"Just until things quiet down," Nev says to Feytok wistfully. "Go hunt for food across the bridge, stay warm in here. Maybe a few days or a week or two."
-------
"I do appreciate your finding us," she says to Lucien. "Do the murals not answer your questions?" She gives Lucien a playful grin. "Hey, new cloak? Me too."
"Oh, uh no. I-I found that here. and if you don't mind, I'm with Lucien, I don't really know whats going on... Who is this traveling fellow you all seem to like so much?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Gash- Lvl14 Goblin Wizard - The High Court of the Aasimar Queen
Dog is utterly fascinated by the mechanics of the bridge, the doors, and the waterfall, eagerly jumping onto the bridge after his climb up the far side of the pool. He helps FeyTok bring the direwolves into the cavern.
The mural depicting what seems to be Nev, Genny, and their party of lovable circus freaks affects him deeply, and within the first half hour of arriving at the central cavern with the murals, he wants to examine the paintings themselves. So he climbs (using the last effects of the potion of climbing) up to see if the paint seems old or new, and if there are any additional details he missed on first glance.
He gets everyone settled into a sheltered, comfy place to sleep after a check around the cavern for exits and residents, astonished to find the place empty even after the difficult entry. He sleeps deeply, and after waking and trying out some roast direwolf, trying to skin some of the pelts with FeyTok, and watching over Genny a bit while she plays with her toy goats, Dog explores the town more casually.
First stop of course is a guardhouse/armory -- he wants to figure out how this town defended itself. (He also looks around for a handaxe, a trident/spear, and a warhammer that might be good thrown. Also, though he loves his prop shield, still painted with the puppy, kitten, and roses from their last production that keeps holding up better than he thought it ever would, he looks for a better shield. If he can't find one, he sticks with his.) What types of people lived here?
He finds himself getting... a bit bored with the weapons, and he wanders a bit more, until he finds a musty house near one of the blue braziers with a lot of bookshelves inside. There are some books remaining, and he sits down on the ground, his longsword forgotten next to him, delving into books about arcana and magic, spells and components. He thinks of his father and mother, always dismissing fighters as brutes, devoting themselves to their employer, a powerful mage. They regularly insulted the herd they fled, which always infuriated Dog. Goliaths weren't weak. But as he read through different passages of the books, he began to think more about how magic wasn't just an esoteric diversion for scholars -- it was useful, and the last few days proved that point over and over. Leafing through book after book, he bashfully remembers stealing away with books as a child when his father wasn't looking.
As he turns a page, he gets a papercut on his thumb, and as he winces, the book flies from his hands and hits the wall next to him. He freezes. "That wasn't the book's doing. I did that. How? I need to think." He stands up to go and as he grabs his sword, he notices something red attached to the crosshilt. A gleaming ruby of the war mage gleams back at him. It won't come off. "I wonder how that got there? Will have to ask Gash about it."
He goes for a walk, eventually returning to the group. "Does anyone have any idea who built this place? Who lived here? When? Where they went? Did that wizard turn them all into zombies? Anyone have a clue why we're stars of the show over there, and what we're meant to be doing? Also what's for lunch?"
Nev admires the ruby on the hilt of Dog's sword as he shows it to Gash.
"So the gifts left behind by these people for Genny and me seemed pretty obviously for us. Do you think that ruby and that dragonshard were left for you both? Those murals seem extremely prophetic of your arrival. But you didn't get anything Feytok? And you said the Traveler gave you that cloak personally, Lucien. And where is Tock and Keyrie?"
Feytok holds out his arm which sports a new tattoo. "As I cooked I found this template and a needle. I held my axe and lost track of time now..." Feytok flings his greataxe 20 feet away from the group and summons it back. "I don't really know how I do that but I can. Someone wants me to protect this child"
Dog quietly replies that the ruby was an accident, and that he doesn't know what it does. "Maybe Gash can tell me if the ruby is magical and chosen for me. Not sure who would have done that. Hope it doesn't throw off the balance."
When FeyTok talks about his greataxe's new attribute, Dog looks back down at his own sword, and a look of frustration passes over his face, and he hoists it and throws it high across the cavern, watching it land far away in a pile of dirt. "Balance would have been off anyway... aah!" Before he has a chance to react, the sword is right back in his hands.
Pensively, gently and nervously passing the sword back and forth from hand to hand, he turns back to Gash. "You've been able to do magic since you were young, right? Can you tell me about how it got started? Did you just read a bunch of books and practice and then poof, magic? Or did you have to do something to gain that kind of power? How did you keep control?"
“For me, it was a lot of practice and determination. I had a life I wanted out of. I was lucky and stumbled upon this very book.”
Gash holds up “A Children’s Guide to Cool Conjuring”
“And I tried and tried to make sense of it every night. These arcane symbols were the first written language I learned to read. So you’re part right my dear, Dog. But I read one book thousands of times. That’s how I learned magic. And even then, I know I’m further behind than most would be in my position.
Are you trying to learn magic? Why don’t you let me see that ruby.”
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Gash- Lvl14 Goblin Wizard - The High Court of the Aasimar Queen
Dog hands over the sword for him to examine. "I've never trusted magic, to be honest. Obsessing over it brought shame to my parents. My father was weak and got kicked out of his herd, and he and my mother fled, working for some mage. He's not strong, not a real goliath. Just spent his time with books. I've tried to be strong like I know my people should be, but growing up, before I fled, I'll admit I got tempted and read more books than you might think."
As he talks, it becomes clearer that Dog's voice and dialect, normally very deep and simple and direct (and similar to a backcountry English accent, or a Cockney accent), sometimes shifts into a faster, studied, polished voice that uses polysyllabic words. It's starting to shift that way now.
"I'm concerned that my previous flirtations with literature, science, and arcana have compromised my pugilistic capabilities. I snuck off just now to a house with a lot of books, and lost myself for a bit, and after I got a 'boo boo' the book flew from my hands ([Tooltip Not Found]) and I'm fairly certain it wasn't the book. It was me. I think I can do magic now. Can I be cured?"
“My dear Dog, do you think I am ailed? Magic is not a curse. It is wonderful. But you can choose not to use it. But if you can use magic it might just be what you were destined to do.”
via message:
“I still don’t know what’s going on. But the girl you all are protecting seems important. So important that you may need to set you past aside and carry on doing what you can to protect her using all of your abilities.”
”I can help you if you want. And this ruby... it’ll help you too.”
"I'll tell you what. I'll fill you in on what I know about what's happening, if you show me how not to stub my arcane toe, so to speak." And he does a hard thing. He really listens. He'll take whatever lessons Gash can give him (OOC: In a shocking turn of events, Dog's now an Eldritch Knight. Bet no one saw that one coming.)
Gash goes off to a quiet corner with Dog and shows him how the ruby works on his blade and explains the arcane motions needed to cast.
“This one I’ve known the longest, Dog. Funny story at the time I threatened it would be a fireball. I was still learning. And instead casted this... this shield. And it’s been my most important and most used spell yet.”
and so Gash shows off the spell, when to use it, What motions to make and how exactly it worked. So much so Gash made Dog use it in real combat after they came after Dog with a dagger.
“See, it’s easy. I would be honored to keep working with you if you’d like. I’ve never had a student. Like I said, I’m a lot further behind than most with the same experiences as I do. “
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Gash- Lvl14 Goblin Wizard - The High Court of the Aasimar Queen
Keyrie is fascinated with the city and immediately sets out to scout the entire area while she still has the advantage of being a spider to climb up walls and the like. She spends some time looking at the murals then continues on her way. As she continues to scamper along her way she slowly finds herself surrounded by a strange mist, as she continues the mist gets thicker and thicker until she can not see anything around her but the strange mist. Keyrie looks down to see that she is no longer a spider, her body seems to not be solid, as if she could reach a hand through her own chest. "Well hello there young one, what has brought you and your friends to wander so far from home?" The voice seems to come from all around her, as if the mist its self is talking. "My companions are here to escort someone." Keyrie gets a strange feeling from the voice, one she is not used to, and can not place. "I see, if they are here to protect someone, then why are you here?" "..." Keyrie is silent. "I can tell you have the blood of the wild in you child, if you so wished you could vanish into the woods and never meet another human soul." "..." "You can lie to yourself child, but you can not lie to me, you would much rather be with beasts than the cities of man." "I can not abandon them. I will not abandon them. They are my friends, no they are my family. It does not matter if I must brave the stone cities, or the uncertainty of people. Is does not matter if we face fire and wind, or cold steel and arrows. If that is where they shall go, then that is where I shall follow. I have already lost one family, abandoned them as I ran away in terror. I refuse to lose another one. This time I will stand tall with them shoulder to shoulder, I refuse to run away." There is silence around her for a while, then a soft chuckle. "Ah, my child you have grown up." The mist seems to condense and start to gain the shape of a woman. Keyrie opens her mouth wide eyed as tears start to form, "M-mother?" A tendril of mist brushes against her face wiping away the tears. "I am happy you found another family, and always remember, my little Hazelnut," For a moment the smiling face of a women can be seen in the mist, "I will always be proud of you." The mist suddenly disperses and Keyrie is left in an abandoned alley of the city still not quite over her shock. When she finally comes back to her senses she notices that she is holding something in her hands. It is a tiny little hazelnut shrub, planted in a pot with strange symbols on the side of it. (It is a Pot of Awakening.) Shaking of the last of the effects of her meeting, and the last few tears in her eyes, she makes her way back the way she came, where everyone else is waiting.
(Thank you guys for putting up with my erratic posting while I get better.)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
A day passes and the anxiety of running from warring demons and angels begins to fade. The meat from the giant wolves provides the entire group plenty to eat. Gentoa enjoys running through the empty village streets with Tock and Keyrie while Gash and Dog practice magic in the town square. Lucien catalogs every appearance of the Traveler in the town in murals, statues, and engravings, while Feytok carves the meals and practices hurling his battleaxe into an old shed. A second day passes, as does a third after Neventi moves her and her daughters things into one of the empty houses. On the fourth day everyone begins discussing whether they should start eating their rations, go back outside to hunt, or leave the cavern altogether. They have enough food for several more days, however, since Feytok has dried some of the meat. Wolf meat isn't especially pleasant, though, and the group is growing tired of it.
On the fifth day, Dog and Gash hear the sound of stone against stone and stop their practice to investigate. The sound does not repeat, however, and they are unable to locate anything different about the town. On the sixth day, Gentoa is on a walk with her mother, exiting the large temple, when Genny spots something moving through the streets. Nev follows her pointing hand and turns pale. She grabs up her daughter and runs back to the town square, saving her breath until she has found Feytok, Lucien, and Gash sitting around the fire eating lunch.
"Undead," she says, panting. "Coming through the south tunnel."
Gash finds the others and they assemble to discuss the problem when the first zombie shambles into the town square.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
"Hope I practiced enough..." Feytok takes off running (J12 or how far I can get on movement) he rares back and throws his greataxe at Z2. Attack: 7 Damage: 6 (disadvantage for distance? 17 if needed)
When the axe stops going forward Feytok summons it and instantly it returns to his hand.
We are all over 210 feet away, right? Also what is the circular thing in the middle of the square? A pool? A fountain? Would it provide cover or something?
Last question - do we live in a world where zombies exist in the normal course of affairs?
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Gash moves 30 feet north east toward the middle pillar thing. If he is obscured enough he will hide with nimble escape. And as an action he will dodge.
Stealth: 9
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Gash- Lvl14 Goblin Wizard - The High Court of the Aasimar Queen
(Dog: The undead are known of but are uncommon, usually only found on the fringes of the world, in ruins and crypts. They are mostly known through stories, though there are plenty of official records of the undead. The object in the middle of the square is a statue of an unknown person. The zombies are a good 200 feet away or so.)
(Feytok: Each square is 15 feet, so using your action to dash gets you to H but not J. You are still out of range, which is 60 feet at maximum, to make the throw.)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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To Gash, she points at the dragonshard.
-------
"Just until things quiet down," Nev says to Feytok wistfully. "Go hunt for food across the bridge, stay warm in here. Maybe a few days or a week or two."
-------
"I do appreciate your finding us," she says to Lucien. "Do the murals not answer your questions?" She gives Lucien a playful grin. "Hey, new cloak? Me too."
-------
"Say, where are the others?," she says.
"Oh, uh no. I-I found that here. and if you don't mind, I'm with Lucien, I don't really know whats going on... Who is this traveling fellow you all seem to like so much?
Gash - Lvl14 Goblin Wizard - The High Court of the Aasimar Queen
Dog is utterly fascinated by the mechanics of the bridge, the doors, and the waterfall, eagerly jumping onto the bridge after his climb up the far side of the pool. He helps FeyTok bring the direwolves into the cavern.
The mural depicting what seems to be Nev, Genny, and their party of lovable circus freaks affects him deeply, and within the first half hour of arriving at the central cavern with the murals, he wants to examine the paintings themselves. So he climbs (using the last effects of the potion of climbing) up to see if the paint seems old or new, and if there are any additional details he missed on first glance.
He gets everyone settled into a sheltered, comfy place to sleep after a check around the cavern for exits and residents, astonished to find the place empty even after the difficult entry. He sleeps deeply, and after waking and trying out some roast direwolf, trying to skin some of the pelts with FeyTok, and watching over Genny a bit while she plays with her toy goats, Dog explores the town more casually.
First stop of course is a guardhouse/armory -- he wants to figure out how this town defended itself. (He also looks around for a handaxe, a trident/spear, and a warhammer that might be good thrown. Also, though he loves his prop shield, still painted with the puppy, kitten, and roses from their last production that keeps holding up better than he thought it ever would, he looks for a better shield. If he can't find one, he sticks with his.) What types of people lived here?
He finds himself getting... a bit bored with the weapons, and he wanders a bit more, until he finds a musty house near one of the blue braziers with a lot of bookshelves inside. There are some books remaining, and he sits down on the ground, his longsword forgotten next to him, delving into books about arcana and magic, spells and components. He thinks of his father and mother, always dismissing fighters as brutes, devoting themselves to their employer, a powerful mage. They regularly insulted the herd they fled, which always infuriated Dog. Goliaths weren't weak. But as he read through different passages of the books, he began to think more about how magic wasn't just an esoteric diversion for scholars -- it was useful, and the last few days proved that point over and over. Leafing through book after book, he bashfully remembers stealing away with books as a child when his father wasn't looking.
As he turns a page, he gets a papercut on his thumb, and as he winces, the book flies from his hands and hits the wall next to him. He freezes. "That wasn't the book's doing. I did that. How? I need to think." He stands up to go and as he grabs his sword, he notices something red attached to the crosshilt. A gleaming ruby of the war mage gleams back at him. It won't come off. "I wonder how that got there? Will have to ask Gash about it."
He goes for a walk, eventually returning to the group. "Does anyone have any idea who built this place? Who lived here? When? Where they went? Did that wizard turn them all into zombies? Anyone have a clue why we're stars of the show over there, and what we're meant to be doing? Also what's for lunch?"
"Until we go hunt, wolf is on the menu, but we will run out before they go bad."
Nev admires the ruby on the hilt of Dog's sword as he shows it to Gash.
"So the gifts left behind by these people for Genny and me seemed pretty obviously for us. Do you think that ruby and that dragonshard were left for you both? Those murals seem extremely prophetic of your arrival. But you didn't get anything Feytok? And you said the Traveler gave you that cloak personally, Lucien. And where is Tock and Keyrie?"
Feytok holds out his arm which sports a new tattoo. "As I cooked I found this template and a needle. I held my axe and lost track of time now..." Feytok flings his greataxe 20 feet away from the group and summons it back. "I don't really know how I do that but I can. Someone wants me to protect this child"
Nev spies Tock playing with her daughter. "And Tock," she realizes suddenly, "Found a talking doll. It imitates, just like him."
(It would have been amazing if it was a little version of Tock!)
Dog quietly replies that the ruby was an accident, and that he doesn't know what it does. "Maybe Gash can tell me if the ruby is magical and chosen for me. Not sure who would have done that. Hope it doesn't throw off the balance."
When FeyTok talks about his greataxe's new attribute, Dog looks back down at his own sword, and a look of frustration passes over his face, and he hoists it and throws it high across the cavern, watching it land far away in a pile of dirt. "Balance would have been off anyway... aah!" Before he has a chance to react, the sword is right back in his hands.
Pensively, gently and nervously passing the sword back and forth from hand to hand, he turns back to Gash. "You've been able to do magic since you were young, right? Can you tell me about how it got started? Did you just read a bunch of books and practice and then poof, magic? Or did you have to do something to gain that kind of power? How did you keep control?"
“For me, it was a lot of practice and determination. I had a life I wanted out of. I was lucky and stumbled upon this very book.”
Gash holds up “A Children’s Guide to Cool Conjuring”
“And I tried and tried to make sense of it every night. These arcane symbols were the first written language I learned to read. So you’re part right my dear, Dog. But I read one book thousands of times. That’s how I learned magic. And even then, I know I’m further behind than most would be in my position.
Are you trying to learn magic? Why don’t you let me see that ruby.”
Gash - Lvl14 Goblin Wizard - The High Court of the Aasimar Queen
Dog hands over the sword for him to examine. "I've never trusted magic, to be honest. Obsessing over it brought shame to my parents. My father was weak and got kicked out of his herd, and he and my mother fled, working for some mage. He's not strong, not a real goliath. Just spent his time with books. I've tried to be strong like I know my people should be, but growing up, before I fled, I'll admit I got tempted and read more books than you might think."
As he talks, it becomes clearer that Dog's voice and dialect, normally very deep and simple and direct (and similar to a backcountry English accent, or a Cockney accent), sometimes shifts into a faster, studied, polished voice that uses polysyllabic words. It's starting to shift that way now.
"I'm concerned that my previous flirtations with literature, science, and arcana have compromised my pugilistic capabilities. I snuck off just now to a house with a lot of books, and lost myself for a bit, and after I got a 'boo boo' the book flew from my hands ([Tooltip Not Found]) and I'm fairly certain it wasn't the book. It was me. I think I can do magic now. Can I be cured?"
“My dear Dog, do you think I am ailed? Magic is not a curse. It is wonderful. But you can choose not to use it. But if you can use magic it might just be what you were destined to do.”
via message:
“I still don’t know what’s going on. But the girl you all are protecting seems important. So important that you may need to set you past aside and carry on doing what you can to protect her using all of your abilities.”
”I can help you if you want. And this ruby... it’ll help you too.”
Gash - Lvl14 Goblin Wizard - The High Court of the Aasimar Queen
"I'll tell you what. I'll fill you in on what I know about what's happening, if you show me how not to stub my arcane toe, so to speak." And he does a hard thing. He really listens. He'll take whatever lessons Gash can give him (OOC: In a shocking turn of events, Dog's now an Eldritch Knight. Bet no one saw that one coming.)
Gash goes off to a quiet corner with Dog and shows him how the ruby works on his blade and explains the arcane motions needed to cast.
“This one I’ve known the longest, Dog. Funny story at the time I threatened it would be a fireball. I was still learning. And instead casted this... this shield. And it’s been my most important and most used spell yet.”
and so Gash shows off the spell, when to use it, What motions to make and how exactly it worked. So much so Gash made Dog use it in real combat after they came after Dog with a dagger.
“See, it’s easy. I would be honored to keep working with you if you’d like. I’ve never had a student. Like I said, I’m a lot further behind than most with the same experiences as I do. “
Gash - Lvl14 Goblin Wizard - The High Court of the Aasimar Queen
Tock shows the doll to Gentoa and lets her play with it for a while, imitating the sounds the doll makes.
He then walks around as well, looking at the murals and other pictogram stuff to maybe get some hints on which path to choose.
Keyrie is fascinated with the city and immediately sets out to scout the entire area while she still has the advantage of being a spider to climb up walls and the like. She spends some time looking at the murals then continues on her way. As she continues to scamper along her way she slowly finds herself surrounded by a strange mist, as she continues the mist gets thicker and thicker until she can not see anything around her but the strange mist. Keyrie looks down to see that she is no longer a spider, her body seems to not be solid, as if she could reach a hand through her own chest.
"Well hello there young one, what has brought you and your friends to wander so far from home?" The voice seems to come from all around her, as if the mist its self is talking.
"My companions are here to escort someone." Keyrie gets a strange feeling from the voice, one she is not used to, and can not place.
"I see, if they are here to protect someone, then why are you here?"
"..." Keyrie is silent.
"I can tell you have the blood of the wild in you child, if you so wished you could vanish into the woods and never meet another human soul."
"..."
"You can lie to yourself child, but you can not lie to me, you would much rather be with beasts than the cities of man."
"I can not abandon them. I will not abandon them. They are my friends, no they are my family. It does not matter if I must brave the stone cities, or the uncertainty of people. Is does not matter if we face fire and wind, or cold steel and arrows. If that is where they shall go, then that is where I shall follow. I have already lost one family, abandoned them as I ran away in terror. I refuse to lose another one. This time I will stand tall with them shoulder to shoulder, I refuse to run away."
There is silence around her for a while, then a soft chuckle.
"Ah, my child you have grown up." The mist seems to condense and start to gain the shape of a woman.
Keyrie opens her mouth wide eyed as tears start to form, "M-mother?" A tendril of mist brushes against her face wiping away the tears.
"I am happy you found another family, and always remember, my little Hazelnut," For a moment the smiling face of a women can be seen in the mist, "I will always be proud of you."
The mist suddenly disperses and Keyrie is left in an abandoned alley of the city still not quite over her shock. When she finally comes back to her senses she notices that she is holding something in her hands. It is a tiny little hazelnut shrub, planted in a pot with strange symbols on the side of it. (It is a Pot of Awakening.) Shaking of the last of the effects of her meeting, and the last few tears in her eyes, she makes her way back the way she came, where everyone else is waiting.
(Thank you guys for putting up with my erratic posting while I get better.)
A day passes and the anxiety of running from warring demons and angels begins to fade. The meat from the giant wolves provides the entire group plenty to eat. Gentoa enjoys running through the empty village streets with Tock and Keyrie while Gash and Dog practice magic in the town square. Lucien catalogs every appearance of the Traveler in the town in murals, statues, and engravings, while Feytok carves the meals and practices hurling his battleaxe into an old shed. A second day passes, as does a third after Neventi moves her and her daughters things into one of the empty houses. On the fourth day everyone begins discussing whether they should start eating their rations, go back outside to hunt, or leave the cavern altogether. They have enough food for several more days, however, since Feytok has dried some of the meat. Wolf meat isn't especially pleasant, though, and the group is growing tired of it.
On the fifth day, Dog and Gash hear the sound of stone against stone and stop their practice to investigate. The sound does not repeat, however, and they are unable to locate anything different about the town. On the sixth day, Gentoa is on a walk with her mother, exiting the large temple, when Genny spots something moving through the streets. Nev follows her pointing hand and turns pale. She grabs up her daughter and runs back to the town square, saving her breath until she has found Feytok, Lucien, and Gash sitting around the fire eating lunch.
"Undead," she says, panting. "Coming through the south tunnel."
Gash finds the others and they assemble to discuss the problem when the first zombie shambles into the town square.
Initiative:
(All characters can go first. Zombies go last.)
"Hope I practiced enough..." Feytok takes off running (J12 or how far I can get on movement) he rares back and throws his greataxe at Z2. Attack: 7 Damage: 6 (disadvantage for distance? 17 if needed)
When the axe stops going forward Feytok summons it and instantly it returns to his hand.
We are all over 210 feet away, right? Also what is the circular thing in the middle of the square? A pool? A fountain? Would it provide cover or something?
Last question - do we live in a world where zombies exist in the normal course of affairs?
Gash moves 30 feet north east toward the middle pillar thing. If he is obscured enough he will hide with nimble escape. And as an action he will dodge.
Stealth: 9
Gash - Lvl14 Goblin Wizard - The High Court of the Aasimar Queen
(Dog: The undead are known of but are uncommon, usually only found on the fringes of the world, in ruins and crypts. They are mostly known through stories, though there are plenty of official records of the undead. The object in the middle of the square is a statue of an unknown person. The zombies are a good 200 feet away or so.)
(Feytok: Each square is 15 feet, so using your action to dash gets you to H but not J. You are still out of range, which is 60 feet at maximum, to make the throw.)