The Necromancer's Pact VIII: The Rising Tide

[kuja.girl]

Tiriel

Tiriel draws her attention away from the box to glance at the passed out form of Desmona. "I would but I don't know where to put her Tanner. And besides, she's not doing any harm here. We might as well leave her until we know where to go. I don't think drunk guests are our host's highest priority right now."

Tiriel glances at Callos and raises an eyebrow as she reaches for the cloisonne ring, waiting to see if he'll stop her. When he doesn't she examines it, curious as to what exactly it may do.

[Koji]

Khazrael

Khazrael picks up the ring and slips it on his hand. He admires it for a moment before slipping it off and reading the word along the inside. Fascinated by the possibility of being conferred with some power, he resolves to test the ring out immediately.

[Erikkin]

Fizahn:

"Well ahm na dead, am I?" Fizahn says to Damian with a laugh. "I'll justtake Ackbee's. He proven he'sh a gnomelover." Fizahn slurs out before reaching over and reaching for the white gold ring with the black pearl. He examines it a second before pocketing it. "I'm gonna goeshtobed now. Takeiteasyeverybuddy." Fizahn stumbles out of the room and asks the nearest person where his quarters are. At least, that's what the person assumes he asked.

[blackfox]

Anika

Anika glares at Elthan in annoyance. "I want the ring you have. Do you know how useful that would be to me?" Anika hastily palms the ring Fizahn had reached for and scans the inside for a word.

[namo]

Adalmar

Belatedly realizing one of the rings may have been intended for him, he looks thoughtfully over the remaining ones. He reaches out hesitantly at first, then suddenly with more deliberation, to grasp the leather loop. Stop second-guessing yourself ! There will always be time to put it back if...

Diligently imitating the others, he looks for inscriptions on the ring (if he can't read the word, he'll request Callos' assistance), then to tries put it on.
"If we can't get them to work, we could politely ask the Hathrans to analyze them for us."

[Dr._Bob]

Callos steps back away from the table, then points his finger towards a clerestory window up above, and speaks the command word. The five multicolored gems sparkle in the lamplight. Nothing else happens.

Meanwhile, Tiriel chooses the cloisonne ring, admiring its fine workmanship. The design is intricate with bone white, blood red, and celadon green sections. Etched inside the ring is the draconic word, ixen.

Khazrael can't wait any longer. "Austrat!" he calls out. Immediately, the dragonfly's wings begin to vibrate. Khazrael, too, begins to vibrate until his outline becomes blurry and indistinct.

Anika looks jealous after seeing the effects of Khazrael's and Elthan's rings. She is just about to reach for the white gold ring with the black pearl when Fizahn reaches for it.

Determined not to lose out for a third time, Anika swipes the ring out from under Fizahn's hand. Hardly noticing, the gnome instead pockets the gold ring with the three inset rubies.

Smiling to herself, Anika inspects the black pearl ring. "Virlym" is inscribed inside.

Not to be left ringless, Adalmar takes the leather loop. Embossed inside the knotted string - "Osvith."

Left unclaimed are the iron octagon and the brass snake.

[Frojoe21]

Aeroz

"Hey...hey...the rings...I want one...stupid Prozen...taking mah sword..."

Moving towards where the rings are located, Aeroz snatches the iron octagon and examines it closely.

[barawn]

Damian

Damian laughs at Anika's frustration at Elthan's ring choice. "How useful it would be? Anika, you can already pretty much disappear without a trace even if someone was staring right at you! You should be asking for Tiriel to have it. She's the one who tends to stand out a bit on occasion."

"Callos, you might want to try casting a spell or having a spell cast on you. The ring says wizard. It probably has something to do with spells."

[King_of_GRiffins]

Elthan Moonshadow

Elthan seems more than a bit perplexed with how to answer Anika's question, keeping his mouth open as if to speak before having the question answered for him. With a short sigh of relief, he adds, "Damian (it is Damian, right?), is correct. You already can become invisible at your own will, so it would be redundant if you were to wear it. I would like to continue wearing it; It... has part of my name on it," he says, realizing just how silly a reason that was. He stutters a bit before claiming a better reason to cover up the previous, "Besides, if I could go invisible, I might... Be able to sneak around and provide you with some... arcane support?"

Shortly after speaking, Elthan regains his calm. Why was he humbling himself for her? He barely talked to her previously, she was not that intimidating, and he had no reason to flatter her by holding back some of his words. It didn't quite make sense, but he ignores it and breaks his own silence by clearing his throat.

"If you require, I can give you the proper pronunciation and translation of the draconic scribe on the ring. It might be a simpler method to discovering their purpose than trying to activate what could be potentially harmful to bystanders."

[Matticus]

Grynde

Screw this he thinks, and reaches out for the brass snake ring, snatching at it quickly, with one hand readied to stop anyone trying to prevent him from taking it.
"I want the shtoopid shnake..."

[namo]

Adalmar

He is very tempted to accept Elthan's offer, but he could never bring himself to ask something of the murd... half-elf.

So, he takes a few (unsteady) steps away and extending his forearms in front of him, palms upwards, he pronounces "Osvith", then remembers to try and imitate the draconic accent : "Oss-vith".

Only later does it occur to him that he condoned a certain partition of the group simply by picking up a ring...

[Naleh]

Retay

The barbarian sits back, letting the others worry about the rings for now. There were only nine, so Retay didn't expect anyone would let him keep one. Perhaps, he thinks, still somewhat drunk, when I help to chase down this 'Sarthra', they'll decide I deserve one... Besides-- "Hey!" he says, as Grynde snatches the last ring. "Dat's no' feryou! Dey're ferdese udder people, no' ferrus caravanners!"

[barawn]

Damian

Damian glares at Grynde when he reaches for the ring, but does not move toward him - instead, he speaks in a calm voice. "That's theft, you know. And you happen to be surrounded by the local law enforcement. I'd suggest giving it back and letting them decide what to do with it. Otherwise we'll have to enlist their aid. And you can imagine how they'd feel about someone stealing from their honored guests."

He sighs. "Besides, Grynde. You wouldn't be able to keep it. Several of us here would easily be able to take it without you ever noticing, and if worst came to worst, Khazrael could simply cast a spell on you again. Or we'd just have Retay chop your hand off."

Idiot. Anger people when they're drunk. That's always a good idea.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Callos

"It'd be very ill-advised for my to simply start throwing spells around willy-nilly in here to see what the ring does considering that most of my dweomers are destructive or detrimental in nature, not to mention some require I be aiming at a living target to even see an effect." Callos sighed regretfully as he spun the ornate ring around on his finger and looked back down to the table...

...Just in time to see Grynde reaching for the brass snake. Sure he was drunk...maybe it was just a cover though and he wasn't going to take chances. "You'll stop your hand, or I'm going to use you as a experiment for my own ring and I don't want to cause a ruckus in here. You want to try this again, later when we're in private and no one can stop us, then be my guest and we'll see who has the ring then but for now return to your seat. I only have one way of subduing you non-lethally and nobody wants to see an out-of-shape necromancer attempt beating a drunk person until he passes out, agreed?" He said in a friendly tone of voice, forcibly shutting the box and moving it just out of Grynde's easy reach. If the half-elf kept reaching for it though, then it meant he wasn't going to be deterred so easily from his course. To lighten the mood some, he glances over at Tiriel and asked politely "What does yours say?"

[kuja.girl]

Tiriel

"No clue. It's just a bunch of squiggles to me. Here, you read it." She says handing Callos the ring and giving Grynde a disgusted glance.

(ooc: stupid Draconic has it's own alphabet.)

[blackfox]

Anika

Anika answers Elthan without looking at him: "I can't hide in the shadows in broad daylight, Elthan. Callos, what does the inscription on this ring mean?"

[Darius]

Tanner Gondsman

Since no one said anything to stop him (or to him for that matter), Tanner leaves.

[Matticus]

Grynde

Immune to the glares of others in his current state, he stares indignantly at Callos, as if he'd done nothing wrong.
But I want the shnake!

[Dr._Bob]

Tanner looks a bit miffed as he stomps out of the dining hall. Ever since the avalanche he has not received even the most basic courtesy and respect, much less the deference and awe a warrior-priest of his stature deserves.

He is escorted to a guest room. His attendant assures him that weapons, armor, and gear will be provided in the morning.

...

Tryntha whispers a prayer to Bhalla as tensions rise as Grynde provokes the other party members. Tempers flare, fueled by the jhuild. Staying out of the argument for the moment, the Rashemi healer tends to Desmona, easing her onto a fur lying near one of the hearths.

...

The rings and their current possessors are as follows:

Simple copper band (Elthan) - sjach - "shadow"
Ornate ring with five gems (Callos) - levithix - "wizard"
Cloisonne ring (Tiriel) - ixen - "fire"
Silver filigree dragonfly (Khazrael) - austrat - "fly"
White gold ring with black pearl (Anika) virlym - "thief"
Gold ring with three inset rubies (Fizahn) - ?
Leather loop (Adalmar) - osvith - "flee"
Iron octagon (Aeroz) - vargach - "battle"
Brass snake (Grynde) - ?

Callos shares this information with those who are not familiar with the draconic alphabet or phonetics. Elthan is also willing to translate, but the half-elf is given the cold shoulder by most of his former companions.

...

As soon as Adalmar utters his ring's command word, everyone begins to move with unnatural slowness. Even Callos' eyeblinks seem to last for seconds at a time, and it is hard for the ranger to understand the slowed, deepened speech of his angry companions as they turn on Grynde nearby. Worried, Adalmar speaks the command word again, and everything returns to normal.

"Well?" asks Callos. "Did anything happen?"

[kuja.girl]

Tiriel

Tiriel looks at the ring thoughtfully as she takes it back from Callos and slips it over her right ring finger. "Looks like I got one of the ones that shouldn't be tested inside." She glances Grynde, noticing that he'd managed to take the snake ring. She doesn't want to usurp Callos, but the half-elf should not have been allowed to take the ring, much less before the command word had been examined.

Tiriel walks over to Damian and speaks in a soft voice. "Do you think you could get that ring back from Grynde? The last thing we need is for the smart ass to start causing trouble.
"Um. I can pay you if you'd like."

[barawn]

Damian

Damian walks over and stands near Callos, continuing to address Grynde. "I want all of your gold, too, but that doesn't give me the right to take it. It's their ring. It's their right to decide who gets it. Don't be an idiot. Although somehow I doubt waking up in a prison cell after drinking too much is uncommon for you, you don't want to experience it here."

"Just... think, Grynde. You couldn't hold on to an entire gnome with brute force. You're not going to be able to hold onto that ring. Plus," and he gesticulates somewhat exaggeratedly towards Retay, "he's huge! Do you really want to tick off the huge guy with an axe?! When he's drunk?"

"I mean, seriously. If you really want the ring, at least wait until morning when everyone's sober to take it."

[Matticus]

Grynde

Grynde stands still, trying to comprehend what Damian said.
The gnome wash wearing a jacket...I don't fink thish ring ish. You have a point, though he looks towards Retay Mmkay. Take yer shilly ring. But at leasht tell me what it shays. He holds the ring out for Damian to take, standing rather shakily on account of the alchohol.

[barawn]

Damian

"On my honor. I'll tell you." Damian quickly grabs the ring when Grynde holds it out. He briefly holds it up and glances at the inscription on the inside before handing it back to Callos.

Looking over to Tiriel, his eyes open a bit when she says "pay." "I wouldn't ask for payment for something like that, considering I had no intention of putting myself in harm's way. But I appreciate the offer. And if you want to discuss further employment, I'd be more than willing to listen. But I'm not sure how much you've had to drink, and I only negotiate with sober clients."

"... Also, as a point of interest for the future, it seems that the easiest way to deal with Grynde is to threaten him with a very large axe."

[namo]

Adalmar

He blinks a few times. "You were all... you were..." He struggles to find the right words. "You all slowed down. I don't know, or maybe I became faster than time... somehow..." He's aware he's not making much sense, but the jhuild has started to cloud his mind. He still takes one sip more.

He did see Tanner exit the room, his dissatisfaction plain. Briefly excusing himself from the company, he catches the priest before he retires for the night. There the alcohol comes in handy, loosing his tongue.
"Listen, it's not that we don't value you. We do - at least, I do. It's just... You won't hear compliments from those people, nor will they invite you. They're strong and proud, or perhaps too distrustful, or perhaps too disenchanted. Or a mix of those...

And what they... we have been through... The Underdark..." - he shudders, briefly - "I guess what I'm saying... is don't judge too fast... And that goes either way..." Lissa's cold cold eyes appear in his vision, she's ready to murder Elthan on the spot - again. "Anyway, good luck."

If the priest doesn't answer, he purposefully stumbles* back to the main hall, taking deep breaths to try and clear his head.

Spoiler

Show

* Not sure if that's possible !

[Naleh]

Retay, aforementioned 'huge guy with axe'

Retay looks taken aback at Damian. Then, ever so slowly, his face splits into a wide grin.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm big, an' I got annaxe! I'm der wormslayer, an' I could be der Grynde-slayer if yer touch udder people's wings!" He looks quite pleased with himself. He drains another goblet if jhuild.

A few moments later, with surprising grace, he slides off his chair and crashes to the floor. He follows up with a resounding snore.

[Dr._Bob]

Damian takes the brass snake ring and careful not to wear it, reads the inscription aloud - darastrix - "dragon".

Lissa and Achkby, who are now peeping over the edge of the table, climb up on chairs to get a better look at the ring.

"Well, there are two of us and only one ring. I suppose that we could share it."

"..."

"Fine. You can have it."

"Thanks, sweetie!" Lissa gives Achkby a surreptitious squeeze, causing the halfling's cheeks to redden even more.

As Lissa reaches for the ring, it comes to life, biting her in the finger.

"Baravar!" Lissa exclaims, sticking her bleeding finger into her mouth. "It doesn't like me!" The ring drops to the table, rolling to a stop in front of Grynde.

Achkby, suddenly more sober, leans his elbows on the table and eyeballs the ring carefully. He reaches slowly for the ring. The snake removes its tail from its mouth and hisses in warning, before placing its tail back into its mouth.

"Umm. I think the ring has made its choice," Achkby concludes.

...

Those who have passed out are gently carried to guest rooms by Rashemi retainers.

Anika is promised as much oil as she would like. You are all offered your choice of any Rashemi weapons and armor. Simple but warm clothing is waiting for you in your rooms along with sturdy furs for outdoor wear. More importantly, tubs full of hot mineral water for bathing and a firm but comfortable mattress awaits each of you.

You will have a private audience with the Iron Lord tomorrow evening. The day will otherwise be yours to rest and relax.



OOC: You may select any mundane gear and any masterwork weapons and armor listed in the SRD. New adventurers clothing and Rashemi cold weather gear are also provided for you. You have a day for any research or exploration of the city or familiar acquisition.

[blackfox]

Anika

Anika grins when Callos reads off the inscription on her ring. "This could be interesting... I'll have to figure out what it does tomorrow." She slides the ring over her left ring finger and goes up to her room.

The next morning, Anika makes some simple purchases--a few flasks of oil and a torch. She had been caught too many times by creatures whose wounds would heal in seconds if not seared by fire, and her everburning torch provided neither true flame or any real heat.

After acquiring her oil, she goes out into the city in search of a temple to Selune, or at least one to Lathander or some other deity friendly to her patron goddess.

(OOC: Buying 4 flasks of oil and a torch. I've deducted 5sp from my character sheet and added the ring, the oil and the torch.)

[Erikkin]

Fizahn:

Fizahn takes a bath before he goes to sleep. He can be heard drunkenly singing in Gnomish what can only be concluded are extremely naughty songs. After he is clean, he walks to his quarters and haphazardly throws his stuff everywhere.

In the morning he gets up and the drink has obviously taken its toll. He slowly gets out of his bed holding his head like it's going to explode. I wasn't supposed to drink this much. I was only supposed to drink a little bit. Then, I would pretend that I was insanely drunk the rest of the night. At least I'm clean. He looks around his bed and notices the new clothes. Hey, I've got new clothes also. Great! Ow. Thinking too loudly. Creeping over to his old clothes, he dons his chain shirt and begins emptying the pockets of his jacket.

His brow furrows in confusion as he comes across the ring. There were the rings... Callos had them... This one was in the box... How did I end up with it? How drunk was I last night? I don't know, maybe I passed out. Shrugging, he looks at the ring. Well, I guess it's mine now. He brings the ring close to his eye and begins to examine it in detail. I'll go talk to Callos.

Fizahn creeps slowly out of his room, still holding his head in one hand. His other hand clutches the ring. He moves slowly until he ends up at Callos's room. He knocks on the door once, but decides that he can't stand that sound again and just lets himself in. "Hey- oh ow. Not talking that loud. Callos, I think I ended up with one of those rings. You wouldn't happen to know what it does, would you?" He holds up the ring for Callos.

[King_of_GRiffins]

Elthan

Elthan monitors the group quietly as he deduces that they are intentionally avoiding him as they did before. He gives a short sigh before dismissing himself early from the group and heading down a random hallway. Adalmar sees him on his way back to the hall, but Elthan seems to disappear when he turns around to look again.

Invisibly, he lurks around the castle thinking to himself. They had decided to to spare his life, despite what he had done, but in a sense it seemed they considered him already dead; They didn't have to kill him now.

Maybe it would have been better if they had...

He could seek forgiveness; doing so was one of the foremost thoughts in his mind. Though if he tried, would they even listen now? It seemed impossible to earn it from them. Elthan had the patience of an elf; Perhaps it would only take time?

Who trusts him right now? Callos for certain, in the same way he trusted Djital; Like a brother. Aeroz didn't seem to hold much against him, or so he was able to gather when they were separated from the group. Maybe that was simply because we were busy trying to find a way back? Adalmar seemed to be a calm, understanding person; It would not be hard to reconcile with him, but that would not count very much towards forgiveness from the group.

Perhaps he was going about this the wrong way; Instead of trying to regain the trust of the group as a whole, were they would strongly oppose him, it would be easier to reconcile with each of them personally.

A yawn, emanating from nowhere to anyone happening to eye whatever part of the castle he was in, breaks up his thoughts. I'll wait until tomorrow, he decides, and heads off to bed.

-------

The next morning, Elthan goes around to pick up some equipment, noticing Anika picking up a few flask. Cautiosly, he approaches her with a few spears in his arms.

"Good morning, Anika," he says, leaving much space while he quickly draws up another phrase; He hasn't done much small talk. "How... Are you feeling today?"

[Callos_DeTerran]

Callos

You've got to be kidding me... Was the only dumbfounded thought he could think of as he watched the ring effectively...chose who was going to be the one to wear it. And from the looks of it the little metal snake may just attack him if he tried to put it back in the box until it changed it's mind. A twitch of his eyebrows later and he was rising up from the table to be escorted towards his room.

And the oh so wonderful gifts that lay within..

_________________________________________

When Callos woke up he was surrounded by sweet sweet warmth. Bleary eyes blinked and squinted as he lifted a wet hand to rub the sleep from his eyes. Figures, he had fallen asleep in the hot mineral water but he certainly wasn't going to be the one to regret doing it either since for the first time...in...a long long time he had been able to sleep without any nightmares what so ever. Peaceful...restful...Restful enough he was clad only in towels wrapped up all around him like a mummy as he sat at the table in his room and studied his spellbook, shivering like a leaf in the wind.

Figures. He'd spent so long in the damn water that the room felt dead cold! Page changed to another one and his eyes pored over the words and scrawling script as he sighed...and heard his door open. Blinking, he turned to see Fizahn walking into his room and ask about the ring he had chosen.

Rude gnome. Lesson one in human manners, knock before barging into irate mage's room.

BANG!

"What? I didn't hear you.With a somewhat mischevious smile Callos 'set' his spell book down on the table and motioned for Fizahn to come closer. "Just come over here so I can take a look at it and we'll see what I can tell you about that little doodaad, hmm?"

Heh. I remember Djital used to do things like this to me if I ever drank myself into a stupor and know I know why...it's kinda fun!

Spoiler

Show

Once he's done talking to Fizahn, Callos is going to go out and get 2 masterwork clubs, more ink and parchment, a spyglass, refill his spell component pouch and pick up another one (spares are good). After that he'll see about selling the gem of brightness.