Tenebrae - User contributions [en]

Grim Deed: Finale

2025-07-26T17:57:28Z

Carver: Created page with "Reithak has arrived. The sun sets at Manor Umbergloom... The party had victoriously defeated the lone mimic and retrieved the Grim Deed! However, the butler had reappeared with a letter from Lady Blythe, the vampire, offering the party a chance to retreat to lick their wounds and come back to fight at a better time. An offer, the party chooses to take. The Butler, after a while, offers to take them to the nearby town - he was going that way regardless - for the part..."

Reithak has arrived.

The sun sets at Manor Umbergloom...

The party had victoriously defeated the lone mimic and retrieved the Grim Deed! However, the butler had reappeared with a letter from Lady Blythe, the vampire, offering the party a chance to retreat to lick their wounds and come back to fight at a better time.

An offer, the party chooses to take. The Butler, after a while, offers to take them to the nearby town - he was going that way regardless - for the party to recover. Instead of entering the town proper, the Butler diverts towards one of the more fancier looking mansions overlooking the small town, leaving the adventurers to their own devices. There is a distinct feeling of ease midway during the trip - almost as if the sun shines once more, the air breathes and the good life hums along.

Having rested, the party returns to the snowy steps of Manor Umbergloom. Gloomy as always. Yet, the door is unlocked. There is no servant greeting them. No invitation asked.

The entrance hallway - with the heavy double door opened - was dark, unlit. The warm galore of yore, gone and replaced. It was dark and gloomy. Most things, including the armors, have been removed or covered with white sheets. Was anyone here after all?

Culix elected to ride her own horse back to town- as much as she grumbles about the ornery mare, and it tries to bite her on a fairly regular basis, she doesn't quite trust the butler. And only partly because they have tangle footed him twice now.

When they return, she likewise rides her horse and dismounts some distance away to give her a bag of feed and tie her off. "Right, so, this will definitely be a trap." she says, just incase anyone else wasn't already thinking that.

"Mhm," Carver responds. She did not much care if it was, seems to be the given indication. "So if you have any last minute preparations, now would likely be the time to cast them or whatever it is you need to do." She noticeably does not tie Deathless off, still standing beside her trusted steed.

Carver has partially disconnected.

Likewise not trusting the butler, and only partially because he was the one that kept tanglefoot bagging him, Skyler also rode his own horse. "Definitely." He confirms with a nod, glancing around, "But at the same time, it's a trap we know is there." Beat. "Unlike every other fucking time we came to this place."

To Carver, he gives a thumbs up as he draws his sword, tossing it into the air for a showy catch before giving it a couple experimental swipes. "So how do we wanna do this? Charge in and gank the bitch, or do we wanna try and have our sneaky sneaks sneak inside to ambush her when she attacks the vanguard?"

Reithak wasn't too pleased to be returning to the manor, especially not when they were almost assuredly walking into a trap, but when the alternative was leaving a Vampire to run amok in the area, the egalrin was back in the area.

She had brought a horse with her to not slow down the rest of the group, but they weren't nearly at ease at riding than the others. Hopping off, she went about hitching their horse nearby. "Well, chances are they're expecting us, but, fingers crossed they're so full of themselves they underestimate this. Not holding out hope though." The egalring shrugged. "Let's get this done, yeah?"

The emptiness of the manor makes one suspect that it is empty, Carver's many monstrous trinkets shivering as she turns, taking it all in. The unlocked door, the covered statues of knights, the hollow sound of their voices echoing. "Quite the drama."

GAME: Carver casts Protection From Evil. Caster Level: 2 DC: 15

GAME: Carver refreshes spells.

GAME: Carver casts Barkskin. Caster Level: 14 DC: 16

GAME: Carver casts Flame Arrow. Caster Level: 14 DC: 17

GAME: Carver casts Perceive Cues. Caster Level: 14 DC: 16

GAME: Skyler rolls perception: (12)+15: 27

GAME: Reithak casts Bless. Caster Level: 5 DC: 13

"I got an idea, actually. Might not work, but might be able to lure her out without putting you guys up front first. Either way, figure me and Carver should try to sneak up." she says then drawing her own dagger and rolling it over her knuckles, "When we're ready to spring this trap, I can try to conjure up an illusion to spring it for us." she explains. "Either way, if she turns to smoke again, keep stabbing. I don't think she's invincible like that, just- you know, gassy."

And with that she pulls her hood up to stoop towards the building, keeping to the shadows.

GAME: Culix rolls perception: (11)+14: 25

GAME: Culix rolls stealth+2+4: (13)+21+2+4: 40

GAME: Carver rolls perception+6+5: (20)+23+6+5: 54

GAME: Carver rolls stealth: (12)+31: 43

GAME: Carver used a Potion of See Invisibility.

GAME: Reithak rolls perception: (15)+19: 34

As Culix and Carver sneak inside the Manor, they find the place completely empty. Abandoned. Almost as if the whole staff had packed up and left. There were even cobwebs - cobwebs! - littering the paintings, tables and chairs, and it has not even been more few nights.

None of this probably matters to Carver.

Because Carver can see her quarry, despite the shroud of invisibility, calmly walking down the hallway towards the foyer, the back of the mansion. There's a chilling wind that blows through the courtyard.

Carver catches Culix's attention, two fingers to her own green motes, then up toward the foyer. "Invisibility. Final stand there, maybe." She does not question the grand change the manor has undertaken, this house of lies on its corpse foundations. Just more kindle to the fire when they burn it down.

Culix nods once in reply to Carver pointing out the invisible figure, and then she takes a step away- just in case she is spotted, so she doesn't give Carver's position away as well, and then she reaches down plunging her hand into the shadows around her. She pulls it back out, and the whirling darkness coalescess into a pretty convincing Simulacrum of Skyler, who goes wandering into the manor right past where Carver indicated, without a care in the world.

The Simulacrum of Skyler pauses his walking to scratch an itch, beaming with joy at the simple pleasure of scritching under his arm under the great coat he's wearing. "It always get so swampy under there." He mutters to himself, oblivious to any vampires that might be creeping on him. He smells his fingers and gags.

Lady Blythe barely turns when Skyler passes her - she casually reaches out to touch him, before she suddenly stops. The vampire looks at the passing 'Skyler', then back towards the Entrance, peering into the gloom. A moment later, she turns on her heels and follows on after this handsomely gagging fake-lad into the dark of the foyer.

Carver shakes her head, when Lady Blythe does not take the bait. Whatever happens here, happens in that foyer. Such is the way of things sometimes. One can only hope that they are not sent on another grand chase through its twisty corridors and tunnels. "I think we just go into the beast's den." Not her home. Den.

Carver whistles sharply. A signal for the other two, and of course, Deathless. This throws Carver's cover but not Culix's.

GAME: Culix rolls use magic device: (9)+13: 22

GAME: Culix used a Wand of Blur.

Culix shrugs over Carver's way, 'worth a shot' she mouths, and then pulls her wand from her belt. She flourishes it, and the outline of her form fuzzes and blurs, blending with the background, before she ducks low and continues onwards, towards the Foyer and the direction that Carver indicated while she calls for the noisier party members.

"We're up!" Skyler... the *real* Skyler!... says to Reithak cheerfully, from where he was, indeed, scratching an armpit. No tanglefoot bags, unfortunately, but his sword shimmers along the edge with divine energy as he politely motions for the egalrin to proceed him...

Mostly so no one sees him sniff his finger and make a face. "Think that town has a bathhouse?"

Reithak perked up at whistling, already ready to go and on edge waiting, uncertain if her allies had been found or not. "Yeah, no waiting." Reithak nodded, drawing her rapier and striding into the building ahead of her ally, uncertain what awaited them, but determined to make sure her allies were not in trouble.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ATTENTION -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Aelwyn has dropped a TIMESTOP!

Please +init, then cease all roleplay and actions immediately and wait for Aelwyn to instruct you further. You may earn RPP by logging a scene for a GM.

For in-combat commands, type: +thelp.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

GAME: Skyler rolls perception: (19)+15: 34

GAME: Skyler refreshes special ability pools.

GAME: Reithak rolls perception: (3)+19: 22

GAME: Reithak rolls init: (12)+6: 18

The Foyer is also covered with sheets; even the plants. The large windows would gaze onto the garden beyond - but they have been covered and boarded up. It makes the large room feel that much more still, choked. Lady Blythe observes the 'Skyler' for a moment, before the adventurers begin to make their way into the hallway. Carver can see a small, teasing smile appear across those crimson lips, as she raises her hand. The game begins.

Reithak has reconnected.

GAME: Aelwyn advances the initiative order.

Round One - Init 28.

It is now Carver's turn! Skyler is next!

GAME: Carver rolls weapon24+7-5+2+1: (16)+26+7+-5+2+1: 47

GAME: Carver rolls 1d8+2d6+2d6+1d6+13: (7)+(6)+(10)+(5)+13: 41

GAME: Reithak rolls reflex: (7)+5: 12

<OOC> Carver says, "Deathless is immune to webs."

GAME: Skyler spends ONE use of CHARMED LIFE.

GAME: Skyler rolls reflex+3+4: (4)+14+3+4: 25

Reithak has partially disconnected.

Reithak has reconnected.

The hunter finds its mark - and there is a harrowing loud scream, as the vampire gets struck. Lady Blythe brings her hand down and the cobwebs themselves attack the party. Deathless and Skyler avoid the sticky strands by their shared virtues, but unfortunately Reithak's feathers provide much easier prey, tangling the egalrin.

"Ah-ah, that was such a _brutal_ thrust, my hero." Lady Blythe's voice coyly echoes in the foyer, her form remaining invisible. "Let us place our bets in the ultimate gamble, brave adventurers. I have been so, so, _deprived_." Maybe there was no Lady Blythe. Maybe there was no Manor. Maybe it was all in the party's heads?

GAME: Carver rolls 1d20+26: (4)+26: 30

Carver gives another, sharp whistle after a brief chant, and the hallway's floors groan as Deathless suddenly begins to grow. Bigger, and bigger, a god-horse. Not quite Pig King grandeur but surprisingly close-horse teeth gently take Reithak by the collar and lift them up, webs tearing away, before gently depositing into the room. Sadly Deathless cannot follow. Far too large for the door.

As this happens, Carver wheels to her left, a single arrow with heated arrowheads the colors of low-embers sent flying across the room and into something.

Something that remains yet unseen.

"Mchachke," The ranger coldly calls back to their last face to face. "I told you to run. Hubris before the fall."

GAME: Carver casts Animal Growth. Caster Level: 14 DC: 18

GAME: Aelwyn advances the initiative order.

Round One - Init 21.

It is now Skyler's turn! Reithak is next!

GAME: Reithak rolls cmb: (19)+6: 25

<OOC> Aelwyn says, "You are freed, Reithak!"

GAME: Skyler used a Alchemist's Fire.

GAME: Aelwyn rolls 2d4: (5): 5

GAME: Skyler rolls ranged: (14)+17: 31

GAME: Skyler rolls reflex+3: (4)+14+3: 21

Never let it be said that Skyler doesn't appreciate a dramatic moment. The moment Carver makes her challenge to the vampire, there's a a crash of glass and a burst of flames as the web and the entire freakin' *hall* catches flames in a burst of fire.

And through it tumbles a singed Skyler, boots shimmering with arcane energy and sword gleaming. He strikes a pose behind Carver that's only slightly marred by the ends of his hair smoking as he lifts a braided strand of beaded hair and blows on it, extinguishing the ends. "That lipstick washes you out, cow!" He calls, and then blinks. "Where is she? Did she run away, *already*?"

GAME: Aelwyn advances the initiative order.

Round One - Init 15.

It is now Reithak's turn! Culix is next!

Round One - Init 13.

It is now Culix's turn! Lady Blythe is next!

GAME: Culix rolls weapon20: (1)+14: 15 (EPIC FAIL)

Round One - Init 9.

It is now Lady Blythe's turn! Carver is next!

Culix hisses in frustration as the webs fly out, and the woman remains invisible. She dashes across the room, her cloak fluttering behind her as she dashes silently across the boards of the foyer. Her shadow stretches and separates from her as she moves, and she skids to a stop where she thinks the woman is- even though she can't see her, she trusts her instincts and spins the dagger into a reverse grip, attempting to hammer-blow it into where she guesses the vampire's back is.

The dagger bites only at the air, and she grunts in frustration even as her shadow takes up position opposite her. "Flour!" she barks a suggestion even as she spins the dagger back around and readies herself for a counter attack from an enemy she can't see.

Reithak gave a squawk of alarm as they were promptly stuck in place immediately upon entering, was grabbed by a giant horse out of said webs, and was nearly set on fire by one of her allies. The egalrin managed to extricate herself from the situation with assistance, but that left the problem of not actually seeing what her allies were attacking.

"You there, don't think you're shooting air for no reason! You got this since my eyesight isn't good enough to see things that don't exist!" The egalrin shouted, waving one hand in their direction. "I reckon that our vampire is somewhere over there, and your days are numbered! No longer will you harry these lands!" She shouted, instilling herself, and more importantly the ranger with even more strength behind their weapons.

<OOC> Aelwyn says, "Blythe turns towards Culix, roll Will save for me!"

GAME: Culix rolls will: (20)+5: 25 (CRITICAL SUCCESS)

The threats thrown Blythe's way make her only sip her wine casually. "Oh darling, if you insist to speak in tongues, you must press your lips close to mine." She languidly replies to Carver. The sudden explosion on the hallway makes her suddenly seethe in a very nonlady like manner. "You FOOLS!" She seethes.

For some reason, Culix can feel this very clearly hammering at her mind - but the feeling passes, along with a sudden shattering of glass. "Very well, darling. If this is what you desire." Carver can see the vampire fast approaching her.

GAME: NEW ROUND!

Aelwyn advances the initiative order.

Round Two - Init 28.

It is now Carver's turn! Skyler is next!

Reithak has partially disconnected.

GAME: Carver rolls 2d8+34+5d6+1d8+17+5d6+1d8+17+5d6+1d8+17+5d6+1d8+17+5d6: (6)+34+(16)+(5)+17+(12)+(1)+17+(15)+(3)+17+(20)+(8)+17+(13): 201

"Kissy-Face, Bitch." Carver sneers out a Skyler line, as Reithak's blessing sparks off her arrows. The comet tail of their flaming arc pierces into and through the underprepared vampire, her rapid release almost supernatural. Which as it is magically enhanced, actually just is. Smoke curls out from burning hallway, turning and nodding toward Skyler. "Finish this."

Lady Blythe has no time to evaluate her mistake. Just a moment of widening of eyes, before THONK. THONK. THONK. THONK.

... THONK, thud, collapse. Lady Blythe, the former guest of Manor Umbergloom, falls down onto the floor, visible to the naked eye. All her expensive clothes and unnatural life did not save her from being the hunter's quarry.

Whistling a merry tune, Skyler grins broadly at Carver. "Attagirl!" He enthuses, "Fuck that was *nasty*." He shifts his grip on his sword, staring down at Lady Blythe. And at Carver's request, he takes a knee and draws his sword across the vampire's throat. A burst of energy illuminates the room as the enchantment against undead burns across the blade, and he surfaces with her head held by the hair.

He considers the head, and snorts. "Good riddance for bad trash. Lets get out of here and watch the place burn. I think Carver and I were going to do a jig in the ashes if you all want to join us?"

And because while a double tap is good, a triple tap is better- Culix pulls that broken chair leg she's been carrying around since they first met her, and drives it into the decapitated vampire's chest. She uses the hilt of her dagger as an impromptu hammer and drives the wood in with several more hits.

She eyes the inferno, and sighs. "I suppose we should probably put that out." she says, though does not immediately make any move to do so. She seriously considers not doing anything about it for several long moments. But then inhales deeply, and blows. Shadows rush from her lips to whip across the intervening space and extinguish the flames. "Now let's get the hell back to Alexandria. I need a drink." she huffs, and stows her dagger again.

Carver, smelling of smoke, cackles as the fires burn. She does seem vaguely disappointed when Culix puts them out but understands. Their contract states the return of the deed AND the manor to its owner, even if Graves does not deserve it. "We will get a chance to jig in the fires one day, I am certain." She loops an arm around both Reithak's and Skyler's shoulder, unusually happy.

Killing monsters puts her in a good mood. "Let's go home."

Reithak was left caught off guard again at the abruptness of everything, with the vampire being gone, just like that. "Makes me wonder how they even manage to be a threat with folks like you around dealing with them." Reithak laughed. "Yeah, I'd feel little for this place burning, but it's the job we agreed to, I suppose. Now, come on, we'll head back to Alexandria, I know they've got baths there to clean up like you were wanting to, Skyler. There's better places for a dance, anyways."

*Fade to Next Scene, the Epilogue*

The return trip to Alexandria is uneventful. The cold is still there. The blizzard, that is; it never seemed to give up.

Back at the Adventurer's Guild, Quintin Graves, Lord-Captain Maximilian aka. 'Max the Golem', and a third old looking man with a withered cap and a really long white beard were eagerly waiting for the adventurers' return.

Well.

Graves was. The large suit of armor and the old man sorting out his books were completely focused on other things. "Well, well? Did you find the deed? Please do not tell me I left it in the sock drawer, that would be the worst place to leave it in." The hooded man in his mask says, not bothering to pause and greet properly. "And the tea and biscuit? Were they still delicious? They do say the coffee gets cold and biscuits become dry if the owner is not there."

The old man slowly, shakily, raises his eyes and pulls out scarily formal looking piece of parchment.

Carver crosses her arms, still stinking of the road and more faintly of smoke. She lets the other's get their well-earned words in. Let heads roll and all that.

Rather than answering, Skyler opens a bag hanging from his hip, pulling out the stale, rotting head of the vampire out and holds it up by the hair. "The hospitality was impressive, wasn't it, Lady Blythe?" He asks the head, and with one hand under her chin begins to mime talking "'Oh yes, it was peachy keen.'". Beat. "Thanks, Lady Blythe!" And he tosses the head on top of the desk, and glares expressionlessly at the golem and the two men.

Carver has reconnected.

Reithak, along with the others, idled behind Skyler slowly. "Oh yes, it was a lovely place, I personally loved all of the amenities provided in the building, particularly the basement and house guests." The egalring grumbled. "I've got half a mind to turn this deed over to the guard and let them search the place, as clearly in spite of our best efforts, it is still too dangerous for someone to move into at this moment in time."

Culix, for her part, tosses the document they had retrieved onto the desk and then pins it there by slamming her dagger into it. "Frankly, I don't give a shit what kind of freaky bollocks you get up to. I just want to get paid.

The old man slowly begins to rise to his feet. "I am the Archscivener Theobold Blatho... Blam... Blathothy... Blathomus..."

The head is revealed. It hits the table with a thud. Both Quintin and Max, the armor-probably-golem look at it. It takes a solid two seconds, before Graves holds up his hand over his mask. "Oh no." He looks towards 'Max', back at the adventurers, lowers his hand. "Anyway! Do you have the deed?" The 'armor' rolls his helmet and turns to address Reithak. "Nobody is moving in. We apologize for the inconvenience." The hollow voice replies.

Meanwhile, the old man continues on, "... Blathomuous from the guild of Arcane Appropriations. Young man," He points accusingly at Skyler with a withered finger. "This is a highly unusual, skulls have not been accepted as official documentation in centuries."

"Eat my *whole* ass." Skyler tells the old man flatly, and nods towards Culix as she throws the deed onto the table. "You're lucky we didn't burn the damn house down. Flammable black slimes? Vampires in the lounge? Enslaved spore monsters? Carnivorous plants in the wine cellar? *Mimics*?" He shakes his head in disgust, and points a finger at Quintin, "Listen here, you golem-fucker. If this had been an Adventurer's Guild sponsored gig, I'd have you black listed for the lies. Why the hells didn't you tell us what we would be dealing with? That butler was the worst!"

Carver has her intuition about this, but her satisfaction was completed with the death of Lady Blythe. She looks instead to the others, at Graves's surprisingly subdued response, "Theobold, for sake of curiosity, how much were the accumulated taxes?"

Reithak shrugged, expressions hard to read on Egalrin when they tried not to be more readable. "To be honest, this whole job stinks worse than the refuse in the basement of that place. Were you planning on having us die to that vampire or something? Maybe something else there? Hard to say what the plan was, but the fact that we were told basically nothing before going into that death trap is, concerning. Or have you been sending people to that place to get the deed without much thought for them never coming back? Both are pretty bad looks, you know."

Culix gestures towards the deed she just impaled to the table with an eyes wide, slack jawed, mocking caricature of befuddlement when asked about the deed, and then settles back to folding her arms across her chest. "Yup, still don't care, where's the pay?" she says then.

The 'golem' reaches out for the document, giving a bow to Culix. It is then offered to Quintin, who eagerly snatches it up. "Yes!" He exclaims, then offers it to the older man. "And this undeniably proves my ownership of the mansion, especially with its former owner on the... well, table there." He gives a vague gesture towards the once-a-vampire.

The questions Skyler and Reithak poses makes the hooded man mostly... just shrug. "How can I tell lies if you do not ask? Are adventurers not always prepared? Though I agree, poor butler hasn't been quite the same after the neck incident." He glances at Max. "Maybe a less intrusive bolt next time."

The old man picks up the paper shakily, adjusts the half-moon glasses on his nose and points at the paper, reading it. Carver's question makes him pause and look at the young woman - actual sign of life in his eyes at once. His favorite subject! "That is a question we spent a lot of time considering... the number, is, of course, confidential..."

Quintin picks up his backpack and his shovel, as Maximilian the Golem starts to make way towards the door. "... but one can imagine that in a century, or perhaps several, unpaid taxes on the land, the property..." The Archscivener continues, slowly winking.

Quintin interrupts cheerfully, "The Guild shall pass along the payment! Along with a free shipment of wine from the Graves' best!" The masked man calls out, creeping out towards the door. "... no more questions, have a good day!"

"... a king's ransom. That is, a very large number, young lady. Enough to take posession of all Mr. Graves' experiments." Adjusting glasses. "And pay the fees for the adventurers required for such a task, of course, if it had come down to actual posession. This tiny paper will clear the ownership, for now, due to the dangerous nature of the experiments and arrangement with Mr. Graves himself."

And now Max and Quintin are both actively fleeing. "Speaking of, Mr. Graves... Mr. Graves?"

Recent Logs

2025-07-26T17:56:32Z

Carver: /* July */

{{AboutLogs}}

'''[[Archived_Logs|For 2024 and earlier, see the Archives]].'''

==2025 Logs==
===January===
{{TableMain}}
{{T02}}
|Date
|Log
|People
|-
|January 1, 2025
|[[The Spectacle of the Century]]
|[[Aelwyn]], [[Alec]], [[Bryn]], [[Mikilos]] [[Murder]], [[Skyler]]
|-
|January 4, 2025
|[[A Final Word on the Spires]]
|[[Aelwyn]], [[Rune]], [[Harkashan]], [[Ravenstongue]], [[Eztli]], [[Skyler]], [[Bryn]], GM: Whirlpool
|-
|January 5, 2025
|[[Hooves of Steel (Part 2)]]
|[[Harshad]], [[Skyler]], [[Bryn]], [[Reithak]], [[Jarik]]
|-
|January 6, 2025
|[[Working Hands]]
|[[Auranar]], [[Carver]], [[Simony]], [[Skyler]], [[Telamon]], [[Verna]], GM: Riptide
|-
|January 7, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 11)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|January 8, 2025
|[[Flight of Intrigue]]
|[[Bryn]], [[Haggerty]], [[Palomas]], [[Skyler]], GM: [[Telamon]]
|-
|January 9, 2025
|[[Scaling and Weeping]]
|[[Verna]], [[Aryia]]
|-
|
|[[Temple Festivities]]
|[[Carver]], [[Telamon]], [[Irshya]], [[Jarik]], [[Menel]], [[Ravenstongue]], [[Skyler]], [[Bryn]]
|-
|January 10, 2025
|[[Sins of the Past: A Confrontation]]
|[[Jarik]], [[Skyler]]
|-
|January 11, 2025
|[[Slapbet]]
|[[Aragos]], [[Rocky]], [[Skyler]]
|-
|January 12, 2025
|[[Sewers and Saviors]]
|[[Dirk]], [[Crik]], [[Jarik]], [[Bryn]], [[Ulthan]], [[Sjach]], with GM: [[Skyler]]
|-
|January 13, 2025
|[[Graven Images]]
|[[Carver]], [[Telamon]], [[Ravenstongue]], [[Verna]], [[Skyler]], GM: [[Aftershock]]
|-
|January 14, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 12)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|January 15, 2025
|[[Tough Hands]]
|[[Warrick]], [[Bryn]]
|-
|January 17, 2025
|[[The Power of Flour]]
|[[Harshad]], [[Skyler]], [[Choler]], [[Munch]]
|-
|January 18, 2025
|[[Grim Deed (Part 1)]]
|[[Culix]], [[Carver]], [[Jarik]], [[Skyler]], GM: [[Aelwyn]]
|-
|
|[[Back in Technicolor]]
|[[Corey]], [[Magpie]]; GM: Aftershock
|-
|January 19, 2025
|[[Sewers and Saviors 2]]
|[[Sjach]], [[Haggerty]], [[Crik]], [[Dirk]], [[Jarik]], [[Bryn]], GM: [[Skyler]]
|-
|
|[[Vacation and the Pen]]
|[[Simony]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|January 20, 2025
|[[Meeting Eli]]
|[[Bryn]], [[Carver]], [[Gramarye]], [[Haggerty]], [[Khepri]]; GM: Aftershock
|-
|
|[[Pothy Problems]]
|[[Murder]], [[Skyler]]
|-
|January 21, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 13)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|January 23, 2025
|[[The Dream Quest of the Archmage Part 1]]
|[[Skyler]], [[Warrick]], [[Palomas]], [[Haggerty]], GM: [[Telamon]]
|-
|January 26, 2025
|[[Sewers and Saviors Part 3]]
|[[Sjach]], [[Dirk]], [[Bryn]], [[Jarik]], [[Crik]], GM: [[Skyler]]
|-
|January 27, 2025
|[[Golden Box]]
|[[Cuemoni]], [[Gr'lk'tosst]], [[Halia]], [[Jarik]], [[Skyler]]
|-
|January 28, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 14)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|January 30, 2025
|[[The Dream Quest of the Archmage Part 2]]
|[[Skyler]], [[Warrick]], [[Palomas]], [[Haggerty]], GM: [[Telamon]]
|-
|
|[[A Polite Request]]
|[[Harkashan]], [[Rune]]
|-
|January 31, 2025
|[[Here But For You]]
|[[Halia]], [[Skyler]], [[Rocky]], [[Tonameyo]], [[Carver]]
|}

===February===
{{TableMain}}
{{T02}}
|Date
|Log
|People
|-
|February 1, 2025
|[[Grim Deeds 2]]
|[[Culix]], [[Skyler]], [[Carver]], [[Jarik]], [[Reithak]], GM: [[Aelwyn]]
|-
|February 2, 2025
|[[Beyond the Pale 1]]
|[[Ulthan]], [[Bryn]], [[Haggerty]], [[Skyler]], [[Crik]], [[Burai]], GM: [[Thurid]]
|-
|February 3, 2025
|[[The Quest of Eli]]
|[[Bryn]], [[Carver]], [[Gramarye]], [[Haggerty]], [[Khepri]], GM: Aftershock
|-
|February 4, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 15)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|February 6, 2025
|[[A Handful of Dust]]
|[[Auranar]], [[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Simony]], GM: [[Telamon]]
|-
|February 8, 2025
|[[Grim Deed Part 3]]
|[[Culix]], [[Skyler]], [[Carver]], [[Jarik]], [[Reithak]], GM: [[Aelwyn]]
|-
|February 9, 2025
|[[Beyond the Pale Part 2]]
|[[Bryn]], [[Burai]], [[Crik]], [[Skyler]], [[Ulthan]], GM: [[Thurid]]
|-
|February 11, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 16)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|February 14, 2025
|[[Mages of Daeus]]
|[[Telamon]], [[Skyler]], [[Eztli]], [[Carver]], GM: Aftershock
|-
|February 16, 2025
|[[Beyond the Pale Part 3]]
|[[Ulthan]], [[Bryn]], [[Haggerty]], [[Skyler]], [[Crik]], [[Burai]], GM: [[Thurid]]
|-
|February 20, 2025
|[[Moonstone Absconded]]
|[[Dirk]], [[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Magpie]]
|-
|February 21, 2025
|[[Pursuit Through Dreams]]
|[[Skyler]], [[Carver]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], NPC: Amenara Paki (played by Aftershock)
|-
|February 22, 2025
|[[Grim Deed Part 4]]
|[[Culix]], [[Skyler]], [[Carver]], [[Jarik]], [[Reithak]], GM: [[Aelwyn]]
|-
|
|[[A Gift Lost to the Shadows]]
|[[Kaj]], [[Murder]], [[Telamon]], [[Carver]]
|-
|February 23, 2025
|[[Conspiracy to Murder]]
|[[Auranar]], [[Telamon]], [[Verna]], GM: Riptide
|-
|
|[[Beyond the Pale Part 4]]
|[[Ulthan]], [[Bryn]], [[Haggerty]], [[Skyler]], [[Crik]], [[Burai]], GM: [[Thurid]]
|-
|February 24, 2025
|[[Of Tests and Trials]]
|[[Carver]], [[Haggerty]], [[Khepri]], GM: Riptide & Aftershock
|-
|February 25, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 17)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|}

===March===
{{TableMain}}
{{T02}}
|Date
|Log
|People
|-
|March 2, 2025
|[[Beyond the Pale Part 5]]
|[[Ulthan]], [[Haggerty]], [[Skyler]], [[Crik]], [[Burai]], GM: [[Thurid]]
|-
|March 3, 2025
|[[Moonstone Absconded (Part 2)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Dirk]], [[Magpie]]; GM: Aftershock
|-
|March 4, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 18)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|March 7, 2025
|[[Crystal Tower]]
|[[Carver]], [[Magpie]], [[Ravenstongue]], [[Telamon]], [[Verna]], GM: Aftershock
|-
|March 8, 2025
|[[Grim Deed Part 5]]
|[[Carver]], [[Culix]], [[Reithak]], [[Skyler]], GM: Aelwyn
|-
|March 9, 2025
|[[Sins of the Past: Masquerade Mayhem]]
|[[Aelwyn]], [[Auranar]], [[Irshya]], [[Ravenstongue]], [[Telamon]] DM: [[Jarik]] & [[Skyler]]
|-
|
|[[Crystal Tower (Part 2)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Magpie]], [[Ravenstongue]], [[Telamon]], [[Verna]], GM: Aftershock
|-
|March 10, 2025
|[[Moonstone Absconded (Part 3)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Dirk]], [[Magpie]]; GM: Aftershock
|-
|
|[[Cashew by Cashew]]
|[[Ravenstongue]], [[Skyler]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|March 11, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 19)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|March 13, 2025
|[[Dance of the Watchlings]]
|[[Telamon]], [[Carver]], [[Skyler]], [[Simony]]
|-
|March 15, 2025
|[[Grim Deed Part 6]]
|[[Carver]], [[Culix]], [[Reithak]], [[Skyler]], GM: Aelwyn
|-
|March 16, 2025
|[[Beyond the Pale Part 6]]
|[[Ulthan]], [[Haggerty]], [[Skyler]], [[Crik]], [[Burai]], GM: [[Thurid]]
|-
|March 18, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 20)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|March 19, 2025
|[[The Sickle's Edge]]
|[[Choler]], [[Harshad]]
|-
|March 20, 2025
|[[Fluffy the Fey]]
|[[Aragos]], [[Bryn]], [[Gramarye]], [[Haggerty]], [[Skyler]] GM: [[Telamon]]
|-
|March 21, 2025
|[[A Lost Fey Puppy]]
|[[Carver]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|March 23, 2025
|[[Of Staves and Stones]]
|[[Simony]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|
|[[Crystal Tower (Part 3)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Magpie]], [[Ravenstongue]], [[Telamon]], [[Verna]], GM: Aftershock
|-
|
|[[Beyond the Pale Part 7]]
|[[Ulthan]], [[Haggerty]], [[Skyler]], [[Crik]], [[Bryn]], GM: [[Thurid]]
|-
|March 24, 2025
|[[Archmage Asking]]
|[[Carver]], [[Telamon]], [[Murder]], Riptide (as Faphinae), GM: Aftershock
|-
|March 25, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 21)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|March 29, 2025
|[[Grim Deed Part 7]]
|[[Carver]], [[Culix]], [[Reithak]], [[Skyler]], GM: Aelwyn
|-
|March 30, 2025
|[[Beyond the Pale Part 8]]
|[[Ulthan]], [[Haggerty]], [[Skyler]], [[Crik]], [[Burai]], [[Bryn]], GM: [[Thurid]]
|-
|March 31, 2025
|[[Red Matrimony]]
|[[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|}

===April===
{{TableMain}}
{{T02}}
|Date
|Log
|People
|-
|April 1, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 22)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|April 3, 2025
|[[Inspector Fritzgilbert and the Ploughing Goat]]
|[[Skyler]], [[Zigrun]]
|-
|April 4, 2025
|[[The Golden Songbird]]
|[[Ravenstongue]], [[Skyler]], [[Telamon]], GM: Aftershock
|-
|April 6, 2025
|[[Beyond the Pale Part 9]]
|[[Ulthan]], [[Haggerty]], [[Skyler]], [[Crik]], [[Burai]], GM: [[Thurid]]
|-
|April 8, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 23)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|April 9, 2025
|[[With Vast Love (Part 1)]]
|[[Cuemoni]], [[Haggerty]], [[Harshad]], [[Skyler]]; GM: [[Carver]]
|-
|April 11, 2025
|[[Four Floozies]]
|[[Khepri]], [[Carver]], [[Bryn]], [[Rocky]]
|-
|April 13, 2025
|[[Beyond the Pale Part 10]]
|[[Ulthan]], [[Skyler]], [[Crik]], [[Bryn]], GM: [[Thurid]]
|-
|
|[[Nary for Nereid]]
|[[Aragos]], [[Carver]], [[Mikilos]], [[Skyler]], [[Telamon]] GM: Riptide
|-
|April 14, 2025
|[[Running Up That Hill]]
|[[Aragos]] GM: Riptide
|-
|
|[[Bring a Little Fae]]
|[[Atrid]], [[Carver]], [[Gramarye]], [[Khepri]]; GM: Aftershock
|-
|April 15, 2025
|[[A Grove Pit Stop]]
|[[Slixvah]] [[Atrid]]
|-
|
|[[Homegrown Confessional]]
|[[Warrick]], [[Carver]]
|-
|April 19, 2025
|[[Neva Gonna Give You Up]]
|[[Aelwyn]], [[Carver]], [[Eztli]] GM: Whirlpool
|-
|
|[[Grim Deed Part 8]]
|[[Culix]], [[Skyler]], [[Reithak]], [[Carver]], GM: [[Aelwyn]]
|-
|April 20, 2025
|[[The Dukes Knight]]
|[[Aelwyn]], [[Auranar]], [[Dirk]], [[Rhar]], [[Thurid]] GM: Riptide
|-
|April 22, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 24)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|April 23, 2025
|[[With Vast Love (Part 2)]]
|[[Cuemoni]], [[Harshad]], [[Skyler]]; GM: [[Carver]]
|-
|April 27, 2025
|[[Faeology 101]]
|[[Carver]], [[Ravenstongue]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|April 29, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 25)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|}

===May===
{{TableMain}}
{{T02}}
|Date
|Log
|People
|-
|May 1, 2025
|[[Strawberries For All]]
|[[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Khepri]], [[Carver]], [[Simony]]
|-
|May 2, 2025
|[[Bootleg Bounty]]
|[[Warrick]], [[Bryn]], [[Haggerty]], [[Aragos]], [[Crik]] GM: [[Thurid]]
|-
|May 4, 2025
|[[Cleiuin's Confession]]
|[[Thurid]], [[Riptide]]
|-
|May 5, 2025
|[[Grim Deed Part 9]]
|[[Culix]], [[Skyler]], [[Carver]], [[Reithak]], GM: [[Aelwyn]]
|-
|May 6, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 26)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|May 9, 2025
|[[Bootleg Bounty Part 2]]
|[[Warrick]], [[Haggerty]], [[Aragos]], [[Crik]] GM: [[Thurid]]
|-
|May 10, 2025
|[[Rainy days, hair loss and full bellies]]
|[[Murder]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|May 11, 2025
|[[Whispers of the Withering Wood]]
|[[Atzi]], [[Harshad]], [[Mist]], [[Tonameyo]]; GM: [[Dirk]]
|-
|May 12, 2025
|[[Lament of Vilarus]]
|[[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Magpie]], [[Murder]]; GM: [[Telamon]]
|-
|May 17, 2025
|[[Something Fae-shy]]
|[[Aragos]], [[Bryn]], [[Myoides]], [[Skyler]]; GM: Riptide
|-
|May 18, 2025
|[[Fire of the Sun]]
|[[Thurid]], [[Bryn]], [[Skyler]], [[Aelwyn]], [[Irysha]], [[Khepri]], [[Haggerty]], [[Carver]]; GM: Aftershock
|-
|May 19, 2025
|[[Lament of Vilarus (Part 2)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Magpie]], [[Murder]]; GM: [[Telamon]]
|-
|May 22, 2025
|[[Akimitsu Sori (Part 1)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|May 23, 2025
|[[Bootleg Bounty (Part 3)]]
|[[Aragos]], [[Crik]], [[Warrick]]; GM: [[Thurid]]
|-
|
|[[Sisters Strange]]
|[[Bryn]], [[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Dirk]], [[Skyler]]; GM: Aftershock
|-
|May 25, 2025
|[[Grim Deed Part 10]]
|[[Culix]], [[Skyler]], [[Carver]], [[Reithak]], GM: [[Aelwyn]]
|-
|
|[[The Work of Brewing and Crafting]]
|[[Simony]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|May 19, 2025
|[[Lament of Vilarus (Part 3)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Magpie]], [[Murder]]; GM: [[Telamon]]
|-
|May 27, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 27)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|}

===June===
{{TableMain}}
{{T02}}
|Date
|Log
|People
|-
|June 1, 2025
|[[River Fishing]]
|[[Simony]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|
|[[Free Soup]]
|[[Ulthan]], [[Khepri]], [[Skyler]], [[Bryn]], [[Carver]]
|-
|June 2, 2025
|[[Lament of Vilarus (Part 4)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Magpie]], [[Murder]]; GM: [[Telamon]]
|-
|June 5, 2025
|[[Akimitsu Sori (Part 2)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|June 8, 2025
|[[Seaside Yearnings]]
|[[Aragos]], [[Crik]], [[Khepri]], [[Skyler]]; GM: [[Carver]]
|-
|June 9, 2025
|[[Lament of Vilarus (Part 5)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Magpie]], [[Murder]]; GM: [[Telamon]]
|-
|June 10, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 28)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|June 13, 2025
|[[Akimitsu Sori (Part 3)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|June 17, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 29)]]
|[[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|June 21, 2025
|[[Grim Deed Part 11]]
|[[Culix]], [[Skyler]], [[Carver]], [[Reithak]], GM: [[Aelwyn]]
|-
|June 23, 2025
|[[Lament of Vilarus (Part 6)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Magpie]], [[Murder]]; GM: [[Telamon]]
|-
|June 24, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 30)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|June 26, 2025
|[[Akimitsu Sori (Part 4)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|June 27, 2025
|[[In Search of Rolls]]
|[[Carver]], [[Skyler]]
|-
|June 26, 2025
|[[Reincarnation]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|June 30, 2025
|[[Lament of Vilarus (Part 7)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Magpie]], [[Murder]]; GM: [[Telamon]]
|-
|}

===July===
{{TableMain}}
{{T02}}
|Date
|Log
|People
|-
|July 1, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 31)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|July 7th, 2025
|[[Lament of Vilarus (Part 8)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Magpie]], [[Murder]], GM: [[Telamon]]
|-
|July 8, 2025
|[[Same as It Ever Was (Part 32)]]
|[[Aryia]], [[Harkashan]], [[Rune]], [[Simony]], [[Telamon]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|July 10, 2025
|[[Defending the Spell Cannon G1]]
|[[Aragos]], [[Gramarye]], [[Lanier]], [[Schara]], [[Warrick]], GM: Whirlpool
|-
|July 11, 2025
|[[Defending the Spell Cannon G2]]
|[[Braelnoir]], [[Dirk]], [[Simony]], [[Skielstregar]], [[Telamon]], [[Verna]], [[Zeke]], GM: Riptide
|-
|July 12, 2025
|[[Defending the Spell Cannon G3]]
|[[Aelwyn]], [[Carver]], [[Eztli]], [[Harkashan]], [[Irshya]], [[Jarik]], [[Ravenstongue]], [[Leirune|Rune]], [[Skyler]]
|-
|July 14, 2025
|[[Lament of Vilarus (Part 9)]]
|[[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Karasu]], [[Magpie]], [[Murder]], GM: [[Telamon]]
|-
|July 17, 2025
|[[Hands of Herman]]
|[[Aelwyn]], [[Carver]], [[Corey]], [[Skyler]], GM: Aftershock
|-
|July 19, 2025
|[[Grim Deed: Finale]]
|[[Carver]], [[Skyler]], [[Culix]], [[Reithak]], GM: [[Aelwyn]]
|-
|July 20, 2025
|[[Fire Wrestling]]
|[[Aelwyn]], [[Skyler]], [[Cesran]], [[Jarik]], [[Myoides]], [[Harshad]]
|-
|July 21, 2025
|[[Info Exchange at the Fernwood Pub]]
|[[Cesran]], [[Murder]], [[Skyler]]
|-
|July 23, 2025
|[[Archmages Meet at the Observatory]]
|[[Cesran]], [[Telamon]]
|-
|}

[[Category:Logs]]

Lament of Vilarus (Part 8)

2025-07-14T23:58:14Z

Carver: Created page with "For a few moments, there's nothing. Just the illusion, trailing into the unknown depths of the reservoir. Then the water ripples, in a way different from the continuous current. Starting to bubble and roil, as -something- is coming up from the depths. Could there truly be an elemental lurking down there? No. This is no elemental. It breaches the surface, and rears up -- taller than Corey, a small mountain of black ooze shot with cerulean veins. Water runs off it in torr..."

For a few moments, there's nothing. Just the illusion, trailing into the unknown depths of the reservoir.

Then the water ripples, in a way different from the continuous current. Starting to bubble and roil, as -something- is coming up from the depths. Could there truly be an elemental lurking down there? No. This is no elemental. It breaches the surface, and rears up -- taller than Corey, a small mountain of black ooze shot with cerulean veins. Water runs off it in torrents as it looms over the party, thirty feet tall. A dozen eyes opening in its surface to stare down at them, eyes that are huge but strangely, heartbreakingly human in some indefinable way. A dozen mouths open, and a soft moan echoes from the vast -thing- that has risen from the reservoir.

And then it speaks in sildanyari, thick and lisping, hard to understand, but the words are clear enough. "Where is Master?"

GAME: Karasu rolls Sense Motive: (6)+20: 26

GAME: Corey rolls Sense Motive: (3)+20: 23

Karasu glances up at the creature and from the glimpse into its mind he has a certain amount of insight into how it thinks. For all that it's a big creature, it is fairly simple minded. He motions with his hands to the others, hoping that the creature can not understand such a language. Warning them not to tell it anything that might upset it. "We have no wish to upset this being." He murmurs then, to those that don't understand his hands.

"Careful," Carver hisses. "Shoggoth. Its mouths can wail out noises that will sunder your mind." She holds her bow loosely, Deathless giving a nervous tilt of her ears in sympathetic agreement wit the ranger.

The Goblin peers upwards as the -thing- rears out of the water, a little hand hovering near the hand of her blade. She blinks as it speaks in a language unspoken by her, and she looks to the others. "Anyone speak... whatever that is?"

Her gaze goes to Karasu then, watching his fingers, and she lets out a huff of breath. She looks back to the creature above her.

"You wouldn't happen to speak common, would you?", she wonders of the beast.

"A showhat?" Cor'ethil manages as soon as he stops being so slackjawed that his mouth can't move. He's trying to understand what this creature _is_ and what it _does_ beyond... guarding, but it's ooze and mouths and--

"Oh, that's nice," Cor'ethil says softly, regarding the subject of mouth-noises that sunder the mind. He's met would-be bards that fit that description pretty well, and Karasu's kitsune ancestor, Kiku-no-Musoku, occasionally resembles the remark. He hates to know what this particular creature might do if they give it reason to make noise.

Corey looks at Murder, peering at the goblin from the corner of his silver eyes. "It's Sildanyari. Wants to know where the master is."

GAME: Magpie rolls diplomacy: (19)+12: 31

The creature is... huge, and *terrifying,* but the moment it asks that single, mournful question, Magpie's heart breaks, just a little. Opening her mouth to answer, she pauses upon catching sight of Karasu's flickering hands, and Carver's dire warnings.

"Can confirm," she murmurs to Murder at Corey's explanation. Then, she looks up at the creature's uppermost eyes, and draws in a slow, deep breath. "Does Master have another name?" she asks, in relatively precise Sildanyari. "We don't want to answer the wrong question... Could you tell us about him?"

The eyes orient from one person to the next, the mountainous ooze shifting and slithering, extruding pseudopods and reabsorbing them. It doesn't react to Murder's question -- presumably, the answer is 'no'.

But at Magpie's words, the eyes focus on the diminutive gnome, and it speaks in several heavy, lisping voices at once. "Master is Master," it says. "Master lives in the large house. Master created me. Obey Master and child. Make water clean, make plants grow. Guard Master's treasure." The eyes actually well up with tears that trickle down its bulk.

"This is *unsettling*." Carver decides, as a dozen lips quiver on the gargantuan creature. "For so many reasons." She shifts her weight from foot to foot, clearly hoping to get away from the giant slimedog that's just really lonely.

Karasu has an idea then. "Master is at the large house." He offers, which is true. The body at least is in the house. He looks at the creature. "We were sent to make sure everyone here is well. Are you lonely? Perhaps we could play a game." He smiles a small smile then, cautious and wise.

Carver turns her head very slowly to Karasu.

Murder looks a little miffed at being ignored, but simply lets out a huff of breath. She eyes Corey and then Magpie as they offer explanations.

"I think we should explain to it that its master is dead. And then offer it a new home. Perhaps Telamon would give it a home? And a purpose?"

"Oh, I'd _love_ to play a game." Corey smiles brightly, picking up on what Karasu's putting down. He has to hand it to his husband--kitsune-tricksiness occasionally lands in his husband's shrewd brain and sings like a bird.

"We could play chess. Do you know how to play chess? I can teach you." Corey is already reaching into a pouch on his belt to produce a small travel-size version of the game. It's a familiar refrain Karasu's heard a million times.

Magpie rests a hand on Murder's arm. "We should," she agrees, "but we also want to be sure telling it the truth isn't going to, y'know, end in exploding brains... namely ours-- awwww," she says, as the poor thing begins to *cry,* and addresses it in Sildanyari. "Have you been lonely? These two are great guys, they play *fun* games."

She pauses, considering something, then speaks up again;

"Do *you* have a name?"

"I am Guardian." The great ooze seems to, improbably, straighten up a bit from its slump. "Master trusts me. I will not fail Master." The tears are reabsorbed into the ooze -- followed by the eyes and the mouths.

And with that the shoggoth slides back into the water with disturbing speed, vanishing back into the reservoir. A brief trail of bubbles left behind.

"This is not a house pet, to be so trivial with. It is a creature of dark beyond stars." Carver says. "It lacks emotional intelligence and clearly is unstable.... I trust you, but be very careful. You cannot read its body language or know its intentions truly, however much it seems childlike. Even if it is exactly that, grant a child immense power and watch the world burn."

She takes a breath, and reiterates. "Very-- uh, well."

Karasu shrugs as the creature leaves. "That, is best left alone." He remarks. "Whatever treasure it guards would not be worth our lives to gain." Until he learns otherwise that is. The one-time assassin takes a breath and backs away from the lake. "We should return to our possessions, and then begin expeditions out to see if we can not locate other buildings of interest."

The Goblin looks to Magpie, her hand patting at the Gnome's. "I understand, however.. if we obscure the truth or lie, and it figures it out, heads will explode anyways. Or worse... it cries more."

At the gurgling noise of the creature's retreat back into the water, Murder's head turns to watch it go. She nods at what Carver says, and looks to Corey.

"Chess is probably more complex than it can understand... I mean, it has its orders and is probably not likely to play games. It wants to do what it was made to do, but.. it missees its master."

She raises a hand and shrugs. "We need to tell Guardian that, and find it a new master." A nod to Karasu then, "Since it seems as though it will leave us alone, we should do as thorough a look as possible, and ready things for our return. I am sure Telamon would have an idea for what to do with the Guardian."

"Poor thing," Corey says softly, touched by emotion as he watches the shoggoth slide away. "I agree with you, my nightingale."

He looks at Karasu and smiles. "We should maybe stop to look through the archmage's notes and journals along the way. Just to see if they contain something of note. It might take a bit, but with all of our eyes, I think we can manage it!"

Cor'ethil looks at Murder on the subject and blinks. "What do you mean? I learned how to play chess when I was three years old. If it can speak in complete sentences, it can probably manage chess. Right? I mean, I was speaking in complete sentences by two years old, according to Mother..." He doesn't remember being two years old. Three, yes. Two, no. Odd, the threshold of memory.

"I have no idea how a wizard made contract with such a thing," Carver says with a shake of her head, her long red hairband snapping. At talks of chess, she does say, "It would most likely get frustrated then eat the board. Then you. It's for the best."

"And thus," Magpie murmurs, as the Shoggoth dips back down below the surface of the lake, "did we uphold the sacred Arcanist tradition of 'kicking the jar down the road.'"

Loosing a long, slow sigh, Magpie turns to Carver. "It's not being 'trivial.' It's being *kind.* Yeah it could splatter our heads across the planes, but it was *sad and lonely.* And reaching a hand out, sometimes, is all y'need to do to solve a problem."

Raking a hand through her hair, the gnome nods in agreement with what to do next. "Hey Corey... D'you ever think that maybe you were *uncommon smart* for a kiddo? When I was ten, kds were more likely to shove the pieces up their nose than play with'm."

"Very good, you will be adored as the kindest corpse." Carver snarks.

The return to the base camp goes without incident, thankfully. Once the party has ascertained nothing has been disturbed (Karasu comes in handy here), they settle down to sort through Vilarus's journals and records.

They paint a grim picture. The earliest journals discuss Vilarus's low opinion of 'the Kulthian ideology' and his worries about them pursuing some goal that may backfire. Hence his construction of the demiplane -- a bolthole for wizardry in the event of some accident. Unfortunately, it seems the Sundering caught him at the wrong time, trapping both Vilarus and his apprentice, Anya, on the demiplane.

One of the speakstones shows Vilarus, his face creased with worry but focused, refusing to give in. "We have two problems," he says. "Neither Anya nor I can use magic -- our spells aren't working. Something's deranged the connection to the Sea of Mana. We can still use magical items, interestingly, but there's a new problem there. I can't get the planar gate to open to... well, anywhere. All the planar coordinates are out of whack as well." He runs his hand down his face. "Air's not a problem. Water's not a problem. But we only have enough food for about two months, three if we ration it. It's stored in those preservation boxes..." He pauses, trailing off, before saying, "End recording." as he jumps up.

Another gemstone shows Vilarus, his face composed. "Anyways. Continuing my thought... when I was building the boxes, I started a bit bigger, and a bit more... extravagant. The original design used temporal stasis, not gentle repose. I still have the original casket, and it's big enough for one person."

Murder eyes Corey, and slowly crosses her arms. "I was disassembling and reassembling dragonspitters and thunderbelchers at that age, could speak Goblin-talk and common at age one. But Goblins are well known to burn the candle at both ends, as they say, we're fully adults at 8 years old, and might live to the age of sixty if we're lucky. But it is quite different for other races."

She tilts her chin at the Gnome. "As she suggests, you are also probably much smarter than the average person. Definitely smarter than that uhm thing. But it could probably rip all of us to pieces. So uh..."

Another shrug.

The Goblin's quiet as they rifle though various journals, and watches with fascination as Vilarus speaks from beyond the grave.

She blinks at the last sentence and stands up. "THE GIRL'S IN THE BOX!"

Carver is keeping watch, not joining the others around the tomes and notes. She brings little value there so might as well make herself useful, keep an eye on the sky. She gives a curious look back at the sudden spike of Murder-Volume at mention of a Sleeping Beauty.

After some rummaging, another speakstone yields up Vilarus's image. His expression is graven with deep lines. "It's done. Anya argued with me, but... this way I can stretch the rations farther, and... she'll be safe."

He reaches up to wipe his face, staring at his hand before continuing, "I'm going to take precautions. The casket is sealed, but I'm giving it to the Guardian to protect. It... he... won't fail her, not like I did." He heaves a great sigh. "If ... this doesn't work, and you are hearing this, I beg you in the name of Animus and Daeus Invincible to retrieve Anya. There's a crystal flute in her quarters -- if you play one note on it, it'll call the Guardian forth. You'll have to command him in the sildanyari speech -- that's all I could teach him." His lips quirk up. "He's not the brightest candle in the sconce, I'm afraid. Ask him to bring forth my greatest treasure."

His voice breaks at that, and he takes a deep breath. "Please, bring her home. Let her live her days out, instead of being trapped here."

"Oh no," Magpie says, wiping a hand down her face. "...I really, really hope he stumbled on the right answer the first time..."

This entire journey has proven to have been archaeologically fascinating, arcanistically *critical* to filling in a blank spot on the history of magic... and emotionally devastating. Delving into the history between the cracks of the record of note isn't supposed to be this *sad,* damn it all.

She opens her mouth, but Murder beats her to it, and Magpie nods glumly as Karasu's hunt for another stone comes up with yet more information.

"...Yeah," she says, when poor Vilarus finishes beseeching the gods and the ghosts of the unknown future. "Where's that flute. I don't mind if I'm the only one risking my brain but we need to break the truth to Guardian and get that girl back into time."

Karasu looks at the others and picks up the crystal that contains Vilarus' last message. "We can take this message with us." He looks at Corey, knowing that the other man will want to awaken this woman as much as the others will. He? Well, he would rather leave sleeping dogs lie, but he is not immune to his husband's desires.

The speakstones speak what is to be said, and Cor'ethil's eyes are flooding over with tears. "Oh," he says softly, curling his hand up and putting it over his chest, where his heart beats underneath it. Would that he could live in a world where he had met the Archmage Vilarus, and Anya, and they'd all have a nice smile and a nice chat and a cup of tea, and maybe Cor'ethil would get to shock Vilarus and Anya about the advancement of tropes in Llyranesi dramas since their day...

And then he blinks, sending tears to glide down his cheeks. "I have it," he says. "I'll warn you. I'm poor at flute playing. My oldest sister was always the best at musical instruments... and fattening up any animal she could get her hands on." He has had to personally put ravens in the family rookery before on diets because of Lala.

He nods to Karasu then. "Let's take it with us. Anya deserves to hear his voice when she wakes up." Karasu thought correctly.

Carver slides her thumb ring on, which is as much a statement as anything she could say. Go in peace but carry two full quivers and a really big bow in case you can't.

"I agree, let her see that one first. Then she can view the others, and decide what she wants to do. We can tell her what our plans are, and she can know she's no longer trapped here if she does not wish to be."

Murder grins brightly. "She's got a whole new world to see, basically."

The trip back to the lake feels... oddly anxious. The knowledge that something, someone, has survived quickening steps and perhaps lightening hearts. The reservoir looks as peaceful as it did before, the breeze causing ripples to pass across its surface. Almost comforting, really.

GAME: Corey rolls 1d20+4: (16)+4: 20

Murder hops and bounces along the way back to the lake, using some pent up energy to jump higher and higher.

"So uh, I hope that the clerics back home can speak to Vilarus and let him know everything turned out okay in the end. I can't imagine his spirit is not at rest at this point, but I am sure it would bring him some happiness to know. I'm willing to put up some coin for it."

The reservoir would make a lovely backdrop to any flute performance. One might argue that such a scene is a necessary element of the spine of sildanyari music. Should it not be played among the trees, with the waters gently waving as the listeners (solid and ethereal and tree...ly) are mesmerized by the rhapsodic sounds of a llyranesi man who has had decades, if not centuries, to perfect his craft?

Except Cor'ethil stands there in full plate armor, flute in hand, and he recalls the one time he'd borrowed his older sister's flute. "How the heck do I play this thing again?" he mutters to himself, putting the mouthpiece up to his mouth.

He swears he can hear Lala excitedly chattering at him. ("You make a kissy-face, but with just enough space between the kissy-lips that you can blow into a glass bottle! And then you blow across the hole!" she'd said.) And at the time, he was a child. The closest thing Cor'ethil can say that he wanted to kiss was his chess board. But now...

Cor'ethil relaxes. He thinks of Karasu. And he recalls a simple melody he's heard before that Kiku-no-Musoku played on some banjo he'd picked up from the nearby village, horrifying Karasu with the fusion of local instruments and traditional songs...

And he plays. Passably so. It's a short, mysterious-sounding song. He knows he was only supposed to play the one note, but why have a flute if you can't try a song?

Karasu waits patiently then for the Guardian to arrive. Or more accurately, he waits impatiently and with more than a touch of nervousness. "Let me speak to the Guardian." He murmurs to the others. "I do not wish to upset it, and the mage said that we only need command it. To do more is to invite a necessity to kill the Guardian which I doubt we want." All in the common tongue of course, his fingers pressed against one another.

Carver nods approvingly at Corey's unexpected natural gift of performance, astride Deathless. She, of course, cannot speak the elvish language so can hardly argue against Karasu's suggestion. It makes sense.

In contrast to Murder, Magpie is... not excited at all. Yes, they're going to be rescuing an apprentice exiled from time for her own safety... but first they'll need to survive the grief of a loyal monster from beyond the planes. And the worst part is, *Magpie would not blame it* if its grief turned murderous. She, herself, has spent years compressed into instants, surviving alone among the ravages of extraplanar reality. One cannot *imagine* what that would be like over more than a millennium of Material time.

But some of the tension leaves her shoulders, as Corey lifts the flute to his mouth and plays. Maybe this moment can be made to be more sweet than bitter... if they dance *very, very carefully* across the chasm of the shoggoth's alien emotions.

The notes of the crystal flute come out pure and sweet, no matter what Corey's actual skill is. There's something of spring there, of flowers and bright mornings. And with those notes... the water ripples again, roiling. This time there's no hesitancy, no reluctance.

The Guardian rears up before Corey, a dozen eyes regarding the elf with curiosity and intent. Water sluicing off the massive ooze, as the mouths open. "The flute calls. The Guardian responds. What would you ask of me?" The slurring sildanyari unlovely in the shoggoth's mouths, but intelligible to those who speak the tongue.

Karasu stands firmly before the Guardian. "You are ordered to bring forth your Master's treasure." This is offered in the sil tongue His eyes flicker toward Cor'ethil. Then in common he offers. "You may have to repeat me. It seems to be looking to you for the command." He hopes that Cor'ethil will not feel the need to break the news to the creature. Surely that can be done by the wizard's apprentice.

Murder amuses herself by dunking her head underwater, and then sitting back, shaking her full head of hair back and forth. Running a hand through the untamed mess, she watches as the Guardian returns, and looks to Karasu as he issues the command in Sildanyari.

She holds up both of her hands, index and middle fingers crossed.

The flute summons Guardian. Excellent. Karasu orders the return of the treasure. Okay good. Now, all Magpie has to do is hope, and possibly pray, that offense isn't taken before the memory stone can be brought out for proof.

...Hopefully in the rush someone grabbed the stone...

Cor'ethil nods to Karasu's request. "Bring your Master's treasure," he reinforces by saying it again. He suspects Karasu is right and that it is listening for his words rather than anyone else's, although he feels a bit embarrassed, having played that flute for the first time in...

He blanches. "Has it really been a century?" he murmurs to himself in Tradespeak. It has been. He was very little when Lala tried to teach him how to play. He'd gotten so upset because his little fingers couldn't reach all the holes.

Carver grips her saddlehorn with one hand, Deathless digs a hoof into the earth in response. Tension reads like a Murder-Scream as they wait for the response.

A vast, burbling sigh comes from the shoggoth, and suddenly it dives again, down into the reservoir depths. For a few minutes... nothing.

Then the water roils again, and the ooze surfaces, but this time... it bears a great casket in a half-dozen tentacles, like an elaborate coffin. With care, it sets the casket on the shoreline. Runes glow softly along the sides, and the lid is transparent -- not glass, but something else. Inside can be seen...

A slender, familiar form. A half-elven girl, her blonde hair cut in a kind of bob, wearing simple robes. Her hands folded over her chest, frozen in time.

GAME: Magpie rolls spellcraft: (20)+20: 40

As the box is set down upon the shore, Magpie purses her lips and gives a low whistle. "'Simplifying,' no kidding... Buddy if this was your first attempt, *gotta* wonder if you ever tried freezing a Fireball in time to *bake cookies,*" she says quietly, in Common. Tottering toward the 'casket,' she makes a few slow circuits around the object, tracing the runes and their underpinning infrastructure, making occasional mouth noises that one must *assume* have meaning on some level of existence...

Then, she nods to herself, and turns to Guardian. "Guardian," she says in Sildanyari, "you have done *such a good job.* But now it's time for Master's treasure to wake up."

And with that, she pushes up on the box's lid.

Carver slowly places her gloved fingertips against scarlet fletching, watching 'Guardian' intently.

Cor'ethil holds his breath as he watches Magpie come over to the casket. He trusts her enough to know whether the runes are safe to touch. He almost makes a comment on the spells at play, but Magpie lifts up the lid.

"Good morning," he greets patiently in Sildanyari. That much hasn't changed over the centuries.

Karasu doesn't intervene in the awakening, not wanting to botch the job by doing something wrong with the box. He hears Cor'ethil say a greeting and he tenses just a little, uncertain what the woman in the box will make of their gathering.

While the Guardian is off retrieving the treasure, the Goblin returns to using up some energy by jumping as high as she can. And when the casket is brought to the surface and deposited, Murder eyes Magpie. "Pff, wizards. There's a reason why you can't do fun things in the city any more." She snorts and giggles. The Goblin simply observes as the Gnome does her thing, and resists the temptation to crowd forward when Magpie lifts the lid.

When one sleeps, there is a period of wakening, of slow returning to awareness. A thousand years of temporal stasis... there hasn't been enough time in the box to fall asleep. Or anything else. And so when the lid is lifted, Anya's eyes open suddenly, her expression full of confusion. She flinches a little, speaking in sildanyari. "Who are you? Where is--" Then she catches sight of the Guardian's bulk, and calls out to it. "Guardian, who are these people?"

The Guardian turns its eyes to Anya solicitously. "They played the flute, Child. Master left you with me. Master has not returned."

Anya pulls herself upright, staring around nervously, even as the Guardian lays a pseudopod on her shoulder. She lifts her chin, though there's a quiver in her voice, and she asks the ugly question. "Where is Master Vilarus?"

Cor'ethil's silver eyes turn into sad and compassionate things. In truth, he is not so far removed from his father, who his mother once called a well of endless compassion. He'd taught her that there was a world and life worth living beyond the fae courts, and that there were people who could treat her with kindness and gentleness that she'd never known. So he thinks of Father as he steps forward, gently bowing his head.

"I am called Cor'ethil Cari'thana. Warden of Gilead." He touches the symbol of Gilead briefly around his neck to show Anya that he is being truthful. "You were placed here for your protection, at your Master's orders. We have come a very long way to help you."

He leans a little to meet Anya's height, hunching down a bit if he has to. "I'm very sorry to tell you this, Anya. Your Master has long since gone to the Gray Harpist's embrace. It has been a very long time since his passing. But he made sure that you could live. We have a message of his to play, if you want to see it."

GAME: Carver rolls perception: (17)+21: 38

At Cor'ethil's words, Karasu reveals the message crystal that he has kept and offers it to the woman. "Or you can play it for yourself at your leisure." His own Sildanyari is not as perfect as Cor'ethil's is, but it is good enough for this. He however remains wary of the creature that is comforting the 'child'. Lest it fall to pieces now that it knows that its master is dead. Assuming it understands Cor'ethil's conveyance.

"He did his best to make certain you had a future, with every tool available to him. He went with honor, and most importantly, with final words of love." Carver says as Karasu lays down the message crystal for Anya to test the veracity of her words even as she is careful to not use triggering phrases like died. "When the end came, he thought of you... and we stumbled in as executors of that same love."

"The good news is...", the Goblin pipes up, "You are no longer trapped here. Vilarus left many journals and spellbooks, as well as other crystals." She gestures to herself. "I am called Murder. Uhm. The event that trapped you here has passed, it changed magic in a few ways."

"I'm so sorry," Magpie says at the end of it all. "He really did love you, but the Sundering -- that's what we call what happened with Kulthus -- changed *everything* too much for him to figure out how to get you both home. Just... whatever you want to do from here, you'll have help."

Carver:

Moonstone Absconded

2025-02-21T03:20:28Z

Carver: Created page with "Temple of Eluna, evening. People are coming and going through the temple for various reasons, but there are some people who are here for a specific purpose. That being a group of clerics of Eluna led by their head High Seeress Aki who is a woman with white eyes whom is rumored to be quite capable of seeing despite her obvious blindness. She is surrounded by a small cadre of other priests and priestess and they are walking the grounds in deep mediation as they chant some..."

Temple of Eluna, evening.

People are coming and going through the temple for various reasons, but there are some people who are here for a specific purpose. That being a group of clerics of Eluna led by their head High Seeress Aki who is a woman with white eyes whom is rumored to be quite capable of seeing despite her obvious blindness. She is surrounded by a small cadre of other priests and priestess and they are walking the grounds in deep mediation as they chant some spell with a great amount of concentration.

Carver bites into her piece of jerky. She rends the salty flesh with the voraciousness of a dog left without their master for many days. These road rations will know her fury, as she munches and grinds the tough bark of meat to pieces. She looks up from her meal to the collected priests, their formerly quiet meditations ascending to a murmured recitative led by the High Seeress.

Dirk was in town visiting the Temple of Dana, which is pretty close by to Elune's temple. And the moon goddess has always been besties with the Green Word, so the burly old ranger's often seen there dropping a few coins into the collection plate. He pushes his way into the temple, reaching up to doff his tricorne. But as he's digging into his belt purse for a couple coins, he spies the invocation in progress. He hunkers down a bit to make himself quiet as he can, so he doesn't interrupt things. Given his heavyset build, he's -surprisingly- good at being stealthy.

Consulting work at the Temples are often the highlight of Magpie's job; they appreciate expertise, most of the time they *listen* when expertise has an opinion, and most importantly? As long as you give them the basic decency due a thinking being, any time needing to be filled between steps in a process can be filled with the most *entertaining* arguments about comparative spellcraft.

So it's with a spring in her step and a jaunty tune in her throat -- hummed quietly, let's don't disturb the nice Elunans at their meditations -- that Magpie emerges into the central plaza to see... a procession.

Not just a procession, but one *actively working magic* on the Temple.

Oh boy, speaking of comparative craft...

Cor'ethil Cari'thana, Warden of Gilead, a man who can skewer a thousand threats to wildlife and mortal alike, isn't supposed to be here today.

"I'm not even supposed to be here today," Corey murmurs as an echo to his recurring thought as he hefts a heavy tome under the crook of his arm. He's armored like he expects something to happen, although anyone who knows the paladin of the White Stag knows that he just goes around in it. Either way, he's chewing the inside of his cheek a little as he walks into the temple. "Can't believe my sister _borrowed_ a text of--"

And then he stops muttering to himself as he sees the holy rites going on. He lowers his head a little in reverence. And then he decides to wait. After all, who better to hand off this giant tome to--and then beg a thousand apologies of on his twin sister's behalf--than the High Seeress?

The priests and priestesses reach the crescendo of their spellwork. It doesn't take long for the result of their spell to be noticed either. Or rather... felt. The ground shudders. Shakes. _Moves_. At first it's just a little, but then after a moment of hesitation it really begins to roll, making the whole place creak and groan under the pressure of what can only be described as an earthquake.

Even if Alexandria has never had one before.

GAME: Corey rolls Reflex: (8)+20: 28

GAME: Carver rolls reflex: (14)+15: 29

GAME: Magpie rolls reflex: (20)+6: 26 (CRITICAL SUCCESS)

GAME: Dirk rolls reflex: (8)+17: 25

Carver almost swallows tongue and jerky and all. The rolling discontent of the earth does not quite throw her to the ground, but it is close, an awkward arm-wheeling series of high steps that has her latching onto the pillar desperately. "The heck..." She isn't sure why she doesn't cuss, maybe she's trying to be a better person.

Her eyes dart about, looking for injured, or signs of what may have caused that. She's familiar with an earthquake, but not felt it since she departed the lands of Dran. "Everyone okay?"

Dirk looks over at Corey as the Gilean paladin makes his entrance. A warm smile creases the old snowbeard's face, and he lumbers (quietly) over. "Oy, Corey. Nice tae see ye again. How are--" He cuts off as he feels the first tremors. He's a dwarf, after all, and sensitive to shifts in the ground. "What the hell--?" That's when the real fun begins. He throws his arms out and spreads out his stance to keep himself from toppling over. He claps a hand to the wall to hold himself steady, looking around with eyes wide as tea cups. Once the quake ends, he looks around. "Och, is everyone all right? Anybody hurt? What the hell -was- that-?!"

Cor'ethil falls, but the sildanyari man is graceful, and while his mithral heavy armor is too heavy for dancing or cartwheels or anything else, he does manage to do an elegant spin that keeps him upright. It's a neat little move that would look not too out of place at a ball, on the dance floor. But he's only dancing by himself.

When the world stops shaking, Corey blinks those silver eyes of his two times. "Anyone injured?" he calls out. "I'm a Warden of Gilead, I can... heal." A flush rises on his very pale cheeks. So can most of the people in here. It's a Temple.

Something feels... off, as the chanting nears its peak. Magpie frowns, and is about to look harder at the spellwork in progress than would be considered polite...

But then the ground rolls under her feet, and a *CRACK* from above grabs Magpie's attention. Her eyes widen pig as saucers, as part of the great dome'd ceiling shifts -- cracked *just* right to allow it to fall out, rather than stay pinned in place -- and begins to drop.

And is headed right for the High Priestess.

There's not really anything like time to *thonk* about what to do. Just enough time to leap down from her perch, scoot across the plaza as fast as her little legs can carry her, and launch her entire bakery-fueled gnomish arcanist self against the back of the Elunan's knees. A fall will hurt. A fall will also put the both of them in the right spot, that the ceiling's doming *should* merely pin them both in place, instead of squashing one of Eluna's most powerful servants.

A piece of ceiling gives way, and falls.

Unluckily, Magpie and the High Seeress are pinned beneath it. It's hard to tell if they're okay, but the bit of ceiling is propped up against a pillar and one can see the pair trapped underneath of it easily enough.

The other priests and priestesses groan and most of them have fallen to the ground, unable to stand during the strength of the earthquake. Fewer parishioners are still standing. "Fine, we're-" One of them starts to say but then they notice Aki and there's sounds of shocked dismay.

"HIGH SEERESS AKI!"

GAME: Corey rolls Heal: (7)+18: 25

GAME: Carver rolls heal: (18)+8: 26

GAME: Corey rolls Athletics: (20)+-2: 18

Carver is off! Not running from the trouble so much as toward it, clearing small debris and rubble where the collapsed dome nearly left the blind Seeress and Magpie, well, pied. She calls back to the others, "Oi, over here, they migh' still be alive beneath this!" Thunk

A rock is tossed aside, and a short brief muttered complaint given. "This Temple truly is cursed. Hey, all yous, hands to work!"

"Oh! Oh no no no no--" Corey breathes out as he rushes over to his friend and the priestess, his silver eyes wide. Thankfully, Carver's words draw his attention in, and he breathes a sigh of relief. "They're fine. Well, not _fine_, but fine." In other words, alive, breathing, but not happy.

That being said, Cor'ethil is a paladin, and paladins tend to engage themselves in the business of heroics and helpfulness. He's not necessarily the beefiest paladin there ever was (Angoron would weep), but he is helpful, and sometimes, that's enough. Corey goes to the ceiling piece, crouching down (a considerable feat, considering the armor) and grunting a little as he assumes proper lifting posture and technique--

"White Stag, giveeee-meeeee-strength--" Corey hisses through his teeth, and he starts to lift the debris! But he could still use a hand. That's a heck of a piece.

GAME: Dirk rolls Athletics: (7)+13: 20

Dirk's eyes get wide as that bit of dome comes tumbling down. "Dana's flowery -teats-!" he gasps. Immediately he's motivating his tubby ass, trundling over to where the masonry landed. Corey calls upon the White Stag to give him strength--well, he's getting one (1) hefty dwarf. Dirk hunkers down and takes a grip on the edge of the stone. "Together now! One... two... an' HEAVE!" And heave he does, lending his burly strength to his fellow Gilean's efforts!

"We're okay!" Magpie's voice floats up, muffled, from under the bit of ceiling. "We're okay?" she asks, apparently to Aki. "We're okay," she then confirms. "Does anyone know what happened, anyway? And does anyone know where to find a big enough lever?"

Should High Priestess Aki look closely, Magpie is very clearly trying to shore up her nerves with humor, and managing... a bit? Somewhat. But he can hear Corey and Dirk through the stone, and see the stone shift a bit... So it's only a matter of time.

The piece of ceiling groans and then shifts under the joint efforts of Dirk and Corey. It's hard, but they manage to leverage the bit of ceiling upwards and have it practically off entirely by the time the other priests arrive to assist in moving it. Then it's set aside and reveals Magpie and the High Seeress underneath it. The High Seeresss pats Magpie on the shoulder once gently and then rises to her feet steadily.

"You have my gratitude young one, for aiding me in my hour of need." She doesn't have the look of true age to her, but her pure white hair and eyes could be signs of it even if her features show no such thing. "It seems that the earth elemental under the temple which helps anchor our blessings into the earth has... fled."

There's a troubled expression on her face. "This is not good. Without it, the wards on this temple are incomplete. I do not know why it would leave... it is not natural for it to leave in such a fashion."

GAME: Corey rolls Knowledge/The Planes: (8)+8: 16

GAME: Dirk rolls Knowledge/The Planes: (4)+4: 8

Carver approaches, listening in. Her ears might not be as expressive as her dear Deathless, but they near twitch at what she hears. Fled. Earth Element. Beneath the ground. Earthquake. She does not know much of the planes, of the places beyond her world, and what knowledge she does have? Pertains to the creatures what might invade or be asked to enter their world. She bites on her bottom lip in thought.

"Its movements explain the earthquake. If it was anchored here, then it... broke the chain? Er, in a manner of speaking." She reaches up to twist at a silver pendent, anxious energy bleeding out.

GAME: Magpie rolls knowledge/The Planes: (9)+15: 24

Corey's eyes narrow a little in thought, his lips pressing together a little as he puts his gauntleted hand to his chin. His finger even scratches at the skin a little like it might help in the recollection of the rolodex of knowledge he's got about things to do with earth elementals.

"Hum. What was the deal that you had with it, exactly?" he asks. "I can't think of anything specific about earth elementals that would cause one to shirk what it normally does. But perhaps it felt its time was at an end here, or... Something else has happened."

"I mean... it's an *Earth Elemental,* Magpie says without missing a beat. "If it was gonna take off as fast as it could, wouldn't it have needed to get started a couple years ago? They're not... known for their hummingbird-like tendencies..."

But by the way Magpie's eyes dart down, and back and forth, it's clear that the witticisms are simply... something to keep her mouth occupied, while her brain starts churning through everything she knows about planar discordances, and What Could Scare Off A Being Of Pure Dependability. And then Corey speaks his theory, and her head pops up. "...Or something unusual, like... new orders? From someone it *could not ignore?*"

Dirk wipes his forehad on the back of his fist as Magpie and the High Seeress are freed. "Whew! That could've been a lot worse." Once he's sure nobody is hurt, he settles in to listen to the Seeress' tale of the vamoosed elemental. "Beards o' me fathers. That sounds pretty heavy, dunnit?" His brows furrow like caterpillars in a huddle. But no, he's got nothing. He shakes his head. "Afraid elementals are a wee bit outside me wheelhouse. I couldnae tell ye what might've brought this on."

The High Seeress looks at those gathered, and motions her priests and priestesses to back up a bit to give her room. "I must task you to go and retrieve the elemental. Without it, our wards are incomplete. The temple will be subject to attack, and we can ill afford that here." She looks at you all hopefully.

GAME: Corey rolls Sense Motive: (20)+20: 40

"We will do our best to retrieve... or neutralize, if we cannot." Carver says. She straightens up as a complex situation is simplified, crystallized to task. It is where she works best. "An elemental of this size and power, it would still leave signs of its passing. If, like yous say, it has a goal. It will leave tracks. Tumbled smaller trees and displaced soil and earth. Burrowing animals forced to surface." She's already gathering her gear as others continue to question the Seeress.

"...I mean of course," Magpie says, puzzled at the Seeress' jump directly to business. One would imagine that someone who can *work* with such an entity, would know a thing or two *about* it. But... now there's a job to do, and the possibility of a nice bonus retainer to keep her happily buried in books for the next few whiles...

Nodding to Carver, Magpie looks at Dirk, grinning widely. "Heyyyy, buddy! Thanks to you and Corey for the save, but how would you like to be a legend among huntsmen?"

"Ready to *track the dirt?*"

Dirk looks over to Magpie, perking a bushy white brow. "Track the dirt? I mean, an earth elemental makes me think o' rocks an' stones, but... well come tae think of it, I suppose it -could- be dirt, couldn't it? Dirt's really just tiny wee rocks an' stones, innit?" He gives his beard a thoughtful tug as he contemplates the differences between dirt, rock, and stone. "But aye, we cannae be leavin' the Elunite temple open an' unprotected like this. I'm nae sure if I -can- track dirt--other than gettin' me boots muddy, but that's nae the same thing. But I'll do what I can tae help ye good people."

Corey seems a little confused when the seeress doesn't offer an explanation as for what's going on, but then... He studies her for a moment, and he smiles more broadly, a warmth in his silver eyes. "Don't worry," he says. "We can find it. I'm sure between the four of us, we will!"

Then he looks over at Magpie, looking hopeful. "Hey, do you know any spells for finding elementals?" he asks. "My twin sister wo--"

And then he remembers. The book. Cor'ethil blinks and looks over at the floor, where the tome landed at some point during the fall.

He winces. The very heavy book landed _on_ its pages. The spine looks a little bent. "... Or, she would, but I think she might disown me as her brother after this," he says, before clearing his throat and walking over to pick up the book. "Esteemed High Seeress, my twin sister borrowed this book from the library. I, err--it did not enter this Temple in its current condition. I dropped it. In the earthquake." Corey swallows a little bit. "Very sorry."

The seeress smiles at Corey, taking the book and shaking her head. She seems to have no trouble knowing where the book is, or taking it from his hands. "It is quite alright. More important is this task by far, so you will be forgiven any damage to this tome." She tucks it close to herself just the same however. "I am sure you are curious as to why I didn't say anything about how to locate the elemental or why it fled. The truth is that I do not know. I could as Eluna for insight into the matter, but I can tell you one thing with certainty..."

Here she pulls a small vial out of her pocket and offers it toward the group of you. "You must not kill it. You must weaken it and then open this container. It will fall inside and be kept there until you can bring it back and it can be laid to rest here once more. Please. It is vital both that you find it and that you do _not_ kill it."

Carver reaches out and takes the small vial, turning it over in her gloved lead hand. "Understood." She does not.. but, she can tell that a Seeress believes it true, and that narrows the task further; killing is not an option. The small glass phial slips to her palm, sheltered there.

"Iffin' no one else has any questions, we shoul' go. If this elemental is heading somewhere of its own volition, or at something's behest, it's bad for anyone who might be travelling much less the recovering forest." Carver says, tucking the 'Anchor' away into a vest pocket beneath her heavy furs.

Dirk nods his head firmly. "Right ye are, missus. Nae killin'. Shouldn't be too much trouble. If they're anything like golems, normal shot takes a while tae knock 'em down. So we should be able tae wound it wi'out killin' it." He puffs up his burly chest. "Right! Not tae fret, missus, we'll have yer golem back in time fer supper!" Pause. "Wait... supper was awhile ago, wasn't it? Well, shit. Back in time fer breakfast, then!" He looks over to Carver with a nod. "Aye, we need tae get to it. I expect that poor beastie is causin' all manner of upset. Sooner we can get this thing back, sooner we can have breakfast! An' we dinnae want tae be missin' -that-, it's the most important meal o' the day!"

"Ooooh," Magpie says, leaning up on her tiptoes to examine the vial, with glittering eyes and a wide grin. "Last time I made something like this it needed a *heck* of a lot more doodads and fancy bits! The fancy bits are where the magic goes," she says conspiratorially, as an aside to Corey. "The rest is like... cosmic suggestion. If container-shaped, must contain."

Shaking her head, she stops her deep dive on the topic of the matrix of form, function, correlation and causation before it can really get going. But it's a *fascinating* subject for the practical thaumgineer to study! "Right. Go! Yes. We should absolutely. Do that."

Magpie turns to the exit, and takes two steps. ...Then pauses, and looks back. "Which way did he go, then?"

"I don't have anything else to ask," Corey says with a smile, letting Carver take the vial. He looks thoughtful about the prospect of meals and container shapes and cosmic suggestions, but that fascination must, sadly, take a backseat to the notion of tracking an elemental. "Breakfast sounds like a great reward for tracking an elemental, though. There's meat. There's pickled vegetables. There's eggs. There's rice..."

Yes, Corey has gotten used to his fiance's diet. His stomach grumbles thinking about it. "Well! Better not to ruminate on it. Unless you think the rumbling of my tummy might act as some kind of sympathetic thing for the earth elemental to latch onto?" It's a wild hope, but hey, so was the idea of Corey ever having a love life until Karasu showed up to kill him. (It's a long story.)

Then he looks at the door. He considers it. "Let's go... That way!" he says. And he just leaves the Temple, keeping an eye (and ear) out for any signs of earth elemental debris.

Recent Logs

2025-02-21T03:19:55Z

Carver: /* February */

Recent Logs

2025-02-01T03:41:03Z

Carver: /* January */

Here But For You

2025-02-01T03:39:00Z

Carver: Created page with "It's midday, the sun is high in the sky though sadly protected from prying eyes by a thick, black layer of snow clouds, which slowly let out a steady, delicate fall. A few inches in the morning, a few more predicted at night. Fun for the kids of the city, not so much for the merchants who still have to make a living. Volunteers with shovels clear walkways to keep things moving, and along one of these freshly cleared ways, a small pile of furs moves about. This pile, topp..."

It's midday, the sun is high in the sky though sadly protected from prying eyes by a thick, black layer of snow clouds, which slowly let out a steady, delicate fall. A few inches in the morning, a few more predicted at night. Fun for the kids of the city, not so much for the merchants who still have to make a living. Volunteers with shovels clear walkways to keep things moving, and along one of these freshly cleared ways, a small pile of furs moves about. This pile, topped with a wild growth of bright red hair, appears to be browsing, funnily enough, at more furs, perhaps considering adding some white to her mass of browns and blacks.

Following at a proper distance from the pile of furs is a man. Human-looking by his appearance he stands out for his robes which are more suited to a desert environment than the cold winter of Alexandria at the moment. He has shaggy black hair atop his hair and dark eyes, but his complexion is pale. It's hard to gauge where he might be from just from these things, he has a sort of look that is foreign but doesn't harken back to any particular location. As if he doesn't really belong anywhere. He doesn't seem to be trying to draw attention to himself, but he doesn't really seem to be trying not to draw attention to himself either.

Carver is leading Deathless through the streets, a fetish chain of winterberries attached to both of their cloak's. She will never completely discard the furs, but they are a little thinner today, less layers upon her hide armor and her right arm kept free. Sign of her adventuring since her primary skill is that of an archer.

She does pause briefly to speak with a merchant, a vendor who seems to be a common scribe selling a collection of maps and trinkets.

GAME: Carver casts Endure Elements. Caster Level: 9 DC: 14

Skyler has arrived.

Rocky moves slowly in the cold, his armored bulk moving from stall to stall with quiet curiousity. Steel armor isn't the best for winter wear, but padding underneath helps. Solid boots keep the snow off his feet, and a deep green cloak keep the snow off his back. That's good enough.

A small haystack of color catches his eye, the bright red contrasted with the wintery grey. Smol. Fur. A combonation that drags attention along for a look. Huh. Neat. All sorts of intresting people in the city.

"... Yes, I think it's called an Ion torch?" Skyler is in the market, wearing his usual leather greatcoat and his sword across his back, haggling with a man in rather threadbare wizard-ish robes selling off a blanket with a sign that says 'Magik Wheres: discunted'.

Hopefully he's better at magic than he is spelling, because Skyler, in true Skyler fashion, doesn't seem to be making much sense. "It was like a little moon spinning around his head! Reminded me of when I get hit on the head really hard and start seeing little birds spinning around my head and it lit up and it was *so*. *Fucking*. *COOL*!" He pauses, putting hands on his hips, "And I want one. Do you have one?"

The small pile of furs topped with bright red hair moves away from the fur stand, only to pause, slowly turning towards the odd figure of the young man that doesn't belong anywhere. Eyes narrow, staring for several moments before the pile changes direction and heads towards him. Along the way, the pile glances to armoured man, and horse leading Carver, but her attention is fixated on the young man... "You've been following me." Not a question, a statement, delivered with a little accusation, "You've been following me for days."

The man stops as the little pile of furs turns on him, his dark eyes narrowing. He's still some distance from the woman beneath them so her words are clear to be heard and his response comes just as clearly. "Not just you." He motions toward Skyler standing over at the 'Magik Wheres' shop. "But that one seems to notice me less. Or perhaps he does not care."

<OOC> Aftershock says, "To be clear the man is quite young. He seems about sixteen or so."

Money changes hands. Carver leaves with mysterious maps. The scribe has his few platinum coins. The ranger tucks them away into her belt, turning away in time to see Halia approach a man who looks very out of place. A curious tilt of her head is given but while she knows the story of the mysterious stalker? Not enough details to put it together. Instead, she goes to leave until Skyler's voice is recognized, pausing near his stall to listen in. Why not?

Where else is she needed for today?

It's a kneejerk impulse, swiftly overridden by cultural standards, situation specifics, and some touch of situational awareness. But it's enough to keep Rocky openly watching the conversation between the fur clad halfling and the young human male.

People seem to think that Skyler is as thick as two short planks of wood. And while it's true he's not the brightest Ioun torch to circle the ol' noggin, he is far from unobservant. Pale grey-green eyes seem to be focused on the poor magic merchant who lifts his thread-bare hat to scratch the bald spot it covers, focusing on a liver spot in his confusion, but...

His shoulders are tense as he pointedly *doesn't* look at Halia and the return of the creepy kid. Not even after the merchant finally realizes what the excitable (ex) Sky-Pirate is talking about and sends him on his way with a muttered grumble about 'condescending humans'.

Skyler seems to disappear into the crowd abruptly, finding a wide-set dwarf and crouching low on the ground so the little man's broad belly hides him from the kid and Halfling as he attempts to sneak up.

<OOC> Skyler says, "Does a fat dwarf give me full cover or half-cover?"

"Irrelevant. I can't speak for him, I can only speak for myself. So." The pile of furs moves closer, clearly not interested in speaking too loudly even in this public place, "I doubt anything I said would have changed Jarik's mind, I doubt anything I did would have changed anything at all in fact, so, I ask you, why you follow me. Do you want something? Am I cursed? Are you waiting for a time to strike and kill me?" Her tone doesn't offer suggestions of anger, just pure curiosity, like she wouldn't be upset if any of the above were true.

GAME: Skyler rolls stealth: (9)+4: 13

GAME: Halia rolls perception: (5)+9: 14

GAME: Carver rolls perception: (18)+15: 33

Despite the fact that the sun is hidden away, the light is enough for the living, golden statue to be almost blinding. The Sith stands stock still, unblinking, as he takes in the colourful market. So many people!

Tonameyo spends another several minutes just absorbing the scene, before he rubs his hands together gleefully, and wades into the throng.

"Oopsss, pardon me. Oh my! Ack, ssorry!" His tail is all over the place, the Sith seemingly unused to a crowd. He has to stop every so often to pick someone up, or some dropped basket or crate after his tail's knocked them over or down. "Sso sssorry! May the Sun warm your face this day! Goodnessss... I did not know it was possible for you to bend that way. Do not be alarmed, thiss one can heal it back!"

The golden Sith approaches an apparently animated pile of furs with red hair. "Cursssed? You should go to a temple if you are cursssed. Thiss one can ssuggesst the temple of the Platinum Dragon for such a thing."

The young man watches Skyler's antics for a few moments before returning his attention to Halia. "I can not say for certain. I would consider you cursed, but then perhaps you would not. I am not waiting to kill you, but perhaps you will die in any case. The choice is not mine." He spreads his hands a little.

Carver watches as Skyler crouches behind a jolly dwarf, rubbing at her left cheek with her knuckles. Distracted. Until Deathless bumps her with her nose, and she reaches up and scratches her companion behind her ears with a laugh. "Always a sight here in the markets, eh?" She determines it's for the best that she does not understand what the 'rehabilitated' rogue to instead take in the rest of the square. The near-glowing Sith is a beacon of itself, and she gives Halia's conversation with the strange young man a second look. She is not a gifted people person but the body language becomes clearer the more she observes. Hmmm....

Rocky blinks as a golden distration arrives, only to itself join with the former center of attention. And then there's the topic. "Curse? What is this of a curse?" The greyscale steps closer, taking active intrest in what's going on... if not utterly clear as to what IS going on.

Tonameyo has reconnected.

"Riddles." Halia states, raising her chin slightly, which isn't very far at all, considering she has to look up to the boy, "So I might be cursed, I might die but it's not up to you? What /is/ up to you, why do you follow me?" Voices are heard from her peripheries, Sith appear to be curious beings, one armoured, one golden, each is addressed in turn, "This boy, who may or may not exist, is following me around. He warned myself and others about a course of action we undertook for the guild, appearing to be opposed to it."

A Sith smile can be a scary thing, full of sharp pointed teeth. Tonameyo is cognizant of this fact, and goes to great effort to not show off his pearly whites. But his expression is full of boundless cheerfulness. "Ah, my greysscale kin. It is wonderful to ssee you.", he says to Rocky.

But then Halia speaks, and the gold-scale Sith's expression begins to drop as he listens. His tone is still cheerful as he nods and says, "It iss well..." A pause, and his nostrils work at the air. "Miss. This boy will not cause you harm this day."

Tonameyo's expression darkens further as he regards the aforementioned boy. "Explain yoursself. It will not do to threaten people here." A golden hand casually drops onto the pommel of the longsword sheathed at his belt.

Does Skyler successfully sneak up? No. He's about halfway to his goal when the fat dwarf turns left when he goes right, and he's left exposed. He freezes, before straightening up, popping the lapels of his greatcoat, and casually saunters up...

...in a flanking position with Tonameyo, his sword hilt oh so close to his hand. "I suspect he isn't human." Skyler says quietly, with uncharacteristic seriousness in his voice, "He won't answer a direct question and speaks in metaphors and uses big words." He scratches his jaw, "People that want to keep the end of the world happening are pretty free with *what* the end of the world will be." He pauses, "What's in the box, creepy kid?"

"Nothing." The boy says grimly, in response to Halia's question. "Or so little as to be unimportant." He glances toward the others asking about the curse, but has no answers for them. Nor does he reply to the implication that he may or may not exist.

He does however seem amused with the way that Tonameyo's hand falls to his sword, offering a faint humorless smile. "Your weapon can not harm me." Of this he seems very certain. "You should keep it sheathed lest you hurt yourself or an innocent in trying. Besides, I am not threatening. Simply stating fact. If you find the facts threatening then that is an issue you should take with another not I."

Then his eyes turn toward Skyler and he nods respectfully. "Finally a wise question, but one I can not answer. I have been forbidden to tell anyone." Yet there's a certain manner to the way that he says this, as if he is trying to offer a hint by the very way he is saying it.

'May or may not exist'? That sounds like a ghost. Ghosts give curses. As a warning. Right, that makes sense. Ghost just trying to do his job.

Rocky's focus shifts back to Halia. Not mad, just a little disappointed. "Is wise to listen to warning of a guardian. Guild works very hard, but is not all knowing." Turning his attention to the mysterious boy, the grey scale is polite. "Is there a treasure to be returned?" There's always a treasure to be returned in the bard tales. Sometimes those are accurate.

"Are you hoping they will lead you to the one the box was delivered to?" Carver asks as she finally joins the crowd. She isn't sure he's a ghost, too... aware of himself. Not consumed with an obsession. Whatever that may be. Something grander? Something more terrifying? Probable. Or a really gifted liar.

<OOC> Aftershock says, "Perception rolls :D"

GAME: Halia rolls perception: (3)+9: 12

GAME: Tonameyo rolls perception: (12)+8: 20

GAME: Carver rolls perception: (14)+15: 29

GAME: Rocky rolls perception: (11)+13: 24

GAME: Skyler rolls perception: (17)+10: 27

"I don't feel threatened." Halia offers to the golden figure, her words soft, "I don't believe he is even a danger, but I think--" The small pile of furs glances towards the armoured Sith, nodding once, "--I think you might be right. Returning the box might be the best idea. I don't need to know what's in it, it's not important, and--" Once more she pauses to look at Carver, "I don't think he's ghost either. Not do I think he's ending the world. But it seems we might have to make this right."

Tonameyo's cheerful snort is followed by a shrug. "The blade itsself may not harm you, however thiss one is a sshaman of the Platinum Dragon. What the blade alone may not do, spell and ritual can make up for."

"Hah. I am not ssome neonate with a shaky hand. Thiss one doess not harm innocentss. And it iss not the truth that iss threatening, but the manner which you sspeak it."

The golden-scale Sith grows still, only the blinking of his nictilating membrane proof of life. His eyes bore into the 'boy'. "Tssssa. What iss it that you want? What iss it you require to passs on to your deserved resst, hmm?"

At first, Skyler looks slightly taken aback at being called 'wise', even just by implication. His brow furrows, almost like he's disturbed by that observation before he shakes his head and snorts. "Well, you're obviously not fae." He says bluntly to the kid, "Even the most ickle twee pixie knows how to bend rules better than you do."

He glances over the kid, and then pointedly at his feet. "So I'm gunna assume... psychic imprint? Ghost? Defense of whatever's in the box?" He scratches his jaw, "I assume you're not some sort of projection or else the Ward everyone creams over would block you, wouldn't it?"

And then abruptly Skyler reaches up to ruffle the kid's hair. That or stick a hand through his forehead, whichever happens.

To everyone's surprise - likely even Skyler's - but not the boy's, Skyler's hand actually touches hair. Soft, fluffy, slightly warm hair. And the snow starts to collect in it. The young man looks at Tonameyo unhappily. "I do not know that I will ever find rest. But that box must not remain in the hands that it remains within. As the wise one said; I am not fae. It is not in my nature to be disobedient." He lifts his hand and takes Skyler's hand in his own. It feels very human. He takes a small link from the mithral shirt that Skyler is wearing and turns toward Halia, reaching out toward her and plucking a single hair from her head. It's flame-red in his fingers as he curls it into his palm with the link.

"I must return to my Master." The young man says, sounding solemn and sad.

GAME: Tonameyo rolls knowledge/religion: (9)+5: 14

GAME: Carver rolls knowledge/religion: (17)+3: 20

<OOC> Tonameyo says, "ERm. I would like to reroll mine. :)"

GAME: Tonameyo rolls knowledge/religion: (20)+5: 25

<OOC> Skyler says, "Can I roll sleight of hand to yank some of his hair out?"

<OOC> Aftershock stares at Skyler

GAME: Halia rolls knowledge/arcana: (9)+4: 13

Rocky is indeed surprised at physical contact. This raises new concerns. As does the claiming of tokens, though this sith stays in place. "'Master'? What Master?"

GAME: Skyler rolls sleight of hand: (1)+9: 10 (EPIC FAIL)

<OOC> Aftershock says, "There is a free reroll Sky"

GAME: Skyler rolls sleight of hand: (20)+9: 29

Curious, but not offended, Halia allows the hair to be taken, if anything it's a rather sweet gesture even if it gives her a little sting. "Wish him well for me, please, and I invite him to talk directly. This is a problem I wish to solve." She pauses, considering, "And you do not need to watch me, I invite you to join me. We can speak whenever you wish, though Boris may become curious of you."

"Golden songbird," Carver says with a disgusted expression. "I thought that was just legends, another horror story of old Charn. Yous might have handed him off *to* his master."

Skyler *is* surprised, but he's nothing if not resourceful. He ruffles the teen's hair as if he were a young child not someone less than five years younger. And even as a link of his chain mail is taken, he holds on to the boy's hair so a few strands are tugged out.

"Golden songbird? Is he a Castrati? Is that why he's so pretty?" Skyler asks Carver, frowning, "My great-uncle was one of those. Made me glad my singing voice was described as 'grating' by even my mother."

The gold-scale Sith straightens, and stiffens. "To deny ssomeone their resst is an affront to the natural way.", he says, the cheerfulness finally having drained from his voice. A harder tone creeps in.

A golden hand curls into a golden fist, the knuckles cracking, the tendons straining. "It iss ssaid that thiss thing is not posssible yet here one sstandss... thosse blassphemerss did thiss in the name of the Platinum Dragon."

"Where and whom iss your masster? Where iss thiss box?" These are asked of the boy, and Halia, respectively.

"Perhaps I will... join you." The young man says, looking at Halia, but he doesn't sound as though he has much hope that he'll be able to. His eyes slide to Carver and he nods once. Seriously. "They did at that."

Then he steps away from the group, even as Tonameyo asks his question the young man shakes his head. "Even if I wanted to answer one of your ilk... I can not." Others will have to answer for him it seems. He vanishes then, disappearing without a trace.

Rocky says, “.....This One is very confused." Rocky turns to the other as the apperition disappears. "So... was a box in a place with a job, and now there is a box in a different place, a ghost, a master, and maybe a curse?”

"In Dran, my Mada, she tol' me a story once." Carver says, as she turns to Skyler. "It was to scare me of course, but, in the older days, some cults would ply young boys with sweet candied toxins and boil them slowly in gold, so their sacrifice would be endless wealth at their eternal torment. I don't know what this Castrati is but they're more of a... genie, or jhinn, but not really tied to the elements."

"The box might have contained his bones and he is now the, eh, 'golden songbird' of an evil man. For only someone like that would keep such things in their pockets, yous understand?"

Halia sighs softly, glancing to the golden one with a shrug, well, the pile of furs she is shifts a little, so it's probably a shrug, "A man who went through the guild has it, we handed it over as part of the job. Seemed like the best thing to do at the time. We're going to have to ask for it back, or... find another way." She shakes her head rapidly, hops in the air a few times to clear her head, her mop of hair bouncing with her, "I'm not sure I want to be cursed." To answer Rocky's question, she simply nods.

The golden Sith's sadness lasts only a few moments, before the cheerful demeanor returns. "That one iss a being known as a Djinn. A genie. A young boy, weakened with poissson, and then boiled alive in gold. It iss ssaid it hass never worked. Perhapss a lie... perhapss a truth hidden behind a lie. Thiss one knowss not."

Tonameyo looks to Halia, and he crouches way down that he might look her in the eye. "Thiss one will travel with you to assk for the box, or to learn of itss whereaboutss. Then we can free that one. This one would not like you to be curssed, either."

"And hair! We got hair!" Skyler proudly holds up the chunk he pulled off the 'songbird', grinning at Rocky, adding, "Yeah, went to this weird place in the desert, killed some weird glowy bugs. I got bitten by an ant that vomited acid on me, very traumatic."

Which is ironic since what CArver describes *is* legitimately traumatic, and his jaw snaps shut, grin disappearing. "Gods of my fathers." He says slowly, sounding faintly horrified, "I should have *looked*. I had the damn box, I considered looking at it, and decided to throw it to Jarik to 'do the right thing'."

He shakes his head, and glances over at the golden Sith. "I'm in, too. Jarik as well, maybe. That sounds like an affront to the Gods, and he's weirdly devote."

"Not your fault... but your responsibility." Carver agrees.

Halia looks Tonameyo in the eye, though, unless he's laying on the ground, her two foot height means that she still has to raise her gaze to his, "What makes you think I'm the best one for this task? I can tell you safely, that I'm not. This is a task for people who know the Guild and its rules, which is not me. So, I can help, but I can do no more than that."

"Thiss one doess not know if you are besst. But you have more information about the box than thiss one does. Sso your help iss dessired, if you are willing to do that?" The golden Sith nods. "Jusst sso, your help is welcome, little Miss."

Recent Logs

2025-02-01T03:38:26Z

Carver: /* January */

Recent Logs

2025-02-01T03:37:39Z

Carver: /* 2025 Logs */