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Tales of a Treehugger

Banlaoch de na Griobhta Dearg
Briseadh
Banlaoch de na Griobhta Dearg
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Posted On: 01/12/2013 at 10:25 AM
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This is to be my write up for my character, Faraois (pronouned Fah-reese), in Khyote's Pathfinder campaign.  I will split up the writing into a post for each session we play, so length of each post will definitely vary based on what I remember and how I right it up.  ;)

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            Faraois Siuloir looked at the Nameless Inn where the party she was traveling with had decided to stop for the night.  The city of Riddleport was still another half day's travel.  Why she actually wanted to the go there was beyond her.  It was a large human city with a reputation for bandits, pirates and whatever else human's wanted where laws did not prohibit such things.  She had wound up this far, might as well go and see it.

            She decided to stay inside the inn though she could have slept just as well out in the woods.  Well, this proved an inaccurate assumption before the night was through.  It would have proven far better sleeping out in the woods.

            She woke up to the smell of smoke that was far beyond what the inn's kitchen produced.  With a quick check verifying the door did not feel exceedingly hot; she flung it open to find the hall full of smoke.  She ducked low as she stepped into the hall to find herself facing three men with all the tools to spread the fire further.  She let out a scream that would have waked the dead hoping some of the sturdier members of her traveling crew would be alerted if not awake already.

            The fight went pretty fast upstairs though she didn't hit a single one.  By the time she got downstairs first with Samantha catching up, the joke was she had merely been the distraction to the help the others who had been upstairs, as well.

            She stepped into the short hall that led into the common room where fire had already caught in places quite well.  Several more brigands, including the one they had chased down the stairs, could be seen.  It appeared that the dwarf, Edrik, and a half-orc, Bulosh, had been outside at the time.  Good the bandits were going to pay for those they had already killed and for the burning of the inn.  This evil act did not sit well with her.

            Seeing that they had them flanked she charged into the fight swinging her staff.  By the time it was over she had actually smashed one of the guys head in with a single blow as if it had been a ripe melon.  That made her rather giddy, though it didn't help her feel any better about humans and their houses.

            The last fellow was pinned outside and interrogated.  Not that he knew much.  He stammered and babbled quite well out of fear.  He could only say something about some boss named, Z, in Riddleport hired them.  Odd that they would bother with this inn at least half a day away.  Getting nothing more from the man Samantha suggested stuffing him in a big sack and Bulosh carried him.

            By mid-morning they were in Riddleport.  The city did not smell as bad as she expected.  Her gaze took in the huge arch with its ciphers, which could be seen from anywhere in the city let alone a ways out of town.  Not much was taken in before someone was trying to hand them flies for some event at a place called the Golden Goblin.  Some did not seem to like the idea because it hinted at demons and such.  She really wasn't sure what to think having never been in a large human city before, let alone the reputation that had spread about the city.

            They spent some time checking out the Golden Goblin and talking to the guards, which only helped to make the event seem all the more interesting.  The building and landscaping around the place was upscale compared to many of the other buildings she had seen in the city.  She checked the bushes out front to find them quite healthy and well cared for.

            Somewhere in this time she realized Samantha and Bulosh had disappeared along with the brigand they had carried into the city.  She did not bother to worry about what that meant.

            After checking out the Golden Goblin, which would not be open until time for the event, they headed to a nearby tavern for a drink.  There they wound up talking to a tiefling named, Lavender Lil.  She admitted having no issues being a prostitute when questioned about her profession.  She simply wanted an escort to the event so she could get there safely and she would pay the party a hundred gold.  It was agreed upon.

            About this time Samantha and Bulosh returned without the bagged brigand in tow.  Nope, she didn't want to know about that.  However, there was not much time to even think about that.  Samantha had the audacity to walk up, confront the tiefling about touching her horns, and then doing so without permission.  Lavender Lil whipped out a razor and made sure Samantha understood that she would lose a breast if she did that again.  Faraois was not going to step into the middle of that.

 



» Edited on: 2013-01-12 11:54:13

Don't mess with Mama Bear, I might hug you too tight. =D
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Banlaoch de na Griobhta Dearg
Briseadh
Banlaoch de na Griobhta Dearg
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Replied On: 01/12/2013 at 10:29 AM PST
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Before the event at the Golden Goblin could start Ona became ill and found a room to rest in until she felt better. Faraois did not believe it to be major, but Ona would spend even the next day recuperating from it. Finally they escorted Lavendar Lil to the Golden Goblin and she was let into a back room without incident. Faraois settled in near the bar sipping some not so great wine served in the place. Several games had commenced after the introduction of the event by the owner. The imp he had with him looked none too pleased about being there, but no doubt there had to be some contract that made him put up with the owner's antics. So far it had all been show and drama to spruce up his event. The owner disappeared not too long after this fanfare. She had never gambled herself, but knew it was particularly popular with humans. Riddleport was full of such places as this, though this one proved to be quite upscale. Even the floor manager and the security did not look like a lot of ragtag she had already seen upon her entry to the city the day before. Her curiosity kept her inside watching and probably sipping too much wine. Surprisingly, Bulosh disappeared first for the lavatory. An indoor deal that also put the place on a higher caliber than most human establishments she had seen. Not that her forays had even gotten her beyond villages before now. That is when all hell broke loose in the main room. Having been lost in her thoughts, the bright flash came as a peripheral observation. Turning her full attention to the main room once more, she saw about half a dozen men standing amongst the stunned clientel and the guards. One turned out to be a woman mostly hidden on the other side of the raised dais in the center of the room. The crew planned on robbing the place now that money had started flowing freely with things in full swing. At least, they thought they were. She pulled out her slingshot even as her comrades pulled their own weapons. Faraois felt the exhilaration of the fight and was not entirely sure who did what. She did hit one of the thugs and remembered a sling stone ricocheting about the room off a chandelier. She did not stop to check if the yell of fright caused by it was accompanied by injury. She and Edrik charged after the guys running out the door. One of them definitely did not make it off the property as a sling stone sunk into the back of his head. "Wow, another melon head." She felt oddly pleased by the good shot, though she had not intended the result. Edrik even gave her a look and some comment for the shot. She had no idea how he really felt and for all she knew he could just be wondering at how erratic her fighting was. Back inside the others were finishing with the remaining crew of thugs and the woman. With nothing left to do in defense of the Golden Goblin, she reclaimed her sling stones. Thankfully her wild shot had not hit a patron. The owner, Saul Vancaskerkin, reappeared thanking them for what they had done and offered them a job. There was a little discussion, but none of the party could find a reason not to take up the offer since it was only for a couple of weeks. With a job in the evenings it gave time to explore Riddleport during the day. Maybe they would find the mysterious Z. Besides the job gave them free room and board along with drinks within moderation. Saul probably pointed that out primarily to the dwarf, since Edrik seemed very interested in where the ale was stored safely. The next day they started their exploration by heading over to the Cipher Mage Lodge. It proved to be the tallest, if not largest in lot size, within the city. It had definitely been chosen to allow for the best view of the Cipher Arch and the very intricate carvings upon it. The arch had been there longer than Riddleport though it showed little sign of weathering. Even lichens and mosses refrained from marring its surface. Nothing odd radiated from it, but the structure was probably the soundest thing standing in the city, let alone Varisia, other than the mountains themselves. Not even Celwynvion had stood a test of time; a thought that made her frown. None of the Cipher Magi had learned much about the arch in the seventy-five years they had been there seriously doing so. They were just as clueless about the Blot, unnatural shadow that covered the city and increased by mere inches daily. All they knew was that they could not fly to it though they knew it radiated transmutation and evocation magic. So much for the intelligence of these magi. Faraois decided to do her own investigation. After all, this unnatural shade had to be doing something to the environs. Despite her efforts she could only determine it had naturally made the sun seeking creatures move out of the area and the sun loving plants appear weaker. No unusual blight or worry seemed to emanate from any for the flora or fauna of the area. All of this made her wonder what portent all of this could be an indicator of. Back at the Golden Goblin Faraois decided to have something to eat, preferably some fruit and nuts. Thankfully the Golden Goblin proved a worthy place having plenty of selection to her liking. Samantha decided to be rather close and even steal a kiss like she did with others. Faraois really had no idea what to think of this though it did not bother her at the time. Once it was time for work she hung out near the bar again with Edrik making jokes about drinking and the choices they had. As the night rolled on she knew she had a few too many and that was when things got interesting. Three unruly drunks came in to push a woman patron into a table disrupting the game and spilling the bets across the table. Bulosh stepped in to ask them to leave. As Faraois watched she noted that the half-orc came across pretty calm and collected. No doubt he could bash in a few heads if need be because she had seen a little of what he could do. Samantha ran up and went for the ring leader of the crew. One of his buddies unceremoniously planted her on her rump. This angered her so much she leapt up to put her rapier into his neck in an upward thrust. The fellow fell without even a chance to make a sound. Faraois moved up next to her ready now with her quarterstaff not even sure what she intended to do. Thankfully Bulosh got the remaining two drunks thrown outside. That left the dead one which Samantha had started sawing the head off of with the patrons watching wordlessly. Most of the others of their party heartily agreed to get the body and Samantha out of there, as well. Thinking everything had calmed down, it turned out that Samantha walked back in with a sack and still bloodied hands. Faraois immediately admonished to get that thing out of there and to wash her hands. She begrudgingly did so, but even Bulosh thought having the head would make a good point for other interlopers not to try. That disgusted Faraois though in this crazy city she could see their point, but word of mouth about it probably would have worked just as well. Then again in a city like Riddleport, what could one expect? It might inspire the thugs to try harder. Maybe it would get the attention of Z and they could put to rest if this Z was even worth an effort.

» Edited on: 2013-01-12 12:00:37

Don't mess with Mama Bear, I might hug you too tight. =D
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Banlaoch de na Griobhta Dearg
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Banlaoch de na Griobhta Dearg
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The next day before the Golden Goblin was to open Bulosh talked with Saul some though Faraois did not understand a word of it. At least Saul did. She finally asked Edrik if he understood any of it. He could and simply told her that they were discussing training of Saul's employees to be better equipped in the future after the party had moved on. Others of the party jumped in to the conversation even after Bulosh was done. Faraois listened, but not enough to notice much more than Samantha's skull, Smiley. Saul did not want to see it again and neither did Faraois. She could tell the dwarf did not like it either. It belonged in a grave, or in the case of messed up Riddleport, the Bone Yard. In the end she figured out Saul wanted Samantha playing guard in an out of the way spot after what she had done the night before. Someone yelled that there was a package at the door. Saul was not expecting anything and his main delivery was not due for a day or two. So the party opened it up finding the lid was barely nailed on. Three angry snakes escaped the crate causing Saul to flee entirely from the main room. Faraois did not even hesitate as she pulled on her power of wild empathy. The snakes calmed easily with her efforts. She called back to the bar, "I need some food for them. Preferably meat." The somewhat shocked tender back there setting up for the night hurriedly handed over two chickens. He apparently had no more liking of snakes than Saul did. At least he had not run away at first sight. She walked up to the snakes and they followed her outside as she started tossing them pieces of the chicken. Once the snakes were fed and lazing about the bushes, she finally went inside. She had had the thought of playing her flute for them, but decided against it. The last thing she needed was her amateur playing to hit a note wrong causing them to become angry all over again. She found the party talking with the now calmed Saul about a note they found in the bottom of the crate. It was signed by someone named Kleg, a major crime boss in the city. Saul did not want to tell them about it or get them involved. Bulosh finally convinced him that while they worked as part of his security force they were involved. The conversation led into a Lymas Smeed owing two thousand gold to Saul. This amount made Faraois whistle. Who in their right mind needed that much gold? She wasn't even sure what she would do with the money she made here, but she knew Crying Leaf could sure use it in the continued fight against the drow. That sounded like a good thing to save her money up for having no other long term investment to put it into. So it was off to the place where Lymas ran his money lending business. Obviously he could lend money out despite not paying his own bills. They were not planning to kill him, but rough him up to get the money. As usual, things started out with simply bashing in the front door that was locked and no one answered Bulosh's loud knocking. Faraois decided to make sure there was not a back door for him to escape out of because obviously people wanted Lymas' attention without an appointment. Samantha went with her to find the back door locked, as well. A lot of strange noises like that of an animal came through the door. She had no idea what kind of animal sounded like that. Their first attempts at knocking the door down were unsuccessful, but now the animal was banging on the other side angrily. A few shots from the party inside could be faintly heard over the banging and then the banging stopped. They tried kicking together and failed again. On the third attempt Samantha kicked it in and Faraois about to kick stumbled in instead. That was when she got a good look at the baboon wondering what it was. Calming it was out of the question with how angry it was. She placed a stone in her sling and let it go. She winced as it missed entirely, but fortunately did not hit any of her companions already in the room. In the mix of things her only other chance to hit the baboon came shortly after her missed shot and she charged with her staff. That did not connect either. The rest of the fight she wound up a spectator only moving to making sure Lymas did not escape. Seems he had been shooting at them from a stairway behind a wall she could not see from the back of the building. The man managed to slip himself some poison and died claiming something about Z. So here was another lead to Z that would not lead any further. They did find enough money to acquire Lymas' debt to Saul and then some. The extra money was divided between the party after they had returned to the Golden Goblin. They still had a nice set of magical studded leather armor that had not been given to a party member. Faraois knew she did not want it. Then the other sundry items he had on him including the crossbow he had been using to shoot at them. That night the only odd thing to happen while at work was about half an hour where everything metallic also gained a level of magnetic power. Even coins stuck together and metal armors seemed stiffer. Faraois could not determine anything about it and then it was simply gone. Samirtha, the magus who had been attacked by the three thugs, had now started working. Seems the Cypher Mages were not taking apprentices and she had to pay her way by working until then. Bulosh has the idea that she should learn fire suppression magic in case a fire starts at the Golden Goblin. She said she would look into it. No doubt part of why she would was due to her offer of returning the favor for helping her with the thugs. Then one morning everyone wakes up to see purple smoke apparently spewing from Faraois. She cannot see it or sense anything out of the ordinary. A detect magic determines there is a residue of transmutation and evocation magic about her. She and Edrik go to discuss this with the Cypher Mages. They are still abuzz about the magnetization that happened two nights ago. They want to keep her to see what else happens, but they relented when she stated she had to work. Even while there the magic finally dissipated completely from her. The only theory the party could come up with was that she was the only elf and the only one attuned to nature. The Cypher Mages apparently had no clue to this either. Faraois was starting to wonder if the Cypher Mages knew anything at all. Faraois and Edrik return back to the Golden Goblin to find out the next day at noon there would be a staff meeting where Bulosh would lay out his training plan. Another busy night goes by without incident and the next day the meeting went rather well. The dealers were not enthused about needing to have weapons on them at all times, but really liked the idea of having whistles to alert security with. His public announcement of Samirtha learning fire suppression spells even took the magus by surprise, though she seemed to get over his choice to present. Overall it looked like Bulosh's training plans gained approval. The meeting had just about wrapped up when someone rushed in to report that things were holding up Saul's shipment down at the docks. For some reason it did not seem to be unloading as expected. ((Oh no! A cliff hanger until next week's session.))

Don't mess with Mama Bear, I might hug you too tight. =D
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((Last two sessions as one post)) This report of an issue with the unloading of Saul's shipment led to a trip to the docks to remedy the situation. Of course, it turned into a fight. Faraois found one of the guards breathing down her neck all due to her curiosity of checking out what was unloaded thus far. In the end none of the guards survived to tell the tale, not even the one Faraois pegged with a sling bolt as he tried swimming for it. Turned out to be a very fancy wine with a price only the rich could afford. Saul was very happy to have this shipment in hand. Though the means of how they got it made Faraois wonder all the more about humans and this city of Riddleport. A couple days later Saul tells them of a meeting in the Boneyard that could be a conspiracy against him. The crew was given the night off to go check it out. With a reconnaissance crew's report from earlier in the day, they headed out close to midnight to enter the area from the west. The noise made walking through the ankle deep water and even on mucky ground should have easily alerted anything, let alone a cavalier on his horse. First thing spied were five people in a circle around a torch to give them light. On further checking it was determined none moved and they were not even talking, so the group moved a little closer. Straw men? Oh, this definitely had the smell of trap all over it. Even as they started discussing if they should go back to the Golden Goblin attackers came out of the shadows. Wererats! None of them had silver that Faraois knew of and she did not even thing to take the spell to make her sling bolts magical. She did have Shillelagh memorized, but would she get that close. Her one sling bolt did at least leave a bruise on one of them and her summoned dire rat caused only minor distraction before the end of the fight. Help had come along in the form of an elven ranger named Kwava, who had a pet falcon named Genmeed. His arrows hit well and true. Even if Bulosh had managed to orc rage one to death in a grappling assault, he had also been bitten. Not a good thing, since this could only mean disease or worse, becoming a werebeast himself. Two notes settled several questions about what was going on. Saul was on the bad side and had been using them. The trap was to take them out. It seems Saul was an ally of Z. Wonderful. So that meant a lot of what they had done for Saul could have all been a bad thing for the man's own greedy ways or even for Z. Though there was now the question of how Lymas Smeed really fit into things. Had he really owed the money to Saul or did Saul know close to the amount Lymas would have on hand? And what about Kleg and those snakes. She smirked thinking she wanted to summon a viper and see if Saul ran like a little girl from it like the ones she had calmed. Now that they knew Saul was not on the up-and-up, they spent the night out at Kwava's well concealed camp. She recognized him as a member of the Shin'Rakorath, who worked to keep the Drow underground and not known of on the surface. Of course, it seemed some of her companions already knew of drow and asked about them. Figures drow would be involved in what was going on with the Blot, but Saul and Z could be working with drow. A twist she found very disconcerting having lived far too many years in a village that was on the edge of the boundary between the Elves and Drow where her father and brother fought with the forces. The Shin'Rakorath stood watch over two known entrances to the Underdark near Riddleport. With forces stretched thin, drow could have made it out and into the city. Another aspect she had not known about the city was that there were plenty of smuggler's tunnels under the city. An easy way for drow to get in out let alone the various crime syndicates of the humans. Riddleport was appropriately named and not for the Cypher Arch that could be seen for miles. No, it was riddled with crime, deceit, and creators of the Blot. What had she walked into on this exploratory trip outside her homelands? They spent the night and in the morning figure out Bulosh did indeed contract some sort of disease from the wererat bite. Much discussion had occurred about how to proceed, but it boiled down to wanting to get to Saul before he was alerted by them being alive. If they took Bulosh to any of the churches in the city to be cured of his disease first, Saul would have a heads up. Bulosh knew he would survive to fight this day, so off to the Golden Goblin they went. As soon as they got there they knew things were not right. The guards did not look like anyone they knew despite it being the usual number of four outside the door. Knowing this was a setup they tried some talking, which led to nothing. Bulosh started taunting them that a shield wall at the foot of the steps was a bad idea. It proved to be as Shara bombed them efficiently and the crew took them down in short order. At the door, Bulosh uses brute strength and rips it right off the hinges and commences to use it like a shield and a weapon. Shifty is left holding the half-orc's weapon wondering why he had to do so even as he moved into the building's main room. Faraois boldly stepped in behind several of them to move to where Ona had started fighting one of the men. She had cast Shillelagh on her quarterstaff prior to entering the building in hopes that would help. Along with Edrik's blessing it seemed to go pretty well for her and Ona against two. The third on their side of the room ran for it through the bar and out the door there. The other three were taken out by magic thrown by Shifty and bombs thrown by Shara for the most part. It seemed the half-orc was not doing well with a door as a shield or a weapon. Ona even hollered at him to put the door down and use a real weapon in the midst of the fight. Ona and Faraois headed for the closest kitchen door instead of running after the one already long gone via the bar. Upon opening the door Ona was stabbed with a surprise attack. Squealing and snorting could be heard from somewhere further in the kitchen area. With some shifting they managed to take out the man by the door and push into the kitchen. All mayhem broke out at this point. Faraois heads for the man standing by the door leading to the hall that connected the kitchen to the bar and the outside. The squealing animal charged out of the door to the stairwell leading to the second floor to gore her in the side. She takes it in stride and keeps her eye on her chosen target. She handled things fairly well despite two of them merging on her position. The boar is thankfully distracted by one of her companions and left her alone after its initial surprise lunge. Ona's appearance by Faraois pulled the attention of the second thug on her away. Then Shara appeared in the hallway from the bar to lob a bomb right at the one in front of Faraois. In quick order both are taken down and as Faraois turned to take a look around, she noticed everyone charging into the stairwell for the upstairs. She stepped over the dead boar and another man in the bottom of the stairwell. This man she recognized by looks only as Saul's personal bodyguard. If he was here, then Saul should be. Well, then again with all the devious things going on, who really knew at this point? Someone shouted about two being up in the hall at the top of the stairs. It sounded like Ona, but she was not sure as she made her way into the mix of her companions still on the stairs. Would they truly find Saul up there or any other clues to connect him with Z? Maybe there would even be implications of their connection with those causing the Blot. ((Stay tuned as the intrepid adventurers delve into taking over the second floor and hopefully finding Saul and more clues in next week's episode.))

» Edited on: 2013-01-28 11:32:07

Don't mess with Mama Bear, I might hug you too tight. =D
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The taking of the second floor did not take long at all. Somewhere along the way Edrik seemed to have gotten lost getting to the second floor. Knowing the dwarf, he was probably checking the ale or something. Thankfully his healing was not required. Faraois used two cure light spells on Bulosh and most of that was due to damage he sustained prior to their entering the room Saul had holed himself up in. Bulosh used a crowbar to open the door to the locked room they found Saul and more of his guards in while a couple of the members verified only the two guards they subdued with ease were the only ones outside the locked room. Upon the door opening Ona rushed in attracting the attention of three guards. One could be seen through the open door in front of Saul. Sharha lobs one of her bombs at this guard followed up by one of Faraois's sling stones. Samantha gets into the room, but this is when the crew learns that Old Scratch, a wererat, is also there. Samantha is charmed prior to being able to do anything. In the ensuing madness Bulosh gets Saul grappled in front of a window near where he had been standing behind his guards. Sharha gets in to throw her last bomb which assists Ona in dispatching the last of the guards. Old Scratch also dies to the bomb damage at this time freeing Samantha from the charm he had set on her. Thankfully she had no time to react to fight her friends prior to his death. Before they can do anything else crossbow bolts from the alley break the window and successfully kill Saul. So much for keeping him alive as Bulosh wanted. Then there was the discussion of cutting off his hand. Faraois and at least one or two others wanted nothing to do with severing any limb off. Turns out that they were talking of the key that was one of his hands. For some reason no one thought to just unbuckle it and take it. They went back two days later while the body was still being prepped for burial to get it due to finding the lock it would go to. So they search the second floor further to find a secret room. Faraois sensed where it was perceiving something odd about the wall. Inside was Saul's real office with information that showed he worked with Z, Clegg Zincher, a major crime lord in Riddleport. They go in search of Larur, the Golden Goblin's manager, and find him alive, since the note implicated him as being too friendly with the crew. They also found the deed to the Golden Goblin, which Bulosh took. In Riddleport, the holder of the deed physically was the owner of the property. Faraois had no issues what they did with the place one way or the other. She let them argue for some time about it until finally it was agreed Bulosh would keep it and run it. Two days of cleaning and they think about reopening, with most of the workers willing to come back and work with Bulosh as the owner and Larur still as the manager. However, several of them suddenly notice a horrid order coming from the floor. Faraois recognizes it as troglodytes. They find that the small stage in the center of the main room can be pushed back to reveal a locked trapped door. This is when they realize they need Saul's key hand. Of course, they manage to get it without incident and open the door to make the smell nigh unbearable. So the crew decides not to open the inn that night, but instead it was time to formulate a plan of action to clean out the troglodytes. Samantha has the idea of putting oil down in the tunnel which is earth and stone beyond the ladder dropping down from the Golden Goblin. ((Stay tuned as the intrepid crew descends into the Tunnels of Stench.))

Don't mess with Mama Bear, I might hug you too tight. =D
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Replied On: 02/12/2013 at 01:02 PM PST
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It came time to check out the tunnels, but before they could fully decide on a plan there was a knocking at the door. A rather tall and very skinny man was finally let in by Bulosh. He seemed interested in the Blot, but discussion did not get far on that topic due to the more immediate issue of the stench. The new fellow proved to be some type of spell caster that went into the tunnels with them. Now it turned out that once again the dwarf had decided not to attend this outing either. He got in his ale too much even for a dwarf and that's all she wrote. He was sawing down trees in his room. No one bothered trying to wake him up upon noting the smell and the immediate determination to eradicate it. Bulosh got sick going down the first ladder and that's when everyone was reminded that he had been diseased by a wererat. The orc had never made it to a temple to resolve the issue. He went back topside to make sure everything was okay in the Golden Goblin, while the rest of the party climbed down another ladder deeper into the underground. Upon entering this first underground chamber mostly filled with water up to waist high on Ona, two wights appeared. Faraois had expected troglodytes first, but oddly their stench was not quite as bad once in this chamber despite the smell that had rose the total of thirty or forty feet up to the entrance into the Golden Goblin. Faraois missed with a sling stone and then decided to move up behind Ona in case he needed any healing. Faraois managed at least one solid hit with her staff against the wight now fighting Ona. The other had been pulled aside by Samantha. With the crews combined efforts the wights were finally dispatched. Sharha found a chest in the back of a dry nook within the chamber. She figured out the crystal wand had nine charges of levitation upon it. She gave it to Shifty knowing he could use it with greater skill than she ever could. The gold and other treasure of two rubies and a gold statue of a cat headed woman were left in the chest. Sharha managed to lug it up the ladders and Bulosh put it into the vault for safe keeping. She also got one of the extra cure light potions that Bulosh had so that Ona could use that rather than start using Faraois's few healing spells upon the first encounter. With Ona in the lead they headed into the tight and twisting tunnels. At the first fork they decided to go to the right into the wider of the two choices. Faraois noted the walls appeared to undulate causing everyone to stop. Sharha threw a bomb into the area and the splash damage caused two Darkland Sentinels to pull themselves away from the wall to retaliate. Due to the closeness of the tunnels, Faraois stayed back as the fight commenced hoping she would not need to heal anyone. Fortunately she did not have to as these were dispatched faster than the wights. Then the stench worsened warning of more Troglodytes. Ona, in the lead once again, found four of them. With much shifting it worked out that everyone could manage to get in the fight. Faraois summoned a fire beetle as an alley to go in deeper and help attack the ones Samantha managed to get to. Blows were shared by both sides with once again Sharha's well placed bombs helped out in dispatching the smelly beasts. Unfortunately Shifty seemed to be having a mixed bag of luck with his spells. Further on were more troglodytes. Faraois, now near the rear of the group, did not see how many they fought further in the tunnels. Then Ona yelled that one was running, but changed its mind to come back at him rather than face some odd thing in another chamber. The last troglodyte died quickly and then Ona moved up to attack this new thing none of them had ever seen. Someone stated they looked like dretch, but had something odd about them. Here shifty had better luck hitting with his elemental ray, but it appeared to do absolutely nothing to the beast. Ona bull rushed one after Faraois had moved up beside him. Samantha complained of being blocked from getting at the beast even as a second one popped up. Samantha decided to bull rush one and Ona then bull rushed the other. This pushed them apart within the chamber allowing the party to fill in more for ease of attack. The beasts proved hard to dispatch and Shifty knew for sure on a second elemental ray try that they could care less if he did that or not. Faraois summoned a stirge that managed to attach itself to one of the beasts causing it to commence sucking blood from it, making it weaker if it did not save against each round the stirge stayed attached. When they finally died they dissolved into bubbling, black pools of goo that reminded Faraois of tar pits. Even the ooze finally dissipated from sight. Finally, they come to yet an even larger chamber that appeared to have the foot of one end of the Cypher Arch in it. Before they could even check it out to be sure, they are attacked by black skinned elves. Faraois immediately recognizes them as drow. At first it seemed like two, but as Ona moved towards the two they could see, he was attacked by one hiding to Ona's left as the cavalier stepped into the chamber. Faraois could not keep track of everything going on, but in quick order it appeared she better get in there to heal Ona. She manages to do so only to be attacked by a fourth drow who had been around to the right where the chamber widened out further. The first globe of darkness is easily countered by Ona's daylight spell causing both to be cancelled out. Samantha yells for some light and winds up pulling out a torch herself. Faraois is fully distracted by the fourth drow on here and tries to hit him with her staff to no avail. Even though Samantha got the torch lit it is not long after that another globe of darkness decends on the group. Only good thing was that one drow had definitely died before this. Bad thing was Faraois and Samantha could see nothing at all. Thankfully several members of the party did have dark vision. Faraois finds herself lit up in faery fire and unable to disrupt it. Grumbling about stinking drow, she manages to cast Cat's Grace in order to improve her dexterity and defensive abilities hoping it will help as she cannot see a single thing. All she can go by is the sounds and hoping she can perceive imminent danger to herself. ((Cliff hanger indeed. Will the adventurer's find their way out of this or will the drow win the day? Stay tuned for the continuing saga of Second Darkness.))

Don't mess with Mama Bear, I might hug you too tight. =D
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Banlaoch de na Griobhta Dearg
Briseadh
Banlaoch de na Griobhta Dearg
  • GW2: Briseadh.7386
Replied On: 02/18/2013 at 08:47 AM PST
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Despite her Cat's Grace spell, Faraois was hit again. Despite being totally blind in the globe of darkness she manages a hit on the drow with her quarterstaff. In the darkness she hears a few more connecting hits and then suddenly Samantha's torch is lighting the area once more. The remaining drow literally runs up the steep slope of the Cypher Arch to disappear into a tunnel that is following it. None of them have any way of climbing after her, so ranged weapons are put to use. Faraois first healed herself some and then attempted a sling shot up the hole missing badly causing her stone and a stone knocked loose from the tunnel to fall back down amongst them. Malchoir's dazzling fireworks seemed to impact her and Samantha got a last shot at her by grabbing Sharha's bow to try it. Despite all the attempts the badly wounded drow still got away. At the foot of the Cypher Arch was a small table with some papers, a black metal chisel and a regular looking hammer. None had seen much adamantine, if any, but guessed it could be that. The notes showed that the drow were investigating the cypher arch, were upset about Saul being slow on is payments, and a note for Z stating to get to the Devil's Elbow after the star fell. Everything was written in elvish except for the note to Z. Faraois had no idea what the falling star meant, but her knowledge of geography knew that the Devil's Elbow was an island a short ways from Riddleport. The island posed a navigational hazard due to how hard it was to see in the night. Despite efforts to put a light house on the island, it never happened. They knew at some point they needed to get to Devil's Elbow to see what was out there. They even talked of doing it the next day if possible. A chest contained the money along with a ledger of the money's the drow had been collecting, including those from Saul. The chest was hauled up to the Golden Goblin along with one of the bodies. Faraois was not sure what to think of that, but was thankful they convinced Samantha they should just take a whole body rather than chopping off the head. Money from the chest was used to heal Bulosh. Sharha and Faraios stayed at the Golden Goblin while the others took Bulosh to a temple. She did not go looking for Edrik, but would soon find out what he was up to. She wandered outside wanting some sun after being down in the tunnels. Something just did not seem right at all. From near the inn she could see the harbor and the water level looked lower than it should have been for the time of day. She did her best to sense anything untoward in nature even as she noticed workers, like ants at this distance, scurrying to secure things down. Then she saw the towering wave further out. It seemed to hover a moment before rushing towards shore. Even as she noted this, heading for a door back inside, the Blot of darkness was gone. She could still hear the crashing of the wave into the harbor below the bluff most of the city sat on with the door closed. With one quick rush it left the harbor and lowland areas of the city in shambles. Those who had gone with Bulosh had seen all this happen, as well. They were not sure what to think of it and decided they should go to the Cypher Mages to give them the pages about what the Drow had written up about the Cypher Arch. Once there Samirtha, a magi who worked at the Golden Goblin, came up to the group to tell them she could no longer work. She had finally been accepted as an apprentice to a cypher mage. Faraios was happy for the woman, but did not say much as Samantha unveiled the drow lying over Ona's horse, Nia. Samirtha had never seen such an elf before either. Faraios backed off at this point taking a look around and was rather relieved when an elf threw an illusion on the drow so it looked like a normal elf. The cypher mage said to get rid of the body and not to show it around like they were. Somehow a verbal fight broke out between Ona and Samantha over this and other things, which Faraios bluntly ignored. She handed over the papers to the elven cypher mage once his attention was not on the arguing Samantha and Ona. She also asked about what fireball from the sky the Cypher Mages in the area were going on about. It turns out that the Blot disappeared upon the decent of the fireball from the sky and that in turn caused a massive wave to surge towards show. She mentioned that there was possibly something involved in this out on Devil's Elbow due to a note found with the pages about the Cypher Arch. She was not sure how it worked out, but after she got her information they all headed back to the Golden Goblin. Samantha had even tried to hit Ona to no avail and the tension between the two was tense. Faraios knew better than to stick a finger in that pot. There were other things to figure out. They rested up and went to the harbor the next day to see if any ship was seaworthy for a trip out to Devil's Elbow. They finally found one and Ona discussed the option of helping them fix some rigging and sails for passage to the island. They agreed to this idea. Faraois had no idea what the terms really meant, but knew they needed an upper cross beam of sorts for the main mast and sails. Thankfully the information Ona passed on to a company that could acquire these things made ordering them easy. However, it would be a week for the piece for the mast, though the sails were pretty standard and would be ready in a couple of days. They had cranked up their output as soon as they knew the wave was coming in because damage was definitely expected. A little further checking proved this ship was the most seaworthy at the time, so they knew they had to wait a week. During this week she figured out the dwarf had not gone on such a huge binge of drinking as she thought. Seems he was also checking out some brewing. A good place for a dwarf, but she did let him know he missed all the fun down under the inn. During this time she and Malchoir are invited in the evening to the Cypher Mage Lodge as a guest of Failin, the elf Faraios had talked to and given the pages to on the day the wave had rolled in. He was highly interested in what the drow could be doing though their notes said nothing more than they already knew. They had never tried adamantine on the Cypher Arch not wanting to truly damage it, but he did not want the drow doing this either. He also knew of some mages on the Devil's Elbow though he thought they would have no issues with their party showing up there. He had learned about their acquiring a ship to take them soon. He wanted them not to share anything about the Drow if they could help it, though he knew their friends would get more curious as time went on. They were to only to tell those they could fully trust not to spread the information around. After all, the elves had managed to keep knowledge hidden fairly well about the drow from other races of the surface. Only those who were trusted enough were even allowed to live amongst them in Kyonin, which was Malchoir had even been invited. She let Malchoir ask some questions about the drow having been much closer to dealing with them than he appeared to have been. Then again she had moved with her family to Crying Leaf, pretty much on the front lines of defense near the ancient city of Celwynvion, at a young age. She did state she had survived a few attacks by the Drow, but left it at that for the moment. Her own level of trust and ingrained training not to talk of Drow outside of certain places made her not even want to share all the details with Failin until she knew him better, let alone Malchoir, whom she did not know much better. Life would continue to get interesting and though she had decided not to stay away too long from home, this matter required her to head off to Devil's Elbow. Of course, how was the crew going to handle this? It appeared that Ona and Samantha were at each other's throats openly now with Ona even claiming he would not help her in anyway. Bulosh was now owner of the Golden Goblin, but in order to go on this trip he had to leave it in Lars capable hands. Hopefully Edrik would acquire some good brew to mellow things out. And she had a couple of things she realized she needed to do prior to leaving, if she had the time. ((Stay tuned to see how our intrepid adventures deal with sorting things out in Riddleport and being on their way to Devil's Elbow. BTW, I had Engwar's dwarf involved in some brewing because he actually got in game late due to doing that in real life. Sounded appropriate to throw in as further story flavor. Sounds like he has something good coming out for some summer drinking. =D ))

Don't mess with Mama Bear, I might hug you too tight. =D
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