NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 1821119" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the Sixty-ThirdIn which: Reyu does good work, but Lira is on fire!The party finds a suitable clearing about an hour before sunset.  As they set about pitching tents, picketing the horses and the other business of making camp, Reyu and Thatch both notice Lord Agasha walking off on his own into the woods.Thatch calls after him, “Lord Agasha, would you like me to come with you?”Agasha’s face darkens.  “I’m getting firewood.  I’m sure you can do that without following my exalted example.”  Even Thatch does not mistake the sarcasm is his tone.Reyu says nothing, but she discretely follows Agasha into the woods.  She quickly notices that he shows no interest in gathering any of the plentiful dried wood in the forest, and is instead deliberately making his way away from the camp site.  Finally she calls out to him.“Lord Agasha, you aren’t finding much firewood.”Agasha turns to face the elf.  “Checking up on me?”Reyu considers several responses, and finally settles on the simplest.  “Yes.”“Well, you’re honest.  Did my son put you up to it?”“He… informed us of the situation with the bear.  But we are honored to accompany you.”Agasha snorts skeptically.  “Flattery doesn’t suit you.”“That is why I do not engage in it.”The two stare at each other for a moment.  Finally, Lord Agasha breaks the stalemate.  “You understand nothing.”“Why don’t you attempt to… explain it to me?”He squints at her.  “How old are you?”“One-hundred nine.”“You elves… you don’t understand anything.  You don’t have your families—your children—putting you out to pasture, telling you you’re useless.”“I hardly think your son considers you useless.”“No, merely in the way.”It’s Reyu’s turn to sigh.  “My life might be longer than yours, but is it not true that we all change through the seasons?”“When do you become old, when you reach one-thousand?”Reyu smiles.  “Long before then.”Lord Agasha shakes his head, but before he can say anything, Reyu speaks again.  “Consider this.  We have already seen that it is no ordinary bear that we are pursuing.  You might yet be glad of our presence.”“You’re not going to give this up, are you?”“As you have pointed out, I have much time in which to be stubborn.”Lord Agasha lets out a short bark, which might have been mistaken for a laugh.  Then, he sighs.  “Well, I suppose we’d better gather some wood then.”###Lord Agasha sits first watch with Lira, who passes the time by asking him for stories about his hunting expeditions of the past.During a pause he turns to her, “When I said you didn’t look like much of a hunter, why didn’t you just say you were a sorcerer?”Lira is a bit surprised at the question.  “I don’t always get a good response to that information,” she replies cautiously.“Ah.  Here, our Church teaches that if Kettenek did not want your kind to exist, he would not have created you.”“That’s a more open-minded attitude than I’m used to.”He pats her knee in a grandfatherly sort of way.  “Word of advice though, watch your language, that will get you in more trouble than your magic.”Lira rolls her eyes, but she’s blushing nonetheless.###All is quiet until well into the second watch.  So quiet, in fact, that the first sign of attack is three flasks of alchemist’s fire exploding in the middle of camp.  Two break harmlessly on the bare ground.  The third sets Lira’s bedroll on fire.Anvil and Reyu, who were on watch, immediately scan the forest for their assailants, casting light on arrows and shooting them into the woods to expand the range of their night-vision.  Anvil’s embeds in a tree some 20 feet off.  Reyu’s hits a goblin taking aim from behind a shrub.Thatch, Dennis, Benedic, and Lord Agasha are also soon up and taking defensive positions against the hail of arrows now raining down on the camp.  Only Eva, who cannot see a thing in the woods, picks up her bedroll instead of weapon, and uses it to help Lira smother the flames that have now caught on her clothes.Despite the initial confusion of the attack, it soon becomes apparent that there are only five or six goblins on the offensive.  They attempt to rattle the party by throwing in another round of alchemist’s fire, but as luck would have it, only Lira catches.  By the time she’s put out the flames for the second time, the party’s archers have killed all but two of the attacking goblins, who run off into the woods where the darkness and rough terrain combine to make pursuit impossible.Searching the bodies provides little information about their mission or objectives, although Reyu determines that two skin flasks filled with a noxious liquid which radiates a faint transmutation aura are likely healing potions.  Lira and Thatch each pocket one, Lira on the theory that it doesn’t smell much worse than dwarven ale, and Thatch on the theory that if Lira can drink it, so can he.The rest of the night passes uneventfully.</blockquote>

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