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"So a demon cow of some kind?" Val sighs. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing they've encountered, but it was definitely a bit of a strange twist. "Let's hope it's just a coincidence and not enemy action. We don't need demons messing around with the ley lines more than they already have." Val takes the lead by a bit, moving carefully to avoid alerting anything unpleasant ahead of them.
"It doesn't look like that hard of a climb, but an easy way down is appreciated," Val thanks Isilme as the aasimar helps them down the cliff. Once everyone else joins them, Val doesn't even have to say a word before Xanderghul puts voice to her thoughts. "I can take the lead, no problem. Last time, there were some beasts lurking around, but nothing too difficult. Best to be careful, but unless something really bad has moved in it shouldn't take long."
Val hadn't quite realized how much she'd missed the stars above her until they returned to Drezen after their adventure into the Darklands. She spends a great deal of her first evening back in town cleaning the shrine and relaxing with a glass of wine before she joins Xanderghul at the school in the morning to get started on their next several projects. Goals:
- Scout out the celestial ley line locations for future use
- Continue hunting the gun smuggler to end the increased bandit threat - Finish the wayshrine network to provide safe rest points on the roads to Drezen - Begin researching the mutative properties of the Worldwound with Xan (meeting with the Sword Knight to share notes?) - Look into Aruechalae's lead on the Templar's hideout, offer to help her further - Try to talk with the Bound Horror more, be friendlier, try to work toward possible redemption Val pushed her cloak back in the moderately warm day. She was used to the Worldwound's odd weather by now, but she still wished that there was a bit more consistency to the strangeness on occasion. She had left Ayavah behind again. It seemed like the sorceress was more comfortable in her place in Drezen than out on long expeditions into the Wound. Hopefully, this particular trip would have some promising results.
"Considering that we do know a few other skilled dwarven smiths, it might be worth considering investing in smithing improvements," Val adds thoughtfully. "And since we're trying to make inroads here, there's a good chance we'll see more in the future too."
"I was hoping to get a meeting with one of the Sword Knights for the research project Xan and I were discussing," Val mentions as they gather to be on their way. "If you give me a shopping list, I can pick things up while I'm in town."
"Your work is truly spectacular," Val agrees as the forgesmith describes her work on the items she has on display. "I don't think I've met many other smiths capable of making something nearly this fine and I've seen most of the continent."
As Isilme begins her introduction, Val wonders if she should add learning Dwarven to her list of things to do in the future. There are certainly enough dwarves back in Drezen that she should be able to find a teacher to help her pick it up and it seemed quite useful. "Well, if you insist," she says with a little bit of a chuckle as Isilme passes the buck. "I'm looking for a set of adamantine lockpicks and we were hoping to trade some of the metal for mithril in addition to having the rest smelted down for transport."
Val taps her chin thoughtfully. "Mind if I tag along, Isilme? I'm a bit curious just how these forges work. I might not know the details, but it's not often that you get to see a dwarven smith in action. And it's polite to thank the craftsman in person if they're doing good work."
"I have plenty of responsibilities," Val replied, reminding herself that getting mad won't do any good with Xanderghul. "But I'm still getting used to managing a shrine and it took months to get used to working with a strike team of people who I'm actually friends with. Putting me in a position of authority over a big organization, especially one where I'm also answering to other people, is asking for me to f*ck something up."
Val raises one eyebrow through a mouthful of something that she's pretty sure is a mushroom of some sort and gestures for Xanderghul to go on. If he was mad that they hadn't gone along with his recruitment pitch all out, it was probably better to just let him vent rather than let it fester for later. His actual question nearly made her choke before she managed to force the bite down and clear her throat. She grabbed her waterskin and gulped down a few mouthfuls before she was actually able to answer. "Xan, I'm not sure you've thought this through." Which was probably a silly excuse considering Xan spent basically all his time thinking things through. "I wouldn't exactly be jumping to join a massive continent wide hierarchy to begin with, but putting me in an official leadership position is... probably not a good idea. I would love to help explore the Worldwound. I... might consider officially signing on at the Lodge since someone I care about is asking. I'll contribute my journals to the Chronicles when it helps, but naming me your successor might be... unwise."
Val sits back at the table, enjoying a decent meal while they conversation turns to lighter topics. Whatever the outcome of their request, it seemed that they would at least be leaving the underfolk on a high note.
"I don't exactly like Xanderghul dropping this on you without warning," Val agrees as the chieftain's discomfort becomes increasingly obvious. "And like I said, I fully understand that you have your place here. I don't want anyone to feel like they have an obligation to help us, but I did mean what I said. You're a strong people and we need all the friends we can get. Whether that means coming with us or staying here and keeping up the good fight, I hope that we can still be friends in the end."
Val presses her lips together tightly in thought. It feels slightly dishonest to distract the gathered tribe with food and drink before making such a life altering offer. Granted, she's not a particularly honest person some days, but it still feels like bribery. Especially when they're asking the underfolk to leave their home for who knows how many generations and travel into an entirely new sort of danger. Though in their past few months traveling together, she had actually seen Xanderghul trying to his best to actually mean well rather than just be vaguely helpful for his own benefit. She couldn't exactly leave him hanging, though perhaps a more gentle approach would be better than an outright recruitment pitch. "I know that what we're asking is not a simple request," Val begins carefully, not entirely sure how well her words carry over into undercommon with Xanderghul's spell. "This is your home and your people have lived here for many generations. You've survived and thrived through many great adversities. I could not, would not, blame any of you for thinking that such a request from new visitors to be a foolish thing." She pauses a moment to consider her words carefully. "In truth, it is because of the great strength and community we see here that we ask for your aid. We have fought alongside other tribes of your kind before, and made many trusted friends among their number." She gestures to Lann and Javyn with a smile. "I understand that many of you have your own responsibilities to family and friends here. Though I am a wanderer, I am not blind to why so many live a life different than my own. But there is a wider world that is in dire need of strong hearts to defend it. I only ask that you consider our request. We can promise a place in our city where other underfolk already live among us and help adapting to a new place, but I will not say that it will be easy."
"I suppose that much super metal is a bit large for one of our bags of holding, huh?"
"I had a lot of help from good teachers," Val replies to Isilme with a small smile. "But if he's just going to have to recover at this point, I think it's better to let him rest and get a move on." She nods in Ehren's direction. "We can use a sending to check in on things here after we leave. Always good to keep in touch with old friends."
Val stays close to the bulette as the druids work their healing skills and magical power on the poor creature. If he wakes up during the procedure, she needs to be ready to lull him back to sleep or at least calm him down immediately. Or at least take the first hit before the two spell casters. Val liked to think that she was generally more durable than Ehren was, at least when he was in his human form. She doesn't step away until the two magic users drop the last of the bloody adamantine plates aside and step back. "I'm not sure. Would it be any different from the magic they already used to close his wounds? If it helps, we don't have much else on the to-do list, so it wouldn't be a waste I think." Val looks at Isilme and Ehren as she asks the question.
"Remember the Survivor's dirge. Through all harrowing ordeals, one can come out the other side battered but not broken." Val's words tumble out a bit roughly, but emboldened with charisma beyond ordinary words.
Val lets out a soft sigh of relief as the massive armored landshark peacefully falls asleep. "So far so good. Should probably get on with it before he decides he's done his nap."
"You can rest now," Val murmurs, her voice layered with innate power and soothing magic. "Sleep and when you wake, your pain will be like a long ago memory."
Dreaming:
Val chuckles as she sips the coffee. The memory of the rich taste washes over her tongue and she sighs. She did miss this sort of delicacy while she was on the road. "You might get into less trouble than me, but that's not much of a measuring stick," Val teases right back with a wink. Her lips turn down in a small frown. "They sound familiar. I think that Aravashniel has talked about them before. They don't seem like the nicest sort. If you find something you can't handle, let me know and I'll try to get help your way as fast as I can."
The tiefling's lips twitch up into a smirk. "I would love to see you in person. Dreams have a tendency to color everything a bit. I want to meet the real you someday. I bet your even lovelier in person." She takes Arueshalae's hand and places a kiss on the back of the other tiefling's knuckles. "Duergar. Thankfully we didn't have to go deep enough to run into drow. We did have to pretend to be them at one point for a little sneaky bit. I'm starting to worry about how good I am at pretending I'm evil." She winks playfully at her own joke. Val nods once as they consider how to lull the old bulette to sleep. [smaller]"My singing voice is... passable, but I can at least do soothing and rhythmic without a problem." She takes a deep breath and begins to sing an old Chelish lullaby, slow and soothing.
Dreaming:
"We're nearer to Absalom than we were a few days ago. We're on a bit of a rescue mission in the Darklands. It's a long story, but a friend's son was in danger from slavers and we couldn't leave him to rot." She sighs. "You're certainly a long way away though. Staying safe?" With killing far more her forte than healing, Val leaves the particulars of the discuss of how to help Ironfin to her more informed allies. Granted, once half the conversation switches to the language of the druids, she can't follow it anymore anyway.
Dreams: It takes Val a few moments to recognize the bar and a few longer to realize that her dream is a great deal more lucid than just a trip down memory lane. In fact, she doesn't quite remember ever owning the outfit her imagination has created for her: a deep purple Varisian style skirt and a low-cut, white shirt with a gold shawl. It certainly looks like something she would have picked up during one of her visits. She hums and picks up her drink, sipping the rich Sargavan blend with a sprig of fresh vanilla and a dallop of cream cutting the sharp, bitter taste. "It has been a while. I was starting to get worried." She raises her cup in greeting. "This is the Golden Fig. Always loved their blends when I was passing through Magnimar. If you ever get a chance, you should visit the city."
"While I approve of trying new things and new places, I get why a lot of people don't. We've been trying to make Drezen open to everyone of good intentions, and they're hardly the first underfolk we've recruited, so they shouldn't have too hard of a time if they come north. Putting a little distance between themselves and what are likely some pissed off duergar might benefit them, at least for a while."
"I'm not sure I'd say entirely irredeemable, but we're not in any position to make an attempt right now. And we're probably not going to be coming back any time in the remotely predictable future." Val dismisses the illusion disguising herself as they leave the troglodyte caverns. "I know what you mean. We succeeded what we were trying to do here, I think it's time to head home with a job well done."
"I'm not sure I speak enough of their language to make a sentence they could understand, much less convince them to change their moral outlook on life. I'm also not sure if I consider eating sentient creatures to be worse than slavery or not and I'm slightly disappointed in myself that I've never thought about it."
"Lle sana ilya i' gelir n'e en' sina." Val playfully mocks as they ultimately decide to have Hinagiku handle the brawl. She crosses her arms and watches, confident that the monk can easily win an unarmed battle against one of the reptilian creatures. Elven: "You take all the fun out of this."
"Lle eru lle sule no' hrava, seler'. Car amin ndengina sen ikotane yele arato ar' ae carin yassen sina? Ri' lye maghaya i' perya agar?" Elven: "You waste your breath with savages, sister. Shall I kill their champion and be done with it? Or should we use the half blood?"
GM:
"Well, we do usually attempt to avoid random bloodbaths, despite how we seem to end up in the middle of knock-down drag-out brawls. Besides, it's kinda more fun to lie and trick our way through. More of a challenge too." Val taps her chin thoughtfully. "Well... bluffing through this sort of thing is kind of our specialty by now, so I'm all on board for that. The drow do enslave troglodytes, but I think that most species around here do. And this far up in the Darklands, there's a good chance these guys have never actually met drow, so we don't need to be perfectly accurate, just accurate enough to get the point across. They might be cautious but we can probably make it work. Isilme and I already do the talking most of the time when we're pulling this sort of thing, so that's a good start. Drow are matriarchal to the extreme, so we'd be in charge. They're also usually taller, so anyone with a male disguise should try to look properly browbeaten and obedient. Any non-drow would usually be slaves, so... just act sufficiently passive I guess?" She taps her hat and starts using the magic to weave an illusion around herself. Ultimately, she doesn't need to make too many changes, all things considered. Her pink skin turns a deep, midnight blue and her tattoos disappear along with her horns while her hair turns silvery white. Her clothing hardly changes, though she darkens the red to a deep purple and lays a symbol of pair of lips imposed over the moon and a seven-pointed crown, the symbol of Nocticula, over the holy symbol of Desna that acts as a cloak clasp.
"If we're ready to break off pursuit, Ehren's magic will probably be easiest. We can still lay a false trail going off in a different direction if we want to send them on a wild goose chase for a while."
Val is hesitant to lower herself down to the ground while she's still blind and takes a few moments to carefully decrease her altitude until she's safely on the stone floor. Anevia's quick work is a welcome relief. "Saved my ass again, huh?" The tiefling playfully nudges her friend's shoulder as the group begins looking for anything of use on the duergar. She does what she can to help, though leaves it to others to figure out just what their various magical trinkets are. It wasn't like she was particularly useful in that field to begin with. "I kind of like the bait and switch, but honestly, I really don't care what happens to the body. These people are the worst sort of slavers I've ever even heard of, and I grew up in Cheliax. I'm not really one to pay evil unto evil, but..." She just kind of shrugs indifferently.
"Hold fast, they don't have the strength to overwhelm us any more!"
"Oh for f*ck's sake..." Val grumbles as another spell blinds her.
"Just a little bit more... we're almost there!" Val sends her knives hurtling toward the bodyguard, trying to cut them down and clear the way to the enchanter so they can finally break through the enemies and get the hell out of here.
Val shakes off the second enchantment with a huff. "I'm getting increasingly sick of this..."
Then Isilme's magically empowered cry breaks through the command holding Val in place. The tiefling grits her teeth and sends her dagger hurtling at the caster who had put the spell on her to begin with. "No more mind games! This battle is ours!"
Despite Anevia's best efforts, Val continues to struggle against the enchantment.
Val struggles against the mental command, attempting to break free from the enchantment.
Val grits her teeth and sends a few more throws into the crowd of towering duergar surrounding the remaining group of slaves. They have to give the chained prisoners enough room to flee down the tunnel before they can withdraw. And time is running short as more and more of the gray dwarves just keep coming. "We're almost clear, keep them at bay just a bit longer!"
Val winces as she panicked shout nearly freezes her in place. Her body sparks with divine energy as she forces the compulsion back and rights herself in the air. "Sooner would be better," Val agrees as she adjusts her flight.
Val darts forward as the duergar keep pouring in. Thankfully, it seems that Old Ironfin is just as much of a distraction as they'd hoped. She just hopes that the tortured old bulette doesn't tear through the slaves in the process of tearing through the slavers. "Not my specialty, but I can keep the pressure on if someone wants to take care of that," Val sends in response to Daisy's warning before she sends her knife careening toward the duergar engaged with Ehren's elemental.
Val focuses her attack on the duergar again, attempting to break their ranks entirely before moving on to support Xanderghul and Ary. Not that they seem to need it much at the moment, but better to be ready for anything that might go wrong.
Val winces as she catches a bolt to her side as the duergar open fire and she steadies herself in mid-air. "Perfect time for the cavalry," she mutters as she darts forward and sends another knife toss into the thinning crowd of duergar warriors.
Val sticks close to Ary in the air, continuing to send her knife flying into the crowd of duergar warriors with deadly precision as her war chant continues to echo in the tight caverns.
Val keeps charging forward, partially pressing the attack and partially trying to keep up with Ary as she hurls herself toward the main body of the duergar forces. "So much for getting out without dealing with them..." The tiefling sighs as she sends her dagger flying into the line of troops, hoping to catch some of the duergar out.
Val shifts her position and sends her dagger hurling after the duergar Xanderghul just blinded. "I'm not going to be able to help with this one. And we should probably get the slaves moving before our special surprise shows up or they might get caught in the crossfire."
Val nods as Xanderghul conjures the wall of searing fire across the passageway. "Not going to happen on my watch," she promises at Ary's call as she lifts off the wall with the help of the fly spell and charges forward to clear the wall with enhanced speed. She sends a her knife flying back at one of the dwarves scorched by the fiery spell to try to clear the way as she advances.
Val easily flips through the air and lands on her feet, unphased by the collapsing platform.
Val hurries forward to keep pace with the group as they press their attack against the duergar. She lets out a wordless rallying cry from above, filling her voice with determination as she positions herself to snipe down on the grey dwarves as they approach.
"That was fast..." Val mutters as the lead duergar notices them. "That one has different innate magic than usual. He'll be harder to hurt than usual. Watch for any others that have similar tricks, he's probably not the only one in the group." The tiefling dashes out of cover to get a better angle on the lead duergar before sending her starknife careening toward his body.
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