Tales of Faerun

[AurianaValoria1]

"Would you two calm down!" Rhaine snapped at Tannin and Hexol, briefly meeting Azuris's eyes, "You're not helping matters at all."

 

Noticing Nawen's fixed gaze, Conall placed a comforting hand on the ranger's back, but said nothing. Thunder rumbled again, and the patter of rain could be heard hitting the windows of the cabin, gradually becoming more and more steady. The ship tilted down towards the prow and then rose again rather abruptly.

 

"Here we go," the Doomguide murmured, gripping her tableware a little more tightly before returning her attention to Shalena, "As for how we got started on this journey....that's a very long story - one that started in Water-"

 

She was cut off as a brilliant flash of lightning struck just beside the ship, followed by an almost deafening thunderclap and the audible sizzle of electricity.

 

"-deep."

[josh900]

"Waterdeep?" Tannin repeated in a curious manner before he began to ramble on in a happy manner. "You were in Waterdeep? For how long? I lived there for many years before finding myself in this company. Did you by chance ever see any plays made by The Lost Company of Bards? One of ours that I think would have attracted you personally was "The Fall of Gods and Rise of Mortals". To be clear I didn't name the damn thing. It was a presentation of the Time of Troubles, detailing the travels of the three new gods that rose in that time. I myself had the..... Pleasure of playing Cyric, what a fun role that was. Richard Selvik was Kelemvor, Didn't have the chops to play the part if you ask me, But then sacrifices had to be made, if the script calls for a man changing into a panther on stage sometimes you have to suck it up and hire a druid for the role. I wanted Salsomen for the rule but he did a good enough job as Helm, has that aura to him, very commanding."

 

Azuris let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Think I preferred him in a bad mood." He said loud enough that Tannin should have been able to hear him but acted like he didn't and kept on talking.

"And Diona, woooooow that was a woman, Should have been Sune, I pleaded with the director to have her play Sune, But no! Black hair so she was Midnight, worked out for me anyways, grew to know her rather... intimately.... But the woman who ended up playing Sune? Didn't even have all of her teeth in, and THAT VOICE!" Tannin visibly shuddered at the memory of it. "That squeaky thing sounded worse than an excited halfling child."

 

"Worse than me?!" Hexol asked excitedly. His voice hitting it's highest pitch as if to prove a point.

 

"Far worse!" Answered Tannin. "Yours is understandable being what you are, but hers? Hells I pity any man that has to listen to that all day." He grumbled angrily before looking back up at Rhaine. "So any of that horror story ringing any bells?" He asked. "The entire thing was a mess and colossal failure, too big for the crew that we had, never had the numbers for a large scale play like that, the smaller ones were our forte. We had some of the best in the city, played for nobles and the like, but I always preferred the common crowd; They liked the fun stuff and we could get away with more.... less than proper shows when we wanted." He said with a bright smile. "The good stuff! Nudity, violence, the works! Hells I had my own series of plays that were MADE for the commoners. Nothing but vulgar, pulp stories through and through, fun times."

Edited July 2, 2013 by josh900

[spyro1201]

Kyran laughed as Tannin told his very amusing story. Even Ivan chuckled a bit. Hopefully nobody heard that.

 

"I've seen some bad plays before, but yours tops anything I can recall, friend! One time me and my friend Ivan let loose a few goats on stage when a traveling show was in my home town. We were just kids of course, but it was really hillarious at the time, especially how one of the actors ran screaming off the stage, because one of the goats started chasing him." - he paused for a moment and looked at the leather sack layed on the ground next to his chair, then looked back to the table.

 

"You forgot the best part - it caught him and started chewing on his pants..." - thought Ivan, as if he were talking to Kyran.

 

Kyran laid back his chair and drank some more ale and tried to enjoy his new journey. Despite the rocking of the ship, the elf was feeling fine. Not only has he travelled on ships many times before, the sound of rainfall was very calming to him, almost mesmorising even.

Edited July 2, 2013 by spyro1201

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine's brow furrowed while she thought, "Yes, I lived in Kelemvor's temple in Waterdeep from age twelve to eighteen. So that was you in that play? Now that I think about it, I do recall seeing it during that time...though it was, as you say, quite horrid, and so I suppose I tried to wipe it from memory as quickly as possible. Half the church turned out to see that production...and half of them left midway through. I remember High Father Gerard disapproved of it mightily...though he disapproved of almost everything.

 

"Hmm...Richard Selvik..." she paused as she mulled over the name, and then her eyes briefly widened as she remembered, "Ah, yes. Quite inadequate indeed, especially compared to the real thing. I remember that Helm was indeed better played, and Sune made my ears hurt. You know, I've often wondered what the gods think about those who portray them on stage."

 

There was an ever-so-brief flicker from a candle in front of Azuris. Rhaine barely caught the flame turning from golden-orange to pale green before changing back. Her eyes flicked up to her church brother, brow raised momentarily. She knew what it meant, but did he?

 

It was then that Kyran told his own account, and the Doomguide laughed, "That sounds like something my childhood playmates would do. We lived in a tiny swamp village on the Sword Coast, and the only entertaining things to do were playing with insects and letting barn animals loose."

 

Conall then glanced to Tannin, "So you're a playwright, eh? Do you still write in your spare time?"

 

There was another thunderclap, and the lightning strikes were becoming more frequent.

Edited July 4, 2013 by AurianaValoria1

[Deleted6317247User]

Nawen looked at Conall and smiled warmly at him, appreciating the gesture. Thankfully the conversation topic changed from sea monsters to bad plays. She had never seen a real play and thus she listened to everything that Tannin, their new companion Kyran and Rhaine talked about with great interest.

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Shalena as well listened to the conversation about the play with the slight smile on her face. "It doesn't sound that bad." She said. "I've seen a play called The Battle of Giants in Westgate. None of the taverns were big enough to fit the stage and everyone who wanted to see it so it was moved to a brothel." The pirate chuckled as she remembered the terrible play.

 

She was about to tell the adventurers more about the play but then one of the pirates came in the cabin and whispered something to her. Shalena's smile faded and she quickly arose from her seat. "I'll be back shortly." She said and went outside with the pirate.

[mythicdawnmaster]

Xallsitine was rather amused to hear about the hilarious accounts of Tannin's time as both playwright and actor, his description of that particular performance eliciting a chuckle from the vocally incapable throat of the Ulitharid, resembling something of a splutter one would make as they near drowned but found air again. "It is rather an novelty the way you surfacers spend your free time, In the Underdark our equivalent of a play would be watching slaves battle it out for a scrap of bread, I know that introducing spiders into the mix of that one is a Drow favourite. Although the creatures of my home are not the most... blithesome of creatures, however unfortunate that may be." Pausing he was interested if Tannin did yet write plays, he had not ever spoke it before now, and the Ulitharid could not help but wonder- What a treat it would be to bear witness to one of these events.

 

Seraphine too chuckled, remembering a memory embedded in her from one of her predecessors "Ah plays, a predecessor of mine was heavily attuned with the arts and wrote many a romantic number, often dipping into the realms of the absurd, I do not think I have seen anything of the like you could produce however."

 

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Ravenna could not help but ambulate up and down the chamber as she gazed over set after set of meretricious habiliment forged for her office of power and hers only, sui generis in every way. There was so much opulence before her that once again it was a meticulous task to determine what exactly she would be wearing once she had come to the conclusion of which fit her mood the best. She was feeling particularly triumphant however, that she had bent the Drow vampiress to her will, in however a discreet way, it pleased her greatly that yet another had flocked to her cause like the ravens she held so dear.

 

Ravens, of course, the birds guest to her patronage were often the inspiration for many of the gowns that so heavily rested upon the mannequins, and one in particular stuck out to her.

 

It was something of a dark affair, and by the way the wood had near buckled under it's weight, incredibly heavy. Shoulders and arms were the finest black leather, what appeared to be cast replica's of the dark birds themselves sat atop the leather of the shoulders menacingly. The corset was crafted from what was a metal of dull, yet faintly shining quality, glistening it the light to such a level it was almost as though it were behind a sheet of shadow, made with rib-breaking tension, it was low cut, revealing the tops of both of her breasts, yet hiding her cleavage line through use of a spiked point that loomed menacingly close her neck. The skirt was crafted from the same leather as the shoulders, tight fitting and with a slight bustle of silky material around the backside, the only hint of a gentle nature about the barbaric piece. The hemline was edged by heavy silver, getting thicker and heavier until it reached yet another spiked point, that dragged behind the dress like a weight.

 

Smiling at Quarylene's own choice Ravenna complimented the attire "Ravishing my dear, truly you have a taste for your garments it seems. Come, stand upon one of the pedestals as you are pampered, dressed and made to look truly a member of a divine court. Honestly it such fun to be slaved over."

[josh900]

"Write?" Tannin asked before chuckling. "All the rime, It's a good way to pass the nights and days of traveling by horseback. Though I must confess that most of them are taken from my own journeys, slight embellishes and minor changes but nothing that tears the epic apart. My latest one involves a journey to the south of Chult gone horribly wrong as they often do. Not sure how to fit in the perverted acts that the natives indulged in.... and roped us into." He said with his chin resting in his hand and his left eyebrow raised to it's fullest height. "Might just leave that bit out."

 

Completely ignoring the green flame Azuris turned his body away from it to look at Tannin. "Perverted acts? What do you mean?" He asked possibly trying to focus on something other than the flame.

 

"Well." Tannin blinked rapidly before speaking. "Acts that should not be described nor seen on a stage. Now depending on where you're performing these types of things can possibly happen. But such performances are displayed at Brothels and Feasthalls, and certainly not the type that I would have a part in." He cleared his throat then spoke under his breath. "In the acting anyways."

He quickly lifted his glass and took a large gulp from it. "The life of a Bard is certainly an interesting one, but I'll take my sweeping epics over titillation everyday. Much more grand and exciting, bring up far more emotions too."

[nethgros]

Kowolj gratefully took up the flying ham in his mouth, munching delightfully with juices matting the hair around and below his mouth, in spite of Rhaine's view on table manners. The revelation of Valthanarax's true danger seemed like it should've been important, but he was only reminded of the fact that he had already defeated this foe once. He didn't want to deal with this dragon again. It didn't even have any blood! How could you enjoy a kill without blood? Thunder followed by talk of the ship sinking put him in a rather bad place, fearing for his life and wishing he could just get away from these pirates, or better yet to kill them for shooting him. He had yet to remove the projectiles from his chest, the pain coupled with his fear of death crippled him of any ability to interact with the others around the table.

 

Othos was just about to regale his fellow genasi with his history when the storm picked up greatly, resulting in a downpour, increased winds, and flashes of lightning mixed with roaring thunder.

 

He yelled quite loudly after the first bout of thunder and lightning so that Anemone might hear him, "I don't think now is a good time for talk! We should get somewhere drier!"

 

To him it seemed as though the water in the air had begun to take up more space than the air itself, and that had completely ruined his ability to enjoy this storm.

 

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Haxxon turned to see Sefris walking not too far behind him, he had heard her coming before she was close enough. She was likely searching for a room of her own, but now without her keeper he would be free to see just what this demon-woman was really like.

 

"Demon-woman, how nice to see you. Following me?"

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine noticed that Kowolj had yet to remove the bolts from his chest; he seemed too afraid to even bother taking them out...though they didn't appear to have wounded him much, as his ability to tear apart food in seconds had not been diminished.

 

"Kowolj," she asked, "Do you want me to take care of those injuries?"

 

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Quarylene smirked at Ravenna, "Tell me about it. I once had an entourage of fifty Svirfneblin solely for my own amusement. Alas, most of them displeased me in some manner, and they ultimately served as fitting sacrifices."

 

She then stepped up onto one of the pedestals in the room, the devilish slaves stripping her down and dressing her in a matter of minutes. Such speed and accuracy was admirable; she wondered how many of the weak had to be culled to get to these prize servants. Once they finished, they put her before a mirror so she could inspect herself. She hissed as she saw the white runic markings on her face and her blank white eyes. Lolth had sought to mar her appearance as well, it seemed. Ah well...the drow had to admit she looked far more frightening this way.

 

Quarylene turned her foot to the side and raised a thin white brow at the massive heel. She had not worn shoes like these in a very long while. Her balance would certainly be put to the test...which, perhaps, would make her all the more agile in the end.

[Deleted6317247User]

Only when Shalena stepped outside that she realized how dreadful the weather really was. The wind was strong enough for her to stop regretting for not wearing a hat, it was raining even harder and the lightning struck in the sky more often. The half-elf pirate looked around to see how her men were doing. By the looks of it better than she thought.

 

She approached the helmsman who stood by the helm, gripping it tightly. "How far away are we?!" She shouted so that the pirate would hear. "Not too far. Maybe an hour or two, depends on for how long this storm will last!" The helmsman replied. Shalena only nodded and returned back to the pirate who summoned her from the dinner. "Where is it?" She asked and pirate gestured towards the railing.

 

As Shalena approached the railing and gazed at the water for a while she saw nothing until she saw a large fish tail disappearing into the water. "Merfolk." She said. The half-elf waited for some more to see if it was only one of them but there were more. "Dammit." She cursed under her breath before returning back to her cabin.

 

The pirate walked past the dining adventurers and started rummaging through her things, looking for the hand-crossbow.