Secret of mana IC thread

[Alhallor]

Spoiler: Larimar

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Larimar remembers hearing something about Nemesis Owls. Namely that they are powerful spellcasting creatures and that they are also utterly and totally mad. Sometimes casting a mere cantrip, crying and then flying away, then the next day the same creature casting powerful magic left and right. You don't know if they can be reasoned with.

The creature is definitely magical and one of the amulet's is too.

Something hits Zanthia mentally. A short time after Larimar is also struck with something.

[WindStruck]

A glazed look passes over Larimar's eyes, as if he's clearly lost, and emotions are inscrutable. Happy one moment, then angry?

Suddenly yelling something in Chobin, he swings his rope around at an invisible phantom. Being hit on the back with it, he whirls around to apprehend his silky assailant, snarling and throwing a punch at it. Still not satisfied, he growls and lunges forward, only to trip over the other portion of the rope. He's now locked in a wrestling match with an inanimate rope. And somehow, he manages to bite his own tail...

Spoiler: ooc

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lose 1 hp of damage at least. Maybe (1d2+1)[2], I don't know...

Ridai! Heeeeeeeeeeeeeelp!

[Ridai]

Thaum watches with measured surprise at what is conspiring.

"Let us nip this nonsense in the bud right now," he says dryly as he reaches out to Larimar to imbue him with a spell.

Spoiler: Actions

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Thaum casts protection from evil on Larimar. While the defense bonuses may or may not help, the spell does generally prevent/suppress most enchantment effects. Such as confusion.

[MikelaC1]

Zanthia grabs her head momentarily...something is in my mind

[WindStruck]

Larimar snaps out of his thrashing and and wild throws and blinks, looking around confused.

"...huh? What happened? And which one of you jokers just tried to tie me up?"

[Gryps2]

Seeing Larimar's odd performance, Aned narrows her eyes, first looking towards the prone nemesis owl, before casting a wider gaze. "There must be another opponent." she says, glancing about as she unsheathes her blade.

Spoiler: OOC

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Good ol' Spot check. (1d20+11)[31]

[Alhallor]

There seem to be no more mental attacks and the owl looks quite serene while sleeping.

Spoiler: Aned

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You look around, the animal presence that was there fleed when the owl jumped out of her hiding place, but other than a rabbit that seems to be kind of slow in the running away business you can detect no more opponents.

[Ridai]

"You did," Thaum helpfully offers to Larimar. "My guess would be that the 'Nemesis' in Nemesis Owl is not simply a fancy name and that the mental attacks were caused by attacking it." He looks at the sleeping owl creature.

"Unless you all feel strongly about killing it, we could simply leave. By the time it wakes up, we would be long gone."

[tonberryking]

Rina hangs back, fearful that any unseen mental effects may turn their attentions to her next.

"Not that I condone executing it, but if that owl was causing you to behave strangely even while unconscious, that makes it an unpredictable and dangerous threat..."

She takes a deep breath.

"Maybe if we just toss it in the underbrush somewhere and stay out of its range it will be too busy untangling itself by the time we're gone to avenge itself...

Spoiler: ooc/rolls

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May as well use scent to check and see if there were two creatures here, even if the Schrodinger's Antagonist is gone now: (1d20+7)[17] Survival?

[Alhallor]

Some liveliness seem to return to this part of the forest. A magpie sings her song, under some leaves there is movement from a small rodent. The Nemesis Owl does some small movements that seem to fit for a sleeping creature.

Spoiler: Rina

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The most prominent smell comes from the owl. It smells like hairballs with parts of flesh and grinded bone. Otherwise the forest smells like a nice autumn forest with all the plethora of smells that come with that. What doesn't fit is that you are sure there were several creatures here, perhaps only a moment ago. And instead of the creatures dispersing their smells seem to withdraw into the ground.

[Toliudar]

Coney speaks in a hoarse whisper, peering out from behind the tree.

"What? We're just going to...well. If we're leaving it alive, then we need to go now, and put a lot of distance between us. They're natural hunters, and we're following an obvious path."

She darts out and forward immediately, giving the sleeping owl an extremely wide berth.

[tonberryking]

Rina once more behaves oddly, having only now drawn the smaller of her two massive falchions. Tense and clamping down a frantic worry, it's only the sounds of nature returning that keep her calm. To an extent.

"...No. No it's not the owl; something else was here," she says with a bit of nervousness, "Seriously, um.. just chuck it into the bushes and let's keep moving. I think we've been watched... by something underneath us. ...I'm not kidding, really."

[Ridai]

"Alright," Thaum responds. His guess was simply that, a guess, but Rina seems to glimpse what is actually going on. He drags the owl into the bushes, as suggested, then moves further down the path at heightened speed with the others.

Spoiler: Actions

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Thaum is hustling, so doing double moves to travel, but not running.

[WindStruck]

Larimar had managed to untangle himself from the rope and decided to just put it away when the others wanted to leave. "Right then, let's go! Quickly now!"

With is bow in hand again, he jogs along with the others for a bit.

[Alhallor]

The owl seems to be mumbling in its sleep and doesn't wake up when it's put towards the bushes.

Spoiler: Rina, only when you decide to follow Thaum

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The scent of the other creatures gets weaker.

[Gryps2]

Aned follows along with Thaum. "I do not suppose anyone is skilled enough in counter-tracking to erase our trail? I will keep to the ground for the moment, so the owl will not spot me so easily when it awakens."

"Will it follow us, I wonder, when we reach the autumn quarter of the woods?" she ruminates, mostly to herself. Owls of course could live in warmer climes, but one so suited to the winter might hesitate to follow somewhere where its camouflage was not useful.

[WindStruck]

"Well if we're following a road, I don't think trying to cover up any tracks will help.." Larimar says. "But on the other hand, maybe the owl is so crazy, maybe it'll just think it dreamed up seeing us in the first place!"

[Toliudar]

As the group got underway again, Coney remained agitated, her ears constantly twitching and turning back to monitor for sounds of pursuit.

She lops over to Rina, monitoring her companion's mental state. She had seemed just as rattled by the last encounter, if not necessarily for the same reasons.

"Did you hear them too? Underground?"

[Alhallor]

The party leaves the sleeping owl behind and travels further. The path has been filled with leaves that crunch audibly whenever a foot is set upon them. It takes roughly 2 hours of relatively fast travel where the road makes one turn, when the sommer section of the forest is reached.

The warmth may borders on a bit too hot for some of the travelers. There are several small animals that crosses the groups path. Lively squirrels and some bugs are only some examples. After around an hour you come to a T-section, and there is a wooden shield on the road that points towards Rabiton, further in the south area and another one that points towards the possible spring section with Valsena written on it.

The path towards Valsena and Rabiton have some notable trolley trails.

The path towards Rabiton seems to be reasonably well maintained, and looks more and more like a real road the further you get towards Rabiton, though it's not inlaid with stone, there is mostly no growth on the path and after another half-hour you see a small village surrounded by a fence of wooden stakes. Behind these seem to be some platforms and someone shouts out when they see you and two individuals, a Rabite and a Human look out of the gap on the fence. The human wields a simple spear and some kind of wicker armor and the rabite looks ready to bite at first but both relax a bit when they see that you are not monsters but don't really relax when they see the group.

Behind the gap you can see a well, some houses a cart that get's unloaded, a tower that looks like it will collapse any moment and a temple complex.
The human and the rabite exchange a look and the human steps forward.

"Welcome to Rabiton, I'm Alrik and this is my collague, Alden." He says while pointing towards the rabite.
"How can I help you?"

Spoiler: MAP

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Rabiton Please just imagine that the lines are just more wooden stakes, it would have taken too long if I wanted to make a full wall of them.

Spoiler: Coney

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From your position you definitely see that they added some houses. The strange tower is also new and the settlement seems to have become a bit bigger overall. You don't recognize the rabite at the gate, but you see a rabite working on that cart that wears a garish red headband and you're sure it's one of your children.

Spoiler: Zanthia

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There is a rabite with a garish red headband that seems to get supplies from the cart and gives it to another human.

Spoiler: Aned

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You see a rabite wearing a garish red headband working on that cart. Between a gap in the fence you can see a relatively wealthy person that seems to coordinate the unloading of the cart.

[tonberryking]

As the smaller rabbite dances about Rina's oversized boots, the wood elf doesn't break stride but her thoughts and words stumble, "I... think so but I mostly sensed it from s--... ...different means." she inexplicably blushes, "Forgive my ignorance but rabbites don't burrow like that, do they? she attempts to shift focus.

By the time they reach the outskirts of the town, she's put away her sword and tries to hide in the background, to let the more seasoned diplomats not carrying blatantly large weapons do the talking.

[Ridai]

"Greetings to you. My name is Thaum, and these fine ladies and gentleman are Larimar, Zanthia, Coney, Rina, and Aned," the healer introduces the group one after another, pointing to each and simply going from his left to right, before turning back to the two guards with a smile. "We are here to investigate the legend of the Black Rabite, in addition to having learned of a possible threat to Rabiton. We would like to offer our assistance in regards to the latter, and if we could speak to whoever may be in charge of securing this settlement, that would be most gracious."

Spoiler: Actions

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These are more "just in case they are needed" rolls
Diplomacy (1d20+20)[31]
Sense Motive (1d20+22)[35]

The tower is also labeled in German on the map.

[WindStruck]

Larimar lets Thaum do the talking, but bobs his head along to what he says and waves with a toothy grin.

[Toliudar]

As the group arrives in Rabiton, Coney finally seems to relax. When they get closer and meet Alrik and Alden, Coney seems about to speak, but trails off. She literally bounces up and over to the wagon being unloaded, her raspy voice loud and joyous.

"Terryn! Terryn! Look how big you are!"

She virtually divebombs the rabite in the red bandana, seeking to wrap her long ears around the other Rabite's face.

[MikelaC1]

Elevated temperatures are of little concern to Zanthia, if robes needed to be loosened or even completely discarded (and her opinion of what constitutes scandalously underdressed is much different from others) then she is completely willing to do so (and sometimes makes her spells more effective). When they reach the rabite village, she is content to let Thaum do the initial talking, ready to take over if things go wrong

[Gryps2]

Aned surveys the town curiously, through her eyes are drawn to the ramshackle tower. "That is.. quite a structure." she says, impressed that it is still standing. But old buildings are valuable history. "Whose tower is that?"

[Alhallor]

"Black rabite? A threat?" Says the rabite Alden a bit sceptical but both seem to at least consider the proposal after realizing the serious tone Thaum speaks in. When Coney basically jumps over them Alrik is a bit startled, but can keep himself from spearing the rabite. "Oh, your friends with Terryn?" Alrik catches himself and answers Aned's question. "Oh, that is the tower of our very own mage Rince. He decided to settle himself here to study the forest or something. He is a bit of a loner but he's alright. I guess I get the Burgomaster. You can come in." Says Alrik and Alden chimes in. "I get father Rem." They nod to one another and Alden jumps towards the temple complex and Alrik makes his way to the man that seems to coordinate the wagon unloading progress who seems a little confused that he sees two rabites who seem to cuddle.

The rabite with the red bandana let's a crate fall when he sees Coney and the other guy can barely catch it. "MothÂ…" He get's tackled by Coney and laughs happily and seems to also try to return the embrace. "Mother! It's been forever."

If the greetings are sorted out you can get in touch with the Burgomaster Andrew and father Rem in a neat little office inside the General store.

Burgomaster Andrew is a human that wears nicely-tailored clothes and seems to be have a bit of a pot-belly. He seems a bit lost.

Father Rem is a regal looking rabite who wears the holy Symbols of Jinn and the Dryad and wears some kind of yellow and green robe that manage to not sting in the eyes. Terryn has come with you if you have no objections.

"What exactly have you come here for, I got a brief summary but the situation seems to be dire indeed." Says the Burgomaster, while father Rem also looks a bit worried.

Spoiler: Coney

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You have met Rem some years ago, but he hasn't don'd priestly robes at that time.

[Toliudar]

Coney

After a lot of ear-holding and nose-touching, Coney disentangles long enough to introduce each member of the group in turn to her son, Terryn. Her voice, normally gravelly and weighty, has gone up half an octave and doubled in speed.

"Everyone, this is my son. I'd say he's my favourite, but he never writes, so he's slipped down the rankings a bit. Not that I've done a very good job of keeping up either, right, kid?"

She takes a moment to smooth out a bit of the fur on his face.

"Anyway, Terryn. We're here to learn more about anything usual that's been going on here lately.
And of course, while we're here, I'd also love to catch up. Are your sisters living in town, still? Maybe we can all get together this evening. I don't know where we'll all be staying yet, but if we get done early enough this afternoon, I could even try to find time to make my specialty."

She turns quickly to her colleagues.

"Everyone assumes it's going to be carrot stew or carrot cake or something, bloody racists. In facti, it's a whipped potato and turnip confection, whipped with a little hard cheese and roasted nuts on top, takes an hour or so to pull together and a decent oven with even heat or it doesn't work, but when it does-"

She does the mouth-kissing thing with her ears. Then realizes that they are in fact here on serious business. She hugs her son again.

"Tonight, all right? You name the place. But I've got to go."

--

At the meeting with Andrew and Rem, Coney seems torn between her usual gravitas and her cheer at seeing Rem again. She congratulates him on his position, and tells him that she's sure he's doing a bang-up job as priest here in town.

"It's all hints and portents at this time, but serious enough that we thought it important to follow up.

"A few weeks ago, we nearly came to blows with a representative of a human cult focused on fighting the Black Rabite and his influence. Unfortunately, they're trying to do so by killing off awakened rabites. We don't have a name for the group or the leader, but two of the agents are Sigmund and Friselda.

"When we tried to follow up rumors of the Dark Rabite with divinations, we got more dreams and portents of claws and nastiness, suggesting that even if the Black Rabite does not yet walk the land, neither is his influence gone.

"Oh! And I found this medallion -"

She holds up her pendant with the clawed hand symbol.

"- on a genuinely unpleasant mostly-dead fellow underground. I don't really know how, or if, he was interwoven with all of this, but everything seems connected at this point.

"So we have some indication that the cult may be making a move against the population here, within the next few weeks.
We have some indication that the old evil of the Black Rabite is on the rise. And I hadn't seen my kids here in simply AGES.
And here we are!"

She glances around at her colleagues, checking to see what she had forgotten.

[WindStruck]

Larimar silently takes in his surrounds for the most part, and listens as, now Coney does a lot of talking. But he chimes in, "Yeah, I think that about sums it up. Or in other words, we're here to maybe stop some idiots from attacking this place." He shrugs and adds, "If that is indeed what may happen soon."

[Alhallor]

"You know my earwriting is atrocious." Terryn quickly brings his fur in disorder again after Coney smoothes it over.

"Mary is helping Father Rem and the others, well they are what they are."

Spoiler: Coney

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Meaning there are not awakened.

"Me and Mary live in the house south of the Barn. We could try making a bit of room for you and your friends, sadly we still don't have an Inn, as often as I try to talk that into Andrew." He rolls his eyes for emphasis and get's into mouth-watering when Coney talks about her specialty.

"I get this here done and get some wood for the oven. It's going to be a feast!"

-

"I'm glad to see you safe and sound Mi... Coney" Says Rem, trying to give his voice a heavy and important tone but also having problems staying that way.

"That cult you speak of seems to be totally insane, the names doesn't ring a bell sadly." Father Rem seems quite shocked about the news, but collects himself pretty fast.

He inspects the symbol with some interest.

[SPOILER=Roll](1d20)[1] It's just about the raw number, you don't know his modifiers yet.[/SPOILER ]"It looks pretty nasty that's for sure. Sadly I fear I can't tell you any more about it.

The Burgomaster Andrew seems pretty agitated at that point and looks down. "Were going to be attacked by an insane cult? Oh no… Nonono… It's not enough that we have problems with the wildlife around here, but then this." He wretches once, but doesn't actually throw up. "I have to inform everyone here. Talk with Rince, perhaps get a message towards Valsena. If we can spare some coins perhaps we can get some help. It's probably because of the rumors."

He looks up at you and seems to have at least get a bit of a grip on himself. "I gave it no mind. The people always talked about the Silktails you know. Supposedly the mightier cousins of the rabites. But the supposed sightings have increased. An indention in the snow, without any other trail. Movement behind some trees. Some wool on a tree branch that has strange consistency." He sighs and looks at Larimar. "That means there is a chance they may not attack? That would be wonderful indeed, but we can't just hope that. Could I possibly hire you? I fear we don't have that much coin at our disposal but I'm sure I could scrunge something together."

[Ridai]

"Thank you kindly," Thaum answers the two guards, following Coney right after, watching the heart-warming scene with a faint smile, nodding and greeting Terryn in turn (and adding a "That sounds lovely" in response to Coney's recipe).

Not needing to add anything in regards to why they are here. "Sir, I cannot speak for the others, but I would prefer it if you spent your funds on Rabiton and its people rather than me. I will talk to Rince, and provide what healing and support I can."