Tales of Faerun

[tokyobiohazard]

Amendale had walked off before he could hear Arva's request. Or at least, that's what Arva had told himself. The elf had probably just been keen on keeping up with Weyland, not knowing anyone else in the group.

 

Arva had simply turned and shrugged in Alphonse's direction after seeing the elf leave, and the two had gone out to purchase something to keep the sun from being too intense in the desert. The two both found that they probably would need something that covered most of their skin, as Arva was quite intolerant to the sun, always covering up, but not having anything considered desert-ready, and Alphonse would have sunburned beyond recognition otherwise. He was the type to find himself peeling or blistering whereas someone else would likely have developed a graceful, golden complexion.

 

The tailor was running low on white fabric by the time they had entered the shop, but luckily, Alphonse had chosen a white cloak that was made for a wider-set man and had several extra inches which dragged the ground as he walked. The tailor stopped him, cutting off the excess fabric and fashioning a long veil for each of the tall boys, showering them with compliments on how generous the gods had been with their heights.

 

Of course he would be thrilled about how tall we are, Alphonse thought, smirking at Arva and knowing he was probably thinking the same thing, He must hardly ever get anyone who is this tall in his shop. The more fabric in the garment, the more it costs.

 

Arva, however, was not thinking the same thing, and rather was staring out the shop window at a group of courtesan women in rather scandalous clothing as they walked down the street.

 

He made sure to quickly pay the man and rush outside as fast as he possibly could with his limp, but he had just missed the ladies as they turned a corner. He began to rush after them, only to run into Ianthe, whose arms were laden with more baskets than she could possibly carry alone, and sent them both toppling over onto the ground.

 

Ianthe shoved Arva off her with more strength than it looked like she was capable of mustering, and rubbed her sore backside after standing up. "What did you do that for?"

 

Arva began gathering the blankets and what looked like small tents, which had fallen out of the baskets and apologized profusely, his face going red and making his hair look even whiter. "I'm sorry, I really am. I was just--"

 

"He was tailing a group of pretty ladies," came Reona's voice from beside him, a white cloak draped around her shoulders, covering up what Arva had seen as a blissfully refreshing amount of exposed pale flesh. Her load of baskets seemed to have been split 60/40 with Alphonse already, as he carried three while she carried two.

 

"Hey, my marriage is a complicated one at the best of times," Arva said defensively, taking four of Ianthe's baskets and leaving her with three, which Alphonse then took one of, leaving her with one under each arm.

 

They were quite silent until they reached the meeting place for the group and realized they were the last ones to arrive. As they passed an obvious purple mass behind some foliage, they heard an odd squeal and paused.

 

William had shrieked with delight from his conspicuous hiding place in the bushes at hearing yet another would be joining them on their adventure. Possessed, that was the thing that got him. Possessed! This character would definitely prove to be interesting, indeed. He began writing, his hand furiously churning out one word after another.

 

"We've got tons of blanke--" Ianthe stopped short upon noticing a strange fellow with the party. She immediately disliked the dark aura which seemed to bleed into the very air around him. "Who's this?"

Edited January 21, 2013 by tokyobleach

[GrueMaster]

Tak'we accepted the small bundle Rhaine gave him and slung it over his shoulders, making himself hunch a bit further. *Ssss!* "Couldn't you have made it any heavier?" he muttered under his breath. The pack of food made it a little more difficult to maintain his appearance. "Thiss one iss only a poor old man, after all."

 

Chuckling at his own words, he walked over to where the horses and then noticed that his other clutchmates had arrived, laden with supplies. Hearing Ianthe's words, he merely shrugged in response. "A slave who yearns to be free," the thri'kreen whispered, then became silent. He wished to be gone from this place. The number of people around was beginning to unnerve him.

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine was glad to see the others catching up with her so soon. As they arrived, she passed rations to Ianthe, Reona, Arva, and Alphonse.

 

"Indeed," the Doomguide added to Tak'we's remark, "and we're aiming to free him."

 

She watched the gith for a moment. I will find out what you really are, 'Barabas.' I will know what it is you seek...and you will not have it.

 

Turning to Tannin, she replied, "We're heading to the Dalelands. There are some remnants of the Cult of the Dragon in that area...a branch that threatened my home on the Sword Coast, in addition to nearby Cormyr. I want to make sure that they think twice before challenging Waterdeep or Neverwinter again. But first, I want to return to Loudwater and inform them that their banshee threat is taken care of. From there, we'll take the Black Road east...hopefully with a caravan."

 

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Ginafae laughed as the halflings screamed in terror. Those who were too slow fell to her whip and mace. Those who tried to flee were trampled and gored by her unicorn. It was a glorious sight...the pathetic surface race falling to her power.

 

Beautiful, even.

 

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Maydiira shivered and groaned.

 

She was lying face down on a cavern floor, naked. Her possessions were nowhere in sight. The drow's head pounded, and as she felt of the back of her skull, her hand came away sticky.

 

Eilistraee, help me, she prayed, terrified for her life.

Edited January 21, 2013 by AurianaValoria1

[Macman253]

Lokii came out of the grocers with a satchel full of fresh water and food, he slung it over his back and tied it off. Strapped across his torso was a great tome. The tome itself was bound in a strange leathery material with bone where metal would be. The book seemed to have been written by a evil sorcerer, carved into the bone was runes matching those on his armor and blade. He noticed the party gathering and the new additions all seemed to be interested in him, he walked over calmly to join them as Rhaine explained their journey.

 

"The Dalelands, that is a journey..." He added once he heard of that being their destination. He drew the black leather hood over his face to shield it from the view of the Clerics in the background as they began to sing praises of Torm, the God Of Paladins. All of the clerics were garbed in armor and escorted by Paladins. He knew if they see him things would be bad, his gauntleted hand grasped the small locket around his neck as he spoke low to himself in Gith. The aura of evil that followed him significantly lessened and nearly faded. "That should keep me from their scrying." He thought as the Invocation took effect.

Edited January 21, 2013 by Macman253

[Naktis]

Nawen returned to the stables after finally finding the merchant with enough supplies for their horses. She noticed that some of them were already here.

 

"I brought food and water for our..." She trailed off as the drow noticed a very strange looking person. Someone she had never seen or heard before. "What in the Hells is that?" She thought as she watched the githyanki.

[Flipout6]

Weyland looked at Tak'we for a few seconds as his rage faded, guessing that the old man was not all he appeared to be. Another thing that interested him was that he had been a slave as well as Weyland, although Weyland didn't say anything about that. It was best he keep a past like that veiled.

 

He looked away, towards the warlock. "No, I damn well do not think it's a good idea to bring him along. He may still possess the ability to think for himself, but ultimately he-and by extension us-are at the demon's mercy should he turn on us. And even without being possessed he's not loyal. He sacrificed his own family, in addition to half his people if I remember correctly, so that he could gain power. This is not somebody we want within a hundred miles of us, let alone watching our backs. As much as I may have sympathy for a slave wishing to escape his master, I don't think we should aid him in any way. Hell, if it were ultimately up to me I'd turn him in to those paladins that walked by."

 

Amendale simply said nothing, deciding that if he could help this man out he would. Of course if he got the chance he'd kill the demon, but somehow he doubted it was that stupid. As he stopped thinking about the future, he realized Arva had attempted to speak with him and had been completely ignored. "Sorry, I was thinking. What was it you wished to say?"

[Ithildin]

Echo listened to all that Weyland had said, and nodded, finding that his words gave her the courage to speak. "I agree with Weyland, Lady Rhaine." She paused, then hesitantly went on. "With all due respect, I must admit I am afraid of what the warlock's demon may drive him to do, despite his assurances to the contrary." She stroked her horse's neck, as high as she could reach; the mare obligingly lowered her head for Echo's benefit as well as her own.

[josh900]

"Oh you're all being too paranoid." Tannin said. " Give him a chance why don't you? Maybe he's just lonely and needs someone to talk to?" He said jokingly. "But really, shouldn't we at least try to help the fellow out? I mean we're on our way to try and destroy a cult and save countless lives, may as well save a gith or two while we're at it. And we can't really do that if we send him away now can we?" He said. But in all honesty saving the gith meant nothing to him, finding our what the demon wanted on the other hand was a priority. Whatever the prince of demons wanted they needed to make sure he couldn't get it. Even if stopping him was merely a temporary inconvenience.

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine sighed. Her companions were obviously quite divided about the issue. There was a rattle of buckles and harness as Reona's steed - now her steed - bobbed its head up and down in agitation. Always a flighty animal, the horse was getting nervous with all of the arguing going on around it. The Doomguide took its reins in her free hand to keep it from dancing away as she said, "I'm not exactly comfortable with it either...but he did come to us for help. Now that he is here and in our sights, I'd much rather keep him there rather than letting him wander Faerun freely with that - demon - inside of him. If we can find a way to free the gith, we should. It will rid him and Faerun both of a threat...how great, we do not yet know. That in and of itself is worrisome.

 

"However, he already understands that if he brings us harm, he will die...and I do not think that is in the demon's best interests right now," she paused, peering at the gith again, "He is using the gith for something...and as long as he needs his host, he will be under our control."

[tokyobiohazard]

The four youths placed the dozen baskets on the ground, happy to be free of the light, but bulky load.

 

Reona shrugged her shoulders and stepped over to the black horse that once belonged to her, stroking its muzzle before she opened one of the baskets to show Rhaine what they'd gotten. "Tannin is right. We should give him a chance. I, for one, don't care if he's here or not, so long as he doesn't steal my rations or peep at girls with Arva."

 

She pointed at the basket and said, "Dunno what we'll do with these, but the shopkeeper insisted that you could tie them to the sides of the saddle like a saddlebag. We'll see how that works out, right? We got more than enough for everyone. There's, I think... Two quilts and a small tent in each one, which could probably house two people if you manage space correctly, and there are about," she paused to count them out, "twelve baskets. Figured better safe than sorry."

 

Arva laughed as Amendale finally realized he'd tried to talk with him earlier. "Don't worry about it. I was just going to ask you what you think you could do about this..." He pulled his trouser leg up to this knee and pointed at the wound on his calf. "A Hook Horror clipped me with its beak all the way down to the bone, so I've healed remarkably with the salve I've been using. Doesn't seem like the muscle has attached to the bone correctly, though. I have another one of these on my thigh as well, but it's healing a bit better. Smarts a little when I try to walk, though. I've got this limp, but I'm not sure if it's from my thigh or my calf."

 

Alphonse clapped a hand on Arva's shoulder while holding his horse's reins with his other hand and smiled awkwardly, "I don't think Amendale is much of a talker."

 

"Oh."

 

Ianthe combed Brook's mane through with her fingers, admiring the mare's dappled coat. "Though I feel bad for this new fellow, I don't quite like the idea of him coming with us. I abhor evil, and I can feel it radiating off him no matter how hard he tries to conceal it." She huffed a breath out through her nostrils and tucked her blonde locks behind her ears.

 

William emerged from the bushes, more than a few branches and leaves stuck in his grey beard. He dusted off the front of his purple robes with his free hand, a bundle of leather-bound books in the other. "It is fantastic that so many new faces should join us on this journey! Imagine how much money these stories could make! There'd be enough in the end of all this to split it evenly and still have a fortune for each of us! Think of how many experiments you could run on cats!"

 

As if on cue, an orange-striped cat quite literally flew by, using a pair of leathery bat's wings which sprouted from its shoulder blades.

 

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(Very sorry for the OOC here, but this is excessively violent and not for the faint of heart, weak-stomached, or easily disturbed.)

 

Sana reveled in the blood that spurted forth from the mouth of one of the halflings as she batted its chest with a massive paw. This one was a young male, probably barely out of the first stages of childhood. She felt the bones in the ribcage give way with her single swipe, and smiled at the crunching sound which confirmed the fragile thing's doom.

 

Leaping into the sand behind her, she spread her toes out so as not to sink, straightened her breastplate so that she wouldn't look foolish by exposing herself in front of prey, and cast a fireball at what seemed to be the mother of the kid she'd killed. "Tears won't bring him back," she said in a sweet voice, as if she were doing the woman a favor by roasting her alive.

 

Realizing it was over, Sana crossed her arms and made her way to the corpse of the child, licking her lips. "You took them down so quickly, I barely got to have any fun. But no matter."

 

She hooked a claw into the soft belly of the boy, and kicked the small body into the air, catching it with her hands before it could go any higher. She nibbled at the fingers and hand of the child, crunching through the flesh and bone easily with her pointed teeth. The taste was marvelous, and she chewed and swallowed with the type of table manners one would expect from a murder of crows. Blood dripped down her chin and ran down her chest, channeling through her cleavage, as the child weakly stirred with a heartbreaking whimper. "Oops, I guess you're still alive," she cooed to the child, "But only for a moment."

 

His little neck had snapped as easily as a wooden twig in a vice under her nimble fingers.

 

Edited January 22, 2013 by tokyobleach