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[PbP] 13th Age - The Great Green Hunt
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6s: 2 Positive Crusader (Davinne), Conflicted Elf Queen (Tarynton)
5s: 1 Positive Dwarf King (Taldin)
In summation thus far; you're pursuing the Green, the oldest green dragon. Your travels led you to Old Town, a village full of now dead halfing monks (the Eastern martial artsy types). You found a tunnel, and then starting tripping balls due to something probably around the corner ahead of you.
Dread hangs heavy in the air, thick enough to taste it.
Those of you who peek around the corner see a confusing scene.
An elf, too skinny and too tall to be real, silently instructing a handful of halflings. The elf's lips move, but no sound emerges.
This must be what madness feels like.
Combat encounter ahead, not necessarily inevitable. Stats for the monsters live here.
An elf? Was it the Firstborn? There were other survivors! The last thought dominated Vesna's thoughts as she digested the scene laid out before her. It pleased her immensely that there were other halflings still alive aside from just Master Voruc. But what were they doing with the elf? Vesna began to draw Breaker from its scabbard. She had a suspicion she knew just how exactly Voruc's mind had been tampered with and she would have no more of that with whoever this elf was.
Jeyza is sure there was clearly sound coming from this room. The fact that everything is eerily silent now gives her the impression magic is being used muffle that sound.
She wonders if she and her group have been noticed.
Bastard as he may have been, his da did give him weapon training. Never point your weapon at anything you weren't intending to kill. He wasn't much for simple intentions. If he was going to kill something, he was going to kill it.
Peeking around the corner quickly, he pops back into cover and tilts his head in confusion.
"Eh... that elf... he bigger than normal? And he's... he's talkin' but no sound's comin oot. Ah doon't like this atall. Should we... go talk to et?"
He shakes his head, and that seems to clear his thoughts a bit. "I'm not sure what happened to him, but maybe it'd be best if you stayed back, Taldin. Jeyza, Eloki and I might have better luck keeping him from doing... something rash."
Tarynton looks at Jeyza as he grandly sweeps his arm towards the corner, in the gesture for Ladies First.
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I hope that's what you meant! Else this is about to get interesting!
"I am tryink to eenstruct zese young minds. If you want eenstruction, you will pay my price."
It motions to a small altar in the room, obscured from the rest of the group by the twists of the tunnel.
The altar appears to be full of fresh blood.
He tightens his grip on Brumhilda, the leather of the grip creaking and groaning slightly from the force of the stubby hands.
The halfling students grin, their eyes doughy and distant. They respond to Vesna in a disquieting unison, "oh but we like the instruction".
Speaking to the First, Tarynton says, "So, you want some blood, and you'll tell us what we want to know? Sounds fair, I suppose."
He whispers to Jeyza as he slips her a sap, "If some weird blood magic happens and I go loopy like those halflings, I'd appreciate it if you just bash me on the back of the head instead of gutting me."
Assuming no one has anything to add and the First agrees that he'll tell us what we want to know, Tarynton goes over to the altar and cuts his palm with a knive, dripping blood onto the altar.
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It slides over to its profane altar, and a slight burn coils through your veins, Tarynton.
Hearing the commotion, Taldin rounds the corner and tries to sneak in low and silent.
"Ah doon't know these folk well, but they're me companions in this quest. That's all ah need ta know." he whispers.
The cave seems to fall out from underneath each of you. There is a sensation of being pulled about by a great clawed hand.
You see the world from above, at a great height and it is beautiful.
The claw relaxes. You fall without tumbling, eyes fixed on the ever nearing ground.
As you fall the land shifts about before you. It groans and squeals as it moves. Trees snap and towers crumble.
You are above Drakkenhall. Those of you who have visited don't remember it being as ethereal, as you smash straight through a few buildings.
You smell the sewers before you see anything else.
A corpse. Gnomish. Rotted from within.
You are in the clawed hand again. You fall again. This time into a small dwarfish fort in the middle of a mountain range. Another corpse.
Another fall. A forest, with a massive graveyard in the middle. Human lands. Another corpse.
You fall again. Axis this time. The Crusader bellows from inside a high tower. A scrawny drow, and his black dragon familiar, can be seen behind. Your fall halts in mid air. An overwhelming green glow begins from on high, enveloping the tiny elf. It slowly begins to rot from the inside.
Will work on clarifying exposition.
Vesna focused on her meditation training trying to focus on something to drown out what she was seeing. Take a step back and focus...
The halflings are in a circle around the Firstborn elf. The rest of the party are splayed out on the ground, where they stood. The spell is starting to fray at the edges. The magic gives off a foul orange light and the cave smells even worse than before.
You figure you've got a few seconds (at best) before anyone else could react.
Vesna charged, resisting the urge to scream out a battle-cry as she swiftly cut down the distance between the elf and herself. Then without a moment of hesitation, she channeled the teachings of the Ochre Chrysanthemum to strike the elf with maximum efficacy.
"Frost Blights The Fields!"
You feel the blade strike through the elf's heart. You see the elf gasp slightly. Hands begin to weave reflexive defensive magic, but they fall limp almost immediately.
Through Breaker, trusty, wonderful Sapphire Breaker, you feel the elf's heart beat its last. Black blood drips down the blade.
The other halflings fall to the ground, unconscious.
"I am sorry, but you had left me no choice." Vesna stared down at the dead elf laying before her. Part of her wondered if that was just a convienient excuse for cutting the elf down instead of just merely pummeling them with her fists until they weren't able to maintain anymore spells. She knew that she had a habit of being rash, especially when it involved her people. Vesna had already broken her oath to never draw Sapphire Breaker for battle in anger and the black blood dripping down its length was proof enough.
There was going to be a lot penance that was going to need to be paid for this failure. Least of all to trusty Sapphire Breaker. "I have stained you again with my failings." Vesna spoke softly to Breaker. But that would have to wait for now though, she had the halflings and her companions to worry about. She ran over to Tarynton, who had been closest to the altar. Kneeling down, she shook him. "Oi, Pointy-Ears! Guess your plan wasn't such a good idea after all was it?"
"Yoor quicker than ye look." Taldin says as he puts a hand on Vesna's shoulder. "And none o what was happenin' here was ok. Ah wooda done the same thing, if et helps enneh," he says.
He then turns his attention back to the scene around him to better assess what is going on
He mutters, "Sorry, force of habit."
Climbing to his feet, Tarynton surveys the room before tilting his head at Vesna in slight confusion, "I don't follow. You got to gut that mockery of the First, your halfling friends seem to still be in once piece, and we've got a some ideas on where to head next. How would you characterize this as a poor outcome?"
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