Uthal bends to fill his waterskin before looking back up at the rest of the hill. "Best to hurry. I'm sure the Arbitrator is going as fast as he can. We will need to go quickly even on this shortcut."
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Gronk in Bastion, Kingdom of Medrin Elixisysin Talaveroth (Team 2) Uthal in Lost Continent of Theviranne
"Sometimes I even amaze myself,"Ura says as she refills her skin and takes a deep drink from the stream. "The cabin should be close by, I think. We should reach it soon enough."
Refreshed and hydrated, the party continued on to the hills and upslope to the cabin. While it was easier going for some, the party could only travel at the speed of its slowest members. Climbing the slopes was manageable for the actual party members, but proved difficult for the horses, forcing the party to find shallower slopes.
By the time the party reached the cabin it was already nearing the 10th hour of the day. The smoke and lights coming from the cabin, the night prior, had long since died. The structure stands quietly with no sign of life.
Having reached the old man’s cabin, Anearis walked up to the door and gently knocked on the door. Hopefully, the hermit was still inside and not out collecting materials.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
There was no response to Anearis’s knock.
12
However, the sound of trickling water, like another stream nearby, caught Anearis’s attention. Around the side of the cabin, the source of the noise.
The old elf was standing in front of a wooden trough, though had his back towards the party. He was looking up at the sky, allowing his gaze to drift, and happened to look around, seeing Anearis. “Oh! Younger me! Come on over!”
As he gestured for Anearis to join him, he turned his body enough to identify the source of that trickling sound. The old elf was ‘relieving’ himself, into the trough.
Upon seeing the old hermit, Anearis quickly turned around. There were some things he didn’t want or need to see. "You may want to finish what you were doing beforehand. Don’t worry, we’ll wait. And do wash your hands please."
While Anaeris wanders off to find the hermit, Ura scratches at her neck, trying to pinpoint why she feels so sore and restless. The forest is hot, and her leather armor is too tight and uncomfortable. With a start, she realizes that she never adjusted it from Atal's size fittings. "By the gods! Ugh, I hate having to adjust this thing all the time!" Just as oblivious to propriety as the hermit peeing in his trough, Ura fiddles with her straps and pulls the leather armor off, before letting out a huge sigh of relief. "Much better!" she sighs, twisting her arms around as she decompresses. Picking up the discarded armor, she eyes it wearily. "Putting this back on again...ugh, nah. Forget it, I'd rather live dangerously," she declares, nicking off a small piece of the strap before stuffing the leather into her pack.
Turning away from the old man, Anearis had to rely on the sense of hearing to know what was happening behind him. Following what was likely the ‘completion of his business,’ there was a loud splashing sound, and eventually, the old man putting his hand on Anearis’s shoulder. “Well, younger self. What can I do you for, this morning?”
The old elf was drenched in water, like having had a bucket of water simply dumped over him. He displayed the same toothy smile he prominently showed the previous night. Everything about the elf stirred the potential for one side of a debate or the other on whether he was an eccentric old man, or simply senile.
Now that the hermit was in a more presentable position, Anearis turned to face the old man. He might have been a little odd, but Anearis didn’t feel anything malicious about him.
"My friend, I thank you again for your services yesterday. Somehow, you really did know what I needed." He raises a hand on the other side in the direction of the rest of the party. "We have returned, and we have brought more friends."
Kel sighed, trudging up to the cabin feeling anxious and in agreeance with Uthal's statement. Time was something they couldn't squander out here. With any luck this would be a brief visit and then a quick guide to an even quicker path. He tied the horse up to a nearby tree and dropped the weight of his pack to sit in the small of his back as he stretched. His weapons swung out to either side of him as he did so. He glanced back at Ura as she complained about her armor and was entirely sympathetic to the want to remove his own armor. He didn't, but he wasn't looking forward to a forced march with extra weight and heat. Kel reslung his gearbag properly and waited outside the entrance to the cabin.
The old elf’s eyes widened and he his smile grew as Anearis mentioned others. “More customers?” But after saying this, his smile faded slightly as if coming to a hard realization that interrupted his otherwise overjoyed demeanor. “Well, the shop’s not open right now. Why don’t you just come back tonight?” As he spoke, in the same manner of retreating behind his counter, the old man climbed into an open window on the side of the cabin, and then leaned out, as he finished talking to Anearis. “Or, even just wait around until the evening, and then you can come in.”
At the abruptness you the stranger (Ander) interrupting his otherwise pleasant conversation and potential sales pitch, the old elf took on a sour face and made an audible “hmmphf”, as he slammed the window shut. Pulling the curtains shut, there was silence again, and no visible signs of movement from the cabin.
Ura sighs and rolls her eyes. Then she points a finger at the window shutters, trying to send the elf a message.
Hey, Mr. Yahn'keey! It's me, Atalura, the high elf. You sold me a Guttar candle yesterday, remember? I'm very satisfied with my purchase and wanted to give you a thumbs up for the excellent craftsmanship! You know, you may also remember that you told Younger You about the herder's pass northwest of here. Easy enough to spit it and hit it, you said! Well, I've been spitting all morning and I haven't hit a pass yet. Maybe you could tell me what I'm doing wrong, and help me improve my aim?
"Try not to be rude if he shows up again,"she says aloud to the others, eyebrow twitching a bit.
The door to the cabin opened, and the old elf stepped out. Even know he was wearing the same clothes as before (and the previous night), neither he nor his clothing showed any sign of having been drenched. Instead, the were bone dry.
He locked the door behind him, and then hung the key on a hook directly next to the door, while commenting loudly to the group that “Can never be too careful in these parts, who knows who’d try to break in and take my goods.”
He took a look at the group, and picked up a thin tall walking stick from the porch. “Well then, we best be going.” The old man then turned to Anearis, “Come, you can walk next to me.”
Turning, he started off around the house, in a Northwestern direction. Although he made no verbal response to Ura, his actions were enough to determine he likely heard and agreed with what she said.
Anearis was taken aback by the sudden change of heart. However, he made no objection to it. At the request of the old hermit, Anearis walked forward with a quickened step to catch up to him.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ura folded her hands behind her head and began walking, pleased with herself. She gave Ander a stink-eye before following after the others. Still... the smugness went away very quickly once she was smacked in the face with an overgrown bush branch precisely because she wasn't looking where she was going. Spitting out a leaf, she coughed and sighed. Seemed like there wasn't any use being smug when the best she could say about traveling through a forest was something like 'Oh hey, that tree over there is three stories high, I didn't know they could get that tall!'
"I'm probably ruining the reputation of elves everywhere,"Ura muttered under her breath, watching Anaeris -- and even Uthal, for that matter, for even the goliath seemed to have a better idea of how to deal with wilderness than she did -- and trying to copy the way they moved, re-learning how to walk silently and cataloguing the information for future use.
Old habits die hard, and Ura still found herself keeping her eyes and ears peeled for the sounds of trouble or an ambush around the next corner -- bush, she corrected herself with another sigh of irritation. Around the next bush, or tree, or stone, damn it. Nature provided a distressing lack of corners and alleyways for Ura's city-honed senses.
As you all step off from the clearing and into the woods, nearly opposite from the direction of the road, you were previously on, Ura amazingly manages to see and hear all manner of the woods around her. Its surprising that her reflexes have nearly shut down completely as her mind recognizes the branch well in advance of her walking straight into it. But so is the luck of city-dwellers.
Ura knows with full confidence that outside the forest itself, and thick brush at eye level, there is nothing within even a remote proximity to the group, that threatens their health or safety. However, with such certainty, it allows the group to move quicker and focus on their footing rather than having to worry about other threats. The group is able to move easier through the vegetation.
Further, she oddly notices that aside from his thin common clothes without pockets and walking stick, the old elf, Dah’Deey Yahn’Keey, carries no other possessions with him, not even shoes. And yet, as they walk, he keeps producing thin strips of dried, aged meat, that he chews as he leads the group.
”So what brings you and your companions to Dah’Deey Yahn’Keey’s woods? Why you all going to the ruins?” The old elf asks Anearis questions with observable genuine curiosity, beyond just making small talk, on the trip.
"A friend of ours his heading to the ruins. The rider I have asked you about yesterday. He went ahead to fight a darkness that was imprisoned their long ago. He believes to be the only one who can stop it, and we are going because he will need all the help he can get." Anearis decided to tell him the truth. He sensed no malice from the old hermit. "I also want to stop this darkness, he added. It sucks the life out of the land and leaves it barren. I must see this through, for my people's sake."
Ura listens closely, also curious as well. But it's a different sort of burning curiosity. Every time the old man chews another piece of meat, her eyes hone in on his hands, trying to figure out where he's storing the goods -- but to no avail.
"I absolutely have to learn how to do that," she mutters, audible enough for anyone walking by her to hear as she stares. Then she blinks. "Maybe I can do that?" Concentrating, she wiggles her fingers and continues to mumble under her breath in elvish.
"Irrasafaro na'nno, arrasafaro na'nno, I lloa oa arrasafaro na'nno...*"
Something happens. She's not sure what, but if she succeeded in making an invisible pocket, she's pretty sure she can't see it, which rather defeats the entire purpose. Damn it. Didn't think that one through. Annoyed, she blurts out in common, "Fine. Then what about an invisible hand?" Her eyebrow goes up as a spectral hand floating beside her becomes visible as she says it. Recognizing that feeling as the hand, a slow smile spreads across her face, and the hand fades back out of existence, invisible but still there, she's certain. Now this could be useful...
Thinking to test it on herself first, she commands the hand to sneak inside of her own pack and stealthily pull out the silver ring she'd stolen from the guard. Sure enough, soon there's a silver ring floating somehow impossibly in the air next to Ura's head. Clapping in delight, she snatches the ring out of the air and tosses it up, enjoying how it glints in the dappled forest light, before catching it in her palm with a large grin. The hand becomes visible again, and Ura gives it a high-five before it disappears once more -- but this time completely.
*in elvish: "Invisible pocket, invisible pocket, I want an invisible pocket..."
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Uthal bends to fill his waterskin before looking back up at the rest of the hill. "Best to hurry. I'm sure the Arbitrator is going as fast as he can. We will need to go quickly even on this shortcut."
Gronk in Bastion, Kingdom of Medrin Elixisys in Talaveroth (Team 2) Uthal in Lost Continent of Theviranne
"Sometimes I even amaze myself," Ura says as she refills her skin and takes a deep drink from the stream. "The cabin should be close by, I think. We should reach it soon enough."
Refreshed and hydrated, the party continued on to the hills and upslope to the cabin. While it was easier going for some, the party could only travel at the speed of its slowest members. Climbing the slopes was manageable for the actual party members, but proved difficult for the horses, forcing the party to find shallower slopes.
By the time the party reached the cabin it was already nearing the 10th hour of the day. The smoke and lights coming from the cabin, the night prior, had long since died. The structure stands quietly with no sign of life.
Having reached the old man’s cabin, Anearis walked up to the door and gently knocked on the door. Hopefully, the hermit was still inside and not out collecting materials.
There was no response to Anearis’s knock.
12
However, the sound of trickling water, like another stream nearby, caught Anearis’s attention. Around the side of the cabin, the source of the noise.
The old elf was standing in front of a wooden trough, though had his back towards the party. He was looking up at the sky, allowing his gaze to drift, and happened to look around, seeing Anearis. “Oh! Younger me! Come on over!”
As he gestured for Anearis to join him, he turned his body enough to identify the source of that trickling sound. The old elf was ‘relieving’ himself, into the trough.
Upon seeing the old hermit, Anearis quickly turned around. There were some things he didn’t want or need to see.
"You may want to finish what you were doing beforehand. Don’t worry, we’ll wait. And do wash your hands please."
While Anaeris wanders off to find the hermit, Ura scratches at her neck, trying to pinpoint why she feels so sore and restless. The forest is hot, and her leather armor is too tight and uncomfortable. With a start, she realizes that she never adjusted it from Atal's size fittings. "By the gods! Ugh, I hate having to adjust this thing all the time!" Just as oblivious to propriety as the hermit peeing in his trough, Ura fiddles with her straps and pulls the leather armor off, before letting out a huge sigh of relief. "Much better!" she sighs, twisting her arms around as she decompresses. Picking up the discarded armor, she eyes it wearily. "Putting this back on again...ugh, nah. Forget it, I'd rather live dangerously," she declares, nicking off a small piece of the strap before stuffing the leather into her pack.
Turning away from the old man, Anearis had to rely on the sense of hearing to know what was happening behind him. Following what was likely the ‘completion of his business,’ there was a loud splashing sound, and eventually, the old man putting his hand on Anearis’s shoulder. “Well, younger self. What can I do you for, this morning?”
The old elf was drenched in water, like having had a bucket of water simply dumped over him. He displayed the same toothy smile he prominently showed the previous night. Everything about the elf stirred the potential for one side of a debate or the other on whether he was an eccentric old man, or simply senile.
Now that the hermit was in a more presentable position, Anearis turned to face the old man. He might have been a little odd, but Anearis didn’t feel anything malicious about him.
"My friend, I thank you again for your services yesterday. Somehow, you really did know what I needed." He raises a hand on the other side in the direction of the rest of the party. "We have returned, and we have brought more friends."
Kel sighed, trudging up to the cabin feeling anxious and in agreeance with Uthal's statement. Time was something they couldn't squander out here. With any luck this would be a brief visit and then a quick guide to an even quicker path. He tied the horse up to a nearby tree and dropped the weight of his pack to sit in the small of his back as he stretched. His weapons swung out to either side of him as he did so. He glanced back at Ura as she complained about her armor and was entirely sympathetic to the want to remove his own armor. He didn't, but he wasn't looking forward to a forced march with extra weight and heat. Kel reslung his gearbag properly and waited outside the entrance to the cabin.
Exitus Acta Probat
The old elf’s eyes widened and he his smile grew as Anearis mentioned others. “More customers?” But after saying this, his smile faded slightly as if coming to a hard realization that interrupted his otherwise overjoyed demeanor. “Well, the shop’s not open right now. Why don’t you just come back tonight?” As he spoke, in the same manner of retreating behind his counter, the old man climbed into an open window on the side of the cabin, and then leaned out, as he finished talking to Anearis. “Or, even just wait around until the evening, and then you can come in.”
"We don't have that much time."
At the abruptness you the stranger (Ander) interrupting his otherwise pleasant conversation and potential sales pitch, the old elf took on a sour face and made an audible “hmmphf”, as he slammed the window shut. Pulling the curtains shut, there was silence again, and no visible signs of movement from the cabin.
Ura sighs and rolls her eyes. Then she points a finger at the window shutters, trying to send the elf a message.
Hey, Mr. Yahn'keey! It's me, Atalura, the high elf. You sold me a Guttar candle yesterday, remember? I'm very satisfied with my purchase and wanted to give you a thumbs up for the excellent craftsmanship! You know, you may also remember that you told Younger You about the herder's pass northwest of here. Easy enough to spit it and hit it, you said! Well, I've been spitting all morning and I haven't hit a pass yet. Maybe you could tell me what I'm doing wrong, and help me improve my aim?
"Try not to be rude if he shows up again," she says aloud to the others, eyebrow twitching a bit.
The door to the cabin opened, and the old elf stepped out. Even know he was wearing the same clothes as before (and the previous night), neither he nor his clothing showed any sign of having been drenched. Instead, the were bone dry.
He locked the door behind him, and then hung the key on a hook directly next to the door, while commenting loudly to the group that “Can never be too careful in these parts, who knows who’d try to break in and take my goods.”
He took a look at the group, and picked up a thin tall walking stick from the porch. “Well then, we best be going.” The old man then turned to Anearis, “Come, you can walk next to me.”
Turning, he started off around the house, in a Northwestern direction. Although he made no verbal response to Ura, his actions were enough to determine he likely heard and agreed with what she said.
Anearis was taken aback by the sudden change of heart. However, he made no objection to it. At the request of the old hermit, Anearis walked forward with a quickened step to catch up to him.
Ura folded her hands behind her head and began walking, pleased with herself. She gave Ander a stink-eye before following after the others. Still... the smugness went away very quickly once she was smacked in the face with an overgrown bush branch precisely because she wasn't looking where she was going. Spitting out a leaf, she coughed and sighed. Seemed like there wasn't any use being smug when the best she could say about traveling through a forest was something like 'Oh hey, that tree over there is three stories high, I didn't know they could get that tall!'
"I'm probably ruining the reputation of elves everywhere," Ura muttered under her breath, watching Anaeris -- and even Uthal, for that matter, for even the goliath seemed to have a better idea of how to deal with wilderness than she did -- and trying to copy the way they moved, re-learning how to walk silently and cataloguing the information for future use.
Old habits die hard, and Ura still found herself keeping her eyes and ears peeled for the sounds of trouble or an ambush around the next corner -- bush, she corrected herself with another sigh of irritation. Around the next bush, or tree, or stone, damn it. Nature provided a distressing lack of corners and alleyways for Ura's city-honed senses.
Perception: 25
As you all step off from the clearing and into the woods, nearly opposite from the direction of the road, you were previously on, Ura amazingly manages to see and hear all manner of the woods around her.
Its surprising that her reflexes have nearly shut down completely as her mind recognizes the branch well in advance of her walking straight into it. But so is the luck of city-dwellers.
Ura knows with full confidence that outside the forest itself, and thick brush at eye level, there is nothing within even a remote proximity to the group, that threatens their health or safety. However, with such certainty, it allows the group to move quicker and focus on their footing rather than having to worry about other threats. The group is able to move easier through the vegetation.
Further, she oddly notices that aside from his thin common clothes without pockets and walking stick, the old elf, Dah’Deey Yahn’Keey, carries no other possessions with him, not even shoes. And yet, as they walk, he keeps producing thin strips of dried, aged meat, that he chews as he leads the group.
”So what brings you and your companions to Dah’Deey Yahn’Keey’s woods? Why you all going to the ruins?” The old elf asks Anearis questions with observable genuine curiosity, beyond just making small talk, on the trip.
"A friend of ours his heading to the ruins. The rider I have asked you about yesterday. He went ahead to fight a darkness that was imprisoned their long ago. He believes to be the only one who can stop it, and we are going because he will need all the help he can get." Anearis decided to tell him the truth. He sensed no malice from the old hermit. "I also want to stop this darkness, he added. It sucks the life out of the land and leaves it barren. I must see this through, for my people's sake."
Ura listens closely, also curious as well. But it's a different sort of burning curiosity. Every time the old man chews another piece of meat, her eyes hone in on his hands, trying to figure out where he's storing the goods -- but to no avail.
"I absolutely have to learn how to do that," she mutters, audible enough for anyone walking by her to hear as she stares. Then she blinks. "Maybe I can do that?" Concentrating, she wiggles her fingers and continues to mumble under her breath in elvish.
"Irrasafaro na'nno, arrasafaro na'nno, I lloa oa arrasafaro na'nno...*"
Something happens. She's not sure what, but if she succeeded in making an invisible pocket, she's pretty sure she can't see it, which rather defeats the entire purpose. Damn it. Didn't think that one through. Annoyed, she blurts out in common, "Fine. Then what about an invisible hand?" Her eyebrow goes up as a spectral hand floating beside her becomes visible as she says it. Recognizing that feeling as the hand, a slow smile spreads across her face, and the hand fades back out of existence, invisible but still there, she's certain. Now this could be useful...
Thinking to test it on herself first, she commands the hand to sneak inside of her own pack and stealthily pull out the silver ring she'd stolen from the guard. Sure enough, soon there's a silver ring floating somehow impossibly in the air next to Ura's head. Clapping in delight, she snatches the ring out of the air and tosses it up, enjoying how it glints in the dappled forest light, before catching it in her palm with a large grin. The hand becomes visible again, and Ura gives it a high-five before it disappears once more -- but this time completely.
*in elvish: "Invisible pocket, invisible pocket, I want an invisible pocket..."