Tales of Faerun

[Deleted6317247User]

Nawen had volunteered as well to travel with the horses. Even though they were smaller, the horses still felt uneasy during such an unusual travel. During the flight, Nawen did her best to calm the horses down, her attempts being mostly successful, but only when they felt a firm ground beneath their hooves, only then their horses felt completely calm.

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Shalena on the other hand didn't do so well. While at first traveling on a dragon sounded exciting, throughout most of the journey, the piratess held tight to whoever was closest to her, gripping their arms as tightly as she possibly could out of fear of falling off the silver. Much like the horses, her fear disappeared only when she stood on the ground.

 

"I agree with Argy," the piratess said, "no more flying."

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When Weyland got sick, Nawen approached Amendale and Annette. "Is he really better?" She asked concerned. "Doesn't look like any normal food poisoning and-" she stopped talking as she heard some of the horses neighing, and the sound of it wasn't quite... healthy.

 

"It's not just Weyland," she spoke as she looked back at others, "horses are sick too." She said as she walked over to her mare, Kiira. "What's going on? How are you feeling?" She asked the mare.

 

"I am fine, but something made some of the others sick." The mare responded.

 

"So it's not all of you?" Nawen asked again.

 

"No. At least, not yet."

 

Nawen stroked the mare's mane gently before turning to her companions once more. "It seems not all of them are sick," she said, "not yet anyway."

[josh900]

Bob watched the other horses drink from the poisoned river and shook his head with a grunt in disgust over their stupidity.

 

Tannin watched with slight interest as Weyland's sickness was expelled. "Soo the river's been tainted I'm guessing." He said dryly. "Well I guess that'll give us something to do while we're here eh? Discover the source and cleanse it?"

 

Lucas fell to the ground with a groan as they finally landed. "Never...... again." He moaned, he had emptied his stomach long ago and had spent much of the journey dry heaving.

 

"First time flyers, never fun." Tannin chuckled as he watched Azuris retch right alongside Lucas. "Neither are the motion sick." He sighed.

 

"I dunno, I thought it was really fun!" Hexol said happily as he got off.

 

"Meow!" Gizzy meowed happily. "I DON'T TRUST YOU!!" Hexol yelled at the cat before running away from it.

[AurianaValoria1]

Argyros made a loud "harrumph" of indignation at Annette's thanks as he transformed back into his elven body with a brilliant flash of white light. He had tried his best to make it a decent flight, but even all his efforts seemed to have done little good for most of them, as he noted from all of the vomit that was being thrown about. At Weyland's strange episode, however, he showed great concern, glancing about with a grim expression on his face - as if trying to spot an unseen foe. Rhaine, Conall, and Zorica ran over to the warrior, leaning down over him in an attempt to provide both physical and emotional support.

 

"The water," Conall murmured at Tannin's words, and then his blue eyes widened. He glanced over at Nawen, worry evident on his face, "The horses..."

 

"Ohhh, no," Dagny groaned as she turned about and saw Azrael suddenly spasm, the warhorse's great form shuddering with violence, "Oh, sweet Morndinsamman..."

 

It was only seconds later that Conall's grey stallion did the same, beginning to wheeze horribly, as Weyland had done. The two horses stopped in their tracks and shuddered again, more strongly this time. Rhaine and Conall both rushed to them, trying to ease their steed's suffering through healing, as Amendale had done Weyland, but to no avail. Whatever ailment befell them worsened within minutes, and the two holy warriors glanced at each other with disbelief and near-panic in their eyes. These incredulous expressions then morphed into sheer horror as the beasts collapsed to the ground with weakness, their rasping breathing increasing in speed and volume. Conall tried desperately to communicate with his mount, but to no avail...the animal was too distressed.

 

"This is unlike anything I've ever seen!" the Doomguide exclaimed, heartbroken to see her beautiful and magnificent steed in so much pain, "It resists everything!"

 

Then, of a sudden, Azrael's head lurched beneath her hand, and she jumped away as his flesh abruptly disintegrated into nothing but dust...starting at his abdomen and spreading over his body like flame on parchment. Conall's horse did the same shortly afterwards, until all that remained of the two beasts were clean, white skeletons.

 

"Oh, gods," Conall whispered as he knelt over his horse's bones, "Not you, too, old friend." Aodh sympathetically curled about the paladin's neck and hummed softly.

 

"Why did they drink of the water?" Rhaine questioned, sheer shock in her tone, "Did they not sense anything wrong?" She turned to Weyland, "Did it not taste any different than normal spring water? Smell any different?"

 

"Well," Zorica muttered quietly, "That's not good."

 

"No, it isn't, lass," Dagny replied grimly, "And it doesn't bode well...if that source was tainted by somethin', what about the others in these parts? What about the Riftlake?"

 

Rhaine shook her head slowly and sadly and made her way back to Weyland, "Are you all right, friend?"

[Flipout6]

Once Azrael started it didn't take long before many of the other horses started showing the symptoms of drinking the poisonous water. Amendale's steed, a light and fast little thing, laid down in the grass and when the elf went to try and save it he found nothing but a skeleton, to his despair. Weyland's shook and fell over- though Weyland himself was too dazed to notice- and the Ordains' steeds both went down and died as well. Amendale couldn't save them in time. Sybille watched her fearsome old beast of a horse shudder and twitch....and stay standing. She was suddenly very proud of the tough old warhorse, although she didn't find herself surprised that mount formerly belonging to he father would survive something that would kill his fellows. Amendale was quick to heal it, finding that it needed just as many purges as Weyland had but half the healing.

 

Weyland, lucid and recovering, lay in shock for almost two full minutes before he began to come to, shifting carefully and staying away from the puddles of his own gore-filled mess on the ground. It wasn't until Rhaine began questioning him that he seemed to jump back to life, sitting himself up without assistance. He poured his canteen out completely, wiped his foul-tasting mouth, and then gave her an answer.

 

"Nothing really out of the ordinary. It was nice and refreshing, actually. Nothing unusual about that, at least until it starts burning. Felt like I was being eaten, inside-out." He shuddered violently, but was quick to insist that he was in no danger. "I think I'm okay, thanks to Amendale. Feels like my legs went to jelly. Gods, that hurt."

 

"Your horse is recovering too." Amendale reported. "He didn't drink much." He didn't hear or see a response.

 

"I think we need to get to Earthheart, and quickly." Sybille suggested. "If they've been affected they may have some insight on this to share and if not, they must be warned before people begin to die."

 

"I'll take a sample of water." Annette told them. "Weyland, I need your container. Best not risk contaminating another canteen." The warrior handed it to her and she went to fill it, using magic to funnel the water into the canteen instead of touching it before bringing it back. "Maybe I can analyze it."

 

"Just be careful with it, sister." Marie pleaded.

Edited August 24, 2014 by Flipout6

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine nodded at Sybille's suggestion, "Indeed. Let us go. There is nothing more we can do here. But we can warn the dwarves of this problem if they are not already aware." She then carefully picked through Azrael's saddlebags and recovered what materials and supplies she could before gesturing for Dagny to continue leading the way. The dwarf agreed, but only after Xallistine initiated his disguise; Dagny had informed them that her kinsmen were no friends of drow or illithid, the latter even more so than the former, and that the party might have troubles in the city because of that fact. As they made their way closer, the tall watchtowers looming above them, Zorica began to feel more and more apprehensive. Though her blood was not as obvious as that of some half-drow, she could still be found out if the dwarves decided to look hard enough.

 

As they approached the gates of the massive curtain wall, one of the watchmen called out to them from the parapets.

 

"Halt! Who ye be and what be yer business here? Yer an odd band to be wanderin' these parts...if ye're part of some circus, ye can be on ye way! We're in no shape for foolery!"

 

Dagny put her hands on her hips and shouted back up at them, "No circus are we, ye nickel-headed dolt! Or me name's not Dagny Flameheart! Now, let me back in to me own home, or by Moradin, I'll send ye sailin' halfway across the continent! We've somethin' to report to ye."

 

"Flameheart?" one of the other watchmen questioned, tilting his helmet back and peering at her, "Of the Flameheart Clan?" He spoke some quiet words to his fellows that Rhaine could not pick up before turning and shouting back down at them, "We're lettin' ye in. But ye aren't going to like what ye see. Are these others with ye?"

 

Dagny nodded, "All me friends and allies, yes."

 

"Then they are welcome...so long as they keep their hands to themselves and their weapons in their scabbards."

 

With that, the gates opened, and the group was given a wondrous view of the upper levels of Eartheart...the capital city of the Gold dwarves that had been built both on top of and within the sheer cliff faces of the Rift. Tall towers and walls guarded them from above, and winding staircases and halls led to the depths below. The capital surrounded the southern portion of the Riftlake, which sparkled in the distance from the honey-colored rays of the setting sun.

 

Dagny sighed contentedly, "Well...here we be. Home."

[tokyobiohazard]

Ianthe smiled as a small band of ragamuffin dwarf children ran past her brandishing sticks which were apparently supposed to be swords. She sidestepped them, wishing she could join in on the fun, laughing as a final dwarf child, barely two feet fall stumbled past her, calling out, "Oi, wait for me!"

"Run!" The children cried, giggling as they slipped into an alleyway out of sight.

Arva's lip curled up into a smile, before he realized what lay before them. He stepped over a puddle of blood, dodging a dwarf's skeleton on the side of the street.

Aera covered her mouth with the palm of her hand, gasping, "You don't think---"

"We're too late..." Arva replied after almost a full minute of silence.

[josh900]

As Lucas, Hexol, and even Azuris gazed up at the city in amazement, Tannin's expression was one of curiosity as he looked around. On one hand, the bodies laying in the street were unsettling, on the other, children were running around playing as if nothing was wrong.

"No wonder they lasted through it all." He muttered under his breath, thinking of another time that was yet to come. "So what the first order of business? Talk with the local rulers? See how long this has been going on? Might be a reward out for whoever clears this mess."

 

"We have a chance to save live's and you're just thinking about the reward?" Lucas asked angrily. "This city's very existence is in danger and you're only caring about what they can do for you?"

 

"Little quick on the accusations there." Tannin snickered. "Earthheart will be standing a hundred years from now and this crisis will maybe get a paragraph in it's history books. The people here are tough, they'll manage. We on the other hand, needs funds for food and new horses, and as I recall, we're running a bit low on all three of those things."

 

"He's got a point." Said Azuris. "Beside's, we'd fix the issue even if there wasn't a reward, it'd just be nice to be paid for it."

 

"Precisely. See? I'm not heartless, just professional." Tannin said with a smug grin as he walked ahead of them.

 

Once he was sure the Rogue was out of earshot Azuris bent down to Lucas and spoke softly. "No, he is heartless, he's just good at justifying it."

[Deleted6317247User]

Nawen felt a little anxious as they entered the city. With the hood over her head, she slightly raised her head or looked to the opposite direction whenever someone was walking towards or by them. However the beauty of the city did not escape her notice. She looked around, completely in awe. Her expression changed when she noticed the bodies. "Why no one bothered to remove them from the streets?" She wondered out loud.

 

"Shouldn't you be more concerned about how he died?" Shalena asked as she approached the group after searching through the local's pockets. "For all we know, maybe we're too late and everyone will just drop dead in a few minutes." She wasn't sure if Nawen was glaring at her, because the drow was hearing a hood, but it certainly felt like that.

 

"We don't even know how far into this land the water is poisoned," the pirate continued ignoring the implied glaring, "think we'll find out an answer here?" She asked.

[BrassDragoness]

Among the Stouts that walked out in the open, one pale-skinned one hurriedly moved with a pile of scrolls in hand. The scrolls almost fell out of his grasp as he was grimly and hastily trying to read the contents of one, but worse - he clanked-rattled through the street with speed and without looking, and clashed right into Lucas. With quite some noise and a surprised, in-Dwarven-spoken "Coals!" he fell over.

 

The dwarf had blonde hair and pale skin - so perhaps he was as much of a resident of beautiful, endangered Eartheart as most of the striking fellowship.

 

As Hrogrim tried getting up, he grunted and huffed, in Dwarven still, "Thousand pardons-" and then looked up to see... quite the group! He blinked, speechless a moment, before adding very meaningfully, "Ach."

Edited August 28, 2014 by BrassDragoness

[Flipout6]

"Doesn't look like we made it on time..." Sybille commented as they all stepped into the city, gazing at the corpses around them with a heavy expression.

 

"Looks like it affects dwarves the same way it does horses." Annette commented, eyebrows raised. "They're both vulnerable to the same affliction. If that's disease, that's not a common occurrence."

 

"I haven't seen anything like this in my whole ninety years." Amendale commented.

 

"That isn't stlarn for an elf." Arland commented. "If this was a race against time, Sybbie, somebody forgot to honk our starting horn. Don't beat yourself up over it."

 

"I'm not, it's just...I wonder how many of these were parents. Maybe the children you see playing here are orphans now. Maybe they don't know how to cope."

 

"Nothing we can do about it." Arland affirmed, before sighing. "...but I guess I can understand that." Keeping up his habit of keeping an eye on his surroundings and the people within them, he noted a few things. The guards, for all their stoicism and heavy armor, looked beleaguered and weary, sad. They watched the group warily, with eyes focused primarily on the elves, but they were distracted, distant. Maybe the adults didn't know how to handle it, either.

 

The city was an organized collection of low-hanging, sturdy stone structures, some barely tall enough to fit the likes of Sybille and the others towering to several stories high. The streets were surprisingly empty and the air felt heavy, almost constricting. The ominous silence that had fallen upon the town only reinforced the feeling. A few kept to their forges or went about their business, eyes downcast, but that was all. At least until somebody bumped into Lucas.

 

"Might want to watch where you're going there, friend." Sybille said, raising an eyebrow. "Might knock somebody over. Need a hand?"

Edited August 29, 2014 by Flipout6