Darkwood--Darkness Rising

Post by **Laurel** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 2:07 am

For once, the bard sits speechless. She had left her Ree months ago, head full of tales of such encounters. But she had found the life of a wandering minstrel to be much different than she expected, especially once they left Waymeet. The wondrous creature before them took her breath away.

Her eyes slid over the younger Heshic. She still preferred him, even with the deva in front of them. But his disinterest in her injuries, even when she refused to heal herself, made her realize just how little she meant to the party. She was in way over her head, especially with the revelations of the deva.

...perhaps it was time to rethink her course. Before she messed up even more, and brought harm on to others besides herself.

Post by **Led Pighp** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 5:32 am

Vynarkus wrote:"...So, although this is really bad information, I don't see how it changes our current plans, besides imposing a need for haste. I would welcome any other reasonable interpretation of our situation."

"I agree with our learned friend. We knew that we were striving against a being greater than the gods, though with help by gods of our own. Now we know that dragons will also be involved. I just hope that if the evil dragons are going to be returning, so will be the good ones. We'll need allies in this war, to be certain. So, as Vynarkus said, haste is now more of an issue. But we should keep an eye out for opportunities to contact good dragons, to elist them to our cause. Or to find information about evil dragons rising from slumber. Maybe the elves can contact them already, and will save us the trouble?"

"But, on that note, let's continue on to this other recent battle. If this necromancer was involved in the return of the dragons to the world, then whatever he was chasing might also be connected to it. I'd like to either start an alliance between them and us, or maybe capture one so he'll share that information with us."

Post by **Barak Windblown** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:33 pm

"We are Destiny's Chosen," Barak says, with a tired shake of his head, "There are no more decisions to make. Our path is mapped."

He breathes, long and deep, then shoots a gaze like steel at the necromancer. "We need information - both from the battle ahead of us, and from this...pawn." Barak says, spitting onto the captured man's head. "Can these things be accomplished swifter separately? If that is our will, I will keep our friend safe, here, while others investigate further. We could remain hidden, off the track."

Post by **Laurel** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 2:50 pm

Barak Windblown wrote:He breathes, long and deep, then shoots a gaze like steel at the necromancer. "We need information - both from the battle ahead of us, and from this...pawn." Barak says, spitting onto the captured man's head. "Can these things be accomplished swifter separately? If that is our will, I will keep our friend safe, here, while others investigate further. We could remain hidden, off the track."

The bard lifts her head at this, and also turns her gaze on to the necromancer. "Perhaps I could be of more use in assisting you with questioning this one, than in the thick of battle," she mumbled, mostly to herself. "If everyone stays well stocked with healing potions, I may as well stay behind also."

Post by **Led Pighp** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 4:12 pm

"I imagine that by the time we arrive at the battle, things will be finished. It's just too dark to ride on at a full gallop, in these woods. And there's no telling if we'll encounter another ambush before then. Let's stick together... I don't like the idea of another mob of zombies showing up to rescue this one, with only Barak and Laurel are there to guard him."

But he chuckled, "Then again, even Hardy can outrun a zombie."

[ooc] - I suggest we just get the whole group over to where the battle is, then do all the talking and interrogating there. It'll save time, and avoid all the repeating of details to the people who weren't there. I'm guessing we'll miss the fighting, and just get to help with the clean-up and chit-chat.

Post by **Barak Windblown** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 4:25 am

Barak nods reluctantly at the wisdom of Led's words, bowing to the inevitability of having to ride once more.

"Let's be off quickly then, while what light we have holds." he says, moving to and climbing atop his long suffering steed.

Post by **Vynarkus** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:21 pm

Vynarkus looks at the items on the ground, then stares very hard at the scrolls. Then, very slowly and carefully, he picks up the scrolls and packs them in the saddlebags of his horse. He looks at the other, smiles shakily, then says, "We can try to divide up the other items, but those scrolls are trapped...
"Let's not take them out until we've interrogated this guy, OK?"

He tosses the arrows to Laurel, in bundles of 6. "These all have a slight enhancement to attack and damage +1, This set does extra damage to evil outsiders, and these do extra damage to good outsiders, like the deva we just saw."

He gets on his horse, then looks at the others. "I'm ready to get going, how about you guys?"

Post by **Seven Words** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:40 pm

"Laurel's healing spells are too useful in mid-battle to use now...." Marrik says as he lays his hands upon Skyseeker to heal her . He then casts a curative spell upon Barak (heal 6 points).

"Let us proceed, and discover what manner of friend or foe lies ahead."

SKyseeker is shaking her head and muttering under her breath in Elvish, the rueful expression upon her face. She quickly finds the trail again.

Post by **Laurel** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:20 pm

Laurel puts a rueful grin on her own face. "You and me both, sister. You and me both," she says as she readies Hardy to follow her on Garvin.

Post by **Barak Windblown** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:34 am

The smell of blood and the tension of it's rider has made Barak's horse skittish, and it shies nervously, chomping at it's bit and blowing heavily. Barak retains his seat with some difficulty, sawing at the reins in a manner that only distresses the horse more, but turns the animal in a tight circle and prevents it from following it's clear desire to gallop away from the battle scene at full speed.

"What shall we do with him?" Barak asks, with a stoic nod of his head towards the badly injured Necromancer, still struggling with his steed. "Tie him to the pack horse?"

Post by **Seven Words** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 1:07 pm

Marrik turns to Laurel. "Such self-condemnation ill suits you. Your patron, the Lady of Luck, is by Her very nature fickle, yet you take as personal failure Her not smiling upon you in perpetuity. Lament not your perceived shortcoming in areas you are not aptly suited for, and focus instead upon what you do well, for you are valuable, and valued." he finishes with an stern, uncompromising look.

Post by **Led Pighp** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 12:57 pm

Barak Windblown wrote:"What shall we do with him?" Barak asks, with a stoic nod of his head towards the badly injured Necromancer, still struggling with his steed. "Tie him to the pack horse?"

"An excellent idea." Led lifts the half-elf onto Hardy's back, face up, so that he's arched backwards across the horse. He reconnects the lead between the necromancer's feet and neck under Hardy's torso, so he won't fall off. "But he's certainly not going to enjoy the ride or be able to manage anything sneaky while we're in transit."

That done, Led sees that everybody else is already mounted and ready, and starts to ride towards where the battle still rages on.

Post by **Laurel** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 1:19 pm

Seven Words wrote:Marrik turns to Laurel. "Such self-condemnation ill suits you. Your patron, the Lady of Luck, is by Her very nature fickle, yet you take as personal failure Her not smiling upon you in perpetuity. Lament not your perceived shortcoming in areas you are not aptly suited for, and focus instead upon what you do well, for you are valuable, and valued." he finishes with an stern, uncompromising look.

The bard listens to the paladin, cheeks brightly aflame.

"I only wanted to be of use other than a healer," she quietly mutters to herself. Speaking a bit louder, she projects her voice so hopefully only the paladin would hear, "I am glad to be able to heal, but do wish we would stumble upon a cleric to ease the load off both of us, Marrik. We both have so few spells; even with potions I fear the time may come when both of us together could not repair what damage the party may take on."

Turning her head away from his stern look in contrition, she has Garvin follow after Led with her mounted upon her, leading Hardy, her pack pony with the necromancer bound to him, along with her.

Post by **Led Pighp** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 2:06 pm

Laurel wrote:"I only wanted to be of use other than a healer," she quietly mutters to herself. Speaking a bit louder, she projects her voice so hopefully only the paladin would hear, "I am glad to be able to heal, but do wish we would stumble upon a cleric to ease the load off both of us, Marrik. We both have so few spells; even with potions I fear the time may come when both of us together could not repair what damage the party may take on."

Led overhears, then turns his head to look back to Laurel. "You argue that our needs for a healer may soon rise BEYOND what you two can provide, and at the same time you want to do something other than healing... leaving us with yet still less of it."

"I'm confused why someone of your gentle nature would WANT to become hard enough, stern enough, and jaded enough to be able to kill quickly and without nightmares later... while you're unhappy with the role of saving the lives of your friends and allies?"

"Being able to walk up to someone, stand toe to claw, look him in the eyes and then intentionally take the person's life... that's a hard thing to embrace. A lot of tough guys would say 'There's not many as could do it.' but I say that anyone who can has had to cut away some part of himself. Or had the part cut away by another. But nobody should WANT to do that. At the very best, as I suspect it is for Lord Marrik, it's a matter of choosing to cut away that piece of himself so that most others won't have to."

He turns to look at Skyseeker, "At the very worst, some insane race of fools who think they're gods will take it upon themselves to breed a race of warrior slaves who just lack that piece of their soul to begin with."

"But the act of healing the sick and injured? There's no part of you that needs pay the price for that. And in this situation, there seem to be enough people missing that bit of their souls to do the killing. But we need you in the task you're doing. And you're good at it. Why does this not sit well with you?"

Post by **Laurel** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 2:39 pm

Led Pighp wrote: "I'm confused why someone of your gentle nature would WANT to become hard enough, stern enough, and jaded enough to be able to kill quickly and without nightmares later... while you're unhappy with the role of saving the lives of your friends and allies?"

"Being able to walk up to someone, stand toe to claw, look him in the eyes and then intentionally take the person's life... that's a hard thing to embrace. A lot of tough guys would say 'There's not many as could do it.' but I say that anyone who can has had to cut away some part of himself. Or had the part cut away by another. But nobody should WANT to do that. At the very best, as I suspect it is for Lord Marrik, it's a matter of choosing to cut away that piece of himself so that most others won't have to."

He turns to look at Skyseeker, "At the very worst, some insane race of fools who think they're gods will take it upon themselves to breed a race of warrior slaves who just lack that piece of their soul to begin with."

"But the act of healing the sick and injured? There's no part of you that needs pay the price for that. And in this situation, there seem to be enough people missing that bit of their souls to do the killing. But we need you in the task you're doing. And you're good at it. Why does this not sit well with you?"

Dropping her head, the bard mutters, "I meant only to stop us from being attacked and possibly glean some information regarding why we were being attacked. Killing anyone was not my intent..."

Raising her head back up to look at the scribe she continues, "I just feel useless at times. It seems to me that loading up on healing draughts would easily replace me."

Post by **Led Pighp** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 5:29 pm

Led looks ahead, to where the rest of the party is already galloping on. Even Barak was ahead of them, now.

"Will you accept that we can't go shopping for potions right at this moment? So we can at least get through this "Heightened Situation" before you make grand sweeping decisions about your place in life?" He held up one hand with two crooked fingers, and bent them downwards with each word when saying "Heightened Situation".

Post by **Laurel** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 8:00 pm

Cheeks again blazing, the bard doesn't bother to answer and heads off after the others.

Post by **Seven Words** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 1:24 pm

Skyseeker suddenly stops dead in her tracks, something Marrik had said hitting home...."Sir Paladin....that note in Fruspak...it said what about midnight?"

He glances at the note to be certain, and replies "The Hidden Way of Midnight, why?"

The elf now looks torn between burning rage and appalling horror. "That is the term used for the last, most secure and secret escape route from one of our places of old. All save where the remnants of my people moved in the ShadowFall were lost. We remember yearly those who died so far from the Wood. But this.....either their resting place is being abused as living space......or there were survivors, cut off and languishing amidst hostile people these millenia since the fall of the Aether Web"

Post by **Led Pighp** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:41 pm

"There was at least one elf around to spawn this Necromancer."

Post by **Seven Words** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 5:01 pm

Shakily, she replies, "Yes. But I had assumed him to be the product of rape...an elf captured on a trade expedition from East of the Wood into the Frusvolk lands, his mother sold or traded to come this far west."

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

Darkwood--Darkness Rising