drnuncheon's Freeport Story Hour - Book II: Inheritance
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- Start date
Drusilia Nailo
First Post
Yes, very good thing. 
And DrN, that was a very well written temper tantrum. Very Dru, too.
And DrN, that was a very well written temper tantrum. Very Dru, too.
drnuncheon
Explorer
Session Twenty-Three, Part Five: The Limestone Throne
"Were we optimistic to think that we'd ever get back home?" Dru poked at the fire with an elongated splinter.
"We will. Somehow. We haven't found the wizard yet," Di'Fier reminded her.
"He probably teleported back home." Dru threw the bit of wood into the flames and watched as they began to lick at it.
"I don't think he would have left his spellbook in Mantru. Most wizards wouldn't. No, I think something happened to him."
Benares shifted, sitting up against the wall. "The villagers said that he went to the City of the Gods, and he took many people with him. They say those people became the first cannibals."
"If they were looking for something and found that statue," Di'Fier mused, "They might not have been able to resist it, even if the wizard was."
"They probably ate him," Dru muttered.
Di'Fier stretched, his neck popping. "Something came to me while I was sleeping," he began.
"It didn't try to take over your mind, did it?" Dru asked.
"No...but we never did explore the rest of that cavern."
"Probably filled with stupid three-tailed mud monsters."
"All the same, let's go check it out."
After Di'Fier perused his spellbook, the foursome made their way down to the cavern. The muggy air and the stench felt like home for the Freeporters, although Benares and Shesara wrinkled their noses and tried not to breathe. Once agen they wound their way along narrow limestone paths before Di'Fier paused.
"We already got this far, Di'Fier. This is where I lost my sword."
"I know. Wait." The mage raised a hand and shouted forth a summons. Nothing seemed to answer his call, but he nodded in satisfaction. "Go beneath the surface of the mud and find a sword," he said to the air. "Bring it back to me."
For long moments, nothing happened. Then, slowly, something began to float to the surface of the mire. Dru's blade detached itself from the muck and wobbled through the air to Di'Fier. Another word from him, and the mud sloughed from the blade, leaving it bright and clean. He handed it over to Dru. "I never thought I'd use those spells for anything more important than housework," he chuckled as they moved on.
"Looks like the cavern ends," said Dru with disappointment. "No magic portal back to Freeport, just a weird rock that looks kind of like a guy sitting down." She squinted. "Wait..."
They moved forward quickly. "...it is a guy sitting down," Dru said. "Well, a skeleton. Turned to stone."
"Not turned to stone, but covered in it," Benares said. "The water drips from above, with dissolved limestone in it, then evaporates, leaving the stone behind."
"It's too tall tobe an islander," Di'Fier said. "And it looks like it's got something on its lap." He tapped the rock experimentally. "Maybe his spellbook. Shesara, hand me that thunder rod."
She did so. "We still don't know how to use- oh," she finished, as Di'Fier brought it down on the stone, cracking it. Beneath was a sheet of polished metal, incised with runes.
"It's a spellbook, all right!"
Within moments, the rest of the book was freed. It had fared far better than the one left in Mantru - the slim metal covers had largely sealed out the moisture, and the spells were readable. "See if he has anything else," Di'Fier suggested, turning pages.
Benares moved forward, motioning Dru to come with him. "If we look carefully, we can see if there are any magical auras on the statue."
"You need a spell for that," Dru told him.
The scholar shook his head, and grinned. "No spell, just knowing how to look the right way. The spell is a lazy man's shorthand. Unfocus your vision..."
Di'Fier glanced up to see Dru and Benares staring intently at the skeleton, while Shesara kept watch. He shrugged, and returned to his reading. I think this is his teleportation spell...
"Did you see it?"
"There...on the finger?" Dru reached forward, breaking the thin crust of stone. Beneath it lay a glittering ring.
"Good. With practice, you'll be able to be more consistant about it...and even get an idea of what spells there are, judging by the aura."
"There was something else. Down here, at his feet." Dru fetched the rod, probing at the stone looking for a likely place. An odd expression came over her face. "Maybe I'd better be careful about this one. Do we have anything we could use as a chisel?"
With the help of a knife and the rod, Dru gently chipped away at the soft stone until it fell away. Gradually, another blade emerged from beneath, the rotted leather of the sheath crumbling away at her touch, leaving the blade stained and mottled. "Doesn't look like much," she said, squinting at it. "Still got a good edge, though. Might as well keep it. Di'Fier, how's that book going?"
"I'll need more time to study it. But the pages are wrinkling, here, from the humidity. We should return to the surface."
They trooped back along the paths, pausing once again by the mud pool where they had fought the creatures. "Maybe we should take a head back to show the people in the village that we've ended the curse."
"I'm not diving in there. Falling in once was bad enough."
Di'Fier considered. "Well, as my teacher in conjurations used to say, if you don't want to do the dirty work yourself, summon someone else to do it." He reached for his components, drawing forth a tiny mud-caked bag and a mostly melted candle, and set to work.
Dru watched the creature materialize from the air to receive its instructions from Di'Fier. "If you can bring flaming dwarves here from somewhere else, why can't you just send us home?"
"I don't really bring the dwarf, er, the azer," Di'Fier explained. "The magic...sort of makes a temporary body for them. If any of the creatures I summon gets killed, they don't really die."
"Sounds handy."
"It's also a lot easier to bring things to you than it is to move them away."
Dru shrugged, watching as the dwarf returned to the surface with little more than a skull - the mud had boiled the flesh away from the bone. She took it from him as he climbed out of the pit, the mud drying on him almost instantly.
Di'Fier nodded. "You can go now," he said, and the dwarf vanished, leaving behind a brief shower of dried mud.
Later that day, Di'Fier looked up from the book. "I'm not going to be able to teleport us off of the island. I've been trying to understand the spell, but it's fifth circle, and I'm nowhere near ready for that."
"So we're stuck here for years?" Dru snarled. "Perfect."
"Not necessarily..."
"Were we optimistic to think that we'd ever get back home?" Dru poked at the fire with an elongated splinter.
"We will. Somehow. We haven't found the wizard yet," Di'Fier reminded her.
"He probably teleported back home." Dru threw the bit of wood into the flames and watched as they began to lick at it.
"I don't think he would have left his spellbook in Mantru. Most wizards wouldn't. No, I think something happened to him."
Benares shifted, sitting up against the wall. "The villagers said that he went to the City of the Gods, and he took many people with him. They say those people became the first cannibals."
"If they were looking for something and found that statue," Di'Fier mused, "They might not have been able to resist it, even if the wizard was."
"They probably ate him," Dru muttered.
Di'Fier stretched, his neck popping. "Something came to me while I was sleeping," he began.
"It didn't try to take over your mind, did it?" Dru asked.
"No...but we never did explore the rest of that cavern."
"Probably filled with stupid three-tailed mud monsters."
"All the same, let's go check it out."
After Di'Fier perused his spellbook, the foursome made their way down to the cavern. The muggy air and the stench felt like home for the Freeporters, although Benares and Shesara wrinkled their noses and tried not to breathe. Once agen they wound their way along narrow limestone paths before Di'Fier paused.
"We already got this far, Di'Fier. This is where I lost my sword."
"I know. Wait." The mage raised a hand and shouted forth a summons. Nothing seemed to answer his call, but he nodded in satisfaction. "Go beneath the surface of the mud and find a sword," he said to the air. "Bring it back to me."
For long moments, nothing happened. Then, slowly, something began to float to the surface of the mire. Dru's blade detached itself from the muck and wobbled through the air to Di'Fier. Another word from him, and the mud sloughed from the blade, leaving it bright and clean. He handed it over to Dru. "I never thought I'd use those spells for anything more important than housework," he chuckled as they moved on.
"Looks like the cavern ends," said Dru with disappointment. "No magic portal back to Freeport, just a weird rock that looks kind of like a guy sitting down." She squinted. "Wait..."
They moved forward quickly. "...it is a guy sitting down," Dru said. "Well, a skeleton. Turned to stone."
"Not turned to stone, but covered in it," Benares said. "The water drips from above, with dissolved limestone in it, then evaporates, leaving the stone behind."
"It's too tall tobe an islander," Di'Fier said. "And it looks like it's got something on its lap." He tapped the rock experimentally. "Maybe his spellbook. Shesara, hand me that thunder rod."
She did so. "We still don't know how to use- oh," she finished, as Di'Fier brought it down on the stone, cracking it. Beneath was a sheet of polished metal, incised with runes.
"It's a spellbook, all right!"
Within moments, the rest of the book was freed. It had fared far better than the one left in Mantru - the slim metal covers had largely sealed out the moisture, and the spells were readable. "See if he has anything else," Di'Fier suggested, turning pages.
Benares moved forward, motioning Dru to come with him. "If we look carefully, we can see if there are any magical auras on the statue."
"You need a spell for that," Dru told him.
The scholar shook his head, and grinned. "No spell, just knowing how to look the right way. The spell is a lazy man's shorthand. Unfocus your vision..."
Di'Fier glanced up to see Dru and Benares staring intently at the skeleton, while Shesara kept watch. He shrugged, and returned to his reading. I think this is his teleportation spell...
"Did you see it?"
"There...on the finger?" Dru reached forward, breaking the thin crust of stone. Beneath it lay a glittering ring.
"Good. With practice, you'll be able to be more consistant about it...and even get an idea of what spells there are, judging by the aura."
"There was something else. Down here, at his feet." Dru fetched the rod, probing at the stone looking for a likely place. An odd expression came over her face. "Maybe I'd better be careful about this one. Do we have anything we could use as a chisel?"
With the help of a knife and the rod, Dru gently chipped away at the soft stone until it fell away. Gradually, another blade emerged from beneath, the rotted leather of the sheath crumbling away at her touch, leaving the blade stained and mottled. "Doesn't look like much," she said, squinting at it. "Still got a good edge, though. Might as well keep it. Di'Fier, how's that book going?"
"I'll need more time to study it. But the pages are wrinkling, here, from the humidity. We should return to the surface."
They trooped back along the paths, pausing once again by the mud pool where they had fought the creatures. "Maybe we should take a head back to show the people in the village that we've ended the curse."
"I'm not diving in there. Falling in once was bad enough."
Di'Fier considered. "Well, as my teacher in conjurations used to say, if you don't want to do the dirty work yourself, summon someone else to do it." He reached for his components, drawing forth a tiny mud-caked bag and a mostly melted candle, and set to work.
Dru watched the creature materialize from the air to receive its instructions from Di'Fier. "If you can bring flaming dwarves here from somewhere else, why can't you just send us home?"
"I don't really bring the dwarf, er, the azer," Di'Fier explained. "The magic...sort of makes a temporary body for them. If any of the creatures I summon gets killed, they don't really die."
"Sounds handy."
"It's also a lot easier to bring things to you than it is to move them away."
Dru shrugged, watching as the dwarf returned to the surface with little more than a skull - the mud had boiled the flesh away from the bone. She took it from him as he climbed out of the pit, the mud drying on him almost instantly.
Di'Fier nodded. "You can go now," he said, and the dwarf vanished, leaving behind a brief shower of dried mud.
Later that day, Di'Fier looked up from the book. "I'm not going to be able to teleport us off of the island. I've been trying to understand the spell, but it's fifth circle, and I'm nowhere near ready for that."
"So we're stuck here for years?" Dru snarled. "Perfect."
"Not necessarily..."
drnuncheon
Explorer
Volunteers needed
Five brave beings with regular access to e-mail are needed as I begin my planning for Book Three. Get a peek at the future and be immortalized in drnuncheon's Freeport Story Hour.
Interested people please email with your name, profession, and favorite member of the Freeport Special Crimes Unit: Katya Lukin, Quooral Stonecypher, Ashrem, Glunnyn Mernig, or Jemis.
Offer not eligible to current players in the Freeport campaign.
J
Five brave beings with regular access to e-mail are needed as I begin my planning for Book Three. Get a peek at the future and be immortalized in drnuncheon's Freeport Story Hour.
Interested people please email with your name, profession, and favorite member of the Freeport Special Crimes Unit: Katya Lukin, Quooral Stonecypher, Ashrem, Glunnyn Mernig, or Jemis.
Offer not eligible to current players in the Freeport campaign.
J
drnuncheon
Explorer
I have three...two more! I know I've got at least two more people reading this!
Hopefully I have at least two more people reading this...
J
Bueller?
Hopefully I have at least two more people reading this...
J
Bueller?
drnuncheon
Explorer
Session Twenty-Three, Part Six: A Different Kind of Half-Dragon
"Makaukau...huki!"
The crunch of sand under wood.
"Makaukau...huki!"
Shouts and running feet.
"Makaukau...huki!"
The villagers haul on the ropes again. From the mouth of a cavern emerges a fanged, menacing face: a snarl frozen in time, caught forever in wood. The paint has weathered almost away, but the dragon's head carving remains.
"You're sure this will work," said Dru, eyeing the ship dubiously.
"Makaukau...huki!"
The ship, oddly stunted, slid out into the sunlight. Perhaps half its former length, a scar across its belly marked where the splintered wood had been chopped away and the bow and stern rejoined.
"Of course," Di'Fier assured her. "The spell is strong enough that the wood will break before it does. It may not look like much, but it's good as new."
The dragon wallowed at the edge of the water, as if resting halfway in. Supplies from the raider's camp were lifted inside and lashed into place under Benares' direction.
An excited babble of voices - speaking the familiar Common tongue no less - approached them.
"Is that our ship? It's amazing!" gushed Jim.
"I thought he grew up in Freeport," Dru muttered. "Hello Namfoodle, Fonkin, Volodya. Where's Unn?"
"Unn has decided to stay here." Geirstein hopped up the path, balancing himself on the shoulder of a Tanaroan woman. "She doesn't think she'd be able to make another sea voyage."
Di'Fier looked from him to the woman. "And what about you?"
Geirstein colored slightly. "I'll be staying as well," he admitted. "There's plenty of one-legged mercenaries back home, and none of them are worth much." He grinned. "At least here they'll believe me when I tell the story of how I lost it."
"We'll miss you," Dru put in. "And Unn."
"Maybe we'll make it back someday. Without a shipwreck," Di'Fier added.
"Everything's ready!" Shesara called from the prow of the ship.
"Then let's go," said Dru. "I want to get back home."
The ship slid into the water easily, rocking back and forth as they adjusted their places.
"You're sure this is going to work?" Dru asked her partner.
"Positive." Di'Fier raised a hand to wave farewell to those remaining on the shore, then turned to the sail. "Gethrisj," he told it, and the wind began to carry them away.
"Makaukau...huki!"
The crunch of sand under wood.
"Makaukau...huki!"
Shouts and running feet.
"Makaukau...huki!"
The villagers haul on the ropes again. From the mouth of a cavern emerges a fanged, menacing face: a snarl frozen in time, caught forever in wood. The paint has weathered almost away, but the dragon's head carving remains.
"You're sure this will work," said Dru, eyeing the ship dubiously.
"Makaukau...huki!"
The ship, oddly stunted, slid out into the sunlight. Perhaps half its former length, a scar across its belly marked where the splintered wood had been chopped away and the bow and stern rejoined.
"Of course," Di'Fier assured her. "The spell is strong enough that the wood will break before it does. It may not look like much, but it's good as new."
The dragon wallowed at the edge of the water, as if resting halfway in. Supplies from the raider's camp were lifted inside and lashed into place under Benares' direction.
An excited babble of voices - speaking the familiar Common tongue no less - approached them.
"Is that our ship? It's amazing!" gushed Jim.
"I thought he grew up in Freeport," Dru muttered. "Hello Namfoodle, Fonkin, Volodya. Where's Unn?"
"Unn has decided to stay here." Geirstein hopped up the path, balancing himself on the shoulder of a Tanaroan woman. "She doesn't think she'd be able to make another sea voyage."
Di'Fier looked from him to the woman. "And what about you?"
Geirstein colored slightly. "I'll be staying as well," he admitted. "There's plenty of one-legged mercenaries back home, and none of them are worth much." He grinned. "At least here they'll believe me when I tell the story of how I lost it."
"We'll miss you," Dru put in. "And Unn."
"Maybe we'll make it back someday. Without a shipwreck," Di'Fier added.
"Everything's ready!" Shesara called from the prow of the ship.
"Then let's go," said Dru. "I want to get back home."
The ship slid into the water easily, rocking back and forth as they adjusted their places.
"You're sure this is going to work?" Dru asked her partner.
"Positive." Di'Fier raised a hand to wave farewell to those remaining on the shore, then turned to the sail. "Gethrisj," he told it, and the wind began to carry them away.
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Well, now there's a parable for our times... Too often we look for a technological answer to our problems (in the story hour: the spellbook with a teleport back home) when really what you need is some good hard work (fix the ship with what you've already got)!
My hat's off to you all!
My hat's off to you all!
And here I was having visions of Dru talking privately with a soccer ball about the possibilities of returning home...
Awesome job guys! Yep, I am back after a long hiatus. And of course, the first thread I jump back on to catch up with was this one (and I had to read Dru and Di'fier's personal story hours as well). Keep up the great work and know that the empty seat at the edge of the stage has been filled yet again.
Awesome job guys! Yep, I am back after a long hiatus. And of course, the first thread I jump back on to catch up with was this one (and I had to read Dru and Di'fier's personal story hours as well). Keep up the great work and know that the empty seat at the edge of the stage has been filled yet again.
drnuncheon
Explorer
Vurt said:
Yeah...yeah...I meant that to be there!
To be fair, the spellbook had some spells that made fixing the ship and sailing it actually possible. (undaunted fixture and propel craft from the Books of Eldritch Might, and repair ship from Seas of Blood.)
J
