Dragon's Egg - Act II

[Ireth]

In the Room

My mouth falls open in horror as Mauve describes what happened between her and Ankari the day she had tried to flee from the temple. For a moment I don't know what to say.

"Whatever Ankari thought or did to you, that is no one's fault but his own," I say at last. "He has attacked nearly all of us with words at one point or another. Though he is honest about what he says that he thinks, it is only a way to pry at our weaknesses. I do not know why he does that, but I am fast learning to disregard him. As should you.

"You can stand up for yourself without being aggressive. If Ankari, Rydh or anyone thinks you are weak, stand firm and show them they are wrong. But do not be quick to deal the first blow; there is a certain strength to be found in self-control. Of course, sometimes you will need to fight back, but unless it is a life-or-death matter, assertion without violence can do you good."

 

[Nihal]

Room!

"Oh. Sor—I didn't meant to cause an impression."

Why they barely cared when I tried to bring it to their attention but when I don't mean to do this, this happens? I'm such a lost cause.

I nod at him. "Technically I did not strike first. Well, except this time when I kicked the rotten casket, but I was terrified, okay?" I sigh again. "I am still trying to figure it out, all this situation. I am not the most pleasant company, I know. Maybe you should drop some hint from time to time?" I glance at him, risking a tiny smile.

"Uhm, well. I really ought to be studying this, and, you know, being more useful. Do you think I will be able to read and walk at the same time? Heh." I lower my eyes to the parchment.

Don't bring it up, don't bring it up. I bite my lip and mumble. "Something happened between him and you? Ankari. You talked about disregarding, and..."

 

[Keitsumah]

I shrug and pop two of the berries in my mouth, swallowing. Warmth crept into the area where my wound was, and i pressed my palm against it tentatively. Healed.

A small laugh escaped me when Baldart finally managed to lower Batos to the ground, and a look crossed her face when she glanced down at her tunic.

"It will come off with a little beating -wool tends to get things stuck to it more than others." I called, and Batos shook himself before padding over to me with a prim flick of his tail. I had to stifle another laugh as i realized he was trying to regain some semblance of dignity after being carried like a pup again.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Stone Door => Round Room

I do as Keit suggested and finally beat the rest of the fur from my dress, then open the door.

"Oh, Braaaaaanwennnnnnnn…!" Oh! I'm so happy to be back I forgot to keep my hand by the blade. I run, but then slow down. "Hi there, girl!"

She's very happy to see me! Poor thing… I wonder if she'll be this friendly when I tell her I killed her mother. Maybe if I live to be thirty I can say confess from my death bed.

Baldy! This is morbid even by my standards, and I deal with dead people all the time.

Sorry, Nissa!

I give Branwen a hug, then greet the adults. "Sir Cadell, Mauve." And I can't wait to see how her study time went. "Oh! Mauve… how about you try that new spell on Darin. We already discussed that he'll need to be fully healed before we move on. And Keit… you need to learn that new spell, too. The more healers, the merrier!

"That reminds me… we have 16 berries, and another 13 we can turn later."

 

[Keitsumah]

I nod, heading over towards Cadell and sitting next to him. I decide the better of going near Mauve in case she might get angry again, and simply wait for my turn with the scroll.

Batos pads around the room idly, then his eyes flick to Branwen and he wags his tail, approaching slowly so as to not startle her. Leaning forward to the utmost when he gets close, he sniffs, ears pricked forwards, and when i notice it I clap my hand over my mouth to stifle my convulsive laughter. If someone tapped him on the nose right then, i was sure he would over-balance and fall on his face.

 

[Ireth]

Baldhart arrives with the others who went berry-picking, distracting me from Mauve's question. I turn and smile at her and the others. "I agree. The more of us who can heal, the luckier we may be when trouble finds us again." There is no 'if' in these tunnels -- trouble is a certainty.

((@Keit, I think Mauve has the scroll now. ^^))

 

[Steerpike]

Aliron and Ankari

As Ankari moves closer toward the arch, the warmth of the light seems to seep away some of the fatigue from his bones. There is no mistaken the origin of the magic that permeates this room - it is life magic, the province of the elves and familiar to all of that race, whether they make use of it or not. Standing in the doorway, Aliron senses the same.

The plants growing around the arch should not exist here, yet they do, and they are as lush and full as any surface plant might be. A nagging realization rests in Ankari's mind, kept at bay only by the impossibility of what it suggests. But as he draws nearer to the arch, the truth can be held back no longer. The stone arch is carved in patterns of leaves, whorls, smooth curves, and flowing lines. Elven script is also present at various places, though the form of the language is quite old. They are place names - one at the top of the arch, one name on either side of that. The two on the sides refer to distant woods, far to the south; places that have long been home to the elves. The name on top is unfamiliar, but speaking the word would provide the name Nordrimm.

Both Ankari and Aliron are aware of the Fae Gates. They are ancient portals used by the elves to travel between their sacred groves. The secret of their creation has been lost to time, but elves in the south are known to use those gates that remain to travel between the woodlands homes of various groups. There are only a handful left.

Not since the Great War has any such gate been known outside of the deep, guarded forests of the elves. During the great war it is said that a number of such gates existed outside of the elven woods, gifts to the allies of the elves during the early days of the war, before the elves grew increasingly insular. Finding such a gate in this inhospitable northern land is so astounding that there are few who would believe the tale without evidence of their own eyes.

The room is peaceful and pleasant, and there is no sign that the reptiles have disturbed this area. There is nothing obvious here that would threaten such trespassers, but something about the place must be discomfiting enough to keep them from it.

 

[Steerpike]

The Round Room

When Baldhart returns, Branwen goes to her, smiles to reveal teeth that are something more than human or elven, and says a few words in her rough tongue. She grabs hold of her new tunic, different than what she wore when Baldhart left, and utters a few more choppy words, holding the garment out away from herself and turning to present the back of it.

Darin glances at the child, then moves past her to Mauve. "I'll consent to your magic, if you're willing to try. You've shown courage and ability in these tunnels."

His voice grows louder as he addresses the room. "I deem that a terrible fight lays before us. We've seen naught of these lizards since we entered this room. It may be that they expect us dead, but I would not count on it. The smarter vermin among them must have considered the possibility that we survived the harpies. They will be ready for us. And I feel that we are closer to discovering who leads them. That leader will be more powerful than any we have met thus far. I believe it wise that we rest and regain as much of our strength as possible before pushing on."

"However, we have lost two of our number, who have ventured further into the tunnels. They may have met the danger already. If the group decides to push onward now, without further rest, I will go as well. At full strength or not, we will give these lizards a fight. Live or die, we will acquit ourselves well."

Darin pulls his axe free and thrust the head of it against the stone, thick hands wrapped around the handle as he surveys the group.

 

[Nihal]

Room!

A heavy dragging sound. My hand fly to the spear in no time and I wait, tense as a bowstring.

"You're back." I breath again and release the spear, slowly. Glancing at Cadell, I wonder if they overheard anything of our talk. Sincerely, I hope not.

"Oh, sure. I have finished studying this one." I retrieve the right parchment and turn to the elf, without bothering to stand up. "Just do not damage it." She's keeping distance, what strikes me as amusing in the middle of all this mess. I smirk at a certain mischievous thought.

"Catch!" I throw the scroll, aiming a bit higher than someone would aim for someone catch... like her forehead.

"Oops, my bad."

((Unless someone decides to beat her, I think I can go on already regardless of the result. xD))

Darin's words fill the room, and I keep silent for some moments, thinking. "We are close, but we should wait. Ankari, Aliron, trust them. If they do not return in, let's say, one hour, we should go after them, before that we may even place them in danger if they are not yet."

I clear my throat. "Uhm, anyway... I think I should give a try on this mysterious elven enchantment, shouldn't I?" I place all the papers and my spellbook carefully over my backpack and stand up, stretching myself. Moving to Darin's side, I ask before proceeding. "May I?"

When he's ready, I touch his neck with care, my fingers barely brushing his skin. My first elven spell, that's going to be weird and hard. I focus and whisper the enchantment, attempting to use an energy foreign to my senses, something from the gods I don't know, I don't even trust, but who are somehow watching us, perhaps rooting for us.

Unsettling.

((I didn't add any modifier... it's -4, right? I don't know the spell level or anything, no clue if I succeeded, or if it's really a healing spell, and if I succeeded what should I roll.))

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

"You look like Mauve," I tell the harpy. To the real Mauve I say, "I take it the outfit I gave her was… soiled?"

Mauve attempts the spell. Huh… did she heal Darin, or the air?

((With the -4, it's a fail unless level 1. If not a fail, well… what does a barbarian know about magic?))

"At first you don't succeed, Mauve… well, at any rate, I think a rest would do us good. I'm still feeling a bit punchy. Or is it punched? Gimme an hour, I'll be fine. We move when everyone's ready. If Ankari rushed to his death, it would be quite the coincidence to save a guy with a three-hour lead. A battle only takes a minute!

"We rest. Once I'm at full strength, I'll be on watch the whole time, at least until you magic users are done studying. Does that work for everyone?"

 

[Ireth]

I lower my eyes and stay silent for a while, conflicted. I do not wish to leave Ankari or Aliron to whatever grisly fate may await them in these tunnels, but rushing in when we are unprepared ourselves will not do them any good.

I sigh. "We should rest, but not for long. Our company is divided enough as it is; I do not wish to lose any more members if it can be avoided. Rushing in now may help Ankari and Aliron, but likely not ourselves."

 

[SeverinR]

"The lizards embrace the taint. I wonder if they avoid this because it is life magic? We feel it as positive energy, maybe they feel it as negative energy."

"Elves and Dwarves together?" I gasp. "Enough to build this amazing device?"

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

"I don't mean to worry you, Sir Cadell. What I meant was if we go after them and they're scouting, being stealthy… we're more likely to put them in danger than save them from it.

"That shaman almost killed us because we rushed in behind Rydh's lead. He did not rest and had no magic to heal us. I thought it brave at the time, the way he went in, and we all followed. Our leader! I was proud of him! But… when I saw Mauve lying on the ground and I was powerless to help, I realized it was reckless. A few hours, and the druid could have joined us. Rydh's magic would have recharged. You just cast—you'll feel it come back if it hasn't already. It just takes a few hours!

"Oh, and why was I trapped by the lizard wizard? Ankari rushed ahead and I charged into the trap trying to aid him. You and Darin were focusing on me. Mauve too. I'm grateful for the way the three of you helped—you saved me!—and I'm not ignoring the fact it was my poor choice to charge knowing enemies would be in the hall. I was expecting to get pricked by a javelin or two, but had no idea what a shaman could do.

"The priestess will be more powerful, and she'll have more of the stronger troglodytes with her. Ankari needs to learn that he can't run off and expect us to follow him when we have a wounded man and a drained healer. I'm all for rushing into battle unprepared if enemies come to us, or we know one of our own needs rescuing. But to choose to go into battle unprepared is the kind of mistake we already made, and we learned the easy way."

I let that phrase sink in and look at everyone, stopping at Mauve who fell, but lived.

"The easy way is when we screw up but don't get one of our own killed. Maybe we learn the hard way next time. Or there is no next time because we don't repeat mistakes. Nissa was telling me about this—her and other Valkyrie watching small groups like ours get whittled down, one death at a time. Sometimes the deaths were avoidable. Other times, they made the right moves but the enemy was just too strong. But the lesson is that small groups like ours only succeed if we prioritize survival.

"To face our most powerful enemy yet when we're not at full strength… if almost full's not good enough, well… I'll have wings. But if I'm to get my wings by dying in battle, I want to be able to say that I tried to win. I tried to keep everyone around me alive. If I did what Ankari did—forced a choice on the rest of you to either follow me or wonder if I'll die if you don't… I'm not sure I'd deserve to be a Valkyrie if my recklessness got one of you killed."

 

[Nihal]

Room!

"You look like Mauve," I tell the harpy. To the real Mauve I say, "I take it the outfit I gave her was… soiled?"

"Peed. She got some things to learn and I do not know if I am a good teacher, I have not taught this kind of thing before." I smile awkwardly and whisper to her, "Heeelp meee!"

The elven knight speaks up, making me fall silent. Baldhart answers with what I've been thinking and more. I just blink like if I was some kind of stupid animal, too surprised by her words. She's thinking like me, sharing the same concerns I do and even fighting for them; suddenly I do not feel so alone. It's not a bad surprise, it's one which brings a faint smile to my lips, not a crooked smile nor a smirk twisting the corners of my mouth, it's the kind of... sincere, spontaneous smile. Scary.

"Oh... don't worry about me lying around, it's becoming a sort of tradition." I wave my hand as if dismissing the fact, quickly falling back to my old, safer ways. "The day is never complete if I don't end passed out or almost naked.

"Right. I agree with you, about putting them in more danger, about... everything. I could not have chosen better words to express it. I have not come here to die, I mean to go on after everything is resolved. We will not resolve a thing if we get killed for no good reason. Unfortunately th—Ankari decided to wander away on his own, and that's why I suggested Aliron search for him. From everyone here, he is the best pick to this, we must trust him. We are noisy and clumsy, he is silent, a shadow, he sees without being seen and he is really observant.

"The best we can do is trust him, do not blow their cover by accident when there is still a chance they are safe; and rest to be ready to help them with all our strength if it comes down to a fight."

 

[Ankari]

"The lizards embrace the taint. I wonder if they avoid this because it is life magic? We feel it as positive energy, maybe they feel it as negative energy."

"Elves and Dwarves together?" I gasp. "Enough to build this amazing device?"

The warmth of the sun soaks into a face too long underground. If I close my eyes, and inhale, I am transported to a serene wilderness untouched by the greed of man. The vision withers and sours. To live in a dream is to give up.

"There was an X on the outside of the door. I think the troglodytes don't fear the life magic, I think they fear crossing through this gate. Nordrimm..."

History Check: [1d20+1] = 9+1 = 10

"...I am unsure of what to expect on the other side of this Gate. If you would, get the others and tell them we have found a better resting spot. Maybe Cadelll would know more about the current status of Nordrimm. Regardless, I think it's an opportunity to resupply. Perhaps we'll even find an apothecary to buy some healing potions. I'll wait here."

I take a seat in front of the archway, in line with the entrance, so that I can look back and forth between the two. Sanctuary or not, enemies are around.

 

[Keitsumah]

At the mention of a fight, my brow furrows. Batos immediately snaps back to attention and pads over to me, sensitive to my emotions. His ears are shoved forward and his tail is out, hackles rising and a low growl rumbling in his throat. The faintest traces of a mane stand up on the back of his neck and he seems to grow in size -his half-warg blood is rising.

Even though he seems terrifying in appearance, I stroke his back slowly, eyes still focused on the scroll that Mauve had "accidentally" hit me with. Well . . . she had no right to do that anyhow, so I just had to prove myself. Prove that I could be strong despite my weak appearance.

"I will fight, Baldart. Do not expect me to stay behind when my powers would be useful elsewhere. Anyways . . . Batos will tear apart anyone who tries to stop him. He is merely a mirror to my own mind." I flick my hand in a random direction and the wolf bolts several yards way on quick, silent paws before making a hair-pin turn and whipping past me again. His long legs extend and then gather under his powerful body, tail flowing out behind him like a flag. Perfectly controlled, wild power, and it's obvious that even though i am an elf in blood and form, that I have the mind of a wolf at that moment.

Batos slows and walks in agitated circles around me, ice-blue eyes flashing. The ritual for a hunt is one we do not often do, and he is clearly excited. I scratch him under his chin and he rumbles, staring at the wall, muzzle curled to reveal a jagged set of fangs. A slight smile comes to my face and i rub his ears, making him lie down, but his mind is clearly on bloodshed.

Then i focus my mind on the scroll in my hand. We will likely wait to rest a bit more before we go, and this will help me save a life if need be.

 

[SeverinR]

"It does offer us a quick exit if overwhelmed, and would lead to a place the lizards would not be safe. I agree much better place to rest."
I move quickly back the way I came, moving as fast as I can quietly.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

"I will fight, Baldart. Do not expect me to stay behind when my powers would be useful elsewhere."

I smile at Keit. "You made it very clear to me that you'd fight. I have no doubts about you, and am glad to have you with us." I pat the wolf. "And you as well, Batos."

I recall Mauve asking for help.

"Peed. She got some things to learn and I do not know if I am a good teacher, I have not taught this kind of thing before." I smile awkwardly and whisper to her, "Heeelp meee!"

"You asked for my help, Mauve? How would you like me to…? Aw," Dammit!—but I hear a stronger word escape my mouth. "This is may be more awkward than carrying your naked body. Please make sure nobody follows us in the next room."

I take out my flask, filled with the water I swam in, which is clean enough to drink… I think. I take a sip and give some to Branwen. "Drink up, girl." I guess I'll have to tell her how to keep her dress out of the way.

Show; don't tell.

I hate that advice, Nissa.

 

[Nihal]

"Do you really need to keep reminding me of my indiscretions? Hah." I accompany them, stopping at the door and informing Baldhart in a low voice, "I tried to demonstrate her how a woman should relieve herself, but I am not sure if she grasped the meaning. I believe she will need to see it a couple of times to fully understand it, including the good habit of not doing it near where we do sleep and eat nor in the front of other people."

Crossing my arms, I rest my back against the wall and wait.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

"A B C D / E F G / H I J K / L M N O… Peeeeeeeee!" This time? Please? "Yaaaaay!"

Well, her clothes are still dry. But then, I was standing there to make sure she hiked it up.

I hold Branwen's hand as we exit, finishing the A-B-C song—which we're repeating for the fifth time.

Mauve's still at her post by the door. I tell her, "Sorry to bring that up again. I really shouldn't mention the awkward stuff. Then it becomes more awkward. I guess I'm feeling a little vulnerable right now. Y'know, I had to swim for the boat and…" I whisper, "Darin turned away like he was examining the wall, but I saw his expression." I look down. These huge thighs! "I kind of hoped the woad paint at least makes me look like a work of art, like a statue or something. Sorry. He was just being a gentleman. I shouldn't read too much into a frown.

"Same with you. You looked so serious when I came back in—just at first glance. But I know I tend to see things then assume there's more to it than there is. Maybe you just taught Branwen to pee and it was weird because Sir Cadell had to sit alone and… there I go again. Not shutting up."

I shut up for a bit. But if I'm to say something, I better spit it out before Mauve thinks I'm done talking then we both talk at the same time then are like, no, you go ahead—no you first—oh, no, I insist—then I forget what I'm talking about and so does she, so we stand in awkward silence. Or maybe I just shut up.