Tales of Faerun

[GrueMaster]

"Will do, Rhaine," Kalin spoke as he nodded. Upon hearing Maydiira's jibe, he returned her smile with one of his own, a mischievious light showing in his eyes. "Well, I have always been one to take pleasure in my work, Maydiira. I can hardly be all work and no play," the elan spoke with a wink while taking her hand and giving it a courtly kiss in mock serious. "Especially when the work involves an angel such as yourself."

 

Kalin grinned broadly at the silly banter as he straightened out, then grew serious again when he saw an armored man walk. Hmm, another follower of Kelemvor. Wonder what he's doing here... The elan gave a nervous smile as Rhaine spoke with the man, then began walking to the doors. "I will be at the nearby smithy, you two." he told the priestesses he left. "I'll see if they happen to have any mithril on hand."

 

 

Tak'we nodded to his clutchmates. "Then Tak'we will wait outside the gates." He adjusted his robes and took up his old man countenance, then began shuffling towards the door. He paused by Maydiira when he saw a large, armored softskin stride up to his companions. The thri'kreen gave a click of surprise when he heard Rhaine refer to the man as her 'brother.' Rhaine has siblings? he thought in curiosity. She never mentioned that.

 

Going up to the man, he introduced himself. "M-my name is *Tak'we.* An honor to meet one of Rhaine's clan. Although," He tilted his head to one side in puzzlement. "How are you related? You look nothing like a winged pointy-ear."

[nethgros]

Othos had brought back his food and once again woken up Kowolj, who was still nodding in and out of consciousness. They proceeded to eat their breakfast with grins on their faces, as it had been a few weeks since they had been able to get a meal of such quality.

 

As before, Othos couldn't help but continue to overhear the chatter going on about the tavern, especially the various parts about preparing for an adventure. While he had been wandering quite some time, never had Othos undertaken something that he would actually consider an adventure. It intrigued him, and he looked at Kowolj quite seriously and asked,

 

"What do you think about trying to join up with them to fight evil, or something along those lines? A quest?"

 

Kowolj thought for a moment, scratching his chin with one retractable claw as he usually did when pondering something, and replied, "Sounds like fun Othos, I haven't had a good fight in ages. And those peasants that one time don't count."

 

With that it was decided, and Othos used an ability he had mastered through his innate power over air, and whispered in the direction of who he thought was the leader, the black winged woman everyone crowded around. His skill would allow him to cause the whisper to travel across the room to her ear, so that he might not interrupt her conversation.

 

"My friend and I were wondering if you had room in your pride for two more who wish to quell the tides of evil, and experience a bit of the world," he softly spoke.

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine shook her head,"No, Tak'we, he is not my...sibling, per se. He is my brother in the same sense that anyone who follows Mother Moon would be your brother or sister...a sibling of faith; he and I share the same god."

 

Looking back to the other Doomguide, she added, "By the way, you seem to know my name well enough, but you have not done me the honor of sharing yours."

 

At that moment, a strange whisper reached her ears, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw the genasi man's mouth moving. She realized it must have been coming from him, and so she gave a small nod in his direction, with a look that suggested Talk with me later.

 

Maydiira approached Tannin, "The cavern entrance is just to the northeast of Shadowdale. Take care...the caverns are winding and deep, and there are many dead ends and traps before you even reach the main complex. I would say that the bulk of the place is in the Middledark region, and Valthanarax's lair goes very deep."

 

Rhaine removed her pack, dug around a bit, and procured half her healing kits and some cure potions. These she handed to Tannin, "Here. Take these. I pray that you will not need them, but I won't have you go without giving some aid of my own." She then took a few vials from her belt, "And take these as well...holy water, blessed by yours truly. They won't do much damage against more powerful undead, but they could give you the edge you need - and, if push comes to shove, you can drink it as well."

[josh900]

"Cause it ain't much of an honor." The armored man said. "But it's Azuris." He said with a nod. "But I doubt I could be called your brother in faith. We're not all as devoted as you are Chosen." He said as he took a chair from a nearby table and dragged it over to the company's.

Meanwhile Tannin thanked Rhaine for the potions and healing kits and looked back to Maydiira. "Think ya could draw me a map or sumtthen?" He said scratching his head, accent suddenly going from that of a high classed Waterdhavian to something more akin to the drawl of a farmer from the western heartlands. He made a face of slight disgust after he spoke. "Haven't used that one in awhile, Sound terrible." He said with a laugh.

 

Azuris looked over to Tannin. "So where are you running off to them? Can't stomach a real fight?" He said with a conceited smirk.

"Nah." Tannin said as he started to put the potions and kit into his pack. "Just work better undercover. Whittle the numbers down, spread paranoia, map out the interior, check for traps, that sorta thing." He said aiming his own smirk at Azuris who simply shrugged in response. "Whatever."

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine smiled softly at Azuris, "That may be so." She then lightly tapped the faded symbol on his breastplate with a slender finger, "But the fact that you still bear this into battle says something, eh? You don't have to proclaim your faith from the rooftops - or even love it down to the last letter - to still have it somewhere inside."

 

Maydiira borrowed a spare slip of parchment, a quill and inkwell from Rhaine, and then began roughly sketching what she remembered. After a few moments, she handed the parchment to Tannin, "Here. It's probably not accurate to scale or distance, but it's something. There are a few storerooms here, sleeping quarters here, dead ends here, a kitchen and larder here, a long passage to the prison here, and Valthanarax's chamber is just off this branch here. There is much more to the place I did not get to see, but perhaps this shall suffice."

 

Finally, Rhaine waved the genasi over to her, "You wished to speak with me?"

[nethgros]

Othos walked over to the woman, who had waved him over, leaving Kowolj in the same spot he had been for hours.

 

"My wemic friend and I have been wandering for a very long time, and as of late he has become to miss the action of the hunt on the plains of the Shaar. He and I have been searching for some sort of righteous undertaking, and it seems as though you (and what I assume is your troop) seem to be in the process of just such an undertaking. He is Kowolj," he said with a smile on his face and raising a hand up to shake, "And I am Othos."

[Flipout6]

Weyland looked to the new strangers approaching Rhaine, once again remembering the fact that he had another half-feline in his presence. He very nearly hit his head off the table until he was unconscious, but decided that such a thing was generally unwise. His face paled, however, something which Arland found funny. Not that he was comfortable with half-felines either, but unlike Weyland he wasn't judging this one right off the bat. Amendale just sat there and tried not to shoot any fire arrows in Arland's general direction.

 

"Little nervous there, brother?" He teased.

 

"Not another one." He squeaked, and then corrected his tone of voice and said "Never mind. This one-probably- won't kidnap me as a child and force me into slavery for eight years, will he?"

 

"Probably not, if Tak'We hasn't killed the guy yet." Arland commented.

"Hoo, Tak'We and slavers. Boy, you weren't there in the Anauroch..." Weyland mused with a raised eyebrow.

 

"Why, what happened?"

"With Tak'We? Long story." Weyland waved a hand to dismiss the subject. "I'll tell you later."

"It was horrible." Amendale spoke randomly.

 

"Anyway." Weyland switched the subject. "I'll set my racial prejudices aside. Still probably gonna be nervous around the...person?... if he's coming with us. Hope I didn't say anything offensive, that wasn't the intention." He muttered. "I'll just go order some more bacon for now."

 

"Fresh out. Tak'We cleaned 'em out." Arland complained.

 

"I'll pay him back for that some other time. Pancakes it is."

Edited March 26, 2013 by Flipout6

[josh900]

"Thank ya." Tannin said as he took the map. "Maybe I'll get lucky and get to burn the tluiner down before you guys get there." He said with a wink before he started to walk out the door. "Wish me luck."

 

Azuris watched Tannin leave and shook his head, turning his attention back to Rhaine. "That or it's just some damn good armor, Buuuuut it doesn't matter, I'll help out regardless of my own.. Issues." He said. "Anything to bring down the undead population." He smiled.

-----------

 

 

A short while later Tannin entered the local blacksmith shop. Completely ignoring the selection of swords he made his way over to where the knives and daggers were on display. Examining what was on display he almost missed that Kalin was there too. "Oh hey. Almost forgot that I didn't have a decent weapon or armor." He said in an embarrassed tone as his rubbed the back of his neck. "Not the best of mistakes when headen down stairs ya know?"

[GrueMaster]

Kalin was studying the various suits of armor the smith had available, then turned when he heard Tannin speaking to him. "Oh, greetings, Tannin." He raised his eyebrows as he nodded with a grin. "Indeed. Not having a suit of armor down there wouldn't exactly be conducive to living a long life, now would it?"

 

He glanced back at the armor. "Speaking of which, I'm trying to find a decent set for Maydiira, preferably one made of mith- Ah, here's a good one!" he suddenly spoke with enthusiasm. The soulknife picked up a finely crafted breastplate, the mithral obviously forged by a skilled hand. It looked to be close enough to the priestess' size, and the back had leather padding instead of being covered in armor. This will do perfectly. Kalin thought to himself in satisfaction. I won't even have to do much besides minor adjustments.

 

The elan took the breastplate and payed for it, confidant that it was worth the several thousand it had cost. "Excuse me, sir," he drew the black-smith's attention. "Would you mind if I used your forge? I need to adjust this to fit a companion of mine."

 

"If yer willin' to pay for the fuel, go ahead." the smith replied gruffly. "Just don't mess up me tools." Kalin nodded his thanks and went to the forge, speaking to Tannin as he passed. "Tannin, if you find an armor you want and need me to adjust it, just bring to me, okay?"

 

He entered the work area in the back of the shop and, making sure no one was watching, psionically focused his mind and began to heat the metal of the breastplate with his pyrokinetic abiliies. After the mithril began to glow a brilliant reddish gold, he started hammering the armor plating into the proper shape, his eyes having a slight violet glow to them.

 

When he was finally done, Kalin gave a sigh of relief and satisfaction. "Finally done." He looked outside and saw it was nearly midday. Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it? Better head back now. The soulknife cleaned up and collected the reforged armor, then started his way back to the inn.

 

 

"Oh," Tak'we nodded with understanding. "Anyway, I will be outside the gates." He tilted his head in contemplation. "Perhaps Tak'we will hunt while waiting for winged pointy-ears." With that, the thri'kreen shuffled out the door.

 

He passed the guards at the gate with no trouble and saw a sparse forest nearby and began to walk to it, deciding he would hunt after all. Besides, the meat will help with supplies. After a while, Tak'we finally spotted worthy prey; it was a great cat, nearly as big as he was. He crouched waiting in ambush for the creature, then pounced with sudden force and killed it quickly and efficiently.

 

The thri'kreen worked quickly, cutting and then wrapping pieces of choice meat, and once he was done, he looked at the bones. Hmm, those would make good armor, he thought to himself, and so went to work shaping and bending the bones of the cat, tying them together with strips of leather. Towards midday, he had finished.

 

Pleased with his work, Tak'we offered a prayer to Mother Moon for such good fortune, then headed back to the gates; his clutchmates should be there soon.

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine smiled and shook the genasi's hand, "And I am Rhaine Alcinea, Chosen of Kelemvor. Indeed, it is our plan to route the Cult of the Dragon in this region. It is a monumental undertaking, and we will need all the help we can get. For you two to have come this far together, you must be quite capable and resourceful. You are welcome to join us." She glanced to the other Doomguide, "As are you, Azuris. Perhaps together we can take this abominable organization down a peg."

 

She then rose from her seat, "We do seem in need of honing our skills, however. The enemy we go to face numbers in the hundreds - wizards, warriors, and priests alike, with an ancient red dracolich at their head. If you wish to spar a bit with us, you may come along with me to the gates."