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An elven knight in plate armor with long blonde hair, black eyes, and a wide grin walks in, an elegant tabard depicting a foreign dragon design, recognizable as Tian in origin, draped down his chest, white cloak billowing.
"Aha! Finally! I might meet some of my comrades of freedom! I leave Kyonin to join the Andoran cause and get stuck in Tian Xia for months, right away! It is good to be back! Good day my friends!"
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"Do be welcome home!" The tattooed and statuesque young woman states. "I haven't been to Tien myself, at least haven't been to areas not in the Tapestry. Recently, my time has been in my native Varisia, and the neighboring Belkzen. Do have a seat, relax, and drinks are on me. If you'd like to discuss work, the North has a tale or two for us."
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The elf will nod to the Tien man and take a seat himself, flashing a smile at the tattooed woman.
"Wonderful! I must say I am parched. That rice liquor they have is not the same as a good ale or mead, I must say. You have been up north you say? I made an early trip to the borders of Irrisen with my sisters, strange and disconcerting place, but I cannot say I have been north much. I heard its all frontier up there though."
Looking to the Tien man he remarks, "I would say though, I hope they at least deserved it? Although from my travels there, they seemed to have more problems with corruption than Cheliax. That's saying something."
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A one-eyed young woman in spiked half-plate slams gauntlet to cuirass in salute, then sits down, removing her helmet and letting her long, red braid fall down her back. "It's always good to see a new face in this particular part of the Society," she says cheerfully. "Welcome back to Absalom." She grins wickedly. "Though I must confess to the sin of envy - *my* missions have never taken me quite so far afield."
She nods cheerfully to the others
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A tiny, winged woman pulls herself from Sheliantha's shoulder, and flits on over to the one-eyed paladin. "Oh, yes!" She exclaims. "Travel is just wonderful, and seeing new and beautiful places! But, you can keep Belkzen for yourself, if you want. I don't ever want to go back there again. The music is horrible, and the art, well, the art just doesn't exist!"
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Sichelgakta bows her head,and, removing her gauntlets, extends her right hand in greeting to the tiny Lyrakien "it's good to see *you* again too," she says.
She pauses in reflection. "I suppose I shouldn't complain - the Society's already let me see so much of the world. Most people from Fusil never travel beyond the Verduran Forest - which is beautiful, to be sure, but familiar. Everything I see with the Society is new."
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Lirin finds a large mug of mead and takes a deep drink, sighing in satisfaction as he turns to address the one-eyed woman, pulling some rogue strands of his long blonde hair away from his face and drink.
"Well, I was not expecting to go as far afield myself, but I should not complain. The Wall of Heaven mountain range, or as they call it Qiang Tian, is breath taking. I do suggest finding some missions from the society out there. Andorans work is needed greatly. There is an entire nation that enslaves their soldiers upon death to clay constructs!" he takes another drink and shakes his head, and then looks quizzically at the small creature that rises from the shoulder of the tattooed woman.
"Well hello there. I must say, I did not think that woman had a fey stuffed in her shirt. I would hope you two are at least friends?" Lirin says with a wink and a grin.
"I do apologize, I never did introduce myself. I am Lirin Ver'Ha, Second oldest, of the Ver'Ha family. I have around four or five siblings around somewhere, sadly a bit more antisocial than I, and sadly one taken by the idea of money more than freedom."
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"Oh, I'm no fey." Cuorecielo, the tiny winged woman says to the elf horse-rider. "I'm an Azata, as some of the mortals might say, an angel. And yeah, Sheliantha there is my new friend! Well, not so new any more, as we have been on missions together. And Sichelgaita, she's my friend too! We met in Absalom, which has lots of pretty places to see. Cathedrals and museums, and lots of things! Better things than Hell, let me tell you. I don't like it in Hell at all, not even one little bit."
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Liran makes a grimace at what the tien man says and shakes his head.
"I recently was sent into the sewers of Korvosa myself. A VERY disgusting experience to say the least." drinking from his mug, he puts it down with a faint smile.
"Did not know otyugh's could talk though. Charming in their own way to say the least. Ravenous appetites, but at least they keep their word."
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"Like any sane person would choose to go underground and fight things that shouldn't exist." Nesod replies quickly and eagerly "See, we may be explorers, but there's a reason so many of us are ex-military." An almost ghostlike pallor comes across his face "We're fighting a war. A war against the great evils upon this earth, that no amount of reasoning can save you from, only luck and cold. Hard. Steel. Think about it. The Worldwound. The Eye of Abendego. Irrisen. Who else but us is equipped to handle this?"
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Raises his nearly empty mug to the tien man with a smile and a chuckle before finishing it with a sigh.
"Hear, hear to that my friend. Someone does indeed have to go out and hunt and kill these things, to stop them from hurting others."
Liran gets a distant look in his eyes as his mind wanders briefly.
"Only we, as well, can help those who cannot help themselves. I learned that during the war for the Andorans' freedom. Merely a squire back then, my knight acting as a strategic adviser. We helped many people though, rescued many others. I suppose we could be seen as a force that walks between nationalities for the most part, we don't get bogged down in the red tape and politics."
Looks sadly down at his empty mug.
"Thankfully for us, don't you say."
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"That's why I came here!" The tiny azata speaks up in a clear soprano. "There's lots of badness here, and I get to do my part too!" She pulls out a wand, and taking a two-handed grip with a wide stance, she mimes firing charge after charge into the wall of the room. "Pew, pew, pew! I'm gonna take down some demons."
Sheliantha looks on with an indulgent smile, and shrugs with a ripple in her long hair.
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Liran watches the Azata bemusedly and chuckles.
"Well with you and that wand at the front lines I don't see how the demons stand a chance!"
He looks over to the tattooed woman thoughtfully, "The news from up north does worry me some. I cannot say I have faced a demon, or devil in battle except for one in the Hao Jin tapestry, but that was brief and our casters did most of the work. Horrible creatures they seem to be. I do worry for Mendev."
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"Well, then we casters will have to earn our keep up at the WorldWound." She smiles to Liran, and it is a wondrous thing. "Though, in my experience, it is the teamwork that a group can provide that make for a path to success. I'm certainly not hoping for a corps-a-corps with any of the demons I have been studying. If you all would keep them off of me, I'd really appreciate it." Her dazzling smile flickers a moment, but then returns full-force. "And I really do have to get Cuorecielo a real wand. Mage Armor just doesn't cut it as an attack spell."
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Liran smiles back at the tattooed woman, taking another drink for himself and having a long drink before responding, tapping on his larger left shoulder plate.
"Don't worry. My siblings have taught me well how to shield them. I have become rather adept at it of late. It is also in my opinion that teamwork and sound tactics can win the day. Give me one good squad of men and women that work together like a machine over an army any day."
Liran addresses the tien man after another sip of his drink, "Holy water? Crosses? Clerics? Can clerics be classified as items?"
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<OOC: apologies for disappearing - leaving the country for four days IRL can hurt one's forum activities :-) >
Sichelgaita, having listened quietly to the conversation for a while, joins in now. "A song my mother sang to me applies to this discussion well - the last couple of lines anyway." Clearing her throat, she sings the lines softly:
'Three things trust and cherish well, the horse on which you ride,
The beast that guards and watches, and the sister at your side'
"Well, there are plenty of brothers as well as sisters, but the point remains the same. Cherish those who stand with you, and you can fight any enemy." She sips her drink, then continues. "I fought a devil, in a certain power's embassy...it was awkward, but I won through in the end." She grins at Cuorcielo. "Though a touch of your Mage Armour would have helped greatly, my dear friend. And your intellect would have helped greatly, Sheliantha. As it was, the companions I was saddled with...they were brave men and true, but...stealth and themselves had only the briefest of acquaintances, and for an overgrown gowk like myself, clad in half-plate armour...it was extremely difficult."
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ooc: Hey thats no problem! I would love to get back out of the country, hope it was for vacation!
Liran drinks quietly listening to the woman's song, and gives a short clap at the end.
"Bravo, I must say you sing as well as any of the elves in my homeland! What a song as well. It has a definitive truth to it. I myself am not one of the stealthy sorts. I find my full-plate rather comforting. I have been trained well to be the stone that parts the stream."
He pauses to set his drink aside and leans forward with a rather worried look on his face.
"With what is coming, I do worry for my brothers and sisters. I have heard tales out of Nerosyan and other areas. I myself leave for a patrol soon, north to check on one of the outposts at the edge of the Wound. I feel that a trial perhaps is coming for us all. Perhaps, also, your song shall sing truer before the end."
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Sichelgaita inclines her head. "Thank you, kind sir." Her face grows grave too. "You're quite right - now is the time, more than ever, that we must all stand together. We're approaching a crossroads fast, aren't we? Where the course of the world - or its survival - will be decided." She grows quiet, then shakes her head. "But, as long as we all have one another - as long as we keep true to our brethren and sistern - then we'll come through it all."
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Cuorecielo flits over and assumes a cross-legged sitting position in midair next to the one-eyed paladin. "You know, there's always talk about the mortals and how they do things without most anything. So, yeah, you can all do it if you really try." She gives a brief smile, and the subject goes back to an earlier topic.
"You -are- pretty big for a gowk, but there are ways around it. There's a potion, or is it a scroll? Potion, I think, or might be a wand... The azata shrugs her tiny shoulders. "Anyway, it can make you smaller and faster. Not as small and fast as me, but smaller, like a gnome is smaller. Reduce Person!" She brightens quickly. "Reduce Person, that's the one!"
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Cuorecielo nods eagerly to Nesod. "Yeah! And being small means you can hide better, and take the shots on big things from behind stalagtites, and pillars and other things that give you cover. When that lamia was all sick, and hostile, she spat at me with her," she covers her mouth and coughs slightly "ew, spit. But she did, and it hurt, and I, being littler, could hide and she didn't get to spit on me again at all." Then there is an assertive nod, ending all dissention on the subject.
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"Most of the time, I find being tall an advantage," Sichelgaita agrees with Liran. "My point was, a party needs variety in order to achieve its objectives. I'm illl-equipped for subtlety, and so were the men who accompanied me, so when it came to infiltration...things were so close to failure." She grins at the Lyrakien "Being temporarily small might have been helpful there. And a lamia spat at you? Poor thing - you probably felt like a bath in pure alcohol after *that*."
She blushes slightly. "Also, sorry for my strange use of language - back in Fusil, 'gowk' is slang meaning someone who's clumsy and uncoordinated. I went through a particularly fast growth spurt, so I definitely for the bill as a teenager."
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Liran nods with a smile, taking a deep drink from his mug, listening to the conversation for a moment.
"I would expect," Liran beings addressing the azata,"your experience was much like mine in the sewers of Korvosa. The cleric had no brighter idea in the middle of combat than slinging....something...at my face after taking a nose full of sleeping spores from some plants. Falling into that sludge a couple times did not help either."
Liran makes a rather disgusted face at that thought.
"Hmm...gowk, interesting term. I could probably apply to a number of humans that know." He says this with a chuckle.
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"The sewers of Magnimar aren't much of a picnic, either," Sichelgaita growls in sympathy with Liran, "Still, at least they're uncontaminated by Goblins. Thanks to the visit my comrades and I paid to them. By the way, if you ever find yourself on assignment with a Halfling Druid named Dochas, watch his cat. That animal was worth two fighting-men on her own." She grins at Nesod. "And punching things till they stop moving is a viable strategy - I led a large group of new Pathfinders into the Fenwall mountains a while back, and that was the keystone of our tactics. That and throwing grease. And a few swift blows from Reason here." She taps the hilt of her master worked longsword.
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"Name your weapon? I have had no need. I have lived long enough, and seen enough war to know weapons break just as often as those who wield them. I see no need to become attached to a tool of war when my brothers and sisters require my true dedication."
Liran taps his larger left pauldron.
"A sword is good. A shield is better. A sword kills, a sword can hurt those it protects if used improperly. A shield is always the stronger defense though. Give a boy a shield, he can protect himself behind it, and those behind him. Give a boy a sword, he has to attack, even though he knows not what he is doing. This is why my liege knight taught me how to use a shield before he let me wield a sword. The point of a knight is not to kill, but to protect."
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Sichelgaita nods slowly. "It *is* our duty to protect, true...but sometimes, the best defence is a good offence. Or, at the very least, a good offence will distract an enemy long enough to allow innocent non-combatants to escape with *their* lives." She looks to Nesod. "I'm glad you liked that. I was younger when I decided on the name, so I sometimes wonder how it holds up." She looks at his bow with respect. "Fighting in heavy armour doesn't exactly allow for accuracy with a bow, and I was never any good even *before* I earned my half-plate, so anyone who *can* master one of those things is worthy of considerable respect, in my opinion."
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The woman with all the tattoos, and the fancy dress that conceals far too few of them, looks herself over. On her hip is a lonely dagger, and it looks to be firmly esconced in its sheath.
"I like to think that I listen to reason, and I'm sure I'd listen to Reason too." She flashes a big smile to the paladin. "I think you'd find yourself much more capable with a bow than some of us. I even tried using a crossbow, and those are supposed to be easy."
She grins to Nesod, too. "I think I'd fail that apprenticeship, myself, but there are those who are impressed with my spells now. Different people do things differently, and finding out what you are good at is an important part of life. Applying what you are good at in a beneficial manner is even better."
The Lyrakien, taking a moment to flit over by the monk looks at his bow, and offers a hand to shake. "Hello, Longshot. Nice to meet you!" And then, quick as can be, she touches a fingertip to the paladin's blade. "Hello, Reason. Nice to meet you, too! And I'm glad you aren't planning to take edge to me. I bet you are reaaally sharp."
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"Got a sword meself too." Nesod reaches to his side, displaying a silvery longsword with a long, rippling crack down the middle. "Ganon the Misforged. He don't talk much unless we're on the open road, but he's good enough, I guess." Looking at Sheliantha, he shrugs "I'm still rubbish at traditional archery, but I'm working on my own fighting style."
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Sichelgaita smiles back at both Sheliantha and Cuorecielo. "She's sharp, no question about it," she says. "But, she's like me - she's only sharp to people and things that've trying to murder or enslave. No-one else has a reason to fear her edge." She grins wickedly. "Now, her *flat*, and the sap stowed in my sleeve, sometimes have to be used against people who can't take hints, but I don't think that'll concern anyone in this room."
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The trouble with wands is the limited time frame and lack of spell penetration. I'd recommend the spell storing weapon or armor if you're going to try demonic foes. You can get one of the magical types to arm it and use it either when hit (armor) or when you strike (weapon). For added fun, tack on a few pearls of power to recover the spells used to arm you up.