In an innocuous corner of the world, below the figurative ruins of an insignificant set of battles, deep inside the time worn actual ruins of a long forgotten age, two heroes sit down with an unusual yet innocuously acting figure.

There is a question so innocuous itself that its meaning has had all the edges rubbed from it. It is said without thought, as a reflex, by all. To strangers, to friends, to family, to loved ones, to pets, even to artificial objects during frustrated times.

And yet, it is the most important question to have ever been given conscious form.

What do you want?


And feel free to post leading directly on from where you last were :)


Just as a small OOC DM thing, and I am happy to give to IC confirmation of this one way or another, if you like, but the wishes - one each - are actually not going to be twisted. He seems to not like to do that, it's his 'job', and for this one moment, until you truly free him, he will grant what you want, rather than what you have asked for.

Within reason, of course...I mean, he couldn't kill a god for you. And even then, only because that would bring the attention of the rest right down upon you. But when those are the sorts of limits we are speaking about, you are talking about a pretty powerful boom.

Choose wisely.

Or simply choose to have the orc returned, and the shadow man re-imprison himself. It will work. Trust me, I'm a DM :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:13, Sat 29 Aug 2015.

Nym is staring in awe at the man-shaped shadow.

"You're...magic?" she repeats. "Actual magic? Like what's in me? Like this?"

She holds out a hand and a little dog-shaped cloud of purple smoke emerges, chases its tail for a moment, then dissolves.

"But...if you were in there," she says, pointing at the portal, "how could you be...here?"

She gestures to herself, then all around her as though to encompass the world in general, with all its magical features.

I'll need to think about the Wish thing - I have no idea what Nym would want since that's not really how her mind works. But as she's having trouble getting her head around what the guy just said about himself, I can have her puzzling over that for a while before I need to come up with something ;).

Meri moved away from the alcove she had been at, reaching down to pick up the helmet on the floor and slowly circling around the Shadow towards the central dais, eventually pausing close to Nym's position and sitting on the floor.

"So the Ball and the Dog were kind of a test then?  Or a call for help?" she asked, "to try to draw people here to find ones who could free you from Krunluc's control?  Were there any more of them out there?"


OOC: Curious about that :)
This message was last edited by the player at 15:05, Sat 29 Aug 2015.

The Shadow seemed to smile, if such a thing could be seen on its face. "Indeed. Magic itself. In a way."

The Ball and The Dog moved across to where the others were. Especially with Nym and Meri in rapt attention, The Shadow looked like some spiritual teacher.


"You see, the world and all in it was formed from light spun from dark. And the light gained awareness and became the gods, and the dark gained awareness from being observed, and became ... well, things best not spoken of, here of all places. Words have power, where reality is so fragile.

"And what is darkness but yearning, always pulling towards the light to claim it, snuffing it out. And what is the light but fear, flaring all the brighter to ward off the dark and yet simply becoming more and more alluring.

"And yet there is a boundary, between the light and the dark. The Shadow. In the darkness there is nothing. And in the light there is only what there is, perfectly highlighted and defined. Only in the shadows is there uncertainty. Something may be there, it may not be there. Imagination can replace fact. Probability replacing certainty. And that is where you mortals were formed. And that is where I gained awareness. Only in the shadow, the boundary, is there potential. The wish. Where fear of what could be and yearning for what should be have a home. All mortals sways this way and that way between it. And those with more imagination, more certainty, more faith than others find that potential flows in their veins. Not god given power, but true power pulled from the world itself and your place in it. I was given life by your imagination, I am magic because of you. You do not have magic because of me. The gods could shackle me to shackle you, but they could not destroy me while you all lived. Not once you knew the power you alone as mortals possess.

"So yes, magic was limited while I was away. Yet it cannot be removed while there are ones such as you that exist."


The Shadow then turned to Meri. "The wave of magic released upon the portal's open was a byproduct of the ritual, yet to the gods thinking I suppose it was to be an early warning of sorts of my return. Of course, the gods did not count on their most faithful being the ones to want me to return, and so slowly but surely erasing the meaning of the signs from record. I suspect very few would now know the meaning of what happened. Though I daresay that it has happened in so many places and so far afield that any it happens to, or who can feel such signs, will know that something unusual has occurred. Something significant."

The Shadow gave a small gesture of beckoning to The Ball, and after briefly hovering around Nym and Meri as if looking for permission, excitedly moved across. The Ball placed around the outstretched hand, become light then dark in opposition to the lighting in the room. With a wave of his hand The Shadow restored the torches and the sun alcove stopped flaring.

"I am afraid the Gods are the ones who try to bind those under them with fate. Pointing the finger and saying who lives, who dies, who is the hero, and who is the villain. The world should not work that way. I am afraid that there was no rhyme nor real reason for why these magical twists of reality occurred, why you were the ones to come here and free me. You were not picked, other than you were apparently the right people at the right time who had the right thing happen to them. You could have ignored what was going on, you could have acted differently. The world is potential. There is a different universe where a wizard, his polymorphing cat and a goblin bat handler came together to defeat evil. There is another where evil quietly carried on, quashing all curiosity, and finally a new Dark Orcish God formed to overthrow Gruumish whom he had once worshiped, and plunged reality in to unending night."

The Shadow looked sadly across at The Dog. "I can certainly prefer some possibilities to others, but it is mortals that determine and should determine their fates. I used the knowledge that opening of the portal would be seen, to try and deter our friend Krunluc from completing the ritual. I may wish my freedom, but not at any cost. Sadly, instead he set about more...fatal...measures to deter any who would be drawn by the magic."


The Dog seemingly ignored the attention, and was instead waddling slowly and sadly across to Meri. The Dog stuck a small paw up, trying to touch one of the glowing green stones. It looked to Nym then Meri in turn with large, sad eyes, whimpering quietly, then tried to paw the gem again. This time he managed to brush a pad on the bottom of the stone.

Suddenly, there was a flare of green light. The stone emptied, and green mist twirled around The Dog, and the familiar was lifted up in to the air. It sneezed at the intrusion of the mist, the first time becoming a small cat, the second back to its dog shape, and the third time a tiny black and green dragon with large, surprised eyes.

It wheeled around for a moment around Meri's head and the crown, the green mist trailing around it, if one squinted seeming like a person trying to hold on with a barely formed hand to its back. The tiny dragon squeaked them meowed them barked, then breathed out, though nothing but sad mist came out.

However, the mist around it whirled quickly around it. There was another louder sneeze, and the tiny dragon became a draon the size of a large dog. The Dog - or The Dragon - leapt excitedly up in to the air, no longer surrounded by green mist, and looking far more confident. It gave a single, happy roar, and then opened its mouth and breathed towards the helm Meri possessed.

Green ephemeral fire exploded around the helm, causing no sensation except the moving of air around Meri. Still, the other six gemstones dimmed, the energy pushed out. Something human looking and five goblin looking clouds of mist formed in surprise. The Dragon roared again, shooting up in to the air.

All around, the spirits - at least the humanoid ones - had been shifting with no purpose. Now they all started condensing on The Dragon's position. The six green spirits pushed to the front, and The Dragon nodded to them.

It hovered in the air, and with a bark then roar looked to Meri and Nym in turn, firing a small gout of green fire in the air and flapping its wings happily. Wings that were already starting to look no more solid than a shadow in summer's day.

With a final twirl, and a small gout of flame and wing flap to The Ball and The Shadow, The Dragon leapt to the air and headed towards the roof. All the spirits joined it, and in a strange gout of mist every spirit disappeared through the roof.

Only one excited roar echoed, sounded far more distant and fading than it should have. The other spirits of element and emotion had already departed, it seemed, back to where they slumbered in the earth. And now the ghosts of those who had passed had gone too.


The hall felt empty.


*sniff* Bye bye Dog :( We'll never forget you!

And who knows who may one day return...
This message was last edited by the player at 15:55, Sat 29 Aug 2015.

Meri yelped in surprise, dropping the helm on the floor, leaping up and fumbling for her staff again.
As the spirits in the room disappeared though she seemed to relax, looking up at the ceiling where they had gone.

A hint of a sad look passed across her face as she looked back down at the helm.  She didn't move to pick it up again though, simply leaving it there and resuming her seated position, leaning back against the central dais...


OOC: Hmm, guessing the wizard the Dog once belonged to was one of the souls trapped in the helm.  So the Dog freed its former master and they went off together?
Eh?  What?  No, I've just got something in my eyes, that's why they're watering a bit...  *sniff*

Nym watches with interest as the Dog becomes a dragon and lets the humanoid and goblinoid shapes out of the gems in the crown.

"Oh, is that your friend?" she asks. "You found him again - that's good."

She watches as they disappear through the ceiling.

"Bye, then." she says, giving a little wave. She looks back at the shadowy being. "So the doggy is back with his friend now, forever and ever, right? That seems like a good thing. I mean, I don't think they're gonna be split up again now, are they?"

She glances around the room.

"You know, what you said about light and darkness. Darkness isn't always bad. I mean, night is dark, and if it wasn't we wouldn't be able to see all the pretty sparkly stars. And it would be really hard to get to sleep. And light's not always a good thing, either. If too much light shines in your eyes then you can't see anything. Well, except the light shining in your eyes. Until they stop working. Your eyes, I mean. And Gobbat can't see - his eyes don't work. So for him it's always dark, but he doesn't seem to mind. He seemed like a nice person, just living with his bat-friends, who like the dark as well. Shadow's good, it's like a bit of both sides. You need that, I think - a bit of everything, otherwise there's too much of one thing and stuff starts to go wrong."

She looks down at the dropped crown, then goes to pick it up and looks closely at it and its dulled gems.

"This is kind of a strange thing." she says. "I wonder if I can make the gems light up again. It doesn't look very nice, though. Maybe it will change. Stuff seems to do that sometimes..."

She puts it on her head, which takes a couple of attempts as she forgets that she now has horns and bangs the crown against them once or twice. She finally looks back at the shadowy entity.

"So is magic going to be different in the world now?" she asks. "Will it go all strange? Are you going to do something to it? You mentioned that the gods put you in there."

She points at the lifeless frame of the portal.

"If they know you're out here again, will they think it was us who did it?" she asks. "I mean, if they put you in there then it must mean they didn't want you to get out, and they might be angry with us if they think we let you out, even though we didn't. I don't really want any angry gods after me. I don't really know to much about most of them but I know they're the most powerful things in the whole of everything and sometimes they mess with how things work in the world because they're trying to fight each other, or something."

She pauses as a thought occurs.

"Did they all put you in there?" she asks. "It's just that I thought a whole load of the gods had different views from each other and spent a lot of time fighting each other over that sort of thing. Did they finally find something they all agreed on?"

Whole bunch more questions for Mr Wishy there :).

Mr Wishy, new from Hasbro (comes with portal playset including 8 stones. Heroic artificer, heroic sorcerer, and nasty orc shaman sold separately.

Oh, and to remove some confusion, The Shadow is simply playing with The Ball, letting it buzz around his hands while he talks. The restoration of the light had nothing to do with The Ball and everything to do with Mr Wishy apparently possessing the great powers that any first level wizard with prestidigitation possesses :p Ok, sure, he's got about 10 times the range on the effect, I'll give him that :D


The Shadow watches the display with an unfathomable expression. "Yes. Some mages have the ability to project themselves - their more innocent side, their more inquisitive side - in to a familiar. I see the magic of the portal did some unusual things to the familiar, sadly what brought the mage here. I am glad in some small way that consequence has been mitigated, as best as it could be."

[Secret to Meri: Meanwhile Meri had felt the echo of something in her head. Some benign warmth from where the Dragon's fire had touched her. As if, somewhere in the reaches of her mind, a tiny part of The Dog had settled inside herself as a solid memory, a final gift of thanks for rescuing it and in turn letting it rescue its master.


I did say that if Nym didn't want The Dog there would be some other effect of its magic. The echo of the wizard has now left an echo of itself in Meri's brain. You permanently gain 1 Intelligence point. Not useful now, but you might find that it will be useful in conjunction with your leveling up soon... and in future, if you ever just scrape by with an intelligence based roll, it can always be from some odd quirk or memory or fact Meri didn't know herself :)
]
The Shadow meanwhile looked back to Nym, and seemed to smile somewhere. Black teeth and lips parting in the blackness of its face. Maybe.

"Indeed, balance. It is like the balance the two of you possess. One of you could be described as 'light', as innocent and free as the day. And yet it is you who feel the burning of magic - the yearning of the dark - most strongly. Whilst the other, has roots so dark. And yet the fear that only the light possesses."

The Shadow looks to Meri directly. Black eyes somehow easy to see, or at least feel, looking at her. "You made a wish in your heart, I could feel it, at the moment of the ritual. And yet you resisted. Not for selfish fear of the wish being twisted, as our friend Krunluc did. No, you had the more healthy fear of a path misspent. You know that progress is so much better than regress. I am sad that your roots and call to magic has most likely started from darkness. And yet where you channel it - in the energies of creation - can only be said to be 'light' in nature."

The Shadow gestured to the two of them. "In a random world you were the perfect ones to usher me back. Will the world change, upon my return? I hope not. For one I hope the gods do not realise their shackle has come back to silently work again. Certainly I would not bring their eyes down upon you. And I hope in my absence mortals have not become less driven to greatness than they were before. I am, after all, merely the embodiment of a tool within you all. Perhaps in time those who would have hit upon a ceiling may find ways to seek me out, and unlock greater potential. Who can say?"

The Shadow gestured to the helm, and it hovered over to him. "Yes, this helm is more godlike than truly magical. Turning the lives of mortals - even their ends - in to servitude. Still, it is a simple matter to change it, just slightly." The Shadow concentrated on the helm. It did not seem to change at all, but The Shadow gave the impression of being satisfied. "There. All mortal lives have magic in them, have potential. It is a sad time when that potential collapses to The Light, or to The Dark, fixed. However, at that time these gems will now harness the potential lost, and allow you to use the magic now freed."

The Shadow gestured for the helm to go to Nym, and it floated in the air towards the mage. "Perhaps your artificer friend can make some...improvements...to its shape. It seems too black, and too rigid for you."

The Shadow seemed to consider something. "Yes, the gods find little in common with each other. Indeed, they share only one need - mortals - and one fear - that mortals will outgrow them. It made the 'good' ones act with intolerance, sure they were removing something dangerous from their children, but showing they trusted no mortal, rather than the wrong mortals. And yes, even the 'evil' gods found a single reason to set aside their differences, against a common foe even those lords of death and destruction and fear found terrible. It is quite the thing, is it not?"

The Shadow seemed to shake off the thought, especially as The Ball kept bobbing around, eager to play. "Now, this little curious thing. Isn't it amazing?"

The Shadow turned to the two again. "While they would not be truly considered natural, clearly they normally have an origin much different from the one that occurred here. And a good thing too. Normally they become such hated creatures, hating everything - even their own kind - first. They should be the mortal closest to my heart, and yet the race sadly uses its potential for destruction, for hording, for solitude. It even naturally produces a means to remove the magic of others."

The Shadow looked to the others for comment, to see if they understood yet what they had created. "And yet here, we perhaps have hope. The species, you see, is actually two people in one. Two brains, forming a paranoid, uneasy alliance. A paranoia that goes out in to the world. And yet perhaps if it takes after you, it will instead have two complimentary brains. Perhaps with 'parents' other than its own kind, a better example, a more pure love of magic...perhaps it shall grow to be something new, and good."

The Shadow gave one last look to the other two, then gently beckoned for The Ball to come forwards. It did so hesitantly, sitting on an outstretched hand.

"Time to come out of your shell," The Shadow whispered, gently tapping The Ball. The outer surface of the ball went silvery and reflective for a moment, and then shattered in to motes of nothing. Underneath, a far more scaly surface could be seen, scaly skin. The sheen of the skin and scales was pinkish white, though blotches of darker colours were apparent for the moment.

The small ball of scales hovered uncertainly in The Shadow's hands. Four tiny tentacles raised from the top of it, and little eyes appeared, wide and innocent and blinking as is waking up. There seemed to be four other eyes on the top of its head, barely raised out form the forehead, also blinking.

The centre of the ball of scales - or at least the surface - then split open horizontally. A huge eye with a vibrant green iris and wide pupil was revealed. The eye blinked once or twice, and the smaller eyes all looked around.

The tiny creature - a miniature beholder - looked at first towards Nym, then Meri. And then did so again. And then again. Finally, somewhere on the very bottom of it, a tiny mouth with tiny needles for teeth opened up.

"Neh," came the noise as it looked to Nym.

"Meh," came the different noise, as it looked to Meri.

It hovered uncertainly again, wobbling as it tried to gain a little more altitude on The Shadow's hands, wobbling as it had to compensate for the unbalancing effect of excitable eye stalks.


Lol, and that's the secret of The Ball! Ta-da? You guys created a beholder! Isn't he/she cute? You know, with all the eyes... umm...well, maybe, maybe not (I'll withold a beauty is in the eye of the beholder joke)

So, you have a new friend. As I'm sure will be pointed out, you'll need to decide what to do with them, of course. Find somewhere for them to live, raise them yourselves, entrust them to someone else but act as their guardians... The really important thing, of course, it to give the little fella a name!

Also, without its protective shell and apparently strong initial anti-magic protection from that shell, Meri might not be able to blast it every two seconds with static :D
This message was last edited by the player at 09:28, Sun 30 Aug 2015.

Meri simply stared at the creature that had "hatched" from the ball, her expression suggesting she was half-expecting to wake up back in her workshop and find she'd dreamed everything that was happening here.
Perhaps she'd accidentally inhaled some Id Moss spores, or maybe Nym's magic had gone out of control again and done something weird to her...


OOC: There were a few things I thought the Ball might be, but this definitely wasn't one of them...
Not sure what Meri would know about Beholders, all I know about them is they can instakill things with their eyes, which doesn't make me nervous at all, nope, not at all...
(Out of curiosity, can I get a dark equivalent of Swift Fox's mirrored shield as well?  No reason!  hehe)

OMG AAWWWW CUUUUUUTE!!! BABBY BEHOLDER! :D :D :D Okay so I was confused when the Shadow was describing it as a "species" because I thought it was just a ball that had somehow been animated. Then he mentioned "removing the magic of others", which brought to mind a beholder just because I know their central eye dispels magic. Wasn't expecting that, though. Omg yay now we can freak people out with him (as though Nym by herself couldn't manage that already) :D.

Nym's eyes go wide as the Ball becomes a tiny beholder. She stares in a sort of awed fascination mixed with the expression of someone who's just seen something unbelievably cute. At the former ball's attempt at saying her name, she claps her hands together like a child.

"Yes! That's right, I'm Nym." she says. "What's your name? Do you have one? Aaww, look at all your eyes! That's so...I mean, I wasn't even expecting it but...wow."

She looks at the shadowy creature.

"Um. Did you say we made him?" she asks. "How come? I thought it was the ritual thingy that made these things happen, like it did with the doggy...dragon...friend. I thought Ball was just...a ball. I mean, all magic, but still a ball. How come he's now..."

She gestures toward the tiny mass of eyes.

Can't remember whether Beholders are magical or Aberrant. Can I just roll a d20 and you apply the skill rating for whichever skill is applicable from my character sheet? I just rolled a 14 :).

Yup, it's a tiny beholder :) I believe the two brains thing is might be new to 5th edition, or buried in lore/novels, but everything the Shadow said is canon, so Nym would know it as true with that roll. Beholders are aberrant so dungeoneering applies, though I was also happy to go with arcana for magical nature (as I said, a secondary knowledge skills seems an idea with only two players, plus I prefer it). Still, your highest is Dungeoneering, so you get a 22 overall and also stuff that doesn't overlap with Meri. Yay!


The tiny beholder looks confused at the question, and looks between Meri then back to Nym then back to Meri then back to Nym as if looking for the answer there. It temporarily rotates on The Shadow's hand to look for answers there. Seeing none in the black and impassive, if amused, face its eye stalks and eyes start looking at each other, bobbing and weaving if they can to take good looks. The beholder itself tries to rotate its central eye to look up at the top of its own head, making many struggling 'eh' noises.

Finally, all the eyes look back to the two companions as if in exited unison. "Me-ne!" it says triumphantly. It sounds a little like 'Many'.

So there you go, it's name is Many :D Is that a good name? Who knows! Not it, it's just been born, but you gave it the choice to name itself so there you go.

Also, I just looked up a word and started laughing maniacally at the definition of it. Maybe one day I'll share what that word is :D


The Shadow looks from the beholder to Nym, gently moving its hand to guide Many towards the floor so it could wobble its way towards the two. "I presume it was created by a combination of both of your magic. The wave of the portal opening would only have created small fluctuations and twisting of what existed already. The dog was an existing familiar, after all, not spontaneously formed. Perhaps one of the spirits like the ones you have seen around, spirits that drift around us never seen, was close - a spirit of curiosity - to be drawn in. But one way or another the life and form suggest a manifestation of your own magics. Certainly, you have already proved you both and your magic is something greater than what you are separately."

[Private to Nym: Knowledge roll results to come, on phone...
Lol, I can finish an update one handed while distracted or a 'quick' character post, but knowledge stuff needs both hands to badly type! So, Nym will sort of know or at least have no reason to doubt what The Shadow said. In addition, she would have heard that normal Beholders have ways to disintergrate rock (and people, you could suppose) to dig in to the ground and form underground lairs. They tend to be fun, complicated affairs with odd structure like chimneys and hgih ceilinged rooms stacked on top of each other, that let the beholder move about as they desire but are harder for other creatures to navigate and sneak around inside. They do tend to horde things too, usually grisly trophies from previous battles. They tend to stick to their own kind, and any others that are in their lair are usually charmed or oppressed slaves. The nicknane of the beholder is the 'eye tyrant' for a reason. Still, those are other beholders, not this cute little thing. As The Shadow said, it has had a different birth and different 'parents'.]
This message was last edited by the player at 21:44, Sun 30 Aug 2015.

"Curiosity" murmured Meri quietly, watching the small creature.

Then she looked up at the Shadow.
"My wish before was more of a foolish dream than a true wish.  Any praise for my restraint in wishing for it would be misplaced."

She looked over at Nym, her gaze occasionally moving between the helm and Nym's head, as if thinking over the suggestion of modifying its shape to fit her better.
Timur poked his head out of her backpack again, looked towards the Shadow and then at the tiny Beholder and immediately dropped back into the pack again, emitting an odd metallic sound that vaguely resembled a sigh...

"Many?" repeats Nym as the beholder gives itself a name. "Well, that makes sense - look how many eyes you have! Wow, you must be able to see everything!"

She pauses.

"Well, not quite everything. I mean, I don't mean everything-everything. Just...you know...everything...um...that can be seen from where you're looking. How come you can't fly properly any more? You were bouncing around all over the place, but now you're out of that ball it seems like you can't. How come you could see and stuff, anyway? While you were in the ball, I mean? Was it see-through but only from one side, or something?"

She pauses again as a thought occurs, then looks over at Meri.

"Hey...he just said we made him." she says, referring to the Shadow's statement about Many. "We made a baby. Um. It's not really something I know about in very specific details...I mean, it's never come up. But I'm pretty sure this isn't how it's usually done..."

Ok, I am so leaving Meri to answer that comment before I update :D

Though I will point out to Nym I've updated her PM with the knowledge roll info.

Cool, have just read it :). Nym may comment on it in between spamming people with questions and random comments :).

A hint of a wry smirk crossed Meri's face as she glanced up at Nym.
Pulling off her backpack, she dropped it to one side of her while reclining back against the dais, prompting Timur to poke his head out of it again and look around warily.

"Certainly nothing I ever planned on either" she replied with a sigh.  "Personally, I'd rather have run naked and unarmed through the Nine Hells while shouting insults at all of the Dark Gods with a target painted on me than ever have children!"

She raised a hand and ran it through her hair with a somewhat exasperated look.
"Still, at least this one probably doesn't have any elf blood in it, so not so bad" she added.


OOC: Yep, Meri has all the maternal instinct of a zombie, but at least she seems more resigned to the situation than freaked out.  And Timur is like: "I give up trying to figure this out, can we go home now?!"  :)

The Shadow looked to Meri at her first comments, a seemingly amused wrinkle on his face. "You think most mortal's conscious desires are not foolish dreams? To be mortal with so little time appears to be to spend most of that time drifting in the barely remembered pasts or unresolving futures. Do you really think Krunluc's earnest desire, had he wished it properly, would have brought him any real joy? And yet he pushed ahead. Do not belittle your clear eyes, for they are more rare than you may think. Fear and yearning can cloud mortal eyes far too easily, to navigate away from the self imposed shackles of the past and avoid false futures is truly a feat."

Meanwhile Many had turned all his eyestalks aroudn and around in hypnotic snake-like dances to prove Nym's point, then the beholder starts spinning on the spot as if chasing its own tail looking all around. It then looks to Nym with his tiny mouth turned in what approached a broad smile, or maybe imitating Nym's own expression. "Erreh-teh! Erreh-teh!" [Private to Nym: You can assume he's saying 'everything' :) Having Nym have high passive insight is cool!]

That expression falls a little when Nym mentions the flying. Its eyestalks look upwards, as does its central eye - or tries too. The central eye screws up as if in effort, and with a series of small bounces as spins the beholder tries to rise high in the air air and dance as it did before.

However, it ends up bobbing back near the ground, panting heavily and its eyestalks all wobble and sagging as if dizzy.

The Shadow regarding the beholder's efforts then answered Nym's questions. "In its shell the beholder was protected from the effects of the world - weight and friction included. I could feel the smooth shell resisting and riding upon the currents of magic, curving them as needed. And I believe it relied upon the senses of yourselves and those it considered friends to navigate emotionally and perceptively around the world. Still, a mortal must stand on their own at some point. I believe he is doing rather well, given its protection has been stripped away for all of five minutes. It just needs to find its feet, and get used to the strangeness of everything happening to it. Can you even recall how you dealt with the strangeness of being thrust in to such an overwhelming world?"

The beholder turned to The Shadow as it spoke, and seemed to perk up when told it was doing rather well. It looked back to Nym and Meri with a hopeful smile. Its expression seemed confused for a moment at Meri's words, but on reflection seemed to take it as a compliment and bobbed a little left and right while the eyestalks seemed to take turns bowing to each other.

It was The Shadow who seemed less than pleased about some of Meri's words. He brought a finger to his lips, and the gentle 'shh' he made carried across the whole hall.

"Here is not the place to joke of such things. Not here. Not at this time." The finger then pointed towards the alcove where the golden chalic had been placed. Whereas before it had taken the clear stone to see the hand that held the chalice, now it was very clearly visible hovering with the cup, and the cup seemed to be turned not to the portal, but raised in toast to Meri and Nym. "Many of the aspects in this hall are both symbolic and...not. If the normal gods are fear, and always looking everywhere and so missing what is under their nose, then...other ones...are yearning. And yearning needs nothing but the merest whisper of possibility in a mortal's head and heart to draw their attention. I would not speak their names, nor even acknowledge their existence, whilst in this hall. Certainly not whilst I am here."

The Shadow then seemed sad for a reason. "And that is a matter that must, eventually, be remedied. You might suspect by my method of entry that the power and rules of my imprisonment had a certain...flexibility. They could be bent under the right circumstances. But not broken. I have managed to gain a foothold because the shaman had a wish in his heart when he opened the portal, and then spoke a wish out loud. However, that is a twisting of the magic to get me out. No, he had lost the power. I am not truly freed. And the longer I stay here, not in yet not out, the more I may draw attention, in the one place most dangerous to stand. I am afraid, Meri, that you did make a wish in your heart - one I would not grant you if I have a choice. And yet to appease the magic here, it would do to free me. I owe you both a great debt, and I believe I can bend the rules of this place to grant a wish to each of you. And Nym's wish can wait, though when I am free of this place I am chained, and my ability to truly show my gratitude becomes shackled by my purpose. But you, Meri, your wish has the power here. It is both my debt to you and yet my burden to take satisfy, one way or the other. I would rather give you what you want and need consciously rather than what you dreamed of and desired unconsciously. I think we can both agree upon that, can we not?"

Lol, so no pressure, but one way or another, and soon, a wish of Meri's must be granted to fulfill the ritual. Of course, typical its Nym that has something solid to wish for. Still, if you don't mind saving up a more limited wish for later, you can always grant Nym's wish now as Meri's spoken wish.

Still, you can, indeed Meri, wish for anything. Like later, not so much without worrying about twisted wording, but right now, it can be anything....
This message was last edited by the player at 14:20, Sun 04 Oct 2015.

Nym herself doesn't consciouslyknow what it is she's wishing for, but it might start to make sense once said wish is granted. I'm interested to know what Meri's wish is, anyway...hopefully not for all elves to die or something ;). Maybe she wishes for some kind of super-cool magical device or something...imagine if we had a magical spaceship or the equivalent of a jetpack :D.

Nym giggles at Many's attempts at flight, and kneels down.

"Aaw, don't worry, Many." she says cheerfully. "You'll get the hang of it eventually. Just keep precticing and I'm sure it'll be easy one day. After all, baby birds can't fly straight away, can they? They have to jump out of trees and flap around a lot and maybe crash a few times, or something. And they have feathers. I don't really know how feathers catch the wind they way they do...maybe it's the shape. Or maybe feathers are just another kind of magic. I wonder if I had feathers, if I'd be able to fly..."

She trails off and holds up a hand, each finger of which momentarily changes in appearance to look vaguely feather-like, if still somewhat finger-shaped. Then they change back and she shrugs.

"I think it'd be rather difficult..." she says, more to herself than to anyone else. "Maybe I'll try it again some day."

She looks back at Many.

"Hey," she says, a thought occurring, "don't other beholders normally live in caves, or something? They dig them by zapping them with their eyes, I think. Does that mean you're going to live in a cave? I've heard other beholders aren't very nice. But you don't seem like that. You're our friend, aren't you? Are you going to leave us or will you stay? I'd like it if you stayed. I like having friends..."

She holeds out a hand toward Many to see if he'll come over.

[Private to GM: Thinking about it, I think Nym is secretly lonely, evne if she herself doesn't even realise it - she spends her time being actively friendly toward anyone who'll put up with her for more than five seconds, even if they were being unpleasant a short time before, and technically has no particular reason to be hanging around with Meri. All the more reason to get a familiar, even if technically it means she'll just be talking to herself whenever she addresses...her. I suppose the familiar would be female if it's just a part of Nym's magic made into a more constant material form. In Meri's case I think she probably built Timur and then put her magic into him, but in Nym's she will actually sort of spawn him out of herself (oh what a wonderful mental image), as it were, though she won't have a clue what's happening until it's happened and she realises what this random small creature in front of her actually is :D.]

Meri watched the small Beholder's attempts to fly, various hints of emotion flickered in her eyes, but eventually a hint of her grin resurfaced.

"I think I've used and abused their names so often they probably don't even notice it any more.  But I understand what you mean" she remarked.

She eyed the alcove with the chalice then reached back and took the clear stone from her pack, turning it over in her hands and examining it as she spoke up again.
"My dream is exceptionally foolish though.  You see, in learning my art, I've gained some understanding of arcane forces, and structures, causes and effects."

She raised the clear stone, peering through it at the Beholder before lowering it again and looking up at the Shadow.
"The only wish I have would unravel time itself, wrenching its structure in such a way that I would fear for its stability.  For one thing, I would likely no longer exist, at least not in this form.  Therefore, I would never have learned the skills I have now, I would never have met Nym and never have embarked on the journey here, opposing the Shaman and freeing you, therefore you would not have been in a position to grant my wish, and...  Well, I'm sure you understand the paradox.  Perhaps there is a way to safely twist a foundation into a new configuration without affecting the structure that rests on it, but I would not want to attempt it myself.  So that particular wish will only ever remain a foolish dream.  A yearning, as you say."

A weak hint of a smile crossed her face and she began to idly flip the stone around in her fingers.
"What of you though?  Would you rather be free to choose your own purpose, than shackled by one chosen for you?"


OOC: Yep, this guy does remind me a little of the Genie from Aladdin.  (And now I have to try not to imagine him speaking in Robin Williams' voice!)
Also yep, Meri's greatest desire would effectively unravel time itself and most likely cause her to cease to exist (at least in her current form, which might introduce the possibility of generating a new character, hmmm).  What would The Doctor do?  (O.o)


[Private to The Altweaver: As you've probably guessed, her wish is simply a sad yearning to have lived a normal happy life.
Yet her existence right now was shaped by her past and eventually brought her to this place, so chances are, it would never have happened which meant she wouldn't have freed the Shadow and it wouldn't have been able to grant that wish which would have unravelled it all again, resetting the original path, which would have also unravelled itself, creating an alternate path, which would have also...  Yeah, ok, I think you get where I'm going with this!  hehe.]

I'm gyessing she wishes she had different parents (ie the elf one not an elf, at least), or that she wasn't even born, or that whatever elves were mean to her previously hadn't been and so she would've been okay staying with them or something, instead of leaving and having this life instead.

The beholder looked around the hall at Nym's question, then vigorously shook its eyes stalks and body, pivoting about its own axis a couple of times. "Nyuh", came the little squeak of a voice. Nym's second set of questions seemed to confuse and worry Many until the last one. The the eye stalks were vigorously shaken forwards and backwards as Many rocked in place. "Nyeh! Nyeh!" It looked at her for a long moment, eyes wrinkling deep in concentration at something. "F...eh. Feh! Feh! Nyeh! Nyeh!"

Perhaps the concept had been a large one to understand, but Many happily moved across to Nym's hand once he has sorted it out and agreed with it. Settled happily on her hand, Many then went back to trying to fly. Or, for the moment, he seemed to be trying to perfect spinning on the spot without getting dizzy. "Erreh-teh. Erreh-teh," he seemed to mutter to himself as he did so, then occasionally stop and look to Nym for approval.

[Private to Nym: Aww, poor Nym! Sounds about right, sadly. I hope she gets tons of friends over the adventure!]

Lol, the Genie from Aladdin? Maybe I should have him turn bright blue :D


When Meri looked through the crystaline clear stone, she could see nothing different, aside form the refraction. Although the shadow cast by The Shadow, which she had not appreciated was a faint thing, seemed far more scattered than it should be.

"Ah, the eladrin thought they were being so clever," said The Shadow when he noted the clear stone in Meri's hand. "One reason to keep a part of the ritual separate was to act as a key, or sorts. After all, if you have one piece free then you can keep it safe. And if you cannot reset the ritual again and regain the bloodstone from the cup, then you cannot complete the ritual to reverse the effect. That was not why the stone was kept separate, but it was a handy side effect."

The Shadow gestured to the chalice again. With a snap of his fingers, the hand disappeared and the cup was in the recess once more. "Now, a powerfulmage could have still overridden the magic there. But not anymore. Meri, for as long as you possess the stone no one can unlock this place. Keep the stone safe. Destroy it if you can. For the magic of the portal may be far weaker with me gone, but it is still a device of communication. This place could still otherwise be found and used, perhaps to locate a different power. One far less encouraging of mortals yet  far freer with its supposed sharing of power, if you understand my meaning. I fear actually destroying this place or at least burying it might have...unintended consequences for those living close to here. There are weaknesses in the earth that should not be disturbed..."

The Shadow then concentrated fully on Meri, perhaps thinking upon her other comments. "Paradox?" it said eventually. "A very mortal concept. That thinking is one of your greatest strengths, the power of ignorance. I am sorry, that sounded insulting. Not knowing the limits can be what allows you to break limits. But there are other times when you impose limits where there are none. A believe that consequence follows action, that cause must be present before effect, pushes you to understand and do so much. But it is not the truth of the multiverse. Nothing inside the multiverse has the power to destroy the multiverse. That paradox is for the mortal mind alone. The more awareness you gain of yourself, the less you understand your core. Two desperate entities vied for a chance to exist, unthinking but with that solid drive at their core, and came together. And exploded in complexity until here you stand. That such an entity can surround not one but two points of light and imagine their end, or seek the end of other such miraculous points of life, that should be the incomprehensible thoughts."

The Shadow shrugged off the train of thought. "If you did consciously unmake yourself in 'time', I would still be as free from my timeless prison. The foundation would not be twisted, you would find the foundation existed that way all along. That is was unknotting itself. Still, it is better for us all if you keep this 'fear'. It is the good kind. By being aware of consequence you great consequence in the world. It is a good thing. And I am afraid that really, when you understand the truth of mortals, you may realise that the 'you' who wishes from the heart is not the one that spins words and thoughts around the core. It is mortal to think emotion follows thought. There is a core in yourself that is deep within the wish you think you toyed with. That true wish is far simpler than you know, and far easier to grant. And yet I think the conscious entity that is you would not like it. And I fear I would only be able to do so much to mitigate the effects of that wish, and allow you a path and time to reverse it." [Private to Meri: For some reason The Shadow's eyes flicked meaningfully to Nym for a second, as if in warning to Meri.
]
The Shadow rested clasped fingers below his chin, resting his elbows on his knees, clearly in thought. "And why would I wish to be free? I am Between. Tell me, which would you rather. Would you rather I give you an infinite workshop, and tell you to make whatever you would? Or would you rather I give you a solid item, simple but unformed. Nothing but raw, rough potential to be shaped as caught your imagination? Does your creativity became lessened when I constrain it, or does it deepen and grow? The balance - there is freedom being constrained."

The Shadow gave a small smile. "The gods may think they had the upper hand when they shackled me. They may have thought themselves the winners when I was imprisoned. And yet, here you both stand. You do not seem lesser than any mortals I have ever met. Quiet the contrary, in fact. And I presume you are not too far removed from where the lands above us are now? So tell me, do you think my desires are better served if I could be truly free? After all, I was free once, and the gods decided that was not a good thing. Much death and destruction was wrought on the world by the yearning of those who used my gifts when I had no awareness, and by those in fear of those gifts. Do we not value all the more than which we earn, which we have to push for ourselves, which we need to set out backs against a limit and make it yield?"

The Shadow then clapped his hand. "And perhaps that is the problem. I have not given you a limit. You are free of the shackles I would impose any other time. Hmm, perhaps I can share an observation from times passed. Only the most clever would ever meet me. I existed to limit the wishes of mages, but only a rare few ever pushed those limits so much as to draw my attention, to have me see them face to face. To try and steer their cleverness as best I could."

"Ah, the ones who wished for infinite wishes? They never saw me. Never saw anything, they were...are.. locked in a fraction of an instant wishing the same wish. No, what was something truly clever? Ah yes, the simplest of wishes. To wish for a word, a word that would mean what the speaker meant it to mean. For diplomacy, they would say, so others would know the truth of their words, they would say. Of course it drew me, for I knew the next step. Still, a good try at twisting fate. They could then wish for a true wish, a wish untwistable. And I would allow them to make one. Always small and experimental and specific. And then with a smile thy would try again for their great wish. Of course, the trick the first time would be that they had redefined the word. It now meant the the first wish, not whatever wanted to change it to now. And I would appear to them, and congratulate them, but appeal to their caution, appeal to their intellect. Sadly by the time they met me, they yearned too much. Arrogance and greed. They would try again, with a new stipulation, for the word to always mean what they wanted it to mean. And so, of course, the word came to mean everything they wished for, past and present. None usually had the power to have more than a few simultaneous wishes occur at once, a growing cloud of their greed echoed at them again and again."

The Shadow came back to himself. "Sorry, my point was simply this. This was the level of cleverness I was tasked against, I admired yet tried to steer. Mortals had so much potential, yet could never get beyond their weaknesses. Never, not one time, did anyone ever think of how to phrase a true wish." The Shadow raised his hands, gesturing to the two companions. "No one ever, truly, wished something for someone else. It sees an easy way for it not to be twisted. To keep the desires pure. A wish cannot be twisted if it is not your ephemeral desire. Yet...never once. Not truly."

The Shadow then looked to Nym and Meri in turn. "Perhaps offering you anything, forcing you to look in to the infinite depths of yourselves, is unfair. Perhaps instead, you look one to the other, to the small certainty you have each been in the other's life, and ask yourself - what do you think they actually want?"


So much typing, best leave it there!

Given that Many is, according to the Shadow, partly made from the magic of both Meri and, more importantly, Nym, surely he could change to any colour you want and it not seem too weird ;).

Nym smiles at Many's attempts at speech, cupping her hands (after placing her staff on the floor beside her) so that he has a larger "platform" on which to practice bouncing up and down.

"Nyeh feh nyeh nyeh?" she repeats, pondering. Then she puts her head slightly to one side. "Yes? Forever and ever, yes?" she asks in a hopeful tone, attempting to translate what Many has been trying to say.

As the Shadow gives his lengthy speech to Meri, Nym at first pays attention to him, but after a short time starts watching Many instead, apparently both highly entertained by and encouraging of his efforts. She seems to have tuned out the Shadow, having grown bored with his philosphical musings, but at the last question glances up at him.

"I think Meri wants lots of things she can make with magic." she says in a cheerful tone, without even looking over at the half-elf or acknowledging her presence. "Or for there to be no elves. Or maybe for all the elves to be nice, even though lots of them actually are anyway, maybe even most of them, I don't know. Or maybe for people to leave her alone forever so she can work and be grumpy by herself. Or maybe to have some friends to stay with her forever, or at least as long as she wants because actually she isn't really grumpy but just pretends to be because lots of people have been nasty to her before and she thinks she doesn't deserve it or something silly like that."

She pauses.

"Actually, never mind that last one." she says brightly. "I'm pretty sure that one's already true."

She goes back to lightly bouncing Many in her hands as he tries to fly, and smiling and giggling at him as he gets the hang of being himself rather than a ball.

Meri stared over at Nym for a moment, then sighed and shook her head.
"Well, there's nothing I would wish for really.  If I absolutely have to make one, then it'll probably be something small.  I certainly wouldn't want to make a decision on Nym's behalf since I really don't understand her."

With that, she went back to studying the clear stone thoughtfully...


OOC: I really can't think of a wish at all.  Certainly not one Meri would want...
Rolled 27 (11 + 16) for Arcana to see if that clear stone could possibly be made into something useful later :)

Maybe try and think of something that Meri doesn't know she wants, because this guy seems to know that kind of stuff and can grant Meri some desire she has but doesn't know about that will ultimately make her happier (even if it doesn't immediately, it may do so in the long run or something). Nym has a similar situation in that there's not really anything in particular she consciously wants (other than to carry on life as she is, poking around and generally having fun, which she's already doing so doesn't need to wish for), but as a player I thought of something that would be cool and have a logical reason as to why Nym would want that, even if she doesn't actually realise it.
Or, you know, you could just wish that we both get to Level Thirty without anything excessively horrible (including death) happening to us, or something ;).

Nym pauses briefly in her actions with Many.

"That's okay. I don't either." she says without looking up. "I don't think anyone does."

She then carries on as before.

Aww, that's so sweet and sad Nym - from the playing with Many to being all 'you've got friends Meri' to being all 'no one understands me'

The beholder pauses as Nym tries to speak back. It sqrunches up its face as if trying to work out what Nym herself had said. However, after a moment it rocks back and forth. "Nyeh! Fe-neh-neh. Eh Neh-neh."

It seems happy, and then goes back to its attempts at flight, though switching it up with little attempts to raise up in the air steadily now without rocking, clearly concentrating intently in making sure its eye stalks behave. It seems to have to settle for them getting in sync with each other, one moving one way and another moving a different way to compensate. Each time he manages it higher or with more certainty, he turns to Nym with a wide eyes happy look.


Meanwhile, as Meri looks to the stone, an idea comes to mind regarding a possible use. [Secret to Meri: The thing was used to see invisible aspects in the ritual, and even bring forth things that are clearly hovering elsewhere in some fold of the planes. It might be easy to physically make the gem more of a lens, whilst magically tweaking it so it can see anything invisible. The force spectre that hid from them earlier comes to mind. Even if the stone couldn't see everything invisible, it might be able to see or pull back in to this plane creatures like the spectre and other spirits who shift to the astral plane to hide themselves. Alternatively, there might be a way to reverse the magic of it to allow the stone itself to be the thing to push an item or energy in to the astral plane. It seemed to somehow do it to the chalice. If so, it might be able to create a weapon that could properly harm the otherwise insubstancial spirits like the goblin ghost and the force spectre.

Hope that's two cool possible uses to contemplate?

Even as Meri looked to the stone, that familiar odd feeling of some magic just being on the edge of her consciousness, floating ideas and words to her, came upon her. It was an odd sensation soon passed. Fragments of words and sights around her, odd thoughts briefly came through her head.

Seeing Nym play with the small beholder, the plaintiff note in her voice about how long the beholder would stay with them. Yet of course one way or another the beholder would not stay with them forever. It was a creature that would grow and need its own space, even if the two decided that they were the best people to guide it through its early life. And Nym's sad agreement about 'no one truly understanding her' just made Meri think of Timur. Timur was an odd presence in Meri's life. He might be annoying sometimes, and yet he was always there ans seemed to know exactly what she needed. Meri had to forge that for herself, and there was aflash of the departed dog, and the bond across death it had shared with its owner.

Would Nym ever be able to have that, even if she wanted a true companion? The way it seemed her magic and focus worked, most likely not. A wizard had disciplne in magic and Meri had been able to craft physical items. Nym's magic seemed raw and haphazard and explosive and ephemeral in nature. Indeed, it was perhaps hard to fpcus on fulfilling a need if you were constantly distracting oneself from it...

The final flash was of a black face looking with sadness to Nym, then eyes flicking to Meri. The feeling of external pressure subsided...

Lol, Nym was pretty good at highlighting something she's realised about her character in the last few posts, and I reckoned The Shadow would perhaps be moved enough to maybe highlight that for Meri :)
]
The Shadow meanwhile looked to Nym. "Nymmerannemallar, you may keep your wish for when you do find a need. Just remember, outside of this place, there are limits enforced by the gods themselves. And yet a selfless wish is as close to a true wish as makes no odds. Never fear helping those who you think would need it. I can empower the stone to let me hear your wish. Or as I settle in to the world, there may be a chosen few acolytes who would act as my conduit, and who may provide whatever help they can to you too. Not just to receive the wish, but also aid you as they can. You will know them by their purple robes, all red and gold."

The Shadow then turned to Meri. "And you must act as you feel is best," he said at large. "But one way or another, to leave this place, to help mortals once more, and to free you both from the eyes of fear and yearning that may be drawn to you both, I must complete the ritual that summoned me here. I must answer a wish with a reward."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:05, Mon 31 Aug 2015.

"That's it, Many - you're getting it!" says Nym encouragingly as the tiny beholder's efforts seem to be having an effect. "And don't worry if you get tired - I can just carry you. Hmm...does this mean you need food now? What do you eat? I can make it taste like whatever you want, anyway..."

She looks up at the Shadow's comments on the eventual use of her Wish.

"Well, I don't really want anything." she says. "I was talking about this with Krunluc earlier - he was talking about wishes as well, and I was saying how people make wishes without being careful and get something they don't actually want, or that isn't quite what they intended when they made the wish. But I'm pretty happy like this, really. I mean, it's just me and Meri and Timur, and now Many who isn't Ball any more. And anyone else we meet, like Gobbat and Crass, even though they're not actually here so we can't just talk to them. But we can talk to each other instead. Well, I can talk to Meri if she's not being grumpy, and Timur if he's not busy or hiding or whatever...although he doesn't talk back in any language I understand - it's just weird noises. But Many can talk now, so that's good."

She smiles at the beholder and bounces him gently in her hands.

Meri smirked a little at Nym's reply to her comment, although it seemed more of a sad reflection of an emotion than anything real.

She turned to look at Timur's head poking out of her backpack, his gaze shifting back and forth between the tiny Beholder and the Shadow.
As she did, her expression seemed to grow oddly vacant for a moment, as if she had sunk into some sort of trance.
After a few moments, she shook her head slightly, snapping out of it.  And her gaze went to Nym and then back to Timur again.
Handing the stone to him, she nodded her head, as if coming to some sort of decision and looked up at the Shadow.

"Very well then.  I have no wish for myself, but if I have to wish for something, maybe I can wish for something that will truly understand Nym.  A being with a bond like the one the Dog had with its former master, an instinctive understanding transcending physical separation and even death.  I wish Nym had someone like that..."


OOC: Never too sure how to word this sort of thing.  Trying to think about it, all I got was the goblins from The Labyrinth going: "That's not it!  Where did she get that rubbish?  It doesn't even start with 'I wish'!"
So yeah, trying to give Nym a familiar.  No need to thank me!  (Though I accept gifts of ice cream!)  :D

Cool :). It's not like I already got this approved by the GM a couple of days ago and have it all set up and waiting or anything ;).

Nym blinks and looks over at Meri in surprise.

"A who what?" she asks, confused.

Aww, you guys are the best :) Also, Nym might have mechanically sorted out how to one way or another have a familiar mechanically how she wanted one, but getting it to her IC seems to have been a whole different problem! :p


Many gave a few more goes to keeping his balance while spinning and lifting himself, but then stopped and relaxed with a "hew!" sound, enjoying bouncing in Nymn's hands, letting his eyestalks bounce around too and keep his balance. The eyestalks hem seemed to do a little dance, as if in victory of the beholders successful efforts so far to move around without the help of its shell.

When Meri spoke, Many looked around at her words. If he understood the full import of them, he didn't seem annoyed at being potentially supplanted for Nym's attentions. Instead, the little beholder bounced off of Nym's hands, and with many a wobble rushed across to Meri's legs.

It tilted back, almost capsizing itself, eyestalks flailing for a moment but righting themselves, as it looked up with its big eye to Meri.

"Nyeh! Nyeh!" it said excitedly, rocking forwards and then looking looking back  expectantly over to Nym. "Nah-nah feh! Mah feh!" [Private to Nym: He might be saying 'Another friend, more friend.' :)]


The Shadow seemed to smile, though expression and features were more like impressions of the blank-yet-not-blank face. He nodded towards Meri. "Thank you," he said simple. He then looked over to Nym. "Wish granted."

He lifted himself up, and walked across to the confused Nym. He seemed to have grown slightly taller again, growing taller still as he moved over to stand beside Nym. He actually had to kneel to be level with her once more. [Secret to Meri: When he spoke, it seemed to be in a language that Meri could not understand - nor Many, it appeared, for the beholder looked to Meri hopeful but confused at what was happening. The only word that seemed even vaguely understandable was something that might have been 'Nymmerannemallar'.]

[Secret to Nym: "Nymmerannemallar," The Shadow said, looking directly at Nym. It was very easy to imagine compassionate eyes in that face. "It is the tragedy of those who walk the path of magic. To understand it, to understand my essence, is a personal journey for each one. Mages may form schools of study and pool their information, yet there is a reason one mage cannot instantly read another's spellbook. Every mage learns alone, the association are theirs alone. Every wizard in every school, ultimately, will reach a point where they realise no one truly understands the path they have taken. Every other wizard may appreciate and empathise, may have similar stories, but there will always be a point where the most precious thoughts are the one no one else can understand. Perhaps if it were not so, mages would not seek greater and greater power alone, knowing no other can truly help them. And yet that is the cost of magic."
]
The Shadow leaned closer, pulling something from its finger. It seemed to be a tiny circular swirl of shadow, a part of itself. [Secret to Meri: It then kept speaking. ][Secret to Nym: "Still, there is a reason wizards gain familiars. There is a reason Meri build a helper that does not help, that seems innocent yet understands her perfectly. Many mages come to develop the ability to speak to the very magic they are shaping, that is a part of them. Speak to the only being thing in this multiverse that could truly know what it is feeling and doing, because it is their companion on this path." The Shadow help up the tiny seed. "The saddest thing is that you are so much a part of the magic, it is bound so tightly to you, that I do not know if you would ever be able to separate it from yourself to speak to it. It is as if the joy of magic is a sun before you eyes, and the magic the shadow formed behind you. The brighter the joy burns, the easier it is to see, the less reason you ever have to look elsewhere. The closest the magic gets to speaking with you is the moment you casts it in to the world. Perhaps you have felt the pangs of something, when all is quiet? It is the loneliness of the magic. Yet if you take this seed, whether you concentrate on it or not, at some point the magic will be able to wrap around this and give itself a form. You will have something that understands you perfectly, for it has been with you your whole life. And in turn you can give it your understanding, your companionship. As long as you live, it can never die. Keep magic alive, give it form so it can grow and thus you can. There is so much in this world you can show each other, yet you may never have discovered it otherwise without someone else's view. Someone who truly understands you..."]
[Secret to Nym:
Anyway, there you go, it's a little focus. You can either have Nym actively try to manifest a companion by concentrating on the little shadow seed thingie, or have it just spontaneously have Nym's magic wrap around it at some point when she casts a large spells, is asleep, etc. And of course The Shadow termed it 'hey Nym, the magic in you...it's probably really lonely. Maybe you can speak to it. You know, cuase I bet that sad lonely feeling you feel was...the...magic...

I actually had a something else The Shadow was gunna say, but, you know, if you suspected The Shadow might one day not be a friend, it would have seemed really evil...]
This message was last edited by the player at 19:03, Tue 01 Sept 2015.

Before I make a full post on this...I can either have Nym actively...what? I think one of your sentences it trying to escape ;).

Also, I really hope that the Shadow didn't deliberately create Many just to keep an eye on us (as it were), and to zap us later on if it seems like we're gonna try and stop him (from whatever the hell it is he's gonna end up trying to do) or otherwise turn out bad :(.

Definitely Genre Savvy there? ;)
Just remember, Meri called it already with her "The Ball is evil and leading us into a trap" thoughts!

Also, I think I got something that got cut off too...
This message was last edited by the player at 18:14, Tue 01 Sept 2015.

Ah, yeah, I just moved on to the next sentence for no good reason. Well, the reason is usually spotting a spelling mistake or doing something earlier then coming back.

Anyway, so I've added the sentence back in. And don't worry about Many, DM's honour he was created by you and Meri's magic, just kicked and twisted by the portal opening, nothing explicitly created by The Shadow. And the choices you've made have already ensured that he's with you, rather than something that appears later as a potential enemy :)

Well, I mean maybe you might have some choices down the line that influences stuff, but pretty much not kicking it out and actually holiding on to The Ball until now were the big ones :)

Hmm, Meri, your posts might be truncated a little bit more than Nym's because of reasons :) If there's a sentence that has actually just stopped weirdly, PM me it, I can't see anything.

I did change a 'now' to 'nor'

Wow, so Meri could've scared the Ball away permanently or something, by being too mean to it? Booo, shame on Meri :(. Still, turned out he was resilient enough to take a few zaps and grumpy words so yay for that. And one day he can get his own back by zapping her and nerfing her magic (at least temporarily :D.

Nym stares up with wide eyes, possibly in awe of the Shadow's returned size, or at his description of the ability he's giving her, or maybe just at something else. She holds out her hand for the shadow-seed.

"So..." she says slowly as though working her way through something incredibly complicated. "If I carry this...um...black shadow blob with me, then at some point it'll be...um...it'll get affected...like other stuff does, like how my shoes are always the right shape for my feet, and my clothes don't fall off or get all torn when I get bigger or smaller...and then I'll have a little friend like Meri has Timur?"

She looks up at the Shadow as though for confirmation that she's got this right, then blinks, looks slightly guilty, and glances quickly over at Many.

"Another little friend, I mean." she hastily adds. "Two little magical friends!"

She claps her hands together like a child who's been given a wonderful new toy.

"That sounds like so much fun!"

OOC: Well Meri thought it was evil and leading them into a trap :(  And she thought it was just a chunk of metal...  I mean it WAS just a chunk of metal before...  Wasn't it?  *is confuzzled*


Meri reached out tentatively towards Many, lightly touching the top of the spherical body, between the eye stalks.  Her movements seemed uncertain, as if confirming for herself that the creature was real, and not some odd hallucination.
Then she cupped her hand in front of it, inviting it to climb on.

She looked up at the Shadow, watching it carefully...


OOC: Yay, you got a...  Little ball of wibbly-wobbly weirdy-shadowy...  Stuff!  :)

Indeed, The Ball was pretty oblivious to Meri's anger and shooting at it, and probably just took it as signs of affection :p

The way to have lost The Ball was if Meri had actively spoken to the shaman earlier and actually offered the ball back to it thinking it was a trick, or if The Ball had been discovered by the shaman otherwise (because Meri had highlighted it when speaking to him earlier).

And yes, The Ball was just a ball to start with ... magic is a scary thing!

"Precisely," says The Shadow[Secret to Nym: .][Secret to Meri: , understandable again.]

Many's eyestalks parted away from Meri's hand, looking it up and down. Oddly, the skin between its eye stalks - that wasn't also a few eyes that clearly needed to grow to full eye stalk size - was actually quite warn and soft, the scales seemed flexible for the moment, having not truly toughened up to armour the little beholder yet. Many may have made a sound that was a giggle.

Many then happily if clumsily hovered on to Meri's hand. It took a moment to actually settle on her hand, making little panting noises as it recovered its strength. Then it screwed up its eyes and managed to float once more.

Its eyes then look across to Nym, clearly still interested in the little chaos seed and not noticing Nym's slip up. "Tyeh! Tyeh!" Many says happily. Then looks back to Meri, or more likely her backpack. "T...reh?"

You now have Three friends for Team Sidekick! *sniff* if...if only The Dog could have seen this *cries and runs out of the room* *comes back to hit 'post'*

The Shadow then looks to Meri. "And so you are free of the attention of ... anything, really. I must leave here soon. However, it there is any other way I can help, and information I can share, please ask it of me."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:16, Tue 01 Sept 2015.

Nym is absorbed in closely inspecting the shadow-seed, but glances up at Many's words.

"I think he wants to meet Timur." she says, then returns to looking at the seed, feeling its surface, lightly squeezing it, poking it, and generally giving it a thorough curious examination.

[Private to GM: Do I get to decide when it turns into a familiar or will you tell me/describe it happening when it does?]

OOC: Is it just me, or is Nym the only one who can translate Many's attempts at speech? :)
Keeps reminding me of an extreme version of the "Ermagherd" meme!


Meri raised her hand to examine the small beholder closer.
A hint of something that might have been a smile crossed her face as she looked at it.

Timur peered back at Many as it looked in his direction.  Hesitantly, one of his arms raised in a waving motion, clearly uncertain.

At the Shadow's question, Meri looked back at him.
"Was that also affected by the magic that changed the other things?" she asked, pointing with the hand not holding Many towards the top-right alcove where the Shaman's staff was.


OOC: Assuming The Stick is still there...
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Tue 01 Sept 2015.

Lol, I think it's sometimes a mixture of luck, guessing wrongly and Many going with it, and of course occasional Passive Insight help :D The saddest mis-translation is when Many was saying effectively 'yes' and Nym's like 'forever and ever?' and we were all 'aww, poor Nym' and Many was like 'ooh, cool new words'

[Private to Nym: And you get to decide when the familiar explodes in to life and what form it takes. You may notice a new addition to The Cast (hehe) that you may be able to post as... let me know a name if you want a name added before you post as it. Otherwise your call, I leave it creatively in your hands how it all happens. You got a wish, after all! It gets to happen how you want it :)]

Two of Many's eyestalks imitated the wave, whilst Many said "Teh-meh!" then settled back down on to Meri's other hand facing Timur and Meri, occasionally blinking. It seemed happy enough to rest for the moment. It had, after all, been a big day. If it was still the same day, time had lost all meaning, and it seemed a long time since entering this place.

The Shadow looked around towards the alcove where The Stick was. "Ah, yes, he was," says The Shadow of The Stick. "Unfortunately he picked the wrong time entirely to annoy a hamadryad. Perhaps the effect was more than she intended, but clearly she felt it was no less than he deserved, and allowed it to stand. She possibly did not realise the effect would be permanent, because of the added twist of the portal's interference at the time she cast her spell. How he managed to communicate well enough to get anyone to take him here, I do not know. I doubt he managed to get here unaided. What he did that was so terrible that coming this way rather than pursuing the hamadryad seemed a better option I would not say. And sadly those he came here with would not have survived the guardians of this place. Why Krunluc took The Stick as a trophy, only the orc himself could say."

There was a small, wooden 'tink' sound. The Stick had fallen over, despite the lack of air or movement. It then, with great obviousness, and awkwardness, rolled uneavenly twice to the very corner of the alcove it was in, as if trying to make itself invisible against the wall.

Edit: Wow, didn't have Many say anything to Timur, thought I had. Corrected!
This message was last edited by the player at 21:07, Tue 01 Sept 2015.

[Private to GM: Cool, I'll have it happen at some point when it feels good then :). Also, I notice I now have the future familiar added as a second character - cool, dunno when I'll specifically post under that name (as opposed to just having the familiar act in Nym's posts) but it's handy to have anyway :)]

On noticing everyone's attention seems to be on something new, Nym looks around, trying to see what it is everyone is looking at.

"What is it?" she asks, curiously. "A magic stick? You mean like a staff?"

She looks at Meri.

"But we've already got one each. Are you getting a few one? Isn't the one you've got good enough? I like the zappy crystal thingys."

She looks back over toward whichever alcove it is contains the mysterious "Stick".

"Is it another magic-friend?" she asks. "You made it sound like it's alive or something."

She looks back at Meri again.

"Did you find it when you were...erm...doing...whatever it was...in all those little...side-thingys, in the room...with the weird cup and the dirty wall and all that?"

Meri got to her feet, carefully placing Many down next to her backpack and Timur.

"It seems to be the staff the Shaman used, but it was once a person.  Changed by the same surge in magic that altered everything else."
As she spoke, she moved over to the alcove and looked down at the Stick for a moment before reaching down to pick it up.

"Can it be changed back?" she asked, looking towards the Shadow.

The Shadow considered The Stick for a moment. "A Wish could set him free, if you would use your second and last upon him. And the hamadryad that cast a spell upon him could undo the change by undoing the original spell. It feels as if the magic of her spell was augmented as well shifted, strengthened by the power of the forest she served. You may find another mage hard pressed to match the power that was unleashed, even if they could find the original spell that needs to be countered."

The Shadow then gestured to the feathers and leaves that were still sticking out from the corner of the alcove, the topping of The Staff. "The shaman only used the staff as a trophy when he found it. His implement was the totem placed upon the top of the staff. A reasonably powerful one, as these things are. You may find the hamadryad ameniable to trading the totem to undo what she did. It would, of course, depend upon the reason she was casting the spell in the first place..."

Nym looks at the Stick with curiosity, absently stowing the shadow-seed into a random inner pocket of her robes.

"Hello Mr Stick." she says to it. "So you're not really a stick? What are you, then? A miney-tore? Or maybe one of those lizardy-kobbles? Or an elf? You'd better be careful if you're an elf - Meri wont like you just because you're an elf. Or are you something else, like maybe...umm, well, I suppose I could keep guessing forever but it doesn't seem like you can talk. Can you move? Can you maybe...point the way to the hammy-dried who turned you into a stick? I mean, if you even know the way. Um. Maybe we can find it for you? And then get you changed back, or something?"

Meri examined the Stick closely for a moment before replying.
"Do you know where we can find the Hamadryad then?  And do you know what it was he did?"


OOC: Yay, another quest :)  (Sort of!)

Lol, a quest indeed. Another animated object dragging you around it seems! :p


As Nym got closer she could see that the staff was odd. Whilst the centre of it was a normal if plain staff like any other, the base of it was knobbly and strange. If one wanted to squint at it, one could imagine an ugly, lumpy and crude representation of a squat humanoid body, lumps for feet, bumps for legs, and lumps for hands on squat arms.

That would, of course, make the rest of the staff a very, very elongated neck. This would see a foolish idea, if there wasn't something facelike in the very top of the staff, in between the mass of twigs, feathers, bones, leaves and string that had been tied together at the top of the staff. It seemed, again, that if one squinted, one could imagine vaguely spotting an eye or nose beyond the mass at the top of the staff, though that would mean the head was leaning back screaming and the totem had been stuffed in to the mouth.

The Stick did not speak, but it did start to shuffle, awkwardly moving back as far as it could go as if to avoid being seen.


Meanwhile, The Shadow looked to Meri with a smile. "From down here, at this time, in this place, I can see the past and future radiating dimly from those touched by or swimming in the tides of magic. I could not tell you the hamadryad this poor man encountered until she was close, but I can feel the direction - south of here. More like south east. I daresay some of the elder forests still hold shrines of the fey, shrines a hamadryad may honour and tend. What the man did, I do not know. That means he did not manage to do it. Or perhaps did nothing wrong. What he meant to do, unfortunately, is such a large pool of possibilities radiating from him I could not begin to start and hope to finish whilst you still lived. I am still reacquainting myself to mortals. Your cores are the same, but your thoughts have new patterns, I need to adjust to know the probably from the merely possible. Once I leave here I will be able to connect with you all once more, but by that time... not a true help to you."

The Shadow seemed to radiate sadness. "Indeed, once I leave, I am not sure we will ever meet again. Such a shame. Such an anticlimax. That is the way of change, and of mortals. Somethng larges happens in such a small way, the stone that cast the ripple gone long before the ripple gains enough time to bounce and create more and more ripples to great a wave in history."


The Shadow drew himself up, and seemed to be taking one last look around the hall.


Meanwhile, Many did not seem to notice, having fun waving eyestalks at Timur and quietly saying "Teh-meh! Teh-meh! Feh? Teh-meh-feh?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:27, Sun 04 Oct 2015.

"Oh dear..." mutters Nym, looking at the staff. "Well, that doesn't seem like much fun."

She starts to reach for it, but then looks around as the Shadow speaks.

"South?" She looks back at Meri. "That's not where we came from, is it? Can we go back and see Crass and everyone first? We can tell them about all this place..."

She gestures to indicate their general surroundings.

"And we can see if Tym's still being grumpy and all that. Hopefully Crass is all happy and making lots of yummy food."

She makes some "num-num"-type noises, then looks over at where Many is "waving" at Timur.

"Hey, Timmy." she says to the homunculus. "I think he's asking if you're his friend."

Meri glanced towards the Shadow and then to Nym.
For a moment, she looked impatient at the delay that returning to Stonebridge would likely cause.  But then her gaze softened noticeably.
"Why not?  Might be a good place to rest up for a while.  And maybe they know something of the forest in question, like whether it's safe to just walk in there.  We don't want to end up like this guy."
She gestured towards the Stick at the last part, then reached down to pick it up...


OOC: Hoping he doesn't bite...  Probably can't anyway with that totem stuck in his mouth...

Timur stared at the tiny Beholder for a moment, then looked over to Nym, tilting his head to one side in a curious gesture that Meri had been known to use occasionally when encountering some interesting example of magical technology.

Clambering out of the backpack, he sat down in front of Many and reached out hesitantly to it, the way Meri had before...

Many plopped down on the the ground, the shimmied closer to the tiny homunculus, whilst the little beholder's eyestalks moved around to get a better look at Timur from other angles. "Me-ah! Me-ah mah!" murmered Many indistinctly.

Lol, anyone want to guess? :D


Meanwhile, The Shadow stretched up as if to touch the ceiling, and suddenly he did. His form was as great as it had been when he had emerged from the portal.

"You should share what has occurred here, for you have done a good thing this day. You have stopped a catastrophe from occurring, and a villain in the making from losing himself to The Dark. Even if only a few still inhabit the region above, they have become the guardians of it. Whilst you, Meri, hold the clear stone, you lock the magic of this place. Still, reality has worn thin, and great things are buried here. And darker shadows than mine can be cast here. It is best others know to safeguard this, generation to generation." A frown passed across the face of The Shadow. "Perhaps those of faith should not be amongst those told."

The Shadow then looked upwards. "Good luck in all that you do. I do hope you see the tiniest part of what you have allowed to begin this day. Mortal lives are so sadly short, but the effects of those lives can echo in to the millennia."

The Shadow then looked down at them both. "I will try to keep track of you. My help may be subtle, but I daresay it shall always be there when you need it. I feel I can do no less."

The Shadow looked fondly to the homonculus and the tiny beholder, then turned to Nym. [Secret to Meri: He said something to her in that strange language again. ][Secret to Nym: "I hope you see the fruit of Meri's wish for you one day. And never forget, I am still in your debt." A small bow from the tall figure.]

The Shadow then turned to Meri. [Secret to Nym: He seemed to speak in a crude language, it felt sounded like the Goblin language from earlier. ][Secret to Meri: "Keep them all safe," he said meaningfully. "You alone best know what lurks in The Dark."]

And then, in a blink of an eye, the figure was gone. And with that, the strangeness of the day was at an end, the last few hours could become merely a strange dream for the companions.


And he was never seen again, and everything was right with the world :)

The Stick made one last unsubtle attempt to subtly shift out of the way, and then stopped, radiating nothing but innocence.

The Stick felt no different to any other, perhaps a little warmer to the touch, when she picked it up. Given that there was the hint of Elvishness at some of the features of the face, it felt oddly satisfying to grasp The Stick and effectively strangle it.

And surely it was merely clumsiness and not taking in to account the odd knobbly base of the stick, and getting it caught at the corner of the alcove, that caused The Stick to jerk and almost hit Meri in the head. And nothing to do with her comment regarding ending up like The Stick...


Lol, this 'guide' might have a ... different... personality to The Ball. Who knows!

[Private to GM: I'm going to guess at "Metal! Metal man!".]

Nym blinks as the shadow-creature rises tall and then suddenly isn't there any more. She looks around as though expecting him to reappear, then shrugs.

"Well, that was weird." she says to no-one in particular. She looks over at the Stick. "Hey, Mr Stick." she says. "Do you want us to take that bundle of...whatever...out of your mouth? It doesn't look very comfortable."

Meri moved back out of the alcove, heading back towards where she had left her backpack and staff.
She was holding the Stick at arm's length for most of the way, but looking up at where the Shadow had been before he disappeared.

"I alone best know what lurks in the Dark" she murmured quietly, thinking over the Shadow's last words to her.

She glanced towards Nym at her comment, then back at the Stick.
"Hmm, maybe.  I suppose he can't talk like this anyway."
Reaching for the totem wedged in the Stick's mouth, she tried to pull it out, being careful not to damage it in the process...


OOC: Hope he doesn't bite either!  :)

[Private to Nym: Lol, you would be right with metal man :)]

The bundle is firmly wedged, and takes a decent pull to remove, but does come free. The carved face revealed is certainly a male elf - the mouth is open enough that the totem probably caught on the carved teeth.

The totem itself seemed to have a familiar shape buried deep in the mess of leaves, bones, feathers and twine - perhaps a raven or bat shape. Despite the haphazard arrangement of everything on the face of it, it seemed far more complex and deliberate when looking closely at it. There was a power coming off it that the two magically sensitive companions could feel, and it seemed very solid in its construction.

The Stick jerked briefly in Meri's hands, a small nod of the tip forwards, dipping the chin forwards. Perhaps it was bowing in thanks? Perhaps it was just trying to knock the totem from Meri's hand, as if to smash the thing that had tormented it. Who knew with an otherwise uncommunicative stick.


You have a shiny.But one I deliberately made sure wasn't directly useful to you. At level 6 Meri could boild it down for some magical incredients, but right now it's probably useful to trade as The Shadow suggested, or maybe get rid of / sell some other way.

Though the rule of higher level magical items is always - they start to basically cost more than a city's whole worth. You might not find a seller anywhere closeby that can give you anything close to its worth.

Oh, also a stick....never forget the hard to communicate with stick :p

"Okay, Mr Stick." says Nym to the Stick. "I hope that's better. Is it? I hope so. I wouldn't want a big wodge of stuff like that in my mouth. It'd get in the way. Maybe we can find the person who turned into you into a stick and get them to change you back, like the big slightly creepy shadow-magic person just said. But first I want to go back and see Crass and Jorri and everyone else and tell them that the ghosty things are all gone and stuff."

She looks at Meri.

"We can do that, right?" she asks. "I want to go back and visit them. And we can show them Many! I'm sure he'll want to meet them properly now he can see them with all his eyes and actually say hello to them and all that!"

Another reason to go back is that it's probably getting on a bit in the day by now and we might as well get some sleep in the nearest known-to-be-safe place, eh? :D

Well, it's likely to be night time and you have to stumble through woods and The Falls to get to Stonebridge. Or you can sleep in the conquered caves and start fresh tomorrow. Your call! :p
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:07, Mon 07 Sept 2015.

"Yeah, let's go back then" replied Meri.  "I should probably see if I can pick up a few things too."

She looked at the totem in her hand, examining it for a moment, then reached down and handed it to Timur, who quickly tucked it into her backpack before clambering in beside it and turning to wave at Many.

"I just hope they're not familiar with Beholders in Stonebridge" muttered Meri with a concerned glance towards Many.


OOC: Yep, just hoping Tym isn't all: "First a bandit who shot me in the arm moves in next door and now you're bringing a Pet Beholder back with you?!  Grrrr!!"
Also not too sure if Meri will feel safe sleeping in a cavern still occupied by a Goblin who would happily cut her throat in her sleep!
At least she could probably rig up a few tripwires around her! ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:52, Mon 07 Sept 2015.

"Feh! Mah Feh!" says Many happily at Nym's comments regarding being shown off. The Stick seemed to lean - without wanting to appear to lean - back a little in Meri's hand, as if try to let the eye carvings on the top of its head try and see Nym. It then moved back to being uprightas if it was the smartest stick in the room, and had managed to be very, very subtle about its movements.

Many waves a few eyestalks happily at Timur. "Bah me-ah mah!" The tiny beholder then wobbly roams around the floors, checking out all the floor level rubble, nooks, and crannies. "Erreh-teh, erreh-ten, ah sah erreh-teh!" The beholder sings to himself, eye stalks flicking around in excitement. He wobbles a little when he moves an eye stalk too much. After a few moments he seems to realise its hard to move and rubberneck, and instead focuses his eyes stalks forwards as his body looks left and right. "Peh peh peh peh, peh peh peh peh," he says quietly and happily, eye stalks making poking motions forwards.

If the little beholder hears or understands the implications of Meri's words, he doesn't show it.


Aww, who knows how who will react to what :D


So, you guys wanna get out of the hall then? Are you looking for a place to go to ground, or are you ultimately looking to leave here after checking in with Gobbat. You know, assuming the goblin is still around. Who says the goblin is still around? Not like you guys locked the door or anything further above...maybe he followed you in and saw the scary light show...

Well, we didn't do anything nasty to him after he stopped attacking us, and he knows we were gonna go after Krunluc and stop all the scary spirit stuff that was messing up his bats or whatever, so hopefully he won't give us any bother. I mean, we could've finished him before and I don't think he's an idiot - surely he'll know that we can just wreck him if he somehow decides that trying to do nasty things to us would be a good idea ;).

Nym leans over to peer back at the Stick as it apparently tries to look at her. She gives a little wave and a grin, then flicks her tail slightly and turns to head toward the entrance.

"Well, if they're not then they can be now." she says happily in reply to Meri. "And they can see that some beholders are nice - I've heard that generally they don't really like anyone, but this one does, don't you Many? You're a lovely happy little friend!"

She gives a childlike clap of her hands and half-skips through the room.

[Private to GM: Fairly confident translation of Many's words...
"Friend! My friend!"
"Bye metal man!"
"Everything, everything, I see everything!"
I'm not too sure about the "Peh peh peh..." bit, but it might jsut be some variant on "pew pew pew" or just some other general "doo-be-doo/boop-boop-boop/la-la-la" sort of muttering noise. It's cute, whatever it is ;).]

Meri picks up her backpack and pulls it on, allowing Timur to climb out onto her shoulder.
Keeping the Stick held in one hand, she reaches for her own staff with the other and hands it to Timur to hold while she walks.

"Well, we'll see how they react and deal with any problems if they happen" remarked Meri.  "I just hope we can get back there without any trouble, my power is almost depleted."
The faint blue luminescence normally present in Meri's eyes had dimmed considerably, along with the glow in the crystals in her staff.
"Would be nice to get a rest back at the inn" she added, stifling a yawn.

She started to follow Nym along the hall, giving Many a wide berth to avoid accidentally stepping on him...


OOC: Yep, not sure I have the resources to survive another fight, unless the thing we're fighting turns out to be a minion or something with equal pushover status...
By the way, does levelling up happen to recharge my HP up to the new max level? :)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:09, Mon 07 Sept 2015.

[Private to Nym: Lol, you speak Many very well. It might have been 'more' friends, but otherwise you got it. And hey, maybe Many is singing to himself, maybe he's making pew pew pew pew sounts wjhislt making pew pew pew pew motions with his eye stalks. Who knows! Nothing could possibly go wrong :D]

"Ha-he, ha-he, feh feh feh feh, feh feh feh feh," said Many happily, wobbling along as fast as he could along with Nym, equally swerving away in a horizontal sinusoid from Meri to avoid her closest foot then come back to be close to her when she moved the other foot.

That lasted about half way along the hall before he started making little 'eh eh eh eh' panting noises and he wrinkled his eyes with the effort. He still moved as quickly as possibly along with the other two, but his eyestalks started drooping, and his songs turned into simply a long stream of 'eh eh eh eh'

Finally he stopped and turned to Meri and Nym. His little mouth was downturned, his eyestalks were practically hair falling about his head, and his eye was as wide as possible. His tiny lip was just visibly wobbling, and his eye was watering as he looked to each in turn, clearly tired out.

Lol, maybe Many wants to be carried. Whoooooo knows. Darn manipulative kids! You can retcon what you do :) I presume kick him across the floor or something? :p

Anyway, I'm gunna move us on a little...


Outside and back up the stairway, the scene was oddly only partially changed. Most of the smaller bats had gone, but the larger bat had only made it about half way across the floor, as if the small goblin had tried to move his dead friend alone and found it too much effort.

There seemed to be no sign of Gobbat, nor anything else moving. Indeed, the place seemed very, very oddly quiet and empty in a way it hadn't before.

Beyond the gate Gobbat had appeared at, there wasa corridor that lead to a decent sized and guano filled room. It seemed partially excavated, and partially an exisitng if ruined room. The strong smell and other signs seemed ot show very clearly many bats had been in this room. And in the corner was a semi-clean bundle of rags that Gobbat had probably slept on.

However, there were no bats and no Gobbat. There was a small amount of disruption and a certain lack of personal items that perhaps said this wasn't a normal evening with the bats flying away, and that Gobbat had, in fact, run away.

There was another corridor that led back to the first corridor the two companions had found when coming down here from The Falls. It seemed as if, for the moment, the place had been emptied of anything that might have threatened the surrounding locals. Though, of course, it would be a perfect place for new terrors to settle into.


Anyway, the place is deserted. Feel free to retcon and roll for any searches, and do any activities you might like to try in this for the moment abandoned dungeon. Then onwards out in to the night air!
This message was last edited by the player at 21:37, Mon 07 Sept 2015.

On seeing the tiny beholder tiring himself out, Nym crouches down in front of him and holds out a hand.

"Aaw, are you tired?" she asks. "Well, it's alright - you haven't been doing this for long, I expect you need some practice. And one day you'll probably be whizzing along for ages and not get tired at all, even if you're faster than we are! But you can come along with me for now, if you like."

She lets the beholder sit in her left hand while her other is holding her staff (which she remembered to pick up before leaving the orc's chamber). As she walks, she chatters away to him.

"You know," she says, "the metal man's name is Timur. You can call him that, ot just Tim. Or Timmy. Or something. Because it's his name. Maybe you can practice saying it. And my name, and Meri's, and any other names. And all the other words too! But not all at once, I mean. Just, you know, as they come up, or something. Then you'll be able to see everything and say everything too! That'll be good, won't it? Then you'll be able to have big long conversations with people, or ask them if you want something. You should ask nicely if you want something. I don't know if you already know that. I just thought I'd make sure. I know you haven't got the hang of a lot of words yet but, I don't know, I don't mind if you just say "up, please" when you'd like to be picked up. But if the person you're asking is busy or has their hands full or something, then you shouldn't keep asking because it probably won't help you much. You could try asking someone else, I suppose. You get to learn people, though, as you look at them. Well, I do, anyway. I don't know if everyone's like that - lots of them don't seem to be. But with that many eyes, hopefully you'll end up really good at it, and you'll be able to tell if someone will be friendly or not. And if they're not happy you might be able tow ork out why even if they don't tell you out loud. Lots of people are like that - it's weird. I don't know why they don't just say what they're thinking - it might make them feel better. I think lots of people get unhappy just because they spend too much time thinking things that are bad, and it...I don't know, eats away at the inside of their heads or something, so they end up not thinking properly and then they get all...shouty, and stuff. Hmm, where are we?"

She looks around at the deserted bat handler's room.

"Aaw..." she says in a disappointed tone. "It looks like Gobbat's gone. Oh well, maybe he went to see Jorri. I think I mentioned that, didn't I?" she asks of no-one in particular. "He could go there and be friends with them and meet Crass and the others? Yay, I hope so! Let's find out!"

Her staff and tail swinging in a somewhat dangerous manner, she continues with a gait like a cross between a skip and a jog.

[Private to GM: Hmm yes, pew-pew eyes...the thing that is actually the thing that beholders are best known for. Yes, maybe he's practicing even though he apparently doesn't have any actual zappy abilities in any of his eyes yet. I'm not sure whether to be worried or eagerly anticipatory ;).]

OOC: Well Gobbat's room is the only one I didn't search for shinies in before, so I'll take a quick poke around as we pass through it (though I suspect he'll have taken anything valuable with him).
Yay, nice Perception roll too.  30 (11 + 19)


Meri continued to walk along beside Nym, looking around her constantly as they went.
"Sometimes people are harder to figure out than that" she replied to Nym's comments on 'shouty people'.
She doesn't elaborate on this though, continuing on in silence for a short time.

At one point though, she looks towards Nym, as though about to say something else, but then glances at Many and seems to think better of it, returning to her watchful survey of the surrounding scenery.

[Private to Meri:
Lol, aww, what was Meri gunna say to Nym?][Private to Nym: Why can' it be anticipating worry? :)]

Many is instantly all smiles and waving stalks again the moment he gets picked up. "Yeh!"

Many seems to look intently as at Nym as she is speaking, though at least one eye stalk looks around at Meri's backpack for sight of Timur, or waves happily to Meri.

"Errehterrehberrehterrehmerrehterreherrehberrehberreh," says Many when Nym comments on practising saying everything, then laughs with a little 'ee ee ee ee ee' sound when she points out he shouldn't try it all at once.

"Teh-meh! Teh..me..uh... eh?" The beholder shakes his body as some shake their head, clearly thinking Timur's proper name is too complicated. He looks around to Meri. "Meh! Meh-eh... Meh-meh....meh..." The Beholder shakes his body again, shaking the eye stalks, clearly not getting it, but this time he carries on. "Meh-weh...Meh-peh? Meh-peh!" Many looks happily across at Meri as he attempts her name, clearly thinking he's pretty close now. Many is clearly taking in all of Nym's comments regarding weird people, listening intently with rapt attention. All his eye stalks temporarily face forwards, and if he noticed Meri looking to Nym he doesn't react.

Whilst the group chek out Gobbat's old deserted room, Many seems to be practising some other words. "Ah...peh. Ah..peh..peh...see? a-pe-pe a-pe-pe a-pe-pe a-pe-pe, peh peh peh? Peh a-pe" He seems to like the game of trying to make the words work.


Meri, meanwhile, makes some sad and some useful discoveries of her own as she moves around the room. [Secret to Meri: The 'bedding' is the saddest, in a way. Meri begins to realise that the bedding looks semi clean not because the bats don't mess in this area, but most likely because Gobbat used the topmost lairs of rags from his bed to create some form of bindle to carry his possessions away. There are telltale lines between some frankly foul areas and the less foul areas that speaks to something having recently been over removed. Buried deep in the rags, apparently missed in Gobbats perhaps rush, are a couple of pieces of parchment. Why Gobbat would have them is unclear. One seems to be an elvish poem or something, but the wear of time and also the dirt from bats and grubby Goblin fingers seems to have removed any ability Meri has to read even a word or more. Merely the form of the paragraphs hints at what it is. The second partchemnt is stiffer, and the barely visible writing is in no language Meri recognises. Though it reminds her of the scrap of paper she recovered earlier.

Why did the goblin take them? Could it even read? Did it think there were secrets in them, since the shaman was so keen on them. Or since Gibbat had seemed to respect and like the shaman, had Gobbat even been trying to help or be like the shaman? A blind goblin along in the dark, fingers tracing over paper so worn and dirty that none other would attempt to read it, trying to make sense of something it couldn't.

You can take both of the pieces of paper if you like. You do have a 'make whole' ritual you could try on the elvish one to see if you restore the parchment, and Nym does have the ability to temporarily clean things with Prestidigitation. In fact you could try that in the library too if you like, though you might suspect that if it would lead to anything I would have suggested it before. Still, if you pull out anything good roll like that perception one, who knows what I might let you uncover.

Oh, and of course the other one with the weird writing seems to be like the first one you found. If you can ever find anyone to translate, it might be a clue to something or other. Who knows :)

The better discovery, depending upon how one looked at it, was the realisation of what the bat guano itself was. It seemed that this place had not been cleaned out, and that at least one of the species - most likely the giant hunter bat, being the biggest and most prolific hunter no doubt - produced something quite toxic. That said, it seemed to age well in to small white deposits that, annoyingly enough, probably had quite beneficial properties in terms of alchemy. If Meri had the stomach to collect what was here - and the nose to keep it on her until she could convert it to something a little less....natural...she might have quite to ingredient for her alchemical mixtures.

Lol, so there you go. Sharp eyes spots its not all just poop. For a 30 in perception I'll let you have 30gp worth of alchemical reageants for use in any research/items. Just, you know, you need to carry them around. Unless you can think of a good way to diffuse them, they might...you know...be noticeable to anyone with a nose :p]

Nym giggles at Many's attempts at speech.

"Don't worry." she says. "You'll get it eventually. Just keep practising, even if it seems difficult - one day you'll manage to say things properly and then you'll hopefully be happy about all the effort you put in. You can meet all our new friends when we get back to Jorri's inn - Jorri himself, of course. He owns the inn. Um, that's a place where people...I mean, it's a building. A big box-shaped thing made of...wood and stone and stuff, with rooms in it with beds in, and another room called a kitchen where they make food. Inns are always in towns, or on the road in between towns, and they're where people go if they're travelling and they need to stop somewhere to go to sleep - if they can find an inn then they can have an actual bed rather than, I don't know, sleeping under a tree or something. Anyway, Jorri's a human, and he owns this inn. He has a friend who lives in another building next to it. Well, a couple of friends. One's another human called Tym, who's nothing to do with Timur. He's a smithy-person-thingy, who uses a big hot fire to make metal go all bendy and then he puts it on a big metal block thing called an anvil and hits it with a hammer and that makes it into...armour and stuff. I don't really know why they don't just use magic, really..."

She pauses for a moment in contemplation, then goes on.

"Anyway, the other friend is called Holder - he's a minotaur. That's a person who looks a bit like a cross between a cow and a human. A cow is a big furry thing that makes milk...somehow, I'm not really sure but apparently they do. And they go moooo!"

She mimics the sound of a cow mooing.

"Or maybe it's a cow that looks part-minotaur, I don't know. Anyway, Holder has magic - he makes items do things, a bit like Meri does. He's kind of interesting - he made pretty butterflies!"

Nym suddenly stops and looks at Many.

"Um, wait..." she says. "You were in the ball when we met them before. Does that mean you can remember them anyway? Oh well, if you do then you can meet them again. And Crass too, of course. And Gobbat, if he went there. And they can all meet you again, but I suppose they won't recognise you. But you can say hello and be polite and all that and then I'm sure they'll be friends with you. Well, Tym is kind of grumpy for some reason, but we can talk to him about that if he is. And see if we can get him to be happy with all his friends and everything."

She smiles happily and looks over at Meri, who is apparently investigating the room.

"Did you find anything interesting? If it's all just boring, can we go?"

Meri looked up from studying the items she had found.
"Well, a couple of pieces of parchment and a lot of bat guano with residual traces of a toxic substance that might be useful as an alchemical reagent.  Though the smell might attract hostile creatures to us, so I think I'll leave that."

She shuffled through the parchments, propping the Stick against the wall nearby to free up both hands.
"This one seems to be part of something else I found in the library, I'll need to find someone who can translate them.  Maybe Holder, or someone in New Stonebridge perhaps.  Can always ask around.  This other one though, seems to be something in Elven, but I can't read it because of all this bat c..."

Pausing, she looked up at Nym and held it out towards her.
"Can you clean it with magic?"


OOC: I suspect persuading Nym to do magic should keep her attention :)  hehe.
Also a bit of self-censoring... ;)


[Private to The Altweaver: She was going to ask why Nym didn't just kill Gobbat earlier when he attacked her, but decided to leave out the subject of killing things while Many is still young and impressionable, hehe.]
This message was last edited by the player at 11:14, Wed 09 Sept 2015.

I would imagine so! :p

[Private to Meri: Would it change you mind regarding the ...stuff... if I said I meant that it might simply be a little embarrassing NPC wise to walk around smelling like bats, rather than meaning you would draw critter agro?]

Nym eyes the parchment.

"Ewww..." she says. "Icky."

She moves her hand to gesture at it, then realises she's still holding Many (her other hand being occupied by her staff).

"Oh, er...can you sit here a moment?" she asks the beholder, lifting him to plop him onto her shoulder. Then she wiggles her fingers at the guano-encrusted parchment.

"Bat-yuckyyy...poof!" she says, the "poof" coming at the same time as she clears the mess away. "Hey, is that Gobbat's? Do you think he'd mind us messing around with it?"

"Thanks.  Well he left it behind, so I suppose he decided he didn't need it" Meri replied, deciding not to mention the possibility that he may have just left in a hurry and forgotten it.

Raising the parchment, she squinted at the writing on it, sifting through the dusty memories of a language she had preferred not to use too often...


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Ah well, I decided to leave it now anyway, and I hate editing my posts :)]

"Oh, yes, good point." says Nym, leaning over to try and see what the parchemnt says without accidentally dislodging Many from her shoulder.

Many pouts a little that his speech isn't considered perfect yet, but then seems to take Nym's words to heart and scrunches his main eye as he tries out more words at random as Nym and Meri keep talking.

Jorri seems to get 'Jah! Jah-ah! Je...meh", though the last could just be Many giving up for the moment at continuing the name. 'Eh..eh...eh' might be Many's attempt at Inn, or it might be a sign he was really making a physical effort to make noise. However, his whole body turns towards Nym when she mentions food. "Feh! Fe..he. Feh..de! Feh-deh! Fed-deh?" Many pouts a little again, his eyes going wide again. "Peh...see?" He looks hopefuly and anticipatory, both as the possible request for food and the fact he tried to use the word Nym suggested. The eye stalks all look to each other, look to Many, look to Meri, and finally look to Nym again.

Whilst Many seems to hear the rest of Nym's words, it seems his possible hunger and Nym's constant flood of new info perhaps is too much for his mind. It is only one words that seems to stand out. "Mah-*hic*?" he says. His face seems blank as if the word should mean something by Nym's causal use of it, but Many completely doesn't understand what.

Nym's cow sounds seem be something distractingly fun. "Hoh-heh? Oooooo." Many bounces around, amusing himself. "Oooo, ooooo, ooooo, oooooo. Oooo ooo. Ooooo. Ooooo?" Many looks to Meri and Nym hopefully and pleased with himself, then makes a 'ee ee ee ee ee' laughing sound. Of course, Nym mentions magic again, and draws Many right back to the subject, still confused but enticed.

Many almost looks sad or concerned when asked if he recalls being The Ball. He screws up his eyes, and his eye stalks look down - it seems at his mouth. Many's main eye rolls that way too, then they all look to Nym. His mouth has an odd turn to it, and then with a deep breath a stream of sounds come out of Many. "Eh wam eh foh eh ah weeee eh ah nyuh-uh erry-teh buh ah foh ah teh ah feh buh nyuh-uh se eh ah woo-wh eh ah ... eh...ah..." Many looks a little frustrated. Clearly his language skills and memory and perhaps even comprehension aren't quite up to describing life as The Ball. He gives a little bouncing hop that could be a shrug, and then goes back to looking around.

Many happily goes on to Nym's shoulder with an "oh-eh!". Occasionally he seems to lose his balance, wiggling his eye stalks to get it back. After the third time, he simply floats a little, and smiles smugly to himself.

When Nym casts the spell though, all of his eyes go wide and he plops down on Nym's shoulder is shock. "Oh!" he says. "Poh-oop?" he says, perhaps immitaing the 'ppf' rather than describing the disappearing mess? "Poh-oop! Poo-oop!" He seems excited and amazed at Nym's trick, barely paying attention to the parchemnt revealed itself.


Even with the muck cleared, the ink is still faded and weathered. Still, there is enough still visible to read. After a few scans through it is clear that this is not some high work of art nor history, rather some sadly amateur sounding nonsense, a love poem it seemed. A poem to someone who could sing sweeter than trees, or sweetly to the trees, and also seemed to sing sweetly to or sing better than... something lost to faded writing. [Secret to Meri: And Meri could see the patterns and the omissions in the writing, which screams 'elven written by a non-elf for the sake of being fancy'.][Secret to Nym: Oddly, there seemed to be quite a lot of flowery writing, as in speaking about flowers. And other such flora. Not just for the sake of it but actually as if making a point to highlight how like or how much better than - it was hard to tell sometimes - the subject of the poem was compared to flowers, trees, roots, etc. It just seems rather suggestive, given that a hamadryad had been mentioned not too long before...]

What was perhaps most important was not the parchment itself, but the effect looking at it had upon the room. The Stick had stayed where it was placed whilst Meri had initially looked around. However, when the two companions - and Many - looked to the poem, The Stick subtly-not-subtly moved a quarter turn along the wall, as if making the poorest job ever of disassociating from what they had in their hands.

No, I won't actually write any bad elvish love poetry. You're all just going to have to imagine it :p

[Private to Meri: And awww, so you don't want to have Timur go wade in and get you 5 lb of bat poop whilst Meri speaks about how good it is to kill things with magic to Nym? :p]

Nym reads what's visible of the writing, then glances over at the Stick.

"Oh, did the Hammy-dryer not like your poetry, then?" she asks. "Or were you trying to read it to her when she was busy and she turned you into a stick to stop you from talking to her any more? I wonder how Krunluc found you after that. Were you travelling with him, or something?"

She looks back at the poetry, then around the room.

"Well, at least flowers are nice." she says. "All colourful and...growing, and stuff. Still, it doesn't seem like there's much more down here, does there? Maybe we can carry on back to the inn now."

She turns her head as best she can to look at the beholder on her shoulder.

"Did you like it when I made the smelly bat pooh go away?" she asks. "I can do that with lots of things. It's just magic. Everyone's got magic, I think, it's just that some people don't seem to be able to really use it. It's fun, though. It makes me feel happy when I use it. I can clear up messes, and make food taste like whatever I want so nothing ever tastes horrible. I can make it hot or cold, too. And I can amke pretty colours, and little pictures. And I can look like whatever I want. And lots of other things. And I try not to break anything, or set things on fire that aren't supposed to be, or anything like that. Because that might make some people unhappy. It's not very nice when people are unhappy - it's much better when they're all smiling and laughing and getting on with each other, and stuff like that."

Meri sighed and looked as if she was going to scrunch the parchment into a ball and toss it away.
Then she seemed to change her mind and stuffed it into her pocket instead.

She looked sharply at Nym as she talked to many about magic, glancing at the small Beholder with what seemed to be a worried look.
"To me, magic is a tool, like any other" she said.  "It has its uses, but some are naturally better at other talents."
She looked at Many as she said the last part, then reached to pick up the Stick again.

"Anyway, we should hurry if we don't want to spend the night in these caves."

Nym gives Meri a confused look.

"It's not a tool." she says. "I'm not a tool, and I'm magic. So magic's not a tool. It's a...it's...it just is. It's everywhere. And if you didn't have any in you then you wouldn't be able to do any of the magic things that you do. How else would you be able to do them? And that shadow-thingy said pretty much the same thing, didn't he? That everyone has magic in them, even if they never end up using it. I have no idea what that would be like...to have magic in you but not be able to reach it, or maybe even know it's there. That's just...how...I don't even know how that could happen."

She even gives a slight shudder at this thought, so strange and alien as it is to her, then shrugs, twitches her barbed tail, and turns toward the exit.

"But yes, let's go. We can to back to the inn. Back to Crass and Jorri and the others. Hooray!"

She gives a little clap, starts to bounce up and down, then remembers Many sitting on her shoulder and hastily reaches up to steady him if he should need it.

Aww, did everyone just miss Many said "Food?" and even "Please?" :D

In answer to Nym's question regarding the poetry, The Stick gives a non-committal turn, as if trying to escape notice and association with the poem.

I'm sure there are ways of communicating with The Stick, but asking it embarrassing questions whilst it's propped up against the war is probably the least effective way of learning anything :D

Many completes the impression of being cross-eyes as Nym tries to speak to it on her shoulder. Once more he took on all of Nym's comments with wide incredulous eyes, none bigger than his central eye, sparkling with the possibilities. For a moment he started doing little mimes with his eye stalks again. "Pah pah pah pah, pah pah pah pah" he said quietly to himself, "Hah! Cah! Pooh! Nah-pooh! Feh! Ha-he! Nah-nah-ha-he! Poo-pah!"

When Meri and Nym starts to argue about the nature of magic, Many looks between then, clearly interested but mouth set in a worried little line. When Nym reaches up to steady Many, the beholder perhaps mistakes the intent and bounced on to the back of Nym's hand, bouncing up and down himself and moving to the end of her elbow, spinning.

Many then looks across to Meri. waving an eye stalk to both say hello and catch her attention. "Too?" he say, seemingly a question. He then quickly looks at Nym as if remembering her lessons in pronouncing things, then tries again. "Too-ah?" He looks to Meri for encounragement and answers.

Obviously you can carry on this conversation with Many and each other as you travel, but I shall move you on to the exit aswell :)

The other exit from this place was a similar corridor leading to a similar horrible gate. It was perhaps a little better than the others around, but not by much, and besides had been designed to be opened from this side and so was easy to open - Many having fun imitating the door, then imitating the door but by way of cow noises, and then just going back to making cow noises again and laughing. It seemed he'd never heard anything so funny.

Sometimes kids just run with things. And run with them. And run with them...

The corridor lead back to the makeshift crags that led back to the initial cave behind the waterfall. The climb back up was not too arduous, although for some reason the top was slippier than remembered.

It wasn't until the top was reached that a few things became apparent. Firstly, the cave was empty, the bats that had rested here were gone. This was perhaps not unexpected, as they probably flew off anyway during the evening to hunt and feed. However, there seemed to be far more muck around than there had been before, perhaps speaking of far more bats having flown and gathered here.

The cave itself was also far wetter than before, because The Falls, and its odd angle of decent, had now corrected itself. The Falls now splashed directly down outside the cave, sending spray inside where the water hit the edges of the floor and making the very front far more wet and slick than before. It also made the place far noisier than it had been, the roar of the small falls echoing loudly in this place. Many seemed a little scared at the sheer volume of the noise, shaking where he was, his eyestalks retracting and his mouth turned upside down in a pouty frown.


So, the way back is reasonably ok given you can just jump in to the pool if you want. Obviously its just more you're gunna get wet doing it! You need to decide a direction really. When you leave the falls, do you try to get to shore from this side and thus walk along the river the long way to Stonebridge?

Or do you go across to the other side which gets you far more wet, but then you have the choice of figuring your way back through the forest, but at least you know at worst you can meander back to the river as a guide.

There is a third option, there were thick roots and cracks back in the dug out cavern. You could always try to get out that way. Dangerous but dry :p

Meri looked out at the falling water with a sour look.
"I was afraid something like this would happen once the magic that was affecting the water was removed.  Well, we can still get out easily enough, if we don't mind getting soaked.  But..."

She glanced towards Many with a concerned look.


OOC: Don't know if Beholders can swim (or float?).  Since he doesn't seem to be good enough at flying yet to avoid falling under the water...
Also with the Falls coming in that entrance, does this mean the caves leading to the portal room will eventually be flooded?

I think you rolled Arcana well enough back about beholders earlier to know that a beholder's ability to float is oddly not magical - at least not magic in a way that can be disrupted by another beholder's anti magic, nor a mage's :) It seems they somehow have a buoyancy in air that lets them float around. That property should hopefully mean Many can simply bob up and down on the water, water being easier to float in than air, just as long as he isn't too scared :)

Also, this is just spray and splashing water that is soaking the stone and making it slick, there's sadly no danger of the cave system becoming flooded unless the ground here collapsed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:51, Thu 10 Sept 2015.

OOC: Well if I still had my healing surges, I'd be prepared to try that other path you mentioned as being more dangerous :)
Looks like we're getting wet, unless Nym has an alternative?
Meri seems a bit hesitant with poor Many being scared of the water though.  (Maybe she's not really as heartless as she lets on sometimes...)  ;)

Awww, that's sweet. Maybe it's just the scary noise, who knows.

"I think he's asking you about magic being a tool." comments Nym on Many's "Too"/"Too-ah" queries.

When they reach the wetter-than-before cav, Nym peers out at the water, then looks around at Meri's comment.

"You were afraid?" she asks. "Why? I never thought about this happening but I'm not afraid. I'm not even sure what that feels like, though, really. I've seen other people afraid, though, and it doesn't look like much fun."

She looks around at Many.

"Hey, look, Many - waterfall! Do you remember this from when we came in here? It was falling in a different way then, though, all weird and sort of...more outwards than it is now. But it's just water - look. It's what fish live in. I wonder if there's fish in the river. I wonder what it's like being a fish...all swimming along and with no legs or anything."

She looks back at the waterfall and shrugs.

"Well, anyway, looks like we have to get our feet wet again if we want to get back to the inn. I wonder how the bats all got out if the water had moved back. Or maybe Gobbat and his friends all left before then."

Many rocked forwards and backwards vigourously whilst saying, "Nyeh! Nyeh!..Pee-see?" when Nym postulated about the beholder asking for more clarifications on tools.

Many didn't seem to be able to express if he recalled the wtaerfall, or what the experience had been like to him if he did. Instead his glance kept going to it. He hopped down from Nym, hovering to a stop before actually hitting the ground. After a small grunt of effort, Many hovered across the floor to be near the spray and splashes. At first he seemed very hesitant, blinking a lot and jumping back whenever large splashes came about.

However, he was not fast enough at one point and was soaked by an errant downpour swept by the wind. There was a pause as he jumped back in surprised, and looked back to the two companions with a wide open eye and pouting lip. Then all his eyestalks waves around, he bounced around happily, and gave a little 'ee' ee' ee' laugh. After that, he seemed quite happy to play with the waterfall, dancing up to it then jumping back, and spinning to shake off the worst of the water.


Yeah, he'll be fine. So, you wanna try and climb out, or just jump and swim?

The bats could all have pooled at this area, but then flew back down to the cave network to get out from the holes. You'd have to check for signs of bats back downstairs if you cared :)

"I meant 'afraid' as in...  Never mind" replied Meri, apparently choosing to avoid a long discussion on the varied meanings of the word.

She moved over to the edge and looked over, grinning slightly at the sight of Many playing around in the spray from the waterfall.  She reached back and took her staff from Timur, pushing it through the straps on her backpack to hold it in place and pushing the familiar down into the pack, closing the flap.
"You don't mind getting wet do you?" she asked the Stick, "no?  Ok, let's go then!"...


OOC: Probably better to just jump, unless we're likely to get hurt by landing on rocks or something in the pool below?

Nym laughs at Many's antics with the water. She steps forward to follow Meri, but looks down at the beholder before she gets too far.

"Can you manage by yourself or do you want me to carry you again?" she asks, bending down slightly in case he wants to hop into her hand again.

If Many wants a lift, Nym will happily carry him - otherwise she'll let him make his own way. She'll aim to go back the way we came once we're out there, and however wet we get she can just magically dry clothing where needed (if she can light fires and heat food, I'm sure that will be no problem) :).

The Stick did seemed to jerk backwards in Meri's hand at her question, but there wasn't much left for it to do but follow the artificer's actions.

Many himself seemed to be happy playing in the spray, even more so as he realised the accoustics of the front of the cave reverberated his voice. He took it in turns to imitate the rush of the water with 'woooooaw' noises, then mooing, then more noises.

When Nym offered to carry him, Many bounced away shking his eye stalks. "Weeee! Weeee!" he said, fear forgotten. As soon as Meri left, Many followed suit with a happy set of laughs.

On the other side of the waterfall, it was actually darker than might have been suspected - the moon was half covered by cloud, and the night had descended upon them. Perhaps the powerufl magics inside had tweaked time, or more likely all their adventures had just taken quite a while.

Still, depsite the falls being slightly more violent in their descent than before, jumping passed the curtain of water allowed them to hit to cushion of the pool quite easily.


Yup, prestidigitation seems to be perfectly designed to get away from this sort of 'yeah, we were in a river but do we really still have to be wet, can't we just move on?' situations :)

Steering again towards the right, away from the addition of the Hillwater, meant they managed to swim in the less curning mass of the pool. Making for the far bank, even coming out was relatively easy - the riverside on the far bank where they had come from was far nicer to climb out of.

There were two worrying moments with their companions. Many happily bobbed and floated on the water, seeming far more happy than scared at the motion of it. However, there was then a moment of panic when the motion of the pool pushed Many out and along, following the flow of the two rivers out of the pool.

Of course, Many suddenly remmebered that he could do more than float, and with a little laugh the beholder lifted himself up over the surface of ther water. He span around for a moment and shook his eye stalks dry, and then wobbled all the way back to Meri and Nym.

The second moment was perhaps less worrying. The Stick, once the group were clear, seemed to deliberately force itself out of Meri's hand. It managed to float agains tthe currents and scrambled up on to the bank away fromt the others. It made one or two half motions away from the group, and then seemed to release the full helplessness of its situation. After a pause, The Stick sheepishly rolled back towards Meri.

Meri watched the Stick try to wander off with a hint of a wry smirk on her face.
"Oh, you'd rather go off on your own would you?  Ok, have fun.  Watch out for woodpeckers and people hunting for firewood!"

She turned to watch Many drifting in off the water then took off her backpack and undid the flap at the top again, lifting Timur out and holding him upside-down for a moment to let the water run out of his joints.
"Well, shall we head back now?" she asked, looking over to Nym.


OOC: Not sure if it's too safe wandering the forest at night.  Unless Gobbat and his homicidal kids managed to clear us a path through the local wildlife! :)

Also, Meri's comment above was just messing with the Stick.  Maybe it's because the face on it looks like an elf, or because it tried to hit her on the head earlier, but she does seem to be enjoying messing with it ;)
(Not sure if the D&D world actually has woodpeckers in it.  Though I imagine there's something similar!) :)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:28, Fri 11 Sept 2015.

The Stick probably deserves it :D

The woodpecker equivalents are called woodstabers, they're medium sized creatures, and tend to attack Ents! Ok, theydon't exist, but they really should...

Also upside down Timur is the cutest Timur :)

OOC: He's probably not too keen on being held upside-down, but he hates rusty joints even more ;)

Nym, already moving her hands over her clothing (not actually touching it, but keeping a few centimeteres away from the surface) in the process of magically drying it, looks up and blinks at Meri's question.

"That's what we're doing already, isn't it?" she asks, a little confused. She turns to look at Many. "Hey, Many - did you enjoy all that splashing about? Now we get to walk outside for a while until we get back to the inn. Then you can meet all our friends! Again! I mean, it doesn't seem like you remember much from when you were inside that ball-egg thingy, and I don't suppose the others will recognise you. So you all get to meet each other all over again!"

She giggles and attempts to clap her hands together but ends up nearly launching her staff at Meri's head in the process so has to hastily grab hold of it.

Many looks to Meri then Nym then Meri then Nym then Meri then Nym again. He seems generally in good spirits about going to meet people and nods enthusiastically about enjoying the waterfall and pool. "Speesh, yay!" he says, then seems to realise his voice is loud compared to the rest of the outside. "Shhhh. Yay!" he says quietly, waving around his eyestalks sedately.


So, how are you getting back? Follow the river, throw yourselves in to the forest, or some other way I haven't thought of? Also, what light are you going to use? If none then you will be relying on Meri's low light vision for as long as the moon is out, and if it disappears under cloud you might need to stop or bring out light.

Roll me some perception checks if you follow the river back, roll me perception checks and whatever other skills you'll be employing if you try and head back directly.

Well, I think if there was anything hugely dodgy living round here, Jorri and co. would've heard of it, or seen it, or know to warn travellers of it, or something. Nym just plans to head back by whatever route we came along in the first place. We have plenty of light sources but I don't know if Meri will have a problem with them being used - Nym probably doesn't really think too far ahead in terms of the potential to attract unwanted attention, if indeed there is any around here ;).

You are a few hours away from Stonebridge even as the crow flies, so Jorri/Tym may not know everything around here, and normal wildlife is a given. Plus the two of you killed twelve bandits and an inviisble ghost between you without breaking a sweat. They might think you don't need any warnings for anything less than a family of owlbears :p

In terms of getting back, The Ball was guiding you here and giving you a direction to keep tracking towards, and even then you might recall I made it a soft skill challenge. So heading directly through the forest in the dark with less navigation points and no correction given by Many might not be as easy. Or even moderate. And you will definitely need a light source to go directly through the forest.

Meri took up her staff in one hand and stuck the Stick into the straps of her backpack.
Timur perched on her shoulder and looked around them, occasionally glancing back at Many.

"Well, let's stick to the river for now.  We know that'll lead back to town.  Be careful though."
With that, she turned and began to head along the river bank.


OOC: Following the river.  Hoping if there is anything nasty around, it'll be hunting in the forest.
Rolled 23 (11 + 12) for Perception.

You happy to take the river path, Nym?

Nym shrugs.

"Alright." she says. "Hey, shall I make some light? Or maybe that's not a good idea. I mean, if there's anything in the dark that we don't want to notice us, they might see if we make some light. And standing in the middle of the light won't really help us see what's not in the light, will it? It'll just make it worse, because we'll be used to seeing light, not dark, and have you ever had a light and tried seeing very far while holding it? You can't really see very far into the darkness at all, but then if you stop shining the light your eyes get used to the dark again and you can actually see further. That's weird."

She looks toward the baby beholder.

"Hey, Many." she says. "Can you see alright in the dark? I mean, you have a whole load of eyes but that doesn't mean they work if there's no light..."

Many shook his body, eye stalks waving. "Nyuh," he says, "Nyuh se erreh-teh." He seemed a little sad.


Ok, river walk it is. Nym. gimme a perception roll for the journey, and otherwise it's on to Stonebridge!

"Aaw, that's okay, Many." says Nym. "I can't see much either. Maybe one day, but not at the moment."

Alrighty then, Perception check, which will hopefully not be too terrible now that my Perception skill has doubled since the last time I used it, hehe :). Aaww ffs lol, 8 :P.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:37, Sat 12 Sept 2015.

The river trek was slow by steady, and at least the two companions had the certainty that they could not get lost.

The moon for the most part stayed out, and combined with Meri's sharp eyes and elvish vision the path was sure enough that they did not encounter many problems. It helped that there was at least a semi-beaten path that the occasional people and animals must use to walk along.

When the moon dipped away they had to stop, and there was also the worry that the moon would not come out, or eventually shift position to make the way too hard to carry on without light. However, the moon always returned before too long. At one point Meri had thought she heard the flutter of bats, and once thought tthere had been a dark shadow moving in the distance above the wood canopy, but neither resolved themselves to anything.

There were only three real trouble areas as they went onwards. The first was a low bank where the path was gone. In other seasons the river may well flood this area, and the path seemed to disappear deep in to the forest. However, the way dry enough to risk trying along it, and the group managed to find the other side where the path came back out of the forest.

The second area was a small tributary of the river, a stream coming from the forest to join with the Hardwater. There were stones either deliberately or luckily placed close across the stream to help get across it, and it was not too deep nor fast moving.

Still, in the dark the slick stones were treacherous, and Nym lost her footing at one point to fall painfully in to the stream, cracking her back and leg on the stones themselves. Still, it could have been far worse, and with only a small delay in getting out and recovering, the friends could carry onwards.

If you really want you can lose a healing surge, Nym, but given you will most likely be resting soon I wouldn't worry about logging it :)

The final annoyance was another area where the path disappeared. This time, the river bank was shear and there was no evidence of a path leading off - it must have been further back, or the erosion due to the river was recent.

It forced the friends to go in to the forest - luckily the coverage was thin enough and Meri's eyes sharp enough to still see. Meri almost missed a game trail that carried on parallel to the forest, and the companions soon managed to find their way back to the river just after the major bend.

After that, it was a delightful moonlit walk along the river as the forest thinned and left them, and the odd dark shapes of Stonebridge buildings appeared as an odd field.

Many had tried to hover along at first, but had tired once more. Many had then excitedly looked around the river and the trees from Nym's shoulder, however after a while of that Many had started making tiny little 'aaaaaaaaaaaaawm' noises that were most likely yawns, and before long his eyestalks had pulled back in to his body and the little warm ball of beholder had snuggled in to the crook between Nym's shoulder and her backpack.

Many occasionally made small wiffling noises, and seemed to shake. Once or twice Many jerked awake, bouncing off of Nym's shoulder but instinctively hovering. He drifted back to Nym's shoulder after looks around worried, and then settled back down to fall asleep once more.

The Stick had felt squirrelly on Meri's back to start with, but perhaps sensing they were not going in the direction of the hamadryad, or maybe because The Stick could sleep too, it settled and became benignly stick-like.

Finally, the telltale dirt oif the outskirts of a road came under the companion's feet, and they made their way to the original crossroads of Stonebridge, and in the dark could still tell the familiar shapes of the inn and the smithy.

The village was dark and dead, apparently it was so late now that everyone was alseep. Hopefully everyone was asleep...


Anyway, you are back in Stonebridge. So, who do you wanna go disturb, and how? Or are you really paranoid about a dark, quiet village...

Well, this bit isn't quite the village proper, is it? The inn and the smithy are sort of separate from that, on their own, aren't they? We haven't been to the actual village yet.

Apart from the rather painful slip whilst crossing the stream, Nym generally enjoys the night-time walk back to Stonebridge. When the buildings finally come into sight she seems about ready to jump up and say something happy, but quickly stops herself after a brief glance around at her occupied shoulder. Then she walks as slowly as an excited person can walk whilst trying not to dislodge a sleeping creature on them, heading over to the door of the inn to see if it's locked.

"Careful" whispered Meri.  "They might think we're more bandits trying to sneak up on them at night."
She glanced around cautiously and followed Nym towards the inn door, reaching out to knock on it.


OOC: Hopefully they'll figure out that bandits and/or dead things coming to attack them aren't likely to politely knock on the door first :)

@Nyn: Of the old Stonebridge village? Pretty much. You came from the west along the river, skirting the old village ruins, pass what would have been the central mass of the village, and are basically coming to the other side of it when you hit the inn and smithy. Only if you're thinking of it from north to south would you think you haven't come to the central mass of it.

The door seems solidly locked, and the initial raps upon the door don't seem to draw any attention. [Secret to Meri: Meri, however, spots a hastily constructed tripwire at the base of the door, or rather a poor attempt at recreating one of the ones she installed - most likely using her left over parts!]

The windows of the inn had barely been covered, only a few boards or canvases spread over the shattered windows to try and protect the taproom from unknown guests. [Secret to Meri: Those did not seem trapped in any way. At least form outside.]

Yeah, polite knocking is a good idea, except for the actually rousing of anyone. Assuming there is someone to rouse...

You can bang louder and yell to get some attention, go try Tym's door. Or try the windows :) Or Meri can try to pick the locks!

Meri pointed down to the base of the door.
"Looks like they've tried to rig the place with traps in case their attackers came back."

She glanced around at the Smithy and then in the direction of New Stonebridge.
"Didn't they say they were leaving though?"


OOC: Maybe everyone scarpered off to New Stonebridge and left this place rigged with traps to entertain anyone who came searching...

Nym looks around at Meri.

"Did they?"

She steps back from the door, looks up at the building, cups her hands around her mouth, and yells loudly...

"YOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!! WE'RE BA-AAACK!!"

I don't remember them saying they wre leaving either, but that was what, three weeks ago IRL or something and it was probably just mentioned briefly as we were leaving...maybe...I can't even remember, lol.

Three weeks? Try three months! Tym being all 'meh' was back in June, a mere 30 pages ago :) So yeah, you can forgiven for not remembering any potentially leaving comments, which does fit in with Nym. If there's anything like this you guys should recall, I'll remind you. Still, it has been a long, long day for you guys, so poor temporary memory would also be understandable even if Nym wasn't Nym :D

Many woke up with a start at the yell, hovering at Nym's shoulder. Realising they were beside a building, Many then descended to knee level, and alternatively hiding behind Meri and Nym's legs.

There was no response for a moment from the inn itself. And then there was a noise from above as if something had just fallen, a small 'thud' sound perhaps audible from above. After another pause, if you really wanted to imagine it, you could think you could see the possibility of a move of a shadow at the window above.

The ominous nature of it all was perhaps set aside when there could then be heard some more thumping, but the more benign thumping of someone walking quickly down stairs, followed by the more alarming thumping and swearing as if someone has slipped and then fallen down stairs.

Fortunately, there was then further noise and voice as if that perhaps had managed to get up, and hobble to the door. There was a solid thud at the door, a clicking sound of a key being turned, and the inn door creaked open. A face was barely visible in the gloom. It looked like Jorri, understandable because it was Jorri, although Jorri had always seemed far more happy and sparkling of eye, and less confused  and bleary of eye. He also had a tiny trickle of blood running down from his forehead.

Many crept from behind the companions' legs. "Joh-Reh!" Many said happily. He looked to Nym and Meri then to Jorri. "Meh! Neh! Me-ne!"

Jorri looked to Many, then the two companions, then Many again. "Umm.." was the only thing he could say.


See, everything's cool! Welcome back to Stonebridge :)

Meri slowly removed the fingers she had stuck in her ears at Nym's shout.
"Yep, we're back" she remarked, eyeing Jorri with a curious look.

She gestured towards the cut on his head.
"Are you ok?  Was the place attacked again?" she asked.


OOC: I suspect he might have forgotten where he set his own tripwires, hehe.

"Hello, Jorri!" says Nym brightly, with complete disregard for the possibility that anyone nearby might still be trying to sleep. She goes on, her rate of speech rapidly increasing as she summarises the most recent adventures of herself and Meri. "We went into the cave and there was all bats, but they stayed asleep so we went past them and then we found a skull thing that made a ghosty thing that attacked us, and also there were some dead orcs that came after us. Well, there was a whole pile of them but only a few of them tried to get us. After that we found a doggy, except he wasn't really a doggy - it was the doggy who used to be a cat that you mentioned from before. Or was it a dragon? I can't remember. Anyway, he was there but his wizard friend was...well, the doggy was sitting on most of him and looking very sad, except for his arm which was in a pot nearby because a goblin was going to eat him."

She wrinkles her nose slightly in distaste for a brief moment but this does nothing to interrupt her flow.

"Then we made a new friend called Gobbat. Well, he wasn't really called that - I just thought he should maybe have a name and he decided on that one. He was a goblin with lots of bat friends - we saw some of them. Anyway, he told us about the orc shaman who was in another room so we went there. It was a really big room..."

She spreads her arms wide as though to imply that perhaps Jorri can't picture what a "big room" might look like.

"...And there were big pillars and some stairs and these weird alcove things in the walls. One of them had a picture of a dragon in it and one had some runes or something that were covered with dirt, except I couldn't clean it off because it kept coming back. And another one had a cup thingy in it and there was some writing which sounded like there was suppeod to be water put in the cup. Or maybe blood, I never did find out. There was a load of other alcoves too, with stuff in, but I don't know what they were all about. I went to talk to the orc while Meri investigated those and I don't know what she did. Anyway, there was this big portal at the end of the room and all spirits whizzing around all over the place, and while I was talking to the orc the portal went all weird and then this big shadow-man came out of it and made the orc disappear because apparently he'd made a wish to be on his own so that was where the shadow-man sent him. So he's probably happy now."

She smiles and gives a little clap of her hands.

"And the shadow-man said he was Magic and he made the dog disappear. Well, the dog turned into a dragon and went all green and smoky and then he disappeared up through the ceiling with a bunch of spirits that came out of this."

She reaches up and taps the crown she now wears, an action which takes two attempts as on the first she accidentally taps one of the silvery horns she's forgotten she currently has.

"And now this can hold magic from people instead of dead people. And the shadow-man said lots of stuff about wishing and about being locked away by the gods or something, but he's gone now. And ball turned out to not be Ball at all, but some kind of...I don't know, like an egg except no-one laid it. The shadow-thingy said that me and Meri made him. I mean, we made whow as in the egg, which was Many. See? Here, this is many."

She gestures toward the beholder.

"So now we have another new friend and we wanted to come back so he could meet you properly, in case he doesn't remember meeting you before when he was in the ball thingy. And we wanted to come back anyway...well, I did. Meri didn't really say. But I wanted to see how everyone was, and if Crass is alright and still making yummy food, and if Tym is still being all grumpy about it and all that."

She beams at Jorri and awaits his response.

Jorri has been slain by Wall_of_Text_01!    ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 16:33, Sun 13 Sept 2015.

I almost wish Meri was out if sight, because then a strange Teifling and a tiny beholder happily speaking Jorri's name and looking pleased with itself would be knocking on his door, getting him up out of bed, making him accidentally fall downstairs so he's also in shock from that, and not that you'd know yet but he's nursing a hangover. I sort of imagine him just closing the door and walking away if it was Tym :)

Luckily, Jorri is happier and at least Meri is around to make the scene make some sense until his brain can get back up to speed :D

Many moves forwards hesitantly, waving his eye stalks speculatively. "Eh-oh!" he says. He then quickly looks to Nym when she mentiones food, as if for permission,then turns back around and wobbles ckloser to Jorri leaning back. "Foh? Pee-see?" he asks.

Jorri looks down at the beholder, looks at Nym, looks back at the beholder, looks back at Num, and finally focuses on Meri. "Ah...yes, welcome back yourselves," he says. He moves a hand to his head, as if nursing a headache, then moves his had across to the bleeding part of his head, as if realising that there is a part that aches worse. he looks to the palm of his hand. "Oh...no, just...fell down the stairs is all. We sort of cleaned up most of your traps, but I guess Holder didn't quite clean then as well as I thought..."

As if recalling something, he bends down to the bottom of the doorway, wincing at his leg and also when he stretches his previously wounded arm. "Oh, and a kept a few just in case. But...no, no one came back. Good..ah...thing too, not got enough...uh...wood to repair all those windows...ah...right now."

The tripwire disabled, Jorri throws open the door and gives the ghost of a smile. He's dressed in a night overshirt that seems little more than a large white stained canvas wityh holes poked in to it for his limbs. "And hello Nym. Didn't...ah...didn't recognise you. Or...ah...or your ball friend. Ah...yes... sorry. Was speaking to Tym all evening. We...we hashed some things out, thanks to you, I think. Maybe...ah...maybe...ah...maybe took a little more...ah...lubricating of Tym's mouth than I intended."

Jorri seems a little spaced out, but then recovers. "Anyway, please, please..come in. I need to get the medicine box from the tap room anyway, I guess? And maybe...something else for my head too. Oh, or maybe just water. Ah..not getting any younger, I guess."

Jorri beckons the group to come in, turning to the thick curtain of of tap room and pulling it sideways with more winces.


Lol, Jorri might speak more to the rest of your insane wall of text Nym, when his brain has quite recovered.

Meri gave a wry grin and moved to follow Jorri into the inn.
Then she paused and reached down to offer Many a lift on her hand...


OOC: Probably a good thing we didn't disturb Tym then...  Wonder how he'll react in the morning?  This promises to be fun! :)

Oh, I don't know - the inn is only just across the road from the smithy, after all, right? And Nym did yell pretty loudly to get someone's attention ;).

Nym smiles happily as Meri offers Many her hand. She follows Jorri into the inn, talking all the while.

"Is Crass still here?" she asks. "Is he definitely staying as your cook? I think he'd be happy with that. Oh, is there any food? I think Many's hungry. I'm sort of hungry too, but it's night time and I think I'm a bit tired. But we have so much to talk about! It's a pity I can't be asleep and have a conversation. But I suppose that wouldn't work - being asleep is to rest everything, isn't it? And it can't all be resting if it's having a conversation. There's dreams, but they're different. I think that's just what your brain does to keep itself busy while it waits for the rest of you to wake up. Or something. Maybe? Anyway, did you say there was food? Many asked all politely and stuff, didn't he? He's a very nice friend. I wonder how long it'll take before he gets bigger. Hopefully I'll be able to find out!"

Muahahaha, there will be no rest from the Walls of Text! Not until Nym finally goes to bed, anyway, then you'll get a few hours of respite before she wakes up all bright and alert and with a different "feeling" depending on what I get on the d10 when she wakes up ;).

Lol, and this is where Jorri puts a sedative in Nym's food or gives her all the ale her con score can handle.

And yes, Tym will certainly be far grouchier in the morning, it just remains to be seen if his hangover will make him more or less vocal about that!

I daresay someone who lives directly across from an inn that can have drunk guards and adventurers making noise probably learns to sleep deeply or invest in thick doors and windows :D


Many gave a little "Yay!" and bounced happily on to Meri's offered hand. He shuffled back and forth as if to get comfortable there, a small ball of warm nobbly happiness. With a small smile in the artificer's direction first, Many looked around to Jorri and the inn with excited eye stalks.

Jorri scrambled around on a small shelf inside, and clicked at something until a spark appeared and ignoted a small candle. He looked over his shoulder. "Yeah, Crass is ...ah...still here. Probably upstairs, I don't actually remember what ha..oh..."

Jorri moved forwards, illuminating areas of the tap room. For a moment he paused and looked to a couple more candle positions, then made an 'eh' motion with his other hand and moved forwards. He leaned over something by one of the tables.

The candlelight illuminated a body lying face down on the floor. It could have been asleep, or it could have been dead. Jorri gave a speculative nudge with his foot, and there was a very quiet 'whuh' in response.

"I mean he's right here I guess? Poor boy. Chip on his shoulder a mile wide, but seems a good lad under that. Tym seems to have taken a shine to him. Damn good cook." Jorri gestured speculatively around the table, showing off a cluster of plates with far too much food. "Oh. I ... thought we ate more than that. Huh. Explain a few things."

Jorri left the candle on the table, steeped gingerly across Crass to the tap room, then leans with a worried groan over the bar to get something from behind it. Then gingerly gets another thing after that.

He turns back around and sits at the table, putting an empty mug on the table and a wad of some form of wound dressing on the top of his head. His hand rubs his stomach. "Ooh, shouldn't...shouldn't have leaned over the bar like that..."

He gestures for Meri and Nym to join him. "Foods cold but still good," he said. There seemed to be a loaf slowly going hard and many lumps of cooled meat, and a bowl of vegetables that had mostly spilled on to the table - as if someone or a group of people with no co-ordination had made stabs at taking things from the bowl and had mostly failed. There were some barely used plates and cutlery scattered around on the table.

"And..Many...you say?" Jorri focused on the tiny beholder with curiosity after his second try. "Well now, there's a thing. Oh, and he talks..I mean...hello young man. You can talk, can you? 'Please' and 'thanks yous' already? Well, there's a thing. A very good thing."

For some reason Jorri gets a very odd look in his eye for a moment, but then shakes it off. [Private to Nym: Passive insight time - Many seems to bring up some fleeting and sad memory of something in Jorri.]Meanwhile, in Meri's hand, Many shakes his body when Nym mentions dreaming. "Dee-see? Nyuh-uh." He then rocks his body happily when Nym and Jorri mention food. "Foh! Foh! Peas! Peas!"

Jorri reaches across, and with his free hand rips off some leg of something bird-like and offers it across to Many. In a shot Many leaps the gap from Meri's hand to Jorri's hand. Where once there was an offered piece of food in a hand, there is suddenly a tiny beholder.

There is a moment of silence, Jorri shocked.

Many gives as wide eyed a look as possible with a squashed eye, eye stalks looking elsewhere innocently. Slowly Many shuffled left and right off of Jorri's hand, leaving a wettened but still in tact hand. Many goes back briefly to to suck a tiny stray bit of one of Jorri's finger, eyes still in the innocent wide position.

Many burbs, hiccups, then says "Ahn-oo," quietly.

"You're...welcome..." says Jorri, absent mindedly flicking then wiping his hand. He goes and gets another piece of meat, though this time rests it gingerly in his hand instead.

Many looks around nervously to Nym and Meri, as if looking for permission.


Heh, he may be a little bit hungry and a little bit keen, but you're right, you've instilled some manners already in him :D

[Private to Meri: And please, roll me an insight and arcana check!]
This message was last edited by the player at 21:20, Sun 13 Sept 2015.

Nym watches Many's eating with open curiosity.

"Wow, I wonder how the food fits in there when there's just...I mean, you're sort of just a ball with eyes." she says to him. "But very nice and polite - see, it's good to thank someone when they give you things. My turn now!"

She plonks herself down in a seat, leans her staff against the table, and reaches for one of the piecs of meat. She holds it in her hand, and within seconds it is giving off the faint wisps that food gives off when it's just been cooked. She then shoves it into her mouth.

"Mmm...nom..." she mumbles, finishing her mouthful. "Did Crass make that? Tastes good. So Tym's decided he likes him now? Well, that's good. He was just being silly when he was all grumpy. And he can be your cook and another friend for you. Or maybe like, what's that thing when you have someone younger than you that learns all the things...erm...oh, yes, a son. Right? He can be like that, so you can teach him all the things about being in an inn and he won't have to worry about not having a home again because he'll always be able to come back here no matter what."

She pauses, pondering for several seconds.

"At least, I think that's what those things are all about. Fammy-whatsits. Like friends but more, or something. They sound kind of fun, anyway. People who will always be there and stuff, no matter what. I'm not really sure how that's differnet from friends, actually, now I think about it."

She shrugs.

"Well, there must be something..."

She then yawns widely and stretches, almost knocking her staff over in the process.

"Hmm, well, maybe it can wait till later..."

Meri sat down at the table, taking off her backpack and propping the Stick and her own staff up against the table.
"Maybe...  Nah, I don't suppose he eats now anyway" she mumbled, indicating the Stick.

Her attention seemed to be sidetracked though, studying Many, as if something odd had just occurred to her.
She soon looked away again, but nodded briefly to Many, as if letting him know it was ok to take more food.  She took some food for herself, but nibbled on it slowly, a hint of a frown on her face as if thinking over something that was bothering her...


OOC: I think Many was hungry :)  Also am I the only one finding his antics adorably cute? :)  hehe

Yeah, he is cute - I think it's just to soften us up so we can be completely shocked later when he suddenly insta-kills someone with a death laser from one of his eyes or something ;).

Many is just filling in the cute gap waiting to be filled by the Timur and Nym familiar show :D  Ok, I am ashamed to admit that occasional I find myself singing 'I see everything' in a silly voice in my head at work.

Edit: If Many kills someone, Nym, he'll have gotten it form watching you! :p  Just be good parents and it will all be cool :p

Many gives a little 'yay' goes and sucks up the food on Jorri's hand, with all the restraint he can probably muster, which isn't that much. There are some slurps and burps and wobbles as he has difficulty getting the large chunk to actually fall back in to his mouth.

Jorri waves to his own apparently discarded plate, still with leftovers. "Here you go Many, please eat off of this. It will probably be easier for you." Jorri pushes the plate away both to offer it to Many and also to get the food away from him. Clearly his stomach had not quite settled from the movement.

Jorri seems to react again oddly when Nym mentions families and sons and Crass. He looks speculatively to Crass. "Yes... Tym seems to have taken quite well to the lad. Stupid Tym, I think it's just been a lot of stuff building up with him. And he calls Holder dour. I don't think Tym expected Linnetta to actually properly settle in New Stonebridge, to be honest. And you can't get more settled down than marrying up and actually making an effort to grab new customers. And I didn't mean to spring Pete leaving on him, I thought he knew. Pete was the last of the three of us that has lived here since the old days. I think Tym took that one harder than I thought. And with a few of the others going off recently, and my close call... Hmm, yes. I think he's just feeling very sad for the old place. Well, you know how it goes. Things move on. None of us are getting any younger. Still, thanks to you, Nym, there were enough cracks to get him to open up. Plus Crass. I think Tym likes having some resentful new blood wanting to put down roots here. So we'll see. Hopefully one whiff of New Stonebridge tomorrow and maybe the Old Blowhard thrown in for good measure and Tym will be back to his old self again."

Jorri tried to clap his hands happily, but his head still seemed to ache. Jorri looks to his mug, and looks to the kitchen door. "Hmm, I...ah...do not suppose I could impose on one of you to get me some water? I'm ...still...ah...feeling a little delicate. Please help yourself to some ale if you like too, of course. Compliments of the house. Just don't let me smell it. No."

Jorri goes back to thinking about something. "Hmm, well, the good thing and funny thing but weird thing about friends is that you choose them, I think? It's good to actually choose to be with people you like and have things in common with, don't get me wrong. But you will always have the nagging feeling that...well, that you can unchoose them too. Or be unchosen. But family? Well, I mean you can't choose who you're born to, born in to, can't choose who you fall in love with and raise kids with. For good or bad you're always linked. By blood, by love, by a shared history growing up and a shared history stretching back before you were born. Traits you can't shake off reaching back to the past and reaching forwards in to the next generation, and the one after, and the one after that. I mean, you don't choose it, and if it's a bad one you never feel quite yourself, always worried there's things in you you can't shake out. But, I mean, you always got a place in the world. That's important, isn't it? That's why Tym's gone a bit mad, I think. All he's really got is a building that could fall down one day and a few people he chose to live near or work with. Or chose to live near and work with him. It's...it's not the same."

Jorri shook his head, but then looked at Crass and seemed to relent. "Still, sometimes it's enough for a while. Yes, Crass has always got a place under my roof while I have a roof. Or a place in these old ruins, whatever he wants to build here. He said he was going to go hunting tomorrow. We'll see if that pans out! He might be fine, the joys of youth. Until he works out a proper place in the world, he is welcome here. Though I'm too old to...you know...with the ...family thing."

Jorri seems to shake himself out of that thought very quickly. "So, well, enoguh of such things. We've been doing fine here, windows now withstanding. And heads. But how about you then? What was all this about...gods..and ...umm...a dragon? So your ball was just leading you to a place for it to hatch?"

Jorri then seemed to recall something. "Oh, wait, did you say something about the wizard that was here a few weeks back? Sounded like...ah....he didn't make it." Jorri seemed genuinely sad about that.

"Hmm?" Meri looked up at Jorri's words, as if her line of thought had been broken by something he said.  "Water.  Right.  I think I'll stay away from the ale though, probably best I don't get started on that!"

She got up from her seat and shuffled towards the kitchen, still looking deeply troubled by something...


OOC: Hoping there isn't a leftover bandit hiding in the kitchen now, or some deathtrap he's forgotten he set there!

Also, am I the only one thinking that Crass won't be returning from that hunting trip if he happens to wander into the forest with the killer bat creature lurking in it? ;)

Meanwhile, Timur slowly pulled himself out of Meri's backpack and clambered onto the table top, pausing to shake some leftover water out of one leg.
Sitting down there, he glanced around at the others and then settled to watching Many eating...


OOC: Almost forgot about him :)

Crass would be hunting during the day. Also, he and Gobbat have a lot in common as survivors of The Nym and Meri Magical Post Traumatic Stress Friendship Circus. Maybe they would become friends!

We don't know that Gobbat and friends are in the forest anyway - we just know they're not in the caves any more. They could've gone pretty much anywhere, surely. And Gobbat was alright once we started talking to him - maybe he and the bats wouldn't be immediately hostile so long as whomever found them didn't startle them too much or something ;).

"I don't really know why Ball was leading us to that cave." says Nym. "But the orc, his name was Krunluc, by the way...Krunluc has this big portal open and it was all purple and stuff, with spirits everywhere. Then I went to talk to him and he was saying about how he got spirits to do things for him. Then the portal started closing but Ball was all glowing purple and hovering around so it looked like it was still lit up properly. Then the light went all weird and the giant shadow-person came out of it, except then he shrunk so he was more like our size. And he made Krunluc disappear."

She pauses while she tries to recall some more details.

"He talked a lot about...magic and wishes and...some other stuff...umm...it sounded a bit complicated, really. Anyway, he said the gods put him behind the portal because they were scared of how he was granting wishes, or something, but now he's in the world so maybe he can carry on doing that? I'm not really sure. Anyway, then he was looking at Ball and said we created it somehow. Me and Meri, I mean. And then Ball sort of...hatched...and now he's a beholder! And he's very nice and friendly, aren't you, Many?"

She beams at the beholder, though still seems a little bemused at how a ball-covered-in-eyes can actually fit food inside itself somehow.

This is true, Gobbat could be anywhere :) And the shadowhunter bat is a night hunter for food, so it wouldn't necessarily attack people... actually, since Gobbat is now outside with it, Gobbat might keep a tighter rein on it than before.

Many waved happily to Timur. "Eh-oh! Teh-meh!" His eyes scrunched as he concentrated on saying Timur's name properly. "Teh...muh. Te-meht-muh. Teh...meh...eh... Eh." The last 'eh was perhaps quieter and more in the vien of giving up. Instead Many started poking at his food, trying to push it with an eyestalk as if to offer Timur a piece. One eye after accidentally poking itself in to the food was currently shut, and so got used to guide a piece of meat around the plate.

Jorri nodded thankfully to Meri, perhaps not noting her concerned looks. Still, as Nym spoke Jorri developed concerned looks of his own. "Orc? Oh, yes, I remember something about the orc and the ghost," said Jorri, looking still bleary eyed in the single candle light, and looking whistfully towards where his windows had been. Fortunately the wind was not high and the night was not cold. Plus there seemed to be some residual warmth in the taproom that the thick curtains helped the keep inside.

When Nym carried on regarding the outcome, Jorri started looking very...concerned. "Wait, I think I missed something there. So a shadowy figure emerged from a portal the orc was trying to open, and said it had been locked there by the gods?  That...ah...that sounds...ah...hmm. Where did it go? Did it say what it was?"

Jorri looked back to Many when Nym mentioned him, and Many seemed to notice his name and happily bounced for a moment, saying 'feh, feh!'. Jorri smiled but seemed more concerned with the previous statements, soon returning to look at Nym. "So why did all the magical things happen in the first place then? The butterflies moving and the cat becoming a dog and your ball coming to life?"
[Secret to Meri:
Meanwhile for Meri, the kitchen was easy enough to get to behind the bar. Opening the door, there was an obvious water barrel in the corner of the room to go grab things, and a crate of ale bottles that had been opened and had a third missing.

Feel free to look around if there's anything you want, like empty bottles or do a skill check for raw alchemy ingredients, etc :p]
This message was last edited by the player at 18:19, Tue 15 Sept 2015.

Nym shrugs happily.

"I don't know." she says. "I suppose it was the shadow-person having some kind of effect. When I asked what his name was, he said he was Magic, and then went into one of his big complicated explanations about...well, magic, and wishes, and all that. I don't know where he went."

She gestures toward Many.

"Anyway, we have a new friend now, so that's good." she says. "And the doggy got to go back with his friend properly and disappear and all that, like he was supposed to when he first lost his friend. So now they're together forever in, erm...wherever it is people go when they're done hanging around here, I suppose."

She gestures again, this time vaguely at the area in general, then props her elbows on the table and rests her chin in her hands.

"It's always good to have friends, so I don't suppose it really matters where they come from." she says.

Awww, that can be Nym's motto!

[Private to Meri: Oops, forgot to put in the kitchen for you! Edited it in to the previous post now!]

OOC: Hmmm, I'll do a quick Perception check (or should it be Arcana?) to see if there's anything around here that could be potentially magically reactive then :)
Fluffed it though...  18 (11 + 7) - Might at least save me the moral dilemma of deciding whether or not to pinch stuff from Jorri's kitchen!

Jorri gave a small but slight smile that didn't seem to reach his eyes, most likely because of the time of night and the impending hangover. He looked across to Crass as the ex-bandit made a little noise and moved around, perhaps being disturbed by the voices.

"Hmm, perhaps you could look after our friend here, speaking of friends?" asked Jorri to Nym. "He probably shouldn't sleep on a hard barroom floor. I'll go see how Meri is doing, the stores aren't the easiest to look through. Especially when I didn't offer a candle."

Jorri painfully got to his feet and walked aroudn the bar to follow Meri. On his way passed he nodged Crass once more, and the lump of person that was Crass did give another mumbling moan.

Lol, I wonder what effect walls of text have on drunk sleepy people? Let's find out!

And Meri, I forgot to say you'd need some form of light - I'll leave it to you if you retcon a candle grab, or if you use your sun globe. If you use the sun globe, decide which setting you want to use :)


In the store room, Meri couldn't really see anything outstanding. There were basic sugars and especially lots of salt. However such plain ingredients tended to need large quantities to be boiled down to be usable as even part of a base.

Jorri had managed to snag a bar candle and light it from the table candle, and walked in to the stores. "Sorry, I shouldn't have left you alone to look for things." He gestured to the barrel in the corner. "Just the barrel water was fine, there's nothing else I use. Water's fresh from the river, have nop fear!"

His wan smile faded, and he looked back over his shoulder before turning back to Meri and speaking with a quiet intensity. "So, your friend Nym seems..wel, very enthusiastic. And ..ah...optomistic. Very trusting nad happy." Jorri seems retiscent to continue, but forces himself to. "I notice you were a little more quiet and worried when she was talking. So...what really happened? I..ah..I'm not sure that tales of portals and shadow men and spirits fills me with much...um...well, whatever the opposite of calm is?" Jorri's voice was quieter. "Are we still in danger?"

Lol, Nym seems quite happy and unconcerned with everything she's just said :) Jorri's maybe pegged Meri as the more analytical one, and has perhaps rightly or wrongly noted Meri's reactions to certain things!

OOC: Nah, I'll just pretend I couldn't see in the dark so he doesn't suspect me of trying to burgle his kitchen ;)  hehe.


Meri glanced around at Jorri and moved towards the water barrel, grabbing a tankard and scooping up some water from the barrel.
"Trusting, yes.  A little too much sometimes, but...  Maybe right now we need that."

She turned around and handed the water to Jorri.
"What she says is true.  It's a long story, probably best told in daylight to everyone.  As far as I know, the village is safe.  The magic that was sealed into that place, and the Orc who sought to misuse it are both gone now, even the waterfall has returned to normal."

She paused and frowned slightly, as if thinking over what she wanted to say next.
"The people in New Stonebridge, I don't know of them.  You spoke of someone you called Blowhard or something?  How much can we trust them?  There is still the potential for misuse left in that place, especially if people knew the true nature of the power that rested there."


OOC: As in, how much can we really trust people not to go eagerly poking around in a place when they learn you could once have had your heart's greatest desire granted to you :)  hehe.
Like he said, Meri knows the Darkness...

"Alright." say Nym cheerfully as Jorri goes out.

She walks over to Crass and looks down at him, puzzling over him for a few moments. Then she bends down next to him and givs him an experimental poke in the shoulder.

"Hey, Crass." she says at normal conversational volume as she pokes him again. "Hey, Crass. Wake up. You shouldn't be sleeping on the floor. It's not very comfortable. Crass?"

She gives him another steady poke or two as she waits for a response.

In the storeroom...

Jorri nodded his thanks then winced at the head movement, drinking the mug eagerly afterwards. "Oh, nothing wrong with being happy to see people and trying to make friends, it's why I'm in the business I'm in, after all..."

Still, Jorri drank the rest of his water quietly as he listened to Meri, thinking hard. "The Old Blowhard? Well, his father was the elder of this place. He took office afterwards, and snagged the reuined church on the hill for his office. Turned the damn thing to a tavern then an inn, thank you very much."

Jorri seemed reluctant to say more, squirming for a moment or two. "Funny, just realised we've called him The Old Blowhard since he was young. Seems odd to think he is an old blowhard now. Anyway, well, you see...ah....hmm." Jorri took another few moments. "He's always took his opportunities, has that one. Trumpeted all the opportunities that benefit him. I'm sure we could have rebuilt Stonebridge, but instead New Stonebridge ended up springing up. So..hmm...well...I mean, to be fair to him New Stonebridge is good, no one could argue that. And he's not ever been critisied. But...hmm. No. I would not trust him with the knowledge of anything new to exploit. I mean the folks in New Stonebridge are fine, most of them are from around here. Not many people choose to settle where when you have real towns and cities just along the road. But the Blowhard would hear about ti, and ...well...sounds like another tourist draw, really. He'd like those." said Jorri, and he almost sounded whistful about that. "Falls look normal again you say? Oh, that's...hmm. So...is anyone else likely to go there? Is it still drawing poor wizards and strange balls to it?"


In the taproom...

Crass makes a few grunts and 'whuzzah' noises as he's pushed. All of a sudden he jerks sideways and up, hand moving to his belt as if for a weapon and bleary eyes looking around. There is still the smell of drink on him, and he seems completely disoriented and terrified at his location.

I imagine in a bandit camp it's probably not a good idea to fall asleep without guarding yourself and your stuff... Plus a completely new surrounding to find oneself in!

Meri really didn't look too happy at what she was hearing.  She glanced towards the ale, looking as if she was going to reach for it then shook her head slightly and looked back at Jorri.

"Then tell him the village is safe, but the Falls themselves are dangerous, no-one should go near there, ever.  Give him the impression the place is a deathtrap for tourists or something."
She looked out through the door back to the bar for a moment.

"What happened there is difficult to explain precisely, and I'm not sure if it's even wise to talk about it at all.  Probably won't stop Nym from telling everyone anyway!
Basically, the power that was there, the one that altered other magic for miles around is now gone, or rather it's not there any more.  But the portal and the structure that opens and closes it is still there.  I took part of the key away with me, and without that it would be difficult to reopen it, but not impossible for someone with enough magical skill and knowledge to figure out how it works."

She glanced towards the ale again.
"What happened there...  I can't help but wonder if we did the right thing..."

Nym leans back on her heels as Crass sort-of wakes up.

"Oh good, you're awake." she says brightly. "Hello! Look, we're back. But we can takl about it later. Jorri said you shouldn't be sleeping on the floor. Come on, this is an inn, right? So there's all those rooms upstairs. So let's go up there and see if any of them are empty. And then you can go in one and sleep on the bed. And then I'll find another bed. Because I'm pretty tired."

She looks over at the table.

"Hey, Many." she says. "Do you want to come upstairs and find a place to sleep? Or do you want to stay down here with the awake people?"

In the taproom...

"Whah!" says Crass, still not quite focusing on his surroundings. Or perhaps focusing on them too well, since they currently contained a demonic looking Teifling jostling him awake, and a tiny beholder peering over the table to look at him. Many seems a little nervous at the yelling man, but still made a little eye stalk wave and said 'eh-oh!' encouragingly.

Crass seems to come to some realisation, perhaps because he recognises the floor he is on - with difficulty - and comes to some slow realisation - with more difficulty. "Nym?" he says thickly, closing one eye as if to better focus on her. Then he sees something over her right hand shoulder and makes a 'wah' sound again, despite there being nothing on that side of the room.

Drunk people and barely awake people are not the best people to get snap decisions form. Especially if you are going to appear like a Teilfing :)

Meanwhile, Many gives a pouting sad look about going upstairs. He looks to both his good and Timur. "Awwwwwwww." This, despite the fact he is clearly trying to stifle a yawn behind the pout. "Way! Way!" the little beholder says excitedly when offered the choice of staying, mostly likely trying to say 'awake'.


In the storeroom...

Jorri himself look too happy at was he was hearing in return. ""Lie? I mean... even if...I mean I could...but...even if I do to him, and anyone in New Stonebridge, I mean..." Jorri gestured around the inn as if in explanation. There was a pause and then his slow brain realised he needed to explain. "I mean... you know...adventurers. Guards. You...I mean they....I mean...you don't strike me as the sort of people to stay away from danger."

Jorri looked sadly to the remains of his mug. "I like the tourists..." he also said sadly.

The innkeeper breathed in deeply, finishing the last of his water and moving across the room to scoop up more. After a moment's pause looking at the water without much regard, he cracked open a bottle of ale and poured the tiniest amount in to the water to top it off and take the edge of the bland stuff. Or perhaps to take the edge off his pounding head.

"Tomorrow, yes. MAybe when we're all a bit more awake." Jorri looked out of the tiny window in the corner, seeing the darkness. "Maybe a bit lighter too." He shivered despite the lack of cold. Or perhaps it was only warm to someone dressed in more than a long nightshirt - Jorri was walking barefoot on the stone.

He tried to give a reassuring smile to Meri. "I'm sure you did what you thought was best. But..." he tried to think. "Maybe...is there a way to block the entrance? If no one can find it, then... it's all fine?"

Jorri slunk against a nearby wall. "Maybe we should talk to one of the mothers. Seeker Harann is still in the area, Tym seemed to completely ignore me when I was trying to tell him that. I think she's still in touch with the church. Havnen't...haven't managed to find the time to see her in...wow, maybe ten years or more. A shame, really. If...if you are saying there was gods involved, we could do worse than asking a woman of the cloth? Well, in her case it was armour, but still...that might be an idea." Jorri seemed to consider the matter. "She was no fan of the Old Blowhard neither, so I don't think she'd mind too much acting for the best of the region and not including him in the discussion."

Nym nods at Crass.

"Yes, that's me. Hello!" She gives a little wave. "Come on - upstairs, yes? Let's go upstairs to where the bedrooms are, then you can carry on sleeping. So you only need to be awake for a minute. That's Many, by the way."

She points at the beholder.

"He's our new friend. You can meet him properly later when you're actually all the way awake. Come on, the stairs are over there..."

She stands up and moves so that she doesn't block Crass's route toward the stairway, but waits to see if he can actually get up and walk. While she waits for this, she looks over at Many again.

"Alright, Many." she says. "You can stay here if you want to, but you'd probably better stay here on the table, alright? You can wait with Timmy for Meri and Jorri to get back. Hee hee...Timmy-Meri-Jorri...Many...lots of ee-names! Ee ee eeee..."

She giggles a little to herself, then looks back at Crass for some kind of reaction to her suggestions of moving.

"I suppose we could collapse the tunnels leading beneath the Falls, but we'd need something powerful enough to shatter rock, although I don't know exactly how many tunnels there are.  I'm certain there are at least two, only one of which I know the location of.
We could also cave in part of the roof of the tunnel directly behind the Falls which would eventually cause the tunnel network to flood with the water from the Falls seeping into it.
Both of those may not completely deter a sufficiently determined and powerful magic user from entering though."

She scratched her head and shrugged.
"Well, it can wait for now.  Tomorrow, if Tym and Holder are still around town, I'd like to tell this to them too.  Maybe they'll know a better way."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:42, Thu 17 Sept 2015.

In the storeroom...

"Hmm," said Jorri, clearly trying to wrap a bleary mind around the concept of blowing up a hillside or altering such landmark that he would have lived with most of his life. "I suppose the area around there is fragile, or The Falls would not have formed in the first place. Ah..hmm." He rubbed his temples, then winced at the cut on the side of his head. It had stopped bleeding quite quickly, but even in the half light it was clear a healthy bruise was forming.

"Tym and Holder would be better to ask, yes. I meet so many people, but get to know so few. Tym tends to be the opposite, but he might know someone with an alchemical bent. Holder too, since Holder lived in Newbridge for so long. I'm sure Holder will be back early enough from there. He went to get something to help fix up my windows. The way I'm feeling, I'm happy not to get the early start as Tym suggested. I daresay Tym might not be awake until later aswell. Though you never know with him."

Jorri then yawned widely. "Sorry. Hmm, maybe we should talk about this tomorrow as you say. Feel free to grab any of the rooms upstairs, at no cost. Sounds like the least we could do for you."

Feel free to go back through, collect Timur, and head off to bed if you like. Unless you have any more questions for Jorri, or want to hang back and steal anything not nailed down :p


In the taproom...

"Upstairs?" said Crass, his entire brain clearly needing to be involved in processing such an enormous concept. "Sleep?" That one seemed easier. "Ok..." He said. His body was not quite as compliant as his mind, and his footsteps were uncertain and required help.

Many waves his eye stalks again as he is re-introduced, and Crass gives an uncertain wave back that almost sens him sliding sideways on the floor.

"Ee ee ee ee!" Many agrees, then starts pointing at random people and items in the room, highlighting them or naming them all "Ee!" He does this for a while, deciding that one of the chairs instead mooos, and then starts laughing too.


Presuming you are going upstairs if Crass is going...

The stairwell is slightly tricky to negotiate because there is a small patch of slippery muck that Crass perfectly finds.

At the top of the stairs, a door is open and the moonlight pours in well enough that the hall is visible. The open door must be the room Jorri is currently using. However, there are clearly a row of other doors closeby to choose from.

"No! Not...there..." says Crass sudden;y worried, though he clearly seemed to be looking down the hall. Not unsurprisingly, he might have some worrying flashbacks in his fragile state to the fight earlier in the day, and the two made mages that had him surrounding further down the hall.

Feel free personally to choose any room you like around - left or right or all the way down the hall to the original room you were a sniper in - but it sounds like Crass won't move further than the first room on the left or right.

Nym giggles at Many's antics, and gives him a wave.

"Night, Many!" she calls, before grabbing one of Crass's arms to try and assist/drag him upstairs.

Once there, she looks at the doors, then points to the one on the left.

"Here." she says. "You can go in here, and then I'll go in there."

She points at the door opposite the one she's indicated for Crass, then nudges him to go into his room, giving him a suitable amount of nudges until the final one is enough to topple him onto the bed. Then she leaves him there and goes to the door.

"Night, Crass!" she says, giving a somewhat pointless wave. She turns to go, then pauses, turns back, shuts the door without banging it, and then goes into the room she's picked for herself, where she flumps down onto the bed.

That is, assuming Crass doesn't provide any difficulty in getting him to bed ;). Note that Nym won't have picked Jorri's room for either of them to sleep in - she took the first rooms that weren't occupied :). Also, I just remembered her staff. I'll say she forgot it due to helping Crass and it's still leaning against the table downstairs - I keep forgetting about it OOC because I'm not used to playing a character who uses one - I tend to prefer weapons that can be stowed away somewhere and don't need to be carried the whole time. But my implement choice was somewhat limited so this is what I ended up with ;). Maybe we can find a shrink spell for it or something, so I can put it into "portable mode" whenever I'm not using it :D.

OOC: Maybe you can train your new familiar to hold onto the staff for you outside of combat when you need two free hands, like Meri does with Timur now :)


"Well, you should get some sleep" replied Meri after a few seconds' silence.  "We can deal with this in the morning.  I have something else to worry about right now anyway..."

She paused to get a drink of water from the barrel and moved out into the bar area, sitting in the seat she deserted earlier, propping her elbows on the table and her head on her hands and looking at Many with a hint of a smile.
"Not feeling sleepy?" she asked him, studying the little creature carefully.

Maybe Nym can find a magical friend who deals with items and could put a spell on it that shrinks it for stowing away. Where she could find such a friend, goodness only knows :p

Upstairs in the inn...

As Nym goes up the stairs, Many says, "Nah nah!" while bouncing happily.

The room upstairs that Nym opens for Crass seems to be reasonably large, with the bed off centre by a window. The moon manages to shine a decent amount of light in to the place, and Crass says a groggy thanks and staggers across to the bed. He manages to face plant reasonable well in to the pillow, and most of his body appears to have made it in to the bed.

The room Nym chooses opposite isn't quite as well lit, having smaller windows. The room itself is also smaller than the one across the hall - it would appear that the rooms facing the river as perhaps luxury rooms, with the rooms on this side being smaller and more functional rooms for matters of sleeping and not much else. And the way the inn is oriented, these rooms would also be directly above the bar of the taproom, though how much different the noise would be from one side of the inn to the other would be debatable.

It is not too much time later that there is the sound of footsteps on the stairwell, a slight scuffing sound that might be someone almost slipping and falling on them, then the sound of Jorri's door closing.


Down in the taproom...
Jorri had left Meri with a concerned look at her last comment, but then a tired and wave and quiet walk away.

By the time Meri went out to the bar, Jorri, Nym and Crass were nowhere to be seen.

Nym had apparently left her staff against a wall, with no indication if she had meant to or not. Meri's pack also looked distrurbed, and it took a moment to realise that was because another staff - The Stick - had made a from where it had been a rolled all the way to the other side of the room, trying to hide in the shadows. Shadows that, for a perceptive and keenly sighted half-elf - were not much cover. [Private to Meri: Having a 21 passive perception now isn't too bad! :D] Perhaps The Stick thought to hide itself in the taproom to be picked up by someone else. Why it wanted to escape at the first chance was odd. Of course, it might just give further credence to the thought that the hamadyad, whilst the key to its changing back, might also be a source of terror for the stick for some reason. Though how it thought it could otherwise escape its current form by passing from adventurer to adventurer, who knew?

Many had apparently been busy in the brief time between Nym leaving and Meri appearing. There seemed to be a large circular splodge of cold gravy smeared one edge of the table. The pattern appeared as if something round had created a central splodge, the splatted around the edges to create a spackled outer ring - almost like a large eye surrounded by bumpy skin. There were then attempts to pull and push gravy around like some sort of lines from one side of the outer circle.

The fact that Many seemed to have gravy on the bottom of him under his mouth, the fact one eyestalk was currently closed and dripping gravy, and the fact that when Meri had entered Many had been gesturing for Timur to come look at something appeared entirely co-incidental.

Indeed, when Meri came in, Many happily drifted sideways looking anywhere but at that side of the table and plopped down. "Eh-oh!" he said as Meri sat down. When asked if he was tired, he vigorously shook his head, saying "Nyuh-uh." However, he then had to stifle a yawn. His gravy stained eyestalk tried to come down to hide it, but wasn't quite long enough. He then tried to grab at the gravy on the stalk with his mouth to little success, shuffling around and smearing more gravy on the table instead.

Many then stopped and looked at Meri looking at him. He wiggled forwards, his central eye scrunching slightly as if he was thinking about something. "Mah-"*hic?* he said, looking to Meri. "Ah Too-ah. Tooh-ah-ah? Peeas?"

Lol, he is maybe saying "Magic?" and trying to say "Tools, please?", perhaps trying to get Meri to speak more about what she said earlier regarding magic and tools. Whether Meri would understand that - 18 passive insight is pretty good - and wants to talk about it is another matter, of course :)

Nym is knackered and will go to sleep - she doesn't really care what the room looks like, though she might if there was one that had rainbow patterns on the walls or something ;).

Meri looked over at the gravy "drawing" on the table and grinned.
Then she glanced over at her backpack and noticed the Stick missing.  Looking around the room, she noticed it trying to hide in the shadows.

She sighed and shook her head, looking over at Timur, a distinctly sarcastic tone in her voice as she spoke up.
"Oh dear, it looks like that strange looking stick has disappeared.  I wonder where it could have gone to?  Looks like he didn't want my help in getting himself changed back after all.  Oh well, fine by me, one less thing to waste my time on!  Maybe someone in the village will find him and put him to use, as firewood, or maybe as part of the building materials for a latrine or something!"

She smirked and looked back at Many, looking around for a cloth or a towel to wipe away the gravy with.

As he asked his question about magic and tools she looked back at him, the smirk gone from her face.
She returned to her seat and looked him over for a moment before replying.
"Magic is...  Ok, maybe it IS more than just a tool to me.  If I hadn't learned what I know now, I'm not sure where I'd be.  Dead probably..."
She sighed and shook her head, glancing towards the stairs as if to make sure no-one else was listening.

"The thing is, your kind don't normally use magic.  At least not the kind of magic that people like me and Nym are familiar with.  You have your own magic, of a sort.  It's what lets you float around.  And you'll get better at it as you get older and learn to control your body better."

She seemed to hesitate a little before continuing.
"Maybe you'll be different though.  I mean, since me and Nym...  "made you" in a way.  But..."
A slight hint of a smile appeared on her face.  Perhaps the only time in years she had ever smiled with genuine emotion, or at least the only time she had ever done it in front of anyone else.
"You don't have to be like your parents you know.  You can be yourself.  I choose not to be like mine.  Maybe people think we're monsters sometimes, but we don't have to be.  Not if we don't want to be."

She reached out, cupping her hands around the little Beholder protectively.
"If you're feeling troubled about who or what you are, I've been there too.  I can help.  Like the Shadow Man back there said, I understand the Dark.  Why don't you like to sleep?  What do you see when you close your eyes?  Maybe it's the same things I see..."


[Private to The Altweaver: OOC: Trying to find out if it's just an echo of her own nightmares or something more ominous he's seeing :)
Also trying to instil the idea in him that he's not limited to being what he's "supposed to be", or like his "parents" are.  Like Meri herself, he can reject that and forge a different path.]
This message was last edited by the player at 20:12, Thu 17 Sept 2015.

Meanwhile Timur stood up and wandered over to examine Many's "gravy art" on the table.
Reaching towards the plate, he took a dollop of gravy on his finger and began attempting to draw a rough sketch of himself next to it...

Aww! Timur art! Jorri must never wash this table again...

There was a moment's pause from The Stick, and then it slowly rolled out from the corner. It managed to partially roll itself to it was diagonally stretched across the floor, and able to at least turn part of the elf-like face towards Meri with a baleful look.

However, then it seemed to concede the point and rolled awkwardly all the way back to under the chair beneath Meri's pack.

Many laughed along with Meri, making his quiet 'ee ee ee' noise. However, he seemed to realise Meri was going to say something important, and gave her his full attention, eyes wide and looking directly to her. He only moved once, when she mentioned his control, giving a small hope of pride. His eyes was squint and scrunch at various times, as if trying to fully think about what she was saying.

Many reciprocated the cupped hand, leaning in to it and giving a small sign. "Nyuh moh-mah," he said. Though a worried look crossed his face when asked about what he saw when he closed his eyes.

He leaned back to out to an upright position. For a moment he paused, then pointed to Timur's drawing. Or rather, beyond Timur's drawing to his own little beholder drawing. He then pushed his two outermost eyestalks as far apart as they would go. "Beh!" he said. He clearly couldn't quite say the word, but it might have simply been 'big'.

He then made a 'peh peh' sound and motioned with an eyestalk as if shooting again. However, unlike in the portal hall where he had capered happily doing it, he seemed sad and did it with no enthusiasm.

[Private to Meri:
I like where you're going with it :)]

Meri also looked saddened at that.  It seemed her earlier fears were confirmed after all.
She gently picked up Many in her cupped hands, moving him away from the drawing on the table and closer to her.

"They're memories" she said quietly.  "Not yours, more sort of 'collective memories' of what the gods or fate or something decided you and the others like you should be like.  I don't understand it fully myself, but they are just memories.  While most of your kind choose to follow them and become like that, you're better than that.  You have a choice.  You don't have to be like that, you can be...  Just you.  Even a bigger you is still you."

She gently stroked him with a finger, the same way she had in the portal cave earlier.
"I could have been a monster.  I wasn't even supposed to exist, I had no purpose.  Just an unwanted burden on someone else's life.  For a time I wanted nothing more than to strike back at all those who didn't care, who hated and mocked my very existence."
Her smile returned though.
"Then, I found a new path.  I met this old goblin who spent his days just making things, magical items and the like.  Everyone else thought he was a bit odd, kind of crazy, even for a goblin.  Didn't help that he was scarred from an explosion in his forge once, so he didn't look particularly appealing.  But the things he made, they had a beauty all of their own.  I took the time to talk to him about it, and eventually, after telling me to get lost a few times, he agreed to show me how to make things like that too.  So I had a choice, I could learn to create things instead of destroying them."

She looked towards Timur, and her own staff, propped up against the table.
"The world is full of fools, but sometimes there are good people in it too.  Tym, Holder, Jorri...  And Nym too, though I never told her!  I'm glad I took the path I did.  We can be who we want to be."
She looked back at Many with an encouraging smile.
"Who do you want to be?"


OOC: Figures Meri would show more of herself when there was no-one else around :)  Well, apart from Many, Timur and the Stick, hehe.

Lol, you have to be this size or smaller to ride the emotional rollercoaster of Meri's backstory?

Once more Meri had Many's undivided attention as he hopped in to her hands. His eyestalks would sometimes look at each other or down at him as she made certain points, but otherwise he took it all in, wide eyed at her own backstory. His face pouted slightly when she spoke of being angry, then smiled at the mention of the goblin and her renewed purpose.

At the question of what Many wanted to be, Many looked confused, then daunted, then looked at himself and Meri. His eyes scrunched very tightly, and he even made an 'eh' sound at the effort of thinking. Finally, a brainwave seemed to occur. "Meh-neh!" he said happyily. "Eh beh-eh," he added, nodding in his way. It might have been 'a beholder, or more likely 'but better'.

He yawned again, not hiding it this time, but continued to smile.

OOC: Well the Stick is probably too tall, but then he is lying on the floor and rolling around so just manages to get under the height requirement that way!  Cheater!


"Then maybe we both get to be better then" replied Meri with a smile.
She gently placed him back on the tabletop and reached for her backpack.
"Well, I might go and get some sleep before we have to figure out what to do tomorrow.  Are you coming too?"


OOC: Kind of ironic that the Orc wanted to use the power of the Shadow guy to make his species into something better than they currently are.  Now we have a Beholder who might actually manage something similar without the Shadow guy's help :)

[Private to The Altweaver: Meri's comment there refers to something else she thought of.
She believes her own parents regarded her as an unwanted burden on them and rejected her because of that.  Now she finds herself in the same position, having to care for a "child" she never asked for.  But she aims to be better than her parents by not rejecting this one, but helping it to find the same sort of purpose in life that she had to find for herself.
So in a way, they both get to be better :)

Not sure if you planned it to work out this way, but it definitely fits her nicely as a way of helping her character evolve beyond what she started out as :)]
This message was last edited by the player at 11:43, Fri 18 Sept 2015.

Lol, that it is!

"Yay!" said Many, rocking backwards and forwards in a vigorous nod, clearly relieved.

When Meri mentioned getting sleep, Many looked uncertain, looking around to Timur and his drawing. Still, he was also clearly stifling another yawn.


May wants to play with Timur, but assuming Meri's going to scoop him up then Many will come with you. If you want to leave Timur in charge of playing with Many, that's also acceptable. I am sure you've find a sleeping ball of beholder in the morning. In fact you might find a sleeping ball of beholder if you came back down in five minutes :D

It is funny how that worked out! If you think about it, it was the orc's actions that created the ball by opening the portal. So in a way his actions had the intended consequenes, just not to the people he said he wanted them to happen to. Almost like he got the wish his heart might have said, not the wish his head wanted...

[Private to Meri: Yeah, I don't plan these things that rigidly. However, I have complete faith in both myself and my players that as creative people, we are very good at finding the shape of a story even in random starts. So yeah, as long as you guys have well formed characters and I try to make the story and NPCs as 'spiky' as possible, it's amazing how stuff that looks like it should have been preplanned perfectly comes out, isn't it :)

Of course, maybe that's what I want you to think... :p  ]

Meri looked around for a moment as if considering what to do then nodded.
"Ok, you two can stay here then" she decided.

Going back into the kitchen, she searched around to find a large pot, and a wooden spoon.  Returning to the bar area, she placed these on the table next to Timur.
"Don't go outside the inn for now.  If someone comes in, make as much noise as you both can and wake us up, ok?  See you in the morning!"

With that, she pulled her backpack onto her shoulders, picked up her staff and headed upstairs.


OOC: Thought of using a big pot as a makeshift alarm bell by bashing it with a spoon :)
Anyways, Meri will pick a room as close to the stairs as possible in case she has to hurry back down again.

Many gives a small laugh of happiness and wheels around the table. "Nah nah!" he says to Meri, waving happily. One of his eyestalks gives a little salute as Meri puts the pan down.

Many starts bouncing around Timur, watching the tiny metal man draw. However, instead of interfering or going back to drawing himself, Many seems happy to give encouragement. "Yeh! Yeh!" he says at seeing what has been done so far. Many settles down to one side, watching, and once more yawning widely.

Lol, I like the early warning system. Thank goodness you control Timur and Many cannot pick anything up, or else you might have regretted giving the little ones a means of making noise all through the night!

Upstairs (passed a slippery part of the floor that wasn't the part Meri had booby trapped, and seemed to be the run off from cleaning), it seemed everyone had managed to grab rooms right at the top of them. There were snores from both the nearest room by the stairs and the left hand room in the hall that spoke of Jirro and Crass, most likely. And it seemed Nym had claimed the first room on the right. Still, the second room on the right had no residual evidence of the bandit fight, and seemed comfortable if small. A basic bed, a basic chest, and a small table in evidence.


Anyway, settle in, fall asleep if you can, and if so I can move us all on to the next morning :)

OOC: Happy to go to sleep for now :)
I don't think Timur needs to sleep, not being completely alive.  So he'll probably be happy to play around with Many until the Beholder falls asleep, at which time he'll just sit there watching the entrances to the room.
(Good thing he probably doesn't get bored either!)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:12, Fri 18 Sept 2015.

Lol, indeed, well then you have a cool sentry :) As stated, Many will probably last all of five minutes with yawns and drooping eyes if not less before his eyes all close and he rolls gentle forward to fall asleep on the table top.

And though he might twitch once or twice, he won't wake up again the whole might. Make of that what you will :)

[Secret to Meri: Also, you might be able to see a new thread...]
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:54, Fri 18 Sept 2015.

Both Nym and Meri were jolted instantly awake by the sound of hammering - as if a pot and a spoon were slamming together vigorously. There seemed to be yelling behind it.

Luckily, both were also able to make out the repeated words behind the yelling. "Breakfast!"


You guys rolled some stupidly high perception checks so I couldn't scare you. Though also rolled high enough to at least let me wake you up at the same time...so I guess it works out :D

Anyway, you have managed to take an extended rest, so your actions points reset to 1. And also Meri, your impart energy class feature rests to 1 use too.

However, on the far brighter side all your dailies, healing surges and hit points recover. Obviously you are free to still have some residual aches and pains, but in terms of being fighting fit - you are again!

Oh, and each of you also wake up Inspired by the previous day :) Check out the OOC thread while I explain that one...

Cool, yay for all our stuff having reset :D.
[Private to GM: Just so you know, my Wild Soul result for the day is 6, so my current element, it seems, has flipped to the opposite of what it was yesterday and turned Necrotic. I'm also gonna roll a d20 for my familiar in case she pops into existence today (no idea whether or not she will)...hmm 3, so that gives me a canine construct. That's actually a pretty cool one to have as the first one, thematically - like a cross between the Dog and Timur. Maybe I should make sure she spawns today then. Given how long IRL it tends to take to get through a single game day, I'm sure I have plenty of time in which to think of something :). Who knows, maybe it'll even happen during breakfast. Let's see :D.]

Nym shoots awake, practically jumping out of her bed and scampering down the stairs to the kitchen. At some point between waking up and getting off the bed (having not bothered to get into it the night before), she changes form once again. Her horns and tail shrink back into her, her skin darkens until it is a deep grey, and her eyes are so dark that the irises are almost indistinguishable from the pupils. Her hair takes on a dark shade of grey, though not quite as dark as her skin, and tapered ears can be seen when she moves her head about. Her robes remain as brightly-coloured as ever, her sandals are their usual mixture of brown and green, and the crown on her head looks much the same as it did the previous day, if a little askew due to her movements. It has, though, only been on her head for a matter of hours, and presumably hasn't had enough time to start "reacting" the way her other possessions do.

She comes pelting down the stairs in search of the breakfast-shouter.

"Food!" she exclaims happily. "Where's the food?"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:31, Sat 19 Sept 2015.

Meri groaned as she woke up, her hand automatically reaching around for something heavy to throw in the approximate direction of whoever was making all that noise.
Then she remembered where she was.  She also remembered something else too and frowned noticeably.
This was not going to be a good day...

Pausing to pull on her backpack, she reached for her staff, examining the small crystals embedded into it and nodding in satisfaction before propping the weapon on her shoulder and heading downstairs...


OOC: I still have 2 AP, does that mean they get reset back to 1? :(
Still, glad to have my Healing Surges and HP back.  Feeling less like I'm going to keel over in a strong wind now :)

Yup, AP back to 1. If it gives you any comfort, the reason you didn't use those final AP was because you didn't end up getting in to a fight with a level 6 NPC shaman, his spirits, his wraiths, nor a legion of bats as the final encounter.

When you look at it like that, it's a pretty cheap effect for only 1 AP :p


"Wah!" says the figure down in the tap room, the familiar figure of Tym. Despite the clear evidence of how much had been drunk in the wrecked figures of Crass and Jorri the two companions had encountered, Tym seemed in amazingly bright spirits and looks. Well, aside from the startled shock at Nym's appearance.

"Wha...oh, same robe, n'stuff. Nym? Yer Nym? It's Nym, right?" he gestured to the table where Many seemed to be bouncing around happily around Timur, and a pot and spoon had been set down. All the other detritus of the night seemed to have disappeared. "I know Meri must be here, that's 'er...umm...little man thingie."

Tym then looks again at Nym. "Or are yer a new friend? Is that yer little ball o' eyes bobbin' around on the table? Friendly little bugger, but weird."

"Feh! Feh!" says Many happily behind him. Then "Eh-oh, Neh!" Many waved a happy eyestalk.

"Yeah, friendly, as I said," says Tym bemused. Then he catches sight of Meri. "Aha! Knew it! Yer made it back! And without that boucin' ball o' yers..."

Looking back to Nym, he then said, "And breakfast will be any moment, AS SOON AS THAT LAZY CRASS GETS HIS ARSE DOWN HERE AND MAKES IT FER US!"

The last was yelled in the direction of the stairs, once Meri had got out of the way.

[Private to Nym: Lol, well that would certainly be a thing to see :) Nym describing some creature then suddenly a familiar appears!]

Meri glanced around the room, her gaze hesitating on Nym for a moment eyeing her new form before looking back at Tym.
"Ah yeah, the Ball is actually still here.  Or at least what was inside it is" she gestured at Many before moving over to the table and sitting down, dropping her backpack onto the seat beside her and propping her staff against the table.
"Long story" she added.

"Hello again, Tym!" exclaims Nym happily as she sees him. "Yes, that's Timur the hommy-uncles-thingy. And that's Many, who was inside the ball thingy but now he's a beholder and he's our friend."

She waves back at Many as he waves at her.

"Crass was very tired last night." she goes on. "He was asleep on the floor and everything - I had to help him get upstairs to an actual bed, because that's much more comfortable, isn't it?"

She goes over to the same chair she'd been in the previous night and plonks herself down in it.

"Well, might as well wait for the food." she says, and immediately starts tracing patterns in the table with her finger, leaving multi-coloured lines wherever she touches.

After a few moments she looks up at Many (though continues to draw random patterns on the table as she does so).

"Had a weird dream about you last night." she says. "You were this big!"

She holds up her hands wide apart.

"And something about ravens and a dragon, and there was a mirror with another me in it, and lots of Timurs and some bats and everyone else was there as well."

She goes back to doodling on the table.

If the room's been rearranged that the chair I was in last night isn't there, I'll sit somewhere else. I'd left my staff leaning against the table so hopefully that's still there anyway ;).

Tym seems relieved that this new form is still Nym, and gives a small wave before muttering to himself about his own stupidity (and Nym's flighty nature scaring him half to death).

Regarding Crass, Tym nods. "Yeah, see, he got ter bed, and now he NEEDS TO GET HIS ARSE DOWN HERE! BREAK-FAST!"

The table's been cleared, but the chairs are basically as they were left.

Tym then looked back to Meri. "So your...ball..thingie....became...wait, what's a beholder?"

"Meeeeeee! Eeeeeeeeeeee!" says Many happily, dancing around the place in an energetic hover. Something about the 'ee' sounds reminds Many of yesterday, and so he starts pointing at everything again - the people most of all - making 'ee' sounds and laughing.

"Oh...now i see it..." mutters Tym, but forced to give a small smile at the antics despite himself.

When Nym mentions a dream, Many comes to a screeching halt, and excitedly zooms back over to the table. His eyes are wide, and he bounces more than hovers. "Deh-meh! Nyeh nyeh!" However, he seems more exicted about something he has to say than, for the moment, Nym's own dream.

"Meh! Meh! Meh!" he yells excitedly, and finally Tym shows a tiny amount of wincing that might hint he hasn't completely recovered yet. Many gestures with all his eyestalks for Meri to come over, and then when she has come over for her to listen aswell.

"Neh! Meh!" he bounces. "Beh beh-he-he! Yeh!" he witters on excitedly, bouncing between Meri and Nym continuously. "Ah ah seh 'nyuh-uh' ah eh seh 'wa-ha-ha' ah wah ah 'pew pew pew'" Many seems to stop, turn away from himself, and hovered higher than before. He raises to eyestalks really wide, and made his face look wide, mouth open in a mock snarl and eye scrunched as if evil and angry - a good trick for a one eyed beholder. He made a 'mlergh' sound, which was perhaps supposed to be menacing but sounded more as if he hadn't liked something he accidentally swallowed.

Many then spins back and goes back to looking like his normal self, leaning back slightly as if looking up at where he'd just been. "Ah ah wah ah 'Nyuh-uh' ah eh ah weh 'pew pew pew pew" bah!" Many then mimes with his four eye stalks pointing repeatedly forwards. Many then quickly spins again, hovering and pretending to be bigger, but this time then leans back and falls down on the table. He then rolls back around to be 'himself' again, giving a little laugh, and looking over to where he had fallen. "Eh ah weh-" *ptheeeeeeeeeeeeeerp*, he said, this last being a huge raspberry he blew to his old position. However, once extended, his tongue stayed extended, and he looked in shock down at the thing rolled out of his mouth. He looked around to Meri and Nym suddenly worried. His eye stalks kept looking down at it, across at each other, and then gave little shakes of themselves.

"Was there any drink left?" asks a bewildered Tym to no one in particular.


This has been Tiny Beholder Theatre, I hope you enjoyed it. Also Many may just have discovered he has a tongue, which in terms of licking everything in sight and blowing raspberries at everything in sight is maybe a bad thing :p
This message was last edited by the player at 18:41, Sat 19 Sept 2015.

Nym watches Many, then claps her hands together excitedly.

"You dreamed you were big as well?" she says. "That must have been fun! In my dream you were really big and all black and green and you'd learnt how to say all the words properly, and we were in a forest but then it was a castle, I think. And lots of things were turning into other things. And then you were small again. I think. Or maybe that was before...and something about a dragon. And Crass was there. And umm...I was talking to myself, because myself was standing there in front of me. Or maybe it was just someone who looked like me, or could change themselves like I do. Or someone else..."

She pauses, a little confused, then shrugs.

"Well, it doesn't matter." she concludes, looking at Many. "I don't suppose you've had a dream before, have you? They can be even more strange than real life. Once I had a dream that there was a giant apple that I knew tasted really yummy even though I hadn't eaten it yet, but then it turned into a face with fur and some horns and it said something I can't remember, and then there was something about a library..."

She falls silent as she tries to remember more, then gets distracted by the fact that she's still doodling multi-coloured lines all over the table and goes back to doing that.

"Wheee, pretty lines...pretty colours, all the lines...boink boink boink..." she says, drawing a new line with each "boink".

Meri looked up at Nym's mention of Many being bigger and glanced towards the tiny beholder, a look of something like concern appearing on her face.
His odd antics seemed to reassure her though and she reached out with a smirk and poked at Many's hanging tongue.
"I think you can pull that back in, you know" she said, sticking out her own tongue and pulling it back.

"I had a dream too" she added, looking towards Nym.  "But I only saw the Ball, and..." here she paused and glanced towards Tym before adding, "and the Shadow."
She frowned, staring down at the table as if thinking over something, then looked up at Tym.
"Is Holder still here too?" she asked.

"Hah-oo," says Many sheepishly when Meri helps him with his tongue, then goes back to being excited, swatting her with eye stalks. "Ah be beh-heh! Beh...heh." Many's eye scrunches up as he concentrates on wiggling his tongue. "Beh-theh-errrr-" Many's eyes then widen and tear up as he manages to stick his tongue out again, this time though trapping it with his tiny teeth as he closes his mouth. Very slowly, he opens his mouth, pulls his tongue back in, and makes a brave face and only says 'ow' once.

Still, Nym's enthusiasm seems to distracted the little beholder and he hovers across to give her his full attention, giving encouraging nods and smiles, then buzzing around Nym's drawings and encouraging Timur to come across and look too, boucning to each of Nym's 'boink's.


Tym seems just as bewildered by the antics of the others, but not so much that he doesn't catch Meri's odd look at the comment on 'the shadow'. Though at that he looks across at Many's shadow, as if there might be something wrong with it.

"Holder...he's prolly sleepin' at 'is own place in Newbridge," said Tym leaning across to speak to Meri. "Or still talkin' Linette's ears off. Prolly won't be back until mid mornin'. Truth be told, I expected ter git ter Newbridge meself before he'd even left. Give 'im a rocllickin' fer bein' late." Tym sighed at the missed opportunity. "Eh, I know I'm no artificer, but if yer need summat, I've been smithin' fer forty years. As long as it's not questions about balls and be-whatevers and ball shadows, I..." Tym then looked embarrassed. "O' course, I have no idea how old yer are. Me offerin' forty years' worth o' experience might be very precious or patronisin' o' me..."


"Hello! Hello! Hello!"

The conversation was then interrupted by a only slightly bleary eyed - but nevertheless chipped - Jorri appearing in his finest not yet that smeared clothing. Behind Jorri, dragging his own feet, was a far more bleary eyed and tired looking Crass.


So the question is to tell people stuff now, or wait until Holder gets back?
This message was last edited by the player at 20:19, Sat 19 Sept 2015.

"Hello, hello!" responds Nym, looking up as Jorri and Crass make their entrance. "Hello again, Jorri! And hello again Crass! Tym says you can make us breakfast - I'm hungry. Can we have food now?"

"Well it was more to tell everyone about what we found there.  Although, now that you ask...  Do you happen to know a way to blow up the Falls?"
A hint of a grin crossed her face as she asked the question, leaving it uncertain about whether she was joking or not...


OOC: Curious how he'll react to that one :)

[Private to The Altweaver: Got no idea how old Meri is actually.  Probably mid-twenties in human years, though not sure if Half-Elves age differently or live longer than humans or something...
Also got no idea what the Shadow meant in the dream, so if he meant Meri shouldn't destroy or flood the place under the Falls, she didn't get that message, hehe.]

"So, can I get any of you fine folks a drink?" asked Jorri, clapping his hands with a big grin. "Water. Definitely...water..." he clarified, a small crack appearing in his smile for a second. Still, other than the slightly red eyes and the purple bruise coming up nicely on his bald pate, he seemed just as fresh as when the companions had met the man yesterday.

Crass meanwhile seemed to be barely registering what was going on, and was looking to the table blankly. At least Nym was granted a dawning look of confusion. "Breakfast? Me? But...Tym was yelling..."

"Yes. Breakfast. You need to make it. We're hungry. Don't worry about Holder, I ne'er do." Tym's voice was still loud and demanding even as he was trying to be reasonable, apparently.

Crass looked annoyed, but then Jorri patted the young man on his shoulder. "Talia and Farlow have managed to get Tym to eat one of their breakfasts about...five times ever between them. I can't get him to eat mine unless he calls it a a late brunch or a lunch."

"Breakfast's too important ter have the likes o' you buggerin' it up," pipped up Tym, speaking to Jorri but with a wink to Nym.

"So, I suggest you take it as the terrible, terrible compliment that somehow in his overheated brain he thinks he's making," said Jorri, "and let's get out of range of his voice so we can recover from yesterday in peace, what do you say?" Jorri looked to Tym with a shake of his head. "You drank far too much to be up this early and be this cheerful."

"I might be sick," said Crass wretchedly.

"Most likely," said Jorri with a less vigourous tap on the ex-bandit's shoulder, gently guiding him towards the kitchen.

Tym gave a wicked little chuckle, and the moment the other two were gone he let himself sag and moan. "Lad's food is good, hope he makes it with summat sweet so it tastes good comin' up too..."

Tym then gave Meri an askance look, as if convinced she was taking advantage of his weakened state. He looked at her for a moment longer. "Well now, yer not th' only one ter ask me that in twenty five years. The last one ter ask it was as mad as a hatter and I thought he was joking too. Nice that some things don't change. And I'll tell yer what I told him. Yes, yes I do."

Lol, did you expect it to be that?


[Private to Meri: Half elves get the initial life cycle of a human, but the elvish tail to it. So Meri would have an equivalent human experience growing up (half elves maybe have about a 5 year lag compared to humans, so 25 would be early 20s to a human), but then they have about double the human lifespan with similar milestones (60 is middle aged, live to about 130). Compared to elves who don't consider themselves adult until 100 and can live until about 300.

And maybe the voices in your head, wherever they are originating, we not only advocating breaking the cycle of stupidity, but hinting that blowing up the portal might not be going far enough :D]

"Yay! Food!" exclaims Nym happily, clapping her hands as Crass makes his way into the kitchen. She then drums her fingers on the table briefly and then goes back to covering the table in multi-coloured magical lines whilst muttering quietly to herself.

"Purple and squiggly, yellow and square, orange and wiggly, green over there! Lots of lines and lots of shapes, this one looks like lots of grapes!"

"Just a thought" replied Meri.  "You might get to try that out later!"

She glanced towards Nym with a look somewhere between puzzled and amused before looking towards Crass and Jorri.
"May as well let everyone recover from last night before I let you know what we found at the Falls.  That's why I hoped Holder would be here too, so I don't have to repeat myself more than necessary."


OOC: Meri doesn't like repeating herself.  I think she's said that before actually! :)
Anyways, happy to wait for yummy foodz before story telling!

Lol, about that yummy food...you might need to wait a little longer...

"Wait, what?" say Tym, looking to Meri again, and again giving her a look like he suspects she's just winding him up. "No, but...not seriously, right? I mean...not really, right? Yer just tryin' ter pull m' chain, right?" Tym actually looks worried. "Bollocks ter Holder, he barely listens anyway, what did you-?"

Tym doens't actually get to continue that sentence, because there is a sudden crash of cutlery or pots. As if someone in the kitchen just dropped what they were doing in shock.

There is the sound of running footsteps, and thumping doors, and Crass appears looking pale and shaken. He practically leaps over the bar, almost falling over himself. He scrambles to the table.

"The...you..orc...you...Jorri said...you saw..." says Crass, clearly terrified and babbling. "We...we have...out of here! We have to...we leave? Spirits! More spirits! Like before! We have to leave! Leave!" He looks to Meri and Nym as if they are mad for calmly sitting.

Jorri rushes out of the door ruefully, giving an 'I'm sorry' shrug and taking the long way around.


Lol, maybe Crass asked questions already and freaked out before Jorri fully answered. Who knows! So maybe you may as well fill everyone in now. Well, unless you want food first, in which cae you can just calm Crass down and get that breakfast done!

Nym blinks, looking at Crass with some confusion.

"There's more spirits?" she asks. "But I thought they're all gone now."

She looks at Meri.

"You know, since we got that portal thingy closed, and everything."
She turns back to Crass. "And the orc's gone too. Krunluc, his name was. Do you mean there's another one now? That was quick. Well, maybe I can talk to him too. The other one was quite interesting, and the shadow-thingy was kind of interesting too."

She pauses, reconsidering.

"Well, he was sort of interesting, when he wasn't talking for ages about complicated stuff to do with magic and people wanting things and all that. Anyway, what happens to breakfast?"

Diplomacy for Nym's variant of "It's okay we dealt with the thingy you were so scard of so you can get back to what you were doing"...22 :).

Meri rolled her eyes and looked back at Tym.
"Ok, short version.  The spirits are gone.  Also, the orc is gone, he's not dead, just...  Gone.  I've no idea where, but I don't think he'll be back here any time soon, if at all.  And apparently even if he does return, he's lost his power."

She picked up her staff and nodded her head towards Crass.
"You want me to calm him down for you?"


OOC: I don't think Meri's method of calming someone down is particularly gentle, but it is somewhat effective :)

Crass looks confused at Nym, and then far less confused at Meri. "No, I mean...I...thought....didn't...of...course..."

Jorri manages to get back to Crass, and once again leads him to the kitchen, saying "Lad, you may want to not act so highly strung around the hung over barely holding it together old smith you shot in the arm, and the two mages that managed to beat all the other bandits and the scary ghost without breaking a sweat. How about breakfast first, stories later."

"I'm t' picture o' health!" yells Tym to Jorri as the innkeeper disappears.

Many seemed startled at Crass's yelling, an actual annoyed look on his face. When Crass's back is turned, Many blows a raspberry at the ex-bandit, then has to cautiously wind his tongue back in.

"Gods alive my shoulder is killin' me," Tym confides to Meri the moment the others have left the taproom. "I know it was my arm that got shot, but it's my shoudler that's actin' up. The other one. Is that normal?"

Tym then waves the comment away, looking far more serious. "And ok, you don't want ter repeat yerself, so we can wait til the others are back. But just between you an' me, what's the stuff yer wouldn't be tellin' everyone?" He raises an eyebrow. "Yer know what I mean. Are we really, really out o' danger? What's the really bad things unfinished yer weren't gunna tell anyone else? I know yer likely plannin' on holdin' something back. I would."

Poor Tym, he paranoid about things working out well, and about people holding information back. I wonder if it's a smith thing :p

Meri didn't reply at first, propping her staff against the table again and reaching out a hand to pat Many comfortingly.
After a moment, she looked back at Tym.
"Ok, let me put it this way.  The immediate danger posed by the orc and his spirits is gone, most likely for good.  But the place itself...  If someone with sufficient magical knowledge and determination gets in there, there are...  Things in there that could still be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands.  Hence my question about collapsing the tunnels leading in, if not destroying or flooding the place itself.  Last night when we got here, I asked Jorri about the people in charge of New Stonebridge, and from what he told me, I'm not sure I can trust them not to misuse it."

She looked back at Many.
"What the orc did there had a very wide ranging effect.  It changed a lot of things.  It animated the butterflies in your forge.  It turned a wizard's cat familiar into some half-dog, half-dragon that was capable of existing independently, even after its master, the source of its life, had died.  It turned an ordinary hunk of metal lying around in my workshop into an anti-magical container or egg inside which a beholder grew.  And it altered the effects of a spell apparently cast by an angry hamadryad on an elf."
Here she glanced around for the Stick, pointing towards it.

"We don't know what else might have happened in other places, other things that were altered  that we haven't seen yet.  For all we know, someone out there might have witnessed one of these changes and possessed the knowledge to understand it.  The power the orc wanted is no longer there, and I took a necessary piece of the key to that power with me, but someone who knows enough to figure it out might still be able to get around that."

Nym has returned to doodling on the tabletop, her dark-skinned fingers flitting over the surface as she creates more peculiar artwork.

"Big red line...yes, all wiggly right there...and a big black blob...ooh yes, black's a good colour today. No, wait, big grey blob. And we'll have a black circle in it right here...hm, and another one here...and maybe a triangle here...hmm no, a circle is boring. Let's make it a bit sort of stretched...and with jaggedy bits along this end...wheee...pointy, pointy, pointy...nom nom nom...food is coming, soon there will be food...yummy yummy food, eaty eaty foodies..."

Tym tapped his fingers on the table contemplating something seriously. "Well, it seems that there are a few problems then. How's one supposed to tell an innocent traveller from someone here lookin' for the big magical hoozie-wuzzit? Not everyone can just blunder along bein' obvious like you two showin' off their magical doohicky to any tom, dick nor holder that is around." There was a smile as he said it to show he was only teasing. "Trouble is, Jorriis sort of...friendly. replies on bein' friendly. I mean, I don't think it would suit him being so worried all the time. And even if he does, well, I mean it might just tip off someone else. Maybe better you don't play up that aspect of people comin' here searchin'."

Tym then looked off. "Trouble with blowin' up The Falls is that it's a little obvious right now, may be somethin' that actually brings attention. Especailly if its a case of tryin'# to redirect a river. And if anyone powerful is around, well, would they not be able to get passed it anyway? An obvious freshly blocked area might just give them a place to go to. Hmm, unless there was just a way to disguise the entrance? And...if you're sayin' the magic is gone, then will anythin' else come this way?"

Regarding New Stonebridge, Tym's eyebrows come together. "We'll, I mean, ye don't like to be too hard on The Ol' Blowhard. I mean..." Tym looked uncomfortable, as if he perhaps either didn't want to be so bile-filled if it was expected, or perhaps worse he didn't want to have to come to the man's defense. "Well..hmm. I mean...if it's for the safety o' the region... I mean...maybe...he would be alright?" Tym raised an eyebrow. "Did Jorri really say he didn't trust the man?" That seemed to genuinely surprise the smith.


I would usually bring in the food now to stop poor Nym being so bored, but I'll give Meri another go around to ask or say anything before the rest come in again.

I am totally not against blowing up the falls, by the way :D

Oh, Nym's not really bored as such. She's just waiting for food whilst drawing totally-not-a-skull on the table. If she got bored I'm sure it'd be more obvious ;).

"Oh, there's not really anything quite so interesting down there now anyway." says Nym without looking up. "It's just a room with some stuff in, and some other rooms with lots of bat pooh in them. And some dead goblins and stuff. It's kind of stinky, really. And the waterfall's gone back to looking like a normal waterfall again. I'm sure there's plenty of other interesting stuff around here, nothing to do with the river. I mean, it's just a river now, isn't it? Maybe you can give visitors something more interesting to visit?"

She glances up in the direciton of the kitchen.

"Maybe Crass can make yummy food for everyone and they'll be too busy eating that to worry about poking around in caves with..."

She pauses, looks a little confused, and turns to Meri.

"Um...why are people not supposed to go in there, again?" she asks. "I mean, we were just in there. And the shadow-man disppeared. So now he's not there any more. He's gone off to grant wishes or whatever it is, hasn't he?"

Having been referring to him as a "shadow-man", I've now almost started calling him Dr Facilier...hmm lol.

A look of irritation flickered over Meri's face for a moment, apparently a reaction to something Nym had said, although she didn't elaborate on it, inwardly hoping Tym hadn't understood.
"Then perhaps we just destroy the dangerous part.  Inside the tunnels" she replied.  "Assuming it can be destroyed.  As a last resort, collapsing part of the cavern beneath the Falls will cause the caves to flood.  Though I doubt that would stop anyone determined to get in there."

She sighed in exasperation.
"Of course I could just do nothing and let the fools go ahead and get themselves killed or cursed or something, that would certainly convince them!  Oh, forget it for now, we can eat now and figure this out later."


OOC: Actually not too sure what could happen to anyone playing around with that portal since Shadow Guy isn't in there any more.  Assuming there are other things in the place it led to?
Also could the portal itself be destroyed?
(Also who's Dr Facilier?)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:26, Mon 21 Sept 2015.

"Wait, The Falls are what? Well...that's noticeable! I mean, good for new people coming through not noticing it, but everyone around is likely to talk about that!"

Meri's comments temporarily distracted him. "Well if you can do some secret destruction inside and make yourself happier, then we're back to what I said. I know a way. Well, I did a while back. I think I might have something equi-"

Sudden;'y Tym's brain caught up with something. "Wai,t what do you mean shadow man grantin' wish-?"

However, Jorri and Crass came back through carrying various plates and trays. Tym gave a look to Meri but then seemed to settle in to himself in a brood.

It seemed that there were bowls of oatmeal lightly spiced somehow, and platters of meats, pouched eggs and a vegetable smush with an appetising aroma.

Many appeared to have forgiven the earlier yelling, or simply was more exited by the new plates of food. He hovered away form the table, but skirted around the others.

Of course, it was about then that it became clear that the bewildered and distracted and half asleep Crass had not actually spotted Many properly before. "What...what is that?" he said in fear as Many buzzed around his waist looking left and right at the food.


I think the worry with the portal is that clearly it was a way to speak in to another dimension to reach The Shadow. So, of course, what else could be spoken too. The Shadow himself seemed to indicate that reality was so fragile whilst he was there and the magic of the place was so attuned, that speaking aloud regarding darker things like demons may not be a good idea. So who knows what the latent magic of the ritual could be bent towards... A paranoid more than anything else, of course.

Could the portal be destroyed? Well, it did just seemed to be a construction - a weird material, perhaps, but it could maybe be destroyed. No harm in trying :)

Shadow-man seems to be from a disney film I don't know, Nym can fill us in better. Personally shadow-man makes me think of a K's Choice song :)

"Foooooood!" exclaims Nym happily, her doodles instantly vapourising as she eagerly reaches for the first edible thing that comes into reach. At Crass's reaction to Many, she looks over at him.

"Oh, it's just Many. He's a beholder. He used to be inside an sort of egg thingy that was following us around - the ball thingy that was with us before. But now it's hatched, or something, and now Many is our friend! Hey, Many - look, food!"

Dr Facilier is from The Princes and the Frog, a Disney film that came out a few years ago. He's known to the locals as "The Shadow Man", his shadow sometimes seems to operate separately from him, he does voodoo stuff (he's like a voodoo witch doctor guy in a suit), and he has Friends on the Other Side. He makes deals with his "Friends" for certain abilities, which he uses to make deals with people to give them what they want, taking full advantage of the Exact Words trope in the process.
Here is a picture - http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net...orFacilier-tPatF.png

"Oh you mean Many?  He was inside that floating ball thing that was with us before" replied Meri, matter of factly, as if talking about a floating ball of eyes hatching from a metal shell was about as normal and unexciting as discussing the weather.

She reached for some food to eat, clearly returning to thinking as she ate.
Then she looked up at Tym and Jorri.
"On a somewhat related note, have either of you heard anything about forests near here possibly inhabited by Hamadryads?"


OOC: Not too sure if they would be noticed or not...
Hmm, that guy looks like he's based around Baron Samedi.  Voodoo god of the dead, and apparently a bit of an overly cheerful party animal rather than the usual western depiction of Death being all grim and spooky.
Actually when the Shadow was first mentioned, the mental image I got was kind of like the "Engineer" from Prometheus with darker skin.  Then I figured he was just completely shadowy like a silhouette of a person with no noticeable features at all...

"Oh," said Crass, finding a way to get out from under Many as Many dives for some small dish. "Feh! Foh..th. Footh?" He looks to his mouth as if realising he can maybe try and make other sounds, but then looks up expectantly to Meri and Nym, clearly wanting permission before just diving in and eating.

Tym looked with a thoughtful expression to Meri and Nym when they spoke about Many, as if wanting to ask a question but deciding against it due the others being around.

Still, Meri's question clearly interrupts Tym's train of thought. "Hammer-what? Wouldn't even know..." said Tym confused. "Wait, didn't you say something about a stick? And an elf? And hammers?"

It is Jorri, sitting down and quickly grabbing something from one of the plates, that answers. "Hamadryads you say? Well, I have heard of them, but never really heard about them, if you see what I mean. From my understanding, if there were any in the Far Forest or elsewhere near, then I'm sure the hunters here would have told us about them. And warned us about not hunting there."

"What, are they like dangerous elves or summat?" asked Tym. "I mean I've heard a couple o' guards once warn about not huntin' in a couple of the areas near Fivespears."

"Wait, what?" asked Jorri surprised. "You talked to the guards?"

"What? He had a nicely wrought warhammer head. Though he was more interested in talkin' about the wood and where he got it." Tym shrugged and dug in to the food, though a careful observer might have noticed it was far more gingerly than his previous enthusiasm for breakfast would have indicated.

Jorri shrugged then looked to the others. "Why do you ask?" he says. Then with a sideways look to Tym, he then asks. "And so... you said you had a tale to tell. In the light of day..."

Yeah, the picture for The Shadow looks more engineer-like, but the idea was more Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with something that was so black and non-reflective that you coulnd't really tell if they had features. Except due to some weird effect, you could usually imagine the features well enough. Perhaps?

Meri gives a nod in Many's direction, in response to his looks about the food.
Then looks back at Tym.
"Well, I've only heard them mentioned before.  Nature studies aren't really my field, but, let me see what I can recall..."

She paused and glanced down beside her seat.
"All I know right now is that one of them seems to have been annoyed by a rather careless elf who was apparently cursed by it.  That spell seems to have been cast at the same time as the surge of magic emanated from the Falls, changing everything.  And it reacted with the spell, causing it to have a much more...  Extreme effect than I think it normally would have..."

(OOC: Assuming the Stick is still there and hasn't hopped off again during the night)...

Meri reached down and picked up the Stick, lifting it into view in indicate her meaning...
"So, for reasons I can't quite figure out myself, I decided to track down the Hamadryad and see if I can get the spell reversed.  Maybe I can also get an idea of how far that magical surge went and find out what else it might have affected.  I have to admit to being curious about it, from a magical crafting viewpoint..."


OOC: I think it was the Shadow's initial size that brought the Engineer to mind.  That and I'd just watched the movie before reading that, so he was still in my head.
Do you mean the black ship in Hitchhiker's?  "Every time I press one of these black buttons with black writing on a black panel, a black light comes on in black to let me know I've done it!"  hehe.
Also, rather weak Nature roll to let Meri recall what she's heard about Hamadryads: 15 (6 + 9)
This message was last edited by the player at 08:34, Tue 22 Sept 2015.

Nym glances at Many, and grabs one of the plates, making a little pile of random pieces of food on it - this she places in front of the beholder.

"Here you go, Many." she says. "Breakfast for you! People use plates, you see."

She pauses, then taps the plate.

"This is a plate. It's um...a thing people put food on, so it doesn't go all over the table and make a mess."

She takes a plate for herself with a selection of food on it.

"And now we can eat it." she says. "And if you don't like any of it, I can make it taste like something else."

She then sets about devouring what she's put in front of herself.

Many makes a small whooping sound when Meri gives him the nod, buzzing around Nym as she creates a small plate of goodies for him. His control seems to be far better today - whether he is a quick learner, or perhaps was simply tired yesterday remains to be seen. Many eyestalks look between the food and the Nym, and his tongue starts hanging out a little, but he patiently waits to hear all Nym has to say regarding good manners.

He quickly looks to where he had the previous night been painting with gravy on the table, and where Nym's magical art has now disappeared, and appears to nod as if making some form of connection regarding not making a mess.

Many then, as daintily as a buzzing ball of energy can do, eats some of the larger pieces. When it coems to the smaller harder to get bits, Many looks around and noticed that Jorri and Tym appear to be using forms and knives. "Too-ah. Too-*gul*" says Many under his breath, a little gulping noise as if he's trying to pronounce his 'L's properly. He finds a fork, and bats it around with a few eyes stalks, then stares at it for a moment with all his eyestalks, furrowing his main eye and making little 'eh' noises. The fork, being very self assured and one of the few non-magical things around - managed to not squirm at being the subject of such intense staring.


Tym and Jorri stopped their eating, regarding The Stick. "Well, now that's some magic," says Jorri finally. "How do you know what happened to it. Can it talk?"

The Stick stood there in silence. Tym gave a look towards the bottom then top of it, a critical grimace looking at the face of it. "What an ugly bu-"

The Stick tried to jerk in Meri's hand at Tym. However her grip[ was good and Tym's reflexes were good. Tym looked startled. "Well, I guess we know how it talks. One blow on the head for yes I understood you, two blows on the head for no, I didn't like it." Tym then gave an unpleasant smile. "Hah, or maybe it doens't quite understand what we're saying. Tell yer what, we can do it in reverse. Whap it on the table once fer yes, I'm gunna stick yer in the furnace if yer don't behave, and two raps off t' table fer no, I'm not bloody joking. Understand that, my new wooden friend?"

The Stick seemed to regard him for a moment, then tried ineffectually to jerk around in Meri's hand again.

"Oh, I reckon I know why yer need to find this dryad," says Tym, "need ter shake 'er by the hand, that's why."

"Nyuh feh-nehd," says Many, shaking his head at The Stick before getting back to fork staring.

"Hmm, maybe staying away from anything that can do something like that to elves would be better?" says Jorri concerned. "I mean, you spoke of...things...last night that maybe you shouldn't actually speak about in the light of day upon reflection..."

Lol, choices, choices. There are a few options of what to do floating around. Suggestions so far are try to locate the Hamadryad, go to find Seeker Harann to come clean about the portal and area, or just figure out a way to destroy the portal yourselves. There are many other routes, but those are perhaps the three that have been suggested so far. Any strong feelings? There's more to pry from the NPCs yet, I feel :)

[Private to Meri: Regarding Hamadryads, Meri might have heard the terms Dryad and Hamadryad interchangeably, but from what she would have gathered dryads are general spirits of the forest, fey given form. They tend to look after the whole forested area, and are known to be vengeful and aggressive towards intruders. Hamadryads are the spirits tied to individual trees - whether they are the spirit of a tree awoken by a real dryad, or a dryad who has bonded to a specific tree is never quite been clear. Hamadryads will of course be as fierce regarding their land, however they would be more akin to a Tym or Jorri with a place in a region they love, as opposed to, say, the incarnated spirit of Stonebridge to appease. Also, if The Shadow specificed a hamadryad, then that means this hamadryad is tied to one tree, and may therefore be easier to pin down. Somehow. Figuring out a way to sense a bonded tree isn't, of course, something either of you two are instantly familiar with.

OOC: Dryads and Hamadryads are basically defined like that in Greek mythology. Ish. D&D has confused the issue by having dryads in 3rd and 5th edition, and making them the tree bonded ones, then in 4th edition having Hamadryads be the tree bonded ones and playable characters to boot. So, there you go :)

Also, as I mentioned before having a trained skill and a few points in the associated ability score does wonders for a skill check. Even a relatively low roll with a high bonus can give some info! And of course makes things with a really high bonus - like your current arcana score and improvements - truly scary :D]
This message was last edited by the player at 19:12, Tue 22 Sept 2015.

"No, he's a bit grumpy, isn't he?" mutters Nym to Many between mouthfuls, glancing at the Stick. "Still, doesn't mean he's not our friend. He might just be grumpy, that's all. I mean, if you got turned into a stick that people had to keep carrying around because you couldn't walk, wouldn't you get a bit bored or something?"

She looks at the fork that Many is eyeing up.

"Hmm..." she says. "I'm not sure you'll be able to use that. I mean, you haven't got hands. Hey, I have an idea..."

She grins and points at once of the pieces of food, which promptly levitates a little way off the plate and then hovers in place.

"See? Don't need a fork now!" she says triumphantly.

Was thinking how Many could use a fork and figured he probably couldn't, then remembered yet another of the many uses of Prestidigitation :D. Nym will stop levitating that piece of food once it's inside Many ;).

Meri smirked, propping the Stick up against the table next to her.
"Well, I may as well figure out what got him into this mess in the first place.  Maybe he knows something, or maybe the Hamadryad does.  From what I remember learning about them, they do seem to have a strong connection to the land.  Or at least one tree of it."

She returned to eating, watching Many eyeing up the fork with a curious expression...


OOC: Hmm, can Beholders learn to telekinetically manipulate objects?  Would be a handy trick for a race with no arms :)

Beholders indeed have one of their ten eye stalks dedicated to telekenisis. The kind that lets them throw around whole people or other such 300 pound objects with ease :)

I totally forgot that prestidigition had a low level levitation effect, I keep focusing on mage hand's more robust ability. Very cool!


"Well, sadly you know more about them than me then," said Jorri taking a delicate drink of some fruit juice, "Just..." however for some reason he looked to Tym then for the moment said no more.

Meanwhile, Many seemed delighted by Nym's trick, however to start with he skirted across to her hand, eye stalks and main eye looking all around her fingers while his body bounced excitedly left and right. "Hah? Hah?" he said, perhaps asking how. He then seems to remember himself, and quickly darts back to go leap and swallow the offered food. "Ash-oosh!" he says still eating, then proptly burps the second his mouth is empty.

"Tym," says Jorri, seemingly distracted from many's antics, "do you want to go get our cook friend to stop fussing over the dishes and afters and come sit with us? Maybe eat something? Maybe get him to not be so...rude?" Jorrimotions across to an oblivious Many.

"Why me?" says Tym, with a mouthful of food.

"Because Crass likes you, and because you need to thank him for the food, but more importantly because you're on your second or third helping and I'm still on my first."

"Oh," says Tym, clearly unable to deny the fact. He sighs, moves his chair with a muttered mumble regarding the state of the Copper Penny's hospitality ot its guests, then goes throgu hthe the kitchen. "Oi! Crass! Apparently I-" The door shuts, showing how thick it is by deadening the sound of Tym's voice.

The moment Tym is gone, Jorri leans across to the others. "Sorry, I know I said we should speak about everythign to everyone in the light of day, but it's light now and some of the stuff I'm starting to remmeber you talking about scares me a little.[Secret to Meri: " Jorri also looks sideways at Nym for the moment, as if even worried about her, but presses on. "][Secret to Nym:  ]So look, perhaps when Tym and Crass get back, maybe you should only share the...broad strokes. You see what Tym is like, I daresay if you tell him half of what you told me, he'll be all for blowing up The Falls or something! You've seen how squizzy he can be with magic."

Jorri looks conspiratorially to Nym then Meri. "So look, before our reluctant and loud friends come back, was there...was there anything more you need to share. Anything still worrying you? Are you really sure you should be leaving us for dryads? There's nothing waiting to come back?"


Heh, nice to see that Tym and Jorri have the same instinct regarding each other, isn't it? :D Of course, in this case Jorri knew about the weird stuff, whereas Tym just intuited there might be bad stuff you wouldn't share because he wouldn't!

Nym giggles as Many swallows up the food she'd levitated for him.

"I can do that again if you want." she says. "You just need to ask. As for how I did it...well, it's just magic. It just sort of...works whenever I want it to, like all the other things I can do."

She demonstrates by holding her hand palm up and making a tiny rainbow-coloured cloud appear above it, which momentarily resolves itself into the shape of a beholder before dissolving into a flurry of tiny particles which almost immediately shrink out of existence.

"Anyway," she says, "I'm not finished eating yet..."

So saying, she resumes stuffing food into her mouth.

"You're safe for now.  At least as far as I can tell" replied Meri quietly.  "My main concern is that there is what is essentially a dormant gateway to another dimension buried deep beneath the Falls.  If someone with the knowledge of how to reactivate it should find it, I can't guarantee you will still be safe.  That's the situation."

She resumed eating for a moment, still watching Many.  Then she pointed to her own eyes and then at the fork he had been staring at.
"You remember it right.  You can do that with practice.  Just remember, you control the memories, they don't control you" she said quietly to him with a hint of a smile.

Many looked at little perplexed and helpless at Nym's comments regarding magic. At Meri's urging though, he looked solomn and nodded. "Nyeh. neyh, me me!"he said. He looked to the fork again, eye screwing up and eyestalks straining outwards towards it.

He paused for a moment, then started a little dance, pretending to be mad and big, then pretending to shoot someone again with little 'pew pew' noises, then gave a tiny laugh. He then strained once more at the fork.

There was the tiniest of smallest of noises as the fork moved - barely more than as if the table had been knocked. Still, it sent Many into happy convulsions! "ME! ME!" he said happily, dancing around. "Beh-ther, be-ther, beh-" *thurble* Many's tongue had tripped out of his mouth, and he had to pause to pull it back in.

He looked up excitedly to Nym and Meri, nodding as if looking for encouragement, He then went over to Nym. "Ah-geh, ah-geh!" he said, looking to her own fingers then the food. He then seemed to remember himself. "Peh-eh-se?" [Private to Nym: Lol, you might suspect he's saying 'again, again' to Nym in the best of teletubbie impressions :)]

Jorri seemed distracted but nodded happily when Many looked around to him. However, he also used the distraction to lean over to Meri. "The doorway your...[Secret to Meri: " he looked across to Nym once more, as if to say something different but then restrained himself, "...]friend came out of. So...where is he now? Did he say if there were any other... friends... awaiting to come out?"

Jorri started having the sort of expression that might end with suggesting blowing things up, despite his comments to the contrary before.

Nym gives Meri a puzzled look as she mentions memories to Many.

"What memories?" she asks, then becomes distracted by an excited Many managing to telekinetically move the fork a tiny distance and immediately claps her hands excitedly.

"Wow, you just moved it! I didn't know you could do that! That's really good, Many!" she exclaims happily. "I'm sure you'll be able to do much more than that one day!"

Still happy, she nods at Many's polite request to lift the food again.

"Oh, of course, here you go..." she says, and lifts another random piece of food, keeping it in place for him to bite out of the air.

[Private to GM: Hehe yes, don't worry, I managed to translate him this time :).]

Meri smiled at Many as he managed to shift the fork a little.
"There you go, that's a start.  Little movements become bigger ones over time."

"Collective memories that Beholders seem to possess, which makes up for the fact they can't tolerate each other's presence long enough to pass on learning the way other species do" she replied to Nym, looking up at her.
"It's why Many doesn't like to sleep, his dreams are filled with images of those memories, unfortunately containing the more negative aspects of the Beholders, such as their destructive tendencies and hate for other beings.  But Many is different..."

She looked down at the small Beholder.
"Due to the unique circumstances of his creation, he is able to tap our memories and learn from them too, most likely the same way he would normally inherit memories from parent Beholders.  That's why he's learning faster than normal, too.  He has the potential to go beyond those darker aspects of his kind and become something...  Better."
She smiled at him as she said the last word.

At Jorri's question, she glanced back at him, her gaze briefly shifting towards the kitchen door for a second.
"I wasn't lying to Tym earlier you know.  The portal is closed now, and I took a piece of the key with me to make it more difficult for anyone finding it to open it again.  As for where the Shadow went...  That I have no idea.  Anywhere?  Everywhere?  I don't think he'll do any harm, though I can't say that for sure yet.  But the immediate threat to Stonebridge posed by the orc Krunluc is removed at least.  The portal is unlikely to be a threat unless someone finds a way to open it again, while difficult to do without the missing part, it is unfortunately not impossible."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:00, Thu 24 Sept 2015.

"Yay!" Many said at Nym's realisation, happy that she seemed ot think he was doing the same magic as her. He also nodded happily at mentions of memories. "Me beh-her! Nyuh moh-hur!" He mocked being the big beholder with the angry face again, then turned and 'pew pew'd at it and laughed.

Lol, maybe the first pantomime of Many's makes a little more sense now?

Many looks to the food again as it was levitated, but seemed more interested in Nym's fingers. He zipped across, going so far as to tickle then with the tip of his tongue as if he could taste the magic she was casting. He then seemed to realise that he'd left the food hovering, and said 'soh-eh!' and zipped back to the food, leaping and scoffling it in two quick mouthfuls and a burp. "Ah-oo!" he said. However, rather than look for more food, Many started trying to flick his tongue - with varying success - out to each of his eyestalks in turn. It seemed the left most one met with approval, and when he went back to looking at the fork, he only looked wiht that one eye. The other three looked to each other, looked ot the forth, looked to Many and the form and then started looking around in feigned boredom at being temporarily spurned.

The fork occasionally moved a little, though Many was breathing heavily and seemed to get a litle wobbly with the effort. "Oh-eh," he said to Meri regarding little movements become bigger, and took a break.


"Oh, you spoke to Tym already?" said Jorri, a little deflated in the meantime when Meri mentioned telling Tym of the closed portal. "Hmm," he said almost to himself, "I better make sure Tym doesn't go looking for any of his old dwarf friends..." Jorri came back to himself and gave a small smile, and then raised his mug. "Well, thank you again for your help. I guess there's no point in... wait..."

Jorri suddenly had to put his mug quickly, and clenched up as if in pain. It was only a moment later when he raised his head and yelled that it was clear he was laughing quite hard.

Tym came from the kitchen in a hurry at the sound, only pausing to almost physically pull the still concerned looking Crass through.

For some reason Tym looked utterly confused by his friend's mirth. "What did you say? What did you do?" asked Tym.

Nym watches Many's lick-related antics with curiosity.

"Ooh, that's...can you taste magic?" she asks. "Wow, I don't think I can do that. I bet that's useful! And I'm sure there's plenty more stuff you'll be able to do when you're bigger, with all your eyes turning things into other things."

She suddenly looks excited, as a thought has just occurred.

Hey, maybe that's what that dream was!" she exclaims. "Maybe it's something to do with what Meri just said about you being able to see our memories or something. So you're...inside our heads, somehow? And that's how come I saw you in my dream all big. Except you weren't like the mean and nasty beholders - you were still nice and everything. So I don't think you need to worry about ending up like them. Just remember what it's like to be friends with people, right? Because that's fun, isn't it?"

She looks over as Jorri starts laughing loudly and immediately starts giggling herself.

"Hee hee hee...did something funny just happen?"

Meri reached out to gently pat Many, offering him an encouraging smile.
"No hurry.  You're getting the hang of it."

She returned to her food, pausing to look around at Jorri with a bemused look...


OOC: Did we finally break his mind with all this stuff? :)

Minds are terribly fragile thingies :D

"Nyeh! Nyeh! Gooh dea-mehs!" Many nods at Meri and dances excitedly when reminded about Nym's own dream. "Feh fun feh fun feh fun," sings Many, dancing around and waving his eyestalks around.

Jorri is still laughing, at whatever he was laughing about, then at the entics of Many. Worst of all is when Tym comes in and gives Jorri a concerned look. Jorri almost doubles over again.

Tym grabs Jorri's mug and tips it over the innkeeper, which at least breaks his laughter up. However, he isn't annoyed, and instead stands up and wipes the water from his bald pate with a rueful smile and a few left over chuckles.

"I'm sorry, I just realised...we're at the beginning of the story, aren't we?"

He looks around the room for a moment before continuing. "Like, there's this buried ruins with a door. And don't pretend you don't know about it, Tym, Meri said she told you."

Tym shoots a 'I thought we had a deal' sort of look to Meri, but seems to be still wondering what his friends is now talking about.

Jorri carries on. "Hah, you old fool, you were just yesterday bemoaning how everything was coming to an end. Yet it's really the beginning, isn't it? Stonebridge is going to be rebuilt, and maybe years from now when we're nice and old and respected elders, or maybe a century from now when this place and Newbridge have combined to be a big city. And a group of adventurers will meet in this very tap room. And I suppose the place will be called the Copper Dragon by then, or something stupid. And then..."

Jorri waves his hand and chuckles. "Oh, you know how these stories go. Legends and bards tales. Some madman comes through the door. Hah, maybe Nym comes visiting the place with her tall tales. The legends and songs always sound like they happen in the dim mists of the past, or happen in some far off place. But hah, just tickled me to think about it. I was about to be worried about all this ominous danger, but, really, the danger's gone, right? I suppose what's left is something that one far off day some new adventurers will go solve. Funny, to think I might look back on this day twenty years from now while speaking to some fresh faced heroes, who themselves will remember me when their old kings or lords."

Tym was just giving Jorri a raised eyebrow. Jorri just shrugs, looks around for a different mug to drink form, and grabs Tym's. He takes a small taste of it, spits it out with a reproachful look, and then heads off for the kitchen once more.

"Hmm," says Jorri as he goes to pass Crass. "Why is Crass standing around here dumbfounded, not making any noises, just looking spaced out?"

Meri growled and turned back to the table, rolling her eyes.
"Right, I suppose he missed the part where I warned against letting anyone mess with that thing.  Well, maybe we should just leave them to it, I'm curious to see what might happen anyway!"

She sighed and looked over at Nym.
"Well, how about you?  What do you want to do now?"


OOC: Meri frowns upon tourist attractions, mostly because they usually involve lots of people that she might have to interact with! :)

"I like stories." says Nym in response to Jorri. "They're usually interesting, or fun, or silly, or any other things like that."

She grabs some remaining food and munches on it, then when addressed by Meri turns to look at the half-elf.

"Well, weren't we going to look for the hammy-dryer to make Mr Stick back into an elf again, or something?" she asks. "He might be getting bored of not having any legs to walk around on. And we can give the hammer-drad that...thingy...as a present, like the shadow-man said. I suppose we don't actually know where the hamster-drier is, but we can figure that one out, can't we?"

She looks over at the tiny beholder.

"And Many, you can come with us if you want to. I mean, if you like having us as friends. That's alright, isn't it? You're not going to decide to go off and do something else and not come back? People seem to do that a lot - I suppose they must find more interesting things to do. With other people who aren't me, I mean."

She looks back at Meri.

"But you haven't done that yet, so I suppose maybe that might mean you will soon, because no-one's let me follow them around this long before so I don't know what the longest amount of time is before someone will decide to leave. Well, sometimes they tell me to wait and that they'll come back soon, but then they don't, but they seem quite happy when they go, like they just said something funny, so I suppose nothing bad happened to them. Maybe they were going to see or do something they liked and they were thinking about it. Hmm, but I suppose...ooh, I don't think I've had one of these yet..."

She looks over at one of the plates of food and grabs a morsel of something she hasn't yet tried, shoving it in to follow the rest of her breakfast thus far.

Awww, poor Nym!

Many nods excitedly. "Hah-meh, hah-meh!"

However, everyone else gives each other looks - Many his own eyes, Tym and Jorri share a look - when Nym carries on.

Except Crass, who genuinely seems to be...unresponsive.

Tym notices and walks over to Jorri. The smith waves his hand in front of the cook's face, to not much response either. "Err...Crass lad, y'alright?"

"Friends..." murmers Crass, groggily.

Many's eyes seems to widen, and then he circumspectly hovers slowly over to the other side of Nym, as if hiding from everyone else without trying to look as if he's hiding from everyone else.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:28, Fri 25 Sept 2015.

Hehe well, Nym doesn't know if/when Meri will suddenly get bored of her and decide to go off and do her own thing instead of letting Nym hang around with her. Many is rather more "alien" so doesn't get grouped in with other people like that, or at least I don't think he has been so far. He's more like a baby who needs his parents around to show/tell him the ways of the world and thus can probably be "trusted" more to stick around on a more permanent basis. There is, of course, the possibility that he might decide to stick with Meri in the event that Meri decides to go off and do her own thing, of course, but I don't think Nym's considered that one yet. I'm not even sure how long Nym and Meri have been hanging around each other, but however long it is I'm certain that Meri currently holds the record for "Person Who's Put Up with Nym the Longest", which surely can only mean the likelihood of her abruptly deciding to bugger off is even higher, right? ;)

Nym, still chewing, looks up at Crass and hastily finishes her mouthful.

"Yes, that's right." she says cheerfully. "We're all friends. Why, did you forget that?"

She gestures to indicate the room and its occupants in general.

"Look, you've got all these people and this home, and the kitchen where you can make all your yummy food to give everyone so they can be happy eating it. That's what you get from being friends with people, isn't it? Being happy?"

Meri looked a little puzzled and returned to eating, a hint of a frown occasionally appearing on her face.
Only when she finished eating did she look up again.
"Well, when you're ready, we can go find the Hamadryad then."
Was it just imagination or was there a hint of a smile on her face as she said that?

She looked back at Jorri.
"I'll only say it one more time.  The portal at the Falls is inactive for now, but it might not stay that way if people start going over there and meddling with it.  Up to you if you think the possibility of death and mass destruction is good for business or not!"


OOC: They can't say we didn't warn them! ;)

I think Jorri has neglected to consider the fact that if we're at the beginning of the story, when all is nice and cheerful, that means we've yet to get to the middle of the story, when it all goes to shit and everything gets blown up and stuff while we frantically run around trying to fix it ;).

Lol, and I think you guys have missed the part where Jorri is speaking about a future twenty or a hundred years from now where, if you guys don't clean up all the messes, things will fester and come back up. You know, like what happened between the shy orc war and now. I guess he's just looking hopefully to the future and thinking that how maybe another group of heroes will appear (or a first group of heroes, as he's not actually thinking he's in one of those stories yet). He's thinking how this seems like the stuff that happens before in the prologue to the tale. You're right, of course... he's not thinking about how scary the prologue bits can be, especially at the start of the prologue. Maybe that's deliberate...

Jorri looked around from his concern at Crass to Meri. For some reason his normal jovial expression was not there, and neither was the tone when he spoke.

"And I'll only say this one more time. Thank you, for everything you have done. Truly. However, we've already cleaned up two messes from all this - once far worse than the second, true, but that second mess is a very recent one caused by you. So forgive me if I don't appreciate being told off by the very person who went meddling in the first place, with no idea what they were going in to. And don't think I didn't hear what you just said just now. You have the key, and the very creature you let out told you to give it to this dryad creature? So we're supposed to stay here and lie to people and stop them from going to the falls, and ignore it ourselves and leave it alone - even though being ignorant of that danger is what's caused so much death around here already. And meanwhile you go off and put our lives in danger by giving the actual key away? Not even to someone you trust, but to someone you don't know at the behest of something you freed? That..."

Jorri settled down on one of the further tables near the kitchen door. He seemed more sad than angry. "I'm sorry. But maybe you should finish up and go. I'm supposed to be seeing my son today, and I have no idea what to tell him about all this. And now you're guilting me about not telling him anything at all, even though it's plain as day now that something has happened..."

Jorri suddenly looked very old, and sank in to himself.

"All happy..." said Crass in a sing song voice, echoing Nym, and earning the darkest look from Tym who was giving black looks to the room anyway.


Aww :( NPCs with PTSD can be fragile sometimes.

"I'm not giving away the key!" snapped Meri.  "I'm giving away an item left behind by the orc that the Hamadryad might find interesting, but is harmless in comparison.  The piece of the key I took, I plan to either destroy, or alter into something else so it can't be used again.  And if we hadn't gone over there to 'meddle', then the orc would still be fooling around with a source of potential destructive power the likes of which you couldn't imagine!"

She sighed and shook her head.
"Fine, we'll go, you know best I suppose!"
Standing up, she snatched up her backpack and her staff and the Stick in the same hand and strode towards the door...


OOC: Yep, Meri is kind of wondering why she didn't just leave the orc to it now, hehe.

Timur stared after Meri for a moment, then glanced back at the others in the room before hopping down from the table and running after Meri...


OOC: Wait for me! (o.o)'

Nym simply looks around in confusion at the sudden argument that seems to have sprung up.

"So..." she says to Jorri. "We were at Meri's workshop, and then the Ball came from somewhere and tried to lead us somewhere so we went there and ended up here and heard about a bunch of other weird stuff that had happened. So we went to see what it was and found an orc with a big portal and spirits everywhere and then the portal got closed and a big shadow-man came out of it and made the orc disappear, and then he disappeared too, and now we have Many instead of Ball...although maybe they're sort of the same thing...and now we've come and told you about how all the weird stuff has finished but you don't like it?"

She takes a few seconds to think, as though trying to work out whether she's got her facts straight.

"Er...so...what's the problem?" she asks. "If this is the beginning of a story, we've still got all the rest of it to go yet, haven't we? All the exciting stuff...I mean, more exciting than what's already happened. And if this isn't a story then I suppose things will just happen differently, and maybe nothing much will happen at all[. I suppose the fun part is that we get to find out. Even if it all turns out to just be boring. I suppose we can make our own fun some other way, or go and explore somewhere else where other things will happen. I don't suppose anything more weird will happen here unless the shadow-man is listening if you wish for things and make the wrong kind of wish, so it goes all wrong because you used the wrong words and it got mis...miss-in...missy-terped...thing. Got wrong. Thought of wrong. Yes. That. Um."

She shrugs and glances around toward Meri, as though to see what she's up to.

OOC: Meri and Timur will head outside and wait around for Nym, assuming no-one stops her :)  Although she'll likely only stop if Nym or Many call to her, she's ticked off enough to just completely ignore everyone else.

Jorri looked suitably shocked and chagrined, though obviously it was too late. For some reason Tym seemed less forgiving, and gave Crass a less than gentle shake to get the young man to break from his stupour.

"Yes, it the beginning of the story...or the bit before the prologue," said Jorri. "I'm sorry I snapped, tell your friend that. I'm just...tired, is all... I'm sure it will all be fine. Just got to have faith. That's all I was saying. You friend doesn't seem to share our view, though..."

Jorri waved all remaining thoughts away, and got back up to go to the kitchen as he had been going to do. He steered around Crass, who was gripping his head and seemed to be coming out of whatever spell he had been afflicted by.

Tym looked to the departed Jorri as Nym looked ot Meri, and also looked to Crass quickly. Whilst the ex-bandit was still out of it but recovering, Tym leaned in and started speaking - not unkindly - to Nym. "I did say ter yer both no' ter mention too much ter Jorri. It's just, like... yer left us to look after the bodies.[Secret to Nym: "][Private to Nym:  For some reason thanks to Nym's passive insight, that might twinge some odd recollection about Gobbat. For some reason. ][Secret to Nym: "][Secret to Meri:  ]It's been twenty five years but, well, there's reasons you might be able to unnerstand that it's not that pleasant a thing to have to do again. There's a reason Holder couldn't spend the night here. An'...Meri shouldn't have said about coverin' anything up. I said I'd look after it, but...there's reasons Jorri doesn't like lying."

Tym looked towards the door. "Bets you catch up w' yer friend. Jorri'll be ok, I'll go see ter Crass, and if you lot pass back this way again be sure ter look me up. Jorri too, he'll be fine. And if'n yer go through Newbridge, Holder'll be at Linette's. Just ask fer the blacksmith's shop. Oh, an' if yer go down Fivespears way, ask fer The Wagonman. Even on the road, he's normally on the road this time o' the season. Tell 'im I'd like ter speak wi' 'im. But..keep that one on the quiet."

Many had meanwhile drifted under the table, looking confused and sad at what was happening, not that anyone could see him currently.


[Secret to Meri: Meanwhile, in Meri's hand The Stick seemed to give an extra little pull to the south east with any swing of it as Meri walked.]

I'll turn you lot in to the villains with unreasonable NPCs yet :)

Edit: I've had the NPCs answer as if Meri was already gone, but Nym's welcome to call Meri back rather than leave :)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:41, Thu 15 Oct 2015.

Nym stands up.

"Well," she says to Tym, "I'm sure you'll all be just fine. I mean, there's all of you here, isn't there? Well, except for Holder, but I suppose he'll come back. Won't he? And carry on making butterflies and everything. And we can leave and you'll just get on and look after each other, like you just said. Hopefully we can come back here again at some point and see you all again."

She looks at Crass.

"And you can make more yummy food for us, right? And you can live here and make a little farm like where you used to live, so you have lots of food you can cook and...whatever else you do with food before you give it to people. And I'm sure people will like it and then you'll have lots of friends, and be all happy and everything forever."

She glances toward the door, then blinks and starts looking around.

"Where did Many go?" she asks. "I didn't notice him leave..."

[Private to GM: I think you accidentally included a private note to me and forgot to make it private - the bit about my passive Insight recalling Gobbat...probably because of the "hey we just killed a bunch of guys, now we're gonna bugger off and leave you to deal with the big pile of burned-and-acidised corpses :D. Not that Nym is deciding to interpret it that way, of course ;).]

Outside, Meri halted next to the wall of the smithy.
She glanced up at the sky, blinking a few times as if trying to clear something out of her eyes.

"Why do I even bother?" she muttered angrily to herself.  "Should have just stayed at home.  At least there, I knew where I stood with everything."
She glanced back at the sound of small metal feet on the ground, seeing Timur running up behind her.  As he caught up to her, he paused and leaned forward, as if out of breath from the run.  Then he seemed to recover again, apparently remembering he couldn't actually get out of breath.

Meri glanced back at the inn, then sighed and sat down on the ground at the base of the wall, placing the Stick and her staff and backpack on the ground beside her.
Reaching down, she patted Timur on the head.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll wait for her.  And Many too..."

She glanced around, then suddenly frowned and looked back at the homunculus as if he had spoken to her.
"What?  No way!  Of course I'm not getting fond of them!  What do you think I...?  Ah, never mind!"
She smirked and looked back up at the sky again, watching the clouds pass by overhead...


OOC: Nope.  Meri is definitely not getting fond of anyone.  Nu-uh!  No way!  :)


[Private to The Altweaver: Though she does feel like Nym, despite annoying her occasionally, is probably the only person, apart from Timur, who's put up with her for so long.  So Nym isn't alone in thinking that all her friends abandon her eventually ;)
As for Many...  I think she feels they have more in common than she has with most people!]

I'd call you guys Team Outcast but, despite appearances, I don't think you've irreparably damaged any NPC relationships you've made.

[Private to Meri: Aww, poor Meri now! Still, at least Timur can do cute things to keep her distracted. Also, just so you know, my head canon is that Timur hasn't actually spoken to Meri, and that Meri just hears voices in her head and attributes it to Timur sometimes :p]

[Private to Nym: Corrected, though you this time I didn't miss out a private message, more used the wrong sort of private message :)]

Inside the Inn...

"Yeah, Holder'll be back today," said Tym. "If yer meet him on the road tell 'im ter hurry his lazy arse."

Many slowly came out from under the table, looking sheepish. He half waved an eyestalk at Nym, though seemed more concerned with looking towards Crass and Tym, whilst bobbing beside Nym. One eyestalk looked around for Meri, lingering on the door.

Crass looked confused, as if he was still drunk, though at least he seemed to be reacting to the room again - just wondering why the room had changed.

"Yeah, Crass will be fine," said Tym with an odd note to his voice. "But, hmm, maybe you should avoid Newbridge when you search for your drad thingie."

Tym manoeuver's Crass to a seat and gives him something to drink with a small pat on his arm.


Outside the Inn...

No reason to intrude on Meri's musings :)

Nym seems slightly relieved as Many reappears.

"Oh, good." she says happily. "There you are - I was wondering if maybe you'd sneaked off or something."

She looks over at Crass and Tym, then pauses and glances toward the door as though anxious about something, then turns back to them.

"Well, I think...er, I think I'd better be off. I mean, we. Um...I'm sure you'll all be alright here and everything. Right? And being friends and all that..."

She looks down at Many.

"We're friends, right?" she asks. "So that means you're coming?"

She turns and gets halfway to the door before stopping suddenly, and turns back to retrieve her staff from where it's still propped against the table from the previous night.

"Oops." she mutters. "Forgot it again..."

Then she turns back again and goes to the door, going through it, and taking a few steps straight out before stopping and looking around off into the distance.

I figure if Meri is sitting against the wall of the inn, Nym isn't going to think of looking behind her ;).

Meri, I'm assuming you're happy for me to resolve Nym's stuff. And I daresay even if people were mad, they can't really stay mad at Nym. It would be like kicking a sad puppy who was temorarily happy :)

Tym nods quietly to Nym. "We'll be alright. All friends here. And all friends with you lot. Just you be safe, and come back on yer way back. I'm sure Jorri'll keep a room fer y', or maybe Crass here'll have a place by then."

Crass still looked a little shell shocked, but nodded weakly. "Of, of course..." he said, but looked across to Many with something like fear.


Many gave a happy vigourous nod to Nym about coming with her and Meri. "Ah coh - feh-se! Fah eh-ah ah eh-ah!" he said. "Ah eh mah...feh..se..." he said a little more nervous and sheepish afterwards, looking sideways.

He quickly swooped across to Tym, waving an eyestalk happily. "Bah-bah! "He then bumped his body in to Tym, much to Tym's surprise, eye stalks reaching out and patting Tym as if attempting a hug. Tym reached around and patted Many's back in bemusement.

Many then rushed across to a scared looking Crass, bobbing left and right as if not knowing quite how to approach the cook. For his part the cook was leaning back right and left, clearly not sure what was happening.

"Bah bah," said Many, darting in finally and bobbing Crass on the cheek as if a kiss.

"Yah," said Crass surprised, and then sudden'y he looked suspicious. "Wah, did you just lick me...?"

"Nyeh leh, bah bah!" said Many not looking and waving an eyestalk around as he retreated back across to Nym as she was leaving. Many then made a very bad job of serrupticiously licking three of his eye stalks several times until he seemed to home in one one of his central ones.


Lol, who knows what that could be about, clearly nothing, I've not just made sure Many can move syuff and defend himself if you guys get in trouble. Not a bit of it. Anyway, onwards I guess?

Lol aaww, he is cute :D. I bet one day he's totally gonna just wreck someone if we get into a fight. Him and Nym together will probably end up having the potential to scare the absolute shit out of pretty much anyone, and to blast[ the absolute shit out of them if need be as well >:).
[Private to GM: Nice of Meri to disappear right after Nym gave that speech about people always seeming to decide they have somewhere they need to be not long after meeting Nym - let's see if she can bring herself to actually state that they are friends so Nym doesn't need to worry about that any more. That's probably why she's better with Many, actually - he's specifically stated they're friends (well, "feh" ;)) repeatedly so Nym can feel pretty secure about him :D.]

Well at the moment he's more likely to run away from a fight, because he's tiny and squishy and can't zap people. And hey, you and Meri are enough of a murder team that scares the crap out of people. Meri says scary things and Nym just laughs happily and blows people up. Plus now she'll be 'draining the magic' of anyone she kills and happy about it. But yeah, once Many gets a few more powers under his belt, you three will be the perfect scary murder hobos.

Wow, I really need to give you more scary people to fight. :p

[Private to Nym: Lol, yes, that was really funny timing. And yet of course totally like Meri the character that she does stuff like that and is all gruff, but it's actually a character beat showing she's mellowing, and even that she's exactly the same as Nym in terms of most people not putting up with her for long! Cool odd couple dynamic you guys have :)

And yeah, Nym has definitely managed to ensure Many is happy and friendly and wants to make friends. Not a tricky desire to give to a character who is a) something people fear because they know what he is, or would fear him becauae he looks strange, and b) beholders certainly don't have a charm person power and so if you convince Many friends are important, he's not the sort of person who can literally make friends. Not at all :p]

OOC: Nah, Meri was sitting at the base of the wall of the smithy (which I've got in my head as being opposite the path outside the inn door, am I right?)


Meri looked down from her observations of the sky as Nym left the inn.
"Ready to go?" she asked, reaching for her pack and pausing as Timur quickly clambered into it before turning around and waving at Nym and Many.


[Private to The Altweaver: Yeah, it's hard to tell if she was hearing Timur's voice there asking her if she was starting to take a liking to the others, or if she was just acting out her own mental insecurities.
I imagine her and Timur both knowing what each other is thinking due to the magical link between them.
I'm interpreting the familiar link as being that the creator of a familiar imparts a tiny fragment of their soul or something into the familiar to give it sentience and a link between the two that allows them to act as one if needed.  So Timur is actually kind of a reflection of Meri's "inner self" to some degree.  The part of her that hides behind all that angry bitter exterior she puts up.  And the part of her that actually is growing fond of the others :)]

Ah okay, you didn't specify so I thought you'd just moved over a bit from the door of the inn and sat down there :D.

There is, for a split second, an expression of intense relief on Nym's face as she spots Meri, but it passes so fast it might not have been there at all. Then she grins and waves.

"Yes, let's go!" she says. "Many is coming too. He said he wants to be friends for ever and ever. I don't expect any of us will be around that long...I mean, I might actually run out of things to do...but it's certainly a long time so that's good."

[Private to GM: Well, if Many does ever start thinking it's okay to start charming people, Nym can just explain to him how it doesn't count if you make them act friendly - they have to choose to be your friend, otherwise it's not really them doing it and it'll most likely have the opposite effect when the charm wears off :D.

Random comments - I was thinking about my Babble power last night for some reason. I was wondering what it'd be like if I ues it out of combat, if the person would keep trying to save against it every six seconds or whatever. And also what kind of garbling would happen to their speech, since there are several possibilities - they could speak actual unintelligible gibberish that can't even be spelt out, they might say gibberish words like "flerble fleeble bagooly-blub", or they might take more of a "my hovercraft is full of eels" approach and use actual words but nothing that's even remotely related to whatever it is they're trying to say :D.
I haven't had any plans on using Babble lately, I was just thinking about it, that's all :).]

Aww, the gang's all together, and ready to raise hell!

Now to decide where to raise it! Meri might have an idea on the dryad [Private to Meri: (the stick is pulling you south east for some reason, which would currently bypass New Stonebridge)], New Stonebridge is directly east, the new road to Fivespears passes through New Stonebridge south, any other thing I've mentioned sort of needs you guys to ask directions I think :)
[Private to Nym:
Out of combat / encounters I think it's just a power you can use. The cooldown would be five minutes, and the effect would last probably as long as I narratively wanted, unless I wanted it to wear off quickly in which case I'd probably roll a save every post.

In a non-combat encounter each skill check would probably count as a new 'round'.

If you had Nym actively use the power with an effect in mind, I would go with that effect, if Nym just sort of random magics the effect then I'd decide on the effect that amuses me most. I do imagine it would be person dependant.]

[Private to Meri: Aww, Timur is Meri's good side, and that's why occasionally she'll carelessly dangle it upside down to get the water out? That's a metaphor for something :) At the very least a weird ephamism for having a tear in your eye :)]
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:26, Thu 15 Oct 2015.

Well, as ever, Nym will probably just go along with what seems the most interesting. She sees herself as mainly kind of following Meri around, after all ;).

[Private to GM: Hehe, sounds fun :). I don't think Nym would ever actually consciously use the power on someone - I think it would be me deciding to do so as a player and the IC explanation being that she sort of felt it needed to be cast, so her magic decided to "jump" onto the target and (attempt to) apply the effect. Imagine how ridiculously brilliant it could be if we come across a monologuiing villain (or just someone who is both twattish and likes to talk a lot) and I manage to land it on them just as they're trying to say something that they think is worth saying >:D.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:17, Sat 26 Sept 2015.

Meri stood up, lifting her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder.
"For ever and ever, eh?" she said, looking to Many with a hint of a grin.  "Well, I dunno if I'll live that long, but I'll see what I can do."

She reached down and picked up her staff in one hand and the Stick in the other, glancing briefly to the south east.  Timur clambered out of her backpack and perched on her shoulder.
"Well, if you still want to go looking for the Hamadryad, I think it's to the south east.  At least that's the direction he keeps pulling in."
She indicated the Stick to show who she meant.


OOC: Yay, twue fwiends fowevew! :D

Nym looks at the Stick.

"Is that the way to find the hamm-eh-drad?" she asks. "Then we can get you turned bcak into an elf again, and you can have legs and everything. What's it like being a stick? It must be very weird, at least. I mean, you can't even talk. Can you? What if you get an itch or something? Hey, do you have any friends waiting for you? Elves normally live together right? Even if not with other elves, with other people in general? Do you have any friends waiting for you? Did they get turned into other sticks or something but Krunluc didn't find them? I wonder how come he ended up with you? Or you ended up with him...whichever way round it was, anyway. And he brought you over to the waterfall and stuck a bunch of twigs and stuff in your mouth. Yuck!"

The Stick answered all of Nym's questions with an enthusiastic staying perfectly still.

So, south east?

Nym looks at the Stick for a few moments, waiting for any kind of response, then shrugs.

"Well, that's alright." she says. "Maybe you'll be able to talk when you're an elf again."

Sure, whatever sounds good ;).

"This way it is then" remarked Meri eyeing the Stick for a moment, then shrugging and starting to walk...


OOC: South east it is then :)  Onwards to new adventures! :D

Well, anyone we come across is going to be totally weirded out - a grumpy half-elf and her homunculus, a "Drow" in rainbow-coloured robes, a tiny beholder, and a stick-that-isn't-really-a-stick...what a group we are :D.

OOC: Don't forget your strange shapeshifty "seed" thing :)

I hadn't forgotten it, but so far it's just a tiny "seed" thingy hidden somewhere in Nym's robes and yet to become "activated" by something, so isn't really a member of the group just yet owing to the fact it's basically just a tiny inanimate object ;).

Lol, indeed, you guy make a weird, scary group :)

Walking around the inn, the kitchen windows were boarded up at the front and so Jorri couldn't be seen. There was a window at the side but there didn't seem to be movement from there. Nevertheless Many gave a small wave of his eyestalks.

The river carried on full and strong towards the hill, but The Stick gave occasional little insistent jerks towards the south-east to move off the faded bath long before the hill. When the wind blew once strongly against the group, faint human voices could be heard - perhaps from the building prominent on the edge of the hill - but that was as close as they got to New Stonebridge.

The area was light woods and broad commons. There were the occasional livestock - cows and sheep - on the outskirts running free, no farmer evident. Many made 'moo' sounds to the cows, though then backed away nervous of the large creatures. The sheep seemed less scary and more confusing to the tiny beholder. He made an odd 'cah' sound, and it took him quite a quite before he used his tongue well enough to make a 'clah' sound, whilst pointing up to the sky. Whether he was saying the creatures looked like cloud, or asking why clouds were walking around on the ground, the animals had long passed and he seemed to lose interest.

The river bent back around skirting the area of the hill, and was a visible shimmering in the near distance at one point, however The Stick seemed to jerk away from that to steer the group due south now and soon the river disappeared once more.

As the day wore on, and signs of civilisation became scarce, it became clear that this was not going to be the day trip. For the second time in a week, it appeared that the two companions were being led by a silent guide to goodness knew where southwards.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just as The Ball earlier, it seemed that The Stick was determined not to move the group along the New Road. It did appear that the New Road would occasionally come in to view in the distance, and there were figures visible moving along it many times a day. However, whenever The Stick would course correct to get closer to it in an eastern direction, he would then correct to move south before too long, in a way that seemed to put the New Road in the distance.

Many tried his best to keep up, but it seemed several times a day he would tire himself out hovering. At such times he would politely ask to go up to the shoulders of whoever was closest or paying him the most attention at the time.

Any time they rested, he would attempt to move items - usually bits of stick or stones. He eventually could make wood hover, but without much fine control, and rocks were hard but he could at least ping them across the ground for a metre or so. Occasionally he would attempt to hold a stick hovering, as if to imitate Meri and Nym, but for the moment it seemed that both his concentration and energy levels saw him drop it soon enough.

At other times, Many would disappear - especially after some small movement were heard in the hedge or long grasses. If either of the companions suspected Many hunting for himself, this was disabused when at one point Many came back with a small rat in tow. "Rah freh! Foh eh-ah ah eh-ah!" he said happily and excitedly, and for the next hour kept looking around for it, and speaking to it - either very quickly, or in an attempt at speaking rat perhaps - which sounded like gibberish. He said its name was 'Ee ee ee ee ee ee' though the last few might have been an imitation of Nym's comment the night before, as he laughed afterwards.

Sadly, after an hour had passed, the docile and happy rat then suddenly bolted from Many with no warning. Many called out for his rat friend, and then spent much of the rest of the day pouting and sad.

In the meantime, the woods they traveled through were light and the common areas of grassland spacious. There was a sheltered area to sleep in during the night, and the walk was never arduous. The one time that a small river cutting west to east might have caused problems, The Stick suddenly decided that moving around seemed to dull and silly and staying perfectly still was a far more dignified response to such unexpected problems.

The Stick seemed reluctant, but not conclusively so, to meander towards where the New Road should be. However it appeared that this area was used a little - there was a wide and simplistic wooden bridge - no more that a set of slats and some minor reinforcement. The Stick was then all business, jerking confidently across it.

The herd of goats that appeared from nowhere, bells clattering and mass of them acting as one, not long after was a little off putting. There did not seem to be any farm or house around, nor was there any goat herder visible. Still, they were clearly someone's herd. They steered around the group after looking as if they might swarm them, and then squashed themselves over the bridge with the distant wooden thump of hooves. Many had been scared at the sheer mass of mammal rushing at him, and had spend the time until their bell ringing disappeared clinging to Nym and Meri's legs in turn, whoever was furthest from the departed herd.

The New Road became visible again in the distance, but once more The Stick seemed very much enamored of avoiding it. However, there there was a sign of someone then a while later another someone - moving east to west.

The land undulated up a little, and deposited the group on to a wide dirt road going west to east. It seemed well enough traveled, and The Stick seemed to give a decisive jerk west - the first time it had indicated that direction.

However, whether it was indicating that direction or simply issuing a warning - which would also be a first - was unknown. All that was certain was that coming from the west along the track was the distinct shape of a small cart with two horses, at least one indistinct figure riding along.


Whew. Ok, leave it there for now. I just wanted to push us ahead to the next point. As at the start of the game, if you want to backtrack and fill in any blanks with conversation on the road or around the camp at night, go for it. To the point that I'm happy to remove part of the update if there's any bit you want to do more than touch upon - camping for the night, etc.

Obviously, once we're caught up, then you have a decision regarding the wagon. Assuming you end up still meeting the wagon. Wait for it, meet it, avoid it, shoot at it with acid orbs. You, the usual standard responses :D
This message was last edited by the player at 18:06, Sun 27 Sept 2015.

Woah, that was a long post. So...are we in a new day now? I need to know for Wild Soul purposes, plus Nym isn't gonna stick in the same form for too long anyway ;). Also she's bound to have some conversations with the various group members during the day (especially Many, from the looks of things - we could get several posts just out of the sheep encounter, I bet ;)).

OOC: I'll hold off on posting for Meri just now, then I can react to Nym's antics a bit :)

You should finish up in a new day, yup.

Obviously react to anything, and as I aid I can roll back to anything if you want to chose differently (up to the '--------' ). The rat thing is maybe more significant than the sheep, of course :)

Yeah, I was thinking that, given a certain previous comment - I shall have to take appropriate action ;).

Nym giggles at Many's referring to sheep as, apparently, "clouds".

"Hee hee...yes, they look a bit like clouds, don't they?" she says to him. "But they're not, they're sheep. They're not made of cloud. I'm not really sure what clouds are made of but rain never falls from sheep and I've never heard of anyone making clothes out of cloud so they must be different things. Well, sheep are made of wool, I suppose, or at least their fleeces are. That's the fluffy stuff on the outside. People cut it off them really carefully in the summer when it's all hot, and use it to make clothes and stuff. Then the sheep look all skinny but it all grows back again eventually, before it gets cut off again. They don't seem to mind. Sheep don't really do very much, really - I only ever see them standing around in a field eating grass and running away from things, and all looking the same. It's kind of boring."

When Many apparently makes friends with a random rat, Nym is excited and likes watching the little creature which chs clearly thinks is pretty cute. But when it suddenly runs away she gives Many a confused look.

"I thought you said he was your friend." she says. "How come he just ran away? How did you make friends with him in the first place, anyway? Maybe he was just pretending, but I thought rats always lived together in big groups anyway. Was he on his own or something?"

I'll leave that there and provide a reaction to the random goats and stuff after this conversation.

Meri had glanced towards the rat, apparently unfazed by its sudden appearance or liking to Many.
Although at one point she suddenly stopped and glanced back with a rather surprised look, as if something had occurred to her that she should have realised earlier.

Shaking her head slightly, she turned to continue on the way, looking towards Nym as she spoke up...


OOC: Yay, for cloud sheep and rat friends :)
We don't have cloud sheep, but we do have cloud bunnies:
http://41.media.tumblr.com/90e...RI1sq0j8to1_1280.jpg

Lol, that is more cloud than rabbit!

Many had been happy and attentive when Nym had explained the sheep. "Oh-ah!" he'd said happily, and watched them with at least one eye stalk as he bounced around and the group finally left them behind.

Many was a different little beholder later in the day, more depsondant and evasive with regards to the rat. "Mah...freh..." he said, eye looking left and right, and eye stalks looking everywhere but Nym. He sighed. "Nyuh fah-eh-ah?" he looked off to where the rat went, pouting.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:40, Mon 28 Sept 2015.

Nym follows Many's gaze toward the direction the rat went, then looks back at him.

"Well, no, apparently not." she says. "Um...how did you get him to follow you, anyway? I mean, I didn't think you spoke Rat. Well, it's just squeaky noises and all movements and smells and stuff, I suppose, but...how did you make friends with a rat when they always seem to run away from everyone and I didn't think you'd ever even seen one before?"

"Another memory perhaps?" remarked Meri.

"In fact I think I've just figured out what was wrong with Crass back there" she added with a rather stern look at Many, although it quickly faded into a wry smirk.
"Interesting effect that."

Many had looked quickly between Nym and Meri. "Ah...meh-beh...mah-*hic* eh," he said, waving an eyestalk. He had the good grace to look embarrassed in between pouts.

"Magic?" Nym blinks and looks back toward the rat's last seen location, then at Many once more. "You used magic to make the rat follow you?"

She is very confused by this and takes a few moments to think about it.

"But...then he wasn't your friend, was he? You just got him to follow you. And, um...then I suppose it wore off and he ran away like normal? So he wasn't really your friend...you can't make someone your friend - they have to choose it, otherwise it doesn't count. And if you do magic to make them follow you about then they just won't like you when it wears off and it'll be even worse because they won't just be not-your-friend, they'll be not-your-friend and they probably won't like you very much, or maybe they'll actually dislike you, or be scared of you, or angry, or something. If you want people to be your friends you have to talk to them and help them and that sort of thing."

Then she gives a shrug.

"Not everyone will want to be your friend, but that's alright. Everyone's different, which means lots of people are so different from each other they can't ever be friends, although that doesn't have to mean they hate each other or anything. You just have to work out which people are the ones who can be your friends and will actually stay that way, and be friends back to them because you don't know how long they'll be around."

"It could still be a useful ability to use on an enemy to stop them attacking you.  That way you can get away without needing to fight them.  It's just one of those abilities that should only be used in the right situations" added Meri.

Then she smirked again, "Still, that's probably the only time I've ever seen Crass when he wasn't going crazy!"

Yeah, Many has a defensive power at least, but seems like he won't be using it willy nilly on all the NPCs you meet up with! Better he learn now than later I guess!

Many looked downcast but seemed to understand. "Oh-eh," he said, far less enthused than when talking about sheep clouds. Still, he went and got some small amount of food he had been playing with, and put it close to where the rat had disappeared. "Soh-weh," he said to the tall grass, then moved away.

He then seemed to have a thought, and with great effort and grunts moved some sticks under the food to lift up the edges out of the grass it was sitting on, in case the rat maybe couldn't see it. He moved back to the others again.

Many's eyestalks couldn't help but look back as if hoping maybe the rat friend would come out and accept the apology food, but nothing seemed to stir.

It was a sadder but wiser little beholder that drifted along as they left the area and carried on. At leats, of course, until the goats startled everyone.

Nym watches Many putting some food out for the vanished rat.

"Aaw, don't worry, Many." she says. "You've got plenty of time to try and make actual proper friends, the right way. And I'll always be your friend, so you'll always have someone to talk to. If you want."

After the group has continued on a little way and rested for the night, Nym wakes p the following morning and takes a new form, as she so often likes to do.

Having woken up feeling, in her own terms, "a bit sort of rumbly", Nym's features look vaguely feline, with a squashed-ish nose, hair like a sort of mane, and a thin coating of fur all over. Her colour scheme is varying shades of grey, like a stormy sky about to burst, and her eyes (now with catlike pupils) gleam a pale blue, like two little patches of sky visible through cloud.

Her mood is the same as ever, and she reacts with excited surprise when the herd of goats comes running toward them.

"Ooh, look!" she exclaims. "Goats! Goaty-goats! Hey, don't worry, Many - I don't think they want to hurt us. Look, they don't look angry or scared or anything. Hello goats!"

She waves at them happily (but rather pointlessly) as they pass by.

"I wonder where they're going." she says. "Maybe home? Or maybe they've just come from home and are going somewhere else. I suppose we can't really ask them. Oh well..."

OOC: Resisting the temptation to make a joke about us getting on everyone's goat!  hehe.
Also what is Nym now?  A catgirl?  :o


Meri peered after the goats, glancing around to see if anyone was trailing after them.
Seeing no-one, she shrugged and moved to continue.


OOC: Wonder if they've all been altered by the portal magic too and are now headed to Stonebridge to gather in Jorri's inn and ask if he's seen anything weird passing through lately, while eating his tablecloths and biting Crass on the butt :)

Well now I'm embarrassed not to have thought of that as a thing. and the goats actually say 'meeeeh' rather than bleat :D

Also, just for fun can both of you roll me a perception check? You know, for fun and giggles and nothing serious at all whatsoever why do you keep asking, everything's fine? :p

By the new day Many had partially shrugged off his sadness from the previous day, though seemed a little skittish about practising his magic for the moment. He seemed more content to look around the new landscapes, although every so often he would look behind as if hoping to see his little rat friend from the previous day.

Despite Nym's words, the goats still seemed to startle Many perhaps for their sheer mass. He did try a brave little 'eh-oh' and wave to the bleating mass of them, but usually every time he waved an eyestalk he instantly put it back around whoever's leg,as if worried of falling off and accidentally drifting in to the co-ordinated mass of them.

Lol, nope, not encountered a goat herd and been scared by their co-ordinated terrifying movements, not me! Also, note that puns in 4th edition are punishable by healing surge loss. I don't make the rules :p


Still, by the time the group had made their way to the dirt road, Many seemed ot be back to his bouncing self. He had tried to compliment Nym's new look, but the words he knew apparently hadn't quite caught up with his ability to say them yet.

Seeing the wagon in the distance, he looked to Nym and Meri. "Noo-eh freh?" he asked hopefully.


I assume you guys are ok being back at the road now?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:23, Wed 30 Sept 2015.

OOC: Got 20 (11 + 9) for Perception.
Also trying to resist the temptation to unleash the puns :)
Sounds more like a Bard ability actually, killer puns.

Nym looks over toward the wagon, then at Many.

"Maybe." she says. "Let's find out!"

Perception check = arse. Botch :P.

Well if you ever meet any bards I shall make sure to include puns in their powers :D

And neither of you notice anything, because there is nothing to notice...


So, how are you dealing with the wagon? Acid or fire? :D

OOC: Lightning maybe :)
Can I tell what sort of cart it is from here?  Like is it just an open-topped one for lugging stuff around, or is it one of those ones with the cover over it so you can't see if anyone is hiding inside?

If it turns out to be hostile, probably both, and then some ;).

"Hey, shall we go and say hello?" Nym asks Meri. "Or maybe we should just leave them alone. Do you think they're busy? I wonder where they've just come from. Or where they're going to. Or who they are. Maybe we shouldn't bother them. Or maybe they'll end up going past us anyway, and then we can say hello. Maybe they live round here and we can ask them about the hammy-thing. Or maybe they've travelled really really far and they're not from here at all..."

Btw, are we still going southeast? Which way are these guys going and where are the road and the river? I can never seem to picture these locations, lol.

Perception check for getting more details, please :)

Though vice versa, you might guess that means you yourselves are hard to disern right now, and also have enough time to simply move away from the road again.


I've moved you far enough that the river is well behind you, and even the small  stream you crossed over. You are going more south than south east now. You might suspect you are running parallel to the New Road to Fivespears, which runs south-ish it seems.

The road you are on is going west - east, and the cart is going east. so most likely the cart is going to join the New Road, then either turn south for Fivespears or go north and pass theough Newbridge.

Unless there are more turnings east off the New Road - you won't know, haven't not really travelled along it.

I'll try to make an uber map at some point to show rough locations of things.

What is this Fivespears place? Have we been told much about it other than the name? I can't even remember who mentioned it but presumably that was Jorri. Is it just another small town like Stonebridge?

Let me just make that Perception check, anyway, and see if Nym can actually notice anything this time :D. Okay, here we go...whaaaat??? Really?! Bleh. Hey, guess what...another botch! Two in a row! Wtf...oh well, maybe that means my d20 is saving up for a massive epic crit later on...like as soon as we get into combat or something and I need to nuke about eight guys at once ;D.

Fivespears has been name dropped once or twice. It is the first major town you will come across in this region going south. It's where Lord Fetre came from who came and broke the orc army, and his successor rules from there still it sounds like.

Meri's banner from that time is also adorned with five spears, showing at least part of Fetre's army had close ties to that place too :)


Basically north and south have been a little disconnected by the elvish forests until a generation ago, when the New Road was created and travel to Fivespears became far quicker and easier.

Still, without the orc war, maybe Stonebridge would have become a major town, rather than New Stonebridge being a glorified stopping point between the north and Fivespears. And maybe trading would have come along anyway.

OOC: Sorry for the delay, been travelling around half the day on trains with faulty wi-fi!
Rolled 27 (11 + 16) for Perception :)
Really wish I was using this die over on Rebirth!

Maybe it's karma! So all the bad rolls you get on rebirth where at least there's lots of other characters to mitigate those rolls gets balanced by good rolls here where you only have two dis tractable companions to rely upon :)


A combination of a clear day and Meri's sharp eyes mean that she can see that the wagon is indeed a flat bed. It does have shapes on the back, but most likely sacks and small chests.

There appear to be two bulky figures on the front of the wagon, leading two horses. The figure on the right seems twisted oddly, as if they are turned looking/talking, or more likely hunched asleep.

"Seems to be just two of them on the cart" said Meri quietly.  "One of them looks a bit odd, but maybe I'm just seeing things."
She glanced back at Nym.
"What do you think?"


OOC: Hmm, uncertain.  So I'll let Nym have the deciding vote here :)
This message was last edited by the player at 11:57, Thu 01 Oct 2015.

Nym glances over at the cart, then back at Meri.

"About what?" she asks. "About one of them looking weird? I don't know, it depends what you mean by weird. I mean, everything is weird when you think about it, because nothing's the same."

Hmm, I'll pause there because I need to check something - what's the cart's direction relative to us? Are we on the road and they're coming toward us from the direction we're heading, or are we off the road and would need to change course in order to intercept them if we wanted to? Or, us having just got back to the road, are they behind us and therefore eventually to overtake us as they're presumably moving faster than we are?

You have been travelling north to south. You have been walking eventually parallel to the New Road north to south going from New Stonebridge to Fivespears (to the east of you). You have finally encountered a road east to west that will surely hit the New Road at some point going east, and probably goes to more villages that used to link to Old Stonebridge west.

You are on the road.

There is a cart coming from the west (presumed villages) going east (going to either New Stonebridge, Fivespears, or somewhere far east)

The Stick gestured west towards the cart. Whether it wants you to go west along the road, or simply was warning you of the cart is unclear. You could always ask it :)

I will get the map at some point of the vague area you know and are travelling.


All clear?

Meri sighed and shrugged her shoulders.
"Never mind..."

She peered at the cart again then held up the Stick.
"Were you pointing us to that cart or the road?" she asked, trying to ignore the feeling she had started seeking advice from a magically cursed piece of wood...


OOC: Well, you said to ask it :)