*Renar just hangs along the edge of the cave as everyone else converses with the dragon back and forth.* I'm surprised the dragon herself was acting so fond of Taliyah. Is it really because she's a dragon too? Is that why she's so affectionate? Either way, it seems like she's still intent on taking Stupid Rixi away, not that I care about him in the slightest; If this was the actual Rixi I would have done something for sure. "I don't care what you do with him, as long as he doesn't unleash destruction in the outside world or cross our paths again." I firmly states to the dragon- *He lets off another fox yelp as the dragon smashes a boulder down for everyone to cross* Ugh fine... but we better get moving... *He grits his teeth in both annoyance and anger* "Maybe we should tell them to call off this trial after this chain of disastrous moments and now that... he's not with us..." I jokingly say to Shugo as I don't even make eye contact with anyone else; I'm still in absolute agony that we lost Alex and Okaa-san this early...
If there is no lich nearby, undeads usually roam around in an idle state, doing nothing but wander aimlessly, since their brains were decomposed a long, long time ago. Some undeads carry on the task they were given during their lifetime. You can see some zombies and skeletons wearing safety hats and placing cut stones to build a house, that's one of the examples, these undeads were construction workers before, and even in the 'afterlife', they still cannot escape their 9 to 5 job.
The villagers remembered what Kristain instructed them to do: never stay in the dark. They pull out their lanterns, torches, and all kinds of light sources. Laine passes a few torches to you too, "Don't try to fight any of them, guys. If you do, it could trigger their natural response and the entire city... thing will be against us and we'll risk getting civilians hurt. Did they really build everything inside here?"
In front of you, you can see six skeletons 'protestors' blocking the street—three of them look like normal humanoid skeletons, the fourth skeleton has a fox skull and a tailbone, the fifth has a rat skull and is much shorter than other skeletons, and the sixth one has elongated skull with six eye sockets. The last three are Kitsune, ratfolk (AKA Ysoki), and Goloma respectively—three races that were wiped out during the Second Planetary War. All six skeletons hold a protest sign that says 'Why are you killing us?' 'Stop genocide now!' 'Disunited States of Lancea—Revolution now!' among other things.
The reason why they died is obvious: they protested, the United States of Lancea government didn't like it, and they made them 'disappear.'
At this point, the crowd of villagers following behind you stop in their tracks, because these skeleton protestors are still bound to their duties in the past: to block a road and protest.
*Renar shudders slightly as everyone approaches the mass hoard of skeletons* What the heck? Where even are we? Are we actually in a ghost town or something? "Does anyone have like a map or something in case we get lost?" I whisper to no one in particular... Well I mean duh, whoever is stupid enough to try and fight these guys should honestly join Stupid Rixi with the dragon for all that I care... *As Renar meets the protesters he notices the signs that they're holding* Stop genocide... Disunited... what? What are these skeletons protesting about? Don't they know that there isn't any war at the moment? Or is it because... they were wiped out themselves by whatever hated them in the past? I can't tell, but I kinda of feel sorry for them a little... It's someone had a strong enough Animate Dead casted on this entire place! And... what the... *As he recognizes the fox-like skeleton, his heart stops beating for five seconds as his eyes suddenly widen...* No! No! No! It's not true! *He smacks himself in the stomach* That's just a regular fox person... not a kitsune... it's another fox... surely there must be others of my kind and Okaa-san's around here right? Have these guys truly been wiped out just like in Sword Coast?! What the heck am I looking at?! And who the hell are those two standing right next to it! I haven't seen those races before! *He composes himself before he speaks, but from the fearful tone in his voice he's already kind of panicking* "We need to get out of this place fast... but what do we do? Is there like another exit somewhere that we can cross? Can we like weave around the buildings and past the protestors or something? We can't just push our way through without provoking them can we? Or is this allowed? And are they able to speak or something?"
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The Wildland Shifters Daisy Ethalena- Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer) Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade) Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer(Clockwork Soul); Lancea Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars) Yurime Hanasaki- Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)
Venet is relieved when the dragon makes a way for them, even if her reasoning is a tad odd. Keep the fire boy if you want him, I guess.
She stays close to her compatriots as they make their way forward. It still feels strange to not have her rapier on her hip but she's thankful to have her instruments. She lights up a torch as they enter the cave, her brows and face scrunching up at the sight of so many undead. "Should we try talking to them? Do you think they will listen if we ask them to move?"
Shugo shrugs at the beast's response, her reasoning is completely ridiculous. If a parent really didn't care about what their kid does, then that parent doesn't truly care about the kid. But whatever, it's none of his business. So long as this doesn't come back to bite him, then it might be better that they don't have to worry about that guy down here. Huh. To bad the dragon didn't take Moneybags along with too.
Shugo shrugs again to Renar. His mood may have lightened slightly, but he's still not over what just happened. "He was the one with charges against us. I don't think they can hold anything against us if he's gone. Plus the trial would have been just as much his as it would be ours. I think the guards have recognized who the true villain was."
He pauses at the edge of the cliff for a moment as if expecting Alex and the Owlin to fly back up. Should they wait for them? "Hey Taliyah. Do you know if Alex can get back up here? Should we wait for him or keep going?"
He catches up with the group only to stop at the grizzly sight. Undead. Wonderful. "Well, you can try to talk to them." He sighs, "If our Paladin were here this probably wouldn't be an issue." He glances back at Taliyah awaiting a response. The elf doesn't know a lot about paladins, but he's sure they have some kind of ability to help deal with undead.
"If they want to eat us, then they would do so now... just follow them, they're probably curious about us," Jedwiga says.
There are various stones and crystals both on the ground and the ceiling, Pixel can probably use a stone and scratch the crystals in order to mark the direction. Or he can build a cairn by stacking smaller stones or crystals together in the shape of a tower. In Perkwunos, that's an unmarked graveyard, but in other regions like greater Sehul or Heryomen, it's a waypoint. They'll probably understand it in this context.
The firenewt leads you to their camps. It's beside a large, steamy, hot lake, the huts are constructed with hardened clay, and the walls are made out of jagged stones. There are stables too, which house a bunch of giant striders, the mount of firenewt culture. There is a metal hut... thing at the centre, which stands out from the rest of the building in the camp, or any building you've ever seen in your life for that matter. There is a metallic tube sticking out at the front, and the base is made out of loose metal stripes. There is a letter on the metal hut, which says 'A7V.'
A firenewt squats on top of the metal hut, she wears a necklace filled with precious stones. From what you see, other firenewts don't wear anything at all, not even clothing on that matter, so this one must be the leader.
"Underdark not a place for tourists like you, what you doing here?" She asks, her grammar is a bit off, but you can understand her as clear as day.
After Alex answers the question, she snaps her claws, and one of the firenewt walks into a hut and comes back with a box. You recognise it immediately, it's the same box that Altairs dropped into the chasm, looks like it ended up on this layer of the cave too.
"This yours?" She says, jumping down beside the crate. She pries the lid open and picks up one of the weapons in this crate; your longsword. "Mmm, nice. Cobalt-Steel alloy. Is better than obsidian." She smirks.
She snaps her claws again, and the firenewts who escorted you earlier form a circle around you. "In Underdark, finders keepers. Have to fight to get what we want, no barter, surface-dwellers soft." She points 'her' longsword at Alex, "You want box back, fight me. I hold back, you go all out. We heal you once we are done."
"ᐸᔫ! ᐸᔫ! ᐸᔫ!" (Payu! Payu! Payu!) (Fight! Fight! Fight!)" The other firenewts around you begin chanting, you don't need proficiency in Charan to know that they're hyping this up. The phoenix from earlier lands on top of the metal hut, watching the fight too. Several giant striders also join the circle, along with a few salamanders and fire snakes.
"Hey, Alex." Jedwiga whispers to the Aasimar, "Uhh... do you want me to take your place?"
"No!" The firenewt leader snaps back at the Owlin, "Want to fight with him, not you, Birdie." She makes a 'come on' gesture, "Your move, boy."
Since this is a good old-fashioned duel, you know for certain that the other firenewts will not try to jump in. Duelling is t a universal thing among every living Lancean out there, long before laws were invented, this was the only way to solve disputes or get something from other groups of people. These people who live in the Underdark continue to live in their primitive ways because they never knew how far the surface world has advanced.
OOC Note: I've talked about duelling rules earlier, but here's a reminder: you don't need to roll for an initiative, just roll for attack, spells, or other abilities like a normal combat. You all start in a melee range with the contestant unless stated otherwise. In this case, Alex goes first, and Ishshi goes after Alex.
Ishshi (Firenewt leader)
(Note: This is what A7V looks like. IRL, it's the first and only German tank produced in WW1. Only 20 of them were built, and there is only one surviving example—it was captured by Australian soldiers and right now, it's sitting at Queensland Museum, Brisbane. I have the honour of actually seeing it in person, but I didn't take pictures of it, so here's the one I found on Google.)
Alex brightens when the firenewt leader speaks in a language he understands.
"Oh, thank God. Uh... well, we aren't actually tourists..." He explains the situation, ending with how they ended up in this cave and then following the other fire newts. Perhaps things were finally looking up, and this firenewt might actually be nice and helpful... his eyes light up further when he sees the box. Was she going to return it? How nice of her!
His joy is promptly snuffed out when she says 'finders keepers' and finds himself a little confused at why she even brought it up. Is she trying to taunt him? Then she asks for a duel. Oh... okay, this is starting to make sense now... kind of.
He shakes his head when Jedwiga offers to take his place. He's not really comfortable fighting without his armor, but... well, he's done it in the past.
"Okay, not sure why you want to fight me so badly, but sure," He shrugs, drawing the short sword Jedwiga lent to him. "I've already used up my celestial flight, but that's okay. Though, I am used to fighting in armor, which also so happens to be in that box. So if you want a fair fight, then you'd let me at least have that back for the duel, but I suppose that's asking too much considering you already said you'd go easy on me." He gives the sword a flourish, readjusting himself to the length and weight of the blade. "So have it your way." Normally, he would have objected to someone going easy on him, but considering the circumstances, he can't afford to. Besides, it will even the odds after all considering that he's at a severe disadvantage. After the fight earlier that day, and his flight down into these depths, he's a little short on magic--so he'd better make everything count.
He steps forward, holding the blade out in front of him and pressing his palm against the back of his right hand, he says, "Here goes!"
(Bonus action) He casts Area of Force and a ring of crystalline pillars erupt from the scorching earth around him, glowing red-gold as they burst through the ground.
Damage: 19
(Action) Then he rushes forward, swinging the sword at the firenewt leader, hoping that his skills hold true in this fight, as this is all up to him.
Venet hums to herself. She isnt well versed about the dead, but she is a fairly good talker. She walks up, still keeping her distant however. "Hey, can you move a bit so our group can pass?" ____ Persuasion: 8 (usually good at talking ugh)
Taliyah's eyes glow for a moment after hearing Shugo's question. "Ah, Jedwiga seems to have a relative in the area who she hopes can help them get out. They've also found our weapons, which is good. Unfortunately the firenewt who found it is making Alex duel her to regain our gear. As for dealing with these zombies..." Her voice drops down to a whisper, and she curls her left hand into a proper claw, angling it towards shugo adn away from the zombies. "Alex isn't the only one with access to divine light." A small gathering of golden sparks begins to coalesce in her hand.
Meanwhile, down under, Pixel quickly sets up a cairn pointing in the direction they're headed in, and flies after the others.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
With Taliyah's intervention, the skeletons and all undeads in the area immediately back away from the Dragonborn, some of them even trip on their feet. You technically didn't provoke them because they didn't take any damage, they're just scared of sacred things like divine magic or anything that deals Radiant damage.
One of the undead, a ghoul, runs out from a 'shop' and drops a strange device: it looks like a metallic tablet with a black glass panel on the front and nothing on the back. Picking it up, the black glass reveals a diagram of the cave:
The diagram is a bit confusing to read, it doesn't show how far each cave is, but it's probably relative to the size of the square—it also doesn't have a blip to show you where you are, but you can probably figure it out yourself—you just came from Vierines and you're in a cave full of undead, which means you're in Piagailoe.
You came here around noon and it's been five hours, which means it's going to be evening soon, both you and the villager need some rest, and this necropolis is too spooky for anyone to fall asleep in. You'll obviously need to find a better place to camp, and the answer might be there.
You and the villagers come across a fork in the road, the road on the left takes you to a tunnel with golden light shining from inside, and plants and vines warp around the surface. The road on the light has a cold wind blowing through it along with some ice crystals on the wall. The villagers are starting to get uneasy, they want to be anywhere but a city filled with the dead, and so do you too.
Looking at the map again, if you follow the trial correctly, you can pop out in the capital, Madura, or right directly where Paulis lives too. The problem is... if you want to meet Paulis through the Underdark, you'll have to pass a glitched area of the map. You might not know what it means, but you have a bad feeling about this.
For Alex and Maya:
When Maya questions them, the myconids release a spore, "(Most of us here are born with water, heat like this is not a concern at all, in fact, we can tolerate it better than anyone else in this world. We will follow you, then, our friend will be a few steps behind)"
The rest of the creature steps back, except the myconids... all twenty of them. You take a step into the red cave, and soon enough, the tunnel leads into a large, open area. There are steam vents and prismatic pools of water everywhere, however... it doesn't seem as lively as one would think—there are a few phoenixes and fire elementals hanging out near the boiling pond.
The rest of the lush cave dwellers follow you about four hundred metres behind, it doesn't feel much like a few steps, but maybe they expect you to scout the area first... though, it seems like someone was already here first.
You find a bunch of cairns on the ground, it seems to be some sort of marker, and you follow it. The cairn leads to a camp, where a bunch of firenewts, salamanders, giant striders, and a phoenix are watching your friend, Alex, and a firenewt with a stone necklace (Who seems to be the leader) duking it out. You can actually see the box with your equipment on top of a strange-looking metallic hut with tracts and a letter that says 'A7V' too. It looks so out of place in a village with only clay huts.
"ARGH!" The firenewt grits her teeth as Alex's sword and crystal pillars jab into her firey body. Her 'blood' is bright orange just like the firenewt's body. "Impressive... but have to try harder than this!" She jumps behind Alex and slashes his back with 'her' longsword, she slides between his legs and performs another attack in front.
Ishshi Scimitar (Flavoured as using Alex's longsword) multiattack: 8 to hit, 6 damage; 4 to hit, 4 damage.
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"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
Well that's a relief. I was really worried we'd be forced to tear these guys down so that we could progress... *He nods at Taliyah despite his terrible mood* Arigato... Taliyah-san... I guess you can say that I owe... Hm? *Stares in utter confusion as one of the skellies just runs over to the shop and gives them a random slab of... whatever that was at a distance* Did one of those guys just ran over to a shack and just... What the heck did they just drop down?! *He goes over to pick it up and examine it* Ohhhhhh. "Thanks... I guess. Hey guys, I think we now have proper map to show- uh..." What the... A glitched area? Threat level 6?! What?! Is this telling us how dangerous each section is or something?! Then again this is the underdark after all; After the previous assault I made in this realm with the rest of the shifters O shouldn't be surprised nonetheless...
Well uh... Seeing that those... People... *He glanced back at the tired villagers and proceeds to ask them a blunt question without even letting them answer* "Alright question: How many of you guys are willing to enter a threat level 6 area that is icy cold in whatever clothing you're wearing right now?" *Pauses only for 1 seconds before continuing; His behaviour is slowly becoming more erratic despite not showing any visible signs* "No one? Fine. Unless if anyone objects we might as well be going right, at the "Threat level 1" zone. Anyone else got anything to say first? Or does anyone have any speculations about this... Glitched area near the ice section?""Inside, I just can't think straight anymore; I still can't contemplate on losing Okaa-san so early. I heard Alex survived through Taliyah but nothing about Okaa-san? Damn it... *Hix fox ears droop underneath his disguise as he breathes out* I don't know if she's still alive or anything but I pray in my heart that she's somehow still alive but... I don't have high hopes for this at the moment.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Wildland Shifters Daisy Ethalena- Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer) Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade) Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer(Clockwork Soul); Lancea Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars) Yurime Hanasaki- Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)
"Thank you Renar, if it makes you feel better, Maya just found her way to where Jedwiga and Alex are currently. Based on the map and the direction she came from, she landed in the Lush caverns and Alex's group is in the Hot Springs. I'll have Pixel ask about the grove."Taliyah releases the charging Sacred Flame, dispersing it before it was fully charged.
Pixel flies over to one of the watching firenewts. "Greetings. Can you tell me about the grove to the far southwest? The rest of our group is resting on the other side of it."
All this time when she was carefully traversing through the molten crevasses of the next chamber, Maya had to shut her eyes once again and hold in her breath as much as she could to avoid passing out from the horrendous stench that section gave out. To her, sniffing even an ounce of this obnoxious gas already feels like poison to her pure soul; No fox should ever go through this. Maybe her son might have better luck elsewhere right now... But then her ears twitch as she hears some fighting. As she gestures the fungi to stay close to her, the clashing of swords is enough to make her massive fox ears twitch. Using her sense of hearing, she tracks down the noise and finds a familiar sight... something that was enough to actually raise her spirits and give back her precious, open-mouthed smile higher than when she had those final moments as she fell...
"Ah! Arekksu- EH?!"Maya yelps out as she waves towards him... only to gasp in shock as she realises he's in the midst of a duel against... uh what? What is that creature? No rather... now who the hell are these ones?! Are they attacking him?! Maybe she should interfere... no wait... what is that crate doing behind the lizard? Could it be... Masaka! (まさか, No way!) She screeches in her thoughts when she recognises the serial number on the box. That's the crate that's storing their weapons... that's the crate that the bugbear dropped earlier whilst she was crossing the bridge! She gasps as she recognizes the sword that her companion once used is now in the hands of... whatever that creature is. And... are they fighting over for the crate? Seriously?! This belonged to her and Alex alone! Not to them!
Kare o sukuubeki ka, sukuwanaibeki ka? (彼 お 救うべき か, 救わないべき か？Should I save him or not?) She thinks as her canine teeth roughly grind the edges of the inner parts of her mouth whilst she chitters. She doesn't know whether to interfere in this fight or not; But then again, it seems like a 1v1 to her and even in the Wildland Shifters, interference and cheating in a 1v1 fight is also prohibited too. So if she has to respect the rules that Rixian makes, she must respect this code of conduct here too. Jissai, watashi ga itta koto wa wasurete kudasai. Dō demo. (実際、私が言ったことは忘れてください。どうでも, Actually, forget what I just said. Nevermind) She then furiously shakes her head as she gestures the mushrooms not to proceed any further. But even so... she just had to let this out... after all, Alex is not only her companion, but her son's companion too. She has to do something...
"Arekksu-kun! GAMBATTE! (がんばって, Hang in there!)"She yells from a distance as she lets go of her nose, forgets about the stench of the sulphur and waves at him with her right hand and smiles; underneath her supportive her left hand's nails suddenly sharpen even though she's literally summoning all of her self control not to pounce on that creature and rip her heart out. Also, since her tail is still visible, it has noticeably become stiff and rigid as it sticks up high in the air. Ugokanaide kudasai... Karera ga watashitachi o kōgeki shiyou to shinai kagiri... (動かないでください...彼らが私たちを攻撃しようとしない限り... Don't move... Unless if they try to attack us...)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Wildland Shifters Pt 2 (Pt 1 with PyromaniIsDeadThankGod) Celci (The Lamb) - Non-Binary Changeling Sorcerer (Shadow Magic) Maya Kurosaki- Female Kitsune Cleric (Twilight Domain); Currently in Lancea Randy Wolftree - Male Human Artificer (Armourer); Currently in Crimson Sands of Time Shijiro Otsune- Male Kitsune Blood Hunter (Order Of The Lycan) Trojan Dseyller - Male Tortle Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian) Xenia Ironhide - Female Kobold Rogue (Soulknife)
The elf's eyes widen when the dragonborn shows him her light. "Oh! Hahah! I guess we are lucky! Do you think--" He's cut off when all the undead start scurrying away in fear. He raises an eyebrow when one drops a strange box on the ground, and watches when Renar picks it up. Good, he didn't want to touch that thing anyway... Sidling up to the wizard, Shugo peaks over his shoulder. A map? Eh? That's the strangest looking map he's ever seen.
When Renar starts asking questions, Shugo raises his hands and shrugs, "Well to me that...glitched section...as you say looks bad. I for one would rather avoid it if possible. Especially since we will probably be the only ones fighting...aaaand we don't have our gear right now. We should at least try to meet up with Alex before rushing in there...if we even want to risk it then haha."Shugo seems to be acting chipper, but in reality he's almost delirious due to the last few events...and the thought of all the danger lurking around the next few corners... All in all, if anything else to shocking happens, Shugo may have a mental breakdown.
"Eheheh, Good thing Taliyah joined our merry band! Otherwise we'd have no way of contacting Alex." He looks in her direction, "Do you think we could co-ordinate out movements and meet up with him quickly? Can your Fairy friend figure out Alex's location?"
"I agree, it's best we reunite with the others first before going into an area that's potentially very dangerous. I'm good with cold though otherwise."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Alex suppresses a grimace as the hits that normally wouldn't have bothered him slice through his thin shirt. Ugh, this is why he likes his armor. For a moment, he considers his options, but decides that it would be best to just keep hitting this lizard with everything he's got. ...then he hears Maya, and has to force himself to stay focused. Hopefully she can tell that they are having a duel... but he worries that since she seems generally ignorant about, well, most things not to mention their language, that she might try to intervene.
As much as he would like to turn and look her direction, he can't afford to in the middle of a fight, so he keeps his eyes fixed on his opponent, watching her movements... or trying to at least.
He brings his sword up, delivering an uppercut at the newt,
Attack: 9 Damage: 3
Then he raises his free hand to summon the crystal pillars again, grinning in spite of himself--she'll have to stay within reach of his pillars since they are in the middle of a ring of civilians. So this was the perfect scenario for him to use this spell.
Bonus action (activate pillars): damage= 9
As the pillars shoot upward, he yells to Pixel, "I heard Maya's voice. Please make sure she knows that I'm alright and that this is a duel!"
*Pauses only for 1 seconds before continuing; His behaviour is slowly becoming more erratic despite not showing any visible signs* "No one? Fine. Unless if anyone objects we might as well be going right, at the "Threat level 1" zone. Anyone else got anything to say first? Or does anyone have any speculations about this... Glitched area near the ice section?""Inside, I just can't think straight anymore; I still can't contemplate on losing Okaa-san so early. I heard Alex survived through Taliyah but nothing about Okaa-san? Damn it... *Hix fox ears droop underneath his disguise as he breathes out* I don't know if she's still alive or anything but I pray in my heart that she's somehow still alive but... I don't have high hopes for this at the moment.
Kristiāns raises his hand, "I think I've seen something like this before... well, not me, but my mum did. Glitched areas like this exist on Route G3—that's where she grew up, but it's much larger than this, covers nearly half of the map or so, and it's on the exact same section too. Route G2 has something like this if I recall correctly, but I never expected the glitch to also show up on Route G1... It could be spreading."He turns to Taliyah, "Once we regroup together, you should send your familiar to scout there, I'm not sure what awaits us there, but I have a feeling it might be something bad."
It's already obvious from the start which path the villagers will choose, they were soaked wet and tired for the last two days, and they don't want any of that anymore. And so, with your lead, you enter the tunnel with vines.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel, you see a sign that says 'Welcome to Little Mashu Feywild' hanging from the tunnel ceiling. Mashu is a realm of fey, nature, and magic—but just like the Underdark, its name was changed after the discovery of Sword Coast Chronicles to be more in line with their version. And once you step into the grove cave, it indeed looks like the miniature version of Feywild.
The crystals on the ceiling glow light orange, just like the colour of Muphrid when it sets on the horizon. There are some red crystals mixed with the orange ones too, representing Saak, which doesn't contribute much to the colouration of the sky. Massive oak trees grow, their branches almost touching the ceiling, between the canopies of these trees, pixies and fairy dragon flies in the air. Unicorns graze on the ground while blink dogs keep watch. Everything is so peaceful, no more rain, no more floods, no more undeads or bottomless chasms. The air smells like chocolate mud cakes and vanilla ice creams due to the presence of fairies and pixies.
The villagers breathe out a sigh of relief, they begin setting up camps and settling down for the night, after all, it's getting late—it's around 20:00 at this point.
On a hill, you can see a bunch of dryads and treants looking at the villagers warily. To them, these strangers just barge into their home out of nowhere and decide to sleep in it without any further elaboration. Feys in general are very friendly with everyone, but when hundreds of strangers show up at your house, you'd feel overwhelmed and confused too.
Altairs and Kristiāns carry the still-sleeping half-elf assailant to their own camp, after that, they help the villagers set their tents up, leaving you with Laine and Maigurs.
To the right, you can see a wooden hut with a small farmland encased in a fence. An old halfling lady walks out of the hut, carrying a watering can—when she turns around, you can see that her right cheek is bruised and her forehead has bandages on it, but she looks strong and shows no sign of major injury at all.
"Excuse me, guys, coming through." Maigurs weave across the place you're standing, and the moment he sees the old lady, he lets out the loudest gasp you ever hear. "OH NOOOO! It's the old lady that Cezars punched a few days earlier, why is she doing here!?" He backs up in shock, "Uhh... please tell her that I'm sorry I couldn't do anything further and maybe update her about the current Cezars situation... She isn't going to be happy seeing me like this." He turns back and sees Laine standing a few centimetres away from his face, the wolf Shifter's ears and tail stand erect at her sight, and he's blushing hard.
"Maigurs! Let's explore the woods!" Laine grabs his hand, and that makes him blush even harder.
"No, no, no, no! Wait, wait, wait! Ahh!" He squeaks as Laine drags him by his heels. "See you later, guys, I'll—We'll come back soon!" And with that, the two disappear into the woods.
The old lady doesn't seem to notice you yet, but maybe you should talk to her, she might know something about this cave and beyond.
For Alex and Maya:
"AHH!" The crowd winces at Alex's second attack, the up-slashes make the orange liquid sprays everywhere. The firenewt leader staggers a bit, she's huffing and her stance is getting shaky. You think that he would lunge at Alex again, but she just drops her sword and slumps down.
"Fine... you win, kid. Box is yours." With that, the crowd erupts in clapping and cheering. The firenewts gather around Alex, grab his hand, and raise it high in the air, signalling that he wins this fight... a rather quick one, in fact, but a win nonetheless. Jedwiga claps along with the crowd too.
When Pixel speaks, though, the crowd goes silent for a moment. The leader looks at the 'bug' in confusion. "Southwest? Nothing there! Only a crystal cave, wet cave, and ice cave there. Last time I checked, only three caves, that's it." She shrugs, one of the firenewt in the crowd applies a red paste to her wound, but she continues to stare at the two strangers. "You eat wrong mushrooms again?" She snickers.
"By the way, have you seen an Owlin around here?" Jedwiga asks.
"Shut your beak, birdie!" Ishshi snaps back, and Jedwiga recoils back and avoids her eye contact, more confused than anything.
"Anyways, nice to meet you, kun-Alex." She takes a moment to nod at a strange lady since she pretty much reveals his name for her. "I'm tan-Ishshi, you are one of us now, because you defeat me in battle. You and your friends welcome back here anytime!"
Her firenewt servant hands Alex the equipment box back... all you'll need is to get back to the group, and everything will be fine... for now.
Note: Charan, being based on Asiatic languages, has honorifics too, the honorific must always be in front of a noun or a proper noun, not behind. The word kun and tan has equivalents in Asiatic language but not in English, which is why I decided to leave it untranslated for any Charan speakers out there.
The word kun is from Kra-Dai (I'm not sure if I can trace its roots to old Chinese or not, but it's likely that it's the same word as Japanese kun too). In older times, kun was only used with males as a formal title, but in modern day, kun can be both used by males and females too—still as a formal title. Kun in Charan is the exact same as modern-day Kra-dai, in that it's a gender-neutral, formal title usable by everybody.
The world tan is also from Tai-Kadai, but it's more formal than kun and only used to address nobles or high-ranking individuals. Tan in Charan is the same, in this case, it's customary to address Ishshi as tan-Ishshi since she's the leader of the Firenewt band, if she's a regular-ranking firenewt, you'd refer to her as kun-Ishshi instead.
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"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
"Alright, the duel seems to have concluded with Alex being the victor, having gained both our weapons back, and some sort of friendship with the Firenewts, since he beat their boss. Still trying to figure out where exactly Alex's group is at compared to us." Taliyah looks up, gesturing about as she do so, appearing to be doing math in her head, before looking back at the group. If I remember correctly, Jedwiga's friend or family member is on the left side of the map, whereas the way to the capital is on the right." She points at Cezar's former comrades. "Are you willing to let us go and escort the villagers to the capital, so that way we can help Jedwiga find who she's looking for, or do you still need us for something.?"
"Ah, Ms. Jedwiga. My compatriots who we are searching for currently have located a map of the area, including directions to where you mentioned your friend being. Would you like me to try and illustrate the map for you, or do you know this area well enough already. To clarify, I'm not just speaking about this fiery cavern, but several connected ones as well." Pixel flies towards the Owlin as he speaks.
Watching the entire fight unfold before her (once again shut eyes) she readies herself just in case her hopes of the young boy's development gets dashed. Thankfully for her... Her hopes remained strong, after witnessing the paladin deliver a powerful slash to the unknown creature and claims victory. Her smile also widens as a result too. Kare wa watashi no musuko ni totte subarashī taisen aite ni narudarou (彼は私の息子にとって素晴らしい対戦相手になるだろう, He'll be a great opponent for my son!)she thinks as she swiftly runs over to him on her bare feet as she waves again.
"Yatta ne Arekkusu-kun! Watashi no hansamuna kimi o totemo hokori ni omou yo! Daijoubu desu-ka? (やったねアレックス君! 私のハンサムな君をとても誇りに思うよ! 大丈夫ですか?, You did it, Alex! I'm so proud of you my handsome boy! Are you ok?)"Maya exclaims with delight before she runs over to see if Alex is hurt before she assists him in picking up the crate of their weapons. However, she immediately notices his worried expression.s and response to... Oh right. That's what he's so anxious about. The mushroom guys. She almost forgot that they were trailing behind her. She chuckles as she gestures them to release their spores so that he won't feel a sense of hostility at all.
In fact whilst she's at it, she may as well hand Alex the strange diagram of the underground cave they're in. "Heehee. Shinpaishinaide kudasai. Kono kimyōna yatsura wa watashi no shiki-ka ni aru node, watashi ga iwanai kagiri, anata o kizutsukeru koto wa arimasen. (心配しないでください。 この奇妙な奴らは私の指揮下にあるので、私が言わない限り、あなたを傷つけることはありません, Don't fret. These strange fellows are under my command so unless I say so, I won't let them hurt you.)" She smiles as she gently pats his head. But then she shudders a little. "Hokanohito-tachi wa dō natta nodeshou ka? Karera wa daijōbudesuka? Karera wa sōda to oshietekudasai... Karera ga kega o shi tari shin dari shite inai koto o negatte imasu! (他の人たちはどうなったのでしょうか？ 彼らは大丈夫ですか？ 彼らはそうだと教えてください...彼らが怪我をしたり死んだりしていないことを願っています！What happened to the others? Are they ok? please tell me they are... I hoped they're not injured or dying or something!)" She panics to Alex, unaware that he still cannot understand what she's saying until three seconds later when she stutters in a vain attempt to speak in broken Lancean. "I mean... S... Sorry... Renar-Kun... Eberi... One... Ok? Where... Are dey-su?"
Upon hearing the fire creatures saying something very similar to her language but still not understandable, she creaks her head towards them with a frown, a mix of confusion and distrust."Watashi no gurūpu no ta no menbā ni nanika shimashita ka? Dōshite Arekkusu dake ga koko ni iru no? Soshite karera wa doko ni iru nodesu ka? (私のグループの他のメンバーに何かしましたか？ どうしてアレックスだけがここにいるの？ そして彼らはどこにいるのですか？Did you do something to the rest of my group? Why is Alex the only one here? And where is everyone else?)" She growls with a dangerously low tone.
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Wildland Shifters Pt 2 (Pt 1 with PyromaniIsDeadThankGod) Celci (The Lamb) - Non-Binary Changeling Sorcerer (Shadow Magic) Maya Kurosaki- Female Kitsune Cleric (Twilight Domain); Currently in Lancea Randy Wolftree - Male Human Artificer (Armourer); Currently in Crimson Sands of Time Shijiro Otsune- Male Kitsune Blood Hunter (Order Of The Lycan) Trojan Dseyller - Male Tortle Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian) Xenia Ironhide - Female Kobold Rogue (Soulknife)
Alex is stunned for a moment, having expected a much longer battle. Though, he isn't disappointed. He'd won, and hadn't gotten too injured in the process. Plus it seems like these firenewts are going to be nice now.
Smiling, he accepts the box and says to Ishshi, "Nice to meet you too, Tan-Ishshi. I'm honored!"
He then notices Maya and her army of mushrooms approaching. His expression first shifts to overjoyed, then to what could be mild fear. He might not remember everything Kristians said to them before they entered the under dark, but he does remember the bit about the mushroomfolk. In fact, he takes a step back before inadvertently covering his nose. He doesn't want to be rude, but.... well the thought of spores going deep enough towards his brain to transmit telepathic thoughts is more than a little unsettling to him. He keeps a wide, closed-mouthed smile as he nods along with Maya's unintelligible language, eyeing the Myconids all the while.
He stands there awkwardly for a moment as she pats his head, accepting the diagram with wide eyes as she continues to talk in her foreign tongue. When she finally says something he can at least kind of understand, he says (muffled as he keeps his nose and mouth as covered as he can whilst only using one hand), "Oh, yes. Everyone is okay. We came to find you. But, now we have to find a way out." He eyes the diagram, "This will be helpful!"
He turns awkwardly, facing the box instead of the mushrooms as he digs out Renar's katana. "Would you like to hold onto this for Renar?" He holds the weapon out to Maya. He can tell that she really cares about Renar, and since they can speak the same language it does make sense. So, he figures that Renar would be alright with her holding onto his weapon.
Then he realizes that Maya is looking at the fire newts with distrust. Momentarily forgetting about the Myconids and their creepy spores, Alex waves his hands in attempt to calm Maya down, "They're friends. We just had a friendly duel." He gestures to Ishishi, "This is tan-Ishishi, she's the leader, and she found our weapons!"He leaves out the fact that she made him duel to get them back.
Then his eyes widen as he realizes that he forgot about the Myconids, and he claps his hands back over his face. Realizing the creatures probably thought this rude, he says, "Sorry, I'm... not really a fan of telepathy..."Embarrassed, he turns back to the box and pulls out his armor. First sliding the thin padded shirt on, then putting on his chainmail and tabard, he feels much better than before. Grinning, he wipes off the short sword before sheathing and unbuckling its scabbard from his belt. "Thanks for this," he says to Jedwiga. "I guess I can use my own weapons for now."He contently buckles his longsword back onto his left hip, and his axe and hammer on his right. Hopefully the guards are okay with him taking his weapons back for now... not that they can really fault him. He'll give them back when they meet up... buuuutttt he'll be keeping his armor unless they explicitly ask for him to take it off.
"I... really don't want to carry all this around in this box. It would be really difficult to fight with it." He looks inside, taking note of its contents. He can probably get away with strapping Shugo's sword to his back, and Maya and Jedwiga can help carry Venet and Taliya's weapons... hopefully. "I mean, I can if I need to, but would you two be willing to help split the load? If its too difficult to carry like that then we can put it back in the box..."
(Does the box also have Cezars' and the mercenary's weapons as well?)
He waits for an answer before turning back to Ishshi and asking, "Um... do you think you could help us meet up with the rest of our group?" He shows her the diagram that Maya handed him, "Any pointers on which would be the best route would be much appreciated."
Shugo's a bit surprised to find full on oak trees growing underground. Perhaps those glowing crystals mimic sunlight to allow them to grow? Eh. No point in wondering. He's no botanist. He cocks his head at the sight of the halfling woman, and cocks it again towards Wolfie when he exclaims that this is the woman Cezars had punched. Wonderful! Now if they find that jerk again they know where to find another person to testify against him. Despite his still racing mind, he puts his usual cheery face back on.
Before approaching the old lady, he listens to the dragonborn. Alex got their weapons back?! That's fantastic! ...now the only other thing that could make this day better is hearing news of Maya. If Alex and that Owlin had survived after being struck by those spiders, perhaps she managed to make it as well? Hopefully they can all meet back up before things get to dangerous. Plus since Alex got his sword back he owes the kid. Ugh. He's going to have to pay that debt back as fast as possible.
He leaves Taliyah when she starts talking to the guards, and heads over to the old lady. "Excuse me mam, do you need help with that?" He gestures to the water can, and smiles politely, it's always best to be as respectful as possible to older folks....though sometimes it pays to act worn out and tired, since the elderly seem to like to baby youngsters, but since this woman has clearly been injured, that's probably not the best approach. Even if she looks perfectly capable.
Wait... Okaa-san's alive?! And she's with Alex and all of our weapons?! "Hontoni?! (ほんとに, Really?!) Maya-san and Alex are both alive?!" *His tail wags underneath his disguise and his fox ears perk up underneath his hoodie* I'm so relieved. I guess I can have Inazuma back after all when we reunite with them. I had this gut feeling that we might have been one or two members down after this... I never even had the chance to fight Alex yet; he seems like a formidable rival to my eyes so I'd hope to face him in a sparring session at some point. *He overhears Taliyah talking about the Owlin's relative being on the left side of the map; Unsure of what she's talking about, he glanced back at the unusual stone tablet he's holding* "Look If he or she is on the left side, it's best we do so without those guys. I presume you're talking about the threat level 6 which I know we're not prepared for yet. Let's just head into the threat level 1 space to rest."
*As the group heed his suggestions, Renar notices the sign above- Insert angry anime mark on his hoodie again* Wow. How appropriate. So you guys are just gonna name the underdark after actual places from my world?! What's next? The threat level 6 area is Icewind Dale? The lava area that stands after this section Avernus? Seriously... I wonder what the others would say about this. Also does anyone have a camera? Oh wait... I should have thought of this..
*Once everyone settles down, Renar constantly scans the area for those two... Only to notice Maigurs point out the old lady that Cezars had beaten up before he inadvertently flirts with Laine; He then whispers to Shugo* "Is it just me or do I have a feeling about those two...?" *But then he shakes his head and returns to scout.* "Nevermind. You and the rest go deal with the poor lady that got beaten up by our former convict. I'm gonna look out for those two if they happen to be here too." *He goes somewhere alone and climbs a quiet tree to keep watch*
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Wildland Shifters Daisy Ethalena- Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer) Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade) Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer(Clockwork Soul); Lancea Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars) Yurime Hanasaki- Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Renar
Perception: 10
Stealth: 21
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
—Richard Dawkins
DM—Stories From The End of The World: Episode I
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*Renar just hangs along the edge of the cave as everyone else converses with the dragon back and forth.* I'm surprised the dragon herself was acting so fond of Taliyah. Is it really because she's a dragon too? Is that why she's so affectionate? Either way, it seems like she's still intent on taking Stupid Rixi away, not that I care about him in the slightest; If this was the actual Rixi I would have done something for sure. "I don't care what you do with him, as long as he doesn't unleash destruction in the outside world or cross our paths again." I firmly states to the dragon- *He lets off another fox yelp as the dragon smashes a boulder down for everyone to cross* Ugh fine... but we better get moving... *He grits his teeth in both annoyance and anger* "Maybe we should tell them to call off this trial after this chain of disastrous moments and now that... he's not with us..." I jokingly say to Shugo as I don't even make eye contact with anyone else; I'm still in absolute agony that we lost Alex and Okaa-san this early...
*Renar shudders slightly as everyone approaches the mass hoard of skeletons* What the heck? Where even are we? Are we actually in a ghost town or something? "Does anyone have like a map or something in case we get lost?" I whisper to no one in particular... Well I mean duh, whoever is stupid enough to try and fight these guys should honestly join Stupid Rixi with the dragon for all that I care... *As Renar meets the protesters he notices the signs that they're holding* Stop genocide... Disunited... what? What are these skeletons protesting about? Don't they know that there isn't any war at the moment? Or is it because... they were wiped out themselves by whatever hated them in the past? I can't tell, but I kinda of feel sorry for them a little... It's someone had a strong enough Animate Dead casted on this entire place! And... what the... *As he recognizes the fox-like skeleton, his heart stops beating for five seconds as his eyes suddenly widen...* No! No! No! It's not true! *He smacks himself in the stomach* That's just a regular fox person... not a kitsune... it's another fox... surely there must be others of my kind and Okaa-san's around here right? Have these guys truly been wiped out just like in Sword Coast?! What the heck am I looking at?! And who the hell are those two standing right next to it! I haven't seen those races before! *He composes himself before he speaks, but from the fearful tone in his voice he's already kind of panicking* "We need to get out of this place fast... but what do we do? Is there like another exit somewhere that we can cross? Can we like weave around the buildings and past the protestors or something? We can't just push our way through without provoking them can we? Or is this allowed? And are they able to speak or something?"
The Wildland Shifters
Daisy Ethalena - Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer)
Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade)
Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer (Clockwork Soul); Lancea
Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea
Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars)
Yurime Hanasaki - Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)
Venet is relieved when the dragon makes a way for them, even if her reasoning is a tad odd. Keep the fire boy if you want him, I guess.
She stays close to her compatriots as they make their way forward. It still feels strange to not have her rapier on her hip but she's thankful to have her instruments. She lights up a torch as they enter the cave, her brows and face scrunching up at the sight of so many undead. "Should we try talking to them? Do you think they will listen if we ask them to move?"
Shugo shrugs at the beast's response, her reasoning is completely ridiculous. If a parent really didn't care about what their kid does, then that parent doesn't truly care about the kid. But whatever, it's none of his business. So long as this doesn't come back to bite him, then it might be better that they don't have to worry about that guy down here. Huh. To bad the dragon didn't take Moneybags along with too.
Shugo shrugs again to Renar. His mood may have lightened slightly, but he's still not over what just happened. "He was the one with charges against us. I don't think they can hold anything against us if he's gone. Plus the trial would have been just as much his as it would be ours. I think the guards have recognized who the true villain was."
He pauses at the edge of the cliff for a moment as if expecting Alex and the Owlin to fly back up. Should they wait for them? "Hey Taliyah. Do you know if Alex can get back up here? Should we wait for him or keep going?"
He catches up with the group only to stop at the grizzly sight. Undead. Wonderful. "Well, you can try to talk to them." He sighs, "If our Paladin were here this probably wouldn't be an issue." He glances back at Taliyah awaiting a response. The elf doesn't know a lot about paladins, but he's sure they have some kind of ability to help deal with undead.
Alex brightens when the firenewt leader speaks in a language he understands.
"Oh, thank God. Uh... well, we aren't actually tourists..." He explains the situation, ending with how they ended up in this cave and then following the other fire newts. Perhaps things were finally looking up, and this firenewt might actually be nice and helpful... his eyes light up further when he sees the box. Was she going to return it? How nice of her!
His joy is promptly snuffed out when she says 'finders keepers' and finds himself a little confused at why she even brought it up. Is she trying to taunt him? Then she asks for a duel. Oh... okay, this is starting to make sense now... kind of.
He shakes his head when Jedwiga offers to take his place. He's not really comfortable fighting without his armor, but... well, he's done it in the past.
"Okay, not sure why you want to fight me so badly, but sure," He shrugs, drawing the short sword Jedwiga lent to him. "I've already used up my celestial flight, but that's okay. Though, I am used to fighting in armor, which also so happens to be in that box. So if you want a fair fight, then you'd let me at least have that back for the duel, but I suppose that's asking too much considering you already said you'd go easy on me." He gives the sword a flourish, readjusting himself to the length and weight of the blade. "So have it your way." Normally, he would have objected to someone going easy on him, but considering the circumstances, he can't afford to. Besides, it will even the odds after all considering that he's at a severe disadvantage. After the fight earlier that day, and his flight down into these depths, he's a little short on magic--so he'd better make everything count.
He steps forward, holding the blade out in front of him and pressing his palm against the back of his right hand, he says, "Here goes!"
(Bonus action) He casts Area of Force and a ring of crystalline pillars erupt from the scorching earth around him, glowing red-gold as they burst through the ground.
Damage: 19
(Action) Then he rushes forward, swinging the sword at the firenewt leader, hoping that his skills hold true in this fight, as this is all up to him.
Attack: Attack: 22 Damage: 3
Venet hums to herself. She isnt well versed about the dead, but she is a fairly good talker. She walks up, still keeping her distant however. "Hey, can you move a bit so our group can pass?"
____
Persuasion: 8 (usually good at talking ugh)
Taliyah's eyes glow for a moment after hearing Shugo's question. "Ah, Jedwiga seems to have a relative in the area who she hopes can help them get out. They've also found our weapons, which is good. Unfortunately the firenewt who found it is making Alex duel her to regain our gear. As for dealing with these zombies..." Her voice drops down to a whisper, and she curls her left hand into a proper claw, angling it towards shugo adn away from the zombies. "Alex isn't the only one with access to divine light." A small gathering of golden sparks begins to coalesce in her hand.
Meanwhile, down under, Pixel quickly sets up a cairn pointing in the direction they're headed in, and flies after the others.
With Taliyah's intervention, the skeletons and all undeads in the area immediately back away from the Dragonborn, some of them even trip on their feet. You technically didn't provoke them because they didn't take any damage, they're just scared of sacred things like divine magic or anything that deals Radiant damage.
One of the undead, a ghoul, runs out from a 'shop' and drops a strange device: it looks like a metallic tablet with a black glass panel on the front and nothing on the back. Picking it up, the black glass reveals a diagram of the cave:
The diagram is a bit confusing to read, it doesn't show how far each cave is, but it's probably relative to the size of the square—it also doesn't have a blip to show you where you are, but you can probably figure it out yourself—you just came from Vierines and you're in a cave full of undead, which means you're in Piagailoe.
You came here around noon and it's been five hours, which means it's going to be evening soon, both you and the villager need some rest, and this necropolis is too spooky for anyone to fall asleep in. You'll obviously need to find a better place to camp, and the answer might be there.
You and the villagers come across a fork in the road, the road on the left takes you to a tunnel with golden light shining from inside, and plants and vines warp around the surface. The road on the light has a cold wind blowing through it along with some ice crystals on the wall. The villagers are starting to get uneasy, they want to be anywhere but a city filled with the dead, and so do you too.
Looking at the map again, if you follow the trial correctly, you can pop out in the capital, Madura, or right directly where Paulis lives too. The problem is... if you want to meet Paulis through the Underdark, you'll have to pass a glitched area of the map. You might not know what it means, but you have a bad feeling about this.
For Alex and Maya:
When Maya questions them, the myconids release a spore, "(Most of us here are born with water, heat like this is not a concern at all, in fact, we can tolerate it better than anyone else in this world. We will follow you, then, our friend will be a few steps behind)"
The rest of the creature steps back, except the myconids... all twenty of them. You take a step into the red cave, and soon enough, the tunnel leads into a large, open area. There are steam vents and prismatic pools of water everywhere, however... it doesn't seem as lively as one would think—there are a few phoenixes and fire elementals hanging out near the boiling pond.
The rest of the lush cave dwellers follow you about four hundred metres behind, it doesn't feel much like a few steps, but maybe they expect you to scout the area first... though, it seems like someone was already here first.
You find a bunch of cairns on the ground, it seems to be some sort of marker, and you follow it. The cairn leads to a camp, where a bunch of firenewts, salamanders, giant striders, and a phoenix are watching your friend, Alex, and a firenewt with a stone necklace (Who seems to be the leader) duking it out. You can actually see the box with your equipment on top of a strange-looking metallic hut with tracts and a letter that says 'A7V' too. It looks so out of place in a village with only clay huts.
"ARGH!" The firenewt grits her teeth as Alex's sword and crystal pillars jab into her firey body. Her 'blood' is bright orange just like the firenewt's body. "Impressive... but have to try harder than this!" She jumps behind Alex and slashes his back with 'her' longsword, she slides between his legs and performs another attack in front.
Ishshi Scimitar (Flavoured as using Alex's longsword) multiattack: 8 to hit, 6 damage; 4 to hit, 4 damage.
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
—Richard Dawkins
DM—Stories From The End of The World: Episode I
Well that's a relief. I was really worried we'd be forced to tear these guys down so that we could progress... *He nods at Taliyah despite his terrible mood* Arigato... Taliyah-san... I guess you can say that I owe... Hm? *Stares in utter confusion as one of the skellies just runs over to the shop and gives them a random slab of... whatever that was at a distance* Did one of those guys just ran over to a shack and just... What the heck did they just drop down?! *He goes over to pick it up and examine it* Ohhhhhh. "Thanks... I guess. Hey guys, I think we now have proper map to show- uh..." What the... A glitched area? Threat level 6?! What?! Is this telling us how dangerous each section is or something?! Then again this is the underdark after all; After the previous assault I made in this realm with the rest of the shifters O shouldn't be surprised nonetheless...
Well uh... Seeing that those... People... *He glanced back at the tired villagers and proceeds to ask them a blunt question without even letting them answer* "Alright question: How many of you guys are willing to enter a threat level 6 area that is icy cold in whatever clothing you're wearing right now?" *Pauses only for 1 seconds before continuing; His behaviour is slowly becoming more erratic despite not showing any visible signs* "No one? Fine. Unless if anyone objects we might as well be going right, at the "Threat level 1" zone. Anyone else got anything to say first? Or does anyone have any speculations about this... Glitched area near the ice section?""Inside, I just can't think straight anymore; I still can't contemplate on losing Okaa-san so early. I heard Alex survived through Taliyah but nothing about Okaa-san? Damn it... *Hix fox ears droop underneath his disguise as he breathes out* I don't know if she's still alive or anything but I pray in my heart that she's somehow still alive but... I don't have high hopes for this at the moment.
The Wildland Shifters
Daisy Ethalena - Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer)
Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade)
Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer (Clockwork Soul); Lancea
Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea
Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars)
Yurime Hanasaki - Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)
"Thank you Renar, if it makes you feel better, Maya just found her way to where Jedwiga and Alex are currently. Based on the map and the direction she came from, she landed in the Lush caverns and Alex's group is in the Hot Springs. I'll have Pixel ask about the grove." Taliyah releases the charging Sacred Flame, dispersing it before it was fully charged.
Pixel flies over to one of the watching firenewts. "Greetings. Can you tell me about the grove to the far southwest? The rest of our group is resting on the other side of it."
All this time when she was carefully traversing through the molten crevasses of the next chamber, Maya had to shut her eyes once again and hold in her breath as much as she could to avoid passing out from the horrendous stench that section gave out. To her, sniffing even an ounce of this obnoxious gas already feels like poison to her pure soul; No fox should ever go through this. Maybe her son might have better luck elsewhere right now... But then her ears twitch as she hears some fighting. As she gestures the fungi to stay close to her, the clashing of swords is enough to make her massive fox ears twitch. Using her sense of hearing, she tracks down the noise and finds a familiar sight... something that was enough to actually raise her spirits and give back her precious, open-mouthed smile higher than when she had those final moments as she fell...
"Ah! Arekksu- EH?!" Maya yelps out as she waves towards him... only to gasp in shock as she realises he's in the midst of a duel against... uh what? What is that creature? No rather... now who the hell are these ones?! Are they attacking him?! Maybe she should interfere... no wait... what is that crate doing behind the lizard? Could it be... Masaka! (まさか, No way!) She screeches in her thoughts when she recognises the serial number on the box. That's the crate that's storing their weapons... that's the crate that the bugbear dropped earlier whilst she was crossing the bridge! She gasps as she recognizes the sword that her companion once used is now in the hands of... whatever that creature is. And... are they fighting over for the crate? Seriously?! This belonged to her and Alex alone! Not to them!
Kare o sukuubeki ka, sukuwanaibeki ka? (彼 お 救うべき か, 救わないべき か？Should I save him or not?) She thinks as her canine teeth roughly grind the edges of the inner parts of her mouth whilst she chitters. She doesn't know whether to interfere in this fight or not; But then again, it seems like a 1v1 to her and even in the Wildland Shifters, interference and cheating in a 1v1 fight is also prohibited too. So if she has to respect the rules that Rixian makes, she must respect this code of conduct here too. Jissai, watashi ga itta koto wa wasurete kudasai. Dō demo. (実際、私が言ったことは忘れてください。どうでも, Actually, forget what I just said. Nevermind) She then furiously shakes her head as she gestures the mushrooms not to proceed any further. But even so... she just had to let this out... after all, Alex is not only her companion, but her son's companion too. She has to do something...
"Arekksu-kun! GAMBATTE! (がんばって, Hang in there!)" She yells from a distance as she lets go of her nose, forgets about the stench of the sulphur and waves at him with her right hand and smiles; underneath her supportive her left hand's nails suddenly sharpen even though she's literally summoning all of her self control not to pounce on that creature and rip her heart out. Also, since her tail is still visible, it has noticeably become stiff and rigid as it sticks up high in the air. Ugokanaide kudasai... Karera ga watashitachi o kōgeki shiyou to shinai kagiri... (動かないでください...彼らが私たちを攻撃しようとしない限り... Don't move... Unless if they try to attack us...)
Wildland Shifters Pt 2 (Pt 1 with PyromaniIsDeadThankGod)
Celci (The Lamb) - Non-Binary Changeling Sorcerer (Shadow Magic)
Maya Kurosaki - Female Kitsune Cleric (Twilight Domain); Currently in Lancea
Randy Wolftree - Male Human Artificer (Armourer); Currently in Crimson Sands of Time
Shijiro Otsune - Male Kitsune Blood Hunter (Order Of The Lycan)
Trojan Dseyller - Male Tortle Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian)
Xenia Ironhide - Female Kobold Rogue (Soulknife)
The elf's eyes widen when the dragonborn shows him her light. "Oh! Hahah! I guess we are lucky! Do you think--" He's cut off when all the undead start scurrying away in fear. He raises an eyebrow when one drops a strange box on the ground, and watches when Renar picks it up. Good, he didn't want to touch that thing anyway... Sidling up to the wizard, Shugo peaks over his shoulder. A map? Eh? That's the strangest looking map he's ever seen.
When Renar starts asking questions, Shugo raises his hands and shrugs, "Well to me that...glitched section...as you say looks bad. I for one would rather avoid it if possible. Especially since we will probably be the only ones fighting...aaaand we don't have our gear right now. We should at least try to meet up with Alex before rushing in there...if we even want to risk it then haha." Shugo seems to be acting chipper, but in reality he's almost delirious due to the last few events...and the thought of all the danger lurking around the next few corners... All in all, if anything else to shocking happens, Shugo may have a mental breakdown.
"Eheheh, Good thing Taliyah joined our merry band! Otherwise we'd have no way of contacting Alex." He looks in her direction, "Do you think we could co-ordinate out movements and meet up with him quickly? Can your Fairy friend figure out Alex's location?"
"I agree, it's best we reunite with the others first before going into an area that's potentially very dangerous. I'm good with cold though otherwise."
Alex suppresses a grimace as the hits that normally wouldn't have bothered him slice through his thin shirt. Ugh, this is why he likes his armor. For a moment, he considers his options, but decides that it would be best to just keep hitting this lizard with everything he's got. ...then he hears Maya, and has to force himself to stay focused. Hopefully she can tell that they are having a duel... but he worries that since she seems generally ignorant about, well, most things not to mention their language, that she might try to intervene.
As much as he would like to turn and look her direction, he can't afford to in the middle of a fight, so he keeps his eyes fixed on his opponent, watching her movements... or trying to at least.
He brings his sword up, delivering an uppercut at the newt,
Attack: 9 Damage: 3
Then he raises his free hand to summon the crystal pillars again, grinning in spite of himself--she'll have to stay within reach of his pillars since they are in the middle of a ring of civilians. So this was the perfect scenario for him to use this spell.
Bonus action (activate pillars): damage= 9
As the pillars shoot upward, he yells to Pixel, "I heard Maya's voice. Please make sure she knows that I'm alright and that this is a duel!"
Kristiāns raises his hand, "I think I've seen something like this before... well, not me, but my mum did. Glitched areas like this exist on Route G3—that's where she grew up, but it's much larger than this, covers nearly half of the map or so, and it's on the exact same section too. Route G2 has something like this if I recall correctly, but I never expected the glitch to also show up on Route G1... It could be spreading." He turns to Taliyah, "Once we regroup together, you should send your familiar to scout there, I'm not sure what awaits us there, but I have a feeling it might be something bad."
It's already obvious from the start which path the villagers will choose, they were soaked wet and tired for the last two days, and they don't want any of that anymore. And so, with your lead, you enter the tunnel with vines.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel, you see a sign that says 'Welcome to Little
MashuFeywild' hanging from the tunnel ceiling. Mashu is a realm of fey, nature, and magic—but just like the Underdark, its name was changed after the discovery of Sword Coast Chronicles to be more in line with their version. And once you step into the grove cave, it indeed looks like the miniature version of Feywild.The crystals on the ceiling glow light orange, just like the colour of Muphrid when it sets on the horizon. There are some red crystals mixed with the orange ones too, representing Saak, which doesn't contribute much to the colouration of the sky. Massive oak trees grow, their branches almost touching the ceiling, between the canopies of these trees, pixies and fairy dragon flies in the air. Unicorns graze on the ground while blink dogs keep watch. Everything is so peaceful, no more rain, no more floods, no more undeads or bottomless chasms. The air smells like chocolate mud cakes and vanilla ice creams due to the presence of fairies and pixies.
The villagers breathe out a sigh of relief, they begin setting up camps and settling down for the night, after all, it's getting late—it's around 20:00 at this point.
On a hill, you can see a bunch of dryads and treants looking at the villagers warily. To them, these strangers just barge into their home out of nowhere and decide to sleep in it without any further elaboration. Feys in general are very friendly with everyone, but when hundreds of strangers show up at your house, you'd feel overwhelmed and confused too.
Altairs and Kristiāns carry the still-sleeping half-elf assailant to their own camp, after that, they help the villagers set their tents up, leaving you with Laine and Maigurs.
To the right, you can see a wooden hut with a small farmland encased in a fence. An old halfling lady walks out of the hut, carrying a watering can—when she turns around, you can see that her right cheek is bruised and her forehead has bandages on it, but she looks strong and shows no sign of major injury at all.
"Excuse me, guys, coming through." Maigurs weave across the place you're standing, and the moment he sees the old lady, he lets out the loudest gasp you ever hear. "OH NOOOO! It's the old lady that Cezars punched a few days earlier, why is she doing here!?" He backs up in shock, "Uhh... please tell her that I'm sorry I couldn't do anything further and maybe update her about the current Cezars situation... She isn't going to be happy seeing me like this." He turns back and sees Laine standing a few centimetres away from his face, the wolf Shifter's ears and tail stand erect at her sight, and he's blushing hard.
"Maigurs! Let's explore the woods!" Laine grabs his hand, and that makes him blush even harder.
"No, no, no, no! Wait, wait, wait! Ahh!" He squeaks as Laine drags him by his heels. "See you later, guys, I'll—We'll come back soon!" And with that, the two disappear into the woods.
The old lady doesn't seem to notice you yet, but maybe you should talk to her, she might know something about this cave and beyond.
For Alex and Maya:
"AHH!" The crowd winces at Alex's second attack, the up-slashes make the orange liquid sprays everywhere. The firenewt leader staggers a bit, she's huffing and her stance is getting shaky. You think that he would lunge at Alex again, but she just drops her sword and slumps down.
"Fine... you win, kid. Box is yours." With that, the crowd erupts in clapping and cheering. The firenewts gather around Alex, grab his hand, and raise it high in the air, signalling that he wins this fight... a rather quick one, in fact, but a win nonetheless. Jedwiga claps along with the crowd too.
When Pixel speaks, though, the crowd goes silent for a moment. The leader looks at the 'bug' in confusion. "Southwest? Nothing there! Only a crystal cave, wet cave, and ice cave there. Last time I checked, only three caves, that's it." She shrugs, one of the firenewt in the crowd applies a red paste to her wound, but she continues to stare at the two strangers. "You eat wrong mushrooms again?" She snickers.
"By the way, have you seen an Owlin around here?" Jedwiga asks.
"Shut your beak, birdie!" Ishshi snaps back, and Jedwiga recoils back and avoids her eye contact, more confused than anything.
"Anyways, nice to meet you, kun-Alex." She takes a moment to nod at a strange lady since she pretty much reveals his name for her. "I'm tan-Ishshi, you are one of us now, because you defeat me in battle. You and your friends welcome back here anytime!"
Her firenewt servant hands Alex the equipment box back... all you'll need is to get back to the group, and everything will be fine... for now.
Note: Charan, being based on Asiatic languages, has honorifics too, the honorific must always be in front of a noun or a proper noun, not behind. The word kun and tan has equivalents in Asiatic language but not in English, which is why I decided to leave it untranslated for any Charan speakers out there.
The word kun is from Kra-Dai (I'm not sure if I can trace its roots to old Chinese or not, but it's likely that it's the same word as Japanese kun too). In older times, kun was only used with males as a formal title, but in modern day, kun can be both used by males and females too—still as a formal title. Kun in Charan is the exact same as modern-day Kra-dai, in that it's a gender-neutral, formal title usable by everybody.
The world tan is also from Tai-Kadai, but it's more formal than kun and only used to address nobles or high-ranking individuals. Tan in Charan is the same, in this case, it's customary to address Ishshi as tan-Ishshi since she's the leader of the Firenewt band, if she's a regular-ranking firenewt, you'd refer to her as kun-Ishshi instead.
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
—Richard Dawkins
DM—Stories From The End of The World: Episode I
"Alright, the duel seems to have concluded with Alex being the victor, having gained both our weapons back, and some sort of friendship with the Firenewts, since he beat their boss. Still trying to figure out where exactly Alex's group is at compared to us." Taliyah looks up, gesturing about as she do so, appearing to be doing math in her head, before looking back at the group. If I remember correctly, Jedwiga's friend or family member is on the left side of the map, whereas the way to the capital is on the right." She points at Cezar's former comrades. "Are you willing to let us go and escort the villagers to the capital, so that way we can help Jedwiga find who she's looking for, or do you still need us for something.?"
"Ah, Ms. Jedwiga. My compatriots who we are searching for currently have located a map of the area, including directions to where you mentioned your friend being. Would you like me to try and illustrate the map for you, or do you know this area well enough already. To clarify, I'm not just speaking about this fiery cavern, but several connected ones as well." Pixel flies towards the Owlin as he speaks.
Watching the entire fight unfold before her (once again shut eyes) she readies herself just in case her hopes of the young boy's development gets dashed. Thankfully for her... Her hopes remained strong, after witnessing the paladin deliver a powerful slash to the unknown creature and claims victory. Her smile also widens as a result too. Kare wa watashi no musuko ni totte subarashī taisen aite ni narudarou (彼は私の息子にとって素晴らしい対戦相手になるだろう, He'll be a great opponent for my son!) she thinks as she swiftly runs over to him on her bare feet as she waves again.
"Yatta ne Arekkusu-kun! Watashi no hansamuna kimi o totemo hokori ni omou yo! Daijoubu desu-ka? (やったねアレックス君! 私のハンサムな君をとても誇りに思うよ! 大丈夫ですか?, You did it, Alex! I'm so proud of you my handsome boy! Are you ok?)" Maya exclaims with delight before she runs over to see if Alex is hurt before she assists him in picking up the crate of their weapons. However, she immediately notices his worried expression.s and response to... Oh right. That's what he's so anxious about. The mushroom guys. She almost forgot that they were trailing behind her. She chuckles as she gestures them to release their spores so that he won't feel a sense of hostility at all.
In fact whilst she's at it, she may as well hand Alex the strange diagram of the underground cave they're in. "Heehee. Shinpaishinaide kudasai. Kono kimyōna yatsura wa watashi no shiki-ka ni aru node, watashi ga iwanai kagiri, anata o kizutsukeru koto wa arimasen. (心配しないでください。 この奇妙な奴らは私の指揮下にあるので、私が言わない限り、あなたを傷つけることはありません, Don't fret. These strange fellows are under my command so unless I say so, I won't let them hurt you.)" She smiles as she gently pats his head. But then she shudders a little. "Hokanohito-tachi wa dō natta nodeshou ka? Karera wa daijōbudesuka? Karera wa sōda to oshietekudasai... Karera ga kega o shi tari shin dari shite inai koto o negatte imasu! (他の人たちはどうなったのでしょうか？ 彼らは大丈夫ですか？ 彼らはそうだと教えてください...彼らが怪我をしたり死んだりしていないことを願っています！What happened to the others? Are they ok? please tell me they are... I hoped they're not injured or dying or something!)" She panics to Alex, unaware that he still cannot understand what she's saying until three seconds later when she stutters in a vain attempt to speak in broken Lancean. "I mean... S... Sorry... Renar-Kun... Eberi... One... Ok? Where... Are dey-su?"
Upon hearing the fire creatures saying something very similar to her language but still not understandable, she creaks her head towards them with a frown, a mix of confusion and distrust."Watashi no gurūpu no ta no menbā ni nanika shimashita ka? Dōshite Arekkusu dake ga koko ni iru no? Soshite karera wa doko ni iru nodesu ka? (私のグループの他のメンバーに何かしましたか？ どうしてアレックスだけがここにいるの？ そして彼らはどこにいるのですか？Did you do something to the rest of my group? Why is Alex the only one here? And where is everyone else?)" She growls with a dangerously low tone.
Wildland Shifters Pt 2 (Pt 1 with PyromaniIsDeadThankGod)
Celci (The Lamb) - Non-Binary Changeling Sorcerer (Shadow Magic)
Maya Kurosaki - Female Kitsune Cleric (Twilight Domain); Currently in Lancea
Randy Wolftree - Male Human Artificer (Armourer); Currently in Crimson Sands of Time
Shijiro Otsune - Male Kitsune Blood Hunter (Order Of The Lycan)
Trojan Dseyller - Male Tortle Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian)
Xenia Ironhide - Female Kobold Rogue (Soulknife)
Alex is stunned for a moment, having expected a much longer battle. Though, he isn't disappointed. He'd won, and hadn't gotten too injured in the process. Plus it seems like these firenewts are going to be nice now.
Smiling, he accepts the box and says to Ishshi, "Nice to meet you too, Tan-Ishshi. I'm honored!"
He then notices Maya and her army of mushrooms approaching. His expression first shifts to overjoyed, then to what could be mild fear. He might not remember everything Kristians said to them before they entered the under dark, but he does remember the bit about the mushroomfolk. In fact, he takes a step back before inadvertently covering his nose. He doesn't want to be rude, but.... well the thought of spores going deep enough towards his brain to transmit telepathic thoughts is more than a little unsettling to him. He keeps a wide, closed-mouthed smile as he nods along with Maya's unintelligible language, eyeing the Myconids all the while.
He stands there awkwardly for a moment as she pats his head, accepting the diagram with wide eyes as she continues to talk in her foreign tongue. When she finally says something he can at least kind of understand, he says (muffled as he keeps his nose and mouth as covered as he can whilst only using one hand), "Oh, yes. Everyone is okay. We came to find you. But, now we have to find a way out." He eyes the diagram, "This will be helpful!"
He turns awkwardly, facing the box instead of the mushrooms as he digs out Renar's katana. "Would you like to hold onto this for Renar?" He holds the weapon out to Maya. He can tell that she really cares about Renar, and since they can speak the same language it does make sense. So, he figures that Renar would be alright with her holding onto his weapon.
Then he realizes that Maya is looking at the fire newts with distrust. Momentarily forgetting about the Myconids and their creepy spores, Alex waves his hands in attempt to calm Maya down, "They're friends. We just had a friendly duel." He gestures to Ishishi, "This is tan-Ishishi, she's the leader, and she found our weapons!" He leaves out the fact that she made him duel to get them back.
Then his eyes widen as he realizes that he forgot about the Myconids, and he claps his hands back over his face. Realizing the creatures probably thought this rude, he says, "Sorry, I'm... not really a fan of telepathy..." Embarrassed, he turns back to the box and pulls out his armor. First sliding the thin padded shirt on, then putting on his chainmail and tabard, he feels much better than before. Grinning, he wipes off the short sword before sheathing and unbuckling its scabbard from his belt. "Thanks for this," he says to Jedwiga. "I guess I can use my own weapons for now." He contently buckles his longsword back onto his left hip, and his axe and hammer on his right. Hopefully the guards are okay with him taking his weapons back for now... not that they can really fault him. He'll give them back when they meet up... buuuutttt he'll be keeping his armor unless they explicitly ask for him to take it off.
"I... really don't want to carry all this around in this box. It would be really difficult to fight with it." He looks inside, taking note of its contents. He can probably get away with strapping Shugo's sword to his back, and Maya and Jedwiga can help carry Venet and Taliya's weapons... hopefully. "I mean, I can if I need to, but would you two be willing to help split the load? If its too difficult to carry like that then we can put it back in the box..."
(Does the box also have Cezars' and the mercenary's weapons as well?)
He waits for an answer before turning back to Ishshi and asking, "Um... do you think you could help us meet up with the rest of our group?" He shows her the diagram that Maya handed him, "Any pointers on which would be the best route would be much appreciated."
Shugo's a bit surprised to find full on oak trees growing underground. Perhaps those glowing crystals mimic sunlight to allow them to grow? Eh. No point in wondering. He's no botanist. He cocks his head at the sight of the halfling woman, and cocks it again towards Wolfie when he exclaims that this is the woman Cezars had punched. Wonderful! Now if they find that jerk again they know where to find another person to testify against him. Despite his still racing mind, he puts his usual cheery face back on.
Before approaching the old lady, he listens to the dragonborn. Alex got their weapons back?! That's fantastic! ...now the only other thing that could make this day better is hearing news of Maya. If Alex and that Owlin had survived after being struck by those spiders, perhaps she managed to make it as well? Hopefully they can all meet back up before things get to dangerous. Plus since Alex got his sword back he owes the kid. Ugh. He's going to have to pay that debt back as fast as possible.
He leaves Taliyah when she starts talking to the guards, and heads over to the old lady. "Excuse me mam, do you need help with that?" He gestures to the water can, and smiles politely, it's always best to be as respectful as possible to older folks....though sometimes it pays to act worn out and tired, since the elderly seem to like to baby youngsters, but since this woman has clearly been injured, that's probably not the best approach. Even if she looks perfectly capable.
Wait... Okaa-san's alive?! And she's with Alex and all of our weapons?! "Hontoni?! (ほんとに, Really?!) Maya-san and Alex are both alive?!" *His tail wags underneath his disguise and his fox ears perk up underneath his hoodie* I'm so relieved. I guess I can have Inazuma back after all when we reunite with them. I had this gut feeling that we might have been one or two members down after this... I never even had the chance to fight Alex yet; he seems like a formidable rival to my eyes so I'd hope to face him in a sparring session at some point. *He overhears Taliyah talking about the Owlin's relative being on the left side of the map; Unsure of what she's talking about, he glanced back at the unusual stone tablet he's holding* "Look If he or she is on the left side, it's best we do so without those guys. I presume you're talking about the threat level 6 which I know we're not prepared for yet. Let's just head into the threat level 1 space to rest."
*As the group heed his suggestions, Renar notices the sign above- Insert angry anime mark on his hoodie again* Wow. How appropriate. So you guys are just gonna name the underdark after actual places from my world?! What's next? The threat level 6 area is Icewind Dale? The lava area that stands after this section Avernus? Seriously... I wonder what the others would say about this. Also does anyone have a camera? Oh wait... I should have thought of this..
*Once everyone settles down, Renar constantly scans the area for those two... Only to notice Maigurs point out the old lady that Cezars had beaten up before he inadvertently flirts with Laine; He then whispers to Shugo* "Is it just me or do I have a feeling about those two...?" *But then he shakes his head and returns to scout.* "Nevermind. You and the rest go deal with the poor lady that got beaten up by our former convict. I'm gonna look out for those two if they happen to be here too." *He goes somewhere alone and climbs a quiet tree to keep watch*
The Wildland Shifters
Daisy Ethalena - Female Wood Elf Ranger (Monster Slayer)
Ethan Wolftree - Male Simic Hybrid Warlock (The Hexblade)
Mira Laurits - Female Harengon Sorcerer (Clockwork Soul); Lancea
Raiden Kurosaki - Male Kitsune Wizard (Bladesinger); Lancea
Rixian Nishinoya - Male Fire Genasi Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Tenebris Amaro - Male Dark Elf Druid (Circle of Stars)
Yurime Hanasaki - Female Kumiho Bard (College Of Creation)
Renar
Perception: 10
Stealth: 21
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."
—Richard Dawkins
DM—Stories From The End of The World: Episode I