Tales of Faerun

[AurianaValoria1]

As the group began to move northwards once more, Rhaine at the head, the Doomguide glanced sideways and up at the fire genasi, "If you wish to know it all, I am afraid it would take much longer to tell than the time it will take us to reach Maerlar. So, to put it simply, we were, up until recently, on a mission to stop a dracolich of the Cult of the Dragon. Some of us, such as myself, have come all the way from Waterdeep to see this mission through. However," she sighed, patting the neck of her champagne-gold mare, "it seems that our goals have changed. But to what, exactly, I am not yet certain. Our enemies have multiplied in number, and they are not exactly clear to us yet. We know not their precise motives in declaring themselves our opponents, nor where they are based in the world. Thus, we are simply traveling to Maerlar in hopes that we will gain clues as to what to do next."

 

After a few moments, she added, "And you? What brings you to this land of god-kings?"

 

Rameses listened closely to Rhaine's summarized tale, nodding intently on occasion. The uncertainty in her tone all intrigued, confused, and somewhat concerned him as the group rode ever northward. Once she finally aimed a question at him, Rameses took a moment of deep thought.

"I am searching for something, but what I have yet to discover." He replied after a few breaths.

She nodded, "I see. Then we have more than a few similarities, yes?"

 

The fire genasi returned her nod, stroking Jarl's neck for a moment; the great camel himself seemed unusually content despite his usual anxiety towards strangers, including some others among the group. "Indeed. More than a few, in fact. I also hail from the Sword Coast, as I once called the kingdom of Tethyr my home some years ago." Rameses included.

Rhaine's brow furrowed, "You have come all that way alone, then?"

 

Rameses countered her questioning expression with a slight grin. "Not exactly. Jarl and I crossed paths in Calimshan when my adventure began, and we have yet to spend more than a day apart." The great white beast all but smiled at Rameses' statement. "And technically, I was occupied by a particularly unsavory associate of mine until I lost him in the Shaar." Rameses added lastly after losing his grin.

The Doomguide returned her attention to the road, thinking for a moment, before finally replying, "Well, then. You still must be quite a capable warrior to survive such a long trek with naught but a steadfast steed and a foe on your heels. Perhaps the gods are watching you, friend." She glanced back to him and smiled, "I am not one to think that many things happen for no reason at all, and this meeting is no exception." She paused, squinting, and then added, "My apologies... it seems I have yet to introduce myself properly. I am Rhaine Alcinea, Chosen of Kelemvor." She then proceeded to introduce the other members of the party by name and profession, until all appropriate greetings were exchanged.

 

As Rhaine introduced the vast number of her fellow companions, Rameses did his best to remember which name corresponded to what person. The diversity of this one troupe rivaled that of most towns and settlements Rameses had visited in recent memory. Of the wild assortment of humans, elves, and various others, he did notice that there was not a single dwarf in sight; he simply shrugged in response to his own thoughts. Once Rhaine's introductions came to a conclusion, Rameses' thoughts lingered on her title. "Chosen of Kelemvor? I believe myself to be a fighter of Tempus." He replied finally, failing to acknowledge the title's significance.

She grinned, "And I am certain that the Lord of Battle has favored you on more than one occasion, Rameses. May he grant his favor to us all."

 

At that moment, an unusual cry split the air, and Conall's head turned sharply, "Hear that? Sounds like that griffon from last night."

 

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

 

Abigail Laughingeyes, half-dragon halfling, clung to the belt of the man called Leif as they rode atop his griffon mount. For the past hour, she had kept her head firmly buried between his shoulder blades as she desperately tried to avoid looking down. It wasn't that she was afraid of flying; quite the contrary. No, it was the fact that seeing the distant landscape from such heights made her nauseated to the point of nearly losing her breakfast, and it was taking all of her concentration not to projectile vomit it all over her kindly chauffeur.

 

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Please tell me we're there..."

[josh900]

High above the clouds Leif looked down at the ground far below. He had grown used to flight over the years and enjoyed the sensation, something poor Abigail had yet to do it seemed. At the moment they searched for the group that the Griffon named Zaph had spotted a night ago. Looking down Leif spotted several small figures all packed together in a group. With Abigail fearfully pleading for the flight to be over in his ear since their flight began, a rather evil prank came to mind. "I'm not sure Ab. Hang on a sec, I'll go check." He said as he quickly unbuckled himself from Zaph's saddle and slid off his side, leaving Abigail alone, yet securely attached to the Griffon that soon followed it's rider down.

 

The rush of the air around him deafened him as Leif fell to the ground far below, passing through a cloud on the way down and drying off in a matter of seconds. The ground quickly rose up to meet him and moments before smashing into the ground, he spoke an incantation and his decent slowed to a near halt, making it so he gently floated down the reaming ten feet before his feet touched the ground. Safely landing behind the group.

 

He readjusted his clothes and slid his hand over his head to lay his hair back down before he spoke in a loud yet friendly tone. "Well hello there! Hope you all don't mind me... dropping in like this." He said with a large grin with his arms outstretched to show that he had no weapons on hand.

[FreemasonGamer]

After the bizarre individual painlessly landed behind the group with nothing but a substantial thud, Jarl quickly turned round wildly. The great white camel reared back in fright, groaning aggressively at the strange man as he nearly tossed Rameses off. The fire genasi himself was also quite surprised by the figure's astounding entrance, to say the least. He held onto Jarl's saddle tightly, attempting to calm his steed as his crimson gaze focused on the man.

 

"For the love of all that is living, where'd you come from?!" Rameses snapped both in astonishment and fright as he slowly brought Jarl back onto all four feet, glancing upward wildly.

[AurianaValoria1]

"The sky," Conall replied flatly to Rameses as he tried to calm his now-dancing horse, which had reared up at the sight of the griffon plummeting out of the sky after its owner. The great beast landed with a cloud of dust from its wings, and from its back slid a very green-complected halfling girl...

 

"Leif," the girl said somewhat weakly, yet with a certain fire in her yellow-green eyes as she staggered from one side to the other after she unbuckled herself from the griffon's saddle, "When I feel better...you...are so...dead!"

 

Zorica, too, was trying desperately to keep her prancing horse under control, and the effort it took to do so made her mouth a thin line and her brow a furrowed ridge; her foul mood was obvious in her voiced reaction, "What in the Nine Hells...who are you and what do you want?"

 

The halfling girl - at least she seemed to be a halfling, but the shiny, stubby horns were a bit confusing - jerked her thumb at the man, "He's Leif. I'm Abby. I think."

 

Argyros had swooped out of the sky upon seeing the griffon heading towards them, and he landed not long afterwards, inspecting the newcomers closely with his mercury-like silver eyes, "You are...of dragon blood, aren't you, little one?"

 

Abby, as she called herself, grinned widely, "You bet! My da's a Copper. No idea where he is. Or his name. Or my ma's for that matter. I've...got a memory problem we're trying to fix..." she trailed and rubbed her arms self-consciously, then almost immediately brightened upon glancing over the motley crew before her, "Say! You can help us, too!" Her grin widened and showed off her slightly pointed teeth.

 

"A half-dragon halfling with memory issues?" Zorica mused aloud.

 

Rhaine, who had been looking on silently up until now, raised her voice in reply, "Were you two looking for us?" She did not believe these two dropping out of the sky was a mere accident, and there was something about the man called Leif that was undeniably familiar, yet she could not place it...

 

"Uhhh," Abby rubbed her head and squinted, glancing at Leif in hopes he would supply the answer, as she could not.

[josh900]

Leif laughed at Abby's threat. "Yes yes, of course you will. That or you'll force me to buy you diner or something as an apology instead." He said with a shrug.

He got his first good look at the group and arched his brow at the sight. "Weeeell aren't we a diverse group." He said with a smile before turning to Rhaine, looking her up and down with an appraising look. "Well you see, Feathers, to be perfectly honest we don't much know what we're looking for, my companion here's lost her memory as she said, and with no idea how to get it back, we're just...out traveling, seeing if anything jogs her memory ya know?" He said, sticking his hands into his pockets and leaning back on the heels of his feet.

[Deleted6317247User]

Shalena watched the two newcomers and their unusual mount with the slight smirk on her face. "Isn't it fascinating how we meet... interesting people in the middle of nowhere?" She asked.

 

Nawen meanwhile paid little attention to the horned halfling and her companion. Her attention was focused on the griffon. She watched the magnificent creature with obvious amazement in her eyes but dared not to approach it. She had never seen one outside of drawings and knew next to nothing about them, thus it seemed wiser to keep her distance.

 

"Fascinating creature, isn't it?" Orion asked as he approached the drow and shot a glance at the griffon. Animals didn't like him much anymore, nor was he too fond of them either but you don't get to see something like that any day. Nawen nodded without taking her eyes off the griffon. The sorcerer then turned his attention to Abby and Leif but said nothing.

[Llhunara]

Now people were literally falling from the sky? Lllhunarra didn’t know what was happening. If she had known any better she might have realized fate was bringing all these people together, but she simply wasn’t that deep of a woman. It all seemed luck to here…or perhaps bad luck depending on who you asked. Having not really greeted the Genasi, she doesn’t move to greet the newest arrivals either. She was a friendly girl, but they seemed caught up in conversation already and she didn’t really have anything to say besides hello so best to stay aside. Too much attention was always a bad thing.

 

Instead Llhunarra angles her horse to cut through the group a little, heading towards Shalena. With the piratess watching the newcomers she pulls up alongside her. Hearing the comment she smirks a little. “The most interesting sort of people, right?” Referring to herself since she had come across the group in very similar fashion, minus the whole falling out of the sky part. Giving the female a nudge with her elbow just to show she was joking around, the rogue glances one more time to the newcomers before turning her attention fully to the redhead.

 

“Think we should start putting a limit on the group’s size? Maybe have some sort of trial or test they need to go through? Oh, I know! We could make them pay a fee to join!” Llhunarra grinning wide at that one, thinking it the perfect idea for new members…for all those after her of course.

[tokyobiohazard]

Aera raised her eyebrows at the influx of people the party seemed to have gotten in the past few days. She chalked it up to the large group of people being an attractive thing in an empty desert, and shook her head. Maybe they wouldn't stick around too long.

Still, she couldn't help but smile when the halfling wasn't sure of her own name.

Hazel, on the other hand, found herself a bit paranoid, wondering if any of them could be being controlled by Silithus. It seemed highly unlikely since they hadn't attacked yet, but she still edged away from them.

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine frowned at the moniker the man called Leif bestowed on her, but she did not address it. Instead, she replied merely, "You are welcome to travel with us to the next town, if you like. This area is known to be dangerous, and even journeying in pairs is not the wisest decision. Mayhap something will help with your unfortunate loss of memory along the way," she added to Abby. With that, she turned her horse around and continued leading the party northward towards Maerlar.

 

By sunset that evening, they came within sight of the walls of the town itself. It was a moderately-sized settlement, fortified with watchtowers, but it seemed to have no protective fortress or other bastion. Instead, there was a large market square and several establishments along the perimeter, with houses outside of that, next to the walls. It was too late to shop around, as the stalls were already closing up for the day, but it was not too late to obtain rooms for themselves. The guards looked over the travelers suspiciously, and it was at this moment Rhaine began to miss Imhiros's company deeply. However, they were lucky enough to pass through the gates without issue. The town being on a trade route, it was likely they saw all sorts come through the area.

 

Argyros had long transformed back into his elven guise, and he assisted Conall with stabling the horses just inside the gate as the others proceeded into the town proper. The scents of exotic foods wafted through the air, along with woodsmoke and incense. Most of the townsfolk who were still out and about at this late hour were chattering away in Mulhorandi. They would glance up at the group once in a while, but said nothing to them, instead seemingly trying to ignore the adventurers as they came into the natives' midst.

 

"Wow," Abby breathed, "everything is so amazing, here! I wonder how good their food is...and their wine!"

 

Zorica could not help but smile a bit at the strange halfling's words of wonderment, and the half-drow inwardly chuckled as she briefly imagined the little coppery thing drunk. She had to admit, she was looking forward to a flask of wine or ale herself after a long, hard day of riding. Rhaine, meanwhile, inquired to a local who could speak fluent Common as to which inn was the best in the town, and she was directed to the large, white-walled building near the stables - a shingle hanging outside the entrance sported the following words in swirling golden script: The Shifting Sands Tavern and Inn.

[FreemasonGamer]

Both Rameses and Jarl were quite reluctant to leave one another's company, but the fire genasi placed his faith on the hopes that the group's steeds would be kept safe in those stables; thus, Rameses did his best to ease Jarl's suspicions before departing. Rameses followed the group through the streets of Maerlar, and he could not help but reminisce over the desert towns of home. Such nostalgia brought a thin smile upon his face as he turned his head, glancing over his shoulder at his new companions.

 

"Yes, little one. I'm sure they will have good wine, if not excellent." He noted in response to Abby's excited claims. Glancing back to Argyros in his elvish form, Rameses mused, "Dragons are a tricky sort, aren't they? Thankfully, I haven't crossed any until now. Surprised you didn't notice Jarl and I approach earlier, or Leif and his griffon for that matter."

 

As they came up to The Shifting Sands Tavern and Inn, Rameses quickly counted his modest sum of gold, silver, and copper. "If the prices are decent, first round of drinks on me." He offers graciously, striding towards the entrance and opening the door for them. In the back of his mind, Rameses was genuinely curious to learn more about this group and those a part of it.