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Steel Dragon's "Tales of Orea"
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<blockquote data-quote="steeldragons" data-source="post: 5923175" data-attributes="member: 92511"><p>Alaria and her "escort" rounded the bend just in time to see Festus pulling his falchion out of the belly of a severely dead lizardman guard on the floor. The enchanted cloak of Fen waved about the druid, a bit behind the ranger. The half-elf's face was of one just caught with his breeches about his ankles.</p><p></p><p>"Alaria!" the satyr said cheerfully. "Look Fen. That was easy!"</p><p></p><p>"Festus? What are you..." Alaria didn't get to finish her question before her escort threw her, fairly easily, to the floor behind him and rushed forward with a snarling hiss, his spear ready to take on the interlopers.</p><p></p><p>The satyr, naturally, took a ready stance with his two short blades before him. Fen leveled his spear in the lizard-guard's direction.</p><p></p><p>"No! Stop! Don't hurt him." Alaria called in vain.</p><p></p><p>Before the last words had passed her lips, the satyr was dodging and feinting around the lizardman's spear jabs. The ranger's own strikes missed and skated off of the lizardman's thick scaled hide.</p><p></p><p>Fen rushed forward to help Alaria to her feet. "Where are the others? We should get out of here with all speed."</p><p></p><p>"They are captured. There is too much to explain. Stop this! Festus, don't kill him!" Alaria called passed the druid, seeing Festus cut into the reptilians softer side.</p><p></p><p>The satyr was distracted by this "command", "You want me to what?!"</p><p></p><p>This momentary pause was all the lizardman needed to do a swift pivot on its feet to swipe the goat-legs rght out from under Festus with a solid swipe of its tail. The satyr landed heavily on his back, knocking the air from his lungs. Before Festus could react, a bone-tipped spear was at his throat.</p><p></p><p>"No!" Alaria called. Before she knew what she was doing or saying, the words came to her mind and across her lips, practically unbidden, "<em>Contro es amberall buul</em>." <<em>mage spell: Sleep</em>> Alaria flung her arm out with a handful of dusty dirt from the passage floor.</p><p></p><p>The lizardman looked at her curiously for a moment before slumping over in a blissful doze.</p><p></p><p>Not since Alaria had completed her studies in Evaranthriine's Gorathgraard had she had much cause to use her magic. But the R'Hathi magess knew, she had not studied the Sleep incantation at the beginning of that day. She was thoroughly impressed with herself at this newfound mastery of the Mysteries...and the fact that she, apparently didn't "need" sand to pull it off.</p><p></p><p>But she steeled her mind with trained ease, these things could be pondered at a later time in some more secure location.</p><p></p><p>At her instruction, the satyr bound (and gagged) the large lizardman and, somewhat clumsily he and the half-elf dragged it to a nearby door that seemed to be a supply room of some sort, with shelves full of skins and barrels of some liquid and stacks of torches and assorted rags.</p><p></p><p>Alaria filled in her would-be rescuers as they descended back into the creatures' lair.</p><p></p><p>"so, let me get this straight, " Festus said quietly, "you told them <em>Halean</em> could raise the chief's dead son...that we killed yesterday...And now he wants <em>you</em> to bring<em> us</em> to them?...or they'll kill the others and or feed us all to some Hrangthing." This sounded, to the satyr, like a severely bad set of circumstances.</p><p></p><p>Alaria simply nodded as she peerred cautiously around the passage down which she knew there to be several doorways. </p><p></p><p>"And we're going...now...where, exactly?" Fen asked tentatively.</p><p></p><p>"We are going to do just as they ask." Alaria said plainly.</p><p></p><p>The half-elf and satyr looked at each other. Their expressions, if they said anything, were that Alaria had clearly lost her mind.</p><p></p><p>"But we're going to make a stop or two first." alaria said cryptically.</p><p></p><p>Festus took the point and led them, caustiously down corridor after corridor, making turns where Alaria indicated. She continued explaining her plan in hushed tones.</p><p></p><p>"There is a shaman here. They've taken all of our enchanted items, not to mention mine and Erevan's spellbooks. I am betting, the shaman has at least some of them. We must find him and retrieve as much of our equipment as possible. My spellbooks not least of all."</p><p></p><p>They very carefully checked down various passages and behind certain doors, doing their utmost not to let their presence be known.</p><p></p><p>"Then we must free the others...and we can't kill any more of them if it can be helped." Alaria concluded.</p><p></p><p>That was enough for Festus, "OK! Now you've just lost it. Are you still poisoned or something?! These things want to EAT us!"</p><p></p><p>"I've seen younglings here abouts, Festus. And other adults that are unarmed...their females, I suspect. We seem to have done more than enough damage to this... colony or whatever it is. Let's just get what's ours and get out of here.</p><p></p><p>"As to what this 'Hr'athsa' is, I have no idea. But the way the shaman spoke of it, I suspect it is their god or some spirit kind of creature. We are in no shape to take on anything more than absolutely necessary!"</p><p></p><p>That said, the very next door they check behind, the three adventurers were faced, eye-to-eye, several of the unarmed 'females' who immediately rose and hissed angrily at the interlopers. The three grown lizardfolk charged toward the door. Alaria noted a few young lizardfolk playing on the floor behind their watchers.</p><p></p><p>Fen slammed the door shut and Alaria quickly placed her hands upon the shoddily crafted wooden door. Again, words came into her mind from her memory of the eariest spells in her book. A quick incantation later, the door jostled upon its hinges, causing Alaria to step back in alarm. But the door did not open. <<em>mage spell: Hold Portal</em>> </p><p></p><p>"We must hurry." she said as the hissing and growling continued from behind the door.</p><p></p><p>"They were holding us in a chamber down that way." Alaria said at a "T" in the passage down which they were rushing. Then took the <em>opposite</em> direction.</p><p></p><p>"Uhhhh...Alaria...then why are we going <em>this</em> way?" Festus asked, confused.</p><p></p><p>"Our magic, Festus!" Alaria said with some annoyance. What didn't the satyr understand about the importance of reclaiming her spellbooks?!</p><p></p><p>The next chamber to their right also had a door, this one looking much more well made and sturdy.</p><p></p><p>"<em>Arkanavis.</em>" Alaria whispered under her breadth. She peered, very close to the door. There was...she was almost sure...magic on the other side of the door. "Here."</p><p></p><p>Fen went to grab the door as Alaria noticed, backed away from the door, the invisible runes scribed and glowing along the bottom of the door.</p><p></p><p>"NO! Wait!" Alaria said, a bit loudly in her surprise. But it was too late.</p><p></p><p>There was the most momentary flash of light as Fen's hand touched the door handle before flames erupted with a soft *WHOOSH!* from the base of the door and filled the passageway in front of it and about ten feet of the corridor.</p><p></p><p>Festus' uncanny reflexes and goat-legs jumped him back from the quick blast of heat and flames to escape unscathed.</p><p></p><p>Fen's enchanted cloak helped to mute some of the elemental damage. He looked at Alaria with a bit of displeasure as the scent of burned hair filled the air. The druid's carrot-colored eyebrows and strip of a goatee were frizzled black and smoking. </p><p></p><p>Alaria similarly was smoking from several locations. Her traveling robe was all but burned from her body (being, now, little more than a short skirt and bra.)</p><p></p><p>"Nice look, Alaria." Festus jibbed with a chuckle. "You should show more skin more often."</p><p></p><p>Alaria simply scowled at the ranger and indicated they all needed to enter the chamber.</p><p></p><p>Sure enough, it looked (at least to Alaria) like the shaman's chambers. Thankfully, he was not there. But there was a long table strewn with beakers and bottles and jars and bowls holding all sorts of animal parts, bones and feathers carefully stacked and separated into piles. A set of shelves contained more jars and vials and animal parts. Also on the shelves were several rolls of parchment. The magess was sorry they had not the time to examine the spirit-man's 'magic', but time was of the essence.</p><p></p><p>Sure enough, on a desk to the side were several of their items with a few scrolls beneath them. It seemed from Alaria's cursory examining of them, that the shaman was attempting to identify what the items present might do.</p><p></p><p>Alaria immediately took and put on her bracelet of force-beads. She grabbed her deep blue cloak off of a peg on the wall. She handed off Haelan's small round shield and Duor's ethereal dagger off to the satyr.</p><p></p><p>"Will these help?" Festus asked with a smile, picking up a seemingly plain backpack in each hand. They were the packs of holding the dwarf Imgulg had gifted to Haelan and Duor.</p><p></p><p>"These too, it seems." Fen said from the long table of bottles and animal parts. He grabbed and stashed what seemed to be at least one of their neutralize poison and healing potions, two vials of the dark green water breathing potion. He was carefully surveying the contents of the other bottles and jars.</p><p></p><p>Alaria moved into a recessed alcove behind a drape of drying herbs.</p><p></p><p>"Oo. What's this one do, ya think?" Festus said about a bone bowl that contained a thick yellowed liquid.</p><p></p><p>Before Fen or Alaria could say anything, the satyr downed the contents of the bowl.</p><p></p><p>"Are you MAD!?" Fen said in alarm as the bone bowl dropped form the satyr's hand and the goat-man gagged several times.</p><p></p><p>"Tastes like bile." he managed to choke out.</p><p></p><p>"These are lizardmen, imbecile. It very likely might have been!" Fen chastised.</p><p></p><p>Then Festus felt...odd...tingling like...and...well, odd.</p><p></p><p>Alaria had located her satchel and quickly was stuffing what seemed to be both of her spellbooks and Erevan's slimmer smaller tome.</p><p></p><p>"I don't see anything more of ours. Let's get out of here...FESTUS!" Alaria finished with alarm to see the satyr's skin had gone somewhat...orange?</p><p></p><p>First, the ranger's shoulder muscle bulged out...impossibly, magically, large. Then one of his forearms. Then the other shoulder. His pectorals practically snapped the breastplate of leather off, but one of the straps held it in place...for a moment before that one, too, burst and the leather armor fell off of the ever increasing form. His biceps were creaking up in size, veins forming all across the exposed skin.</p><p></p><p>"Manat's star!" Alaria breathed.</p><p></p><p>"He drank something from the shaman's desk." Fen said as he backed away from the groaning and growling satyr as his legs burst in similar muscle and size and shoulders came very near the ceiling of the place.</p><p></p><p>After a moment the transformation stopped and before them stood, at nearing nine feet tall, a giant orange Festus breathing heavily, loudly, and staring at his orange huge hands. The "full length" patchwork cloak in which the ranger traveled now hung, like a shawl, over his back. </p><p></p><p>Alaria took a cautious step toward the 'creature' and said, very softly. "Festus?" </p><p></p><p>The satyr's head turned toward the magess. His face had grown and morphed to a grotesque monstrous visage. His eyes were bulding and bloodshot. Alaria's soft word rang in his ears like a hundred cymbals.</p><p></p><p>"This...I'm...this is...SO COOL!" Festus' voice boomed through the chamber.</p><p></p><p>"Are you ok?" Fen said, again with concern.</p><p></p><p>"I am...AWESOME!" again the voice boomed. Both the wizard and druid were sure just about everything in the lizardmen's den would have heard him. "Look at me! I'm HUGE! Let's kick some butt!" the satyr smiled a rather gross toothy smile at his companions.</p><p></p><p>"Ok...Ok, Festus. Change of plans....still not killing if not absolutely necessary. But I think it might be a good time for a visit to the chieftain, now." Alaria said with a sly smile.</p><p></p><p>"Magess?" Fen said, thoroughly not following.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p><translated from the Lizardman tongue>"<em>My chief! My chief! An ogre has appeared in the lair! </em>" cried a guard who entered the chieftain's audience chamber with three other guards quick on his heels. They closed and barred the double doors that led to the throne room. </p><p></p><p>"<em>What?! How?</em>" answered chief Claws-in-Blood.</p><p></p><p>"<em>It has the prey-shaman with it and the green cloak! It is coming this way.</em> the guard explained quickly as a thundrous boom pounded into the door.</p><p></p><p>"<em>How could she do that without her magic books?! You said she had no power!"</em> Claws-in-Blood growled at the shaman beside him.</p><p></p><p>The elderly lizard, Hisses-to-Spirits, cowered at his chief's raised clawed gauntlet raised arm and then took a step back, jostled from his feet by another thundering knock.</p><p></p><p>The two lizardmen who were up upon a makeshift ladder attempting to hang a triangular shield emblazoned with a black split-tail hawk on the wall among the chief's other litany of trophies were similarly knocked down. One suffered the clanging of the shield upon its head.</p><p></p><p>With a deafening boom, the doors flew off their hinges and the prey-shaman walked calmly into the throne room. The four present guardsmen took their positions, forming a line before their chief and the shaman, who was now half-hiding behind the chief's throne.</p><p></p><p>Behind the prey-female, who was now covered in a cloak of dark blue and walked with a long staff that flickered with a ball of lightning, came a similarly cloaked in green, hooded prey who walked with a spear. Behind them both came a giant orange brute of a creature.</p><p></p><p>It had horns upon its head and furry prey-like legs with great cloven feet.</p><p></p><p>"FESTUS SMASH!" the great orange beast bellowed through the chamber.</p><p></p><p>"Not yet, Festus." the prey-shaman said calmly before turning toward the chieftain and raising her voice in address.</p><p></p><p>"My good chief. You desired for me to find and bring to you the greencloak and the satyr. Here I am. Our side of the bargain is fulfilled."</p><p></p><p>The chief hissed and growled in obvious annoyance at the shaman and the shaman relayed what had been said...or so Alaria hoped.</p><p></p><p>"Thisss isss no sssatyr. The prey-sssahman thinksss it k-k-..." Hisses-to-Spirits began to reply.</p><p></p><p>"I AM 'clever', bone-man...and it's SHHHHA-man." Alaria replied with a good deal of enjoyment before mentally calling up a couple of her, few remaining, cantrips.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="steeldragons, post: 5923175, member: 92511"] Alaria and her "escort" rounded the bend just in time to see Festus pulling his falchion out of the belly of a severely dead lizardman guard on the floor. The enchanted cloak of Fen waved about the druid, a bit behind the ranger. The half-elf's face was of one just caught with his breeches about his ankles. "Alaria!" the satyr said cheerfully. "Look Fen. That was easy!" "Festus? What are you..." Alaria didn't get to finish her question before her escort threw her, fairly easily, to the floor behind him and rushed forward with a snarling hiss, his spear ready to take on the interlopers. The satyr, naturally, took a ready stance with his two short blades before him. Fen leveled his spear in the lizard-guard's direction. "No! Stop! Don't hurt him." Alaria called in vain. Before the last words had passed her lips, the satyr was dodging and feinting around the lizardman's spear jabs. The ranger's own strikes missed and skated off of the lizardman's thick scaled hide. Fen rushed forward to help Alaria to her feet. "Where are the others? We should get out of here with all speed." "They are captured. There is too much to explain. Stop this! Festus, don't kill him!" Alaria called passed the druid, seeing Festus cut into the reptilians softer side. The satyr was distracted by this "command", "You want me to what?!" This momentary pause was all the lizardman needed to do a swift pivot on its feet to swipe the goat-legs rght out from under Festus with a solid swipe of its tail. The satyr landed heavily on his back, knocking the air from his lungs. Before Festus could react, a bone-tipped spear was at his throat. "No!" Alaria called. Before she knew what she was doing or saying, the words came to her mind and across her lips, practically unbidden, "[I]Contro es amberall buul[/I]." <[I]mage spell: Sleep[/I]> Alaria flung her arm out with a handful of dusty dirt from the passage floor. The lizardman looked at her curiously for a moment before slumping over in a blissful doze. Not since Alaria had completed her studies in Evaranthriine's Gorathgraard had she had much cause to use her magic. But the R'Hathi magess knew, she had not studied the Sleep incantation at the beginning of that day. She was thoroughly impressed with herself at this newfound mastery of the Mysteries...and the fact that she, apparently didn't "need" sand to pull it off. But she steeled her mind with trained ease, these things could be pondered at a later time in some more secure location. At her instruction, the satyr bound (and gagged) the large lizardman and, somewhat clumsily he and the half-elf dragged it to a nearby door that seemed to be a supply room of some sort, with shelves full of skins and barrels of some liquid and stacks of torches and assorted rags. Alaria filled in her would-be rescuers as they descended back into the creatures' lair. "so, let me get this straight, " Festus said quietly, "you told them [I]Halean[/I] could raise the chief's dead son...that we killed yesterday...And now he wants [I]you[/I] to bring[I] us[/I] to them?...or they'll kill the others and or feed us all to some Hrangthing." This sounded, to the satyr, like a severely bad set of circumstances. Alaria simply nodded as she peerred cautiously around the passage down which she knew there to be several doorways. "And we're going...now...where, exactly?" Fen asked tentatively. "We are going to do just as they ask." Alaria said plainly. The half-elf and satyr looked at each other. Their expressions, if they said anything, were that Alaria had clearly lost her mind. "But we're going to make a stop or two first." alaria said cryptically. Festus took the point and led them, caustiously down corridor after corridor, making turns where Alaria indicated. She continued explaining her plan in hushed tones. "There is a shaman here. They've taken all of our enchanted items, not to mention mine and Erevan's spellbooks. I am betting, the shaman has at least some of them. We must find him and retrieve as much of our equipment as possible. My spellbooks not least of all." They very carefully checked down various passages and behind certain doors, doing their utmost not to let their presence be known. "Then we must free the others...and we can't kill any more of them if it can be helped." Alaria concluded. That was enough for Festus, "OK! Now you've just lost it. Are you still poisoned or something?! These things want to EAT us!" "I've seen younglings here abouts, Festus. And other adults that are unarmed...their females, I suspect. We seem to have done more than enough damage to this... colony or whatever it is. Let's just get what's ours and get out of here. "As to what this 'Hr'athsa' is, I have no idea. But the way the shaman spoke of it, I suspect it is their god or some spirit kind of creature. We are in no shape to take on anything more than absolutely necessary!" That said, the very next door they check behind, the three adventurers were faced, eye-to-eye, several of the unarmed 'females' who immediately rose and hissed angrily at the interlopers. The three grown lizardfolk charged toward the door. Alaria noted a few young lizardfolk playing on the floor behind their watchers. Fen slammed the door shut and Alaria quickly placed her hands upon the shoddily crafted wooden door. Again, words came into her mind from her memory of the eariest spells in her book. A quick incantation later, the door jostled upon its hinges, causing Alaria to step back in alarm. But the door did not open. <[I]mage spell: Hold Portal[/I]> "We must hurry." she said as the hissing and growling continued from behind the door. "They were holding us in a chamber down that way." Alaria said at a "T" in the passage down which they were rushing. Then took the [I]opposite[/I] direction. "Uhhhh...Alaria...then why are we going [I]this[/I] way?" Festus asked, confused. "Our magic, Festus!" Alaria said with some annoyance. What didn't the satyr understand about the importance of reclaiming her spellbooks?! The next chamber to their right also had a door, this one looking much more well made and sturdy. "[I]Arkanavis.[/I]" Alaria whispered under her breadth. She peered, very close to the door. There was...she was almost sure...magic on the other side of the door. "Here." Fen went to grab the door as Alaria noticed, backed away from the door, the invisible runes scribed and glowing along the bottom of the door. "NO! Wait!" Alaria said, a bit loudly in her surprise. But it was too late. There was the most momentary flash of light as Fen's hand touched the door handle before flames erupted with a soft *WHOOSH!* from the base of the door and filled the passageway in front of it and about ten feet of the corridor. Festus' uncanny reflexes and goat-legs jumped him back from the quick blast of heat and flames to escape unscathed. Fen's enchanted cloak helped to mute some of the elemental damage. He looked at Alaria with a bit of displeasure as the scent of burned hair filled the air. The druid's carrot-colored eyebrows and strip of a goatee were frizzled black and smoking. Alaria similarly was smoking from several locations. Her traveling robe was all but burned from her body (being, now, little more than a short skirt and bra.) "Nice look, Alaria." Festus jibbed with a chuckle. "You should show more skin more often." Alaria simply scowled at the ranger and indicated they all needed to enter the chamber. Sure enough, it looked (at least to Alaria) like the shaman's chambers. Thankfully, he was not there. But there was a long table strewn with beakers and bottles and jars and bowls holding all sorts of animal parts, bones and feathers carefully stacked and separated into piles. A set of shelves contained more jars and vials and animal parts. Also on the shelves were several rolls of parchment. The magess was sorry they had not the time to examine the spirit-man's 'magic', but time was of the essence. Sure enough, on a desk to the side were several of their items with a few scrolls beneath them. It seemed from Alaria's cursory examining of them, that the shaman was attempting to identify what the items present might do. Alaria immediately took and put on her bracelet of force-beads. She grabbed her deep blue cloak off of a peg on the wall. She handed off Haelan's small round shield and Duor's ethereal dagger off to the satyr. "Will these help?" Festus asked with a smile, picking up a seemingly plain backpack in each hand. They were the packs of holding the dwarf Imgulg had gifted to Haelan and Duor. "These too, it seems." Fen said from the long table of bottles and animal parts. He grabbed and stashed what seemed to be at least one of their neutralize poison and healing potions, two vials of the dark green water breathing potion. He was carefully surveying the contents of the other bottles and jars. Alaria moved into a recessed alcove behind a drape of drying herbs. "Oo. What's this one do, ya think?" Festus said about a bone bowl that contained a thick yellowed liquid. Before Fen or Alaria could say anything, the satyr downed the contents of the bowl. "Are you MAD!?" Fen said in alarm as the bone bowl dropped form the satyr's hand and the goat-man gagged several times. "Tastes like bile." he managed to choke out. "These are lizardmen, imbecile. It very likely might have been!" Fen chastised. Then Festus felt...odd...tingling like...and...well, odd. Alaria had located her satchel and quickly was stuffing what seemed to be both of her spellbooks and Erevan's slimmer smaller tome. "I don't see anything more of ours. Let's get out of here...FESTUS!" Alaria finished with alarm to see the satyr's skin had gone somewhat...orange? First, the ranger's shoulder muscle bulged out...impossibly, magically, large. Then one of his forearms. Then the other shoulder. His pectorals practically snapped the breastplate of leather off, but one of the straps held it in place...for a moment before that one, too, burst and the leather armor fell off of the ever increasing form. His biceps were creaking up in size, veins forming all across the exposed skin. "Manat's star!" Alaria breathed. "He drank something from the shaman's desk." Fen said as he backed away from the groaning and growling satyr as his legs burst in similar muscle and size and shoulders came very near the ceiling of the place. After a moment the transformation stopped and before them stood, at nearing nine feet tall, a giant orange Festus breathing heavily, loudly, and staring at his orange huge hands. The "full length" patchwork cloak in which the ranger traveled now hung, like a shawl, over his back. Alaria took a cautious step toward the 'creature' and said, very softly. "Festus?" The satyr's head turned toward the magess. His face had grown and morphed to a grotesque monstrous visage. His eyes were bulding and bloodshot. Alaria's soft word rang in his ears like a hundred cymbals. "This...I'm...this is...SO COOL!" Festus' voice boomed through the chamber. "Are you ok?" Fen said, again with concern. "I am...AWESOME!" again the voice boomed. Both the wizard and druid were sure just about everything in the lizardmen's den would have heard him. "Look at me! I'm HUGE! Let's kick some butt!" the satyr smiled a rather gross toothy smile at his companions. "Ok...Ok, Festus. Change of plans....still not killing if not absolutely necessary. But I think it might be a good time for a visit to the chieftain, now." Alaria said with a sly smile. "Magess?" Fen said, thoroughly not following. *** <translated from the Lizardman tongue>"[I]My chief! My chief! An ogre has appeared in the lair! [/I]" cried a guard who entered the chieftain's audience chamber with three other guards quick on his heels. They closed and barred the double doors that led to the throne room. "[I]What?! How?[/I]" answered chief Claws-in-Blood. "[I]It has the prey-shaman with it and the green cloak! It is coming this way.[/I] the guard explained quickly as a thundrous boom pounded into the door. "[I]How could she do that without her magic books?! You said she had no power!"[/I] Claws-in-Blood growled at the shaman beside him. The elderly lizard, Hisses-to-Spirits, cowered at his chief's raised clawed gauntlet raised arm and then took a step back, jostled from his feet by another thundering knock. The two lizardmen who were up upon a makeshift ladder attempting to hang a triangular shield emblazoned with a black split-tail hawk on the wall among the chief's other litany of trophies were similarly knocked down. One suffered the clanging of the shield upon its head. With a deafening boom, the doors flew off their hinges and the prey-shaman walked calmly into the throne room. The four present guardsmen took their positions, forming a line before their chief and the shaman, who was now half-hiding behind the chief's throne. Behind the prey-female, who was now covered in a cloak of dark blue and walked with a long staff that flickered with a ball of lightning, came a similarly cloaked in green, hooded prey who walked with a spear. Behind them both came a giant orange brute of a creature. It had horns upon its head and furry prey-like legs with great cloven feet. "FESTUS SMASH!" the great orange beast bellowed through the chamber. "Not yet, Festus." the prey-shaman said calmly before turning toward the chieftain and raising her voice in address. "My good chief. You desired for me to find and bring to you the greencloak and the satyr. Here I am. Our side of the bargain is fulfilled." The chief hissed and growled in obvious annoyance at the shaman and the shaman relayed what had been said...or so Alaria hoped. "Thisss isss no sssatyr. The prey-sssahman thinksss it k-k-..." Hisses-to-Spirits began to reply. "I AM 'clever', bone-man...and it's SHHHHA-man." Alaria replied with a good deal of enjoyment before mentally calling up a couple of her, few remaining, cantrips. [/QUOTE]
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