Avaria is still focused on the kill. She chases her new friends as they storm off after the disgusting creature, as she gets up to him - she attacks if it is still alive...
Marrin leaps through the air and snags the branch on the other side. She hears creaking, cracking, and groaning of living wood strain. Not waiting to see if the branch holds, she moves quickly towards the trunk and off to the next tree. Casting a quick glance backwards, she makes out Trepsin's head sticking out over the top of a shrub, and sees the heads of a couple of ambush drakes poking out from the side.
Trepsin whistles and the drakes disappear, but she can see him starting to move downstream as well, but on his side of the river.
-----------------------------------------
Avaria rushes up next to Vonth and Solomona and looks down at the troll. Somehow, the creature has managed to remain upright on its knees but there's no sign of life. A strong breeze is likely to destroy the delicate balance. It's dead.
At that moment, all three feel gusts of wind buffet them from above, and note the sudden appearance of shadow then the sun again. The two large deer-like birds have just dive-bombed them but did not strike out. Before the trio register the dive, the creatures are already soaring back up into the sky.
The woman on the stairs calls over to the group.
"They'd much prefer to actually strike out at you next time," she says. "But you being dead doesn't help me any."
She looks from one troll to the other and shakes her head.
"Those two were finally house trained," she says with a sigh. "Why don't you stop all this fighting and come inside, get something to eat and talk?"
Vonth kneels and wipes the foul ichor from his blade by dragging it across the creature’s thick hide. It is not proper care, but it is better than letting the filth cling to the steel.
As he rises, the sun darkens. A rush of air. The faintest prickle along his skin, hairs standing on end. Then light returns. Vonth resists the urge to look skyward. Too late for that. If something meant to strike, it would have done so already.
He turns instead to the woman at the house.
He listens to her vague threats. Her mourning for the fallen trolls. Her curious offer.
He scowls.
Solomona seems inclined to entertain her invitation—breaking bread, stepping inside. Perhaps it is deception. Yet Solomona has never struck Vonth as anything but straightforward.
Vonth does not care for games.
“Why?” he asks the woman, the word heavy with distrust. “Because your pets are still hunting our friends.”
He steps toward her and turns his blade so that it catches the returning light. The gesture is simple. The meaning is clear.
Friends? The word lingers in his mind. Besides Solomona, the one he trusted most had been Soren—and Soren betrayed them.
Perhaps he is too quick with that word - Friends. Perhaps, but not yet.
Avaria breathes hard as the rage dissipates and she stares after the flying houses. At the woman's words, she stares at the overdressed lady and then to the two beside her. Noting that Solomona is agreeing to the request, she looks around and sees she is practically just in the company of strangers.
Looking back towards the woman, "Call back the troll with four arms and his pets." Seeing that the goliath is practically asking the same thing, she finds herself standing with him - not quite a stranger.
Jan continues flying, unbeknownst to her in more or less the exact opposite direction of where Marrin is headed. She can see the top of the lodge behind her and the two deer-birds but can't see the clearing or the rest of her companions any more.
((What does Jan plan on doing for the remainder of her flying time?))
Marrin continues down the river, only occasionally seeing Trepsin's head pop in and out of the trees on the other side. As far as she can see so far, there's no way for her pursuers to cross. Maybe when they get closer to the smoke.
The woman looks at Solomona with a smile and then turns and flicks her hand at the kobolds. They all head back inside, yipping and barking as they do.
She then turns back to the group.
"He's not going to be able to hear me from here, especially if they've gotten as far as the river already. That's just too noisy," the woman says. Then looks at Vonth and then to Avaria more seriously. "You all took something that didn't belong to you. And somehow you think you're the injured party?"
Solomona maintains his smile, but looks expectantly between the woman and Avaria, hoping that this outdoor conversation is not going to delay the offer of food. Approaching the steps, Sol thrusts out one pudgy hand in greeting, and says: Talofa! I'm Solomona Falavalava from the Friendly Islands. What have you got to eat? What can we call you? Those are some fancy furs you've got there...
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
How does a red dragon blow out the candles on its birthday cake?
As Vonth weighs whether the moment calls for threats or steel—since the woman seems no less responsible for the chaos than Soren—Solomona does something entirely different.
He steps forward and offers to shake her hand.
And asks what food she has.
Vonth freezes, dumbstruck.
He looks from Solomona to the woman, then over to Avaria, whose instincts had seemed much closer to his own moments ago—particularly considering the four-armed troll still roaming somewhere out there.
Vonth looks back to Solomona again, just to make sure the wide one is truly doing what it appears he is doing.
He is.
Slowly, Vonth turns back to Avaria.
“You know them. I don’t,” he says quietly. “Do they need help… or do we let them handle it?”
Avaria looks to the forest and back to the woman that convincing the big man to come in for food. Food is the last thing on her mind. She looks to Vonth as he asks his question. That is a hard question to answer. Marrin and Jan? They could probably handle them with the tricks that they do.. but she looks down at the trolls at their feet and wonder how easy it would be to defeat the big guy. And then there are the pets...
But Ula, Hammer and Geffroi are out there too... they need help. "We need to find Ula, Hammer and Geffroi. The other two? If they don't want to be found, we won't find them." Ava turns on her heel, greatsword in her hands and stalks off in the direction she last saw them. Fear gnawing away at her with everyone so split up.
She listens hard for her friends... perception: 18
The woman seems a little surprised by Solomona's forthright approach and proffered hand. However, she does smile and shakes the monks hand.
"Oh I'm sure we'll find something to your liking. Our pantry is well-stocked and I smelled a venison stew simmering just now as I passed the kitchen. I'm Talis," she says. "Some call me Talis the White. It's an honorific and something I gave myself. And what can I call you?"
She looks from Solomona down to Vonth and the retreating back of Avaria.
"There's plenty for all. The sun will be down soon and it gets cold up here once it's gone. I suspect you're both fine with the cold. But the woods get quite dark too." Talis says. Then adds "We'll get some extra torches lit so you can find your way back."
Then she waves a hand at the swirling deer-bird creatures.
They race off over the woods.
---------------------------------
At the pace she's going, Marrin figures it will take the better part of a day to get to where the smoke is coming from. Looking at the mountains and the sun, she'd guess she has an hour of daylight left at best.
---------------------------------
Given that Hammerdasher is a mountain dwarf, comfortable in the strongholds under the mountains, Ula is at home with the sea, and Geffroi favours libraries and universities, Avaria is sure that even with the head start they had, the trio won't have gotten far. At the edge of the clearing she hears something. She can't be certain but she would guess it's Hammerdasher cursing in the dwarven language.
As Marrin walks along, within earshot if not always sight of, the river she starts prestidigating herself and her belongings completely, astringently clean. Once that is done she starts prestidigating herself and belongings dirty using the local wilderness smells and dirt as her new fragrance. She assumes the lizard things were hunting her by scent, and that troll had a big nose so she makes some rude assumptions.
She is glad she still has all her cold weather kit though, so the cooling temperature isn't going to be an issue.
She will be listening/watching for things to approach or ambush her but will call it a night when it gets dark and climb a sturdy tree with a wide branch to rough it out.
Avaria smiles despite the situation when she hears Hammerdasher cursing ahead of her. Sheathing her weapon, she catches up with the group. "Ok, here is the situation. Our new friends and I took out the two trolls, this woman - Talis has appeared from the house dressed in some fancy robes and stopped two huge flying deer creatures from descending upon us. She wants us to come in and talk about the chest that we have that we apparently took and isn't ours. Her words. Marrin and Jan are still in the wind and so is Soren."
She hangs her head now, a bit overcome with decision and loss and just the situation in general. "The one called Sol wants to go in and eat what they are offering, I'm not sure what Vonth wants to do. I am worried about Marrin and Jan, but I know they are good at handling themselves... I can't help it. Should we see what is going on? Why the hell Soren brought us here?"
Jan will keep fleeing, when she feels she's put sufficient distance, she'll pop K into a side dimension... Bigge and the Wish will just have to wonder what became of them.
((It's an action to dismiss them, an action to recall, so it'll be a couple turns until she's got K in hand.))
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DM:Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Solomona turns with Vonth's tug of his arm, his face still beaming with joy. But up close, Vonth notices something else... a twinkle in the eye... not that of a man with his head in the sky, but one with the spark of understanding, one with a plan. I'll be fine, bro. You go. Solomona says quietly. The smile doesn't leave his face.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
How does a red dragon blow out the candles on its birthday cake?
As Marrin continues along, bringing herself down to ground level before she loses the ability to climb quickly, she doesn’t see anyone following her or here anyone sneaking up on her. The rushing river nearby does make it hard to hear though, so she can’t be certain.
The woods themselves are quite pleasant. Fallen pine needles carpet the ground, making for a soft surface to walk on. And she still hasn’t seen anywhere that Trepsin and his ambush drakes could cross the river.
It does dawn on her that where the smoke is, there is likely to be a settlement, and where there’s a settlement, there’s likely to be a bridge. But it would take a day to get to that point and back.
This is the first time Jan has flown using her new gift and she’s not entirely sure how long it lasts, but she gets the impression that she better land imminently if she doesn’t want gravity to do the job for her.
She’s a good couple of hundred yards from the lodge, to the west, over the woods, but there looks to be enough gaps in the foliage to lower herself to the ground, and time to bring K popping through dimensions.
Avaria and Vonth find the wandering dwarves and Geffroi about 100’ into the forest. Avaria notices that they appear to have just gone in a relatively small circle.
Hammerdasher beams when he sees Avaria, and even gives Vonth a nod of greeting.
“An ugly troll and a few hopped up lizards aren’t going to catch Marrin and Jan,” Hammerdasher says. Then he shakes his head. “Nor are two dwarves and an academic apparently going to find them either.”
He thinks for a moment then shrugs.
“If this woman knows about the chest, I’d say that’s a pretty safe bet as to why Soren brought us here.” Hammerdasher says. “She hired him to find the chest would be my guess.”
Geffroi adds “We don’t know her but she knows something about the chest and I’d really like to find out what that is.”
Talis waves Solomona forward through the front doors of the lodge.
Just inside the front door is a chamber with pegs and benches for cloaks and boots. A set of rusty spears rests in one corner, held in the claw of a small drake statue.
To the right of the entry way, Solomona spots two small arrow slits. A guard post perhaps?
Ahead, through another doorway, Solomona can make out a central hallway with stairs, large wooden doors, and what looks to be a set of fine plate armor. Flanking the main entrance are two freestanding suits of elven plate armor, both coated in chipped green paint. Man-sized demonic statues stand near the base of the stairs.
A heavy carpet leading from this doorway towards the stairs appears to be stained with mud.
He spots two kobolds dart across through the hallway.
“Shall we head in and get you something to eat,” Talis asks?
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Marrin looks around, then back the way she came from, before sighing and backing up to get a running start to make the jump over the river.
Athletics: nat 20!
She then keeps moving downstream towards the chimneys.
Avaria is still focused on the kill. She chases her new friends as they storm off after the disgusting creature, as she gets up to him - she attacks if it is still alive...
((Is it?))
Marrin leaps through the air and snags the branch on the other side. She hears creaking, cracking, and groaning of living wood strain. Not waiting to see if the branch holds, she moves quickly towards the trunk and off to the next tree. Casting a quick glance backwards, she makes out Trepsin's head sticking out over the top of a shrub, and sees the heads of a couple of ambush drakes poking out from the side.
Trepsin whistles and the drakes disappear, but she can see him starting to move downstream as well, but on his side of the river.
-----------------------------------------
Avaria rushes up next to Vonth and Solomona and looks down at the troll. Somehow, the creature has managed to remain upright on its knees but there's no sign of life. A strong breeze is likely to destroy the delicate balance. It's dead.
At that moment, all three feel gusts of wind buffet them from above, and note the sudden appearance of shadow then the sun again. The two large deer-like birds have just dive-bombed them but did not strike out. Before the trio register the dive, the creatures are already soaring back up into the sky.
The woman on the stairs calls over to the group.
"They'd much prefer to actually strike out at you next time," she says. "But you being dead doesn't help me any."
She looks from one troll to the other and shakes her head.
"Those two were finally house trained," she says with a sigh. "Why don't you stop all this fighting and come inside, get something to eat and talk?"
-----------------------------------------------------
Party is up.
Jan continues continues flying, considering when it's time to call K to her.
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
Solomona smiles a big smile, and with an attitude like he's just been exercising on the front lawn, he walks over toward the woman.
Orr yeah! I could do with a feed, eh! Cheers, auntie! You say those things lived inside?
How does a red dragon blow out the candles on its birthday cake?
Vonth...
The trolls are finally dead.
Good.
Vonth kneels and wipes the foul ichor from his blade by dragging it across the creature’s thick hide. It is not proper care, but it is better than letting the filth cling to the steel.
As he rises, the sun darkens. A rush of air. The faintest prickle along his skin, hairs standing on end. Then light returns. Vonth resists the urge to look skyward. Too late for that. If something meant to strike, it would have done so already.
He turns instead to the woman at the house.
He listens to her vague threats. Her mourning for the fallen trolls. Her curious offer.
He scowls.
Solomona seems inclined to entertain her invitation—breaking bread, stepping inside. Perhaps it is deception. Yet Solomona has never struck Vonth as anything but straightforward.
Vonth does not care for games.
“Why?” he asks the woman, the word heavy with distrust. “Because your pets are still hunting our friends.”
He steps toward her and turns his blade so that it catches the returning light. The gesture is simple. The meaning is clear.
Friends? The word lingers in his mind. Besides Solomona, the one he trusted most had been Soren—and Soren betrayed them.
Perhaps he is too quick with that word - Friends. Perhaps, but not yet.
Marrin notices she is probably going to be heading into an ambush, but doesn't really have many good options.
Shrugging she starts moving more leisurely downstream, towards the smoke, moving a out of sight from the otherside of the river.
She'll make sure to climb down the rock face before her spider climb ends, though.
Avaria breathes hard as the rage dissipates and she stares after the flying houses. At the woman's words, she stares at the overdressed lady and then to the two beside her. Noting that Solomona is agreeing to the request, she looks around and sees she is practically just in the company of strangers.
Looking back towards the woman, "Call back the troll with four arms and his pets." Seeing that the goliath is practically asking the same thing, she finds herself standing with him - not quite a stranger.
Jan continues flying, unbeknownst to her in more or less the exact opposite direction of where Marrin is headed. She can see the top of the lodge behind her and the two deer-birds but can't see the clearing or the rest of her companions any more.
((What does Jan plan on doing for the remainder of her flying time?))
Marrin continues down the river, only occasionally seeing Trepsin's head pop in and out of the trees on the other side. As far as she can see so far, there's no way for her pursuers to cross. Maybe when they get closer to the smoke.
The woman looks at Solomona with a smile and then turns and flicks her hand at the kobolds. They all head back inside, yipping and barking as they do.
She then turns back to the group.
"He's not going to be able to hear me from here, especially if they've gotten as far as the river already. That's just too noisy," the woman says. Then looks at Vonth and then to Avaria more seriously. "You all took something that didn't belong to you. And somehow you think you're the injured party?"
Solomona maintains his smile, but looks expectantly between the woman and Avaria, hoping that this outdoor conversation is not going to delay the offer of food. Approaching the steps, Sol thrusts out one pudgy hand in greeting, and says: Talofa! I'm Solomona Falavalava from the Friendly Islands. What have you got to eat? What can we call you? Those are some fancy furs you've got there...
How does a red dragon blow out the candles on its birthday cake?
Vonth...
As Vonth weighs whether the moment calls for threats or steel—since the woman seems no less responsible for the chaos than Soren—Solomona does something entirely different.
He steps forward and offers to shake her hand.
And asks what food she has.
Vonth freezes, dumbstruck.
He looks from Solomona to the woman, then over to Avaria, whose instincts had seemed much closer to his own moments ago—particularly considering the four-armed troll still roaming somewhere out there.
Vonth looks back to Solomona again, just to make sure the wide one is truly doing what it appears he is doing.
He is.
Slowly, Vonth turns back to Avaria.
“You know them. I don’t,” he says quietly. “Do they need help… or do we let them handle it?”
Marrin will keep making for the smoke, at a more leisurely pace now.
She hopes everyone else is doing okay, and that Jan is making good her escape while she plays decoy.
And that Soren gets permanent laryngitis.
((How wide and rapid filled is this river? How far to the smoke, about?))
Avaria looks to the forest and back to the woman that convincing the big man to come in for food. Food is the last thing on her mind. She looks to Vonth as he asks his question. That is a hard question to answer. Marrin and Jan? They could probably handle them with the tricks that they do.. but she looks down at the trolls at their feet and wonder how easy it would be to defeat the big guy. And then there are the pets...
But Ula, Hammer and Geffroi are out there too... they need help. "We need to find Ula, Hammer and Geffroi. The other two? If they don't want to be found, we won't find them." Ava turns on her heel, greatsword in her hands and stalks off in the direction she last saw them. Fear gnawing away at her with everyone so split up.
She listens hard for her friends... perception: 18
The woman seems a little surprised by Solomona's forthright approach and proffered hand. However, she does smile and shakes the monks hand.
"Oh I'm sure we'll find something to your liking. Our pantry is well-stocked and I smelled a venison stew simmering just now as I passed the kitchen. I'm Talis," she says. "Some call me Talis the White. It's an honorific and something I gave myself. And what can I call you?"
She looks from Solomona down to Vonth and the retreating back of Avaria.
"There's plenty for all. The sun will be down soon and it gets cold up here once it's gone. I suspect you're both fine with the cold. But the woods get quite dark too." Talis says. Then adds "We'll get some extra torches lit so you can find your way back."
Then she waves a hand at the swirling deer-bird creatures.
They race off over the woods.
---------------------------------
At the pace she's going, Marrin figures it will take the better part of a day to get to where the smoke is coming from. Looking at the mountains and the sun, she'd guess she has an hour of daylight left at best.
---------------------------------
Given that Hammerdasher is a mountain dwarf, comfortable in the strongholds under the mountains, Ula is at home with the sea, and Geffroi favours libraries and universities, Avaria is sure that even with the head start they had, the trio won't have gotten far. At the edge of the clearing she hears something. She can't be certain but she would guess it's Hammerdasher cursing in the dwarven language.
As Marrin walks along, within earshot if not always sight of, the river she starts prestidigating herself and her belongings completely, astringently clean. Once that is done she starts prestidigating herself and belongings dirty using the local wilderness smells and dirt as her new fragrance. She assumes the lizard things were hunting her by scent, and that troll had a big nose so she makes some rude assumptions.
She is glad she still has all her cold weather kit though, so the cooling temperature isn't going to be an issue.
She will be listening/watching for things to approach or ambush her but will call it a night when it gets dark and climb a sturdy tree with a wide branch to rough it out.
Perception if it gets that far: 7
Avaria smiles despite the situation when she hears Hammerdasher cursing ahead of her. Sheathing her weapon, she catches up with the group. "Ok, here is the situation. Our new friends and I took out the two trolls, this woman - Talis has appeared from the house dressed in some fancy robes and stopped two huge flying deer creatures from descending upon us. She wants us to come in and talk about the chest that we have that we apparently took and isn't ours. Her words. Marrin and Jan are still in the wind and so is Soren."
She hangs her head now, a bit overcome with decision and loss and just the situation in general. "The one called Sol wants to go in and eat what they are offering, I'm not sure what Vonth wants to do. I am worried about Marrin and Jan, but I know they are good at handling themselves... I can't help it. Should we see what is going on? Why the hell Soren brought us here?"
Vonth...
When Avaria turns on her heel and heads toward the woods—toward where her companions must be—Vonth follows with only a moment’s hesitation.
“We need to find the others first,” he hisses quietly to Solomona.
He gives the wide one’s arm a brief tug, urging him along before turning back toward the trees.
If Solomona refuses, so be it. Vonth does not press the matter. There are others to find.
With that, Vonth hurries after Avaria, falling in a few paces behind her as she hunts for her companions.
Jan will keep fleeing, when she feels she's put sufficient distance, she'll pop K into a side dimension... Bigge and the Wish will just have to wonder what became of them.
((It's an action to dismiss them, an action to recall, so it'll be a couple turns until she's got K in hand.))
DM: Forged in Chaos, Spiders of the Abyss, The Sundered Way, Champions of the Citadel
Active Characters:
Breldo, Halfling Ranger | Kathryn, Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger | Kroshav, Dragonborn Paladin | T'laren Farsiel, Wood Elf Fighter | Trill, Kenku Bard | Val "Janellae", Mark of Shadow Elf Warlock
Solomona turns with Vonth's tug of his arm, his face still beaming with joy. But up close, Vonth notices something else... a twinkle in the eye... not that of a man with his head in the sky, but one with the spark of understanding, one with a plan. I'll be fine, bro. You go. Solomona says quietly. The smile doesn't leave his face.
How does a red dragon blow out the candles on its birthday cake?
As Marrin continues along, bringing herself down to ground level before she loses the ability to climb quickly, she doesn’t see anyone following her or here anyone sneaking up on her. The rushing river nearby does make it hard to hear though, so she can’t be certain.
The woods themselves are quite pleasant. Fallen pine needles carpet the ground, making for a soft surface to walk on. And she still hasn’t seen anywhere that Trepsin and his ambush drakes could cross the river.
It does dawn on her that where the smoke is, there is likely to be a settlement, and where there’s a settlement, there’s likely to be a bridge. But it would take a day to get to that point and back.
—---------------------------------------------------------
This is the first time Jan has flown using her new gift and she’s not entirely sure how long it lasts, but she gets the impression that she better land imminently if she doesn’t want gravity to do the job for her.
She’s a good couple of hundred yards from the lodge, to the west, over the woods, but there looks to be enough gaps in the foliage to lower herself to the ground, and time to bring K popping through dimensions.
—-----------------------------------------------------------
Avaria and Vonth find the wandering dwarves and Geffroi about 100’ into the forest. Avaria notices that they appear to have just gone in a relatively small circle.
Hammerdasher beams when he sees Avaria, and even gives Vonth a nod of greeting.
“An ugly troll and a few hopped up lizards aren’t going to catch Marrin and Jan,” Hammerdasher says. Then he shakes his head. “Nor are two dwarves and an academic apparently going to find them either.”
He thinks for a moment then shrugs.
“If this woman knows about the chest, I’d say that’s a pretty safe bet as to why Soren brought us here.” Hammerdasher says. “She hired him to find the chest would be my guess.”
Geffroi adds “We don’t know her but she knows something about the chest and I’d really like to find out what that is.”
—--------------------------------------------------------------
Talis waves Solomona forward through the front doors of the lodge.
Just inside the front door is a chamber with pegs and benches for cloaks and boots. A set of rusty spears rests in one corner, held in the claw of a small drake statue.
To the right of the entry way, Solomona spots two small arrow slits. A guard post perhaps?
Ahead, through another doorway, Solomona can make out a central hallway with stairs, large wooden doors, and what looks to be a set of fine plate armor. Flanking the main entrance are two freestanding suits of elven plate armor, both coated in chipped green paint. Man-sized demonic statues stand near the base of the stairs.
A heavy carpet leading from this doorway towards the stairs appears to be stained with mud.
He spots two kobolds dart across through the hallway.
“Shall we head in and get you something to eat,” Talis asks?