Tyrek Archaos's page

Sneaking in near the deadline comes Tyrek Archaos, a thoroughly sad figure of a paladin.

Tormented for his heritage (not just a tiefling, but a Rovagug-spawn tiefling) his entire existence has been one of duty, pain and the constant teaching that the only good thing he can do with his life is to sacrifice it for someone more worthy.

But Tyrek has a secret divine patron, one who has decreed that his life will not end without love. Now he just has to live long enough for it to happen.

------------------
He's currently very generically equipped so he can evolve into whatever combat role the party needs - from tank to two-handed carnage. :)

"That'll be the statue we need." Tyrek says with a sigh. "Let's try sneaking before we do anything else..."

His plan, if it deserves such a magnificent name, is to get as close as possible without being seen and then assault the statue-carrying creature with everything he has.

Ghosts, oddly enough, are not something Tyrek worries about over-much. Being able to manipulate pure aether makes attacking such creatures relatively simple, as does creating shields of the same material.

Stepping in front of Winter he focuses on the nearest one and sets to work tearing its spectral form apart with ropes of aether. The spirit resists, letting out an odd moaning scream.

"Which means inevitably something is going to go horribly wrong..." Tyrek sighs, mostly to himself. Apart from trying to avoid the most amorous of the guests he simply continues to mingle, doing his best to catch sight of the (he assumes) large statue that is the target.

While he remains under-dressed and somewhat uncomfortable, this is more Tyrek's scene than the Viscount's ball - thanks in large part to the lack of spiders.

"So do we think it's somewhere around here?" He whispers to Winter. "Guess we should mingle?"

The rubies promptly join the previous one in the deep. Wealth untold is clearly not worth the side effects these particular gems come with. Fortunately Tyrek has never, as far as he can remember, been a materialistic sort and Winter has grown up frugal in Pharasma's service.

Besides, peace of mind has no price.

"I am tempted to wait for the red ship though." Tyrek muses, "Maybe try and set a trap somewhere..."

Tyrek instinctively throws up his arms between himself and the descending creature. There is however a benefit to being a kineticist. Throwing up his arms causes a similar result from the earth itself, causing a huge spike to rocket upwards and slam into the descending beast!

"Then throw it in the river." Tyrek replies. "I have no more use for it than you do." Should the prophet remain unwilling he does so himself, naturally without actually touching the damn thing!

"It pursues us down river." Tyrek says flatly. "I don't know why, although we are in pursuit of a man named Lowls. Perhaps they want him too, or they want to stop us finding him."

He makes no move to take the ruby - he is no mage, but his sense for the uncanny is becoming finely tuned and he wants no part of a gift from these mysterious pursuers.

Tyrek looks around, hoping against hope that the prophet is talking to Skywin or anyone else really.

Sadly this is not the case so he puts on his best attentive face and nods to the crazy man. "Wisdom is always welcome on a journey." He says, managing not to sound completely skeptical...

Tyrek feels mildly bad about escaping without finishing off the rest of the wamps, but he is well aware that he did a lot of damage while Winter kept him standing and if the ghouls are willing they should be able to reclaim their feeding grounds relatively easily.

With only two events Tyrek and Winter agree on getting the idol first and then the captains tricorne, hoping that the last one at least may be resolved with diplomacy rather than violence. Moved by an uneasy feeling Tyrek spends most of the day on deck, watching for the red ship more than reading.

Unsure of how smart the wamps are Tyrek creates a few rudimentary distractions by tossing rocks around and then assails the nearest one by the simple expedient of impaling it on a statue!

"Wamps?" Tyrek asks, describing the creatures as best he can. "Our goals may be aligned here. Tell me what you can of them."

Once armed with some information he goes hunting yet more things with an unreasonable number of legs.

"I don't suppose you're willing to sit down and talk this out?" Tyrek asks, in hope rather than expectation as he begins to rip stones from the surrounding buildings.

Rather relieved to have had a straight-forward, arachnid free, quest Tyrek takes the opportunity to cuddle and get a good nights sleep. The next day, perhaps inspired by the lingering presence of the red sailed ship, he and Winter set to work trying to track down the red webbed foot.

Having at least some morals, Tyrek aims to kill one tiger as quickly as possible and then settles for scaring the rest away rather than an all-out slaughter.

The whole thing seems rather straightforward, so Tyrek doesn't bother asking questions and heads higher, looking for a 'tree tiger'.

"We are hoping to find a pard's tail." Tyrek explains. "We do not wish to hunt them but we need the tail for an important quest!"

If he were a bard, or a silver tongued rogue no doubt he would weave a tale of magic and wonder that would leave the creatures in awe of him and delighted to help... Unfortunately he's not, and silence falls rather awkwardly instead.

Tyrek says something rude as he ducks. Being so far from the ground means there is very little earth for him to reach for, but thankfully aether weaves its way through everything so lashing out at the phantom horse thing remains a simple job.

The beating it lays down is less so...

"Where are you?" Tyrek asks, keeping the and more to the point 'what'? to himself.

"Climb... or ask nicely?" Tyrek wonders aloud.

"Hello, is anyone here?"

"I'm not going to sleep for days..." Tyrek says upon waking, trying desperately to wipe the image from his mind. "Can we find out what happened to me so I can do it again and lose that memory forever?"

Hoping that the next task won't prove quite so disgusting Tyrek proposes that they set to work on the felines tail and, surprisingly, hits the books at once. He only stops to sleep when he literally falls asleep with the book in his lap - the less time available to think about what he witnessed, the better!

Walking fungus aren't pleasant at any time, so Tyrek doesn't waste time with pleasantries, choosing instead to start tearing the walkways apart to impale the ettercaps on jagged wood and open holes through which they may fall into the webbing or better yet, plummet to the ballroom a hundred feet below.

The logical part of Tyrek wants to leave Maudette to whatever her fate may be. She seems unlikely to be coming to claim her dance regardless - but he knows there's no way that Winter would allow that and another part of him, the one that has been growing in conviction and volume ever since the asylum disagrees vehemently.

"Be careful." He warns Winter, erecting his shields before making his way into the air, reaching out to the ladder to support where needed.

Tyrek waves Winter forwards, material wealth is not something he's ever had much of so he has no idea how to go about bribing a man who apparently already has more money than he could possibly know what to do with.

"Remind me to never dance with another vampire." Tyrek says to Winter once Lady Splinterbone is out of even the most supernatural of hearing range. "I just hope the other partners don't want a piece of me too..."

"If you wish to try it..." Tyrek replies, steeling himself. "It may not be to your taste however."

Channeling elemental energy has physiological changes, he's well aware of that. Exactly what said changes are... that's harder to guess at, but if he were a vampire, Tyrek probably wouldn't drink his blood. Just in case.

And.... Tyrek's nightmare comes true.

"I'm sure I will be no match for the Viscount, my lady." Tyrek replies, but he steps up none-the-less. As best he can at least...

Graceful, he is not, but Tyrek does possess enough co-ordination to not step on his partners toes and that counts as a win for him!

Of all the tasks he might have asked to perform this ranks a close second on Tyrek's list of 'things I really don't want to do', after actually having to do the dances himself...

Still needs must and hopefully Winter will do the actual declining, such things are usually better handled with charm...

"We are hoping to acquire your signet ring." Tyrek replies, since beating around the bush merely wastes time. "Is there anything that we might do for you in exchange for such a boon?"

Of all the odd sights and situations the dreamlands have presented so far, this one makes Tyrek the most uncomfortable.

"Let's find the Viscount and get out of here as fast as possible." He murmurs, trying not to look more afraid than is appropriate...

"Only more than I want to think about to go!" Tyrek replies. "How about we focus on getting some proper sleep for now?"

He pulls Winter into his arms and proceeds to do exactly that!

--------------------------
The next morning they settle in to yet more studying and decide that the viscount's ring seems like a sensible target.

Tyrek doesn't bother actually responding to the question, instead taking the few moments Winter can buy to coalesce the most potent blast of force that he can and then slam it into the night hag's back!

The battle is messy, bloody and mercifully, short. With Tyrek standing firmly between Quaveandra and the door the hag has no escape and it simply becomes a battle of brutal attrition. Thankfully the combination of kineticist and cleric are well positioned for such battles and it ends, narrowly, in their favor.

"One less night hag is probably a good thing..." Tyrek concedes. "Winter, do you want to bring her in? I'll close the door and we can begin."

Tyrek is no follower of Pharasma, so he looks to Winter for advice, as he usually does when he is faced by moral decisions. Being a blank slate has its own challenges...

"We're chasing someone bent on a great evil." He says slowly, "And we need the heartstone. Unless you can offer something rarer than that..." He trails off, feeling awkward. Somehow he can't help but feel that his old self would have had no difficulty here, but its hard to say whether that's a reassuring thought or not...

"She's probably the best choice." Tyrek agrees. "Get her back in here and I'll apply a little more direct pressure while you talk - perhaps that'll be enough."

Once Kavriki has been summoned once more Tyrek remains in the background while Winter gets her settled and then slowly goes to work. He starts by applying telekinetic pressure to the places that, on a human, would cause tension verging on paralysis in the shoulders...

Tyrek communicates his incomprehension to Winter with a comprehensive shrug and hopes the cleric got a better read on the last two interviewee's than he did!

Tyrek nods, glad to have the easier job, and retreats to a corner where he can observe without being immediately obvious.

SM: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 231d20 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 141d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16

With the deal rather easily made Tyrek takes advantage of their private room to decide on roles. "You're better with people Winter. Do you want to do the interviews and I'll back you up, or should I do it so you can concentrate on them?"

"We would be willing to help you." Tyrek replies cautiously. "But for payment we have no need of sapphires. We need the heartstone of a night hag. Is that a price that we can negotiate over?"

"So..." Tyrek murmurs. "How do you part a hag from her heartstone? Is there a way other than violence here?" He can't think of any, but jumping straight to battle, especially in a crowded room, is asking for trouble so he turns to Winter - whose perspective on these situations is usually better than his.

"So not our next vacation spot..." Tyrek says wryly. "Shall we get some actual sleep and start again tomorrow?"

The next day they begin research on... 1d6 ⇒ 4 the night hag ambassador.

Tyrek claims both objects at as much distance as he can manage and beats a swift path out of the mausoleum. "Can we go now?" He asks Winter. "I feel like we've had enough excitement for one night."

Tyrek, being a cautious soul, attempts to unlock the door using his telekinetic skills rather than his hands.

DD: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23

Tyrek takes the time, while the two creatures are battling, to pull himself telekinetically onto the roof of the building and, the moment the gug has finished off the golem, he starts grasping it with fists made of the earth itself!

A mighty hand made from the flagstones grasps one leg and, as the gug pummels it, a second and then third fist forms from the ground and start consuming the gugs arms.

Now comes the trickiest part of the plan and the bit that, if Tyrek is honest, he may not have through through properly... how to get out of the way of the two monstrosities...

Thankfully telekinesis provides the answer as it so often does and, in complete defiance of the laws of physics, Tyrek's momentum suddenly redirects to a near perfect right angle, sending him jetting out of the way of the gug and leaving the stage set for a clash of the titans!

"So the gugs are that way, and there's a golem between us and them..." Tyrek says slowly. "Right, stay here. I'm going to try and draw the golem forward with me and hopefully start a nice big fight. Once I've got it moving follow on, but stay safe Winter. Please?"

"We need a skull from ghoul royalty." Tyrek replies. "It sounds as though we can find an accord though." He glances at Winter to make sure that she's ok with it.

"Here." Tyrek answers unhelpfully. "What exactly would helping you entail? We have a request of our own so an agreement may be found."

Seeing the ship behind them makes Tyrek wish briefly that he had some control over water or air rather than earth. His powers on land are significant but here he's much less versatile...

---------------------------
"I don't remember ever being on a date before but I must say that you take a guy to the most fun places." Tyrek offers with a smile later that evening, pressing a kiss to Winter's cheek. "Ready to go bargain for a ghoul skull?" He is as ready as he'll ever be, although... "Do you think we should try and dress better?"