Ashley sloshes through the water pulling her rope smoothly behind her, until she is able to look out through the hole. What she sees is a stretch of sand quite unlike that from her homeland, leading up to a dense wall of lush vegetation and at least 10 different species of tree that she had never seen before. The air here is warm, despite the time of year and day.
As Ashley stares in wonder out of the hole, she is suddenly jerked back by the rope around her waist. She quickly grabs a hold of it in front of her stomach to help stop it from digging into her belly and she walks backward assisted by the rope, not tearing her eyes from the view. The trees... the stretch of sand. It was so foreign, yet the sand made her heart ache for home.
As the rope pulls her back into the barrel, it jerks her over the lip so she can't get purchase and falls into the barrel. "Hey! Slow down, I'm in no danger!!" she tries yelling out to get Joren's pull to slow so she can control how she goes through the barrel, but to no avail. She yanks back hard on the rope to give herself enough slack so that she can move her butt up and get her head in to the water first before he makes her fold on herself and she isn't able to get through the barrel without breaking it.
As she pops back into the curio shop, her eyes are wide with wonder and has a big smile on her face. "It's beautiful!! I mean, so the other end of this portal is another barrel identical to this one." She states as she heaves herself out of the barrel, now standing there sopping wet. Nobody seems to really notice seeing the floor was submerged just a few minutes ago.
"I was inside a very large, empty ship. Looked like it had run into some large rocks. I've never seen anything like it, not like I typically see ships coming from the sands... I've had dreams of them before, but much smaller, almost more like large canoes you know? Oh! sorry." she realizes she is rambling and gets back to it.
"So I was able to slosh my way over to the hole, the water is only about waist deep or so. And looking out? I saw a beautiful sandy beach, full of dense vegetation.. so many different species of trees that I, well I have never seen before. I know I don't have a lot of experiences with forest and such, but nothing like these are around here. I didn't see any buildings or anything unfortunately. Mal, Joren, you guys seem to have traveled a lot, did you want to go through and see if you recognize anything?"
She starts trying to squeeze the water out of her clothes and hair.
“Yes, we are from the Marshal and we are here to help”Malachi smiles warmly at the shop owner “But we do accept donations, a little something for the effort, if you know what I mean.” He turns and looks at Joren nervously “How long should we wait to bring her back?”
As Ashley emerges from the barrel, Malachi moves to help her up. He listens in disbelief as she describes the other side of the portal. “I am afraid I have not traveled as much as you think, this is as far from the canal and the sister cities as I have ever been, and that does not sound familiar. You were far away, I could not enter your thoughts. But while interesting, is it worth exploring? Shouldn’t we be going to Talmouth to warn the authorities there? Still, maybe we can find out where this barrel is from.. The other one was identical you say?” He turns to the shopkeeper “Where did you say you got this "magical" wine from? Do you remember who sold it to you?” He bends to look closely at the barrel, searching for any symbols or markings that may provide a clue to its origin.
Joren looks at Ashley with a childlike grin as she describes her experience. His eyes become dreamy and faraway for a moment.
"That is sounding... amazing. Never having been any place like that. I..."
He suddenly shakes himself. "Ah... right, yes. We have work to do. Though I am wondering. If the ship is seeming unusually large and perhaps being shipwrecked on some island paradise. Could it be one of the ships that are..."
He stops himself before he says 'part of Razmus' attacking fleet sailing from far to the west' in front of the shop owner.
"... ships that are coming with followers of you-know-who?"
"Perhaps...." Samir's eyes are narrowed in thought, pointed towards the barrel itself but seemingly unfocused. He was happy that Ashley was back and apparently unscathed, but something was not sitting right with him.
"But were the ship one of those, it would beg the question of why they had an artifact intrinsically tied to one sitting in this man's shop? It seems plausible that one of their number was disabled, certainly, given the dangers of nautical travel. But.. perhaps it is not one of that flotilla, but is instead an explorer from closer to home, who ran into trouble on their journey? It would make more sense why this barrel," Samir lightly slapped the side of the barrel in front of him with one gloved hand, "is here in the first place." He shook his head and pulled free his glasses, quickly cleaning them on a small bit of cloth pulled from inside of his coat.
"I fear it more likely that this particular curiosity is more distraction than it is anything to do with our goal."
“I thought much the same thing, Joren. If not from the flotilla itself, then from the strange land from across the sea they set out from.” He turns to Samir “What if it is from closer to home? What if it is from the last expedition across the sea? Andra was on that expedition and returned changed, this could be a clue to what they found” Malachi turns back to the shop keeper and asks again. “Do you remember who sold you this barrel? Where did they say it came from?”
"Hmmm," the man scratches his head. "Let me think... Fellow from Madurst said he got it from another fellow across the river in Teyra'athal, though considering the brew inside were a hoax, he may have been lying about that, just leaning into the folk tales about that city." Seeing some blank faces, he clarifies. "They say the city was made long ago by a lost race of elves with special magics, so it's an easy way to drum up interest in an otherwise mundane object." He shrugs. "If I'm being honest, I may have used that trick once or twice myself."
Ashley stares at the barrel while the others ponder, wondering if there was any way they could take it with them. She listens up though when Malachi asks where the barrel came from. As the shop keeper answers, she leans over and whispers to Samir, "Where is Teyra'athal?"
Malachi overhears Ashley’s question to Samir and responds “Far to the south, along the Venn Canal. The older, elegant, beautiful, and bossy sister city to Madurst, my home. Most of what he said is true. It is ancient and elvish, magical though, eh maybe.” Malachi shrugs and nods to the shopkeeper. “A pity though, I was hoping that the barrel came from the expedition in some way. Perhaps Samir is right and it is just a distraction.”
"Well if you don't mind, it seems I have a lot of work to do now. I am certainly grateful for you help, and between that and the mess, I perhaps wouldn't notice if a souvenir of your liking went missing from my shelves." The man chuckles. "Besides, I'm sure you've got people to report to now that your job here is done." He gives a mock salute before turning his back to look at the soggy mess that is his office. His shoulders visibly slump. Then he taps his walking stick on the ground twice as if to spur himself into action, and begins dragging debris over into one corner.
"He's right," says Marion, standing at the door and looking toward the stairs. We should report this and the other things we have seen on this outing to Lanya and Miter, and then we should figure out our next move. There is something strange happening with magic, we are facing enemies hiding in plain sight, and we are down 5/6ths of a person." She lets a touch of remorse enter her voice. "I am holding out some hope that whatever fell magic took Andra kept Vilus alive, but even the best case scenario for him looks bleak to me. Time is short."
Joren has slipped back into his reverie of how nice it would be to have an extended break on a warm beach.
Lying back and wiggling our toes in the sand. Relaxing and feeling safe and content for once! Speaking again to Vilus, who would be returned safely to us, learning from Samir about his clever ideas and contraptions, listening to Malachi's wit, understanding Marion's faith which is so foreign to him despite the kinship he feels with the warrior of the Blue Lady, laughing with Ashley about the little pleasures in life, splashing around in the water with her and...
Once more, Joren snaps out of it with a shake. "A souvenir going missing... such as this one?" He attempts to put the lid on the barrel and checks the seal, preparing to roll it out of the room and, with Marion'shelp (he signals to her), slowly down the stairs. Hoping to take it back to Marshal Lanya.
"We would not be wanting some large sea snake or other such hazard coming through into your shop, would we?"
"Yes, exactly as Malachi says." Samir nods along with Malachi's explanation to Ashley. "Madurst is my home as well. While there are certainly some... peculiar things that can be found in Teyra'athal, much of it is already catalogued and documented. People have been living there for a long while now since the elves left." The half-orc shakes himself, seeming to come back to the current situation. "Good luck in repairing your shop, and I hope that the damage to your business isn't too terrible. We will be getting out of your hair now." With a nod to the proprieter, Samir begins making his way back down the stairs, heading toward the street once more.
Fitting the lid in place, Joren wonders if Samir's grease and Ashley's heat could make a tight seal, but quickly realizes the lid has already sealed itself shut surely through magical means.
Thump
Thump
Thump
Joren and Marion roll the barrel down the stairs as gently as they can with Malachi leading the way. Opening the front door, they find a couple of people scooping up water from the flooded street with whatever jugs or bowls they'd had lying around the house and rushing off down the street in the direction the group had come from. A familiar halfling rushes by, struggling to carry a large overflowing vase. It's the little fellow from the burning house.
He notices Malachi, but doesn't slow his awkward pace "Oh hey, good to see you folks are keeping safe. Can't stop to chat. I've *huff* got some fine people trying to help me put out the fire." It looks like the other shop keepers who'd been standing around are among that number, perhaps as eager to clear their street of water as they are to put out the fire.
A little disappointed that no one else wants to check out what she saw on the other end of the portal, Ashley's spirits are lifted a bit when they do decide to take the barrel with them.
Following Joren and Marion down the steps as they roll the barrel, she's glad they at least stopped the flooding. Hopefully they would be able to continue on their journey now that that was dealt with.
As they run into the funny little halfling talking about putting out the fire, she exclaims, "Why we have a barrel right here that will continue to pour out water if you need a fire put out!"
Joren works with Marion to roll the barrel towards the fire via the clearest and safest path possible.
"Being seawater, and more of it than you might expect," he warns the halfling, "but better than more of the house burning up? If magic is going crazy in this city, then perhaps as Ashley is saying, better if one problem is canceling out the other."
When the barrel is in position, as close to the flames as safely possible, Joren attempts to find a position where it can be rolled around or briefly carried while horizontal with the lid off to extinguish the worst of it, getting help from Ashley to remove or refasten the lid, since fire has little effect on her.
Grunting ungracefully through gritted teeth with the effort of holding and rolling the barrel, he admits to Ashley: "I was so much wanting to go through and see what you saw. Maybe just lying on the beach a little. So much has been happening around us. It was feeling like an escape..."
“Yes, one person's misfortune can be another person's gain, a flooded shop helps put out a burning home.” Malachi grins, then pulls up short as Joren describes his dream vacation and something clicks in his memory.
“Maybe not so much an escape, Joren. That beach, the more I think about it, it sounds like Skaeld Rock. A large island to the west of the Venn Canal and the sister cities. The few sailors I have spoken to say it is largely uninhabited, but there are other stories of pirates and brigands making their home there. But why a portal there?”
Ashley, happy to be able to help the halfling, assists with removing the lid of the barrel to get the water where it needs to be.
Responding to Joren, "Yeah, perhaps if there is a way to keep this barrel around, we can head there once we've taken care of this Razmus fella, our reward for a work well done." She smiles, though a bit wistfully, realizing as she says this that the task they have laid in front of themselves might be more than they can handle...
Then to Malachi, "Skaeld Rock? Yeah, it didn't look inhabited at all to me, but the portal was on the ship, not the island, so I am not sure where the portal was actually from."
With little effort, the barrel unseals itself under Joren's hands, and water gushes out as he rolls it around the perimeter of the building. Steam and smoke rises up as the lower flames are extinguished. The people who had been travelling to the flooded market for water start gathering around the barrel and refilling directly from it, and as the pace of throwing buckets of water increases drastically, the higher flames start to lose their momentum.
Marion spots one woman to the side circling her hands and muttering. A bit of water rises from a puddle in front of her, hovering and forming a sphere. The woman's face is pale and strained, but a touch of wonder still makes its way into her expression. Then her concentration falters, and the water loses form, splashing back down to the ground. She wipes her brow and pants in frustration.
Marion glances around before walking over. "Is this your first time?" she says gently. The woman looks up at her surprised and nervous. She swallows and nods. Marion slowly places one hand on her forearm, and the other on her shoulder. "Here, try again, but feel the sensation down the whole length of your arm."
A subtle blue glow begins to shine out between the gaps in Marion's gauntlets, and the woman begins to concentrate again, this time with less strain. Once again, the water rises up, but this time continues high into the air over the building. It spreads out, becoming wisps and then vapours. Within a minute, a dark cloud forms, and the first drops of rain begin to darken the timbers of the burning building below.
The woman looks at Marion with surprise and joy lighting up her features. "Thank you! Did you do this, or did-"
"It is your doing," Marion responds, smiling. "The Blue Lady provided the gift, and I provided guidance, but this..." She points at the raincloud, "... is yours"
Walking back to the group she says, "Good work. I think we've done enough here. The rain should put out the last of the fire in the next ten minutes or so, so we might as well be moving on." She looks down at her hands, and then over at the smiling woman still maintaining her concentration on the rain cloud. "Things are definitely changing, but I'm not sure it's a bad thing..."
Joren remembers belatedly to snap his jaw shut after it had dropped open with the formation of the magical rain cloud.
With the barrel sealed up again, he begins to roll it carefully back to Marshal Lanya and Miter's headquarters with Marion'shelp.
When well away from the crowd, he growls in a low voice, "What is happening here? It is as if magic is breaking free from multiple sides of a triangle of deities and demigods. On one end, there is Razmus, the yellow apogee? Whose magic we cannot be denying after seeing Andra and Vilus' fate. Then the Blue Lady, whose gift is self-evident in Marion and others. And hearing also of the Red Hunter? The flow and the ebb. Perhaps matching the colors of the medallion Samir took from Jon Shep's drawer when he holds it near each of us. And all three may be separate from Vilus'Watcher..."
Joren subsides, aware of speaking entirely too much of magic which he does not understand.
Malachi pauses to consider Marion’s and Joren’s words “Yes, things are changing, magic is becoming more common in the world. Is it because of the thing we broke in Andra’s office? Was it keeping it contained? Is this a temporary thing or a new beginning? I wish Vilus was here, he knew more of this than I do.” Malachi didn’t really recognize his connection to magic himself. He knew he was luckier than he has any right to be and strange things often happen around him. He views his own powers as more of a product of the voices in his head instead of magic, but his recent vision of the Blue Lady weighs heavy in his mind. He follows the others back to the Marshal’s office with many more questions than answers.
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Ashley sloshes through the water pulling her rope smoothly behind her, until she is able to look out through the hole. What she sees is a stretch of sand quite unlike that from her homeland, leading up to a dense wall of lush vegetation and at least 10 different species of tree that she had never seen before. The air here is warm, despite the time of year and day.
As Ashley stares in wonder out of the hole, she is suddenly jerked back by the rope around her waist. She quickly grabs a hold of it in front of her stomach to help stop it from digging into her belly and she walks backward assisted by the rope, not tearing her eyes from the view. The trees... the stretch of sand. It was so foreign, yet the sand made her heart ache for home.
As the rope pulls her back into the barrel, it jerks her over the lip so she can't get purchase and falls into the barrel. "Hey! Slow down, I'm in no danger!!" she tries yelling out to get Joren's pull to slow so she can control how she goes through the barrel, but to no avail. She yanks back hard on the rope to give herself enough slack so that she can move her butt up and get her head in to the water first before he makes her fold on herself and she isn't able to get through the barrel without breaking it.
As she pops back into the curio shop, her eyes are wide with wonder and has a big smile on her face. "It's beautiful!! I mean, so the other end of this portal is another barrel identical to this one." She states as she heaves herself out of the barrel, now standing there sopping wet. Nobody seems to really notice seeing the floor was submerged just a few minutes ago.
"I was inside a very large, empty ship. Looked like it had run into some large rocks. I've never seen anything like it, not like I typically see ships coming from the sands... I've had dreams of them before, but much smaller, almost more like large canoes you know? Oh! sorry." she realizes she is rambling and gets back to it.
"So I was able to slosh my way over to the hole, the water is only about waist deep or so. And looking out? I saw a beautiful sandy beach, full of dense vegetation.. so many different species of trees that I, well I have never seen before. I know I don't have a lot of experiences with forest and such, but nothing like these are around here. I didn't see any buildings or anything unfortunately. Mal, Joren, you guys seem to have traveled a lot, did you want to go through and see if you recognize anything?"
She starts trying to squeeze the water out of her clothes and hair.
“Yes, we are from the Marshal and we are here to help” Malachi smiles warmly at the shop owner “But we do accept donations, a little something for the effort, if you know what I mean.” He turns and looks at Joren nervously “How long should we wait to bring her back?”
As Ashley emerges from the barrel, Malachi moves to help her up. He listens in disbelief as she describes the other side of the portal. “I am afraid I have not traveled as much as you think, this is as far from the canal and the sister cities as I have ever been, and that does not sound familiar. You were far away, I could not enter your thoughts. But while interesting, is it worth exploring? Shouldn’t we be going to Talmouth to warn the authorities there? Still, maybe we can find out where this barrel is from.. The other one was identical you say?” He turns to the shopkeeper “Where did you say you got this "magical" wine from? Do you remember who sold it to you?” He bends to look closely at the barrel, searching for any symbols or markings that may provide a clue to its origin.
Joren looks at Ashley with a childlike grin as she describes her experience. His eyes become dreamy and faraway for a moment.
"That is sounding... amazing. Never having been any place like that. I..."
He suddenly shakes himself. "Ah... right, yes. We have work to do. Though I am wondering. If the ship is seeming unusually large and perhaps being shipwrecked on some island paradise. Could it be one of the ships that are..."
He stops himself before he says 'part of Razmus' attacking fleet sailing from far to the west' in front of the shop owner.
"... ships that are coming with followers of you-know-who?"
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
"Perhaps...." Samir's eyes are narrowed in thought, pointed towards the barrel itself but seemingly unfocused. He was happy that Ashley was back and apparently unscathed, but something was not sitting right with him.
"But were the ship one of those, it would beg the question of why they had an artifact intrinsically tied to one sitting in this man's shop? It seems plausible that one of their number was disabled, certainly, given the dangers of nautical travel. But.. perhaps it is not one of that flotilla, but is instead an explorer from closer to home, who ran into trouble on their journey? It would make more sense why this barrel," Samir lightly slapped the side of the barrel in front of him with one gloved hand, "is here in the first place." He shook his head and pulled free his glasses, quickly cleaning them on a small bit of cloth pulled from inside of his coat.
"I fear it more likely that this particular curiosity is more distraction than it is anything to do with our goal."
“I thought much the same thing, Joren. If not from the flotilla itself, then from the strange land from across the sea they set out from.” He turns to Samir “What if it is from closer to home? What if it is from the last expedition across the sea? Andra was on that expedition and returned changed, this could be a clue to what they found” Malachi turns back to the shop keeper and asks again. “Do you remember who sold you this barrel? Where did they say it came from?”
"Hmmm," the man scratches his head. "Let me think... Fellow from Madurst said he got it from another fellow across the river in Teyra'athal, though considering the brew inside were a hoax, he may have been lying about that, just leaning into the folk tales about that city." Seeing some blank faces, he clarifies. "They say the city was made long ago by a lost race of elves with special magics, so it's an easy way to drum up interest in an otherwise mundane object." He shrugs. "If I'm being honest, I may have used that trick once or twice myself."
Ashley stares at the barrel while the others ponder, wondering if there was any way they could take it with them. She listens up though when Malachi asks where the barrel came from. As the shop keeper answers, she leans over and whispers to Samir, "Where is Teyra'athal?"
Malachi overhears Ashley’s question to Samir and responds “Far to the south, along the Venn Canal. The older, elegant, beautiful, and bossy sister city to Madurst, my home. Most of what he said is true. It is ancient and elvish, magical though, eh maybe.” Malachi shrugs and nods to the shopkeeper. “A pity though, I was hoping that the barrel came from the expedition in some way. Perhaps Samir is right and it is just a distraction.”
"Well if you don't mind, it seems I have a lot of work to do now. I am certainly grateful for you help, and between that and the mess, I perhaps wouldn't notice if a souvenir of your liking went missing from my shelves." The man chuckles. "Besides, I'm sure you've got people to report to now that your job here is done." He gives a mock salute before turning his back to look at the soggy mess that is his office. His shoulders visibly slump. Then he taps his walking stick on the ground twice as if to spur himself into action, and begins dragging debris over into one corner.
"He's right," says Marion, standing at the door and looking toward the stairs. We should report this and the other things we have seen on this outing to Lanya and Miter, and then we should figure out our next move. There is something strange happening with magic, we are facing enemies hiding in plain sight, and we are down 5/6ths of a person." She lets a touch of remorse enter her voice. "I am holding out some hope that whatever fell magic took Andra kept Vilus alive, but even the best case scenario for him looks bleak to me. Time is short."
Joren has slipped back into his reverie of how nice it would be to have an extended break on a warm beach.
Lying back and wiggling our toes in the sand. Relaxing and feeling safe and content for once! Speaking again to Vilus, who would be returned safely to us, learning from Samir about his clever ideas and contraptions, listening to Malachi's wit, understanding Marion's faith which is so foreign to him despite the kinship he feels with the warrior of the Blue Lady, laughing with Ashley about the little pleasures in life, splashing around in the water with her and...
Once more, Joren snaps out of it with a shake. "A souvenir going missing... such as this one?" He attempts to put the lid on the barrel and checks the seal, preparing to roll it out of the room and, with Marion's help (he signals to her), slowly down the stairs. Hoping to take it back to Marshal Lanya.
"We would not be wanting some large sea snake or other such hazard coming through into your shop, would we?"
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
"Yes, exactly as Malachi says." Samir nods along with Malachi's explanation to Ashley. "Madurst is my home as well. While there are certainly some... peculiar things that can be found in Teyra'athal, much of it is already catalogued and documented. People have been living there for a long while now since the elves left." The half-orc shakes himself, seeming to come back to the current situation. "Good luck in repairing your shop, and I hope that the damage to your business isn't too terrible. We will be getting out of your hair now." With a nod to the proprieter, Samir begins making his way back down the stairs, heading toward the street once more.
Fitting the lid in place, Joren wonders if Samir's grease and Ashley's heat could make a tight seal, but quickly realizes the lid has already sealed itself shut surely through magical means.
Thump
Thump
Thump
Joren and Marion roll the barrel down the stairs as gently as they can with Malachi leading the way. Opening the front door, they find a couple of people scooping up water from the flooded street with whatever jugs or bowls they'd had lying around the house and rushing off down the street in the direction the group had come from. A familiar halfling rushes by, struggling to carry a large overflowing vase. It's the little fellow from the burning house.
He notices Malachi, but doesn't slow his awkward pace "Oh hey, good to see you folks are keeping safe. Can't stop to chat. I've *huff* got some fine people trying to help me put out the fire." It looks like the other shop keepers who'd been standing around are among that number, perhaps as eager to clear their street of water as they are to put out the fire.
A little disappointed that no one else wants to check out what she saw on the other end of the portal, Ashley's spirits are lifted a bit when they do decide to take the barrel with them.
Following Joren and Marion down the steps as they roll the barrel, she's glad they at least stopped the flooding. Hopefully they would be able to continue on their journey now that that was dealt with.
As they run into the funny little halfling talking about putting out the fire, she exclaims, "Why we have a barrel right here that will continue to pour out water if you need a fire put out!"
Joren works with Marion to roll the barrel towards the fire via the clearest and safest path possible.
"Being seawater, and more of it than you might expect," he warns the halfling, "but better than more of the house burning up? If magic is going crazy in this city, then perhaps as Ashley is saying, better if one problem is canceling out the other."
When the barrel is in position, as close to the flames as safely possible, Joren attempts to find a position where it can be rolled around or briefly carried while horizontal with the lid off to extinguish the worst of it, getting help from Ashley to remove or refasten the lid, since fire has little effect on her.
Grunting ungracefully through gritted teeth with the effort of holding and rolling the barrel, he admits to Ashley: "I was so much wanting to go through and see what you saw. Maybe just lying on the beach a little. So much has been happening around us. It was feeling like an escape..."
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
“Yes, one person's misfortune can be another person's gain, a flooded shop helps put out a burning home.” Malachi grins, then pulls up short as Joren describes his dream vacation and something clicks in his memory.
“Maybe not so much an escape, Joren. That beach, the more I think about it, it sounds like Skaeld Rock. A large island to the west of the Venn Canal and the sister cities. The few sailors I have spoken to say it is largely uninhabited, but there are other stories of pirates and brigands making their home there. But why a portal there?”
Ashley, happy to be able to help the halfling, assists with removing the lid of the barrel to get the water where it needs to be.
Responding to Joren, "Yeah, perhaps if there is a way to keep this barrel around, we can head there once we've taken care of this Razmus fella, our reward for a work well done." She smiles, though a bit wistfully, realizing as she says this that the task they have laid in front of themselves might be more than they can handle...
Then to Malachi, "Skaeld Rock? Yeah, it didn't look inhabited at all to me, but the portal was on the ship, not the island, so I am not sure where the portal was actually from."
With little effort, the barrel unseals itself under Joren's hands, and water gushes out as he rolls it around the perimeter of the building. Steam and smoke rises up as the lower flames are extinguished. The people who had been travelling to the flooded market for water start gathering around the barrel and refilling directly from it, and as the pace of throwing buckets of water increases drastically, the higher flames start to lose their momentum.
Marion spots one woman to the side circling her hands and muttering. A bit of water rises from a puddle in front of her, hovering and forming a sphere. The woman's face is pale and strained, but a touch of wonder still makes its way into her expression. Then her concentration falters, and the water loses form, splashing back down to the ground. She wipes her brow and pants in frustration.
Marion glances around before walking over. "Is this your first time?" she says gently. The woman looks up at her surprised and nervous. She swallows and nods. Marion slowly places one hand on her forearm, and the other on her shoulder. "Here, try again, but feel the sensation down the whole length of your arm."
A subtle blue glow begins to shine out between the gaps in Marion's gauntlets, and the woman begins to concentrate again, this time with less strain. Once again, the water rises up, but this time continues high into the air over the building. It spreads out, becoming wisps and then vapours. Within a minute, a dark cloud forms, and the first drops of rain begin to darken the timbers of the burning building below.
The woman looks at Marion with surprise and joy lighting up her features. "Thank you! Did you do this, or did-"
"It is your doing," Marion responds, smiling. "The Blue Lady provided the gift, and I provided guidance, but this..." She points at the raincloud, "... is yours"
Walking back to the group she says, "Good work. I think we've done enough here. The rain should put out the last of the fire in the next ten minutes or so, so we might as well be moving on." She looks down at her hands, and then over at the smiling woman still maintaining her concentration on the rain cloud. "Things are definitely changing, but I'm not sure it's a bad thing..."
Joren remembers belatedly to snap his jaw shut after it had dropped open with the formation of the magical rain cloud.
With the barrel sealed up again, he begins to roll it carefully back to Marshal Lanya and Miter's headquarters with Marion's help.
When well away from the crowd, he growls in a low voice, "What is happening here? It is as if magic is breaking free from multiple sides of a triangle of deities and demigods. On one end, there is Razmus, the yellow apogee? Whose magic we cannot be denying after seeing Andra and Vilus' fate. Then the Blue Lady, whose gift is self-evident in Marion and others. And hearing also of the Red Hunter? The flow and the ebb. Perhaps matching the colors of the medallion Samir took from Jon Shep's drawer when he holds it near each of us. And all three may be separate from Vilus' Watcher..."
Joren subsides, aware of speaking entirely too much of magic which he does not understand.
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Malachi pauses to consider Marion’s and Joren’s words “Yes, things are changing, magic is becoming more common in the world. Is it because of the thing we broke in Andra’s office? Was it keeping it contained? Is this a temporary thing or a new beginning? I wish Vilus was here, he knew more of this than I do.” Malachi didn’t really recognize his connection to magic himself. He knew he was luckier than he has any right to be and strange things often happen around him. He views his own powers as more of a product of the voices in his head instead of magic, but his recent vision of the Blue Lady weighs heavy in his mind. He follows the others back to the Marshal’s office with many more questions than answers.