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

[Rathan]

The Council of the Starfall nods almost in unison as one slides open a large wooden door to a small conference room to the right side of the hall...

"In here you will have all the time you need to plan and discuss... just... try not to use all the time you need if you could.. we need answers quickly the Lorken King pronounces as he ushers you all inside. In this room there finger foods... cheeses... finger rolls.. grapes... and some ale for all of you to enjoy as you plan for your trip northwest....

 

[Ambrus]

Menhir listens to Eltyr's rambling impassively. Not having an opportunity to answer, the earth elemental assumes that the man's questions are rhetorical in nature and so remains silent throughout the monologue.

When the group moves towards the conference room door, Menhir sinks down into the floor to its knees and glides quietly through the flagstones underfoot; seemingly without physical effort and without disturbing the floor's substance in its wake. Once inside, the elemental peers around the room with curiosity, trying to guess what their purpose for entering it might be. When it spots the organic substances clustered on the table it guesses that its companions intend to "share a meal"; a very common social activity for their kind. Not wanting to give offense as the druidess insinuated it might, Menhir studies the various materials on display. In the past the elemental had repeatedly had trouble making the distinction between "food" which was meant to be consumed and other things that weren't (such as flatware, cutlery, napkins, place mats, flowers or centerpieces) which were often arranged confusingly alongside each other. Such mistakes on its part had unfortunately lead to a few offensive occurrences of which Lidia now seemed apprehensive. Once confident that the fruit on display is in fact meant to be consumed, Menhir wastes no time in joining in on the social food sharing; picking up a bunch of grapes (stems and all) and pressing them carefully up against the featureless facet of rock which passes for its face. Instead of opening a mouth however, the elemental merely absorbs the entire bunch into the substance of its head; where it will likely remain encased until the creature thinks to remove them.

 

[hafrogman]

Edvik quirks one eyebrow at the King's description of him. A flush comes to his face as he is declared 'discgraced' in front of the crowd, but he masks his reaction quickly and bows in response to the gift. He hangs the feather around his neck and briefly waves to the crowd as he joins his companions, and follows them to the sitting room.

"Is there much we need to discuss? We know the issue at hand, we know our destination. It will not be a short trip, we will have time to discuss details on our way."

 

[unleashed]

“Now you’ve got me wondering if you speak at all Menhir and frankly where such a sound would even come from, as you don’t appear to have a mouth,” Eltyr remarks with a quizzical expression as the elemental rejoins them in the conference room and seems to absorb a bunch of grapes. “Do you even need a mouth to speak your native tongue?”

Eltyr then picks up a piece of cheese and nibbles at it as he considers Edvik’s question and waits to see if Menhir does actually speak, before offering his thoughts.

“Well, there are a few things I can think of right off the top of my head, such as whether we want to obtain mounts, I know I don’t have one ... whether we need to outfit ourselves further, as perhaps not everyone was completely prepared for a journey that will leave us days from obtaining more of the necessities of life, such as food, water, and the like ... even something as simple as ascertaining the abilities of our companions, for while the kings may know what everyone here can do, we’ve barely even met. They’re certainly all things we probably need to concern ourselves with before we wander into the wilds, assuming there’s nothing specific people want to discuss about the mission we’re about to embark on,” Eltyr offers good-naturedly, with no hint of arrogance or sarcasm.

 

[Neurotic]

Berrek Sandblade

[sblock=OOC] In PbP it's hard to play withdrawn character without speaking as it's hard to convey body language and fine details that come along short sentences which would happen in face-to-face. Berrek would be more suspicious and silent in face-to-face...[/sblock]

[sblock=For unleashed and Rathan]
You may have noticed (as you said you observed all of us) that Berrek wears a badge that marks him as member of The Black Hand, semi-secret police of the mage guild. Such insignia shouldn't be worn openly.

Rathan, you might decide that he may not know about The Hand, but he is third level and I think he would have at least heard of them...
[/sblock]

"Discussing our abilities and tactics would benefit all of us and I don't think we can discuss such while traveling, we would be distracted and spread out. Any other issues may wait.

As for mounts, if we take them we have to take a groom to take care of them as there won't be anyone to keep an eye on them once we enter the castle or later some dungeon, cave or ruin.

I need to take some trail rations for the trip, I'm otherwise ready to go.

My specialty is scouting, including spoting and removing any threat from ambushes and traps. I can sense a spellcaster from some distance and have some ability to render them less potent.

If you allow me, Lord Malacon, I would demonstrate. I need to touch you. You have my word you won't be harmed by it, but it may tingle a little bit."

[sblock=If allowed]
If allowed to proceed, Berrek lays a hand on Eltyr and takes Detect Magic. He then waits for Eltyr's reaction.

"That would be all from me."
[/sblock]

[sblock=If NOT allowed]
"As you wish. I'll try to describe it, but I don't understand it fully myself. When touching willing spellcaster or attacking unaware one, I can sometimes focus the hit in such way to take some energy from him in form of his spells whether prepared or cast. I can use that energy to cast that same spell.

That would be all from me."
[/sblock]

Berrek steps away and picks some fruit to nibble on while others offer their abilities. He distractedly looks over his cloud amulet turning it this way and that.

[sblock=For Rathan ONLY]
If Eltyr allows me to take a spell, Berrek casts it as soon as somebody else speaks to offer his abilities. (That's why he withdraws from the group and picks the tables). Turning back toward the group he focuses his enhanced sight on the artifact.

If Eltyr doesn't have another detect readied, assign random spell from same level to be taken.


Berrek's amnesy: I assume that he will know some things about himself because he awoke with his equipment and as he handles let's say thieves tools in his mind spring names and uses of this or that item. What he cannot remember is where he learned those.

Those less physical skills (that are not 'build-in' by training) such as spellcraft and arcana knowledge are mostly forgotten (represented by 1 skill point level)
[/sblock]

 

[Ambrus]

Having little in the way of a neck, Menhir swings most of its torso around to regard Eltyr as the man addresses it. The elemental listens and, when the man pauses a sufficient amount of time, guesses that his question to it isn't rhetorical. The surface of its featureless faces cracks and shifts, grinding its rocky surface against itself to produce a deep echoing sound more akin to a turning millstone than a human voice. "Noooo..."

 

[unleashed]

Having little in the way of a neck, Menhir swings most of its torso around to regard Eltyr as the man addresses it. The elemental listens and, when the man pauses a sufficient amount of time, guesses that his question to it isn't rhetorical. The surface of its featureless faces cracks and shifts, grinding its rocky surface against itself to produce a deep echoing sound more akin to a turning millstone than a human voice. "Noooo..."

“So our earthen friend does speak,” Eltyr grins, “Good to hear from you Menhir ... I hope it won’t be too long before you feel more comfortable speaking our tongue with us, though I’d certainly like to try learning yours if you’re willing to teach me.”

[SBLOCK=Rathan and Neurotic]I'm going with the idea that Eltyr knows what the Black Hand is and what they can do, but he's never felt their touch before, so he's quite willing to give it a go.[/SBLOCK]

If you allow me, Lord Malacon, I would demonstrate. I need to touch you. You have my word you won't be harmed by it, but it may tingle a little bit."[/COLOR]

“Thanks for starting us off Berrek. As for your demonstration, sure go ahead,” Eltyr chuckles, though the fact he braces himself belies the ease his chuckle seems to imply. As he feels the effect of Berrek’s ability, he shivers almost imperceptibly as if he’d been struck briefly by a chill wind, before he quickly brings his body back under control and says, “That was ... interesting ... to say the least Berrek, just don’t go making a habit of doing it to me.”

“Okay, me now. Let’s see, I’m a wizard, so as you can imagine I have a variety of spells at my command, the breadth of which I won’t go into now, though I’m sure some will find more use than others, but only time will tell for sure. I’m also well versed in deciphering lost languages and the like, and have a fairly extensive knowledge of history and other more esoteric fields, which will hopefully prove useful in our expedition.”

“Since it appears we’ll need to do a little last minute shopping before we leave, I could probably do with picking a thing or two up as well, and as I have no skill in riding beasts of any kind I’d be against getting mounts in general, in addition the reasons Berrek mentioned.”

 

[ghostcat]

Lidia totally fails to pick up on Menhir's puzzlement of her comments and blithely goes on thinking that her assessment of him is right.

Lidia following the others into the conference room. Seeing the spread, and thinking that it could be quite some time before she will have access to good food again, she helps herself to a generous helping of cheese and fruit. However, she avoids the ale and sticks to water. Remembering what happened last time Mehir was in a similar situation, Lidia takes a seat where she can keep an eye on the elemental.

When it is her to to speak, Lidia says "As the king mentioned, I am a druidess. I have some affinity with nature and am quite able to feed us all on the way. However, it would take time that we can ill afford. Therefore, I suggest that we hunt as we go but we each take some food as backup. I was going to suggest taking horses but Berrek has a good point about what we do with them when we get where we are going. That said, if we have to carry supplies most of us are going to be heavily loaded and unable to move very fast. Therefore, I suggest we take a pack mule. They are more hardy than a horse and it would be well able to take care of itself should should we need to leave it for a while. As far as water is concerned, I can probably find some as we go. If the worst comes to the worst, I can create it."

[sblock="OOC"]I have made certain assume about taking a mule. Lidia would know this but, as a player, I don't. If I'm wrong let me know and I will re-work it.[/sblock]

 

[Ambrus]

Menhir listens to Lidia as she explains her reasoning. The elemental isn't certain what a "mount" or "mule" is, but understands the druidess' explanation that it could be used to carry additional materials for the group's benefit. Taking that as a cue of sorts, the elemental sinks down into the flagstones underfoot. For a moment, only its featureless head and shoulders are visible as they glide quietly across the floor towards the woman. Then, rising back up out of the ground, Menhir hefts Lidia, chair and all, high into the air atop its broad stone shoulders. The elemental remains in that pose, satisfied with the knowledge that it has helped to overcome this obstacle which is delaying their departure.

[sblock=OOC]Menhir is capable of carrying an additional 100 lbs. of gear without slowing below his base speed of 30-ft per round. He could carry much more, but it'd slow him down to 20-ft per round at the moment. If that's not a problem for the others though, then it isn't for Menhir either.[/sblock]

 

[ethandrew]

Anton watches and listens, taking note of each of his companions. The display of Berrec with Eltyr is a bit unsettling and Anton wonders if that would work against him. Whatever it was that was happening, it didn't seem pleasant. He silently considered the journey ahead, being heavily armored he knew he would slow down the group were he to wear it. But without his armor he would be vulnerable to any attacks and the process to don it was not a fast one at best.

After the elemental Menhir lifts the druidess Lidia into the air Anton speaks up, "Well my name is Anton Hill and I am a cleric of Pelor. I am adept at healing and am competent in some casting, but I must admit that I am not the fastest man in the world, even when unarmored.

"I have a few coin to spend on a mule but I think as our friend just illustrated we might not be needing one. However, I do need to get rations for our trip, just in case." He looks at each uncertainly, his lips moving barely a fraction, repeating the last words he spoke in a noiseless mutter.