More Charisma Than a Roomful of Nymphs (finished, link to full SH in last post)

[haiiro]

Pub

Pub was quite unlike any other building the Follies had seen since their arrival in Selgaunt.

For one thing, it was really two buildings in one: the main portion was a wide stone tower, two stories tall, and in front of that was a smallish plaster-and-timber house. The back of the house butted up against the tower, the base of which was large enough that the docks stopped on one side of it and picked up again on the other. A row of narrow windows (much like arrow loops) ran around the top of the tower, and its back half clearly stuck out into the river. On the whole, it looked as though it was once a harbor guard tower of some sort.

Thissiken knocked on the stout front door, and after a moment it was opened by a stocky figure at least three feet wide at the shoulders. In one hand he held a quarterstaff, just barely visible past the doorframe. His head was bald, and ran into his shoulders almost without interruption -- but it was his eyes that drew them in. The size of small oranges, they bulged out of his head, taking in every detail of the party arrayed before him.

Looking down, he said, "Ah, Thissiken," in a deep and unhurried voice.

Nodding, Thissiken produced a round wooden disc and passed it to him. He examined it for a moment, then intoned, "You may come in." As he said this, he stepped back and to one side, swinging inwards in the same manner as a heavy door.

"Safest place in Selgaunt," Thissiken reminded the Follies as he led them to their rooms.

Inside, Pub certainly looked the part: even the interior walls were a foot thick, and although it was sparsely decorated it felt warm and cozy inside. Padding softly over the straw that covered the floors, the Follies found themselves being led downstairs. Another thick door admitted them into a curved hallway below the waterline, and Thissiken stopped in front of the door to their first room.

As he handed over their keys, Thissiken mentioned that he had reserved a room for himself upstairs, just for the next two days. Although everyone was tired, the Follies tried to establish whether or not Thissiken had any plans for tomorrow. He hinted that he might go and visit some of his contacts, to see if he could help the Follies find out what was going on.

"Are you going to leave here on your own?" asked Tal.

"I might nip out, just for a little bit..." Thissiken replied. Seeing the
expressions on the Follies' faces, he added, "...No, no, I don't think I'll be going
out."

"Well, if you do, come get us first," said Cupric.

Somewhat cagily, Thissiken asked, "Can you give me another feather token?"

Of the four tokens they were originally given by Agrafion, only two remained -- one had been used to contact Agrafion himself, when they first found Thissiken; the other they had given to Thissiken that morning, and he had expended it while being chased by Liddis.

"We only have two left," Cupric told the gnome, "but we're going to give you one. We'll have to see about getting some more of them."

With a hint of a sly smile, Thissiken took the token. As he tucked it away in his vest, he said, "I have a friend who makes these. His name is Quaal."

 

[haiiro]

This is the longest we've gone without any comments -- five updates! My only conclusion is that either a) Freedom's Tolkien comment scared everyone off, or b) you've all been replaced with search engine robots, who crawl the thread and bump up the view count.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

must.. view.. thread....... programing protocal completed.


Still reading and still enjoying.

Keep up the great work.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I don't generally post to story hours, just read them. I quite enjoying this one.

 

[haiiro]

Mephiskaran (Session 4)

Thanks for the comments, guys!

And Then There Were Six

During the night, Cupric was roused from his trance by De'lea's departure from the Follies' suite. After waiting for some time for her to return, the dreamborne padded out into Pub to look for her. He found her upstairs in one of the otherwise empty common rooms, sitting at a table -- almost motionless, as if deep in thought. Finding no obvious threats, Cupric left her alone.

Just before dawn, De'lea came back to the Follies' rooms -- pounding on the first door, then the second, before she burst in.

"I've been called back by my order," De'lea said to a room full of half-awake Follies. Within moments, it became a room full of completely awake Follies.

"There are precious few paladins in our faith, and they have need of me in Ordulin," she continued.

Tal asked, "Not to say that this isn't serious, but is it something others in your faith could handle?"

"They're not sure how much of the order to trust," De'lea responded, worry and grim resolve showing in her face.

Over the course of several minutes, the Follies established that De'lea was resolute in her belief that she must return to Sune's High Sanctuary in Ordulin -- on her own.

"I don't think you should travel alone," urged Tal.

"My faith will armor me."

"And your armor," quipped Tuggle.

Although unwilling to allow her companions to accompany her to Ordulin, De'lea gladly accepted their last feather token. For her to be called back in this manner meant that whatever corruption had been uncovered in Sune's church must run very deep indeed, but she promised to contact the Follies sometime in the future. She left it up to them whether or not to inform Agrafion, but made it clear that she still considered herself a Harper.

Having already gathered up her gear, she bade each Folly farewell in turn, clasping them in lusty hugs. This done, she departed without further delay.

There was a lengthy silence in the Follies' suite.

Then Tuggle said, "So...who here can fight, again?"

 

[haiiro]

(I've been uber-busy at work -- sorry for the delay!)

Planning

With the silence broken, the moment passed. Though none of them wanted to lose De'lea in that fashion, there was a mutual understanding that she was doing what she had to do.

What ensued was a lengthy discussion of the Follies' role in Selgaunt, their need for a means to communicate over great distances, Thissiken's motives and goals, and the notion of breakfast. The remaining Follies were more or less in agreement on items one, two, and four (particularly four), but number three was the sticky one.

Various suspicions were broached -- notably, Cupric's theory that Thissiken was confirming his hunch about them being Harpers -- and options were considered, including a novel suggestion from Tuggle: the Follies could simply charm Thissiken.

This is met with nearly universal disagreement, with Vicktor somewhat in favor of the idea.

Turning to the pugilist, Tal asked, "How would you feel if we had charmed you to gather information?"

Sounding a bit uncertain, Vicktor asked, "Did you?"

This point was never completely resolved, but the Follies did agree that Thissiken was more than he seemed, and that their first goal was to get the gnome to arrange a meeting with Quaal. If Thissiken wasn't stretching the truth in that area, that should also help the party address their need for other forms of communication -- in particular, more feather tokens, as they had just run out.

Breakfast

After a time, the Follies made their way upstairs for breakfast. As before, they found Pub curiously empty -- not completely empty, just more empty than one might otherwise expect. Not to be deterred, they approached a large door with an encouraging sign: "Kitchen," and under that in neat lettering, "Knock." They did so.

A thin dwarf with stringy grey hair poked his head out, looked around for a moment, and asked the Follies what they'd like to eat. When asked what's available, he said, "You want it, we have it. Rat testicles in bouillabaisse? We have it!"

The Follies requested ham, eggs and fresh fruit all around, and were most pleased when the dwarf told them to have a seat and wait for their meals. Even in a city like Selgaunt, it wasn't common to find fresh fruit readily available in an inn where you don't have to leave your weapons at the door.

One of the Follies nipped upstairs to Thissiken's room to see if he was up and about, and was informed that he'd be down when he damned well felt like it. Sounding somewhat tempted by the prospect of breakfast, however, the grumpy drakesmith said to have the cleric bring him a plate.

The Follies obliged, sending up a plate -- just a plate, with no food on it. Thissiken didn't seem amused, but it did the trick: a short while thereafter, he joined them at their table.

A lengthy discussion followed, during which time Thissiken seemed to switch between several states: tired, frantic, furtive, dedicated, and back to tired. The gnome was very insistent about finding Algaer, but his refusal to share any real information began to frustrate the Follies anew. Even as Thissiken agreed to set several things in motion -- drawing up a map of the city, compiling his list of which guards are on which gates, using his contacts to find out about the painting, and arranging a meeting with Quaal -- Vicktor's hands writhed as his distrust grew.

After a time, Cupric led Thissiken back up to his room for a private discussion. At this point, suspicions had been raised that he was a mage -- and the possibility that there might be other Harpers in Selgaunt had also been brought up. During his private talk with Thissiken, Cupric found out that Allekar -- the last Harper to pass through Selgaunt before the Follies -- spoke very highly of her associates, and by extension of the Follies themselves.

After disappearing for a short while, Thissiken told the Follies that Quaal himself was very busy -- but that he would be happy to send his representative, Quisk. He had arranged a meeting later in the morning with Quisk, and he told the Follies to be up on Pub's roof at that time.

With this in mind, the Follies spent about a candlemark engaged in a variety of activities. Artemis practiced his dancing, with the Follies' next performance in mind. Jaehn meditated, clearing his mind of external concerns and contemplating the nature of the Weave. Cupric wrote in his journal, perhaps looking back on his brief but tumultuous life to date. Tuggle socialized in one of the common rooms, while Vicktor brooded nearby.

A bit later on, both Cupric and Tal took advantage of Pub's excellent messenger service. Like most good inns in Selgaunt, Pub maintained a small army of messengers, runners and boatmen. Their standard fee was five gold Princes -- a kingly sum for most, but well within the reach of the average Pub patron.

Tal penned a letter to the city's temple of Torm, letting them know that he had arrived in town, intended to visit, and came with the blessings of Father Gedrik from his home temple. Presenting this to a messenger, he discovered that there were actually five temples of Torm in Selgaunt, laid out along the pattern of an upraised gauntlet. The central temple, or thumb, was in the High City -- easily accessible to the messenger, less so to Tal himself.

Not wishing to relive his lengthy and harrowing lute-buying expedition of the day before, Cupric employed the messenger service to round up quality lute parts in his stead. Armed with a promise of five Princes a day (plus costs) and a description of Sefin's shop in the Strings, the messenger promised to return with the items that Cupric needed.

Before too long, the hour of their meeting with Quisk arrived.

 

[haiiro]

Quisk

Emerging onto the roof of Pub, the Follies found a wide, bare expanse that offered a remarkably good view of the city. While they took in the sights, Thissiken scampered over to one wall and began circling the rooftop in a methodical fashion. Arriving at particular spot, he told the Follies that this was where they should wait for Quisk. The Follies had time to bring up several chairs, and also to notice that there were no ravens on the roof -- in Selgaunt, a very unusual absence indeed.

Moments later, a single raven descended and touched down on the low wall, precisely where Thissiken had stopped a few minutes ago. The raven cocked its head and said, "Thissiken. So, these are the friends you have told me about."

There was a collective pause among the Follies, during which time Thissiken nodded and the raven said, "Caw."

Once they'd gotten over their initial surprise, the Follies discovered that Quisk was both personable and businesslike. The raven established what it was that they wanted -- namely, more feather tokens -- and then informed them of a variety of other options. His master, he said, not only made the ubiquitous bird tokens, but a wide variety of other tokens as well.

Interspersed with casual jibes -- as when Tal commented that communication was very important, and Quisk responded, "That's the brightest thing you've said so far today" -- were descriptions of several compelling items.

One was a silver raven figurine that acted exactly as a feather token, but was reusable. Another was a feather token that sent its message to several people at once, and the third was a token that sent a message, then waited and returned with the response.

When the Follies mentioned that they'd have to look into their finances, Quisk said, "Quaal would like to express his sincere appreciation for saving this useless little gnome. I think we'll be able to work something out for you."

At which point the raven sneezed loudly, and abruptly turned into a small white badger. The badger said, "Bugger."

After it had been established that he was alright, Quisk asked for some pepper. Tuggle stepped forward and mentioned that he could produce the same effect with a small spell, which he proceeded to describe. About three words into his description, Quisk interrupted: "Oh, prestidigitation. Fire away." Tuggle did so, and with another loud sneeze the badger transformed into a little brown gibbon.

This process was repeated often enough for Cupric and Jaehn to determine that it was not a spell, but something inherent in Quisk (although not inherent in the same sense as it would be for a doppelganger, or a druid). For his part, Quisk was nonchalant about it, remarking that he tried to make sure it didn't happen while he was flying.

After it became clear that he wasn't going to turn back into a raven -- or even something with wings -- right away, Quisk requested some entertainment. Having discreetly asked Thissiken if the raven was trustworthy (to which he responded, "He's very trustworthy, unless he's the weasel"), the Follies were quite comfortable around Quaal's emissary, and a Rook's Night song was shortly being sung by their resident bard.

After a few minutes, Quisk sneezed his way back into raven form, took the scrap of paper on which the Follies had written their communications wishlist, and departed. Before leaving, he told them to return to the rooftop just as night fell for a second meeting.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The wizard who involuntarily shapeshifts is familiar, of course, but for some reason so is the sneeze triggering it...

...OMG, that wasn't something from 'Bewitched' was it?

 

[haiiro]

The wizard who involuntarily shapeshifts is familiar, of course, but for some reason so is the sneeze triggering it...

...OMG, that wasn't something from 'Bewitched' was it?

Wow, that would be embarassing. Honestly, if the involuntary shapeshifting comes from somewhere, it's not somewhere that I remember. What are you thinking of, Tony (apart from Bewitched, of course...)?

 

[haiiro]

The Temple of Azuth

Thissiken's research earlier had yielded a name: Mephiskaran, purported to be one of Selgaunt's only experts on portals. This notable resided at the temple of Azuth, which Jaehn had wanted to visit anyway -- so the Follies decided to make that their next goal. Since Thissiken was very worried that whoever destroyed Algaer's shop might destroy his shop next, they agreed to stop there after visiting the temple. What they did after that would just have to depend on what Mephiskaran could tell them.

With Thissiken's knowledge of quiet streets and backways keeping them unnoticed, it took the Follies the better part of a candlemark to reach the temple of Azuth. The temple itself consisted of one massive sandstone building that took up more room than anything else on the street. The sprawling temple appeared to be about three stories tall, with numerous windows that looked out onto the street.

As they approached the main entrance, several of the Follies noticed two things about the windows: one, that they were tinted pale blue, and two, that what was visible beyond them was not the interior of the temple. Behind each window the sandstone wall was unbroken, but painted with detailed scenes of libraries and wizards engaged in a range of activities. In actuality, there appeared to be only one real opening in the whole building: its enormous and imposing front door.

What greeted them when they open the door was something of a surprise: the entryway was swarming with dozens -- if not hundreds -- of tiny humanoids, each no more than a foot high.

The Legion

Stepping inside, the Follies found themselves in a high-ceilinged hallway. Several feet over their heads, small bridges, walkways and chutes criss-crossed the passage, running in and out of the walls, up to the next level, and down the length of the hall. These tiny byways were swarming with the same creatures that were even now gathering around the party, and all of them seemed bent on one task or another. Some carried tomes several times their size, others clutched smoking alembics or scrolls, and they all seemed quite busy.

Down at ground level, the creatures had completely surrounded the party, giving the Follies a chance to get a better look at them. The small beings were humanoid in shape, and looked as though they were made of melted brown wax. As the Follies stared, one of them stepped to the fore and welcomed the party to the temple in a high-pitched voice.

Jaehn introduced himself to the speaker, and related his name and purpose, being sure to mention that his patron was Azuth. At this, every single creature in the hallway -- by this point, perhaps numbering a few hundred -- bowed low.

"Welcome to the temple, all of you. We can certainly let you see Mephiskaran, he is very approachable, and we will need to know a bit more about you," said the leader. As the Follies introduced themselves, the creature seemed to sense that they were out of their element. Sounding a bit surprised, he asked, "Have you not heard of us?" When the Follies all shook their heads, he continued.

"We are the Legion." Then he turned to look at the assembled crowd, bobbed his head, and turned back to the Follies. In unison, all of the waxy men shouted, "And we are famous!"

The leader went on to explain that they were homunculi, or homun, managing to seem thrilled to have guests and very pleased with himself all at once. While Jaehn conducted some side business with the homun -- offering them several of his more unusual spells in exchange for copies of others that he was interested in -- Cupric extemporized a song about the Legion. They loved it, and shortly the crowd in the hallway had tripled in size, and many of them were singing along with the chorus.

While this was going on, Jaehn had successfully negotiated for several spells. The homun politely informed him that there might be a balance owed, as he was asking for a bit more than he was providing. When Jaehn agreed to this, the homun borrowed his spellbook to add the seven spells he had offered to their libraries -- and seven of them climbed onto his shoulders. Seeming quite content, they explained that they would serve as the deposit for his spellbook until he returned to retrieve it.

Now with seven homun on board -- and a great many more in tow -- the Follies were led through the temple's many halls to Mephiskaran's chamber.