I appreciate the communication, and I'm sorry that IRL has been tough for you and I hope it improves soon! Maybe someday Xaerai and her new friends will return to unravel the mystery of the Iron Gods.
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Xaerai looks over she shoulder at the others and shrugs. "Can't hurt to have him with, can it?" Turning back to the older dwarf, she frowns as she surveys him. "You are a priest, dwevgeldi? I'm inclined to welcome you aboard, but what powers does the Forgefather grant you?"
With a shrug, Xaerai gestures up towards the hill Torch is built on, and the absent beam of purple light. "It's not secret--we rescued the town's wizard, but he's in a bad way and he didn't know why Torch's forge is powered down. So we need to head back in and complete the job." She gives Marvin an assessing look. "You up for it, dwevgeldi?"
Xaerai blinks in surprise, taking a second or two to parse the older dwarf's outburst, but then her expression becomes sorrowful--almost pitying. "Your ancestral lands were lost to the Worldwound? Hjarta mitt er þyngra en blý, elder. I'm sorry to hear it." She doesn't let go of Marvin's hand, peering intently at his face. "About my other question, though: you say the Forgefather sent you to...help us?"
Cocking her head in intrigued puzzlement, Xaerai scans the somewhat befuddled-seeming dwarf before her for a clan dagger or forge-marks that might tell her more about who he is, and where he's from. She reaches out and clasps his hand, unbothered by the grime. "Kveðja, dwevgeldi. Ég er Xaerai af klaninu Stormforge. Frá hvaða löndum og ættum kemur þú? Þú segir að smiðsfaðirinn hafi sent þig?" Dwarven: "Hello, elder. What lands and clan do you hail from? You say the Forgefather sent you to us?"
I figured we could do a quick flashback scene, it'd make more sense to meet & recruit him in town.
I'm back!
I will be flying back to the US all day tomorrow, probably no time to post and jet-lagged once I'm back. But don't hold up on my account, I can check in on Saturday after I've gotten some sleep
Maybe he was a contact for the mercenary crew Xaerai ran with for a while? Enough of a connection to smooth inclusion to the group without us having to nail down anything concrete just yet. Does Marvin feel any tension about being a recluse devoted to a deity of community defense?
A fellow dwarf? A welcome sight indeed!
I think I have mentioned this previously, but just in case: I will be flying to Europe for vacation with my spouse this Friday, and won't be back until 9/16. Please feel free to bot me as necessary during that period :)
That sounds good to me, and I agree that frontline/healing is probably what we need most. We might have a tough time dealing with blindness/deafness, curses, etc without some more divine magic in the party.
If you recommend them, that's good enough for me! Are there any skill/ability gaps we want to be covered?
I would be okay with a replacement, since it's an easy place to do so. I have personally not had good experiences with open recruitments, and prefer to reach out to other people on the forums I've played with who have proven themselves reliable, regular posters.
Is Shesik still with us? Their last character post was end of May, and their last post from the regular alias was December of last year...
Xaerai tucks in to Tyn's stew with a will, finishing a bowl and getting seconds once everyone else has had their first. She gives the Baine siblings a questioning look as they file back in. "Anything we should be concerned about?" As the meal winds down, the dwarf cleans her own bowl and then rechecks her pack, more from habit than any real need. "So! Back down into the depths? We've still gotta figure out why Torch's big purple column of fire went kaput."
"Huh. I figured for sure he'd call us into a back room and we'd have a very dramatic palaver where he made an' offer we couldn't refuse. He seemed like the type." Xaerai shrugs, then finishes her drink. "Oh well! Let's get some shuteye and then do like Zelvin says--I want to see how the Torch forges work, and these good folk need to make a living."
Nabbing a drink for herself, and a second to keep the first company, Xaerai finds herself a table and studies the room.
"Ha! Want me to rub your dice?" Xaerai chortles and takes Tyn's arm. "What've they got to drink around here?" As the game is explained to her, the dwarf's expression becomes skeptical as she passes over her 25gp bet. "Butterflies have never liked me much, and the feeling's mutual. But maybe She's willing to bury the hatchet..."
"Alright, alright! I can take a hint!" Xaerai holds her hands up in mock surrender to the dice. "Sorry Tyn, not this time. I want a drink!"
"Hmm...I'll double it!" The dwarf announces after mulling it over for a moment.
"Attaboy, Erasmus!" Xaerai whoops before collecting her earnings. "I know a winner when I see one." Whistling merrily and off-tune, she wanders about a bit before finding herself at the Bounder table. "Here, Hekau, have some of mine," she says, passing him 50gp worth of gambling credit. "So how does this one work?"
"I've got twenty crowns on Erasmus! Twenty crowns--or whatever you call the gold ones!" Xaerai hollers at the bookie, waving her credit chit from Ulreth at him.
As Ulreth walks away Xaerai snorts. "So. Are we just here to gin up business? The dangerous and exciting adventurers gamble here, so should you! Somehow I doubt it." Shrugging at the others, Xaerai wanders warily over to the Lightning Run track, at first worried the lizards were fighting each other. When she realizes its a race the dwarf relaxes, intently scrutinizing each lizard before picking one with grey-white paint named "Erasmus".
After providing the details of her request for a suit of breastplate armor, Xaerai also manages to wrangle a space for herself to work on her own pistol, carefully stripping it down and replacing damaged components to improve its function. She hums while she works (slightly off-key) and ponders the capabilities of Numeria's skymetals and the purple flames of the Torch's titular forge. Once that's completed, she nods along in agreement with Zelvin's suggestions. "S'good to pay back your debts quickly and in full, aye. I don't know what this Garmen Ulreth fellow wants with us, but best to have it all out in the open. Then, the rest of the ruins--Torch's future may well depend on it."
Xaerai would want to pay back any debt owed as quickly as possible, so I'm good with that being priority #1. And other than the meeting it looks like most of the other points are resolvable by going back to the dungeon. sigh Xaerai doesn't want to go through the nasty lake water again...
"Your generosity is appreciated, Councillor. I hope we're not putting your town in a difficult spot, without the resurrection scroll," Xaerai responds, accepting the payment. As they leave the Councillor's offices, the group divides up the payout, and Xaerai pays a call to the Otterbie family, offering her condolences regarding Gerrol's death and tactfully inquiring about the smith's potential creations.
Hey everyone, my spouse and I will be leaving for vacation on Friday and won't be back until the following weekend. My posting rate is likely to be low during that time but I'll do my best.
Xaerai watches with fascination as the serum is administered, wishing she better understood the processes behind nano-fluid, and concerned about what effects it might have on her new companions' father-figure. After several tense seconds she clears her throat. "Well, Master Baine...how do you feel?"
Xaerai posts herself by the door, respectfully silent of the Baine's moment--one that could be turn to grief or celebration, depending on the efficacy of this strange, ancient tube of alien machines. "All three have saved me and Hekau more times than I can count." The dwarf ponders this statement, then frowns in concern at the half-elf.
"That's a mighty reasonable offer there, Master Sanvil. I hope the Baine boys won't mind my speaking for the group when I say we accept. Whatever we find and want to sell--you get first look." She extends a hand to shake.
Clearing her throat, Xaerai glances at Zelvin and Hekau uncertainly before plunging ahead. "Master Trett, pleased t'make your acquaintance. I'm Xaerai of Clan Stormforge and we're hoping you might be able to help us with a problem. You see, we found Master Khonnir down there, but he was the prisoner of a robot--it might've been for healing once upon a time, but it's gone all wrong now and we think it might've hurt him somehow, 'an still be hurtin' him. It gave him a big dose of nanites, or something like 'em, not made for humankind. Can you help us fix the old man?"
Reassured by Hekau's diagnostic magics, Xaerai agrees that talking to Trett is probably okay.
Xaerai's mouth drops open when Master Kyte suggests their group speak to this merchant. "But--what if we're carrying the same sickness, and that merchant carries it to the next town over?"
"Master Kyte, are you saying he's suffering from some manner of disease?" Xaerai's eye's widen at the implications for their own group, and the town overall.
With a final nervous glance at the water, Xaerai follows her companions, but pauses to grab the sleeves of one of Torch's citizens. "Your town's got neighbors--not so many as you did two days ago, and not all of the ones left are hostile, but it might be worth posting a couple of guards here to keep an eye on things." She lets the man go. "Just a thought." Back at the Baine residence, the dwarf parks herself in a corner out of the way, though if called upon she hops up to boil water, fetch supplies, or run messages.
Xaerai lets Zelvin and Hekau assist the injured wizard back toward the complex's entrance while she watches their backs, alert for any new dangers that might menace the group. As the others ascend through the disgusting water one by one Xaerai goes last, crawling up onto dry land and dumping out her boots. "Back up, give them some space," she admonishes the onlookers crowding a bit too close.
Is Khonnir in a condition where he could manage that? There's nothing at all to guarantee that a scroll/potion/whatever of Water Breathing will be available...
hey gang, a heads up: our GM has come down with a case of viral bronchitis and will be out of commission for a bit
"Ah Hells, he looks like he's been through the wringer," Xaerai gasps when the wizard tumbles out of the box, shuddering and moaning. Forgetting about the various knicknacks she's discovered, the dwarf hurries over and helps ease him up onto one of the raised beds in the room. "He ain't gonna make it through the lake like this. Hekau, Shesik, help me see if any of this might heal 'em up some."
Hurrying back with the medical items, she offers them to Tyn. [b]"Will these help?"[/ooc]
"Fuggin ding broge by node," Xaerai complains as she rises, gingerly pinching at the tender spot. "Bud ad lees ehts dead." Once back on her feet, the dwarf circles around the room checking for anything of value.
Wrapping her legs around the robot to maintain her grip, Xaerai grabs the robe and begins
"Someone say 'rope'? Rope would be good," Xaerai grunts as she holds the struggling robot down.
Blood streaming down her chin from what was definitely a broken nose, Xaerai grits her teeth and growls. Twisting to the side, the dwarf bears the robot to the ground under her weight, coordinating with Zelvin and Shesik to pin it down--and hoping Hekau's lightning bolt would do the trick!
Oh my goodness, that's alarming! I'm glad you're alright
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