Standing over the creature, Marik forgets for a moment he is not alone and studies the dark individual while talking to himself, as he often does in the solitude of the forest.


"Gedonnwer'fen, never thought I'd actually see one... Lady Siannodel was on point with her description." he mutters for himself, but probably loud enough so that you can hear it.


He then hears Filimena sigh loudly. Marik turn the head toward her, suddenly snapping out of his cold demeanor. The halfling looks upset, with a small, single tear crossing her cheek.


"Oh, Filimena. It still hurt, doesn't it? Come here, I'll make you something to dull the pai..." he is saying while opening his satchel to get some herbs.


Marik is interrupted by the sound of a door opening and a large form suddenly entering the room.

Having found a way to open the door, a large cat quickly makes her entrance in the room, passing before Ghelves as if he wasn't  here and making her way to Marik. Her teeth are bared, and she is growling as if she was ready for battle. Seeing Marik uninjured, she calm down quickly and go find her master, rubbing her head against his chest while purring, almost making the elf fall on his back.

[Language unknown: "Wh...Isar. Rat ome. Dich men."] says Marik, as he pats the big cat on the head.

Marik turn toward the others.


"She heard the fighting and thought I was in danger. I taught her how to open doors with her mouth and paws whenever needed." says the elf. "And damn was it long before she finally understood how to open the door to the treehouse."he thinks for himself.


Reassured, the big cat find herself a corner in the room and lay down, watching quietly.

Raszire moves over to Filemena a cast a healing spell, then casts another on himself. "Thanks to St. Fenwyn we should be free of any damage. But I would suggest that we rest before continuing, it will take some time for me to regain my spells."


10:40, Today: Raszire Toumash rolled 14 using 1d8+6 with rolls of 8.  Cure Wounds on himself.
10:40, Today: Raszire Toumash rolled 7 using 1d8+6 with rolls of 1.  Cure Wounds on Filimena.

Marik nods in agreement.

"Yes, let's take some time to prepare before moving on. This investigation has taken a much darker turn than I imagined when setting out this morning."

He looks to the wall, where the portal should be.

"Do any of you have ever been to the Underdark?"

Keygan opens the scroll case he previously retrieved then removed and unrolls its contents on a chest. "This might help, it is a rough map of Jzadirune." The map is made of rough tattered leather.



[Private to Filimena the Gentle: Korim is the small dwarven kingdom to the north. They are masters of construct magics and though a small kingdom defend their lands with the constructs they build. Their constructs are both large and powerful, and small and delicate.

A civil war between the dwarves of Kalazanbaar and Korim. Korim developed the Construct technology out of their need to beat the larger, more established kingdom.

Before the civil war the two dwarf kingdoms traded with each other and some of the Korim dwarves even had outposts in the mountains of the Kalazanbaar kingdom.]

Intrigued, Marik steadies himself on the chest with his hands and bend over to examinate the map. He looks at it silently for a few second.


"Do you have any idea where the childrens would be kept in the settlement?"

Filimena nods at Raszire, thanking him, as the last of her wounds close, and even the bruise she had on her arm from where she hit the floor disappears.

"And any traps or secrets we should be aware of?" She adds to Marik's question.

The dwarf looks over the map intently and frowns, "I don't recall any jails or good spots to hold people in the enclave ... but I hadn't been there since I was rather small. The many of doors in Jzadirune are specially keyed to prevent people from getting into some areas due to the work being done in the enclave. I have no doubt that they are trapped as well because they would have fortified the enclave against the Drow attacking."

Keygan then rummages through a second chest and pulls as square rod which is about eighteen inches long and has several notches in it. "You'll need this to get back through the portal here." He pushes on the wall under the stairs and slides the panel to the left relieving a 4 foot round gear with a depressed dark metal center one. There are runes carved into the door. "This is one of the only way to get to Jzadirune. All the doors down in the enclave will look like this though the door slides out of the way rather than how this portal works."

Door + rod/key :


Runes:

This message was last edited by the player at 23:19, Wed 28 Sept 2016.

Marik studies the map for a little moment and nods. He get back up and makes a few steps, his hand on his chin, apparently in deep thought. He takes a looks at Rani and then adress Filimena and Raszire.



"Well, this most definitely isn't what I had in mind when we start this investigation this morning, but here we are. Making a search party for missing children work out well enough as it is, but braving Geddonn...what you call the Underdark... will be a whole different hunt. Raszire, I saw that you could fight and master divine energies to a certain level. Filimena, do you have any skills....besides fighting... that you think could help us down here? "

Filimena looks at Raszire and Marik, then shrugs nonchalantly, as a disembodied voice suddenly appears in both their heads, saying, Well, I can do this

Also, for the moment at least, this, her body suddenly changing into that of the creature which, just minutes ago, had attacked the group. And a couple of other spells besides.

OOC: Not really sure how to represent telepathic speech. Using bolded text here, but let me know if there's another way I should do it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:49, Tue 29 Nov 2016.

As though wanting to help more Keygen says, "These runes spell Jzadirune in dwarf," then points to each rune and spells out, "J-Z-A-D-I-R-U-N-E." indicated which rune corresponds to what letter.

"Master Ghelve, if you do not mind mind, could we rest here for a time to regain our strength and magic. That way we can keep watch should anyone decide to return." Raszire looks at Filimena and Marik "Or would you prefer to press on?"

Marik nods in approval at Filimena display "This could be useful" and turns to Raszire.


"How much time do you need?"

"I wouldn't mind taking a rest," Filimena offers. Usually, in a situation like this, she'd be quite impatient to move on. Raszire did, however, just save her life. It felt the right thing to do.

"To regain access to my more potent spells will require approximately eight hours. I can still cast some minor cantrips and channel some small amount of divine energy. But that would be little help if we were to become seriously injured."

Marik nods with approval.

"My mentor have a saying...had a saying" says Marik. Varameim Hem'hulfuer. "I can't find a way to properly convey what it means in Common tongue and it's obnoxious lack of vocabulary, but basically it means "Who lives in minutes soon meet his hour". "The Underdark is full of spiders hungry for foolhardy flies..."


Marik makes his way to Rani, and sits on the floor besides her. He gets out a little teapot from a sack on her back and starts to make tea, using water from a waterskin and a little burning element. In doing so, as is customary among his people, he can't help but feel his heart tighten a bit in his chest.

It's been ten years since he last prepared tea for a host. Why does such a short time suddenly feels like it was an eternity ago?
This message was last edited by the player at 15:17, Fri 30 Sept 2016.

The dwarf nods to Raszire, "Of course you can stay here for a while, though it is only now midday so customers will be coming and going. I have a sitting room upstairs you may use."

OOC: see G4 on the MAP

"We will keep our eyes and ears open, should anyone with the Laugh or from Jazidrune showup."

The silence settles in, as minutes slowly fly by like sand brushed off by the wind.


Marik removes the pot of water from the fire a few moments before the water reaches the boiling point and puts some  finely rolled, dried, leaves, into a tea pot. He pours some water into the tea pot, waits a few second, and empties the liquid into a finely carved small wooden box. He then fills the teapot anew with more water, and afterward wait a few minutes.

Once the tea is ready, Marik pour some for Raszire, Ghelves, Filimena and himself into small brown clay cups with intricated green vines painted with extreme care on them.

He hands one to Filimena.


"This is Ethariel Emerald Oolong, picked from Vol'ahsr Peak in the Spine mountains. This one always provides me comfort when the time calls for it. I recommend you let it roll on your tongue with some air to let the flowery flavors fully reveal themselves..."


and then to Ghelves, as he continue talking.

"It is said the seedlings were a gift from Vellardin to the Kalazanbar thousands of years ago, long forgotten since then and rediscovered by my people as we scoured the mountains. The plants survived the war unscathed and prospered. We drink it as a source of hope and good omens."

Ad then to Raszire. Marik tries to change the subject, to lift the somber atmosphere still present after the battle.

"Here's to you, master Raszire. Pardon my curiosity, but your accent reminds me of the one from a dragonborn minstrel from Zir we heard yesterday. Would you also be of Zir by chance?"

Raszire gratefully accepted the tea, gingerly handling the small cup "Yes Marik, this is my first trip outside of Zir." Taking a sip of the tea, Raszire did as Marik had suggested "I must admit your tea has a pleasant taste."

Filimena accepts Marik's tea with an awkward smile, recalling all the times her parents had forced her to drink tea back when she was a child and still lived with them. She'd hated it. It seemed silly and pretentious and so typical of her parents. The stuff didn't even taste very good. She doesn't want to appear rude to her new friends, though, and so, following Raszire's example, she brings the cup to her lips and sips it. It tastes surprisingly pleasant, a fact which annoys her just a little bit.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:03, Sun 02 Oct 2016.

Marik nods, listening with curiosity. A few verses of Targana, the dragonborn minstrel, come back to his mind while Raszire talks. He remembers standing there like he did as a child, listening to those who wandered out of the forest (and they were many) for stories of the world and imagining what were these lands they talked about, waiting for the moment to see them with his own eyes. He had growned up just like the mens and womens of his community, unable to stay in place, always eager to look farther, to wander the mountains, the forest and the plains in search of something to use, or simply a little bit of beauty. And while the Ban'thuur had taken a heavy toll, his lust for exploration had not been one of the casualties.

"Please, tell me more about Zir." says Marik, eager to know more.

Raszire smiles, at least you think it is a smile "Zir is dry, hot and sandy. Far different than this land, before I ventured here I had no idea there was so much water and green in the world. I was born in Ziris, capitol city of Zir, the Glass City, the Shining Star of the Sand. Literally made of stone and glass. The dragonborn are renowned for fashioning glass weapons and armor using their fire-breath. Dragon-glass, also known as Zirathnian Steel it is light and strong, durable and also readily accepts enchantment. My mace is one example of Zirathnian Steel." Raszire picks up his mace and holds it out for Marik.

"But what of you and Filimena where do you call home, or perhaps the question should be where do you hail from?"

Keygan accepts his tea and heads back into the main room, leaving the curtain slightly open so that the group can see inside.

He returns at the close of the day and show you how to open the portal, "You'll need this key to come back."

OOC: new thread is up - continue talking here as you wish but we should move the story along some as well
This message was last edited by the player at 19:39, Mon 03 Oct 2016.