D&D 5E (IC) Fitz's Folly

[Kobold Stew]

Standing on a branch high above, Miss Imogen folds her skirts and kneels. Harb had not pursued her, as she had feared. When she sees Chrysagon enter the canopy below, alone. She exhales.

How long have I been holding my breath? she wonders. No, he's not alone. There was weed bumbling along behind him. From the tree, with the wind blowing in her hair she smiles.

She uncurls her finger, and sees the imprint of Cimber's ring. Was it his? Was it hers now? She secretes it in an inner pocket of her long skirts, tying the button around it. As her hand stretches, her knuckles crack. She hadn't remembered them ever doing that before.

Looking down, she watches him. He's not looking for her. He's waiting. After a few minutes, as Weed climbs onto a stump to make himself taller, she says, "Thank you for coming, Chrys. I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

If he looks up, he'll see her quiver by her side, her bow slung over her shoulder, as she steadies herself against the massive trunk. She's not comfortable up here, but she feels safe.

 

[gargoyleking]

As Cgrysagon goes to look for their wayward comrade, harb turns back to see to Artus's newest wounds. As he works, he pronounces the obvious.

"It seems that we will need to know exactly we are up against with this ring."

OOC: Medicine: [roll0] Not expecting anything as such from it, but rolling anyways.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

From the top of his stump, Weed waved at Miss Imogen. He thumped his chest and made a high-pitched flouting noise. Then he produced a piece of paper, clutched in his little leafy hand. He'd been wanting to show someone what he had found at the burnt-out shrine, but with all the excitement no-one had seen it yet. His look appeared so innocent and sincere that it seemed possible that he had not understood the recent events even a little.

 

[Fradak]

Chrysagon was pleased to hear Weed following him, at least he will be able to find the camp back, if he has to push far trough the jungle.

"Thank you for coming, Chrys. I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

Chrysagon raised his eyes toward the voice but immediately looked away. Even if it was a pleasant view, looking under the skirt of Miss Imogen was not what his strict education allowed him to do.

He avoided the question. "Hey Miss. Are you ok? Nice jump by the way... You got hidden talents. But I can't reach you up there. Please, join me and let's talk, I'm worried about you."

But it will not be so easy and as she stayed on her tree, the Paladin insisted "There is no point running because you are running away from yourself."
Not like that!, he thought. A sermon was not what she needed to hear right now. He paused for a second, he needed to find a deep but simple idea.

He looked down the floor then said, "We are a Bunch of Sticks. Divided, we'll break."

Chrysagon took the sheet of paper but didn't read it. He was absorbed by his task, waiting to see if the seed he planted found its way up and touched Miss Imogen's heart.

 

[Kobold Stew]

"Everyone's alright? Mr. Cimber? Dragonbait?" she calls down, and waits for an answer.

"The ring is cursed, and it's smart. Maybe you worked that out. But I was stronger than it. I needed help, but I was stronger than it. I could be. It wanted Artus dead, but if he weren't here, it wouldn't lash out like that."

She pauses, sighs in self-recrimination. "Wouldn't that be better for everyone, since everyone knows he has the ring? And are looking for it?"

 

[Kobold Stew]

"Hi, Weed," she adds, flapping he fingers in a small greeting. "Nice to see you, too."

 

[Fradak]

"One day, a man told me Devils don't come dressed in red capes and pointy horns. They come as everything you've wished for... I'm not looking for the ring.

The ring wanted Artus dead but you are the next on the list... It wants you dead. It wants all of us dead! Don't fall into that trap.Think!

I know you are stronger but you don't need that thing... IT needs you!"

 

[Kobold Stew]

"It needs someone, yes. But someone whom it can control. That's not me, Chrysagon. We don't know what it does to Artus. We do know that Harb and the Harpers and other factions want it, and think Cimber has it. Now that we know its nature, it might even be safe with us, with the Sticks, as long as we don't let its power be known."

She's struggling to articulate what she's feeling. "If it is so dangerous, is the best plan, the right plan, really to put it back where everyone knows that it is?"

 

[Fradak]

"You don't trust Artus Cimber, neither do I but it's not our call, Imogen. This cursed ring is beyond us. Who will carry this burden? It's taking an unnecessary risk for the mission. And considering what we are after and where we are going, I'm not even sure if the ring is more safe with us or not. I don't need to remind you what we are looking for. Having to destroy one evil Artefact is enough for my shoulders.

The Soulmonger is there, somewhere in this jungle. It's our task to find it and our time is counted. Each day, its power grows. And from what I could see, this ring is more a problem than a solution. It creates discord among us.

Wisdom comes from experience and experience is often a result of lack of wisdom. It's your chance to use your experience with the ring to do the right thing. Please, come down."

 

[Kobold Stew]

Miss Imogen is silent for a while. There's a rustling in a branch above, as she leaps to another tree, just to be safe, or stay on the move.

"I hear what you are saying. I do. It's a powerful wapon in anyone's hands. Having it with us would help us face the Soulmonger, I am sure. Whether it was with Cimber or not. Returning it to him, though, doesn't seem the obvious solution. If i could take it, another could as well. And I know I can be stronger than it. I took the ring off -- Cimber did not. Or could not."

She pauses, thinking.

"Say you are right. Might it not be better then simply to lost the ring? Shoot it into the river, or into the jungle, so that no one knows where it is? Then no one has it -- not Comber, not the Harpers, and not any one else chasing him. If you won't accept me carrying it, is there a case for no one to do so?"