(IC - D&D 3.5) Rathan's Problem Down Under

[Rathan]

A you all take a knee before the respective heads of each of the five territories you look about to your surroundings. The large vaulted and pillared rectangular room was deathly quiet in anticipation of the 'kings' words... all five of them. The representative of Lorken steps up first to speak in a hall filled with HUNDREDS folk from all over the territories

"To all my peoples and the peoples ruled by my worthy heads of the new 'Council of The Starfall', we have gathered here today under dire circumstances. Many of you have traveled leagues to see this six brave souls off into an unknown future. What we ALL ask of these fine man, woman, and creature alike is grand and almost blasphemous in truth. We send them into situation unlike nothing ever seen before on this planet yet they go bravely into the unknown with little but thanks and a few 'trinkets' of protection. Words beyond thank you cannot express how bless we ALL are that we have those like your kind souls to rely on when times grow dark and desperate. To each of you we grant you our lands most prized possessions."

To Edvik the king of Lorken betwoes upon your neck an chain in which a pristine angel feather hangs from...

"May this feather bring your back from disgrace my fine once royal warrior."

Next Lorkens king steps to Berrek Sandblade... to him another necklace is place upon him as of of the six gathered to help the Council of the Starfall...

"To you, one of multiple talents, I give to you an amulet of elemental prowess, may you wear it and may it make you fleet of foot in times of danger and despare."

He then moves to the cleric as he lowers unto his hands a beautiful, pristine royal blue cloak. On the back is sewn a helm and sword crest overlaid over a sunburst of holy light.

"To you devote follower of faith may this cloak show you the way to your truth path and guard you against evil at every dark turn."

The king then moves to Eltyr Malacon.... his head lowered in a nod to the man, a small thanks to him in such a small way as he presents him with a fine fist sized sapphire hued crystal etched with an ornate snake like being with large feathered wings.

"To you, specialist of the mind and magics I present to you this item in hopes that it help guide you in your path to true archmage talent."

He moves on yet again to the most eclectic of the six.. Menhir.. he hefts a large ornately carved golden dragon scale nearly as big his the little elementals torso and smiles to the earthen creature.

"To you hero of the earth and stone itself I give to you the protection of dragons, golden protection to be exact. May you wear this scale shield with pride and use it to beat back the blackness that seeps into our world!"

Last buy certainly not least it he comes to the druid Lidia. He hands her an ornately carved belt, it's length carved to look like tree roots and it's large buckle portrayed that of a huge oak tree in looking healthy and almost itself alive.

"To you lady of the forest I give you natures visage. may you wear it with the pride of one thousand forests and may you drive back the evil that has fallen to this land and caused so much terror."

As you are all now properly presented you rise and the king speaks once more for council.

"Once you leave this hall the road before you will take you out of this city and to the northwest almost directly to your first stop in unraveling this mystery of the Starfall. There is a keep five days fast pace from here you must investigate. It is a few miles from the ends of the devastation caused by the starfall. All life even just outside the reaches of the devastation has gone extinct.... save for this one keep. Reports of light and even signs of movement have been reported by out scouts lucky enough to have returned from there exploration into just the outskirts of the wreckage from the starfall. Start there my fine and brave adventurers.... and please... be careful.. you are our best hope!" the king uttered as he ended his long winded speech and let the six be off to do what must be done.

[sblock=Links/Character Listing

RG Link Here

OOC Link Here

1 Menhir (Earth Elemental 2/ Barbarian 1) [Ambrus]
2 Edvik the Bastard (Human Fighter 3) [Hafrogman]
3 Lidia (Human Druid 3) [Ghostcat]
4 Eltyr Malacon (Human wizard 3) [Unleashed]
5 Berrek Sandblade (Human Spellthief 3) [Neurotic]
6 Anton Hill (Human Cleric 3) [Ethandrew][/sblock]

 

[ethandrew]

Anton stood from his kneeling, an exercise that cause small amounts of pain shooting from his knee. The elegant blue of his cloak draped masterfully across his ornate full plate, distracting all, hopefully, away from the nervousness and complete lack of comfort that his face portrayed. Waves of self-consciousness had pelted him before and during the ceremony as thousands of eyes split their time looking at him among five others. Even now, as he stood, he felt not the hero, he felt not the savior of the darkened land, instead sweat beaded down his forehead, collecting on his brow and choosing one of the paths downward, to either side of his eyes or between them both.

He kept his eyes lowered as he nodded his appreciation to the four other kings and then finally the fifth, his king. And finally Anton waited for the other five strangers to ready themselves before leaving the assembly. And he hoped that this happened sooner, rather than later.

 

[unleashed]

Muttering a quick incantation to detect magic at the mention of being presented with the prized possessions of the lands controlled by the newly formed ‘Council of the Starfall’ Eltyr watches patiently as three before him are presented with a variety of items, taking as much time as he is able to gaze at each as they are bestowed upon each individual.

When the Lorken king finally reaches him, he accepts the fist sized crystal with both hands and says, “I shall endeavour to make good use of it majesty,” before bowing his head, which has the added benefit of allowing him to look more closely at the crystal and conceal a brief grin at being given such a rare item. Taking what little time is available to him before the next item is presented, Eltyr gives the crystal a cursory once over, before figuring he has time to look at it more later, while he may only get to observe the other items as they are being given to the expedition members once. He does notice a few things becoming clearer to him the moment the crystal is in his hands though, which he intends to investigate when he has the more time and isn’t surrounded by hundreds of people.

Returning his gaze to the king, or more specifically the items themselves as they’re presented, Eltyr runs his fingers over the engraved surface of his crystal, as if trying to memorise every facet of the object while he watches. Rising once all items are presented, he listens intently to the grave situation around the site of the starfall and wonders what they’ll find when investigating the keep.

Bowing his head to the assembled kings as the ceremony concludes, Eltyr slips the crystal into a hidden pocket in his robe before moving to introduce himself to his new companions, hoping they’re not all as overwhelmed as their divine companion seems to be.

OOC: I’ve taken a liberty here assuming Eltyr can cast detect magic while the presentation takes place, if he can’t I’ll change the post to reflect that, otherwise I’d like to know what he finds out with such an action. Also, how large a fist are we talking about with the fist sized crystal Eltyr has?

 

[Ambrus]

The spirit of the earth incarnate, whom the druids of Bowtorindale have named Menhir, reaches out a rocky appendage to take hold of the massive dragon scale when it is proffered to it. The elemental regards the wide flat object with a measure of curiosity; trying to ascertain both its composition and significance. Although at first the scale's golden sheen seems to suggest a mineral structure, its surprising light weight and flexibility reveals it to be almost entirely organic in nature. Flipping it around, Menhir quickly dismisses the intricate assembly of leather straps and buckles that have been affixed there as overcomplicated and unnecessary. Instead, the elemental firmly presses the scale's back to its left forearm, melding it's substance to the earthen surface of the appendage.

Menhir remains in its lowered position as the organic leader continues down the line to offer its last gift to Lidia. It keeps a crystalline eye on the druidess at its side for further cues. Although impressed by the large number of sentient beings assembled in one place, the elemental remains rather sketchy as to the perplexing ceremony's significance and purpose. According to the druidess, the convocation was intended to somehow validate the group's imminent efforts to find the star rock and heal the wound its impact had wrought upon the land. Menhir for its part remains unclear why validation is at all necessary or desirable, but defers to its wise companion's better judgment on the matter so long as it doesn't delay them overlong.

It's only once Lidia finally rises from her genuflection that the earth elemental rises up out of the ground into which it had sank to the waist when the group had first knelt before the five kings. Continuing to watch the druidess, Menhir raises a stubby stone finger to point towards the distant star rock's impact crater; its unspoken question all but unmistakable.

 

[Neurotic]

Berrek Sandblade

Kneeling at the ceremony, Berrek finds himself wondering yet again what's he doing here.

"Why was I chosen? Is person who called me here? What do they know that I don't?"

When magical treasures are announced, Berrek curiosity won over caution and he lowered his head hiding short period of concentration. When he next looked the world changed for his sight attuned now to magical emanations.

Here and there in the throng, slight glow could be seen and some individuals, either rich or powerful or both fairly burned in his vision.

"Thank you, Your Majesty" was all he dared to speak when he received his cloud amulet. He focused on it for few seconds and then turned his attention back to other heroes.

Once the ceremony was over he gracefuly rose and went to introduce himself to his new companions eyeing each of them carefuly. He focused on strangest of them, living pilar of stone wondering who would call such a creature as it's champion. He considered the druids of Bowtoringdale, but it seemed that they already have their champion.

Approaching he bowed slightly to the group in general and again slightly more toward 'The Lady of the Forest'.
"Greetings, my name is Berrek Sandblade. I am scout and security specialist selected for this quest."

His enhanced vision showed various magics around their persons, but he didn't take time to study each emanation in details as that would be suspicious.

 

[ghostcat]

More used to the quite of the forest, Lidia is completely overwhelmed by the crowds gathering to see the heroes off. Unsuccessfully trying to be inconspicuous while been the centre of attention, she manages to stutter "Thank you your majesty" in a quite voice as the king presents her with the belt.

At the end of the ceremony, Lidia fastens the belt around her waist and heads over to where the others are gathering. Once the others have introduced themselves, Lidia will introduce herself and Earth Elemental. "Hello. I am Lidia and this is my friend Menhir. I will apologise in advance should Menhir inadvertently give offense but he has very little knowledge of humanoid culture." Turning to Menhir Lidia says "Patient my friend. We will get around to exploring the crater eventually. However, first we need to look into a number of things. This will give us a better chance of success once we do go down the hole." Turning back to the others, Lidia says "Shall we get going before my impatient friend does something rash?"

 

[Rathan]

[sblock=To EltyrAs you cast detect magic while those are distracted you are so taken aback by actually how faint the magic aura around each of the artifacts are as you look from your item to the others as well. Somehow you can't get a precise fix on WHAT kind of magic it is, even with a few moment of concentration upon the objects in question(I need to know if you spend more than three rounds[18 seconds] concentrating the detection on them).

And fist sized was kinda vague... it's about as big as a small creatures fist... you could palm the crystal and almost totally conceal it if you tried...[/sblock]

[sblock=To BerrekAs you cast detect magic while those are distracted you are so taken aback by actually how faint the magic aura around each of the artifacts are as you look from your item to the others as well. Somehow you can't get a precise fix on WHAT kind of magic it is, even with a few moment of concentration upon the objects in question(I need to know if you spend more than three rounds[18 seconds] concentrating the detection on them).[/sblock]

 

[Ambrus]

The earth elemental listens impassively to Lidia's introduction and comments about itself. If anything, Menhir is perplexed by the qualities the druidess ascribes to itself; the elemental hadn't believed itself to be displaying either impatience or rashness. Lidia's assessment seemed to contradict the general consensus of the other Bowtorindale druids' that Menhir's was rather more ponderous and stolid than they were used to. Considering the issue at length, the earth elemental can only conclude that it's current understanding of organic society and its seemingly mercurial members is rudimentary at best.

 

[ethandrew]

Anton listens intently at each introduction, offering a glance or two at this Menhir, the stone with a name. He'd seen his fair share of oddities growing up in Lorken, but this one probably was the strangest. Subconsciously his fingers toyed with the fringes up his new cloak, giving his armored body a regal look to it. In his mind he felt an imposter, ill-suited for such a fine gift.

At the druidess' suggestion, Anton speaks up, "I think this is best. We should, well, leave. We have a lot to discuss but I'd rather it not be in front of all these people who are still staring at us," he gives a furtive glance behind him, offering a weak smile with a clearly uncomfortable look etching his face and eyebrows.

 

[unleashed]

[sblock=Rathan]

And fist sized was kinda vague... it's about as big as a small creatures fist... you could palm the crystal and almost totally conceal it if you tried...

Thanks, I was worried I'd have trouble hiding it on Eltyr's person for a while there, but something the size of a childs fist is good.[/sblock]

Eltyr nods as each person introduces themselves, not finding Menhir as strange as some of the others seems to as he’s seen various types of elementals at Gormen's School, though he’s not seen one that wasn’t under the control of a wizard before. “I hope you’re not going to be this quiet all the time Menhir, otherwise I’ll have to find some other way to communicate with you. You do speak Terran don’t you, Menhir? I don’t know the speech of the earth myself, but it seems an interesting tongue to learn, if perhaps somewhat difficult to master for one not formed of the earth itself,” he says to the elemental, clearly intrigued with the idea of learning more about it and perhaps understanding it’s reticence.

Before the elemental has time to answer, if it intends to do so, he adds to the assembled group, “Oh, by the way, my name’s Eltyr, Eltyr Malacon, and while we surely have much to discuss and do, there’s no point rushing off immediately. Let the people observe us for a little while longer, and I’ll go see if there’s somewhere we can go to discuss things that’s somewhat quieter ... unless someone already knows of a place.”

If no one mentions any such knowledge of a quiet location or doesn’t suggest another option, Eltyr moves confidently over to the assembled kings and asks if there’s somewhere the expedition may go to confer quietly before they set out.