Ro is relieved when he sees Greko make it to Lelith's aid without issue. As the unidentified warforged issues a firing order, Ro wraps his arms around Tuto. Using his shield to guard the gnome's front and his own body to guard the rear. Ro braces for impact as he hears the arrows explode, but looks up to see that the arrows were intended for the corrupted Zora. Ro sighs in relief before realizing the death grip he unconsciously kept on Tuto, "Ah sorry friend, don't mean to choke you. It seems like the tides of battle may be turning in our favor."
Ro grips Penelope's reigns, steering the warhorse towards the warforged.
The Warforged unclips a large section of his breastplate, revealing it to be a round shield which latches into place on his left arm. A javelin slides out of a sheath built into his left arm and he grips it as it comes fully free. He stands resolute by the waterfall as his Zora companions nock another batch of modified arrows.
The hill may as well have been fifty miles long as the band made their way up from the beach to the waterfall. There are shouts from the water, most of which are masked by the sound of roaring water, but the arrows speak a clearer message; Zoras that are rushing up the hill are cut down in piles, tumbling, tripping one another, leaving Tuto's thrall left to fight to the death at the base of the incline.
"In!" Someone was shouting as more Zoras file out from under the waterfall and began to grab the band and their implements. "In! Everybody in!"
The shouting changed from 'in' to 'close the gates!' as the band was pulled inside. Zoras forced the huge gates beneath the waterfall closed behind the band and dropped huge steel beams in place to keep the gates closed. There was a lot of confusion as the archers backed up, talking among themselves, each gibbering about some part of the battle.
From some of the talking around them, the band could discern that this situation seemed to have been going on for a couple of weeks, with the inhabitants of the Domain speaking cryptically about the battle as they filed inside, leading the band in.
Down below, built into the earth, was the blue luminescence of the interior of Zoras Domain, the true home of the Zoras away from the surface structures they used to entertain guests and make visiting dignitaries and cadres feel welcome. This structure, hewn into Hyboria herself, was built of magnificent stone structures and ran with rivulets of water, the Zora's life blood. Water pattered down from the ceiling, having seeped in from the river running overhead. The roar of the waterfall hummed softly through the rock of the Domain.
Lelith would have looked on in wonder and curiosity if she could of this place she had heard many things about throughout the centuries but she was too much in pain right now. She chanted a healing spell while touching her wounds, it didn't do a lot but it was more than enough to ease the pain and deal with some of the worst injuries.
"I need some healing care if there's any to spare." Lelith scrunched up her nose in disgust. "And a bath to wash off all this dirt and blood."
She was recovering now, much better than her shell-shocked state earlier. This battle was humiliating, she felt some anger rise again but she squashed it before it could go any further. Not now, not later, never. She turned her thoughts to more inane subjects.
She could spare herself the bath and use her Cleaning Stone, but she needed some time to herself. A bath was a perfect excuse while she restructured her mental state back into working order, some meditation would do her good.
The Warforged is off to the side, speaking with some more of the Zora, but shortly he comes over to speak with the band.
”Welcome to the Zora’s domain. We are glad to see you here in one piece…” he looks over the group and their injuries. “Well, mostly. I suspect there may be a few bits left on the battlefield above. If you require maintenance and cleaning, I can lead you to the right place. Ahh, and you may call me Oten”
Rum breathes a sigh of relief as they finally make it through the waterfall entrance and the gates are shut behind them.
“My thanks, you arrived in the nick of time”, he says to his saviours as he climbs down from the cart and hands the reigns over. It is then that his eyes widen at the sight of Zora’s Domain. “It is beautiful, I have never..”, he starts to say but trails off as words fail him.
He is brought out of his reverie as first Lelith asks for assistance and then the warforged introduces himself.
He smiles at Lelith, noticing her discomfort. “We did well considering we were ambushed”, he says to his companions, trying to sound positive but knowing they need to be more careful in future. He then turns to Oten.
“Greetings Oten, I am glad to be here in such a wonderful place. And even happier to not be out there”, he says pointing back out the gate with a grin.
“You are an automaton?”, he says looking over Oten’s steel and chrome form. “Are you a defender here? It certainly looks like you are needed, judging by the welcome we received out there. What is going on here? Those Zora are corrupted somehow? What happened to them?”, he adds, his questions voiced as quickly as they come to mind.
Looking to Rum, Oten responds, "An automaton is a mechanical entity formed to imitate a human being while functioning according to a predetermined set of coded instructions. I on the other hand was created to replace a human being while utilizing a hyper-complex cognitive matrix storing a living intelligence. So no... according to my definitional schema of automaton... I am not that." His metallic tone is not confrontational, just matter-of-fact.
"As for the situation, the king and queen are dead, the Zora's Sacred Stone stolen, and many of the Zora as you have seen have been corrupted. As far as I can discern, the corruption is linked to the degradation of the dark crystal, but the exact mechanism behind either phenomena or nature of causation between the two is unclear at this juncture. Does that answer all of your-" his sentence cuts off as Greko knocks on his leg, and Oten turns to regard him. "... questions?"
Greko stops knocking on the warforge. "Oh pardon me...I have never seen a walking talking machine such as yourself. Greko has seen many things but you are the first of your kind! You are sentient....2 arms, 2 legs, hands, and feet....do you have the internal composition of humanoids in this realm? Sorry, I am fascinated....there are more pressing questions at hand than the musings of an old lizard. Please proceed with Rum's questions. I promise not to poke you anymore. How can we help?"
Rum looks shocked, he had no idea who the king and queen were, but it sounded like a big deal that they were dead. As did the theft of a Sacred Stone.
He looks at Greko with a questioning expression before continuing the conversation. "That does indeed address my questions, but it does lead to more. How do you define yourself then? How did the King and Queen die? Who stole the Sacred Stone? Are the two things linked? And as friend Greko asks, can we help?", he asks, once again speaking the questions as they form in his mind.
"Of course we are on important business of our own. Is there someone in charge we can talk to maybe? Possibly after we have cleaned ourselves up?", he says finally falling silent, slowly calming down after the adrenaline fuelled fight and chase.
He starts to miss Yam, she would have been far better at situations like this.
As Oten leads them onwards, he replies to Greko, "At our current pace we have 3 minutes and 14 seconds until our destination. That should be ample time to address your questions assessing the local situation with time to spare for auxiliary inqueries. Your questions are welcome. 3 minutes 2 seconds.
Now, you say 'Greko' as if self-referring in the third person. I take that to be your name then? The answer to your question depends on the taxonomy you are beholden to, as I consider myself to be a humanoid. Therfore, my internal composition would necessarily fall within that category. If your question is instead whether I possess organs comprised of organic cellular material, then no. Not for now at least."
Oten turns back to Rum. "And you, your companion, Greko, has named you as Rum? I believe my comments to him should at least partially answer some of your queries, but to be more I direct, I consider myself a person but not a human. I am both crafted by design and designed in error. I am what I am and for the moment what I am is unique. 2 minutes 10 seconds. Now that we are somewhat acquainted, let us move on to matters of more pressing import."Oten is giving off the impression of being a strange paradoxical combination of calculated, efficient analysis and rambling intellectualism. He uses a lot of words when fewer would suffice.
"The one known as Ganondorf is responsible for the corruption of the Zora, the regicide, and the theft of the Sacred Stone. I cannot tell you why, and I can not tell you what he is planning next, but we have enough on our hands here." He grabs the arm of a passing Zora warrior and turns to speak briefly with him. "Are you headed in Princess Ruto's direction?"The Zora nods. "Good. She will want to speak with these ones, but please inform her that I am taking the newcomers first to the baths to get them washed and patched up. She may either come meet us there or send summons when she has a moment."
He releases the Zora on his way and turns back to the band. "You want to know how you can help? Soon it will be time for you to answer some questions so we can gain a better understanding of what's going on outside. I have a few of my own, if you'd entertain them. Who are the other members of your group here? And what is this important business of yours?"
During the conversation, Ro had been silently following along. When they entered the keep, and once the gates were closed, he dismounted Penelope and was guiding her by the reigns. The elf-dwarf looked around the underground domain in awe, it was beautiful. As Greko and Rum conversed with Oten, Ro listened until the warforged began to ask his own questions, "Greetings, the name is Ro Aleron. Some call me the 'False Knight', but Ro is enough. I sincerely thank you and your colleagues for saving us back there. We are five amongst the select few that the Childlike Empress has chosen to fight against the dark forces currently running rampant in the realm. Our band's current objective has brought us here to Hylia. Although we weren't aware that we would be landing straight into hostile territory..."
Oten comes to a halt abruptly. Gears click and metal plates clank as his torso slowly rotates to regard Ro and the others. Round mechanical shutters over the brass orbs in his eye sockets quickly narrow and then dilate, adjusting focus.
"...The Childlike Empress, you say? How convenient... It seems we are not in so different a situation. I was passing through this domain on my way to answer her summons. If you are amongst her chosen, perhaps it would be prudent of me to provide ongoing assistance to your group. If you wouldn't object to the accompaniment of course. Either way, all can be decided after you have your audience with the surviving princess.
Greko nods “Ro speaks truthfully. We were hoping to assemble allies in these parts for what’s to come. It looks as though allies here may be in need of help. Oh, yes I am Greko the Auryn carrier for our group. It is a pleasure to meet you Oten.”
Rum looks at Oten thoughtfully after he tells of his desire to join them, and announces he is also one the Childlike Empress's chosen.
"I think most have introduced themselves, but that there is Tuto, he doesn't say much. And over there is.....well I expect she will introduce herself later. I am indeed Rum", he says answering about the group before addressing the subject of Oten joining them.
"As for joining us, we would need to discuss that. Without meaning to cause offence, we don't know you. You weren't at the gathering at the Ivory Tower and so we would need to somehow check what you have said. If all is well, I cannot see why you shouldn't join us though", he says looking at Greko and wondering if the Auryn could be used for that.
He looks over at the baths and smiles, after so long at sea it would be good to get properly clean again.
"For now though, it is time to wash and prepare to meet a Princess", he places a hand over his heart and bows his head slightly.
Lelith did not feel the need to present herself to the automaton nor did it care to ask, which was more than fine by her. She did not trust it. She took off her clothes and then undergarments with quick practised ease and slipped in the hot water gracefully, washing off the blood and grime. She kept to the edge of the pool where a rapier, a bow, and a quiver full of arrows were within reach of her hand at a moment's notice.
Ro thumps his chest with a fist, causing his suit of plate armor to disassemble and fall to the floor in an orderly fashion. The elf-dwarf continues to disrobe the rest of his clothes and sets Kazek, his sentient spellbook, to the side of the baths. As he makes bath preparations, those who are in the vicinity can immediately see numerous scars of all shapes and sizes covering the elf-dwarf's body.
As Ro soaks in the bath, he converses briefly with Kazek. (If the baths are communal, Ro and Kazek speak loud enough for Greko, Rum and Tuto to hear.)
Ro and Kazek's conversation:
"That was quite the welcome back to Hylia, wasn't it?" "Indeed, all the more reason to dedicate every ounce of our being to our cause." "You think your parents or brothers would come to the Zora Domain to help the Zora's cause?" "I don't know. If things are bad here, I assume they're keeping close to King Hyrule to ensure his own safety. We may be the only ones here to help the Zora for a while..." "What of our plan to head to Hyrule?" "Well the plan was to head to Hylia's major political powers to seek assistance. While we're here, I think it's worthwhile to help the Zora and see if we could get some help in return."
When given the opportunity, Ro would ask Greko if he could use the AURYN to confirm with the Childlike Empress if Oten's words about being selected by her were true.
Ro is relieved when he sees Greko make it to Lelith's aid without issue. As the unidentified warforged issues a firing order, Ro wraps his arms around Tuto. Using his shield to guard the gnome's front and his own body to guard the rear. Ro braces for impact as he hears the arrows explode, but looks up to see that the arrows were intended for the corrupted Zora. Ro sighs in relief before realizing the death grip he unconsciously kept on Tuto, "Ah sorry friend, don't mean to choke you. It seems like the tides of battle may be turning in our favor."
Ro grips Penelope's reigns, steering the warhorse towards the warforged.
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN
The Warforged unclips a large section of his breastplate, revealing it to be a round shield which latches into place on his left arm. A javelin slides out of a sheath built into his left arm and he grips it as it comes fully free. He stands resolute by the waterfall as his Zora companions nock another batch of modified arrows.
The hill may as well have been fifty miles long as the band made their way up from the beach to the waterfall. There are shouts from the water, most of which are masked by the sound of roaring water, but the arrows speak a clearer message; Zoras that are rushing up the hill are cut down in piles, tumbling, tripping one another, leaving Tuto's thrall left to fight to the death at the base of the incline.
"In!" Someone was shouting as more Zoras file out from under the waterfall and began to grab the band and their implements. "In! Everybody in!"
The shouting changed from 'in' to 'close the gates!' as the band was pulled inside. Zoras forced the huge gates beneath the waterfall closed behind the band and dropped huge steel beams in place to keep the gates closed. There was a lot of confusion as the archers backed up, talking among themselves, each gibbering about some part of the battle.
From some of the talking around them, the band could discern that this situation seemed to have been going on for a couple of weeks, with the inhabitants of the Domain speaking cryptically about the battle as they filed inside, leading the band in.
Down below, built into the earth, was the blue luminescence of the interior of Zoras Domain, the true home of the Zoras away from the surface structures they used to entertain guests and make visiting dignitaries and cadres feel welcome. This structure, hewn into Hyboria herself, was built of magnificent stone structures and ran with rivulets of water, the Zora's life blood. Water pattered down from the ceiling, having seeped in from the river running overhead. The roar of the waterfall hummed softly through the rock of the Domain.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Lelith would have looked on in wonder and curiosity if she could of this place she had heard many things about throughout the centuries but she was too much in pain right now. She chanted a healing spell while touching her wounds, it didn't do a lot but it was more than enough to ease the pain and deal with some of the worst injuries.
"I need some healing care if there's any to spare." Lelith scrunched up her nose in disgust. "And a bath to wash off all this dirt and blood."
She was recovering now, much better than her shell-shocked state earlier. This battle was humiliating, she felt some anger rise again but she squashed it before it could go any further. Not now, not later, never. She turned her thoughts to more inane subjects.
She could spare herself the bath and use her Cleaning Stone, but she needed some time to herself. A bath was a perfect excuse while she restructured her mental state back into working order, some meditation would do her good.
The Warforged is off to the side, speaking with some more of the Zora, but shortly he comes over to speak with the band.
”Welcome to the Zora’s domain. We are glad to see you here in one piece…” he looks over the group and their injuries. “Well, mostly. I suspect there may be a few bits left on the battlefield above. If you require maintenance and cleaning, I can lead you to the right place. Ahh, and you may call me Oten”
Rum breathes a sigh of relief as they finally make it through the waterfall entrance and the gates are shut behind them.
“My thanks, you arrived in the nick of time”, he says to his saviours as he climbs down from the cart and hands the reigns over. It is then that his eyes widen at the sight of Zora’s Domain. “It is beautiful, I have never..”, he starts to say but trails off as words fail him.
He is brought out of his reverie as first Lelith asks for assistance and then the warforged introduces himself.
He smiles at Lelith, noticing her discomfort. “We did well considering we were ambushed”, he says to his companions, trying to sound positive but knowing they need to be more careful in future. He then turns to Oten.
“Greetings Oten, I am glad to be here in such a wonderful place. And even happier to not be out there”, he says pointing back out the gate with a grin.
“You are an automaton?”, he says looking over Oten’s steel and chrome form. “Are you a defender here? It certainly looks like you are needed, judging by the welcome we received out there. What is going on here? Those Zora are corrupted somehow? What happened to them?”, he adds, his questions voiced as quickly as they come to mind.
As Rum speaks to Oten, Greko walks around the warforge and having never seen one before knocks on it with his walking stick.
Looking to Rum, Oten responds, "An automaton is a mechanical entity formed to imitate a human being while functioning according to a predetermined set of coded instructions. I on the other hand was created to replace a human being while utilizing a hyper-complex cognitive matrix storing a living intelligence. So no... according to my definitional schema of automaton... I am not that." His metallic tone is not confrontational, just matter-of-fact.
"As for the situation, the king and queen are dead, the Zora's Sacred Stone stolen, and many of the Zora as you have seen have been corrupted. As far as I can discern, the corruption is linked to the degradation of the dark crystal, but the exact mechanism behind either phenomena or nature of causation between the two is unclear at this juncture. Does that answer all of your-" his sentence cuts off as Greko knocks on his leg, and Oten turns to regard him. "... questions?"
Greko stops knocking on the warforge. "Oh pardon me...I have never seen a walking talking machine such as yourself. Greko has seen many things but you are the first of your kind! You are sentient....2 arms, 2 legs, hands, and feet....do you have the internal composition of humanoids in this realm? Sorry, I am fascinated....there are more pressing questions at hand than the musings of an old lizard. Please proceed with Rum's questions. I promise not to poke you anymore. How can we help?"
Rum looks shocked, he had no idea who the king and queen were, but it sounded like a big deal that they were dead. As did the theft of a Sacred Stone.
He looks at Greko with a questioning expression before continuing the conversation. "That does indeed address my questions, but it does lead to more. How do you define yourself then? How did the King and Queen die? Who stole the Sacred Stone? Are the two things linked? And as friend Greko asks, can we help?", he asks, once again speaking the questions as they form in his mind.
"Of course we are on important business of our own. Is there someone in charge we can talk to maybe? Possibly after we have cleaned ourselves up?", he says finally falling silent, slowly calming down after the adrenaline fuelled fight and chase.
He starts to miss Yam, she would have been far better at situations like this.
As Oten leads them onwards, he replies to Greko, "At our current pace we have 3 minutes and 14 seconds until our destination. That should be ample time to address your questions assessing the local situation with time to spare for auxiliary inqueries. Your questions are welcome. 3 minutes 2 seconds.
Now, you say 'Greko' as if self-referring in the third person. I take that to be your name then? The answer to your question depends on the taxonomy you are beholden to, as I consider myself to be a humanoid. Therfore, my internal composition would necessarily fall within that category. If your question is instead whether I possess organs comprised of organic cellular material, then no. Not for now at least."
Oten turns back to Rum. "And you, your companion, Greko, has named you as Rum? I believe my comments to him should at least partially answer some of your queries, but to be more I direct, I consider myself a person but not a human. I am both crafted by design and designed in error. I am what I am and for the moment what I am is unique. 2 minutes 10 seconds. Now that we are somewhat acquainted, let us move on to matters of more pressing import." Oten is giving off the impression of being a strange paradoxical combination of calculated, efficient analysis and rambling intellectualism. He uses a lot of words when fewer would suffice.
"The one known as Ganondorf is responsible for the corruption of the Zora, the regicide, and the theft of the Sacred Stone. I cannot tell you why, and I can not tell you what he is planning next, but we have enough on our hands here." He grabs the arm of a passing Zora warrior and turns to speak briefly with him. "Are you headed in Princess Ruto's direction?" The Zora nods. "Good. She will want to speak with these ones, but please inform her that I am taking the newcomers first to the baths to get them washed and patched up. She may either come meet us there or send summons when she has a moment."
He releases the Zora on his way and turns back to the band. "You want to know how you can help? Soon it will be time for you to answer some questions so we can gain a better understanding of what's going on outside. I have a few of my own, if you'd entertain them. Who are the other members of your group here? And what is this important business of yours?"
During the conversation, Ro had been silently following along. When they entered the keep, and once the gates were closed, he dismounted Penelope and was guiding her by the reigns. The elf-dwarf looked around the underground domain in awe, it was beautiful. As Greko and Rum conversed with Oten, Ro listened until the warforged began to ask his own questions, "Greetings, the name is Ro Aleron. Some call me the 'False Knight', but Ro is enough. I sincerely thank you and your colleagues for saving us back there. We are five amongst the select few that the Childlike Empress has chosen to fight against the dark forces currently running rampant in the realm. Our band's current objective has brought us here to Hylia. Although we weren't aware that we would be landing straight into hostile territory..."
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN
Oten comes to a halt abruptly. Gears click and metal plates clank as his torso slowly rotates to regard Ro and the others. Round mechanical shutters over the brass orbs in his eye sockets quickly narrow and then dilate, adjusting focus.
"...The Childlike Empress, you say? How convenient... It seems we are not in so different a situation. I was passing through this domain on my way to answer her summons. If you are amongst her chosen, perhaps it would be prudent of me to provide ongoing assistance to your group. If you wouldn't object to the accompaniment of course. Either way, all can be decided after you have your audience with the surviving princess.
Also, we have arrived at the baths."
Greko nods “Ro speaks truthfully. We were hoping to assemble allies in these parts for what’s to come. It looks as though allies here may be in need of help. Oh, yes I am Greko the Auryn carrier for our group. It is a pleasure to meet you Oten.”
Rum looks at Oten thoughtfully after he tells of his desire to join them, and announces he is also one the Childlike Empress's chosen.
"I think most have introduced themselves, but that there is Tuto, he doesn't say much. And over there is.....well I expect she will introduce herself later. I am indeed Rum", he says answering about the group before addressing the subject of Oten joining them.
"As for joining us, we would need to discuss that. Without meaning to cause offence, we don't know you. You weren't at the gathering at the Ivory Tower and so we would need to somehow check what you have said. If all is well, I cannot see why you shouldn't join us though", he says looking at Greko and wondering if the Auryn could be used for that.
He looks over at the baths and smiles, after so long at sea it would be good to get properly clean again.
"For now though, it is time to wash and prepare to meet a Princess", he places a hand over his heart and bows his head slightly.
Lelith did not feel the need to present herself to the automaton nor did it care to ask, which was more than fine by her. She did not trust it. She took off her clothes and then undergarments with quick practised ease and slipped in the hot water gracefully, washing off the blood and grime. She kept to the edge of the pool where a rapier, a bow, and a quiver full of arrows were within reach of her hand at a moment's notice.
Ro thumps his chest with a fist, causing his suit of plate armor to disassemble and fall to the floor in an orderly fashion. The elf-dwarf continues to disrobe the rest of his clothes and sets Kazek, his sentient spellbook, to the side of the baths. As he makes bath preparations, those who are in the vicinity can immediately see numerous scars of all shapes and sizes covering the elf-dwarf's body.
As Ro soaks in the bath, he converses briefly with Kazek. (If the baths are communal, Ro and Kazek speak loud enough for Greko, Rum and Tuto to hear.)
Ro and Kazek's conversation:
"That was quite the welcome back to Hylia, wasn't it?"
"Indeed, all the more reason to dedicate every ounce of our being to our cause."
"You think your parents or brothers would come to the Zora Domain to help the Zora's cause?"
"I don't know. If things are bad here, I assume they're keeping close to King Hyrule to ensure his own safety. We may be the only ones here to help the Zora for a while..."
"What of our plan to head to Hyrule?"
"Well the plan was to head to Hylia's major political powers to seek assistance. While we're here, I think it's worthwhile to help the Zora and see if we could get some help in return."
When given the opportunity, Ro would ask Greko if he could use the AURYN to confirm with the Childlike Empress if Oten's words about being selected by her were true.
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN
Meanwhile, Oten has stepped away from the bath area to escape the steam and is discussing supply logistics with some patched up Zora warriors nearby
Before Greko washes, he moves out of earshot, closer to the outside, and speaks into his Auryn.
Greko relays to the group that Oten was indeed intended to be at the empress' meeting