5203 replies to this topic

[josh900]

"Well if she said yes then I just would have taken her out to a nice diner or something." Tannin shrugged. "Wasn't going to hurt her feelings or anything."

 

At the mention if it not going how she hoped, Tannin couldn't hold back a smile. "And how exactly did you hope i would go? Personally I'd much rather get all the fighting out of the way early on. I've only really had a small handful of relationships that didn't start with us both arguing and fighting all the time. And this certainly is't the worst starting one I can tell you that right now." He laughed.

---------------

 

Only partially paying attention to the Dwarf's angry rant, Hexol tried his luck with another book, opening it up to a random page. As he read, his eyes grew bigger and wider. "And don't drink any water he offers." He said, pointing out a passage to Shalena which gave very explicit details of a curse that would poison a water supply of any size.

 

At Amendale's claim that there was no one in the group that could cause such an effect, Hexol almost interjected but in a rare moment, decided to keep his mouth shut.

[tokyobleach]

Aera had spent most of the night upset with Ianthe and Arva - moreso with Arva, for some reason - but when she'd finally fallen asleep, she had a strange dream, and wasn't sure why. It wasn't anything special and had nothing noteworthy in it, but in the dream, she wasn't herself; in fact, she was a dryad portal-hopping from forest to forest.

The next morning, Aera awoke, sat next to Conall, about to ask how the trip to the village had gone, when an exchange between Arland and a high-ranked dwarf caused her to stop before even uttering a sentence.

Ianthe and Arva emerged from their quarters now fully-dressed, each with the other's hand in their own. Aera shot them a dirty look from across the room, and they both gingerly sat down alone at the farthest end of the table. Ianthe's face reddened as she realized they'd walked in on an argument.

Arva was livid about what he heard the dwarf say about his friends, but kept his opinions to himself, unlike the more easily agitated Arland.

[Nightshade715]

Nawen sighed. "We've been together for such a short amount of time and already two things managed to upset me," she said, "maybe it doesn't seem that bad to you, but it does to me. I don't know anything about relationships but... but they shouldn't start like this. It will only get worse and worse," she paused and looked at him, "even if you'd say it won't I'm not sure I'd be able to believe it." She felt so lost and confused. She didn't know what to do. His smiling and laughter at this very moment angered her. Didn't he realize how upset she was, or perhaps the reason of her being upset made no sense to him, when to her it was perfectly reasonable. She turned her gaze away from him and stared at the wall for a while before looking back at Tannin. What she was about to say next were one of the most difficult things she ever had to say, but ever since last night these very same thoughts been plaguing her mind.

 

"You called Rhaine naive, she isn't, but I am," she said, "because of how you treated me before, I thought the beginning of our relationship would be better, happier, but it seems it was naive of me to think so, and now-" she paused and sighed again, "now I know I don't know you as well as I thought I did. I should have realized that sooner." She said sadly as she ran her fingers through her hair. "I... I just don't know."

========================================================

Shalena paid little attention to the dwarf, although she heard everything Arland said to him, when Hexol pointed out a passage in the book about water poisoning her eyes widened. "Could this be the same curse used here?" She asked. "Regardless, we should show this to others later." "I wonder where he got those books from." The piratess added.

Edited by Nightshade715, 12 October 2014 - 02:13 AM.

[AurianaValoria1]

Falhgrod crossed his arms indignantly, "That still doesn't mean-"

 

"Oh, by Moradin's beard, enough of this!" Dagny pushed forward, putting herself between the noble dwarf and the others, "I'm takin' this to the lords meself. An' if ye have issue with it, ye can take it up with me! By the Morndinsamman, I don't know what's gotten into ye, Falhgrod, but whatever it is, it isn't any good! An' I don' trust ye anymore than ye trust us! Now..." she gestured to the Flameheart guards that stood in the shadows of the hall, "Get out of me clanhold, ye snivelin' bootlicker."

 

It took a moment, but after a few breaths, Falhgrod and his men were escorted out of the hall and into the streets of Eartheart, Dagny following close behind.

 

Rhaine then glanced to Annette with a wry smile and placed a hand on the alchemist's shoulder reassuringly, "Well done. You just saved a city."

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

A few hours later, they stood outside the gates of Eartheart, ready to resume their journey. Their reward for their services was the equivalent of 10,000 gold pieces in gems, in addition to eight hardy mules to replace what steeds they had lost to the poison...and then some. Dagny and her mother stood close by while everyone mounted up and prepared to depart, making small talk between themselves until at last the party was settled and ready to go.

 

Dagny saluted them by clasping her hand to her chest, "Well, I guess this is where I leave ye, friends. It has been a pleasure and honor to know ye all."

 

Her mother nodded, "Aye, and if ye ever find yerselves back in Eartheart, never mind what ol' Falhgrod said. Ye'll always be welcome in our halls."

[josh900]

Tannin let out a sigh before scooting closer over to Nawen. "You know... most of my relationships start off rocky. My first wife, she uhhh.. She was a high elf, hated the Drow, hated me for the longest time. Even when we were romantically involved we fought a lot. Different cultures and all that. But things were sorted out eventually. Sure we broke apart twenty something years later, but I don't regret it. Was another one, years after, first time we met," He said as he lifted the back of his shirt to point at a scar on his lower back,

"She gave me that one, serrated dagger, aimed straight for the kidney. I'd say we're doing better than that one for sure." He laughed.

 

"Tell you what," He said after a moment of silence, "Next town, you and me, we'll go out, have a nice evening together like we already should have done, and you'll feel better about all of this. What do you say?" He asked, hoping to make her feel better about everything.

[Nightshade715]

She listened to him talking about his past lovers, and couldn't help but feel sorry for what happened, but as he finished talking she looked at him again. "Do you think an evening in a town full of people will make it better?" She asked. She was never an outgoing type, and even with friends surrounding her she kept her hood on when they visited towns or more largely populated villages.

 

"We've been together for a little more than one week and you made me feel bad about myself twice," she said, "first you tell me one person isn't enough for you, now this..." she paused, her attention focused on the plate with untouched food on the table. "I... hate being a drow, when I was little I believed there's a 'normal colored' skin underneath and tried to scratch it off. Nobody in the realms will ever hate me as much as I do. How do you think it makes me feel knowing that I'm not good enough for someone I care about, or that you wouldn't even be with me if someone much better than me would have agreed to be courted by you?" As she spoke there was surprising lack of emotions, it was almost like she was so used to saying this that now it was as simple as talking about the weather.

 

She didn't wait for him to reply, and was about to say something else, but then Shalena barged in her room without knocking. "You two done with the drama? We're leaving." The piratess said as she entered the room, took the plate with food and left again. Nawen took her things and shot a quick glance at Tannin. "Don't worry, I don't expect you to have an answer." She said and made her way to the common hall.

=============================================

Shalena gathered all of her crew from the inn and other parts of the town before joining the rest of the group outside the gates. Nawen stayed at the back of the group playing with Rhegar. The piratess tried to talk to the drow but she didn't reply, and eventually the half-elf gave up and joined her crew again.

Edited by Nightshade715, 13 October 2014 - 02:13 AM.

[AurianaValoria1]

Once everyone said their farewells, the party was off again - resupplied and considerably wealthier than they had been before their arrival in Eartheart. They turned the heads of their steeds northeast and began the journey through the plains of the Eastern Shaar, stopping only to rest briefly for a few hours at a time before continuing on their way. They repeated this cycle for two days, until at last stopping for a longer respite on the northern edge of the Shaaran lands. With the Uthangol Mountains to the west and the Council Hills to the east, they pitched camp, once again making use of Tannin's magical cabins.

 

As Rhaine and Conall surveyed the organization of the camp and Argyros scouted the perimeter of their chosen clearing - a bit of flatland bordered by sparse forestry - Zorica noticed Amendale going off by himself. The elf had been fairly quiet during their journey, though he did fly close to her and Nawen the entire way. She thought about him wandering off for a few moments, watching where he disappeared behind the leaves of the trees. Then, she straightened her new armor and resolved to follow him, if for no more reason than so he would not be alone.

[josh900]

Tannin kept to his books for most of the journey, currently he sat inside one of the magically made cabins, pouring over one while sitting at the desk of his cabin, completely engrossed to the point where he didn't notice that Azuris was standing on the other side. "You have a problem." Said Azuris.

 

"I have many problems sir, any one in particular you're talking about?" Tannin replied, not looking up from his studies.

 

"Nawen, I'm not one to get into other people's business, especially this kind. But things have been tense between you two and it's not the best of moods that's hanging around the air if you know what I mean."

 

"A judgmental error on my part. Don't worry I'll have it fixed soon, just have some other things to look into at the moment." Tannin said with a wave of the hand.

 

"And just what exactly is so damn important hat you -" Azuris stopped mid-sentence after spinning Tannin's book around so he could see it's writing. His gaze slowly went up to Tannin's dark smirk.

 

"And then he asks the question." Tannin said softly.

 

"What in the hells is this?"

 

"You know what that is."

 

"What are you doing with it?"

 

"Plotting... Plotting and scheming and whatever other words you want to use to put a malicious tint on a plan of this magnitude." When met with only a cold stare from Azuris, Tannin let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. "It's nothing to concern yourself with, if it works it won't effect anyone of the group."

 

"And when you fail?"

 

"Something I imagine you're looking forward to. If I fail, then my time here in the Realms will be at an end, and you and everyone else will never see me again." He said with a carefree smile. "Don't you worry yourself good sir, if the cards are dealt the way I hope they will be, all of you will get to help me." He said smugly.

 

"And why the hells would we want to help you with anything?" Azuris growled.

 

"Because... who wouldn't want to help someone save the world? Now if you'll excuse me." Tannin said before spinning the book back around, "Lots of reading to do, I'll patch things up with Nawen soon. I promise."

 

"You're insane... you know that?" Azuris said with a shake of his head as he left the cabin.

 

"Been called worse." Tannin called out as Azuris slammed the door shut.

[tokyobleach]

Ianthe and Arva seemed to be in their own little world as they traveled together with the group, much to Aera's chagrin. She made it a point to roll her eyes whenever she had the chance to, especially at their walking hand in hand. She knew how Arva was with women, and it was only a matter of time before he found another skirt to chase and broke the poor innocent girl's heart.

But, she thought as she walked toward her cabin, most likely one that she'd end up sharing with Conall, would Ianthe even be angry? It was in a nymph's nature to seduce men, so perhaps she'd understand if Arva couldn't control himself.

She shook her head, before walking headfirst into the door of her cabin, which seemed to have a very tall door to accommodate her height. She rubbed her forehead, but smiled after a moment. It'd been so long since she'd been able to fit through a doorway, she was ecstatic not to have to duck inside.

Arva, walking by, Ianthe in tow, raised an eyebrow and continued on, before seeing a flash on the edge of the nearby trees.

"What was that?" He found himself asking Ianthe.

Aera turned around, and a figure quite literally from her dreams stepped into view. It was a dryad with a busty figure, long foliage that seemed to mimic hair, and an orb of some sort around her neck.

Ianthe released Arva's hand and her arm dropped limply at her side, her eyes widened in surprise and filling to the brim with tears. "Hazel?"

[Nightshade715]

When they stopped to rest, and the magic cabins were conjured up again, Shalena's crew took over one of the cabins and not long after the sounds of drunken singing and more muffled fighting could be heard from inside. Shalena meanwhile had no interest joining her crew, not the cabin that small anyway. Instead, the piratess remained by the fire with others.

 

After Nawen made sure the horses had enough food and water, she took her things and went by the large tree. She didn't want to stay in any of the cabins in case Shalena would pick her bed again and fall on her without making sure the bed was empty first.

 

The spot she chose had a good view to the camp so she could watch over if she won't be able to get any sleep. After she placed all of her things by the tree, she started a smaller fire of her own and sat close to it. Her wolf Rhegar quietly sneaked up on her, and while Nawen heard him she pretended she did not, the young wolf leaped towards her and licked her face. The drow chuckled and scratched the wolf's head. "Getting better at sneaking, I see. Without any help from me too." She said as the wolf lay down beside her and placed his head on her knee. "I wish I had a friend like you when I was younger," she said as she gently scratched behind Rhegar's ears, "but at least you're here now." she added with the light smile on her face.

Edited by Nightshade715, 16 October 2014 - 01:39 AM.