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<blockquote data-quote="Hairy Minotaur" data-source="post: 3841098" data-attributes="member: 11574"><p><strong>Hints and allegations</strong></p><p></p><p>The party returned to Kindoras Keep mostly despondent over the gate’s interactions with their protections and how to combat them. Xanthos however used the event to fuel his resolve to solve the riddle of the gate. No sooner had the party arrived back at the keep, that Xanthos took his leave and headed north to Catalan to discuss the gate with the druids there.</p><p></p><p>Menthos looked around the compound for Gorn but did not immediately spy him. He decided to head off to bed for a bit of a rest and would look for the captain after napping. Haimish found a group of workers taking a break from their repair duties and elected to entertain them for awhile, whilst Eeyore and Doopa helped boil snow into water for storage during the fast approaching early winter.</p><p></p><p>Menthos headed down the hallway towards his room and spotted a pyromancer loitering outside his door.</p><p></p><p>“You. You have a lot of explaining to do!” The pyromancer spoke as he pointed an index finger at Menthos </p><p></p><p>Menthos ignored the man’s words and walked up into the path of the man’s jabbing finger, causing the pyromancer to jam it into Menthos’ leather jerkin. “Physical provocation will get you a discount disembowelment and a free disease.”</p><p></p><p>“You’re the one who walked into my hand.” The pyromancer answered</p><p></p><p>“Semantics. Your soul is forfeit, just in time too as I need an ice cube for my tea.” Menthos replies</p><p></p><p>“If it’s a duel you’re looking for, I am sure you will find me more than capable of cremating your remains beyond recovery.” The pyromancer challenges</p><p></p><p>“Really? If you’re so mighty why the hell is it so cold outside? Shouldn’t you, with all your power, be able to at least start a bonfire?” Menthos retorts, the pyromancer is caught off guard with no defense for the teifling’s words and is only able to stand in place mouth agape taking the warlock’s abuse, “Why don’t you go back to playing with your tinder twigs and flint and leave the balls of fire and shafts of scorchingness to the professionals?” Menthos finishes</p><p></p><p>The pyromancer walks off defeated with a bleeding ego. Menthos all fired up now from this encounter, changes his mind about a nap and spins around to head back to Aleena’s quarters. </p><p></p><p>“Oh you’re back, did Timbre find you?” Aleena asks as Menthos enters her room</p><p></p><p>“Who?” Menthos answers</p><p></p><p>“Timbre, one of the pyromancers. Apparently someone showed up and the front gate about two hours ago waving the distress sign. Timbre saw it and rushed to let the man enter only to be rebuffed by Gorn who told Timbre that only you were to clear strangers and he needed to wait until you returned. He was pacing outside your room for the last hour waiting for you to get back.” Aleena explains</p><p></p><p>“No, he has not given me the message, and in fact if this is going to be typical of his follow-through then I suggest you light a fire under his ass and get him with the program here.” Menthos demands</p><p></p><p>“Ooh, I like it when you get demanding. You have to be somewhere important? Maybe you can stay for awhile and tell me about your trip?” Aleena asks, while rising and undoing a lace on her bodice.</p><p></p><p>“I got to go see Gorn, I’ll be back to fill you in later. You stay here and steam over that for a little bit and get hot about it.” Menthos suggests to Aleena’s glee.</p><p></p><p>Menthos heads back out to the keep’s gate where an impatient Gorn taps his foot on the hard ground as he watches the teifling approach. </p><p></p><p>“Where ya been? I aint got all day ta track ya down ‘bout guests. I ain’t yer butler.” Gorn protests</p><p></p><p>“Thanks shorty, here’s a tip.” Menthos answers while tossing a copper piece at the Captain of the Guard and opening the gatehouse.</p><p></p><p>“Hey! I donna take bribes.” Gorn throws the copper piece back at Menthos, “an ya need to get yer firecrackers new attitudes ‘fore I hafta do it meself.” Gorn states</p><p></p><p>“No bribes huh? Here, I got another tip for you.” Menthos replies by flipping his middle finger up at the Gorn, then slipping inside the gatehouse as the captain’s fist ricochets off the door as it closes. Menthos then locks the door from the inside, much to the chagrin to a fuming door pounding Gorn.</p><p></p><p>“Are you in distress?” Menthos asks the huddled figure</p><p></p><p>A hooded head rises up from slouched shoulders and catches a bit of the afternoon sun through a window. The man’s face looks wind burned and scarred beyond excessive, a knotty finger emerges from within the man’s robes and points an accusing finger at Menthos.</p><p></p><p>“Are you the homeowner I seek?” the man voice croaks</p><p></p><p>“Yes, have you the package?” Menthos asks</p><p></p><p>The man produces a small cloth bag tied with bright red twine, and a smaller cloth wrapped package. He hands the wrapped package over to Menthos first; the warlock confirms his suspicions that this package contains the fire opals. The man hands the bag over next. Menthos opens it to find a black void; he looks back at the messenger with a quizzical expression.</p><p></p><p>“For Thruvimhurax the Cunning.” The man answers</p><p></p><p>“Yes, now who is that exactly?” Menthos asks and looks back towards the messenger only to find an empty set of robes covering a pile of ashes. Sighing heavily, Menthos tucks the bag and opals into his clothes and unlocks the gatehouse door.</p><p></p><p>Gorn bursts in, axe drawn and eyes wild.</p><p></p><p>“Oy, wat happen’d?” Gorn ask of the messenger while keeping his axe trained on the teifling.</p><p></p><p>“He pissed me off.” Menthos said and walked into Gorn’s axe, Gorn gave ground and dropped the weapon in fearful awe of the warlock.</p><p></p><p>Once Menthos had gone beyond close earshot, Gorn turned to his lieutenants and announced, “I wanna guard post’d on ‘im at all times, or it’ll be yer jobs”</p><p></p><p>Xanthos arrives in Catalan discretely and proceeds to the town’s druidic leaders; he demands an audience and waits outside the dinning hall for his opportunity. After three minutes, Xanthos determined it was taking too long and he burst into the hall, causing wooden spoons to fall out of hands and startled gasps to ripple across the table.</p><p></p><p>“What is the meaning of this?” someone demands</p><p></p><p>“There is a gate pouring the elemental plane of ice into our world, not a half day’s travel to the east as the eagle flies.” Xanthos states</p><p></p><p>“Yes, we are aware of its presence. That’s still no excuse for rudeness.” A druid reprimands </p><p></p><p>“It needs to be shut down; it is the cause of the early winter. It is not natural.” Xanthos replies</p><p></p><p>“How do you know it is the cause of an early winter this year? Could it not just be making it colder and actually have nothing to do with the earlier onset of winter this year?” a druid asks</p><p></p><p>“Better yet why would you want to staunch the flow of a primal element into our world? Shouldn’t you be out there protecting its site from interlopers?” Another druid speaks up.</p><p></p><p>“Why is this even up for debate? This gate is not naturally occurring, it freezes all spells and words in its vicinity.” Xanthos responds</p><p></p><p>“Well, then how do you propose we close the gate? If our spells don’t work and we can’t talk, what do you think would work? A giant cork?” A druid replies, amid nods and voices of agreement with this druid’s question</p><p></p><p>“You do not believe in restoring nature’s balance? Your only wish is to be left alone? Happily I report to you that the gate shall grant your request when it turns this world into a snowball for the plane of ice to play with. What nature will you be protecting then?” Xanthos scathes the druids</p><p></p><p>“My good servant, we are not yet decided upon the true purpose behind the gate, nor how it came to be. Without this knowledge we cannot rule out for certain that this is not the path Rontra wished for us.” A druid replies</p><p></p><p>“Fine, I will return with this proof, but not before I show Rontra your level of complacency in your faith.” Xanthos warns</p><p></p><p>The shifter left the druids of Catalan and flew over the ice gate valley again, again noting the peaceful tranquility of the ice-covered valley below. Xanthos then sped off to buzz Hledra, even before he had reached the city; Xanthos again perceived no smoke trails from fires within Hledra’s boundaries. Xanthos flew circles around the tower hoping to get a shot taken at him. </p><p></p><p>Instead Xanthos found nothing, anger welled up in the shifter, “How dare they leave me to die, and then fail to remain for my revenge. I will find you wherever you’ve gone. I will be the shadow behind your back, the whisper on the wind. This is your cue to start running!” Xanthos shouts.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hairy Minotaur, post: 3841098, member: 11574"] [b]Hints and allegations[/b] The party returned to Kindoras Keep mostly despondent over the gate’s interactions with their protections and how to combat them. Xanthos however used the event to fuel his resolve to solve the riddle of the gate. No sooner had the party arrived back at the keep, that Xanthos took his leave and headed north to Catalan to discuss the gate with the druids there. Menthos looked around the compound for Gorn but did not immediately spy him. He decided to head off to bed for a bit of a rest and would look for the captain after napping. Haimish found a group of workers taking a break from their repair duties and elected to entertain them for awhile, whilst Eeyore and Doopa helped boil snow into water for storage during the fast approaching early winter. Menthos headed down the hallway towards his room and spotted a pyromancer loitering outside his door. “You. You have a lot of explaining to do!” The pyromancer spoke as he pointed an index finger at Menthos Menthos ignored the man’s words and walked up into the path of the man’s jabbing finger, causing the pyromancer to jam it into Menthos’ leather jerkin. “Physical provocation will get you a discount disembowelment and a free disease.” “You’re the one who walked into my hand.” The pyromancer answered “Semantics. Your soul is forfeit, just in time too as I need an ice cube for my tea.” Menthos replies “If it’s a duel you’re looking for, I am sure you will find me more than capable of cremating your remains beyond recovery.” The pyromancer challenges “Really? If you’re so mighty why the hell is it so cold outside? Shouldn’t you, with all your power, be able to at least start a bonfire?” Menthos retorts, the pyromancer is caught off guard with no defense for the teifling’s words and is only able to stand in place mouth agape taking the warlock’s abuse, “Why don’t you go back to playing with your tinder twigs and flint and leave the balls of fire and shafts of scorchingness to the professionals?” Menthos finishes The pyromancer walks off defeated with a bleeding ego. Menthos all fired up now from this encounter, changes his mind about a nap and spins around to head back to Aleena’s quarters. “Oh you’re back, did Timbre find you?” Aleena asks as Menthos enters her room “Who?” Menthos answers “Timbre, one of the pyromancers. Apparently someone showed up and the front gate about two hours ago waving the distress sign. Timbre saw it and rushed to let the man enter only to be rebuffed by Gorn who told Timbre that only you were to clear strangers and he needed to wait until you returned. He was pacing outside your room for the last hour waiting for you to get back.” Aleena explains “No, he has not given me the message, and in fact if this is going to be typical of his follow-through then I suggest you light a fire under his ass and get him with the program here.” Menthos demands “Ooh, I like it when you get demanding. You have to be somewhere important? Maybe you can stay for awhile and tell me about your trip?” Aleena asks, while rising and undoing a lace on her bodice. “I got to go see Gorn, I’ll be back to fill you in later. You stay here and steam over that for a little bit and get hot about it.” Menthos suggests to Aleena’s glee. Menthos heads back out to the keep’s gate where an impatient Gorn taps his foot on the hard ground as he watches the teifling approach. “Where ya been? I aint got all day ta track ya down ‘bout guests. I ain’t yer butler.” Gorn protests “Thanks shorty, here’s a tip.” Menthos answers while tossing a copper piece at the Captain of the Guard and opening the gatehouse. “Hey! I donna take bribes.” Gorn throws the copper piece back at Menthos, “an ya need to get yer firecrackers new attitudes ‘fore I hafta do it meself.” Gorn states “No bribes huh? Here, I got another tip for you.” Menthos replies by flipping his middle finger up at the Gorn, then slipping inside the gatehouse as the captain’s fist ricochets off the door as it closes. Menthos then locks the door from the inside, much to the chagrin to a fuming door pounding Gorn. “Are you in distress?” Menthos asks the huddled figure A hooded head rises up from slouched shoulders and catches a bit of the afternoon sun through a window. The man’s face looks wind burned and scarred beyond excessive, a knotty finger emerges from within the man’s robes and points an accusing finger at Menthos. “Are you the homeowner I seek?” the man voice croaks “Yes, have you the package?” Menthos asks The man produces a small cloth bag tied with bright red twine, and a smaller cloth wrapped package. He hands the wrapped package over to Menthos first; the warlock confirms his suspicions that this package contains the fire opals. The man hands the bag over next. Menthos opens it to find a black void; he looks back at the messenger with a quizzical expression. “For Thruvimhurax the Cunning.” The man answers “Yes, now who is that exactly?” Menthos asks and looks back towards the messenger only to find an empty set of robes covering a pile of ashes. Sighing heavily, Menthos tucks the bag and opals into his clothes and unlocks the gatehouse door. Gorn bursts in, axe drawn and eyes wild. “Oy, wat happen’d?” Gorn ask of the messenger while keeping his axe trained on the teifling. “He pissed me off.” Menthos said and walked into Gorn’s axe, Gorn gave ground and dropped the weapon in fearful awe of the warlock. Once Menthos had gone beyond close earshot, Gorn turned to his lieutenants and announced, “I wanna guard post’d on ‘im at all times, or it’ll be yer jobs” Xanthos arrives in Catalan discretely and proceeds to the town’s druidic leaders; he demands an audience and waits outside the dinning hall for his opportunity. After three minutes, Xanthos determined it was taking too long and he burst into the hall, causing wooden spoons to fall out of hands and startled gasps to ripple across the table. “What is the meaning of this?” someone demands “There is a gate pouring the elemental plane of ice into our world, not a half day’s travel to the east as the eagle flies.” Xanthos states “Yes, we are aware of its presence. That’s still no excuse for rudeness.” A druid reprimands “It needs to be shut down; it is the cause of the early winter. It is not natural.” Xanthos replies “How do you know it is the cause of an early winter this year? Could it not just be making it colder and actually have nothing to do with the earlier onset of winter this year?” a druid asks “Better yet why would you want to staunch the flow of a primal element into our world? Shouldn’t you be out there protecting its site from interlopers?” Another druid speaks up. “Why is this even up for debate? This gate is not naturally occurring, it freezes all spells and words in its vicinity.” Xanthos responds “Well, then how do you propose we close the gate? If our spells don’t work and we can’t talk, what do you think would work? A giant cork?” A druid replies, amid nods and voices of agreement with this druid’s question “You do not believe in restoring nature’s balance? Your only wish is to be left alone? Happily I report to you that the gate shall grant your request when it turns this world into a snowball for the plane of ice to play with. What nature will you be protecting then?” Xanthos scathes the druids “My good servant, we are not yet decided upon the true purpose behind the gate, nor how it came to be. Without this knowledge we cannot rule out for certain that this is not the path Rontra wished for us.” A druid replies “Fine, I will return with this proof, but not before I show Rontra your level of complacency in your faith.” Xanthos warns The shifter left the druids of Catalan and flew over the ice gate valley again, again noting the peaceful tranquility of the ice-covered valley below. Xanthos then sped off to buzz Hledra, even before he had reached the city; Xanthos again perceived no smoke trails from fires within Hledra’s boundaries. Xanthos flew circles around the tower hoping to get a shot taken at him. Instead Xanthos found nothing, anger welled up in the shifter, “How dare they leave me to die, and then fail to remain for my revenge. I will find you wherever you’ve gone. I will be the shadow behind your back, the whisper on the wind. This is your cue to start running!” Xanthos shouts. [/QUOTE]
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