Rose thought it strange that Fallan's focus seemed to bounce all around as she made her request. Looking first directly at Rose, Fallan's head and eyes swiveled around, glancing up at the sky, then towards several of the buildings around them. While she seemed scattered, she did come back to making eye contact with Rose and nodded her head.
[t] "Got it. Makes sense to stay quiet. I'll go check and get back to you with what I see."Pushing her thoughts to Rose seemed to calm Fallan a bit as she went into full "stealth mode" and almost completely disappeared into the shadows, heading in the direction of the town center. Even having this to focus on was enough to get her to "re-sheath" her bread-loaf into her pack.
Cadderly looks at Fallan confused but as Rose makes her comment before he can respond, he simply shrugs, puttign it off for now, as there were more important things to focus on. He didn't know Fallan very well after-all, so odd for him might be normal for her. And as fallan all but perfectly glides into the area where the tree's are. It takes her several moments to get there but once within the brush, she slips through the foliage, at ground level, because of her height. Making her even harder to spot, but once within the area, she sees a circular copse like a clearing in the center. The noises got louder as she approached, both the odd animalistic ones, as well as the odd pounding and grunting.
About eight animals, all predators sat facing the center, some in pairs, and others alone. The ones in pairs cleaning each other off with their tongues or nestling, while the othders sat on their haunches. Bears, large cats, and even a single crocodile.. or alligator.. Fallan couldn't tell sat watching the true spectacle, two dwarves beating the living shit out of eachother, and performing stunts and attacks that seemed more akin to an ACME cartoon in some cases, as they tore, bit , punched, rolled, flung, headbutted and other various forms of physical contact-combat ensued.
Sniffing the air though, a panther and a tiger's head seem to turn towards Fallans general direction, scanning the area, meanwhile one of the dwarves growls out an angry Oooooooo!
Bell listens intently for any kind of shout or yelp from Fallan, ready to dash in if needed. While she waits, she shifts her weight from one leg to the other, uneasy. She speaks quietly to Cadderly. "Your memory was rewritten you say... that sounds frighteningly terrible..."
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"Mulkrip" -Hobgoblin Barbarian, Path of the Totem Warrior -Libertalia
Cadderly sighs and says I wouldn't say terrifying to be the proper word. Though fear did play a factor. I was more afraid of what would happen if I failed. Let me put this a certain way. Somehow my memories of the catacombs had been blocked. As Apparently he needed someone innocent of heart to open the stopper... for some weird reason. But I was also the only one who could close the stopper, atleast the first time. I do not know about now. But he likely rewrote and suppressed my memories so that I couldn't. I was lucky that my mind slowly but surely saw the truth.. thoguh the real credit goes to my sweet Danica... her mental training is what pushed me beyond the barrier of the spell.
Rose waits patiently for word from Fallan or some sign of distress at least before doing anything. How she does quickly sush Belle and Cadderly again while they supposed to be being quiet while Fallan scouts the area just up ahead.
"Now that's a strange entertainment venue."Fallan thought to herself. And though she was intrigued enough to want to stay and watch some more, the dwarf's howl shook her enough to notice that it was possible that she may have been noticed by one or more of the big cats. Not wanting to take on any ONE of these creatures alone, let alone all of them, she chooses to retreat back to where Rose, Belle and Cadderly wait. Upon arriving, she begins to explain...
"Yeah, I know that was fast. It's because I didn't get into the center of town. I kinda ran into something strange and thought I should come back and tell you about it so we could decide if this is important and needed to be checked out, or if I should find a different route into town center. But here's what I saw. In a clearing ahead, it's almost like a circus for animals was being held. Ok, maybe not a circus - more like an open air arena. Funny thing was, instead of people watching beasts compete/fight, there were all kinds of ferocious animals sitting and lying around in a circle watching some dwarves fight it out. One of the dwarves even howled - you might have heard it. I was going to observe it a bit more, but I think I was 'made' by a couple of cats - probably smelled either honey bread, or delicious halfling, and I didn't want to hang around and become the main course."
Fallan pauses to evaluate the faces of her friends - checking to see if they believed her or had any input.
Rose considered the strange tale for a moment before looking to the others. Weren't you supposed to be meeting a couple of Dawrves Cadderly? Maybe we should check it out,carefully of course.
Cadderly's brow bent and his head cocked slightly as Fallan described what she had seen in the short time that she was there. Crossing his arms until she was done, though Rose beat him to the punch in terms of responding. At the question though he nods in the affirmative. Aye. Ivan and Pikel. In fact I believe I mentioned them enjoying fighting each-other, though normally it's brotherly in the way of dwarves. he said, as if that explained everything. Then, addressing what Fallan had described he sighed, somewhat, a mixture of three feelings crossing his face before he spoke up.
Something similar happened at the library... Some druids I was friendly with were visiting the library when the chaos curse was released, and by the time I found them they had all turned into their animal forms, and acted just as animals, though they ...seemed non hostile. Like children playing at being animals... actually I suppose that would be insulting... Trut hbe told, as I said before, the chaos curse brings your greatest desire or most prominent thoughts and makes them all encompassing.. or rather amplifies them to the extreme. And many druids wish to be closer to nature, so.. this could possibly be a similar case.
Rose, is there a temple to Sylvanus within the city? or perhaps a druid circle? if so they are likely to be friendly, which would explain why they are watching instead of fighting to eat them. And if they are the brothers... then we'll have found our allies.
Rose nods her head the affirmative. Yes, there's a Grove to Silvanus not far from the temples. The druids there are likely our audience since I doubt such a menagerie wandered in and I don't recall them keeping any crocodiles in the Grove. So long as we don't do anything against nature I'm sure it they'll be friendly or at least not hostile.
"So, no need to sneak back up on them? We just walk in and say 'Howdy! Wanna change back into humanoid druids for a chat?'" Fallan asked. "Or do we still need a 'sneaky peek' at what's going on in the town center? I the dwarves are our desired allies, do we need to talk to them before starting anything else?"
Fallan lops herself down on the ground and counts her lucky stars that she hasn't felt any urges - or been bothered by anything else.
Rose nods to Fallan and looks towards the comotion. I suppose we just go approach them. I can do the talking if need be but as long as we are careful to not provoke them I'm sure we'll be fine. it definitely sounds like those are the dwarves we are looking for so we should go calm them down. If the druids do get provoked I can hopefully cure the posion and calm them briefly. Any objections to that plan?
Rose will wait long enough to get a general consensus. Assuming there are no objections Rose will cautiously approach the druids with her arms out in front of her to show shes now threat. Hello there. I'm Rose from the temple of Selûne. Um...we are looking for a pair of dwarves called the bouldershoulders. Rose glances the way of the dwarves and waits to see if there are any responses to the names.
The animals nearest Rose snap their heads in her direction when she speaks, seeming to have not cared about the other galavanting through the wood and brush so much. During her speech, she can see the two closest ones easier as they bob their heads sideways in a look of mild confusion, their eyes following her gaze when she looks to the dwarves hammering at eachother. Another Oooooooo!that sounded angry could be heard from one of the pair, while a grunting I dun told ye we shouldn't have left him behind, ye bastard!just barely audible over the tumult.
Cadderly chuckled at Rose's attempt to speak with them adding in Apologies, I should have mentioned this but the druids .. for lack of a better term... are 'playing out' what they believe to be their dream life... I think they can understand us but.. they're not likely to change back and only the stronger druids can speak common in those forms. I don't think they'll hurt us unless we try to hurt them first.. else I think we'd already be under attack. But... he says looking to the dwarves Those are the brothers indeed... he says, shaking his head before shouting.
Ivan, Pikel, I thought you two were clearing the way for us, not fighting eachother! that garnered the attention of all the animals in the area, and the fighting continued. IVAN, PIKEL. Cadderly seemed to look at all of the animals just in case the druids perhaps had a 'friend' that wasn't a druid but none of them seemed to move outside of watching where the group of at-least Fallan, Cadderly and Rose were if Bell had chosen not to go in. For Fallan however, xhe noticed that the urges only ever seemed to come at certain times though she may not have figured out exactly when those urges came on the whisper of a voice. The voice was opportunistic, though the current situation didn't help. Fallan however continues to hear things as before, as no one has yet noticed her condition fully.
The two dwarves seemed to jump, not out of fear, but at his voice, looking around, trying to spot Cadderly, only to be met by the gazes of the various animals (mostly felines) when the brother on the grounds eyes locked (upside down) with Cadderly, at which point, a heaving kick sent his brother flying a few feet into the air, to land with a dull thud in the dirt, face first as the one who had kicked scrambled to get up, running towards Cadderly shouting an emphatic Oooiii!and waiving like seeing a lost friend. The other one quickly gets to his hands and knees, shakes his face to get the dust off, snaps his head towards his brother after spotting Cadderly and gets up to run as well. The closer one stops nearby, where at this point most of the animals seem to be 'going back' to their former business of 'prowling' and 'playing' at being animals (For lack of a better term).
And as the other one reached his brother, he smacked the back of his head with his bare fist, eliciting a surprised, then angry Ouch! Cadderly intervening before the pair could start yet another brawl when the other brother said Cadderly, ya bastard! What tyook ye so long, me n me brother were just discussin' whether or not we should go look for ye. When he decided to try to blame me for leavin' you behind in the first place! Can ye believe it?! It was ye what asked us to clear the road fer you n' your friends in the first place! just as he finished, his face received a nasty side-punch, square to the nose by the other one.
Cadderly sighing with exasperation Both of you stop fighting! This is just like at the library. You both remember what happened there, do you not? I asked you to clear the road but meet us on it. but it seems the poison is spreading farther and you got caught in it. Remember what the poison does.. clear your thoughts. I'm fine, thanks to my friends here, though one of them exploded on the way here... What?! They just asploded?! Were it a wizard that blew 'im up?!the other one putting his hands together, raising them and spreading them apart as if to pantomime the description, accompanying it with an excited boom! before Cadderly could interrupt. No, they seemed to do it themselves... they were some kind of golem, or construct but that's not important. Keep your focus. We're in the city now, and my friends here are looking to help us fight Barjin, or.. whoever is using the poison this time. But remember how the poison works Ivan. Pikel.
Ah I suppos I should distinguish them... Pikel is the one who says 'Oo' a lot. It takes a while to understand what they mean but he is speaking. We can understand him quite well but not everyone can. The other one here, with the antlers on his helmet, is Ivan.
Both brothers looked nearly like twins, except that Pikel had a green colored beard, that seemed unnatural, as it changed color near the root to the same color as his brother, meaning he likely was dying his beard. Ivan wore heavy looking metal armor with leather, while his brother worse heavy looking studded armor, with .. oddly enough wood where the metal studs would normally be. Pikel had a pot for a helmet, while his brother wore a normal one with deer antlers somehow grafted into it, making a headbutting charge likely to be a painful endeavor for the one receiving it. Ivan himself had a yellow beard, and a more squared face to his brothers more rounded one. Ivan also seemed to carry a heavy-looking battleaxe on his back while his brother carried a club that seemed to literally be made out of a tree trunk that had been pulled from the ground, roots and all and fashioned into a weapon.
Ivan (left) Pikel (right - Pikel has a pot-helmet not shown in this image)
Rose gives a slight bow in greeting. A pleasure to meet you. I'm Rose, Cleric of Selûne. Cadderly has told us a bit about you. Though I suppose we should wait for pleantries. For now names will be enough, my friends here are Belle and Fallan. Rose gestures to each in turn. Now that we've found your companions Cadderly perhaps we should check for the source of the poison. I would have guessed it may be here in the Grove but if not the tenples are close and seem just as likely. I admit though I'm not sure I'd recognize the source if I saw it as I'm not sure what to really look for.
"Nice to meet you guys. Looks like you are some entertaining combat warriors." Fallan says when introduced by Rose.
To Rose: "If the center of the poison is here, what makes us think we can stop the druids from being animals? Or, for that matter from all these noises from echoing? Shouldn't we just be able to get everyone farther away from here?"
Echoing? Rose looks to Fallan in confusion. Anyway even if we got people away from the city the posion would still spread. We need to find the source and destroy or contain it.
With a gruff grunt, his mind seeming clear for now, Ivan grabs his belt, and aadjusts it, along with a little shuffle as he says More preists eh? Figures Cadderly would find more of ye. The boy can't help but surround himself with em! Baha. Which earned him a side-ways smack from Pikel. Looking at them both, despite all the dirt and bruises on their face, they somehow seemed little worse for wear, in the same vein as an acme cartoon might right after a fight. Oo ooo Ooi. He says glad ta meetcha. But eye, this mind fog shite is a doozy. Never wanted tae deal with it.. again. despite what he says, he doesn't slack his shoulders as most would after such a pronunciation.
Aye Rose. The temples are a likely location considering what they tried the first time. "Take out the people who can fight back" before they have a chance to realize what's happening. Which makes the rest of their conquest easy pickings. Though it is passing odd that Alustriel hasn't done anything... do you suppose she is out of town on business? Forgive me... he says, shaking his head as if to wash off the thoughts It is my nature. But yes, we should check the temples quickly, yet thoroughly. If you know of any underground areas within or near them, that would likely be where it is centralized.
As Fallan addresses the brothers, they both grunt in just barely-off-unison. Oi! Aye, we love a good brawl. WHats life if ye aint crushin some skulls, eh? they both bluster and preen themselves in prideful dwarven fashion at what they assume is a compliment.
As Rose brings up the 'containment' method, cadderly cringes just a bit. I believe that destroying it is beyond out means. It was a poison created by Talona's own recipe, and thus has some level of divinity in and of itself... it would take an individual or group of exponential power to destroy it, so our only option really is to stopper it once more, and end its flow, then.. put it somewhere it can never be reached again.
To the Dwarves: "Nice ta meetcha! We oughtta spar sometime after this is all over. Been a while since I had a low-stakes good-fun scuffle."
To Cadderly: "It can't be as simple as sticking a cork in it... can it? Is there a ritual involved or do you have some kind of vessel to store it in?" Bell asks.
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"Mulkrip" -Hobgoblin Barbarian, Path of the Totem Warrior -Libertalia
Rose considers the options and the fact that Lady Alustriel had been silent the entire time. Well, I suppose it could be possible the source of the posion is somewhere within her palace, but I find it difficult to believe her Ladyship would fall victim to such a thing so easily and even less likely anyone trying to plant this posion would get passed her magical wards. However I never would have thought I'd see such devastation in the streets either so I suppose anything is possible. However I've been away from home for nearly two years, so I can't say I've kept up with the politics. It's probable Lady Alustriel is visiting one of the dwarven citadels or is perhaps off on some other buisness. If she were here this would be put to rights quick I dont doubt. But let us hurry, we might as well just start with the closest. Start with the temple to Ogma, the Selûne and work our way down. If all else fails we can try to gain entry to the palace if that's even possible.
The dwarves grunted in acknowledgement, Since that seemed fun to them as well. Cadderly saying to Bell Unfortunately that seems to be the only options, unless one of you is far more powerful than I am aware. Breaking its container would simply let it seep into the ground.
I'll be having to make some maps, so i'll address Rose's post tonight.
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Occassional Dungeon Master.
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11 Stealth check
Rose thought it strange that Fallan's focus seemed to bounce all around as she made her request. Looking first directly at Rose, Fallan's head and eyes swiveled around, glancing up at the sky, then towards several of the buildings around them. While she seemed scattered, she did come back to making eye contact with Rose and nodded her head.
[t] "Got it. Makes sense to stay quiet. I'll go check and get back to you with what I see." Pushing her thoughts to Rose seemed to calm Fallan a bit as she went into full "stealth mode" and almost completely disappeared into the shadows, heading in the direction of the town center. Even having this to focus on was enough to get her to "re-sheath" her bread-loaf into her pack.
Cadderly looks at Fallan confused but as Rose makes her comment before he can respond, he simply shrugs, puttign it off for now, as there were more important things to focus on. He didn't know Fallan very well after-all, so odd for him might be normal for her. And as fallan all but perfectly glides into the area where the tree's are. It takes her several moments to get there but once within the brush, she slips through the foliage, at ground level, because of her height. Making her even harder to spot, but once within the area, she sees a circular copse like a clearing in the center. The noises got louder as she approached, both the odd animalistic ones, as well as the odd pounding and grunting.
About eight animals, all predators sat facing the center, some in pairs, and others alone. The ones in pairs cleaning each other off with their tongues or nestling, while the othders sat on their haunches. Bears, large cats, and even a single crocodile.. or alligator.. Fallan couldn't tell sat watching the true spectacle, two dwarves beating the living shit out of eachother, and performing stunts and attacks that seemed more akin to an ACME cartoon in some cases, as they tore, bit , punched, rolled, flung, headbutted and other various forms of physical contact-combat ensued.
Sniffing the air though, a panther and a tiger's head seem to turn towards Fallans general direction, scanning the area, meanwhile one of the dwarves growls out an angry Oooooooo!
Occassional Dungeon Master.
Bell listens intently for any kind of shout or yelp from Fallan, ready to dash in if needed. While she waits, she shifts her weight from one leg to the other, uneasy. She speaks quietly to Cadderly. "Your memory was rewritten you say... that sounds frighteningly terrible..."
Cadderly sighs and says I wouldn't say terrifying to be the proper word. Though fear did play a factor. I was more afraid of what would happen if I failed. Let me put this a certain way. Somehow my memories of the catacombs had been blocked. As Apparently he needed someone innocent of heart to open the stopper... for some weird reason. But I was also the only one who could close the stopper, atleast the first time. I do not know about now. But he likely rewrote and suppressed my memories so that I couldn't. I was lucky that my mind slowly but surely saw the truth.. thoguh the real credit goes to my sweet Danica... her mental training is what pushed me beyond the barrier of the spell.
Occassional Dungeon Master.
Rose waits patiently for word from Fallan or some sign of distress at least before doing anything. How she does quickly sush Belle and Cadderly again while they supposed to be being quiet while Fallan scouts the area just up ahead.
"Now that's a strange entertainment venue." Fallan thought to herself. And though she was intrigued enough to want to stay and watch some more, the dwarf's howl shook her enough to notice that it was possible that she may have been noticed by one or more of the big cats. Not wanting to take on any ONE of these creatures alone, let alone all of them, she chooses to retreat back to where Rose, Belle and Cadderly wait. Upon arriving, she begins to explain...
"Yeah, I know that was fast. It's because I didn't get into the center of town. I kinda ran into something strange and thought I should come back and tell you about it so we could decide if this is important and needed to be checked out, or if I should find a different route into town center. But here's what I saw. In a clearing ahead, it's almost like a circus for animals was being held. Ok, maybe not a circus - more like an open air arena. Funny thing was, instead of people watching beasts compete/fight, there were all kinds of ferocious animals sitting and lying around in a circle watching some dwarves fight it out. One of the dwarves even howled - you might have heard it. I was going to observe it a bit more, but I think I was 'made' by a couple of cats - probably smelled either honey bread, or delicious halfling, and I didn't want to hang around and become the main course."
Fallan pauses to evaluate the faces of her friends - checking to see if they believed her or had any input.
"So, what should we do?" She asked.
Rose considered the strange tale for a moment before looking to the others. Weren't you supposed to be meeting a couple of Dawrves Cadderly? Maybe we should check it out,carefully of course.
Cadderly's brow bent and his head cocked slightly as Fallan described what she had seen in the short time that she was there. Crossing his arms until she was done, though Rose beat him to the punch in terms of responding. At the question though he nods in the affirmative. Aye. Ivan and Pikel. In fact I believe I mentioned them enjoying fighting each-other, though normally it's brotherly in the way of dwarves. he said, as if that explained everything. Then, addressing what Fallan had described he sighed, somewhat, a mixture of three feelings crossing his face before he spoke up.
Something similar happened at the library... Some druids I was friendly with were visiting the library when the chaos curse was released, and by the time I found them they had all turned into their animal forms, and acted just as animals, though they ...seemed non hostile. Like children playing at being animals... actually I suppose that would be insulting... Trut hbe told, as I said before, the chaos curse brings your greatest desire or most prominent thoughts and makes them all encompassing.. or rather amplifies them to the extreme. And many druids wish to be closer to nature, so.. this could possibly be a similar case.
Rose, is there a temple to Sylvanus within the city? or perhaps a druid circle? if so they are likely to be friendly, which would explain why they are watching instead of fighting to eat them. And if they are the brothers... then we'll have found our allies.
Occassional Dungeon Master.
Rose nods her head the affirmative. Yes, there's a Grove to Silvanus not far from the temples. The druids there are likely our audience since I doubt such a menagerie wandered in and I don't recall them keeping any crocodiles in the Grove. So long as we don't do anything against nature I'm sure it they'll be friendly or at least not hostile.
"So, no need to sneak back up on them? We just walk in and say 'Howdy! Wanna change back into humanoid druids for a chat?'" Fallan asked. "Or do we still need a 'sneaky peek' at what's going on in the town center? I the dwarves are our desired allies, do we need to talk to them before starting anything else?"
Fallan lops herself down on the ground and counts her lucky stars that she hasn't felt any urges - or been bothered by anything else.
Rose nods to Fallan and looks towards the comotion. I suppose we just go approach them. I can do the talking if need be but as long as we are careful to not provoke them I'm sure we'll be fine. it definitely sounds like those are the dwarves we are looking for so we should go calm them down. If the druids do get provoked I can hopefully cure the posion and calm them briefly. Any objections to that plan?
Rose will wait long enough to get a general consensus. Assuming there are no objections Rose will cautiously approach the druids with her arms out in front of her to show shes now threat. Hello there. I'm Rose from the temple of Selûne. Um...we are looking for a pair of dwarves called the bouldershoulders. Rose glances the way of the dwarves and waits to see if there are any responses to the names.
Bell stands next to rose ready to interpose herself between the cleric and any would be attackers.
The animals nearest Rose snap their heads in her direction when she speaks, seeming to have not cared about the other galavanting through the wood and brush so much. During her speech, she can see the two closest ones easier as they bob their heads sideways in a look of mild confusion, their eyes following her gaze when she looks to the dwarves hammering at eachother. Another Oooooooo! that sounded angry could be heard from one of the pair, while a grunting I dun told ye we shouldn't have left him behind, ye bastard! just barely audible over the tumult.
Cadderly chuckled at Rose's attempt to speak with them adding in Apologies, I should have mentioned this but the druids .. for lack of a better term... are 'playing out' what they believe to be their dream life... I think they can understand us but.. they're not likely to change back and only the stronger druids can speak common in those forms. I don't think they'll hurt us unless we try to hurt them first.. else I think we'd already be under attack. But... he says looking to the dwarves Those are the brothers indeed... he says, shaking his head before shouting.
Ivan, Pikel, I thought you two were clearing the way for us, not fighting eachother! that garnered the attention of all the animals in the area, and the fighting continued. IVAN, PIKEL. Cadderly seemed to look at all of the animals just in case the druids perhaps had a 'friend' that wasn't a druid but none of them seemed to move outside of watching where the group of at-least Fallan, Cadderly and Rose were if Bell had chosen not to go in. For Fallan however, xhe noticed that the urges only ever seemed to come at certain times though she may not have figured out exactly when those urges came on the whisper of a voice. The voice was opportunistic, though the current situation didn't help. Fallan however continues to hear things as before, as no one has yet noticed her condition fully.
The two dwarves seemed to jump, not out of fear, but at his voice, looking around, trying to spot Cadderly, only to be met by the gazes of the various animals (mostly felines) when the brother on the grounds eyes locked (upside down) with Cadderly, at which point, a heaving kick sent his brother flying a few feet into the air, to land with a dull thud in the dirt, face first as the one who had kicked scrambled to get up, running towards Cadderly shouting an emphatic Oooiii! and waiving like seeing a lost friend. The other one quickly gets to his hands and knees, shakes his face to get the dust off, snaps his head towards his brother after spotting Cadderly and gets up to run as well. The closer one stops nearby, where at this point most of the animals seem to be 'going back' to their former business of 'prowling' and 'playing' at being animals (For lack of a better term).
And as the other one reached his brother, he smacked the back of his head with his bare fist, eliciting a surprised, then angry Ouch! Cadderly intervening before the pair could start yet another brawl when the other brother said Cadderly, ya bastard! What tyook ye so long, me n me brother were just discussin' whether or not we should go look for ye. When he decided to try to blame me for leavin' you behind in the first place! Can ye believe it?! It was ye what asked us to clear the road fer you n' your friends in the first place! just as he finished, his face received a nasty side-punch, square to the nose by the other one.
Cadderly sighing with exasperation Both of you stop fighting! This is just like at the library. You both remember what happened there, do you not? I asked you to clear the road but meet us on it. but it seems the poison is spreading farther and you got caught in it. Remember what the poison does.. clear your thoughts. I'm fine, thanks to my friends here, though one of them exploded on the way here... What?! They just asploded?! Were it a wizard that blew 'im up?! the other one putting his hands together, raising them and spreading them apart as if to pantomime the description, accompanying it with an excited boom! before Cadderly could interrupt. No, they seemed to do it themselves... they were some kind of golem, or construct but that's not important. Keep your focus. We're in the city now, and my friends here are looking to help us fight Barjin, or.. whoever is using the poison this time. But remember how the poison works Ivan. Pikel.
Ah I suppos I should distinguish them... Pikel is the one who says 'Oo' a lot. It takes a while to understand what they mean but he is speaking. We can understand him quite well but not everyone can. The other one here, with the antlers on his helmet, is Ivan.
Both brothers looked nearly like twins, except that Pikel had a green colored beard, that seemed unnatural, as it changed color near the root to the same color as his brother, meaning he likely was dying his beard. Ivan wore heavy looking metal armor with leather, while his brother worse heavy looking studded armor, with .. oddly enough wood where the metal studs would normally be. Pikel had a pot for a helmet, while his brother wore a normal one with deer antlers somehow grafted into it, making a headbutting charge likely to be a painful endeavor for the one receiving it. Ivan himself had a yellow beard, and a more squared face to his brothers more rounded one. Ivan also seemed to carry a heavy-looking battleaxe on his back while his brother carried a club that seemed to literally be made out of a tree trunk that had been pulled from the ground, roots and all and fashioned into a weapon.
Ivan (left) Pikel (right - Pikel has a pot-helmet not shown in this image)
Occassional Dungeon Master.
Rose gives a slight bow in greeting. A pleasure to meet you. I'm Rose, Cleric of Selûne. Cadderly has told us a bit about you. Though I suppose we should wait for pleantries. For now names will be enough, my friends here are Belle and Fallan. Rose gestures to each in turn. Now that we've found your companions Cadderly perhaps we should check for the source of the poison. I would have guessed it may be here in the Grove but if not the tenples are close and seem just as likely. I admit though I'm not sure I'd recognize the source if I saw it as I'm not sure what to really look for.
"Nice to meet you guys. Looks like you are some entertaining combat warriors." Fallan says when introduced by Rose.
To Rose: "If the center of the poison is here, what makes us think we can stop the druids from being animals? Or, for that matter from all these noises from echoing? Shouldn't we just be able to get everyone farther away from here?"
Echoing? Rose looks to Fallan in confusion. Anyway even if we got people away from the city the posion would still spread. We need to find the source and destroy or contain it.
With a gruff grunt, his mind seeming clear for now, Ivan grabs his belt, and aadjusts it, along with a little shuffle as he says More preists eh? Figures Cadderly would find more of ye. The boy can't help but surround himself with em! Baha. Which earned him a side-ways smack from Pikel. Looking at them both, despite all the dirt and bruises on their face, they somehow seemed little worse for wear, in the same vein as an acme cartoon might right after a fight. Oo ooo Ooi. He says glad ta meetcha. But eye, this mind fog shite is a doozy. Never wanted tae deal with it.. again. despite what he says, he doesn't slack his shoulders as most would after such a pronunciation.
Aye Rose. The temples are a likely location considering what they tried the first time. "Take out the people who can fight back" before they have a chance to realize what's happening. Which makes the rest of their conquest easy pickings. Though it is passing odd that Alustriel hasn't done anything... do you suppose she is out of town on business? Forgive me... he says, shaking his head as if to wash off the thoughts It is my nature. But yes, we should check the temples quickly, yet thoroughly. If you know of any underground areas within or near them, that would likely be where it is centralized.
As Fallan addresses the brothers, they both grunt in just barely-off-unison. Oi! Aye, we love a good brawl. WHats life if ye aint crushin some skulls, eh? they both bluster and preen themselves in prideful dwarven fashion at what they assume is a compliment.
As Rose brings up the 'containment' method, cadderly cringes just a bit. I believe that destroying it is beyond out means. It was a poison created by Talona's own recipe, and thus has some level of divinity in and of itself... it would take an individual or group of exponential power to destroy it, so our only option really is to stopper it once more, and end its flow, then.. put it somewhere it can never be reached again.
Occassional Dungeon Master.
To the Dwarves: "Nice ta meetcha! We oughtta spar sometime after this is all over. Been a while since I had a low-stakes good-fun scuffle."
To Cadderly: "It can't be as simple as sticking a cork in it... can it? Is there a ritual involved or do you have some kind of vessel to store it in?" Bell asks.
Rose considers the options and the fact that Lady Alustriel had been silent the entire time. Well, I suppose it could be possible the source of the posion is somewhere within her palace, but I find it difficult to believe her Ladyship would fall victim to such a thing so easily and even less likely anyone trying to plant this posion would get passed her magical wards. However I never would have thought I'd see such devastation in the streets either so I suppose anything is possible. However I've been away from home for nearly two years, so I can't say I've kept up with the politics. It's probable Lady Alustriel is visiting one of the dwarven citadels or is perhaps off on some other buisness. If she were here this would be put to rights quick I dont doubt. But let us hurry, we might as well just start with the closest. Start with the temple to Ogma, the Selûne and work our way down. If all else fails we can try to gain entry to the palace if that's even possible.
The dwarves grunted in acknowledgement, Since that seemed fun to them as well. Cadderly saying to Bell Unfortunately that seems to be the only options, unless one of you is far more powerful than I am aware. Breaking its container would simply let it seep into the ground.
I'll be having to make some maps, so i'll address Rose's post tonight.
Occassional Dungeon Master.