[OOC: Alrighty, moving things along. I will take everyone’s last comment about beds to mean they are heading to sleep. If anyone needs to throw anything in retroactively just put it in OOC with your next post.]
Girl’s Room
The night passed peacefully in the Wayfarer’s Rest… in the waking world at least. Though Mira was weary, she had trouble getting to sleep right away. The tossing and mumbling of the Halfling across the room from her wasn’t helping much. The girl…
young woman, she reminded herself, seemed to be re-living the wolf attack she had described… The bard eventually drifted to sleep, despite the quiet protests.
Again she was in the inn… the scene started much as it had the last time she dreamed it… odd that she was aware this was a dream… The fog came, rolling through the doors towards the stage… She glanced around and there they were beside her… she knew their names now, their faces… Pyros, who stood ready with his Hoopak; Yasir, with a gently glowing two-handed blade in his powerful hands; Cal, ducked behind the others out of the front line but muttering arcane words and pulling some strange device from his pack; Elsa, watchful and steady in her mail with mace and shield ready; Merrick, whose hand glowed with a green light… She saw herself as well… as if her vision came from a bodiless space in
the room… Her own red hair flowed in a wind that touched no-one else… her weapon in one hand and something shining in the other… difficult to see, but large… A darkness gathered behind them… she could see it but her dream-self could not… it grew and billowed like black poured into clean water… It surrounded them, preparing to snap closed like a trap…
Her eyes snapped open and she lay amid tangled sheets, sweating despite the chill in the air. Wind rushing by the window outside made a low hum. Elsa was already awake, but praying as she sat kneeling on her bed. The state of her furniture and garments told a similar story of restless sleep. A few moments later she finished, and notices the bard.
Oh! I hope I didn’t wake you. I’ve always been kind of an early-riser.
Boy’s Room
As the small folk arrange themselves, McWhiskers snuggles beneath the covers near their feet in the middle of the bed. The weariness of the day and drink settle heavily upon all three men, and sleep comes easily; but not peacefully…
---
Aroooooooo!
Not again! Pyros thinks to himself as he runs through the twilight with Elsa. They are almost to the gates, but the bridge is drawn.
Help! Open the Gates! Ho there, on the wall! Elsa cries out as they run. Two mailed figures stand atop the parapet, but regard them dispassionately. They do not speak, and only their heads turn to watch the scene below. A low growl surrounds them as the three figures resolve in the dim… one with a bloody mark across it’s white furred pate… Three pairs of golden eyes glow like fire.
Please… Elsa begs, her voice cracking with fear.
Can’t you help us? No response comes from the wall, as Pyros interposes himself between the canines and his friend. In a blinding flash of white the alpha pins him to the ground, dagger sized teeth crushing into his shoulder as he feels the bones grinding against each other. Searing pain shoots through him, but he manages a glance back…
The other wolves, black and mottled grey, have set themselves to either side of Elsa. She swings at one but over-reaches. The opening is more than enough. The midnight figure latches onto her hip, enveloping her leg. A horrible scream of pain pierces the night as she bashes frantically at it with her shield. Seizing the advantage the other beast snaps down on her shoulder, wrenching her in the opposite direction. Lashing wildly with his club, the hoopack having been thrown free, Pyros tries to break the grip of the alpha as Elsa’s cries roll on.
A quick snap thrust from the fanged muzzle and the Kender is pressed hard into the ground, re-gripped from the opposite side. Sharp spikes of bone drag him up and he has a better view of the horrendous scene before him. The other wolves have caught her in some hideous tug-of war, thrashing their heads back and forth and growling at each other as the beautiful, bloodied woman whimpers weakly. Tears pour down a dirty, crimson stained face as her eyes pleadingly search to Pyros for aid.
Please… she calls to him,
… can’t you help me?...
Each tug is accompanied by the sound of tearing flesh and cloth… a loud, wet
Pop as her hip is dislocated… a spray of warm blood across his face as the limb is torn from her, gushing vital fluid onto the ground… Lifeless brown eyes gaze pathetically back at him as the wolves begin to feed, the crunch of bone thick in the air. Pain in his shoulder intensifies, and his vision blurs as he is thrust down onto the grass, the grip tightening painfully as his world fades to black… in his mind he hears them both… voices calling to him in unison…
Can’t you help me…
---
Heat… Yasir was used to the climate, but today was just plain
hot. Too hot… The air was moist and thick, and no wind stirred. It was oppressive… heavy footsteps carried him to a local watering hole. It was shabby, but the drinks were cheap and cold from the cellar. As he pushed through the swinging doors the odor and commotion of a good, dingy dive washed over him. Taking a seat at the bar, he ordered some ale. A nice, cold, refreshing gulp sent a quick shiver down his spine…
like someone walking over your grave as old one-eyed one-armed one-legged Abed used to say. He opened his mouth to ask the bartender something, but a warm liquid ran over his lips.
warm… I… wiping his mouth with the back of one hand, it came away red. A sharp pain in his gut and back shot through him as a narrow sword was withdrawn from behind. Turning, he reached for his sword.
Beady black eyes glared hatefully at him, from a rodentious face. A bared longsword, coated in crimson for the last foot, pointed back at him. With a high-pitched growl the creature turned and ran for the back, crashing through a window into the alley behind. Wasting no time the tan warrior gave chase, using the door on the opposite side so as not to fall into a trap. He burst into the alleyway, tall buildings beside him casting a shade even in the afternoon. The creature waited crouching by the window, but whirled about as the door behind it banged open to expel Yasir. Charging with a clever warcry, the muscle-bound warrior brought his gleaming sword down hard on the beast’s shoulder snapping links of mail and crushing the collarbone and upper ribs. An inhuman screech flew from its whiskered muzzle and it snapped at the blade even as the throes of death were upon it.
Placing a booted foot on the side of its narrow jaw, he wrenched his sword free from where the sheared ribs had caught it. The body
shifted as he had seen numerous times before, reverting to its natural state only in death. Taking his foot away, he regarded the face to see who had been taken this time… Short cropped brown hair topped a clean-shaven but dirty nut-brown face littered with scars. Horrified brown eyes stared up at the sky… his eyes… his face… His stomach clenched, intensifying the pain in his abdomen where he had taken a sword… Knees buckled and a small cloud of dust rose as he fell onto his face… onto his own dead face…
---
Cal moved silently through the dark alley. A light mist was beginning to form in the cold night, cutting damply through his clothes. Something was out there… hunting him… Using a stack of crates to his advantage, he climbed partway up the side of a plaster building with a flat roof. Using his skills, he found small breaks and holds in the plaster to ascend. A nagging danger in the back of his mind like some buzzing insect made him look back… a pair of bright green eyes, almost glowing, watched him impassively from the ground. Hauling himself up, he coughed a little at the stirred dust…
wait… dust…?
A broad, hard-baked clay plateau spread out before him; red like drying blood. Glancing back, a massive chasm lay behind where… where… he couldn’t recall… A low growl ripped his attention back. The midnight figure much larger than he slinked forward, the yellow full moon hanging lazily in the sky behind; bright enough to ruin his night vision. The eyes lowered as it crouched, formless against the blinding lunar light… those green eyes nearly hypnotizing him with fear. Muttering his arcane incantations he prepared a cantrip, but a puff of smoke and a
pop burst as it fizzled out. Again he tried and again it failed. The beast crept gradually forward.
Suddenly a thought came to him, and he grinned in spite of himself. Speaking the words of magic, he transformed his figure into that of the old shopkeep. Boo stopped, and a feral growl welled up deep within its feline throat. With a roar and a lunge it swiped at him with a powerful paw, claws sinking deeply into his arm as the impact carried him off the cliff! His arm burning in pain he fell for what seemed forever. The ground rushing slowly to meet him…
damn cat… he thought, as his face met the hard floor.
---
The thump woke the gnome, as he shook the sleep away. He had slid from the bed, and landed face-first on the ground with his legs still caught up in the sheet. Thrashing awake from the noise of Cal falling, Pyros sat up at the other end of the mattress; arm and shoulder wrapped painfully tightly in the sheet. The combined commotion brought Yasir drowsily to his senses as he lay, face-down with one arm hanging off the bed. A chill had taken the room and their wounds from the day before ached dully. Even Pyros, who had been healed, felt a stiffness where the sheet had constricted him around his previous injury. McWhiskers nuzzled up to the Gnome’s foot in concern.
=====
[It is now
Morning (8 AM) Saturday, Feb 24th. 736.
Everyone injured regains 1 hp. Yasir is now 10/23 hps and is still
Hurt Badly having never received healing from his previous wounds. Cal is at 7/9 hps, Pyros and Mira are at full health, and Elsa still bears a small unhealed injury from the day before. Though the sleep was troubled by dreams, enough rest was obtained to re-learn spells and such… Mira, Pyros and Yasir increased their Harmonian Language checks, but Cal was not in town long enough for that yet… Still, he speaks elvish so that puts him at base 5% chance which is better than Yas has right now
Oh yeah, I almost forgot… XP TIME!]
----------
XP AWARDS!
Mira Experience earned:
‘Adventurers Assemble!!!’: 100 xp
Cantrip & Performance: 35 xp (5 clean cantrip, 25 performance, 5 lights cantrip)
‘Taking Care of Strangers’: 75 xp (translations, room arrangements, talk w/Guillam. 25/ea)
‘Dousing the fire’: 100 xp (Calming Pyros/Yasir 50, Elsa’s spell 25 and Cal’s appearance 25)
‘Getting to know you’: 100 xp (Talks w/Elsa, w/Pyros, w/Merrick about Krynn, Yasir)
Total Earned: 410 xp
6,050 (10,000 TNL)
Pyros Experience earned:
‘Bad! Bad dog!’: 150 xp (2/3 wolves to ½ hps= ½ critter xp =263 + survive 2x party HD of opponents 1%/rnd (525*7rd/100)=37 xp == total 300. split with Elsa =150)
‘Adventurers Assemble!!!’: 100 xp
‘Getting to know you’: 125 xp (stories w/Yasir, w/Mira & Merrick about Krynn, 25/ea, mult talks w/Elsa 50)
‘Starting fires’: 25 xp (maps and drinking and poison, oh my!)
*
‘Hand Jive’: 50 xp (Miming practically everything in the bar)
Subtotal= 450 +10% for High Dex
Total Earned: 495 xp
5,742 (10,000 TNL)
*(Yep, I reward this kind of behavior when it’s in-character… God help us all…)
Yasir Experience earned:
‘Adventurers Assemble!!!’: 100 xp
‘Getting to know you’: 100 xp (Talks w/Elsa, w/Pyros, w/Mira, Farmer Ambles)**,
‘Starting fires’: 25 xp (maps and drinking and poison, oh my!)*
‘Hand Jive’: 75 xp (Miming practically everything in the bar & with John Sledge)
Subtotal= 300 +10% for High Str
Total Earned: 330 xp
5,898 (8,000 TNL)
**(Hail to the King [Ratslayer], baby!)
Cal Experience earned:
‘I know you…’: 25 xp (recognizes ‘Boo’)
‘Bad Kitty!’: 420 xp (forcing retreat, full critter xp)
‘Adventurers Assemble!!!’: 100 xp
‘Getting to know you’: 25 xp (Talks about ‘relocation’)
Subtotal= 570 +10% for High Dex and Int
(627 xp) Thief/Illusionist: 314/313 xp
Illusionist only:
Casting & Cantrips: 60 xp (Detect Mag 50, Cantrip of dogs barking 10)
Subtotal= 60 +10% for High Int
Total Earned: 314/379 xp
2,814/2,879 (5,000/5,000)
[If anyone has a question about xp or feels they did something that wasn’t recorded, let me know. I try to be thorough, but it is possible I missed something.]
... unless of course he sleep walks...