M&ANES III: Reunion

[Vertinari118]

'Kaching! These humans really aught to hurry up and invent a safe for the masses. Hmm... maybe I could design one when I retire. But that is a long way off. Right now I need to scratch my name off that notice board and find a mission that won't get me killed.'

A heavily dressed man, with long white hair and a dark completion suddenly appears in a dark conner of the tavern. He promptly hurries off to the market and barters for a good-quality sword, two if he can get them (offering the daggers as part payment if necessary). He then scribbles out the script beside the dragon mission and moves to the swamp men mission. He sets off at a sprint following the group who just left on that mission.

 

[Vertinari118]

OOC: Guys was it something I said? This NES seems to be dead at the moment and I would like to know my weapons status before I post anything IC (*glares at Dragonson*). So who's going to get the ball rolling again?

 

[Dragonson]

OOC: Well, i've been making the same observations. :S
Maybe this kind of NES doesn't really work that well anymore, or maybe it's just inactivity.
Idunno. :S

Sorry about the weapon status, i'l get to that now.
But before i do that, i have to warn you guys that i'm gonna be on a canoe trip for 4 days next week (starting monday), so i won't really be able to update this. :S

IC:
The heavily dressed man managed to get himself a proper sword, steel blade with a comfortable handle bound in leather.

 

[Seon]

Nah, we are just waiting for more information from your part.

 

[Dragonson]

OOC: I asked several times (atleast once) if you were on the way to the swamp or if you were there allready.
Tell me that and i will gladly provide any info you need.

 

[Diamondeye]

OOC; You're the GM. Decide whether we're arrived or not. I appreciate the loose structure of the M&ANES'es, but we still need general guidelines and updates from the GM. I was of the impression that we waited for your reaction to us journeying to the swamp.

 

[Dragonson]

OOC: OOH! Sorry dudes, i had a minor misunderstanding here. :S
I'l get DMing right away!

IC:
As the adventurers get closer to the swampmen infested areas, the ground becomes more and more wet, and Diana's wolf starts growling.
Soon after, they are inside a full-fledged swamp, with so many trees there is hardly any light reaching the ground.

 

[merciary]

"Ugh, I despise this ground, there is no reason anything should live out here." Suddenly Keder heard Diana's wolf grow. "Well if that animal believes that something is nearby I might as well make sure of it." He then stopped and closed his eyes and did a mind check to see if any of the swamp men were nearby.

 

[Vertinari118]

IC: The drow quickly caught up with the others due his physique, which is superior to most elves, especially a male drow's (OOC: seeing as Dragonson has gone for poncy elves rather than proper elves from Norse mythology or Tolkien, though guess where he got the inspiration from). He called out in the pidgin language:

"Do you need a dashing swordsman, the most skilled of his race, on your quest. I have no intention of trying to sneak up on a dragon, now I have acquired a sword by other means, and no I did not murder anyone, just stole from some stupid drunks. I can also see in the dark and, as you know, strip an area of all light as well as outlining foes in light, if we ever face invisible foes, or you blind surface-dwellers have to fight at night. Not that I am much good now, I can only see blurry shapes about twenty metres in front of me, at least in the open air, but this wonderful forest of not-mushroom mushrooms (OOC: no trees underground, just giant mushrooms as well as mosses etc. as undergrowth) acts as a perfect shade. I can, at great need, levitate off the ground a short way, but the effort, especially on the surface where Lolth influence is, thankfully, small, is great. Not enough to prevent me fighting, but enough to allow me to make a critical mistake in my tiredness. What do you say, surface-elven speaker?"

OOC: That's fine, I hope the ball will start rolling again before then (I see it already has). Oh and I have begun work on formalising and fleshing out the backstory for my char, the first draft for his childhood should be ready before you leave. It's written as a first-person narrative so I can modify it and post it here as IC dialouge as and when it is appropriate. I hope that's ok. All abilities approved by Dragonson, if I really possess them. You only know I possess the ability to produce darkness. Do you trust me?

 

[Dragonson]

DM: Concentration Check: Roll (1d6): 6.
Rolling Crit Chart: 1. Extreme sucsess!
Keder's mind scoured through the swamp, and he found, not really to his surprise, a big load of swampmem lurking in the shadows, ready for a timely ambush.

 

[merciary]

"Well I say we should probably stop here and formulate a plan, unless of course you'd all like to just walk in to your deaths. Either way is fine with me."

 

[Vertinari118]

The drow stands with the rest of the group, looking very confused.

'What on earth is the mage babbling on about. Infact why on earth do they have two mages?!'

 

[merciary]

Keder stares at the confused drow. "I'm not even going to bother trying to speak it to him. Lazy thing can't even learn Common Tongue. Just wait." With a sigh he closed his eyes again. All of a sudden a voice was heard inside the drow's head. Large amount of swamp men up ahead, stopping here to plan. Unless you'd like to go ahead.

 

[Vertinari118]

"Ah, a telepath. Be careful walking in these halls my friend. There is much to fear. Drow lives are, to your mortal mind, unimaginable cruel. I have not learnt the Common Tongue because I have only just escaped from hell on Earth, or rather under it. Perhaps you could teach me. In my homeland mages often taught each other be telepathy. I could give you would access bits and pieces of our magic I have picked up in my time, not that I can use any of it, in return. You should be able to decipher it, but I do not know if they work on the surface. I could also help you ambush the ambushers I have been a patrol leader, an academy master and a House weapons master in my time (*unconsciously flashes up brief memory snippets, just enough to confirm the truth, as he remembers his past. His pain and anger becomes very apparent to Kender*) What think ye mage? I am surprised you are not surprised by my presence on the surface or suspicious of my intentions. Your friends were. The drow finishes his thoughts for the moment and enters the meditative trance elves call sleep to still his mind and not accidentally hand useful information to the mage while the telepathic link is present.

 

[Seon]

Dumb animal, Lucca swore as he detected the mind mage's scans.

He vanished again.

 

[merciary]

"Hahaahaa, I may come to like you drow, though don't think you are the only tortured one" *quick flashes from Keder's childhood* "I may decide to teach you Common in exchange for your knowledge, but I think now is not the time. I guess this now makes me your translator, so lets see what the others think we should do.

 

[Vertinari118]

"Actually the woman with the wolf can speak some barbaric surface elf tongue, the language I called out in was a pidgin of the two. But yes you are my only reliable translator. Hmm... your childhood was different to mine by the way. You were a victim of circumstance. I was systematically tortured and enslaved from birth to adulthood, at 50. After that I was sent to the Academy where I was taught how to lead, how to kill, how to hate the surface, how to hate everything. All the while the magics of a twisted evil demon my people call a goddess were pouring through my veins. Do not tell the others though. This is strictly one troubled soul to another. But now let us be silent. You need to monitor the locations of the swamp-men, while I need to physically survey some of them to find out their arms, physique and possible tactics and then formulate a strategy to hopefully neutralise them. Keep the link open though so you can guide me and stop me from being discovered."

The drow runs off and literally melts into the gloom. He has dropped his heavy robes and cloak to the ground. You do not know what he is currently wearing.

 

[Seon]

Lucca was staring through his pocket mirror again. The drow and the mind Mage was talking telepathically. The drow was having a hard time concealing that.

The others sat silently, contemplating on what to do.

Lucca scowled. 'Get on with it!' he thought.

He sighed. Perhaps he could spice it up a little.

He opened a small portal, just enough to fit a head through. Through it he saw a swampman lurking in ambush. "This would do," Lucca whispered as he threw a rather large rock at the swampman and closed the portal behind the projectile.

 

[Dragonson]

Lucca heard a Schwomp and a Crush, and then some very confused swampmen yelling at each other.
It was a complete mess for a few seconds, then one of the swampmen cried
"It was that blasted mage! I saw it!"
and with that, the swampmen charged, and the adventurers soon found themselves surrounded by the small buggers.

 

[merciary]

Keder's eyes suddenly flashed open and look of anger came over him "Damn some idiot mage has provoked them. Well no time to come up with a plan."

As the first swampmen came into view Keder raised him with his mind and hurled him back at the horde coming at them.