Dark Hope - Chapter 2 - Tower of Mist Journey

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Tänya
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Post by Tänya »

Reaching into the pouch that hung from her belt, Tänya withdrew 2 fresh crimson-colored berries and looked between them and White Blossom, considering. Whatever had possessed Ahkash during the battle seemed to have withdrawn. Glancing about, Tänya found a persimmon bush and picked a leaf, forming it into a small vessel in which she gently squeezed the juice of the two berries, softening the skin of each berry and adding it to the minute amount of juice. Then she moved closer to the dark half-elf.

Before kneeling beside him, she used her foot and slowly wriggled the dagger out from the half-elf's grip. There was no way she would attempt to bring him to consciousness with that eldritch blade in his grip, not knowing what influence it had upon him. Yet she wanted none of the rest of the party to fool with it either, so silently offering a prayer to Solaris for protection, she laid one end of White Blossom upon the dagger, gripping the other end of her quarterstaff in the space behind her knees as she knelt besides Ahkash.

Leaning forward, she reached behind the rogue and lifted him barely an inch or two off the ground, looking towards Thonunian for some assistance. As Thonunian moved closer, she had him replace her hold on Ahkash, just barely lifting him up from prone, and with her hands free, gently worked the rogue's mouth open. Tilting his chin slightly, she dripped the crushed berries and their juice into his mouth, lightly stroking his neck to make sure they were swallowed. Then she unrolled the leaf and brushed it upon his tongue, getting every last bit of the Goodberry juice off the leaf and in to the rogue.

Discarding the persimmon leaf, she removed her cloak, folded it slightly and gently placed it behind Ahkash's back and neck so when Thonunian laid him back there was no chance of him choking. Then nodding to the other elf, she and Thonunian gently laid him back upon her cloak.

With a gentle smile, Tänya extends three of the crimson-colored berries to Thonunian. "Please bring these to Renard, and ask him to partake of all three, one by one, slowly. My thanks for your aid, Thonunian," she says to the tall elf. Then removing White Blossom from under her knees, she grips her staff, yet keeps one end upon the dark dagger, forbidding any of the party from touching it until the half-elf could reclaim it for himself.

"Anyone else who is hurt and desires some care, come to me here, at least until Ahkash awakens," she says. "I gave him barely enough berry juice to bring him to consciousness, so we can determine if it is still Ahkash before us or not. I will heal him further once it is determined he is who we expect to see.

"The dagger is his to reclaim or choose to discard. Until then, the positive energy stored in White Blossom shall guard over it," she proclaimed.
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Renard
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Post by Renard »

"The dagger is his to reclaim or choose to discard. Until then, the positive energy stored in White Blossom shall guard over it," she proclaimed.
Renard gives a half-hearted chuckle. "Oh, Akhash will reclaim it, all right," he thinks to himself.
Out loud he asks those about, "Can anyone else check the bodies of these men... I'd like to find out if they have anything on them that might indicate if they are more then common thieves. Symbols, letters, anything."
'For they certainly don't seem like common thieves,' he muses quietly, but continues to await the partial recovery of the uncoscious mage...[/i]
~ My feet may not know the way, yet my heart be glad for it. ~
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Post by Mephiston »

Ahaksh regain conscuousness thanks to the berry of Tanya.

Renard steps near the mage, that is on the ground.
He removes a belt, a ring, two potions and a scroll from the mage.
When he moves him to remove the items he's carrying, the hood slides down and you all can see that the man has the face very similar to a rat!
You recognize that it is a Scavenger, a sneaky creature that often lives as a mercenary assassin.
the creature seems to be alive, but he has several burns on his face and body.

The rat-man regains consciousness, he looks Renards with a evil grin on his face.
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Tänya
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Post by Tänya »

Seeing the half-elf's eyes begin to flicker, Tänya lays a hand upon White Blossom, but does not remove him from guarding the dagger. As she sees the normal eyes of the rogue scan around, she puts a finger of her free hand to her lips and whispers, "shhh...

"None of us know what just happened with you, but you gave us quite a scare. You were hurt enough to be knocked unconscious, and then your weapon," with a nod towards the eldritch dagger beneath White Blossom, "seemed to have the power to revive you. But Ahkash," her hand tightening unseen upon White Blossom, "it wasn't you, from what we could see.

"Will you tell us what you remember of the end of the battle? Please?"
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Post by Seven Words »

Stepping more fully into the Scavenger's view, Star calmly explains..."You may seek to measure yourself against me, once more. Perhaps this time you might earn a place among my swazond....though considering a single blow felled you, I'd likely not shame myself with your mark."

/ooc going for intimidation via reminder of just how easily I took him out/
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Post by Renard »

Nodding at Star's remark, Renard moves a little closer (playing 'good cop'). Showing the scavenger the rich-red berry between his finger and thumb he addresses the creature, "Take this, it will make you feel a little better. Death is not a path you should be taking right now."
With that, Renard will carefully 'feed' the creature the berry, being extra careful not to have the scavenger bite that hand that feeds him.

If taken (or even if not) Renard will speak to him again.
<Dimplomacy>
"Words and promise of trade often work better than blindly attacking a group of people," tutors Renard calmly. "Regardless, let us chat a bit, for I have no wish for your death." He kneels beside the scavenger. "I am called 'Renard'." He pauses to give the rat-creature the opportunity for introduction, but does not wait long before continuing, "We are travelling with earnest need and are a little 'put off' by your attack against us. Please explain why you did so. And why it would be a good idea to allow your freedom."
<sense motive>
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Post by Ahkash »

Shaken as he was, the half-elf nonethless rose gracefully to his feet, looking carefully around him and licking his lips.

Before speaking though, he ducked down and firmly pulled his dagger from beneath the staff, wiped it on the rags of one of the fallen attackers, and then resheathed it on his left hip.

"It seems the dagger has even more properties than at first I believed," he muttered, almost to himself. He checked it in its sheath, then shook his head slightly.

"I remember the elf shouting, and suddenly facing two attackers. They stabbed me, and I went for one of them. Then nothing until I opened my eyes and saw you all standing around."

He licked his lips again.

"My thanks druid. It seems it is by your arts I am revived."

Leaving the prisoner to the Bard, the rogue begins searching the fallen enemies.
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Tänya
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Post by Tänya »

One brow raised at the thanks she received, the druid mutters "Lle creoso," towards the rogue's retreating back. "Seasamin." She hoped he didn't overdo, as he was just barely conscious.

Casting a glance towards Renard, Star and Thonunian attempting to question the Scavenger, Tänya joins Ahkash in searching the prisoner's dead companions.
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Post by Mephiston »

the scavenger mage looks to you all
He seems sad.
although his dark eyes aren't frighted.

"You vicious creature won't take my soul! And you won't torture me either... i failed my task, and i have to obey my code... may Solaris take my soul!"
He chomps something in his mouth... in a matter of seconds violent convulsions shake his body and then he stops to move.
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Post by Mephiston »

Star jumps on the mouth of the rat-man with her one.
She trys to suck away some venom, but unfortunatly the manuver doesn't save the life of the spellcaster.
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Post by Tänya »

Looking up from her search at the words of the Scavenger spellcaster, Tänya thinks to herself, Vicious Creature? What vicious creature? as she gazes at Solana and the other horses of the party. Then seeing the spellcaster apparently poison himself, flies over to him to see if there is anything she can do to delay its effects, or if the poison had already killed him completely.

[heal check on how far gone the spellcaster is by the time she gets to him, please. if there is a glimmer of life left, that will determine my next move]
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Post by Mephiston »

the rat-man is died
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Tänya
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Post by Tänya »

Seeing she was too late to attempt to delay the effects of the poison on the spellcaster, Tänya's shoulders slump in defeat. What did he mean by our "Vicious Creature?" she again wonders to herself. She then moves to his items Renard had removed, bends down and retrieves the ring from the pile. "This has a faint aura of magic upon it," she says, holding it up for the group to see. "It feels like an aura of protection. Is there any among us who wishes to make a claim upon this ring?" she asks the party. "If not, I believe I may find a purpose for it, down the road."

While awaiting an answer from the party, Tänya looks at the scroll attempting to read it. If it is not a language she recognizes, she removes a small prism from the pouch at her belt, moves her hands and mutters a few words in Druidic [Read Magic] to attempt to decipher what it says. Finally, after that, she unstoppers the vial, sniffs and then takes a tiny taste on her tongue in an attempt to identify the potion. [spellcraft check and/or craft: alchemy check (if anyone could do Aid Another on this, it might be helpful), whichever might be more liable of identifying the potion, please].

She did not perceived any magical aura from the belt. But she wondered at the slot within it. Then on a hunch, she slipped the potion vial inside, and found it was easier to remove than from the pouch at her belt [remove potion: free action]. As she hoped to have a chance to use the herbs and minerals her Wood Woses had collected for her during the previous three days of travel to begin to brew potions and other concoctions when the party stopped for a time, she called out to the others, "If no one wants this belt, I will lay claim to it," as she took the belt and bound it about herself above the vine which carried her pouch.
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Post by Thonunian »

Thonunian heads over to Tänya and tries first to help her identify it, then to have her help him try.

[ooc]Aid Another using Spellcraft first, and then make my own Spellcraft check with Tänya using Aid Another...[/ooc]
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Post by Renard »

Once the scavenger had started his convulsions, Renard backed away, somewhat aghast at wht the creature did to itself -- and what it said.
Even after Star's and Tanya's attempts to save it, Renard still stared at the creature with a mixed look of revulsion, shock and a little fear.
Looking at the others about he mutters, "Failed his task?" A few breaths, then, "They were sent... for us...
"Oh, this is not good..."

Ignoring Tanya's question about magical items, Renard takes a few steps away from the group and starts to think...
~ My feet may not know the way, yet my heart be glad for it. ~
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Post by Seven Words »

Depending upon precisely what enchantments are on the ring, I might have some interest in it. I am curious, however. Did aught transpire before I joined with you that might cause a worshipper of Solaris to call us, be it in truth or in error, "vile creatures" and seek our deaths?
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Post by Tänya »

Concentrating further upon the ring, the druid sits back and shakes her head.

"All I am getting from this is that it possesses a minor enchantment of protection, as I said before. I have seen no armor on you, Star. Would you wish to claim it then?

"As for your question regarding the Scavengers, all I know is that I am a follower of Solaris, and I have been told not to push my beliefs on to others. For now, I know not if any of our party members follow a different deity, although I have my own guesses into the matter, nor if such followers would be seen as "vile creatures" from other followers of Solaris. As Solaris is the Kind Mother of All, to view another in such a way because of belief is a teaching of hers that is foreign in concept to me..."
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Post by Seven Words »

"As she is the "mother of All", perhaps we are mistakenly being perceived of as agents of Destruction, or Murder? Both of those would seem to be antithetical. But again, what has been done that would seem to mark us as such?"
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Post by Mephiston »

the potion you found in the bodies of the skavengers and the ones on the body of the spellcaster scavenger are the same.
They seems to be a sort of twisted healing potion.
It is now more powerful than one of those, but the effect doesn't last for a long time.
Drinking one of those will give half your total hp as a temporary hp bonus. this bonus lasts for 5 minutes.

Each skavenger has the following loot:
2xDaggers
1xStrange liquid in a flask, it could be a potion
1xgeneric robe, they are naked under the robes

about the parchment... this is what you find... it seems like it is written in a code language and you cannot decipher it using magic...

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Post by Tänya »

A small gasp comes from Tänya's lips as she finally deciphers the code on the scroll. "Singer of Hell? Shadow Daemon?" she mutters to herself, "Elf Witch??" Then her eyes open wider as she rereads the scroll...and the number of descriptions it contains. Looking up from the scroll, she regards Star with an icy stare.

"Perhaps we were a bit hasty in welcoming you into our party, although you were perfectly up front with us. It seems that perhaps we did not pursue our questioning of you enough, for you greeted us by saying...
Falling Star of Omens wrote:"A pleasant day to you. I am called Falling Star of Omens, or more commonly simply Star. Some small word of what has transpired here has spread. I am, as you perhaps can tell, a member of the Order Of The Challenge. The story of what has happened, and your intentions, interest me greatly. While our primary tenet is indeed that "Measure is unceasing", there is measure, and there is MEASURE. Banishing an evil power and working to restore a desecrated temple shows you oppose those who would challenge the very gods. Against such opposition, I might truly find opportunities to measure myself. . We say, "those who walk apart from you, are not you. Those who walk with you, are you". I would walk with you, and be one with you in this noble cause."
"Just exactly what do you know of our mission to "restore a desecrated temple," and where did you hear what you heard?" Tänya asks the female monk.

"I do not accuse you of anything, Falling Star of Omens. But your apparent knowledge of what we are about without ever having spoken to us before, and what I didn't read in this scroll, sits ill with me. I ask you, come clean about what and where you heard about us and I will share what I read in here," she continues.

"And what do you know of "The First Shadow?" she asks as she stares down the monk.

[Sense Motive on Star please, DM]
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