[IC] Monster Hunters

[Kallimakus]

Idranel takes the offered hand and follows Alexander. She tries to remain calm and follow his lead. She kind of hopes she might have had the opportunity to change out of her armour at least. Even if it was a beautiful thing of blue and gold, and shaped to emphasize certain feminine curves, it was still steel plate. On the other hand, without it she would feel even less secure, if such were possible. As they start, she is nervous, missing some steps before fully trusting him to lead her through the motions, returning his gaze

[NeoSeraphi]

Alexander gently leads her through the crowd, keeping an eye for everyone who might bump into them and avoiding them before he would need to suddenly pull her out of the way. He sighs happily. "Idranel, you are as beautiful and graceful as any princess," he whispers. And he means it.

[Kallimakus]

Idranel's blush deepens a few shades. She feels more at ease now, after getting used to it. "Thank you" she replies softly. "For giving me this experience."

Maybe we can do this again dressed properly.

[NeoSeraphi]

After a few minutes, Alexander sits back down with her. "Thank you for indulging me. I hope that we can spend more time alone together in the future...perhaps a proper date?"

He returns to his ale, content if she chooses not to give him an answer now.

[Kallimakus]

"I'll think about it" she says, going to make her way to the innkeeper to try and secure rooms, and some sleeping space for Berilian and the others.

[hannahbbug3]

Spoiler: OOC

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Time to get the group together!

Payment in hand, it isn't long before the majority of the Flight is in the sky once again. There are no major incidents along the road to get to the capitol of the Ice Realm, a place of gleaming buildings carved out of the ice itself that spiral high into the sky. The cold arctic wind whips around the place, especially this high in the air, but once on the ground, the gusts are much more bearable.

Arriving at the guild house, it is to the news that Sunny and Talim left for the Arcane Realm several days ago, but they should be due back soon. And indeed, the group hardly has to wait until evening before Talim and their handler are walking in the building. There is no ring on Talim's finger and Sunny, wind-burned though she might look, is all smiles at seeing the rest of the group. "It's good to see all of you back in one piece!" she says, hurrying forward to hug each of the group in turn. "How did everything go?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Alexander nods to Talim. "The mission could have gone a lot smoother, but we were successful. As it turns out, the house was being haunted by a spiteful group of invisible fey. We worked together and dispatched the lot of them. The Hunter was quite pleased with the results."

[Drewski]

"Good to hear! I was mildly worried it would actually be a ghost."

[rs2excelsior]

"Little buggers were nearly as bad as proper ghosts," Hrothrun commented. "Not too difficult once we managed to spot them, but tracking them down was a problem. Glad to see you rid of that cursed ring, did you have any issues getting that dealt with?"

[Drewski]

Talim's face splits into an ear to ear grin, "NoPe" he says, popping the P. "In fact we've got a surprise to show you guys later!"

[NeoSeraphi]

Alexander crosses his arms. "What is that supposed to mean?"

[hannahbbug3]

Sunny elbows Talim sharply in the ribs. "Oh, come on, don't be a holdout. Show them what we found!" she insists. But then, she continues speaking herself, bubbling over with excited energy. "One of the Orbs of Dragonkind! Can you believe it?" she asks, her voice a stage whisper.

Spoiler: Finally getting around to that Nobility Check

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Figured now would be a good time, since Alexander is finally (actually) hearing about the Orb!
Copy-paste from when they first showed up...
"Said to have been created by the mouthpieces themselves, these orbs are known to possess fantastic magical power, and can bestow many potent effects. There are 11 of them in total, one for each of the realms. These incredibly rare items were said to have been lost or destroyed eons ago, robbed from temples by greedy looters over the years since the appearance of the first dragons. And yet, beyond all impossibility... there it is, glinting like an emerald in the sunlight."

The Orbs have been, until they were lost, held under the protection of the mouthpieces. Due to many various wars and uprisings, they disappeared one at a time, all except for the one guarded by Meith in the Shadow Realm. It is the existence of this sole Orb that confirms the rest of the Orbs to be real, and not simply a myth. The timeline on when the Orbs disappeared it sketchy at best - only the Mouthpieces would remember, and they do not like to talk about it, since they are ashamed to have lost these artifacts. It happened when they were all very young, of course, but they do not see that as an excuse.

Returning an Orb to a Mouthpiece would probably give you all great acclaim. On the other hand, holding onto it and figuring out what its powers are would probably be interesting, as well...

[NeoSeraphi]

"No. I can't," Alexander replies flatly to Sunny's question. He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose and turns his attention to Talim. "What is the meaning of this?"

[Kallimakus]

Idranel could not believe it. "I wasn't sure they were still around" she says, leaning closer. "How did you... Where did you..." she starts, questions coming faster than she can finish them. She takes a long, calming breath. "Just... tell me everything!" she basically screams, although the volume is not much higher than regular speech, "If you don't mind..."

So much for that calming breath.

[rs2excelsior]

Hrothrun is clearly taken aback that Talim and Sunny ran across a nigh-mythical artifact, leaning back in his seat with a surprised expression. "You're sure this is one of the actual orbs?" he asks, not trying to take away from the find, just staggered at the incredible odds. "If that is an original Orb..." he cuts off his own speculation, letting Talim and Sunny have a chance to fill them in on what happened.

[Drewski]

"Dead honest? Some merchant just had it on display in a caravan in the Earth Realm. He didn't even know what it was. We negotiated for a bit and didn't want to give sell the orb "'Since it was a family relic"" so I revealed what it was and forced him to give it up. In exchange when we hand it over to Ogoma I've got to try and get him sort of patronage from Oogma."

Spoiler: OoC

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Ogoma is Light's Mouthpiece and he administrates Nature since they lack a speaker.

[NeoSeraphi]

Spoiler: DM Only

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Hey, this could be a way to start that idea I mentioned a while back. Remember, when I said that Alexander would be called upon to fight in a holy war specifically to convert some people to the Light? What if Oogma lets the power go to his head and he decides to use the Orb to launch a full crusade? Could be fun!

Alexander frowns. "I can't believe you, Talim. Don't you remember the reason you flew off in the first place? It's because you picked up magic items you didn't fully understand and were cursed for it! Why would you trust that you just happened to find a sacred relic in the middle of nowhere? Even if this is the real Orb, your behavior is totally reckless and impulsive!"

He crosses his arms. "Whatever. If this is our path, let us take it immediately. I do not want a target painted on my back any longer than necessary. We should make way to the Light in the morning."

[Kallimakus]

"Agreed" Idranel says simply. "No sense in delaying something like this."

She wasn't worried. She wasn't that interested in any potential reward. But it was an excuse to see a mouthpiece, and to visit the realm of Light. She had only been once, and even then just briefly.

Spoiler: OOC

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Any potential missions in Light, since we're going anyway? Solo or otherwise?

[Drewski]

"Alex, I'm not going to claim to be an expert on magical items but I think I'm familiar enough to know when I've got an artifact in front of me. Besides I had Sunny check it before I took it."

[NeoSeraphi]

Jenna's eyes widen and she steps in front of Alexander as the paladin takes his glasses off.

"What did you just -"

Jenna places one hand on his chest and looks up at him with concern.

"...Don't prove him right," she whispers.

Alexander looks down at his hand. It turned into a fist. When did it do that? He takes a long breath, and slowly his fingers start to roll back out.

"My name is Alexander," he says finally, placing his glasses back on his nose and pushing them back into place. "But very well. If you're convinced, then we should act."

The dragonkin sighs in relief.

[Drewski]

"Excellent, now before we can head to Light we need to leave a note at the Water Guildhouse. I said I'd leave directions there after talking to the Flight."

[NeoSeraphi]

Alexander looks up. "Oh, let me handle that, actually. I was going to take a trip down to Fire with Sunny anyway."

[Drewski]

"Sounds good. Now if you'll excuse me, I plan to eat as much as possible. It'd be nice to keep down a meal for more than an hour."

[hannahbbug3]

Sunny gives Talim a pat on the back, effectively dismissing him for the evening to go and eat his fill and then crash, before she looks to the others of the group. "So, you all know the drill. I don't need a play by play, but rough numbers of what you faced, how the monsters were dispatched, any irregularities... All that. I'm going to try and get this paperwork done tonight," she says, seeming tireless even though she's just gotten in from the road.

[NeoSeraphi]

Alexander quickly goes through the list. "Four fey...what did Idranel call them? Pooka? Four of those. We also killed three perytons. There was a chimera as well. Should probably have led with that. The chimera has three heads, and we had to kill each one separately, if that counts for anything. How they were dispatched...the pookas threw a bed on Idranel so she decided to kill one of them. Then we had to kill the rest of them. We covered them in flour and tracked them through the house. The chimera was dispatched with a full frontal assault, all of us fighting together. The perytons were a bit simpler. We cut them off in the air and lured them out. They had killed a group of travelers."

He moves on. "As for irregularities, we had to deal with the cursed ring that Talim found, which we dealt with by splitting the group up. The hunter paid us extra for the job, 50 gp in addition to the longbow. The chimera was starting a fire, so we stopped and dealt with that. There was also a lightning storm we had to fly through, which we avoided fairly well."

[rs2excelsior]

Hrothrun makes a few additions to Alexander's recounting; the Pooka's attempts to confuse them with telepathy, some of the items they had found in the Peryton nest, and the casualties from the Chimera attack. He wonders how Adim is doing, if things have come any closer to a resolution in the Lightning realm--probably not, to be honest. They hadn't figured things out in nearly fifty years of fighting, it likely wouldn't be over anytime soon.

"So the rest of us head up to Light to drop off the orb, and we see what jobs are posted we could do on the way? Sounds like a plan to me."

[hannahbbug3]

Sunny trots over to the job board, picking up some paperwork on her way that she'll fill out while the group is on their next job. She peruses the jobs for a moment, and takes one down with a small frown. She approaches the group and holds it out for them to look over.
"I think, if the group all goes together, we can handle this one. It's a Rank higher than what's recommended, but it's in the Nature Realm. Along the southern border, yes, but it's at least something to do on the way to or from Light."

Spoiler: Guild Posting: Heavy-Duty Landscaping

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Reports from the Nature and Water Realm indicate trouble along their shared border in the swamplands. A region of swampland, known to locals as the Deathfog Brine, has long had stories of travelers disappearing on the roads, and corpses rotting in the waters. A scientific study conducted by Hunters several years past determined the cause to be an ancient Corpse Lotus - the plant was summarily destroyed. However, new cases of disappearing travelers indicate there may be new growth of a Corpse Lotus in the region. It needs to be found and dealt with immediately.

Minimum Renown: 25,000

[NeoSeraphi]

Alexander glances at the sheet. "Oh boy..."

Jenna's eyes light up. "What is it? Is it big? Can I skin it?"

"It's a plant," Alexander replies.

Jenna's hopes and dreams shatter. "Whaaaat? I can't make anything out of a plant! Ugh. Well, at least it'll be good exercise."

Alexander sighs. "Idranel, have you ever heard of this...'Corpse Lotus'?" he asks, passing the paper to her.

Spoiler: OOC

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Great and glorious DM, we have a question. Will Alexander be participating in this hunt, or will he still be in Fire by the time the rest of the group gets there?

[Kallimakus]

"I've read a thing or two. Let's see..." Idranel starts. She thinks for a moment, digesting the information and working a summary. "It's a giant plant. I've read accounts of them rivalling the size of dragonkin. It has a single blood-red flower that I believe is the core, as well as grasping vines. It is vulnerable to cuts, less so to other forms of attack. This might be a problem." That concludes the useful information, but she isn't done. "It can be difficult to spot, but it gets its name from the fact that its victims are often strewn about it's location."

[rs2excelsior]

"Hmm. That last job with the Peryton was easy enough, I think we're up to taking on something a bit tougher. If we can find it, it shouldn't be hard to keep it at a distance, either. I say let's do it."

Spoiler: OOC

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This past week was my last week of classes, and this coming week is exams. I'll still post when I can, but if y'all don't hear from me for a couple of days, that's why.