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Shilsen's Eberron SH (Finished - The Last Word : 9/20/15)
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<blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 3121171" data-attributes="member: 198"><p>I'm doing my Ph.D. in English, and the Renaissance (esp. Old Billy) are my areas of specialization, so it's a little surprising that he hasn't shown up even earlier. But in an encounter with fey running around the Reaches, I couldn't resist.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The <em>Hold Person</em>s were used against the two half-elves among the fey.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>We were laughing about that after Gurr'khan got stoned. NPCs always suffer lousy random luck in my games. Gareth's player rolled for the ray effects and got the petrification one for Gurr'khan, and I rolled a 2 on his Fort save. I forgot to mention that Luna actually got hit by the Plane Shift effect and blew her save, having to use an action pt to reroll.</p><p></p><p>And on to the next bit. Less action, more talking...</p><p></p><p>*****</p><p></p><p>Nameless introduces the rest of the Angels and then points at the statue that was Gurr’khan moments ago. “And that was our guide, Gurr’khan, a member of the Gatekeepers.”</p><p></p><p>“Gatekeeper?” asks Kaelyn. “Pity about that,” she adds, though her tone does not sound particularly regretful.</p><p></p><p>“Can you turn him back?” asks Six. </p><p></p><p>Kaelyn looks at Oberon and Titania, who are sitting and watching the group with some interest. “Not today,” says Oberon, his voice strong and resonant, with no signs of any particular urgency to that end.</p><p></p><p>As he speaks, Gareth is scanning the pair, and Kaelyn, for evil. While the druidess is evidently not, the two eladrin present something he has never seen. As the paladin focuses on them, he sees an evil aura, which then promptly fades away, before reappearing a few seconds later, then fading away again. And so on. </p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Kaelyn continues, “So what are you doing here, if you were here by happenstance?”</p><p></p><p>“We were pursuing two rakshasas who stole something important to the Gatekeepers.”</p><p></p><p>“Rakshasas? Interesting! What did they steal?”</p><p></p><p>There is an amusing moment of dead silence as none of the Angels answers the question, simply staring back at Kaelyn and waiting for someone else to respond. She looks from face to face, a smile beginning to widen across her face, before Nameless finally repeats, “Something very important.”</p><p></p><p>Kaelyn laughs. “I see you don’t want to share the details.” She shrugs and laughs again. “Not that I care.”</p><p></p><p>Nameless quickly moves on, “We have some idea of where they might be, but you have petrified our guide.”</p><p></p><p>Kaelyn shrugs again. “Well, you did ruin our hunt.”</p><p></p><p>“It was ruined already,” puts in Titania, giving Oberon an accusing look. “I told you that we should take away their weapons, because they might do something stupid. You know Flamers.”</p><p></p><p>Gareth immediately speaks up, a frown on his face. “Hunt? You hunt humans?” </p><p></p><p>Kaelyn snorts disgustedly, while the two eladrin simply smile. “No, we don’t hunt humans. We just happened to be hunting this bunch.” She jerks a thumb at the five humans, who are standing back to back, clearly not reassured by the fact that they are not currently being attacked.</p><p></p><p>“Why?” </p><p></p><p>“They crashed one of our parties.”</p><p></p><p>“What?!” asks Gareth, while a couple of the Angels chuckle.</p><p></p><p>“Yes. We’re in the middle of a dance and suddenly they come rushing through the trees, making a horrible racket. Trespassing is bad enough, but sounding like a herd of elephants is just rude! So we told them that if they gave us a good run we’d let them go.”</p><p></p><p>Gareth stares at her for a moment and then turns away. He strides towards the humans. A couple of the thorns move to intercept, and then stop, at a gesture from Kaelyn. Gareth passes them and asks the man who seems to be their leader, “What is going on here?”</p><p></p><p>Instead of answering, the man asks uncertainly, “Who <em>are</em> you?”</p><p></p><p>“Gareth Byron Deneith, a paladin of the Flame. Tell me, please – what happened here?”</p><p></p><p>The man shakes his head, confusion and weariness writ clear across it. “I am Flamebearer Char Gilam. We were pursuing a group of lycanthropes that had killed some travelers. We ended up lost in the forest and the next thing we know, there are strange lights all around us and these fey surround us. They take us somewhere – no idea where, since we were blindfolded – and then tell us that they’d give us a chance to escape – since that would be more entertaining! It was soon clear that we’d never make it, so we decided to make a last stand and die honorably. And then you people showed up.”</p><p></p><p>He stops and then asks, “Can you help us?”</p><p></p><p>“I intend to,” says Gareth grimly, before heading back towards the others.</p><p></p><p>While he has been speaking to Char, Kaelyn says to the remaining Angels, “Anyway – our hunt’s quite ruined now, so…”</p><p></p><p>Nameless suddenly interrupts. “There’s a way we could make this up to you. Wouldn’t hunting two rakshasas be very entertaining?”</p><p></p><p>“Hmm! That’s possible.” Kaelyn looks at the silent eladrin, both of whom nod. “That’s an interesting idea. Where are these rakshasas?”</p><p></p><p>“To the west,” says Nameless. “Within a few miles, I think. I can narrow it down soon enough.”</p><p></p><p>“Hmm – that’s well within our territory, which is another reason to deal with them.”</p><p></p><p>That is when Gareth returns. Seeing him do so, Kaelyn smiles and gestures at the waiting fey, who move towards the humans. “Wait!” says Gareth. “What are they doing?”</p><p></p><p>“They’ll take them away, since the hunt’s ruined. We’ll decide what to do with them later.”</p><p></p><p>“No – you need to free them now. It’s bad enough that you were hunting them down…”</p><p></p><p>Kaelyn arches a brow. “We weren’t hunting them down. We’d never hurt them. Just a fun chase.”</p><p></p><p>“That is not what they say.”</p><p></p><p>“Of course not! What good’s a hunt if they know they’re in no danger?”</p><p></p><p>“Nevertheless, they must be freed.”</p><p></p><p>Kaelyn holds Gareth’s gaze and then suddenly smiles. “Very well.” She looks at Oberon, who waves a hand. The humans promptly drop in their tracks. </p><p></p><p>“What did you do?” asks Gareth, alarmed.</p><p></p><p>“Put them to sleep. So they won’t do something stupid.” Noting the expression, Kaelyn says, “Really – we’ll drop them outside our territories.”</p><p></p><p>“I’m sure she’s telling the truth, Gareth,” says Luna, who has been getting a little bored. “Can we go after the rakshasas now?”</p><p></p><p>“Yes,” says Kaelyn. Then she looks at Gareth and a strange expression comes over her face. “Give me a moment.”</p><p></p><p>She walks over to Titania, gesturing for her to lean down, and whispers something. The eladrin listens and then throws back her head and laughs loudly, in a significantly unladylike manner. “I doubt it,” she says, between diminishing chuckles, “But you can try.”</p><p></p><p>“What do you think she’s up to?” asks Six quietly.</p><p></p><p>“Oh my!” says Luna, and then a big smile spreads across her face, “I know what it is.”</p><p></p><p>As her uncomprehending companions look at Luna, Kaelyn walks back. “Since you ruined our hunt and we’re about to help you out, I’d like a little something in return too.” She points at Gareth. “Him.”</p><p></p><p>Luna chortles, “I told you so!” while Nameless rolls his eyes, and Korm and Six chuckle. Gareth’s expression shifts through a moment of shocked surprise to a forbidding glare.</p><p></p><p>“Oh, please – Kaelyn,” says Oberon in a disgusted tone. “He’s human. That’s nauseating.” </p><p></p><p>Kaelyn just smiles and says, “A girl has needs. And it’s been a couple of days already. So – how about it? Just two hours and…” </p><p></p><p>“Two hours?!” interrupts Titania. “You’ll kill that poor thing!”</p><p></p><p>“Yeah, you’re probably right. All right – an hour then.”</p><p></p><p>Seeing that she is completely serious, Gareth finally says, “No.” And goes back to glowering.</p><p></p><p>“Oh, come on! Don’t be such a stick-in-the mid! You’ll enjoy it.” She smiles, more than a little hungrily. “You’ll <em>really</em> enjoy it.”</p><p></p><p>“No!”</p><p></p><p>Nameless, who has been grinning broadly, say, “Come on, Gareth. You know how important this is. Make the sacrifice.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes,” chuckles Korm. “Just lie back, close your eyes and think of Khorvaire.” </p><p></p><p>If looks could kill, the one that Gareth gives Korm would leave him a smoldering pile. “This is <em>not</em> a discussion we need to have.”</p><p></p><p>Kaelyn puts her hands on her hips exasperatedly. “Really, what <em>is</em> your problem? It’s not like it’s your first time, right?” </p><p></p><p>There is a long moment of silence as everyone’s eyes go to Gareth’s face. Though it remains expressionless, a slight flush runs up his cheeks.</p><p></p><p>“Oh my!” says Kaelyn, her expression going from surprised to amused to extremely excited. “That’s amazing! Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I had one fresh out of the stream?”</p><p></p><p>Luna, wiping away tears by this point, says, “Believe me, Kaelyn, it’s not happening. And it’s not worth it.” She gestures at Korm and Nameless. “How about either of these?”</p><p></p><p>Even before Kaelyn can respond, Korm gives a guffaw. “Okay, now <em>that</em> is funny!”</p><p></p><p>Kaelyn, looking slightly relieved at his response, says, “Yes, it is. No offense, gentlemen, but I think I’ll pass.”</p><p></p><p>At this point, Oberon speaks up. “We’ve wasted enough time. Let’s go see these rakshasas.”</p><p></p><p>“Fine!” says Kaelyn disappointedly. “You really sure…?” she begins, looking at Gareth, and then quits. “Are you sure these rakshasas will be entertaining enough?”</p><p></p><p>“Oh yes,” says Nameless. “They’re very entertaining.”</p><p></p><p>“So – where are they?”</p><p></p><p>Nameless spends ten minutes triangulating and discovers that the distance to the Key is about seven miles.</p><p></p><p>“That’ll take a while to travel,” says Kaelyn, before Titania says, “We can speed things up.” She gestures at the group. “Everybody – get close to each other.”</p><p></p><p>Oberon and Titania take up a position about thirty feet from each other, facing inwards, with the others between them. The two eladrin close their eyes and concentrate. Seconds later, the surrounding forest shimmers and grows darker and more shadowy. The Angels, however, can see each other and the other three just as clearly, though the fey and sleeping humans nearby are also partly obscured by the shadows.</p><p></p><p>“What did they do?” asks Six quietly, but Kaelyn overhears. “They just moved us partly into the border between Eberron and Thelanis, without going all the way over. It makes travel faster.”</p><p></p><p>“Something like a <em>shadow walk</em> spell, isn’t it?” asks Nameless, with professional curiosity.</p><p></p><p>“Yes,” says Titania, opening her eyes. “Let us go. Walk together and nobody stop unless we tell them to.”</p><p></p><p>The Angels quickly work out why she says this. As they walk, the shadowy forest flows by at remarkable speed. Whenever someone stops or, in Gareth’s case, stumbles, anyone following behind bumps into him with bruising force, or he is quickly left behind and has to hurry to catch up. </p><p></p><p>Nevertheless, after a couple of collisions, they manage to make good time. In less than ten minutes, they reach a spot where the direction to the Key suddenly changes. Nameless mentions it to Kaelyn and all of them carefully stop simultaneously, retrace their steps and stop again.</p><p></p><p>Oberon and Titania bring them back to normality, and then Kaelyn asks, “So – where is this rakshasa lair?”</p><p></p><p>Nameless looks down at the ground beneath his feet, seemingly the same as that in any other part of the forest. “As far as I can tell, right below us.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="shilsen, post: 3121171, member: 198"] I'm doing my Ph.D. in English, and the Renaissance (esp. Old Billy) are my areas of specialization, so it's a little surprising that he hasn't shown up even earlier. But in an encounter with fey running around the Reaches, I couldn't resist. The [i]Hold Person[/i]s were used against the two half-elves among the fey. We were laughing about that after Gurr'khan got stoned. NPCs always suffer lousy random luck in my games. Gareth's player rolled for the ray effects and got the petrification one for Gurr'khan, and I rolled a 2 on his Fort save. I forgot to mention that Luna actually got hit by the Plane Shift effect and blew her save, having to use an action pt to reroll. And on to the next bit. Less action, more talking... ***** Nameless introduces the rest of the Angels and then points at the statue that was Gurr’khan moments ago. “And that was our guide, Gurr’khan, a member of the Gatekeepers.” “Gatekeeper?” asks Kaelyn. “Pity about that,” she adds, though her tone does not sound particularly regretful. “Can you turn him back?” asks Six. Kaelyn looks at Oberon and Titania, who are sitting and watching the group with some interest. “Not today,” says Oberon, his voice strong and resonant, with no signs of any particular urgency to that end. As he speaks, Gareth is scanning the pair, and Kaelyn, for evil. While the druidess is evidently not, the two eladrin present something he has never seen. As the paladin focuses on them, he sees an evil aura, which then promptly fades away, before reappearing a few seconds later, then fading away again. And so on. Meanwhile, Kaelyn continues, “So what are you doing here, if you were here by happenstance?” “We were pursuing two rakshasas who stole something important to the Gatekeepers.” “Rakshasas? Interesting! What did they steal?” There is an amusing moment of dead silence as none of the Angels answers the question, simply staring back at Kaelyn and waiting for someone else to respond. She looks from face to face, a smile beginning to widen across her face, before Nameless finally repeats, “Something very important.” Kaelyn laughs. “I see you don’t want to share the details.” She shrugs and laughs again. “Not that I care.” Nameless quickly moves on, “We have some idea of where they might be, but you have petrified our guide.” Kaelyn shrugs again. “Well, you did ruin our hunt.” “It was ruined already,” puts in Titania, giving Oberon an accusing look. “I told you that we should take away their weapons, because they might do something stupid. You know Flamers.” Gareth immediately speaks up, a frown on his face. “Hunt? You hunt humans?” Kaelyn snorts disgustedly, while the two eladrin simply smile. “No, we don’t hunt humans. We just happened to be hunting this bunch.” She jerks a thumb at the five humans, who are standing back to back, clearly not reassured by the fact that they are not currently being attacked. “Why?” “They crashed one of our parties.” “What?!” asks Gareth, while a couple of the Angels chuckle. “Yes. We’re in the middle of a dance and suddenly they come rushing through the trees, making a horrible racket. Trespassing is bad enough, but sounding like a herd of elephants is just rude! So we told them that if they gave us a good run we’d let them go.” Gareth stares at her for a moment and then turns away. He strides towards the humans. A couple of the thorns move to intercept, and then stop, at a gesture from Kaelyn. Gareth passes them and asks the man who seems to be their leader, “What is going on here?” Instead of answering, the man asks uncertainly, “Who [i]are[/i] you?” “Gareth Byron Deneith, a paladin of the Flame. Tell me, please – what happened here?” The man shakes his head, confusion and weariness writ clear across it. “I am Flamebearer Char Gilam. We were pursuing a group of lycanthropes that had killed some travelers. We ended up lost in the forest and the next thing we know, there are strange lights all around us and these fey surround us. They take us somewhere – no idea where, since we were blindfolded – and then tell us that they’d give us a chance to escape – since that would be more entertaining! It was soon clear that we’d never make it, so we decided to make a last stand and die honorably. And then you people showed up.” He stops and then asks, “Can you help us?” “I intend to,” says Gareth grimly, before heading back towards the others. While he has been speaking to Char, Kaelyn says to the remaining Angels, “Anyway – our hunt’s quite ruined now, so…” Nameless suddenly interrupts. “There’s a way we could make this up to you. Wouldn’t hunting two rakshasas be very entertaining?” “Hmm! That’s possible.” Kaelyn looks at the silent eladrin, both of whom nod. “That’s an interesting idea. Where are these rakshasas?” “To the west,” says Nameless. “Within a few miles, I think. I can narrow it down soon enough.” “Hmm – that’s well within our territory, which is another reason to deal with them.” That is when Gareth returns. Seeing him do so, Kaelyn smiles and gestures at the waiting fey, who move towards the humans. “Wait!” says Gareth. “What are they doing?” “They’ll take them away, since the hunt’s ruined. We’ll decide what to do with them later.” “No – you need to free them now. It’s bad enough that you were hunting them down…” Kaelyn arches a brow. “We weren’t hunting them down. We’d never hurt them. Just a fun chase.” “That is not what they say.” “Of course not! What good’s a hunt if they know they’re in no danger?” “Nevertheless, they must be freed.” Kaelyn holds Gareth’s gaze and then suddenly smiles. “Very well.” She looks at Oberon, who waves a hand. The humans promptly drop in their tracks. “What did you do?” asks Gareth, alarmed. “Put them to sleep. So they won’t do something stupid.” Noting the expression, Kaelyn says, “Really – we’ll drop them outside our territories.” “I’m sure she’s telling the truth, Gareth,” says Luna, who has been getting a little bored. “Can we go after the rakshasas now?” “Yes,” says Kaelyn. Then she looks at Gareth and a strange expression comes over her face. “Give me a moment.” She walks over to Titania, gesturing for her to lean down, and whispers something. The eladrin listens and then throws back her head and laughs loudly, in a significantly unladylike manner. “I doubt it,” she says, between diminishing chuckles, “But you can try.” “What do you think she’s up to?” asks Six quietly. “Oh my!” says Luna, and then a big smile spreads across her face, “I know what it is.” As her uncomprehending companions look at Luna, Kaelyn walks back. “Since you ruined our hunt and we’re about to help you out, I’d like a little something in return too.” She points at Gareth. “Him.” Luna chortles, “I told you so!” while Nameless rolls his eyes, and Korm and Six chuckle. Gareth’s expression shifts through a moment of shocked surprise to a forbidding glare. “Oh, please – Kaelyn,” says Oberon in a disgusted tone. “He’s human. That’s nauseating.” Kaelyn just smiles and says, “A girl has needs. And it’s been a couple of days already. So – how about it? Just two hours and…” “Two hours?!” interrupts Titania. “You’ll kill that poor thing!” “Yeah, you’re probably right. All right – an hour then.” Seeing that she is completely serious, Gareth finally says, “No.” And goes back to glowering. “Oh, come on! Don’t be such a stick-in-the mid! You’ll enjoy it.” She smiles, more than a little hungrily. “You’ll [i]really[/i] enjoy it.” “No!” Nameless, who has been grinning broadly, say, “Come on, Gareth. You know how important this is. Make the sacrifice.” “Yes,” chuckles Korm. “Just lie back, close your eyes and think of Khorvaire.” If looks could kill, the one that Gareth gives Korm would leave him a smoldering pile. “This is [i]not[/i] a discussion we need to have.” Kaelyn puts her hands on her hips exasperatedly. “Really, what [i]is[/i] your problem? It’s not like it’s your first time, right?” There is a long moment of silence as everyone’s eyes go to Gareth’s face. Though it remains expressionless, a slight flush runs up his cheeks. “Oh my!” says Kaelyn, her expression going from surprised to amused to extremely excited. “That’s amazing! Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I had one fresh out of the stream?” Luna, wiping away tears by this point, says, “Believe me, Kaelyn, it’s not happening. And it’s not worth it.” She gestures at Korm and Nameless. “How about either of these?” Even before Kaelyn can respond, Korm gives a guffaw. “Okay, now [i]that[/i] is funny!” Kaelyn, looking slightly relieved at his response, says, “Yes, it is. No offense, gentlemen, but I think I’ll pass.” At this point, Oberon speaks up. “We’ve wasted enough time. Let’s go see these rakshasas.” “Fine!” says Kaelyn disappointedly. “You really sure…?” she begins, looking at Gareth, and then quits. “Are you sure these rakshasas will be entertaining enough?” “Oh yes,” says Nameless. “They’re very entertaining.” “So – where are they?” Nameless spends ten minutes triangulating and discovers that the distance to the Key is about seven miles. “That’ll take a while to travel,” says Kaelyn, before Titania says, “We can speed things up.” She gestures at the group. “Everybody – get close to each other.” Oberon and Titania take up a position about thirty feet from each other, facing inwards, with the others between them. The two eladrin close their eyes and concentrate. Seconds later, the surrounding forest shimmers and grows darker and more shadowy. The Angels, however, can see each other and the other three just as clearly, though the fey and sleeping humans nearby are also partly obscured by the shadows. “What did they do?” asks Six quietly, but Kaelyn overhears. “They just moved us partly into the border between Eberron and Thelanis, without going all the way over. It makes travel faster.” “Something like a [i]shadow walk[/i] spell, isn’t it?” asks Nameless, with professional curiosity. “Yes,” says Titania, opening her eyes. “Let us go. Walk together and nobody stop unless we tell them to.” The Angels quickly work out why she says this. As they walk, the shadowy forest flows by at remarkable speed. Whenever someone stops or, in Gareth’s case, stumbles, anyone following behind bumps into him with bruising force, or he is quickly left behind and has to hurry to catch up. Nevertheless, after a couple of collisions, they manage to make good time. In less than ten minutes, they reach a spot where the direction to the Key suddenly changes. Nameless mentions it to Kaelyn and all of them carefully stop simultaneously, retrace their steps and stop again. Oberon and Titania bring them back to normality, and then Kaelyn asks, “So – where is this rakshasa lair?” Nameless looks down at the ground beneath his feet, seemingly the same as that in any other part of the forest. “As far as I can tell, right below us.” [/QUOTE]
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