Search Posts
Obviously, I echo Farod's comments about a slower pace being fine by me. I've been very busy lately and had a very hard time keeping up in my fast pace games, so a slower (even much slower) pace would work well for my schedule. That said, I 100% understand if you need to end the game. If that's the case, I would like to hear an overview of the future plot as I won't likely ever come back to this material, as long as it's not too much work to summarize.
"That was certainly more of a spectacle that I expected. Well done, both of you. If you keep at it, I'm sure you'll be flinging about all sorts of powerful magic at the Ragesians."
"Wow, way more sparks flying than I expected, at least from Farod. No offense Farod!"
"That's why you gotta throw dirt on them right when they disappear. Get something stuck to 'em."
Tchakar let out a long whistle. "Sneaky little guy, and quick too. If more people had his aptitude in this city, the Rags wouldn't stand a chance."
"That's not ac-- oh. Tricksy, tricksy!" Tchakar seemed much more amused once the flames started dancing and he waited eagerly for the smoke to clear.
Tchakar found his dwarven friend and whispered, "What do you think the chances are that Farod ends up on the ground?"
"Well that sounds fancy. And difficult. The more I learn about how magic works the more I realize I have no idea how magic works. I don't even understand how I can do magic in the first place, unless I'm not really doing magic and it's just the elemental that helps out when I need it. Anyways, try not to get blasted too bad, Farod."
"How does the magic make disintegration nonlethal?" Tchakar asked the proud young wizard. "Does it only let you disintegrate less important things like arms and legs?"
Tchakar seemed amused by the elven boy's request, and joined the gathering crowd to watch, electing to track down one of the mentioned conjuration experts after the duel.
"All right. I never really thought to ask, but maybe some of the wizards here might understand a bit more about how this happened," Tchakar replied with a wave of his white feathered hand, then set off to find someone knowledgeable about bound air elementals. He hoped that he could find some explanation of how or why he had somehow become bonded with the creature, or barring that, perhaps some way of satisfying its strange periodic bouts twitching and grasping. It wasn't painful or anything, but it was distracting, and certainly drew a few odd stares, but more importantly Tchakar had a growing worry that the poor elemental felt trapped and terrified being constrained in his reformed hand.
"All right. See and be seen, then? As for the lack of teleportation... it might be for the best. Despite their claims of wanting to eradicate magic users, I doubt they would pass up on using teleportation magic if it could help them meet their goals."
"Did you have any specific things in mind right now?"
"Are they always this... combative? How do they expect to get anything productive out of this meeting acting like that? As for your task, it sounds like we're interested. I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines and being forced to react. It will be nice to take a more active role for a change."
Tchakar leaned close to the dwarf and spoke softly, "I think you might need to fill me in on some things later when we get back home. I seem to have missed some important events before I met up with you folks."
Tchakar swivelled his head over to look at the burly dwarf, then turned back with a curt nod. He may not know what Umbriak was talking about, but the others didn't need to know that.
The tengu that had been quiet through all the proceedings finally ruffled his feathers and spoke up, "To be honest, the lot of you sound a whole lot less like potential allies, and more like buzzards, picking a man's bones clean before he's even had time to finish dying. You should be offering what you can bring to the fight, and then once you've got a list of all of your strengths, work together to form a plan to strike using those strengths. You face an enemy that would be happy to carve up all of your nations, and has shown little inclination to be satisfied with just a bit of land nearby. If you don't learn to work together quickly instead of trying to dominate one another, you'll end up just like the man, not the buzzards. Scraps, gobbled up." Tchakar punctuated the last statement with a audible snap of his beak, then shrugged as if he was trying to deflect the attention his words had earned him and leaned back against the wall again.
As they hurried out, Tchakar came to the realization that there was a very real possibility that an attack could occur. This was a meeting of several important delegates that could oppose Ragesia, and if an attack did happen it could seriously disrupt any possible alliances. Wary of the new visitors, Tchakar narrowed his eyes and found a corner of the room that he would be able to quickly move to escape or attack if the need arose.
With all the bustle and bluster, Tchakar easily found himself falling into his old habit of nearly invisible observer. It was easier to find a mark if you kept your eyes open and drew little attention, and it turned out those same skills worked well when trying to take in a room full of people that think themselves the most important speakers in the room. If anyone had noticed the unobtrusive tengu, they'd have noticed a slight nodding while Commander Foebane was speaking, obvious frowns at talks of isolationism, and as near a snarl as could be presented with a beaked face when the half-elf suggested carving up the nation prematurely. At the mention of a firestorm surrounding the Torch, Tchakar shared a knowing look with his companions. A blazing inferno can turn out to be surprisingly survivable, if you had the right tools, or at least it can seem that way if everywhere else was more dangerous.
I thought there was a paladin archetype, but I realize that it was the martyr archetype that gets bardic performance, but not the singing kind. =/
Tchakar nodded, then left Haddin to whatever a wizard did in his idle time. After heading outside, the tengu found a seat and waited for his companions to return from their morning errands so that they could set off to the Lyceum together.
Tchakar considered his words before replying, "That makes a lot of sense. I'm not so foolish as to believe that I'm anywhere near mastering what I can manage, much less magic in a more general sense. Fortunately, there's no shortage of people much more knowledgeable on that subject here, between you and the various wizards of the academy. I'm glad we have your expertise with us."
"I've always had a deep respect for wizards. Well, maybe not always. But I learned respect the hard way for both their dedication to their craft and the resulting power they gain from that dedication. It's not really for me though. And though I manage to wield some magic myself now, I really don't understand it at all, though I do try to practice it regularly and learn what I can."
"I"m sorry about your brother. And I certainly hope you're right about someone or something stopping the attacks. Just about all of use here are on their list to be purged, whether by choice or not. Have you ever been to this city before?"
"Haddin, I'm impressed. To be honest, I think my opinions of you may have been colored by our unfortunate circumstances since we've first met. If you don't mind my asking, what did you do before the Ragesians decided to ruin everything?"
Unsure what had drawn him there, and with no more clues, Tchakar picked his way back through the multitude of streets that would bring him to their newly constructed home. Tomorrow was sure to be a busy day with the wizards, so it was probably best to get lots of rest that night.
Tchakar followed his hand's sporadic yanks, twists and pulls as best he could, resulting in a strange zig-zag path through streets, alleys, and at one point straight through a crowded restaurant only to be led out a back door and back down the street. Eventually, Tchakar had had enough and began to fight the force animating his hand, when as suddenly as it had started, it stopped, leaving him confused at the intersection of two of the largest streets in the city.
While the others headed out to their own diversions, Tchakar decided to make use of his time improving their shared home a bit. He started organizing the herbs and remedies that he had gathered earlier, then decided he ought to head into town to see if he could procure some hardware for things like shelves and perhaps a door or two. However, shortly after he left the house, he was surprised to find that the elemental spirit that inhabited his regenerated hand was exceptionally restless. As he walked it frequently jerked out to tap on the wall, or grasped at street lights when he tried to cross a street. After a while, Tchakar noticed that it was following a pattern, rather than the random twitches and jerks that he had grown used to. Eventually, his curiosity overcame his wariness, and Tchakar followed the urgent beckoning of his own hand.
"That's what I was thinking, but if this Jess does mean us harm, it wouldn't do to ignore it. At least if we meet her we can try to gauge what sort of threat she is."
"No offense taken. Thank you for your aid," Tchakar replied with a short bow of appreciation before heading towards the door.
"In that case, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we'd appreciate the introduction. It will be nice to get some use out of my skills again, especially when that use isn't just a frantic escape attempt. My history with rushed getaways isn't exactly spotless." Tchakar said dryly with a wave of his colorless claw.
"Biomancy? It looks like he tried to transform himself into several animals at once! I've heard of people able to shapeshift into animals, and even powerful wizards that can transform into dragons and such, but never blending things together like that. Though, to be fair, I haven't really studied anything about magic until very recently, so that could just be my own ignorance." "Anyways, I'm sorry about rambling, I just tend to get carried away when something catches my attention. I'm Tchakar, by the way, and I sort of fell in with my new friends here during a mostly successful escape from the encroaching Ragesians. They said that we should head here as it would be the best place to go to avoid the Ragesians on account of the academy, and Torrent suggested we come talk to you."
"Ok then, Torrent, let's go see your friend."
"That.... makes sense. I spent a bit of time in a monastery myself not that long ago. It's an interesting life, secluded from so much, and while I was content while I was there, I couldn't see myself making my life there permanently. Too much wrong in the world to stay holed up there forever."
"When was the last time you two spoke?" Tchakar asked, curious if they were about to walk into a meeting uninvited and unwanted.
While the others shopped for various trinkets, Tchakar spent his time in the market restocking his supply of basic medicinal herbs to treat minor injuries and illnesses, as well as making subtle inquiries about the mysterious 'Jess' that was searching for them.
"I don't like it... but I'm not about to run off into the city on my own where I can be plucked out like the last of my feathers. I just hope I don't get a reason to say I told you so, or if I do, I hope I get a chance to say it."
Tchakar looked back and forth at his companions before offering a short nod. "What they said sounds fine." After they had moved away, Tchakar spoke more freely, "I don't like this. It feels like we're insects in a spider's web. I didn't even know you that long ago and had no intention of leaving Gate Pass. What if she has been pulling the strings to draw us here. It's not like there were that many options on where to go after I crashed into you. The only safe haven nearby seems like an excellent place to set a trap, but why us? Perhaps..." The tengu continued to ramble on with increasingly exotic speculations.
"A few weeks? That doesn't make sense, I wasn't planning on traveling this way that long ago. And I don't know any Jess. How could she know we were coming here?"
Tchakar instinctively looked behind him, only to realize that he was included in the baker's calling. "Us? What's wrong?"
Your actions make sense to me. As for Tchakar, he's still relatively new to the group, and hasn't had the exposure so he's mostly curious why you guys keep picking at it. =P
"Oh good, we're leaving! Ah.. hmm... after you Umbriak." Tchakar followed the dwarf into the city, realizing he didn't actually know where they were going, but happy to be moving again.
Tchakar poked his head back in the door, "Hindsight, four sights, we're not going to see anything if we stay here all day. If she's not ready to leave the nest yet, what's the problem? Let's get going!"
"Wait, not getting booze? Like... a meat and cheese basket or something?" The tengu seemed torn between disappointment and a growing excitement at the prospect of delicious cured meat. "Either way, figure out if you're coming or staying, we've gotta get going or all the best stuff will be gone!" Tchakar quickly scooped up his pack and slipped out the door to wait for his companions.
It was good to see that Jax had been doing well for himself, and in a much less risky position than he had last seen him. "That sounds just fine to me. If the intent is to share a drink with him though, perhaps we ought to bring a pair of bottles."
One of Tchakar's former... associates... had left Gate Pass some years ago (before the tengu's unfortunate hand removal incident) in favor of setting up a 'legitimate basic magical supply business for the student wizards.' Tchakar had no way of knowing if Jex had been telling the truth about his intentions, and certainly didn't know if he had succeeded, but decided to ask around town to see if he couldn't find the wiry half-elf. When necessary, Jex was quick with a knife, but quicker still with his silver tongue, and Tchakar knew that if he was in town, he'd know the best places that had the supplies they needed, and likely at the best prices as well.
"I'd be happy if we manage to get the basics, beds, a table and chairs and an oven. A decently cooked meal will really help us settle in."
|
