Ever been uppercutted by an Orc warlord wielding makeshift brass knuckles?  Mortin could tell you it's like being crammed down a cannon aimed at the night sky.  You get tunnel vision and you see stars.

"Roll with it," Mortin tells himself, "Use the opening."

Instinct guides Mortin's sword in a wide arc as he spins with the momentum that's been imparted to his face.  The edge of his blade slices toward Grall's exposed neck and would have removed the Orc's head had Mortin not fought his instinct and twisted the sword at the last moment to hit Grall with the flat of the blade with an impressive SLAP.

"What nonsense is this?!" Mortin snaps, "You fail to grasp the most basic of principals!  I'm not out to be worshiped by anyone.  My goal is to defend my home from invaders!  I'm a teacher, and school is in session!"

(( Mortin = full HP.  Grall = 10 + 9 - 9 = 10.  I screwed up earlier with the math.  Has been corrected.))
This message was last edited by the player at 02:48, Mon 01 Feb 2010.

The queen gasps at the sight of the near beheading and cringes, covering her eyes.

The king pets his boy.

"Control yourself, son," he says softly, "Have faith in the healers."

He orders a messenger to inquire if the authorities thought to have the cave thoroughly searched as Bridget suggested.  You never know.  Sometimes stuff like that can be overlooked.  He turns his attention to Bridget.

"Very well," he answers her, "Remind me to give my opinion when the duel is over.  You said you'd be able save time with the investigation given some maps?"

"Not so," Darthic answers Eli, "Did you see that?  Mortin isn't out to kill him.  I'm sure they'll both walk off the battlefield just fine after just an encouraging word or two."

Then he speaks more generically.

"What we have here is a clash of two ideas," he points out, "Of course, there's a lot of good old fashioned pride on the line, but this duel has deeper meaning to it too.  At least the two agree that when diplomacy fails, you can make your point with your weapon."

To Blake: "Your welcome.  You're right about Mortin's assessment of Grall being off, but I'm not surprised he'd have a double standard like that.  It's almost..."

He stops himself, thinking better of voicing his opinion that it's nearly impossible to remain sane in Unity without having the capacity for double standards.

To Gilant with a smirk: "You're a man after my own heart!  This Lich Queen and illithid sounds like some nasty customers, but that's just more incentive to get tougher!  Nothing unifies like a common foe, and if you can prove to Unity what a threat they are, you'll have a powerful ally.  I'm sure Jarl there is already quite familiar with just how nasty they are, so you'll not have much convincing as far as my King is concerned.  Now as far as your own training is concerned...  Any specific immediate plans there?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:20, Mon 01 Feb 2010.

Jarl too sends a messenger on an errand.  To find out if anything "interesting" was discovered on the bodies of the Kobolds.

"Indeed," he agrees with Michael, "This is more important.  I have a suspicion that whoever is behind this wants nothing less than to enslave the people of Unity, and from there the world."

He turns to Shale.

"I understand that some warlocks have more direct contact with their patrons than perhaps even a cleric or paladin with their diety.  Is that true in your case?  If so, I'd be curious what Eochaid's take on such an ambitious mortal might be.  Such a one most likely would not think twice about despoiling the feywild to attain his goals."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:05, Mon 01 Feb 2010.

"Glad to hear," Mittens answers Emerald with a smile, "And I'm sure you can hold your own in your own way.  You certainly don't lack the stomach for the front lines.  Seen that with my own eyes."

She does a double-take at Reverie when she starts speaking in a weird creepy language.  Nope.  Not talking to anyone it seems.  Just muttering.  Must be some peace-lover's mantra.  Mittens sympathypats Rev on the shoulder.

"Looky there, Missy," she says, "He's smiling!  Don't fret.  This is going rather well I'd say!"

Mittens is also rather pleased with the answers and lack thereof she gets from Freedom, Michael, and Shale.

"I rest my case...  By the way, Freedom, technically Grall isn't even in your chain of command since he's part of the police force...  Wait... IS he even ranking?  I thought Bridget was the officer and Grall was working toward being a citizen like the others."
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:45, Mon 01 Feb 2010.

Freedom looks at Mittens and shrugs as he doesn't know if Mittens is right or not and says, “I thought he was a police officer of some rank probably not as much as Bridget's, but I'm just a soldier. In any case I see no point in two allies attacking each other over a difference of opinion like this.”

Gilant listens to what Darthic says and makes a mental note that Unity would assist in dealing with the threats that Gilant knows the Githyanki society under the Lich Queen and the illithids are.

Gilant then tilts his head slightly when asked about plans for training as the swordmage considers his response before replying, "I intend to hone my skills at weaving magic through my blade as well as my skill in using the blade itself. I have considered seeking out a more experienced swordmage, but if all else fails, I can learn through experience and trial and error."

Michael rubs his chin for a moment as he considers Jarl's conclusion, “That is definitely a possibility, but not the only one. Give how little information we have to go one, I believe it is quite a stretch to jump to that conclusion. For all we know the individual is willing to do whatever it takes to get an artifact that would give him immortality or great power and he doesn't care about ruling anything at all.”

Michael shrugs as he shakes his head, “We need more information before we can reach a proper conclusion. But what we can deduce is that he has plans that concern Unity in some fashion.”

Shale looks at Jarl nods when Jarl talks about patrons in general, “That can easily be the case, some warlocks have a lot of contact with their patron, others have very little. Often a patron will appear before a warlock in a manner only the warlock would realize, so everyone else might not even realize the patron was present. It depends on the the warlock and the patron as well as the deal between them. As for what Eochaid would think of this mortal, that I cannot say since depending on the true motives of the individual could easily affect how Eochaid views the individual. And that doesn't even take into account that Eochaid is prone to fits of malevolent whimsy. But if the person intends to despoil the feywild, then Eochaid would not be pleased by his efforts."

Shale doesn't even bother to mention that if the individual is seeking an Artifact of fey influence with the intention of protecting it or returning it to the Feywild, that Eochaid could easily approve of the person's efforts.

Bridget nods to the king. "And you provided the maps. And now I have an idea where to go. If you don't mind me borrowing these maps for the trip, that will save me having to memorize the path." having to... doesn't mean she won't memorize them anyway.

Emerald starts juggling knives, making it look easy. "Between you and me, Mittens? Gilant was totally over-reacting by pulling me away from where I was told to go. But in the street, you learn to appreciate when anyone watches your back like that... regardless of motive."


(Rolled acrobatics. rolled a 15, her acro is +7. She can TOTALLY juggle knives.)

Reverie snaps out of it and says,


"Oh... I was just reminded of
something I learned as a child.
Something that makes this
fight seem rather mild..."


She looks onward at the fight.

"If I were down there..."

she doesn't finish that thought.

Eli takes a deep breath. "Stupid squabbling." he pouts. "If I were in there, this fight would be over already and nobody would be hurt." he isn't sure if his dad remembers the spells Eli has learned, but he doesn't care to explain himself.

  Blake much to their annoyance some days, does not have a particularly high Insight score as a side result of their not having a particularly high Will defense.  Nevermind they had the most well rounded resilience of the casters in the immediate area (aside from Jarl anyways)... What was the point here?

  Ah, right.  They did not quite pick up on Darthic's aborted comment.  "Smack talk doesn't always have a full grasp of reality anyways.  Otherwise countless claims regarding people's Mothers wouldn't be made."

"And what lesson would you have me learn?!  HYPOCRISY?!"

Grall socks Mortin another good blow with his fist, and uses the advantage to drive home a point.

"Unity is MY home!  You don't understand the meaning of the word!  Home isn't soil or buildings.  To Unity, YOU'RE the invader!  RACIST!"

Mortin grits his blood drenched teeth as he recovers from the blow.  Enraged, he offers no answer to Grall's words, but answers Grall's fist with an upward arc of his sword that slams directly into the Orc's groin.  Grall roars in pain, staggers back, but remains standing, refusing to surrender.

"A cheap weapon in the hands of a liar is the word 'racist,'" Mortin spits, "You claim this to be your home, but you're only here because you were rejected by your own kind!  Had you not failed them and escaped, you wouldn't be parroting ideals, you would be pillaging with the rest of them!  I'm not fooled by your thin disguise!  To win back favor with your people you'll open the gates so your tribe can invade!  Not on MY watch!"

(( Mortin HP: 16.  Grall HP: 2 ))
This message was last edited by the player at 18:11, Thu 04 Feb 2010.

"Truth be told I wanted to go in first," Mittens answers Emerald with a smile and a wink, "But you already knew that."

Mittens grins at Reverie's comment.

"Musta been some awesome stuff!  If you were down there what?"

Her attention get's drawn back to the fight.

"OOOH!" she groans, emphatically doubling over, "That was a low blow!  If ONLY I were down there!"

Once again with the swinging of the imaginary sword.  Tempus only knows what trouble she'd cause if she actually had an invisible sword.

"Just listen to them!" she answers Freedom, "It's ALL comin' out now!  The arena is the perfect place for this kind of philosophical discussion!"

Then to the audience in general:

"Speaking of which, I challenge everyone!  First come first fight tho."

Here tail wags eagerly.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:32, Fri 05 Feb 2010.

The Queen remains with her hands over her eyes.

The King pat-pats his son.

"And I would be proud of you."

To Bridget: "I'm sure I can supply you with copies.  What direction were you planning?"

Darthic nods and strokes his beard as he listens to Gilant's reply.

"Don't know of any renowned sword mages in this city," he admits, "But that's a relatively rare art for a long way around."

He notes Eli's comment and smiles proudly, but doesn't add anything to what the King already said.  When Mittens makes her challenge, he can't keep from a chuckle.

"Well well well.  I'd take her up on the offer, but I don't want to deprive anyone else of the opportunity."

He looks to Gilant.

"Experience makes for an excellent teacher.  Especially when you have healers handy.  You should take her up on the offer."

He resumes stroking his beard with a big smile.

"I wonder how Prince Eli would fare...."

Jarl nods.

"Good points," he answers, "Best to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best.  As for there being a powerful artifact involved, it seems very likely given the unusual nature of the mind control."

Freedom shakes his head and says, “I have been listening to them, and it sounds more like hatred and disdain for each other than a philosophical discussion, they are merely throwing insults at each other while arguing back and forth. I do not see how this will lead to improved teamwork between them.”

It is also obvious that Freedom does not grasp the concept of a friendly taunt.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:41, Fri 12 Feb 2010.

Gilant nods when Darthic mentions that renowned swordmages aren't exactly common and replies, "There are other ways to improve ones skills as a swordmage. The art of a swordmage is weaving magic through a sword, so studying with both those who master just weapons and those who just master the arcane do provide insight on how to further ones skill as a swordmage."

When Darthic comments about Mitten's challenge, Gilant shakes his head and says, "A one on one duel would not further my skill as a swordmage. A swordmage focuses on protecting ones allies, not dueling them. Without any allies to work with, most of my skills would have no use in a duel. It would be more beneficial for me to study a wizard's treaty about an arcane topic and studying a warrior's fighting style in order to work on merging elements from both. Or I could seek out manuals on skills other swordmages have made as there are some swordmages who do keep spellbooks like wizards do."

Michael rubs his chin as he says, “Those who want peace, must be prepared for war. Otherwise, it would mean peace is not worth fighting to protect. And those who want war would simply take away the peace others desire.”

Shale ponders what Eochaid would want him to do in this situation as there are too many unknowns to know if this new foe is fighting for or against the Feywild. "The path ahead is obscured and forked. It won't be easy to find the right route that will lead to the destination we desire.”

While a part of Shale yearns for guidance from Eochaid, another part doubts that such guidance would be helpful for the others present.

Bridget answers the King. "Southwest."

Bridget looks over at Mittens and coldly says, "As it stands, this fight is not going to delay things. Another, however, might. I recommend everyone rest, get up early, and we get to our job."

She didn't accept the challenge. She didn't decline either.