3 - 032: The Third Piece

[K Man]

Callian - [Gather Information Check] A few inquiries to the trudging people of Cannon's Foot garners the same responses.

"They left, melted into the Earth."

"The Dwarf said he spotted something on that cliff over there."

"Not sure what happened, but I saw some lightning too, must be a strange storm!"

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Hero, Caelith, Garor, Newt, Krysta, Girud and Galdren - As the Elf is thrown a blade, he picks it up and spouts yet another Elven curse, a particularly nasty one about Hero's offspring and prepares to fight.

[Initiative: Hero, The Elf.]

Everyone Else - [Spell craft Check, Caelith] The 'loot' captured from the other Elven Elite comes up the following way;

Laucimust and Illivellian -
[Magic]
One robe - Robe of Blending
Three rings - Ring of Force Shield, Ring of Sustenance, Ring of Evasion
Two spell books - [Basically all spells from 1st to 5th.]
Two wands - Wand of Magic Missle (23 Charges left, 5th lvl) Wand of Searing Light (20 Charges, 6th level)
Pair of boots - Boots of Levitation
A bag - Bag of Holding, Type III
Pair of bracers - Bracers of Armor +2
Headband - Headband of Intellect +4
[Non-Magic] Masterwork staff, nice robe and boots, spell component satchel etc.

The Elite - [Magic]
Captain's Sword (Longsword) - +2 Keen Longsword
Two suits of chainmail - One Chainmail of Spell Resistance, the other +2 Chainmail
Small steel shield - +1 Shield of Light Fortification
Pair of boots - Boots of Elvenkind
Three cloaks - Two of Resistance +2, the other a Cloak of Elvenkind
Four rings - Two of Protection +2, One of Minor Cold Resistance, the last Ring of Feather Falling
[Non-Magic] Five suits of masterwork chainmail, a suit of Elven Chainmail, eight masterwork longswords, nice clothing and a pair of jeweled earrings. (Ruby, 60gp)

The Scouts -
[Magic]
Two Mighty Composite Longbows - One +2 Mighty composite Longbow of Shock, the other, +1 Ghost Touch Mighty Composite Longbow of Shock
A quiver - Quiver of Elhonna (not sure on spelling)
A ring - Ring of Protection +2
A suit of light chainmail - Elven Chainmail +2
A pair of Bracers - Bracers of Archery
[Non-Magic] A suit of masterwork light chain, a quiver of 43 arrows, two masterwork longswords.

The plan has been set, once boats arrive to care for the survivors of Cannon's Foot, you will ALL return to Ravenshead and lay this problem down before your liege and true King, Sturmguard...

[Excellent job everyone, glad you all did so well with teh descision. Hero, this battle is meant to be short, so don't be suprised if you out class him quickly.]
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Romar and Yuri - [Yuri, Knowledge Check] - You have not heard of 'The Fatherless', no surprising since you have never been to this region before. You manage to sneak to a good vantage point to watch the convseration without being spotted, or so you think. The giant bird appears to have exceptionally keen eyes and you can't help but think they are somehow fixed on you.

Romar - The woman studies your eyes, finally giving a command for her bird to land. It stop the buffeting wing hover, talons digging into the soft earth. The woman remains atop her mount, lance aimed firmly for your heart. She shouts through her mask, still denying you a good look at her face.

"Then tell me, Romar Belamor, where you do hail from and why you know find yourself in this acursed ruined town?"

The giant bird blinks a few times, nictating membranes closing quickly over the eyes and opening again. It tilts it's head and looks to the distance...deeper into the city.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

[Wizard]

Callian, checking to make sure that the refugees will be alright for the immediate future and that Delomme has the situation in hand, melts into the ground, speeding toward the cliff...

[VemuKhaham]

Romar is somewhat relieved that now that he has declared his enemy to be the Master, the woman doesn't attack outright but instead lowers her guard a little more. He takes it as a sign that the lady and he share this enemy, and takes more hope from that. He now finds little reason to be secretive about his personal goal; it is not as if his quest would come in danger if he reveals it, and maybe help is what he might gain.

"As I said before, I am here to fight the Master and his forces. However, if you want I shall be more specific: it is a single vampire which I hunt, a vampire of high ranking among the Master's armies. I know not his name, but he has taken someone dear to me and now he is my swoarn enemy. All I really know is that he fled into the swamps in the north, and that I cannot follow him there unless I find some way to withstand the toxic air of the swamps and other deadly things that hide in its fog. I came here in the hopes of finding this help, if it only exists, in the human town of Rocroost Bay, but instead I found death and decay. And now, I also find you, or more true, you found me, quite off-guard.

Now that I have trusted my whole story to you, could you now be persuaded to tell me something about yourself, or the people you represent?"

[BluSpecs]

I have no intrest in the elves gear. I have all I need. besides it's all a bit "forest fairy" for me

Garor watches the battle to make sure the elf dosen't pull any tricks.

Once it is finished, he makes sure that everyone is ready to travel.

[GeneralMHB]

[glow=green,2,300]I think the bird sees you.[/glow]

Nothing has been done yet, I will continue to remain here.

Yuri continues to remain in his hiding spot and observe, not wanting to take the risk of being spotted and dubbed a monster.

[Fangor the Fierce]

Krysta looks over the items, spying a few that she would like, but refrains from taking them just yet. She turns to Caelith and Hero, the more vocal and seemingly leaders of the other group. "I must say, that while I have agreed to go to Ravenshead to meet with Sturnmguard and get his ruling over our current predicament, I must decline. We can not make haste to Ravenshead, without the chance of losing even more of the shards. But us fighters can not travel with you either. For the sake of all thos ein these lands trying to free themselves from the grasp of the Master, please search out the other shards, while we take the refugees on towards Ravenshead. Unless I am mistaken, you can travel through earth, and only earth. Once on the boats, you will not be able to travel as freely. We need you to get the other shards, before the elves find out what has happened and start their own search for the shards. I fear that if we do not take this chance, we may lose another shard. I dare to say that I do not want to find out what the Master has in store for the shards he has managed to take. As for our journey to Ravenshead, we will stay within sight of the lands, and should you want to see our progress, you would know our route, and can teleport to the lands edge, to watch. I leave it to you to decide. To make our way to Ravenshead, and chance the loss of another shard, or to make your way now to the next shard, in hopes of gaining it for Sturmguard. As I see it, our route should take us near another shard. If you can seize it for yourselves, and manage to make it with the shard to the coast, we can pick up the shard, taking it with us to Ravenshead, while you can still use your ability to gain yet another. It all depends on our route to take. If we cross the ocean, Scaland is the only shard we can manage to try and grasp, but it is across water, which I fear you may not be able to gain access to. Or we could take the route south, but that would put us back into within the grasp of the Queen and her treacherous elves. If we went that route, we can stop at The Feathered Isle or even The Dune Palace. Each of those hold a shard, which we can secure and take with us. I am all for aiding the return of the refugees to safe lands, but we should not overlook your ability to transport to the shards, secure them, and return with them as well."

OOC - Not sure about the divying up of the items. As per recent events, we have no magical items anymore (the fighters) and all items gained from the Elven city are not usable. Including the Feather Token I gave to Hero a while back. Just an FYI... As for the items now, Newt is the rogue, but we now also have another Goblin Rogue, that may be able to use the same items. I looked on Newts sheet, but saw nothing updated for his new items from Ravenshead. Garor says he doesn't want much of anything either.

For Mordrock, I would like for him to have the Bracers of Archery, since he has the feats that go nicely with it - Point Blank Shot, and Precise Shot - and then he can use the Longbows that the elves left. Only problem is, that he doesn't have the strength to use it...he needs a +1 STR item, but that can be sorted out elsewhere. For now, he can use the bracers to get him some more bonuses, and when the time comes, the Longbows can then be used. Krysta would like to take one, for The Rock to use later on. Not sure about which one, as I am not sure if anyone uses longbows in this group. If not, then she will take them both for now. Storing them until they can be used.

That ring of Force Shield looks mighty tempting as well. Should we start the OOC thread to get this all sorted out?

[TheUdjat]

And just when an agreement was made, Krysta shoots it down again. With a sigh of no small amount of frustration, Caelith regards Callian, his recently arrived companion (I'm assuming he's arrived by this point). He tries, with great patience, to give him a summary of what's happened. (If you really want, Wizard, I'll actually write the words, but if that's sufficient, I won't bother )

When he finishes...

"But Krysta, I must insist that at least one of us accompany you with the refugees. While I do not doubt your best interests in returning to Ravenshead, and even putting aside the matter of our tenuous trust in you, there is the matter of the refugees' strong desire for vengeance. If one of us does not act as escort, I fear things will go very badly for the three of you during that trip. Delomme is exceedingly angry, and you will need us to calm him down on this matter. Furthermore, you will need one of us in Morten."

"But I do not deny my desire to get back to finding Shards. However, there is one nearby, in the earth, that I believe I can get out. I would like the time to try that, so we needn't depart immediately. If we are successful, and we can send it to Ravenshead with you and the refugees, I would again feel much better about the matter if one of us accompanied you. Though I know it was the elves, and not yourself who stole the shard, I am nonetheless quite wary of letting it out of my sight, should we get it back."

"But that taken care of and the trip secure, yes, I would encourage those able to head to the Glade. But I am wary on this matter, as well, for it would be but three of us - One to accompany the refugees and, hopefully, a shard back to Ravenshead. Garor to return to his kingdom, as he surely must be getting impatient to do already. And that leaves three. Perhaps, though expedience is well deserved, going in unprepared may not be the best tactic."

He sighs. "But if it is insisted upon, I would advise, after the matter of this shard and the refugees is resolved, that either Callian or Hero accompany the three of you back to Morten and on to Ravenshead, and the remainder of us head to the Glade. As Callian and Newton have been there before, I am inclined to recommend that Hero go with the three of you. But that choice is left to her."

"But then again, perhaps we should be less hasty about dividing our numbers so wantonly."

[Merovingian]

Having said his peace newt makes a small pile of the items that catch is fancy ( ring of protection +2, boots and cloak of Elvenkind) and offers the cloak he had previously to any that may want it (Resistance +2). After that simply wait till every one is ready to go back to the refugee camp to tell a new and amazing story.

[Wizard]

"I fear I've had little time to tell about the Glade...perhaps Newt has enlightened you, but if not, listen, and learn.

When the pair of us arrived, we were, after a moment, drawn to a specific spot by a curious light. We snuck---well," says Callian, pausing slightly,"Newt snuck toward it. I made quite a bit of noise, I'm afraid.

"As we approached, we were stopped on our way by a talking tree! After a moment's conversation, it changed to human form, which was apparently its---her---normal form. She showed us the Tomb of Karn. It is not building, but rather a half-building."[/color] Callian's voice grows thoughtful. "It's lodged between this plane...and the Nine Hells."

[Hero]

Hero would be very annoyed if she were paying attention to anything but the elf in front of her.

Okay, after a short nod, Hero attacks.
+2 Keen Longsword +13/+8 (1d8+6 17-20/x2)