At Woes urging, Dapple stretches and climbs to his feet. "Of course," he responds eagerly, "I can help with whatever you need. The people here seem friendly enough, but have been keeping their distance, so I haven't been able to find much to do yet. What are we setting up takes and a stage for?" He's soon filled in on the plan for the combined birthday party and joins in the preparations, happy to have something to do.
The day stretches on, everyone with their duties, some preparing for festivities in the evening, others preparing for the battle to come. The children finish up their schooling, and begin a game of hide and seek throughout the cave. Finally, there was a call to dinner. As the cave dwellers, followed by the members of the Scarlet Dawn, filed into the dining hall, everyone paused to look at the minimal, but noticeable decorations that had been put up. Then they noticed the delectable smells coming from the kitchen, wondering to themselves what was cooking. Sam motioned for everyone to quiet down, then addressed everyone in the dining hall. "We've been in these caves for a while now, supplies dwindling, unsure of when more would could." He glanced at Perrin, smile on his face. "Thankfully, my son, and his friends, have come to help us with this problem we have found ourselves facing. I've been told it's the birthday of two of their members, and they have requested a party. What good is a party without a feast?" Just then, Vera exited the kitchen holding a huge platter with a roast boar. Huge grin on her face, she placed the boar on the table in front of Sam, then stepped back and made her way to the kitchen once again. "I was saving this for a special occasion. I can think of none better. Dig in!" A cheer went up among the dwellers, and they began to file up for their fill. Vera continued back and forth from the kitchen, bringing smaller plates and bowls of various foods; vegetables, fruits, but it was clear to see, whatever they may have in that kitchen, there wasn't much of it.
As the party begins, Singe walks up to Sam, "Sam, may I take a moment of your time?"
"Of course," Sam replies, motioning Singe over. "Get something to eat, something to drink!"
Singe grabs a slice of pork and wraps it between two apple slices, "What can you tell me about Nydhi? Size, distance in relation to us, hunting patterns, anything that might aid us."
Sam thinks for a moment. "Well, we try to avoid her and her kobolds as much as possible. We were doing fine for a long time, actually." He waved his hand, pointing down the hallway toward the main chamber. "The hot springs here keep the caves in this area too warm for her, so she never cared much about us being here. As for her size..." he paused again thinking. "She's pretty big, compared to you and I, but in relation to dragons?" He shrugged. "I haven't encountered many, myself. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say she wasn't very old. There aren't many large caves in this area, that we've seen, but we know she can fit into some of the smaller ones. Sheema will be the one leading you to her lair tomorrow. She has the most experience with her."
Singe nods, crunching on his apple sandwich, "If you overthrow Lord Embree, may I recommend a course of action?"
Sam nodded. "Of course. All suggestions are welcome."
"Don't make a central heretical office. No matter how generous or kind one man is, or how wonderful their child is, it can not be expected that their descendants will share those qualities."
Sam nodded slowly. He pulled Singe away from the central group of people. "What exactly would you suggest then?"
Singe shrugs, "A voting public is a popular idea in academic circles, it gives the people a chance to speak, decreasing the likelihood of a violent revolution. Personally, I would rather not create a government for people I have only just met. I will definitely lend my council, but the final decision should be left up to you."
Let the people decide how they are ruled?" Sam nodded his head again. "This could work. It could very well prevent another tyrant from rising up again." Sam claps Singe on the forearm. "Wonderful idea!"
Singe's face contorts and then goes back to normal in less than a second, "Um... Thank you. Um, I must go get more food, pardon me." Singe walks quickly away.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Shanolia smiles at the cheering from the group as she moves to secure an empty table for her group, not really one for socialising despite the fact that it's technically - at least partially - a party for her. She sits alone, watching the others enjoy themselves for what must be the first time in ages. Eventually, she closes her eyes, her mind recounting the events of the last few days, until her train of thought is interrupted by Woe setting down a bottle of alcohol in the centre of the table. The Elf eyes the bottle for a second, before turning her curious gaze to Woe.
“May I?”
"Of course you may, it's for us all to share. It's from the Thundering Lizard, from a time when our problems were literally so much smaller... Enjoy today, for tomorrow we fight!"
“Thank you.” Shanolia pops open the bottle and pours herself a small glass, slowly sipping on the alcohol as her mind returns to the danger that they will face tomorrow, her fear only barely hidden by her hoods and mask.
As the festivities wear on, Zamar realizes that Polly and Kaia are not there. Polly must still be feeling poorly and Kaia tending her. They should enjoy the party, too. Zamar tells Perrin what he is up to. "Pardon me all," he says, grabbing a small tray of food and drink. "I'll be back shortly. I want to check on some absent friends." He then heads out to bring the food to the tribal healer and her charge.
Perrin, who has been eating significantly less than normal to allow others to eat more, looks around and notices that Grasalfan isn't around. "I wonder if he is still working on my armor?" Perrin mutters aloud. He then excuses himself and makes a small plate for Grasalfan, assuming that Zamar was referring to him and knowing that the Gnome can eat more, and carries it to the workshop where he assumes Grasalfan is.
As you approach the forge room, Grasalfan is heard... pounding away at what sounds to be metal. As you enter, the heat of the room hits you. Grasalfan stands, bare-chested with his singed belly hanging over the forge. He pulls a plate of metal from the heat and begins to hit it with his hammer. Each hit shapes it into a curved angle. He doesn't seem to notice you.
Perrin will cough loudly hoping to get his attention.
The roar of the flames and the pounding of the metal drowns out Perrin's cough. He continues to shape the metal.
Seeing that he isn't getting Graslfan's attention the normal way Perrin will slowly and cautiously put a hand on his shoulder.
Grasalfan turns as Perrin touches him, then calls out loudly, "There ye are, boy!" He looks Perrin up and down, as if judging his size, then nods. "Yer chain mail was shite," he calls out, still too loudly, "But I was able to spare some of it."
"I appreciate it. It was my Pa's. When I didn't notice you at the party I figured you'd still be here so I brought you some food. Zamar also grabbed some food for those that weren't able to make it so, he might be down here later." Perrin explains
"What!?" He calls.
Perrin just repeats "FOOD" far too loudly and then points at the plate of food he brought.
Grasalfan nods quickly then take a chunk of the largest meat presented. He gobbles it up quickly. "I got some ideas, boy!" He yells out. "There were scraps of metal lying about here. "I can make ye some good Splint with yer Chain Mail!
"REALLY?!?" Perrin yells out excitement clear on his face.
"Aye!" He says, gesturing for Perrin to put the plate on a stool. "It'll take all night though!"
"THANK YOU!" Perrin says and then reaches to give Grasalfan a hug.
Grasalfan is a bit taken aback, his sweaty bare belly hanging far out from the mass of his body. "Go on, boy. Leave me to it!" He says, a small grin on his face. He then begins to pound away at the metal again.
Perrin leaves, making sure to set the remains of his food on a nearby workbench, before returning to the party a happy smile on his face.
Gosh, I wish there were more vegetables. What will the children eat this week? If I slice the apples thinner... no, that won't work. She glances toward the kitchen. About 20 more minutes on the cobbler. I really hope it turns out well. I used the last of the strawberries. She glances about, then quickly looks down at her feet. Oh my. Lera looks so pretty. Should I talk to her? No, I... Then she quickly walks back to the kitchen.
Singe shrugs and lets detect thoughts die and mills about, eats, and makes idle chatter. Almost thirty minutes later, Vera exits the kitchen with a dish in her hands and a smile on her lips. She brings the dish over to the central table, places it down, then moves away once again, without a word. She sits silently at a table, watching the festivities.
Singe approaches Vera, "Lady Vera, I presume?"
Vera looks taken aback. "Please, just Vera."
Singe smiles, "Ah. I know you've met some of our band, but I'm not sure you've had a formal introduction."
"Oh, no," Vera giggles. "I'm sorry, I haven't met everyone. I've been busy today. I'm Vera." She sticks her hand out to shake yours. "Nice to meet you..."
"Former Ambassador Singe Harown." Singe shakes her hand. "We are the Circle of the Scarlet Dawn. You know who's juggling, the halfling who looks a lot like Sam is Perrin Cherrycheeks, his son, the bald man with the cloak over there is Koll. The cat is Dapple, the masked elf is Shanolia, the half-elf playing on the stage is Woe. The man who was here... with the lyre is Zamar, Lera's father." Singe continues, "As you probably know, we're going to be taking on a dragon who has struck a deal with your father. Is there anything you can tell me about your father?"
At the mention of Lera's name, Vera looks over at the girl, and blushes lightly. But she's snapped back to reality at the mention of her father. "Oh... he's..." She frowns, looking at her hands. "He's not a good man. As far as I know, he hasn't even tried to retrieve me. I doubt he ever will."
"The dragon's kobold's were outfitted with excellent armor and weaponry soon after your arrival, do you think that is a coincidence?"
"I don't," she replies, quietly. "I think my father will do anything to destroy these people."
"It seems he certainly has a vendetta against these people. Did you know of the dragon before arriving here?"
"I didn't, no." Vera bites her lip. "I regretted my decision to come here when I found out, but decided I would stay to help. If they're going to die here because of my father then..." She pauses, gulping. "Then so will I."
Singe unfurrows his brow, not realizing it was, "You decided to come? Well, your courage and stalwartness are noted. In your opinion is your father a tactical person?"
"My father has money, and friends." Vera looked at Singe, with a look of sadness. "He can pay people to be tactical for him."
"I believe simple would describe your father's... mindset accurately?"
"Simple?" Vera asked, not sure what Singe meant.
"Dull, dimwitted, etcetera." Singe explains.
Vera shrugged. "Why think when you have money?"
Singe nods, "I think that's all of my questions, but I can not let you get back to work."
Singe casts detect thoughts on Perrin and begins to probe. Perrin is super excited to be reconnected with his dad. He thinks it is too good to be true and that the other shoe has to fall. He is also both excited and terrified to fight the dragon. He also thinks that the best bet of defeating her might be to call upon Frank the sword who he knows lies within him now and is not gone. He understands the group's worries of the sword taking over him and killing Lera but Perrin is confident in his abilities to hold the sword back and focus its divine fury.
There's a weird buzzing in Perrin's head, it's not alcohol, he looks towards Singe... Singe waves, the buzzing stops, and Singe gestures for Perrin to come over. Singe looks at Vera as Perrin walks over, "Oh, one more question, is your mother still with us?"
Vera shook her head. "No, she died in childbirth when my youngest sister was born." Singe nods solemnly.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Perrin comes over and whispers "What are you doing in my head?"
"Just getting your attention. Have you met Vera?"
Vera smiles politely.
"We meet very briefly earlier but I don't believe we had a chance to properly introduce ourselves." Perrin says to her. "Perrin Cherrycheeks. Paladin of Yondalla."
Vera holds out a hand to shake. "I'm Vera. I've heard a lot about you from your dad."
"Vera has been working really hard to get this party underway, I was hoping you and I could allow Vera to enjoy the party." Singe says as he moves his attention to Lera. The biggest thing in the forefront of Lera's mind is how cute Vera looks in those fancy clothes and how much Lera wants to kiss her. It's mostly just nerves, trying really hard to be impressive, and a little bit of excitement to kill a dragon. There's a weird buzzing in Lera's head, she looks towards Singe... He waves, the buzzing stops, and Singe gestures for Lera to come over.
Lera messages Singe. What do you need?
"No, no," Vera said, rushed. "This party is for you! I'm okay, really!"
At this point Singe is grinning a huge smile, "No! You deserve it! You've clearly worked so hard, and someone's looking at us..." Singe waves at Lera, Don't mop in the corner Lera! Come say hi and don't worry about being impressive, she thinks you look cute anyways.
Lera blushed. How’d you get into my head? A few seconds passes, before realization dawns on her. Wait, were you in her head too? Was she thinking about me?
"I'd be more than happy to take over in the kitchen for Vera to be able to enjoy this party. Come Singe. Follow me." Perrin says and then grabs Singes arm perhaps a little too tightly as he guides him into the kitchen.
Singe winks as he's pulled off by Perrin, Come on, talk to her. I expect to hear what happens.
Vera glances up, spots Lera, and begins to blush once again. "No, really, it's fine! Enjoy your party," she says as Singe and Perrin head off toward the kitchen.
"Tooo late!" Singe calls out, already near the kitchen.
Lera walks over hesitantly. Perrin told you? But I swore him to secrecy! She swore telepathically. You will both pay for this.
Vera shifted awkwardly as Lera approaches.
Singe sends a small face winking to Lera. This is very out of character for Singe, the stress of the impending dragon fight might be getting to him.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Once in the kitchen Perrin turns to Singe and says "Can you get out of my mind before I force you out? And then ask me like a normal person what you want. I don't understand why you had to invade my brain and couldn't just talk to me. We're not enemies so, why the mind reading?"
"I have no other way of getting your attention." Singe shrugs. "I'd rather not make a flashbang."
"What do you mean? You can just walk up to me and say 'Hey Perrin. I want to talk to you. Can we go somewhere private.' It wouldn't be that hard now would it." Perrin says giving his best impersonation of Singe when he states what Singe could have done.
"No, I needed a reason for Vera not to hide in the kitchen all night. Goodness! The tension was thicker than pea soup." Singe says
"I still don't understand the mind-reading bit. I feel like you don't trust me Singe." Perrin says obviously still confused and perhaps a little angry at that stunt.
"Look, the nature of the spell alerts you to my probing. I needed your attention and I don't have any magic like Lera does. It's an unfortunate side effect, I do trust you." Singe explains
"Singe. You could have done this better. Also, next question. Why were you trying to get Vera out of the kitchen? And why did you also alert Lera?" Perrin asks, already knowing why but curious as to how Singe knows.
"Vera knew Lera's name. And thought she looked cute. We hadn't met Vera so Lera must have sought her out." Singe explains, "Simple, really, and then Lera, well, she felt the same way."
"And you know all this because you were probing into their minds?" Perrin asks
"Yes, look, this is very muddled. The only reason I probed Vera's mind was to see if she was lying to me." Singe says
"Lying about what? Have you been interrogating the people here? Did you interrogate my Pa. Let me tell you if you did that's not a very good idea. He has a strong butt spanking hand." Perrin says having a sudden non-happy flashback to the couple times he got in trouble and got a spanking from his Pa.
"No. Look, I wanted to know more about Lord Embree, the closest person to him here is Vera. I had no idea if Vera held her father in higher regard -she doesn't by the way- and if she would try to convince me of the same or try to obscure the truth!" Singe says
"Vera's a good person. Me and Lera already scouted her out earlier. If she was lying to us we would have known. I still don't like this probing thing. Next time use something else to get my attention. Now, since we're in the kitchen we better work. See those pots over there, start scrubbing. I'll have a look see for whatever Vera started and try and finish it up. Huh, we really need to kill that dragon soon. These people need more food." Perrin says sadly looking at their diminishing food supplies.
"Yes, they really do." Singe looks around, "What should I do?"
"Get to scrubbing them. They're not going to clean themselves." Perrin says
Singe cleans as many dishes as he can, using prestidigitation to most of the heavy lifting.
Then Perrin will begin cleaning off the counters and such but, will also take a little inventory of what he sees food wise.
As Zamar enters the tent, he sees Kaia sitting in her rocking chair, working on some knitting. Polly is still in bed, asleep.
"Kaia, we missed you at the celebration. Sam seems to be pulling out all the stops. I wanted to make sure you two were okay and included." He places the food and drink on the table for her.
Kaia presses a finger to her lips, and motions Zamar to the back of the tent with her. "The child is still sleeping. Thank you for this. I couldn't leave her here alone."
"I understand," he whispers. "I expected as much. Do you want me to take a shift so you can go out and enjoy the revelry? Or would you like company watching over your patient? Sam is building us up a lot. I hope we are up to the task. Hope is a great gift, but false hope is an even bigger curse."
"Bah," Kaia says before grabbing the plate of food. "Parties are for young folk. What would I do? Dance? Bah." She sniffed the roast boar, her eyebrows raising a moment before taking a taste. "You and your friends are the first new people we've had come here in months. It's no wonder he's building you up. HIs son, come back to life, and all that."
"I get that. If my daughter returned to me after I believed her dead, I would be overjoyed. It just makes me want to succeed that much more." He pauses. "I'm not surprised you haven't had many visitors. A dragon hovering over you would be a big deterrent. What happened with the last people to stop by?"(edited)
"Oh, people who come here usually end up here for a reason," she says, chewing thoughtfully on a piece of boar. "This is a rebellion, young man. There's a war a'brewing. But new recruits are few and far between."
"Fair enough." He smiles. "I was never a fan of 'His Lordship' in my former life. I'm glad to help you all take him down. Perhaps slaying the dragon will send a message that we can win and draw more to your cause."
"Right now, my cause is that child sleeping in there." Kaia waves a hand in Polly's direction.
"That is always my cause. She reminds me so much of my Lera. And she was a handful, believe me. Still is. I would never forgive myself if something happened to either of them. This is no kind of life for a child, but neither of them will listen to me. The best I can do is shepherd them along and be there to pick them up if they fall. Or be willing to fall in their place."
"My daughter was strong willed." Kaia places the plate back on the table, motioning for Zamar to sit in one of the chairs next to her. "She did everything she could to rebel, not against me, but Embree. For years she tried to make life hard for him. I told her she needed to be quieter about it, but no. She kept pushing and pushing, until the day she was executed publically. Still, I'm damned proud of everything she did. Her heart was in the right place, and it helped spark others to speak out against Embree. That's why I'm here, why we're all here."
Zamar sits, not sure what to say. Finally, "You are right to be proud. I hope I can be that strong if my time should come."
"You will be, you will be." Kaia pats Zamar's hand. "Because you have to be."
He squeezes her hand and sighs. He sits in silence, taking in everything that has transpired since the scavenger hunt. It seems like a lifetime ago, but it as really not been very long at all.
"Go on, now." Kaia waves her hand toward the front of the tent. "Go have your party. Relax, enjoy yourself. When was the last time you did that?"
"I will admit, it has been a while now." He stands and heads towards the entrance. As he leaves, he says, "Thank you. I swear we will do everything we can for you."
"Oh, go on with you," Kaia said waving Zamar off. She picks up her plate of food and turns her attention to it.
“Hey,” Lera greets Vera, fiddling with the embroidery on her bodice. “You look... nice. Did Singe tell you why he wanted me over here?”
"Hi," Vera said, finding something interesting to look at in another part of the cavern. "No... just that he and Perrin wanted to give me some time away from the kitchen to enjoy the party."
“You should get to enjoy the party!” Lera blurted out.
"I don't mind doing the cooking," Vera said quickly. "Besides, the party is for all of you. They shouldn't be in the kitchen working during their own party!"
“What if you being here helps my enjoyment of the party?”
"Oh," Vera giggled nervously. "Well, I... uh..." She quickly changed the subject. "So, are you enjoying it? Is the food okay? There's cobbler, you know."
“The food is great,” Lera lies easily, having been too busy trying to look impressive to remember to eat. Her stomach was also tossing and turning too much, so food hadn’t been on the forefront of her mind. “But, do you know what would make his party even better?”
"I would have loved to make a chocolate cake," Vera said, giggling again. "Maybe a little bit of drink would have been nice. Unfortunately, my kitchen isn't very well stocked for either of those."
“I mean, chocolate cake would have been nice...” Lera’s voice trailed off. “But, ummm, I was thinking that it would be fun to dance.”
"Oh," Vera continued to giggle. "Yeah, dancing is fun."
“Would you be interested in maybe dancing with me?” Lera bit her lip nervously.
Vera turned a deep shade of red. "I... uh... sure. Yes. Yes, I'd like to." Lera holds out her hand for Vera, unconsciously holding her breath, and only breathing when the other girl took it.
“Have you danced a lot?” Lera asked.
"Some," Vera said, her voice trembling slightly. She cleared her throat, hoping Lera hadn't noticed. "We had parties all the time back home, with all of my Father's rich friends."
Lera stepped closer to Vera, her hand starting to inch closer to the other girl’s waist. “Well, most of my dancing has happened at taverns, so I don’t really know those fancy dances.”
"They're... boring," Vera said, smiling at Lera, then looking away quickly. "Mostly just the boys trying to cop a feel."
“Well, hopefully, I’ll be a better dance partner,” Lera giggled, her hand stopping just short of actually touching Vera at the mention of copping a feel.
Vera laughs. "I'm sure you'll be fine, though... I've never been to a tavern before, so I... don't really know what kind of dancing goes on there."
“Well, then just follow me,” Lera smiles before spinning Vera. She then attempts to lead her crush in a fast paced dance that whirls around the room. At first, Vera was tense, noticing people watching them dance. Then the thrill of the moment took over, and she loosened up, allowing Lera to lead her around the makeshift dance floor. As the song ends, Lera stops and smiles at Vera. “Thank you,” she says softly.
Vera smiled back, still flushed. "No, thank you. This was a lot of fun." She glanced nervously at the kitchen. "I... I'd better to see what those two are up to in my kitchen." She gave Lera's hand a light squeeze, then danced her way to the kitchen, feeling like she was walking on clouds.
Lera grins like a fool before turning and finding the closest small child. “Your turn!” She holds out her hands to the kid. “Come dance with me!”
Vera enters the kitchen, taking a deep breath, and a moment to collect herself. "Okay you two, out! Go enjoy your party!"
"Too short!" Singe exclaims, "That was what, one song?"
Vera laughed. "Go! There's cobbler out there getting cold!"
Singe folds his arms, "I am not leaving here until you go thank her."
Vera looked confused. "I... I did thank her..."
Singe rolls his eyes, "Properly."
"Come Vera. There's only some cleaning left and Singe has volunteered to do it all by himself. After all, he needs to practice his cleaning magic." Perrin says as he tries to usher her out the door.
Vera looked, wide eyed, between Perrin and Singe. "Why is everyone so concerned about me all of a sudden?"
Singe looks at the nineteen year old, "Do we need to spell it out?"
"We just want you to have a good time. After all, this may be the last good time in a while if tomorrow doesn't go well." Perrin says a little somberly.
Singe rolls his eyes, "Go. Kiss. Her."
"I've had my fun," Vera said laughing. "You are the ones going into battle, not me." Then, at Singe's response, she turned bright red. "I... uh... oh my... I... couldn't."
Singe arches an eyebrow.
"Singe. That's not how this work." Perrin says to him before turning back to her. "Yes. We're going into battle. But for all of you and if things end badly for us it'll end badly for all of you here. So, we want to make this night as fun as possible. And I know of a certain lady out there who will have more fun tonight if you join her in the singing and dancing and leave the chores to those of us who can do it in literal minutes. And I know you'll have more fun with her out there than in here."
Singe nods vigorously.
"She's having fun," Vera said, trying to figure some way out of this line of questioning. "She's dancing with the children. She's having fun." She pulled away from Perrin and walked quickly deeper into the kitchen. "I... I... I need to figure out something for the kids to eat tomorrow for breakfast."
"We can do that. She'd rather be with you than with the children. Just," Singe sighs, "Just don't be in here. She likes you. She really does..."
Vera fiddled with a sad looking carrot, for a few moments, seemingly stuck in thought. Finally she placed the carrot back with the others, and wrung her hands together. "There's no more apples, and we're really low on cheese. I... I think the children will need to start eating some of the salted meats. The carrots will need to be boiled in the morning."
"Ok, got it." Singe looks to Perrin, "Excuse us for a moment," Singe beckons Perrin out in to the dining room.
"I'll be right back. Don't start cooking. I'll handle all of it." Perrin says as he follows Singe.
Lera has amassed most of the children into dancing rings around her. Everyone involved is laughing and looks to be having a good time. Every twenty seconds or so, she glances back at the kitchen entrance, hoping to catch sight of someone.
"What should we do?" Singe whispers frantically at Perrin, "We could have Lera go in, or could get Vera out... But she wont come out. Unless..." Singe looks at his staff, "Nope! Never mind, forget I said anything. We'll let it simmer for a little bit."
"I told her I'll handle the cooking. So lets get Lera in there to coax her out or I can always carry her out." Perrin whispers back.
"My plan was far better than carrying her, but, it's water under the bridge." Singe straightens and waves at Lera.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Lera extricates herself from the mob of youngsters and walks over. “Ah, Singe, just the man I was looking for,” she grins. “I wanted to show the kids a magic trick.”
"Yes, yes, I'll do it." Singe says, "Vera refuses to enjoy herself, could you coax her out of the kitchen? Maybe take a walk together? Just get her out of the kitchen." Singe walks up to the throng of children, "Lady Lera told me you wanted to see some magic..."
“Yes,” Lera stands beside Singe. “And my friend here has offered to be my assistant, since he doesn’t get hurt by fire magic as easily.”
Singe frowns at Lera, “I can actually.” He whispers, “And you’re supposed to be seeing Vera.”
With Singe and Lera away Perrin goes back into the kitchen and calls out to Vera. "Vera. You have to come see this." Vera looks at Perrin confused, but follows to the door of the kitchen.
Singe’s hands light and his hair begins to dance. He places the hands in his hair until it looks like his scalp is on fire.
“Oh, I will,” Lera nods, casting mold earth to make a red x on the ground. “But first, I promised these kids a demonstration. And you agreed to help!” She grins sweetly at Singe. “Stand on that x for me.”
Singe shakes his head, “You’re going to hit me with a fire bolt, I am not resistant to fire!”
“No, I would never do something like that!” Lera replies. She reaches into the ground and molds earth to create a ball made of packed earth. “I’m going to hit this off your head with some fire!”
Perrin will lead her out of the kitchen to see this magic show. "This is Lera's speciality. Magic. It's very impressive. Now watch her. I'll get the kids breakfast started. Enjoy the show. Don't make me make my Pa order it." Perrin says with a wink as he disappears back into the kitchen to start preparing a breakfast for the kids tomorrow.
Singe looks confused, looks at Vera in the doorway and back at Lera. “Really?” Singe shakes his head, walking on to the X.
Lera backed up until she was about seven feet away from Singe. “And I’m not going to use firebolt,” Lera winks. With that, the young sorceress cast Dragon’s Breath on herself, anxious to try the new spell for the first time.
“No, no, no!” Singe cries, but Lera was faster. The teenager made a mug show of taking in a deep breath, and then letting loose the stream of fire.
Her plan had been to just barely miss Singe, going right over the top of his head. Make him feel the heat, but not actually get hurt. But, plans never go as they’re supposed to, especially with Lera involved, and instead of missing him, the cone of flame hit him squarely in the face. Perhaps she should have practiced that spell more...
As Lera hits Singe straight on, he raises the glass staff in a defensive position and a spectral shield appears. Thanks to his arcane ward, only a few licks of fire hit Singe. Singe brushes himself off, bows, turns and walks towards the kitchen, muttering to Lera as he walks past, “Kitchen. Now.”
Lera’s eyes go wide as she runs up to Singe. “Oh my gods, did I hit you?” She worries. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to. Do you need healing?”
Vera watched, eyes wide and a hand over her mouth. The moment she saw what happened, she turned an walked back into the kitchen, silently wiping down a counter.
"Of course you didn't mean too." Singe says turning on his heal and heads out of the dining room.
"I'm so sorry, it seemed like a good idea," Lera babbles. "I would heal you, but I'm all out. Oh, we're going to Perrin, he can help."
Singe did not head towards the kitchen once Vera went in.
"You can hit me with some fire if you want," Lera offers. "And then we'll be even."
Once out of the dining room, Singe turns to Lera. "I'll be fine. I'll go back to the kitchen and get Perrin to take a look at it. You know who isn't fine?"
"Me, because you're going to tell my dad and he's going to kill me?"
"No. Vera."
"Wait, she saw?" Lera asks. Singe nods. "Shit."
"You need to stop trying to be impressive. You already are." Singe says.
"No, I'm not," she sighs. "I just completely screwed up what was supposed to be a harmless party trick."
Singe looks directly at Lera, "Casting a new spell is never a party trick. Casting a spell you've practiced thousands of times, that's a party trick." Singe pauses. "Give me your wand."
Lera reaches into her robes and withdraws what appears to be a stick that she just picked up off the ground. Not making eye contact, she hands it to him.
Singe sighs, tucking the wand into his suit jacket. "Look at me."
"I'm really sorry," she looks up.
"If you want to make it up to me, you have to take Vera out of the kitchen and out of the dining room." Singe says. "Have a good evening with her. Please." Singe walks back over into the kitchen.
"Why are you doing this?" Lera asks curiously.
"My mum says, 'No matter how old, how dull, how mean you might seem, you can always smile at the flourishing of love.'" Singe smiles, turning around, "And besides, why not?"
Lera blushes. "You are so weird."
Singe grins, and walks to the kitchen. Lera follows him into the kitchen.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Woe has been on stage from the moment everyone arrived. She started off with a couple of easy tunes, mostly played on her lute. Some are just melodies, for others, her voice carries into the hall and bounces off the sides, filling the room with her music. When the food arrives, she again switches to mostly melodies, as she knows, people won't be listening to her now. Right after dinner she tells a story with her drums, it is an old tale about well, a group of girls, slaying a dragon.
Once upon a time there was a divine sea dragon demanding annual tribute in the form of young girls. If the tribute was not delivered, the dragon called up wicked storms and drowned countless fishermen and laid waste to the lands with tsunamis. After many years of villagers trying to fight the dragon and many adventurers from near and far had perished, a group of girls, selected to be the next sacrifice, decided to fight. They all had daggers hidden in their ceremonial clothes when they were lead to the edge of the water. When the dragon rose, the group split in the middle, dodging to both sides of the dragon's head and cutting out her eyes. Once the creature was blinded, they went straight for her legs. The area was freed from the evil dominion of the dragon and the inhabitants are still celebrating the 'dragon girls' day' once a year.
After the story, Woe then plays more dancing songs, getting everyone to their feet. At some point she sees Lera dancing with Vera and can feel that this is special. She is trying to follow the joyful polka she had been playing with a slower song, but the two of them already walk separate ways again.
She gets a little break when Lera is doing her magic trick, but once it is quite obvious that it didn't exactly go as planned and Singe pulls Lera away, Woe again picks up her instruments and makes sure the mood doesn't take a dip. When she finally sees Zamar enter the halls, she tries to signal him, wave and plays a couple of wrong notes, but he turns to talk to Singe.
After he'd finished helping set up the hall before dinner, Dapple had again drifted off, wandering the halls of the commune and eventually found himself at the bathing pool. He took the time to clean himself up before the start of the party, as the others had before him.
Returning to the hall just as the food was served and people were arriving to partake in the feast, he enjoyed a plate of the fresh food and delicious dessert treats, but was careful not to overindulge. His gaze kept returning to the children running back and forth. He could not bring himself to eat much, seeing it as taking food from their mouths. Memories of the young and playful tabaxi of his village came to him. They were lost now, but he could help these people and fully intended to do so.
He shook off the sad recollection of what was lost and let Woe's music distract and cheer him, tail twitching in time to the strains of her songs. He didn't dance, but eventually was surrounded by a gaggle of the more curious youngsters and was pulled into their games, soon rolling around on the floor under a pile of shrieking children as they imitated him, pouncing and growling like little snow leopard as they played.
As Singe and Lera walk into the kitchen they find Perrin staring at Vera who is whipping down the counter.
Lera has gone back to fiddling with the embroidery at the bottom of her corset. She follows Singe without looking up.
"Perrin, do you have any healing magic left? The burns are aggravating the wounds I got from falling out of the tree this morning." Singe says.
"Uh...yeah but what happened? I left before the show actually began. I assumed she was going to use some type of illusion." Perrin says
“An illusion... would have been a good idea,” Lera piped up sheepishly.
Vera continued to scrub the same spot of the counter. "It certainly... scary looking."
“I need to work on my aim,” Lera shrunk back.
“Thankfully my arcane ward took most of the damage.” Singe reassures Perrin, “I just got, well, singed.”
"You are partially made of fire or something like that so, it couldn't have been that bad. Still, come here and show my where it hurts. I have some divine magic left for healing." Perrin says
“Please, I would appreciate that greatly. My right shoulder is the most in pain.” Singe sits. “I don’t know why everyone thinks I’m immune to fire. Just because my father may have been doesn’t mean I am!”
"It doesn't look too bad. Besides, I'm sure you'll grow immune to it if you're exposed to it more and more." Perrin says with a chuckle as he puts his hands on Singe's shoulders and a divine healing energy springs from his hands into Singe's wound. (Cure Wounds for 8 HP)
Singe walks to where Vera is scrubbing and upon seeing nothing takes the cloth out of her hand. "Ok, enough of this. Lera, Vera, for the love of Lathander, please look at each other."
Lera stares at Singe.
Vera snapped back to reality. "Wha-?"
Singe looks at Perrin, completely desperate.
Zamar walks back in and notices the gathering. He waves and heads over near the kitchen.
Perrin justs sighs and says to Singe "I think we've done more harm than good. We should probably just give them some space before we make it worse."
Singe nods and leaves the kitchen, bumping into Zamar, "Oh, hi Zamar... how's Polly doing?" Singe closes the kitchen door behind him. (Zamar insight on Singes weird behavior: 10 Singes description: 18)
Perrin looks at Lera and mouths "Talk to her" before also leaving the kitchen.
"She is doing all right. She's resting. Kaia and I talked a bit. She was grateful for the food and just as grateful to avoid the party. There's a lot riding on us taking out this dragon." Zamar says
Singe nods, "And so many things could go wrong."
Perrin pipes in from behind Singe "And I have a plan to potentially lure her and maybe the Kobolds. Zamar how good are you at doing impressions?"
Meanwhile Woe is trying to get Zamars attention.
"I'm quite good at them, especially if I have heard my subject for a bit. Who did you have in mind?"Zamar asks
“Lord Embrees daughter. Perhaps her voice will attract the dragon or kobolds.” Perrin says
"I'd need a bit more time with her," he says, "but I could definitely manage that. Perhaps with some illusion, I could even appear as her as well..."
"I talked to her earlier, I don't think the dragon would treat her any differently than anyone else. I was think some of that drug Woe has might be able to knock the dragon unconscious, making it easy work." Singe sees Woe trying to get Zamar's attention, "Oh, I think Woe wants to talk to you."
"Ah, I believe you are right. If you will excuse me. Perrin, let's discuss your plan later." Zamar says
Perrin nods yes and let’s Zamar go. Zamar heads over to the stage where Woe is performing.
"Zamar, there you are. Would you be able to entertain for a bit? I would like to take a short break, eat a little as well. And when I return, do you think we could repeat our show from our bard contest win? Do you think Lera would join in?" Woe asks
"I would be glad to! And I am sure she would love to help. That sounds delightful. Sorry I was gone so long. I was checking on Polly and Kaia, the healer. I brought them some food." Zamar answers
Zamar takes the stage and begins playing a very upbeat tune on his Lyre.
Zamar sings (to the tune of "Killing the Dragon" by Dio)
Frozen, we stare at the beast Thought we were lost And a dragon feast
Saved by the rebels below Who live in the dark And now it's time to go
Someone's taking a stand We're going to strike fast Time to be killing the dragon at last!
People we give you our word Her reign's going to fold The bringer of cold
Though we all might be afraid Our talents too poor Living no more
We will all master our fears We're going to strike fast Time to be killing the dragon at last!
Going to be clipping her wings White dragon screams Time for us to release you
Then on for Lord Embree's heart We're going to strike fast Time to be killing the dragon at last!
Shanolia lifts her head as she listens to Zamar's singing, a brief flicker of hope entering her mind before she finishes her second glass of the Tej and lays her head back down. Right now she's absolutely terrified of what's to come, and with no hope of finding company for the evening, she just lays her head on the table and tries to calm her nerves.
At Woes urging, Dapple stretches and climbs to his feet. "Of course," he responds eagerly, "I can help with whatever you need. The people here seem friendly enough, but have been keeping their distance, so I haven't been able to find much to do yet. What are we setting up takes and a stage for?" He's soon filled in on the plan for the combined birthday party and joins in the preparations, happy to have something to do.
When the conversation dies down, Shanolia closes her eyes and relaxes in the water until Woe fetches her for the party.
Dungeon Master - LSoL
Kaori - Battlemaster Fighter 5 / Paladin 2 (Kenku) - TSR
Cherna Godhari - Grave Cleric 4 (Human) - TW
Breena Mahi'ai - Divination Wizard 8 (Halfling) - WoE
Sharyn Savonath - Open Sea Paladin 4 (Triton) - PoPI
Zephyr - Four Elements (Revised) Monk 4 (Air Genasi) - IO
Takeshi - Mercy Monk 6 (Protector Aasimar) - TBW
Avrui Sirsash - Genie Warlock 2 (Wildhunt Shifter) - WotBS
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InsidersThe day stretches on, everyone with their duties, some preparing for festivities in the evening, others preparing for the battle to come. The children finish up their schooling, and begin a game of hide and seek throughout the cave. Finally, there was a call to dinner. As the cave dwellers, followed by the members of the Scarlet Dawn, filed into the dining hall, everyone paused to look at the minimal, but noticeable decorations that had been put up. Then they noticed the delectable smells coming from the kitchen, wondering to themselves what was cooking. Sam motioned for everyone to quiet down, then addressed everyone in the dining hall. "We've been in these caves for a while now, supplies dwindling, unsure of when more would could." He glanced at Perrin, smile on his face. "Thankfully, my son, and his friends, have come to help us with this problem we have found ourselves facing. I've been told it's the birthday of two of their members, and they have requested a party. What good is a party without a feast?" Just then, Vera exited the kitchen holding a huge platter with a roast boar. Huge grin on her face, she placed the boar on the table in front of Sam, then stepped back and made her way to the kitchen once again. "I was saving this for a special occasion. I can think of none better. Dig in!" A cheer went up among the dwellers, and they began to file up for their fill. Vera continued back and forth from the kitchen, bringing smaller plates and bowls of various foods; vegetables, fruits, but it was clear to see, whatever they may have in that kitchen, there wasn't much of it.
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
As the party begins, Singe walks up to Sam, "Sam, may I take a moment of your time?"
"Of course," Sam replies, motioning Singe over. "Get something to eat, something to drink!"
Singe grabs a slice of pork and wraps it between two apple slices, "What can you tell me about Nydhi? Size, distance in relation to us, hunting patterns, anything that might aid us."
Sam thinks for a moment. "Well, we try to avoid her and her kobolds as much as possible. We were doing fine for a long time, actually." He waved his hand, pointing down the hallway toward the main chamber. "The hot springs here keep the caves in this area too warm for her, so she never cared much about us being here. As for her size..." he paused again thinking. "She's pretty big, compared to you and I, but in relation to dragons?" He shrugged. "I haven't encountered many, myself. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say she wasn't very old. There aren't many large caves in this area, that we've seen, but we know she can fit into some of the smaller ones. Sheema will be the one leading you to her lair tomorrow. She has the most experience with her."
Singe nods, crunching on his apple sandwich, "If you overthrow Lord Embree, may I recommend a course of action?"
Sam nodded. "Of course. All suggestions are welcome."
"Don't make a central heretical office. No matter how generous or kind one man is, or how wonderful their child is, it can not be expected that their descendants will share those qualities."
Sam nodded slowly. He pulled Singe away from the central group of people. "What exactly would you suggest then?"
Singe shrugs, "A voting public is a popular idea in academic circles, it gives the people a chance to speak, decreasing the likelihood of a violent revolution. Personally, I would rather not create a government for people I have only just met. I will definitely lend my council, but the final decision should be left up to you."
Let the people decide how they are ruled?" Sam nodded his head again. "This could work. It could very well prevent another tyrant from rising up again." Sam claps Singe on the forearm. "Wonderful idea!"
Singe's face contorts and then goes back to normal in less than a second, "Um... Thank you. Um, I must go get more food, pardon me." Singe walks quickly away.
Tooltips | Snippet Code | How to Homebrew on D&D Beyond | Subclass Guide | Feature Roadmap
Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Shanolia smiles at the cheering from the group as she moves to secure an empty table for her group, not really one for socialising despite the fact that it's technically - at least partially - a party for her. She sits alone, watching the others enjoy themselves for what must be the first time in ages. Eventually, she closes her eyes, her mind recounting the events of the last few days, until her train of thought is interrupted by Woe setting down a bottle of alcohol in the centre of the table. The Elf eyes the bottle for a second, before turning her curious gaze to Woe.
“May I?”
"Of course you may, it's for us all to share. It's from the Thundering Lizard, from a time when our problems were literally so much smaller... Enjoy today, for tomorrow we fight!"
“Thank you.” Shanolia pops open the bottle and pours herself a small glass, slowly sipping on the alcohol as her mind returns to the danger that they will face tomorrow, her fear only barely hidden by her hoods and mask.
Dungeon Master - LSoL
Kaori - Battlemaster Fighter 5 / Paladin 2 (Kenku) - TSR
Cherna Godhari - Grave Cleric 4 (Human) - TW
Breena Mahi'ai - Divination Wizard 8 (Halfling) - WoE
Sharyn Savonath - Open Sea Paladin 4 (Triton) - PoPI
Zephyr - Four Elements (Revised) Monk 4 (Air Genasi) - IO
Takeshi - Mercy Monk 6 (Protector Aasimar) - TBW
Avrui Sirsash - Genie Warlock 2 (Wildhunt Shifter) - WotBS
As the festivities wear on, Zamar realizes that Polly and Kaia are not there. Polly must still be feeling poorly and Kaia tending her. They should enjoy the party, too. Zamar tells Perrin what he is up to. "Pardon me all," he says, grabbing a small tray of food and drink. "I'll be back shortly. I want to check on some absent friends." He then heads out to bring the food to the tribal healer and her charge.
Zamar Zahuv - Level 4 Aasimar Bard in Whispers of Dissent
Golos - Level 1 Halfling Barbarian in Night's Dark Terror
Jerrok Flametongue - Level 6 Human Barbarian in Zendikar - Whispers of the Aeons
R'thr Ka'ri - Level 5 Paladin in The Adventures of Bubbles (every other Wednesday)
Johnathan Moonspeaker - Level 6 Druid in Web of Lies (every other Friday)
DM of Something Wicked This Way Comes - D&D Modernverse (every other Tuesday)
Perrin, who has been eating significantly less than normal to allow others to eat more, looks around and notices that Grasalfan isn't around. "I wonder if he is still working on my armor?" Perrin mutters aloud. He then excuses himself and makes a small plate for Grasalfan, assuming that Zamar was referring to him and knowing that the Gnome can eat more, and carries it to the workshop where he assumes Grasalfan is.
As you approach the forge room, Grasalfan is heard... pounding away at what sounds to be metal. As you enter, the heat of the room hits you. Grasalfan stands, bare-chested with his singed belly hanging over the forge. He pulls a plate of metal from the heat and begins to hit it with his hammer. Each hit shapes it into a curved angle. He doesn't seem to notice you.
Perrin will cough loudly hoping to get his attention.
The roar of the flames and the pounding of the metal drowns out Perrin's cough. He continues to shape the metal.
Seeing that he isn't getting Graslfan's attention the normal way Perrin will slowly and cautiously put a hand on his shoulder.
Grasalfan turns as Perrin touches him, then calls out loudly, "There ye are, boy!" He looks Perrin up and down, as if judging his size, then nods. "Yer chain mail was shite," he calls out, still too loudly, "But I was able to spare some of it."
"I appreciate it. It was my Pa's. When I didn't notice you at the party I figured you'd still be here so I brought you some food. Zamar also grabbed some food for those that weren't able to make it so, he might be down here later." Perrin explains
"What!?" He calls.
Perrin just repeats "FOOD" far too loudly and then points at the plate of food he brought.
Grasalfan nods quickly then take a chunk of the largest meat presented. He gobbles it up quickly. "I got some ideas, boy!" He yells out. "There were scraps of metal lying about here. "I can make ye some good Splint with yer Chain Mail!
"REALLY?!?" Perrin yells out excitement clear on his face.
"Aye!" He says, gesturing for Perrin to put the plate on a stool. "It'll take all night though!"
"THANK YOU!" Perrin says and then reaches to give Grasalfan a hug.
Grasalfan is a bit taken aback, his sweaty bare belly hanging far out from the mass of his body. "Go on, boy. Leave me to it!" He says, a small grin on his face. He then begins to pound away at the metal again.
Perrin leaves, making sure to set the remains of his food on a nearby workbench, before returning to the party a happy smile on his face.
Singe casts detect thoughts and looks around for Vera.
Gosh, I wish there were more vegetables. What will the children eat this week? If I slice the apples thinner... no, that won't work. She glances toward the kitchen. About 20 more minutes on the cobbler. I really hope it turns out well. I used the last of the strawberries. She glances about, then quickly looks down at her feet. Oh my. Lera looks so pretty. Should I talk to her? No, I... Then she quickly walks back to the kitchen.
Singe shrugs and lets detect thoughts die and mills about, eats, and makes idle chatter. Almost thirty minutes later, Vera exits the kitchen with a dish in her hands and a smile on her lips. She brings the dish over to the central table, places it down, then moves away once again, without a word. She sits silently at a table, watching the festivities.
Singe approaches Vera, "Lady Vera, I presume?"
Vera looks taken aback. "Please, just Vera."
Singe smiles, "Ah. I know you've met some of our band, but I'm not sure you've had a formal introduction."
"Oh, no," Vera giggles. "I'm sorry, I haven't met everyone. I've been busy today. I'm Vera." She sticks her hand out to shake yours. "Nice to meet you..."
"Former Ambassador Singe Harown." Singe shakes her hand. "We are the Circle of the Scarlet Dawn. You know who's juggling, the halfling who looks a lot like Sam is Perrin Cherrycheeks, his son, the bald man with the cloak over there is Koll. The cat is Dapple, the masked elf is Shanolia, the half-elf playing on the stage is Woe. The man who was here... with the lyre is Zamar, Lera's father." Singe continues, "As you probably know, we're going to be taking on a dragon who has struck a deal with your father. Is there anything you can tell me about your father?"
At the mention of Lera's name, Vera looks over at the girl, and blushes lightly. But she's snapped back to reality at the mention of her father. "Oh... he's..." She frowns, looking at her hands. "He's not a good man. As far as I know, he hasn't even tried to retrieve me. I doubt he ever will."
"The dragon's kobold's were outfitted with excellent armor and weaponry soon after your arrival, do you think that is a coincidence?"
"I don't," she replies, quietly. "I think my father will do anything to destroy these people."
"It seems he certainly has a vendetta against these people. Did you know of the dragon before arriving here?"
"I didn't, no." Vera bites her lip. "I regretted my decision to come here when I found out, but decided I would stay to help. If they're going to die here because of my father then..." She pauses, gulping. "Then so will I."
Singe unfurrows his brow, not realizing it was, "You decided to come? Well, your courage and stalwartness are noted. In your opinion is your father a tactical person?"
"My father has money, and friends." Vera looked at Singe, with a look of sadness. "He can pay people to be tactical for him."
"I believe simple would describe your father's... mindset accurately?"
"Simple?" Vera asked, not sure what Singe meant.
"Dull, dimwitted, etcetera." Singe explains.
Vera shrugged. "Why think when you have money?"
Singe nods, "I think that's all of my questions, but I can not let you get back to work."
Singe casts detect thoughts on Perrin and begins to probe. Perrin is super excited to be reconnected with his dad. He thinks it is too good to be true and that the other shoe has to fall. He is also both excited and terrified to fight the dragon. He also thinks that the best bet of defeating her might be to call upon Frank the sword who he knows lies within him now and is not gone. He understands the group's worries of the sword taking over him and killing Lera but Perrin is confident in his abilities to hold the sword back and focus its divine fury.
There's a weird buzzing in Perrin's head, it's not alcohol, he looks towards Singe... Singe waves, the buzzing stops, and Singe gestures for Perrin to come over. Singe looks at Vera as Perrin walks over, "Oh, one more question, is your mother still with us?"
Vera shook her head. "No, she died in childbirth when my youngest sister was born." Singe nods solemnly.
Tooltips | Snippet Code | How to Homebrew on D&D Beyond | Subclass Guide | Feature Roadmap
Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Perrin comes over and whispers "What are you doing in my head?"
"Just getting your attention. Have you met Vera?"
Vera smiles politely.
"We meet very briefly earlier but I don't believe we had a chance to properly introduce ourselves." Perrin says to her. "Perrin Cherrycheeks. Paladin of Yondalla."
Vera holds out a hand to shake. "I'm Vera. I've heard a lot about you from your dad."
"Vera has been working really hard to get this party underway, I was hoping you and I could allow Vera to enjoy the party." Singe says as he moves his attention to Lera. The biggest thing in the forefront of Lera's mind is how cute Vera looks in those fancy clothes and how much Lera wants to kiss her. It's mostly just nerves, trying really hard to be impressive, and a little bit of excitement to kill a dragon. There's a weird buzzing in Lera's head, she looks towards Singe... He waves, the buzzing stops, and Singe gestures for Lera to come over.
Lera messages Singe. What do you need?
"No, no," Vera said, rushed. "This party is for you! I'm okay, really!"
At this point Singe is grinning a huge smile, "No! You deserve it! You've clearly worked so hard, and someone's looking at us..." Singe waves at Lera, Don't mop in the corner Lera! Come say hi and don't worry about being impressive, she thinks you look cute anyways.
Lera blushed. How’d you get into my head? A few seconds passes, before realization dawns on her. Wait, were you in her head too? Was she thinking about me?
"I'd be more than happy to take over in the kitchen for Vera to be able to enjoy this party. Come Singe. Follow me." Perrin says and then grabs Singes arm perhaps a little too tightly as he guides him into the kitchen.
Singe winks as he's pulled off by Perrin, Come on, talk to her. I expect to hear what happens.
Vera glances up, spots Lera, and begins to blush once again. "No, really, it's fine! Enjoy your party," she says as Singe and Perrin head off toward the kitchen.
"Tooo late!" Singe calls out, already near the kitchen.
Lera walks over hesitantly. Perrin told you? But I swore him to secrecy! She swore telepathically. You will both pay for this.
Vera shifted awkwardly as Lera approaches.
Singe sends a small face winking to Lera. This is very out of character for Singe, the stress of the impending dragon fight might be getting to him.
Tooltips | Snippet Code | How to Homebrew on D&D Beyond | Subclass Guide | Feature Roadmap
Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Once in the kitchen Perrin turns to Singe and says "Can you get out of my mind before I force you out? And then ask me like a normal person what you want. I don't understand why you had to invade my brain and couldn't just talk to me. We're not enemies so, why the mind reading?"
"I have no other way of getting your attention." Singe shrugs. "I'd rather not make a flashbang."
"What do you mean? You can just walk up to me and say 'Hey Perrin. I want to talk to you. Can we go somewhere private.' It wouldn't be that hard now would it." Perrin says giving his best impersonation of Singe when he states what Singe could have done.
"No, I needed a reason for Vera not to hide in the kitchen all night. Goodness! The tension was thicker than pea soup." Singe says
"I still don't understand the mind-reading bit. I feel like you don't trust me Singe." Perrin says obviously still confused and perhaps a little angry at that stunt.
"Look, the nature of the spell alerts you to my probing. I needed your attention and I don't have any magic like Lera does. It's an unfortunate side effect, I do trust you." Singe explains
"Singe. You could have done this better. Also, next question. Why were you trying to get Vera out of the kitchen? And why did you also alert Lera?" Perrin asks, already knowing why but curious as to how Singe knows.
"Vera knew Lera's name. And thought she looked cute. We hadn't met Vera so Lera must have sought her out." Singe explains, "Simple, really, and then Lera, well, she felt the same way."
"And you know all this because you were probing into their minds?" Perrin asks
"Yes, look, this is very muddled. The only reason I probed Vera's mind was to see if she was lying to me." Singe says
"Lying about what? Have you been interrogating the people here? Did you interrogate my Pa. Let me tell you if you did that's not a very good idea. He has a strong butt spanking hand." Perrin says having a sudden non-happy flashback to the couple times he got in trouble and got a spanking from his Pa.
"No. Look, I wanted to know more about Lord Embree, the closest person to him here is Vera. I had no idea if Vera held her father in higher regard -she doesn't by the way- and if she would try to convince me of the same or try to obscure the truth!" Singe says
"Vera's a good person. Me and Lera already scouted her out earlier. If she was lying to us we would have known. I still don't like this probing thing. Next time use something else to get my attention. Now, since we're in the kitchen we better work. See those pots over there, start scrubbing. I'll have a look see for whatever Vera started and try and finish it up. Huh, we really need to kill that dragon soon. These people need more food." Perrin says sadly looking at their diminishing food supplies.
"Yes, they really do." Singe looks around, "What should I do?"
"Get to scrubbing them. They're not going to clean themselves." Perrin says
Singe cleans as many dishes as he can, using prestidigitation to most of the heavy lifting.
Then Perrin will begin cleaning off the counters and such but, will also take a little inventory of what he sees food wise.
As Zamar enters the tent, he sees Kaia sitting in her rocking chair, working on some knitting. Polly is still in bed, asleep.
"Kaia, we missed you at the celebration. Sam seems to be pulling out all the stops. I wanted to make sure you two were okay and included."
He places the food and drink on the table for her.
Kaia presses a finger to her lips, and motions Zamar to the back of the tent with her. "The child is still sleeping. Thank you for this. I couldn't leave her here alone."
"I understand," he whispers. "I expected as much. Do you want me to take a shift so you can go out and enjoy the revelry? Or would you like company watching over your patient? Sam is building us up a lot. I hope we are up to the task. Hope is a great gift, but false hope is an even bigger curse."
"Bah," Kaia says before grabbing the plate of food. "Parties are for young folk. What would I do? Dance? Bah." She sniffed the roast boar, her eyebrows raising a moment before taking a taste. "You and your friends are the first new people we've had come here in months. It's no wonder he's building you up. HIs son, come back to life, and all that."
"I get that. If my daughter returned to me after I believed her dead, I would be overjoyed. It just makes me want to succeed that much more." He pauses. "I'm not surprised you haven't had many visitors. A dragon hovering over you would be a big deterrent. What happened with the last people to stop by?"(edited)
"Oh, people who come here usually end up here for a reason," she says, chewing thoughtfully on a piece of boar. "This is a rebellion, young man. There's a war a'brewing. But new recruits are few and far between."
"Fair enough." He smiles. "I was never a fan of 'His Lordship' in my former life. I'm glad to help you all take him down. Perhaps slaying the dragon will send a message that we can win and draw more to your cause."
"Right now, my cause is that child sleeping in there." Kaia waves a hand in Polly's direction.
"That is always my cause. She reminds me so much of my Lera. And she was a handful, believe me. Still is. I would never forgive myself if something happened to either of them. This is no kind of life for a child, but neither of them will listen to me. The best I can do is shepherd them along and be there to pick them up if they fall. Or be willing to fall in their place."
"My daughter was strong willed." Kaia places the plate back on the table, motioning for Zamar to sit in one of the chairs next to her. "She did everything she could to rebel, not against me, but Embree. For years she tried to make life hard for him. I told her she needed to be quieter about it, but no. She kept pushing and pushing, until the day she was executed publically. Still, I'm damned proud of everything she did. Her heart was in the right place, and it helped spark others to speak out against Embree. That's why I'm here, why we're all here."
Zamar sits, not sure what to say. Finally, "You are right to be proud. I hope I can be that strong if my time should come."
"You will be, you will be." Kaia pats Zamar's hand. "Because you have to be."
He squeezes her hand and sighs. He sits in silence, taking in everything that has transpired since the scavenger hunt. It seems like a lifetime ago, but it as really not been very long at all.
"Go on, now." Kaia waves her hand toward the front of the tent. "Go have your party. Relax, enjoy yourself. When was the last time you did that?"
"I will admit, it has been a while now." He stands and heads towards the entrance. As he leaves, he says, "Thank you. I swear we will do everything we can for you."
"Oh, go on with you," Kaia said waving Zamar off. She picks up her plate of food and turns her attention to it.
Zamar Zahuv - Level 4 Aasimar Bard in Whispers of Dissent
Golos - Level 1 Halfling Barbarian in Night's Dark Terror
Jerrok Flametongue - Level 6 Human Barbarian in Zendikar - Whispers of the Aeons
R'thr Ka'ri - Level 5 Paladin in The Adventures of Bubbles (every other Wednesday)
Johnathan Moonspeaker - Level 6 Druid in Web of Lies (every other Friday)
DM of Something Wicked This Way Comes - D&D Modernverse (every other Tuesday)
“Hey,” Lera greets Vera, fiddling with the embroidery on her bodice. “You look... nice. Did Singe tell you why he wanted me over here?”
"Hi," Vera said, finding something interesting to look at in another part of the cavern. "No... just that he and Perrin wanted to give me some time away from the kitchen to enjoy the party."
“You should get to enjoy the party!” Lera blurted out.
"I don't mind doing the cooking," Vera said quickly. "Besides, the party is for all of you. They shouldn't be in the kitchen working during their own party!"
“What if you being here helps my enjoyment of the party?”
"Oh," Vera giggled nervously. "Well, I... uh..." She quickly changed the subject. "So, are you enjoying it? Is the food okay? There's cobbler, you know."
“The food is great,” Lera lies easily, having been too busy trying to look impressive to remember to eat. Her stomach was also tossing and turning too much, so food hadn’t been on the forefront of her mind. “But, do you know what would make his party even better?”
"I would have loved to make a chocolate cake," Vera said, giggling again. "Maybe a little bit of drink would have been nice. Unfortunately, my kitchen isn't very well stocked for either of those."
“I mean, chocolate cake would have been nice...” Lera’s voice trailed off. “But, ummm, I was thinking that it would be fun to dance.”
"Oh," Vera continued to giggle. "Yeah, dancing is fun."
“Would you be interested in maybe dancing with me?” Lera bit her lip nervously.
Vera turned a deep shade of red. "I... uh... sure. Yes. Yes, I'd like to." Lera holds out her hand for Vera, unconsciously holding her breath, and only breathing when the other girl took it.
“Have you danced a lot?” Lera asked.
"Some," Vera said, her voice trembling slightly. She cleared her throat, hoping Lera hadn't noticed. "We had parties all the time back home, with all of my Father's rich friends."
Lera stepped closer to Vera, her hand starting to inch closer to the other girl’s waist. “Well, most of my dancing has happened at taverns, so I don’t really know those fancy dances.”
"They're... boring," Vera said, smiling at Lera, then looking away quickly. "Mostly just the boys trying to cop a feel."
“Well, hopefully, I’ll be a better dance partner,” Lera giggled, her hand stopping just short of actually touching Vera at the mention of copping a feel.
Vera laughs. "I'm sure you'll be fine, though... I've never been to a tavern before, so I... don't really know what kind of dancing goes on there."
“Well, then just follow me,” Lera smiles before spinning Vera. She then attempts to lead her crush in a fast paced dance that whirls around the room. At first, Vera was tense, noticing people watching them dance. Then the thrill of the moment took over, and she loosened up, allowing Lera to lead her around the makeshift dance floor. As the song ends, Lera stops and smiles at Vera. “Thank you,” she says softly.
Vera smiled back, still flushed. "No, thank you. This was a lot of fun." She glanced nervously at the kitchen. "I... I'd better to see what those two are up to in my kitchen." She gave Lera's hand a light squeeze, then danced her way to the kitchen, feeling like she was walking on clouds.
Lera grins like a fool before turning and finding the closest small child. “Your turn!” She holds out her hands to the kid. “Come dance with me!”
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
Vera enters the kitchen, taking a deep breath, and a moment to collect herself. "Okay you two, out! Go enjoy your party!"
"Too short!" Singe exclaims, "That was what, one song?"
Vera laughed. "Go! There's cobbler out there getting cold!"
Singe folds his arms, "I am not leaving here until you go thank her."
Vera looked confused. "I... I did thank her..."
Singe rolls his eyes, "Properly."
"Come Vera. There's only some cleaning left and Singe has volunteered to do it all by himself. After all, he needs to practice his cleaning magic." Perrin says as he tries to usher her out the door.
Vera looked, wide eyed, between Perrin and Singe. "Why is everyone so concerned about me all of a sudden?"
Singe looks at the nineteen year old, "Do we need to spell it out?"
"We just want you to have a good time. After all, this may be the last good time in a while if tomorrow doesn't go well." Perrin says a little somberly.
Singe rolls his eyes, "Go. Kiss. Her."
"I've had my fun," Vera said laughing. "You are the ones going into battle, not me." Then, at Singe's response, she turned bright red. "I... uh... oh my... I... couldn't."
Singe arches an eyebrow.
"Singe. That's not how this work." Perrin says to him before turning back to her. "Yes. We're going into battle. But for all of you and if things end badly for us it'll end badly for all of you here. So, we want to make this night as fun as possible. And I know of a certain lady out there who will have more fun tonight if you join her in the singing and dancing and leave the chores to those of us who can do it in literal minutes. And I know you'll have more fun with her out there than in here."
Singe nods vigorously.
"She's having fun," Vera said, trying to figure some way out of this line of questioning. "She's dancing with the children. She's having fun." She pulled away from Perrin and walked quickly deeper into the kitchen. "I... I... I need to figure out something for the kids to eat tomorrow for breakfast."
"We can do that. She'd rather be with you than with the children. Just," Singe sighs, "Just don't be in here. She likes you. She really does..."
Vera fiddled with a sad looking carrot, for a few moments, seemingly stuck in thought. Finally she placed the carrot back with the others, and wrung her hands together. "There's no more apples, and we're really low on cheese. I... I think the children will need to start eating some of the salted meats. The carrots will need to be boiled in the morning."
"Ok, got it." Singe looks to Perrin, "Excuse us for a moment," Singe beckons Perrin out in to the dining room.
"I'll be right back. Don't start cooking. I'll handle all of it." Perrin says as he follows Singe.
Lera has amassed most of the children into dancing rings around her. Everyone involved is laughing and looks to be having a good time. Every twenty seconds or so, she glances back at the kitchen entrance, hoping to catch sight of someone.
"What should we do?" Singe whispers frantically at Perrin, "We could have Lera go in, or could get Vera out... But she wont come out. Unless..." Singe looks at his staff, "Nope! Never mind, forget I said anything. We'll let it simmer for a little bit."
"I told her I'll handle the cooking. So lets get Lera in there to coax her out or I can always carry her out." Perrin whispers back.
"My plan was far better than carrying her, but, it's water under the bridge." Singe straightens and waves at Lera.
Tooltips | Snippet Code | How to Homebrew on D&D Beyond | Subclass Guide | Feature Roadmap
Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Lera extricates herself from the mob of youngsters and walks over. “Ah, Singe, just the man I was looking for,” she grins. “I wanted to show the kids a magic trick.”
"Yes, yes, I'll do it." Singe says, "Vera refuses to enjoy herself, could you coax her out of the kitchen? Maybe take a walk together? Just get her out of the kitchen." Singe walks up to the throng of children, "Lady Lera told me you wanted to see some magic..."
“Yes,” Lera stands beside Singe. “And my friend here has offered to be my assistant, since he doesn’t get hurt by fire magic as easily.”
Singe frowns at Lera, “I can actually.” He whispers, “And you’re supposed to be seeing Vera.”
With Singe and Lera away Perrin goes back into the kitchen and calls out to Vera. "Vera. You have to come see this." Vera looks at Perrin confused, but follows to the door of the kitchen.
Singe’s hands light and his hair begins to dance. He places the hands in his hair until it looks like his scalp is on fire.
“Oh, I will,” Lera nods, casting mold earth to make a red x on the ground. “But first, I promised these kids a demonstration. And you agreed to help!” She grins sweetly at Singe. “Stand on that x for me.”
Singe shakes his head, “You’re going to hit me with a fire bolt, I am not resistant to fire!”
“No, I would never do something like that!” Lera replies. She reaches into the ground and molds earth to create a ball made of packed earth. “I’m going to hit this off your head with some fire!”
Perrin will lead her out of the kitchen to see this magic show. "This is Lera's speciality. Magic. It's very impressive. Now watch her. I'll get the kids breakfast started. Enjoy the show. Don't make me make my Pa order it." Perrin says with a wink as he disappears back into the kitchen to start preparing a breakfast for the kids tomorrow.
Singe looks confused, looks at Vera in the doorway and back at Lera. “Really?” Singe shakes his head, walking on to the X.
Lera backed up until she was about seven feet away from Singe. “And I’m not going to use firebolt,” Lera winks. With that, the young sorceress cast Dragon’s Breath on herself, anxious to try the new spell for the first time.
“No, no, no!” Singe cries, but Lera was faster. The teenager made a mug show of taking in a deep breath, and then letting loose the stream of fire.
Her plan had been to just barely miss Singe, going right over the top of his head. Make him feel the heat, but not actually get hurt. But, plans never go as they’re supposed to, especially with Lera involved, and instead of missing him, the cone of flame hit him squarely in the face. Perhaps she should have practiced that spell more...
As Lera hits Singe straight on, he raises the glass staff in a defensive position and a spectral shield appears. Thanks to his arcane ward, only a few licks of fire hit Singe. Singe brushes himself off, bows, turns and walks towards the kitchen, muttering to Lera as he walks past, “Kitchen. Now.”
PBP: DM of Titans of Tomorrow
PBP: Lera Zahuv in Whispers of Dissent
PBP: Evaine Brae in Innistrad: Dark Ascension
PBP: Cor'avin in Tomb of Annihilation
Lera’s eyes go wide as she runs up to Singe. “Oh my gods, did I hit you?” She worries. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to. Do you need healing?”
Vera watched, eyes wide and a hand over her mouth. The moment she saw what happened, she turned an walked back into the kitchen, silently wiping down a counter.
"Of course you didn't mean too." Singe says turning on his heal and heads out of the dining room.
"I'm so sorry, it seemed like a good idea," Lera babbles. "I would heal you, but I'm all out. Oh, we're going to Perrin, he can help."
Singe did not head towards the kitchen once Vera went in.
"You can hit me with some fire if you want," Lera offers. "And then we'll be even."
Once out of the dining room, Singe turns to Lera. "I'll be fine. I'll go back to the kitchen and get Perrin to take a look at it. You know who isn't fine?"
"Me, because you're going to tell my dad and he's going to kill me?"
"No. Vera."
"Wait, she saw?" Lera asks. Singe nods. "Shit."
"You need to stop trying to be impressive. You already are." Singe says.
"No, I'm not," she sighs. "I just completely screwed up what was supposed to be a harmless party trick."
Singe looks directly at Lera, "Casting a new spell is never a party trick. Casting a spell you've practiced thousands of times, that's a party trick." Singe pauses. "Give me your wand."
Lera reaches into her robes and withdraws what appears to be a stick that she just picked up off the ground. Not making eye contact, she hands it to him.
Singe sighs, tucking the wand into his suit jacket. "Look at me."
"I'm really sorry," she looks up.
"If you want to make it up to me, you have to take Vera out of the kitchen and out of the dining room." Singe says. "Have a good evening with her. Please."
Singe walks back over into the kitchen.
"Why are you doing this?" Lera asks curiously.
"My mum says, 'No matter how old, how dull, how mean you might seem, you can always smile at the flourishing of love.'" Singe smiles, turning around, "And besides, why not?"
Lera blushes. "You are so weird."
Singe grins, and walks to the kitchen. Lera follows him into the kitchen.
Tooltips | Snippet Code | How to Homebrew on D&D Beyond | Subclass Guide | Feature Roadmap
Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Woe has been on stage from the moment everyone arrived. She started off with a couple of easy tunes, mostly played on her lute. Some are just melodies, for others, her voice carries into the hall and bounces off the sides, filling the room with her music. When the food arrives, she again switches to mostly melodies, as she knows, people won't be listening to her now. Right after dinner she tells a story with her drums, it is an old tale about well, a group of girls, slaying a dragon.
Once upon a time there was a divine sea dragon demanding annual tribute in the form of young girls. If the tribute was not delivered, the dragon called up wicked storms and drowned countless fishermen and laid waste to the lands with tsunamis. After many years of villagers trying to fight the dragon and many adventurers from near and far had perished, a group of girls, selected to be the next sacrifice, decided to fight. They all had daggers hidden in their ceremonial clothes when they were lead to the edge of the water. When the dragon rose, the group split in the middle, dodging to both sides of the dragon's head and cutting out her eyes. Once the creature was blinded, they went straight for her legs. The area was freed from the evil dominion of the dragon and the inhabitants are still celebrating the 'dragon girls' day' once a year.
After the story, Woe then plays more dancing songs, getting everyone to their feet. At some point she sees Lera dancing with Vera and can feel that this is special. She is trying to follow the joyful polka she had been playing with a slower song, but the two of them already walk separate ways again.
She gets a little break when Lera is doing her magic trick, but once it is quite obvious that it didn't exactly go as planned and Singe pulls Lera away, Woe again picks up her instruments and makes sure the mood doesn't take a dip. When she finally sees Zamar enter the halls, she tries to signal him, wave and plays a couple of wrong notes, but he turns to talk to Singe.
After he'd finished helping set up the hall before dinner, Dapple had again drifted off, wandering the halls of the commune and eventually found himself at the bathing pool. He took the time to clean himself up before the start of the party, as the others had before him.
Returning to the hall just as the food was served and people were arriving to partake in the feast, he enjoyed a plate of the fresh food and delicious dessert treats, but was careful not to overindulge. His gaze kept returning to the children running back and forth. He could not bring himself to eat much, seeing it as taking food from their mouths. Memories of the young and playful tabaxi of his village came to him. They were lost now, but he could help these people and fully intended to do so.
He shook off the sad recollection of what was lost and let Woe's music distract and cheer him, tail twitching in time to the strains of her songs. He didn't dance, but eventually was surrounded by a gaggle of the more curious youngsters and was pulled into their games, soon rolling around on the floor under a pile of shrieking children as they imitated him, pouncing and growling like little snow leopard as they played.
As Singe and Lera walk into the kitchen they find Perrin staring at Vera who is whipping down the counter.
Lera has gone back to fiddling with the embroidery at the bottom of her corset. She follows Singe without looking up.
"Perrin, do you have any healing magic left? The burns are aggravating the wounds I got from falling out of the tree this morning." Singe says.
"Uh...yeah but what happened? I left before the show actually began. I assumed she was going to use some type of illusion." Perrin says
“An illusion... would have been a good idea,” Lera piped up sheepishly.
Vera continued to scrub the same spot of the counter. "It certainly... scary looking."
“I need to work on my aim,” Lera shrunk back.
“Thankfully my arcane ward took most of the damage.” Singe reassures Perrin, “I just got, well, singed.”
"You are partially made of fire or something like that so, it couldn't have been that bad. Still, come here and show my where it hurts. I have some divine magic left for healing." Perrin says
“Please, I would appreciate that greatly. My right shoulder is the most in pain.” Singe sits. “I don’t know why everyone thinks I’m immune to fire. Just because my father may have been doesn’t mean I am!”
"It doesn't look too bad. Besides, I'm sure you'll grow immune to it if you're exposed to it more and more." Perrin says with a chuckle as he puts his hands on Singe's shoulders and a divine healing energy springs from his hands into Singe's wound. (Cure Wounds for 8 HP)
Singe walks to where Vera is scrubbing and upon seeing nothing takes the cloth out of her hand. "Ok, enough of this. Lera, Vera, for the love of Lathander, please look at each other."
Lera stares at Singe.
Vera snapped back to reality. "Wha-?"
Singe looks at Perrin, completely desperate.
Zamar walks back in and notices the gathering. He waves and heads over near the kitchen.
Perrin justs sighs and says to Singe "I think we've done more harm than good. We should probably just give them some space before we make it worse."
Singe nods and leaves the kitchen, bumping into Zamar, "Oh, hi Zamar... how's Polly doing?" Singe closes the kitchen door behind him. (Zamar insight on Singes weird behavior: 10 Singes description: 18)
Perrin looks at Lera and mouths "Talk to her" before also leaving the kitchen.
"She is doing all right. She's resting. Kaia and I talked a bit. She was grateful for the food and just as grateful to avoid the party. There's a lot riding on us taking out this dragon." Zamar says
Singe nods, "And so many things could go wrong."
Perrin pipes in from behind Singe "And I have a plan to potentially lure her and maybe the Kobolds. Zamar how good are you at doing impressions?"
Meanwhile Woe is trying to get Zamars attention.
"I'm quite good at them, especially if I have heard my subject for a bit. Who did you have in mind?"Zamar asks
“Lord Embrees daughter. Perhaps her voice will attract the dragon or kobolds.” Perrin says
"I'd need a bit more time with her," he says, "but I could definitely manage that. Perhaps with some illusion, I could even appear as her as well..."
"I talked to her earlier, I don't think the dragon would treat her any differently than anyone else. I was think some of that drug Woe has might be able to knock the dragon unconscious, making it easy work." Singe sees Woe trying to get Zamar's attention, "Oh, I think Woe wants to talk to you."
"Ah, I believe you are right. If you will excuse me. Perrin, let's discuss your plan later." Zamar says
Perrin nods yes and let’s Zamar go. Zamar heads over to the stage where Woe is performing.
"Zamar, there you are. Would you be able to entertain for a bit? I would like to take a short break, eat a little as well. And when I return, do you think we could repeat our show from our bard contest win? Do you think Lera would join in?" Woe asks
"I would be glad to! And I am sure she would love to help. That sounds delightful. Sorry I was gone so long. I was checking on Polly and Kaia, the healer. I brought them some food." Zamar answers
Zamar takes the stage and begins playing a very upbeat tune on his Lyre.
Zamar sings (to the tune of "Killing the Dragon" by Dio)
Frozen, we stare at the beast
Thought we were lost
And a dragon feast
Saved by the rebels below
Who live in the dark
And now it's time to go
Someone's taking a stand
We're going to strike fast
Time to be killing the dragon at last!
People we give you our word
Her reign's going to fold
The bringer of cold
Though we all might be afraid
Our talents too poor
Living no more
We will all master our fears
We're going to strike fast
Time to be killing the dragon at last!
Going to be clipping her wings
White dragon screams
Time for us to release you
Then on for Lord Embree's heart
We're going to strike fast
Time to be killing the dragon at last!
Shanolia lifts her head as she listens to Zamar's singing, a brief flicker of hope entering her mind before she finishes her second glass of the Tej and lays her head back down. Right now she's absolutely terrified of what's to come, and with no hope of finding company for the evening, she just lays her head on the table and tries to calm her nerves.
Dungeon Master - LSoL
Kaori - Battlemaster Fighter 5 / Paladin 2 (Kenku) - TSR
Cherna Godhari - Grave Cleric 4 (Human) - TW
Breena Mahi'ai - Divination Wizard 8 (Halfling) - WoE
Sharyn Savonath - Open Sea Paladin 4 (Triton) - PoPI
Zephyr - Four Elements (Revised) Monk 4 (Air Genasi) - IO
Takeshi - Mercy Monk 6 (Protector Aasimar) - TBW
Avrui Sirsash - Genie Warlock 2 (Wildhunt Shifter) - WotBS