Dolkumm slaps Ednys' pallet, grabs up his warhammer and javelins, and goes to the window looking for a way down to follow in the direction the image of Varielky was headed. Dolkumm had a funny feeling that the image sent by Idiwalla was a warning of something happening now or soon, rather than a portent of events to come later.
Athletics 23
Dolkum is on the second floor but immediately under his window is the roof of the Inn’s lobby. He can jump a few feet down to it, then down to the ground from there. (OOC, roll athletics or acrobatics vs DC 15 to avoid taking 1d6 damage from the drop / you rolled 23, so Dolkum releases and slams down on one knee and one fist but retains his balance and takes no HP damage. He rises and begins to run to Varielky. The sound of the ocean and a brisk late-winter breeze off the water roar past his ears. At his movement speed, it will take 5 rounds to reach Varielky. He will reach her at the beginning of Round 6.
Mittens wakes with a start, his heart pounding in his chest. He looks around bewildered before he realizes he is in the inn. "I'm coming!" he shouts out as he groggily rushes to the door. He follows Ednyss, stumbling a bit as he does.
Mittens wakes with a start, his heart pounding in his chest. He looks around bewildered before he realizes he is in the inn. "I'm coming!" he shouts out as he groggily rushes to the door. He follows Ednyss, stumbling a bit as he does.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Varielky grins. "Guided by the gods, I have no reason to fear your poison. Behold this miracle - the one that will end your life. Feel honoured that the last fight you'll ever fight will be against a servant of the gods, and that the sword which will separate your head off your shoulders is as holy as a strand of hair of the lady's golden hairs. Ellosh, as you call her." Once she's finished, Varielky swings with full power at the chimp, aiming to decapitate him. So used to hold a shield, she swings with one hand even though her other hand is empty.
Menacing Attack: 9 Damage: 14. On hit: Chimp must make a DC 13 Wis saving throw or be Frightened of Varielky until the end of her next turn.
The first chimp's body remains standing for a moment, as its sneering head parts from it, sailing across the lane and rebounding against the sea wall. Blood fountains from its neck and it collapses. The 2nd chimp growls low in its gut, then flips away from Varielky, dashing to the sea wall, where he suprises and grapples Benita, his blade at her throat. "Put down that blade or she dies," he yells back to Varielky.
Benita starts the round. She suddenly comes to her senses, struggles, breaks the 2nd chimp’s grip, flips and lands atop the narrow wall behind him, then whips around with a roundhouse kick (shove). “NO!!!!!”, the chimp shouts, windmills and stretches his long arms out toward the square pillar. Hopelessly, for he can’t reach it and plummets off the wall toward the rushing sea below, his cry of terror lost in the whipping sea breeze.
“Flocking son-of-a-hyena!!” screams Benita, then spits over the precipice after him. She rushes to Varielky. “Are you all right?!”
"Oh mighty gods, I present you thee, but not to Hallvala he is headed. He used poison in battle and therefore has no place amongst the great warriors who honourably died while fighting as a fighter should." As she is interrupted by the other chimp, she turns to him just to find him holding Benita. Varielky grinds her teeth as hatred burn inside her. "Or she dies? You were planning on killing us both anyways and I can't trust the words of one who uses poison to fight. I have a better offer. You safely let her go on this side of the wall, and I won't kill you so you can return to Abodolla and tell that viper that anyone he sends our way will share the same fate your brother did. If you know my name, you probably know I keep my words. If, however, because of you, her soul leaves her body tonight, I will chase you to the bottom of the deepest Dwarven mine and make sure you-" (OOC: Good thing I check before posting, just for instances like this one...)
Varielky is stopped by Benita's actions. She's happy to see how things turned out but when Benita runs to her, asking if she is alright, Varielky's feelings get the better of her and she slaps Benita on the spot. Not too strong, but enough to convey her anger with her. "You 'Lloshing fool!" She calls. She tried being soft with her, and look where it got them. She may be harsh now, but it's surely for the best. "You want to kill yourself? Is that it? What will you gain from that? You'll just tell everyone that you're weak. Do you think you're the first one to lose someone close? Of course not! It's sad. We cry. We move on. It doesn't matter if it takes you time, as long as you don't give up. Do you know how many people die every day? If for each one of them, someone else would cease living out of sorrow, not a single soul would walk these lands! And how do you think Bali would feel, up there in Hallvala, if he saw you jumping off that cliff? Even disregarding the fact that you'd never go up there dying this way, do you think he'll accept you? For shame!" Varielky pauses, breathing heavily. She realises her eyes are still projecting light, but she doesn't know how to put that light out. She tries to close them and hold them closed for a moment, hoping the light will go off when she opens them again. Whether it does or not, she eventually continues in a weaker, yet still harsh low alto voice: "If you think I'm selfish for asking you to keep living, so be it. If you hate me for it, I'd rather you walked away from me so long as I knew you went on living. I prefer watching you leave me a dozen times rather than watching you jumping off that cliff."
Varielky finds that by willing the light to disappear, it does. (OOC: I have swapped in the sword into your inventory, with its abilities spelled out.)
Benita la Cass is stunned. She holds her hand to her reddening cheek where Varielky slapped her, and uncomprehending, her mouth silently forming words, hears Varielky out. Finally, understanding dawns on the beautiful Indallian, and in the dim moonlight, Varielky can see her eyes watering.
“Varielky,” she says, her voice husky and filled with emotion. “I would never...I couldn’t…not, now…” She looks deep into Varielky’s eyes. “You are like the sister I never had. And you’re an ass***e for slapping me. I didn’t come here to…” She shakes her head, then pulls at a delicate chain around her neck. Upon it is a locket, which she grips for a moment, lost in thought, and seems on the verge of changing her mind. Then she pulls and the chain breaks.
“Look,” she says, standing very close so she doesn’t have to yell, almost pressing her forehead to Varielky’s. “This is the cameo Bali gave me. When he asked me to marry him. But he...he broke that promise when he...sold his honor for gold. I will always love him, but I came here to say goodbye to him. Will you help me?”
She walks to the wall, stands upon it again, holding the pillar for balance as the wind whips past. She kisses the locket tenderly, then holds it over the edge, glinting in the moonlight. She glances to Varielky, looking to her for support. Seeing strength and friendship in her eyes, Benita lets the locket fall away.
(OOC: Varielky, please roll Insight.)
Around now, Dolkum arrives, with Mittens and Ednyss not far behind.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Insight: 18
"Oh." Varielky can't say more than just that at first. She watches as Benita lets go of the locket. She waits until Benita steps down from the edge, then she pulls her into a hug. She doesn't notice the others behind her, but she still speaks quietly. "Forgive me. Not only for slapping you but also for misjudging both you and Bali. Because he was poisoned, I thought he died with dignity, but he did sell his honour for gold. And you, I underestimated your resilience and thought you'll throw your life away, while in truth, the way you chose to deal with this is much better than how I dealt with the pain of losing my parents many years ago. You're braver than I'll ever be." Varielky unwraps her hands from Benita and takes a small step back. "Hit me, as strong as you can," she says, "I deserve it. As a missionary of the gods, I must be punished for judging you so wrong."
Dolkum, Mittens and Ednyss, you arrive in time to see a decapitated, leather-armored chimp corpse lying under a palm tree, its blood flooding out onto the cobblestones and down the incline. Its head lies a foot from the sea wall, sightless eyes still open. A moist dagger lies near the corpse. Varielky, holding an unfamiliar-looking red-steel longsword, wears only a sheet wrapped around her and tucked under her arms, while Benita is clothed only in undergarments, her ravenblack hair blowing in the wind.
"That's not my way, Varielky," replies Benita to Varielky with a wry smile. More seriously, she continues, "besides, it sounds like I have already punished you already, without realizing it." Varielky thinks there's more that Benita is not saying, but the others arrive, and Benita's eyes shift from Varielky to them and back, then drop. She bites her lip, fakes a slow punch to Varielky's chin, clicking her tongue with impact. "That will have to do." She turns to the others.
"I'm SORRY, okay! But flock, you boys will do anything to see us without our armor on, won't you. Come on bruiser," she says, pulling Varielky's arm back toward the Inn.
Varielky doesn't quite understand what Benita means. She didn't punish her at all. Even this punch was not what Varielky was hoping for. She doesn't complain, however. It was Benita's punishment to give, and she saw it fitting to do it this way. For a moment, Varielky is confused, but then she understands when Benita pulls her and she's turned to see the three watching them. She wasn't sure how long they were standing there and... she suddenly felt exposed. She was only wearing a bed's sheet that miraculously held on to her. While Varielky's scarred body wasn't too much to boast about, the sheet was thin and as a result, her girlish features were highlighted. Very different from her breastplate which really didn't hint anything remarkable was underneath it. At that moment, Varielky's skin around her cheeks turned a slightly darker shade of purple than usual. She wished the moon weren't so bright at that moment, as she was sure everyone else can see her. Varielky runs forward for a moment, standing between Benita and the boys with her back to them. "If any of you has any dignity, you will turn your heads. Otherwise, you might end up like that chimp over here." She says, turning only her head to them and then back. She waits a moment to let the guys pick up on the hint before untying the sheet and covering both Benita and herself with the sheet, as much as she could, making sure the sheet is between their bodies and the boys' eyes as much as she can. Even if Benita tries to resist, Varielky doesn't let her go. There's no way she's letting her walk outside like that while others are watching. "Start walking!" She commands them. "If any of you turns your head, we'll have to see how many times I can hit you before you lose all memories of the past ten days." Suddenly, she sounds more like a normal girl and less like a fierce warrior, although the bloodied sword in her hand suggests otherwise.
I see nothing! I say nothing! We're just happy you guys are all right. :)
Turning himself, Ednyss, and Mittens around Dolkumm says quietly to them both - If they talk about it later we'll listen, but 'til then I think it best to leave this incident be as it is, yes?. And now, shall we draw cards for who gets each watch?
The Journey to Kalahata, Days 2 & 3 (the 4th & 5th of Beauty).
No one had a full night’s sleep after all of the events in Asilah, but the next two days pass without incident, so, everyone has a chance to rest and recover.
You still travel along the Queen’s High Road, under rainfall, all day. But your carraige make decent time despite the weather, and you stay at a small inn in a hamlet without a name at the end of each day. You spend two peaceful nights listening to the sound of distant thunder and the patter of raindrops, which lull you to a deep and satisfying sleep.
(OOC: Go ahead and post anything you’d like to do during this time.)
The next morning, Varielky gets fully dressed, armour and everything, with all her weapons on her too. She doesn't mention that night and tries to avoid looking at the others so their eyes don't accidentally meet. This isn't such strange behaviour for her though. The thing that could be thought of as strange, although rather fitting at the same time, is that Varielky now sleeps with her sword in her hands. Only Benita knows this, of course. Varielky must always be ready. She'd often sleep this way on the battlefield, but she'd let her guard down recently. Last night made it obvious that she can't do so anymore.
Besides that, Varielky can be seen praying more often than usual. When she wakes up, before going to sleep and when the sun is at the highest point of the day - or when Varielky thinks it is there when it's cloudy. All times, she does so voicelessly, although she does move her lips once, probably forming words, none of you could understand them even if you tried, though, as they are not spoken in Jenghen.
The last change is that her hair is now braided again. It was unbraided since they left Ishi Ammah, the long brown strands reaching far down, but it is now fully braided as you're used to seeing her. One thick brown braid which is always shaped the same way - probably the only way Varielky knows.
Mittens stumbles out of the door, bleary-eyed and not a little bit confused. Seeing Dolkum and Ednyss, he moves near them and asks, "What's going...?" before he sees the two women and the decapitated chimp in front of them. He stands there, not quite understanding what's happening as his tired mind processes the scene before him. With a start, he realizes that both Varielky and Benita are scantily clad, and he swiftly averts his gaze without being told so. If he had no fur, you would see him blushing a cherry red. As they begin to move back towards the inn, he says, "Well, that was awkward..."
The next few days:
The Cat seems paranoid about something, but he never mentions why. He constantly shooting furtive glances at his surroundings, and he jumped at every shadow. Sometimes when someone caught him off guard, he would jump up in surprise and almost launch a spell at the perpetrator before he stopped himself. When everyone was speaking and interacting with each other, he would stand off a bit, lost in his own thoughts and peering around him nervously.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Dolkum was quite content, for this was the longest he'd ever been away from the seminary. He was interested in the land, the vegetation and animals, and how local materials were used in the construction of buildings. He was happy that Varielky and Benita were feeling much better, the gloom over them both appearing to be dissipating....
Mittens, now...
<on the trail, over lunch>
Insight- 22
Pardon me, friend Mittens, however you have the look of a kitty who has woken up in a Jhengen orphanage...and were not finding of a way out?
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
(Fight Scene)
Ednyss would have quickly diverted his eyes as soon as he noticed the girls and recognized no immediate threat. Seeing the problem apparently solved, he resolves to ask Varielky or Benita about the dead chimp later. For now, he is more than satisfied just getting back to bed.
(On the Trail)
At some point during the next few days, he makes a point to run into Varielky alone and pull her off to the side where he speaks in his gravelly dwarven voice. "That chimp back at Asilah definitely didn't kill himself." He sighs, "I know you wouldn't kill without reason, but helping us understand that reason might help us defend you in the future. Your divine-blessed nature saved you in that particular instance," he gestures to Varielky's forehead and the sword that is either in her hand in its scabbard, "but your we are your allies and we could still be useful if you let us." His voice softens in a fatherly manner and his old age shines through a little as he says, "I care about you Varielky. You have been through a lot, but I cannot help you if you don't let me."
(OOC: Feel free to keep posting RP for the above along with response to the below.)
POST #7
The Journey to Kalahata, Day 4 (6th of Beauty), the weather is colder, windy and overcast. But gratefully, the rain has spent itself, and your damp cloaks lose their chill and begin to dry out. A few horsemen canter past you carrying messages to Imirra, and you pass other travelers going in the opposite direction, with whom Amistan Aderfi holds brief snatches of conversation, exchanging, in the fewest possible words, an assessment of the condition of the road just traveled for a heads up regarding the section of road you will soon face.
While stopped during such an encounter near a hillcrest, Flint holds a brass telescope to his eye, carefully aiming it back along the length of High Road you’ve just traversed, which twists away behind you, and he nods sourly. “Imperial cavalry still behind us,” he grunts to Wad, who frowns and slowly turns his head and spits to one side in answer. Flint puts away the glass carefully, then slides open the passenger compartment panel to relay the message to Tuff and Granophyre.
You descend from the sage grass-covered hills and pass along a wet patch of lowlands paralleling a bluff overlooking a narrow beach, where, when the sun comes out, reflecting like dull silver strands stretched across the water, you can just make out a dim line against the Western horizon: Core of Onyx Island. Seagulls wheel and hover in place on the sea breeze, then one darts down into the shallows and up again with a hermit crab or small fish trapped in its beak, which the other birds then angrily flock around and attempt to take for themselves, screeching jealously.
It is mid-afternoon when you arrive at a stream crossing over the road which east-bound travelers had warned you about. Amistan Aderfi frowns. “Rain,” he states, simply, the briefest possible explanation for why the road is nearly impassable: drainage from the coastal hills following those two days of heavy rainfall. He clicks his tongue and the horses canter forward, splashing, into the water. But under the surface, the ground is sandy with deep potholes, and before the coach has made it half-way across, the wheels become deeply mired, sinking with a rude slurping sound, so that the bottom of the carriage is practically touching the stream, and the transport shudders to a stop.
Aderfi patiently hands the reins to Benita, who happens to be riding beside him, and hops down to the road. He directs you all to get off the coach, and Tuff and Granophyre likewise step out and patiently wait. Do you do anything to help free the wheels?
Dolkum is on the second floor but immediately under his window is the roof of the Inn’s lobby. He can jump a few feet down to it, then down to the ground from there. (OOC, roll athletics or acrobatics vs DC 15 to avoid taking 1d6 damage from the drop / you rolled 23, so Dolkum releases and slams down on one knee and one fist but retains his balance and takes no HP damage. He rises and begins to run to Varielky. The sound of the ocean and a brisk late-winter breeze off the water roar past his ears. At his movement speed, it will take 5 rounds to reach Varielky. He will reach her at the beginning of Round 6.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Mittens & Ednyss.
Mittens has fallen asleep, but is awakened by someone pounding on his locked door. Ednyss, how long do you wait for him?
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
If the door is locked, Ednyss will just knock loudly on the door and hope to wake the cat up before running downstairs to meet Dolkum.
“The mark of a successful DM is when you have caused more player deaths with doors than dragons, demons, or devils.”
Mittens wakes with a start, his heart pounding in his chest. He looks around bewildered before he realizes he is in the inn. "I'm coming!" he shouts out as he groggily rushes to the door. He follows Ednyss, stumbling a bit as he does.
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
Does Mittens take the time to get dressed?
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Varielky grins. "Guided by the gods, I have no reason to fear your poison. Behold this miracle - the one that will end your life. Feel honoured that the last fight you'll ever fight will be against a servant of the gods, and that the sword which will separate your head off your shoulders is as holy as a strand of hair of the lady's golden hairs. Ellosh, as you call her." Once she's finished, Varielky swings with full power at the chimp, aiming to decapitate him. So used to hold a shield, she swings with one hand even though her other hand is empty.
Varielky
R2 Results.
The first chimp's body remains standing for a moment, as its sneering head parts from it, sailing across the lane and rebounding against the sea wall. Blood fountains from its neck and it collapses. The 2nd chimp growls low in its gut, then flips away from Varielky, dashing to the sea wall, where he suprises and grapples Benita, his blade at her throat. "Put down that blade or she dies," he yells back to Varielky.
You're now situated like so.
Please post Round 3 actions.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Actually...
Round 3
Benita starts the round. She suddenly comes to her senses, struggles, breaks the 2nd chimp’s grip, flips and lands atop the narrow wall behind him, then whips around with a roundhouse kick (shove). “NO!!!!!”, the chimp shouts, windmills and stretches his long arms out toward the square pillar. Hopelessly, for he can’t reach it and plummets off the wall toward the rushing sea below, his cry of terror lost in the whipping sea breeze.
“Flocking son-of-a-hyena!!” screams Benita, then spits over the precipice after him. She rushes to Varielky. “Are you all right?!”
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
"Oh mighty gods, I present you thee, but not to Hallvala he is headed. He used poison in battle and therefore has no place amongst the great warriors who honourably died while fighting as a fighter should." As she is interrupted by the other chimp, she turns to him just to find him holding Benita. Varielky grinds her teeth as hatred burn inside her. "Or she dies? You were planning on killing us both anyways and I can't trust the words of one who uses poison to fight. I have a better offer. You safely let her go on this side of the wall, and I won't kill you so you can return to Abodolla and tell that viper that anyone he sends our way will share the same fate your brother did. If you know my name, you probably know I keep my words. If, however, because of you, her soul leaves her body tonight, I will chase you to the bottom of the deepest Dwarven mine and make sure you-"
(OOC: Good thing I check before posting, just for instances like this one...)
Varielky is stopped by Benita's actions. She's happy to see how things turned out but when Benita runs to her, asking if she is alright, Varielky's feelings get the better of her and she slaps Benita on the spot. Not too strong, but enough to convey her anger with her. "You 'Lloshing fool!" She calls. She tried being soft with her, and look where it got them. She may be harsh now, but it's surely for the best. "You want to kill yourself? Is that it? What will you gain from that? You'll just tell everyone that you're weak. Do you think you're the first one to lose someone close? Of course not! It's sad. We cry. We move on. It doesn't matter if it takes you time, as long as you don't give up. Do you know how many people die every day? If for each one of them, someone else would cease living out of sorrow, not a single soul would walk these lands! And how do you think Bali would feel, up there in Hallvala, if he saw you jumping off that cliff? Even disregarding the fact that you'd never go up there dying this way, do you think he'll accept you? For shame!" Varielky pauses, breathing heavily. She realises her eyes are still projecting light, but she doesn't know how to put that light out. She tries to close them and hold them closed for a moment, hoping the light will go off when she opens them again. Whether it does or not, she eventually continues in a weaker, yet still harsh low alto voice: "If you think I'm selfish for asking you to keep living, so be it. If you hate me for it, I'd rather you walked away from me so long as I knew you went on living. I prefer watching you leave me a dozen times rather than watching you jumping off that cliff."
Varielky
Varielky finds that by willing the light to disappear, it does. (OOC: I have swapped in the sword into your inventory, with its abilities spelled out.)
Benita la Cass is stunned. She holds her hand to her reddening cheek where Varielky slapped her, and uncomprehending, her mouth silently forming words, hears Varielky out. Finally, understanding dawns on the beautiful Indallian, and in the dim moonlight, Varielky can see her eyes watering.
“Varielky,” she says, her voice husky and filled with emotion. “I would never...I couldn’t…not, now…” She looks deep into Varielky’s eyes. “You are like the sister I never had. And you’re an ass***e for slapping me. I didn’t come here to…” She shakes her head, then pulls at a delicate chain around her neck. Upon it is a locket, which she grips for a moment, lost in thought, and seems on the verge of changing her mind. Then she pulls and the chain breaks.
“Look,” she says, standing very close so she doesn’t have to yell, almost pressing her forehead to Varielky’s. “This is the cameo Bali gave me. When he asked me to marry him. But he...he broke that promise when he...sold his honor for gold. I will always love him, but I came here to say goodbye to him. Will you help me?”
She walks to the wall, stands upon it again, holding the pillar for balance as the wind whips past. She kisses the locket tenderly, then holds it over the edge, glinting in the moonlight. She glances to Varielky, looking to her for support. Seeing strength and friendship in her eyes, Benita lets the locket fall away.
(OOC: Varielky, please roll Insight.)
Around now, Dolkum arrives, with Mittens and Ednyss not far behind.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Insight: 18
"Oh." Varielky can't say more than just that at first. She watches as Benita lets go of the locket. She waits until Benita steps down from the edge, then she pulls her into a hug. She doesn't notice the others behind her, but she still speaks quietly. "Forgive me. Not only for slapping you but also for misjudging both you and Bali. Because he was poisoned, I thought he died with dignity, but he did sell his honour for gold. And you, I underestimated your resilience and thought you'll throw your life away, while in truth, the way you chose to deal with this is much better than how I dealt with the pain of losing my parents many years ago. You're braver than I'll ever be." Varielky unwraps her hands from Benita and takes a small step back. "Hit me, as strong as you can," she says, "I deserve it. As a missionary of the gods, I must be punished for judging you so wrong."
Varielky
Dolkum, Mittens and Ednyss, you arrive in time to see a decapitated, leather-armored chimp corpse lying under a palm tree, its blood flooding out onto the cobblestones and down the incline. Its head lies a foot from the sea wall, sightless eyes still open. A moist dagger lies near the corpse. Varielky, holding an unfamiliar-looking red-steel longsword, wears only a sheet wrapped around her and tucked under her arms, while Benita is clothed only in undergarments, her ravenblack hair blowing in the wind.
"That's not my way, Varielky," replies Benita to Varielky with a wry smile. More seriously, she continues, "besides, it sounds like I have already punished you already, without realizing it." Varielky thinks there's more that Benita is not saying, but the others arrive, and Benita's eyes shift from Varielky to them and back, then drop. She bites her lip, fakes a slow punch to Varielky's chin, clicking her tongue with impact. "That will have to do." She turns to the others.
"I'm SORRY, okay! But flock, you boys will do anything to see us without our armor on, won't you. Come on bruiser," she says, pulling Varielky's arm back toward the Inn.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Varielky doesn't quite understand what Benita means. She didn't punish her at all. Even this punch was not what Varielky was hoping for. She doesn't complain, however. It was Benita's punishment to give, and she saw it fitting to do it this way.
For a moment, Varielky is confused, but then she understands when Benita pulls her and she's turned to see the three watching them. She wasn't sure how long they were standing there and... she suddenly felt exposed. She was only wearing a bed's sheet that miraculously held on to her. While Varielky's scarred body wasn't too much to boast about, the sheet was thin and as a result, her girlish features were highlighted. Very different from her breastplate which really didn't hint anything remarkable was underneath it. At that moment, Varielky's skin around her cheeks turned a slightly darker shade of purple than usual. She wished the moon weren't so bright at that moment, as she was sure everyone else can see her.
Varielky runs forward for a moment, standing between Benita and the boys with her back to them. "If any of you has any dignity, you will turn your heads. Otherwise, you might end up like that chimp over here." She says, turning only her head to them and then back. She waits a moment to let the guys pick up on the hint before untying the sheet and covering both Benita and herself with the sheet, as much as she could, making sure the sheet is between their bodies and the boys' eyes as much as she can. Even if Benita tries to resist, Varielky doesn't let her go. There's no way she's letting her walk outside like that while others are watching. "Start walking!" She commands them. "If any of you turns your head, we'll have to see how many times I can hit you before you lose all memories of the past ten days." Suddenly, she sounds more like a normal girl and less like a fierce warrior, although the bloodied sword in her hand suggests otherwise.
Varielky
I see nothing! I say nothing! We're just happy you guys are all right. :)
Turning himself, Ednyss, and Mittens around Dolkumm says quietly to them both - If they talk about it later we'll listen, but 'til then I think it best to leave this incident be as it is, yes?. And now, shall we draw cards for who gets each watch?
POST #6
The Journey to Kalahata, Days 2 & 3 (the 4th & 5th of Beauty).
No one had a full night’s sleep after all of the events in Asilah, but the next two days pass without incident, so, everyone has a chance to rest and recover.
You still travel along the Queen’s High Road, under rainfall, all day. But your carraige make decent time despite the weather, and you stay at a small inn in a hamlet without a name at the end of each day. You spend two peaceful nights listening to the sound of distant thunder and the patter of raindrops, which lull you to a deep and satisfying sleep.
(OOC: Go ahead and post anything you’d like to do during this time.)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
The next morning, Varielky gets fully dressed, armour and everything, with all her weapons on her too. She doesn't mention that night and tries to avoid looking at the others so their eyes don't accidentally meet. This isn't such strange behaviour for her though. The thing that could be thought of as strange, although rather fitting at the same time, is that Varielky now sleeps with her sword in her hands. Only Benita knows this, of course. Varielky must always be ready. She'd often sleep this way on the battlefield, but she'd let her guard down recently. Last night made it obvious that she can't do so anymore.
Besides that, Varielky can be seen praying more often than usual. When she wakes up, before going to sleep and when the sun is at the highest point of the day - or when Varielky thinks it is there when it's cloudy. All times, she does so voicelessly, although she does move her lips once, probably forming words, none of you could understand them even if you tried, though, as they are not spoken in Jenghen.
The last change is that her hair is now braided again. It was unbraided since they left Ishi Ammah, the long brown strands reaching far down, but it is now fully braided as you're used to seeing her. One thick brown braid which is always shaped the same way - probably the only way Varielky knows.
Varielky
Back at the fight scene:
Mittens stumbles out of the door, bleary-eyed and not a little bit confused. Seeing Dolkum and Ednyss, he moves near them and asks, "What's going...?" before he sees the two women and the decapitated chimp in front of them. He stands there, not quite understanding what's happening as his tired mind processes the scene before him. With a start, he realizes that both Varielky and Benita are scantily clad, and he swiftly averts his gaze without being told so. If he had no fur, you would see him blushing a cherry red. As they begin to move back towards the inn, he says, "Well, that was awkward..."
The next few days:
The Cat seems paranoid about something, but he never mentions why. He constantly shooting furtive glances at his surroundings, and he jumped at every shadow. Sometimes when someone caught him off guard, he would jump up in surprise and almost launch a spell at the perpetrator before he stopped himself. When everyone was speaking and interacting with each other, he would stand off a bit, lost in his own thoughts and peering around him nervously.
DM- Azalin's Doom
DM- Surviving the Unsurvivable
Dolkum was quite content, for this was the longest he'd ever been away from the seminary. He was interested in the land, the vegetation and animals, and how local materials were used in the construction of buildings. He was happy that Varielky and Benita were feeling much better, the gloom over them both appearing to be dissipating....
Mittens, now...
<on the trail, over lunch>
Insight- 22
Pardon me, friend Mittens, however you have the look of a kitty who has woken up in a Jhengen orphanage...and were not finding of a way out?
(Fight Scene)
Ednyss would have quickly diverted his eyes as soon as he noticed the girls and recognized no immediate threat. Seeing the problem apparently solved, he resolves to ask Varielky or Benita about the dead chimp later. For now, he is more than satisfied just getting back to bed.
(On the Trail)
At some point during the next few days, he makes a point to run into Varielky alone and pull her off to the side where he speaks in his gravelly dwarven voice. "That chimp back at Asilah definitely didn't kill himself." He sighs, "I know you wouldn't kill without reason, but helping us understand that reason might help us defend you in the future. Your divine-blessed nature saved you in that particular instance," he gestures to Varielky's forehead and the sword that is either in her hand in its scabbard, "but your we are your allies and we could still be useful if you let us." His voice softens in a fatherly manner and his old age shines through a little as he says, "I care about you Varielky. You have been through a lot, but I cannot help you if you don't let me."
Insight: 10
“The mark of a successful DM is when you have caused more player deaths with doors than dragons, demons, or devils.”
(OOC: Feel free to keep posting RP for the above along with response to the below.)
POST #7
The Journey to Kalahata, Day 4 (6th of Beauty), the weather is colder, windy and overcast. But gratefully, the rain has spent itself, and your damp cloaks lose their chill and begin to dry out. A few horsemen canter past you carrying messages to Imirra, and you pass other travelers going in the opposite direction, with whom Amistan Aderfi holds brief snatches of conversation, exchanging, in the fewest possible words, an assessment of the condition of the road just traveled for a heads up regarding the section of road you will soon face.
While stopped during such an encounter near a hillcrest, Flint holds a brass telescope to his eye, carefully aiming it back along the length of High Road you’ve just traversed, which twists away behind you, and he nods sourly. “Imperial cavalry still behind us,” he grunts to Wad, who frowns and slowly turns his head and spits to one side in answer. Flint puts away the glass carefully, then slides open the passenger compartment panel to relay the message to Tuff and Granophyre.
You descend from the sage grass-covered hills and pass along a wet patch of lowlands paralleling a bluff overlooking a narrow beach, where, when the sun comes out, reflecting like dull silver strands stretched across the water, you can just make out a dim line against the Western horizon: Core of Onyx Island. Seagulls wheel and hover in place on the sea breeze, then one darts down into the shallows and up again with a hermit crab or small fish trapped in its beak, which the other birds then angrily flock around and attempt to take for themselves, screeching jealously.
It is mid-afternoon when you arrive at a stream crossing over the road which east-bound travelers had warned you about. Amistan Aderfi frowns. “Rain,” he states, simply, the briefest possible explanation for why the road is nearly impassable: drainage from the coastal hills following those two days of heavy rainfall. He clicks his tongue and the horses canter forward, splashing, into the water. But under the surface, the ground is sandy with deep potholes, and before the coach has made it half-way across, the wheels become deeply mired, sinking with a rude slurping sound, so that the bottom of the carriage is practically touching the stream, and the transport shudders to a stop.
Aderfi patiently hands the reins to Benita, who happens to be riding beside him, and hops down to the road. He directs you all to get off the coach, and Tuff and Granophyre likewise step out and patiently wait. Do you do anything to help free the wheels?
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer