Sune's Solution (D&D/MGE)

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Nottheunmaker said:
[X] [The Gargoyles had come alive]
I find this one the most amusing.


On the update, I'm not sure what Brynhild whole thing is. I get she's trying to be the refined and elegant lady and keeps slipping out of act, but had she always been something of a bumkin and trying to act high class? Or has she recently fallen on hard times? I feel like it could be either at this point.
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She's a trainwreck of somesort...
Preventer Squall said:
Indeed so! It helps to show where he stands in terms of power when he's willing to bro it up with Mystra of all folks.

[x] [The Gargoyles had come alive]

I'm imagining them being transfers too and swooping in to kidnap husbands to take to their roost. It pleases me.
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Baeran has some backstory to the guy.
Adhoc vote count started by Erien on Sep 13, 2023 at 9:44 AM, finished with 32 posts and 25 votes.
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[X] [There was an ongoing mental fistfight between a Hakutaku and one of the Sages]

As neat as it would be to consider how the existing gargoyle statues got corrupted, or how they are moving in the daytime, this just seems the most fitting for the area.
 
Adhoc vote count started by Erien on Sep 14, 2023 at 5:59 PM, finished with 38 posts and 28 votes.
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Vote locked.
 
Dreams
  • Apocrypha

    • View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAANKFPchtA

    ---

    Commissioned by @Dragontrapper

    *An indeterminate time in the future*

    Various cultures around Toril placed heavy importance onto dreams. They believed them to be portents of the future, or methods for the gods to talk to mortals directly. You could say, at least, for the second half of that belief, that it was demonstrably true in your case. Your original call to adventure had, indeed, been a dream when you were still considered a young man. Sune calling you out to help save the world, and when you awoke, a fresh rose had been placed upon your chest.

    That had been enough for you to purchase a set of armor and set off on your first adventure, and since, you had never truly looked back. Since then, your dreams have been a place of respite or portent. You never truly had dim, terrible dreams, and when you woke you hardly remembered them. Perhaps it was simple luck, or perhaps it was simply…

    "I know you're there." You say firmly.

    The dream was pleasant enough, a lovely beach looking over a gorgeous ocean. In a world seemingly stuck in Toril's most perfect sunset. It reminded you of some islands you had visited on the Sea of Fallen stars. But then, those weren't near as tropical as this one was.
    You were also naked, that was relatively unusual. A crunch in the sand behind you caused you to look back, it was lady Sune. Naked as a newborn babe, her red hair swaying in the wind behind her. She was beautiful of course, but beauty was hardly a fit description. But you had never had such a gift of words that you could describe such a perfect being that was Lady Sune.

    She comes up to stand just beside you, and places a hand on her hip before smiling a brilliant, flawless smile. "Good evening my Paladin."

    You smile back, "good evening stranger."

    'Sune' blinks, the smile on her face fading. Then, valiantly, like a drunken brawler returning to the fight it returns. "Stranger? Do not tell me you have forgotten the visage of your goddess Baeran."

    "No, but it seems she is new to you." You reach a hand up and pat the spot just above her pelvis. "My Lady Firehair I'm afraid tends to not remove any, well, hair."

    Then you snatch her wrist and tug.

    —

    You awoke to the sound of crying a moment later. Well, to be more accurate, there was a shriek, then a cry, and now there was an odd, but weak pulling sensation. You open your eyes to see… a figure sitting on your bed just beside your body. It was a horse, a purple horse, a purple horse with a female half like Bryndhild, but she was certainly a fair bit more… fluffy. Her hair was far less kept then Brynhild's out of order and out of sorts, matted with dirt and other such things. Her clothing for the most part wasn't much better, a black robe that stopped just below her stomach, torn and frayed at the edges along with a hood that shadowed a now panicked face framed by white, almost cream-colored hair.

    At the moment she had a hand placed on your arm, trying to extricate your wrist from your grip. Her effort was made difficult by both your strength, and by the fact that the bed was sagging to one side due to the fact that a horse was laying atop it, causing her to be at a rather awkward angle.

    … Another one. "Cease." You command, it's a simple word, one syllable, and you don't use magic.

    But the iron in the tone causes her to stop regardless, her pale face paling further as she looks up at you.

    "Now then, who are you, and why are you here?"

    "I-I-I'm Morrigan… I was… uhm, I was here to… to… visit your dreams and uhm… extract… your… vitality."

    You stare at her, your groggy brain catching up slowly. Pulling her forward, you press your face against her head, ignoring the squeal that escapes the woman as you do so. She smelled of dirt and grime and… old soap, but nothing further.

    Nodding, you pull back a moment later to look at the now cherry-red creature sitting on your bed. "I take it that's a food source for you?"

    Morrigan nods timidly.

    "Does regular food suffice for the purpose?"

    Morrigan blinks, staring at me for several moments before nodding once more. "Y-yes… It's… not as effective… but I er… can eat food. Yes."

    You sigh, looking out the tent, it was still well dark, not even a trace of light in the sky. Everyone was asleep, your ears could tell that much. With your guardians patrolling about there was no need for a watch, even if those guardians had been getting… handsy lately.

    So be it.

    "Come, I'll prepare a bath for you along with breakfast. Will vegetables be fine?"

    "You… aren't going to punish me?"

    You frown. "You're starving, no." Then you release her wrist.

    Morrigan almost immediately pokes two of her fingers together, looking to the side. "Are you… maybe could you punish me afterwards?"

    … Perhaps if you used the flat of your blade you could knock yourself unconscious, then when you woke up the world would be returning to some form of normalcy? Such thoughts danced in your mind a moment, before you simply responded. "No."

    Then you exited the tent, ignoring the panting behind you.
     
  • Apocrypha
    • 1.4 - Candlekeep
  • Threadmarks

    • View: https://youtu.be/RVoNlomrzhQ?si=sVw-nZtACrdWovV0

    [There was an ongoing mental fistfight between a Hakutaku and one of the Sages]

    Thanks to @Armoury for the beta!

    I'm going to use nothing but old PC game soundtracks for this quest and nobody can stop me.

    —

    Candlekeep was an impressive… keep, even if a man was currently shaking you thus preventing you from appreciating it properly. Indeed, you had had but a few particularly amazing seconds to gaze upon the wondrous spires of the Sword Coast's library citadel, before a particularly fat man in robes had appeared within your immediate presence and started shaking you like a drunkard might abuse his coin purse after a night served in service of less than reputable desires. He was a familiar sort, the kind of wizard that spent all of his time with his nose in books instead of using his legs. The sort that used magic as a form of servant to pamper instead of serve, and lived a life of admittedly relative luxury. His rotundness was only partially hidden by the gilden blue robes he wore, hood flap flying up and down as he shouted in your face, his bald head reflecting the morning sunlight quite well at least, doing a fine job in particularly of waking you up.

    "Baeran, thank goodness you are here. We need your help!"

    This man was, by symbol on his robe, one of the keep's guards. Likely one of the types that just made sure the wards were functional or sat in a chair and tossed a magic missile at any fool bold enough to try anything particularly funny. A guard of course grabbing you and begging for your help was of course worrying, a wizard doing it however could generally be considered apocalyptic.

    You stare down at the man. "Calm yourself and remove your hands. Then, once you have finished, explain your plight."

    The man blinks slowly, then straightens himself, smoothes his robes, and puts on a dignified air. Impressively he manages to do all three in the same motion. "Right, apologies." He then raises a fist to his mouth and coughs into it. "Two days ago a woman approached the Keep requesting entrance, she was… bovine in nature a believe, possible part minotaur."

    … Yet another?

    "She failed to present any valuable scrolls, tomes, or journals for the entrance-gift, and once we refused her entry she instead pointed out several flaws within the wards…" He looks away for a moment. "That have since been fixed," he looks back, his expression now somewhat sheepish. "The guard on duty allowed her to enter… and ever since she's been making a right mess of everything!"

    "In what manner has she made a mess? The guards and sages of Candlekeep should more then be able to hold their own."

    The wide wizard frowns. "She has been challenging every professor, every scholar, every sage to a battle of wits, and she has almost effortlessly defeated all of them. The entire school is in an uproar, and more than one wizard has attempted to get into the forbidden archives to retrieve knowledge of Thay and Netheril to gain an edge."

    "So your issue, if I understand," you say slowly and clearly. "Is that the wise men of Candlekeep have been defeated in debates multiple times, and are now seeking knowledge forbidden in order to assuage their egos?"

    "They were stopped," the wizard replies. "But the entire school is about ready to throw her out, we… I fear a fight is soon to break out. She's currently arguing with one of the sages in the grand hall, with a small army of golems outside of it to prevent a riot. The initiates adore her while the masters seek her expelled or worse. Could you sort it out?"

    You frown. It sounded like, perhaps beyond being an obnoxious guest the woman had done nothing wrong. But then, you had never much liked wizards. So much power and ability to change the world, and they so every frequently sequestered themselves into their towers to never leave. You had killed plenty that had gone mad with power in the past, and ran into very few that you respected. They existed, nothing was a monolith, but they tended to leave a rather bad taste in your mouth.

    Mystra would likely attempt to smite you if she ever heard you say that…

    "Describe the woman, you stated she was bovine."

    The wizard nods his head. "About average height, black and white hair. With furry legs like a cow ending in hooves. She also had a tail and a pair of horns sticking out of her head."

    … Could be a devil you suppose, but she would bounce off the wards. You glance back to the group following just behind. Ignis was staring up at the castle, her head tilted and clearly not paying even the slightest bit of attention to the conversation. Fuyao was paying attention, but she shook her head as you looked towards her, while Brynhild was… tapping her chin actually.

    Your eyes met hers, and she moved the hand down to clasp them in front of her stomach. "I think I know what it might be, but I would have to meet her to be sure as there are multiple cow women I could think of."

    Ah, they come in multiple types, lovely.

    You sigh, turning your head back to the wizard. You were, perhaps foolishly, hoping this day would prove to be one of your more simple ones. "Lead the way." At least the wizard was too distracted to be immediately curious about your traveling companions. The last thing you needed was a crowd pestering them with questions.

    —

    You found the crowd a short while after you entered, but they had no questions for your group. Indeed, they were wholly transfixed by the building in front of them. A good forty or fifty men and woman stood outside the large glass-domed building that marked the Great Library of Candlekeep. It was an impressive structure, with a proud edifice of white stone rising several stories, twelve grand towers surrounding it, connected both to it and each other through complicated walkways, and the dome that had seemingly no metal or wood to hold it up. It was large, impressive, expensive, and had very little within it that actually interested you all that much.

    The crowd was the usual sort you would expect, ranging in age from early teens to late eighties. Each wearing different colored robes to mark their purpose and station. What was unusual was the amount of golems between them and the library itself, a mix of iron and steel sorts, twice the size of an average man and with an eighth of the personality. Each looking out over the crowd and by all appearances keeping things from getting ugly. The crowd was remarkably peaceful, and remained as such until just about the exact moment you arrived. As it was then that the doors to the library slammed open, and walking out was a female dragonborn, smoke billowing from her nostrils as she stomped down the walkway towards the crowd, white scales reflecting the sunlight as she moved.

    "Headmaster, did you wi-"

    Some poor initiate, some poor fool initiate that had not quite learned to read the room, began asking the question before the Dragonborn whirled on him. "No you damned fool, I want her out of this keep this instant, someone fetch me the golem's control ro-"

    She interrupted the initiated, you interrupted her. Placing a hand on her shoulder, the Dragonborn whips her head around to look at you, a curse on her lips and a blaze in her eyes. Both fail to amount to anything as she catches sight of you however. Her mouth opens slightly, her eyes flicking up and down your body before she takes a hesitant step back. "B-Baeran?"

    "Lilolarys," you greet in return. "Anger does not suit you, what has you so upset?"

    "It's… that damnable women, she has the gall to setup shop in our library, is rude to everyone present, then demand we leave! We are not ones to use force but I fear she may leave us no choice Baeran."

    You look from her towards the library. "She had demanded you leave the library?"

    "She states that we are using the knowledge within 'improperly'." Lilolarys hisses.

    "... Is that so," you reply. "I'll speak to her then." You turn your head back to Lilolarys. "Send your golems back to their stations."

    Lilolarys straightens. "Baeran, she has given us great insult."

    You stare at the headmaster, silent for several seconds. "I was not making a request."

    Lilolarys opens her snout, then clamps it shut and nods.

    You smile. "Thank you, I shall return shortly. The rest of you may disperse, one way or another this shall be ending. I have my own tasks to accomplish here."

    The crowd murmurs, but does nothing else as you march forward, your group following along doggedly. A glance shows Ignis grinning, Fuyao smiling slightly, and Brynhild blushing. The last one is one you choose not to think about as you make your way towards the doors and open them.

    —

    The library was… in a state you had never seen it before. Immediately upon walking inside you could tell something had changed, that was, of course, likely due to the fact that there were several thousand books sitting in the grand central chamber of the library, neatly stacked in perfect towers ranging from a measly duo to a grand dozen or more high. Scrolls were placed in neat piles, parchment was all carefully placed atop one another or separated into distinct sections by type and make. In all, it was orderly and well maintained. What was odd was that it was all, as stated, in the central chamber, instead of on the shelves where you would normally find them.

    To your right and left were rows of bookshelves before the librarian's desk, the shelves were bare, revealing old forgotten dust and dirt that resided where the books had once been. Along with discarded trinkets and forgotten quills. Everburning torches sat in sconces still, illuminating the room where the skylights above didn't, but they were, at present, the only sign of life in the building. At least they were until you passed the desk and reached the edge of the chamber itself. Then and there you saw your quarry, walking into the room carrying a stack of books.

    She was tall, not as tall as Ignis, but few you met were, with long black and white hair, split in color down the middle, running down her back to nearly reach her ankles. Said ankles however, were invisible due to the heavy white fur covering her legs. She was dressed in a style you had never seen before, a green dress of some sort, with an open side to reveal a fair amount of skin along her hips and thighs, the fur having stopped just about where the thighs began. It was green with gold edging, with a cutout for a sizable pair of breasts that almost, but not quite, rivaled Ignis once more.

    As you came to a stop she turned her head to you, revealing a twin pair of horns along with red eyes partially obscured by a pair of half-framed reading glasses. And a red tattoo or paint decoration of an eye on her forehead. She stares at you for a moment, frowning, then with a grunt sets the books down onto the ground before hoisting herself atop them like a seat, a pair of cow ears to the either side of her head flicking.

    "A Hakutaku…" Brynhild murmurs, causing you to look back at the centauress.

    She stares at the woman a moment, then notices your look and turns her attention onto you. "Uhm, an eastern creature. Very wise, they are said to know… or at least try to know everything. They seek out knowledge and look for wise husbands, or ones willing to learn."

    You nod your head and look back to the woman, then step forward once more, coming to a stop at the edge of the circular chamber, a dozen feet away from the woman. "Greetings. My name is Baeran, Paladin of Sune. Might I have the pleasure of being told your name?"

    The woman's expression doesn't change, or react to your introduction in the slightest, but she does speak in a rather heavy accent that reminds you of southern Kara-Turan but not quite. "Ming." Her eyes flick to the sword resting at your side for several seconds, then back to your face. "You don't look like good sport."

    You smile. "Perhaps not of the type you engage with, I have been informed you have been driving the scholars crazy. No small feat given their knowledge and expertise I must say."

    Ming scoffs. "They children, children! Memorizing spells to use magic, using scrolls only once, its pathetic!"

    "In any case, you have done a fine job I must say… might I ask why you are bringing all these," you gesture around with your hand. "Out into this lobby?"

    Ming rolls her eyes, tail flicking angrily behind her. "No sorting here, things all over place. Basics of magical study are mixed with cookbook, farmer's almanac was mixed in studies of history!"

    You glance back at the stacks, and… they are ordered, you note. No that you could make heads or tail for the use of half of them. "You've done a fine job, but I'm afraid they wish for you to leave. They seem to think you've been less than friendly."

    Ming hops off the stack of books, then marches over to poke a finger against your jerkin. "Why I be nice to those who hoard knowledge without sharing? Why I be nice to those who not let copies leave? Knowledge is for use, not hoarding!"

    It was true that the keepers of Candlekeep do not let tomes leave their grounds, or even copies for that matter. Once knowledge enters in a physical form, it is rarely permitted to leave, if ever. And of course, there was the deal that to enter the place to begin with you had to surrender something valuable to them, and only something they didn't have already. Regardless. "Be that as it may, they wish for you to leave and I do not want things to get violent."

    "So they dumb and can't outsmart me, so now they want to throw me out? I rather fight."

    "That would be remarkably ill-advised," you reply slowly. "Even if you bested them in a battle of wits, the wizards of Candlekeep are not ones to be trifled with, nor are their constructs."

    "You don't want me to fight?" Ming turns her nose up at you, "then best me at wits."

    You sigh, "I'm good with word and blade ma'am, I however had no formal education."

    "Then leave, I have books to sort."

    She then turns on the spot and heads back to the pile of tomes she brought. Ignoring you now completely.

    This was going… quite poorly. She wanted a battle of wits, and while you considered yourself wise you weren't what you would describe as intelligent. Of course, there was more than one way to win without just plain intelligence. There was also your companions to consider. You look back towards your group, thinking.

    Fuyao was frowning now, deeply, staring at the cow woman. She had little in the way of education either, having been peasant stock from what little she told you of her past. But she was tenacious.

    Brynhild you knew very little of, but sh-

    "I can handle it sir, if you wish." Brynhild says, interrupting your musings.

    "You believe yourself capable?" you ask.

    "I do not rightly know, but I would not be averse to making the attempt. I was educated by the finest scholars." Brynhild says, smiling.

    You nod your head and look to Ignis… who was holding a book by its cover and idly smelling it.

    Well, you suppose she could likely wrestle Ming into submission, if nothing else.

    —

    [] [Handle it yourself]
    You have no formal education, but then, you were confident at least in your wisdom, and charm, if nothing else.

    [] [Fuyao]
    Frankly you aren't sure what she could accomplish here, but she looked annoyed enough to surprise you.

    [] [Brynhild]
    If she wants to do it, she can do it, though you are curious about these 'scholars' she mentioned.

    [] [Ignis]
    You could certainly wrestle Ming out of the building yourself, but Ignis would likely enjoy the process more.

    —

    Relationship values.

    Fuyao - 8/10
    Ignis - 3/10
    Brynhild - 1/10
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] [Fuyao]
    Frankly you aren't sure what she could accomplish here, but she looked annoyed enough to surprise you.

    She is angry and needs to vent, and I approve of this!
     
    Erien said:
    "She failed to present any valuable scrolls, tomes, or journals for the entrance-gift, and once we refused her entry she instead pointed out several flaws within the wards…"
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    Heh...

    Erien said:
    "The guard on duty allowed her to enter… and ever since she's been making a right mess of everything!"
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    ...hehehe...

    Erien said:
    "She has been challenging every professor, every scholar, every sage to a battle of wits, and she has almost effortlessly defeated all of them.
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    HAHAHA

    Erien said:
    But the entire school is about ready to throw her out,
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    Scholars: "The cow is too smart! RED ALERT! RED ALERT!"

    Erien said:
    Ah, they come in multiple types, lovely.
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    Collect them all!

    Erien said:
    You were, perhaps foolishly, hoping this day would prove to be one of your more simple ones.
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    TBF, a simple day for him is probably life-altering for anyone else.

    Erien said:
    walking out was a female dragonborn
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    oh, cool - they come in local flavors as well.

    Erien said:
    "No sorting here, things all over place. Basics of magical study are mixed with cookbook, farmer's almanac was mixed in studies of history!"
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    Ming: "All of these people are morons and I find they shelving system offensive."

    [X] [Brynhild]

    In Bicorn We Trust.
     
    [X] [Handle it yourself]

    Truthfully I can't decide if Baeran or Brynhild would be a better fit. Truthfully I am picking Baeran because I think he is pretty verbose, and perhaps underestimating himself a bit.
     
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