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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rchodges" data-source="post: 8369076" data-attributes="member: 7031385">Part 1: Knot of ThornsAct 2: Into the Knot!Session 4: The Truths of FleshDonovan tossed his equipment onto the ground, frustrated. "Well, that certainly could have gone better.” Digging through his equipment, he extracted a bowl and a small knife. “Bebop and Lucinda, go back down the hallway and make sure our little red mist doesn’t come back up.” After confirming that order with Lucius, Lucinda followed Bebop to the edge of the hallway, watching for the return of the Vampiric Mist. Donovan cut into his hand, allowing the blood to drip into the bowl he was holding. “Lucius, summon an Unseen Servant, please. We’re going to see if these creature’s desire for food outweighs its desire for self-preservation.” Lucius called forth the servant, and Donovan handed the blood-filled bowl to him. “Now, Lucius, command your servant to walk around the perimeter of the room the Mist is in, and we’ll see if it comes up. Once it does, those two can attack it.” Donovan handed a bandage over to Tamsen and extended his cut hand. Tamsen smiled, and gently bandaged Donovan’s hand while he continued. “In the meantime, GrumbleJack can enter the room and free up the other door.” Lucius nodded, then sent his telepathic instructions to the servant, who mindlessly began completing the task. Soon after the servant entered the mist’s room, the mist began to reform around the servant consuming the relatively small amount of blood that was in the bowl. Bebop and Lucinda wasted no time to take advantage of the creature’s poor decision, and assaulted it once more, still unable to place enough damage on it. The creature once again retreated into the holes within the floor. Irritated at being unable to finish off the mist, Bebop poured a flask of oil down into the holes that the creature had fled into. Tamsen walked into the room, and Sparked the oil, causing it to ignite and set a section of the floor aflame. The floor glowed brightly with the heat of the flames, then subsided as the heat died down. With no further response from the creature, GrumbleJack entered the room and pulled the other doorway open. The rest of the group entered the hallway in front of the door of another test.Once more, another sign written in Common greeted them: “Cruelty is a tool, not a pastime. Be ruthless to thy enemy, but reward those who serve thee well.” Donovan smirked, “I suppose no one got around to telling Lady Tiadora about this lesson.” Opening the door, Lucinda and Donovan investigated the room for possible traps, of which none were to be found. The room itself held a torture rack, and some rusty implements. Donovan grazed over them briefly before moving on; yet Tamsen found herself strangely drawn to this room. Donovan’s fingers traced gently across the wall, staring carefully at the coloration of the walls. His eyes found an area where the spacing was inconsistent, revealing another secret door in this “dungeon”. “Lucinda”, Donovan called out to Lucuis’ Eidolon, “Come take a look at this doorway.” Lucinda moved to the door, then steeled herself for combat before throwing the door open. But, there was no combat to be found here. Instead, a young man, bearing the Talingarde imagery on his clothes, and hiding in the small closet. The group was confused at the sight of the young man; but Bebop was quick to suggest a solution, “We’re supposed to put him on the rack! Let’s torture him.” Donovan looked at Bebop in shock, and the boy cried out, “Please no!” Donovan attempted to soothe the young man, trying to make sense of what purpose Thorn would have for placing this boy here. Was he an actor? Someone who had been mind controlled by Tiadora into believing they were captured? Donovan began to extract the information from the young man, learning that his name was Timeon, and that he was the Squire of Sir Balin. Donovan was well aware of the name, as Balin was the individual who was appointed to enforce the punishment that was given to prisoners of Branderscar. Timeon continued to begin opening up to Donovan, until the room was suddenly filled with the sounds of people having sex. Donovan looked back into the room, where he discovered that Tamsen had mounted Bebop, as he laid strapped down onto the table, and was riding his manhood for the whole group to see. Donovan rubbed his face in exasperation, then Timeon looked back over at Donovan, “You’re not servants of Mitra, are you?” Donovan coyly responded, “I’d like to think of myself as more open minded than serving a single god.” Unfortunately, after that showing, Donovan couldn’t get any more information out of Timeon, even though he believed Timeon was possibly very well informed. After telling Timeon that he would be back for him once he had explored the rest of the dungeon, and leaving Timeon with some food, Donovan began to leave the room. “Wrap it up, you two. We’re leaving now.”, Donovan barked out in an obviously displeased fashion. Bebop snarked back at Donovan, “This is your fault, we were bored.” Donovan stared at Bebop, annoyed and frustrated, “We’ve been down here for less than three hours. You two couldn’t keep it in your pants for that long?” Not waiting for a reply, Donovan continued back into the room where the Vampiric Mist had previously attacked, then past the room where the Mithral Cobras were encountered. Not long after, the group was greeted by the next sign. “Suffer not the fool. Stupidity is our faith’s cardinal sin.” Opening the door revealed a room, much like the previous ones, with a set of staircases leading up on one wall. However, hanging from the ceiling was a silver pendant with blue gems for eyes. Donovan pointed at the trinket, “Lucius, would you please use Mage Hand to fetch that for us.” Lucius reached out with his mind, and pulled the pendant away from the location it was hanging in. Taking a closer look at it, Donovan knew that it was clearly silver and glass. While the object did have some monetary value, it was not the prize they were sent here to retrieve. Donovan then looked over at the stairs. “Well, if I didn’t fall for the trapped passageways in the other rooms, I’m not sure why I would fall for this set.”, Donovan said to no one in particular. “Let’s search this place for secret doors.” As had occurred many times before, Donovan and Lucinda used their collective training in spotting unusual patterns to discover unique features in the room. Lucinda confirmed that the stairs were indeed trapped, and Donovan was able to discover another set of hidden doors in the room.Following the passageway revealed, another set of hidden doors were seen, with yet another sign in front of the door. “Beware the fallen, for they may rise once more to fight you.” Donovan spoke on this, “So these are the drowned men that Timeon would be referring to. Isn’t it odd that they would use the term ‘drowned’?” Carefully, the group pushed open the door, looking into the next area. They were greeted by a collection of barnacle covered coffins. Looking back at the group, Donovan made the “shush” motion with his finger. Using the telepathy maintained by Tamsen, Donovan communicated with Lucius. “Have Lucinda move quietly through the area and open up the door to the right side of the room.” Lucius nodded, then communicated his intention to his Eidolon. Lucinda quietly moved through the room, then opened the door into the next area. Quietly, Donovan closed the door they had been standing at, then instructed GrumbleJack to hold the door closed. Lucinda continued moving forward down the hallway, investigating the area to make sure no traps were discovered. Moving on further, she stopped at a doorway that she encountered, then contacted Lucius, “Master, there is a door here with a sign next to it. The sign says, ‘Serve thy master well, and be rewarded.’” After relaying the information to the rest of the group, Donovan spoke quietly, “I’ll wager copper to gold that Sir Balin is being kept in that room, and has the pendant we’re here for.” After finding agreement in the group, Donovan continued. “Can Lucinda open the door?” Lucius reached out to Lucinda, and she responded to him, “The door has iron bands on it, and the lock appears to be quite sturdy.” A moment later, she contacted Lucius again, “There appears to be a key next to the door. Shall I use it, Master?” Receiving confirmation from Lucius, Lucinda placed the key into the lock, and unlocked the heavy door. A voice came from the other side of the door, “Who is there? Where am I?” Lucius fed Lucinda the answers she was to give, playing the part of helpless maiden as she began working her way back towards the coffin filled room. She spoke on helping Timeon, and how scared she was to be in this place. Sir Balin, completely unaware of what he was dealing with, completely accepted the information that was being fed to him. Lucinda’s voice became louder as she entered the room with the coffins, pretending to be scared. Sir Balin, being the type of man who would be drawn to protect others, could not help himself. Lucinda arrived at the far side of the room where she had found Sir Balin, and opened the door just as one of the undead smashed out of the coffin they were previously lying in. Just at that moment, Lucinda stepped through the doorway, and closed the door behind her. The party heard the sounds of metal and wood crashing in the room. Donovan smiled wickedly, “Thank you for your assistance, Sir Balin.” The fighting went on for a short while, before everything became quiet. Donovan looked up at GrumbleJack, “Get in there and destroy anyone still standing.” GrumbleJack rushed in, to discover that Sir Balin was attempting to offer a potion to Lucinda, still behind the closed door, and then consumed it himself. It was clear that Sir Balin quickly understood the situation he was in. However, as he was quickly being assaulted on one side, Lucinda opened the door and began attacking him from behind. Even with his obvious strength and power, Sir Balin had fallen into a tactical trap that would quickly be his undoing. This was made worse by Tamsen’s spells, clouding his mind and causing him to have Unnatural Lust for Lucinda at the most inopportune time. In less than 30 seconds, the fight was over, with almost no damage being received by the party. Donovan had Tamsen Stabilize Sir Balin, in order to return him to Lady Tiadora for her amusement. And, as expected, the prize that the group was seeking was around the fallen knight’s neck. Stripping him of both his equipment and his holy symbol, Donovan instructed Lucius to have Sir Balin brought back upstairs. GrumbleJack protested, wanting to kill Sir Balin. Lucius was unclear on the purpose for saving Sir Balin, “Why shouldn’t we just kill him, Donovan?” Donovan realized this was an area where he wasn’t necessarily going to be able to get consensus from the group. “I think we should show this to Thorn to allow him to make the final decision; but I’ll let you make the call Lucius. You want to kill him, go ahead. I’m going to go get Timeon and get him out of here.” With that, Donovan and Tamsen left Lucius to try and convince GrumbleJack not to pulp Sir Balin where he laid. Donovan returned to the place where Timeon had been hiding. “Timeon, I have to tell you that we found Sir Balin, and he was defeated in battle. Perhaps if we had arrived sooner, it would have made a difference, but perhaps not.” Timeon’s face fell, as he knew whatever hope he had for a rescue was now lost to him. Donovan continued, undeterred by Timeon’s emotional state, “Anyway, you need to come with us, it’s time for us to leave this place.” Donovan, Tamsen, and Timeon returned to the manor upstairs, then retreated to Tamsen’s room. A bath had already been drawn for her in anticipation of their needs. “Perfect.” Donovan said to the other two, “Timeon, you should get cleaned up, and then we can speak more about the…” Timeon interrupted Donovan, “We have to get out of here! I can’t stay in this place. It’s not safe for me! I have to go. We must leave this place at once.” Donovan sighed, frustrated at what appeared to be the opportunity that was slipping out of his fingers. Donovan knew for certain what would happen to Timeon once he cleared the inside of the manor. As an actual servant of Mitra with knowledge of the Cardinal’s location, Tiadora would annihilate him before he had cleared the light from the porch. Tamsen sensed Donovan’s frustrations, and began removing her clothes. Timeon was caught in his tracks, staring wordlessly at Tamsen’s naked form. A moment later, she was upon Timeon, kissing him, pulling his clothes off, and moving him into the bath with her. Donovan was almost caught off guard by how aggressive Tamsen was with Timeon. “Uh, yeah. You handle that, my love. I’m going to go deliver the pendant.”Returning to Cardinal Thorn’s office with the rest of the group who had returned from the basement, the Cardinal greeted the group with a mixture of surprise and confusion. Donovan pulled the pendant out of the Haversack that Bebop was carrying. “Here you go, father. The object you requested.”, Donovan smirked as he delivered the object. Thorn looked at the pendant, “I understand that you have expressed some derision towards the challenges you faced below. It is important for you to know that I have attempted to find individuals who would be able to overcome these trials, and all those who came before you have failed. Your group is… more than I could have expected, and are clearly the ones I have been seeking in order to complete my righteous task. Your group cleared all of the lessons I set before you; and the ones that were skipped were done so out of wisdom, not incompetence.” Donovan was struck numb by the words the Cardinal used. Was the Cardinal actually praising Donovan for his efforts? Was he showing appreciation for the team and the work they had accomplished, vastly ahead of schedule? What an unheard-of luxury! What a rare and precious commodity was being shown to Donovan! Looking at the pendant more, Thorn continued, “This may well help you in the next mission you have ahead of you.” Thorn then looked over at the unconscious body of Sir Balin, “Why is he here?” Donovan smiled widely, “I assumed Lady Tiadora would want something new to play with.” Tiadora purred with delight at the suggestion, but Thorn would hear none of it, “We do not show mercy, and this one knows too much.” Donovan sighed, “Fine, we’ll go take him somewhere to finish this off.” Cardinal Thorn was still unhappy, “I want to see the deed.” Donovan locked eyes with the Cardinal and smiled, “GrumbleJack, smash.” GrumbleJack needed no further encouragement. His club shattered the skull of Sir Balin, spreading the contents of it around the room. GrumbleJack continued to crush the remains of Sir Balin, until the Cardinal finally held up his hand, causing GrumbleJack to hold his further strikes. Wiping some of Sir Balin’s exploded remains off his face, Cardinal Thorn responded, “I see you have no issues with killing. I am satisfied with this. Clean yourselves up and rest. Your training will begin soon.”For Timeon, Tamsen’s training had begun in earnest. Where once was a devout believer of the Mitran faith, soon there was little more than a servant of the goddess Tamsen. Her commands were absolute to him, her desires his moral compass. All that she would ask him about, he would readily reveal to her. And in this, Donovan’s suspicions rang true. Timeon did indeed know about much in Talingarde, including information on House Balentyne. It was this very information which ended up impressing Cardinal Thorn yet again, when he questioned Donovan about why the young man was still being kept around. “He’s proven quite useful.”, Donovan quipped, “Squire Timeon has knowledge on both Sir Balin’s position within Talingarde, as well as information associated with House Balentyne.” Thorn was clearly pleased, “I did not realize that the boy possessed so much knowledge. You’ve done well in your information gathering.” Donovan, surprised by the praise being shown to him again when he was expecting dismissive scorn, responded less confidently. “Thank you, father. But it was Tamsen’s efforts that made this possible. I only acted on my initial suspicions.” Thorn replied, “Continue your efforts, Donovan. They are very well thought out.”For the party, training had not yet been seriously pursued for almost a month. During this time, efforts were being focused onto the White Ravens, the group of individuals led by Elise Zardaria. While Donovan was curious about the group of individuals, he was far too engaged in his studies to have time to spend with them. Every day while lunch was being served by Lucius and Lucinda, Donovan would have some collection of books that he was studying, while Bebop would attempt to seduce Elise. Donovan, having already gotten a sense of the relationship dynamic of that group, warned Bebop that he would certainly be drawing the ire of Trak, but Bebop rarely listened to Donovan when it came to matters of desire. Still, Donovan and the others couldn’t help but be amused at watching Bebop’s muddled attempts at swaying Elise’s interest. Lucius had made excellent inroads with some members of Elise’s group, at least from the standpoint of making them feel comfortable around him; but Bebop was not given to gradual or subtle ploys. Elise was gracious enough, attempting to dissuade Bebop while not making any obvious overtures in front of Bebop’s friends; but on the last day before Elise would depart from the manor, her patience had come to an end. Tamsen was, perhaps, a double-edged sword when it came to matters of seduction for Bebop. Certainly, her own desires allowed Bebop a very willing partner and reinforced his confidence; but it did little to help him gain nuance in the art of seduction. As the White Ravens were getting ready to depart, Elise turned around and walked towards Bebop. She moved her face right next to Bebop, placing her hand against his chin. Elise whispered in Bebop’s ear, “Your game is bad, Bebop. You really need to work on this before you will ever have a chance with me.” Bebop tried to pull away, but Elise used her hand to keep Bebop’s face in place momentarily, then let Bebop go. A wicked grin came across Elise’s face, and then she walked away, and out of the Manor. Donovan began to snicker, while Tamsen covered the lower part of her face to cover up her obvious laughing. Donovan chuckled a bit more, then spoke, “What did you think was going to happen, Bebop? Elise has her whole team wrapped around her finger.” Bebop shrugged, “She’s the only woman I haven’t slept with here, so I figured I had to try. At least, until you get me set up with Tiadora.” “I’m not going to try to set you up with Tiadora, Bebop! She will kill you!”, Donovan interjected. Bebop raised his thumb, “I can take it!” Donovan shook his head is disbelief, then looked over at Tamsen. Tamsen smiled back at Donovan, then moved close to him and whispered something in his ear. Later that evening, Donovan found himself lying naked in bed underneath an equally naked Tamsen. Tamsen was using a set of tattoo needles on Donovan’s exposed chest, while he winced and squirmed under her hand. “Tamsen, when you said you wanted to spend time alone with me, I thought you had something different in mind.”, Donovan grunted in obvious discomfort. Tamsen pulled herself up, her legs straddled around Donovan’s waist. A smile came across her face, as she looked at her work thus far, “I know what you want, Donovan. But if I had told you I wanted to put a tattoo on you, you would have suddenly needed to study First Age Talingarde history, or something similarly boring.” Donovan looked at her coyly, “And if I had known you only wanted me in bed to tattoo me, I think I would have wanted to wait until later.” Tamsen’s face turned hard quickly, as she set her fingers onto Donovan’s chin, “Only? How dare you! Have you ever left my bed unsatisfied? Have I ever refused your advances?” Donovan looked at her, knowing the truth of her words, realizing he had spoken out of turn. Not once, not a single time since their first night, had she ever left him feeling alone or unwanted. “Of course not, my love. Never.” Her expression softened immediately, as a smile returned to her face. “Exactly. So, be quiet and lie still.” She leaned forward again, and resumed her task. Of course, lying still with her on top of him was far more challenging. Beyond the fact that he could feel her naked crimson form pressed against him, he was being frequently reminded that Tamsen’s tail was quite capable of moving across his naked body and touching any part of him that she wanted to. The sensation of her pleasuring him and then bringing him discomfort was almost dizzying; and it was clear that Tamsen reveled in getting a response from Donovan on all levels. Donovan decided to keep talking, in the hopes of taking his mind out of this setting. “My love, could you at least tell me why you are using potions for these tattoos? You know I could craft you a far better-quality ink, with far cheaper ingredients.” Tamsen continued to work, but smiled and looked up into Donovan’s eyes. “I am learning how to apply the potions as tattoos.” Donovan seemed genuinely intrigued in what Tamsen was talking about. “Really? That’s… very impressive love. I didn’t know you were interested in that skill.” Tamsen nodded, and continued working, “I worry about you when you’re in the middle of fights. You don’t have monsters to fight for you, or spells, or strength. I want you to be safe, and maybe this can help you.” Donovan smiled, and reached for Tamsen’s cheek, “You’re so wonderful.” Tamsen’s tail grabbed Donovan’s hand, pushing it down to the bed, then she looked up at him, smiling softly, “I said be still.” Donovan nodded, then closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as Tamsen completed her work. Not too much later, Tamsen set the bottle and needles off to the side of the bed. She gently dabbed off the remaining ink with a towel, then blew softly onto the tattoo that she had completed on Donovan’s chest. Donovan shuddered from the sensitivity of his skin. Tamsen whispered to Donovan, “Now, whatever should we do next?”, then leaned down as Donovan and her kissed each other deeply.Bebop stood in front of the bottles placed around the lab area of the Manor. He had been working on potion creation for several days now, at Donovan’s request. Bebop thought back to when Donovan first introduced him to potion creation. Donovan was extremely meticulous in his methodology, keeping detailed notes on measurements and brewing order. While Bebop originally used Donovan’s notes and formulas, he began to have a more intrinsic feel for how potions were created, and just started making them without using Donovan’s notes at all. Soon after, Bebop was creating potions faster and more consistently than Donovan. Bebop remembered the time when Donovan’s father Alcott came into the shop where Bebop and Donovan were preparing potions. Alcott quickly noticed that Bebop was able to create far more potions than Donovan in the same amount of time. “Great work, Bebop.”, Alcott clapped his hand against Bebop’s shoulder, smiling widely. “This is how it should be done! If only Donovan could learn to be useful like you.” Donovan began to protest, “Father, I could….” Alcott cut him off, completely disinterested in what he had to say. “Go home and play with your toy, Donovan. You’re useless to me here.” Donovan gritted his teeth, staring angrily at Alcott before moving his eyes over to Bebop. Without further words, Donovan walked out of the shop. While Donovan never spoke to Bebop about what happened that day, Bebop was certain that Donovan felt hurt by losing more face in front of Alcott. So, when Donovan asked him to craft potions on the team’s behalf, he never asked any questions about it, because he understood it was something that held memories for Donovan. Donovan had prepared a list of potions to make for a variety of situations. Bebop completed the task, and smiled proudly to himself at the proficiency of his work.Training began for the group in earnest, and was brutal in many ways. Tiadora was able to lash out at the group with more fervor than previously available to her, and she relished the opportunity to do so. Donovan’s tactics to overwhelm Tiadora came up short, as he discovered the power of Tiadora was larger than he had previously anticipated. This situation was further exacerbated by the frequent unexpected attacks from the staff, as random weapons would be thrown at the members of the party when they would least expect it. Donovan spent night after night patching up members of the team, after each assault would leave the team battered and bruised. His skill with healing became more and more proficient, allowing him to even begin patching up the team without even needing the Healer’s Kits that he would once normally require. Additionally, the team overall got even faster and quicker with their reactions. Tamsen could snap her fingers and drop someone into a Slumber in the blink of an eye. Lucius could pull forth monsters that would assail the staff before they could get anywhere near him. As for Bebop, he became more terrifying, truly embracing a more monstrous part of his nature. While Donovan was never able to craft a set of tactics that allowed him to overcome Tiadora’s sheer power, his group eventually earned from her what some might call praise. “You are… ready enough for the Master’s use.”, Tiadora said to the group.A banquet was held in the honor of the team by the Cardinal, which included the summoning of devils and human sacrifice. Donovan would say such things are unnecessary, but did not want to fall back into fighting with the Cardinal after the progress that had been built up. “The Nessian Knot is forged!”, Cardinal Thorn said to the group at the conclusion of the ritual. “And your ship has arrived!”For the first time in quite some time, Donovan would say that things were beginning to turn around for his family.Session 4 Ends.</blockquote>

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