Q'Barra: Into the Emerald Forest

[Urko]

Arrival at the plantation

The sun has long since set and blanket of clouds hides any moons that may currently be in the sky. The humidity has become almost stupefying. Lightning flashes within the massed thunderheads from time to time and a low rumbling echoes above the forest and river, but the storm refuses to break. The only other illumination comes from the hordes of glitterflies – small insects widely believed to spawn within dragonshards and renowned both for their blue-green glow and their surprisingly painful bite. All but the warforged among you became a mass of itching, stinging whelts within thirty minutes of nightfall.

Just when you have come to half fear and half hope that the heat and the insects will kill you, you spot a light in the distance. The indistinct blur soon resolves itself into a row of everbright lanterns adorning a solidly built stone pier. Another craft, similar to the one that conveyed you here, is docked there. The end of the pier is adorned with a short watchtower. As you draw nearer, you can see a light flash twice on its summit. There is an answering flash from somewhere further inland.

A human and a dwarf in simple workers’ attire are waiting with a line when Kolbek’s Pride reaches its dock. With speedy efficiency they help Calabas moor the boat securely while a dwarven watchman looks on from the tower. A fourth figure simply stands by, waiting for the workers to do their job. He is a dwarf, broad shouldered even for one of his race. The top of his head is bald, and appears quite sunburned under the light of the lanterns. The fringe of hair that he does have hangs thinly to his shoulders and is iron grey, like his beard, which is neatly trimmed and pulled into a single braid held in place by a column of gold rings. He is dressed in a brilliant red waistcoat, adorned with gold braid and buttons. Once the boat is fully moored, he steps forward, a welcoming smile on his face. ”Greetings to you all! I am Kolbek Novilderth. Please allow me to bid you the fondest of welcomes to Steadfast Reach!”

 

[Yeoman]

Arrival

Finally...I thought we'd never get here.
As Kolbek approaches the boat, Xavier moves to greet him. Xavier speaks quickly as the insects continue their painful harassment.
"Greetings Mr. Novilderth, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. Can we continue this inside? These damnable insects are a real irritation."

 

[Pebele]

Arrival

Sanae follows Xavier's lead and offers a respectful nod to Kolbek. "It is a pleasure, sir. We are weary from our journey, it would be much appreciated if we could speak indoors and perhaps quench our thirst."

She offered another nod while she carefully looked over Kolbek, searching for the tell-tale sign of taint within him.

Sanae is trying to detect evil on Kolbek. Ever on guard and all.

 

[Harvey]

Arrival

Erin follows the others, timidly. She gives a nod of respect to Kolbek, and follows the rest indoors.

 

[P0L]

Borden follows them silently. For the last few hours of the trip he has been awfully quiet.

 

[doghead]

'he has no name', warforged warrior.

ooc: wow, this thread motors.

'he has no name' has little to say during the discussions that follow the run in with the customs barge. The events of the day have left him feeling ... unsettled.

Urko: [sblock]How much does hhnn know about Riedra, the Inspired and the Quori etc. The background suggests he did spend time in discussion with Minharath about this sort of thing, but he has no ranks in any sort of Knowledge skill.

If he had the chance, hhnn would have inspected the items taken from Kajalaketh. I'm assuming that he saw similar such item when with the kalashtar, although he may have had only limited contact with them. He would also have tried to collect the tattoos if that's possible (I haven't read the rules in a while, and can't remember exactly).

And again, apologies for the absence.[/sblock]

 

[Urko]

Steadfast Reach

Hello all! I am neither dead nor abandoning the game – just exceptionally busy. I’m getting married in August and also, in a fit of madness, agreed to be in a second play this summer. I’ll try to minimize the impact on the game and keep things moving, but if I go silent for a couple days or more, you’ll know the reason. Thanks for your patience!

Kolbek returns Xavier and Sanae’s greetings and nods to each of the rest of you in turn. ”Yes, by all means, let’s retire indoors, where we can talk like civilized folk.” He turns towards the path at the end of the dock, but Calabas draws him to one side, whispering in his ear briefly. Kolbek’s reply of ”What?” is almost a shout. Calabas speaks to him again in low tones; he seems quite distraught. Kolbek takes a step back, and fixes his employee with an annoyed look. ”I see. Very well, go to your quarters – I’ll summon you if needed.” Calabas bows stiffly to Novilderth, nods briefly to the rest of you, and departs quickly up the path.

Kolbek leads you away from the pier in silence. He seems to be mulling something over, chewing on one end of his mustache in distraction. The path is well paved, with perfectly interlocking hexagonal stones. As it slopes upward, the path is broken up into broad steps. The din of insects and amphibians in the tree is almost deafening – it would be difficult to talk even if your host were so inclined.

At the top of the hill the trees part into a well-manicured lawn, at the end of which is the house. It is an impressive structure, at least 75 feet wide, and no telling how deep. The bottom half is composed of huge, rough cut stone blocks, giving it a fortress-like appearance, an impression that is aided by the narrow, slit-like windows. Perched atop this heavy foundation, the dark-wooded second and third floors look almost like a different house, as if a stately Karrnath manor had been uprooted and transplanted there. The many peaked gables and wide windows are no more inviting than the stone portion below. Kolbek, noting everyone’s gaze, finally speaks. ”The Lady Novilderth and I have very...different aesthetics. This was our builder’s attempt to satisfy us both. I hope you’ll find the inside more welcoming.”

The bronzewood doors swing open when he presents a keycharm. Kolbek ushers everyone inside and continues speaking. ”Calabas tells me you had a little run-in with the river patrol today.” The door closes behind you with a thump that you feel as much as hear. The first thing you notice is a respite from the heat. The air in the stone antechamber is deliciously cool and dry. There are doors on either side, but Kolbek indicates a richly carpeted ramp opposite the door, ascending into the house proper. ”Officially, as a citizen of Q’Barra, I must deplore the action you took today.” He steps into a spacious sitting room where numerous heavy stuffed chairs squat like huge furry beasts. The ceiling is high and a walkway on the floor above surrounds the room. Erin notes with interest a number of copper tubes that run along the intersections between the walls and ceiling. They are rune covered and the air about them is chilly. Kolbek indicates the chairs and takes one that sits on a low platform which elevates it just a bit above the rest.

”Unofficially, I couldn’t be more pleased that a few of those outside interferers have been done away with – may the Devourer rend them all and the Keeper hide away the remains. Letting those foreigners in was the biggest mistake Sebastes ever made, which is saying much.” A dark look passes across his face. As he speaks, a young dwarf woman passes silently among you, setting down a flagon in front of each of you, including the warforged. The drink inside is cool and sweet – it tastes of some fruit none of you is familiar with. It is immediately refreshing, and lessens the discomfort of sunburn, dehydration, and insect bites. ”Still and all, it would probably have been better if this little incident hadn’t occurred. I’ll do my best to deflect the consequences, but to do that I need to know exactly what happened, and why.”

Sanae:
[sblock]You detect no evil per se, but there is a lingering touch of shadow on his soul.[/sblock]

'He Has No Name'
[sblock]Yes, you can collect the tattoos. There are three of them: Body Adjustment, Dispel Psionics, Time Hop - all manifester level 6, save DC (if applicable) 16. You can also transfer them to any of the others, if you wish, and explain how they work.

Minharath never told 'he has no name' much, but he did mention the Inspired and that they are not only his enemies, but the enemies of all life on Eberron. 'He has no name' got the distinct impression that Minharath was grooming him for something, both by external teachings and more subtle influences. He is certain his former master always intended to tell him more. Indeed, before he was killed in the Mourning, Minharath mentioned a special mission that would follow their trip to Cyre. But 'he has no name' never learned what that mission would have been.[/sblock]

 

[Harvey]

As everyone is led along the path, Erin takes notice of the uniquely designed house. Having studied various architectures as a hobby in Cyre, she marvels and the combination of designs, even with the distraction of the insects buzzing about.

For Urko:
[SBLOCK]
Urko, once the party is on the path, the one where the insects are deafeningly buzzing about, can Erin get a quick feel for how long it would take them to go from the pier to the top of the hill of trees? And how closely is Kolbek watching the party? I would like to have Erin perform an spell storing item infusion with a time of 1 minute that only has somatic and XP components. If she thinks she can pull off the infusion between the walk from the pier to the hill, she will try that. She will infuse her gauntlet, and disguise the somatic component as best she can with swatting away insects. If this seems feasible, I will make her Use Magic Device check for the storing.
[/SBLOCK]

Once they reach Kolbek's room, Erin's eyes light up. She seems fascinated by everything. She marvels at the keycharm and its handiness. Unlike the others, Erin does not take a seat. It is obvious that the she is extremely interested in the design of the room that Kolbek has led them to. She looks around at the piping, following their trail and analyzes the runes.

OOC:
Knowledge (engineering & architecture) check 1d20+9 = 20 on the design of the two houses.
Knowledge (engineering & architecture) check 1d20+9 = 24 on the piping, studying the possibility of replicating it at some later point.

 

[Pebele]

Sanae Explains The River Battle

Sanae took a seat and sipped at the drink provided for her. She examined the room for a moment before focusing on Kolbek.

"Unfortunately I cannot provide you with a full account of the events on the river, as the motives of Kajalaketh are a mystery to me. Our transport was stopped, they requested to search the ship and we obliged. Kajalaketh had a... strange air about him, and then demanded to search myself and the nameless warforged. Knowing that we'd done nothing wrong, I refused. It was made clear that this was a search without merit as he insisted that we would be searched regardless. When the group again refused he shouted that we must all be killed."

She took another sip of the drink and shrugged her shoulders. "And surely we weren't going to allow ourselves to be killed. So you see, sir, our hands were tied. We'd done nothing wrong and it was made obvious that there was some sort of hidden agenda. We fought back, and they were outmatched."

Satisfied with her explanation, Sanae settled back in to the seat, admiring the room they were in.

 

[Yeoman]

Xavier listens to Sanae's recounting of the incident on the river and studies Kolbek's face for any reaction. After her she is finished, Xavier chimes in with "Also we disarmed the survivors, I'm sure you can use their weaponry more than we can."

With the group's part being said Xavier reclines in the chair and awaits Kolbek's response.


Sense Motive Check, 15