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Post by dragonforgotten on Nov 15, 2021 15:04:01 GMT -5
It’s good to be back but I hate to be disappointed. All this build up on fighting a white teifling wizard who is the leader of devil worshipers, and everyone gets cold feet literally when she blasts us with magic. I’ve already been shamed and I normally refuse to run from a superior foe but the desperation the the dwarfs face let me set aside my pride and withdraw. The gnome nearly didn’t make it out with us till he unveiled that he is a carrier of a sladd egg. What’s a sladd? I don’t know but the growth on the gnome is nauseating. Apparently it’s a dangerous monster that will kill its host when it hatches along with anyone near it. That poor wizard. No wonder he’s been trying to scrounge for every copper peice in his site. After haven restored the speaker to his rightful position I bring everyone to my room At the inn and sit them down. “You all have the right to know considering you all freed me from Janeth. I may be a danger to you. I’m being hunted.” “Hunted? By who? Are you a criminal?” “What no! Well… it’s complicated..” and so I tell my story. I was young and stupid when this happened. I went to the desert kingdom to find my totem but found love instead. Only as it turned out she wasn’t as she seemed. Then Eira has to make it akward by pointing it out. I want to curl up and die as they all burst into laughter. “Right… and I’m the rightful queen of Neverwinter!” Eira chortle while I scrowl, the chairs arm rest splinters under my hand. Every time. I’ve carried this shame for so long I can still feel the mockery and humiliation “Eira! I’m serious!” I shout blushing red before throwing my hands up. “Ah! It’s always the same! It’s funny till your life becomes a huge f***king joke! I was 18 when it happened and now at 28 it still f***king haunting me! I can’t go home to my tribe without this shame on me. I couldn’t even fight the prashas men! They made it clear I was no match! So here I am! A wondering vagrant finially back in the lands of his birth but a stranger to it all the same! I can’t even see my family because of it! Ah I need a drink!” I reach for my ale and drain it in one go. Ronan then pipes up. “How much are you worth anyway.” “I don’t bloody know. I’m not exactly frequenting those bounty places to compare my infamy.” I mumble unhappy. “Tell you all what. If I croak you can turn my dead corpse in if you can’t save me. See how much I was worth.” I growl drunk and leave my room to go get some more ale. ——-
Our next quest landed us in helping dwarves retrieve some stolen ingots. Turned out a bunch of goblins with a carriage pulled by miserable polar bears are the culprits and I get shot full of arrows. The arrows string like hell but not as much as the bears claws and teeth as the gnome pissed them off enough to break free from there reins. I manage to limp back to town torn and beaten but exhilarated to have battled against my wild kindred spirits. To finial be free of the ghost and to be myself again is a great gift.
On our way to the next task we get a sign of the snow spirits being in the area, harassing a old woman in her cottage. Witnessing the strange display Eira puts on I manage to catch there tiny foot prints in the snow. We stumble upon a group of them have a little tea party. Seeing this I humor them and pretend to put a slice of the rock representing the turkey as everyone else follows the lead. It’s unclear wheather we are making progress endearing us to them or just acting like fools. Eventually some of them leave but one stays, staring at us. He doesn’t give any signs that he’s leaving… does he want to stay with us? We don’t get a clear answer from him. Ronan then jumps the gun. He tries to snatch the spirit but it is too fast and vanishes from sight. Nothing to do for it. Our search continues. Ronan should learn more respect for the spirits of the land. I fear taking them by force would cause a similar situation that is happening in lonely woods. We still must return and fix this along with visiting that cabin Copper mentioned. So many tasks. So much tundra to cross. The next town sends us to the sea to locate a group of missing fishermen. There fate isn’t a hopeful one as we find there boat besides a icy cave and harpys not to far into the cave. The prospect of finding them alive is shrinking at a alarming rate. When we reach a frozen waterfall I do what’s expect and start climbing. It’s not my day today. My hand slips and I manage to break a chuck off. Suddenly I grabbed and pulled through the ice and into the bitting waters. It’s all a blurr. A scrambling of limbs while I flail against the water creature. I manage to break through gasping for air before suddenly I’m grabbed by my ankles and pulled back into the fridges waters. My nails rake across the ice as I try to hang on and fail, my head smashing against the wall before being dragged back underwater…. ——-
I gasp! Alive, sputtering and impossibly cold. Damn. This ain’t good. I find Eira trying to pull off my wet coat and I cling to it stubbornly and feeling my skin scrawl. “Take your clothes off!” She orders and the horror feels worst then the chill. In front of her!? No! Eira then makes my predicament wrost by bring that up. I stiffen and stand up. I regret ever telling her. Why must she continue to dig into me like this? “I’m fine. I’ll manage.” I take a step forward but I’m stoped by Ivilios the dwarven cleric. “Here, take these,” he says taking off his furs and winter clothes. “I don’t actually need them.” “Of course you do, it’s freezing!” Ronan says. “No, I assure you I’ll be fine,” the cleric smiles but it fades quickly. “I was born in midwinter.” He doesn’t have to say it for me to understand the weight of his words. It makes sense how he was able to withstand the ice troll. He’s chosen of Auril. He was meant to die of exposure but now carries her blessing and lives. What this will mean for the future it is unclear. I take his clothes and as silly as I look it is better then freezing to death.
Fritz
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Post by Aileen on Nov 22, 2021 13:06:52 GMT -5
Oxho launches a fire bolt at the giant skeleton, and the ice encasing it begins to crack and it’s eyes glow blue. This is very much not good. We all attack, and I move in and cast burning hands, a trick I never could quite get until now. It seems effective, but then the skeleton frees itself from the ice. Two good hits and I’m falling back, my head smacking the ice as I fade out.
I wake up on the floor in an incredible amount of pain, but blessedly alive. That’s really all you can ask for these days.
“Eira, you should rest,” orders Ronan, sitting next to me. “You have a big gash in your face.”
“That’s my mouth, jackass.” I chide, rolling over into my blanket trying to keep warm. “You have a big gash in your ass.”
“Well, I am half Drow. We’re known for being blessed in that regard.”
I get a couple hours sleep until Oxho and I are ready to move out, and then we explore the rest of this place. Ignoring a giant frozen pool below another waterfall, filled with more giant skeletons, we come into a cavern with an old woman chopping some kind of meat and adding it to a cauldron. It smells good until we get closer and I realize what the meat is. Four flayed humanoid corpses lay on the ground. She’s cooking people!
“Have you come for supper?” She says, grinning at us with rotten teeth. “Come, come children you look hungry. Granny Maude will feed you!”
I draw the line at eating people. This old bag has to go. I walk up to her and attack with my sword, pissing her right off.
“You hit me, you little s***! That’s no way to treat your host!”
She casts a spell and a light appears above my head, shooting lightning and doing little other than making my hair stand on end. Maude turns into a horrible purple skinned hag before our eyes, and I’m glad I hit her. We kill her and destroy the light surprisingly quick, considering how hard she hit. We’re a well oiled fighting machine when we try!
Ronan dumps the cauldron and the floor is flooded with broth and human organs. It’s absolutely revolting, but our gnome thinks it’s hilarious. I don’t know about him sometimes. Turns out it’s a magical Cauldron of Plenty, an extremely valuable resource here where people are desperate for food. We clean it out and take it with us as we explore the rest of the caves.
We run into a wolf that tears the crap out of Oxho, but then nothing else attacks us here. We do find a campsite and torn pages from a journal, likely from one of the men we found killed by Maude. Sadly they were unable to defeat her, probably because they were simply drunk fishermen. We also find cave drawings of frost giants drowning themselves in a hot springs- some strange suicide ritual.
Back in town we report to the guard captain, who compensates us for finding the bodies. And then Oxho decides to try to sell soup in the town square. We hang around but soon realize it’s a bad idea when the owner of the tavern comes out and confronts us. She’s a Dragonborn, and she’s pissed! She screams at us for trying to steal business, and we decide to shut the operation down when she leaves. As we’re cleaning up a small urchin boy runs up and hands us a note. It’s inviting us to a private meeting at town hall, regarding soup. Looks like we’re in trouble!
We head to town hall and meet Danith, the human speaker. Luckily we’re not in trouble, rather he wants to buy the cauldron. He offers 500 gold, much less than it’s worth, and we accept. The only thing is he has to call on some debts to pay us, so it needs to stay under guard at town hall. Seems sus, but Fritz volunteers to stay and help guard it. The rest of us head to the tavern.
Ronan and I buy lots of drinks and soup, hoping to make things up to the owner for the soup incident. Turns out she’s a devout worshipper of Auril and all for human sacrifice- not the best Dragonborn to be on the bad side of. We get a good buzz going and start chatting up locals, learning about a sea monster called Din-Din who lives in Lake Dineval, and of an expedition going to see a polar bear lycanthrope named Oyamatartok. As we’re listening to people a Halfling walks in wearing a fancy cloak.
“Whooo wants to attend a seance?!” He announces. “Come to the White Lady Inn, right now!”
Ronan, Sands, Oxho and I excitedly run for the door, our cleric slowly following after. We get to the inn and see the owner sitting and reading a newspaper ignoring the small crowd gathered. The Halfling plucks at a fiddle. The Halfling tells us the story of The White Lady. Her husbands boat capsized in the lake and his chest of treasure was lost at the bottom of it. When he finishes he leads us to the back room and the seance begins. Soon the candles snuff out as a cold breeze fills the closed up room, and frost forms on the windows. Rinaldo asks for volunteers to ask three questions of The White Lady, and of course we volunteer.
As we ask questions, in our best spooky voices as I instructed my friends to do, writing appears on the windows in the frost. First- how do we end the perpetual winter? Defeat Auril. Where is the treasure? Rinaldo tells us we’re stupid for asking when we already know. And last, what can we do to help? Apparently there are grey skinned dwarves invisibly stalking towns, and they hide on the ferry and at the ruins of Dinev’s Rest.
The next morning I wake up a bit hungover, and meet up with the others for breakfast. When Fritz fails to appear we go asking and find out that some guards didn’t show up after their shift either. Within the hour Fritz and the guards return to the guard post, and tell us they were attacked and the cauldron stolen by a woman with a flying snake circling her head. She’s identified as Prudence, the town hall clerk. She has family in Targos, so we decide to head back there and try to get the cauldron back.
We’re given axe beaks and ride to Targos, arriving just after noon. The town isn’t as friendly as it was when we were here before. A guard we approach doesn’t want to speak to us, and seems afraid of being seem with us. We can’t even get an audience with the speaker or the guard captain. So, we go to visit our friends Keegan and Garret. They open the door and are ecstatic to see us. But quickly show us inside. Boy, the dog, immediately jumps on me and starts licking the syrup remnants off my armor.
“So good to see you!” Keegan says, hugging me. “Why are you all sticky?”
We are filled in on the latest happenings. A cauldron was seen being carried into town and brought to the speaker.
“Why are they so afraid?” Ronan asks.
“Zhentarim!” The two men whisper.
Well, turns out that almost everyone in Targos is part of the Black Network. I have no problem with them, but getting our cauldron back… yeah. That’s gonna be an issue.
❄️ Eira
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Post by Aileen on Dec 6, 2021 12:21:22 GMT -5
Our next adventure brings us all the way back to where we started, in Lonelywood. The townspeople are pissed when we arrive, blaming us for leaving our job unfinished. The moose was killed, but now they have a polar bear murdering people. So, after a night wasted not finding the bear, we spend the night with the sweet Halfling lady, enjoying her homemade cookies. In the morning we head out again to try to find tracks or anything.
We probably should have just gone back to the strange shrine place we found the moose at, because that’s where the bear tracks lead us. The bear is sleeping in the den, but wakes up when Fritz tries to speak to it. All I hear is roaring back and forth until the bear speaks out loud in common, saying he’s going to kill us in more or less terms. It attacks Fritz, and it’s on.
We kill the bear fairly easily, but I know this isn’t the end of it. I’m smart enough to realize the bear could speak because some druid awakened it. The druid can always just awaken something else- so, we go further into the tunnels in hopes of finding clues.
After finding nothing but a supposedly magic mirror we can’t figure out, I stay at the mouth of the cave with Ronan and Fritz while the cleric and our crazy gnome stay inside. Oxho was skinning the bear, quite badly, to make a bear suit- not something I wanted to watch. Suddenly I find myself all alone, and remember Ronan saying something to me but I completely ignored him.
I run inside, finding a strange cloud of fog, and nearly bump into someone. I think it’s Fritz.
“Eira, are you here?!” Ronan calls.
“Yeah, I didn’t hear what you said back there. Your mouth moved but I wasn’t listening.”
“Of course you didn’t. The druid is here! Come kill him!”
It takes a bit for me to push through my companions to get to the druid, and I’m lucky to escape harm from a moon beam that disappears right as I approach it. The druid is a fellow human, and busy whacking away at Fritz as a frozen bush sits nearby. I help slice into him, but then the coward turns into an owl and flies away. He doesn’t get far, falling unconscious near the exit of the cave thanks to a lucky shot by someone.
We tie up the druid, and let some of the party rest before checking out the sarcophagus. I feel awful when I see it’s a woman that looks nearly identical to the druid. Must be a twin sister, and the reason he’s defending this place. Are we the assholes?
I wake the druid up and we talk to him, discovering that it is in fact his twin sister. She was killed by a townsperson, but I don’t think he grasps that it was probably an accident considering they turn into animals. Naturally he got revenge by awakening animals and sending them to kill people.
“You can’t just murder people, they’re not all bad!”
“They killed my sister!”
“It was probably an accident! I’m sorry she’s dead, but that doesn’t mean you can kill innocents!” I snap. “Look… this guy is a cleric, and I’m sure he can bring her back eventually!”
“Lass, I’m not that kind of cleric.”
“Worst cleric ever! Okay, option B… if you promise to stop killing, I’ll help you out and find you a cleric that can bring her back. Family is everything, I get it. Will you stop killing?”
“Deal. Now, can I leave? I just want to turn into an owl and fly away.”
Sands draws his bow, and the cleric looks like he’s going to kill this guy if he leaves. Jerks.
“They’re not going to let you leave unharmed.”
“Are they always like this?”
“Unfortunately. I mean; that one’s a cat, he does what cats do. I’ll walk you out and you can leave, I’ll ensure they do not harm you.”
“I would appreciate that.”
“Is that what you appreciate about me?”
I walk out with the druid, and he turns to me when we get to the cave mouth, checking to make sure we weren’t followed.
“You’re not going to shoot me are you?”
“No. I’m a woman of my word. Go free.”
He turns into an owl, and flies off.
“May Auril get you all! Bye, love you!” He shouts to the wind.
“If you’re ever bored, I’m single!” I shout back.
“Ugh, I can taste your desperation!” Ronan’s voice comes from behind me, startling me.
“Ah! Where did you come from!? Don’t be an ass, it’s been a while!”
“We’ve been here all of three weeks!” He scoffs.
“And? It’s cold and I’m lonely. Shut up!”
That night we spend getting drunk in the tavern and celebrating victory. We hear more tales of goings on in the Ten Towns, and I’m even shut down by Ronan, who would rather hide in his little bottle than party with a professional. I get invited back to some old guy’s hut, but I’m not that desperate- and I’m really happy with just having cookies. We spend one more night at the halfling’s home, enjoy our cookies, and in the morning plan to head out.
“I’ll make breakfast!” I offer when I wake up, wanting to thank her for her hospitality.
“No you will not!” She admonishes me. “You get back into that warm bed and I’ll fix breakfast. It’s done!”
We fill up on delicious breakfast, and head out for the one place I’ve been dying to go- Dugan’s Hole!
❄️ Eira
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Post by Aileen on Dec 13, 2021 14:07:28 GMT -5
I have been so excited to go to Dougan’s Hole that arriving there I am a little more than disappointed. It’s a backwoods hick town where the only thing to do is go ice-fishing and apparently f*** your own brother/sister/uncle/aunt/choose your family member. I wish I was kidding, but no. This is the incest capital of the world!
We’re heading out to explore when suddenly a massive wolf appears looming above us. I’m sure it’s going to attack, but then it issues a pained whine and starts limping around with his head hanging. My bleeding heart can’t take it.
“You poor thing!” I stride forward pulling out my bottle of maple syrup. “Hi, puppy!”
He turns toward me, and slowly moves forward. I realize he keeps switching legs, clearly faking us out.
‘Ronan, he’s faking the limp. I’m gonna go along with it, but he might be bulls**tting us.’
‘Roger. On standby.’
I walk up to the wolf, realizing he’s bigger than the average horse and quite intimidating. But, I love dogs, so I’m not afraid.
“You seem nice!” The wolf says. “My master beats me!”
“You talk! Oh, you poor baby! Is your leg okay?”
“I’ll be fine, my master kicked me. But the people he kidnapped won’t be! He has them in his house! Will you rescue them?”
Of course, we agree to go with this beautiful pupper and save the kidnapped people. Through the blizzard we travel, our wolf friend Koran keeping us warm from the snow. Nearly a whole day of travel brings us to an icy tower fortress. Koran immediately gets scared as we approach.
“My master is there!”
“Alright, let’s go kill him!” Ronan grins.
“No! I can’t go! I’m too afraid of him… please- take him out!”
“You don’t want to get revenge?” I ask. “We will protect you!”
“No! I’ve been beaten too much.”
“Ok, buddy. We’ll take care of it.”
We go up to the place, Sands sneaks in, and reports that there are two kids in a cage. So, we go in and free them. The poor kids are missing teeth and look… well, inbred. Just as their families in Dougan’s Hole do.
As we’re running out with the kids, the sound of something huge approaching comes from the exit, and the whole cave shakes. I think it’s going to be the Frost Giant master, but then a wooly mammoth charges!
As we’re fighting the mammoth, two wolves appear. One of them is Koran. I think they’re going to help until Koran sinks his teeth into my leg.
“Koran! How could you! I loved you!”
“Winter wolf,” he snarls, attacking our cleric.
We dispatch the mammoth and the wolves, and I’m heartbroken at the slaughter. Such beautiful animals wasted… but then again, Koran was a backstabbing little b****.
I give my mittens to the poor little boy who’s hands are frost bitten, and Oxho hollows out the mammoth carcass so he can crawl in it to warm up as we explore. We find the frozen corpse of the frost giant, encased in ice. Looks like the wolves may have turned on their master. I just wish they hadn’t turned on us.
Later we head back to town, and get the kids back to their mother. She’s ecstatic to have her babies home, and rewards us with a pair of furry boots.
“Please, take these! They were my brother-husband’s, but he died!”
She invites us in and we all end up leaving when it’s clear that she now wants one of us to replace her brother-husband.
“Whose going to sleep with her?!” I whisper as we drink from Oxho’s chowder skin outside the hut.
“Hell no,” says Ronan. “Fritz, you get around!”
“No! Absolutely not!”
“Well, someone has to add to the bloodline and it’s not going to be me! I’m the only girl. Sands, how about you?”
“Hmm… kids with tails and bad teeth? Why not!”
We end up leaving town, looking to seek our fortunes elsewhere. Fishing seems like a lucrative opportunity! And I got me a pair of furry incest boots to break in!
❄️ Eira
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Post by Aileen on Dec 20, 2021 12:42:10 GMT -5
Our quaint knucklehead trout fishing outing is repeatedly interrupted by the legendary Din Din swimming under our boat. Poor Ronan is pulled into the water by a particularly strong fish, and I have to cover him with my cloak while he strips down and has his clothes dried. Of course I peeked, I may be an adventurer and the heir to the throne but I’m still a girl who appreciates a cute guy… and the half-Drow is very nice to look at! Suddenly Din Din returns, and Ronan and I cling to eachother as the monster bites into our boat!
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat!” He says to me.
I try chumming the water with fish guts after Din Din swims away with a wood plank bobbing above him, wanting to talk. We’re in no place to fight him with these little dinghies and him being a massive plesiosaurus. The big fella comes back!
We try talking to him and offering him a mate, but he just wants to kill in the name of the druid we’ve already dealt with. There’s no changing his mind I guess. He gets angry and attacks, and it’s on! I take a few bites and he focuses mainly on killing our cleric. Somehow we destroy him with minimal damage, but that’s the end of fishing. I hate to destroy such a magnificent beast, but he was being unreasonable. We go back to town and get paid for our haul, then drink away the pain.
Off to find the mysterious frozen pirate ship we go! It’s a long, bitingly cold journey over many days, but we make it to the ship. They weren’t kidding, the thing is frozen solid. Oxho clambers up the side and is letting a rope down for us when the inevitable happens. Another godsdamned ice troll!
We’re able to shoot the thing with spells when it gets close to the edge of the deck, but it soon disappears… things aren’t looking good for our gnome. Ronan and I clear the ice on the side of the ship with tandem burning hands, and the others all clamber up to fight the troll. When the noises up to stop and the ice troll comes down to deal with us we know this is not going well. Ronan and I are the last ones standing.
The ice troll falls, giving us a moment of advantage on it, but when it gets up and I engage it with my sword I remember what makes them so dangerous- the cold. I’m doing well hitting it, but then it gets me back and I fade out as my body gives in to the cold.
“No! Eira! I should have banged you when I had the cha-“
What? No, I can’t die! I’m not ready! Take me back!!!!
—-
I wake up freezing cold and in an ice puddle of my own blood, Ronan lying next to me and silence save for the howling winds. I’m alive! But how?!
Getting to my feet I help Ronan up, and we exhaustedly climb the ship to find our friends conscious but in similar states to us. All except Oxho.
“He’s dead,” the cleric announces, covering the little gnomes body with his tiny gnome size cloak. “No sign of the troll?”
“No, I think it left,” I say, shivering. “Is the ship safe? Can we find somewhere relatively warm and rest?”
We search the ship, finding lots of junk and huge claw marks rending the deck, but no warmth and nothing good up top. As we are getting ready to just call it and to rest, a mysterious figure appears down below.
“Hello?” A voice calls. “You up there, are you friend or foe?”
“Depends whose asking,” Ronan calls back. “Who are you?”
Turns out the guy is an elephant man. Something I have never seen before, but he seems good natured if not a bit pretentious. His name is as presumptuous as he acts, but I just bite my tongue and ignore the disrespect that a future queen should not endure. I’m in hiding, after all, I just have to keep playing the part of ditsy adventuress with no title… I’m okay with that.
Ivilios checks the door at the back of the ship, and I bust it down. We go in, finding the skeletal remains of a sea captain and a notebook he must have been keeping until his demise. I search his pockets and find a key. Naturally we assume the key goes to the frozen chest, and after unthawing it a bit I open it up. It’s mostly wine corks, that go with the empty bottles that are everywhere in this cabin… but there’s money, jewelry and a small bag.
Fritz tries to get handsy and take the bag from me, but I claim it. Silly barbarian thinking he can just barge in when I’m busy… nope! I reach into the bag and pull out a small fuzzy ball. I’m momentarily paranoid that it’s some kind of creature, perhaps prone to overbreeding and eating all the grain, but it doesn’t make a peep. Fritz and I toss it back and forth, but nothing happens.
We rest and the elephant man plays a soothing song for us. I feel loads better after an hour, and now know my bag is a bag of tricks. If I throw the fuzzy ball, it will turn into any number of animals. I go out on deck and toss it, and a little beaver pops out of nowhere! I collect the little guy, who is immediately sweet on me, and head back in to help with searching.
“Ronan, want to see my beaver!”
“Wow, skipping right to that are we?” He turns, blushing, and then snorts when he sees my new pet. “Um… that’s a badger, Eira.”
“Same difference!”
We search one cabin, finding not much at all, and then go help Ivilios in another one. As we are looking through scattered medical supplies, suddenly the wind outside changes. The sound of something huge and leathery wings buffeting the wind onto the deck makes us freeze in place.
“It’s the dragon!” Ivilios whispers, motioning for us to hide.
“gos se!” I huddle with my badger and Ronan. The poor badger is shaking like a leaf.
We hear the dragon going under the deck and rooting around, making a ton of noise… it can only be the dragon we saw a few days ago, and the same one our elephant friend saw on the way here. We are screwed if we are discovered!
After what seems like forever, the dragon flies away. We emerge, going out to the deck and hurriedly taking the stairs down below. There’s a massive pile of treasure in the hold, frozen solid… a frozen wildcat creature next to it. As we discuss how we can get some of the treasures out, suddenly there’s an ear splitting roar in the distance… and the sound of leathery wings, beating down upon the ship.
“Hmm… f***.” Ronan mutters.
❄️ Eira
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Post by Aileen on Dec 27, 2021 11:02:30 GMT -5
We narrowly avoid a confrontation with the big white dragon by slipping into a kitchen with a tied up goat. I untie the goat with every intention of making it my new pet, but Fritz the Thief immediately takes it from me. Asshat. There’s some commotion outside and the booming voice of the dragon talking to some smaller voices, and then the dragon flies away. Then the door starts getting pounded down. We all get into position as Ivilios holds the door.
The little kobolds break through, and it’s on! I send Beaver in to the fray as I stand in the doorway with the dwarf and start slaying them. Beaver makes a valiant stand, but soon the badger is slain. The party quickly gets its vengeance.
The kobolds all dead, we explore this lower level of the ship. We find some goodies, melting some of the vast treasure pile, and then get the hells out of there. Back to town we go, slightly richer but with no booze- the only reason we came here in the first place. We make it back after a blizzard and a rest interrupted by a wildcat attack, and spend quite a bit of time drinking in the taverns.
Our next stop is back in Bryn Shander to collect the goods from Copper the gnome to bring to his friend Mcreetus at the Black Cabin. We secure mounts, facing difficulties finding one big enough for our new traveling companion, the elephant man. Luckily there’s a particularly chonky axe beak, double the price and quadruple the size.
We head to the glacier, and after a long yet swift travel arrive at a black cabin, clearly abandoned. So we investigate, and with the help of our resident cat burglar get inside without falling through the poorly maintained outer walkway. I crawl through the window and am immediately confronted with the awful scent of burnt flesh.
It looks like Macreetus met a terrible fate, burnt to a crisp. What remains is a charred corpse, no identifiable features. We search for clues, and Sands and Recluse start messing with some metal object they found. It starts glowing, and then suddenly the room is filled with an explosion.
I come to, but I feel… different. I feel not much at all. I open my eyes and the world around me is strange, like I’m looking through a veil or a mist into the world around me. I see my friends, lying unconscious, Recluse a burnt up crisp… and I see myself. My eyes are open, staring glassily ahead, my face and fading pink/blond hair covered in blood.
“F***… I’m dead!”
“Oh, hey,” a voice behind me says. “Looks like we both are, Eira.”
I turn and see Recluse, looking much better than his corpse on the other side of the veil.
“What did you do?!” I yell.
“I don’t know, it started glowing and exploded!”
“Oh… sup?!” Another person joins us, a human male. “Hey, I’m Mcreetus!”
“Hey,” I wave. “That metal glowy thing get you too?”
“Yup! Welcome to the other side.”
Well this is just great. All this work to get here and I’m killed by my own party. And I haven’t even scored with Ronan yet. This is so unfair!
“Dammit… I’m too young to die!”
❄️ Eira
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Post by Aileen on Jan 24, 2022 16:37:14 GMT -5
Being dead is a strange feeling… it isn’t altogether horrible, other than not being able to talk to anyone but Recluse and Macreadus… but we figure out things real quick. Macreadus tells us that the design of the device that killed us is flawed and that those who are living need to make a third ring around it using tools and whatever smelting skills they may or may not have.
So, we get to work writing messages in the ashes and frost to try to tell our living friends what to do. I get frustrated with Ronan but eventually he understands what I’m trying to tell him… typical male. The cleric nearly dies falling through the floor, so us ghostly ones bring them the necessary tools. After what seems like forever, mourning my horrible fate, they finally fix the star thing.
“Knew it would work!” Macreadus says with a smile.
Macreadus disappears, and then I feel myself pulled away from this ghostly realm. I wake up feeling better than before I died, and somehow warmer. I sit up, coughing as air returns to my lungs. Someone screams right in my ear.
“EIRA!” Ronan clutches his chest, breathing hard as he stares at me in shock. “You’re alive?!”
“Guess so! That was… the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me. We met Macreadus!”
We all catch up and rest, enjoying what little warmth the star device provided. The next day it’s a bit colder again, but we are reinvigorated with hope for one day when this perpetual winter will end.
We leave the Black Cabin and head back the way we came. As we trudge through the snow and cold, we see a creepy light ahead and storm clouds suddenly come at us. We attack the ice mephits and a strange shambling humanoid creature, and I’m a bit caught off guard as the shambling guy slams into me. It turns it’s attacks on Fritz, but then turns to me when I burning hands it. It’s eyes blare with a horrible light, and I’m completely blinded!
We fight on, and I can only hope I’m hitting the thing and not one of my friends. Soon someone grabs me from behind.
“They’re dead, Eira, you can stop swinging!” Says Fritz.
“I can’t see a damned thing!”
“Give it a bit, you’ll be fine!” The cleric says. I can only hope he’s right.
After a while of riding, my vision returns. Not that there’s much to look at in this frozen hell. We make it to Tourmalaine, and stay the night in the inn with the nice teenaged girl. In the bar that night Recluse entertains people and the rest of us get drunk and gossip. We hear something about a burnt tower that the wizard we saw executed had something to do with. So, we pay the guy that told us about it as a guide and plan to head out the next day.
That night I invite my friends to come cuddle up in my room, and tell them the truth about me. They might not believe I’m the heir to the Crown of Neverwinter, but at least they know.
“Does that mean I can say “yass Queen!” To you?” Fritz asks.
“We’ll, you should be anyway… but yes. One day I’ll be queen! If I don’t die.”
It’s a three day journey, but we make it halfway through the first day of travel and hit a blizzard. Up ahead we hear whispering or muttering, and I go check it out with my trusty Axebeak, Beaker. Some barbarian looking guys shamble through the snow, muttering about oral… I think they’re a bunch of young drunks trying to get a hook up until they get close and I realize they’re basically zombies and they’re saying “Auril.” Not good!
The others join me and we take on the barbarians, but they’re tough. One smashes my knuckles, nearly knocking me off of Beaker as I scream in rage. I right myself just in time for another guy to smash my foot into my stirrup, probably breaking it. One takes Ivilios down, and luckily the rest of us kill the bastards off. I’m freezing cold, and I know my hand won’t grip a sword tomorrow and walking on this foot is questionable. I think it’s time to head back to town.
“I’ve been summoned to the Society of Drizzt Dourden Followers!” Ronan suddenly announces. “They’ve just sent me a message… I must leave!”
“Wait… I’m coming with you!” I say, kicking Beaker with my good foot to move him to Ronan. “I’m done with this s***! I’m going back to Neverwinter, where it’s absolutely NOT winter… and I’m taking my damn crown!”
The others are displeased with our decision, but it doesn’t matter for long… suddenly the winds pick up, and a snow squall separates Ronan and I from them. We ride a bit away, and the sky clears. They’re gone!
“Well… that answers that,” Ronan grins. “Let’s head back to town and get us a room and some drinks?”
—-
~ Months later… Neverwinter ~
“So, we get in there, capture Lord Neverember, and take the crown. Easy, peasey.”
“What if we have to kill him?” I ask Ronan.
“Then we hope that having the famous Drizzt on our side helps your cause. It’s either you rule this place or we rot in prison. You ready to become queen, Eira?”
I’ll never be ready. But I’m certainly going to try.
❄️ Eira
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