Nthal
Lizard folk in disguise
The Road North - 07/04/2019
I awake painfully with the warm light from the sun shining into the window on my body and face. I opened my eyes slowly, drinking in the pain in my head; justly earned. At least the dreams were gone for a night, but this wasn’t a price I could afford often.
I pushed myself up by my arms. It was an awful mistake as far as my head was concerned. Breathing heavily, I sat up and massaged my temples and looked around for the first time. My armor, gear and clothes were in a heap on the floor. Near the bed was an empty wash basin and pitcher on a table and some cloth near it.
I was going to reach for my pouch buried in a heap on the floor, but I stopped a moment. I grasped my symbol of Kelemvor and whispered to myself some words and tones and pulled on some light. I turned and looked at the basin and the pitcher both now filled with water. I grabbed the cloth that sat next to it and used it to wash off my face and hands.
The cool pure water felt good against my skin, and I realized it had been a very long time since I actually washed ‘normally.’ Maybe five years ago since I found out I had magical talent and another year after that, to figure out I had a spell that I could to clean myself. It was a simple trick I taught myself after the Faction War. Creating water on the other hand, was new to me.
When I first could cast spells, I was ignorant on how arcana worked. After I discovered I had some ability at it, I then attended any lecture I could at the Civic Festhall. I now understood its principles, and with much trial and error I learned how to cast basic spells. But I never could put my finger on how managed to actually do it. They talked of sorcery and connections to dragons, and wizardry and study. But I didn’t study it, and as for draconic blood I had no idea. But I learned what I could about aracana and things related to it. And I found that I enjoyed the talks about the planes and planar travel most. The thought of travelling; to go wherever you wanted when you wanted. The idea of freedom. At the time. I thought this mysterious gift of magic would provide a means.
But it wasn’t until I left the cage, for the one I found myself now, that something had changed. I used the magic I had before to remove soils, dirt and the like. It was practical; staying clean in the Hive was a challenge and the Civic Festhall was a mess after the war. But now? I saved Iesa, I could call upon the light’s radiance on Arakhan, repairing things and now…water.
Many in the Hive never saw pure stuff. Most in the Hive avoided water; much of it there wasn’t safe. Even bub was safer. But once, when I tended as a hostess for a dice game called ‘Styxes and Sixes’ I got a strange tip. A shot glass full of water from Oceanus. It was not a typical tip, but the Sensate in me was curious so I tried it. the taste was one I would never forget. Clean, pure, and sweet. I then understood why it commanded the price it did.
I finished with the cloth and lifted the pitcher to my lips and drank. I knew that in a bit that the pounding in my head would lesson. It tasted much like the sip I had of Oceanus. But how could I create the water? Cover my eyes? Heal? Any of it? I just felt I was plucking or pulling on threads of power. A Strand that I could sometimes make what I want to happen.
A Strand that seem to have its own mind at times. The speakers said that most of magic was fluid. You commanded, and it obeyed. When casting, I felt like I was wrestling or fighting it the entire time. But during other times, I could feel it within me, twitching and waiting…for something.
I could have asked Beepu. But while we were in the elven temple, I remembered that he said that he ‘was mystified on how I did things.’ Not sure if one of his book’s would shed much light there either. I’ve seen his notes; and the language he uses has some of the symmetry of Celestial, but the grammar is …well. Florid? Ponderous? No…
Wordy.
Not as break teeth as Infernal. That was painful to pick up. Safe thing to do with fiends and tieflings around. So much so that many contracts are written in it. I can swear in Abyssal too…but I doubt I want to have a conversation in it.
But what I did note, is that some the spells in the spell book, might be workable if I can scribe it into a more orderly form. Less gaps. More order. Less words. Not Modron level efficient where I need a cryptix tube to decode it. Just understandable to me.
I put my hands on the table and looked out the dusty window. Thinking a moment, I realized that whatever the Strand was, it had power. It was my skill with it that was lacking. Here I was pushed to using it beyond the simple incantations I discovered. Perhaps if kept pushing, or pushed harder, it someday let me rip apart reality and let me have the freedom I wished. I couldn’t pull that much yet from the Strand. I needed time, patience, discipline. Study might help, if I knew what do look for in a tome.
I knew I wasn’t going to get an answer on any of those questions today. I so I dressed myself, donned my armor and weapons and grabbed the rest of my things. I quickly started the spell to change my eyes, and then made my way down to the ‘nice’ side of the bar. It wasn’t hard to find Daneath, he was standing and glaring at a table, where his newfound brother sat.
But sitting with him, was an elven woman. Obviously the one that Beepu talked about before. The way that Iesa looked at her, said it all; he was smitten.
I didn’t know many pure-blooded elves as they were rare and elusive in Sigil. But you could almost feel it when they entered a room. They had that otherworldly look, delicate features and grace that would make you weep if you stared at their glory too long. And this one was no exception, with long auburn hair and green eyes. Her light tanned skin had perfect complexion, which her dress showed off quite a bit of. Her arms were bare, and the dress was stylish, with a simple squared cut out at the top, and slits below the waist, allowing her to show off her legs. But it was her face that was the most striking and the most telling.
She was bored out of her mind.
Iesa was talking to her and she was avoiding talking to him. I approached Daneath, to see what was going on.
“Hey,” I said casually.
“Myr,” he responded frowning.
“Should we…find a temple for them?”
He chuckled, “Might be a good idea, not sure what’s more urgent. Confessing or marrying him off.”
“True. Hey…I’m…I’m sorry about last night. I was a bit out of sorts—”
“Well, can’t say I’m surprised. Finding a brother was not what I planned on.”
“True, that was quite the surprise. But the headaches were getting to me and…well at least you are getting closer to your goal. I’m—”
“Not anywhere closer to home?”
I nodded, “Still feels far away,”
“Well, those two are going to be awhile, and Beepu was still doing stuff upstairs. Why don’t we get some supplies and get ready to fix your headache?”
I smiled, “You say the nicest things. Should we get a room for them?”
“That’s optimistic don’t you think?”
“Some healing magic then?”
“Closer; he may take some hits.”
“Can’t fix any damage to his own ego.” I said holding up my hands in a look of helplessness.
“I’m sure he’ll live; let’s go,” and the two of us walked out into the morning sun.
The creatively named Portstown, didn’t look much better in the morning light. But it was reasonably supplied, so finding food, some rope and other items for the trail was easy enough. We also stopped by the smithy where I picked up my shield. The light-colored steel now had an etching of the skeletal hand and scales, clearly visible with the contrasting lampblack. I thanked the half-orc, and which he nodded agreeably enough. But he did glare at Daneath the whole time.
We also found out a little about the goings on in town; pretty much both overland trade and farming was in dire shape. While the Uthgardt tribes were a handful, they tended to rob, and take the things they wanted, which was seldom. But with their disappearance, the gnolls started to appear everywhere, and they didn’t steal anything. They slaughtered, destroyed, and were just a terror. The river was the only lifeline the town had, as many of the ranchers and farmers had already fled to Yartar to the south. Grim times for the town indeed.
With gear, and my spell induced headache in tow, we returned to the Inn and to our surprise, little had changed. Iesa was still chatting up with the elven woman, who still looked uninterested in the conversation with him. But surprisingly, Beepu was there sitting with them. Mo, I noticed was laying limply on the table by Iesa’s arms. It appeared that the monkey had given up and was attempting to surrender to Iesa and end his jealousy and boredom. Foggle was on a rafter above watching the table.
Beepu was of course, loud and trying to discuss Arcana with someone who wasn’t interested. Well she sort of was, Iesa wanted him to bolt.
“Well, I’m not sure what places time would act like that. Meaning time could be longer or shorter?”
The elven woman nodded simply but said nothing.
“Well I am sure that I could research and disco—”
I interrupted, “Time changes? Like time dilation and compression based on exiting the place or…plane?”
The woman seeing me for the first time looked at me puzzled and spoke, “Yes. That sounds right.”
“Feywild most likely; most other planes don’t alter time. Limbo sometimes can, but it takes a strong will to do so on a large scale. And even then, it takes a lemon of some skill to do it at all.”
“A lemon?” Beepu asked confused.
“Oh sorry. Term for someone that is skilled in chronomancy.” I said.
“Oh…well, how do you know it wasn’t Limbo then?” Beepu asked, trying to sound assured in his own knowledge.
“Well, was gravity subjective?” I asked.
“Meaning could I…change it? No.” the Elven woman said, staring at me with surprise.
“Limbo has both subjective and morphic gravity. That means down is where you think it is, and how strong is also under your control. So…Feywild until you know more. About done here Beepu?”
“Well, you should get some supplies, right?”
“Already done,” Daneath said smiling.
Beepu blinked a moment, “Yes. I guess that does settle it. Good day. “ he said looking at the woman. “Are you coming?” he asked Iesa.
Iesa was complexly flummoxed at the turn of events having both been shut out of the conversation, and now being denied the conversation he wanted to have. “Well I..um…kinda wanted to…um,”
“Sounds like it!” Daneath said grinning. “We have a long march ahead of us,”
Iesa looked as if he was going to say something, when Mo jumped up and started to pull on Iesa’s arm and pointed towards the door. Then Iesa’s face scrunched up and he let out a sigh. Defeated by his own monkey.
“Well, um…goodbye lady…?” Iesa asked the Elf looking for a particular answer.
The elf had a wan smile and left her seat saying, “Goodbye. Perhaps we will see each other again…when you have time.”
Iesa helplessly tried to maintain eye contact as well dragged him outside. He then at all of us with a glare. “Hey now, I think she was in trouble!”
“Truly. The boredom could have been fatal,” Daneath quipped.
“I’m serious! She was being evasive and wouldn’t tell me her name, so I wouldn’t be in danger.”
“Well. We should keep you safe,” I said.
“You’re not listening! She was in hiding!”
“In the open in an inn?” Daneath asked.
“Um…yes? Why not?”
“Iesa, if she needed help, she would have asked,” I pointed out.
“I think she was unsure whether we could help,” Iesa said, still looking over his shoulder as we walked out of town.
“Tell you what, after we are done and if we have time, we’ll come back. Deal?” Daneath said, offering a compromise.
“Sure. Deal!” Iesa said with a big smile.
Beepu pulled my head down so he could whisper to me, “Are we coming back here?”
“Beats me, I wasn’t planning on it,” I said honestly. Standing up again I looked at Beepu with a cheeky smile.
The moment I was out of town, I dropped the headache inducing spell. Having to continually cast it was trying on my patience, and I was happy to be done with it. At the same time, I casted the other spell to clear the dye from my hair. Truth be told, it was starting to itch. Someday I could find a town with a proper bath and would spend far more time than needed in it. But not for a while I guessed.
Finally, Iesa started to use the map. He quickly discovered that the grove was clearly on the map. So using that as a landmark with the river, Iesa figured out what direction we needed to go. So, we followed the road to the river, but instead of following the game trail to the grove, we headed northwards, into the plains. We were supposed to continue on until we came to a valley or something. The map was only readable by Iesa, and he wasn’t very comfortable working with it. But he did have a sense of direction, and for someone city bred through and through, he did seem to know his way outdoors. Far better than any of us. Daneath was just eager to head forward on the journey, Beepu frequently claimed that he could look into anything, if only he had the right book. I would have rather spent time in a larger city. Something better than Yartar at least. The outdoors was…interesting, but I wasn’t comfortable in it.
As we walked, Mo would dash in and out of the waist high grass and brush, always jumping on Iesa, then bounding off. Foggle on the other hand flew above us, communicating silently with Beepu on silent, mechanical wings. We appeared to be following another game trail, or perhaps a trail that the Elk tribe left behind. But it seemed that nothing had passed this way in a long time. Or at least that’s what Iesa said.
There wasn’t much to say on the march, until Beepu spoke up suddenly;
“What holes?” and he looked up quizzically at Foggle, who was flying in a circle, waggling it’s wings erratically.
We all stopped and looked at Beepu expectantly. He stroked his chin as he had a silent conversation with Foggle about something. It was a moment or two before he spoke.
“Foggle says there are holes on either side of us in the brush. Person sized.”
“Person sized? Like a Beepu person or a Daneath person?” I asked feeling nervous.
“Daneath plus si—i—i—!” and his eye grew wide as Daneath was covered in a shower of dirt. Behind him was a large insect with long antenna, and flailing legs. But the pincers on the mouth of the monster were enormous, and liquid from its mouth dripped with an acrid smell onto the ground.
We were already moving. Mo ran for some nearby brush for cover, while Iesa drew his weapon and lunged in for an attack, hitting the creature squarely it is rusty brown midsection. Unfortunately, the blade didn’t penetrate far, and whatever it was seemed unfazed by the strike. Beepu on the other hand moved into the brush, but before doing so, flung a bolt of fire at it, also hitting it squarely. And I did nearly the same thing on the opposite side, but I used a blast of eldritch energy instead of fire. I also, didn’t hit it.
Unfortunately, Daneath’s reaction time was slower than normal, and the creature vomited up more acrid bile, spewing the content right at Daneath. He tried to interpose his shield in-between himself and the monster, but the blast showered him head to chest with liquid, and I could smell the acid burn flesh. But Daneath while wounded, was far from out. In a scream born of anger and pain, he swung with his sword striking a hard blow on the lowered head of the insect. The resounding crunch of the chitin, and the spurt of goo from its head was a satisfying sound.
Iesa struck again, this time with better results, causing bile and other fluids to spurt from the creature’s side, followed up by another bolt of fire from Beepu in the brush, hitting it were a nose might be for a normal creature. But that was enough to bring it down, and it flopped unmoving on the ground, leaking more acrid liquid from its mouth and other wounds. The bulk of the monster was still below the earth, but it didn’t retreat. It simply quivered for a few moments, and then died.
I was paralyzed a moment. That acrid smell was familiar, and even more so when it struck Daneath. I shivered as the memory came back to my mind after being buried and forgotten. It was acid being used on flesh, on the night that Markell died. The screams of pain.
My screams.
I shook the memory loose. It wasn’t the time. It would never be the right time, but certainly not now. I moved to Daneath and grabbed out a skin of water I had at my side, and poured it over his head and torso, trying to wash the acid away from his skin. I then focused a moment and put some light into Daneath.
“Thanks, that…feels…better,” he panted.
Beepu emerged from the brush, followed by Mo. “An ankheg! Nasty creature. That explains the holes. And perhaps why the game trail is lightly travelled.”
“I want to see one of these holes,” Iesa said and moved into the brush.
“That is probably not a good idea!” Beepu shouted at him.
“Why?”
“Because they can sense you before you can see them!”
“Oh come on, what’s the worst that can….HELP!” and we heard the sound of something else bursting through the ground and more dirt flew in the air. It wasn’t surprising. Just like the Well in the elven temple, Iesa had to throw a coin in. And so Iesa had to look at the hole. And here he was face to face with another ankheg.
But this one was much larger, and it lowered its head to snap its huge mandibles at the hapless Iesa. Fortunately, it missed, allowing Iesa to stab it in the abdomen, but the thick plates took the blow. Beepu launched another bolt of fire at it, and it struck one of the flailing legs. Daneath then charged into the brush, and he struck a solid blow on another leg, slicing it off, ichor spurting everywhere.
I cast another bolt at it, and this one struck it in the thorax, but the damage we were doing seemed insignificant to this one. Even the loss of the leg barely warranted a reaction. But it swung its head around looking at each of in turn quickly and ultimately it focused on Daneath biting down. The sound of its mandibles scraping the metal on his armor gave me the chills. Daneath again grunted in pain and the smell of acid on flesh again permeated the air. But the ankheg could not hold down the warrior and Daneath beat the monstrosity off with pommel strikes down on its head.
Iesa kept circling it, trying to get a blow from behind. Then he lunged and stabbed with his thin blade striking true. The blow sprayed the air with more ichor. Meanwhile, Beepu’s fiery blast struck it again, as did my bolt of energy. Both of us certainly didn’t want to get any closer than I had to, and for me the memories of what acid can do to skin if it was untreated encouraged me to keep my distance.
But the ankheg reacted to the greatest source of pain, and swiftly turned and clamped down on Iesa. He howled in pain from the beasts’ attack and once again the smell of more acid on flesh permeated the air. Iesa was caught in its maw, and the ankhe reared its head, lifting Iesa up into the air as it attempted to chew and slice Iesa into smaller pieces.
But Daneath was having none of that; he wasn’t going to lose a brother he just found. He swung at the ankheg sinking the edge of his blade deep into its thorax. He retracted it, causing bile to spray the air. But Daneath quickly spun and his blade cracked open part of the carapace, causing bits of its innards to fly in the air. It would be a fatal blow, as the ankheg opened its maw and dropped Iesa to the ground, and then waivered a moment, quivering before it too flopped over on the ground, with bile gushing from is throat.
I rushed over to Iesa, and poured the remaining water over his chest wounds, and focused my light on closing them. He was breathing heavily with his eyes closed, but I saw the tension in him give as the healing reduced his pain.
“And that is why you do not start poking into holes like that!” Beepu shouted chidingly. “Have you learned nothing from earlier life lessons?”
“I’m alive right?” Iesa retorted. I helped him stand up again. He grunted in pain, as he wasn’t fully healed yet. I looked at my face for a moment, and with a voice of concern asked, “Myr? You look ill. Did it?...”
“No. Just…bad memories that I’d rather forget.” I replied, shifting to avoid his gaze.
“Sure. Right. Hey Beepu, is there anywhere around without holes so we can rest?”
Beepu looked at the airborne Foggle for a moment and then replied, “We are nearing a downwards trek into what looks to be a gorge. I think that is what you were looking for. We might find a place near the entrance.
Daneath said, “I’m all for moving, and I’m not taking votes.”
No one disagreed and with a quickened pace we headed to the gorge. We reached it without additional encounter with bugs and after Foggle looked around, saw no more holes. We stopped for our midday rest while we considered our options.
The gorge itself was a dry river bed that led down into a wider floor of the gully, while rough scraggly hills adjoined the walls. Looking over Iesa’s shoulder the path led straight through the gorge, and unhelpfully told us nothing about the hills on the east and west.
“So, through it is the only way?” Asked Daneath.
Iesa nodded, “According to the map it is. I’m sure we could go over the hills, or go around them instead. But we might have a challenge getting back on track.
“That might take a bit of time,” I said. “We have food for what a tenday? So, unless we find stuff out here, we only can afford five days of travel on the map, before we have to scavenge or go back for more supplies.”
“Right,” Beepu said, “All the more reason to avoid delay and travel as far as we can. All in favor of following the trail as is, say so.”
At that moment there was a bellowing noise. A deep angry shout using a language I couldn’t understand. It of course came from deeper within the gorge, as the sounds of the fury released bounced from wall to wall within.
“Alright you heard that, we go around,” Beepu said without missing a beat.
“I think we should go forward,” Iesa said with confidence.
“Why is that exactly?” Beepu asked with surprise.
“Easy, hear how angry that voice was?”
“Yes?”
“Well, it’s not angry at us!”
“Are you sure it will stay that way?” I interjected.
“Only one way to find out. And you already pointed out the food situation, so…”
I closed my eyes a second and thought a moment about the options. I then nodded, “Alright…lead on.”
“I’m going to hang back a bit…I’m not real sneaky,” Daneath said.
Iesa may not have been the outdoorsy type, but I was impressed on how hard it was to hear any sound from him as he crept towards a clearly very angry…thing. In fact, the create ahead sounded like it was talking to itself, but not in any language I could understand.
Beepu and I saw motion though the brush and we moved to take cover behind a tree. I looked at Beepu and then pointed upwards. He nodded and focused a bit before replying.
“It’s an..ogre? No, it has two heads. An ettin I am guessing,” he whispered.
“Does having two heads make it smarter?”
“No. It is like taking an ogre and then dividing their mental faculties by half and giving each head that half and still losing something in the exchange.”
“Great. Anything else?”
“Stronger than an ogre. More violent. Also, probably can outrun us.”
“So maybe we sneak Daneath by and ignore it.”
“Yes! I agree,” Beepu said with a firm nod. But then we heard a sound that made me very concerned. Iesa started to talk to it.
“Hey hey, big guy! What’s the matter?
My mouth dropped open for a moment, “What is he doing?” and then I heard a couple of words next to me and turning my head I saw that Beepu had disappeared.
“YOUZ HEP SMASH LIL LIZURDS” I could hear the big creature say, followed by a similar voice say; ”HE NOT HEP. HE FUD!”
Grimacing I crept forward as best I could and soon I could see what sounded like a disaster in progress. There near a hole or cave in the rock stood this large misshapen figure. It must have been three heads taller than I, and was dressed in ragged uncured hides. And on the shoulders of the ettin were two heads, one head had a shock of filthy brown hair, while the other head had a balding pate, with long brown hair on the sides. As a bonus I was downwind from it, and it stunk like someone had rolled in a slaughter hour floor, and then forgot to bathe.
For a year.
I then heard next to me Beepu who said, “He better not mention us,”
“Nice spell. Thanks for the support,” I said dryly.
“Anytime!”
Iesa was talking again, “No we aren’t food! We can help!”
“We?” Daneath said as he caught up to us, clattering next to myself.
“Oof!”
“What the…Beepu?”
“Yes, it is me. Watch where you are…never mind.”
“YOUZ GET SACK!” / “SACK FROM LIZURDS”
“Lizards…in that hole?” Iesa pointed to a pile of stones wedged into a passage leading into a rock face.”
“LIZURDS TOOK SACK,” // “COVER HOLE WIT ROCK”
“LIZURDS NO LEAVE,” // “WE NO GET SACK”
Iesa was nodding, “So if my friends—”
“I knew it!” Beepu hissed
“—help you get your sack, we not food, right?”
The ettin heads turned to each other and then looked at Iesa again and said
“LIL ONES GET SACK” // “OR LIL ONES FUD”
“Sure, sure, sure…Let me get them. No eating them! Hey guys, come out!” Iesa called to us as if nothing was wrong in the world.
“I am going to kill him!” Beepu’s voice seethed.
“Well. At least he won’t see it coming.” I said trying to sound positive.
"What could possibly make this any worse?"
Session notes:
So, the elf and Iesa dialog was about as short as that. But there at least three attempts to get a name out of her. None did work of course.
We were still third level as well, and we were very concerned about being crushed, especially after the hyena incident.
It was also about here, I originally started expanding Myrai’s back story a bit on how she got some of the skills she has.
The Road North
Travel is the gateway to discovery said some Sensate who was a blood for certain. It always sounds simple and nice, like a stroll in the Lady’s Ward looks to be.
But here, it felt more like the Lower Wards, at night.
What worried me was finding the prime version of the Hive.
What scared me was walking into something worse.
Travel is the gateway to discovery said some Sensate who was a blood for certain. It always sounds simple and nice, like a stroll in the Lady’s Ward looks to be.
But here, it felt more like the Lower Wards, at night.
What worried me was finding the prime version of the Hive.
What scared me was walking into something worse.
I awake painfully with the warm light from the sun shining into the window on my body and face. I opened my eyes slowly, drinking in the pain in my head; justly earned. At least the dreams were gone for a night, but this wasn’t a price I could afford often.
I pushed myself up by my arms. It was an awful mistake as far as my head was concerned. Breathing heavily, I sat up and massaged my temples and looked around for the first time. My armor, gear and clothes were in a heap on the floor. Near the bed was an empty wash basin and pitcher on a table and some cloth near it.
I was going to reach for my pouch buried in a heap on the floor, but I stopped a moment. I grasped my symbol of Kelemvor and whispered to myself some words and tones and pulled on some light. I turned and looked at the basin and the pitcher both now filled with water. I grabbed the cloth that sat next to it and used it to wash off my face and hands.
The cool pure water felt good against my skin, and I realized it had been a very long time since I actually washed ‘normally.’ Maybe five years ago since I found out I had magical talent and another year after that, to figure out I had a spell that I could to clean myself. It was a simple trick I taught myself after the Faction War. Creating water on the other hand, was new to me.
When I first could cast spells, I was ignorant on how arcana worked. After I discovered I had some ability at it, I then attended any lecture I could at the Civic Festhall. I now understood its principles, and with much trial and error I learned how to cast basic spells. But I never could put my finger on how managed to actually do it. They talked of sorcery and connections to dragons, and wizardry and study. But I didn’t study it, and as for draconic blood I had no idea. But I learned what I could about aracana and things related to it. And I found that I enjoyed the talks about the planes and planar travel most. The thought of travelling; to go wherever you wanted when you wanted. The idea of freedom. At the time. I thought this mysterious gift of magic would provide a means.
But it wasn’t until I left the cage, for the one I found myself now, that something had changed. I used the magic I had before to remove soils, dirt and the like. It was practical; staying clean in the Hive was a challenge and the Civic Festhall was a mess after the war. But now? I saved Iesa, I could call upon the light’s radiance on Arakhan, repairing things and now…water.
Many in the Hive never saw pure stuff. Most in the Hive avoided water; much of it there wasn’t safe. Even bub was safer. But once, when I tended as a hostess for a dice game called ‘Styxes and Sixes’ I got a strange tip. A shot glass full of water from Oceanus. It was not a typical tip, but the Sensate in me was curious so I tried it. the taste was one I would never forget. Clean, pure, and sweet. I then understood why it commanded the price it did.
I finished with the cloth and lifted the pitcher to my lips and drank. I knew that in a bit that the pounding in my head would lesson. It tasted much like the sip I had of Oceanus. But how could I create the water? Cover my eyes? Heal? Any of it? I just felt I was plucking or pulling on threads of power. A Strand that I could sometimes make what I want to happen.
A Strand that seem to have its own mind at times. The speakers said that most of magic was fluid. You commanded, and it obeyed. When casting, I felt like I was wrestling or fighting it the entire time. But during other times, I could feel it within me, twitching and waiting…for something.
I could have asked Beepu. But while we were in the elven temple, I remembered that he said that he ‘was mystified on how I did things.’ Not sure if one of his book’s would shed much light there either. I’ve seen his notes; and the language he uses has some of the symmetry of Celestial, but the grammar is …well. Florid? Ponderous? No…
Wordy.
Not as break teeth as Infernal. That was painful to pick up. Safe thing to do with fiends and tieflings around. So much so that many contracts are written in it. I can swear in Abyssal too…but I doubt I want to have a conversation in it.
But what I did note, is that some the spells in the spell book, might be workable if I can scribe it into a more orderly form. Less gaps. More order. Less words. Not Modron level efficient where I need a cryptix tube to decode it. Just understandable to me.
I put my hands on the table and looked out the dusty window. Thinking a moment, I realized that whatever the Strand was, it had power. It was my skill with it that was lacking. Here I was pushed to using it beyond the simple incantations I discovered. Perhaps if kept pushing, or pushed harder, it someday let me rip apart reality and let me have the freedom I wished. I couldn’t pull that much yet from the Strand. I needed time, patience, discipline. Study might help, if I knew what do look for in a tome.
I knew I wasn’t going to get an answer on any of those questions today. I so I dressed myself, donned my armor and weapons and grabbed the rest of my things. I quickly started the spell to change my eyes, and then made my way down to the ‘nice’ side of the bar. It wasn’t hard to find Daneath, he was standing and glaring at a table, where his newfound brother sat.
But sitting with him, was an elven woman. Obviously the one that Beepu talked about before. The way that Iesa looked at her, said it all; he was smitten.
I didn’t know many pure-blooded elves as they were rare and elusive in Sigil. But you could almost feel it when they entered a room. They had that otherworldly look, delicate features and grace that would make you weep if you stared at their glory too long. And this one was no exception, with long auburn hair and green eyes. Her light tanned skin had perfect complexion, which her dress showed off quite a bit of. Her arms were bare, and the dress was stylish, with a simple squared cut out at the top, and slits below the waist, allowing her to show off her legs. But it was her face that was the most striking and the most telling.
She was bored out of her mind.
Iesa was talking to her and she was avoiding talking to him. I approached Daneath, to see what was going on.
“Hey,” I said casually.
“Myr,” he responded frowning.
“Should we…find a temple for them?”
He chuckled, “Might be a good idea, not sure what’s more urgent. Confessing or marrying him off.”
“True. Hey…I’m…I’m sorry about last night. I was a bit out of sorts—”
“Well, can’t say I’m surprised. Finding a brother was not what I planned on.”
“True, that was quite the surprise. But the headaches were getting to me and…well at least you are getting closer to your goal. I’m—”
“Not anywhere closer to home?”
I nodded, “Still feels far away,”
“Well, those two are going to be awhile, and Beepu was still doing stuff upstairs. Why don’t we get some supplies and get ready to fix your headache?”
I smiled, “You say the nicest things. Should we get a room for them?”
“That’s optimistic don’t you think?”
“Some healing magic then?”
“Closer; he may take some hits.”
“Can’t fix any damage to his own ego.” I said holding up my hands in a look of helplessness.
“I’m sure he’ll live; let’s go,” and the two of us walked out into the morning sun.
The creatively named Portstown, didn’t look much better in the morning light. But it was reasonably supplied, so finding food, some rope and other items for the trail was easy enough. We also stopped by the smithy where I picked up my shield. The light-colored steel now had an etching of the skeletal hand and scales, clearly visible with the contrasting lampblack. I thanked the half-orc, and which he nodded agreeably enough. But he did glare at Daneath the whole time.
We also found out a little about the goings on in town; pretty much both overland trade and farming was in dire shape. While the Uthgardt tribes were a handful, they tended to rob, and take the things they wanted, which was seldom. But with their disappearance, the gnolls started to appear everywhere, and they didn’t steal anything. They slaughtered, destroyed, and were just a terror. The river was the only lifeline the town had, as many of the ranchers and farmers had already fled to Yartar to the south. Grim times for the town indeed.
With gear, and my spell induced headache in tow, we returned to the Inn and to our surprise, little had changed. Iesa was still chatting up with the elven woman, who still looked uninterested in the conversation with him. But surprisingly, Beepu was there sitting with them. Mo, I noticed was laying limply on the table by Iesa’s arms. It appeared that the monkey had given up and was attempting to surrender to Iesa and end his jealousy and boredom. Foggle was on a rafter above watching the table.
Beepu was of course, loud and trying to discuss Arcana with someone who wasn’t interested. Well she sort of was, Iesa wanted him to bolt.
“Well, I’m not sure what places time would act like that. Meaning time could be longer or shorter?”
The elven woman nodded simply but said nothing.
“Well I am sure that I could research and disco—”
I interrupted, “Time changes? Like time dilation and compression based on exiting the place or…plane?”
The woman seeing me for the first time looked at me puzzled and spoke, “Yes. That sounds right.”
“Feywild most likely; most other planes don’t alter time. Limbo sometimes can, but it takes a strong will to do so on a large scale. And even then, it takes a lemon of some skill to do it at all.”
“A lemon?” Beepu asked confused.
“Oh sorry. Term for someone that is skilled in chronomancy.” I said.
“Oh…well, how do you know it wasn’t Limbo then?” Beepu asked, trying to sound assured in his own knowledge.
“Well, was gravity subjective?” I asked.
“Meaning could I…change it? No.” the Elven woman said, staring at me with surprise.
“Limbo has both subjective and morphic gravity. That means down is where you think it is, and how strong is also under your control. So…Feywild until you know more. About done here Beepu?”
“Well, you should get some supplies, right?”
“Already done,” Daneath said smiling.
Beepu blinked a moment, “Yes. I guess that does settle it. Good day. “ he said looking at the woman. “Are you coming?” he asked Iesa.
Iesa was complexly flummoxed at the turn of events having both been shut out of the conversation, and now being denied the conversation he wanted to have. “Well I..um…kinda wanted to…um,”
“Sounds like it!” Daneath said grinning. “We have a long march ahead of us,”
Iesa looked as if he was going to say something, when Mo jumped up and started to pull on Iesa’s arm and pointed towards the door. Then Iesa’s face scrunched up and he let out a sigh. Defeated by his own monkey.
“Well, um…goodbye lady…?” Iesa asked the Elf looking for a particular answer.
The elf had a wan smile and left her seat saying, “Goodbye. Perhaps we will see each other again…when you have time.”
Iesa helplessly tried to maintain eye contact as well dragged him outside. He then at all of us with a glare. “Hey now, I think she was in trouble!”
“Truly. The boredom could have been fatal,” Daneath quipped.
“I’m serious! She was being evasive and wouldn’t tell me her name, so I wouldn’t be in danger.”
“Well. We should keep you safe,” I said.
“You’re not listening! She was in hiding!”
“In the open in an inn?” Daneath asked.
“Um…yes? Why not?”
“Iesa, if she needed help, she would have asked,” I pointed out.
“I think she was unsure whether we could help,” Iesa said, still looking over his shoulder as we walked out of town.
“Tell you what, after we are done and if we have time, we’ll come back. Deal?” Daneath said, offering a compromise.
“Sure. Deal!” Iesa said with a big smile.
Beepu pulled my head down so he could whisper to me, “Are we coming back here?”
“Beats me, I wasn’t planning on it,” I said honestly. Standing up again I looked at Beepu with a cheeky smile.
The moment I was out of town, I dropped the headache inducing spell. Having to continually cast it was trying on my patience, and I was happy to be done with it. At the same time, I casted the other spell to clear the dye from my hair. Truth be told, it was starting to itch. Someday I could find a town with a proper bath and would spend far more time than needed in it. But not for a while I guessed.
Finally, Iesa started to use the map. He quickly discovered that the grove was clearly on the map. So using that as a landmark with the river, Iesa figured out what direction we needed to go. So, we followed the road to the river, but instead of following the game trail to the grove, we headed northwards, into the plains. We were supposed to continue on until we came to a valley or something. The map was only readable by Iesa, and he wasn’t very comfortable working with it. But he did have a sense of direction, and for someone city bred through and through, he did seem to know his way outdoors. Far better than any of us. Daneath was just eager to head forward on the journey, Beepu frequently claimed that he could look into anything, if only he had the right book. I would have rather spent time in a larger city. Something better than Yartar at least. The outdoors was…interesting, but I wasn’t comfortable in it.
As we walked, Mo would dash in and out of the waist high grass and brush, always jumping on Iesa, then bounding off. Foggle on the other hand flew above us, communicating silently with Beepu on silent, mechanical wings. We appeared to be following another game trail, or perhaps a trail that the Elk tribe left behind. But it seemed that nothing had passed this way in a long time. Or at least that’s what Iesa said.
There wasn’t much to say on the march, until Beepu spoke up suddenly;
“What holes?” and he looked up quizzically at Foggle, who was flying in a circle, waggling it’s wings erratically.
We all stopped and looked at Beepu expectantly. He stroked his chin as he had a silent conversation with Foggle about something. It was a moment or two before he spoke.
“Foggle says there are holes on either side of us in the brush. Person sized.”
“Person sized? Like a Beepu person or a Daneath person?” I asked feeling nervous.
“Daneath plus si—i—i—!” and his eye grew wide as Daneath was covered in a shower of dirt. Behind him was a large insect with long antenna, and flailing legs. But the pincers on the mouth of the monster were enormous, and liquid from its mouth dripped with an acrid smell onto the ground.
We were already moving. Mo ran for some nearby brush for cover, while Iesa drew his weapon and lunged in for an attack, hitting the creature squarely it is rusty brown midsection. Unfortunately, the blade didn’t penetrate far, and whatever it was seemed unfazed by the strike. Beepu on the other hand moved into the brush, but before doing so, flung a bolt of fire at it, also hitting it squarely. And I did nearly the same thing on the opposite side, but I used a blast of eldritch energy instead of fire. I also, didn’t hit it.
Unfortunately, Daneath’s reaction time was slower than normal, and the creature vomited up more acrid bile, spewing the content right at Daneath. He tried to interpose his shield in-between himself and the monster, but the blast showered him head to chest with liquid, and I could smell the acid burn flesh. But Daneath while wounded, was far from out. In a scream born of anger and pain, he swung with his sword striking a hard blow on the lowered head of the insect. The resounding crunch of the chitin, and the spurt of goo from its head was a satisfying sound.
Iesa struck again, this time with better results, causing bile and other fluids to spurt from the creature’s side, followed up by another bolt of fire from Beepu in the brush, hitting it were a nose might be for a normal creature. But that was enough to bring it down, and it flopped unmoving on the ground, leaking more acrid liquid from its mouth and other wounds. The bulk of the monster was still below the earth, but it didn’t retreat. It simply quivered for a few moments, and then died.
I was paralyzed a moment. That acrid smell was familiar, and even more so when it struck Daneath. I shivered as the memory came back to my mind after being buried and forgotten. It was acid being used on flesh, on the night that Markell died. The screams of pain.
My screams.
I shook the memory loose. It wasn’t the time. It would never be the right time, but certainly not now. I moved to Daneath and grabbed out a skin of water I had at my side, and poured it over his head and torso, trying to wash the acid away from his skin. I then focused a moment and put some light into Daneath.
“Thanks, that…feels…better,” he panted.
Beepu emerged from the brush, followed by Mo. “An ankheg! Nasty creature. That explains the holes. And perhaps why the game trail is lightly travelled.”
“I want to see one of these holes,” Iesa said and moved into the brush.
“That is probably not a good idea!” Beepu shouted at him.
“Why?”
“Because they can sense you before you can see them!”
“Oh come on, what’s the worst that can….HELP!” and we heard the sound of something else bursting through the ground and more dirt flew in the air. It wasn’t surprising. Just like the Well in the elven temple, Iesa had to throw a coin in. And so Iesa had to look at the hole. And here he was face to face with another ankheg.
But this one was much larger, and it lowered its head to snap its huge mandibles at the hapless Iesa. Fortunately, it missed, allowing Iesa to stab it in the abdomen, but the thick plates took the blow. Beepu launched another bolt of fire at it, and it struck one of the flailing legs. Daneath then charged into the brush, and he struck a solid blow on another leg, slicing it off, ichor spurting everywhere.
I cast another bolt at it, and this one struck it in the thorax, but the damage we were doing seemed insignificant to this one. Even the loss of the leg barely warranted a reaction. But it swung its head around looking at each of in turn quickly and ultimately it focused on Daneath biting down. The sound of its mandibles scraping the metal on his armor gave me the chills. Daneath again grunted in pain and the smell of acid on flesh again permeated the air. But the ankheg could not hold down the warrior and Daneath beat the monstrosity off with pommel strikes down on its head.
Iesa kept circling it, trying to get a blow from behind. Then he lunged and stabbed with his thin blade striking true. The blow sprayed the air with more ichor. Meanwhile, Beepu’s fiery blast struck it again, as did my bolt of energy. Both of us certainly didn’t want to get any closer than I had to, and for me the memories of what acid can do to skin if it was untreated encouraged me to keep my distance.
But the ankheg reacted to the greatest source of pain, and swiftly turned and clamped down on Iesa. He howled in pain from the beasts’ attack and once again the smell of more acid on flesh permeated the air. Iesa was caught in its maw, and the ankhe reared its head, lifting Iesa up into the air as it attempted to chew and slice Iesa into smaller pieces.
But Daneath was having none of that; he wasn’t going to lose a brother he just found. He swung at the ankheg sinking the edge of his blade deep into its thorax. He retracted it, causing bile to spray the air. But Daneath quickly spun and his blade cracked open part of the carapace, causing bits of its innards to fly in the air. It would be a fatal blow, as the ankheg opened its maw and dropped Iesa to the ground, and then waivered a moment, quivering before it too flopped over on the ground, with bile gushing from is throat.
I rushed over to Iesa, and poured the remaining water over his chest wounds, and focused my light on closing them. He was breathing heavily with his eyes closed, but I saw the tension in him give as the healing reduced his pain.
“And that is why you do not start poking into holes like that!” Beepu shouted chidingly. “Have you learned nothing from earlier life lessons?”
“I’m alive right?” Iesa retorted. I helped him stand up again. He grunted in pain, as he wasn’t fully healed yet. I looked at my face for a moment, and with a voice of concern asked, “Myr? You look ill. Did it?...”
“No. Just…bad memories that I’d rather forget.” I replied, shifting to avoid his gaze.
“Sure. Right. Hey Beepu, is there anywhere around without holes so we can rest?”
Beepu looked at the airborne Foggle for a moment and then replied, “We are nearing a downwards trek into what looks to be a gorge. I think that is what you were looking for. We might find a place near the entrance.
Daneath said, “I’m all for moving, and I’m not taking votes.”
No one disagreed and with a quickened pace we headed to the gorge. We reached it without additional encounter with bugs and after Foggle looked around, saw no more holes. We stopped for our midday rest while we considered our options.
The gorge itself was a dry river bed that led down into a wider floor of the gully, while rough scraggly hills adjoined the walls. Looking over Iesa’s shoulder the path led straight through the gorge, and unhelpfully told us nothing about the hills on the east and west.
“So, through it is the only way?” Asked Daneath.
Iesa nodded, “According to the map it is. I’m sure we could go over the hills, or go around them instead. But we might have a challenge getting back on track.
“That might take a bit of time,” I said. “We have food for what a tenday? So, unless we find stuff out here, we only can afford five days of travel on the map, before we have to scavenge or go back for more supplies.”
“Right,” Beepu said, “All the more reason to avoid delay and travel as far as we can. All in favor of following the trail as is, say so.”
At that moment there was a bellowing noise. A deep angry shout using a language I couldn’t understand. It of course came from deeper within the gorge, as the sounds of the fury released bounced from wall to wall within.
“Alright you heard that, we go around,” Beepu said without missing a beat.
“I think we should go forward,” Iesa said with confidence.
“Why is that exactly?” Beepu asked with surprise.
“Easy, hear how angry that voice was?”
“Yes?”
“Well, it’s not angry at us!”
“Are you sure it will stay that way?” I interjected.
“Only one way to find out. And you already pointed out the food situation, so…”
I closed my eyes a second and thought a moment about the options. I then nodded, “Alright…lead on.”
“I’m going to hang back a bit…I’m not real sneaky,” Daneath said.
Iesa may not have been the outdoorsy type, but I was impressed on how hard it was to hear any sound from him as he crept towards a clearly very angry…thing. In fact, the create ahead sounded like it was talking to itself, but not in any language I could understand.
Beepu and I saw motion though the brush and we moved to take cover behind a tree. I looked at Beepu and then pointed upwards. He nodded and focused a bit before replying.
“It’s an..ogre? No, it has two heads. An ettin I am guessing,” he whispered.
“Does having two heads make it smarter?”
“No. It is like taking an ogre and then dividing their mental faculties by half and giving each head that half and still losing something in the exchange.”
“Great. Anything else?”
“Stronger than an ogre. More violent. Also, probably can outrun us.”
“So maybe we sneak Daneath by and ignore it.”
“Yes! I agree,” Beepu said with a firm nod. But then we heard a sound that made me very concerned. Iesa started to talk to it.
“Hey hey, big guy! What’s the matter?
My mouth dropped open for a moment, “What is he doing?” and then I heard a couple of words next to me and turning my head I saw that Beepu had disappeared.
“YOUZ HEP SMASH LIL LIZURDS” I could hear the big creature say, followed by a similar voice say; ”HE NOT HEP. HE FUD!”
Grimacing I crept forward as best I could and soon I could see what sounded like a disaster in progress. There near a hole or cave in the rock stood this large misshapen figure. It must have been three heads taller than I, and was dressed in ragged uncured hides. And on the shoulders of the ettin were two heads, one head had a shock of filthy brown hair, while the other head had a balding pate, with long brown hair on the sides. As a bonus I was downwind from it, and it stunk like someone had rolled in a slaughter hour floor, and then forgot to bathe.
For a year.
I then heard next to me Beepu who said, “He better not mention us,”
“Nice spell. Thanks for the support,” I said dryly.
“Anytime!”
Iesa was talking again, “No we aren’t food! We can help!”
“We?” Daneath said as he caught up to us, clattering next to myself.
“Oof!”
“What the…Beepu?”
“Yes, it is me. Watch where you are…never mind.”
“YOUZ GET SACK!” / “SACK FROM LIZURDS”
“Lizards…in that hole?” Iesa pointed to a pile of stones wedged into a passage leading into a rock face.”
“LIZURDS TOOK SACK,” // “COVER HOLE WIT ROCK”
“LIZURDS NO LEAVE,” // “WE NO GET SACK”
Iesa was nodding, “So if my friends—”
“I knew it!” Beepu hissed
“—help you get your sack, we not food, right?”
The ettin heads turned to each other and then looked at Iesa again and said
“LIL ONES GET SACK” // “OR LIL ONES FUD”
“Sure, sure, sure…Let me get them. No eating them! Hey guys, come out!” Iesa called to us as if nothing was wrong in the world.
“I am going to kill him!” Beepu’s voice seethed.
“Well. At least he won’t see it coming.” I said trying to sound positive.
"What could possibly make this any worse?"
Session notes:
So, the elf and Iesa dialog was about as short as that. But there at least three attempts to get a name out of her. None did work of course.
We were still third level as well, and we were very concerned about being crushed, especially after the hyena incident.
It was also about here, I originally started expanding Myrai’s back story a bit on how she got some of the skills she has.
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