Soulbound 5e (IC)

[miinstrel]

The last day and night on Marlette's cart en route to the next town were somber. You've done all you can, but fiery sweat still bubbles from her father's brow as he lays shivering in the back. Marlette seems to welcome the company despite having just met you outside town going the same direction, and you appreciate the ride, though your mule seems unphased, hitched to the back.
They don't have much, but Marlette hopes to trade the pommel jewel of her grandfather's sword to the cleric there for a cure for her ailing father. You're unsure if he'll make it until you arrive tomorrow.
A bump in the road lifts you from your seat and releases a groan of agony from the back.
It's midday, just past noon. Ahead you see some other travelers stopped near the road. Looks like five figures with two horses and a cart of their own. As you approach, one of them mounts a horse and walks it into the road, blocking your path. Now what are two beauties like you doing out on a dangerous road like this all alone?"
Marlette seems nervous and glances at the back of the cart, though whether at her father or the sword you're unsure.

What do you do?



The salty water draining from your sleeves seems to take the last of your strength with it. You roll onto your back, never before so grateful to be lying on an uncomfortable, rocky beach. The ocean has already swallowed any hint of your ship's existence, as calm as any other day - just another victim of the waves.
You take stock of your equipment. Unlocking the chest where you hope to find some of the documents, you instead find a small orange fish enjoying a personal swimming pool gradually darkening with dissipating ink.
At least there is still sunlight. For now. You have a few hours before dark.

What do you do?



You were sure you had him. His sleeves were up and elbows were on the table, so where did the ace come from? It's impossible. You counted. But this is not your home turf... and that was the last of your coin... and your monthly debt payment of 30g to Olibar is due tomorrow. If it's late again it'll be your hide.
"Better luck next time kids," the middle-aged dwarf crows, his calloused fingers sliding everyone's bets toward him. One of the other two slumps back in frustration and re-ups. The other rises and moves toward the tapped keg in the corner. "ah ah, you've had your free fills already," one of the muscled observers warns, holding out an expectant hand. The thirsty patron of this back room establishment drops yet another precious coin into his hand and fills his mug.

It's late and yours is the last table still playing tonight. You've no more coin for the ante. Is it time to call it a night or do you have one more angle to try with these cheats?

OOC: Deduct all coins from your sheet. You still have your other equipment.



"The gardens nearly match your beauty. Nearly," flatters this gentleman introduced as Bayrd earlier today, beckoning you from the carriage with an open hand to help you down the step. "Light a fire at the outdoor hearth," he commands a tailored servant who scurries off into the approaching night.
As though it weren't even a choice, he slides your hand into the crook of his arm and begins walking down the path on the side of the house. Bayrd draws a stick from his jacket, a wand apparently, waving it in the air and muttering some nonsense before a few small globes of pale blue light spiral out and set themselves along the path before you to light the way. He smiles at you, clearly impressed with himself.
You arrive at the back of the house to a large stone patio dimly lit by the crackling yawns of an awakening fire. Though the light is fading now, you're sure the dawn will bring some lovely hues to the garden behind the house.
"I do hope you'll be staying for some time. There are... many beauteous things to paint and fulfill your every desire."



It's been four days, but you're still reeling from the discovery. The girls you rescued were no less shaken, and their tearful family reunions brought both warmth and emptiness to your heart as you realized you'll likely never have that again.
There's one person you knew you could turn to for help: the love of your life. He's opened an unused building his family owns for you to hide in while you collect what assets you can. You know the longer you stay the more danger he is in, but leaving means leaving the city and him behind... possibly for good. Or at least until you can develop a plan.
You still have other friends here, but if you ask the wrong one it could lead straight back to your family. Time is short.

Do you stick around another day to gather more resources or allies? Take a swing of retribution at your family? Leave town now and plan your next move?

OOC: What's your lover's name? Tell us a little about him.

[TriciaOso]

The last day and night on Marlette's cart en route to the next town were somber. You've done all you can, but fiery sweat still bubbles from her father's brow as he lays shivering in the back. Marlette seems to welcome the company despite having just met you outside town going the same direction, and you appreciate the ride, though your mule seems unphased, hitched to the back.
They don't have much, but Marlette hopes to trade the pommel jewel of her grandfather's sword to the cleric there for a cure for her ailing father. You're unsure if he'll make it until you arrive tomorrow.
A bump in the road lifts you from your seat and releases a groan of agony from the back.
It's midday, just past noon. Ahead you see some other travelers stopped near the road. Looks like five figures with two horses and a cart of their own. As you approach, one of them mounts a horse and walks it into the road, blocking your path. Now what are two beauties like you doing out on a dangerous road like this all alone?"
Marlette seems nervous and glances at the back of the cart, though whether at her father or the sword you're unsure.

Bijou scans the area, taking stock of the trouble on her road and the surroundings. (Perception [roll0]) She slips off her coat--letting it drape over her walking stick, six feet of knobbled blackthorn--and arranges her face into a smile, smooth as any performance. She touches Marlette's arm, lightly, and prays the girl has the wits to follow a cue.

"Hoping and praying for some young bravos like yourselves, sure enough. We've a sick man here, and if one of you could bring a doctor from Enfield Town on that swift horse, we could surely repay your trouble when we make town ourselves and sell our goods. Grateful we'd be, indeed." She doesn't have the voice--or the body--to sell it the way her mother could have, to imply and insinuate they might get their reward without having to take it by force, but she gives it what spin she can.

(Persuasion or Deception--same roll [roll1])

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Human Artist (for the moment)
AC: 12 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Silvia happily lets Bayrd take her arm as she smiles with appreciation of his magical display and the environs, and of course the compliment. She's certainly seen more impressive magic in the courts of royals and nobles, but she has no talent with it herself and appreciates the beauty of the display here.

As she takes a seat near the fire, she gives him a smile and replies, "I'm glad to hear it Bayrd, though I can see already it is the gardens I will start with. Is it just the two of us this evening?" She avoids answering how long she'll be around for, as she knows many can't help but view others as their personal possessions and dislike being reminded that she will go when and where she wills.

[Michael7123]

The salty water draining from your sleeves seems to take the last of your strength with it. You roll onto your back, never before so grateful to be lying on an uncomfortable, rocky beach. The ocean has already swallowed any hint of your ship's existence, as calm as any other day - just another victim of the waves.
You take stock of your equipment. Unlocking the chest where you hope to find some of the documents, you instead find a small orange fish enjoying a personal swimming pool gradually darkening with dissipating ink.
At least there is still sunlight. For now. You have a few hours before dark.

What do you do?

Folgarda coughs up saltwater before deeply inhaling, gasping for breath. The last thing she remembered was clinging onto a large piece of driftwood created from the ship's destruction when it shattered after capsizing. No ship could have survived that hellish storm, and certainly not a longboat. They had never intended to stray that far from the shore, but the winds had swept them away. Try as they might, there was nothing that could have been done.

For a brief moment, Folgarda entertains the possibility that the gods have given her a miracle when she notices the chest, yet despair washes over her when she sees only a fish inside. At least the jawbone strings that her father had given her lies in the sand off to the side.
Dozens of thoughts vied for Folgarda's attention as she took a deep breath and tried to get her bearings. Help or Shelter. Find it. Everything depends on you now.

She still had a few hours, and after taking a brief moment to toss the fish back into the sea to save it from a slow and painful death from ink poisoning, Folgarda took stock of her surroundings- if only to distract herself from the weight of the responsibility now resting solely upon her shoulders.


[roll0] Perception Check Any survivors (as if), anything in the sand nearby, any signs of inhabited lands nearby?

[roll1] Survival Check Where in the world am I? What way is North? What way would be vaguely towards my ultimate destination?




I just have always envisioned the character with that somewhat crudely made bone musical instrument on hand. If you'd prefer, I can cut that part out.

[bladescape]

You were sure you had him. His sleeves were up and elbows were on the table, so where did the ace come from? It's impossible. You counted. But this is not your home turf... and that was the last of your coin... and your monthly debt payment of 30g to Olibar is due tomorrow. If it's late again it'll be your hide.
"Better luck next time kids," the middle-aged dwarf crows, his calloused fingers sliding everyone's bets toward him. One of the other two slumps back in frustration and re-ups. The other rises and moves toward the tapped keg in the corner. "ah ah, you've had your free fills already," one of the muscled observers warns, holding out an expectant hand. The thirsty patron of this back room establishment drops yet another precious coin into his hand and fills his mug.

It's late and yours is the last table still playing tonight. You've no more coin for the ante. Is it time to call it a night or do you have one more angle to try with these cheats?

That... didn't add up. He knew how to count, old Sev made sure he did. He'd been doing this for years, thought the old Dwarf just had the hot run going but now he's digging gold from who knows where.

"Sure you didn't have that ace up your sleeve?" Leviticus chuckles along with his 'joke', his eyes glancing around as the fingers rap the table in front of him in thought. As he waited for the response, he turned over the options in his mind, letting the drum of his fingers help his concentration.

He could bet up with his belongings, but that veered dangerous territory. Especially against one who is likely a cheater. He memorised the Dwarf's face as he considered, the flickering of his fingers on the table his only motion.

(OOC:
[roll0] Insight check to confirm the Dwarf's reaction. - As an Inquisitive Rogue I count any roll under 8 on an insight check to be 8)

[miinstrel]

"Sick man, eh?" the mounted fellow trots up alongside your cart and peers in, his aged leathers creaking a bit with the movement. Scanning him and the others you note everyone is armed in some way, and the one standing behind the cart has his eyes focused at his waist while he works something with his hands. You hear the 'click' of a crossbow being loaded. Looking at the cart you notice one of the interior walls displays a blood stain.

"I hear there's an ogre round these parts lately. Dangerous ride all the way to Enfield, day out, day back.. thinking pre-payment is in order." One of his buddies chuckles. Three of the other men casually fan out a bit, all moving your direction, the one by the cart stays where he is.

"Oooh, this is nice," the apparent leader adds, noticing the jeweled sword on the other side and moving his horse around toward it. If you're quick you could grab it before him.
"Please, that's all I have to pay the priest," Marlette begs. "Don't matter if you don't make it there, does it?" he sneers. "What else ya got on ya?"


The fish panics at first in your hands but calms upon return to the sea, vanishing quickly in the direction of your shipwreck.
Scanning the water you see two shadows drifting on the waves a couple hundred feet off shore. Neither appears to be moving of its own accord, and after waiting a few minutes for them to get closer you confirm it's just driftwood, possibly a plank from your ship but Aleister seems to have already claimed whatever passenger it may have once held.

The beach itself is rocky in both directions and rises gradually toward a dense conifer forest. You stand on a northern shore based on the sun's position. Your destination was a western shore, so you deduce you need to move S/SW. A lift in the forest canopy seems to indicate a hill where you might gain a better vantage point. You could go straight through the forest to try and get to the hill before the light fades or try to make your way there by going down the beach which, while more open, would likely take a bit longer. Or do you plan to camp here for the night?

The dwarf narrows his eyes suspiciously for just a fraction of a second before retorting, "I always have an ace - it's called a half century of reading the faces of desperate youngsters like you. You're all either sad and lonely, or in deep to the wrong guy, or addicted to loss." His stubby fingers shuffle the cards with expert precision. "But it's late and I ain't got the energy I used to. He's willing to lose one more," he gestures to the fellow next to you. "You joining him?"

OOC: You're pretty certain he cheated, but the logistics of the stunt still elude you. His response seems to be a front as he studies you.

"This evening yes. I've more guests arriving tomorrow for a little soiree - some art enthusiasts, a few friends, nothing extravagant. I've heard you prefer more... intimate gatherings. But I wanted some time alone first to get to know the woman behind the easel as it were." A light breeze rolls along the house, making the flames dance and sending a light shiver through your bones - a preview of the chill the coming autumn will bring. "Are you cold?"

Without waiting for the answer, he steps through a door behind you and disappears for a minute. His footsteps return to the back of your chair, a knitted blanket draping around your shoulders. He pushes the blanket forcefully forward around your body. His heavy hands still clutching the blanket's edge drift down toward your waist, his face pressing against the back of your hair, the weight of his chest bearing down upon your shoulders.

You take some time to ponder your next move, starting a fire in the hearth to combat the wintery air trying to force its way inside. The dry wood roars to life sending dancing shadows across the walls and making the room feel a great deal larger and emptier than it might otherwise. You stare into the flames, praying for the courage to face this challenge.

You hear what might be an airy exhale from near the front door, but you didn't hear it creak open as you did when you first arrived.

[TriciaOso]

[spoiler=Bijou]"Sick man, eh?" the mounted fellow trots up alongside your cart and peers in, his aged leathers creaking a bit with the movement. Scanning him and the others you note everyone is armed in some way, and the one standing behind the cart has his eyes focused at his waist while he works something with his hands. You hear the 'click' of a crossbow being loaded. Looking at the cart you notice one of the interior walls displays a blood stain.

"I hear there's an ogre round these parts lately. Dangerous ride all the way to Enfield, day out, day back.. thinking pre-payment is in order." One of his buddies chuckles. Three of the other men casually fan out a bit, all moving your direction, the one by the cart stays where he is.

"Oooh, this is nice," the apparent leader adds, noticing the jeweled sword on the other side and moving his horse around toward it. If you're quick you could grab it before him.

"Please, that's all I have to pay the priest," Marlette begs.

"Don't matter if you don't make it there, does it?" he sneers. "What else ya got on ya?"

Bijou sighs, and tightens her fingers on Marlette's arm. "They're robbing us, darling," she says quietly. "It's not up for a vote. These things happen--and worse things it could have been." She allows him to take the sword, and gestures back towards the mule.

"Musical instruments," she says sourly to the leader, dark eyes flashing. "Costumes. The crowns are painted wood, not gold. Some puppets, give you joy of them. And the rings from my bloody ears if it will move this along. He's dying, and that's no story. Be a thief if you're a thief, but don't be a bastard."

[RossN]

Valara

Valara's blue eyes were heavy, uncharacteristic worry lines on her normally smooth forehead. Thus far in her twenty years the worst the young noblewoman had faced in her life was the headache from the aftermath of a night's overindulgence with her friends. Being a refugee from her own family and way of life had not been part of her plan, in so much as she ever had a plan beyond having the finest clothes and the newest hairstyle. As she wrapped her expensive red cloak around her Valara wished she'd paid a little more attention to her tutors.

Her thoughts turned to Lyrian and the blonde allowed herself a smile thinking of the handsome young noble with his dark hair, green eyes and rakish beard, his love of his hunting falcons and sense of adventure. She could almost conjure his image in the flames. It was of course a perfect scandal given the bad blood between her family and his, but that seemed a touch less important now given the presence of out and out fiend worship in her families.

Blinking at the sound of an in-drawn breath when she had thought herself alone Valara whirls around, red cloak flipping. "Who's there?"

[bladescape]

The dwarf narrows his eyes suspiciously for just a fraction of a second before retorting, "I always have an ace - it's called a half century of reading the faces of desperate youngsters like you. You're all either sad and lonely, or in deep to the wrong guy, or addicted to loss." His stubby fingers shuffle the cards with expert precision. "But it's late and I ain't got the energy I used to. He's willing to lose one more," he gestures to the fellow next to you. "You joining him?"

OOC: You're pretty certain he cheated, but the logistics of the stunt still elude you. His response seems to be a front as he studies you.

"Well, if I were a desperate enough youngster I'd spend the coin to see how you pulled that trick. But I haven't the coin to waste these days." Levi drains the rest of the mug he'd nursed the entire time in here, taking full advantage of the free alcohol without overdoing it. Drunk and gambling is how you can lose everything all over again, and Levi had already been there and done that. There was the niggling in the back of his head that told him provoking the men around him was a bad idea, but the Gambler also knew that entering anything with no confidence was a surefire way to lose ground...

And he'd already committed the first shots.

"Gentlemen. Rest easy in Edra's light. Careful with your gold now." The last words were more an aside to the man next to him, as Levi stood up on slightly unsteady feet.

[Michael7123]

The fish panics at first in your hands but calms upon return to the sea, vanishing quickly in the direction of your shipwreck.
Scanning the water you see two shadows drifting on the waves a couple hundred feet off shore. Neither appears to be moving of its own accord, and after waiting a few minutes for them to get closer you confirm it's just driftwood, possibly a plank from your ship but Aleister seems to have already claimed whatever passenger it may have once held.

The beach itself is rocky in both directions and rises gradually toward a dense conifer forest. You stand on a northern shore based on the sun's position. Your destination was a western shore, so you deduce you need to move S/SW. A lift in the forest canopy seems to indicate a hill where you might gain a better vantage point. You could go straight through the forest to try and get to the hill before the light fades or try to make your way there by going down the beach which, while more open, would likely take a bit longer. Or do you plan to camp here for the night?




Folgarda scans across her surroundings with a scowl. A small corner of her mind rebuked herself for not waking sooner, that maybe, just maybe there could have been another survivor she may have been able to help. But that was folly, and she knew it. She was not an amazing swimmer, and her survival had been an act of the gods, not any of her own making.

The dwarf pulled out her axe and clutched it close to her chest as she made her way to the hill on the forest. She was not going to let herself simply get mauled to death by some random bear, but she had to get a better vantage point sooner. With luck, from there she’d be able to

How long will it be till my family knows that I have not yet fallen? The thought came unbidden as she walked past the tree line. It was possible that she could pass a letter along with a ship northbound, if she was lucky.

But if you were lucky, then you wouldn’t be here, would you? But if you were not lucky, you’d just have drowned. Folgarda let’s be mind mull over that contradiction as she begins her walk through the woods, hooing it served as a distraction to the far more existential worries she had.

She could let herself break down when she was just a bit safer.

1d20+1 survival check looking for dry / dead wood in the forest, just something I could potentially get some sort of fire going with if need be.

1d20+1 stealth check just trying to stay out of trouble and out of sight, if possible.

[Michael7123]

Don’t know why those last ones didn’t work but let’s try this again.

Survival: [roll0]

Stealth: [roll1]

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Human Artist (for the moment)
AC: 12 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

She'd been about to reply in the negative when Bayrd left. "Ah. This." she thought to herself as he pressed himself against her.

"Very gentlemanly of you Bayrd." she said, looking him in the eye and hoping he would get the hint that she wished him to continue being a gentleman this evening. "Getting to know each other sounds lovely, perhaps over supper?" she suggested, trying to reinforce the quashing of any romantic developments so soon.

[miinstrel]

"Straight to the point, I like that." he leans over and lifts the sword from the cart, holding it up for a quick inspection before sliding it into his belt. One of the other fellows rifles through your mule's saddlebag and glares at you disapprovingly. "Keep yer toys, but we'll take the gold in yer ears. Since ye offered."

A thin whistle moving through the air catches your attention, and you turn to see an arrow fly past your little assembly, embedding itself in the grass a few feet behind your cart. There, coming down the road ahead of you, ride two armored figures, their horses clad in the king's colors. "Begone bandits!" one shouts across the small clearing. The thief with the crossbow moves around to the near side of their cart for cover and looses a bolt northward toward the pair riding toward you, but misses and begins to load another. The one inspecting your mule steps behind your cart for cover. The one on the horse draws his new prize and yells "$#@&, time to move, gents!"

As the skirmish erupts, Marlette looks back at her father and then at you with determination in her eyes. Her fingers coiling tightly around the reins.

The salty sea air keeps the underbrush sparse at first, but it soon thickens into a noisy swath of ferns. Silence is nigh impossible, though you are able to find a sizable bundle of dry kindling as you make your way. The darkness settles in faster than expected under the dense canopy, but you do notice the ground starting to rise bringing with it fresh aches in your legs with each step.

You're nearly to the top when a piece of wood snaps off to your left. You freeze, every sense suddenly heightened. Silence. Stillness. You continue forward more quickly until you hear the same sound a few minutes later, closer this time. You look again. Nothi-- no, there! A hundred feet away a gray-ish shape hunkers down against a bush. Shaggy fur, a pointed face. A wolf stalks you. There will be others.

The goon near the exit stairs tenses at your initial quip but a brief visual exchange with the dwarf settles him back down. The dwarf looks annoyed at your comment but holds his tongue. "Probably for the best," he finally says with a deep breath. "Seems you may need Her help more than me. Sleep well."

The whole exchange strikes you as a little odd. The dwarf seems to be in charge, but there was something about that look with the doorman that felt like he was the one calming the dwarf down.

You collect your things and begin to make your way up the stairs. The doorman rolls in behind you to walk you out, and you feel a finger ever so gently slip into your pocket followed by a soft bump as something settles at the bottom. A less experienced man's senses likely wouldn't have noticed, but you're no stranger to underworld craft... though typically they take instead of give.

He continues to slouch toward you as you turn to gracefully decline his advances. His face is inches from yours, his eyes full of terror. A red breath gurgles from his mouth. You leap up in shock, the tip of the bolt sticking through his neck leaving a scratch along your shoulder in the process. In the doorway of the house you see a figure dressed in black, a hood pulled up over his head, and a small crossbow mounted to his arm.

A pocket of sap in the wood breaks the ensuing silence with a burst of sparks that are quickly gobbled up by darkness. You grab the fire poker and walk carefully toward the front door of the small house. It's still locked. Maybe it was just your imagination. A breeze coming in through the crack perhaps.

You return to the central room and settle before the fire once again. It seems darker in here than before. The shadows on the west wall are deeper and aren't flickering as much. As you watch, one of the shadows rises up over you toward the ceiling, smoky tendrils wafting down from jet black wings attached to a wispy, unnaturally shadowed body with empty, gray eyes.
Amid the fear, a rasping voice appears in your head though no sound enters your ears. <Return the daughter... didn't say alive, heh heh. Seed will grow anyway.>

[Michael7123]

"Whale****." Folgarda curses as she grips the axe handle tighter upon noticing the wolf. She was a stranger to these lands and their strange wildlife, but she had encountered enough predators to know that she was about to be in a world of trouble. She knew well enough that she had no chance of outrunning just about anything on four legs. But luckily enough, there was at least one potential source of refuge in these woods.

She continues slowly making her way up to the top of the hill, avoiding any sudden movements and hoping the wolf would be content to keep it's distance, at least for a time. Then, at the top of the clearing, she gets to work climbing the most approachable tree nearby, desperately hoping that the last of her strength does not fail her just yet.


[roll0] Athletics check to climb up a tree. ( Can wolves climb trees? I don't know. Let's find out! )

[TriciaOso]

"Straight to the point, I like that." he leans over and lifts the sword from the cart, holding it up for a quick inspection before sliding it into his belt. One of the other fellows rifles through your mule's saddlebag and glares at you disapprovingly. "Keep yer toys, but we'll take the gold in yer ears. Since ye offered."

A thin whistle moving through the air catches your attention, and you turn to see an arrow fly past your little assembly, embedding itself in the grass a few feet behind your cart. There, coming down the road ahead of you, ride two armored figures, their horses clad in the king's colors. "Begone bandits!" one shouts across the small clearing. The thief with the crossbow moves around to the near side of their cart for cover and looses a bolt northward toward the pair riding toward you, but misses and begins to load another. The one inspecting your mule steps behind your cart for cover. The one on the horse draws his new prize and yells "$#@&, time to move, gents!"

As the skirmish erupts, Marlette looks back at her father and then at you with determination in her eyes. Her fingers coiling tightly around the reins.

The tart words die on Bijou's tongue: Brass, idiot.

(Nothing wrong with a bit of highway robbery, part and parcel, bit of a road tax--she could tell a dozen tales of gallant rogues of that sort, Gentleman Jim, Robin Greenleaf, even old Methuselah--but damn his eyes, there's such a thing as style. There's such a thing as courtesy to another child of the moon. You don't rob poor people, even if only because poor people don't have any money.)

But now the guards are piling in, little better than another gang of thugs in brighter colors and shinier armor, and are they sitting pretty as living breathing arrow butts, placed courteously behind the targets to catch any stray bolts? Naturally they are.

She catches the wild surmise in Marlette, more in her hands than in her stark white face, and swallows. Smarter to hide under the cart, but you can't tell a girl to hide beneath her dying father for cover. Well, you can, but Marlette isn't the type to go for it, sadly. Nothing for it.

Bijou nods just barely to Marlette.

With the last moment, she snatches up her coat and staff and puts the whole bundle between herself and the arrows for what cover it will give.

[bladescape]

The goon near the exit stairs tenses at your initial quip but a brief visual exchange with the dwarf settles him back down. The dwarf looks annoyed at your comment but holds his tongue. "Probably for the best," he finally says with a deep breath. "Seems you may need Her help more than me. Sleep well."

The whole exchange strikes you as a little odd. The dwarf seems to be in charge, but there was something about that look with the doorman that felt like he was the one calming the dwarf down.

You collect your things and begin to make your way up the stairs. The doorman rolls in behind you to walk you out, and you feel a finger ever so gently slip into your pocket followed by a soft bump as something settles at the bottom. A less experienced man's senses likely wouldn't have noticed, but you're no stranger to underworld craft... though typically they take instead of give.

Putpocketed. Neat. Leviticus almost smiled at the interaction, but he kept his face neutral as he made his way up the stairs and out onto the cold dark street. It was going to be a harsh night and he had to find the coin still. Somewhere better than that slimy fingered greaser. He hadn't been swindled like that for years, but Levi could never stay too mad at a good swindle, as long as he didn't get taken hearth from home.

Sighing and rubbing his hands together as he glanced around before taking a left out, Levi took the chance to put his hands in his pockets casually, using his fingers to feel out whatever was just put onto his body. There was a good chance it was a good thing, but a good chance that there was something being planted on him to target him later now he'd called out the gambler for being a fraud...

[RossN]

Valara's sapphire eyes widened in shock. She'd expected pursuit but this was a little different. The young noblewoman all but jumped to her feet, swaying for a second in her fashionable boots.

"Get back!" she ordered, trying to hold the confidence that had served her so well holding court and balls and dances. She was a viscountess after all!

Even as she said it Valara racked her empty brain to see if she could remember anything from her expensive tutors about what this evil thing was.

Religion check 1d20-1

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Human Artist (for the moment)
AC: 12 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Silvia's face in a moment goes from affronted, to disgusted, to horrified. Perhaps otherwise she might have frozen up, but the pain kicks in her fight or flight response. She instantly unleashes the roiling emotion inside of her and channels it to fuel her...... ear splitting scream of terror that could probably be heard for miles. Then she runs off in a panic, tears of fear running down her face. Still screaming, of course, and sort of on instinct trying to reach that servant she'd paid little attention to before.

[miinstrel]

Marlette flicks her wrists with a defiant "HYAH!" launching the cart forward. You hear a yelp of pain as the bandit hiding behind the cart is half trampled by your mule who seems indifferent about the whole affair, if anything a bit put off by the faster pace. The soldiers' horses part allowing you to pass as they gallop forward, the one with the bow knocking another arrow and loosing it toward the highwaymen as you pass. You turn around in your seat, keeping the coat and staff between yourself and the battle. The arrow strikes one of the thieves in the shoulder, sending him momentarily to the ground. You can't help but grin.

The one behind the cart levels his crossbow at the soldiers and fires. The arrow sails over their arm and toward your fleeing vehicle. With the soldier blocking your view your body tenses without enough time to react. The coat catches the bolt, but cloth does not armor make, and it tears through viciously embedding itself in your chest. "Bijou!" Marlette yells, catching you with one arm while keeping the reins steady with the other. "Oh god, oh god..."

She rides until you're out of sight of the battle then slows the horses. You feel your heart beating in time with their slowing pace, clip clop clip clop... clip clop...... clip clop....................... clip......... clop....

The wolves keep pace, inching closer as you crest the hill. From the ground you can just barely see through the tops of some of the lower trees toward the glassy blue of the ocean in the distance. One tree here has enough branches low enough to attempt a climb, and while it takes a bit of a jump and the last of your strength to pull yourself up, you get a comfortable 15 feet off the ground before drawing your axe and watching the wolves, three of them, sniff at the tree's base. One of them howls into the night air. What drying you did during the trip has been replaced with sweat, and you lean gratefully against the pine's rough bark.

From your vantage point you see the coast extends west a ways and then cuts south, zig zagging toward your destination. Based on the abundant foliage you have quite a walk ahead of you toward the much more sparsely vegetated kingdom of Kardoch. Your view shows the sun's lower edge just touching the horizon and initiating a play of pinkish hues above you.

Your pursuers don't seem intent on following you up the tree, but they're not leaving. Two have lain down, one sits facing the setting sun. After a couple minutes they all rise and trot away from the tree. Suddenly the branch you're on shakes and you hear a rustling from the other side of the trunk. You turn to see a wolf's head nearly the size of your body staring back at you with victorious hunger.

The aging oak of the door urges you along under threat of splinter if you let out any more warmth, but the darkness welcomes you with the comforting smell of burning cedar. You reach into your pocket and feel the linked metal of jewelry. Withdrawing it from your pocket reveals a small locket studded with a pearl on a golden chain. The clasp is broken as though it were pulled off someone's neck. Perhaps tonight's luck wasn't exhausted yet after all.

You continue down the street to the corner where a figure waits. "Good evening, Levi," rumbles Olibar's thirsty baritone. I'm a few hours early, I know, but I just had this feeling things didn't quite go your way tonight. And to be honest, I'm a bit tired of this whole game... you're late, I find you, you promise it's coming... you're not a good investment. I think it's time to cut my losses."

In the middle of your reply, Olibar raises his fist and punches himself in the eye. "Help! Thief!" he shouts, a finger pointed at you as he takes a step back "My necklace!" Two guards a bit too conveniently round the corner a few moments later. "Stop, thief!" one echoes, drawing a short blade.

Your scream causes the assailant to similarly spring to action, reloading his crossbow with remarkable speed and firing another bolt as you turn to run. It catches you in the arm as you turn the corner around the side of the house back the way you came. You get about halfway when your blood seems to catch fire in your chest. Your heart pounds uncontrollably as though it might burst. The world spins and you lurch forward a few steps, eventually dropping to your knees. Someone approaches you and kneels down beside you. They're speaking but you can't focus on their words. Your delirium suggests your consciousness may fade soon despite the minor nature of your wounds.

Your recall is found wanting as your mind sets itself to the matter at hand. The creature looms larger in your vision as it slowly wafts forward. You step back as it approaches. You can see the flickering flames dimly through parts of its body like a puppet show behind a curtain. <So brave... be afraid... fear tastes better.>

It reaches out with lightning speed, grabbing your throat. Its mere touch conjures to your mind every doubt and fear of the last few years. As you relive each in turn it fades as though wiped from your memory along with a bit of your will to live. The creature's black face seems to darken and grin, savoring every reaction on your face.

OOC: describe one of these moments of fear as part of your next post.

[TriciaOso]

What a stupid way to die. What a stupid, stupid way to die. All the legends and stories and jokes and tragedies and music that live inside of her, whole imaginary worlds orbiting a sun now guttering like a dying candle.

She'd always meant to die on the road, sure enough, but there's no poetry here; not even a limerick. No one is going to remember her except for Marlette, and--she realizes with cold clarity and biting sarcasm--she won't even be the most significant death this farmgirl witnesses today, for her father surely won't make sundown without Bijou's medical training.

Her mother is retired, good as dead in her one-horse village, but at least there still beat hearts that remember thrillingly the day Odeon Half-elven sang for them. The children of the moon say you live as long as something you made, something you shaped, is still remembered. Bijou Terpsichore will have no encores, and that's bitter.

Bitter...



As she dies she hums to herself, soothing her own pain as she always has, from beneath tables while her mother twirled across dancefloors, from hallways while her mother tumbled in inn bedrooms. She hums one of the oldest songs she learned, jagged and strange, unearthly but orderly to a fault, a beautiful deathless symmetry that washes away bitterness and replaces it with peace; the song her mother called the Hymn of Mercy. The hum grows faint as she runs out of breath, but if you pressed your ear to her throat you could hear the last vibrations of a life reverberating.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Human Artist (for the last moment)
AC: 12 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Silvia's mind tries to puzzle together what happened, but she just can't focus well enough. Perhaps she should, being of royal blood, have been able to put the pieces together and realize she'd been poisoned and at least manage to get that word out in case the figure over her was inclined and able to help. Perhaps as an even halfway decent humanoid she should have been concerned for their safety... assuming it wasn't just the killer making sure they'd left no witnesses.

But really where her mind went were to try and form some beautiful final words. And for just a sliver of a moment she grasped them and tried to speak. But found that between her lengthy screaming and the running she wasn't used to and whatever else was going on, she couldn't make so much as a sound now.

Frustrated at her lack of ability to release a final bit of artistry into the world, more than afraid or angry or sad, her eyes rolled over to the garden and she remembered Bayrd's final words (of any real import anyway, no good historian would do the dead and the rest of the world the disservice of being tiresomely accurate in such a case surely) "The gardens nearly match your beauty. Nearly".
As that remembrance passed through her dimming mind, she thought, "Yes. Not so beautiful as me. Even in this moment. My self-portrait of the feeling of fire in my heart and spreading through my body on this dark night, lit faintly by the fire with this garden as the shadowy backdrop will be a masterpiece." Forgetting in her last moment, that she wouldn't be having any others in which to make said painting.

[Michael7123]

The wolves keep pace, inching closer as you crest the hill. From the ground you can just barely see through the tops of some of the lower trees toward the glassy blue of the ocean in the distance. One tree here has enough branches low enough to attempt a climb, and while it takes a bit of a jump and the last of your strength to pull yourself up, you get a comfortable 15 feet off the ground before drawing your axe and watching the wolves, three of them, sniff at the tree's base. One of them howls into the night air. What drying you did during the trip has been replaced with sweat, and you lean gratefully against the pine's rough bark.

From your vantage point you see the coast extends west a ways and then cuts south, zig zagging toward your destination. Based on the abundant foliage you have quite a walk ahead of you toward the much more sparsely vegetated kingdom of Kardoch. Your view shows the sun's lower edge just touching the horizon and initiating a play of pinkish hues above you.

Your pursuers don't seem intent on following you up the tree, but they're not leaving. Two have lain down, one sits facing the setting sun. After a couple minutes they all rise and trot away from the tree. Suddenly the branch you're on shakes and you hear a rustling from the other side of the trunk. You turn to see a wolf's head nearly the size of your body staring back at you with victorious hunger.





Folgarda freezes in place, the adrenalin that had faded in the first few minutes of respite returning with a vengeance as she stares the wolf- if indeed this was a wolf- snarling at her hungrily.

Every moment she has ever treasured flashes before her: mother and father's stories, time playing with her seven siblings, the times spent wrapped up in layers and layers of mammothite next to a , fire in the middle of the bleakest winters, and the stories of how their ancestors had fled their homeland, braving ruin and desolation to turn Rostorea into their home.


And in that moment, Folgarda's resolve hardens. Knowing in a primal way that today will be the last day she walks the earth, she decides that her last moments will be worthy of all those who had raised her, and that she would not die a coward's death.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!", with what is more a yelp than a battlecry, Folgarda wildly swings her axe with both her hands towards the wolf's face, failing to consider the precarious balancing act that fighting in a tree requires, and soon after goes tumbling downwards to the forest floor below.


Attack [roll0]

Damage [roll1]

Fall Damage [roll2]

[RossN]

Valara kicked and screamed, desperate not to go without a fight against this thing. Even as she scratched and clawed at it, her mind was swept with ancient fears, briefly awoken, ripped from her and then cast into oblivion.

...she remembered 'borrowing' a pair of ruby earrings from her stepmother's jewellery box when she was maybe twelve and how she'd almost at once lost them and the way the whole day had stretched before her before the awful business had been found out. Endless Autumn hours ticking away before she had been called into the presence of her father and stepmother. Alone with her thoughts, she who hated loneliness. The fear of the punishment, of the mockery as they scolded "our stupid little girl" had lingered long beyond the punishment itself.

"I am the Valara Discari, Viscountess of Dullan and I am better than this," she screamed and spat and clawed and fought even as she died. "I am beautiful and I am noble and I... and I..."

[bladescape]

The aging oak of the door urges you along under threat of splinter if you let out any more warmth, but the darkness welcomes you with the comforting smell of burning cedar. You reach into your pocket and feel the linked metal of jewelry. Withdrawing it from your pocket reveals a small locket studded with a pearl on a golden chain. The clasp is broken as though it were pulled off someone's neck. Perhaps tonight's luck wasn't exhausted yet after all.

You continue down the street to the corner where a figure waits. "Good evening, Levi," rumbles Olibar's thirsty baritone. I'm a few hours early, I know, but I just had this feeling things didn't quite go your way tonight. And to be honest, I'm a bit tired of this whole game... you're late, I find you, you promise it's coming... you're not a good investment. I think it's time to cut my losses."

In the middle of your reply, Olibar raises his fist and punches himself in the eye. "Help! Thief!" he shouts, a finger pointed at you as he takes a step back "My necklace!" Two guards a bit too conveniently round the corner a few moments later. "Stop, thief!" one echoes, drawing a short blade.

Levi's hands had moved quickly, quick-enough he'd thought. Olibar's voice was a frustrating recall, but he'd be damned if he let the greedy landowner see the necklace he'd been given. "Look, Olibar, I already have what I need to make the money tonight. I'll owe you nothing more then and you can let me--."

Or so he'd thought. The moment Olibar punched himself, crying thief for an item that the gambler was sure he'd never seen. That's when it all clicked into place, the odd glances earlier, the intent to bleed him dry of money, Olibar getting one last money draw before removing Leviticus from the picture...

When to bloody fold them... Was the last bitter words in his head as he turned and pumped his legs. He didn't bother trying to reason with the guards, they wouldn't listen. He was in the right but they wouldn't listen. His only chance was that they hadn't seen him properly in the night and to get out of their sight. The burning of his legs told him exactly how unfit he was right now merely steps into the attempt to flee, but there was a single thought in his head that inspired his continued desperate attempt.

I'm not ready to join you yet, Estelle. A bitter thought, swallowed down as he breathed harshly.

[miinstrel]

As your eyes flutter shut you feel someone take your hand and a second voice joins their melody to yours. Its ethereal - almost a whisper. Before you can discern if it was Marlette or some other soul it all turns black.
Nothing about these next few moments went as planned. As you shouted, the enormous beast reared back and launched itself up toward you only to catch air in its jaws as you slip ferociously downward, landing hard on one of the tree's roots. The last thing you remember seeing is an enormous paw bearing the full weight of a dire wolf bearing down upon your face.
The guards give chase, ,though as soon as it seems you are likely to outrun their lightly armored forms, one draws a dagger from his waist and throws it forward. It misses its mark but still leaves a gash in your thigh. The flow of blood takes with it your speed./ In another block they've caught you, and while guards they may be by profession, they've clearly forgone that duty in their hearts. A blade goes in and comes out again. It's an unpleasant way to go, but perhaps on the side of the road, returned to nothing, is enough poetry for you.
You fight dutifully at this manifestation of your hatred until every lonely memory slips away along with your consciousness. At the very end there's almost peace.

There has only ever been white, clean and eternal, all imperfections swept away. You feel it has always been this way, but now is different. Now there is blue. Now more blue. Drip... drop... drip... drop... more and more, falling like rain on the edge of your consciousness, color winking in and out, spinning. Were you always conscious? All thoughts are white-now-blue, as memories but changing. Each droplet of color lingers longer than the last and builds on itself, drying into blue-gray ridged textures and shadows, but above you is always white. A small pinhole of light and the blankness that was before amid this new sea of color.

The blue-gray coalesces into jagged shapes, plates spinning ever faster, the shadow of each merging with the next into a stop motion image of a damp cave. The speed increases until the picture steadies, the spinning now ceased, and you find yourself standing, naked, in the cave. The stone is cold and smooth to your bare feet. Drip... drop... each impact echoes through the cavern, tiny cries for companionship answered by their brethren as they all march down in rivulets for better things where gravity’s siren song ceases.

You catch movement in your periphery. You are not alone. Four others stand a few feet away. Strangers to you. While you've no idea how you got here, or where here even is, the shared expressions of confusion and wonder suggest they also feel awoken from a deep slumber.

Drip... drop... drip...

The cave is large enough the small bit of moonlight shining in from a hole in the roof of the cave does not fully illuminate the walls. Fortunately lit sconces encircle most of the room. In the center is a massive, hovering, multi-layered sphere made up of shifting plates, each tier rotating at a slightly different speed that dizzies you if you look too hard.

The chamber is mostly unworked stone, though a few intentional items also exist. On one side rests a wooden rack in surprisingly good condition, perhaps preserved by the cold. It seems to house a number of what were likely blankets at one point, but now are simply tattered remnants (though still semi-functional if hideous). Next to this rack rest a few finely made steel tools including an axe, a couple shovels, a few lengths of heavy chain and some hemp rope, and a longsword.

Along another wall sits an enormous rock that seems to have dislodged from the ceiling based on the extra deep shadows directly above it. A partial skeleton is visible beneath the rock, the rest of it seemingly crushed underneath.

The entire room shows signs of debris and cave in, most notably at the far end where the edge of a squared archway can be seen. Some small paths through the fallen rock are available for a small framed person, though how deep they go is unclear from here.

Most notable are the four other individuals around you.

As you have all awakened naked, I need you to:

Identify no more than one item in your inventory that really houses the core of your character. This could be a cloak, a spell casting focus, a trinket… any single object you like. Delete all other items and all currency from your sheet except that one item.
You do not have this item on your person just yet, but I don’t want you to have to think back and try to figure out what it was a few posts from now.


Your memory is a little hazy, but your mortal life and how you died returns to you at whatever pace you deem appropriate.
You do not yet remember your ‘spirit’ lives nor are your class features active yet.
@Silvia – you are still a human. No visible rib cage, etc. just yet. We’ll get there soon.

[TriciaOso]

Bijou takes advantage of being the first to wake to scramble, unsteadily at first, to examine the rack. With quick, practiced hands that rigged many an impromptu costume or curtain, she tears an ancient blanket in two and wraps herself hurriedly. It's the not the most modest set of garments--it reminds her, in fact, of something her mother would wear--but it will do. No one has ever called her navel 'the giddy stirrup cup of Desire,' anyway.

Blearily she looks at the other three unconscious women and consider. Easier, probably, she thinks, slow and syrupy, to blindfold the man instead.

Without conscious thought her free hand floats to her chest and probes the place where an arrow should be.

Her flute.

[bladescape]

"Edra's blessed light." The exclamation was the first thing the man uttered as he winced, his left hand going to his forehead as he stumbled slightly, his feet unsure of the terrain. There was a brief wonder then, as he looked down, realising the pain that seared through his tired legs was gone. His hand then went to his chest, touching over bare skin almost wonderingly."Not even a scar..."

Finally bringing himself to look around, his eyes get stuck on the spinning globe a moment before roving over the rest of the room. At first the gaze is a mix of curiosity and wonder, almost childlike in how it gazed upon all of the craziness around him, before suddenly becoming tinged in pink as the older male blushed. Lithe as he was he almost hunched in on himself as he realised the situation, his brain only now catching up with the change of circumstances.

Not properly looking over at the one woman who was awake, he wet his lips, staring solidly at the ground. "Can you pass one of them for me?"

Keeping my Deck of Cards because I'm a Gambler

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Human Artist (?)
AC: 12 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Silvia awoke and calmly examined her situation. It was all very surreal, like some kind of dream. Then she places her hand to her heart to feel it, checking to make sure the burning sensation wasn't still there.

Spotting the other woman who was awake she gave a polite nod of her head and got up. She didn't seem particularly uncomfortable in her nakedness, rather she just didn't immediately acknowledge the man yet, though she did decide to copy what the other woman had done to cloth herself, as much as you could call it that.

Having clothes (as it were) spurs the thought to her missing material possessions, here she was in a strange location with strange people and a fascinating thing she'd never so much of heard of before and she was to simply stand there bare foot and poorly dressed without any means of capturing this moment with a brush or in a sculpture? Such an affront!

As she stood there looking around, her annoyance would be quite clear to see. Not that she would have attempted to hide it if she'd considered it might be showing.


Choosing her signet ring.

[RossN]

"I am..." Jarla gasped aloud and opened her eyelids. "...alive?"

The young woman sat up and looked around in confusion, a mane of long white-blonde hair falling in front of her face. Brushing it back revealed a pretty, if pale complexioned appearance dominated by ruby lips and large blue eyes. She glanced at the others in surprise, mixed with suspicion.

"Who are you people and why are you...?" she glanced down and quickly moved a protective arm across her bosom. "Why are we naked?"

Standing up (still trying to keep her arms and hands strategically placed) Jarla revealed herself to be tall for a woman. She stepped towards the rack and in a complicated dance secured some of the rags to wrap around herself.

OOC:
Keeping her signet ring.

[TriciaOso]

"That's the rub, isn't it?" Bijou says. "I don't know, and I don't know, except my ownself. And if we're all in the same boat, then so we'll stay unless we share." She hands out ragged blankets even as she says this.

Unless they aren't all in the same boat. But what else is there to do? She adds abruptly, like pushing her chips into the middle of the table: "I'm Bijou."

Bijou is: Short, snub-nosed, dark-skinned, with masses of curly hair so dark it has an almost purple gloss. She's fit--fitter than she looks in her usual baggy clothes--and light on her toes, but it's clear nature decided this one would be hippy and thick-waisted and all the acrobatics and missed dinners in the world won't be changing that.

"I'm a vaud. Songs and tales mostly." She has a rural accent, broad but lilting; most-leh. "Some dancing and tumbling." She won't mention the puppets unless she has to.

Having appointed herself quartermaster, she moves towards the tools and examines them with a frown. "Anyone know how to use a sword?"

Insight: [roll0]

[Michael7123]

Folgarda comes to consciousness slowly, her thoughts a jumbled mess that she tries to sort out the mess she was in piece by piece.

Do I walk now in the halls of my ancestors? I see not a dwarf in sight. For a few more moments, she stares in awe at the bizarre spherical contraption in the center of the room, wondering what exactly has transpired before the memories begin to return.

She takes a moment to pinch her cheek, and upon feeling flesh she speaks for the first time, muttering to herself in dwarfish "I was dead. Was. How then...?" Looking around the room at the others, seemingly already have come to their own senses and taken the opportunity to clothe themselves. Upon realizing her own deficiency in this regard, her cheeks flush red as she scrambles over to the last remaining bits of rags to cover herself halfway decently. It still feels almost scandalous given how at home nobody almost ever went outside without thick furs or a coat except in the summer, but it was better than nothing at all.

"Where are-" She begins to ask in her native language before hearing the common tongue on the lips of everyone else present. Well, that rules out the halls of my ancestors. Folgarda thinks to herself, her own mind dripping with sarcasm. "Hello." She continues in a heavily accented common. "What land is this?" She had dozens of questions, but the sight of the human woman acting as a quartermaster was at least something she could understand. She simply raises her hand as the woman asks who wants the sword.

Lot of good a weapon did you last time. It was still better than nothing, and she'd still rather focus on anything mundane over the looming questions of the past few... well, however long it had been for her to nearly die twice, assuming "nearly" was the right word to use in either case.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Human Artist (?)
AC: 12 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Silvia smirks slightly at the sight of everyone being bashful of their unclothed state. When the question of the weapon comes up, she shakes her head negatively.

Seeing introductions are being made, she walks up to conversational distance to everyone and her standing pose seems to be designed to accentuate her near nudity rather than shield herself from the gaze of others. She then says, her voice light and clear and clearly used to formal speech that she's just choosing not to entirely adhere to at the moment, "I am Silvia Rose" there's a pause there for a moment where she doesn't know quite how to finish the statement immediately, then continues, "and in the circles I travel I don't often need introduction. I suppose you could say I am a traveling court artist. Not that I can take advantage of that at the moment." she finishes with another frown at that.

"So we all died then? I suppose that, in some way, answers why we were all undressed." she notes rather calmly, then she just begins looking each person over appraisingly while waiting for the rest of the introductions. (To be clear she's examining them for how interesting they'd be to paint and how attractive they are in case they're stuck in here and need a way to pass the time. Picking up actually useful information of said examination would be wholly a side effect.)

[RossN]

"I am Valara Discari, Viscountess of Dullan," Valara states proudly, in a distinctly upper class accent. The tall blonde woman appears to have decided that if she must wear rags she'll wear them with all the dignity a noblewoman can command.

She looks a little disappointed when the dwarven woman decides on the sword and uncertainly picks up the axe. Scarcely a refined weapon, and an odd sight in her slender hand but she feels better for being armed. Her sapphire eyes look thoughtfully at Silvia Rose. "A court artist you say? And what's this about being dead? I remember fighting a demonic creature -" she shivered at the memory, threatening to shake her makeshift garments loose "-and then nothing and then here with you."

[bladescape]

"Levi." The distracted man's comment was half a mutter, barely audible as he glanced at the orb again and again. His figure was taller, but the lithe length had little strength to it, instead just wiry muscle that told of his many dodges and escapades. His fingers twitched constantly, fiddling with the edge of the cloth and seemed unable to stay still. The face might have been considered handsome if he were a little younger, but his beard was shaven unevenly as if with a knife in a cracked mirror, and his hair was a loose shoulder-length mess, darker brown.

His body, exposed as it was, was marred by a little scarring. Some light marks on his back ran down the length of his spine, knotted skin melded together. "Aye, we died. I remember. I think I was dead for a time." More proper tones than someone lowerborn, his casual tone gives away his less regal status than many of his companions, and he seemed to look at Bijou as the one person who was of similar life to him.

"I was an... Entertainer."

[TriciaOso]

"One of the Moon's children, anyway," Bijou mutters, eyeing him right back.

So we don't know where we are, but it's not--" She looks around, truly focusing on the strange art piece revolving in the center of the room. "--where we were. And we all died. It was all of us, was it?" She looks at Silvia and Folgarda for confirmation.

"I can imagine who'd bring me back, but not how--she didn't have that kind of metzi, last I knew. The rest of you?" Two of them at least seem to have the means...

[Michael7123]

Folgarda shook her head as she accepted the longsword- she didn’t know what “metzi” was, but regardless if it meant money, social connections, or magic, she didn’t know who would have it at their disposal to aid her. ”I am Folgarda, daughter of the chief of Clan Viiding of Rostorea”. The line sounded rehearsed- not faked, just that the accent seemed ever so less pronounced than before. The clarity doesn’t last for particularly long, however, and the accent returns when she continues ”I survived a shipwreck alone out of the entire crew. Then wolves got me on the shore, in a forest.” The words come bitterly out of her mouth, the irony of the journey from the extremes of luck to unluck clearly not lost on the dwarf.

As she talks, Folgarda fiddles with the sword, letting it’s tip spin on the ground while ensuring the blade stays perpendicular to the ground. “What is that?” She asks, taking a moment to point her sword over at the strange contraption occupying the center of the room. She’d never seen anything like it in all of her life, and was more than a little curious about it. That, and focusing on that was certainly better than focusing on the fact that by every law of nature she should be dead twice over now.



I’ll be keeping the bone lute / harp thing from my character image, which will (presumably) work as my bardic focus). Forgot to mention it earlier I think.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Human Artist (?)
AC: 12 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

"I'm sure grandfather would have liked to, but the family being the way they are I doubt it would have been met with approval." Siliva says and shakes her head.

In reply to Folgarda she brightens up a bit, "I haven't the slightest. Fascinating isn't it!?" and takes a few steps closer to examine the unusual sphere.

[RossN]

Valara looks at the floating, shifting sphere. The blonde woman tilts her head thoughtfully, considering it from different angles.

"Maybe it's magical?" she suggests, and looks rather pleased with herself for thinking up that explanation.

[TriciaOso]

As the others drift closer to the spinning globe, Bijou seizes the opportunity for


She looks sidelong in the general direction of the man as she continues to take stock of their supplies. "An entertainer, is it? What's your patter?"

"Cards, most part." The words are slower, carefully sounded out as he watches her back.

"Find the Lady? Or real gaming?" She takes a few leftover strips of cloth from their hasty wardrobe session and begins to wrap them contemplatively around the knuckles of one hand, then the other.

"Both. Find your card if I feel like it. Aces in the Rafters. Missing Herald. I've done a lot of em." There's a little pride in his voice as he speaks, though it's quickly followed by a chagrined smile as he remembers what it lead to.

She clicks her tongue. "It's a living."

"Aye." He nods in response, side eyeing her a moment. "Also an addiction."

"So it's like that," she says, with a touch of arch. "Well, begging your pardon, but I'm glad of it, right now. Find the Lady's all right for the punters, but as you may've noticed--" She holds up a bare arm-- "There's nothing left up our sleeves."

"A real gambler might well be called for." She tips him a wink.

Levi couldn't help but laugh, caught off guard by the joke. Finally with a true grin on his face, cheeks wrinkling, "I hope you're right. Though holding our cards right now I dare say we're sitting on a 5 and 2, and nothing in the river for us."

"Have you not bluffed on worse, Mister Levi?" she asks, almost teasing.

"Every hand's a winner." He taps a finger on his nose. "But lets see how the turn falls."

[miinstrel]

The plates of the spinning object continue to circle at a steady pace. The art piece, if that's what it may be, hovers about three feet off the floor, is roughly twenty feet in diameter, and appears to have at least three layers of plates - each closer to the center than the last. There doesn't seem to be any obvious pattern to it... the plates are irregularly shaped with no consistent spacing between them. You are unable to see the center of the object, one or more plates perpetually in your line of sight no matter the perspective you take.

As you wonder and stare, the stone-like texture and coloring of the plates seems to bubble and soften, and for a moment you see your reflection. No one else's - just your own. It reflects you in this moment in the cave, covered in fraying burlap. That plate spins out of view and another catches your eye, this one of the last thing you saw before you passed. Another of your first sip of wine. Another of your first kiss. Your eyes lose focus, lost in the spinning memories. Moment after moment zips by as though the contraption were similarly wondering at the content of your life and piecing together a puzzle from fragments of your past.

Your concentration breaks and you look away for just a moment, but when your eyes return, the plates appear to just be stone again. Was it your imagination?

[bladescape]

"Hey Valara? I think it's magical." Levi blinked twice as he came back to the present plane of existance, the familiar ache in his chest that he'd buried so deep brought fresh and raw to the surface, his words full of torn emotion. Sniffing once and rubbing at his eyes, the gambler reminded himself why he tried to stop thinking about Estelle. It hurt, still. In these moments of reminder, even the thought of revenge didn't really fill him.

But he shook it off. He had to, clearing his throat once, twice, Levi grimaced. "I guess we go for the exit here." Turning resolutely away from the spinning object, he headed towards the archway to assess if there was any way to remove the stones enough to clear a way. His best attempts to clear his voice were pointless, though, as he still sounded choked up.


Rolling investigation on the debris:

[roll0]

[TriciaOso]

Bijou doesn't linger overlong with the stone; if there's anything there that will help them the others will see it. It gives her the whim-whams anyway. Some of those memories are private.

She joins Levi briskly at the exits and respectfully ignores the choke in his throat.

Joining in the Investigation: [roll0]

[miinstrel]

You quite reasonably deduce whatever seismic activity caused the large boulder to fall from the ceiling also caused the cave-in blocking the tunnel. The flickering torchlight is faint here, but you can tell what is visible of the stone arch is exquisitely carved and bears Dwarvish lettering.
What's currently visible reads: "...uture guided by past mista..."
The rubble that fills the passageway is a mixture of large and small debris. A slight breeze tickles the back of your neck as you approach, suggesting this path does lead to an exit if you can get through. Toward the top of the debris are some dark spaces between the rocks that Silvia, Valara, or Bijou might be able to squeeze through.

OOC: If you would like to try and get through the opening please make an athletics or acrobatics check in your post.

[TriciaOso]

"I'll try it," she says quietly. "If it leads anywhere useful we can clear the rubble, but no use sweating if it just ends a yard further on."

Acrobatics: [roll0]

[Michael7123]

Folgarda makes no comment upon seeing her memories flash before her in the magical sphere, but does silently grip her sword ever more tightly. Judging from the reactions of everyone else in the group, they all experienced something similar. As none of them seemed particularly inclined to share their own deepest memories, Folgarda did not speak of hers either.

Following her way along with the rest of the group to the cave in, the dwarf provides an approximate translation of the lettering above the arch. ”Future lead by past... mistake” she hesitates a little on the last word. It was probably the right one.

[miinstrel]

Bijou’s limberness serves her well, and while it’s a tight and uncomfortable journey filled with dust and a bit of scraped skin, you are able to shimmy far enough into the darkness that the tunnel opens up and you begin to slide down a steep, gravely decline. You skid to a stop on the floor a few feet below. The utter lack of light forces you to rely on your other senses as you rise to your feet. This new room is a bit colder than the last, and you’d wager smaller based on the relative echo. Your ear picks up the occasional whistle of wind through a narrow opening somewhere ahead.

[TriciaOso]

"There's a tunnel," Bijou calls back. "Dark as a Devil's--bloody dark," she hastily amends for the high-born ladies.

The darkness isn't a great sign; she'd hoped it might open into an exit or occupied space. Dark means dead end, empty or occupied by something she'd rather not imagine.

She moves forward cautiously towards the opening, testing her ground in case of unexpected holes and wishing feverishly for her stick. Or her coat; either one would be favorite.

[bladescape]

"I'll start cleaning the way back for you then!" Levi yelled through, before starting to try and move the rocks. Weak looking and lithe muscle aside, he started grabbing and shifting rocks. "I don't like that past future mistakes thing, that gives me the willies." He added as a mutter as he worked.

[roll0]

[Michael7123]

Folgarda helps to move the rocks.

[roll0]

[miinstrel]

You shuffle forward perhaps ten feet when your foot slides into another bit of debris on the floor that tinkles and grinds against the stone suggesting broken glass. You backtrack a bit and move off to the side where you eventually find what feels like a round pillar though more gravelly debris litters the floor around it. Sliding your hand along the pillar you brush against the edge of something so brittle it begins to crumble at your touch, its dust settling along your arm and filling your nostrils with the scent of ancient paper.
Some of the rocks move easily enough, though your progress is stymied as more take their place leaving you with a growing pile off to the side and no real dent in the task at hand.

[TriciaOso]

Bijou backtracks carefully and calls back to the group.

"Broken glass. And paper. I think a lot of paper. But no light; if there's an opening, it's dark in there too. Can we--is there--do those lights come down, maybe?"

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Human Artist (?)
AC: 12 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

"Like drawing paper?" Silvia asks after stepping a bit closer.

[RossN]

Valara looked at the rocks, then at her hands and sighed. "This is going to be murder on my nails..."

The young noblewoman moves to assist, pulling back the long white blonde hair from her face. He blue eyes widen in surprise as the rocks seem strangely lighter than they should... at least for her.

[roll0]

[TriciaOso]

"Maybe!" Bijou equivocates. "If you bring me a light I might be able to tell!"

[miinstrel]

Despite Valara's best efforts, the rocks continue to fill in from above with each one removed.

While the bronze sconces are bolted to the wall, upon closer inspection you find that each bowl simply contains a rock with flickering yellow flames licking the air above it. The rock seems to be the same as the stone of this chamber. This strikes you as incongruently cheap compared to the seeming artistry of the other elements of this cave. Perhaps budget cuts were required during the initial design. The rock(s) can be removed if desired. There are eight of these sconces around the circumference of the chamber.

OOC: To get ahead of the question, the rocks do not emit any heat and are cool to the touch.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Human Artist (?)
AC: 12 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Since it was actually requested of her, and possibly for her benefit, Silvia looked at the sconces. She'd seen magic lights before and so, after confirming they weren't hot, she took two of them. One for herself and another that she then tossed to Bijou. "Will this do?" she asks, though she's sure it'll be enough light, the question is more to be polite and assure Bijou notices it was sent over to her.

[bladescape]

"Already been murder on my nails." Levi jokes as he continues to work at the rocks, slowly and steadily as best he can.

(OOC: I'm assuming I can't roll another athletics immediately just cause I failed.)

[TriciaOso]

Bijou hears a clatter and light begins to shine out from the close-set rocks she wriggled through to get in; Silvia has managed to toss it about halfway. Cursing under her breath she squeezes back into the passageways, but going backwards is definitely more difficult than getting in was. She's scraped and sweaty by the time she lays her hand on the glowing stone, with the same passage now to retrace.

"Damn, damn, damn!"

Rolled a 9 for Acrobatics in the Discord :smallsigh:

She scrambles uncomfortably back out and retraces her steps, keeping an eye peeled for the glass. When she reaches the pillar again she stops and takes stock of her surroundings.

[miinstrel]

Wriggling backwards through the tunnel leaves you with no way to brace yourself on the way out, and you tumble head over foot down the gravel to the stone floor below. A bit dizzied from the blow, you stagger up and armed once again with the power of sight look around at what must have once been a beautiful room with high arches and frayed standards hung high on the walls. One has fallen to the ground in a crumpled pile whiel another hangs limp over a large crate.

Pillars line the chamber ahead and you see another collapsed passage there there that seems to be the source of the whistling wind which gives you some small relief. Nearer to you stands a display case shattered by falling rocks, though the armor stand remains upright, proudly displaying the wickedly spiked shoulders of a suit of plate armor. Looking more closely, the spikes appear to be made of bone and the body of overlapping green scales.

Another shattered glass case sits across the hall, also partially buried by the cave in. The light from your rock glitters against something small and shiny there.

The pillar to your left has a piece of paper nailed to its side. It's half crumbled from where you touched it, but what remains appears to be a list of strange symbols paired with a series of locations. You read "Mount Veryn" and "Kartoum" and "City of Brass" among others.
What's left of a note scribbled across the bottom in an impeccable script adds "... ONE, unless you want 'Dargar's split'. Talk to me first, please."

[TriciaOso]

Bijou shakes her head wearily. No exit this way, then. Unless the blocked passage is navigable? She gives it a good examination before she pays attention to anything else.

Perception: [roll0]

The list means nothing to here and she doesn't recognize the standards. She does limp over to examine the small shining something, although unless it's a ring with a genie in it like in a fairy tale, it seems unlikely to help.

[miinstrel]

This next passage is filled with larger rocks, and while there doesn't appear to be a way to move through them at the moment, you can see through to another chamber similar to this one. Beyond that appears to be a tunnel out onto a small plateau of moonlit snow.

The glittery object does indeed appear to be a ring forged from a single piece of adamantine with blocky edges and two rams heads pointing opposite directions from the ornate top.

OOC: add a Ring of the Ram to your inventory.

With your first glimpse at freedom and a tool to get you there, you pause from the heavy labor of rock moving as Bijou dons the ring and attunes to its magic.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Human Artist (?)
AC: 12 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

After a while, out of sheer boredom, Silvia tries touching the sphere. If that has no reaction she goes back to just focusing on it again to see if it will do something more than what it did before.

[miinstrel]

The plate your fingers brush against slows to a stop, and the movement of the others adjusts accordingly like water flowing around a river stone. The same sequence as before occurs with visions of your life drawing you in toward this object. The memories go farther back into your childhood until you are met with one of a womb, a small being growing within. Entranced you watch as the creature stirs and kicks at the sac around it. Something feels different with this vision though. This isn't you that you're watching it's... somehow separate. You are suddenly aware that despite its infancy it has noticed you. In a flash the sac bursts and inky tendrils spill forth with a horrid screech, zooming toward your point of vision, engulfing you in darkness!

You shudder back to your senses in the cave and jolt away from the sphere, the nightmarish image sticking in your mind. The plate you touched slowly drifts off with the others again.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Human Artist (?)
AC: 12 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

With a startled gasp, Silvia falls backwards, landing on her bottom and takes several moments of ragged breath before she calms down again.

[RossN]

Her blue eyes wide Valara hurries over to help Silvia to her feet. "What happened, are you alright?"

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Human Artist (?)
AC: 12 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Silvia accepts Valar's help up with a smile and gives a shrug in reply to the first question. Then there's a moment of pause before she just gives her an unsure and somewhat unsettled look and shrugs again. So instead of answering she just says, "Thank you...Valara. That was it wasn't it?" The question of remembering her name correctly maybe being a genuine one, but most certainly also being an attempt to shift the conversation away from the previous topic.

[bladescape]

Studiously ignoring the people around the sphere, and the sphere itself, for fear of relapsing into another bout of memories, instead Levi will check out the skeletal figure pinned by the rocks, see if anything about him or her is of interest.

[roll0] Investigation

[TriciaOso]

It really was a magical ring. Not quite a genie, but perhaps almost as good. And hearteningly, it means a stake when she can get back to civilization. For the first time since she woke up, she can see a path that leads from here to getting her life back.

She is torn between heading back to the group and giving them an update before pushing forward, and seeing what lies ahead herself first. Maybe searching further through the smashed cases in here, too. She weighs the glowing stone in her hand and the memory of scrambling back through the rocks tilts the balance; she limps towards the blocked passage.

"Don't really know how to do this..." She extends her closed fist, pointing the ring towards the large stones. "Do I just..."

PHWUMP

[roll0]

[miinstrel]

@LEVI
The skeleton, while humanoid, is enormous. The arm bones are nearly twice the size of a normal human's, and based on the skull and torso, you'd wager this hulking creature stood close to seven feet tall if not a bit more. At first you think its armor deteriorated, but upon closer inspection it seems unusually fibrous skin hangs amid its ribs and cheek bones raging against deterioration.

Two metallic bracers in perfect condition remain on each forearm and a pair of goggles lie on the ground next to the remains. Half of a huge two-headed axe juts out from beneath the boulder, pinned by its weight as the skeleton's legs.

While you inspect the sphere and the remains, an echoing crash emerges from the tunnel rubble. Bijou, on your side fragments of rock shoot off in every direction as you unleash the invisible magic of the ring. While it didn't fully clear the passage, you feel encouraged by the results and aim an even more powerful blast at the debris. This time a sizable boulder explodes into shrapnel leaving space for some of the higher debris to settle down.
Attempting a third blast gives no results and you sense the ring's magic is expended for the day.

With finite use of the ring and little else to do, the rest of the day drags on as you spend your time working to clear the tunnel, getting to know each other, or simply sighing in boredom.
Silvia and Valara can squeeze through the rocks now, though Levi and Folgarda are still a bit too large for the opening.

Moving aside the fallen standard and peering inside the crate in the second room reveals a jaw-dropping number of coins. Hundreds. Thousands. It would take a day just to sort and count them all. A few small leather bags also sit in the crate. Reaching inside them produces nothing but air despite being curiously heavy for their size.

After a couple hours you become keenly aware of the low temperatures as your skin begins to numb. A couple hours after that dawn breaks, and the light shining down from the hole in the sphere's chamber changes from the pale blue of moonlight to the warm yellow of dawn - the same change can be seen through the collapsed tunnel toward the third chamber.

With this new day you once again strike out with the ring shattering more of the boulders and then set about moving the rock by hand to clear an opening for your two trapped companions.

The second day ends and a new one begins. The cycle repeats. You grow hungry and weak. Day four. Day five. First Bijou expires, then Levi, then Folgarda, then Silvia, until Valara is all that remains. With your last bit of strength you don the ring and focus its magic one final time toward the last boulder in the passage and shatter it to pieces. A great deal of rubble still remains, but you can pass into the second chamber with ease now... though the blocked tunnel beyond that tempers your excitement. Eventually even Valara succumbs to the lack of nourishment and joins the others in darkness.

There has only ever been white, clean and eternal, all imperfections swept away. You feel it has always been this way, but now is different. Now there is blue. Now more blue. Drip... drop... drip... drop... more and more, falling like rain on the edge of your consciousness, color winking in and out, spinning.

Images of your younger years fly by, memories recorded on the blank canvas of your soul. You remember your life, how you died... you remember being in a cave and dying again. And there's some other memory... one you can't quite put a finger on that feels both impossibly old and also new. As though this canvas of your life were being viewed through stained glass adding a layer of color that wasn't there before. You can't quite put a finger on it.

You awaken standing around the sphere as before. Naked, as before, though less bleary-eyed than the first time. More debris sits around the sphere this time, and the hole in the ceiling is larger now allowing more of the pale blue moonlight in. Fortunately the tunnel you spent your previous lives clearing remains open allowing easy passage to the second chamber.

The most interesting thing about this cave though... your expired bodies remain on the ground wherever you passed away. Decay has begun to set in, though the cold seems to have kept it from advancing too rapidly - you can still identify yourselves.

A third life... how strange this all is.

The skin across your torso seems to be rotting away to the point where you can see some of your ribs and muscle. It doesn't hurt, and you aren't bleeding. You are the only one with this condition.
You have all of your class abilities and a vague understanding of what you're able to do though you're not sure why or how. No real memory of your spirit life yet, but if you want to RP something in the back of your mind stirring, feel free. Not mandatory.

250xp for finding the means to clear the first barricade.
I also added some stuff to the 'loot stash' spoiler in the OOC thread.

[Michael7123]

"All the money, yet nothing to spend it on." Folgarda remarks in her dying days, to everyone dying with her. She'd grown up with stories about the dangers of greed, but having this situation forced upon her really drove the point of those stories home.

Folgarda had had brushes with hunger- real, true hunger before, during some longer winters when supplies had to be rationed due to poor catches the previous year. But she had been born into what passed for wealth among her people, had never known the true depths of agony that famishment could lead too.


The last day is agony, and she ponders using the blade to take her own life, though refrains. The stories her people told of the fate of suicides in the afterlife was not a pleasant one. Her last waking thoughts are spent in prayers that after this second (or third?) death, she would allowed to find peace. She had wanted to live a long life, but this had already been one death too many.

------

Upon awaking once again and recognizing her surroundings, Folgarda attempts to refrain from weeping but breaks upon seeing her own corpse decaying on the ground. In that moment she cared quite little for the strange, spark of power she felt in the back of the mind, drowned as it was in the accumulated trauma of painful death and rebirth.

Eventually, Folgarda collects herself enough to get herself another rag to cover herself with, and does her best to give her old body something resembling a funeral shroud- an eloquent way of tossing one of the rags over her corpse so she doesn't have to look into her own dead eyes anymore. She reclaims the old longsword from the body before anything else, but after that she spends a moment staring at the spinning orb in the center of the room. Frustrated, she walks up to it, sets down her sword, and rests both of her hands on a separate spinning plate as they pass her by.

"Whatever you are, stop it!" She commands the thing in angry dwarvish. She highly doubts the command will have any effect, but it couldn't make her situation any worse than it already was.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

After waking up, Silvia's immediate emotional reaction was numbness. It was how she felt before dying of starvation and resounded emotionally again at returning to life here in the same place. Her mind couldn't figure out why this was happening and after days of trying and hitting a dead end, her emotions about it had just ceased as a means of self-protection.

It took her at least ten minutes or so to even bother moving. And then she almost immediately noticed her partially decaying state. Noting that not only she was disfigured, but was also the only one, she couldn't take it. Being permanently ugly was such a painful thought to her that she began sobbing and crying, quietly, and curled up into a ball to try and prevent her ugliness being seen. (The fact that this isn't an effective way to make people not look at you didn't occur to her, given how traumatizing this was for her.)

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 24/24 KI: 4/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

"Don't do that," Bijou says to Folgarda from her position on the ground, grim and slightly seasick. Deathsick?

She staggers upright and stretches with fusillade of cracks up and down her spine. She's always been limber but she feels... different. "I don't want it to stop. It stops, we stay dead."

"I don't know why this is happening to us, but at least that thing means we might actually make it out, one of these go-rounds."

She hastily dresses herself in a mix of ragged blankets and the remains of a blue pennant from the second room.

[miinstrel]

The song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muRr8WqrU48)

The plates come to a gentle halt at your touch, but the rest of the contraption continues its eternal rotation unphased by your plea. The sphere draws you into your past as the last time. Your frustration and anger and self-grieving seem to focus the visions onto similar memories of loss from your life. A quiet, mournful ballad drifts into your thoughts accenting the scene playing out before you. The image flickers, transporting you to the center of a battlefield, autumnal leaves dropping reverently to the ground before the dead around you. You’re strumming a lyre, the ballad now produced by your hands. It lasts just a moment before flickering back to your own past once again, the song stronger now.

You pull away from the sphere.

[RossN]

https://i.ibb.co/7VG82nd/Valara.jpg
Valara, Human Barbarian 3
AC: 15 HP: 35/35
PP: 12 PIv: 9 PIs: 10

Valara had never studied very hard but from the little she remembered from her tutors this didn't seem like the better sort of afterlife. Dying a second time had been even more horrible than the first, and she was not looking forward to the third time.

Once more she dressed herself, pausing to drape a blanket over the remains of... well herself. Partly it was the sheer creepiness but she also felt she would have wanted to be treated with some dignity, and she of all people should know right?

Valara was still collecting her thoughts when she saw Folgarda approach the sphere. Eyes wide she waited for whatever might happen to happen.

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 13 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

The waking was harsh, just like the first time. Leviticus was no stranger to harsh wakings, but the feeling of his soul ripped from the stream of time to wake again was not the easiest to manage. Still, blinking awake, he couldn't help but notice that he... noticed things. For some reason his step was surer, more lithe, as if this body had spent a hundred hours training itself. The crying girl hiding something on her chest, the concern in Bijou's face as she went over, that girl was concerned with other people too much, the frustration in Folgarda's face.

The staring of his own cold dead eyes.

Levi shivered as he walked over to his former body, muttering a prayer to Edra as he closed his own eyes. Fortune never favoured the meek. "Maybe we can reach the third tunnel next? I remember the sunlight did come through the third chamber if we could get to it."

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 24/24 KI: 3/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

Bijou brings Silvia a blanket, crouching awkwardly by the sobbing young woman.

"C'mon, it's too cold in here to run around starkers. I know it's all a bit ghastly, but we've got to keep moving forward... time enough to cry when we're safe and warm."

Silvia basically doesn't seem to even notice Bijou until she hears the word "ghastly" and then she almost recoils and starts crying louder. It's clear she didn't really pick up on that actual intended context and her mind just filled in whatever upsetting thing she expected to be hearing.

Bijou sighs. Silvia is curled up tightly, and she tries to drape the blanket over this weeping ball awkwardly. "It's not as bad as all that," she says, although really, it kind of is.

Silvia slowly turns to look at Bijou, eyes puffy and red, and croaks out, "I'm disgusting. I am disgusting. I'd rather be dead."

Bijou frowns. "You're as fresh as you were the first time, aren't you?" And then seeing a glimpse of the flesh Silvia is trying to cover, now that the young woman has turned towards her, she asks again, more urgently, "Aren't you?"

Silvia just has this deeply hurt look on her face before covering her face with her hands and muffling.... something. Some kind of noise between sorrow or anger and other things.

With her hands moved away, the state of her torso is more readily apparent.

Bijou catches her breath between her teeth, a kind of hissing tch sound. "Best let me look at that, love," she says gently, trying not to quaver. Trying to keep her head. "I've done a bit of doctoring." She's never seen anything like this, though.

Silvia gives a shrug and very bitterly between her hands says, "If you like. Though it hardly matters if I die from" she interrupts herself for this angry sounding hiss of air, "whatever this is."

"Infection is a nasty way to go," Bijou says, instead of it might matter to the rest of us, if it's catching. She draws down Silvia's knees and examines it carefully, and finds herself thoroughly and terrifyingly stumped. "We ought to keep it wrapped, at least... we've no good bandages, but anything's better than being open to the air..." She touches the raw-looking, bloodless flesh, gingerly, and watches Silvia for pain or reaction.

Silvia flinches away, but not out of pain but out of surprise at it tickling. Internally she's not at all amused that her body almost had the nerve to try and laugh at this. She then shrugs and says, "It doesn't hurt. But yes, I'd rather nobody see me like this."

Bijou's face... does something. It's certainly an expression. It's just hard to say what expression. But her hand shoots out and reconnects with Silvia's side, not a squeamish poke now but a flat press of her palm against the visible muscle, and something like a electric shock radiates out from that point--not painful at all, but a rippling flood of energy through the dead tissue. It feels like... sunshine, and clear days, and a westering breeze, as Bijou pours a flush of healing ki into the raw flesh.

Silvia involuntarily deeply inhales and reflexively touches Bijou on the side, brushing her top. While whatever Bijou just did didn't feel unpleasant, it had been alarming and the specific mental imagine of "light" had triggered some kind of reaction. Silvia had felt compelled to push out light of her own and then suddenly, with a very surprised look on her face, Silvia has made Bijou's "top" begin emitting bright white light.

"What!?" Silvia exclaims, not really forming a complete sentence or even a thought.

Bijou is staring at her own hand in shock, but has to shelve that for the new weirdness. "Ah--we--" She looks up at the group. "Things are happening!" Bijou's eyes are dark brown, hard to separate from the pupils in this half-light (especially as they've scavenged the glowing rocks). Surely it's the sudden light engulfing her torso that makes them flash, briefly, green and somehow inhuman.

[Michael7123]

https://i.ibb.co/p41rLP4/Folgarda-mini.jpg
Folgarda, Bard of Spirits
AC:11 HP: 24/24 BI: 2/3


Folgarda closes her mind as she focuses in on the memories of her past. The deaths and funerals of every grandfather and grandmother in her family play themselves out in her mind after she sees the visions, the memories of those funerals now accompanied by that hauntingly beautiful music that she saw herself playing amid the fallen of the battlefield back when she...

The dwarf opens her eyes in a flash, finds that she herself had started to hum that same song subconsciously. "It showed me my memories that were not mine." She speaks aloud, using the common tongue in an effort to actually explain the sensation to the others. Not for the first time she finds frustration at being unable to clearly articulate herself to these strangers, yet she was not sure she could have expressed what this felt like clearly in her native language either.

Folgarda does what she can to try and "remember" more of the sorrowful scene before her, to... well, in truth, she doesn't know quite what. But as she concentrates, now deliberately humming that same mournful tune, a spectral hand emerges from thin air, with long elven features and skin far darker than hers and much more weathered by the light of the sun, and holds one of the metal plates in place before vanishing outright while the plate remains motionless.




Doing a couple of things here.

First, going to use one of my bardic inspiration to use my spiritual focus. I already rolled on the discord and got the renowned duelist spirit. Fitting since my first past memory was of a battlefield, after all.

Second, I will be casting mage hand from my feat, and using that to stop one of the spinning metal plates in place too. I've been envisioning the spirit I've been drawing my powers from to be *the* spirit that has been tethered to me, and the mage hand is literally just his hand (elf, broadly Moroccan features and aesthetic, yes I decided to base my spirit concept loosely off of Ibn Battuta, what of it). But that could also just be artistic license if you'd prefer. No idea if I'd see memories through the hand or how exactly the mage hand will interact with the sphere.

And yes, the Telekenetic feat allows the hand to be invisible, but doesn't say it must be so. So I figured why not describe it once for fun and then just have it fade to invisibility.

[RossN]

https://i.ibb.co/7VG82nd/Valara.jpg
Valara, Human Wild Magic Barbarian 3
AC: 15 HP: 35/35
PP: 12 PIv: 9 PIs: 10

Valara's sapphire eyes widened and she backed away a pace from the dwarf before glaring at the sphere. She did have some strange feelings, the faintest glimmer of weird memories but that did not sound like something good. In fact it sounds disturbingly like possession. In fact she took another step away to keep as much distance between herself and the sphere as possible.

"Forget whatever that thing is. We're trying to get out of here remember?"

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 13 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

Levi's quick flickering eyes took in the world around him right now, the absolute chaos. "By Edra's light." The words slipped through his lips, the light visibility of the torso of Silvia over-ridden by the bright light she'd made of Bijou's top. The spectral hand now appearing near the sphere as Folgarda started humming some melody. The haunting sound a weird backdrop to the craziness.

"So Bijou and Silvia can make light. Folgarda has an elven hand hovering near her. Think you and I are the only ones not doing something crazy yet." The joking tone as he glanced at Valara was obviously trying to keep things light hearted, even as he got what was happening on the bed a little wrong. "So any idea what's going in with you all? Folgarda apparently has memories that aren't hers, what about you two?" The second line addressing Bijou and Silvia.

Trying to rack his brains, Levi is relieved to find that he doesn't have any memories he doesn't recognise floating around in his head.

What he doesn't notice is how he doesn't have issues looking at the sphere anymore. After all, the memories that are gone are the hardest to remember...

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 24/24 KI: 3/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

Bijou draws a ragged breath, then another. It's almost second nature to let deep, controlled breathing wash the panic out of her system, somehow.

"Valara's right," she says. "I mean--something bloody strange is happening, obviously, and we're learning more about it all the time. Something about that stone binds us together--we died one by one, but we came back at the same time. We were resurrected, but not in our bodies, so there's no reason to think anyone we know did this or even knows we aren't dead for true. And we're changing--" She glances from Folgarda to Silvia and her... skin condition. "--some more than others."

"But it doesn't changes this: that if we don't make it to the third chamber and the exit, we'll die in here. Again. And while we may come back once more... can we be sure who's coming back?"

She looks from face to face grimly, and then adds:

"And besides, we're running out of blankets."

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Silvia takes a few moments to compose herself and as quickly as she can wraps her torso with whatever rags they have left, completely unconcerned if she managing to cover her bottom which probably looks rather odd.

"Well, I'm already.... marred. No reason for me not to go see what I can do." she says and with that she goes off the blocked passage that they (by which I mean other people) had been trying to clear before.

She stomps up to it and then.... stands there for a few minutes realizing she doesn't actually know what she *can* do. Making the rubble well lit doesn't seem particularly helpful. She tries standing with her hands outstretched and trying to channel her anger at it, which doesn't produce any particular effect. She tries to feel out some random gestures and make as if she was throwing an invisible rock or a (very poor form) punch at them. With again, no results. After about half an hour of nothing in particular and just trying vague motions she half-remembers, or thinks she does, from other magic users she's seen in her life her brain just sort of unfocuses from the task. Her movements become slower and her thoughts drift aimlessly just trying to occupy her mind. At this point she's already too emotionally drained to rage about her new ugliness, and she just sort of.... drifts. Even physically she unconsciously meanders in the passageway a few feet one direction or the other. She doesn't even notice when the thoughts and memories she occupies herself with turn to a sort of fog where clear memories maybe should be. And then without warning she's suddenly released a hard sliver of light that smashes into the rocks.

Alarmed at the sudden noise, it takes her a moment to realize she even did something. But then she thinks back and can distinctly recall feeling the magic channel through her fingertips. She tries, futility, for a few moments to actively figure out what she did. And then she has a moment of insight and just lets her mind go back to drifting and just goes back to aimlessly trying without trying too hard. After a bit, this does the trick and some kind of trained reflex takes over and she's just casually tossing the forceful bits of light at the rocks. Once she's managed to do it a few times, she now knows how to do it intentionally. But her mind still isn't quite focused on the task as now she's wondering where this trained reflex came from, since she certainly never had any magical abilities or training before and this feels now just studied or granted but like something she's been doing for.... and the sense of time is the most alarming part to her. As while she doesn't get any precise feeling of time, it's a sense of passage of time that feels like it's on the scale of the lifetime of kingdoms rather than something you'd measure in human lifetimes. Or maybe longer?
She's not exactly worried by that feeling so much as deeply confused and how to wrap her mind around it.

[miinstrel]

The sphere does acknowledge the touch of the spectral hand, the plate stopping as expected, but you do not have further flashbacks to whoever's memories are mingled with your own.
The blasts of power from your hands begin to chip away at the boulders, sending shrapnel flying about. Every few attempts dislodges more debris that fills the space, but after about an hour you've carved enough of a tunnel for everyone to crawl through, though the passage as a whole will need a great deal more work to fully clear.
The third chamber bears far less damage than the previous two. Passages branch off in each cardinal direction, the one ahead leading to a short tunnel to the snowy plateau. The passages left and right lead elsewhere in the caves.
A large, raised fire pit dominates the center of this room - a welcoming hearth and buffer against the mountain chill when it's lit. Ash from the fire pit is strewn all around it, coating the encircling chairs and floor in gray dust.
In one corner you see a cord of chopped wood.
In another corner stands a small bar with bottles shelved behind and several barrels off to one side.
In another near the exit tunnel a rack holds heavy fur cloaks in various states of decay, though still likely far warmer than your current dress. A few sets of armor are also stored here - none of them showing any age whatsoever beyond their design.
Your unnaturally acute senses notice a few things as you progress through the chambers:

- First Chamber: there's something lightly scrawled on the face of the boulder right above the skeleton you didn't catch before. It reads "Othos will return"
- Second Chamber: near the list of locations pinned to the pillar you catch a faint glint of light in the rubble. it looks to be something made of glass.
- Third Chamber: there are muddled paw prints in the dust around the fire pit.

[Michael7123]

https://i.ibb.co/p41rLP4/Folgarda-mini.jpg
Folgarda, Bard of Spirits
AC:11 HP: 24/24 BI: 2/3

”Right.... right.” Folgarda drops her focus on the invisible force holding one more plate and steps away from the sphere at Valara‘s prompting.

As usual, Folgarda is the quiet one in the group as everyone else considers their situation. She keeps her mouth shut when Bijou raises the possibility that they wouldn’t come back to life, but if she was going to keep coming back and starving to death she’d prefer the cycle end, once and for all, sooner rather than later.

Folgarda does the best she can to see what works for Silvia’s magic, even at one point attempting to mimic some of the motions of it to no effect.

——-

As soon as the group makes its way into the third chamber, Folgarda immediately heads on over to the heavier coats and throws one on. It’s roughly made for a dwarf, and although it remained too large for her she seems much happier and relaxed to be in more familiar clothing.

”Where to from here?” Folgarda asks as she takes a look outside from the passage leading to the snowy plateau, trying to get a sense of how far out the plateau goes and the surrounding landscape.

Perception: [roll0]

[RossN]

https://i.ibb.co/7VG82nd/Valara.jpg
Valara, Human Wild Magic Barbarian 3
AC: 15 HP: 35/35
PP: 12 PIv: 9 PIs: 10

Valara also donned one of the fur coats (anything was an improvement on rags) and idly studied the armour.

"I don't know but we can't stay here so we'll have to go out," Valara said, looking back to Folgarda.

[TriciaOso]

As the rubble collapses in the face of Silvia's magic, Bijou's face lights up, and she grabs the other woman by the hands and twirls her.

"Oh you beauty! That took us a week last time!"

Silvia winces at the word "beauty", as she'd been able to push what she looked like from her mind while she was lost in her thoughts. And now it'd be harshly snapped back into focus.

She gives Bijou and nod and then shrugs, "Glad I could help." Though her words seem a bit hollow, probably because she'd really just been doing something just to do something.

Bijou lets go of her hands, acknowledging the lack of enthusiasm. "Tell the truth, I'd started to think you were a bit of a dead weight. But you've made it more than square, now."

"You've got paintings you want to paint, aye, and I've songs left to sing. But we've got to get away, first. That's our business now. And we're a lot closer than an hour ago."

Silvia holds back clicking her tongue and thinks Rude. It's not like anyone asked for my help and I was protecting my beauty like I had my whole life. How was I supposed to know we were trapped in a space with no food? And what difference would it have made? Before now I didn't have the ability to do much in this situation anyway.

But what she actually does is give Bijou a well practiced polite smile and a nod and replies, "We certainly are."

Like the others, Bijou heads straight for clothes; she skins into the leather pants and tunic from a suit of light armor, but sheds the hardened leather and metal plates; they feel unfamiliar and too cumbersome. She drags a large fur coat over it in much the same fashion as her old cavalry coat, feeling much more herself.

As Folgarda explores the exit and Valara the armor, she heads straight for the bar. "No doubt," she agrees with Valara. "But let's take stock of what we've got first. I'm prayin' for food in these barrels--"

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Silvia joins the others in donning one of the fur cloaks, mostly to further hide herself, and then asks the group, "So where else should I apply my newfound rock breaking magic?"

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 13 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

As the five of the party continue along, Leviticus gradually notes the new things seen, taking a moment of meandering to try and pick up the glass object he's spotted in the second room. For some reason, he has a direct inclination to keep things private at first. Something in the back of his mind telling him that it's good to have things for his own decisions. It's not a voice he should remember having.

But it's a voice he likes.

The third room was interesting enough, though the furs and armour were of more interest than the random other things at first. Taking a moment to get dressed in studded leather and fur, Levi looks back at the fireplace.

"Animal tracks around that fire. Something else has been sniffing around in here."

Can I see where the tracks lead?

[roll0] Sleight of Hand as Methuselah sees something sparkly. Trying to get the glass thing without showing it off yet.

[miinstrel]

This view would be beautiful on a clear day. You appear to be nearly midway up a mountain range. Banks of fog slip lazily over the higher peaks behind you, and while snow is ubiquitous above you, the dancing mist below allows brief half-imagined glimpses of green land. Another mountain can be seen above the clouds on the horizon in a roughly southeasterly direction.

A mostly buried stone marker lies twenty feet outside the cave and appears to denote the start of a path that seems intentionally carved into the rock face, zig zagging down past your vision. Following it will be difficult with everything mounded in smooth white powder though eventually it does clear.
There's quite the assortment piled here as though someone intended to put them away later... or else they were just very sloppy. Several pieces of chain (both shirts and mail) are piled together, there's a breastplate, some studded leather, and a couple wooden shields painted the same dark gray. All are in perfect condition if a bit dusty.
You pass a few empty bottles at the end of the bar and see several of their yet-to-be opened kin on the back shelf. Mostly spirits, though there are a few that appear to be wine as well. If the date legible on one bottle of wine is to be believed, it's around four hundred years old.
A small crowbar lies beneath the bar which you grab and pry open the first barrel lid to find it half full of salt. The barrel next to it contains what was likely salted meat at some point, though now it only houses a few pieces of bone at the bottom, the valuable nutrients claimed long ago.
A third barrel on the other side is surprisingly still filled with water and some waterskins hang on a hook next to it. A few are cracked and damaged, but three appear to still be in working order.

Another shelf beneath the bar contains tarnished silver dishware, utensils, clay mugs... people definitely lived here. Amid rotting linens and other accessories at the back of a drawer you find a small leather satchel, inside of which lie 40 small red berries.
You hang back, pretending to examine room 2 while the others move ahead then dig the bauble out from the rubble. It's a flat-bottomed, glittering glass orb like a paperweight. A streaked, brown chunk of earth or clay or stone rests inside.

While the presence of paw prints in the ash is noticeable, discerning their number, direction, and age is not as the ash has been strewn about a bit by the incoming breeze and also shuffled by the movement of your companions.

[Michael7123]

https://i.ibb.co/p41rLP4/Folgarda-mini.jpg
Folgarda, Bard of Spirits
AC:11 HP: 24/24 BI: 2/3

A weight feels lifted off of the dwarf's shoulders as she spies the path that could lead away from this cursed hall. "There's a path ahead, out of this place." Folgarda tells the others in the group as she returns back inside. "Treacherous from snow, but possible."

Folgarda eyes some of the armor in the room and heads on over to it, hoping to find something that's made for dwarves. "Find any food?" She asks the others who had been searching the room itself.

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 24/24 KI: 3/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

Bijou frowns down at the bar. "Only some berries... four hundred years old, I call that suspicious. Everything else has rotted away. There's water, though."

"How far of a walk does it look?"

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 13 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"Say, any of you all heard the name 'Othos' before?" Levi mused as the others talked food, glancing around at the caverns left and right. As he asked his question he'd begun to wander over to the left path and peer down it.

[RossN]

https://i.ibb.co/7VG82nd/Valara.jpg
Valara, Human Wild Magic Barbarian 3
AC: 15 HP: 35/35
PP: 12 PIv: 9 PIs: 10


Valara looked up from the rack of armour where she had selected a breastplate that looked like it might fit and had picked up one of the wooden shields.

"Othos? No, I don't think so. Where is it?"

Othos the Wild was a boisterous barbarian king and warlord, famous for his exploits against a brotherhood of evil sorcerers known as the Hidden Eight. The axe wielding, towering, hairy and hearty barbarian warrior was said to have a streak of magic of his own even if he never cast a spell in the traditional sense, and his legend has passed into many stories as at once a dangerous fighter and also a merry, laughing adventurer fond of mead and boasting.

Othos carved out a powerful, if short lived empire centuries ago. While he was certainly an ambitious conqueror he was not regarded as a cruel king, especially since he made his realm from the former subjects of the Hidden Eight.

[miinstrel]

Those donning armor find that as the pieces are set and buckles fastened, the material itself seems to resize to perfectly fit your shape. The results accentuate curves and muscles quite flatteringly.

OOC: any armor you just put on is magical with a +1 bonus. Same for the shields.

Levi, the tunnel you peek down curves further to the left forcing the little light that carries here to spread itself even thinner. The first room off this path looks to be a store room piled high with crates, many of them broken and collapsed on each other. Splintered wood trails out into the hallway. Further down the hall, a sickly green glow spills out from the room at the end.

[Michael7123]

https://i.ibb.co/p41rLP4/Folgarda-mini.jpg
Folgarda, Bard of Spirits
AC:11 HP: 24/24 BI: 2/3

Folgarda responds to Bijou's question, "Very, very far. Days I think. Maybe 2?" She couldn't give more of an answer than that.

Something sparks in her as she hears the name Othos. Without thinking too much about it, she just starts talking, "Othos, the Wild... he was a warlord from a past age. There are tales of his obliterations of the Dark Eight sorcerers and their servants, and of the empire he forged in their wake. Ruled by right of conquest, but was fair, in his own way." After Folgarda finishes that last sentence, a look of confusion crosses over her face. "How did I know that?" She had never actively recalled learning about the man before, and while there were all sorts of stories that she had memorized and could recite from heart, none included this man.


Folgarda shakes her head as she goes to investigate the hall on the right.

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"You've already seen some memories that were not your own. Mayhaps you be seeing some more." Levi was quite cheerful for the lightly horrific thought he'd put voice to. He wasn't having any new memories yet, so he was... okay for now. "'Othos Will Return' was carved into the boulder on the first chamber. Took me a sight to work it out. Might be some of Othos' memories in your head? Anyway, I'll just nip down this passageway and see what I can find."

Heading down the path, he'll look around at the first room with the splintered boxes.

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 24/24 KI: 3/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

Bijou frowns after Levi, then vaults the bar and approaches Silvia. "He's changed," she says, looking down the hall at Levi's back. "He may not have different memories but... he's different."

She shakes her curls and sighs. "Come on, my lovely rock-crusher. Since it seems we're exploring a bit more, let's see what we can do with that big stone in the first room."

She steels herself to search the bodies and retrieve the Ring of the Ram, as well.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

"New memories may not be the most unusual thing you'll find you've acquired." Silvia comments, mainly to Folgarda. She was trying to go for amusingly mysterious but a bit of her bitterness crept in and made the comment just come out sounding rather flat and cold.

She nods in agreement with Bijou and as they're walking away she replies, "Yes. He seems....well I can't exactly put my finger on it."

She was glad Bijou answered her question, she'd been starting to get aggravated that she, of all people!, was being ignored. But then there was all that ugly armor distracting the others she supposed. She couldn't wait to find some decent clothes.

Once they're in front of the stone, she falters for a moment to remember how she did it before, but quickly gets back into the pace of hurling her little forceful needles of light. It doesn't take long for her to get bored though. She begins to mess with the casting a bit. Not considering for a second how that could cause any problems. Changing the colors of light comes fairly easily and provides some amusement. And then getting a bit full of herself she tries modifying the shapes too.
(She does intentionally avoid damaging the part of the stone with the words on it.)

This later part comes at the same time when Bijou steps closer to the obstruction to use her magical ring to smash it up as well. Silvia for her part is delighted to find that, while a bit more difficult, she can indeed produce different shapes (though at the moment her lack of skill at it makes her feel like she's trying to paint with a hammer). Bijou is probably less delighted as the uneven and changing shapes cause bits of stone to ricochet wildly as they break off the larger stone, several whizzing her way.

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 24/24 KI: 2/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

Since the ring only has three charges maximum, but seems to pack more of a punch, Bijou waits until the damage Silvia inflicts has begun to thoroughly permeate the stone, cracks spreading from top and bottom and into the dark beyond it.

As she waits she sings an old song about a shipwreck, and absently dodges flying chips of stone. It's eerie, how easy it is; she doesn't feel faster, exactly, but it's like her eyes are wired up directly to her muscles, dancing her out of the way of the threats she perceives. Experimentally, she reaches out for a chunk of rock; she plucks it out the air like a juggling ball, walks it across her knuckles and back around, then reverses its momentum with a snap of her wrist. It smashes to gravel against the bulk of the stone.

Well. That's interesting.

She thrusts out her hand and blasts away with the ring.

[roll0]

[miinstrel]

SILVIA & BIJOU
Your blasts felt more impactful on the smaller stones of the tunnel - the sheer mass of this boulder makes every flake that breaks off seem insignificant, but Bijou's strike does send a snaking crack up the side.
Breaking this stone down will take some time. I'm going to move the others forward a bit first, but feel free to keep going.

FOLGARDA
The fading glow of the fiery stones causes your pupils to dilate as you enter this passage, turning the world to a musky gray that quietly enters your nose. The passage bears three doors, though all show signs of decay and splintered wood is strewn about. The first two rooms appear to have once been living quarters, though the furniture is quite ruined. The third doorway is down the hall further.

LEVI
The storage room is a mess, and finding anything that may be of value here will take some time. You note that while the boxes and boards have rotted, they appear to have first been torn apart by large claws or perhaps an axe. Broken ceramics, torn leather bags, and small chains litter the floor. Despite the mess, you notice one floor stone has settled at a strange angle where the others have not. Unfortunately, a small pile of excrement is resting partially upon it.

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"Mucked with worse in the sties." Levi laughs to himself as he cleans the excrement to try and access the odd tile. He will also take the time to case the room unless someone interrupts him or calls for him.

Got a 5 on my investigation role.

:smallfrown:

[TriciaOso]

Bijou scowls at the resilient boulder. "Well, that's it for me," she says with deliberate lightness. She slips off the ring and puts it on the shelves with the last few blankets; no need to strip a corpse again.

What she does concern herself are the bracers, occupied though they are by the skeletal limbs of the erstwhile Othos. Something about them looks... congenial to her.

While she waits for them to attune she sings a song about long-lost Kandam, fallen beneath the waves, and tries to ignore her growing hunger. There's no physical continuity with her starving corpse, of course, but psychologically she hasn't eaten in a week.

[miinstrel]

Passives are essentially the lowest you can roll to notice something. They're always on. Perception is easy - you see/hear/smell it or you don't. Same with Insight. Investigation is a little different. No matter how high your check is, you can only intuit so much without interacting with whatever you're investigating.

In the case of this floor stone, for example, you can tell right off the bat there are no visible dangers, but without interacting with the rock there's only so much you can glean. That's where the active check comes in. Passive Investigation is basically a 'pre-read' of the situation to help guide your decision making. Because *how* you interact with traps and other objects may provide dis/adv on whatever roll you need to make on the back end. Or if you specifically call out you're checking the underside of desk drawers for hidden compartments, and I know there's one there, I might reduce the DC by 5 or something. It's a fluid system, but I try to reward (or occasionally penalize :smallamused:) descriptive interaction.

LEVI
While the loose stone is what initially drew your eye down there, as your eyes adjust to the light you now notice there are quite a few other little brown piles around the room.
The poo scrapes off the stone easily enough, and the hairline crack in the mortar around it suggests it should lift out. There don't appear to be any mechanisms tied to this and no runes scratched into the stone. It should be safe. And if it blows you apart... well you'll probably just come back again, right?

The brown globs of yuck on the floor remind you of the brown-streaked trinket in your pocket... hopefully the color is the end of the similarity. You head back out into the light to give it a once over. The glass sparkles as though its laced with crystals, but there is nothing seemingly special about the compressed earth inside. You find a symbol on the flat bottom but are unsure what it means. It does not have any discernable power and attempting to attune with it yields no results.

FOLGARDA
Looking casually around the two rooms it seems one was at one point decorated with furs and possibly hunting trophies as there is a large beaked skull mounted to the wall. The bones of what were likely several smaller creatures based on their relative size are strewn across the floor. This room stinks a bit like rotted meat, and in the corner you see a partially eaten... something. A goat maybe?

VALARA
It took some time but you finally got the breastplate secured. When you look up your companions have all wandered off.

BIJOU
Even without flesh, you have to pull the bracers a bit to get them off past the thick phalanges. They hang limply on your wrists as you focus your mind on them, admiring the golden ridges of their layered shield motif. As the hour passes, the bracers gradually shrink in size until they find a snug but comfortable connection with your forearms. A shattered rock from Silvia's work rockets toward you, and as you bring your arm up, it almost feels like the bracer pulls a couple inches to the side to intercept the projectile.

OOC: Add bracers of defense to your inventory, I removed it from the loot stash.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

When Bijou finishes her song, Silvia tells her, "That was quite nice. And a lovely escape from the tedium of... whatever you would call what I'm doing. It seems like we'll still be at this a while, so if you could entertain us with any more it would be much appreciated."


You don't need to come up with more song names or anything though. The character is asking you to entertain them, not the player. :smallamused:

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"Guess I'll have to show the others." Levi muttered to himself before shaking his head. Putting the ball back tucked into the armour, he stared around at the remants of the room before pressing down hard on the odd tile.

If nothing happens with that he will head down the corridor for the green goo.

[miinstrel]

LEVI
The symbol on the bottom of the bauble is a geometric design with numerous dots, squares, and spheres overlapping asymmetrically. It is not any language you recognize.

Pushing on the tile yields an off-kilter depression as though there's something beneath it on one side. The stone rocks a little like a table with three legs touching the ground.

Abandoning the pursuit for now, you make your way to the room at the end, approaching the viridian chamber cautiously. While most of this complex is hewn stone, you note this last room's walls are unnaturally smooth and at perfect right angles. The room looks to have once been a laboratory with vials and alchemical equipment strewn haphazardly about the area, much of it broken. The bookshelves and their contents have melted and rotted away for the most part. Your keen eyes note this damage originates from dozens of half inch holes, the corrosion radiating and dripping from those points.
Amid the debris on the shelves you note two wands and a book that seems to have sustained no damage.

Two legs of a desk have broken leaving its contents sitting on an angle. The pile up contains a small glass cup that seems to be the source of the light. A triangular object sits at its bottom covered in a thick green liquid.

FOLGARDA
Continuing your exploration of this bedroom wing reveals the second one to be quite sparsely decorated. The decay of the mattress reveals a small chest tucked beneath the bed. You pull it out and inside find a pair of jagged daggers and a few large gemstones - a sapphire, diamond, corundum, and emerald - resting on what was once probably velvet. The interiors of the gems seem to be swirling slightly. An inscription on the inside of the box reads:
"Though Chaos come and children run
To watch the flames leap higher
They cannot claim to know the pain
Of dancing in the fire"

As you're reading this you hear heavy footsteps approach from behind. "I find knives and shiny stones," Folgarda says though the response is just a low growl. You turn around to see a large bear standing in the doorway behind you. It rises to its back legs and unleashes a roar of protest clearly audible throughout the complex.

The bear is about 15 feet down the hallway and blocking Folgarda's exit.

What do you all do?

Bijou and Silvia will require a full turn to get to the entry chamber from where they are.
Valara is still there and could reach the bear quickly.
Levi, you can reach the entry chamber in a move action and another to cross it.

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 24/24 KI: 1/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

Bijou hears the roar and stops dead in the middle of a rather ribald ballad about the strengths and shortcomings of a noble lady's suitors. She unwinds limberly from her meditative waiting pose and springs through the tunnels; as her speed is flagging she feels a burst of speed unwind from somewhere deep in her core and manages to make it to the doorway, standing behind the bear.

"BEAR," she screams, helpfully.

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

Hearing the roar, Levi dashes over to the wands. He has no weapon, he has no way to deal with a wild beast, but if he remembers anything he does remember how wands were a valuable artifact for adventurers and his father-in-law used to price them quite highly for the power they could bring people who don't normally have it.

He didn't know what these wands did, but he hoped to Edra that they did what he needed. Grabbing them both, he ran back the way he'd came, reaching the entryway room to hear the cry of Bear.

He hoped one of these two did what he needed.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

"Very helpful." Silvia comments mentally at Bijou's announcement of the bear... after the bear's announcement of itself. As she chases after her, Silvia's second thought is "Fast!"

As she thinks about the fact that she'll have to fight something her main thought is "Well, I'll be behind someone at least, and you know how the old saying goes."
Another part of her mind, somewhere in the foggy distance, is quite unimpressed with the idea of fighting mere wildlife.

[miinstrel]

You all rush to the main room to see the towering mass of shaggy brown fur turn to greet the rest of you with wavering lips and bared teeth. With Bijou's arrival and others in plain view now, the bear doubles down on its threat and turns to growl at the young actress as well. It drops to all fours and dances back and forth in the hallway, clawing at the stone in front of it as if daring you to approach. Folgarda could potentially slip by now though not without risk.

The bear is posturing and sizing you up. These actions are attempts to intimidate and scare away rather than outright attack; however, if the situation doesn't deescalate things will likely turn violent quickly.

While it was standing you noted this is a female bear. Her shaggy fur hangs loose on her body suggesting you are near the end of the hibernation period. That means it's probably approaching spring.

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"I think the beasty is just waking up. Poor girl just trying to scare or frighten us." Remembering his youth in the woods, learning and training the understanding of the wilderbeasts. "Hey lassy. We're just here poking around. You don't need to fight us. We ain't poking your nest."

Carefully speaking, Levi had stopped still on the other side of the room to the passageway, moving his arms to try and catch its eyes, but moving them slowly to not seem like a prey animal.

I don't know if you want a second animal handling check but if so:

[roll0] Animal Handling to make a bear friend.

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 24/24 KI: 0/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

While Levi has its attention, Bijou beckons cautiously to Folgarda. "Come on--carefully, carefully," she says.

She steps in front of Levi, unconsciously slipping into a defensive posture, senses humming for any hostile movement.

Spending my last ki point on Patient Defense.

[miinstrel]

Bijou keeps still to avoid drawing its attention though it is keenly aware of your proximity. Levi's gentle movements at first seem like they may ease the situation, but when Folgarda crouch walks out of the room with the box under her arm, an ursine assault follows from its long claws. It catches her on the back of the leg leaving a jagged red mark in its wake.

She drops the box in surprise, one of the daggers and a gem spilling out on the floor. "STOP" she shouts at the beast, an echoing command in the tunnel, though the bear ignores her words looking more agitated by the second.

Valara in an as yet uncharacteristic display of rage rushes forward with a battle cry, collecting a dagger from the ground as she puts herself between Folgarda and the beast and slashing back at its meaty paws with the small blade putting it on the defensive.

Silvia continues her hustle around the corner to see the chaos unfolding. What's a bear but a softer boulder? Putting her practice to use, she levies a finger at the bear and releases a flash of energy that leaves a singed patch of fur on the bear's shoulder.

The bear stands again snarling at the sudden and unexpected formidability of its smaller foes. It seems to sense its cornered and lashes out in a fury at Valara. While its snapping maw is blocked by the shield, its paw strikes her though doesn't leave as much of a mark as any of you were expecting.

BEAR
Readied action for creature entering its reach
Claw attack: / dmg [roll1]

FOLGARDA
Cast Command, bear saved

VALARA
BA: rage
A: attack with dagger, hit, 7 dmg (in discord)

SILVIA
A: eldritch blast, hit, 13 dmg (in discord)

BEAR
bite misses
claw hits, 10 dmg (halved to 5 due to rage)

The party is now up.

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 24/24 KI: 0/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

Are they going to fight this bear? It looks very much like they're fighting this bear.

Sigh.

She doesn't even have a stick or a shovel to hit it with. With no other options, she balls up her fists and punches it in the snout. And then surprised at herself, she does it again.


Attack: [roll0]
Bonus Attack: [roll1]

Damage:
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Despite not being in much danger herself (for the moment), Silvia forgets for a moment that if they all die they'll just come back. And so in a moment of concern for the safety of her new companions she tries to summon forth an even stronger bolt of force. But instead she issues forth a brilliant white stream of light that streaks across the cavern and leaves small motes of light like little stars surrounding where they hit that pop and vanish and reappear for a few moments.


Guiding Bolt at level 2 on bear: [roll0]
damage: [roll1] radiant
additional: the next attack roll made against this target before the end of your next turn has advantage

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"Edra's thirteenth ****ing star." He should've known it's been too long since he'd messed with bears. Well, battle it was. Looking down at the two wands in his hand, there was a moment of indecision as he glanced over them both before he looked up and held the left one out. Summoning the little he ever learnt about wands he tried to recall how to activate one.

It was swish and flick, right?

[roll0] Arcana if I need that to use a wand.

[miinstrel]

The bear steps back to dodge Bijou's attack but her speed lands the second blow right on its cool, damp snout. Silvia's blast had been aimed, if you can call it that, at the creature's head but not wanting to hit Bijou her friend tries to adjust its course at the last minute instead striking the wall and sending a scattering of shrapnel at everyone in the area.

Levi's swish almost feels as though an invisible hand is guiding his motions, and as he finishes the movement... nothing happens. You feel like you did everything right, but the wand seems to resist your command.

Folgarda scurries to her feet and looks down at the wound on her leg. She mutters "oh no, stop bleeding, close up, heal!" grasping for power with her words and finding it as the skin begins to seal over itself. With delight in her eyes she rallies and grabs the other dagger, joining the fray once again.

Valara seems unaware of everything around her except the bear and lays into it again with her own blade.

The bear looks weak and its confidence has clearly waned, but its not in its nature to roll over and die. Nature demands it give everything it has to survival.

[roll0] piercing damage to Folgarda, Valara, Bijou, and the bear from the explosion of stone.

Folgarda casts Healing Word on herself for [roll1].
dagger attack: [roll2] / [roll3]

Valara dagger attack: [roll4] / [roll5]
I forgot her +2 rage dmg last time and have added that.

Bear
bite valara [roll6] / [roll7] (halved to 6 from rage)
claw bijou [roll8] / [roll9]
Amid the din of battle, you hear a smaller roar from the back room in this hallway. The underdeveloped cry of an adolescent.

Killing the adult bear would provide enough meat to feed you for a long time. Especially if you take the time to preserve it.

A cub will not survive on its own, but could potentially be raised and taught to hunt on its own, though working with wild animals like this always carries some risk.

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 9/24 KI: 0/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

Bijou yelps and lashes out with her foot desperately. She won't survive another slash like that.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]
[roll3]

As the bear topples over, so does Bijou, sitting down hard and holding the gash across her abdomen.

[miinstrel]

Despite the pain of the gashes, Bijou whirls a roundhouse kick to the bear's head sending it to the ground. With the wounds its sustained it won't be getting back up.

Silence claims the hallway as you catch your breath.

OOC: 90xp each for the bear. added to OOC.

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"Didn't know we'd have to deal with bears." Levi half-jokingly says, looking down a little frustrated at the inactive wand in his hands. He was moderately sure he'd gotten it right, but the wand hadn't reacted. Shaking the wand in frustration, he looks back up at the rest of them. "There's also a youngling bear back in there. What do we do with a cub?"

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 9/24 KI: 0/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

"Waltz with it, for all of me," Bijou grits out. "Only keep it away from me. I've killed mine for today."

She eyes the nearby bedrooms and wonders if their doors can be secured. "I've got to rest."

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

"Well, there's plenty of meat in the first room for it to eat." Silvia remarks with a sort of grim grin.

Looking at the dead bear she asks, "So... does anyone actually know how prepare bear? Or even how we'll be starting a fire to cook it? Not that I'm feeling particularly hungry myself."

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"Aye, maybe I will waltz with it." Levi laughs, throwing Bijou a good natured jab as she looked to depart the room. "Still need to work out what we're going to do about the cub. You got any preferences on what to do with a cub Silvia? Valara? Folgarda?"

"And while we're talking, can I have that dagger Folg? Need something to start skinning the bear with." Despite addressing Folgarda, he winks at Silvia, as if this was an answer to her question about if anyone knew how to prepare bear.

[miinstrel]

The bedroom doors are not particularly sturdy anymore, but the deadbolts are still intact providing some privacy if not terribly much security.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

"Having experienced starvation and death, I don't particularly wish it upon an innocent bear cub. We should probably at least try to take care of it until it's able to take care of itself shouldn't we?" Silvia replies.

She walks over to Bijou and touches her on the shoulder and asks, "Are you doing ok? It looked like you got pretty roughed up." Without being aware of it, as she touched Bijou she caused some of the wounds to heal up. Unlike Bijou's magical touch earlier, Silvia's doesn't feel like anything at all. (Or rather it technically feels like a balance of a grave chill and a celestial warmth, but you'd have to be extremely perceptive to notice.)


Cure Wounds level 2 on Bijou: [roll0]

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 21/24 KI: 0/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

Bijou shivers, and gingerly moves her hands away from her abdomen to examine her wounds. "Not nearly as much as I thought," she says in surprise. "It seemed worse in the moment, to be sure." She braces her hands on the wall and pushes back to her feet.

"I'll help butcher, Levi," she says wearily. "There's firewood, and salt too. But we should do something about the cub--I don't really fancy it as a pet myself, but it's going to be tricky to work or rest with it roaming about."

She looks at Folgarda and Valara, still clutching the daggers. "And where ever did we leave the sword and axe? Those bitty things don't suit you, ladies."

[RossN]

https://i.ibb.co/7VG82nd/Valara.jpg
Valara, Human Wild Magic Barbarian 3
AC: 15 HP: 27/35
PP: 12 PIv: 9 PIs: 10


Valara had been staring in shock at the dagger she was still holding when Bijou brought it up. She gasped and dropped it, almost as if she was only now coming to her full senses. Had she really fought a bear?!

"I don't know what came over me... I've never fought like that in my life!"

[miinstrel]

Folgarda sits in the main room and tends to her wounds, wrapping bandages and humming an old tune to herself to pass the time. Valara joins her and does the same. They chat a bit about how strange this all is. Folgarda comments that she appreciates the snow outside - makes it feel less far from home.

Levi and Bijou, your blades make short work of the bear's loose skin and within the hour you have completed your field dressing, placing the offal in the bedroom with the half-eaten goat for the time being. You occasionally hear rustlings from the third bedroom but do not see the cub nor hear its voice while in the hallway.

Silvia is welcome to either join the wounded in the main room, continue working on the boulder, or explore elsewhere.

Folgarda and Valara will both spend 1 HD during the short rest.
F: [roll0]
V: [roll1]

Song of Rest +[roll2]

You reconvene after your brief break to decide on what's next. There's a great deal of rubble strewn about that could conceal clues to your whereabouts or other delights.
A room still remains blocked by a large boulder.
There is some sort of magical workshop to the left and a final bedroom to the right.
And let's not forget the steep, snowy climb down from the mountain.

[Michael7123]

https://i.ibb.co/p41rLP4/Folgarda-mini.jpg
Folgarda, Bard of Spirits
(stats will be updated in the next post just want to get content in)

The young dwarf was doing her best to keep up a brave face- but the truth was that the bear had horrified her, and she had honestly expected to meet the same end that she had in her first life: turned into food for the beasts of the wild.

But they had done it. The bleeding had since been staunched by her own words, and she would try to sort out the implications of that later on. But they had just killed a bear! She had never been an amazing hunter, but she had just helped to slay one of nature's worst predators! It was empowering, and more importantly it meant one very important thing. "Not starving this time." She says with an optimistic shrug, both because now she'd worked up an appetite and to try to distract the softer Valara from grappling with the implications her newfound strength. The dwarf could tell that this was her first fight, and normal people were not simply born with the ability to slay bears.

Who knew what was happening to any of them. Folgarda certainly didn't know the answer to that. But she did knew she was going to immensely enjoy eating bear for the foreseeable future.


Folgarda will also help skin and field dress the bear for food.



"Sword here." Folgarda pats the longsword on her side when asked about why she had forgotten to use it in the fight by Bijou. "Panic. Knife is fast." As much as it pained her to admit it, she hadn't exactly kept her wits about her during the encounter and the knife had just been the easiest thing to grab. She'd have to start drilling herself with the sword more, but that was a task best accomplished with a full stomach.

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 24/24 KI: 4/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

Bear is a gamey, greasy meal, especially eaten cooked half-burnt half-raw over a campfire with no accompaniment and washed down with water. But if it's the first meal you've had in a week, even if you died in the middle, you don't complain about it. And for the first time in the same period, Bijou isn't cold. She wraps a long strip of leather (salvaged from the straps of the armor she dismantled) methodically around a salvaged bedpost as they rest.

"Silvia and I chiseled away at the stone in there--" she gestures-- "--but we aren't through yet."

"What luck did you have, besides the bear?" she asks of the two explorers.

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"Found some wands. Blighted things didn't do anything when I tried em 'afore." Levi will place the wands down on a convenient flat surface, for others to look at, then add the glass bauble too. "Also found this bugger hidden. Doesn't seem to do much though. There's a bunch of books and potions and supply crates, and a tile on the floor that I couldn't figure out as well."

Finally having the daggers in his hands, Levi flicks them carefully around his fingers. They seem almost too easy to use, like cards slipping through his fingers from up his sleeve, just casually part of his movements like an extension.

It felt, for the first time, slightly unnatural in how natural it felt.

"You ever wonder why we're here, by the way? Most of us gettin' new memories and other things? Also there was that hero named earlier, he will be back or somesuch. Wonder if we were supposed to be sacrifices." The dagger danced over his fingers as he almost monologued, the odd thoughts flicking through his head. "Also got a bearcub to handle, anyone volunteer?"

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 24/24 KI: 4/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

"Seems to me," Bijou says thoughtfully, "all this has happened before. You can see it all around us--some folk set this place up to come back to. Maybe come back to, over and over, same as we are. People with..." She looks at the wands, at the bracers on her own arms. "More resources 'n us. Powers."

"Only it went wrong. They stopped coming back. And now we are... but we're remembering... things. Are we turning into them?"

It doesn't feel like memories, coming back. More like... skills. Ability without memory of acquiring it.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

"A horrifying thought, thanks for that Bijou." Silvia says with a grimace that she turns into a slightly strained smile, expressing that she did mean what she said but also that she's at least a bit playing around. "Well, I don't feel like I've in any way ceased to be me. It's more like I've extra little bits."

"Do you mind if it try?" she asks Levi and puts her hand out for the wand. "I've got magic now apparently, perhaps I can get it to work." she finishes with a shrug as if to say "who in the hells knows?"

Silvia considers the bear cub situation and hopes someone else volunteers to take care of it. She doesn't know very much about animals aside from the basics of horse care and riding. "Could one ride a bear?" she briefly wonders.

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 16 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

Casually handing both wands to Silvia, Levi shrugs in response. "Didn't work for me, so may as well. Hope it works for you."

Then he turned to Bijou. There was a critical eye looking at her as he gave weight to her words, considering. He'd definitely picked up skills, but there were no memories for him. All he had was this oddly sharp eyesight and his newfound dagger skills. Not that he wasn't already kind of okay with daggers already.

"I don't know if we're becoming them exactly. I got no memories yet, just been like, what, Folg? I think most of us have just... been given things. Maybe it's because she touched the sphere and that was what was supposed to put the memories and all in our heads?"

[TriciaOso]

Bijou frowns.

"I want to see this panel. Not that I'm any great shakes with such things, but I'm curious, and it seems the least likely of these curiosities to kill me."

She pushes herself to her feet with her new quarterstaff.

"And someone really ought to do something about that bear cub, or I will," she says warningly. "I don't relish harming a poor motherless thing, but we can't leave it to starve and if no one has a better plan I'll take the responsibility of ending it."

[miinstrel]

As you debate next steps, Levi takes Bijou over to the storage room and points out the loose stone resting at the base of spikey shadows from the broken crates strewn about.

After some careful examination, you find the stone lifts out easily enough, and below rests a hollow crystal sphere. A crack runs down one side, and it is resting on a noticeably damaged palm-sized leather notebook.

While the notebook looks dry now, its bloated shape suggests it was at one point quite waterlogged.

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 16 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"Dare say this thing has seen the bad side of a rain gutter." Levi mused as he turned the book over carefully. There was a spark of interest in his eyes as he lightly smiled, his fingers playing with the book but trying to avoid pulling at anything that may damage it. "Let's say we find out what it says?"

Having said that, he pockets the glass ball and then starts to read through the diary, trying not to tear any pages.

[TriciaOso]

Bijou notes Levi's acquisitive side; unsure if it's a change or simply getting to know the man better. But he has both the globe and the book now--and there was that bauble he'd found and kept to himself, too.

There's nothing for her to do in here now; she slips quietly out of the room while he's reading peeks in the laboratory at the end of the hall. It stirs absolutely no feelings--her memories are decidedly unmagical, it seems--but she pokes around anyway. It's all opaque to her. There is another book here, though! And.... an ominous triangle suspended in glowing liquid.

It's an easy decision.

[miinstrel]

When you touch the crystal sphere the air inside swirls lightly, though nothing else happens.

The book's pages are discolored from whatever liquid soaked it. The ink has run and opening it without damaging the pages proves tricky business, but your lithe fingers are able to crack it open to a few spots that are still legible. It appears to be a log of names and activities by date.

This page reads as follows:
1E, Skyfire, 412YOP
Zarius - asleep, recovering.
Goetha - argu--- --th Do------ ----- ------- ----och. She wants a sub---- -----ach.
----en-- - ---- ----- ar--- ten---- -------- ---- -- -----
Ki-- Wa--- - answ----- ---itions.

The illegibility continues with fragments of names and actions, page after page of surveillance. Your knack for patterns notes there are more entries near the beginning of months shortly after the full moon than later.

Eventually you come to a mostly untarnished page near the end that reads as more of a diary entry than a log:
This gift, this burden, this joke is more than any man should have to bear. I pity the elves. I pity the gods. Such lonely lives they lead... sleep well, my dearest, in the comfort of the empty. If I can find my way to you we shall draw up the white blanket of eternity and rest in each others' arms.

More can likely be gleaned from these pages with careful restoration or additional research materials on hand.
The date notation at the top alludes to the elemental calendar. The first Earth's Day of the month of Skyfire (last month of summer) in the 412th Year of Plenty.

When you died it was the 110th year of the current era.
Before then was a period known as the Everstorm that lasted about 200 years.
Before that was the Age of Plenty that lasted 650 years.
That places these notes at about 550 years old.
The book you withdraw bears a sigil of a flaming hawk with the name "Jillian" scribed beneath. A small metal latch holds the book closed, though it is not locked. The pages inside are organized chaos - notes in the margins, diagrams, drawings of hand positions, phonetic spellings of words in an unknown language, and on most pages little doodles of flames. From what you can piece together this book contains the secrets of powerful magic, though you're unsure how to decipher its mysteries.

The creature on the cover is likely a phoenix - an elemental bird that is eternally reborn from the ashes of its death.

[TriciaOso]

Bijou frowns at the book. Well, it's no more than she expected. She returns to the main room and looks at the ladies who have become magically gifted. "There's some sort of wizard's lair in there," she says. "Book that might be of interest to the mystical sorts, too. I can't make heads or tails of it." She sets the tome down on the bar, fair game for anyone interested.

She drums her fingers on the bar, uneasy with idleness in this godsforsaken situation. "I'm going to start packing some of those bags we found for the journey down the mountain. Bear meat, waterskins, some coin for us all. I'm not sure what they'll hold but hopefully it will be enough to get us down to civilization."

They hold more than she expected!

[Michael7123]

https://i.ibb.co/p41rLP4/Folgarda-mini.jpg
Folgarda, Bard of Spirits
(okay for real this time, the next one will have good stats)

"I will handle it." Folgarda says as she pulls out her axe after Bijou mentions handling the bear cub. The woman's concerns (to the extent that Folgarda understood them) were fair, and letting the thing live would just be cruel. Besides, they needed more food.

Before she wanders off to do what must be done to the bear cub, she gives a bit of packing advice. "Kindling, firewood, blankets. We must have warmth." While this place might have been on the other side of the world from her home, cold weather was cold weather, and the dwarf knew that frostbite and hypothermia would be an even more immediate danger than starvation.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

"What is wrong with all of you!?" Silvia shouts as they all casually discuss murdering the cub and Folgarda moves to do the deed. "My body may be decaying, but at least my soul isn't! It's just a baby and we killed it's mother. And there's plenty of meat for it to eat that none of us can lying around."

[TriciaOso]

Slowly, as if speaking to a child, she says, "You want to train a bear to eat human meat, and raise it up until it's big enough to eat us? Is that your plan? Because this isn't hellish enough?"

She throws up her hands. "Then get to it, then! I can't help but notice you haven't gotten off your arse to do a thing about it--to do anything at all--since I left."

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 16 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"Ladies, calm, we can discuss rationally." Levi returns to quite a scene in his mind, but he doesn't even care for the subject at hand. It seems almost irrelevant compared to the book he holds.

"I've found somethingquite interesting. With the help of Bijou I got my handsonthis journal." He grins then, eager to share what it told him. "We aren't the first to be pulled intothis madness. Don't know when it was but some handful were like us during the uh--"

Levi pauses a moment to recheck the book, having already forgotten the age, as it meant little to him. "The uh, Age of Plenty, if'n any of you know when that was."

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Silvia was on the verge of potentially lashing out verbally or even magically at Bijou when Levi spoke up. It's inaccurate to say she barely heard him, she absorbed the information but it didn't mean too much to her. Just adding some details to the weirdness of what was happening them around a bit, but it didn't make it any less weird and didn't mean much of anything to her. A bit of her in the back of her mind puzzled over it for a moment, but sort of shrugged and gave up with the thought, "Well, you don't tend to know the name of the ages you were living in."

So instead she just snapped at Levi with, "That's nice." and fuming, went off to probably get mauled by a bear cub by while trying to basically just pick it up and move it, since she hadn't the faintest idea about how to deal with wild animals. The pain would be preferable the the ugliness of killing an innocent baby for the sake of mere convenience.

[TriciaOso]

Bijou groans. "Well, hells," and strides after Silvia.

"I'll come and help," she says, gracelessly.

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 16 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"Does no one find that as interesting as I?" Levi pockets the book, suddenly lightly irritable at the way they just brushed off his finding. Somewhat following the other two who went to deal with the bear cub, Levi looks to check over the rooms that have already been looked at, as no one has really described what was down here too well.

[miinstrel]

LEVI
The first two bed chambers that Folgarda entered appear to be just as she found them - the first a grizzly scene of leftover food and an "outdoorsman" decor style. The other was likely more well-appointed at one time, though much of it is now falling apart. Opening some of the drawers you find the clothing remnants to be in orderly piles. The garments likely belonged to a wizard based on their cut.

SILVIA & BIJOU
In the final room you find another bed chamber, this one quite spartan in its physical decor, though the walls and ceiling are covered with a thoroughly masterful mural of constellations above billowing golden clouds over a mountain range. The portrait continues down to the floor as though you were a giant standing in the center of a lost valley. The colors are faded, but the artistic talent behind the images is world class.

A single armoire stands at the far end of the room. The bed is centered in the space and collapsed much like the other rooms, the wood broken down almost to mulch. The blankets and furs have been drawn into a nest of sorts along with leaves and other softer materials. In the center gnawing on a femur sits a small brown bear cub. It watches you but doesn't seem particularly fearful.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Silvia stops and looks at the cub for a moment, trying to think about how to do this. Then she just gives up and shrugs. "Well, I'm sure there's a less stupid way to do this, but I don't know a thing about wild animals." Having said that, assuming she isn't stopped or instructed on a better method, she goes to just pick up the bear cub and carry it to the room with the corpses.

[TriciaOso]

"Hang on," Bijou says hurriedly. "We ought to leave it in here, if we're going to keep it. If you were going to feed it, we can bring one of the... one of them in here. I don't want it to start thinking of that as a place to find food lying about. Coming back from the dead won't do us any good if we wake up to a bear chewing our feet off."

"I'll help you move one." She bites her tongue this time, and does not insist it ought to be Silvia's body, since this is her idea.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Silvia shrugs and mentally admit that that is indeed a much less stupid way to do this, as she'd expected most options probably were.

Even though Bijou doesn't expect it, Silvia immediately selects her own body to go first. In part because this was her idea, but also because she wants to spare herself from more rotting in at least one body.

[TriciaOso]

Bijou has the amateur physician's detachment from dead bodies; she helps Silvia manhandle the corpse into the room.

"All right... so it's got food..." she says doubtfully.

Animal Handling Check: [roll0]

[TriciaOso]

Advantage! [roll0]

[miinstrel]

The beast watches you place your body before it, looking between you both as though a great trick has been played upon it. It pads forward sniffing the corpse curiously before returning to its nest with a flooph of debris under its small small girth as it returns to its bone.

You are confident it will not starve given the amount of fresh and not-so-fresh meat nearby. Whether or not it understands its orphaned status is uncertain, but for now your nonaggression seems to be mirrored.

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Silvia wasn't sure what reaction she'd expected from the bear cub. She mentally shrugs and looks to Bijou, "Shall we go bring the others? I imagine the task will only become more unpleasant the longer we wait."
To be honest she wasn't used to all this physical labor, but she'd rather be sore than have a moldering corpse fall apart in her hands later.

[TriciaOso]

Bijou says. "That's the fi--that's sensible," she says, and stretches.

It's icky and tedious, but the sooner done the better.

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"These rooms are kinda empty. Bij, there's some more clothing scraps in that one but none of them are good for keeping stuck together, kinda mess." Meandering down, Levi joins the other two in moving bodies, seeing a job that needed to be done and helping out.

Weirdly, he doesn't find it that weird to be dragging himself around. Feels more...

Normal now.

[miinstrel]

Working together you get all of your previous vessels moved into a grisly heap in the side room. The rest of the accommodations seem somewhat more welcoming without those reminders lying about. The cub checks on all the activity and, with some effort, pulls the final leg off the goat in the corner, taking it back to its den.

Valara and Folgarda get a fire going in the meantime and put some of the bear meat on a makeshift spit.

There are a few odds and ends to busy yourselves with in these caves, though you have a sinking feeling you'll be returning to them again. The light at the cave exit has lost the hues of dawn and now shines brightly down, it seems to be a clear day.

What will you do?

[TriciaOso]

"All right," Bijou says briskly, as they all sit around chewing the (bear) fat. "So what are we doing? We've got food; got water. Got armor. Learned a bit about what's happening to us and who it happened to before. Fed the bear cub, gods preserve us. But what are we doing?"

"When do we leave?"

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

"Well, it's not a work of art, but I feel like I should probably finish my work on that boulder. Maybe if we're lucky we'll find some actual clothes on the other side." Silvia replies.
If nobody objects to waiting longer, she heads off to continue blasting apart the boulder.

[miinstrel]

The large boulder is exactly as you left it, chipped stone and all. You stretch your fingers for the tedious task before you and set about carving away again, piece by piece.

After an eternity crammed into the span of an hour, the enormous axe is dislodged (and surprisingly unbent even beneath all that weight). It's blade almost seems to be made of sharpened stone. Two large teeth dangle from a small chain through a hole on one side.

But perhaps more curiously, there is now a path to the room on the other side. The chamber is roughly spherical with a statue staring back from the far side. The stony visage of Edra smiles knowingly at you, one arm across her chest and the other raised with two fingers and the thumb extended as though giving a blessing. Small metallic bowls, candelabras, and other worship accoutrement stand on the table before her above a small black rug, surprisingly well preserved given the condition of the other chambers.
On a shelf below the table you find four simple linen robes with rope belts, all in good condition.
A few gold coins rest in the bowls, though none bear any iconography you recognize.

Around the periphery of the room are four armor stands. One is empty, but the other three display exquisite robes. One is black with an intricate starscape swirling across its fabric and six red stars shining near the collar. Another is stitched with eyes across its entire surface. One winks at you... or is it a trick of the light? The final robe shimmers in a rainbow of hues.

[TriciaOso]

Bijou examines the shimmering colors of the last robe. It's definitely more in her style than the drab leather of the stripped-down armor. She glances at Silvia, who seems equally enamored of the starry robe, and with a shrug, begins to strip out of the leather tunic and wrap herself in the robe.

The loose cloth feels good on her upper body, but a tangle risk around her legs; she wraps the tails of the robe around her waist and knots it. She's beginning to learn to sense magic on these things--surviving for hundreds of years was a bit of a clue--and waits to see if there's anything special about this beyond reintroducing colors to her life.

In the mean time, she goes to investigate the altar and the rug before it.

https://i.ibb.co/vBwyqVz/Bijou-Life-3-portrait.png (https://ibb.co/VNjn9JB)

[roll0]

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Silvia's reverie over finally having something decent to dress in is broken when Bijou just strides in and takes one of the robes. She sighs, having wanted to have this moment to herself, but she supposes that there was no hiding the noise of the boulder breaking.

Noting the statue of Edra, she goes over and gives a quick prayer of thanks for this blessing. As she walks over thinking how it would be a shame to dirty such nice robes, without noticing she's done it, she magically cleans herself. Then she discards the rags she was wearing and dons the starry robes. She enjoys the feeling of them for a few moments. Then she takes the rags back to leave in the other room, feeling it disrespectful to just leave them in here.

[miinstrel]

You find nothing unusual about the statue. It is well carved, though not masterfully so. Nothing is hidden beneath the rug. It seems fairly ordinary, though the coins catch your eye. While they all seem to be made of gold, each one bears a different stamp. You see one from Kardoch (Silvia & Levi's home region). You see one emblazoned with a Falcon in flight, a symbol of Falcon's Rest - a metropolis far across the seas to the west. You see one with strange tribal symbols, one with concentric rings, one with an embossed skull that might be from an ancient evil empire that dominated eastern Xylia long ago. No two coins are the same and each seems to be from a different part of the world. One could spend a lifetime visiting these places on foot. Whoever put them here was well traveled, guided by Edra's knowing hand... or perhaps Aleister's wanderlust.

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

Following in, Levi kneels after a moment in front of Edra's statue, briefly making his marker of worship. He'd long followed Edra as the guiding light to define his life, but it was by no means the same as this odd reverence he felt in that moment. It was as if the cool breeze in the cave, the slow dirt of the surroundings, the calm benevolence on her face...

It was home in a way he'd never quite felt before. Like something he'd longed for but hadn't seen in so long. There was an urge to reach out and touch the statue, but knowing it was disrespectful he kept his hands at his side.

Was this what the others had meant when they said they felt weirdness? Levi shook himself as he stood up again, then looked at the other two now clad.

"Suppose we head out now, what's our goal? We've been brought back in some crazy fashion. We have a home base, o' sorts, and a life that doesn't end. No matter where we find ourselves out there..." He gestures backwards, as if towards the snowy entrance several twists away. "What do we do?"

"For one, I'd like to stay together if possible. Returning here alone would be... troublesome. And if we're going to return here whenever we die I'd like to make it a touch more homely. And I'd also like to... find out what legends there are about this cave in the local area. This cave was important, I think, but memory might not have that answer."

[TriciaOso]

"I want my life back," Bijou says. She feels more herself than she has since she woke here, in these clothes, and yet her life on the road feels as far away as ever.

"It wasn't anything special, but it was mine."

"We don't even know where we are," she says bitterly. "But we're nailed here sure as sin. I, who never wanted be nailed anywhere."

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

"Really? I don't mind getting nailed now and again?" Silvia retorts with a smirk.

After a pause she suggests, "We should probably gather up supplies before we leave and... well is the cub going to be ok if we leave it here or are we going to need to figure out how to take it with us?"

[TriciaOso]

"No accounting for taste," Bijou sniffs at Silvia's joke; not disdainfully, but entering into the banter. "I'd rather be out tasting the world."

When the bear comes up again, she grits her teeth. "That's why--"

She takes a deep breath.

"It's got plenty to eat for a while," she says instead. "Or else we can train it to do tricks. Saw a bear act in Moravia once. Might draw a bigger crowd than tumbles and Where Have All The Flowers Gone, especially as I don't have any feckin' instruments left."

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"Normally I like thinking about what isn't nailed down." Levi joins in with a wink of his own, clearly jesting at the whole concept. As matters turn to the bear he frowns. "Figure we have a few powers and my little tricks with knives, we can make our own way. Could make it faster if we find somewhere that deals a hand of cards."

"I don't like the idea of the bear either way, in all honesty. You kept it away from the crops and made sure it didn't try anything back where I came from." He doesn't really care though, obvious from the shrug coming next. "I say if we take it with us we won't have to worry about it if'n we get killed. But how do we get it to stay with us?"

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

Silvia gives Levi an amused smile and makes a hand gesture to indicate a thought something like "Glad someone has a sense of humor."

"I...." Silvia starts, stops, then starts again, "I really have no idea. I guess we'll just have to try and hope for the best? I'm going to go do an inventory of what we have and what we can or maybe should take with us. Maybe by the time I'm finished one of us will have thought of something?" That having been said, she shrugs and heads off.


I'm just going north to south, west to east. Then I'll mention anything in the loot listing not currently on the map and not (to my knowledge) already in someone's inventory.

Weren't we supposed to get our one kept items? Or have we not discovered them yet?
(I also need my arcane focus.)

Ring of the Ram: I feel like Bijou has a pretty solid claim on this.

Goggles of Night: If nobody else feels they need them more than I do (Levi sure shouldn't if his cloak is what I think it is), I'd rather like them. Perhaps they could just happen to look like glasses depicted in Silvia's art?

Floating Stone: Can I get a reminder on what this is?

Blankets: We should maybe take three? One for Levi, Bijou, and the bear cub. Leave the rest here.

Shovels: I've got move earth so up to others if they feel we need to take any.

Ropes: Well we'll want some of this for sure? How much is there?

Huge Stone Axe: I assume none of us can/want to use that. Unless it's magical and will resize.... and is a finesse item. Which seems fairly unlikely?

Loose Tile: Did we already get at whatever is under there?

Bags of Holding: Well we certainly want at least one. Do we want to take both or leave one behind for respawn situations?

Coin: Well we probably need amounts at this point. We should probably take some, but not all. But what fraction sort of depends on how much there is and what we expect our expenses to be like. Silvia for example has at least a few hundred gp worth of things (largely tools) that she'd like to purchase.

List of Places: Can I get a reminder about this?

"Glowing green cup with item in it": Can I get a reminder about this?

Book: Is this the one Levi had?

Preserved Bear/Berries: We should probably take our perishable/semi-perishable food since I can't imagine it'd be any good by the time we return. How many pounds of meat is left?

Firewood: Probably a good idea to take some of that.

Water: Also a good thing to take. What kind of containers is that in and how much do we have available?

Booze: ^

Poem: Do we have anything to write this down on/with?

Wizard Rags: Can I get a reminder on this? I just completely don't remember it.

Armor +1 (any light, any med, or chainmail): Who's taking this? Levi I would assume?

Shield +1: Are any of us proficient with shields?

Elemental Gems: Do we want to take all four? Or just two? Personally I vote for all four. They're a more effective tool for us the lower level we are.

Crystal Ball, Cracked: We probably want to take this assuming any of us can use it. Do we know exactly what it does?

Jillian's spellbook: Does this do anything aside "is a spellbook with spells in it"? If not, is one of us going to have a use for this in the future? If not, should we just take it to sell it off? Or does it have important information aside from spells in there? (Or anything else worth noting GM?)

Bear Pelt: Probably a good thing to take for extra warmth.

Bloated Notebook: Can I get a reminder on this?

[miinstrel]

I'm just going north to south, west to east. Then I'll mention anything in the loot listing not currently on the map and not (to my knowledge) already in someone's inventory.

Weren't we supposed to get our one kept items? Or have we not discovered them yet?
(I also need my arcane focus.)
those wait just beyond the veil... you'll have to make do without them for a bit longer (though your wand can be used as an arcane focus for now too)

Ring of the Ram: I feel like Bijou has a pretty solid claim on this. agreed

Goggles of Night: If nobody else feels they need them more than I do (Levi sure shouldn't if his cloak is what I think it is), I'd rather like them. Perhaps they could just happen to look like glasses depicted in Silvia's art?
i'm fine with that fluff

Floating Stone: Can I get a reminder on what this is?
this is the giant sphere you 'spawned' from

Blankets: We should maybe take three? One for Levi, Bijou, and the bear cub. Leave the rest here.

Shovels: I've got move earth so up to others if they feel we need to take any.

Ropes: Well we'll want some of this for sure? How much is there?

Huge Stone Axe: I assume none of us can/want to use that. Unless it's magical and will resize.... and is a finesse item. Which seems fairly unlikely?

Loose Tile: Did we already get at whatever is under there? 3x 50' spools of hemp rope

Bags of Holding: Well we certainly want at least one. Do we want to take both or leave one behind for respawn situations?

Coin: Well we probably need amounts at this point. We should probably take some, but not all. But what fraction sort of depends on how much there is and what we expect our expenses to be like. Silvia for example has at least a few hundred gp worth of things (largely tools) that she'd like to purchase.
added amounts OOC

List of Places: Can I get a reminder about this?
Link to post (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25070712&postcount=59)

"Glowing green cup with item in it": Can I get a reminder about this?
Link to post (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25085635&postcount=105) - end of "Levi" section

Book: Is this the one Levi had?
this is the spellbook that Bijou collected and I think placed on the counter in the Entry Chamber

Preserved Bear/Berries: We should probably take our perishable/semi-perishable food since I can't imagine it'd be any good by the time we return. How many pounds of meat is left?
You have about 50 pounds of bear meat, so 50 days worth of bear rations

Firewood: Probably a good idea to take some of that.

Water: Also a good thing to take. What kind of containers is that in and how much do we have available?
there's a barrel full of clean water and 3 functional waterskins

Booze: ^
Bijou section (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25076749&postcount=88)

Poem: Do we have anything to write this down on/with?
on yes. with... see below.

Wizard Rags: Can I get a reminder on this? I just completely don't remember it.
just some plain wizard robes, nonmagical. they were in a drawer in Bedroom 2.

Armor +1 (any light, any med, or chainmail): Who's taking this? Levi I would assume?
I think Levi already donned some earlier. But essentially there are 6 Schrodingers +1 armors left to fit whatever style suits your needs when you take it.

Shield +1: Are any of us proficient with shields?
no.

Elemental Gems: Do we want to take all four? Or just two? Personally I vote for all four. They're a more effective tool for us the lower level we are.

Crystal Ball, Cracked: We probably want to take this assuming any of us can use it. Do we know exactly what it does?
casts Scrying, limited to 3 uses/day

Jillian's spellbook: Does this do anything aside "is a spellbook with spells in it"? If not, is one of us going to have a use for this in the future? If not, should we just take it to sell it off? Or does it have important information aside from spells in there? (Or anything else worth noting GM?)
unless someone plans to multiclass into a spellbook using caster, it's useless to you. you could use it as an RP study guide perhaps.
Taking some time to flip through it you don't find anything that seems terribly important/relevant at this time. My intention with this was to imply that your PCs/spirits are/were not the only incarnations of whatever is happening to you.

Bear Pelt: Probably a good thing to take for extra warmth.

Bloated Notebook: Can I get a reminder on this?
this was found with the Crystal Ball. many of the pages are stuck together.
Link to post (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25104043&postcount=138)

OTHER THINGS FOUND FROM ABOVE NARRATION
Nolzur's Marvelous Pigments (2,000 sqft of paint remaining)



Collecting yourselves, you make preparations to leave the cave but first take a final assessment of everything you've found. Some of you set to the task of counting the coins in the museum chamber chest and find that while the chest had a great deal of wealth in it already... the magical bags within held even more. It takes a couple hours with several of you counting to deduce there are:
28,567 copper
32,714 silver
15,128 gold
5,443 platinum
This is an absurd amount of wealth - enough to buy an estate fitting nobility and staff it for several years. Silvia, during the counting you drop a coin and it slips between two of your exposed ribs. It's not easily reachable by hand, and while it doesn't hurt you can feel it shifting inside when you move quickly.

With the bear out of the last bedroom you take a closer look inside the armoire at the far end and find more rotted clothing... but beneath them a small wooden box containing four clay pots - two of which are empty and two of which contain ink - and a paint brush carved with a leaf motif. The ink inside sparkles slightly and doesn't show any sign of settling as you would expect from having been untouched for so long.

There is still the question of the glowing gem in the vial of green liquid in the Glowing Room.
And a great deal of rubble to clear in the Museum Chamber that is likely to take several days of work.
But beyond that you seem to have uncovered the rest of these chambers' mysteries.

After taking inventory, it's late afternoon. You have maybe two hours before the sun will start casting long shadows upon you from behind the mountain peaks above the cave despite it likely still being several hours until true dusk.

[TriciaOso]

"That's more gold than I've ever seen in my life," Bijou says. "We hardly need to take any of that, just enough to get our lives going. A cart, some instruments..." She considers the money again. "Maybe a real vardo," she says eventually. "A flywalk, maybe...."

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"I think we best get the lay of the land before we take too much out." Levi gently reminds Bijou, remembering how he was when his father-in-law first showed him the money that could be garnered through smart trading. He still remembered the compulsive questions, the wanting to use it just because he could. It was intoxicating at first.

So instead he just shook his head, taking the last robe in the room and enjoying the eyes fluttering along it. "I suggest we take bare minimum at first. Find the closest town. Try and get some supplies. Try not to attract attention. Try to find out what the locals think of this place, right?"

[Ramsus]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/77ee1199a041f7a6c3b0cbd564202c5e/082b54cd75c1bd9c-d2/s1280x1920/1cd009f41d1e9615072852119e9822534a1c7447.jpg
Silvia Rose (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2456738)
Reborn Warlock
AC: 15 HP: 27/27
PP: 13 PIv: 10 PIs: 11
Conditions: --
Concentration: --

As they'd done inventory, Silvia organized items in their spaces. Most notably the coin counting resulted in a lot of piles of 10 coins so they were more easily counted.

Silvia nodded in reply to Levi and said, "But we should still take at least a decent amount in case we do quickly encounter a town or merchant. I imagine we might want to buy some supplies to bring back to leave here as well. So if we take enough money to buy what we might need that saves us at least one extra trip back here."

Having said that, Silvia proceeds to take 100 platinum, 2k gold, 5k silver, and 5k copper. A decent amount, but still leaving the bulk behind.

Then she goes back to the northernmost room and examine the glowing cup. Something in the back of her mind tells her she can magically move water. So she waves her hand over the cup and few times, trying to make the liquid spit the item out.


Casting Shape Water

[miinstrel]

At first the water does nothing but continue to pulse slowly with light. After a few moments it begins to bubble and rise up out of the jar. You command the water to the side to spill out on the floor but it resists, instead coalescing as a sphere of opaque green liquid. It hangs in the air a moment before lashing out at you with a dripping tendril.

Surprise round attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] acid

oh... snap. umm okay that's a total of 36 acid damage then.

We'll assume everyone is in the entry chamber and can get to the laboratory with a move action if desired.

The party is up!

You release a small shriek of alarm. The burning in and across your chest is extraordinary. You pass out from the pain.

[TriciaOso]

Bijou comes in at a run and stands over the fallen Silvia, launching directly into combat. She swings her staff like a club and smacks the knob of the bedpost into the ball of slime. She follows up with a series of ginger kicks, nervous to get the slime on her skin.

[roll0]
[roll1]


Flurry of Blows:

[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

[TriciaOso]

On the kick that lands, a little bit of the life energy she's felt roiling inside of her jolts out and into the slime.

[roll0] additional necrotic.

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 21/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"And I thought the bear was bad enough." Levi's quip falls flat as he rushes into the room behind Bijou, hands quickly unsheathing the two magical daggers he now has his hands on. First blade forwards and now second as he angles past Bijou to pin the ... whatever it was in.

"As a side note, I no longer like the former residents for what they left behind."

Dagger 1:
[roll0] and damage [roll1]

And Dagger 2 (Lifestealer):
[roll2] and damage [roll3]

[miinstrel]

Bijou bursts in and strikes the amorphous green ball twice, bits of its essence splintering off and vanishing into the ether in the process leaving it slightly smaller than before. Levi's stabs have a similar but more potent effect as the blade slices easily through its form.
Valara and Folgarda join in as well, and while the former brings her own strength down upon the thing, Folgarda drags Silvia to the corner of the lab and presses an urgent hand to her wounds, returning her to life with a gasp of breath. Her eyes open but briefly...

With the glowing prize still pulsing in the jar below it and under a sudden and violent assault, the glob of energy hanging in the air spins rapidly and explodes outward sending tiny acidic missiles rocketing out in every direction, singeing everything they touch and leaving a burning heat that eats away at its victim. As you recover from the blast it begins to regain its form, the droplets around the room drifting slowly back to form the whole of whatever power is holding it together.

Her eyes clenched tight, Folgarda tries to shield Silvia's body from the blast, but it's not enough and both of them slump to the floor in a sizzling heap.

Valara rages and deals 11 damage to it.
Folgarda uses Healing Word on Silvia... though any HP regained will be gone from this next bit.

Everyone: DC 15 Dex save
[roll0] acid damage, half on success
fail = another [roll1] at the end of your next turn/post

Folgarda save: [roll2]
Valara save: [roll3]

[TriciaOso]

https://i.ibb.co/84xYd9Q/Capture.png
AC: 16 HP: 16/24 KI: 1/4
PP: 13 PIv: 12 PIs: 15

Bijou hits the floor, just ducking under the worst of the spray of slime. What she does take still fries her skin and flesh, but she manages a couple more attacks before taking a moment to push some of the healing energy into herself.

Bijou makes the save and takes 13 damage, then heals for 5. One attack at 10 (oof) and another at 21.

Assuming one success, 7 damage on the slime.

[bladescape]

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/71/65/1f/71651f5a2153414d8198e23112cafc9d.jpg
Leviticus Knelvind, Human Inquisitive Rogue 3
AC: 15 HP: 8/21
PP: 20 PIv: 17 PIs: 17

"Edra's light!" The words hissed out between pressed teeth as Levi dodged around the sizzling drops, managing to avoid being sprayed too harshly. "Need to get this one out of the way so you can tend to them."

With a grim determination that somehow seemed to forget their lack of actual death, Levi swung once more to slice the ball to pieces.

Dagger 1:
[roll0] and damage [roll1]

And Dagger 2 (Lifestealer):
[roll2] and damage [roll3]

Sneak attack if either hit:
[roll4]