To Shake

Don’t  you need that for your spells?

 "I accept these items as tribute.. What about you walking metal?"

I offer my ornate dagger.

(OOC: unless you've got something else in mind Fen - didn't know if you wanted to talk to yourself or not)

Quote from Sdclaybrook >>

I offer my ornate dagger.

(OOC: unless you've got something else in mind Fen - didn't know if you wanted to talk to yourself or not)

 (Oops. Thought Sorvas was back, lol.. thanks for the reply).

The creature vibrates with pleasure, "Very well.. leave your tributes on the ground and the horses behind.. continue forward on the trail, I shall not stop you nor shall any other creatures while you are in my territory. Now Go before I change my mind."

Shake does not answer Alten's question until they have passed by the monster. "Thank you for your concern, Alten. The healing spell the elves taught me requires me simply to speak some special words they taught me and touch the person I desire to heal. The rest of my magic is based on my ability to perform." Shake flourishes his hands a bit in dramatic fashion and casts Dancing Lights. Suddenly four lights pop up in front of the group and merge together to form a shady humaniod image that vaguely resembles Shake. "Viola! Ultimately my magic comes from my heart and my soul. So long as I can pour my spirit into the performance my magic should function properly." Shake again looks sad. "That said, the pipes really did help me focus my performance. I hope I can find another instrument soon."

Dont you arcane types had to have some sort of focus if you didn’t want to carry around  a bunch of stuff like feathers, bat shit, rocks, or whatever? I mean, that’s what my holy symbol of Torm does for me.

Thought you needed it to cast. Was going to offer you the mirror I have in my pack. Thought a vain creature like that would love it

Shake blushes and bows slightly towards Alten. "Well thank you Alten. That is very thoughtful of you. It is hard to perform when I am not certain of my presentability. It weakens the resolve and muffles the spirit. I would gladly accept your mirror." Shake looks genuinely pleased. "And I am very glad that you have taken notice of the care I put into my appearance. It's not always easy to look this good."

What? Why would you need the mirror now? It’s just a mundane mirror. Are you that vain?

At that moment, I meant to offer the mirror to the beast to appease his vanity instead of giving up what I thought was the key to your spell casting. When you ignored my question at the time, I assumed I misunderstood the significance of the instrument.

"Oh." Shake's upbeat attitude falls a beat. "I get it. That makes sense. Still, a mirror would be nice. I can hardly tell if my hair is straight and my ears are even." Shake performs an even more elaborate motion with his hands and appears to wiggle one of his ears (casting Minor Illusion ). Suddenly an image of Shake's head, only much more handsome and well coifed, appears and floats in front of him. As Shake turns his head from side to side the image mirrors him. "No. I look beautiful as always," he says as he continues to admire his better self.

As an aside to whichever other party member is close enough to have heard the previous conversation.

Maybe I should give him the damn mirror if that’s what he thinks he looks like. He clearly needs more accurate intel.

Alten reaches into his pack and tosses the mirror to Shake. 

With a big smile on his face Shake catches the mirror. As he looks into the mirror the image floating in front of him changes to look more like his real self: dirtier, less symmetrical, totally exhausted and bedraggled. The smiles on both the real Shake and his copy fade away. "Oh." He says forlornly as he puts the mirror into his pouch. Looking forward again he is confronted with the image of himself and jumps a little, startled, as though he forgot it was there. When he recognizes himself he puts his hand through the image and waves it away, breaking the spell. "I just need a little beauty sleep, preferably somewhere far away from here." He says, looking over his shoulder towards where they encountered the beast.

"I don't have any instruments, Shake, but I have a little bell you can have if you want it?" 

Shake takes the bell with tears streaming from his eyes. "Two presents in one day. I can't believe how lucky I am." He rings the bell a little and is actually able to make out a little beat. The bell seems to match Shake's musical proficiency more than the pipes ever did. Quietly, tentatively he begins to sing...

 By the end shake is getting really into the song, and is laying down a pretty groovy beat with the bell.

When you are all a few hundred feet away you hear the sound of a horse scream.. then the tearing of flesh as the wolf head chows down on one of your horses.

That sobers Shake up and he puts his bell away carefully, ensuring that the clapper is insulated and it won't make noise. After a while he pulls out the mirror and tries to get his hair into order.

 Arxius threads her fingers through her horse's mane. "A sacrifice that needed to be made," she says gently. She glances across at the Bard and feels an uncharacteristic need to be sociable. "Perhaps we will find a merchant that sells musical items, Shake. I was hoping to find a pan flute myself."

"That would be excellent. I've always thought lutes to be very attractive instruments. Or maybe a drum? It's easy to get somebody's attention with a drum. Guess we'll just have to wait and hope. In the meantime, it's nice to have the bell."

Whether we find another instrument or not, I’ll just be happy to get clear of that thing’s territory. Let’s get a more on, shall we?

Talien takes out his plate and utinsils and scrapes them together a few times for noise and hand them to Shake. 

You travel on short two horses and some of your loot, but you're unscathed and relieved that your collective nightmare was just that. As the morning turns into afternoon the landscape starts to become hillier and rockier with boulders dotting the landscape. It is distinctly different now from the terrain you traversed when you first entered the craigs and you can tell you will soon be towards the foothills of the mountains. The temperature does not grow quite as warm and as the sun goes down it becomes brisk. You make camp and eat and set your watches. The night passes uneventfully and you all wake feeling well rested thanks in part to a lack of terrifying dreams. 

You set off once again in the morning and travel through the day. Early evening arrives when on the horizon you hear a loud rushing noise like that of a river...