Darkwood--The first shadow.....

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Vynarkus
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Post by Vynarkus »

Laurel wrote:If the halfling agrees to setting traps against the door, and the others to setting camp and mulling over options for the night, the bard turns to Vynarkus and asks, "We seem to have learned of all the magical items we found through their use in battle, except for the cloak which you have claimed. Would you care for me to sit for an hour or so, and attempt to learn more about it through my Song of Knowledge? It will take a good hour or so, but I am willing to try."
Vynarkus shrugs. "I'm fine with that. I think I already know what it does, but go ahead."
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Seven Words
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Post by Seven Words »

Collaborating, she finding or making the materials, and he constructing, the elf and halfling manage an alarm, as well as some more dangerous traps, for 4 in total, over the next two hours.

Jauron pores over his regained spellbooks, anticipating tomorrow's needs.

The Shield, insisting on anonymity as a representative of Valkhan devoid of other identity, is praying, beseeching the Merciful Shield for what he feels would be of the greatest utility upon the morrow.

Making camp through the night....spellcasters will stand no watches, non-casters watches will only be one hour.
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Laurel
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Post by Laurel »

Making her way out of the building and over to Hardy, the bard removes her bedroll and Led's satchel from the pony's saddle bags and then removes her small harp. Offering the satchel to the scribe in case he wished to journal some events of the day, she takes his leave and spreads her bedroll in the vicinity of the night's hearth and sets her harp upon it. Once done, she wanders back towards the horses, still eyeing the flaxen chestnut mare with longing.

I do wonder if anyone here will claim her, she thinks to herself, as she makes her way over to the mare who she lets smell and get to know her before looking in her mouth and stroking the rest of her body in an inquiring way...
~Close your eyes girl
Look inside girl
Let the sound take you away...
~
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Led Pighp
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Post by Led Pighp »

[ooc] Led has no plans for the evening, other than resting. Feel free to fast forward to the morning, or the next NPC initiated event. (Or other PCs may still do whatever they wish before morning. [/ooc]

"I'll take first watch, I guess. Between the capture, imprisonment, forced march, and the battle, I think most of our new friends are pretty much washed out. I'm not doing much better, but I can let them rest a little while longer."

Led takes up a spot under the tree by the armory door. He leaves the doors to the armory open so he can hear any alarms from inside, as well as keep an eye on the exterior of the camp. He's being especially careful to listen for approach.

He found it quite easy to sneak around in the grass earlier. Hopefully he can hear the grass rustling around from someone else attempting the same thing.

Those two kobolds may still be out there, after all.
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Usivius
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Post by Usivius »

Beauregard agrees with the watch situation and offers somewhere in the rotation and will take position in a nice, high tree.
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Post by Seven Words »

The night passes uneventfully.

Jauron and the Shield stand ready to assist in the attempt upon the Web Root Hall, when you feel ready to do so.

/ooc--the tunnel is 15' wide, leading up to the door--I'll not post a map for this dinky little bit, but I do have a map once inside the room...give me some positions, please. Also, Laurel's post below is chronologically BEFORE this, so no continuity flames, please.
Last edited by Seven Words on Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Laurel
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Post by Laurel »

Seeing no one approach the corral where she was making friends with the mare, Laurel heaved a deep sigh and made her way over to Vynarkus. Retrieving the cloak he said he believed had magical properties from him, she went over to her bedroll, sat facing the flames with the cloak laid gently in her lap, and gently plucked at her harp.

The Song pushed gently at her brain. It wanted to be released out into the world, as did the Cure spell yesterday. The lyrics coming to her surprised her; but if an artifact did have secrets to share, why not address it in such a way? Perhaps the inanimate state in which magical items found themselves could be likened to sleep...

Closing her eyes to concentrate, feeling the heat from the flames against her skin, the bard softly draped the cloak in the crook of an arm, plucked the harp with a glissando, and sang...
When you close your eyes
And go to sleep
And it's down to the sound
Of a heartbeat
I can hear the things
That you're dreamin' about
When you open up your heart
And the truth comes out

You tell me that you want me
You tell me that you need me
You tell me that you love me
And I know that I'm right
'Cause I hear it in the night

I hear the secrets that you keep
When you're talking in your sleep
I hear the secrets that you keep
When you're talking in your sleep

When I hold you in my arms at night
Don't you know you're sleeping in the spotlight
And all your dreams that you keep inside
You're telling me the secrets
That you just can't hide

You tell me that you want me
You tell me that you need me
You tell me that you love me
And I know that I'm right
'Cause I hear it in the night

I hear the secrets that you keep
When you're talking in your sleep
I hear the secrets that you keep
When you're talking in your sleep
I hear the secrets that you keep
When you're talking in your sleep
I hear the secrets that you keep
When you're talking in your sleep

When you close your eyes
And you fall asleep
Everything about you is a mystery

You tell me that you want me
You tell me that you need me
You tell me that you love me
And I know that I'm right
'Cause I hear it in the night

I hear the secrets that you keep
When you're talking in your sleep
I hear the secrets that you keep
When you're talking in your sleep
I hear the secrets that you keep
When you're talking in your sleep
I hear the secrets that you keep
When you're talking in your sleep
I hear the secrets that you keep
When you're talking in your sleep
I hear the secrets that you keep
When you're talking in your sleep
...
~Close your eyes girl
Look inside girl
Let the sound take you away...
~
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Seven Words
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Post by Seven Words »

OK, if no one else wants to do anything, I will skip ahead to the Hall door as I said in my previous post.
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Laurel
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Post by Laurel »

Her hands stilling themselves and her eyes slowly opening, the bard sets her harp down, stretches, then rises to bring the cloak back to Vynarkus. "I was able to convince the magic to speak to me of its secrets. The cloak's magic brings Cerana's favor in a small degree. Wear it with her blessing about you."

Handing the cloak back to Vynarkus, and being yet a bit stimulated from performing her Song, she then walks over to Led, whose Watch would have ended while she sang, and offers him a share of her rations. "Did you find any words tonight to record how bravely you fought today? What I was able to see from the rooftop...does it pain you to transform in such a way?"

After a brief conversation with the scribe, she makes her way back over to her bedroll, contemplating the morrow's discussion on if they should attempt to activate the web.

[ooc]as a ranged fighter with her shortbow, I guess I'll stay more towards the rear. however, once we go inside, if we go inside and the web is activated, spot/search/listen, any and all knowledge, especially of the planes, and any other checks I have which may apply...[/ooc]
~Close your eyes girl
Look inside girl
Let the sound take you away...
~
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Seven Words
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Post by Seven Words »

As everyone is prepared to troupe inside, one of the freed ones comes over to Jauron with something to say. "That orc answered some questions...but after a bit, he chewed his own tongue off and drowned in his own blood. Most SCourge-taken thing I've ever seen. He said something about Long Shadowed giving directions back in the DarkWood at their old home..I guess some kind of fort/village. Their shaman tried to call down the Vile Lady's wrath on them...and she didn't answer....no spells at all. From what he overheard, there's lots of places like this one...Well, I guess there's a lot more out there, but only the ones what are coming uncovered are any good for these folk. Er, getting back to things....This lot's shaman and apprentice knew what to do if that door seal ever gave out. Something about an un-song..and the Long Shadowed laughed at that word...ugly little beast actaully trembled trying to talk about that laugh, guess it scared the Light-forsaken thing."
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Led Pighp
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Post by Led Pighp »

"Wait... were the orcs afraid of what would come out of this thing? Or were they trying to open it and get something to come out of it?"

Led stops walking... perhaps causing those behind him to bump into him for stopping so suddenly.

"Are we really sure we want to go messing around with this? Maybe it's just a portal to any / all of the other ruins like this. And if so, we only need to worry about what's already freed those ruins and taken them over. But maybe it's a gateway straight to the center of the darkwood, and whatever arising power they're working for."

"But... if these Unshadowed are attacking the orcs and driving them out... cutting them off from their own gods, and that's why they're here... and now they say they had a plan to un-sing the portal if the doors opened..."

"Gah! I can't tell who's the hero and who's the villain. Is this an alliance of evil, or a greater evil rising up and crushing all the rest?"

<sigh> "I left my master and my tribe for this. I wanted to come explore the secrets and mysteries of the Darkwood. I thought it would be exciting... thought I'd get to climb around in old ruins and figure out what happened thousands of years ago from clues left in dark secret places."

"I never expected to have the possibility to face those mysteries and incur their wrath. It's easy to be impartial about wars and evils that happened in the past. Somebody did this. Good or bad, it's done. It had these results. Now I'm making the decision, and *I CAN'T TELL*. Years from now, someone will look back on this moment and declare that what we're doing now may have been the start of a great conflagration..."

Led is almost sobbing now. "What if what we're doing starts another great war? But what if what we're doing could help stop it... or at least let some survive it, if it's already started?"

"I don't know what to do..." he looks up at those around him, and leaning his back against the wall... slides to the floor. "I don't know what to do..."
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Seven Words
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Post by Seven Words »

Skyseeker walks over, slowly, and tentatively lays a reassuring hand on Led's shoulder. "The gods cannot expect perfection from us...not perfect knowledge, not perfect wisdom, not perfect choices, not perfect actions. All e can do, is the best we can with what we know, do the right as we understand it.

Un-song....that's a literal translation from my tongue...it means..ah...a song played or sung wrongly...the exact wrong note, key and so on to sound as discordant as possible."
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Led Pighp
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Post by Led Pighp »

"Would an unsong in this case... do what? Reverse it? Send whatever it was back? Would it just shut down the portal? Would it destroy it... and us?"

"Can you do an unsong?"
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Post by Seven Words »

"I could teach Laurel the original song", Skyseeker says"....her knowledge of music would let her craft an unsong. The Awakening Aria, which links in to the Web. But the only location I know the songs to is Ondolindathiel Eaie Sudho'Tinukai, The Countless Stars Amidst Earth and Water. I fear the implications of needing unsong for the Web. If we Awaken, anyone who is looking for this place would know, and could communicate....we would hear their song--or unsong-- as they changed to translocating anything or anyone to here."
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Post by Usivius »

8O Beauregard stands amazed. Suddenly they were all speaking a different language ... he knew this was way over his head, but the importance of it could not be denied. Taking a drink of water from his skin to calm himself, his tired eyes darted back and forth between the conversation...
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Laurel
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Post by Laurel »

The bard turns troubled eyes upon the elf. "I agree I may have the technical skill to craft an unsong, based upon the original. But I have a feeling it is unlike countersong. An unsong based upon The Awakening Aria would do what, exactly? Do you know, Skyseeker?"
~Close your eyes girl
Look inside girl
Let the sound take you away...
~
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Seven Words
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Post by Seven Words »

Marrik is inclined to make some attempt at this "unsong" business. "We need to gauge this threat. How dire is it, what is its nature? Sir Pval will be disinclined to any word we bear, we must have as much solid information as we can gather."

Darak dissents, "Nae, such a thing we should nae trifle wi'. In a month, I can bring three score o' me kinfolk here, at least. Aye, and tha Strongest Shield himself, nae doubt."

Jauron say, "I feel we ought leave this be. I will send word to my kinfolk" he gestures to his ears to indicate which half of his heritage he means, "and see what they wish to do."

The Shield says, "We cannot countenance some mystery hare athwart the path of unsuspecting travelers. We must learn of it, oppose it if possible, or bear word if it is too mighty for us. But we cannot simply walk away."
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Led Pighp
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Post by Led Pighp »

Led turns to Skyseeker. "What will happen if we sing the song? And what will happen if we sing the unsong?"

"What happens if we do nothing, leave this place and bring others back later, in a month or however long it takes. If these unshadowed have taken another web room in another ruin... can they use it to travel here?"

"As a servant of Serloth, I'm in favor of getting more information. But knowing something and then dying shortly afterwards does NOT increase the amount of knowledge in the world. Someone needs to live to tell the tale."
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Post by Seven Words »

Skyseeker thinks for a moment, "If the Aether Web worked as it is supposed to, singing the Awakening Aria will simply draw the strands to here...anyone else anywhere Awakened who knows the songs will be able to tell that someplace Awoke....if they were looking for here to Awaken, then they would know it. From that, if we sang the song I know, we would be taken to the Many Stars, to use the translation of the short form of the name. However, the Web was erratic and unreliable as the War wore on. Perhaps the unsongs are the key now....the unsong of awakening and unsongs of locations. The Web was crafted with the grace of the Unknowable and the Lorekeeper, and maintained by the Radiance. It would not bear the passage of great evil. Lesser, petty evils, like theft, are not what it barred. But powerful priests of dark gods, or malicious outsiders would be seared to nothing by the Light. This is, at least, how I as an adult interpret the tales told in the nursery. I think that now, if unsongs are the key....that naught of great GOOD would be suffered upon the strands." She looks significantly at Marrik at this.
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Led Pighp
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Post by Led Pighp »

Led nods.

"I assume the Shield here would also be barred from going, then. Or killed in the attempt."

"So... if we awaken it, we can then use your song to go to one place, which may tell us nothing. But we run the risk of people from any other node being able to come here. At the least, they would know that there is a here to come to."

"That means there is some risk just by awakening it. There is little potential reward in crossing, unless this Many Stars place happens to also be captured by this supposed enemy. And there is great risk to us in going there, regardless of what information we might get."

"I saw that we leave it alone for now, but that we bring a larger group here as soon as possible. This site needs to be kept protected, and may later prove to be a staging point for great works to help take back the Darkwood once and for all. But we few... we would do nothing but let the enemy know that this place is unguarded if we tried to awaken it and use it."
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