"Something is after the relic!"Astrid quickly pushes her way through the room."Outta the way!"She pries off the lid with a good tug and reaches in to grab the reliquary.
As the lid comes off, Astrid finds herself face to face with a dark-haired gnome who's head and shoulders are sticking up through a hole in both the floorboards and the bottom of the crate. She has the relic grasped in both of her hands.
"Run!" She yells with a gasp, immediately ducking back down beneath the floor.
“Perish.” Caio responds to the thief. Having moved along with the others to surround the box and angling his sword at whatever threat to the relic they might find, the ranger now reflexively plunges his sword down towards the burglar.
"Aaah!" Astrid pulls her hand back not expecting to find a head in the box.
"Wait.. She's got the relic." She kicks aside the empty crate and sticks an arm and her head through the hole. "They're in the crawlspace! And there's another one down here too! Oh, no you don't!" Reaching out with an open hand, the cleric stops the flow of time around the fleeing figure.
Shiva grumbles to consciousness beneath Ghoul’s pecking and the sounds of Astrid’s voice. “What the f-” The shouting and motion that proceeds to fill the room brings her to lucidity in a snap, her demonic talons extending from her fingers as she crosses the room with a flash of movement.
Caio's blade strikes true and there's a cry of anguish from the hole in the floor as he impales the gnome through the chest. However, when Astrid sticks her head down in search of the relic, she sees only the gnome on the ground, bleeding into the dirt of a crawl space besides a small saw, but no relic. To Astrid's left, the silhouette of another small figure is scrambling away beneath the floor, but it freezes, frozen in time as the cleric weaves her spell.
With Caio having halted one of the thieves, Shiva listens for the other as the shuffling beneath the floor ceases. Assuming that Astrid had them in her magics, she paces to where she last heard footfalls, and rears back her right arm.
Prodigious muscles tighten and stretch, sending her fist through the wood as if its fortitude were merely a suggestion. Once through, she reaches out and grasps a shoulder. Sinking her claws into it, she pulls mightily, bringing the figure up and through the floor with a loud crash.
The limp form of a broken and bloody halfling hangs from Shiva's clawed hand as she drags it up through the floor. The relic tumbles from the thief's hands and onto the floor with a clatter. The priors hurry to recover it and check the relic for damage.
Ghoul flaps and lands awkwardly on Alaris' chest, squawking. The aasimar jerks upright and rolls out of the bed onto their knees on sheer instinct, their eyes wide and skin flushing with energy. Caio draws back his blade with a gnome impaled on it, and Shiva pulls up a halfling from the shattered wreckage of the flooring. As the brothers hurry towards the relic, the bogatyr crawls towards the fray rather than trying to stand and have to duck under the low dwarven ceiling.
"Thieves in a dwarven stronghold? Give us a reason why we should help either of you."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid,Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions! I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
The gnome that Caio has stabbed through the chest is barely conscious and rapidly loosing blood, while the halfling hangs limp from Shiva's clawed hand. Neither appears to be in any state to answer Alaris's question.
Astrid pulls her head out and notices the saw lying below hole. "Bah! I should known," she says scolding herself with a shake of her head.
"We're not going to get answers if they're dead." Astrid scoots over to the gnome. She begins to examine the wounds, but soon recoils. "Oh my!?"she exclaims, not having realized the damage Caio had done.
She places both hands over the wound and offers a prayer in her native tongue. "Brightmantle, grant me the grace to heal those that would strike against us."A blue radiance begins to emanate from the cleric's hands and washes over the torso of the gnome. She repeats the words and holds her hands over the gnome a moment longer as the power of her god mends the grievous injury. Astrid lets out a deep breath as the energy fades, and pulls her hands back to reveal the perfectly mended chest of the gnome.
Astrid wipes the blood from her hands on the trousers of the would-be thief and pulls out the copper spring again to update Lord Commander Flintbeard. "Uh... Just to let you know, we caught two thieves attempting to steal the relic from our room."
Alaris gazes at the gnome, a strange cold expression on their face. The bogatyr glancesover their shoulder at the brothers gathering around the relic, then turns back to the action as Shiva drops the halfling. "What answers can they give that we can trust?" Their tone is frosty and distant, and their eyes flare with emotion.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid,Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions! I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
The gnome gasps, inhaling suddenly as her wounds are miraculously healed. She glances about at those standing over her in fear and then her eyes fall on her halfling compatriot.
"Oh, Gods, please help her. Please don't let Grace die. We just needed the money. They said that it was gold! That they'd pay handsomely for it!"
Alaris reaches out and lays a hand on the supine halfling's chest. The cold light fades from their expression and something like the usual Alaris returns. "Lady, share your light with this fallen little one," they whisper.
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid,Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions! I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
Shiva takes a quick step forward when the halfling scrambles away from her, but stops when she realizes that the woman is merely terrified. The little thief is less than half her size, and she feels a frisson of remorse for having torn into her so viciously.
Crouching, she holds up her hands as a sign of peace and speaks softly. "Hey hey hey, I'm not gonna hurt you. Your name is Grace? It was a bad idea to sneak up on us like that, Grace. Where did you meet this dwarf in red armour?" Gesturing with the question, she notices that her claws are still out and retracts them.
"Th- the crossroads in the temple district, not an hour ago," Grace stammers, cautiously pushing herself to her feet. She glances left and right, tossing a copper-brown braid over her shoulder as she takes stock of her surroundings. "He said that it would be a quick job. In and out. Please let us go. We won't trouble you again."
The crate containing Vida's relic begins to shake and rumble.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
"Something is after the relic!" Astrid quickly pushes her way through the room."Outta the way!" She pries off the lid with a good tug and reaches in to grab the reliquary.
As the lid comes off, Astrid finds herself face to face with a dark-haired gnome who's head and shoulders are sticking up through a hole in both the floorboards and the bottom of the crate. She has the relic grasped in both of her hands.
"Run!" She yells with a gasp, immediately ducking back down beneath the floor.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
“Perish.” Caio responds to the thief. Having moved along with the others to surround the box and angling his sword at whatever threat to the relic they might find, the ranger now reflexively plunges his sword down towards the burglar.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
"Aaah!" Astrid pulls her hand back not expecting to find a head in the box.
"Wait.. She's got the relic." She kicks aside the empty crate and sticks an arm and her head through the hole. "They're in the crawlspace! And there's another one down here too! Oh, no you don't!" Reaching out with an open hand, the cleric stops the flow of time around the fleeing figure.
Shiva grumbles to consciousness beneath Ghoul’s pecking and the sounds of Astrid’s voice. “What the f-” The shouting and motion that proceeds to fill the room brings her to lucidity in a snap, her demonic talons extending from her fingers as she crosses the room with a flash of movement.
Caio's blade strikes true and there's a cry of anguish from the hole in the floor as he impales the gnome through the chest. However, when Astrid sticks her head down in search of the relic, she sees only the gnome on the ground, bleeding into the dirt of a crawl space besides a small saw, but no relic. To Astrid's left, the silhouette of another small figure is scrambling away beneath the floor, but it freezes, frozen in time as the cleric weaves her spell.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
With Caio having halted one of the thieves, Shiva listens for the other as the shuffling beneath the floor ceases. Assuming that Astrid had them in her magics, she paces to where she last heard footfalls, and rears back her right arm.
Prodigious muscles tighten and stretch, sending her fist through the wood as if its fortitude were merely a suggestion. Once through, she reaches out and grasps a shoulder. Sinking her claws into it, she pulls mightily, bringing the figure up and through the floor with a loud crash.
The limp form of a broken and bloody halfling hangs from Shiva's clawed hand as she drags it up through the floor. The relic tumbles from the thief's hands and onto the floor with a clatter. The priors hurry to recover it and check the relic for damage.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Ghoul flaps and lands awkwardly on Alaris' chest, squawking. The aasimar jerks upright and rolls out of the bed onto their knees on sheer instinct, their eyes wide and skin flushing with energy. Caio draws back his blade with a gnome impaled on it, and Shiva pulls up a halfling from the shattered wreckage of the flooring. As the brothers hurry towards the relic, the bogatyr crawls towards the fray rather than trying to stand and have to duck under the low dwarven ceiling.
"Thieves in a dwarven stronghold? Give us a reason why we should help either of you."
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid, Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck
Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions!
I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
The gnome that Caio has stabbed through the chest is barely conscious and rapidly loosing blood, while the halfling hangs limp from Shiva's clawed hand. Neither appears to be in any state to answer Alaris's question.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
When neither thief responds to Alaris, Shiva lowers the halfing to the ground and removes her claws from them with a wet squelch.
Astrid pulls her head out and notices the saw lying below hole. "Bah! I should known," she says scolding herself with a shake of her head.
"We're not going to get answers if they're dead." Astrid scoots over to the gnome. She begins to examine the wounds, but soon recoils. "Oh my!?" she exclaims, not having realized the damage Caio had done.
She places both hands over the wound and offers a prayer in her native tongue. "Brightmantle, grant me the grace to heal those that would strike against us." A blue radiance begins to emanate from the cleric's hands and washes over the torso of the gnome. She repeats the words and holds her hands over the gnome a moment longer as the power of her god mends the grievous injury. Astrid lets out a deep breath as the energy fades, and pulls her hands back to reveal the perfectly mended chest of the gnome.
Astrid wipes the blood from her hands on the trousers of the would-be thief and pulls out the copper spring again to update Lord Commander Flintbeard. "Uh... Just to let you know, we caught two thieves attempting to steal the relic from our room."
Alaris gazes at the gnome, a strange cold expression on their face. The bogatyr glances over their shoulder at the brothers gathering around the relic, then turns back to the action as Shiva drops the halfling. "What answers can they give that we can trust?" Their tone is frosty and distant, and their eyes flare with emotion.
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid, Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck
Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions!
I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
The gnome gasps, inhaling suddenly as her wounds are miraculously healed. She glances about at those standing over her in fear and then her eyes fall on her halfling compatriot.
"Oh, Gods, please help her. Please don't let Grace die. We just needed the money. They said that it was gold! That they'd pay handsomely for it!"
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
“Who said?” Caio demands. His sword is still in hand, hanging above the gnome like a guillotine still slick with her blood.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Alaris reaches out and lays a hand on the supine halfling's chest. The cold light fades from their expression and something like the usual Alaris returns. "Lady, share your light with this fallen little one," they whisper.
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid, Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck
Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions!
I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
"A dwarf dressed in red armour. I didn't ask his name," the Gnome quickly elaborates, flinching and raising her arms as Caio lifts his blade.
Meanwhile, under Alaris's ministrations the halfling begins to stir. Her eyes flutter open and she quickly scrabbles backwards away from Shiva.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Shiva takes a quick step forward when the halfling scrambles away from her, but stops when she realizes that the woman is merely terrified. The little thief is less than half her size, and she feels a frisson of remorse for having torn into her so viciously.
Crouching, she holds up her hands as a sign of peace and speaks softly. "Hey hey hey, I'm not gonna hurt you. Your name is Grace? It was a bad idea to sneak up on us like that, Grace. Where did you meet this dwarf in red armour?" Gesturing with the question, she notices that her claws are still out and retracts them.
"Th- the crossroads in the temple district, not an hour ago," Grace stammers, cautiously pushing herself to her feet. She glances left and right, tossing a copper-brown braid over her shoulder as she takes stock of her surroundings. "He said that it would be a quick job. In and out. Please let us go. We won't trouble you again."
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva