- Location
- Germany
[X] Tom's old sword as he offered
Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
-
- Tags
- pathfinder open voting
It should be noted that while you can give the Worm a copy of the bible it would be the Bible, not a Bible. You only have one copy of it around from Zaia.
Hey guys, if the consensus is to give the sword, wouldn't it be more in character for Roland to not rely on his subordinate in such sacrificial matters and sacrifice instead of himself, if at all possible? I think he is the kind of leader who does not want to demand of his subordinates things he wouldn't do himself, if at all possible, so please consider approval voting for
[X] Roland's steel longsword
Also the breastplace is good too, the same significance with slightly less practical impact:
[X] Ronald's damaged breastplate
—
Still voting though for what I think is better in the current situation.
[X] A coin.
[X] A piece of Roland's clothing, cloak or shirt.
[X] Roland's steel longsword
Also the breastplace is good too, the same significance with slightly less practical impact:
[X] Ronald's damaged breastplate
—
Still voting though for what I think is better in the current situation.
[X] A coin.
[X] A piece of Roland's clothing, cloak or shirt.
- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Ok, I agree with @myrix that it will be in character for Roland to give his own sword. I wanted to propose it myself, but morning was busy.
[X] Roland's steel longsword
I do not see coin or piece of cloth as valuable sacrifices. As for breastplate, I hope that in time Esha (or somebody else) will manage restore it.
[X] Roland's steel longsword
I do not see coin or piece of cloth as valuable sacrifices. As for breastplate, I hope that in time Esha (or somebody else) will manage restore it.
Happened by chance upon another image which I think might help with Durendal's visualization, if not in general, as it's too short and I'm not sure about the shape, but in particular features:
@DragonParadox, if you can say, did the Great Worm say anything relevant here, or was it just trying to intimidate/insult/show who's the boss here to Esha?
@DragonParadox, if you can say, did the Great Worm say anything relevant here, or was it just trying to intimidate/insult/show who's the boss here to Esha?
@DragonParadox, editing:
For Arc 14 Post 66: A Slip of the Noose:
Fifth Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
You hear the words, but heed them not, for you know well the voice of the liar and the tempter. You charge and fire is in your hand and bright bronze and a will forged in the deep places of the earth far from here. The blow lands, but the wing is as old leather under the edge and turns wholly on iron-hard bone.
"Fool, fool!" the thing caws and hisses in not one voice but many, changing and twisting like the coils of a snake through the air. "Accursed thy..." A hiss of pain is all that escapes it as Swift Pebble continues her grizzly work upon its back. Alas that she slips on the very blood that she has spilled and tumbles down the shaft even as the spirit rises.
Too damn slow...
The bundle of blood-stained that is Swift Pebble tumbles onto the slick floor of the cave, though not with the bone-jarring blow you had feared she might take.
If anything from the timbre of her mind she is more angry than scared. "Muck-sucking, way-shitter!"
As the thing makes its way up and out of the shell of the Great Worm you hear another in your mind and he is no more well disposed than her. "Christ's limb and the Saint Marco's oar, damn thing vanished as soon as it came out of the rock, bolts in it and all!"
For her part Esha does not curse, she does not have to, the grim mien that settles over her features is more than enough to give warning: "It could be anywhere under the sea and in the sky now, they can skip on the veil of the world as a child skips stones on clear water. I had hoped it did not have that power."
"Not while it was within me," the deep voice of the Worm echoes through the mass of pale... flesh you suppose at your feet. "Regardless the second task is done."
"We scared it off then?" Wanderer scoffs. "Fawn-hearted thing."
There is no answer from your host, but in the silence that follows Esha speaks again. "I fear we have given the thing new purpose in the slaying of its companion."
"It's not dead though...." you trail off. You had been sure of that when you had seen it melt into light and flame bewildering to the eye, but now you have to admit that it had been merely a guess, a feeling.
"Oh it still exists after a fashion, but it is as likely to rejoin its companion as two grains of sand blown on the wind are likely to meet across the wide sea. The Formless are easily distracted, they take on the shape of beasts and birds, of fish and serpents, even of men of every manner that they might learn of them. Some I have heard even take on stranger shapes, a tree standing tall rooted deep, a river flowing swift, a worm of false flesh in shell of stone..."
The creature speaks and it is not in any tongue you have heard before, sharp and harsh, not with the voice of magic commanding the world, but simply the tongue of a people you have not heard before... though Esha surely has. She reels almost as if struck then, and with an uneven smile adds, "A touch, a palpable touch... but you are still what I said you are and you will not long linger here, you claimed your prize and rid yourself of your unwanted guests, so let us then have Ansefu King and be done with this charade."
"Ah so you do not think much of games do you? Then I shall make this as simple as can be, sacrifice one thing that was made of that other world of which much is whispered but little is known, of the Desert of Meaning and the Tyranny of Form. It does not have to be of great use to you, weapon or armor or keepsake, just one thing of that realm that you know you shall never see again."
For a moment silence lies black and heavy on all the company, then Tom shrugs. "It can have my old sword if it wants. Bronze cuts well enough when proper forged."
You look to Esha and to Zaia for counsel, but none of them can see anything amiss, though both are suspicious that the last trial should be the easiest.
What of your old world do you give the Great Serpent in exchange for King Ansefu?
[] Tom's old sword as he offered
[] Write in
OOC: Sorry this took so long, between the headache and being busy today it was not a good writing day.
Perhaps a missing word here after "blood-stained"? maybe "blood-stained limbs" or "blood-stained fur" or something like that?
Doubling of the phrase "tongue you have heard before" here,
And from before:
For Arc 14 Post 65: Mercurial Middle:
Fifth Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
"Watch for flying bat-lizard," the last is less a word and more a portrait of the wounded, but still very lively foe. You hope Antonio can understand, but in the midst of battle it's all you can do.
Ice crackles from Inge's hands, grazing the creature's left wing illuminated from behind by the pale moonlight of Esha's conjuring, prayer and sorcery doing together what each alone could not and sending the thing off balance. Its blood is red now, but its words ring with inhuman power: "Thinkest thou that you are wise mortal? You who raised a tower of sand upon the sands standing? Do you not see the tide, do you not see the One it brings? More kinship have you to me and mine than to the one who summoned you with trickery and baited you with the Stolen King..."
The strange spirit is more nimble in the air than its long bat wings might show, passing just over the heavy blow of Wanderer's club and taking but a pinprick from Tom's spear in passing jab. In his defense he is not used to fighting things that fly.
So it is that you are upon the creature just as it reaches the base of the rope and still it speaks even as the bear of Olweje tries to drag it down on the pale-stone body: "Why make a deal with one who would treat you as a tool, who would of the Fateless make thrall for its own ends, for its own amusement?" Though its face can show no emotion you can hear the smile in the spirit's voice. "I have no riddles, only answers to give if you would listen to them, perhaps the tide will not sweep you in if you heed me..."
"A task you have been given, a task you have accepted." Words ring out from the very floor at your feet, from the flesh of the Great Worm, if such it is to be called.
"See, see, he's using you, not a true follower of Father Chaos in the least. It's me you should be making deals with."
Even the thought of betrayal chaffs, but you cannot deny that it is a point well made. Why would the Worm give you more than crumbs and maybe whatever is left of Ansefu? This creature though is skilled in battle and strong in the powers of the soul and might be less inclined to pull the wool over your eyes.
And on the other hand... or is it back to the first one, if you were to take the side of the fleeing spirit how are you meant to get out from under the Worm's shell?
What do you reply?
[] Take this new deal, you have no time for riddles and you have sworn no oaths
[] Your word is your bond even when it is not formally made
[] Write in
OOC: This one is a short one because the creatures of chaos are more than capable of initiating negotiations when it suites them.
For Arc 14 Post 64: A Knot of Serpents:
Fifth Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
Drums on stone echo, the voice of blood in your ears, the voice of breath drawn too fast, the call of bronze striking flesh, and on your arm the shield grows not heavy but light as a feather with the call of its master. The horn echoes... and war is summoned forth in the spark of red flame and the flash of bright bronze. Strange is the 'hall' and stranger its master, but you know sure at the sight of hulking flesh and twisted metal in this place, you fight and you bleed, you win or you die.
The 'beast' roars and its voice is still that of a man, not as the raiders you have slain, as hands clasped before him Wanderer calls out to the ghosts of his grandsires and Tom speaks a prayer to Saint Michael for victory, as Zaia drinks deep of some flesh-shaping concoction and to your right Esha stands in a darkness of her own weaving, as hard as steel mail.
Light gleams off the edge of poisoned blade, not red and not the white of the mage lanterns, but all the colors flowing off the patina of arcane oils.
"For what we are about to do forgive us if we act in ignorance..." you add your own prayer, softly spoken. With only the word of the Worm that these are foes worth slaying you can but hope that you will find forgiveness if you were ill counseled.
"Now..."
The word is lost in the wet slurp as the flesh of the beast under you opens and a pair of beasts not like any mortal creatures is birthed from the depths. Scaled they are like fishes and the scales part before Tom's spear as he pierces them, horned they are like rams and one of them flies under the blade of Durendal, beaked they are like birds upon the head that grows from their backs and it snaps under Wanderer's blow. Still somehow the first of them does not die until Zaia hurls a vial of flame into its gaping maw, then in a flash of impossible flame and cacking laughing-crying-screaming... it is not.
It is not dead, something inside you proclaims, sure as sunrise, something of that sort cannot die, only be banished for a while even as arrows of light fly from Esha's fingers and glance off the hide of the other.
"All things pass into the depths, all are judged," Inge chants in the tongue of her people and the ice does fall, battering across its scaly hide, but the ice does not bite any deeper. The bear charges it and with claws of steel rips into its guts even as the monster is hurled back from the rest of your company wounded but far from bested.
Swift as an eel in murky waters the thing slips the tearing claws even with Tom shouting a warning. For a moment it almost seems like the thing is tearing itself apart, flesh ripping off bones even as they shift and crackle, but the flaps of skin become wings like a bat yet colored as the tail of a peacock even as the two heads merge into a single one, bone beak long and sharp like a sword. It takes to the air right towards the same opening you had climbed down into.
It is only then that you notice it is not taking wing quite alone. Swift Pebble had somehow jumped onto its back mid-change, cutting the shifting tendons in a shower of ichor-becoming-blood.
What do you do?
[] Write in plan
OOC: For anyone wondering Swift Pebble also contributed to the death of the first Protean but Roland can only look in so many places at once and she is by far the smallest combatant, plus it just looked cooler to have her jumping on the back of a magic pteranodon to be her interaction. She was the only one who rolled initiative before the enemy and so I had her hold it fluff wise until it was distracted, hard to get more distracted than growing wings.
Maybe "blue" instead of "white" here?
For Arc 14 Post 63: What Gnaws at Greatness:
Fifth Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
As you follow the swaying thread that still leads out of the shell, out of the grasp of the beast you realize that it is the only way out, and the only way those left aboard the Marcella can aid you. It seems a long way indeed and so resolved, if not at ease you call out: "A bargain then, we shall go through your tests."
"Oh... good, you play the game you win the prize, the stolen thief might yet be yours," the words pass not through air, but through the floor, through the body of the creature. Don't think about it. It's only when Esha gives you a worried look that you realize you must have said or at least murmured it aloud.
"How do you steal a thief, why would you steal them?" Swift Pebble asks, her mind open to all.
Much to your surprise it is Wanderer who replies, tapping his spear on the ground suspiciously. "You take them war bond against their kin behaving right. Hope this thing doesn't try to cage us."
"Oh how clever, but you must know there is more than one pair of hands in the taking, more than one ladle in the kitchen."
You steal a thief from someone else, you take a prisoner from another's hands. What prisoner could this beast have that you would be interested in. The Marcella had lost some sailors overboard, but you cannot imagine... "Ansefu, they have Ansefu king of Lirman," you send to Swift Pebble and she sends it on.
Before any others can speak, in silence or with voice the creature you seem to be... on speaks again. "For the trial of might know that there are parasites that burrow in my flesh and trouble my dreams, rid me of them and their pestiferous breath."
"Breath?" Esha's voice is like soft honey and it too burrows in the ear. "Your pardon great one, but we do not know what troubles you and so we cannot aid you."
"A pair of beast-masked ones that feast on my blood and delight in daring each other to ever more brazen acts of mischief that they might to their elders say 'behold that we have moved the old worm to snap its jaws and slash its tail.'" The great body shudders now with annoyance and not with mirth.
"We do not swim as well as you do through the dark sea," Esha is quick to reply. As the creature starts to grumble and grouse about leeches and may they choke on their heavy breath the sorceress recounts what you are likely to be dealing with, Faceless ones who chose to wear the guise of beasts, not quite fish and not quite land beast, not a frog either for they have power over the air. Her account of how you would normally fight such creatures is frank... you would not, but according to your host when it pushes them out of its body you will have a few moments of confusion when it is they who will not know where they are and then you may ambush them.
"I'll bring them up under my shell then... get ready."
How do you prepare for the fight?
[] Write in
OOC: You get a surprise round before the Naunets can act; they will be pushed out of the flesh of the Great Worm right next to you under the shell.
Maybe club instead of spear here?
Here perhaps "Faceless" should be "Formless"?
For Arc 14 Post 62: Leviathan:
Fifth Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
"Whales," you answer, recalling as you do that it is a trial of great strength among the Anwa to hunt such a beast with just such a weapon as you have found. "Sharks also..." Something shifts underfoot by some unseen current as Wanderer snaps his head back whence you had come, but even as you come near to biting your tongue you say, "And other creatures of the sea besides of which there are many."
The shaking stops as abruptly as it had started, the last swaying of the light casting strange shadows on the dark stone of the walls. Wait, the walls... You look down to see black boots on a pale surface covered in a patina that is more than water. As you open your mouth to speak again the same odd voice echoes from the far reaches of the chamber.
"Many creatures of the sea... one is much like the other then?" a thrumming pause hangs there and then a question poisonously soft. "So if I were to slay the creature you call Ripper that even now swims close, then he would be to you much as any other. Curious that he should dare to come so close when you value him so little."
"It's alive... it's all alive," you had never heard that tone in Swift Pebble's manner, as a drowning soul gasping out a desperate call.
That is when you see it... above there is stone arching in a rough-hewn dome, to your left, to your right there is stone, but below the shifting pale floor, too smooth like the underside Ripper had claimed to have seen in the silt that was alive, the body of some titanic beast in armor of pumice.
"You asked a riddle and I made my guess," you answer, your voice more steady than you had expected it to be, perhaps more steady than it aught to have been given where you stand. "If you wish to take it for an insult then I cannot stop you, save to say that I did not mean it so. If you would make threats against one who had lead faithfully and fought with honor then beware, be ye creature of flesh or spirit or dragon of the depths."
A strange gurgling sound echoes under the vault of stone... It takes you a moment to recognize it as mirth. "Three tasks I was asked to put to you: one of mind, one of might and one of will. You failed one, but should you pass through the others then you shall have that twice stolen..."
"What the hell is going on?" Antonio's voice cuts through the strange offer. "All the otter-kin are running around like their tails are on fire..."
"It's not a stone, but a beast with a shell of stone on its back." You get the dubious honor of learning five new curses in the span of an instant. "It's man-clever at least, it wants us to play a game."
The moment of frozen shock spreads like ice over a fountain pool, stilling the chatter of your company, then Esha clears her throat and primly proclaims. "Is it not thought ill done among your kind to make a riddle that only you can be the answer for?"
Again the laughter comes and then a single word: "Choose."
"Should we barge in and make bloody sheets of the fog?" Antonio asks and to be honest you are more then a little tempted and yet you recall well the other words, the talk of rewarding you in something precious is not without its own temptation.
What do you do?
[] Call out to Antonio that he needs to fight it from without as you did from within
[] Try to take the trial, as much for the curiosity as the promise of reward
OOC: You guys were surprisingly close with your guesses.
Maybe this
For Arc 14 Post 66: A Slip of the Noose:
A Slip of the Noose
Fifth Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
You hear the words, but heed them not, for you know well the voice of the liar and the tempter. You charge and fire is in your hand and bright bronze and a will forged in the deep places of the earth far from here. The blow lands, but the wing is as old leather under the edge and turns wholly on iron-hard bone.
"Fool, fool!" the thing caws and hisses in not one voice but many, changing and twisting like the coils of a snake through the air. "Accursed thy..." A hiss of pain is all that escapes it as Swift Pebble continues her grizzly work upon its back. Alas that she slips on the very blood that she has spilled and tumbles down the shaft even as the spirit rises.
Too damn slow...
The bundle of blood-stained that is Swift Pebble tumbles onto the slick floor of the cave, though not with the bone-jarring blow you had feared she might take.
If anything from the timbre of her mind she is more angry than scared. "Muck-sucking, way-shitter!"
As the thing makes its way up and out of the shell of the Great Worm you hear another in your mind and he is no more well disposed than her. "Christ's limb and the Saint Marco's oar, damn thing vanished as soon as it came out of the rock, bolts in it and all!"
For her part Esha does not curse, she does not have to, the grim mien that settles over her features is more than enough to give warning: "It could be anywhere under the sea and in the sky now, they can skip on the veil of the world as a child skips stones on clear water. I had hoped it did not have that power."
"Not while it was within me," the deep voice of the Worm echoes through the mass of pale... flesh you suppose at your feet. "Regardless the second task is done."
"We scared it off then?" Wanderer scoffs. "Fawn-hearted thing."
There is no answer from your host, but in the silence that follows Esha speaks again. "I fear we have given the thing new purpose in the slaying of its companion."
"It's not dead though...." you trail off. You had been sure of that when you had seen it melt into light and flame bewildering to the eye, but now you have to admit that it had been merely a guess, a feeling.
"Oh it still exists after a fashion, but it is as likely to rejoin its companion as two grains of sand blown on the wind are likely to meet across the wide sea. The Formless are easily distracted, they take on the shape of beasts and birds, of fish and serpents, even of men of every manner that they might learn of them. Some I have heard even take on stranger shapes, a tree standing tall rooted deep, a river flowing swift, a worm of false flesh in shell of stone..."
The creature speaks and it is not in any tongue you have heard before, sharp and harsh, not with the voice of magic commanding the world, but simply the tongue of a people you have not heard before... though Esha surely has. She reels almost as if struck then, and with an uneven smile adds, "A touch, a palpable touch... but you are still what I said you are and you will not long linger here, you claimed your prize and rid yourself of your unwanted guests, so let us then have Ansefu King and be done with this charade."
"Ah so you do not think much of games do you? Then I shall make this as simple as can be, sacrifice one thing that was made of that other world of which much is whispered but little is known, of the Desert of Meaning and the Tyranny of Form. It does not have to be of great use to you, weapon or armor or keepsake, just one thing of that realm that you know you shall never see again."
For a moment silence lies black and heavy on all the company, then Tom shrugs. "It can have my old sword if it wants. Bronze cuts well enough when proper forged."
You look to Esha and to Zaia for counsel, but none of them can see anything amiss, though both are suspicious that the last trial should be the easiest.
What of your old world do you give the Great Serpent in exchange for King Ansefu?
[] Tom's old sword as he offered
[] Write in
OOC: Sorry this took so long, between the headache and being busy today it was not a good writing day.
Perhaps a missing word here after "blood-stained"? maybe "blood-stained limbs" or "blood-stained fur" or something like that?
Doubling of the phrase "tongue you have heard before" here,
perhaps it would be better as "The creature speaks and it is sharp and harsh, not with the voice of magic commanding the world, but simply the tongue of a people you have not heard before..."?
And from before:
For Arc 14 Post 65: Mercurial Middle:
Mercurial Middle
Fifth Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
"Watch for flying bat-lizard," the last is less a word and more a portrait of the wounded, but still very lively foe. You hope Antonio can understand, but in the midst of battle it's all you can do.
Ice crackles from Inge's hands, grazing the creature's left wing illuminated from behind by the pale moonlight of Esha's conjuring, prayer and sorcery doing together what each alone could not and sending the thing off balance. Its blood is red now, but its words ring with inhuman power: "Thinkest thou that you are wise mortal? You who raised a tower of sand upon the sands standing? Do you not see the tide, do you not see the One it brings? More kinship have you to me and mine than to the one who summoned you with trickery and baited you with the Stolen King..."
The strange spirit is more nimble in the air than its long bat wings might show, passing just over the heavy blow of Wanderer's club and taking but a pinprick from Tom's spear in passing jab. In his defense he is not used to fighting things that fly.
So it is that you are upon the creature just as it reaches the base of the rope and still it speaks even as the bear of Olweje tries to drag it down on the pale-stone body: "Why make a deal with one who would treat you as a tool, who would of the Fateless make thrall for its own ends, for its own amusement?" Though its face can show no emotion you can hear the smile in the spirit's voice. "I have no riddles, only answers to give if you would listen to them, perhaps the tide will not sweep you in if you heed me..."
"A task you have been given, a task you have accepted." Words ring out from the very floor at your feet, from the flesh of the Great Worm, if such it is to be called.
"See, see, he's using you, not a true follower of Father Chaos in the least. It's me you should be making deals with."
Even the thought of betrayal chaffs, but you cannot deny that it is a point well made. Why would the Worm give you more than crumbs and maybe whatever is left of Ansefu? This creature though is skilled in battle and strong in the powers of the soul and might be less inclined to pull the wool over your eyes.
And on the other hand... or is it back to the first one, if you were to take the side of the fleeing spirit how are you meant to get out from under the Worm's shell?
What do you reply?
[] Take this new deal, you have no time for riddles and you have sworn no oaths
[] Your word is your bond even when it is not formally made
[] Write in
OOC: This one is a short one because the creatures of chaos are more than capable of initiating negotiations when it suites them.
For Arc 14 Post 64: A Knot of Serpents:
A Knot of Serpents
Fifth Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
Drums on stone echo, the voice of blood in your ears, the voice of breath drawn too fast, the call of bronze striking flesh, and on your arm the shield grows not heavy but light as a feather with the call of its master. The horn echoes... and war is summoned forth in the spark of red flame and the flash of bright bronze. Strange is the 'hall' and stranger its master, but you know sure at the sight of hulking flesh and twisted metal in this place, you fight and you bleed, you win or you die.
The 'beast' roars and its voice is still that of a man, not as the raiders you have slain, as hands clasped before him Wanderer calls out to the ghosts of his grandsires and Tom speaks a prayer to Saint Michael for victory, as Zaia drinks deep of some flesh-shaping concoction and to your right Esha stands in a darkness of her own weaving, as hard as steel mail.
Light gleams off the edge of poisoned blade, not red and not the white of the mage lanterns, but all the colors flowing off the patina of arcane oils.
"For what we are about to do forgive us if we act in ignorance..." you add your own prayer, softly spoken. With only the word of the Worm that these are foes worth slaying you can but hope that you will find forgiveness if you were ill counseled.
"Now..."
The word is lost in the wet slurp as the flesh of the beast under you opens and a pair of beasts not like any mortal creatures is birthed from the depths. Scaled they are like fishes and the scales part before Tom's spear as he pierces them, horned they are like rams and one of them flies under the blade of Durendal, beaked they are like birds upon the head that grows from their backs and it snaps under Wanderer's blow. Still somehow the first of them does not die until Zaia hurls a vial of flame into its gaping maw, then in a flash of impossible flame and cacking laughing-crying-screaming... it is not.
It is not dead, something inside you proclaims, sure as sunrise, something of that sort cannot die, only be banished for a while even as arrows of light fly from Esha's fingers and glance off the hide of the other.
"All things pass into the depths, all are judged," Inge chants in the tongue of her people and the ice does fall, battering across its scaly hide, but the ice does not bite any deeper. The bear charges it and with claws of steel rips into its guts even as the monster is hurled back from the rest of your company wounded but far from bested.
Swift as an eel in murky waters the thing slips the tearing claws even with Tom shouting a warning. For a moment it almost seems like the thing is tearing itself apart, flesh ripping off bones even as they shift and crackle, but the flaps of skin become wings like a bat yet colored as the tail of a peacock even as the two heads merge into a single one, bone beak long and sharp like a sword. It takes to the air right towards the same opening you had climbed down into.
It is only then that you notice it is not taking wing quite alone. Swift Pebble had somehow jumped onto its back mid-change, cutting the shifting tendons in a shower of ichor-becoming-blood.
What do you do?
[] Write in plan
OOC: For anyone wondering Swift Pebble also contributed to the death of the first Protean but Roland can only look in so many places at once and she is by far the smallest combatant, plus it just looked cooler to have her jumping on the back of a magic pteranodon to be her interaction. She was the only one who rolled initiative before the enemy and so I had her hold it fluff wise until it was distracted, hard to get more distracted than growing wings.
Maybe "blue" instead of "white" here?
As we've seen before, Inge's magic light is blue:
Unless of course she can control the light's hue as required.
For Arc 14 Post 63: What Gnaws at Greatness:
What Gnaws at Greatness
Fifth Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
As you follow the swaying thread that still leads out of the shell, out of the grasp of the beast you realize that it is the only way out, and the only way those left aboard the Marcella can aid you. It seems a long way indeed and so resolved, if not at ease you call out: "A bargain then, we shall go through your tests."
"Oh... good, you play the game you win the prize, the stolen thief might yet be yours," the words pass not through air, but through the floor, through the body of the creature. Don't think about it. It's only when Esha gives you a worried look that you realize you must have said or at least murmured it aloud.
"How do you steal a thief, why would you steal them?" Swift Pebble asks, her mind open to all.
Much to your surprise it is Wanderer who replies, tapping his spear on the ground suspiciously. "You take them war bond against their kin behaving right. Hope this thing doesn't try to cage us."
"Oh how clever, but you must know there is more than one pair of hands in the taking, more than one ladle in the kitchen."
You steal a thief from someone else, you take a prisoner from another's hands. What prisoner could this beast have that you would be interested in. The Marcella had lost some sailors overboard, but you cannot imagine... "Ansefu, they have Ansefu king of Lirman," you send to Swift Pebble and she sends it on.
Before any others can speak, in silence or with voice the creature you seem to be... on speaks again. "For the trial of might know that there are parasites that burrow in my flesh and trouble my dreams, rid me of them and their pestiferous breath."
"Breath?" Esha's voice is like soft honey and it too burrows in the ear. "Your pardon great one, but we do not know what troubles you and so we cannot aid you."
"A pair of beast-masked ones that feast on my blood and delight in daring each other to ever more brazen acts of mischief that they might to their elders say 'behold that we have moved the old worm to snap its jaws and slash its tail.'" The great body shudders now with annoyance and not with mirth.
"We do not swim as well as you do through the dark sea," Esha is quick to reply. As the creature starts to grumble and grouse about leeches and may they choke on their heavy breath the sorceress recounts what you are likely to be dealing with, Faceless ones who chose to wear the guise of beasts, not quite fish and not quite land beast, not a frog either for they have power over the air. Her account of how you would normally fight such creatures is frank... you would not, but according to your host when it pushes them out of its body you will have a few moments of confusion when it is they who will not know where they are and then you may ambush them.
"I'll bring them up under my shell then... get ready."
How do you prepare for the fight?
[] Write in
OOC: You get a surprise round before the Naunets can act; they will be pushed out of the flesh of the Great Worm right next to you under the shell.
Maybe club instead of spear here?
As Wanderer has his greatclub, unless of course he took both.
Here perhaps "Faceless" should be "Formless"?
It seems "Faceless" is sometimes used by you interchangeably with the "Formless", is it intended or is only the "Formless" correct?
For Arc 14 Post 62: Leviathan:
Leviathan
Fifth Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
"Whales," you answer, recalling as you do that it is a trial of great strength among the Anwa to hunt such a beast with just such a weapon as you have found. "Sharks also..." Something shifts underfoot by some unseen current as Wanderer snaps his head back whence you had come, but even as you come near to biting your tongue you say, "And other creatures of the sea besides of which there are many."
The shaking stops as abruptly as it had started, the last swaying of the light casting strange shadows on the dark stone of the walls. Wait, the walls... You look down to see black boots on a pale surface covered in a patina that is more than water. As you open your mouth to speak again the same odd voice echoes from the far reaches of the chamber.
"Many creatures of the sea... one is much like the other then?" a thrumming pause hangs there and then a question poisonously soft. "So if I were to slay the creature you call Ripper that even now swims close, then he would be to you much as any other. Curious that he should dare to come so close when you value him so little."
"It's alive... it's all alive," you had never heard that tone in Swift Pebble's manner, as a drowning soul gasping out a desperate call.
That is when you see it... above there is stone arching in a rough-hewn dome, to your left, to your right there is stone, but below the shifting pale floor, too smooth like the underside Ripper had claimed to have seen in the silt that was alive, the body of some titanic beast in armor of pumice.
"You asked a riddle and I made my guess," you answer, your voice more steady than you had expected it to be, perhaps more steady than it aught to have been given where you stand. "If you wish to take it for an insult then I cannot stop you, save to say that I did not mean it so. If you would make threats against one who had lead faithfully and fought with honor then beware, be ye creature of flesh or spirit or dragon of the depths."
A strange gurgling sound echoes under the vault of stone... It takes you a moment to recognize it as mirth. "Three tasks I was asked to put to you: one of mind, one of might and one of will. You failed one, but should you pass through the others then you shall have that twice stolen..."
"What the hell is going on?" Antonio's voice cuts through the strange offer. "All the otter-kin are running around like their tails are on fire..."
"It's not a stone, but a beast with a shell of stone on its back." You get the dubious honor of learning five new curses in the span of an instant. "It's man-clever at least, it wants us to play a game."
The moment of frozen shock spreads like ice over a fountain pool, stilling the chatter of your company, then Esha clears her throat and primly proclaims. "Is it not thought ill done among your kind to make a riddle that only you can be the answer for?"
Again the laughter comes and then a single word: "Choose."
"Should we barge in and make bloody sheets of the fog?" Antonio asks and to be honest you are more then a little tempted and yet you recall well the other words, the talk of rewarding you in something precious is not without its own temptation.
What do you do?
[] Call out to Antonio that he needs to fight it from without as you did from within
[] Try to take the trial, as much for the curiosity as the promise of reward
OOC: You guys were surprisingly close with your guesses.
Maybe this
should have Swift Pebble instead of Ripper? It was she who mentioned it:
Adding edits now
Will write soon
Will write soon
Ok... I'm going to need someone to break the tie while I deal with some background stuff to do with your level ups.
- Location
- Germany
[X] Roland's steel longsword
Ok vote closed, sword it is
Arc 14 Post 67: Royal Rebirth
Royal Rebirth
Fifth Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
You almost nod without thinking then draw instead your own sword, forged among the hills of Normandy just as he had and by the same craft, just as lacking in ornament, and you had made sure kept oiled and well cared for should something happen to Durendal. "Let them try..." The words ring in your ear as much as bronze might growl.
Tom mistakes your smile. "My lord you don't have to..."
"I wish it just the same," you cut him off, glad indeed that he is not one to argue. It would hardly be polite to imply that the one you are about to hand the sword to might have some nefarious purpose which you would rather fall on you and not him. Actually given how Tom would react to the notion that you want to take risks in his place it is doubly good that he does not think to question you as you carefully place the blade on the 'ground' that is the creature's flesh.
"Did you do something?" Antonio's mind voice has a strain to it like and unlike the stillness before battle. "Tell me you did something..."
"Yes..."
***
It is hard to blame the man given what you find once you are out of the 'rock'. The fog is already growing tattered and the spray of white that marks the passage of the great beast veils the deck for a few moments, but once it clears you are greeted with the sight of a man curled in on himself knees to his chest inside a yellowish bladder shot through with deep red veins. Apparently it 'popped right out of the sea like a sausage in a barrel'. This is no doubt the first time Zuan speaking of sausages is not well received by the crew. Still Zaia is nothing if not a curious soul and soon enough sharpened bronze taken from the lair of the mad mage Ipsit parts the skin of the... container to reveal a sputtering, shivering and naked, but still very much alive King Ansefu.
"Witch! Witch! Liar! Witch!" The first few words are not what you might have hoped, but he calms down at the sight of Inge at least enough that you can get him a cloak and usher him into a cabin.
"Hopefully his precious accommodations didn't sour him on his sister, it would be rather wasteful to return to Apuku only to start a war again," you hear Esha murmur as soon as the door is closed.
"Can hardly keep him around to scrub the deck," Antonio chuckles before shaking his head and turning to the helm to adjust the heading.
Hopefully the journey back will be enough for him to get his footing again at least enough to be presented to his people. The king is as much effigy as he is man, that much does not change no matter the world. In the meantime your thoughts turn to the battles of recent days and of all the time you had avoided battle. Between a conspiracy of dragons seeking to buy a stolen spear and a spirit of the Formless kindred now stalking the ship you have no doubt that you will need those skills again soon... and you would not turn your nose up at some luck either.
Arc Fourteen Complete
Triumphs
+Entered the Dreamlands to converse with Lina
+Survived the Storm Spirits' rage
++Rescued Ohun from the grasp of the Sea Spinner
+Made Pledge of Study [Must take at least one esoteric knowledge skill or spellcraft at the first opportunity]
++Helped preserve the city of Lirman from traitors and opportunist fey
+Prevented Ohun from abandoning his calling for the wild and the company of birds and beasts
+Rescued Ro the Fey Smith and struck a bargain with him
++Entered the realm of the fey and returned better than you had gone
+Rescued Megin 'the half-again horse'
+Defeated the thief and the dragon spawn
+Gained the name and the friendship of Mynid the Wayguard
++Rescued the lost king Ansefu of Lirman from... the Formless
Total XP gained: 4,000 XP
What have been the lessons of this war for you and yours?
[] More skills in peace and war
Cost: 0 XP
[] Wanderer has learned and grown in the battles unlike any that he has faced before (Wanderer Level Up)
-[] Write in level up (Applicable as template to all future veteran Barbarian recruits)
Cost: 1,000 XP
[] You have battled beasts and spirits, you have walked the realms of the tinker fey and faces formless spirits upon the back of their great kin, though you are no wizard you are more than a knight (Lose Martial Training feat in exchange for retraining two level of Cavalier as Warder)
Cost: 2,500 XP
[] Zaia has studied the tomes of the assasin you slew and found them filled with accounts of powers and decoctions that he might know use for his own (Level Up)
Cost: 500 XP
[] Swift Pebble's daring has been rewarded by skill in subterfuge and stealth (Level Up)
Cost: 1,000 XP
OOC: You can take as many as you want, plan voting.
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Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Wow, a lot happened in this arc. I mean I knew that, but to see it all listed out like that really makes it obvious.
@DragonParadox, two questions;
@DragonParadox, two questions;
Is this a level up for Roland?
Is there any way he could get levels in Warlord instead of Warder? Warlord fits him so much better, between the focus on Charisma rather than Warder's Intellect-focus, and the Warlord's Bannerman Archetype is perfect for Roland, like an upgraded version of Cavalier.
@DragonParadox, wrong date:
I would like to include Wanderer, irrespective of whether he decides to leave once his three seasons are up (in about 10 days IIRC) or not, through I hope he will find us good company and would stay. He earned his experience and fought good with us.
Should probably be "Fifth Day of Olweje-eza (Olweje Ascendant), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)" as in the previous update?
I would like to include Wanderer, irrespective of whether he decides to leave once his three seasons are up (in about 10 days IIRC) or not, through I hope he will find us good company and would stay. He earned his experience and fought good with us.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
DP confirmed a while ago that Wanderer would continue traveling with us when his agreed upon time was up.
Hmm, Ok that does make sense. Warlord under the same rules can exchange levels.
Default option, all 4000 XP would go to Roland, though it won't be enough for a level up. Though it would be close.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Nice!
Oh yeah, forgot about that.
That's nice. Though that actually changes my preference to Zaia, as obviously he is a magic class and +1 level for him is overall more optimal. And I assume Roland's retraining is what we want, so that would be Roland and Zaia, exactly for 4000 XP.
[X] Goldfish
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Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I really, really want Wanderer and Swift Pebble to level up, but not nearly as much as I want Zaia to level up or for Roland to become a Warlord. 4th level for Zaia is really good, getting him access to 2nd level extracts and a new Alchemist Discovery.
Swapping two Cavalier levels for Warlord levels is going to be so great for Roland. He'll be able to use multiple maneuvers instead of just Encouraging Roar and the Bannerman's Diplomat's Presence ability will be a big boost to his social skills.
I'll come up with a proposed level up for Zaia and retraining plan for Roland later this evening.
[X] You have battled beasts and spirits, you have walked the realms of the tinker fey and faces formless spirits upon the back of their great kin, though you are no wizard you are more than a knight (Lose Martial Training feat in exchange for retraining two level of Cavalier as Warder)
[X] Zaia has studied the tomes of the assasin you slew and found them filled with accounts of powers and decoctions that he might know use for his own (Level Up)
[X] Wanderer has learned and grown in the battles unlike any that he has faced before (Wanderer Level Up)
-[X] Write in level up (Applicable as template to all future veteran Barbarian recruits)
Swapping two Cavalier levels for Warlord levels is going to be so great for Roland. He'll be able to use multiple maneuvers instead of just Encouraging Roar and the Bannerman's Diplomat's Presence ability will be a big boost to his social skills.
I'll come up with a proposed level up for Zaia and retraining plan for Roland later this evening.
[X] You have battled beasts and spirits, you have walked the realms of the tinker fey and faces formless spirits upon the back of their great kin, though you are no wizard you are more than a knight (Lose Martial Training feat in exchange for retraining two level of Cavalier as Warder)
[X] Zaia has studied the tomes of the assasin you slew and found them filled with accounts of powers and decoctions that he might know use for his own (Level Up)
[X] Wanderer has learned and grown in the battles unlike any that he has faced before (Wanderer Level Up)
-[X] Write in level up (Applicable as template to all future veteran Barbarian recruits)
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DP specified plan voting as usual for end-of-arc votes, so probably should be in this form:
[] Plan Warlord Magician
-[] You have battled beasts and spirits, you have walked the realms of the tinker fey and faces formless spirits upon the back of their great kin, though you are no wizard you are more than a knight (Lose Martial Training feat in exchange for retraining two level of Cavalier as Warlord)
--...retraining
-[] Zaia has studied the tomes of the assasin you slew and found them filled with accounts of powers and decoctions that he might know use for his own (Level Up)
--...level up
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