I was absent this session, due to being sick and not sure if I was contagious, but Talna kindly send me a recording from which to write a post.
A rough looking half-orc man walks into the tavern. He shows signs of fighting, and seems weary and bereft in demeanor. Maximiliano approaches him.
"You look in rough shape," the goblin says.
"Yeah, I've had a hard time of it. All my friends are dead, and I barely escaped with my life. By the gods I could use a drink."
"I have wine, would you like some?" Max offers.
"Yes, please," the man says, flipping a gold coin to the goblin in exchange for the wineskin. The man quaffs it down. "My thanks, what is your name?"
"I am Maximiliano de Forza II," Max says.
"I am Cassian," the man replies. "You can call me Cass. Excuse me." Cass turns to the orc at the bar. "Barkeep, do you have rooms here?"
"You can sleep with me!" Max suggests.
"We have one room left," the bartender replies.
"How much for that room?" Cass asks, ignoring Max. "Actually, I don't know how long I'll be staying, here." Class gives the bartender another gold coin.
-------------------------
During the night, Few, Cass, Max and Talna found themselves having the same nightmare. The dreams were repeated images of the group fighting beholders, ending in the adventurer's death by various means. The nightmares are particularly vivid for Max, who wakes in a cold sweat. The goblin's poor rest leaves him ill prepared for the day.
Elle on the other hand has very nice dreams featuring the orc bartender. Elle, Talna and Sadun are woken by a scream and a thump on the wall, as Max launches himself from the bed on waking directly into the wall. Talna slams her head back on her pillow and tries to get more sleep.
Elle walks out of the room to explore, opening the door to Max's room, and sees the goblin flailing on the floor, clearly off balance from his missing arm. A door slams behind Elle, and she turns to see a naked Cass holding his warhammer and shouting "Can't a being get some sleep around here? What are you looking at?" The last is said to Elle, who is staring.
"You," Elle responds.
"I just need to get some sleep," Cass grumbles.
"Can I sleep with you?" Elle inquires innocently. Cass just walks back into his room.
Elle returns to the room she shares with Talna and Sadun.
-----------------------
Dawn breaks over the forest outside of town. Few groggily wakes with it, Balazar slumbering in arms that had been serpent coils the night before.
"I should not drink that ever again," Fei thinks, heaving Balazar to the side. The druid sits up and begins to meditate, before heading back to town, thinking about something she wants to discuss with the group. Balazar follows along, wiping sleep from his eyes..
----------------------
Inside, Talna finally wakes up to the sound of Elle mumbling "he was beautiful…"
"Are you OK?" Talna asks Elle.
"I had a dream, and it became reality!" Elle says dreamily.
Talna checks Elle's vital signs, but is unable to determine what is wrong with the gnome.
-------------------
Cass wanders down to the bar, half dressed. "Can I have a drink?" he asks the bartender.
"Do you have a tab?" the bartender asks.
"I gave you a gold last night."
The bartender glares at Cass a moment, then pulls out five mugs and fills them. "That covers your gold," the bartender says.
Cass gathers drinks the mugs one after another before heading back to his room to get dressed. As he drinks, Talna and Elle come down to the bar. Elle begins breathing harder, and Talna gives the gnome a look.
As Cass walks to his room, Max darts in front of him. "Hey big guy, hey, Cass, right?"
"Uh, Max, was it?"
"Yeah, you look like an intimidating guy, how would you like to help me out a bit?"
"The last people who had my help all died. I don't think you want that." With that, Cass walks past Max and disappears into his room to dress.
"Wait!" Max calls, "I'm pretty skilled, I just need someone to watch my back!"
"My entire party died, it's all my fault. If I were stronger… If I were more than just these muscles!" Cass's voice calls.
"I was abandoned by an entire crew of a pirate ship, you think I care about what you lost?" Max says. "They stole from me and I try to get it back. Do you want to help me or not?"
"We'll see."
----------------------
Balazar and Fei arrive back in the town, and Balazar heads immediately for the bar and begins ordering drinks. Fei sees Talna and Elle at the bar, Talna eating while Elle ogles the bartender.
"What are you looking at?" Fei asks Elle as she approaches.
"She's looking at the orc," Talna replies without looking up from her food. "She finds him very attractive."
"Well good luck fulfilling your carnal desires," Fei says to Elle.
"Yeah," Elle replies. Talna shakes her head.
"I was hoping to get your group together to discuss something," Fei says, turning to Talna.
Talna glances at Balazar, already getting drunk at the bar. "Well he's a lost cause, and the planar transit seems to have sapped Sadun, she might not be much use today."
Max comes down the stairs as Talna speaks. Max walks up to Talna, Fei and Elle, then turns at the sound of Cass, fully dressed, descending the stairs. "Cass! Over here!" Max calls out. Turning to the rest the goblin explains "This is my new bodyguard."
"You hired a bodyguard," Talna says drolly.
"Shh!" Max hushes. "Not so loud!"
Cass walks to the group. "If you want me to guard you, you'll need to give me some money." He pulls his warhammer from his belt and rests it on his shoulder. "This costs."
"How about wine?" Max says. "Besides, where I'm going there will be plenty of money!"
"In your dreams," Cass says. "And who are you all?"
"I'm Elle!" Elle shouts. "I mean, I'm Elle," she says again, more calmly. "Nice to meet you." She smiles winningly at Cass. Talna groans.
"I've never seen her smile," Max says absently.
"Talna," Talna says, guardedly.
"I don't remember this half-orc in the group," Fei says.
"This is the first time I've seen him," Talna says.
"He can be in the group if he wants to," Elle says.
"You're just saying that because you're interested…" Talna begins, only to be shushed by Elle.
"I came in last night. The party I was with were killed. If I were stronger maybe they wold have lived," Cass says.
"Why were they killed?" Talna asks.
"Beholders," Cass says simply. "Lots of them. We managed to take a few down, but it was no use, they overwhelmed us."
"I killed a beholder!" Elle says, pushing Max out of the way.
"Elle!" Talna exclaims.
"Impressive, little one," Cass says. "So you are familiar with these… creatures?"
"Yeah, especially these two," Elle says, indicating Talna and Max.
"Why do you think I need a bodyguard?" Max says sullenly.
"Are you hunting for more of them?" Cass asks, sounding interested.
"We could use a… tough guy like you." Elle says.
"Well, I am tough. If you don't mind, I would like to tag along with you. I would like to avenge my friends."
"I don't have to pay him?" Max says to himself.
"You haven't introduced yourself yet," Talna points out.
"My name is Cassian Caldors," Cass says. "You can call me Cass."
"Were you sent here?" Fei asks.
"I was teleported here with my friends," Cass explains.
"They were like you," Fei says, looking at Talna.
"I guess we were the backups," Max says.
"Everyone here has the same goal?" Fei asks. "I assume you would like to return to your home?"
"Yes, I have things to do," Talna says.
"Normally my duties lie elsewhere, but ultimately my interests are to rid my world of the beholders. Would you allow me to accompany you as well?" Fei asks.
"Can we keep both of them?" Elle asks.
Fei notices the rabbit folk from the night before staring at her. The rabbit has been staring at her since she arrived, she realizes. She considers that she hasn't seen rabbit folk much since the beholder invasion, as the rabbit folk were one of the first races to be exterminated.
The orc bartender approaches. "I overheard your conversation. Sounds like you are the new heroes?"
"Would you give us a discount if we are?" Max asks.
"No," the bartender says, at the same time Talna slaps the goblin. "I'll get this out of the way," the bartender continues, and hands Talna a piece of paper. The bartender recites in a dull monotone:
Hello Adventurers. Hopefully you can save our village. Our town. Our world. Only once you kill the beholders will the Old Ones be able to reclaim their land. Hopefully you get the job done. Yada yada yada.
"How many times have you given this speech?" Elle asks.
"Four times have hopeful adventurers began their quests here," he replies. "So there it is, best of luck to you."
"How old are you?" Talna asks.
"I am twenty."
"Oh dear, that's a lot of groups in a short amount of time…"
"When one party dies a sort of psychic waves hits everyone in town, knowing that the champions have failed again. One happened about two weeks ago."
"Yeah, I don't expect you all to live long," Fei adds.
Max looks down, feeling his head start to throb.
"What's your name?" Talna asks the bartender.
"My name is Barten. Anyway, good luck," the bartender says, and returns to the bar. The rest of the tavern also stops staring and returns to their meals.
"Well, we'd better get some equipment," Talna says. The bartender points her towards the general store on the other side of the room. The adventurers spend some time shopping.
As the adventurers leave the tavern, the rabbit folk approaches them, angling in on Fei directly. "So, are you part of the order?" She asks Fei.
"The order?" Fei asks.
"Yes, that mask you wear, the druids."
"Which circle are you talking about?"
"I know your gang. Just one thing, stay away from my sister."
"I don't now your sister," Fei says, befuddled.
"I know you don't. That's the point. If you see her, you will know her. Leave her alone. She doesn't want to be mixed up with your kind, your druids. She doesn't want to be a part of the circle. Let us do our own thing and kill the beholders ourselves."
"Who are you allied with?" Fei asks.
"I am allied with my race, a race that largely doesn't exist anymore," the rabbit responds. "I am here to do one thing, and one thing only. Kill the beholders that destroyed my family and my race."
"Do you believe the remaining rabbits have the power to kill the beholders?" Fei asks.
"Well, the champions aren't doing anything, and your druids are taking their time as well," the rabbit responds. "We shall have to do it ourselves. Just leave my sister alone."
"I have no intention of bothering your sister," Fei says guardedly.
"OK, I just don't trust the circle you are a part of."
"We just care about preserving the forest, what happens to everyone else is none of our concern," Fei explains.
"Exactly," the rabbit says, and turns to walk away. After a step however, she turns back, looking at Cass. "You seem familiar," she says. "Were you one of the last group of champions?"
"Yes," Cass says.
"So you are a survivor."
"The only one."
The rabbit rummages in her pack, and pulls out two letters. One addressed to Poppy, and one to Kari. "If you ever see others of my kind, ask their names. If you meet these two, please give them these letters." She glances at the rest of the group briefly. "Good luck, I hope you are better than the last lot." With that, the rabbit leaves the tavern.
"Well, what should we do now?" Talna asks, as the rabbit departs.
"I have a proposition," Fei says. "There are various magic items that could be used to fight the beholders, items meant to combat their abilities. If you intend to track the beholders and survive, it may behoove us to find these items."
"Yeah, there's some wizards a couple towns over," Max adds.
"How do you know about wizards?" Talna asks.
"I ask the right questions," Max says defensively.
"I don't trust the goblin," Elle says.
"The bartender told me about them," Max says.
"I trust him," Elle says.
"If there are things that help us kill those creatures, we should go get them," Cass says with conviction.
"Do you know where these items are?" Talna asks.
"I do not, but it would be a good idea to start with the wizards, or at the next full moon I can trade information with my circle," Fei says.
"Why the full moon?" Elle asks.
"I belong to the Circle of the Moon. Our druids meet at the full moon."
"Where are the wizards?" Talna asks the bartender.
"To the west," he says. "Past the three towns, just follow the road."
And with that, the adventurers set out.
---------------------------------
The group is about two miles away from town when they hear the ringing of the town's alarm bell.
"They might be under attack, we should turn back," Talna says.
"By the time we reached them it would be too late," Fei says.
"But we could help the survivors, or prevent more death," Talna says.
"I want to check in on Barten," Elle says.
"If they die maybe we can get some armor from the back room for free!" Max says.
"The more I get to know you, the less I like you," Cass observes.
The group turns around. As they start walking towards town, Max's head begins to throb even more, and he knows with sudden and utter certainty that there are beholders attacking the town.
"I still advise we not return," Fei points out as they walk.
"Me too!" Max shouts.
"Why did you change your mind all of a sudden?" Talna asks.
"No reason!" Max says. "I mean, they don't seem to care about us champions, right?"
"But maybe we should change that opinion!" Talna protests. "Do you think leaving them to die will help give them a better opinion of us?"
"We can't save them until we see the wizards though!" Max says.
Elle begins running back towards town, but Talna overtakes her, riding on Biscuit the horse. Talna lifts Elle up behind her, and they rush back to town. Cass follows at a run.
"Well, once they die, new heroes will come," Fei says resignedly.
"Yeah, let's go with that!" Max says, taking a swig of his wine.
Reaching the town, Talna and Elle dismount from biscuit, and Talna sends Biscuit back towards the rest of the party. Everything in the town appears pristine, no attack is apparent. The bell continues to ring. Elle, looking up, sees tentacles flying above the buildings. They seem to be looking for something. One turns a corner, sees the pair of them, and moves on. They don't seem to destroy anything, merely search. Talna and Elle move carefully behind the tentacle, trying to hide. Coming upon an open area of the town, the pair see that the tentacle is actually an orange colored version of the dead beholder they had fought the day before, but with several eyes surrounding its large central eye. The beholder turns straight to the road, and heads directly west.
"Hells, it's going for Maximiliano," Talna says.
"Oh, let it go then," Elle says.
"Cass is that way too," Talna points out.
"Let's go!" Elle shouts, charging down the road.
-----------------------
Further down the road, Cassian sees an orange object hurtling towards him down the road. He swiftly ducks off the road and takes cover amongst some underbrush. A short ways behind Cassian, Fei and Maximiliano see it as well. Recognizing a Seeker Beholder, Fei casts Pass Without Trace, allowing herself and Maximiliano to move quickly away from the road and hide in the trees.
The beholder reaches the point where Maximiliano and Fei left the road, and stops. It looks around, seemingly confused, as though it lost something important. As it looks around, three smaller beholders appear as well. The Seeker looks at the three newcomers with what can only be described as anger.
Talna and Elle approach the beholders, and spy Biscuit standing confused on the road a few feet away from the floating eye monsters.
"Biscuit!" Talna whispers, but the horse doesn't hear her call.
In his tree, Max spies Biscuit as well. "They might be dead, only the horse came back!" he whispers to Fei, "Maybe we should try to escape while we can!"
"We could go through the forest," Fei says, considering.
Elle also tries to call for Biscuit, but when she does, the beholders turn, the three smaller ones looking in her direction. Elle walks up to Biscuit. The Seeker turns towards the trees where Fei and Max are hiding. Talna jogs into the bushes, her armor clinking loudly.
As the party watches, the three smaller beholders turn towards the Seeker and each send a beam of light at it. Elle pulls out her longbow. The Seeker fires a beam at the trees, but then is dazed by the beams of the smaller beholders.
Elle, observing the behavior of the beholders, notices that the smaller beholders look nothing like the sleek form of the Seeker. She concludes there must be multiple factions amongst the beholders, and the small beholders belong to a faction hostile to that of the Seeker.
Cass charges from his cover, swinging his great sword at the Seeker. His blade bites home, repeatedly cleaving chunks of flesh from the Seeker's body. However, one swing misses, the sword embedding itself in a nearby tree.
Elle fires her longbow at the three smaller beholders. Her first arrow strikes one of the smaller beholders, and her second arrow strikes a point of weakness on the second beholder, causing it to pop. The third arrow flies wide. Elle moves into cover.
The remaining small beholders turn to Elle, and fire rays from their eyes. A freezing ray passes through the spot Elle was, but she ducks beneath it. A second beam strikes Elle however, causing her to tremble in fear at another beholder. Elle is able to dodge the remaining beams despite her fear.
Fei conjures a giant spitting lizard from the dirt near the road, and then shifts her form to that of a giant spitting lizard as well.
The Seeker beholder turns to look at Cass, but Cass ignores its gaze attack and punches it. The Seeker then fires eye beams at Cass. One beam engulfs him, but nothing happens. A second beam shoots out, but Cass dodges. The beam leaves a crater in the ground. A third beam, this time of fire, shoots at Cass. Cass dodges, but the beam lights a nearby tree on fire. The same tree Max is hiding in.
Max drops from the tree, draws his rapier and stabs the Seeker in front of him. "Ha!" he says. The Seeker turns to look at the goblin, and attempts to open the large central eye Cass just punched, but can't get the eye open.
The lizard that appeared by the road lunges at the Seeker and clamps its jaws down on its tentacle, biting down hard and pulling the Seeker into a grapple.
Elle closes her eyes and fires an arrow at the beholder she is afraid of, but misses. She tries again, peeking through half-closed eyes, and manages a hit on the object of her fear. She marks the beholder with Hunter's Mark.
Talna moves forward and casts Chill Touch on the beholder Elle is afraid of. The beholder freezes and falls, shattering on the road. Talna casts Shield of Faith, assisting one of her friends.
Cass finds his great sword stuck in a now burning tree. He turns away from the sword and pulls out his warhammer, swinging again at the Seeker. He smacks away with his hammer, repeatedly bludgeoning the slender beholder. His last swing plunges directly into the Seeker's large central eye. The Seeker falls to the ground, and begins to glow. Cass and Fei both smack the Seeker's corpse, hurling it away from the group. The body explodes, leaving a crater behind. The head of Cass's warhammer, stuck in the body and destroyed in the explosion, lands at his feet.
The final small beholder looks around and dashes away into the trees.
Talna sees a shining coin fly away from the Seeker's corpse.
Fei sends her lizard after the small beholder. The lizard spits poison at the beholder, and the beholder dissolves on the spot.
Talna attempts to put the fire out with her Chill Touch, but the fire rages on.
Cass picks up the head of his warhammer, and pulls his great sword from the burning tree, accepting the burns as he does so.
Elle picks up the coin from the beholder's body.
The fire rages on until Fei and her lizard spit enough poison on the forest to put out most of the flames. Elle stamps out little patches of flames. As she does, the initial tree, burning and almost cut in two, falls over on Elle. Fei's lizard comes through with the save, knocking the tree off course with its tail such that the tree lands next to Elle. Biscuit trots out of the woods, unscathed.
Max walks over to Talna and Elle. "I have an idea! Would you touch that coin to my head?"
Talna cautiously takes out her coin. She notices it is not as vibrant as it had been the day before. She places it beholder side forward to Max's head. Max vanishes a moment, and reappears immediately.
He saw an open gate. inside was a legion of zombies and skeletons and other undead. He went past the dead into a cavern. He saw a last and heard a voice speak in undercommon. The voice shot a beam at Max, and then he reappeared.
Max backs away from Talna and falls onto the ground. "What in the hells?"
"Damn, he's back!" Elle says, disappointed.
Talna notices that the scar on Max's head has disappeared. The coin reappears in Tala's hand.
"Goblin, what did you see?" Cass asks.
"One of the hells? I think I saw the main beholder who doesn't like me. He mumbled something at me."
"Did you recognize the language?" Talna asks.
"No."
"Can you repeat anything you heard?" she presses.
Max speaks some gibberish. Talna glares at him. "That was just gibberish."
"I said I didn't understand it!"
"Well, shall we go to the wizard?" Talna suggests.
Max gets up sullenly, then spies something in the woods. He picks up one of the beholder tentacles from the ground. He presses it against his stump. The tentacle disappears into the void, slipping further up until only the dead eye remains. And then the eye begins to look around.
Elle attempts to jab the eye in Max's shoulder, but he runs away. She shoots an arrow at him, but it misses.
"No, it might become my new arm!" Max protests. He recalls a piece of lore about creating beholders to serve someone with four of their tentacles, and he darts out to grab a second tentacle.
Talna has a bad feeling about this. She and Cass turn to walk on towards the wizards. Elle draws her longbow again.
Max presses the second tentacle against his stomach. The goblin suddenly screams in pain. Fei and her summoned lizard prepare to spit poison at the goblin, but the eyes on the ends of both tentacles turn and shoot beams, one at Fei and the other at Elle. A beam impacts the ground near Elle, leaving a crater. The second beam hits Fei directly, and she starts to feel drowsy, and drops to sleep. She returns to her human form, and her summoned lizard disappears.
Elle fires an arrow at Maximiliano, attempting to hit one of the eyes. The arrow strikes true, but directly into Max's existing arm.
Talna turns, summons a Mage Hand and attempts to pull one of the eyes out of Max, but the eye resists being pulled out. Elle pulls out her dagger. Cass runs up and grabs one of the eyes, attempting to pull it out, but Max walks forward, preventing Cass from getting any leverage.
"No, I want this arm!" Max shouts, through the voices in under common suddenly speaking in his head.
Elle slashes herself with her magic damage, and slashes at one of the eyestalks protruding from Max's body. The dagger goes about a fourth of the way through the stalk. Maximiliano winces in pain, and falls onto his side, and a Seeker beholder attempts to emerge from the void at his shoulder.
Fei wakes up, and observes the chaotic pile of people attempting to remove the beholder stalks from Max's body. Talna stepping on the goblin's face, Cass hauling on one eyestalk with all his strength, and Elle pulling out her short swords. The goblin himself screaming on the ground. Fei walks up and attempts to help as well. The group begins to extract the eyestalk, which emerges from Max's shoulder as half of a full sized Seeker beholder. Whatever was happening was stopped halfway through, and the half beholder falls over dead.
Max screams in pain, and then hears a voice. He stops screaming.
"Get rid of the tentacles, don't let him near them!" Talna shouts.
Max hears a voice in under common, and sees a beholder towering over him, and laughing. A beam from the beholder turns to Max's presence, and lights him up. He feels immense pain, as though he were disintegrating. His left leg begins to disintegrate.
"Hells!" Talna yells, as Max's leg decays to the bone in front of her.
"Cure wounds!" Elle shouts, slapping the goblin. Max jerks back in pain from the cure, and screams in pain.
Cass hogties the goblin.
Fei mutters to herself "When the flesh is stripped from the bone, they are under the control of a beholder. But this is just the leg, what does that mean?"
Talna casts Chill Touch, attempting to heal the leg. "Maximiliano de Forza II, you are a hells begotten idiot. If you do this again, we will not save you."
"I second that," Elle says, yanking her arrow out of Max's arm.
"I was going to regrow my arm." Max protests.
"No, you were growing a beholder in your body!"
"I thought if I got four tentacles I could make a beholder to fight for us!"
"You only had two!"
"I thought I could hold onto it!"
"I can tolerate a lot, but this is beyond. This is beyond what Balazar has pulled. This is your last warning Maximiliano."
"If all the heroes were like this, it is no wonder they all died so quickly," Fei says. "This is valuable information. I am debating killing you in your sleep."
"Maybe the wizards can help us reverse this effect," Cass says.
TO BE CONTINUED
No comments:
Post a Comment