"Of course, friend Kora," the centaur replied immediately, having likewise noted the spiritual connection betwixt Kora and the lance spirit.  "Ahh... that feels much better upon mine ribs - a fortunate strike in their ambush, but fortunately not fatal.

"Mine honesty forbids suggestion of reknowned skill with any weapon, for much of mine skill-at-arms comes with the might of sinew more than martial prowess." The rather large arms of Talrand spread deprecatingly to acknowledge his size.  "But thou art much larger than most of the two-foot, so there is much hope for thee!  Ho ho!"

---

OOC: ah, tyk for the healing too!
Seems like a shame not to pick another fight while Kel's mage armour is up, but, c'est la vie.

With everyone else busying themselves with various tasks, Caitlin sits down near the fire and starts counting the coins the grave robbers didn't need anymore. Engrossed in her work she starts to hum, then sing a little song her mother used to sing for her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GppkDnYbvo

Once the coins were counted, the sorceress divided it evenly and proclaimed "There you go, 266 steel and 6 silver coins for each of us." handing out the money to the people.

Moonflute takes her coin from Caitlin, then sits down and pulls out her ocarina to accompany her.

Kora accepts the coins from Caitlin with a smile. After pouring them into his pack, he takes up the Lance and begins to get a feel for its weight and balance as he goes through a sword kata with the new weapon.

Tavion thanked Kora for the healing and Caitlin for the coins.

Caitlin looked at the four remaining silver pieces "Anyone opposed to donating the remaining four silver pieces to the orphanage?" she asked her traveling companions. "I'll add my six silver coins to make it one steel." the mercenary added, remembering that there were many children left without parents after the attacks of the last year or two.

Kora nods his acceptance. A notion comes across his mien, and Kora casts a Detect Good spell. He then sweeps the area of the ruins, maintaining concentration. If the Lance came from here, then that meant the legendary warrior Huma was buried here as well.

Tavion softly threw a steel over to Caitlin. "I'll donate to that noble cause as well."

Kora cast a spell and started turning around in a circle, much like Tavion had done earlier, but Kora took significantly more time to complete the circle.




[Talrand has +4 to AC for 8 hours.
Tavion can Detect Evil for the next 70 minutes.
Kora can Detect Good for the next 80 minutes.

Talrand has 77hp remaining out 78hp.

]

Kora muses "how very interesting. I decided to Detect Good, hoping to find Huma's Tomb. But I discern a strong Aura of Good in the Dragonlance and the crystal blade held by Kel. In addition, something that Moonflute carries also has a strong feeling of Good."

"I carry a Tear of Mishakal," Moonflute says.

Caitlin pocketed the coins, including Tavion's donation, and made a mental note to surprise the kids at the orphanage with some candy, giving the rest to the orphanage director for building maintenance or new shoes for the younglings.

"So, what's the plan?" the sorceress asked her traveling companions, "Are we going grave robbing, ride on til nightfall or should we head back and get the items identified in town?" she asked, looking up at the sky, trying to determine how long there would be light.

ooc: What time of day is it? After the fight Tavion took 5 hours on the items, it might be close to sunset. How far did we ride from Flotsam, you mentioned further than Micah, which was more than one day, right?

"Do you have reason to believe this is Huma's tomb?" Tavion asked Kora.

Kora shrugs. "Huma's Lance. I'd think it would be buried with Huma."

"Is there evidence that this was Huma's?" Tavion said and assessed the Dragonlance again.

Tavion studied the dragonlance as Moonflute picked up the bloodied sapphire.

"Indeed, it must be the first dragonlance," Tavion said after examining it for some time.

In reply to Kora (msg # 142):

The wizard looked back up from the book he was reading - the slightly signed one the grave robbers had been carrying.  Now that he had gleamed the useful information from it, he was rereading it more at leisure.  "Yes; I am aware of the properties of the dagger I safeguard, as well as those of the tear.  The second one must needs be cleansed, but should mirror and even improve upon the powers of its mate when so purified and used in unison."

Kora asks "and what is the cleansing process? Or is that something we must discover on our own?"

Moonflute tries to put the sapphire down.

Moonflute put the bloodied, tear-shaped sapphire down.

Caitlin shot Keliantharas a glare that would have killed an ordinary mortal, and wondered if the elf was just annoying or intentionally obnoxious. Unable to come to a conclusion the sorceress focused her attention back on the fire, adding some wood as fuel. "We should stay here for the night." she said to nobody in particular.

Talrand quirked a brow at some clear tensions in the group, and some of the challenges seemingly tied to some of the powerful items they held, and the restrictions or requirements on their use.

As he laced up the crimson dragonskin edged with ebony bracer upon one powerful arm, the centaur tested the triggering keyword relayed to him; a swirl of flaming shadow emerged to coil about the leather bracer.  Closer look revealed the shadow to be simply pitch-black leather, but burred with discrete hooks extending just past the braid leather of the whip.

He snapped his hand forward, fingers in a gripping throat motion, then jerked his elbow back.  The flaming whip snapped nearly twenty feet to curl around a heavy portion of fallen tree.  Even as the bark smoldered, it flew back towards the sizeable equine, only to be smashed into fragments by Talrand's fist.

"Kindling for the fire in that case," Talrand noted, rotating his arm back and forth, noting no damage to the magical items from the flaming whip.  "Yes, this will suit nicely.  Fortunate thy fire decimated the foes, Caitlin, before they could bring to bear their magical items."

Talrand put on the bracer on his lower left arm and played with the Hellfire Lash. And when he activated the whip, it was wreathed in flame. He traveled away from the others and searched for a bit. Having found a small tree on the ground, he used the Hellfire Lash to envelope it and pull it to him.

It landed by his hooves and he kept trampling it with his hooves for a couple of minutes until he had reduced it to kindling. He then brought it to the fire Caitlin was making.

[OOC: With the hardness and hp a small tree has, it takes a while to reduce it to kindling.]

Caitlin watched the man-horse strapping the bracer around his muscular arm, quietly impressed with the way the enchanted item matched his size. Her eyes strayed over the well developed pects and nicely defined abs and a certain warmth flooded through her chest. Yet, when her gaze moved on and landed upon the equine portion of the centaur's body, she suddenly felt the cold, that had gripped the land and froze the ground solid. She shuddered unintentionally and watched him play with his new toy, obviously quite satisfied with the results. Sighing softly the woman tore her gaze away to stare at the flames licking up the firewood...

https://i.ibb.co/6vqp4fc/Caitlin-Ruins03.jpg
This message was last edited by the player at 23:54, Sat 25 Nov 2023.