Post by redcoat on Mar 27, 2022 14:12:57 GMT -5
Username: Opiii
Being chased by undead and giant reptiles, the party finds a semblance of civilization as they enter the Old City. Old friends reunite, mending bridges slowly through mutual understanding and commiseration. A safehouse of the Flaming Fist is discovered and raided, and the good wizard is recovered from certain doom.
The party learns of an increasingly complicated situation within the city, and begin to seek out what allies they can within and without the city walls.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Username: Ancelas
From the mind of a wandering Warforged…
This… Crowley. It is… unnerving. Its guard is like me, but… not. Rorr, who is like me, sees opportunity in an… agreement. Credit for… body parts? It is a strange arrangement. This is a strange place.
We move and survey the city - where we are to enter. There are guards, but we are capable. The one called Verdi… I try to communicate, but it shames me. It is… frustrating. To be so limited, in speech and thought. It was not always like this… I know this, though I do not know how. The memory escapes me. So much escapes me…
They indulged my frustration. I am grateful. We renewed our pledge to reach this home of Crosp's and continued, down the hill, to the walls. Rorr is useful. I do not know how it does the things it does, but I appreciate its abilities.
Though… perhaps it is better to leave the healing of flesh and blood to those of flesh and blood.
Biff amuses me. It tries so very hard to appear in control of the situation, yet takes its failures in stride. It is not as graceful as it wants to make others believe, but I will keep its secret. It has reminded me of things I had forgotten. Of my spear, and my… my…
Hn.
We continue to the city. Bones and I lure the gate guards out and dispatch them. Bones is quiet and skilled with a bow. It coordinates well with me. This task of disposing of defeated enemies, though… it does not suit me. To kill in combat is one thing. To kill when my adversary does not understand what is happening… does not sit well. It is not its fault that it is here, but it has chosen to chase out the rightful people of this place. It is not much of a balm, but it will have to do, until we find the one called Blightfang. It is responsible for bringing death to this city. I have heard the cries of Aramag, and know this to be true. Blightfang, and the… the… cat folk. Tabaxi. The ones who missing.
Where did they go?
We prepare to enter the city, and Rorr pauses to collect Crowley's trophies. Gruesome. But it is necessary, I sup-
That is a very large lizard.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Username: Uberwulf X
The Thoughts of one Biff Shiva
Och, that was… that certainly was something. Biff did not expect to fight spirits– BIff is no priest! Biff has fists that strike the material things, that can break and rend and destroy, but also fix. These fists have helped to fix the issues of the city, Biff hope.
Is good that Biff went with Bones to the sunken temple, but was also only logical choice– everyone else seemed to pair off, Bones ready to go herself. She wants nothing to do with the lizardwoman, Ruko, which makes enough sense. Interesting, she the only one not jumping into the water–the two metal men and Biff braved the water while she decided to keep her fur as dry as possible. Her eyes were of course the better of ours once we were in the temple, but it would seem that the… spirits, the wraiths saw us first. First time fighting spirits like these, usually tackle inner spirit and will and inner struggles. Meditation would not help with these, with their making one tired.
Then, there was a man at the altar, if it could be called a man? He assaulted a woman in armor and a mask, part of the Raven Queen's clergy. The battle was thankfully brief, and Biff called upon the fires within to deliver many, many blows to the ego of the man.
His ego, and his sternum.
It seemed that those wraiths had done a number on the last priestess alive as it was doing to Bones– Lady… Shantell? Yes, Shantell; her very armor was crushing her, light as it was! Bones immediately told Biff to leave her mask on– good to know, good to have her tell Biff such things, because it would have been a great offense and… well, we are here to not offend, but rather invite the deity back. Felt good to light the braziers and chase away unnatural darkness, and tidy a bit. Perhaps the Raven Queen felt more comfortable with such measures taken?
Only time will tell. Hopefully, Bones and Lady Shantell will be recovered after just a bit of rest. Biff not mind carrying them as needed, but.. haha, Biff is awesome, but Biff is only human.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Username: The Red Coat
From the Journal of Alina Morhea
Should anyone ask you if it hurt when you fell from the heavens, I can confirm that yes, yes it does.
We met Xilras, he spoke at length about his plans and how we should join him, like many intelligent evil creatures do. I don't know what it was about the seagulls that set him off- other than the fact that they appeared to be saying 'Karn', but that was enough to spook him to the point of ordering our deaths.
Well. He is not the only one with hidden wings, nyet?
He used a spell against me to make me attack Verdi. I had not planned on attacking him directly before that, but afterwards, well, I sure as hells did.
Verdi has not forgiven me for losing control of my mind like that, I don't think. I don't blame him, all things considered.
I landed on the fucking dragon and stabbed him until he was dead. No grace or tactics to it- pure, bullheaded stubbornness kept me attached to his back as he tried to retreat.
Letting him retreat meant letting him get older, stronger- possibly coming back to attack my home, my family, with another army. There was no way I could let him live. Of course, this left me in a rather bad position- well away from shore, with little time left with my own wings, I could either land softly in the water, or land hard on Aramag's shell.
I was in no shape to swim, and at least if I landed on Aramag and truly courted the Raven Queen, there would be healers close enough to maybe do something about it. If not, well, at least I'd get final rites at my temple.
I landed, I survived, and when I stood up I was even able to call out and ask for Salihn- who had come over on with the first wave, it seems. She told me to stay where I was, so I came up to her.
She is very cute when she is flustered, and I hope that at some point I can manage to do without also making her angry or scared. I tried to break some of the tension with a cheesy line, and she did appear to forgive me for my most recent reckless actions.
It seems that Xilras's blood was not… normal. Quite caustic, it turned my hair green and made lichen and moss grow on my armor. I managed to get it out of my hair. My armor is… not in as good shape.
On a whim. I asked Salihn to come out for drinks, and to dance with me tonight. I was surprised she said yes, and am now trying to decide what I will ask the boys to play- The Ferret Reel? Bodhran? Something fast and close.
I… am probably getting my hopes up too much. I have a tendency to do that.
Parting with her, I checked in with Nori to tell him what I remembered- the two big things, at least. That Xilras had been spewing nonsense about the old gods (he did not care), and that he had been working with a gold dragonborn with whiskers.
I have been away from home too long, to not remember Harbormaster Zindar. Nori was quite happy with that information. I'd very little more of use to add, so after telling him to come drinking and wenching tonight, I left the remains of the port.
I went to the Temple and healed who I could, fought what I could, before I was truly spent, and then… I went home. I got cleaned up, then cleaned my tub so none of that damned moss could take root. Grabbed a couple of bottles of whiskey and then headed to my poor beloved Johnny's.
He never did tell me if he was lying about being out of booze, so it seemed like a good idea to bring some.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Username: The Red Coat
From the (abridged) informal reports of Inquisitor Bones
Gemwyn and the Lucky Hand, and the Tiryki Archers executed their duties flawlessly, going above and beyond at every turn, and taking little in the way of wounds.
About halfway through the battle some of the lizardfolk turned- led by Verdi's Ruko. She was also exceptionally helpful.
After the battle, Gemwyn and the Lucky Hand helped secure the Temple of the Raven Queen to free up clerics for healing, while the archers took sniper positions to provide covering fire for any of our retreating wounded. I, meanwhile, decided to check up on my people before I could try and find any rest.
I found Johnny near his bar, wielding two fire arms and looking a bit wild eyed. He is going to shoot me eventually, and I'll probably have deserved it for sneaking up on him. He seemed to normalize a bit as we spoke, though he did say something a bit strange during our conversation before he shooed me off. Ah well- sometimes, Johnny says things that are wise, and sometimes he says things that are creepy. The line between the two can be thin.
Headed to Headquarters and reported in to Muriel, who gave a sharp report right back. I will find her glasses forever and for always just for the work she's done in the last few days. The dwarven matriarch can get shit done like no other. She also let me know that Reg landed in the infirmary after running afoul a trapped item.
Visited him next. He was in a bit of a mood. He said something when he saw me- "The gods deigned irony should be made flesh, and thus Bones was born into the world." It sounded poetic, and almost pretty, but given his temper I've a feeling it wasn't. After reminding him of the vision that had greeted him a few hours ago- a soaking wet, bloody cat clinging to his windowsill desperately wanting the bad noise to go away, he seemed to cheer up.
Of course, I doubt anyone could look upon my hair sans coif and not immediately be moved to hilarity, so…
I promised him I'd steal him a healing potion, which are more useful than flowers, and he agreed to that.
Met up with Norixius and several members of Verdi's party. Discussions later, Karn has decided since he is an outsider, he doesn't get to have an opinion, Verdi thinks that the Port-folk are bad for not immediately forgiving and forgetting the 'being invaded and eaten' thing already, and Biff was relatively quiet during the exchange. I made some secondary plans with Norixius, but he was cagey about whether or not to move forward, presumably until I'd gotten some sleep and 'armor with fewer holes in it'. Thusly ordered, I returned to Headquarters, accompanied by Karn.
He apologized, I accepted his apologies. I filled in some of the details of my early encounters with lizardfolk.
I gave Reg the healing potion I knicked from Alina earlier in my travels. He ribbed me a little for not going to bed as ordered, but… I still had things to do. Besides, it had just dawned on me that I am once again homeless, so… that is a thing.
Went to the Old City. They were holding executions. Checked in with Po. This is one of the few times where I feel I learned more about him than he, me. I… think he has had a run in with our friend Xilras before. I think that caustic mess might be the source of the 'pockmark' in his name. And the man is an unloved stepchild- takes one to know one. He gave some advice about the timeline of the rebuild.
Checked in with Shago, who is well, and looks better than he did when we first arrived in the city. I've not made it right yet, but… steps in the right direction, at least. He shoo'ed me off to bed, calling me a zombie.
Without a better option, I slept at headquarters. I dreamt of Fae, of Him, and of locked doors that budged for me. I woke with a token.
I fetched the books from the archives and checked them out with Muriel. It's been too long, and I gave my copies to the Daefaren's in Arcene, so I will need new ones made. I wrote a letter to Reg. It's time I came clean about my feelings, and… he has no poker face. I know that I might not be the sort of half elf that just any human would be able to find a romantic interest in, and I think putting my feelings in a letter might let us both save some face if the thought is not appealing to him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Being chased by undead and giant reptiles, the party finds a semblance of civilization as they enter the Old City. Old friends reunite, mending bridges slowly through mutual understanding and commiseration. A safehouse of the Flaming Fist is discovered and raided, and the good wizard is recovered from certain doom.
The party learns of an increasingly complicated situation within the city, and begin to seek out what allies they can within and without the city walls.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Username: Ancelas
From the mind of a wandering Warforged…
This… Crowley. It is… unnerving. Its guard is like me, but… not. Rorr, who is like me, sees opportunity in an… agreement. Credit for… body parts? It is a strange arrangement. This is a strange place.
We move and survey the city - where we are to enter. There are guards, but we are capable. The one called Verdi… I try to communicate, but it shames me. It is… frustrating. To be so limited, in speech and thought. It was not always like this… I know this, though I do not know how. The memory escapes me. So much escapes me…
They indulged my frustration. I am grateful. We renewed our pledge to reach this home of Crosp's and continued, down the hill, to the walls. Rorr is useful. I do not know how it does the things it does, but I appreciate its abilities.
Though… perhaps it is better to leave the healing of flesh and blood to those of flesh and blood.
Biff amuses me. It tries so very hard to appear in control of the situation, yet takes its failures in stride. It is not as graceful as it wants to make others believe, but I will keep its secret. It has reminded me of things I had forgotten. Of my spear, and my… my…
Hn.
We continue to the city. Bones and I lure the gate guards out and dispatch them. Bones is quiet and skilled with a bow. It coordinates well with me. This task of disposing of defeated enemies, though… it does not suit me. To kill in combat is one thing. To kill when my adversary does not understand what is happening… does not sit well. It is not its fault that it is here, but it has chosen to chase out the rightful people of this place. It is not much of a balm, but it will have to do, until we find the one called Blightfang. It is responsible for bringing death to this city. I have heard the cries of Aramag, and know this to be true. Blightfang, and the… the… cat folk. Tabaxi. The ones who missing.
Where did they go?
We prepare to enter the city, and Rorr pauses to collect Crowley's trophies. Gruesome. But it is necessary, I sup-
That is a very large lizard.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Username: Uberwulf X
The Thoughts of one Biff Shiva
Och, that was… that certainly was something. Biff did not expect to fight spirits– BIff is no priest! Biff has fists that strike the material things, that can break and rend and destroy, but also fix. These fists have helped to fix the issues of the city, Biff hope.
Is good that Biff went with Bones to the sunken temple, but was also only logical choice– everyone else seemed to pair off, Bones ready to go herself. She wants nothing to do with the lizardwoman, Ruko, which makes enough sense. Interesting, she the only one not jumping into the water–the two metal men and Biff braved the water while she decided to keep her fur as dry as possible. Her eyes were of course the better of ours once we were in the temple, but it would seem that the… spirits, the wraiths saw us first. First time fighting spirits like these, usually tackle inner spirit and will and inner struggles. Meditation would not help with these, with their making one tired.
Then, there was a man at the altar, if it could be called a man? He assaulted a woman in armor and a mask, part of the Raven Queen's clergy. The battle was thankfully brief, and Biff called upon the fires within to deliver many, many blows to the ego of the man.
His ego, and his sternum.
It seemed that those wraiths had done a number on the last priestess alive as it was doing to Bones– Lady… Shantell? Yes, Shantell; her very armor was crushing her, light as it was! Bones immediately told Biff to leave her mask on– good to know, good to have her tell Biff such things, because it would have been a great offense and… well, we are here to not offend, but rather invite the deity back. Felt good to light the braziers and chase away unnatural darkness, and tidy a bit. Perhaps the Raven Queen felt more comfortable with such measures taken?
Only time will tell. Hopefully, Bones and Lady Shantell will be recovered after just a bit of rest. Biff not mind carrying them as needed, but.. haha, Biff is awesome, but Biff is only human.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Username: The Red Coat
From the Journal of Alina Morhea
Should anyone ask you if it hurt when you fell from the heavens, I can confirm that yes, yes it does.
We met Xilras, he spoke at length about his plans and how we should join him, like many intelligent evil creatures do. I don't know what it was about the seagulls that set him off- other than the fact that they appeared to be saying 'Karn', but that was enough to spook him to the point of ordering our deaths.
Well. He is not the only one with hidden wings, nyet?
He used a spell against me to make me attack Verdi. I had not planned on attacking him directly before that, but afterwards, well, I sure as hells did.
Verdi has not forgiven me for losing control of my mind like that, I don't think. I don't blame him, all things considered.
I landed on the fucking dragon and stabbed him until he was dead. No grace or tactics to it- pure, bullheaded stubbornness kept me attached to his back as he tried to retreat.
Letting him retreat meant letting him get older, stronger- possibly coming back to attack my home, my family, with another army. There was no way I could let him live. Of course, this left me in a rather bad position- well away from shore, with little time left with my own wings, I could either land softly in the water, or land hard on Aramag's shell.
I was in no shape to swim, and at least if I landed on Aramag and truly courted the Raven Queen, there would be healers close enough to maybe do something about it. If not, well, at least I'd get final rites at my temple.
I landed, I survived, and when I stood up I was even able to call out and ask for Salihn- who had come over on with the first wave, it seems. She told me to stay where I was, so I came up to her.
She is very cute when she is flustered, and I hope that at some point I can manage to do without also making her angry or scared. I tried to break some of the tension with a cheesy line, and she did appear to forgive me for my most recent reckless actions.
It seems that Xilras's blood was not… normal. Quite caustic, it turned my hair green and made lichen and moss grow on my armor. I managed to get it out of my hair. My armor is… not in as good shape.
On a whim. I asked Salihn to come out for drinks, and to dance with me tonight. I was surprised she said yes, and am now trying to decide what I will ask the boys to play- The Ferret Reel? Bodhran? Something fast and close.
I… am probably getting my hopes up too much. I have a tendency to do that.
Parting with her, I checked in with Nori to tell him what I remembered- the two big things, at least. That Xilras had been spewing nonsense about the old gods (he did not care), and that he had been working with a gold dragonborn with whiskers.
I have been away from home too long, to not remember Harbormaster Zindar. Nori was quite happy with that information. I'd very little more of use to add, so after telling him to come drinking and wenching tonight, I left the remains of the port.
I went to the Temple and healed who I could, fought what I could, before I was truly spent, and then… I went home. I got cleaned up, then cleaned my tub so none of that damned moss could take root. Grabbed a couple of bottles of whiskey and then headed to my poor beloved Johnny's.
He never did tell me if he was lying about being out of booze, so it seemed like a good idea to bring some.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Username: The Red Coat
From the (abridged) informal reports of Inquisitor Bones
Gemwyn and the Lucky Hand, and the Tiryki Archers executed their duties flawlessly, going above and beyond at every turn, and taking little in the way of wounds.
About halfway through the battle some of the lizardfolk turned- led by Verdi's Ruko. She was also exceptionally helpful.
After the battle, Gemwyn and the Lucky Hand helped secure the Temple of the Raven Queen to free up clerics for healing, while the archers took sniper positions to provide covering fire for any of our retreating wounded. I, meanwhile, decided to check up on my people before I could try and find any rest.
I found Johnny near his bar, wielding two fire arms and looking a bit wild eyed. He is going to shoot me eventually, and I'll probably have deserved it for sneaking up on him. He seemed to normalize a bit as we spoke, though he did say something a bit strange during our conversation before he shooed me off. Ah well- sometimes, Johnny says things that are wise, and sometimes he says things that are creepy. The line between the two can be thin.
Headed to Headquarters and reported in to Muriel, who gave a sharp report right back. I will find her glasses forever and for always just for the work she's done in the last few days. The dwarven matriarch can get shit done like no other. She also let me know that Reg landed in the infirmary after running afoul a trapped item.
Visited him next. He was in a bit of a mood. He said something when he saw me- "The gods deigned irony should be made flesh, and thus Bones was born into the world." It sounded poetic, and almost pretty, but given his temper I've a feeling it wasn't. After reminding him of the vision that had greeted him a few hours ago- a soaking wet, bloody cat clinging to his windowsill desperately wanting the bad noise to go away, he seemed to cheer up.
Of course, I doubt anyone could look upon my hair sans coif and not immediately be moved to hilarity, so…
I promised him I'd steal him a healing potion, which are more useful than flowers, and he agreed to that.
Met up with Norixius and several members of Verdi's party. Discussions later, Karn has decided since he is an outsider, he doesn't get to have an opinion, Verdi thinks that the Port-folk are bad for not immediately forgiving and forgetting the 'being invaded and eaten' thing already, and Biff was relatively quiet during the exchange. I made some secondary plans with Norixius, but he was cagey about whether or not to move forward, presumably until I'd gotten some sleep and 'armor with fewer holes in it'. Thusly ordered, I returned to Headquarters, accompanied by Karn.
He apologized, I accepted his apologies. I filled in some of the details of my early encounters with lizardfolk.
I gave Reg the healing potion I knicked from Alina earlier in my travels. He ribbed me a little for not going to bed as ordered, but… I still had things to do. Besides, it had just dawned on me that I am once again homeless, so… that is a thing.
Went to the Old City. They were holding executions. Checked in with Po. This is one of the few times where I feel I learned more about him than he, me. I… think he has had a run in with our friend Xilras before. I think that caustic mess might be the source of the 'pockmark' in his name. And the man is an unloved stepchild- takes one to know one. He gave some advice about the timeline of the rebuild.
Checked in with Shago, who is well, and looks better than he did when we first arrived in the city. I've not made it right yet, but… steps in the right direction, at least. He shoo'ed me off to bed, calling me a zombie.
Without a better option, I slept at headquarters. I dreamt of Fae, of Him, and of locked doors that budged for me. I woke with a token.
I fetched the books from the archives and checked them out with Muriel. It's been too long, and I gave my copies to the Daefaren's in Arcene, so I will need new ones made. I wrote a letter to Reg. It's time I came clean about my feelings, and… he has no poker face. I know that I might not be the sort of half elf that just any human would be able to find a romantic interest in, and I think putting my feelings in a letter might let us both save some face if the thought is not appealing to him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------