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Lylandra's War of the Burning Sky continued
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<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 6969699" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p>The party continues their journey through Dassen and reach the outer regions of Iz. When they reach the outskirts of an old dwarven fortress surrounded by villages, they are greeted by Iz' guardsmen and escorted into the fortress/town hybrid where they witness Lady Sharka of Iz giving speeches and rallying her people and calling for solidarity with the war's refugees. Lady Sharka turns out to be an experienced dwarven fighter who's doing all the abovementioned work on her horse. When she's told that there are visitors from Gate Pass nearby, she offers them a small, private audience after her evening dinner. Despite their preference for secrecy, the elves and Torrent know that it would be unwise to rebuff a local lady, so they agree to meet up with Lady Iz. </p><p>After a bit of small-talk they reveal to her that the fire forest has stopped burning so there might be another way for the Ragesians to enter Dassen - even if they most likely did not notice yet. Sharka is alarmed and plans to inform the other Lords and Ladies on this news immediately. She also tells them that her husband, Lord Fuko of Iz will be glad to hear that the northern road is open for travel again since he's managing the state finances and Gate Pass seems like a pretty good trade hub. The party and Lady Iz get along pretty well (she's upfront and a bit rough) and when they leave her fortress the next morning, she reminds them to greet her old friend and mentor, Xavious Foebane, once they get to Seaquen. </p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Note: I liked the image of the "dwarven" sturdiness that came to my mind the moment I first read about Iz, so I decided to give Iz a proper dwarven government. I made it pretty clear that the Iz' are very loyal to the crown and will give their life to defend Dassen and the Queen.</em></p><p></p><p>They travel the lands of Lord Megadon afterwards and are outraged at the high pricing for even the most mundane goods and services. Tinu even dubs the local lord "Lord Megalomaniac" at one point, which gave everyone a good laugh. Despite their hurry, they try to help some of the refugees who are on the brink of starvation and feel grief for all those who died along the way.</p><p></p><p><em>Note: I really really love the way adventure 3 includes the refugees and their dangerous journeys to Seaquen. Their whole situation sets a much darker and serious tone than most campaigns would go for. And I'd say that the adventure menaged to tackle their issues pretty realistically and in a mature way. As a coincidence, the "refugee crisis" was still a very big deal in Europe when we got to adventure 3, so... we could all feel a bit like Dasseni or Seaquenians at that time, seeing arguments like Laurabec's and Votberg's, Timor's and Rego's brought up in public discussions all the time. It felt... pretty strange, but also made the whole experience way more immersive.</em></p><p></p><p>Once they reach Vidor, Cuin talks Leto into teaching refugees his art of making rowboats ("those who don't have the money will not pay for your boats anyway and you don't want them to lurk around and die in Vidor, so why don't you teach them for a silver?"), buy some boats and take an orphaned teen named Martin with them since they have a free seat in one of their boats anyway. Leto warns them of the witches in the swamp and some crazy red-head girl with two hullking bodyguards who went into the swamp despite his warning. Tinu jokes that he hopes for the witches that the girl wasn't Katrina or they might be sorry... </p><p></p><p>The weather starts getting all cloudy and rainy which leaves the party in a rather uneasy state as they walk and row through the swamp. They make their camp on a small island inside a dead and hollow tree and try to get some rest. During Tinu's watch, he starts to hear an eerie song and realizes that something is not right at all. He can't see anyone singing, so he wakes the rest of the party (clever boy!) and together they try to find out what the hell is going on out in the swamp. The more vulnerable people (Haddin, Crystin, Durval and Tiljann) agree to stay close to their camp and fight alongside Diashan should they get attacked while the elves and Torrent sneak out (okay this entence is sooo wrong... Torrent cannot sneak at all) and spot the witches H'andrea on their spooky boat who then attack on sight. Diashan and Tiljann keep the sneaky Cricket croc away while the Seela buffs everyone with her encouraging version of the Song of Forms while the elves and Torrent deal with the H'andreas. The fight doesn't last too long this way. They find strange blood filled orbs with the witches and begin to wonder what they would do with such items, so they try to track the witche's trails back to their lair while they leave Torrent and the rest of the party at their camp. (So now Torrent has become the babysitter. What an upgrade to #1 <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> ) </p><p></p><p>When they arrive at the witche's island, they are clever enough to search for traps, so they manage to find out that the skeletons on the big pile are not quite as dead as they seem. A bit of alchemist's fire burns most of them away. They search the huts and find alchemical equipment, more blood orbs, a lot of dead and half-eaten bodies and a note stating "Check with Nelebekus - is 'Katrina' a ragesian spy?". And suddenly they are in a very, very blank state. They try to argue whther it could be simply a coincidence, but once they get to the final hut, they indeed find their old acquaintance bound and gagged inside. Who seems as astonished as the elves themselves and tries to fight off her shackles. They free Katrina who thanks Cuin and mutters that it had to be her bad luck that her "glorious saviour" had to be that bastard Tinuviel. Tinu is baffled, but Cuin is enraged by her ungrateful statement and says that he could bind her to the stake again and leave her for good if she doesn't show at least a bit gratitude towards his "brother". Katrina isn't used to such harsh words from Cuin's mouth, sighs and mutters a short "thank you, too" towards Tinu. Cuin then shows her the witches' note and demands that she explain its contents for thy surely wouldn't take a ragesian spy with them. Kat finally understands Cuin's demeanor and explains that she overheared the witches talking about a Ragesian customer named Nelebekus and, after seeing her bodyguards getting eaten by the H'andreas, claimed that she was an acquiantance of Nelebekus in hope of being spared. Turned out that this story bought her some time indeed so yes, she claimed to be a spy but only to save her life. The elves say that they understand her story but are still not 100% convinced. They explain that she may travel to Seaquen with them, but she will have to tell them a bit more about her on the way there.</p><p></p><p><em>Note: I didn't expect Cuin to be so rude to Katrina as her flight from Gate Pass was clearly Tinuviel's "fault" and he felt remorse for breaking her heart. I guess the witche's not must have made him pretty wary. I had originally planned to have Kat flirt with Cuin in order to make Tinu jealous, but so much for that plan... At that point I thought that their meeting ruined all chances of getting Katrina to the party's side as she was rejected from the very beginning and takes things pretty personal. As I didn't want to have their relationshio ruined in just one small moment, I decided that maaaaybe Kat could warm up to someone else.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p>The group reunites in the middle of the night and Torrent is a bit amused to finally see the girl Tinu is so afraid of. Not knowing about the note, she gives Katrina a warm welcome and invites her to their camp. Before she finally gets some rest (and after the rest of the group has already fallen asleep), Cuin and Tinu show Torrent the note and tell her the story Katrina told them. She says that she wants to believe Katrina's version of the story, but doesn't really know about her. The elves ask her to keep a close eye on her, especially when she's around Crystin or Haddin. Together they identify the blood orbs as tidereaver's tears and are alarmed by their properties as they allow its user to walk through a storm unhindered. They remember Torrent's vision and decide to hurry to Seaquen as the city might be in grave danger and the Ragesians might be planning something.</p><p></p><p>The next day, they finally manage to get out of the swamp and continue their travel by foot. The weather is still nasty when they see a strangely familiar sight in the sky nearby: A wyvern who's on the descent. Because they already suspect the Ragesians to be up to no good, they decide to sneak up to where the beast has landed and take a closer look. They tell a protesting Katrina to stay behind and Torrent to keep them all safe (who's the babysitter now?) while they ambush the Ragesians. Which was maybe not the best idea... as the still mounted wyvern rider takes his beast to the sky and starts shooting bolts at them. In a very close shot, Tinu manages to strike the still attatched Dragon Bomb with a psychokinetic thrust and... BOOM! Both wyvern and rider fall from the sky in a burning ball of fire while Cuin manages to disarm the other Ragesian. A mere seconds later Katrina, holding a fireball in her hand, arrives at the scene and is disappointed that the fight is already over. She throws the fireball aside and laments ove rher missed chance to see a good fight. Cuin (who's busy tieing up the surviving Ragesian) cannot understand that she'd be so eager to see bloodshed and say that she's changed a lot over the last four years. Katrina shrugs than and tells him that the world out there, especially Ragesia, is not all sunshine and flowers and that a girl had to grow up too fast. </p><p></p><p>They interrogate their prisoner and demand to know more about a certain Nelebekus who would be in Seaquen. The Ragesian claims to know nothing - they simply had the mission to transport the tidereaver's tears to a contact named Nelebekus. They also find a note written by a certain "Guthwulf" where a "druid" and a "control rod" and "destruction" are mentioned, but the Ragesian truthfully explains that he doesn't know jack about the "mad inquisitor's plans" who must have thought that he'd understand his cryptic words. But who was he to question an Inquisitor? Katrina on the other hand gets all pale when she sees the name Guthwulf written at the note and after a bit of "Cuin friendliness" explains that she does know an Inquisitor Guthwulf from her time in Ragesia - he has been the one who introduced her to Ragesian officials and offered her a "good job". The elves are even more alarmed now and demand to know the whole story. Kat explains that she had run off to Ragesia, hoping to start a new life, but it didn't turn out so well in the streets of Ragos. She got quite a name as a fire-hurling witch and was then approached by an impressive man named Guthwulf who asked her if she wanted to put that fiery talent of hers to good use. Being fed up with her life on the run, she decided to give it a try and ended up training Inquisitors by hurling fire magic at them (which they had to counter or be toasted. Ouch.). She says that Guthwulf had been nice and very polite to her and was a good listener on top of that, but after a while she realized that the Ragesians were up to no good and that even Guthwulf started to act pretty creepy and brutal when it came to other subjects. So she fled and simply wanted to be reunited with Rantle. As soon as she mentions her brother, Cuin presents her the note she had left for him and demands an explanation for the mention of "making trouble" in the Lyceum. She says that yes, she had been contacted by Ragesians who knew that she wouldn't go back to Ragos and who somehow wanted her to turn the Lyceum upside down with her fire magic and that's why she didn't want to stay in Gate Pass for longer. But who was she to throw fireballs at innocents? (Tinu wasn't innocent. At least on tha Cuin and Kat can agree). The elves find this story to be believeable, but say that they will still keep an eye on her to which Katrina agrees.</p><p></p><p><em>Note: Phew. They had soo much information on Katrina already that it was really tough to keep up the facade and still have a believeable story. Which is basically true. Just that "making trouble" doesn't necessarily involve hurling fireballs. Kat has learned quite a bit during the last four years and she made sure to not mention her time at the ragesian court. Her main goal is to stay safe and survive the coming conflict and she will do whatever she has to. Right now she doesn't feel personal attatchment to anyone (maybe Rantle, but he's too stupid to understand the trouble she's gotten into). Guthwulf on the other hand is a tricky one. The way he is written implies that he is good at making friends despite his evil nature and that he's quite nice to people he knows better. I'd call him "charming evil". And Kat fell for it. She didn't know what he was truely capable of, especially since Guthwulf doesn't like to torture when someone else is watching. And yep, he... developed a sweet spot for the firey mage. Which is... quite creepy considering that she was maybe 17 when they first met. </em></p><p><em></em></p><p>They continue their travels and take the Ragesian as prisoner with them, as they plan to hand him over to the Seaquenian officials. On their way through the swamp they meet Thalan, a young Solei Palantis officer with his troupes who claims to be checking for Ragesians and troublemakers and who is invoking the Sherayel Delrathi on behalf of Princess Shalosha, the secretary of state of Shahalesti (At this point I wasn't quite sure on what Shalosha's position was meant to be as the directly translated "Staatssekretärin" and the american "secretary of state" - more or less the minister of foreign affairs - are two totally different shoes). Cuin is outraged that a Shahalesti soldier is proclaiming anything, let alone in a foreign country and Tinuviel and Torrent can barely keep him in check. Tinuviel takes a look at the concrete wording of the Sherayel document and wonders whether it would be even legal to proclaim this law anywhere but on Shahalesti grounds. Thalan explains that he was sent to be sure that Seaquen - which will be an ally of Shahalesti soon - stays safe and free from spies. Tensions get high as soon as Thalan spots the Ragesian prisoner and demands him to be handed over. Cuin is on the brink of outright attacking Thalan, when he suddenly... grabs the surprised Diashan and demands the "fellow Solei Palantis Officer" to explain the situation to his "green peer". Being a rather quick thinker, the Shahalesti nods in agreement and tells Thalan that he was sent to bring the "noble Tinuviel ar' Shahalesti" and his captured Ragesian spy to Seaquen as a sign of good will. He presents his rather old Solei Palantis medal and Thalan lets them pass for he wouldn't dare to question a veteran of the order. </p><p></p><p><em>Note: Combat averted at last second. I didn't expect Cuin to cool down that quickly, but I also made sure to play Thalan honest and straightforward with only his best intentions in mind. Cuin would have hated himself to take a young elf's life over a piece of paper. </em></p><p></p><p>After some hours of travel, the party makes rest for the night. During Cuin's watch, he starts to hear an eerie wail and a quiet sound of crumbling stone. He ignores it for now, but the sounds don't cease until morning. Before they continue their travel, Cuin takes Tinuviel aside and asks him to find the source of the strange noises before they run into something nasty. A few minutes later they are quite surprised to find an adult green dragon who seems to be crying and flailing at stone buildings. Cuin knows that green dragons can be pretty territorial and dangerous so he's quite hesitant on what to make of this awkward situation. But the dragon seems to be in pain and he suddenly remembers the stories of Syana who was both dangerous and kind. To Tinuviel's surprise, he leaves his hideout and addresses the dragon formally and politely and asks what happened to cause auch a majestic being such great pain. The dragon, who surely didn't expect any visitors, ceases her tantrum and explains the "small elf" that a bad, evil man has come and stolen her baby. She states that she would go after him herself and melt him to the ground, but whe promised the dwarf Kiernan to stay out of the city so the humanoids would leave her and her lair alone. Cuin is relieved that the dragon seems to be so sociable, so he tells her that he will keep looking for any sign of her "baby" since his people owe a lot to another dragon, Syana. Naielasza instantly recognizes the name of the golden wyrm and reminisces about the stories her father told her of the mighty guardian of the north, explainig that Syana was said to be a paragon to all dragonkind. The elves are impressed by her story and politely bid her farewell, promisiong to return when they have found hre child, who turns out to be still in egg state. </p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Note: After reading about that half-Taranesti man in adventure 4 who said his mother revered Syana as a goddess, I decided that other dragons might have looked up to her as well. After all, she was one of the oldest and most powerful dragons in the world and knew a lot about life and soul magic. She's kind of "the" famous mage of dragonkind. </em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 6969699, member: 6816692"] The party continues their journey through Dassen and reach the outer regions of Iz. When they reach the outskirts of an old dwarven fortress surrounded by villages, they are greeted by Iz' guardsmen and escorted into the fortress/town hybrid where they witness Lady Sharka of Iz giving speeches and rallying her people and calling for solidarity with the war's refugees. Lady Sharka turns out to be an experienced dwarven fighter who's doing all the abovementioned work on her horse. When she's told that there are visitors from Gate Pass nearby, she offers them a small, private audience after her evening dinner. Despite their preference for secrecy, the elves and Torrent know that it would be unwise to rebuff a local lady, so they agree to meet up with Lady Iz. After a bit of small-talk they reveal to her that the fire forest has stopped burning so there might be another way for the Ragesians to enter Dassen - even if they most likely did not notice yet. Sharka is alarmed and plans to inform the other Lords and Ladies on this news immediately. She also tells them that her husband, Lord Fuko of Iz will be glad to hear that the northern road is open for travel again since he's managing the state finances and Gate Pass seems like a pretty good trade hub. The party and Lady Iz get along pretty well (she's upfront and a bit rough) and when they leave her fortress the next morning, she reminds them to greet her old friend and mentor, Xavious Foebane, once they get to Seaquen. [I] Note: I liked the image of the "dwarven" sturdiness that came to my mind the moment I first read about Iz, so I decided to give Iz a proper dwarven government. I made it pretty clear that the Iz' are very loyal to the crown and will give their life to defend Dassen and the Queen.[/I] They travel the lands of Lord Megadon afterwards and are outraged at the high pricing for even the most mundane goods and services. Tinu even dubs the local lord "Lord Megalomaniac" at one point, which gave everyone a good laugh. Despite their hurry, they try to help some of the refugees who are on the brink of starvation and feel grief for all those who died along the way. [I]Note: I really really love the way adventure 3 includes the refugees and their dangerous journeys to Seaquen. Their whole situation sets a much darker and serious tone than most campaigns would go for. And I'd say that the adventure menaged to tackle their issues pretty realistically and in a mature way. As a coincidence, the "refugee crisis" was still a very big deal in Europe when we got to adventure 3, so... we could all feel a bit like Dasseni or Seaquenians at that time, seeing arguments like Laurabec's and Votberg's, Timor's and Rego's brought up in public discussions all the time. It felt... pretty strange, but also made the whole experience way more immersive.[/I] Once they reach Vidor, Cuin talks Leto into teaching refugees his art of making rowboats ("those who don't have the money will not pay for your boats anyway and you don't want them to lurk around and die in Vidor, so why don't you teach them for a silver?"), buy some boats and take an orphaned teen named Martin with them since they have a free seat in one of their boats anyway. Leto warns them of the witches in the swamp and some crazy red-head girl with two hullking bodyguards who went into the swamp despite his warning. Tinu jokes that he hopes for the witches that the girl wasn't Katrina or they might be sorry... The weather starts getting all cloudy and rainy which leaves the party in a rather uneasy state as they walk and row through the swamp. They make their camp on a small island inside a dead and hollow tree and try to get some rest. During Tinu's watch, he starts to hear an eerie song and realizes that something is not right at all. He can't see anyone singing, so he wakes the rest of the party (clever boy!) and together they try to find out what the hell is going on out in the swamp. The more vulnerable people (Haddin, Crystin, Durval and Tiljann) agree to stay close to their camp and fight alongside Diashan should they get attacked while the elves and Torrent sneak out (okay this entence is sooo wrong... Torrent cannot sneak at all) and spot the witches H'andrea on their spooky boat who then attack on sight. Diashan and Tiljann keep the sneaky Cricket croc away while the Seela buffs everyone with her encouraging version of the Song of Forms while the elves and Torrent deal with the H'andreas. The fight doesn't last too long this way. They find strange blood filled orbs with the witches and begin to wonder what they would do with such items, so they try to track the witche's trails back to their lair while they leave Torrent and the rest of the party at their camp. (So now Torrent has become the babysitter. What an upgrade to #1 :) ) When they arrive at the witche's island, they are clever enough to search for traps, so they manage to find out that the skeletons on the big pile are not quite as dead as they seem. A bit of alchemist's fire burns most of them away. They search the huts and find alchemical equipment, more blood orbs, a lot of dead and half-eaten bodies and a note stating "Check with Nelebekus - is 'Katrina' a ragesian spy?". And suddenly they are in a very, very blank state. They try to argue whther it could be simply a coincidence, but once they get to the final hut, they indeed find their old acquaintance bound and gagged inside. Who seems as astonished as the elves themselves and tries to fight off her shackles. They free Katrina who thanks Cuin and mutters that it had to be her bad luck that her "glorious saviour" had to be that bastard Tinuviel. Tinu is baffled, but Cuin is enraged by her ungrateful statement and says that he could bind her to the stake again and leave her for good if she doesn't show at least a bit gratitude towards his "brother". Katrina isn't used to such harsh words from Cuin's mouth, sighs and mutters a short "thank you, too" towards Tinu. Cuin then shows her the witches' note and demands that she explain its contents for thy surely wouldn't take a ragesian spy with them. Kat finally understands Cuin's demeanor and explains that she overheared the witches talking about a Ragesian customer named Nelebekus and, after seeing her bodyguards getting eaten by the H'andreas, claimed that she was an acquiantance of Nelebekus in hope of being spared. Turned out that this story bought her some time indeed so yes, she claimed to be a spy but only to save her life. The elves say that they understand her story but are still not 100% convinced. They explain that she may travel to Seaquen with them, but she will have to tell them a bit more about her on the way there. [I]Note: I didn't expect Cuin to be so rude to Katrina as her flight from Gate Pass was clearly Tinuviel's "fault" and he felt remorse for breaking her heart. I guess the witche's not must have made him pretty wary. I had originally planned to have Kat flirt with Cuin in order to make Tinu jealous, but so much for that plan... At that point I thought that their meeting ruined all chances of getting Katrina to the party's side as she was rejected from the very beginning and takes things pretty personal. As I didn't want to have their relationshio ruined in just one small moment, I decided that maaaaybe Kat could warm up to someone else. [/I] The group reunites in the middle of the night and Torrent is a bit amused to finally see the girl Tinu is so afraid of. Not knowing about the note, she gives Katrina a warm welcome and invites her to their camp. Before she finally gets some rest (and after the rest of the group has already fallen asleep), Cuin and Tinu show Torrent the note and tell her the story Katrina told them. She says that she wants to believe Katrina's version of the story, but doesn't really know about her. The elves ask her to keep a close eye on her, especially when she's around Crystin or Haddin. Together they identify the blood orbs as tidereaver's tears and are alarmed by their properties as they allow its user to walk through a storm unhindered. They remember Torrent's vision and decide to hurry to Seaquen as the city might be in grave danger and the Ragesians might be planning something. The next day, they finally manage to get out of the swamp and continue their travel by foot. The weather is still nasty when they see a strangely familiar sight in the sky nearby: A wyvern who's on the descent. Because they already suspect the Ragesians to be up to no good, they decide to sneak up to where the beast has landed and take a closer look. They tell a protesting Katrina to stay behind and Torrent to keep them all safe (who's the babysitter now?) while they ambush the Ragesians. Which was maybe not the best idea... as the still mounted wyvern rider takes his beast to the sky and starts shooting bolts at them. In a very close shot, Tinu manages to strike the still attatched Dragon Bomb with a psychokinetic thrust and... BOOM! Both wyvern and rider fall from the sky in a burning ball of fire while Cuin manages to disarm the other Ragesian. A mere seconds later Katrina, holding a fireball in her hand, arrives at the scene and is disappointed that the fight is already over. She throws the fireball aside and laments ove rher missed chance to see a good fight. Cuin (who's busy tieing up the surviving Ragesian) cannot understand that she'd be so eager to see bloodshed and say that she's changed a lot over the last four years. Katrina shrugs than and tells him that the world out there, especially Ragesia, is not all sunshine and flowers and that a girl had to grow up too fast. They interrogate their prisoner and demand to know more about a certain Nelebekus who would be in Seaquen. The Ragesian claims to know nothing - they simply had the mission to transport the tidereaver's tears to a contact named Nelebekus. They also find a note written by a certain "Guthwulf" where a "druid" and a "control rod" and "destruction" are mentioned, but the Ragesian truthfully explains that he doesn't know jack about the "mad inquisitor's plans" who must have thought that he'd understand his cryptic words. But who was he to question an Inquisitor? Katrina on the other hand gets all pale when she sees the name Guthwulf written at the note and after a bit of "Cuin friendliness" explains that she does know an Inquisitor Guthwulf from her time in Ragesia - he has been the one who introduced her to Ragesian officials and offered her a "good job". The elves are even more alarmed now and demand to know the whole story. Kat explains that she had run off to Ragesia, hoping to start a new life, but it didn't turn out so well in the streets of Ragos. She got quite a name as a fire-hurling witch and was then approached by an impressive man named Guthwulf who asked her if she wanted to put that fiery talent of hers to good use. Being fed up with her life on the run, she decided to give it a try and ended up training Inquisitors by hurling fire magic at them (which they had to counter or be toasted. Ouch.). She says that Guthwulf had been nice and very polite to her and was a good listener on top of that, but after a while she realized that the Ragesians were up to no good and that even Guthwulf started to act pretty creepy and brutal when it came to other subjects. So she fled and simply wanted to be reunited with Rantle. As soon as she mentions her brother, Cuin presents her the note she had left for him and demands an explanation for the mention of "making trouble" in the Lyceum. She says that yes, she had been contacted by Ragesians who knew that she wouldn't go back to Ragos and who somehow wanted her to turn the Lyceum upside down with her fire magic and that's why she didn't want to stay in Gate Pass for longer. But who was she to throw fireballs at innocents? (Tinu wasn't innocent. At least on tha Cuin and Kat can agree). The elves find this story to be believeable, but say that they will still keep an eye on her to which Katrina agrees. [I]Note: Phew. They had soo much information on Katrina already that it was really tough to keep up the facade and still have a believeable story. Which is basically true. Just that "making trouble" doesn't necessarily involve hurling fireballs. Kat has learned quite a bit during the last four years and she made sure to not mention her time at the ragesian court. Her main goal is to stay safe and survive the coming conflict and she will do whatever she has to. Right now she doesn't feel personal attatchment to anyone (maybe Rantle, but he's too stupid to understand the trouble she's gotten into). Guthwulf on the other hand is a tricky one. The way he is written implies that he is good at making friends despite his evil nature and that he's quite nice to people he knows better. I'd call him "charming evil". And Kat fell for it. She didn't know what he was truely capable of, especially since Guthwulf doesn't like to torture when someone else is watching. And yep, he... developed a sweet spot for the firey mage. Which is... quite creepy considering that she was maybe 17 when they first met. [/I] They continue their travels and take the Ragesian as prisoner with them, as they plan to hand him over to the Seaquenian officials. On their way through the swamp they meet Thalan, a young Solei Palantis officer with his troupes who claims to be checking for Ragesians and troublemakers and who is invoking the Sherayel Delrathi on behalf of Princess Shalosha, the secretary of state of Shahalesti (At this point I wasn't quite sure on what Shalosha's position was meant to be as the directly translated "Staatssekretärin" and the american "secretary of state" - more or less the minister of foreign affairs - are two totally different shoes). Cuin is outraged that a Shahalesti soldier is proclaiming anything, let alone in a foreign country and Tinuviel and Torrent can barely keep him in check. Tinuviel takes a look at the concrete wording of the Sherayel document and wonders whether it would be even legal to proclaim this law anywhere but on Shahalesti grounds. Thalan explains that he was sent to be sure that Seaquen - which will be an ally of Shahalesti soon - stays safe and free from spies. Tensions get high as soon as Thalan spots the Ragesian prisoner and demands him to be handed over. Cuin is on the brink of outright attacking Thalan, when he suddenly... grabs the surprised Diashan and demands the "fellow Solei Palantis Officer" to explain the situation to his "green peer". Being a rather quick thinker, the Shahalesti nods in agreement and tells Thalan that he was sent to bring the "noble Tinuviel ar' Shahalesti" and his captured Ragesian spy to Seaquen as a sign of good will. He presents his rather old Solei Palantis medal and Thalan lets them pass for he wouldn't dare to question a veteran of the order. [I]Note: Combat averted at last second. I didn't expect Cuin to cool down that quickly, but I also made sure to play Thalan honest and straightforward with only his best intentions in mind. Cuin would have hated himself to take a young elf's life over a piece of paper. [/I] After some hours of travel, the party makes rest for the night. During Cuin's watch, he starts to hear an eerie wail and a quiet sound of crumbling stone. He ignores it for now, but the sounds don't cease until morning. Before they continue their travel, Cuin takes Tinuviel aside and asks him to find the source of the strange noises before they run into something nasty. A few minutes later they are quite surprised to find an adult green dragon who seems to be crying and flailing at stone buildings. Cuin knows that green dragons can be pretty territorial and dangerous so he's quite hesitant on what to make of this awkward situation. But the dragon seems to be in pain and he suddenly remembers the stories of Syana who was both dangerous and kind. To Tinuviel's surprise, he leaves his hideout and addresses the dragon formally and politely and asks what happened to cause auch a majestic being such great pain. The dragon, who surely didn't expect any visitors, ceases her tantrum and explains the "small elf" that a bad, evil man has come and stolen her baby. She states that she would go after him herself and melt him to the ground, but whe promised the dwarf Kiernan to stay out of the city so the humanoids would leave her and her lair alone. Cuin is relieved that the dragon seems to be so sociable, so he tells her that he will keep looking for any sign of her "baby" since his people owe a lot to another dragon, Syana. Naielasza instantly recognizes the name of the golden wyrm and reminisces about the stories her father told her of the mighty guardian of the north, explainig that Syana was said to be a paragon to all dragonkind. The elves are impressed by her story and politely bid her farewell, promisiong to return when they have found hre child, who turns out to be still in egg state. [I] Note: After reading about that half-Taranesti man in adventure 4 who said his mother revered Syana as a goddess, I decided that other dragons might have looked up to her as well. After all, she was one of the oldest and most powerful dragons in the world and knew a lot about life and soul magic. She's kind of "the" famous mage of dragonkind. [/I] [/QUOTE]
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