Tempting Fate [IC]

[Tuvarkz]

"Greetings. I am Darruk Hammerbreaker." Pondering for a moment, the half-orc recalled their meeting with their contractor had been in an open place. "If I may dare ask, what purpose did you have in looking for us?"

[The Hellbug]

"May I presume, then, that you are the group searching for the springs?" Gil asks, just to clarify things, "if so, then to accompany you on your journey. I can only guess that the way will not be easy, and we, too, seek to bring back water from them. It would only make sense to work together."

[QuidEst]

Kyoni looked the new arrivals over, giving a short bow of her own. They were a little wirey- the half-elf was downright scrawny- but setting that aside, they weren't bad-looking. "I go by Kyoni," she replied. "We are indeed they. I certainly have no objection to the company, and I'm sure my companions could be persuaded at the very least. So what brings you here? Or is that too personal?" Her smile was warm and relaxed.

[The Hellbug]

"Pleased to meet both of you. We were sent by another, promising a trade for our services," Gil states simply, "I was under the impression, however, that our sender knew you. They did, after all, seem well versed concerning your whereabouts."

[TheOneHawk]

Finn's ever present grin grows even wider at Kyoni's question and gestures he at the city behind them. "I dunno about you, but I never seen a place like that back home. Regular old world seems awful boring in comparison, y'know? Why wouldn't I want to be here? Plus, I can do fun things like this out here!" He flourishes his hand and suddenly a bouquet of vividly violet roses appear in his hand, which he offers to Kyoni. "Magic's always been fun, but this place takes it to a whole new level. Just wait 'til you see what I can do with a storm."

Spoiler: OOC

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Shaping to create the bouquet. Diminutive object, 10 minutes, simple (?) so DC 20 which he cannot fail with a +19 modifier.

[Bhaakon]

"Make it rain chocolates, no doubt." Tove mutters to herself at the sight of the gaunt half-elf's shameless flirting. Probably suggestive chocolates.

She bow formally--if every so slightly-- and introduces herself in a more clearly audible tone. "Tove. And if you were sent by the same being, then it should have presented you with containers for the water?" Some sort of test was in order. Presenting matching vials wouldn't prove anything--yet--but at least asking for them would remind everyone that the First World wasn't the place for trust to be handed out like conjured bouquets.

[TheOneHawk]

Finn turns to Tove as though about to reply, then pauses and considers her for a moment before grinning again. "Y'know, that ain't a bad idea. Just cause it don't rain chocolate back home don't mean it can't here." He makes a grand, sweeping gesture above Tove's head and suddenly a bright pink raincloud appears several feet above her and begins throwing down a wide variety of chocolates. Finn laughs and steps forward to snag one out of the air and pop it in his mouth. "Mint! My favourite! Good idea miss, I'll have to keep that one in mind."

Spoiler: OOC

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Shaping check vs DC 20 (1d20+19)[27]

[QuidEst]

Kyoni accepted the bouquet graciously. He hadn't met Lackland, so he probably hadn't had the risks quite sink in. As for the bouquet, that would be useful for a first test of shaping duration. "A fellow practitioner, then. I enjoy a comfortable lifestyle, and what better than one I make for myself?" She stepped back as Tove introduced herself, though, and was glad enough of it when Finn decided to make a point. She took a quick look Finn's hands after he ate the candy. "I'd be careful about that if I were you. At least keep it in mind- shaped food will leave you less hungry, but doesn't truly sustain. Eating it is a bad habit to get in without certain precautions."

[Bhaakon]

Tove narrows her eyes as the first wave of the half-elf's confections drum against her helm. Her right hand grabs a chocolate from the air and cuts across her throat in a curt motion, and the pink cloud shreds like a solstice dance dress tossed into a pen of ravening goblins. The chocolates melt away to nothing. All except one in her gauntlet, which she crushes and drops to the earth.

"Mint? The fey may be cruel, capricious, and utterly ruthless...but at least they have taste."

[TheOneHawk]

Finn rolls his eyes at the over-caution and general lack of lightheartedness. "You lot aren't any fun at all, are you? Anyways, I don't know about you, but I'm rather excited to get these vials filled. Ready to go?"

[QuidEst]

Kyoni shrugged. "I've only just met you, so I don't know much about you. One of the first things you do is eat shaped food, so it's entirely possible that you didn't make the connection between some of the stories of fey food and eating shaped food. But a month from now, I don't want you to start starving because your meals have started expiring." Entertaining as that would be, she didn't know how long the quests would take, and he was presumably on this for a reason. "Don't get me wrong- I plan on feasting on the stuff," she added, waving her hand with the ring on it. "But I took some precautions. That said, I'm happy to assume you know what you're doing until you disabuse me of the notion." She glanced at Tove on that one. On returning her attention to Finn, her smile widened. "Much easier to have a good time when you aren't concerned with somebody else's life, right? Oh, and don't mind Tove too much. She may seem stand-offish, but we've recently learned that she'll do anything for a good book. But yes, I'm ready to get going."

[The Hellbug]

"A little melodramatic, don't you think?"Gil remarks at Tove's chocolate-crushing act. In truth, his own companion's childishness grates on him, too, from time to time, but it is an easy price to pay, given the young sorcerer's abilities--Gil would have been happy to call him a friend even when he had a larger supply of confidantes. In fact, the two would not have even made it this far if not for Finn's knowledge and own brand of resourcefulness, more than enough reason for the kitsune to jump to his defense.

"As far as the vials are concerned," Gil continues to the discerning aasimar, "we weren't told anything about any special vessels for the water. I had assumed any old container would be fine. If some sort of magical container is needed...wait. Don't tell me you don't have them, either."

[Tuvarkz]

"We were given special containers for the water. Of course, if your employer didn't give you those, then said employer won't mind you bringing the water to him in common vials." said Darruk, as he briefly showed the container he'd been given before safely storing it back. "Although I'll have to disagree-I find that mint only disrupts the flavor of chocolate. In the meantime, I'm also ready to go."

[The Hellbug]

"Surely," Gil agrees, "and yes, we should get moving. This whole errand is really of the 'the sooner done the better' category for me. Lead on."

Not actually knowing where these primeval springs are (the cloaked figure had merely implicated that the other group would know where they would be going) Gil waits for the three who are surely more well-versed in the area's geography to lead the way. However, as they begin to actually make some progress, a worrying thing Kyoni had said bothers him enough for him to speak up.

"Kyoni it was, right?" Gil addresses the elegantly-dressed woman as he speeds up to walk at her side, "you mentioned something about fey food and your own set of precautions. Forgive my ignorance, but why would there be any reason to worry about eating it?" His own line of work only points him towards only one potential conclusion about it. "Poison?"

[QuidEst]

"Yes, that's right. It's nothing so immediate as poison. Usually. Certainly not if it's something that you made. But shaped food isn't permanent- suppose you're hungry and you eat shaped food, or worse, thirsty and drink shaped water. You'll feel better. But when time expires, it's no different then having had nothing at all," Kyoni explained. "So there's no harm in simply eating a chocolate, but you could kill a guest of a few days by giving them shaped drinks. Even living on shaped food that won't ever disappear has its own dangers- outside the First World, that sustenance disappears. That's where you get the stories about somebody spending a year with the fey and returning only to age one hundred years in an instant. Having all your meals rescinded isn't pleasant." She flourished her hand, producing a small tart, which she bit into. After she finished, she looked back at Gil. "But like I said, I've taken my own precautions. I could live on nothing but shaped pastries and wine if I felt like it." She had been planning on testing things outside the city, but under the circumstances it seemed worthwhile to establish that the rules were different for her.

Spoiler: OOC

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Diminutive pastry is probably still within the realm of "simple". With a one-minute duration, that's only DC 15, so Kyoni automatically succeeds.

[Tuvarkz]

Darruk nodded in aknowledgement of the information Kyoni had laid out, and then said: "Then, since we're now all introduced and ready to go, shall we make our way?"

[Bhaakon]

"The sooner, the better." Tove nods, ignoring Kyoni's quip about the book. The lack of vessels was suspicious...the man she'd met had seemed insistent on using his vials. Could they be working for some rival fey?

Bah. These machinations will give me a migraine. If they were somehow opposed, keeping them close would likely be better than letting them wander off where they couldn't be observed.

"Did we ever decide which of the fonts to visit first?"

[TheOneHawk]

Finn shrugs and flips a curious, three sided coin that hadn't been in his hand a moment earlier. He catches it and opens his palm to reveal a picture of a mountain on the upward face. "Looks like Crystal Peak. Let's go then!"

[Tuvarkz]

"We'd already decided on going to Riftwood first, Tove, don't you remember? It appears to be the easiest one to reach and thus it's only logical to go to it first, and it's the one we've researched how to get to in the library, unlike the other two ones."

[QuidEst]

Kyoni nodded. "It's not certain that it will be the easiest, but from what we found, it did seem likely. It would be better to tackle the others with more experience in the area." She started walking with a confident stride. "As far as getting out of town, we just need to proceed with our destination in mind, and that should set us in the right direction. Although, before we leave, is everybody well supplied with at least food and water?" she asked.

[Tuvarkz]

"Got rations for five days. I assume that if the populations are as friendly as the information we attained described them as, we should manage to trader or barter for any further we may need." The half-orc then adds. "If they prove to be hostile, then I guess we can make use of their supplies after dealing with them."

[The Hellbug]

Hmm...perhaps I'll have to look into what kind of 'precautions' are worth taking However, he mocks disgust in his reply--as gruesome as aging into dust sounds, he has personally witnessed things at least as brutal in his profession. "How awful! Certainly something my friend and expert should have been sure to warn me about. Thank you, though, better to look the fool now than on my deathbed."

As the others discuss setting off, Gil merely nods that he is ready and steps in behind the leader.

[ylvathrall]

Stepping out of the gate is a disorienting experience, not unlike the sudden transitions you went through getting into the city. The world spins around you, light and darkness flickering rapidly before your eyes, and you have a sudden, intense feeling of vertigo.

And then, very suddenly, you're through. Behind you, Nithveil looks much the same as it did from the Material side of things. The pale, perfect wall towers over you, circling a city that seems far too small to hold a fraction of what you saw inside of it. Notably, there doesn't seem to be a gate or door from this side; the wall is perfect and unbroken for as far as you can see.

In front of you, though, is something very different. A broad plain stretches out to the horizon, basking in the light of an afternoon sun. The thigh-high grass is a rich emerald color that seems just a touch too vibrant to be real; it sways in patterns that have nothing to do with the wind, but which you'd swear are following the beat of some music you can't hear.

The plain is cut by a broad, black river which flows to your right. Probably close to a hundred feet across, it looks deep enough to swallow a small ship, and it's moving fast enough that only a very confident swimmer would be comfortable with swimming in it. Based on your reading, this is the Blackwater Rush, a notable landmark within this section of the First World. While geography is more art than science here, the books were very clear that following the course of this river downstream will lead you from Nithveil to the Riftwood.

A simple path of silvery gravel runs beside the water out of sight. Alternatively, it looks like a group of water fey near the city walls have some sort of barge, and are offering to carry passengers for a fee.

[TheOneHawk]

Finn seems entirely unphased by his suggestion as to a destination being overruled, and in fact is whistling a marching tune from the Molthune army as he walks out of the city and towards the river. He frowns at it for a moment, as if considering an idea, then shakes his head and wanders back to the group. "Not sure I can hold a raft long enough to get us down that a ways. Them folks over there might be willing, but it's a nice day for a walk and we're not in enough of a hurry as to pay for what we don't need I think."

[Tuvarkz]

"Indeed, there is no hurry, but there's no reason to waste time either. Let's get moving." said Darruk.

[The Hellbug]

"No hurry?" Gil disagrees, "surely it'd at least be worth it to ask their price?"

Eager to speed this journey up in any way possible, he doesn't wait for an answer before approaching the river-fey with a wave. "Excuse me," he opens, "but my companions and I were looking for passage to the Riftwood. What would that cost us?"

[TheOneHawk]

Finn gazes absently after Gil for a moment as he walks away, before a look of realization appears on his face. "Oh right. He's in a hurry. Something about some woman or something, I wasn't really paying attention, but he seemed pretty adamant about finding her soon." He shrugs and wanders off towards Gil at a leisurely pace.

[QuidEst]

Kyoni considered the options without much concern. "I'm not in any particular rush, so one way's as good as the other so long as we can find a sustainable way to pay for things. My magic isn't much for dealing with physical problems on short notice, but a night's rest can solve all manner of difficulties if something's ever too much trouble."

[ylvathrall]

The group of fey doesn't seem particularly perturbed by Gil's presence, continuing to work on loading the barge with what appear to be crates of some kind. After a moment one of them approaches him. She appears to be a beautiful human woman, with piercing blue eyes and long white hair which serves as the only covering on her body. As she steps out of the river, though, you can see that her legs aren't simply appearing from the water; they're actually forming out of the water, as pillars of water flow into the form of flesh and bone.

"We're carrying a load in that direction already," she says to Gil, with a sharp smile. "But I suppose that room could be found for more. What do you have to trade?" Without waiting for an answer she seems to focus on his ring, and her smile widens slightly. "That's pretty," she says. "Will you give it to me?"

Spoiler: Knowledge (nature) DC 17

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You recognize the woman as an oceanid. These fey are associated with bodies of water, over which they have an enormous amount of control; they can move, shape, and sense water very precisely. Though they can survive outside water, they're uncomfortable doing so, losing much of their magic, and eventually they will wither and die without it.

In temperament oceanids are typical fey, being capricious, careless, and mercurial. Though usually easy to please, they can become angry with little provocation. Most oceanids are extremely vain, and can be won over easily with flattery; however, care must be taken with this, as if they become too pleased with a mortal they can grow possessive and even try to abduct the mortal in question.

[TheOneHawk]

Finn perks up at the fey's words, calling out towards her, "Just a moment miss! It just so happens I'm the jeweler who made that ring and I believe I have another just like it in my pack. He sets his pack down and rummages in it for a minute or so before pulling out a golden ring. "Here we are! Would this be an acceptable substitute? It would be a great pleasure for me to see my humble work upon the hand of so beautiful a woman."

Spoiler: OOC

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Ok, taking 20 on a shaping check while Finn's rummaging in the pack to make the ring for a total of 42, which should be a one day lasting golden ring.

Craft: Jewelry for the ring (1d20+17)[32] I don't think I actually stated this anywhere but I plan on refreshing Crafter's Fortune every time it's not up, which would currently be once every six days or after use unless I'm down to only a couple of first level spells left. Since I didn't expressly state that, though, I'm fine with it not being up which would make this a +12 instead.

(1d20+18)[30] Bluff for the lie

(1d20+18)[34] Diplomacy in case it's needed.