The Sisters' Chronicles

[Valmark]

Malyanna had, essentially, given only one real rule to Alifa. That she could traverse to this universe only by herself. Aside from that it was entirely up to the student how she accomplished what Malyanna asked her to do- to find out how to close the rips in reality made by the Far Realm and heal the madness, which supposedly the universe she was currently trav... tumbling towards had managed to accomplish.

Malyanna was sending her to a Fey Court where she should be welcomed due to her status- even if there hadn't been much communication between the two universes, a princess of the fey would be treated with respect nonetheless.

Was, meaning she wasn't necessarily heading there right now. The reason was the same as for why she was tumbling through universes right now- inside the canal shimmering with magical blue light that was connecting two shining white gates through what looked like the Astral Sea but made of all the colors present in the world (and some unknown ones) two figures were falling through, the canal too small for them to fit so a foot would slip out on one side, a shoulder on the other- Alifa and Boots didn't seem hurt by that, but they could see the tunnel tremble every time.

And then everything darkened as a shadow loomed over them- the landscaped substituted by what looked suspiciously like the inside of some animal's beak, except for the rows upon rows of swirling teeth that were closing rapidly on the tunnel and them. And yet, the exit looked so close...

Yes, you're straight up thrusted into a dangerous situation.

I will say now that if you ever want to try something that you think makes sense even if it's unorthodox (like using a spell in an unintended way because it feels like it should work) you just need to ask and we can work something out. I mean, it's probably obvious, but specifying things doesn't hurt.

[Xihirli]

Boots saw the jaws closing around their exit and reached for the javelin at her back. She threw it right at the beak, though it wasn't quite on course. Alifa's blue mage hand extended out, twisting the javelin in midair and jamming it into the lip of the monster downward, hopefully keeping it from closing its mouth.

[Valmark]

The javelin, aided by the hand, hit its mark. For a moment it looked like it bounced off of the beak, but then two teeth catched it and momentarily halted, javeling stuck in place. It would break a second later but a second was what they needed- as the beak closed the javelin's other extremity hit against the other half of it, keeping it momentarily open as they fell through the portal- they felt it shatter behind them, a powerful shriek following them as they felt -Alifa through her telepathy, Boots through her paladin senses- deep, all-consuming... Hatred. Whatever it was, it would not forget them.

Everything went dark.

A moment later they felt hard wood against their faces and a cacophony of sounds- mixed music, laughs, loud voices, and after realizing they had their eyes closed if they opened they would see that they were in a town, a festival in full swing. Happy faces all around, lots of humanoids were walking along the street, playing games with one another at stalls or looking at shows made by entertainers, mostly families. There were food stands, and a crowd of onlookers looking at them from down.

Down. They realized they were on a stage, an astonished-looking young guy staring down at them dressed in what could only be called a sterotypical wizard clothing- blue robe with stars, pointy hat. But the crowd was clapping and cheering, so the 'wizard', who didn't seem to have anything for spellcasting, looked up and went "N-no trick, no lie, I turned two copper coins into p-people! somehow"

And up, the sky was a clear blue, a perfect day... Even with a black scar cutting in the middle of it, perfectly dividing the sky in half as far as the eye could see. It was a perfectly straight line, and apparently normal since nobody seemed concerned.

[Xihirli]

Alifa sprung to her feet. "What did you do!?" She demanded in Sylvan.
"What did I do!? Why were you in that... that thing?" Boots responded in the same language.
"I went to get help! And now I don't know where I am! I was supposed to be in the Fey Court!" Alifa turned to the performing guy. "Hey, hat-tricker. Where do I find the Faerie Realm?" She asked in Common. She'd heard him speak Common, so it seemed that was about the same.
"What's with the sky?" Boots asked no one in particular.

[Valmark]

The 'hat-tricker' jumped back a bit scared as the two women started yelling angrily in an unknown language- then when Alifa turned to him, he stammered going "I-I don't know! Ask someone from there! Show's in pause everybody, we'll resume in two hours!" He, who seemed to be a human, turned around to hurry off from the stage- there was a relatively big tent which probably was were he kept his stuff, another person poking her head out to check what was happening. Probably his sister, due to the similarity.

Most of the people there seemed to be humans, honestly- due to the crowd though it was hard to tell wether there were just humans or if it was the majority. There was also a fairly big amount of dragonborns.

[Xihirli]

"Well, where's someone from there!?" Alifa called after him. She huffed. "Great. We're lost. Hey Boots, welcome to Alandria." She
Boots bit her lip. She still wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she knew Alifa was upset. "Lif," she said.
"Yes?"
"I was worried about you. You always run off to gods know where with the woman who tried to kill our mother, you're barely in... I was worried she was hurting you."
"Because we've been busy? Boots, we're trying to save the world. Mend the breaks in reality Piscaethces leaves. This world knows how to do that."
Boots looked up at the black line in the sky. "Are you sure?"
"We seem to have been dropped off at some sort of circus, off-course. I guess we should at least see if we can get a map." Lif followed the hat-tricker into his tent.

[Valmark]

As they entered, the hat-tricker looked up at them scared. The tent contained equipment for circus tricks- it was modest, had some boxes and fake weaponry in addition to juggling balls and a table prepped up for make up. The woman they had seen earlier, who seemed to be younger then the sisters though it was hard to tell due to the extravagant make-up, chuckled a bit.

"Next time transmute silver, brother. Maybe then you won't be chased"
"I did NOTHING and you know it!"

The sister just laughed, the guy having backed off to the flimsy wall of the tent opposite from them. In addition to the two of them there was a tall, bulky dragonborn, a dwarf dressed with blue-and-white large pants and a red nose and lastly an older elf woman who studied them curiously. Well, not really old considering how long elves lived.
"May we help you?" The last one asked as her gaze lingered on Boots' ironwood armor, while the dragonborn flanked her standing between the sisters and the fleeing fake wizard. It seemed like he was fairly protective of the people there.

[Xihirli]

"We arrived off-course and we would like to know where we are," Alifa explained. "Do you have a map of the area?"
"Are you a circus!? Can we join!?" Boots asked.

[Valmark]

The elf chuckled at Boots' words, nodding at Alifa "Yes, faeries" she stated as she turned around to walk to a row of cabinets which apparently held their belongings "Dressed like that, you probably need it more then we do"

Meanwhile the young not-a-wizard was sitting at a table, the sister having brought him a cup of water. The dragonborn seemed to have relaxed, though he was still keeping his yellow eyes on them.

The dwarf looked confused.
"Aren't feys half-insects?" he asked, which got a laugh out of the elf "Some of them, yes. And pray you're never heard by the Entheys. With an armor like that they might not be faeries but they must be tied to the Feywild" she explained as she briefly rummaged with a furled scroll which she spread out on the table where the brother and sister were at.

The map depicted 'the Inner Lands' and showed a land that was seemed to be enclosed completely by mountains, except for the southern and northern borders which showed water- she pointed where 'the Kingdoms of Trevoria' were listed in the northeastern portion of the map.
"We're here" she tapped a city in the south of the Kingdoms, called Tavinsky. The land seemed to be mostly plains with a few rivers coming from the mountains and down in the left corner there was a big black spot called The Zone, which seemed to spread into all the various lands.

The elven woman spoke with a certain amount of respect- while the others looked mostly like they were looking at two random people, she seemed to have taken the sisters very seriously.
"And we may talk about joining us after the festival's over, unless you want to go improvise a show right now on stage? Ronald is... Not well" Ronald nodded along. The hat-tricker.

[Xihirli]

"Sure, I mean... you weren't going to leave them looking at nothing for two hours, were you?" Boots unsheathed her longsword. "We could stage a fight."
"Excuse her," Alifa said. "I'm Alifa, and this is Boots."
"Lif, only family calls me Boots. I am Clephesia, Scion Unseelie, Princess Heir to the Winter Throne."
"Boots, they've already seen you get excited over a circus you don't need to pretend to be a dignified princess with titles."
"I'm a faerie princess! I'm supposed to be flighty and whimsical! Come on, Lif, let's do a show."
"No."
"Do the show, Lif."
"I don't want to."
"Come on, you saw the magic tricks on the way in, you could knock their socks off."
"I think their socks are fine where they are."
"Please? I'll give you a kick-ass intro."


"Ladies, gentlemen and that technicolor rainbow in between! We who have been summoned before your very eyes are here to provide an... apology for interrupting your regularly scheduled show! And so, with the power of cold and dark, Alifa!"
Alifa came out then, an umbrella over her head. Then it burned up, the fire traveling down her body and becoming frogs that jumped atop the stage. Drumbeats sounded on the stage as Clephesia pulled out her viol to join them in a quick ditty her Lala did when it was time to get people dancing midway into a dreary party.
Alifa started to dance in time with the drumbeats she was making, and then a spectral hand came out and threw a rock into the air. Alifa took careful aim after a short roll... and fired.


So.
Alifa has Minor Illusion to make the fire umbrella frogs and the drumbeats. For dancing she will acrobatics. [roll0]
Boots's intro and her music are part of the same performance, so she will use Guidance to give herself [roll1] + [roll2]
And finally an attack roll for Alifa to shatter the rock for everyone to see. [roll3]; [roll4] ELDRITCH BLEEEEST

[Valmark]

The girl gasped and bowed hearing that Clephesia was a princess, while the elf bowed much less. As she looked back up, her eyes had gotten narrower, as if she heard something she didn't like.

Not enough to stop them from taking the stage though.
The crowd erupted in cheers and Oooohs as the sisters did their show, clapping along with Clephesia's ditty while they looked amazed at Alifa's magic, even a bit scared as she exploded the rock with pin-point accuracy. Many of them never saw a show of this caliber and even less of them ever saw such magic. Probably nobody.

When they stopped it left the people calling for an encore, clapping and laughing loudly- the more rowdy even threw some money on-stage. One specific girl in the front row looking at them with a look of wonder on her face looked an awful lot like the one from the circus' staff, just without make-up.

If they looked in the backstage they would easily spot the dwarf, with a giant ball next to him and some juggling balls in his hands, waiting and waving with his thumb held up. It seemed he was to substitute them when they felt like stepping off the stage, and also pretty happy about their work.

[Xihirli]

As they headed back to the tent, there was of course more needling.
"We can travel with them, right?" Boots asked.
"We have places to be."
"Sure, but we don't know where they are. Circuses have this way of always being headed where you need to go. Uncle Zenov always said that."
"Was that before or after he said 'problem is known in this century; large thermal fog'?"
Boots poked her ribs.
"Hey. What happened to my sister? Where'd she go?"
Alifa sighed. Boots picked her up in a big hug. "I miss my sister. Is it wrong to want to go on a road trip with my little sis?"
Alifa hugged back, then addressed the old regular-aged elf. "Is this circus's next stop anywhere we might be able to find fey?"

[Valmark]

As they got down the dwarf threw the ball on stage, jumping with a piruette on it and starting to dance while juggling balls. He was, against all guesses, the acrobat of the group- and a pretty good one at that.

The elven woman was waiting for them outside of the tent.
"Kind of. We'll be heading closer to the... Safest... Crossing, and leaving the cities makes it easier to meet them in general" she nodded "If you wanted the shortest road then no, but I wouldn't suggest that. The nearest Crossing connects to the Putrescent Swamps, and the nature around it tends to reflect that- and the Plaudos will love to pull deathly tricks on those they think liars. Or anybody else really" she looked at Clephesia when she said 'liars'.

[Xihirli]

"But I really am–"
"Boots, the Unseelie don't exist here. We've realm-jumped." Alifa stepped up to the old elf lady. "We'd be happy to travel with you, and help you with anything we can along the way to thank you for your hospitality."
"Ye-es!" Boots said, and picked Alifa up in another big strong hug.

[Valmark]

The elf chuckled.
"We would like that too. Young Elwina has been excited about meeting you since before" she nodded at the girl who was coming over "I'm Ethrindae. The dwarf's name is Oegh and the dragonborn's Xvchimeras" the last word sounded impossibly harsh on the elf's tongue, making it look like she didn't really know how to pronounce Draconic- it didn't even truly feel like she was sure she had the correct word down. Turning around to enter the tent, she said one last thing: "We can handle the show, if you want to go elsewhere. We won't be departing before tomorrow"

[Xihirli]

"I want to do fencing against someone," Boots said. "Then I guess we can find out where we're sleeping." She put a protective arm around Alifa's shoulders.

I don't really want to rp out the fencing though, I think.

[Valmark]

Boots didn't find fencers in the proper sense of the word- she did found a couple games where people could duel each other using padding and wooden swords, including some people who actually knew which end of the weapon they should point at her, so ultimately she did get a workout.

Mingling with the crowd also made them notice something- most dragonborns were fairly big, but comparing them to Xvchimeras, the black one with the circus, made them realize that one was ripped. He was easily a full foot above any dragonborns they could see and the muscles were bulging under the scales.

Whatever he did with the circus it surely involved heavy lifting.

In addition if they asked the circus' staff (except said dragonborn, trying to talk to him would prompt anybody else of the group to speak instead) they would be directed to an inn with stabling called Traveler's Rest, placed near the city gates. The circus was a traveling one and they weren't really locals, so they could give little directions past that.

[Xihirli]

Boots pulled out some shinies out of her purse. "Think they use these?" she asked, headed to the Traveler's Rest.
"We weren't sure," Lif said. "A lot of things were similar... the magic is very much the same, though I'll have a bit of trouble with my rituals until I can get used to the changes."
"Well, let's go for it." Boots pushed the inn door open and marched right for the nearest person. "Me and my sister need a place to sleep tonight."
"Boots, I don't think she works here."
"Right."

[Valmark]

Something notable that came to Alifa's mind, Malyanna had told her about how most people there had an inner magic to them which spellcasters would use as a sort of trigger for spellcasting, then relaying on the magic around them for the rest. Didn't seem to give Alifa any issue casting spells earlier though, and Boots did have an inner magic so she was basically at home.

The nearest person, a traveler drinking, did stare at them confused. Soon enough someone who looked like a maid mostly due to her carrying empty plates did approach the sisters.
"Sorry, may I help you?" She asked with a gentle voice.

[Xihirli]

"Oh, I hope so," Boots said with a wink.
"Boots, new universe. You have no idea what kind of things people could have," Alifa said in Sylvan.
"Only one way to find out! Come on, it's for science!" Boots responded in the same language.
"We were going to rent a room for the night... though if you promised to join me in mine I'd be happy to rent two instead."

[Valmark]

The maid giggled.
"How about you order something to eat and think of another line while I bring your food?" She suggested, then heard the bartender call for her and turned around to go away- not before pointing at a free table with a couple seats.
"Meet you there?" she proposed before going off, probably to bring in the plates that she was carrying.

[Xihirli]

Boots pulled Alifa to the table. "Alifa, I need a new line."
"That maid outfit looks good on you, but it would look better on the floor?" Alifa suggested.
"That might be a bit forward, we're surrounded by other patrons."
"This food looks almost as tasty as you?"
"That's pretty good."
"Maybe something more about yourself? Something something I'm a princess something something be my queen tonight?"
"Hmm, that's good... shut up! Shut up! Here she comes!" Boots gave herself a pat on the back.

Guidance.

[Valmark]

The maid went over to them, holding what seemed to be a menu- she smiled at Boots.
"Hello, I'm Mary, your maid for the day. We've got pork, chicken and rabbit meat, as well as a variety of salads to pick from- today we've also got assorted meat soup" she said professional "For drinks we've got water, beer and a couple fruit juices"

It came to mind that this was probably an inn dedicated to travelers and thus saw a lot better coinage then many inns in the inner parts, so it could afford a lot of variety.

[Xihirli]

"Does any of the food look as tasty as you?" Boots asked.

[Valmark]

Mary let out a soft laugh- there was a glint in her eyes.
"The meat soup is fairly tasty" she offered "It'll be eight... no, six silver for two rooms and two soups, drinks on the house. That sounds good? What would you like to drink? From the menu?"

[Xihirli]

Boots's mouth was already open to reply before the clarification "from the menu."
"Oh. Um..."
"We'll both have the apple cider," Alifa said quickly.
Boots pulled out one gold coin. "Consider the rest to be for the excellent service." And she passed it to Mary. She then whispered to Alifa: "That's more than what she asked for, right?"
"Yes."

[Valmark]

Mary chuckled and took the gold coin, turning around to go to the kitchen after a bow "Thank you for your patronage"

Soon enough music started playing from a corner of the room where a bard (in the sense of musician, not necessarily a Bard) started playing, or perhaps was resuming, some ambience music to fill out the tavern. There were a few people playing dart games, and shortly after the maid came back carrying their ciders before disappearing again for the food, which was served to them shortly after. It smelled pretty good, although the food from the Fortress did smell better. It wasn't exactly a fair comparison.

[Xihirli]

Boots ate quickly – she had work to do. She was always happy to see Mary, and in between visits she kept asking Alifa "Can you clean my teeth out?" And Alifa cast Prestidigitation to keep the pearly whites sparkling with every smile.
Boots hugged Alifa tight. "You're the best sister in this universe."
"Very clever way to not leave out Aerthis, Noxan, Twilight, and about a hundred dryads."
"Thanks! I thought so, too!"
When the meal was done Boots beamed at Mary. "Could you show us to our rooms?"

[Valmark]

Mary smiled "Sure, give me a moment" she gestured for the stairs that led to an upper floor before taking their empty plates and glasses to bring them to the kitchen. She came out soon after, stopping by the bartender to tell her something- whatever it was, it made the woman cackle and shrug. Mary soon joined them to lead them upstairs.

The circus staff showed up at around that time, though they didn't seem to spot the sisters.

Following Mary, she led them to two rooms next to each other showing them a couple keys- they had gotten an inkling earlier too, but now they were fairly sure that this inn was pretty well off given how big it was. There were plenty of rooms and judging by the distance between doors the rooms were even decently big.
"As long as you don't break anything, the rooms are for you as you see fit- give the keys back at the counter tomorrow" she told them, handing each a key- her hand lingered on Boots' a fair bit more then when she gave one to Alifa.
"Each room has its own bathroom, though if you want to take a bath you'll have to go ask downstairs for the water"

Although we'll just say that X person took a bath, because I doubt we need to RP changing floors to ask for water and whatever else filling a tub with hot water and soap entails.

[Xihirli]

Boots held Mary’s hand and kissed it once she got the chance. "And when are you done with work?"


Alifa, after ensuring her key worked, went back downstairs to meet with the other circus performers. They would be traveling together for awhile, it would be best to get to know them.

[Valmark]

"Well... Dinnertime will soon end, so there's not enough clients that I can't take off early" Mary smiled at the kiss "Would you like a bath with hot water?" she asked with a grin.

I do believe that from now on Boots can take a backseat from IC.
As Alifa went back, she noticed three things. Well, four, but one was obvious. The staff was now dressed casual, in comfortable traveler clothes- there was another addition to them, an halfling with a pipe and bow and arrows laying next to its chair. It was chatting amicably with the two humans so it seemed like they knew each other- the black dragonborn instead of simple traveling clothes wore an hide armor which had quite clearly seen better days and two axes at his belt, which looked the right size to be wielded one-handed by him but would be unwieldy for smaller people.

Last was Ethrindae, who now had ditched the robes for a more comfortable tunic and pants. She had a sickle at her belt, a yew staff by her sides and a small pendant that looked like an acorn adorned with gold.

Elwina looked up at Alifa and waved, tapping a seat next to her- there was another empty chair between Xvchimeras and Ethrindae.

[Xihirli]

Alifa sat next to Elwina.
"Hi, all!" she said. "Me and Boots were just getting situated."

[Valmark]

"We were just talking about you! That show on stage looked great!" Elwina exclaimed clapping happily- as she got distracted by the waiter asking for her order, the halfling took the pipe out of his mouth.

"Name's Naber, nice to meet you. You'll be joining our merry company, I understand?" He asked, smiling jovially- the coarse voice signaled that he was a long time smoker "You won't find a better band of entertainers on this side of the Inner Lands! Though I'm just the coachman. So, what takes you around?"

When Xvchimeras was asked for his food Ethrindae replied for him, with Oegh insisting to get him beer as well.

[Xihirli]

"Well, ultimately I'm here due to a great mistake. I'm from a Realm you may not have heard of... in fact we're called the Forgotten Realm. The Elder Evil, Piscaethces has visited our realm twice that we are aware of, and has left a scar of insanity, a portal into the Far Realm, both times. We believe she did the same here, but you found a way to close the gaps after the fact. I'm here to find out how. To that end, I was supposed to be sent to the Faerie Lands here, but my sister jumped into the portal I was taking and... well, we were knocked off-course." She looked around and added: "Oh, so in addition to multiple planes there are multiple groupings of planes. You might already know that, as most planes of existence with life on them are linked by some embodiment of Law and Order. Ours tore itself apart, so we're adrift in chaos. That's why we're called the Forgotten Realms. Me and my sister are Princesses." She took out her Signet Ring of the Unseelie Court. "Just not of a country that exists here."

[Valmark]

The two humans looked confused by all the names, so did the dwarf. The dragonborn cocked his head.

The elf and halfling nodded along, though- they seemed to actually believe that.
"I... Don't think I heard talking about the Far Realm or Piscaethces, ever. But perhaps it's too ancient for me to remember, or it's under a different name" Ethrindae said "In which case Faerie and the Deathlands are indeed your best bet for information" she said- the Deathlands being a place Alifa had seen on the map, essentially opposite from the Kingdom they were in within the Inner Lands "You'd do well to either start with the place you come from or not mention your noble ascendants to the Entheys, if you go to Faerie. If they think you're making fun of the Monarchs they'll be quick to pull out their weapons- Entheys being the feys who'll be covered with chitinous shells. Impossible to confuse them"

"How did you get past Abadius?" The halfling asked- there was a chill to his voice as he mentioned that name "He hates trespassers, and you're saying you've literally entered here from another universe"

[Xihirli]

"The big beak thing?" Alifa confirmed. She heard some noise coming from the baths and tried her best to ignore it. "My sister propped the mouth open with a javelin and we squeezed through. What is Abadius?"

[Valmark]

The halfling cackled.
"A javelin! They tricked the bird with a javelin! Ha!"

"Abadius is considered the Warden God, said to punish those that stray from their path or try to escape judgement- but most of the accounts on it or its followers are just tales, there is no written word and no official church so it's hard to know what is truth and what is fiction" the elven woman shrugged, evidently not believing much.
"With all the gods whose presence can be observed easily a god with no clerics nor churches is hard to believe in. It's no more real then the Crimson Smile- still, the tales do say that it has a beak" she looked at Alifa and added "The Crimson Smile is just another god who is known only through words, said to be a being of Chaos"

"I told you a cousin of mine fought one of its clerics! It's real! Killed him using the old halfling tactic of a rock to the temple!"
"Naber, your cousin's story changes every time you tell it"
"He told me a lot of stories!"

Meanwhile food was brought for those who hadn't had dinner yet.

[Xihirli]

Alifa scribbled a quick note on Abadius. "Got it. Well, I've seen a lot in my life, so I have no particular reason to doubt this Abadius's existence. Thank you for all of your help." She stood up. "Good night, everyone."

[Valmark]

Elwina looked sad.
"Come on, stay! You told us nearly nothing about your homeland!" the girl pleaded, which got a laugh out of the two who had been talking until then. It seemed like the girl had taken these new, awesome newcomers as close friends already.

[Xihirli]

Alifa sat down. "What do you want to know?" she asked.

[Valmark]

"Everything! What's it like!? Are there dragons? What's it like being a princess!? Are feys around your parts like you? Are there dragons!?" A stream of questions rushed out. Some of them the same.

If you wanna skip ahead feel free to gloss over Alifa's replies and I'll take us to the next morning.

[Xihirli]

"There are dragons," Alifa laughs. "My Lala... my dad actually adopted a dragon named Jeveaeli-Yassine-Felerie not long after I was born. And a lot of them are. I'm a houri... that's a half-nymph. Nymphs are raw expressions of beauty, and both... well, let's just say two of the Fey Queens are Nymphs. I actually might not be the one to ask about princess life, I try to avoid most of that stuff..." She went on answering Elwina's questions until it was time for bed.

[Valmark]

Elwina's questions mostly involved dragons, especially when Alifa mentioned having one as a sibling- it looked like she had never seen one in her life.

Before going to bed as she gazed out of the window Alifa noticed something- the black scar in the sky was visible even in the night. It... Was blacker then the night, somehow.

The next morning, the sisters woke up in their equal rooms except that Boots had a second person sleeping soundly nestled up to her.

Long rest.

[Xihirli]

Boots leaned down and woke Mary up with a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Good morning, gorgeous."


Alifa looked out her window to confirm the black line was still there, then went downstairs after some quick morning prestidigitations to get all clean.

[Valmark]

"Mmm..." Mary smiled and opened her eyes, leaning up to kiss Boots.
"I won't mind if you take lodging here another time, traveler" she said, still having no idea what was Boots' name.
The black line was indeed still there. In fact, as Alifa looked away from it the line seemed to bend at the corner of her eyesight, trying to stay within it. Ultimately though it stayed in place.

Going down, she found the staff of the circus already up, getting some early breakfast which consisted in mostly eggs and ham. Ethrindae had a salad, which was also what she had the previous night.

[Xihirli]

"If the service is so good, I might go out of my way to do so," Boots said. "But I'll be traveling with a circus and then to Faerie, so who knows when that might be." She kissed Mary again. "But I'll treasure tonight."


Alifa also elected for the salad. She hadn't really eaten her soup the other day, either. "Good morning," she said, and sat down next to Elwina, who she was pretty sure liked her. "Are we on the road today?"

[Valmark]

"Mysterious adventurer that leaves for a mysterious adventure after a night of passion? I will too" Mary laughed and got up to start getting dressed "Gotta work. Any longer here and I'll hear my mother yell after me".
"Yup!" Elwina exclaimed "We packed the stuff on the carriage last night so we can leave bright and early! Nabar is gonna ride with Ethrindae so that there's space on it for you and your sister"

"Your rays can be used for self-defense, right?" Ethrindae asked "I have to ask you to cover for Nabar's absence from the carriage if there's a need. There shouldn't be, though- we won't be passing too close to the Zone"

[Xihirli]

"Need any help with your thing that’s tied around your back?" Boots asked, not knowing what a corset was.


"Me and my sister can both hit decently hard in a jam. She was trained in combat by some of the greatest heroes of our universe... and I by one of the worst villains." She chuckled, as if that was a funny observation and not an ominous statement.

[Valmark]

"Yes please" Mary said, offering her back "It's called a corset. A bitch to don and doff, but it looks good"
"A villain? But you seem so nice!"

"Your sister's weapon of choice... It's a sword, right? Tell her that she shouldn't get close to any darkling. We should be able to heal her in time but still... Only a paladin's body can fight the corruption they carry, and only a paladin's protective presence can shield others from it" Ethrindae gave a subtle look at Xvchimeras, who had started hissing as she spoke- although it mostly looked like he was mumbling something to himself and that was the sound that was coming from his mouth.

[Xihirli]

"That's true, you look spectacular with it on." Boots ran her hands over Mary before helping her out. "Almost as good as you look without it." And she started doing up the laces.


"I'll make sure to let her know. She can also blast icy wind, though not as well as she can hit things with her sword," Alifa assured them. "And I like to think I am nice. I was mostly being poetic. My teacher used to be one of the most feared evil wizards in all the world, but that was because she was trapped in the service of an evil Aboleth – a spawn of the same Far Realm being I told you about yesterday – and not too long after escaping she was helping the world." Alifa grabbed some breakfast to save for Boots on the road. "I'll go get my sister and meet you at the carriage?"

[Valmark]

"You flatterer" Mary chuckled softly.

It didn't actually take long for the corset to be up- Boots wouldn't have known, but this one had a relatively low amount of laces compared to most.

"Need help with the armor?"
Ethrindae nodded "If you aren't sure which one it is, it's the one with the giant lizard" with that the staff gathered at its pace, walking outside as Alifa was free to do whatever.

[Xihirli]

"Yes, please," Boots said, and started dressing.


Alifa knocked on Boot's door about halfway through the donning.

[Valmark]

"Coming mom!" Mary called from inside, hurrying up in getting Boots ready before opening the door- she looked surprised because Alifa was, in fact, not her mother.

There was an angry call from downstairs which was indeed her mother, and so Mary waved goodbye at the sisters leaving them alone. They had the time to talk between themselves if they wanted, before leaving.

[Xihirli]

"So how was your night?" Alifa asked, passing Boots a roll.
"One of the best I've had."
"We're going to meet them on the road... apparently there's a chance we'll be attacked by darklings."
"Like the ones Lala told us about?"
"I don't think so. They apparently are dangerous to fight face-to-face. You should keep your distance."
"Okay." And they went to find the carriage.

[Valmark]

The carriage was fairly easy to spot- it was made of intense yellow-and-blue colors, it had a beaming Elwina waving at them- that girl seemed to always be full of energy, in contrast with her brother who looked lazy. Oegh was driving the horses, Ethrindae and Nabar were together atop a white horse and the dragonborn was atop a mean looking green scaled giant lizard.

It had a black scar on the right eye, which looked like a wound when it starts closing before it forms a crust. All around it a black plating had covered the right side of the head, looking like an helmet if it wasn't fused to the head.
Lastly, it wore an iron barding with a worn-off military insignia, the wear and tear making it unrecognizable.

"They are here! Hey Clephesia! Alifa said I need to ask you about what's it like being a princess!" Elwina yelled.

[Xihirli]

"Pretty great. What's it like being a non-princess?" Boots climbed into the carriage. Alifa walked up to the giant lizard to see how it responded to her before she followed.

[Valmark]

"It's great! We see a lot of different things and make people laugh" Elwina said with a giggle "Sometimes it's dangerous, but Nabar, Ethrindae and Xvchimeras can protect us. They are really strong! Ethrindae can make a panther out of nothing and close all wounds!" she exclaimed in an admiring voice.

"It's easy magic, Elwina" the elf's voice came in as she passed by on the horse "To take care of a few stray beasts that'd be enough"

The giant lizard backed off momentarily as Alifa neared, but the dragonborn atop it knelt and stroked its neck, growling... No, it wasn't quite a growl. Somehow there was warmth in it, and the dragonborn was for once smiling. At that the giant lizard stretched its neck to take a sniff at Alifa, then with a shrug looked away seemingly satisfied.

[Xihirli]

"It's nice to meet you," Alifa told the lizard, then climbed in.

"Cool!" Boots took out her viol and started playing a travel song.

There was a fool
Waiting for his foolish friends

They stood in the ruins
Catapults waiting only a word
To send them in the skies
And into a grassy tumble

One of them stood on the stage
To make the fools laugh
Turns out, bats are funny
But wolves, not so much

Then they eated pies
And almost a ring
Quite fitting for a fool
The ground eat his part too

Duetting on the stage
Blowing and singing in unison
Prancing around the stage
They concluded the night on a laugh!

Guidance! [roll0] and [roll1]

[Valmark]

The lizard didn't reply.

As they started traveling, even though giant lizards were slower then horses this one was keeping pace with ease- Elwina was soon clapping along with Boots' song, Oegh and Nabar were humming in time and even Ethrindae could be seen bobbing her head along sometimes.

The land they traveled through was mostly vast plains, initially flanked by farms but soon giving away to simply open area. It was fairly well-kept and they even crossed a couple travelers, going the opposite direction. They passed by forests, though none was on the path- that is, until near sunset where the road they were taking became a forest path. The circus called for a rest at the limit of the forest.

"We're gonna set up camp here, tomorrow we'll get through the forest and reach another town where we have a show. From there your path will be bound for the north" Ethrindae explained to the sisters as Oegh, Elwina and Ronald started setting up camp and preparing food. Nabar was feeding the horses while Xvchimeras was feeding his lizard.

[Xihirli]

"Got it," Boots said, and stayed near Ethrindae. "How can I help you?"


Alifa opened her spellbook and started reading it over. "Hat-tricker, do you have any actual spells?"

[Valmark]

"You coul-" Ethrindae shutted up as a wolf's howl resounded from the forest. A weird, dissonant howl- whatever wolf it was must have been pretty weird.
"...that...didn't sound healthy. There's a village within this forest" she said as she climbed atop her horse. The dragonborn moved to climb up but she shook her head.
"One of us two needs to stay here"
Ronald meanwhile beamed at Alifa.
"Of course! Look here, no trick, no lie, I-" he glanced at her book and looked down embarassed "Ah, no, not that kind"

[Xihirli]

Boots stood up. "I'll go with you," she told the druid.

Alifa closed her book and stood up. "What's happening? Are people in danger?"

[Valmark]

"Possibly. The people in the village are not fighters, but can still fend off predators that are hungry enough to stray near village limits... But that howl wasn't a normal wolf's one. Best case is a wolf-like monster, worst case is a darkling" she looked at them "Nabar, free a horse from the carriage- if either of you can ride one, take that. The other can ride on that one or with me- Nabar, stay here with Xvchimeras" she barked orders rapidly.

[Xihirli]

Boots looked torn. On the one hand, she was the more experienced rider. On the other, being one the same horse as Ethrindae. She climbed onto Ethrindae's horse and looped her arms around the woman's waist.
Alifa climbed onto the loosed horse. "Hello," she said as calmly as she could, trying to soothe the animal.

[Valmark]

The horse whinnied in... What looked like an appreciative tone, as far as Alifa knew. Luckily it knew to follow Ethrindae's white stallion, so what Alifa really needed to do was hold on after making it start running.

"Hold thight" Ethrindae told Boots before spurring her white horse to a gallop, Alifa's one following.

There's nothing making Alifa have an hard time riding the horse, up to you how easy the ride is for her.

"If you've got anything you want to do in preparation before we get there now's the time- if someone's in danger it'll likely be a fight on the village grounds" she warned them, as she made goodberries in her hand.

[Xihirli]

Boots held tight, as directed. "Okay!" she said, and as they came close, she blew a kiss to Alifa and, after explaining what she was doing, turned her "holding on" into a hug around Ethrindae.

Bless on all three of us. Sune's power is spread through affection.

[Valmark]

As the group neared the village, the first thing they heard were the screams. The second thing was a couple more screams- homewever these were otherwordly, sending shivers down the trio's spines and the horse started whinning nervously. It wasn't long before they saw the houses, lights from torches illuminating the place enough to see people running away scared... And two wolves that looked like they hadn't eaten in days each dragging away two grown adults with a strenght they looked like they shouldn't have. Hearing the horses approach, the wolves let go of their victims and looked up at them, a thin line going from their nose to the back of the head.

Ethrindae [roll0]
Wolf? [roll1]
Wolf? [roll2]

"Not darklings, not wolves, hack away"

[Xihirli]

Since the... animals? Were actively killing people, Alifa pointed at one and reached out toward its life force before launching a bolt at it. Her horse bucked and reeled back, and Alifa just fell off. She got up, trying not to look too much like that hurt.

Hex the closest wolf. ELDRITCH BLAST
[roll0]+[roll1] bless
[roll2]+[roll3] force/necrotic.

[Valmark]

Alifa's beam landed in the shoulder of one of the wolves?, Nearly blowing it off- the denutrition these creatures had gone through had left them brittle, though it was still up.

Ethrindae brought Clephesia and herself closer to them, one of her hands turning into claws which she used to try and claw at the monster- but it whiffed big time.

One wolf? (the wounded one) looked at Alifa, the other at the two riders... And their head skin ripped off, their cranium emerging as they screamed a nightmarish sound to their minds.

"Krenshars!? Here!?"
Wis save DC 10, Frightened on a fail. Repeat the save at the end of the round.

Ehtrindae [roll0]+[roll1]

[Xihirli]

Boots leapt from the horse and lifted her longsword in both hands, bringing it down just as she landed to pierce the creature's spine.
Alifa aimed her beam into the other "wolf"'s head, and from where her ray hit rot and sickness grew out until the skin on the head dissolved into ash and the brain within rotted.
Then the wolf-beings were still.
"What is a krenshar?" Boots asked while Alifa checked the bodies they had been dragging.

Are they dead?

[Valmark]

The two adults that had been dragged looked terrified, hurt but alive- they were too scared to move. Judging by the powers the krenshars exhibited, they were supernaturally scared.

"Wolfine monstrosities that live in the mountains" Ethrindae knelt to examine the corpses "Which means they traveled.. All of the kingdom to come down here from the mountains. It makes no sense for them to be here" she stated.
"They're so consumed... This might have been the first food they could have gotten in a while. Krenshars tipically hunt down bigger preys because they can scare them into powerlessness, so a village of humanoids must've looked like a buffet"

[Xihirli]

"We need to bring these people back."
"No problem." Boots looked to Ethrindae. "Can you keep one of them on the horse? I'll carry the other one."

[Valmark]

Ethrindae nodded, asking for Boots' help on loading the person on the horse- then the group started making its way back. It wasn't far.

"The run-away horse should get back to the camp which will make Nabar come find us- we'll be able to get back that way. But... Two krenshars would be weird, they are usually a pack" Ethrindae bit her lip.
"Would you... Be up for trying to find them? Those two were weak, but the rest of the pack could be very dangerous due to numbers alone. We're talking four more at the least... And you were good out there" she looked at them both with appreciation, especially at Boots who had cleaved a krenshar in half with a single hit. Alifa had taken double that.

[Xihirli]

"Do all circuses in this world fight monsters?" Boots asked.
"We'd be happy to," Alifa chimed in. Boots picked up the other person.

[Valmark]

"Only those that have both an healer that can cleanse corruption and someone resistant to it" Ethrindae laughed "I would not have rushed to help if I wasn't a good enough healer. Xvchimeras and his steed are an example of what happens when you get lucky" she explained as they entered the village, looking at people recovering from their fright.

And then there were more howls. Wherever the krenshars were, they were closing in.

I'm gonna say that you still got a couple rounds of Bless- everything's been happening fast.

And plenty of time for Hex.

The village has three entrances, one of which is not lightened up by torches which have been thrown down in likely the general panic. By the look of the people, Ethrindae is the only one you can count on.

[Xihirli]

Boots helped one lady off of the horse. "Find a sturdy building, keep the door closed," she said, and strapped on her shield. "Let's go."

So... it's initiative?

By the way I will have Hex give disadvantage on strength checks
Alifa: [roll0]
Boots: [roll1]

[Valmark]

As the lady (and most people) followed Boots' advice, they felt growling as two krenshars appeared from one of the lit up entrances and another appeared from the other lit up entrance.

"At least one more"

Ethrindae [roll0]
Malnourished Krenshars [roll1] all +2

The visible krenshars are around 60 feet away, at the edge of the lit up area.

[Valmark]

One of the Krenshars advanced, skin pulling back from its head as a mental scream struck their minds- while this happened another Krenshar rushed at Boots, jaws snapping as it tried to bite into her arm but a bash with the shield kept it at bay.

Another Krenshar instead charged at Alifa and at the same time a fourth one lept from the dark, shoulder-slamming into her knee to unbalance her as the first went for the throat.
That was useless though, Alifa leaping gracefully around one of them while the other's jaws bit the air.

Attacks missed, one is in melee with Boots and the other two with Alifa (though you're like, 5 feet apart so you can easily get in melee with whoever you want) while one Krenshar is 30 feet away, trying to scare you.

Alifa and Boots each make one DC 10 Wis save to not be Frightened, then it's Alifa's turn. Gimme Perception checks while you're at it.

[Xihirli]

Alifa sang a song in an ancient tongue that threatened all around her with insanity. The two dogs near her started drooling and dozing, eyes shut tight from the mad ramblings of a long-dead world. She then held out a hand toward the one attacking Boots and her fingers glowed blue as she felt its heart in her hands... ready to crush it.

[Valmark]

As the two fell asleep and the third looked uncomfortable, Ethrindae took the acorn pendant off of her neck, placing a kiss on it.
"Krenshars... I can see your hunger driving you mad. But... I'm afraid it's not right for you to prey on these people" she threw the acorn which as it hit the ground opened up, and a green panther sprung out of it right in the face of the farthest Krenshar, immediately going for a bite- homewever its head got pawed aside before it had a change to cause pain.

Ethrindae used Summon Land Beast- Alifa can get a good look at the spell. Nevermind that the Beast missed big time.

Situation:
- Two sleepy Malnourished Krenshars next to Alifa.
- One fighting with Boots.
- One 30 feet away fighting with Ethrindae's summon.

It is Boots.

[Xihirli]

Boots, her shield in front of her chest, brought her sword – the Green Fang – down on the krenshar in front of her. Thunder rumbled slightly as she did so, ready to truly burst if the creature fled.
I am casting Booming Blade, mainly to get in the habit. Before I hit level 5 I'll never have any reason to use normal attack over Booming Blade. 20 to hit, 9 damage.

[Valmark]

Two more Krenshars emerged from the darkness, taking Ethrindae by surprise- one of them locked its jaws on her arm, pulling her down, while the other clawed at her belly eliciting a pained groan. Meanwhile, the one attacking Boots managed to knock her down as well but didn't have anybody to capitalize on it- Ethrindae's summon vanished, the Krenshar it was holding back joining the other trying to take Boots down.

Boots takes 6 piercing damage and is Prone, in melee with two Krenshars- nothing's holding her down though.

Ethrindae is prone as well, with two Krenshars in melee- she's been dealt 12 damage, and looks pretty heavily wounded.

Alifa is fresh as a rose, with two sleeping doggos by her side. And it's her turn.

[Xihirli]

Alifa looked at Boots, who was on the ground but mostly fine. She turned her attention to the Krenshars tackling Ethrindae... and uttered out the mind-breaking words of the Far Realm once more, the murmuring licking at the consciousness of three Krenshars... their eyes rolled back in their head, the whites an inky black, and then they hit the ground.
"How are you two doing?" Alifa asked with a smile.

Boots got up, swinging her sword to get the last awake doggo to back off. "I've been better."

[Valmark]

Ethrindae stood up.
"T-thank you" she murmured and hit the ground with her staff, flowers blooming- the pollen dispersed around her, patching her wounds as she backed off with her horse from the sleeping Krenshars.

The last surviving one was not nearly hungry enough and with a whine turned around to run away.

Ethrindae Cure Woundses herself: [roll0]

The Krenshar Disengages and backs off 30 feet, tail between its legs. It'll be out of sight on its next turn if nobody stops it.

Aaaaand Alifa.

[Xihirli]

Alifa felt in the air for its heartbeat. She pointed after it and let a blue burst of power loose at it.

[roll0] eldritch blast and [roll1]+[roll2] damage.

Boots got up and started slitting the throats of the sleeping Krenshars.

[Valmark]

The running one didn't make it very far before the beam slammed in the back of its exposed cranium, blowing the top off and the brain within- barely had the time to whine.

As Boots did her gruesome job, Ethrindae slumped down against a wall- she looked better then before, though she was still more wounded then one thought comfortable.
"Those... Were some well timed spells..." she said, smiling appreciatively at Alifa.

The lady Boots had helped earlier poked her head out of a building, having heard the sounds die out.
"Is... Everything alright...?"

[Xihirli]

"Yep!" Boots said, blood pouring from the next animal down the line as she smiled at the lady. "All clear!"


Alifa smiled back at Ethrindae. "Thank you." She left Boots to her work and sat down next to the elf lady. "I wasn't expecting six."

[Valmark]

The lady didn't not seem too fazed- given how the night had gone, a bleeding beast was the least of her worries.
Bit by bit, people poked their heads out with various shades of relief on their faces- the children were kept inside though, at least until the beasts had been dealt with and cleared out. They were a bit more impressionable.
"Neither did I... Though I suppose assuming there couldn't be more was naive of me" Ethrindae shrugged.
"The fact that these were here means that something made them move south- you're bound to find more unusual creatures on your journey"

[Xihirli]

Boots greeted them as they came out, then ran up to Alifa to get cleaned up.


"I'd kind of figured... thanks for your help," Alifa said. "Should we get back to the others?"

[Valmark]

It was about then that Nabar came trotting on the horse that had ran away- he lowered his bow seeing that nobody was in danger, the corpses being dragged away making him understand people were fine.
"Yes. Sleep will do us some good"

As Ethrindae climbed back on her horse Nabar got down from his to mount with her, leaving a horse for the two sisters to share. Before they could leave one of the villagers went to Boots holding what looked like a picnic basket.

"There's very little we can improvise as a reward- but please, accept this food. It's the least we can do after you saved some of us"

If you accept you can add three deluxe rations.

Exactly like rations, but the food tastes better. There's fresh vegetables of various kinds- enough variety for balanced dishes. You don't see a whole lot of animals around so for these people meat would be hard to offer.

[Xihirli]

"Thank you," Boots said, accepting gratefully. "I wish you all a peaceful day." She mounted up on the free horse, and Alifa got on behind her and wrapped a hug around her sister.
"I must go." Boots blew a kiss to a pretty girl and then they were off!

[Valmark]

The girl reddened, getting a laugh out of her friends.

They got back fine- Elwina was immediately asking questions, while Ronald and Oegh were keeping the food hot for the returning combatants.

Bedrolls had been laid out all around the fires, spaces left between Ronald's and Oegh's and on both sides of Ethrindae. There was also enough space next to the elf that Alifa and Boots could put their bedrolls next to each other. Xvchimeras didn't seem to have one- instead he got his portion of food and was nestling up to his giant lizard. That guy loved his steed.

"So, what was it! Mh? Any darkling? Some nightmarish wolf with red eyes breathing nightmares from its mouth?" Elwina asked, obviously hoping in a cool story.

Feel free to skip ahead if you want and have your characters go to bed whenever- long rest.

Aaaaand level them up to 2.

[Xihirli]

Boots pulled out her viol and started to play


"There... once was a pack
A pack o' Krenshars
They lived on the backs
The backs o' mountains
And howled up to the moon.

Oh... then this pack
This pack o' Krenshars
They moved down the cracks
Down to the forest
And howled up to the moon.

And... then the growl
The growl of hunger
Led them to a town
A town o' people
And they began the hunt

But... then the growl
The growl of the Krenshars
We followed the howl
The howl o' the Krenshars
And we began the hunt.

With spell and sword
With word and wood
We put those Krenshars down."

And with a bow to Elwina, Boots opened up her bedroll and, once her armor was off, got in. Alifa laid down next to her, and soon Boots's arms came out and wrapped around her sister, pulling her in as they cuddled to sleep.

[Valmark]

Elwina clapped along, Ethrindae hummed a bit, there was general fun and happiness before they went to sleep.

The next morning, they were woken up by the rays of the sun shining on them- the circus people were already packing their stuff, Oegh mantaining a small fire for some breakfast if the sisters were inclined to.

[Xihirli]

Boots stroked Alifa's face to wake her up. "Hi, Lif. Good morning, sleepyhead."
Alifa opened one eye. "Don't call me sleepyhead... you just woke up..." she cast a spell on herself, and invisible wards were ready to protect her. She got up and stretched. "Thank you, Oegh. But we just got some perishables and we should eat those first." She opened up the picnic basket for Boots, herself, and Ethrindae to have a nice vegetarian breakfast.

[Valmark]

When Alifa offered Ethrindae settled down next to them, happy to partake in the food while Oegh took over to set up the carriage.
"The two of you are really close" the elf smiled- even if she hadn't given sign of understanding Sylvan it didn't take a lot to see it.
"It must be beautiful to be able to count on family so far from home"

I've been assuming that Alifa and Boots use Sylvan between each other.

[Xihirli]

Boots hugged Alifa tight and gave her a noogie – the only attack that Mage Armor didn't protect against. Alifa laughed and wriggled in Boots's grip until she was let go.
"She's my sister, but also my best friend," Boots confirmed. "I love all my siblings, but she was the one I was with all the time. We still have a room together at the Fortress."
Alifa found herself smiling. She was happy to have Boots here, even if hopefully she'd be on her way to getting the secret of stopping the Far Realm encroachment by now, and leaned on her shoulder even after the noogie.
"We grew up with... a lot of siblings. But as far as pairings go I think we're the second closest. Behind the twins." She gave Boots a noogie-less hug and the greener of the sisters picked the other up and carried her onto the carriage. "Oh! Nabar, hold on a minute." And over one minute she pulled from the grass a great elk with elegant horns. "Here, you can ride in the carriage." Boots helped Alifa climb on and got on behind her, riding bareback on Tilly the Elk.

[Valmark]

Ethrindae chuckled softly as the two talked, evidently warmed up to the duo. Eating and fighting together tended to do that.

When Tilly came to be, the majestic and graceful elk bugled and rubbed its head up against Boots' cheek, unshakable trust in its rider.
One word and I'll take you to wherever your heart will lead you, my liege Boots heard in her mind. She realized that the tone of her reply would forever shape the personality of the spirit now sworn to her.

Nabar got on the carriage, more then happy to be able to smoke in peace.

Ethrindae rode by the sisters, reaching to pet the elk.
"It's beautiful" she said, looking up at Boots "This... Are you a paladin?" she asked her.

[Xihirli]

Awesome! Boots thought back. I hope we can have fun on the road together!

Boots hugged her sister with one arm while the other patted Tilly's neck.
"I was trained by a paladin or two," she said. "And my conviction to the Unseelie Throne... and really all of nature, is unshakable, though I haven't made my oath formal yet."

[Valmark]

Yeah! Let's go!

"This land doesn't have nearly enough people like you- I'm glad to know there's one more beholden to protect nature"

With that, the group resumed traveling for what should be the last day together.

As they passed through the forest they eventually crossed the village the sisters had saved the previous night- they were thanked again and a barely familiar girl waved at Boots.

The circus wasn't stopping, and they soon were out of the woods- it was good going, but as they passed other groups of travelers they heard rumors of people being attacked on the roads to the north, unknown creatures prowling the way. Luckily, it wasn't something the traveling circus had to worry about.

As the evening advanced, the moon looking cut in half as it appeared behind the black line in the sky, they approached the town of Balimera, where two guards stopped them at the entrance, asking for their names and reason for entering. They seemed fairly suspicious of the group, especially of the elk-riders and the dragonborn, as if something got them on edge.
"Names and bussiness in town" they eventually asked Boots and Alifa.

I'm gonna say that if you want to try and glean information regarding the dangers of the road from travelers during the day you can gimme... I have no idea what's Gathering Information... Let's go with Persuasion or Nature/Arcana checks, your choice.

[Xihirli]

Boots waved back, and even dismounted to pick the girl up by the waist, spin her around, and set her back down. "I hope I see you again. Two glances just aren't enough to take in your beauty." Then she climbed back onto Tilly.


At the guard, Boots actually sighed at the inconvenience.
"I am Clephesia, Scion Unseelie. Princess Heir to the Winter Throne."
"But don't worry about that. I'm Alifa. We recently joined this circus as performers. I can do magic tricks, and Clephesia plays the viol."

Alifa will be trying to learn everything she can. Nature: [roll0]

[Valmark]

The girl almost teared up at saying goodbye to the beautiful rider that saved her village from hungry monsters.



Alifa was able to piece some decent info out of the travelers- of the two roads that led to the Crossing, one had seen travelers being attacked by 'scream beasts' which were pretty obviously more Krenshars- for the other, there was talk of winged women singing songs and preying on travelers, trying to grab them and take them somewhere. It wasn't hard to guess that those were harpies.
It also seemed that villages along the 'harpy road' had been attacked by bandits, likely people taking advantage of the recent chaos to avoid guardsmen and exact a toll from the settlements in the area.

There was also something else going on on the Krenshars' road- something about a giant hive? It wasn't clear.



The guard was much less impressed by Boots, but still straightened up to look more proper. He seemed to take Alifa's reply as good, since they were let in- the reason for such suspicion became immediately apparent, as not far from the entrance to the town laid a gruesome spectacle- a man had been brutally murdered, his corpse presenting a big gash across the stomach with blood sprayed everywhere. There were plenty of guards around the scene keeping people at bay, and the circus moved around to stay away- Oegh and Nabar covering the two humans' eyes much to their protests.

Ethrindae murmured something under her breath and Xvchimeras hissed, but neither of them looked like stopping as they headed past likely looking for lodgings.

[Xihirli]

"Hey, we'll meet up with you, 'kay?" Alifa asked, and tried to pull Tilly off to the side.
"Where are we going?"
"We're going to find out what happened to that man." Alifa dismounted and approached the crime scene, taking in as many clues as she could before looking expectantly at Boots.
"Uh, hi. My sister here is pretty good with looking for clues. I think she'd be able to help, if you let us through."

Boots did not have enough warning, no Guidance. Alifa will try to Sherlock stare to see any clues that don't require close investigation. [roll0] investigation
And Boots will try to get them closer by persuading the guards. [roll1]

[Valmark]

As the circus went off, Boots chatted up the guards- they looked mostly stunned by the sudden intrusion, rather then trusting this random person. But Boots and Alifa did look the part, which helped.

As Alifa inspected the corpse she saw the obvious signs- the stomach of the victim had been tore open, guts spilled out. The wound was pretty large and not smooth, whatever had been was fairly large and didn't seem to cut overly well. Despite the big amount of blood on the ground and the wall the victim was laying against there were no tracks leaving the scene of the crime in either way.

They heard an approaching officer bark angrily looking at them- a dwarf who had a not small bunch of gray hair and a bad temper. Or maybe it was the crime that had him on a bad mood.

I'm not gonna be strict with checks and say that if you can describe how you examine the corpse/scene in a way that means you should have found out more clues it's fine even with that roll.

[Xihirli]

Alifa prestidigitized her hands clean and then stuffed them in the wounds. One hand traced along the cut, trying to grab any fragments of the murder weapon, and the other hand tried to grab something out of the stomach to see if he’d eaten anything that would tell them where he was before just then.
"Who is this guy? Did anyone see what happened?" Boots asked the guards.

[Valmark]

Alifa felt the wound- she did feel something rough in the inside, but when she checked it out she found something pretty weird- a shedded black piece of what felt like a nail, though no clue to who or what it belonged to. There was nothing much within the stomach that looked or felt recognizable as food- pushing though she felt it give way, realizing that something had ripped its way through and... It felt empty, as if a body part had been taken away.

Unless Alifa start pulling the bloody bits out, I'll ask for a medicine check to understand what's missing in the mangled mess.

The guards looked unsure on wether to reply to this stranger, and the dwarf interjected before they could answer.
"And why should YOU know? What's your name!? Who gave you perm- is she sticking her hands inside our murder victim!?" The dwarf looked indignantly past Boots after sizing her up to Alifa "You got five seconds to explain before I take you to the barracks!"

He was not even half of Boots' height but he looked fairly burly, so it didn't feel like a bluff. And there were the other guards around- two approached Boots and two approached Alifa, though they seemed to be waiting for an explicit order before trying anything.

[Xihirli]

"we’re looking for clues to help find out who did this," Boots explained. Alifa pulled out the fragment of nail.
"Any clue what this is from?"

[Valmark]

The dwarf was seething, but seeing that Alifa had actually found something gave him pause.

"I suppose... If you aren't messing around. But you will notify me of everything" the dwarf insisted, before moving around Boots to check out the nail Alifa was holding.
"Weird... I know of no animal within the area that would have black nails like that- where was it?"

Meanwhile a woman approached the murder scene, likely checking out what was happening, but upon getting a glimpse of the face she shrieked and ran forward, getting blocked by a guardsman, and started crying uncontrollably- she was also speaking, but her voice was too wracked by sobs to be comprehensible.

[Xihirli]

"It was in the wound," Alifa said.
Boots held out a hand and brushed the woman’s gently. "Hello," she said gently. "Did you know him?"

[Valmark]

The dwarf frowned "I was about to say that maybe it was a person's nail with some polish, but why would it be within the body" he looked around "And a person wouldn't be able to get away without leaving tracks"

I'm not clear what is the make-up for nails called in english, internet says Polish. But basically he's suggesting that.

The woman looked up at Boots weakly and, while she was not going to stop crying, she strained herself to make up understandable sentences.
"Tomorrow...Gary and I...we would have...been married..." the woman said, Gary likely being the victim.

[Xihirli]

"Oh," Boots said, her heart plummeting. "I’m so sorry," she said eventually.

"There weren’t any tracks?" Alifa confirmed.

[Valmark]

The woman just kept crying, the guard accompanying her to lean along the wall.
"We'll need to talk to the family" one of the guards mentioned, looking at the crying woman with sadness.

The dwarf asked a guard who had been there for longer then him, but the same thing was confirmed- there were no tracks leaving or going to the scene of the crime along the street.

[Xihirli]

"Hm. Well, hold onto this." Alifa gave the dwarf the nail.
"We should walk you home, miss," Boots said. "We don’t know if you might be in danger."

[Valmark]

The dwarf took the nail- he was going to stay there to investigate himself, but then would go back to the barracks.

The woman looked up at Boots, then at the corpse- she turned rapidly away, as her sobs picked up again.
"I... Understand..." She replied weakly. As she stood up, Boots could see she was shaky on her legs, wobbling more then walking down the road. The murderer had killed one person, but it wasn't a single life they had ruined.

Double checking that you're done with the murder scene, at least for now.

[Xihirli]

Yes, I think the rest of the investigation will either happen talking to this woman or after the next kill.

Boots went up next to her. "Here, lean on me."
Alifa cleaned herself off and followed a little behind. "You know," she said. "Anyone with the mold earth cantrip could erase their tracks very quickly."
Boots turned around. "Shh," she said, glancing pointedly at the woman. "My name is Clephesia. What's yours?"

[Valmark]

The woman sniffed, trying to get herself to reply.
"...Britta..." She murmured "...we...were neighborns...grew up together..." she leaned against Boots, steadying her pace somewhat.

"Why...why..."

[Xihirli]

"I'm so sorry, Britta." Boots brought Britta to her home. Alifa went for the door, knocking on it then opening it.

[Valmark]

As they got to her place they saw that right next to it there was what looked like a smithy, a man similar to the victim talking to a client- upon seeing them approach he went white, pushed the client rudely away and hurried to them.
"Britta! What happened?"

Alifa was met by a couple in their mid-age, the woman having the same curly red hair as Britta- probably her parents. They looked at Alifa confused then spotted Britta in tears, istant worry as they asked the same question- Britta didn't seem in the condition of replying any longer though, or at least didn't acknowledge their questions as she headed for the door.

[Xihirli]

"Gary was recently found dead," Boots said with regret, assuming this to be the full family. "I'm so very sorry." She helped Britta come in and sit down on the nearest seat.

[Valmark]

Britta's parents sat by her, nodding- while the mother had gasped at the news, the father had taken on a rough expression and put an arm around her daughter- he didn't seem too touched by the news, even if he was clearly worrying about her. Maybe he didn't like Gary.

The other man, the one similar to Gary, got even paler.
"H-how... Did that... Happen...?" he asked, massaging his left hand.

[Xihirli]

Alifa took over, since Boots was seeing to Britta. "He was attacked by something. We're still investigating what. It's possible that whatever or whoever attacked him isn't done, so I'd advise all of you to remain somewhere safe with plenty of witnesses around you until we find out exactly what happened."

[Valmark]

Britta's father nodded, studying Alifa.
"And you are? You don't look like guards" He asked her, then turned to his wife "Could you... Accompany Britta to lie down?" He asked with a severe tone, to which the woman nodded, standing up to help Britta away.

The last guy turned away "I-I shouldn't leave the shop unattended too long... Probably should close..." He mentioned, heading back out.

[Xihirli]

"I'm here to help," Alifa said simply. "I'm not from around here, I don't know that any explanation I could give would make any sense. But my name is Alifa."


Boots left Britta with her mother and joined the conversation. "Do you know if Gary had any enemies? Debts? Mysterious people in his life?"

[Valmark]

The man shook his head.
"Nothing like that, that I know of, but in the last week he had started drinking a lot" he said "Gary had even come here wasted- my daughter tried to talk to him about it once, but he just said that everything was fine and he just drank too much. From what I know he was visiting a... Tavern, to be nice on the establishment, called..." The man groaned.

"Don't Go Inn"

He didn't seem amused.
"I asked my wife to take Britta to her room so that I could say this... Gary kept saying he was fine, but if someone drinks like that every night they either are a dwarf or are hiding something"

[Xihirli]

"Thank you, sir, you’ve helped a lot," Boots said. "But remember it’s also possible that someone went after Gary in order to get at his family or Britta. We’ll check the... the tavern, you just keep your daughter safe, alright?" And with a tight smile, Boots opened the door.


After they were a little distance away, Alifa let out a tiny laugh. "Don’t Go Inn."
"Oh, we absolutely need to stay there tonight. Don’t Go Inn is one of the best names ever."

[Valmark]

The man gave them a sad wave, closing the door behind them.

Asking around, they made their way to Don't Go Inn- it had been night for a while now, so there were only a couple patrons left. The place was small and smelled a bit bad, clearly having seen better days, and looked like the kind of place people with no love for questions went to- the half-orc blind on one eye seemed to be plenty of muscles for when a patron tried getting frisky. There was a small half-orc kid (who looked more human then orc, so probably one-quarter orc) carrying empty mugs behind the counter and nobody came to greet the sisters as they entered.

There were stairs leading upstairs, so maybe it had lodgings. There was a little bit of mold by the entrance.

[Xihirli]

Boots patted herself on the back and marched right up to the front desk. "Hello! My friend Gary was here recently and he left something in his room. Can I take a look and see if it’s still there?"

[roll0] and [roll1] guidance

[Valmark]

The bartender rised an eyebrow.
"Drink something?" He asked, staring at the sisters up and down. He seemed to have believed Boots, he was just surprised by their looks.

The kid's face went woaaaaah, standing right next to the sister seemingly out of nowhere.
"You look LOADED!" and that was probably the same thing everybody was thinking in there, since even the two clients were throwing glances at them.

[Xihirli]

"No, thank you," Boots said. "But if I have to rent Gary’s room to go in I understand."
"Loaded with what?"
"Money, Lif. We look loaded with money."

[Valmark]

"Yeah!"

"Nobody's used the room in a week, but sure" the bartender reached under the counter, putting on it a somewhat rusted iron key "A silver- second room up the stairs"

[Xihirli]

"You only have gold, don’t you?"
"It’s no worry. Give these nice people a few drinks, yeah?" Boots passed him a gold coin and headed up the stairs. Alifa kept her hand on her own coin purse and an eye on Boots’s.

[Valmark]

The kid reached for the gold coin and gnawed on it, amazed.

It didn't look like anybody was doing more then throw glances- probably because in addition to looking rich, they also looked armed. Or at least Boots did.

Going up the creaking stairs, it wasn't hard to find the second room- there were exactly two of them, plus a common bathroom. Entering, they found the bare necessities- a bed with a sheet thrown on it, a desk situated by the window and a wardrobe leaning against the wall. It looked, at first glance, empty.

[Xihirli]

"Check the desk drawers," Alifa said, opening the wardrobe. She checked through the pockets of any clothes she found and knocked on the back of the wall to see if anything was behind it.


Boots checked the desk, knocking to copy Alifa and see if anything was hollow.

[roll0] from Alifa and Boots will Help for [roll1]

[Valmark]

Alifa didn't find much- there weren't clothes, and the walls didn't sound hollow. Homewever she noticed relatively recent dent marks left in the wood of the walls, floor and on the furniture, as if something with a lot of strenght had recently thrown the objects around and then put them back.

The drawer had been emptied out as well- but something interesting was on the drawer. It was very hard to spot, but Boots noticed some cut marks left under the border of the desk, as if someone had held the desk tightly and left cuts with its nails.

Checking the floor near the desk revealed something hard to see in the shadows- a black piece of what felt like a nail. The color was the same as the one Alifa found previously on the corpse.

[Xihirli]

"Is he a werewolf? Who... killed himself?"

"Maybe he was being chased, and whatever killed him got here before us... even before he died."
Alifa crawled under the bed to see what was under there, and Boots took the pillow out of the pillowcase, took off the sheets, and finally took off the mattress to see if there was anything hidden that way.

[Valmark]

As Boots fruitlessly checked the bed, which didn't seem to have been used in some time, Alifa slid under it- it was hard to spot, but her keen eyesight noted a patch of thin... It looked like shedded skin, in the way snakes do- except much smoother and thinner. In fact, if she hadn't been so alert it may just have looked like the floor, since it was trasparent with a slight darker tone. Whatever had lost that probably hadn't noticed or wasn't trying to hide it, and whoever cleaned didn't even realize what was there.

A bit of the patch was munched on, a black rat right next to it- it looked dead, yellow eyes staring emptily ahead.

[Xihirli]

Alifa pulled the shedded skin out of its cover with her mage hand, to get a better look at it.
Boots put the mattress back.

[Valmark]

As Alifa peeled the patch of skin off with her cantrip, the rat sprung to life- a snarling mouth opened along its side as it fruitlessly assaulted the spectral hand.

Kfowoap. The rat's barely a threat, no initiative needed- it was dangerous only if it had taken you by surprise, but you didn't reach with your physical hand. Deal with it homewever you see fit.

After the rat had been neutralized Alifa could take a look at the skin properly- it was pretty long and wide around the center, narrowing at the extremities- on one of the ends there were five prongs of varying size, as if someone had shedded skin off of their arm. Though given how long it was either someone had really stretchy arms or it reached as high as the face.

[Xihirli]

Alifa zapped it away with an agonizing blast, then reeled the skin the rest of the way out. She Detected Magic as a final measure of detective work.


Assuming they found nothing, Alifa held out a hand and produced a common oil lamp. "This is what we went in for," she explained to Boots, and putting the skin in her component pouch she led the way out.
"Thank you so much! We found it!" Boots said.


Out on the road, they asked after the circus.
"Our best bet is asking Ethrindae if she knows this creature. It seems vaguely lycanthropic, a bit like a wendigo. Maybe she’s heard of such things."
"Plus it will be a chance to know when and where we perform."
"Are you serious? A man has died!"
"And a scared town needs a fantastic event to keep their spirits up. Plus, just think if we solve the crime onstage, DURING the circus!"
"...Okay, that would be pretty cool."

[Valmark]

The mouse was splattered against the floor. It wasn't pretty.

Using Detect Magic for the first time, Alifa noticed something she hadn't before about the world around her- it seemed suffused with magic at all times. It wasn't enough to disturb her work, and the outside was like that as well, so it was probably a property of the world- Boots had something magical about her as well, being a sorcerer, and looking at herself Alifa noticed that she too was magical- but where Boots was producing magic by herself, Alifa seemed to mostly have outside magic flow into her. It looked like how a gas would move from somewhere with higher concentration to something with less concentration, magic flowing into her because she had nothing natively. She couldn't pinpoint any specific school, if Alifa was forced to give a definition it'd be Universal.

More relevant to the investigation, her lamp exuded Conjuration magic (predictably) and the skin seemed to have a weak, vanishing mixture of Transmutation and Necromancy to it, interwoven together in a way that suggested whatever it was was a single source instead of two separate magics.
The rat had the same mixture, although it was rapidly vanishing- the room was clean of magical auras though. The piece of broken nail had the same weak aura as the skin- it seemed like those were broken or discarded pieces of the same creature, slowly losing magical traces.

And given how the rat looked, the magic schools and the munched bit, it seemed likely that eating the patch of skin was a majorly bad idea.

I'll assume you're still leaving since there's nothing there that makes me think you'd stay- if not then feel free to ignore the following paragraph, or put a piece of flashback with any further investigation of the room.

But with that 23 Alifa and Boots are fairly confident that they know this room like the back of their hands by now.

It was moderately difficult to find the circus- it was past dinner time and there had been a murder, which had made even many who'd go out want to stay home. Still, they found the inn they were staying at- the Horse's Home. The stables with the multicolored wagon had left an impression on any passer-by they stopped to ask.

Entering they found a pretty nice establishment- it had a cozy, rustic air, with a fireplace that ate wooden logs with a delightful crackling sound. Seemed like a nice place to sit with friends and chat.

The circus' staff wasn't there, likely people had retired to their rooms, but the sisters easily found Ethrindae's- knocking on the door, they soon saw her elven face creep through the barely open door- as soon as they were recognized she opened fully.
"Alifa, Clephesia. It is a pleasure to see you- do you need help?" she asked, since it seemed fair to assume they weren't there to share a room.

She had changed out of her traveler's clothes for a white nightgown, gilded acorn pendant hanging from her neck- it seemed weird, since elves trance and don't sleep, but it looked comfortable and good on her so Ethrindae was probably wearing it because she liked it rather then its function.

[Xihirli]

"Oh my goddess, you look absolutely stunning," Boots said.
"We were wondering if you know what animal this goes to." Alifa pulled the skin out of her component pouch with her mage hand. "We've been on the trail of whatever or whoever killed Gary."
"Also what time do we perform tomorrow? We don't want to miss it."

[Valmark]

The elven woman laughed softly.
"Flatterer. We'll be performing shortly after breakfast, in the mid afternoon and if there is enough attendance in the evening as well, probably after dinner- though since you have your own business we'll understand if you can't come. As for..." she narrowed her eyes at the patch, and stepped back "Come in and place it on the desk, please- Gary was... The dead person we passed today? Have you found anything else connected to this skin? Something that would hint at the nature of its... Ah... Owner?"

Ethrindae's room had a pleasant scent of aromatic herbs, incense sticks laying at said desk- there were papers with writing on them, which she removed to lay them on the bed. It seemed like she had been writing and the ink was a little too fresh to furl them up.

[Xihirli]

"We found nails that we think are part of the same creature both in Gary's room at the local seedy crime bar and in the wounds he seemed to die of." Alifa craned her neck to look at the letter.
"Lif, privacy."
"Right." She looked away. "And its skin is imbued with a tangled thread of transmutation and necromancy."

Boots took one more good long look at Ethrindae in her dress. "I'll be right back, I'm going to get food and stabling for Tilly." And she went outside to handle that.

[Valmark]

"Your sister isn't shy, uh? Anyway, that... Sounds like a darkling. Or rather, it sounds like what turns you into one" Ethrindae looked over the patch of skin "If you've found nails, and this skin seems like it was around fingers, it may have belonged to a person who's undergoing changes- even if you get lucky with mutations and have a powerful mind you cannot hide it for long. It may be able to pass as a person if it has any ability to change its appearance, but the effect corruption has on the mind will make it get discovered before long- negative thoughts, even the lightest, are twisted and amplified until it drags the corrupted to violence, and coherent thought becomes erratic- if it has killed once it won't be long before it does twice. Without treatment the outcome is only one- death and devastation" she shook her head, biting her lip- her face wrinkled for a moment and she looked far more tired then Alifa had seen her until then while Ethrindae looked lost in thought.

"The only way one could retain its sanity is if it had a vicious heart or if they were supernatural creatures of great power, like dragons or archfeys- and the latter is just a theory. Dragons have been absent for hundreds of years and I never heard of a darkling archfey"
There was space next to the giant lizard for Tilly, Boots discovering that the elven woman -likely Ethrindae- had already paid for the lodging of a giant elk and two girls of elven descent with a green hue. It was specific enough that they couldn't be mistaken.

As she accompanied Tilly in, she heard the elk talk. In her mind.
Hey, Princess? I was wondering, is it normal if I see an hooded figure walk weirdly, stare at me then leave? They seemed weird, but everybody's been throwing glances at me. Not my fault if they lack beautiful antlers.

[Xihirli]

"No, she really isn't. I guess you arrived after she found someone to spend the night with in the inn a few nights ago. Boots and I came from a very affectionate household where being forward was normal. She's actually showing a lot of restraint around you." Alifa then returned to business.
"If the Darkling was in Gary's room, it was either following him or it was him. Is it possible that he killed himself to prevent the transformation from growing?" Alifa asked. "And what... does a fully transformed Darkling look like?"


Hooded figure? Boots asked. Where? Take me there as fast as you can! Boots jumped on the elk's back.

[Valmark]

"Shapes vary- as do abilities. All of them get yellow eyes and black skin though- or fur, or scales or whatever. If it has an ability to pass as a normal person though your best bet might be to watch out for someone behaving erratically- it'll look around, its talk will stutter, and pressure will make it agitate fast. It will also provoke violence, so on your guard" Ethrindae explained "Aside from that, could happen anything. Mouths, tentacles, eye beams, psionic powers, innate magic, breathing elements... Any power you can think of, a darkling can have it. Xvchimeras was a foot and a half shorter once, while his mount was half as fast" Ethrindae explained.
Tilly galloped down the street, rounding a corner... Then bugled to a stop.
Turned here, but I don't know where they went.

The road presented a few side streets and some turns- the person likely wouldn't have gotten far, but there were plenty of directions. They could've gone pretty much anywhere that was away from the inn.

[Xihirli]

"How did he... stop mutating?" Alifa asked.


Boots dismounted and pointed at some tracks. Can you smell if those are recent? And she checked for deepness in the footprints around her until she found a set that was fresh. "This way!" She mounted up and pointed.

[Valmark]

"He was healed. Once a darkling, always a darkling- but until then a person can be recovered. Cleansing the corruption requires powerful, costly magic- both in terms of materials and in terms of magical power. But to stop it from advancing anything that can stop magical diseases can usually stop corruption- it's why paladins are so precious. A warrior that can be wounded by darklings without needing healing against the corruption and can protect others? Wish... Wish we had had one" Ethrindae sighed bitterly "But there was no time to heal both and Xvchimeras had his mount healed before himself- healing for him arrived only later, which caused the corruption to advance so much. But he didn't lose himself"
Tilly moved, lamenting to Boots about how there was smell of sweat- the hooded person was sweating quite a bit. It didn't take long at the elk's pace- they turned down an alleyway, reaching a small building which looked unused. But it wasn't the structure that attracted Boots- a bit above her head she spotted short claw marks, then some more a few feet above, and finally the roof. It seemed like what they were chasing had climbed up the building clawing into the wood and had gotten to the other side.

The building did offer enough grip points that a normal strong person could use to climb though- mostly caused by a ruined wall.

[Xihirli]

"What if a darkling is killed and brought back to life?" Alifa asked. "Would they still be a darkling then?"


"Tilly, go get Ethrindae and bring her here." Boots dismounted one more time and started climbing after her prey. "I found our murderer." If you have to bring Alifa too, that's okay. I don't think you can communicate well enough with Ethrindae to get her to stop Lif. At least not in the time we have.

[Valmark]

"Corruption seeps in body, soul and spirit- once a darkling, always a darkling" Ethrindae repeated "I suppose if you tear those three apart from each other before the corruption has a chance to spread from the body, which is always the origin, you could... I don't know... Make them a new body?" the elf shrugged, out of her depth on the subject.

They heard a ruckus downstairs, accompanied by incessant bugling.
"...is that your sister's...?"
Boots climbed up like a cat, the low rooftops and streetlights giving her plenty of visibility- a couple roofs away, there was an hooded figure jumping from one to the other with awful cohordination. They looked back at her, and the houri could see the glint of yellow eyes under the hood.

Alright, if you close in now it's Initiative. The roofs aren't very distant, the darkling has been jumping adjacent roofs- Boots can close in and engage just fine if she wishes to start the fight.

If you roll Initiative do it for Alifa and Tilly as well, even if they won't be in the fight for the time being.

[Xihirli]

Alifa grabbed Ethrindae's hand and went for the window. "She never asks for help," she explained as she jumped out of there with Ethrindae. She pulled a feather from her component pouch and it grew into an impromptu parachute, dropping them safely, if not super slowly, onto the ground. As the feather shrank back down, she climbed onto Tilly.


Boots looked right at the yellow eyes, took a breath, and jumped to the next roof on the way over.

[roll0] Boots
[roll1] Alifa
Tilly: [roll2]

[Valmark]

As Tilly rushed, the figure stumbled back, hood falling down.

Boots knew the face- she had met this man before. It was the man similar to Gary who had been working the smithy- but now half of his face had become smooth black, with tiny serpent scales.
"N...no...stay...away...it...wants..."

Garret, the Darkling Brute [roll0]
Ethrindae [roll1]

[Xihirli]

Boots jumped over, landing with a slight grunt. "Hey, calm down," she said. "I'm here to help you." And, carefully, she reached out her hand slowly, not trying to startle him. She had to lunge as he moved away, though. Then she kissed his boo-boo, like Lala taught her.

Lay on Hands for 5 to end a disease.

[Valmark]

Boots touched the man, who's breathing steadied for a second... Then she felt screaming within her head.

YOU WILL GIVE WHAT IS OURS
HE BELONGS TO US
WE MAKE HIM STRONG
WE ALREADY LOST ONE
JOIN US

The darkling clutched his head, yelling in pain as the cloak ripped and came undone- Boots could now see him properly. A good part of his body was human, but black veins runned all over him and his left arm, shoulder, half of the neck and half of the face had gone pitch black and his left arm was disproportionally muscled compared to the normal one, black claws at the end. At the height of the elbow it split, a second forearm and clawed hand coming out- when the words quited down he grabbed Boots by the arm and neck, claws sinking in with a strenght he shouldn't have possessed.
"Leave...please..."

She could feel a cold feeling emanating under her skin. At the same time as this cold feeling sunk into her, she felt a connection- Boots noticed a black crystal jammed into the darkling's shoulder, and she istantly knew that was where the voices were coming from.

Boots takes first 8, then 9 slashing damage and is Corrupted. If it isn't healed in the next 10 minutes, mutations may occur.

Her turn.
While Trilly brought them closer, though they weren't quite on scene yet, Ethrindae explained to Alifa something about the patch of skin she was carrying.

Magic Item: Darkling's Skin Patch.

This piece of skin carrying residual magic can be used to empower or change the nature of spells- it can also be used to spread corruption, although to do so is to commit an horrifying act.

Cannot be used by druids.

It can be used 10 times. When used as part of the casting of a spell, consider that spell casted as one level higher. If the spell deals damage the type is changed to Necrotic or Psychic, and forces a DC 10 Con save to not catch corruption.

If a piece is injested, it forces a DC 12 Con save to not catch corruption.

[Xihirli]

Boots shook under the attacks, then lifted Green Fang in both hands and brought it down on the black crystal, trying to shatter it and its influence on this man.
"I'm not leaving you. I'm freeing you." And as her sword cut into the crystal, healthy rose-pink light exploded out, shattering the crystal right where it was.


Alifa nodded. "So you're saying I should burn it next time I get the chance." She reached out to the nightgown-clad druid and cast Mage Armor on her. "Here. That should help you a little."

[Valmark]

As Boots shattered the crystal, black blood and brain mass splurted everywhere- the paladin could see that this crystal wasn't jammed in there, no. It looked like it had grown out of the man.

Said man stared at her with a look of absolute terror.
"...no...no...I'm not...safe...I'mnotsafeI'mnotsafe" he stumbled back as he felt the shoulder, falling over the edge of the ceiling.

The voices gave out a final scream, then died out.

Alright so.

He's falling- I'm gonna say if you want to catch him that you can use your reaction and make an Athletics check.

That said, falling damage is the ordinary 2d6 so maybe he'd survive- regardless, the darkling is stunned for one round. It's Boots again, afterwards Tilly, Alifa and "Death-to-all-darklings" Ethrindae will join the combat.

He doesn't look healed right now- still looking mad with his arms flailing about. But there is also no crystal and no voices anymore, so maybe he can be healed.

[Xihirli]

Boots lunged forward and grabbed him by the arm. She hauled him up with a powerful grunt and pulled him into a hug. "Hold on... you're going to be okay." And she kissed the boo-boo again, the blush in her cheeks brightening as she passed on the love of Sune to this new world.

[Valmark]

The man twitched for a moment more, then fell still.

Asleep. Or at least, his human part was- the corrupted eye stared ahead emptily. It seemed to be unresponsive as well though.

As her blush brightened, Boots felt something warm within her- the cold that had been spreading from the cuts in her neck and arm receded from this warmth that spread through her body and as the air seemed to dance around the houri and the stars twinkled on her eyes she knew this universe had recognized what she had done tonight.

Level 3, though you can't use your new spell slots/sorcery points/new prepared spells. You can use passives and any known sorcerer spell.

Boots is not corrupted anymore.

Tilly arrived on the scene, at the foot of the building Boots was in, and bugled.

[Xihirli]

Boots carried him the the edge. "I don't think I can carry him and climb down!" She called.
"Jump!" Alifa called. Boots did, and Alifa guided her fall so that she landed safely on the ground.
"Who's that?"
"I think he's Gary's brother. Remember him? He's sick in some way, but I managed to stop it."
"He was corrupted, he almost turned into a darkling. Let's get him onto Tilly." Alifa dismounted.

Boots beamed at Ethrindae, even though she was clearly injured.

[Valmark]

Ethrindae looked... Conflicted, as she got down from the elk- but the most prevalent feeling seemed to be anger.
"Why doesn't he look wounded but you do?" she asked Boots "Did you not defend yourself? You fought against what was basically a d-" fear crept up on her face, as she reached for Boots' neck speaking divine words.

Ethrindae is about to cast a spell which is probably Lesser Restoration. I'mma assume Boots will stop her.

[Xihirli]

"I'm immune," Boots interrupted, somehow certain of it as she spoke. "I don't know all the details of what he has, but I think I stopped it from progressing any further. And this corruption can't extinguish the burning light I have within. I am hurt because he attacked me, and I did defend myself, but only against the gem attached to him that made him do it. Then I healed whatever he had."

"You're immune now?"
"I had... a breakthrough. And now I have a few oaths to make."

[Valmark]

Ethrindae looked surprised by the revelation, then her eyes settled into respect as she smiled.
"That... Was courageous of you, Clephesia. I apologize" she looked down "When my circle was attacked, it spread like a wildfire. I... Am friendly with Xvchimeras, but others make me... More jumpy. If you stop the corruption... You don't necessarily make them unable to transmit it. My circle... I didn't know this when it mattered the most" Ethrindae looked back up at Boots.
"But what you did tonight makes you a hero to this man, and to all the possible would-have-been victims- even if I wish you had waited for me and your sister. Now..." she looked up.

"A crystal made him do it? What?"

[Xihirli]

"I was worried that if I let him get away we would never find him," Boots explained. "But yeah, there was a gem on his shoulder that talked to him and made him do things. It’s gone now. How do we keep him from spreading the disease?"

[Valmark]

"We explain to him and hope he doesn't" Ethrindae answered "I probably made it sound worst then it is. He needs to actively hurt someone with his corrupted parts to infect somebody else- as long as his mind recovers, and he pays a minimum of attention to what he does, there won't be any problem. Ignorance and misinformation are his only enemies now" she looked up again.

"I have never heard of something like that crystal. We should gather the shards instead of leaving them there- and bring this man to rest. By the looks of it he'll be sleeping for a long while"

We can skip ahead if you wish- just tell me where you want to drop the man (you saw where he lives, but nothing says you have to bring him there) and wether or not Boots will go back up to grab the remnants of the crystal.

And where you plan on going after those two things are taken care of.

[Xihirli]

"Yeah, okay. You two bring him to a bed, I’ll go get the pieces."
Boots started climbing again.

"Where we come from, elves don’t need sleep, only retrospective meditation. Is the same true for you? If so, could you watch him tonight?"

[Valmark]

"Yes and yes" Ethrindae nodded "Perhaps we should bring him to the barracks, though? Let the guardsmen and their healers watch over their own" she didn't seem too eager to watch over him.
"You've proven time and time again your competence though, so I'll do it if you think it better"

The stuff was still there on the roof. Crystal parts, brain mass, black blood- it wasn't hard to gather, although a bit gross.

[Xihirli]

"I don’t know much about the guards here," Alifa said. "And waking up under lock and key might get him violent. I’d rather someone who can explain the situation and cure herself if shs’s injured," Alifa explained. "Sorry," she added after.


Boots spent a good long while gathering things up.

[Xihirli]

Boots, once everything was gathered, placed her hand on Green Fang.
"This corruption... I swear to stop its spread. I swear that it will not blot out the light...I vow to kindle, protect, and when unavailable, be the light this world needs." She lifted Green Fang. "So vows I, Scion Unseelie!"

[Valmark]

Ethrindae sighed and nodded.
"I will" with that she waved at them, her and Tilly bringing the man to the inn "Drop the crystal parts in my room later, I'll use the hours I save with the trancing to... examine it" it was fairly obvious that she would have wanted to destroy it, but what Boots said about the crystal seemed to have turned on her analytical side.

She's a very 'Know your enemy' type of woman.

Anyway! If you plan on going to sleep, you can- long rest. If you think there is more to investigate, well, tell me where you're going.


She was gone by the time Boots was doing her vows. Homewever, Boots was sure something else heard her vow- the wind blowing through her hair, the stars in the sky, the moon, the ground- everything around her seemed to acknowledge in subtle ways her words.

[Xihirli]

After a bath, Boots and Alifa cuddled in their bed to go to sleep. "You did that all by yourself?"
"It might not have been a good decision... but it was kinda my only one, you know? He might have killed someone, of worse." And hugging her sister close, Boots passed into well-deserved sleep.

[Valmark]

The next morning, they were woken up by a knock on the door- it was probably sooner then they would have liked, given how much they ran around, but the sisters were still well-rested.
"He has woken up" Ethrindae's voice came from outside "I've been calming him down and explaining what happened. If you could come to my room, I've discovered what I could about the... Crystal, let's keep calling it that. I'll tell you there, then I'll leave to join the troupe- we still need to earn our living" with that, they heard steps leaving as the elf went back to her room.

[Xihirli]

"Boots, why don’t you go with?"
"Hm? Really?"
"You’ve done a whole lot, but I know how much you wanted to be in the circus. Take the day fir yourself, or at least the morning show. I’ll join you if I can."
Boots gave Alifa a big squishy hug and followed Ethrindae.


Alifa went in the door to the elf’s room. "Hello. I’m Alifa. What’s your name?"

[Valmark]

Ethrindae was dressed in the robe Boots first met her with again, a sack of belongings with her.
"So" she started "That crystal... Was still him. I talked to him to make sense of why that crystal had a brain and veins, and from he told me it seems it... Grew spontaneously" she took a deep breath.
"He liked the same girl his brother was going to marry. He was jealous, and the corruption... Made him start having murderous thoughts, but he resisted them- he couldn't bring himself to hurt his family. Or so Garret says- I have my doubts, but still... According to him, the crystal was birthed right after and it was then that Garret started hearing voices that tried to push him to the very same acts he had thoughts about. I think that crystal was a defense against the corruption by splitting off the infected part of his mind. Given that he attacked you, it was probably not working anymore- if you had lost him it might've been too late"
Garret was sitting on the bed, and was peeling off his snake part- under, there was his normal human skin with a bit of a darker hue. Where the skin came off it left some disgusting slime that luckily didn't smell- probably thanks to Ethrindae's incense sticks. In addition, while there had been black veins all over the body those seemed to have disappeared.
"Garret... Garret Stibs. I... Am Gary's brother" he spoke with difficulty, almost as if he wasn't wholly there.
"Incredible... I think I can... Control it now"

[Xihirli]

Boots nodded somberly. "Thank you for all your help. I... Does he know about the danger?" she followed to find the other circus members.


Alifa nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. "Alright Garrett. To start off... I don’t think you killed your brother." She looked him in the eye. "But I need you to tell me everything. How did you get infected? What do you remember? Why was your brother frequenting the Don’t Go Inn?"

[Valmark]

"I think so. He seemed pretty receptive when I spoke to him- and I doubt he's in the condition to trick us"

The place wasn't very far- it was a fairly large square, and at an extremity there was a great statue depicting a solemn man in his fifty clad in heavy armor, with a shield with the symbol of an armored dragon. A bronze targe recited:

To Emperor Trevor, First of the Four, First of the Dragon Riders

The last sentence was ruined, as if people hadn't been caring as well for that.

A stage had been set up and people had already been filing in, mostly families with their kids beaming excitedly- again Boots noted a majority of humans, a minority of dragonborns and if she looked carefully she could spot some other races. It seemed clear by now that humans and dragonborns were the majority in that part of the world.

Elwina and Ronald were conducting a kind of pre-show while the members got ready, the former talking to the audience and making faces at the kids with an extravagant multi-colored make up to make them laugh while the latter was improvising a few tricks with cards. It seemed like Ronald was legitimately good... It's just that they weren't magic. Boots could hear his 'No trick, no lie' catchphrase from afar.

Ethrindae headed inside the tent, were Oegh had a clown outfit and Xvchimeras was dressed in a sleeveless robe that showed off his muscles, practicing with what looked like fake planks and stuff like that which he could pretend to break.
"Clephesia, any idea on what you'll do?"
"We... We left to go fishing, about a week ago. There's... A lake nearby... We had been there... Other times. But... We had never spotted... This cave that is south of the lake before. We went in... Found this altar with a expensive-looking statuette on it. Gary didn't want it, but I... Took it" Garret explained with difficulty "The altar... Collapsed in front of our eyes. Looked... Wilting, like a dead plant. We wanted to check our... Prize... So we brought it to the Inn. But... Once there... It broke. Turned into black smoke... We inhaled it... The shakes started. We got violent. Had to... Throw stuff around. My skin... fell off. The smoke flew out... Through the window... Closed window" he looked down.

"We did not know what was happening. We started having these nightmares... Gary would go drink the night 'cause he couldn't stand them. But... We thought people would take us for mad... So didn't say anything. Now... Somehow, that idea feels stupid, as if it couldn't have come from us. Then... While we were heading back home together... He started talking about Britta... And I got mad. My skin... It broke up. I had scales... Nails... A third hand. I was scared, so I ran- ran from my brother, even if the voices in my head started chattering. He was... Still alive" he frowned and looked down at his forearms- despite the fact that they looked human he still had an additional forearm and hand on his left arm which couldn't possibly be passed as normal.

"Every time... My dark came out... I would know what to do. How to act. Where to strike. How to make myself look human" reaching for his arm, he pushed the two forearms together and under Alifa's eyes a mouth appeared on his normal one, which ate the other one with a sickening crunching sound- and it was gone, a perfectly healthy arm now present. Except for the dark hue.
"When you brought Britta... I panicked. Eventually tracked down your place of rest... Voices kept saying to kill you... Didn't want that. I ran. The knight... Found me"

[Xihirli]

"I think for an opener I’ll heal two of the diseased out there. Then I’ll play the violin. If Xvchimeras is down we could wrestle or stage a fight," she suggested.


Alifa only had one question. "Where was the altar?"

[Valmark]

"Mmm... I have a good idea. We'll have you heal people as an opener, then you can accompany mine and Elwina's dances- you'll take a break while Ronald's and Oegh's performances go, cohordinate with Xvchimeras and we'll close with your fight. Sounds good?" Ethrindae asked.
"Lake... South gates... Can't miss it... It's beautiful. Move around... Until opposite end... Enter forest... Keep heading straight. Clearing... Cave. Wasn't there... Before..." Garrett replied.

It came to Alifa's mind that the direction Garret was describing headed towards the black blotch called the Zone on Ethrindae's map, though it was still a good deal off.

[Xihirli]

"Beautiful and smart. Well, I’m ready."[B]


Alifa nodded. [B]"Do you have a place to stay that’s safe?"

[Valmark]

Ethrindae smiled a larger smile then usual, but then it was gone as she pointed at a wardrobe with various costumes and the make-up station, meanwhile Elwina entered the tent.
"Flatterer. We have a show and we're professionists- time to work. Change if you think there's something you like and ask Elwina for a make-up if you want it, then get to work" she said, with a serious tone.

Alright, show's yours. Describe whatever you want for the first act, roll whatever you like as long as it makes sense. I will not set a particular DC- the higher you roll, the better it is. But I'll also consider the coolness of the show.

Then I'll introduce the dancers, after which you can go with your song, then we can move on to the fight- tell me if you want an actual turn-by-turn fight, if you wanna RP a fake fight or gloss over it. Either way it'll be with prop weapons that won't actually deal damage.
"My smithy... Plenty of people. Won't be alone" Garret nodded.
"Where... Are you going?"

[Xihirli]

Boots put on her fine clothes, not bothering to find a place to change. Then she put on some make-up like her mother used, and for a final touch she took a thin crown from the costume shelves and went out.
The number began with a bolt of frigid air that froze a patch of ground next to the stage. Then another on the other side.
"My esteemed audience," Boots said, stepping out. "I am here not just to put on a show... we artists love to captivate you, to enthrall you, to excite you... but ultimately there is nothing more important than improving your lives. Some of us can do so through song... some through acrobatics. And you shall have that! But first... one lucky member of our audience is needed to come up here!" She pointed at someone whose skin was nearly covered in tiny red pox welts. "You, Ma'am!"
She had difficulty reaching the stage.
"Ma'am, you're brave coming out so sick!"
"I wasn't about to miss the circus! It won't be in for another several months!"
"Quite right, quite right... but you might have trouble enjoying it with such painful spots all over your skin. Let's see if we can't make you a bit more comfortable." And laying her hand on the woman's cheek, Boots's blush deepened and the colors around her sparkled with pink. The winds picked up around the woman and the spots all over her started regaining their natural color... receding into her skin. Soon, her skin was spotless.
Boots bowed. "My name is Clephesia. And I... am at your service."

"Fake!" Came a voice from the crowd. "You planted her! You faked that!"
"Sir," Clephesia called. "Would you stand up, please?"
Once he was up, she lifted an eyebrow. "If the crowd wants me to prove that I did no trick and tell no lie, I am willing to do so. Sir, why don't you choose my next patient. I can cure most diseases."
A glint in his eye, he pointed to the very back of the crowd, where there was an actual leper watching from a distance.
"Of course, sir." Boots leapt off the stage, and Tilly caught her and trotted her up to the leper.
"Be healed," she said, and suddenly the skin, which seemed to be rotting off of living flesh, took on a healthy sheen. Fingers locked in a fist opened wide, and the man gasped. Boots, her head held high, rode back to the stage and stepped onto it. "Thank you all... now, on with the show."

This is a performance, is it not? [roll0]; [roll1] guidance. EDIT: If I have any inspiration to use that at least brings the total up to an 11.


"The circus," Alifa said. "Then me and my sister are going fishing." She left him there.

[Valmark]

The people gasped and cheered when Boots did her show- the woman's family hugged her and clapped heartily at Boots, while the (not anymore) leper actually started crying.
"Finally... I can hug my daughter again" Boots heard the man break into tears of joy behind her back.

Ethrindae and Elwina went on stage. Ethrindae wore a red top and pants that clad to her figure, and her skin had an healthy shine under the sun given by what was probably a kind of oil. Elwina had none of that because she was too young for it to be comfortable, and instead wore a flamboyant multicolored outfit.

Ethrindae bowed to the audience, while Elwina talked.
"And now, our dearest audience, welcome to the exhibition of your lives!" Without missing a beat, they started to dance- it was soon clear that Elwina seemed to be a hindrance, but Boots realized that it was probably part of it- Ethrindae danced around Elwina's blunders on stage, much to the amazement of the public, and it formed a flawless seam of steps that would've been too hard to improvise.

Ethrindae captivated them, Elwina made them laugh.

Soon, Ethrindae casted a spell masqueraded as part of the dance- her panther spirit lept on stage, and Elwina's dance seemed to simulate fear as it danced around the panther's fake swipes- a kid even yelled 'Careful!' and 'Behind you!'
Ethrindae soon intervened, using her veils to distract and captivate the panther which stared up at her in adoring eyes, and eventually knelt to eye level of the dangerous feline. Kiss on the nose and it was gone.

Show's yours. Feel free to add details or change stuff- that is more of a 'how the dance would normally go' then being set in stone. Boots can intervene freely.

Alifa arrived about midway through the dance, in time for the summoning. She already saw Ethrindae's conjuration, so she would know nobody was in danger.

[Xihirli]

Boots took out her viol and played along with the dancing. In perhaps a surprising moment, she didn't attempt to take center stage. This was Ethrindae's dance, and she was just there to be background noise. And that was okay.
Nothing much. Just performance. Or a Charisma Check with Viol proficiency. [roll0]; [roll1] if the total is less than 11.

Alifa approached the circus, then sat down as an audience member. After the full performance was over she'd join them... there was a lot to say and none of it would go well with a large audience.
She smiled mischievously, though, at the idea of sprucing up Ronald's performance with a bit of actual magic. "Yeah, I can do that," She muttered. She then focused on the dance. "Ethrindae, did you have to do that? Now I'll never be able to pry Boots away from you."

[Valmark]

The people laughed happily with Elwina and were fascinated by Ethrindae, many of them clapping along with Boots' tune- the trio had not failed the expectations Boots had set up with her brilliant opener.

Away from the stage, Ethrindae laughed at Alifa's words.
"Oh, it would've been irresponsible to not leverage your sister's talent with music, now wouldn't it?"

Meanwhile Ronald and Elwina set up a pair of boxes, the former with his 100% legit wizard outfit and the latter dressed as a valet.
"And now, my dear public, let me show you some magic! No trick, no lie, my studies into the arcane workings of the universe have revealed to me the secrets of... Teleportation!" he murmured some arcane words (which Alifa and Boots could recognize as gibberish) and in a puff of smoke he had a rose in his hand. A second puff, and there wasn't any. He closed his eyes.
"Mmm... Oh my! My rose tried running- Sir, could you bring it back?" without looking, he pointed at a seat where a very familiar halfling was holding a rose with a surprised expression. He hurried to Ronald, giving him his rose, then the magician turned to the boxes.
"But such simple cantrips are not worth your time- let me show the teleportation... Of a real person!"

His routine went on for some time.

Whenever Alifa wants to jump in, you can expect most typical magician tricks.

Meanwhile Xvchimeras was in the tent, with some papers and ink. It seemed that to talk to Boots he'd write his words down.

Ethrindae went off to the make-up table were towels had been left for her to clean the oils and worked up sweat.

[Xihirli]

Boots sat down across from Xvchimeras, but kept stealing glances at Ethrindae. "That was a wonderful dance," she said at one point.
"So, Xvchimeras, I'd like to stage a fight between us. I think I'm the clear underdog, but do you think we should pick a winner here, or what?" She asked.


After some careful consideration, Alifa decided it would be best to have a mage hand hovering near Ronald that, whenever he bowed, it would take off his hat with a flourish. Whenever he waved his wand, she Minor Illusioned a sizzling sound in the air as though the air were burning from his power. And exactly once she cast Prestidigitation to make his already uncomfortably-warm-looking out fit a little bit warmer, with a little mischievous wave at him as she did so.

[Valmark]

Xvchimeras wrote down with a big, clawy hand Yes. We can change on stage if an opportunity for an exciting move shows up- plans don't survive contact with the enemy, but planning is paramount. Would you like to be the winner? If you two will leave after today you should go big.
He offered her a smile that looked very much like a snarl due to the two rows of carnivorous teeth he had. The first time she had seen him smile to anybody that wasn't his steed, though.

Ethrindae merely chuckled hearing her remark, eventually cladding herself back in her robe.
Ronald was legitimately spooked the first couple times, but if there was something he was great at was keeping his poker face. He winked subtly at Alifa when she waved, and overall looked like he was having even more fun then his crowd as Alifa made him feel a bit like a real wizard. The crowd was absolutely loving it.

When Ronald got down, Oegh substituting him and Elwina, he smiled at Alifa.
"Thanks. Those people out there are gonna remember us for a lifetime!" he giggled.

[Xihirli]

"Oh... sure! So... weapons? No weapons?"

I think I'm good to just co-narrate the fight as long as I know that.

"Good show, Ron," Alifa said with a smile. "I don't know if I can join you properly for the next one, but I hope to be on that stage at least once today."

[Valmark]

Xvchimeras lifted a mean-looking handaxe and slashed at his arm- the blade sank in itself, leaving the arm untouched- though from afar it would have looked like a real blow, at least until one could see the lack of wound.

Seemed his way to say yes, because he put it down and lifted a warhammer with drawings of lightning on it.

Any melee weapon that you can think of is there. Most of them are decorated in some way to make them look cool, like rapiers with rose motif or a scythe with a skull.

Bluedgeoning weapons have soft rubber heads, so those aren't lethal as well.

Ronald beamed at not being called 'hat-tricker'.
"Perhaps we can do a show together side-by-side! The greatest wizards of all time, pairing up to bring joy and laughter into the world!" He exclaimed, off in his mental world imagining all the tricks he could pull off with Alifa's help.

[Xihirli]

"Heroes use swords," Boots said, selecting a blunted longsword. She then changed into her padding to put on her armor, smiling right at Ethrindae as she did so.


"I hope we can," Alifa said sincerely. "See you around, Ron."

[Valmark]

Ethrindae was looking at her, and smiled amused when Boots looked back before turning around to watch outside the tent.
"Your turn, warriors" she said, and Xvchimeras passed by Boots leaving her a note.
I'll go first. Meet my challenge, hero.

When Xvchimeras got on the stage, the audience quieted down not knowing what to expect after the previous, wildly different shows- the silence was broken as the dragonborn let out a terrifying roar that made the crowd gasp in amazement, people sitting at the edge of their seats as the dragonborn beat the warhammer on his chest with growls of challenge- black sparks shone from within his mouth and he let out a spurt of black fire towards the sky. His gaze then fell towards Boots, as the giant waited, crowd worked up.

[Xihirli]

The first thing the crowd saw of Boots was a row of icicles frozen onto the border of the stage with bolts of frigid air. Then they heard a thunderous boom as she tapped her blunted sword to her ironwood shield. Striding forward, she set her face in determination.
"I shall rise to the challenge!" She shouted, and stood poised, her shield out between her and Xvchimeras. Her sword she had lifted over her head, pointed toward him.

[Valmark]

The crowd cheered and exulted and some of them started going "Fight! Fight! Fight!" "Beat her up!" "Take him down!" while people quickly picked sides, some loving the smaller knight that came from ice and her steely determination in facing the dragonborn, while others loved the savagery the giant, powerful descendant of dragons exuded.

Xvchimeras grinned and advanced like a train, and with a roar brought up his hammer then down, delivering two heavy blows straight at her shield- Boots got the impression that if those were true weapons it would have been painful. But they were not and as he advanced she could feel the collective intake of air as the audience held their breath.

[Xihirli]

Boots's shield got knocked to one side by the first blow, then struck right off of her arm by the second. But she followed it up with a long, very telegraphed slash that wouldn't have fooled any real opponent, but looked good as she went for Xvchimeras's leg before rolling back, showing that she was immediately on the back foot of the fight.

[Valmark]

Gasps followed as Boots' shield went skidding along the stage and she heard some kids going 'No! Run! Careful!' being more in awe of the smaller knight. The fake blade seemed to bounce off of Xvchimeras and after a split second of thinking the dragonborn cackled and stomped the ground with the leg and only a smidge of pretend pain, faking his superiority as he lifted the hammer up horizontally. He then turned it around and advanced on Boots preparing a very blatant overhead smash, pretty much all of his body open.

[Xihirli]

Boots tackled him, slamming her whole body into his middle to get him onto the ground with her on top.

[Valmark]

There was a thunderous sound as the dragonborn's form collapsed, a Graar of surprise as the warhammer cluttered on the ground, a short distance from Xvchimeras's arm. The dragonborn roared, lunging with his arm trying to get the weapon back before Boots could deliver the final blow.

Finish it. He'll surrender if you tell him to, or pretend to be knocked out if you go for a final blow.

[Xihirli]

Boots brought up her sword, but made it look like he clawed it out of her hands. Whipping back, her feet still planted on his chest, she got the hammer and brought it right down on his head, conking him out.
Boots breathed in and out as visibly as she could, trying to look strained. Then she stood up and gave a quick bow.

[Valmark]

The crowd erupted in cheers, laughs and even some boos from a couple people that were betting (As a saying, nobody actually started betting money) too much on Xvchimeras- they soon clapped louder as Boots noticed the rest of the troupe (minus Nabar) joining them on stage for final bows, Ethrindae and Elwina each taking one of her hands. Oegh helped Xvchimeras up, which looked pretty funny given the height difference, and they all bowed together showered in cheers.

They were soon back in the tent, the sisters and the circus members, most of them happy- Xvchimeras was the only one not smiling. But he was happy, it was just hard to be expressive. Nabar had joined them as well now.

[Xihirli]

Boots squeezed Ethrindae's hand while she bowed with her.


Alifa went back with Nabar and joined them. "I found out where Garret – and possibly Gary – got infected. I think our next step should be to go there."
"When?"
"As soon as you're ready. Ethrindae, are you willing to come with?"
"Also, how much time before the luncheon show?"

[Valmark]

"If you can give me the time to change- this robe is unpractical, and my dancer costume isn't exactly something I should stay in" Ethrindae replied, as she stood up to get changed- there was a very convinient curtain for people to change when someone needed to fully change her outfit, and the elf went to her closet to get a fresh pair of traveler's clothes and go change unobserved.

"People are tipically eating at noon, so it won't be for another three hours at least" Oegh piped up "Most likely four. Can't start the show before seats fill up"

Make it like 11:00-12:00 morning currently in-game. I think after lunch being around 14:00-15:00 makes sense.

[Xihirli]

"Where is it?" Boots asked, trying not to think about Ethrindae changing.
"Fishing lake, there’s a cave at the south."
Alifa gave herself Magely Armor and hugged Boots. "You were great, by the way."
"Aw, thanks." Boots picked her up in the hug, then returned the stage weapons. "Now let’s find this source of corruption."

[Valmark]

The three of them left the group, four including Tilly- it wasn't hard to find the fishing lake, since it was easy to spot from the city's gates. Going there, they were met with crystal clear water and a nice, gentle breeze- trees cast shadows that shielded from the sun, making the place a sweet spot for fishers and just people in general.

Past the lake, the forest picked up just like Garret said- it wasn't long before they spotted the cave within the forest. It... Was pretty weird, actually. A cave emerged in the middle of a clearing didn't seem like something that could happen naturally- especially since the cave's material seemed to be hard rock, while everything around it was soft soil with a bit of undergrowth.

Boots' nerves flared up, looking at the inside of the cave.

Currently outside of the cave, giving you the time to do something if you wish.

Since Boots swore her Oath against the corruption specifically, I will say that her Divine Sense from now on picks up signs of it- but can't quite pinpoint it like with fiends and undeads.

[Xihirli]

Boots got off of Tilly. "I'll go first. Alifa, stay in the back on Tilly." Alifa got on the elk.
Tilly, if Alifa goes limp on you and we aren't able to help, get her out of here.
Boots headed into the cave, cautioning the others to stay back a fair distance. Alifa cast Mage Hand to be able to help Boots out if something came up, even from the distance she was at.
"Into the dark then..." she muttered.

[Valmark]

Aye aye! Will do!

The cave didn't seem very big. They walked in and nearly immediately felt it slope downwards, progressively getting more inclined to the point that Tilly had a bit of trouble descending, what with having hooves instead of feet. The air of humid, and more warm then it would need to be in order to feel comfortable.

Looking around, Alifa was weirdly reminded of an open seed- she had studied plants as well with Malyanna, and the way the cave looked felt as if it had opened like that rather then being dug naturally.

They soon spotted something- deep within the cave, there was a flowerbed of black flowers which seemed to feel their approach. The flowers turned towards them, vibrating and producing what felt like a scream- for a second it felt like Garret's voice, but then the four realized it was just a similar voice.

And above the flowerbed, they saw what Alifa recognized as likely being the 'black smoke' that Garret talked about- a swirling mass that homewever didn't look like gas, but rather... Hundreds, thousands of black particles. Perhaps... Pollen? And It was churning in a way that weirdly reminded Boots of... Primordial?

Within the black mass they saw a heart, still pumping out blood from seemingly nowhere that dropped to the soil feeding the flowers.

Boots knows a Primordial dialect- due to this, she is able to draw parallels between that and the being's speech, though it isn't enough to actually understand it.

Whenever Boots and Alifa listen to full-fledged darklings talking in their own language, if the darklings also used to share a language in common it'll count towards their understanding of the speech- once they together manage to listen to a whole hour of it, they'll be eligible to actually study and learn it.

They are currently at the edge of Boots' darkvision- Alifa can't quite see them yet as she's following Boots from afar. Is 20 feet behind Boots fine?
Ethrindae is on Tilly with Alifa, unless you would prefer her on foot- your choice wether Tilly is uncontrolled, controlled by Alifa or controlled by Ethrindae.

If you plan on attacking right away, initiative.

[Xihirli]

I mean... Boots has an oath to fulfill. [roll0]+[roll1]
Alifa: [roll2]
And I think Boots will have Tilly controlled by... Ethrindae.


Boots lifted her sword. "I’ve found you, darkness. Prepare to be illuminated."

[Valmark]

Ethrindae [roll0]
Darkling Pollen Elemental [roll1]
Darkling Flowers always act on initiative count 20

The elemental churned ominously, and Boots saw pollen swirl and condense in the shape of claws within it.

[Valmark]

The flowers swirled and pumped pollen in the air, though it was still too far to be dangerous.

Fairly tame, for now. The flowers released black pollen within 10 feet- it seems like its area is gonna increase as they keep doing that.

It is Boots.

[Xihirli]

"Ya!" Boots lifted her sword and it lit with pink light, as did Ethrindae and Alifa’s cheeks. She strode forward and cut into the pollen elemental, light gleaming from her every move.


Quickened Bless and ATTACK
[roll0]; [roll1]
[roll2] SMITE [roll3]

[Valmark]

Boots found herself accompanied by Ethrindae's panther, the woman bringing Tilly close enough to be able to have a clear view to the elemental and flowerbed.

Alifa channeled her magic into a promise of death to the flowers- she proceeded to fry a couple flowers with a beam.

The elemental advanced, flowing over the panther and Boots- the claws scratched ineffectively at her armor, but breathing in the pollen made her feel... As if she was breathing above a rotten corpse. Her blade found it hard to cut the pollen, since it was really a mass of particles, but her divine energy left burning streaks wherever they went.

Boots advanced 30 feet and Readied an attack. When the elemental advanced, she attacked and hit it- the sword's damage was ignored because the elemental cannot be hurt by non-magical weapons, but the radiant damage was taken fully- 12 radiant damage.

Ethrindae summoned the panther which readied an attack on the elemental, hit, but couldn't hurt it. Will move on to the flower bed probably.

Alifa cursed the flowerbed and Eldritch Blasted it- 12 hits, but the flowerbed is resistant to single target attacks so she dealt 2 force and 1 necrotic damage only.

Lastly, the elemental moved in melee (provoking her attack) and attacked Boots with two claw attacks- missed both times, but she is within its Rot Aura- she takes 5 necrotic damage at the start of her round (because she passed the Con save). The panther will as well at the start of its turn.

The flowerbed pumps more black pollen- now an area of 20 feet around it is filled with the stuff.

It's Boots. The elemental is in her face, the flowerbed is 30 feet in front of her and Tilly/Ethrindae/Alifa are 30 feet behind her.

[Xihirli]

Boots narrowed her eyes. "As if being immune to my attacks will protect you from me." And she attacked AGAIN!
"I think we may have picked the wrong targets..." Alifa considered. "Let’s put this thing in the ground first." And she swapped targets to the pollen elemental.


Concentrate on Bless, Boots! [roll0]+[roll1]
Attack! [roll2]+[roll3]; [roll4]

Alifa will take the flowers she hit dying as permission to swap Hex to the elemental – on wisdom checks, sadly – and blast!
[roll5][roll6]; [roll7] force and [roll8] necrotic

[Valmark]

As Boots and Alifa double-teamed the elemental they cut out a big chunk of it- undeterred, or perhaps incapable of changing intentions, the elemental kept clawing at the paladin as its pollen filtered through her. It went wide with one of its pollen claws, but the other found a space between pieces of armor and Boots felt ot sink right into her guts, skin rotting around it.

And then she felt heat. Turning around, she could see that Ethrindae's eyes had become yellow- but not the yellow of corruption, but the yellow of fire. All around her eyes lines departed, molten lava brimming within.
"I call upon the lands of Queen Fiamma, Monarch of Battlelust- may the beating heart of the Volcano Lands flow through you!"
The heat fought against the rot of the elemental, though it hardly gave Boots respite.

Her summon broke off to go dig up the flowerbed, dodging a claw from the pollen elemental, but once it was in the concentrated pollen the panther slowed down, everywhere it was touched getting corroded.

The flowers pumped more pollen.

The elemental took full damage from Alifa- it has currently taken a total of 37 damage and is bloodied.

The flowerbed automatically fails dex saves and takes double damage from AoEs- unfortunately Ethrindae rolled **** on the damage. It has currently taken 10 damage.

Boots took 15 slashing damage from a crit, was healed by 2 and got 1 thp- in total she took 12 damage and needs to make a DC 15 Con save to halve 10 necrotic damage due to the vicinity to the elemental.

Alifa did not receive any damage and is doing good, so is Tilly. Alright Tilly isn't actually doing damage.

Ethrindae used Balm of the Summer Court Molten Council to heal Boots and threw an Ice Knife at the Flowerbed.

Her summon broke from the elemental to charge at the flowerbed, but discovered that the produced by it is the equivalent of a non-magical necrotic Spirit Guardians- it took a Dash Action to reach the flowerbed and is on its last legs.

Said Spirit Guardians is now 30 feet large and will next round start hurting Boots unless she pulls away.

Boots and Alifa, your turn.

[Xihirli]

Boots isn’t afraid of Spirit Guardians.

[roll0]; [roll1]; [roll2] SMIIIIIITE

Alifa! Kill the elemental! [roll3]+[roll4]; [roll5]+[roll6]

[Xihirli]

Boots coughed but kept right on hacking away.
"Are you alright!?" Alifa asked, firing distracted.
"I’m fine! Stay back!"

[Valmark]

Boots cut into the elemental, but its last strands still stood, poised to strike her down.

"Clephesia? Your right"

As the paladin looked to the right she felt crackling of fire as something hot passed behind her head, Ethrindae's flame moving through where a second before had been her cheek and hitting the elemental with just enough precision to burn away the remnants of it. The bleeding heart fell to Boots' feet.

She then lifted a seed, and put it in her mouth- blowing, bright pollen flew out of her mouth toward Boots- as the houri breathed it in, she could feel Ethrindae's pollen fighting the rot within her body.

"Unless you feel confident, I would like to suggest backing off from the very obviously incapable of chasing enemy and use ranged attacks"

Ethrindae descended from Tilly.

The flowerbed kept pumping pollen desperately. Or at least so it looked to Boots- she wasn't sure how, but it was clear to her that with the elemental gone the flowers were scared.

Ethrindae dealt the last damage needed to the elemental and used an Healing Word to heal 11 hp to Boots.

Boots cannot get out of the Spirit Guardians aura before it reaches her: DC 13 Wis save to halve [roll0] necrotic damage.

So- The heart is at Boots' feet. The flowerbed is 30 feet away so Boots would need to Dash to reach it- she is also within Dash&Mount distance from Tilly.

Ethrindae has left Tilly, so I'm putting her under Alifa's control unless you wish otherwise- remember that Alifa actually acts after Ethrindae, so she can still move if you wish. She also can change her action, though if you're going to Eldritch Blast another target you're gonna keep the roll.

And yeah, the flowerbed extended her Corruptive Pollen (i.e. Spirit Guardians) to 40 feet.

Ethrindae is leaving the elk in case Boots wants to use Tilly as her mount.

[Xihirli]

General tactic is staying back and cantrip spamming.

Wis: [roll0]+[roll1]; concentration [roll2]+[roll3]
Ray of Frost [roll4]+[roll5]; [roll6] cold damage
Boots nodded weakly and lit a torch. She dropped it, backpedaled away, and icy wind blasted from her hand after the plants.
Alifa moved her curse to the next cluster of plants and kept firing, moving Tilly a bit back now that the cave was better lit.

[Xihirli]

Ice and bolts went in a chorus toward the flower bed, freezing and then shattering leaves, branches, and at last the stem. As the rotting pollen fell, Boots ran back to the heart of the pollen elemental she’d left there and picked it up.
"Let’s make sure this cave is clear, then burn every piece of the corruption we have."
"So... the cave is the source, but we still don’t know who killed Gary, if he was corrupted, or whether it spread outside of those two."
"We should definitely give the town a once-over after the afternoon show. I can detect the corruption, so if there’s any left we should be able to find it."

[Valmark]

The black heart was still beating and pumping out blood, although now it wasn't being absorbed by the soil but instead started splattering it.

Ethrindae massaged her temples as the molten lava receded from her eyes and from around them- they left sizzling burn marks behind, much to Ethrindae's dismay.
"I think... Some fresh air will do me good. I'll wait outside" she turned around to leave.

Can I go too? Place gives me the creeps Tilly asked And everything seems fine now anyway.

The cave was indeed clear- and everything left of the corruption of the ground was all stuff that burned super well, despite the humidity of the place. They could easily make one big pyre and get out of there.

Remember that:

- Garret told you that he and his brother breathed in the black 'smoke' and then Garret first shed his skin, the black patch Alifa has been carrying;
- Something was missing from within the corpse's chest.

[Xihirli]

They made one big pyre and tossed in the heart, the skin Alifa had, the crystal fragments, anything left of the flower bed, and anything of the corruption they had that I am forgetting.
Then they joined Ethrindae outside. Boots's skin didn't look great. "I could use a breather after we get back," Boots admitted, and climbed onto Tilly.
"Thank you for your help," Alifa said to Ethrindae again. "I have a question... where we're from, druids are taught a secret language that is very important that they don't share it with anyone irresponsible or evil. Does the same happen here?"

[Valmark]

Tecnically you left the rat corpse in the room at the inn, but let's pretend you kept it to destroy it. I assume you'd do it anyway, so this is just skipping steps.

Ethrindae's burn marks were gone by the time they joined her.

"Yes" the druid answered Alifa "I hope you'll understand if that's all of the answer you'll get from me on the subject- even if you don't seem to fall into either category" she turned away.
"If you wish, Clephesia, after you've checked the city for corruption I could've a look at your wounds- paladin vigor or not, that can't have left you with a pleasant taste in your mouth, and one of those attacks from the elemental seemed to have gotten you good. But first we should likely have lunch- agreed?"

[Xihirli]

"Yes," Boots agreed immediately. "Thank you so much, mo-ma'am." She followed Ethrindae to wherever she was going, Alifa chuckling behind them.

[Valmark]

They went back, running only a bit late for lunch. The sisters ate with all of the circus' staff, but then separated- it was time to work.

Boots and Alifa combed through the city- it wasn't hard, thanks to Boots' Divine Sense they could check whole buildings without entering, but the city wasn't small and it still took a couple hours. Luckily thanks to Tilly Boots had no trouble keeping up despite her injuries.

They did not find any more traces except some rapidly-deteriorating remnants in Garret's shop from when he was being actively corrupted- and interestingly enough Garret, Xvchimeras and the giant lizard didn't ping Boots' senses. It seemed like an healed partially corrupted person didn't register to her.

Gary's body had been moved and buried- thanks to funerary rites his body was not going to be dangerous in any way.

It seemed that, by intervining as fast as they did, the sisters had saved the city's people- without their intervention the corruption might have grown unopposed until it was too late.

Ultimately, Boots left to go take care of her wounds while Alifa found herself in front of the barracks- thanks to taking their time combing through the city they roughly knew where to find what they needed now.

[Xihirli]

"Hello," she said. "I spoke to a dwarven captain of the guard before," she said. "Could I see him again?"

[Valmark]

The guard Alifa addressed was one of those that had been present on the crime scene- he recognized her, and was promptly escorted to the dwarven officer.

It was a relatively big office, with cabinets of documents and a racket of weaponry- in the middle a desk with a huffing dwarf who did not seem to like bureocracy by the way he glared at the papers in front of him.
"Please tell me this is good news" he said seeing Alifa be led in.

[Xihirli]

"It is. We determined that the black nails were the result of corruption that Gary was infected with – he was becoming a darkling," Alifa explained. "Along with his brother Garrett. We managed to cure Garrett and stamp out the rest of the corruption in the area, which originated in a cave south of the fishing lake. We know that somebody or something infected killed Gary, but the lack of tracks suggests to me that he killed himself to prevent the transformation from continuing, afraid he would hurt someone. Garrett's condition will not progress and he is in control of himself, but if he hurts someone they might become infected, so it might be best to keep anyone from attacking him. While we didn't find out exactly what corrupted thing killed Gary, we did wipe out all the infection in this town. The danger, at least, is past." She smiled sadly. "I'd like to speak to Britta, if possible."

[Valmark]

The dwarf nodded gravely- under all his projected spite Alifa could see a good person, who was saddened and relieved of hearing the news.
"Of course. We brought her in for some questions, though we've had to be light since she was in no condition for... Tactless questions" he said then looked at the guard "Show her where Britta is. Meanwhile have someone call Garret in- don't worry traveler, he's not in danger. We just need to corroborate your story- we'll investigate, and if you haven't lied by tomorrow morning we should've a reward prepared for solving the crime"

Britta was sitting in a confortable-looking chair in a room that seemed to be used for questioning, given that it had three chairs on one side and only the one on Britta's. She was holding a mug of some dark liquid which smelled good, and looked up at Alifa meekly.
"Yes...?"

[Xihirli]

"Hello, Britta." Alifa sat down across from her. "Do you remember me? Me and my sister were investigating what happened to your fiancé."

[Valmark]

Britta took a deep breath, then nodded.
"Yes... You... Accompanied me home, right?" she asked- she seemed to still be reeling from events of the day before, understandably. But there was enough recognition in her eyes.

[Xihirli]

"That's right. We found out... or mostly found out, what happened." She took a breath. "Gary was infected with a particular disease that was turning him into a darkling. He caught this illness when fishing with his brother. The corruption is why he spent so much time..." Alifa considered if it would be a good idea saying "drinking," and instead went with "away from you. The corruption wanted to make him do terrible things. Me and my sister have removed everything else corrupted in the town, and none of it could have killed him except... him. We... I have concluded that he killed himself to stop the spread. To venture a bit more into the territory of guessing... I believe he did so in order to protect you."
Alifa offered Britta a hand to hold.

[Valmark]

Britta latched onto Alifa's hand, bringing it in front of her face- Alifa heard crying, Britta holding onto Alifa's hand thightly as she hid behind it to weep.

It was a long while before Alifa heard something.
"...thank you"

Level Alifa up whenever you want.

[Xihirli]

"You're welcome," Alifa said. She stayed with Britta as long as the woman needed.

[Valmark]

Britta started telling Alifa stories. About how she met Gary, how they used to play as kids jumping into mud pools after the rain and be promptly scolded by their parents. About how he and her were always sharing every secret and would help each other in the smallest things, and how he had proposed to her under the moonlight with a ring with a semi-precious gemstone the color of her eyes.

By the end of it, Britta looked... Not happy, of course, but at least relieved. She had needed someone she could talk to about Gary, even if it wasn't going to bring him back.

Finally, she let go.
"I'll... Be fine, thank you"

Anything you want to do with Alifa? Otherwise after Boots is done next post will be dinnertime I believe.

[Xihirli]

Alifa offered Britta a final hug, then went to go find the circus.

No, I don't think so. Alifa is ready to move on to the feywild... though Boots can maybe convince her to wait until morning.

[Valmark]

Eventually, they found their way back together around dinnertime- Ethrindae looking the most relaxed she had ever looked since the sisters met her.
"So, will you be staying the night?" she asked the sisters as they ate.

[Xihirli]

"Yes," Boots said while Alifa simultaneously said "I'm not sure." They traded a few glances, and eventually Alifa returned to the question.
"Yes."
"Is there going to be an evening performance?" Boots asked.

[Valmark]

Ethrindae looked at Nabar, who chuckled "I've heard some people leave because they realized that Boots wasn't gonna be there, I predict that if we show up without the sisters there won't be much of an audience" he recounted- it seemed like Nabar's work was a very behind-the-scenes kind of operation, since the sisters never saw him step on stage.
"There you have it, we'll need you for the evening show" she looked sneakily at Boots when she said 'need' and the houri could be sure there was a smirk directed at her. It seemed like Ethrindae enjoyed a bit of subtle teasing as well.

[Xihirli]

"Well, Alifa? Are we going to have an evening show?"
"Absolutely!" Alifa said. "I haven't gotten to perform yet!"
"Oh, by the way, Elwin..." and Boots told Elwin all about the corruption and her curing Garrett and fighting the corruption in a cave.

[Valmark]

Elwina was drinking avidly from Boots' words, these cool, strong travelers fron another world fighting the monsters that make up a great part of the evil of the world... And saving people. Even Xvchimeras looked with respect hearing about Garret.

Likely because it was personal.

There was a collective murmur hearing about Ethrindae's lava healing, and Nabar opened his mouth to speak up.
"Don't" the elf cut him off with a sharp tone and pretty much everybody moved away from the evidently sore subject.

I believe that if you don't have else to speak about we can move over to Alifa's show, and gloss over the rest as it would be a repeat of the morning one.

[Xihirli]

Alifa came on in the middle, after her and Ron went on together she stayed out. She lifted into the air a metal disk on her mage hand, then pointed at it and fired into the middle, opening a little hole in it. She then dropped it gently into the crowd so someone could see and feel that the hole was real. She then, in full view of the audience, no slight of hand necessary, created a miniature statue of a rabbit. She threw it onto the ground and it vanished. "What else do you want to see?" She asked the audience and, taking suggestions, used Minor Conjuration to produce all manner of things, passing them around the audience for them to feel her creations before she removed them from existence to create a new one.

[Valmark]

There was plenty of affluence- in a day, the city's people had grown enamored of the two newcomers that had made so many people laugh... And helped so many. Boots and Alifa were going to be remembered even if what they did may not have looked big on the grander scale of things.
Yet.

The night, Boots and Alifa slept well- not in the same bed and Boots certainly stayed up longer, but they both went to bed satisfied.

Long rest!

The next morning, Alifa woke up in her bed and Boots woke up cradled in Ethrindae's embrace, the elf smiling down at her.
"Morning"

[Xihirli]

Boots closed her eyes again.
"No, at morning I have to go, so it’s not morning yet."


Alifa figured Boots would want to sleep or at least stay in, and she needed to buy something. She headed into the markets looking for anyone selling charcoal and/or incense.

[Valmark]

Ethrindae smiled sweetly and shifted position to hug Boots better, kissing her head. She seemed to be fine with that.
The markets were fairly easy to locate after her foray into the city the day before, and she could easily find what she wished for at market price. Passing by the barracks, the guards handed her two filled bags of coins- for their services to the city the sisters had earned 100 gold coins each. Alifa was given both sacks, for convinience.

[Xihirli]

"Thank you," Alifa said, and found a quiet spot. She put the charcoal and incense she'd just bought in a small brazier.
"I think I understand this world now..." she muttered. "Boots said it responded to her oath. Everyone has magic in them, everyone's a little bit sorcerous. This world's magic is more... emotional. So to pull on the threads... I have to truly want it." She didn't light the brazier. She instead took some webbing out of her pouch and wound it tight into a ball that she stuffed the charcoal in. Slowly, the charcoal collapsed into a spider egg, and out hatched...
"Hello, Peter."
And with her spider on her shoulder, she headed back to the circus and – gently – knocked on Ethrindae's door.

[Valmark]

Ethrindae woke up Boots again, giving her a couple kisses.
"Your sister came" she whispered "It's time to get up, Clephesia"

To mark her words, she released slowly Boots from her embrace as Ethrindae reached for her nightgown. Only after both were presentable she let Alifa in, unsure how intimate the sisters were.

[Xihirli]

Boots rolled off the bed and dressed fairly sadly. "So my Lala... my dad has this spell... that lets him go into people's dreams. If I ever get access to that, do you think we can set something up?"


And then Alifa came in. "Boots, your shirt is on backwards."
"Oh." Boots took off her shirt and put it on the right way.
"Hello, Ethrindae. I came to ask... where did you get your acorn? And... do you have another? I can pay for it."

[Valmark]

Ethrindae looked at Alifa, then laughed.
"The workings of destiny are amusing indeed- I assume you can use it?" she asked, walking over to her acorn pendant. She picked it up, retrieved a sealed scroll case, and walked back to Alifa.
"Here" she handed first the scroll case "I compiled what I know about the current Faerie- I hope this'll help you not go in blindly. There is also a payment for your shows- as for the acorn..." she offered her own.

"My sister would have wanted to hand this over to someone who deserves it more. You don't need to pay me- just promise you won't misuse it and will protect your sister with it. And Clephesia... I believe that as long as your power doesn't come from specifically the feys you'll be able to find me"

[Xihirli]

"I... wait, what?" Boots asked. "Do you have something against the fey?"
"What's this about your sister?" Alifa accepted the acorn gratefully. "Thank you, Ethrindae. You've... you've been a wonderful friend."

[Valmark]

Ethrindae looked at them with a pained expression... She went to sit on the bed.
Alifa... Clephesia... Those questions..." she sat on the opposite side from them, almost... Ashamed.
"Alifa... I told you I didn't believe Gary could hold himself back from killing his brother out of love. There is... A reason I didn't. And still think it was just luck. My family... We were all part of the same Circle. I... Think you can guess the rest" there was a little pitter patter sound as a tear, a single one, fell on her knee.
"As for your question, Clephesia... I was a bitter young woman when the corruption consumed my Circle. Faerie is my power, and I've said and done things that... Made me fall out of tune with it. I am... a fallen druid. Using the abilities bestowed upon me by Faerie consumes my life, and if someone was to use powers on me drawn by there it could result in... Undesired side effects" Ethrindae, the Broken Druid, concluded.

Ethrindae is a Circle of the Broken Druid.

A druid is forced into this subclass if they commit blasphemy towards what they stand for, and cannot come back if they are not forgiven.

They retain their previous subclass abilities, but using them hurts- in Ethrindae's case she receives the amount she heals with the Balm in damage.

In addition the Constitution Score is reduced to 8, or reduced by 2 if it's already 8.

If someone who is powered specifically by what the Broken Druid betrayed uses abilities on them, they may work differently.

[Xihirli]

Ho-lee ****. That's why she applies healing balm literally all the time.

Boots gasped and sat next to her, offering a hand to hold. "I'm so sorry, Ethrindae. I... I had no idea."
"Neither of our power comes from our fey heritage... or at least, not much of it. Aside from the power of her own conviction, Boots was nursed by our world's goddess of beauty, which gave her a spark of divine power. I have learned to manipulate magic in a few different ways, neither of which draws from my innate faerie nature," Alifa explained.

[Valmark]

"Goddess of beauty? I can see that" Ethrindae offered them a smile- a strained smile, but still one. She took Boots' hand, but not to hold it- she kissed her fingers.
"Do not worry about me, Clephesia- it's been nearly two hundred years. Time may have a different concept for a pure blooded elf, but enough time will still heal a wound- even if my powers never recovered. But that's what I deserve for failing, you need not to waste your light on me- Alifa, if you can protect yourself and your sister with that pendant... That's all I could hope for what remains of the sister I couldn't protect"

[Xihirli]

Boots kissed her. Right on the lips. "It's not wasted," she whispered, and then went with Alifa outside.
"To Faerie?"
"To faerie."

I'm gonna have them head for the Queen who replaced the one that they were supposed to go to.

[Valmark]

With a last farewell, Ethrindae bid them goodbye.

On Tilly, the Crossing was still a good three days away- not having a time limit to race against, the sister made their way with leisure, keeping a good pace (which, for an elk, was nearly double the pace of the people on foot) and also enjoying their country path. Due to Boots they weren't exactly sneaky and often saw birds rise up in the sky, flying away from the two travelers.

It was in the afternoon, heading towards the evening, that the sisters noticed what seemed to be very big birds rise from the trees of the forest they were in and turn towards them- it did not take long for them to realize that big birds flying straight at the two (three with Tilly) on a road that had been said being the target of attacks on part of harpies could only be, indeed, harpies. From afar they could make out one of the first village they knew to be on the way to the crossing, smoke rising up in amusing twist.

Harpy attack! If you wish to reach the village and dodge them I will need an Athletics from the Elk- failing by too much will mean being overtaken.

Otherwise Initiative probably makes sense.

The smoke from the village doesn't seem to be the kind of smoke that comes out of arsonism, btw.

It seemed to be a relatively small group, but maybe there were more hidden.