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Post by at on Aug 28, 2012 6:42:59 GMT -5
The still smoking village of Westerbrook slowly vanishes into the light mist behind you, the group travelling westwards into the fell. For a second day the rain has held away though the clouds overhead still block the sun and the stars.
The mood is somber with the knowledge of what lay behind them and what might lie ahead, of friends and lives lost.
As the group pauses to rest for a mid-day meal there is no sign of the mage that came this way, but Vadania spots a figure in the distance following them from the east.
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Post by harknail on Aug 28, 2012 11:11:35 GMT -5
Vadania points out the follower to the others. Does she recognize him as someone from town or is he still too far away to see clearly?
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Post by at on Aug 28, 2012 14:36:19 GMT -5
Looks like a slightly rotund woman ... who is waving at you.
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Post by harknail on Aug 28, 2012 15:10:57 GMT -5
"Looks like we have a visitor," commented Vadania as she called Ylva to heal. She stroked the wolfs head as she waited for the woman to approach.
Although Vadania wasn't expecting any trouble, she couldn't stop watching and listening for anything approaching. It was a low level of paranoia, but it was paranoia none the less. It was a trait that had it's roots in when she lost her parents in an ambush, one that Vadania survived only because her parents had sacrificed themselves for her. A life led in the wilderness, often alone, honed this paranoia into a survival instinct. One that had served her well over the years.
OOC: All a long winded way to say that she's continuing to spot and listen. She's always doing that, that's a big part of who she is.
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Post by at on Aug 28, 2012 17:11:29 GMT -5
The shape, the face ... it looks like the woman from the church.
(OOC - because the party is getting a little thin, unless new players join i'll let you pick up temporary NPCs at towns and villages)
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Post by sageaqua on Aug 28, 2012 17:57:34 GMT -5
Ka'lion waits with the others, "Does anyone know what my potion does?"
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Post by harknail on Aug 28, 2012 18:13:52 GMT -5
Vadania answers, "Sorry, but I have now idea. I've never seen a potion before. It looks pretty though."
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Post by sageaqua on Aug 28, 2012 20:58:11 GMT -5
"Thanks. All I ever wanted was to be pretty. Should I drink in now or when we are in trouble and don't know what to expect from it? Can you at least determine if it's poisonous?" asked Ka'lion
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Post by harknail on Aug 29, 2012 1:12:12 GMT -5
Vadania giggled. "I said the potion is pretty. I don't think drinking it will make you pretty. I can check it for poison though."
Vadania casts her detect poison cantrip on the potion vial. She also cast finds some berries and casts her goodberry spell.
[dice=4][dice=4]=7 berries.[rand=975065908860415218157975119538605454318659612908961257435316219926]
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Post by at on Aug 29, 2012 7:45:34 GMT -5
The vial does not detect as poison
The woman finally reaches the group at a slow jog, stopping a few feet away to catch her breath. "ooh, caught yah. I 'eard you was goin' afta the wizad. Killed me brother he did, gods rest is soul." The woman solomnly crosses her hand over her heart before continuing, "Don't 'member much of what happened, hit me 'ead you see, but I recon i'd know 'is face if I were to see im, give im what he 'as comming!"
She grabs and shakes a stout looking club at her belt, rattling a lantern and a number of other odd looking tools that hang there. "I'm Maddy by the by, but me friends they just call me mad".
The woman breaks into giggles at her joke. Her accent is like that of the recently departed Nillfree but far thicker and not always easy to follow. She seems cheerful enough but it was hard to miss the dark look that crossed over her face as she mentioned the wizard, and that club of hers looks suspiciously well worn.
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Post by sageaqua on Aug 29, 2012 12:17:57 GMT -5
"I don't think we are going after the wizard. That wasn't what we where hired to do. Not that I wouldn't like to avenge the dead. They deserve to be honored.
I pulled you out of the fire. A fire I set to keep the church, inn and barn from becoming cursed or trapped with dangerous magic that I don't understand as well as I seem to need to.
My grandmother always said respect magic and the best way to deal with unknown spells is set fire to it to protect others. As far as setting fire to the dead. Our priests can't seem to make up their mind as to giving the dead peace so rather then risk the dead returning to attack the living I cremated them. I had checked the bodies. I didn't think anyone was still alive. I'm sorry - I missed you or I would of got you out first.
I gave the church enough to rebuild, when I make enough I'll do the same for the owner of the inn and barn and any other buildings that caught fire. This is not an apology. But it is my responsibility to help those I hurt to rebuild their lives. As far as joining us. If you still want to - that is up to our parties leader.
I didn't make a pubic apology - and for now with the wounds fresh I don't intend to. But I owe the town a fresh start and I can't do that dead and people in grief make bad choices. They'd assume like my party seems to believe that I'm a bad man. As long as they truly believe that they well be treating me as an outsider.
In the meantime, I'm protected by the contract we signed. But once the job is done, I will no longer be protected. We are hunting demons. When we find them I don't think any of us are going to live through it.
If you want to avenge your brother. I don't think we are the party you need to do it." says Ka'lion gently.
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Post by at on Aug 29, 2012 15:44:49 GMT -5
Maddy scratches her head, "...'e was cursin the dead? To make em walk around like?"
As Ka'lion drifts off into another monologue Maddy looks towards Vadania with a quizzical expression "One of them necromancers? Bert at the village said you be goin' to a crypt lest 'e did first, figured else 'ed be off an gone by now"
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Post by harknail on Aug 29, 2012 20:55:58 GMT -5
Vadania answered, "I didn't see anything to indicate that the evil wizard was a necromancer. There weren't any animated bodies guarding him, though he conjured plenty of bugs and crows to fight us."
"I think grandmother gave you some bad advice Ka'lion. There is much magic that I don't know, but I know enough that burning it isn't the answer. You're as likely to release something really nasty as to destroy it."
"In any case, Ka'lion is right. We're checking out a crypt to make sure that the wizard isn't there breaking the seals on a powerful demon. If he is going there, you'll get your chance to kill him. Oh, and Ka'lion. When we get to the crypt, please don't try to burn it!"
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Post by sageaqua on Aug 29, 2012 21:38:28 GMT -5
"I didn't say he was a necromancer. But we have seen signs of disease wolves and lots dead bodies. The dead are carriers of plague. My grandmother said disease is spread by necromancers and the monsters they work with. If you don't want me burning dangerous magic. I suggest you start training me as a druid. Because right now fire is the only thing I have to fight with and you use the weapons you know." said Ka'lion
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Post by at on Aug 30, 2012 10:30:00 GMT -5
"Druids... I 'eard there was a lot of em up north like. Way up north, mad bunch, dancin' wit animals and human sacrifices and that"
Maddy points towards Aelos, "what bout im? Priest of the sun ain't he?"
(any sign of Namklin?)
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Post by sageaqua on Aug 30, 2012 16:13:45 GMT -5
I'm not sure who he is in the real world, but a few of our group are over seas or graduating soon. Joe and I live in Davis. We are not just visiting. You may want to recruit a few Friends of your own.
"I don't think druids dance with wolves but shes a druid and they seem to of been together for a while. Her wolf is not a pet. It is wild. I don't think she's a cannibal. I could be wrong." said Ka'lion
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Post by harknail on Aug 30, 2012 21:09:26 GMT -5
I just talked to Namklin. He's lost internet access. Even when he gets it back, he's going to be swamped with school for a few weeks. He's asked for his character to be put on autopilot till he finishes summer classes.
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Post by harknail on Aug 31, 2012 1:39:22 GMT -5
"Yes, he's a priest of the sun," answered Vadania. "Hey Aelos, Ka'lion could use some healing. He's still hurt from when the wolf attacked him yesterday."
"As for Ylva, she's a friend, not a pet. And yes, I have danced with her. Who else was I going to dance with? And no, I don't eat people. Or sacrifice them either."
"As for teaching you to be a druid, I've already told you that I don't know enough myself to be teaching others. But if that's the only way to keep you from burning down forests then fine." It's obvious that Vadania isn't happy about being blackmailed into teaching something she barely knows, even if she doesn't know what blackmail is...
"Your first lesson is that druids really don't like fire. A camp fire is OK, but you need to be really careful to contain it and to make sure it's out completely before you leave the camp. Setting fire to someplace enchanted is a really bad thing to do, especially if you have no idea what the enchantment is. For example, this tomb we're looking for has magical seals to keep the demon contained. If you set the tomb on fire, you'd break the seals and release the demon." Vadania doesn't know for certain that fire would break the seals, but she's not telling Ka'lion that. She does know that it would be a really unwise thing to try.
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Post by sageaqua on Aug 31, 2012 2:25:58 GMT -5
"So your saying druids don't use fire spells at all?" asked Ka'lion sceptically. He's sure that druids use fire but he has similar concerns of his own about using fire in wild areas. He just feels using fire to deal with the dead is a good idea.
Truthfully I the player know Ka'lion better learn this lesson. As a GM I know demons are completely immune to fire. But he doesn't and he'll need guidance to make better choices should the party end up in a fight with the demon.
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Post by at on Aug 31, 2012 3:54:49 GMT -5
Aelos nods at Vadania's suggestion, "I suppose we'd best be ready for whatever this place throws at us next. I fear the Prior has not predicted how grave matters here might become"As Madaline sits down at the campsite nearby Aelos notes that her hands are still burnt from the night before and offers to tend to her wounds, "Thank ye, they'd be itchin something fierce", pausing briefly in thought, "did ye ever hear the story of Prior Perlin?"As the group returns to their meal Maddy weaves a tail of adventure and deceit, of the evil mage Mordan and the pyromaniac Brother Perlin's efforts to stop him with the aid of a particularly colourful band of lunatics. As the story reaches it's epilogue, of the shrine built over the scorched outline that marked Perlin's last stand Ylva begins to whine, and the group feels a tremor in the ground beneath them. It passes quickly but with worried looks the party gathers up it's things and continues onwards to the crypt. Healing and OOC[dice=8]+3 (healing for Ka'lion)
[dice=8]+3 (healing for Madaline)
OOC - Perlin was Spirals (Scott) old character - Prior 'pyro' Perlin, in perhaps the weirdest DnD game i've ever played. He really did end up as a scorched outline against a wall, and his character can be best summed up with the oft asked question - "In this vision, when you saw the world in flames? Were you holding the match?"
[rand=6396757737368092479524020009606610236609469431596024905169177573] |
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