With that list in mind, Demagogue is much more fitting for Valexia, who is neither strong nor wise!
Search Posts
Valexia becomes alert when Deanna enters serious mode and her eyebrows go way up. "Inspire loyalty? Why, I'm a natural inspirer. They called my work on the stage, well, inspirational," says Valexia blithely. She smiles and adds, "I'm not sure that I'm a good judge of people, though, I mean. Look at the company that I keep."
"She was a dire corby," says Valexia quietly, "I can understand why she would have been hard to control. Dire corbies see most people like us as prey." She takes a step back and says seriously, "But a sister is a sister, yes, of course you may bury her." For Ben's benefit, she steps over to where the crocogator is and points to the exact spot that she wants for Ben to dig.
"There's something inside our scaly dead friend," points out Valexia, "For anyone who wants to... you know... climb in and learn more about its internal anatomy?" She points to the spot where the glow comes from, and then comes over to take a quick look at Chough.
"Hm, I do not know much about nests and sisters, but it sounds like you were trying to do right by her. I am sorry again for your loss," says Valexia sympathetically. "Oh, Ben, while you are checking that crocogator, would you be a dear for me and check it for any magic of note? I wonder if perhaps it swallowed something." Valexia re-attempts a use of Detect Magic.
Valexia puts her own bow down at her feet, as well as her rapier, as a show of good faith. "I'm sorry again about Chough. We tried to dissuade her from attacking but... she nearly tore out Ben's innards. We don't want to take up arms against you," says Valexia solemnly, "I am Valexia Aulamaxa. We may not be able to do something about you being angry and sad... but maybe we can help with you being hungry?" She digs through her bag to get out a couple wrapped packages. "I have some lunches packed... I can change the flavour if you'd like."
Valexia puts a hand on Ben's shoulder as she approaches, to dissuade him from speaking much further. She speaks gently, "I assume that Chough was the person who attacked us earlier... I know words may mean little, but I am sorry. Ensis speaks true that we mean no harm to you, and would prefer to avoid any further violence."
"Goodness." Valexia takes a few steps back away from the vial, just in case before she whispers to Ensis, "If you would like help in making friends, let me know. I'm told that all in all, I am rather charming."
"Can someone be a dear and recover my durable arrow? The last one I shot? I don't have many of those." Valexia draws a wand with her free hand. She jabs Ben in the shoulder with the end of it. "As for you... Hey! Get up!"
She jabs him a second time for good measure, a bit harder this time.
"Did we kill this thing's pet crocogator?!" cries Valexia, horrified and distracted while her fingers fidget at the string of her bow.
"Stay strong, Ensis! Be careful not to let the crocogator pull you into the water, as they roll around to tear their prey apart! 'Apart' would not be a good look on you..." says Valexia, letting another arrow fly from her shortbow.
"Oh no! I really thought that would work!" whines Valexia, drawing her bow and firing at the alligator.
"Are you going to be able to tug of war that thing, Dee? Perhaps Ben and Ensis can help pull, while Bertie and I operate the trap," says Valexia helpfully, still wiggling her fingers in preparation.
"I'm sure that you're fine at it, how hard could it be to snare a silly old alligator?" says Valexia, practicing her finger wiggling to make her part of the trap work while singing something to herself.
Make a trap that won't come loose,
Take some magic, make a splash,
"Not to worry, I can smack the water with my magic, I do not even need a broom! Wow, who knew spells could be so practical?" says Valexia, looking to the others for confirmation that nobody could have possibly thought that magic might have practical value.
"Well, does anyone have any meat? I can carry a little bit with my magic. Maybe if we make some noise and lure it out... Oh! Or we tie it to the end of a rope, and when it does another big bite, we haul it in! Like the fishermen do!" suggests Valexia. "The group of us can probably drag one awful toothmonster onto land, right? And while you all haul it out, I will fill it with arrows. Perfect plan. I wish I had brought some barbed arrows for this..."
Valexia adds after a moment of considering this plan, "Oh, yes, that's right Bertie. It's got some magic to it. I feel like it might have eaten something magical. Probably off of the corpse, since the magic was moving around."
"Well, I expect they are a bit less agile on the ground than in the water. You know how it is with aquatic animals. They grab their prey and then drag them into the water and then, I dunno, eat them?" Valexia shrugs helplessly. "I think if anyone can seduce one, it's you, Ensis."
"Oh!" says Valexia, realization dawning on her face, "A director I knew was arguing with his wife. She called him an old coot and stormed off and he yelled after her that she was a crocodile. Well... I couldn't help myself. I had to ask, what is that? So first he said it is like an alligator, and I didn't know what that was either, so he drew me a picture." She pauses and presses a finger against her cheek and remarks, "What I'm saying is that thing has a rather striking resemblance to his wife. Whiter than I expected, though. I rather thought they were supposed to be brown or green or something."
"Well, that should have allowed some of our scientifically minded friends to determine what that was," says Valexia, taking a deliberate step back from the water as Ben did before her.
"Disturb the surface of the water? Why, there's nothing that magic cannot do!" Valexia raises her hands to the side of her head again, turning a little bit red as she tries to hum her bard spells along.
Valexia keeps her fingers pressed to the sides of her head. "The body... the statue... and the creature. There is something in the water, moving slowly, I imagine swimming... There is magic there." She pulls her fingers away from her temples and gives her head a bit of a shake. "Wow, nobody ever told me that magic would actually require effort. So I've confirmed there's probably a creature in the water. Around this general area." She waves her hand vaguely towards the glow.
"Actually, I'm seeing something with my Magic Eyes," says Valexia, pressing a finger to the side of her face. She puts up a hand palm out dramatically, "Give me a second. Magic Eyes require concentration, my friends!"
Valexia draws her bow and points it towards Ben, "Well, I am always ready to fire projectiles at things, in or out of the water!" She squints at the water and says, "Difficult to see, but maybe anything in there is wearing a magical collar. Why, someday we might be lucky."
"If I were an animal, I would not eat any old soggy corpse," says Valexia, "But then, I would be a very sophisticated animal. Like a... hmm. What's a sophisticated animal?"
"Calistra? Well," decides Valexia as she looks at the statue of the goddess without any glimmer of recognition, "I expect anyone who would hold a giant wasp on her shoulder has a flair for the dramatic. She's okay in my book."
She tries to spot any strange movement in the area before them, quickly turning her attention to her nails as she gets bored of that.
"Ben, are you manhandling Ensis again?" asks Valexia, before watching the swashbuckler walk towards the pool, remarking with a grin, "If only I were so bold!" She draws her bow, just in case something nasty decides to appear.
Valexia looks around the storeroom, twanging at the string on her bow, "You know," she notes to nobody in particular, "One of these days I will hit something with an arrow, and you will all be quite impressed by the dazzling display." She idly takes a look around the storeroom as they go, mild curiosity on her face, but she lacks the commitment of actually looking.
At the question on whether Laria should accompany them, she says, "Well, you said you are a thinker, not a fighter... Perhaps best for you to stay back, in case we take awhile down there. Best to make everything look normal." She glances between the others and says, "But my fame is for my voice, not for excellent judgment, so do with that what you may."
We do have 40 charges on the healy stick that we have. But I'm down for as many healy sticks as we can get! Valexia would be inclined towards using the +1 leather armor, but Bertom will likely get more use out of it. Valexia will hold any wands since she is the most magically adept out of our group of relatively unarcane rebels!
"I think staying together would be a fine idea. The gods know that my family does not expect me home at any time of the night," says Valexia, crossing her arms. [b]"And I'm happy to stay upstairs, thank you for your generosity, Laria."
"You're fine!" says Valexia to Deanna, "Well, that might be so, now, but I need some rest if I'm to get that magical pep back. Magical pep which can sometimes be used to save your lives!" She shakes her head and says, "Magic is just something I picked up as a hobby and to improve my performances, I did not expect anyone's life to depend on it." To Laria, she sniffs and says, "I will get involved in pretty well anything my friends get involved in, I'm afraid. My mother asked me once, 'if your friends were to jump off of a cliff, would you do so too'? Naturally, I said yes."
"Well, as petty as it might seem, I worked very hard in order to get somewhere in the opera here, and Thrune decides to take residence up in there and ruin my chances of getting my dream role!" says Valexia, throwing up her hands in exasperation. "With my aspirations dashed, I need to find something with which to occupy my time, and opposing Thrune seems like a perfectly reasonable hobby. If he wishes to spit on the art, the city and the people I adore here, well, I'd at least prefer he be spitting blood," finishes Valexia coldly.
Valexia takes the batons and looks them over, using Detect Magic to be sure of it.
"Ah! Cure Light Wounds, handy to have in a wand like this. That means I do not have to expend energy on your wounds any longer." She points it at each member of the party in turn, without dispensing any actual magic, "You feel better, and you feel better, and you feel better!" "And this other one is to purify food and drink," says Valexia, tucking them into her belt. "You know, I am not sure, if you used this on a good drink, would it turn to water?"
"Well, if things get any worse, we can cut and run. Dee will need your potion, Ensis, so that she can run with the rest of us if we need to," decides Valexia, gesturing between the swordsman and the monk quickly. "And no more risks, Dee! At least not today, not until I can mend your wounds myself. On occasion I like to go a little crazy, too! But staying in one piece, that's important too." She continues using prestidigitation while she speaks, here and there, to make sure her friends are tidy.
Valexia uses her favourite spell for her favourite use for it, cleaning off poor filthy Ensis. "I may not have enough magical energy to mend wounds anymore, but at least I can make everyone's life a little less disgusting," she comments as she does so. "Speaking of healing energy... I am out of anything that will mend any wounds at all," says Valexia, "What's our remaining stock situation looking like? I'm all for adventure, but it would quite ruin my day if any of you die. And I can't even imagine what it would do to your days if I died."
"Well, if they were summoned they would have vanished. But I suppose these fleshy fellows wobbled on through a portal or something..." says Valexia.
"About your boots, Ensis, I am very well practiced in making things clean like new! That's the whole point of magic, you know," says Valexia, matter-of-factly, as she assists Rexus with the dumping of magical goo into Deanna's throat. "Though we may wish to invest in some sort of magical armour for Dee. She's been through a lot today," says Valexia with some concern.
Valexia rushes over to try and help with getting Dee stabilized, but realizes that despite knowing a little mend spell, she knows very little about keeping people from bleeding. "Does anyone have a potion for curing wounds left? Here, Ensis, hand her over and I'll drag her somewhere safe while you do that violence thing you are so good at."
Valexia unenthusiastically fires another arrow at the blob monster, not really paying too much mind to it as she suspects her arrows will never harm it anyhow. "Lead that thing out of that slop, Dee. Maybe then Bertie can use his silver to knock it dead."
Valexia aims once more and lets an arrow fly.
"I don't think that this is going to be very effective... and no, Ben, as far as I know they are not vulnerable to fire, but I won't stop you from trying!"
Valexia steps forward and fires an arrow with a bit of a grimace, "Anyone who was swimming in that must have no taste. I should have picked up silver arrows or something before coming here... does anyone have silver? Or anything good?"
"Check if there's something in the water? How am I supposed to... Oh! I mean, I guess I could check if there's anything magical around. Though I think our resident chemist may be better at determining the rest," says Valexia, nodding towards Ben. "But it does look like these are worn down by time. Whoever did this hasn't been here for awhile." Valexia starts to cast Detect Magic. She does some small gestures and hums the mnemonic she uses to remember it.
Valexia does a double take after speaking so dismissively about the runes. "Actually, these do remind me of something. We were doing a show, The Cobbler's Wife. Well, of course I was the lead, voice like mine, it was well received... Or so I hear. I don't read the reviews. Too boring. But... there was a scene in there where the Cobbler summoned a devil to ask it questions about my character." She gestures towards the marks on the wall, "The prop man, strange fellow, smelled a little bit too much like horses for my liking. Eccentric, too, insisted all the props be authentic. The runes he used look just like these, with a few variations to make sure he didn't summon actual devils, of course! I understand the show must go on, but there are some things that even I would consider extending the intermission over." She squints at them and says, "They are pretty reminiscent of Infernal, aren't they? I expect this was meant to open a portal to Hell. Looks like all the spellwork is worn down, though. I doubt you could summon even a newborn imp with this. But they were probably functional at one time."
Valexia says, looking at the crude drawings and symbols that Ben is looking at. "They look like pictures to me, Ben."
"And I agree with you, Ben. Pretty sure wading into stuff like that is how people get flesh eating diseases," says Valexia, shaking her head disapprovingly. "Even my incredible magic could not keep that from happening."
"Forgive me if I do not stare into holes in the wall where vomit spewing creatures would be able to puke directly into my eyes," says Valexia. "Ah, but let me look at those of you who were hit! Let's keep tidy!"
Valexia moves into the dark room, squinting a bit. "Smells awful in here... no light?" She raises her bow and nocks an arrow.
Ensis handsomely heads through the door, as Rexus has urged, to stand alongside Ben and readies himself defend the others from these disgusting unhandsome creatures.
"Huh? I was talking about the rats being starved, not... wait, grimples?"
"If they are asking for food, then give it to them, 'cause I don't think any of us have the cold iron to hurt them, and they've got an infectious parasite to feed," remarks Valexia. She starts over towards where the others are.
"Well, look at them. They're skin and bones. They'd probably attack anything that came down here. They were probably gonna die anyways so they didn't have lots of choice going on..." says Valexia with a shrug. "When the menu's starvation or us, well, even those of us who can hit something with their weapons of choice look appetizing."
Valexia goes about casting prestidigitation on herself or others at any opportunity in order to make certain that they stay clean. She is, naturally, the primary target. |