tawd? the mysterious voice in her head asks. She remembers for a moment, then responds silently Vengeance is a goal, too.
Talia spots a few wisps indicating the shadow's location under the floor, and advises anyone near it how to back away.
GM: Blast attack in the former case:
Pleased to see the mold retreating from Genevieve's gambit, Talia glances around the room once more before making her way into the next hallway. She happens to catch Wocket collecting a dust sample, and smiles approvingly but says nothing. If I had a mind or the patience for that sort of thing, I'd do the same, she thinks to herself as she exits. In the next room, Talia finds herself more than a little unsettled by the unnatural darkness, and tries her best to see what she can. Yes, look and see what's there, a voice echoes in her head. She turns her head sharply to look at her allies for any signs that they had the same experience, but if so, nothing of the sort is apparent on their faces. She steels herself and looks back into the black room.
She sees only the stone in the center of the room - and Genevieve leading Silarsha to it - when suddenly the shadowy creature appears and attacks! She watches in horror as it dives into the floor as a reaction to being wreathed in flame, and frantically scans the ground, hoping for a sign of its whereabouts.
The voice in her head returns, stronger this time. There, THERE! Can't you see it?! it wails directly into her mind.
Talia feels a burst of cold air as she opens the door under the inscribed lesson. She steps confidently into the room and begins to look around.
As she walks slowly around the room, spear at the ready, she examines the lantern which at first seems to be putting out the frost. It is only when she approaches the mold that she realizes otherwise. "I agree with the rest of you that it seems the mold door is our path, given the clue. It also seems to me that Asmodeus wants his followers - I mean, us - to be shrewd and crafty, just as he wants us to be ruthless and ambitious. So how do you get past this stuff without touching it? Perhaps the lantern holds a clue." Talia walks to the center of the room and studies the lantern, atop its pedestal.
Talia is as shocked as the rest to see the bare wall behind the trap, and as Charmaine steps back, she approaches and begins rapping methodically at various spots on the brick with the butt of her spear, listening for any hollowness.
"Well, no, I don't know what I'm doing, not exactly. Do any of you have any bright ide- oh." Talia steps aside sheepishly as Charmaine produces her set of thieves' tools. Well, at least we won't have to jump over a giant hole each time we come and go.
Talia spots some telltale seams in the floor just in front of the door that don't make sense to be there. She slides the butt of her spear in straight lines, marking out the edges of this apparent false floor. "Trapdoor," she grunts. "Look out, everyone." She stands at the demarcated edge of the trap, and glances at everyone in turn as she mimes pushing the door open with her spear. Talia checks each person's face to ensure they are ready before she does so.
Talia shrugs and fiddles with a small lace bow in her hair. After a moment, the slight woman's appearance shifts. Her hair lengthens and straightens, her face softens, and she adopts the visage of the noble woman's daughter you all saw earlier. It's a little out of place given her armored attire and the giant spear in her left hand. Looking at herself, she shrugs and says, "Didn't really have any other ideas at the moment. If anything comes to me, I'll change then." With that, she looks for a moment at the floor and at the lamp, and then begins slowly and carefully crossing into the room.
Hi there! Should be able to post in about 2.5 hrs after the kid goes to bed, but if you want to get a move on, I understand.
"Ah," says Talia in response to Genevieve's initial recounting. Gen gives a shudder at that thought. She then reaches a hand out to Talia, and speaks in a low voice, "Why do you ask? Is there something worrying you?" "No reason in particular. I only wondered whether or not you were the one they wanted to break out, and the rest of us were just lucky to be with you at the time." Talia smiles and winks. "Though she does give me a bit of an uneasy feeling; I'd say even more than the Cardinal does." -------- At the meeting with Thorn, Talia listens intently for any clues from the Cardinal, but finds none. She follows Tiadora at a brisk pace until they reach their apparent destination at the top of the stairs. As their "guide" walks away, Talia looks around at her companions, hefts her longspear and chimes in after "Genevieve" finishes: "We've beaten the 'scar - we can beat this. Let's make the most of our time." She takes a step down.
Gear list:
Item (gp) Longspear (5) Dagger (2) Belt pouch (1) Canteen (2) Flint and steel (1) Compass (1) Mwk backpack (50) Studded leather armor (25) Traveler's outfit (1) Skeleton key (85) Common manacles (15) Talingardian Soldier's uniform (1) Talingardian tabard (5) And she'll take the signal horn and rope if no one else takes them. Total: 195
Rolling for health: Whoa, all right then! Also, finishing up changing my profile to match my level 2 Talia.
"Well met, Trak. I'm Talia," she says with a grin; as she does so, she thrusts her palms down, and all of the stones fall to the earth with a series of dull thuds. "I don't quite know why I know how to do it; it's something I picked up from my father. I've never met anyone who can do the same things, at least, not the way I do it. You just kind of feel the rock, I guess." She finishes with a shrug. She prods him gently about his group and what he does , before taking her leave for the moment. She seeks out "Genevieve" later, finding her in the hallway after one of her dances, and beckons her aside. "Gen, may I call you that? I wanted to ask you before, but of course we were in the middle of a prison break - not ideal for a chat. Anyway, I was curious, what did Tiadora say to you when she called you out of your cell and gave you the veil? Did you know her before all of this?" Talia meanders a little as she talks, as though unsure of how to broach the subject of their benefactors while under their roof.
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