You keep calling Nona ( @Nonnahswriter ) Nano :P I though Lulu and Nona were friends? Is it a pet name Lulu uses for her? lol
Jin's mood was visibly improved with the knowledge that Long'er was okay. As Lulu's lion joined the company, Long'er, perhaps recognising another magical creature, flew over to him and hovered just in front of the beast in a inquisitive and friendly manner.
"Nice lion." Jin remarked with a court nod to Lulu. "Come on Long'er, let's go, don't bother the lion.
Jin turns to Filani,
"Goodbye for now." He says, as he cupped his right fist into his open left palm, a common gesture of respect amongst the Shou. He did not bow though, still smarting at being overcharged.
If she truly has the acquaintance of Elminster, then there must be more to this elf than she is willing to share...
You keep calling Nona ( @Nonnahswriter ) Nano :P I though Lulu and Nona were friends? Is it a pet name Lulu uses for her? lol
If it is, Nona is totally okay with that. It has nothing to do with my love of NaNoWriMo month. No sir. :P Also, I think Nona would have at least a little understanding of Shou, as she reads a ton of books on a ton of subjects, but as for speaking it/writing it/understanding-a-fluent-speaker... I'm gonna say that's a no-go.
Nona follows the rest of the group with a sigh, trying very hard to hide her disappointment. Her efforts were futile. She waves Filani goodbye over her shoulder before disappearing out the door and running to catch up with everyone else.
Perhaps they could catch Elminster another time...so she told herself, to keep her pace calm.
For the record, I the player don't really care what we do. :P But Nona, Nona really wanted to see Elminster. XD
"Yes I vote that way as well." He barely managed to stammer out, feeling very foolish now himself.
Jin smiled in amusement at the Nailo's ( @Delvarian ) efforts to please Lulu ( @booinyoureyes ), whose youth and inexperience showed, despite her natural charisma and confidence to lead. Somehow, it made her seem less... intimidating, more... well... 'human'.
Jin stepped into the street, with Long'er hovering at his side, and suddenly stopped.
"Ah I forgot! Better be safe than sorry..."
He begins to chant in ancient Shou, whilst gesturing in very specific patterns with his hands and arms. Suddenly his body glows four times in quick succession, and then his spell was done, with no obviously visible effect.
As Jin moves towards the Temple of Gond across the road, the air around him appears to shimmer a little, as if he was in a hot desert.
He gestures at Falagrim ( @mlnevese ), already waiting on the other side of the road.
"That dwarven platemail and formidable shield is your protection, this ..." Jin gestures at the shimmering shells of arcane energy that surrounded him, "... is mine."
Jin just cast Stoneskin, except I always found the concept of stoneskin rather silly and hate how it made my characters look in BG.
I mean mages cannot cast spells wearing leather armour, and yet somehow they are not encumbered by layers of rock covering their bodies?!
Given that it is long duration and pretty much a constant protection in BG 2, it makes colourful robes and customization rather pointless. Also... I imagine people would look at you funny if you walked around in stoneskin all the time.
Anyway I've just described a spell that proxies Stoneskin, the four flashes refer to four shells of protection, as a lv8 mage should have 4 layers of stone skins.
"Are you expecting to be attacked by these clerics? Or are you simply being over cautious?"
"Neither. Look at the two of you (Nailo and Falagrim) covered in steel from head to toe. My spell will last until almost sundown, and casting it is no different than when you donned your armour this morning... only less... mundane."
"Are you expecting to be attacked by these clerics? Or are you simply being over cautious?"
"I guess that he is being over cautious, which is good" Crevs says as he smiles he moves two steps backwards and casts Stoneskin, he looks at Nalio ( @Delvarian ) and says as he grins "I don't know if a plate can handle a thief's sneak attack or poison, but this magic does protect you against that."
No amount of precaution is too much when you visit a temple of Gond. Last time I was in one, one of the priests tried to convince me to buy one of their new inventions. A "pistol" he called it.
"It's a wonder", he said. "It shoots bullets that go through armor as if it was air", he said. Then he tried to show me how it worked.
Damn thing exploded in his hand, blew all his fingers away, nearly took my nose too. And it burned my beard...
So if the damn gondorites are testing anything, just keep away from it.
Nailo looks angry for a moment before breaking into a smile. He even begins to chuckle softly.
"I have never been called mundane before."
He pats both Jin ( @Heindrich ) and Crevs ( @CrevsDaak ) on their backs with his large gauntleted hands.
"Come friends, let us visit these clerics and hope that your caution is unwarranted."
Nailo heads to the temple and pulls open the doors. He holds them open that the group might enter, and gives both Nona ( @Nonnahswriter ) and Lulu ( @booinyoureyes ) a nod as they walk past him.
Nailo also listened to the dwarves ( @mlnevese ) tale, though he was somewhat distracted as he did so by watching Lulu's graceful figure stepping by him.
" Yes, yes truly a wonder." He answered the dwarf.
Lulu casts goodberries. She eats one to heal the one point of damage she took from her facepalm, throws one to Richie and stuffs the rest in her sack. The lion lets out a lazy growl in protest, then reluctantly gets up to follow Lulu out toward the temple. "I know its not gibberling flesh, but it will have to do" Lulu walks by Nailo with the lion in tow. "Let us enter the temple and see what these priests have to say. They always seem to have the most interesting contraptions. And gnomes are so adorable!"
For the record, I the player don't really care what we do. :P But Nona, Nona really wanted to see Elminster. XD
My apologies, I'm trying to convey the dangers of making wisdom a dump stat, I'm hopefully not this unpleasant in real life That said, a lot of Smoke's personality is based on my own, just magnified.
As for Elminster, Smoke fully intends to seek him out immediately after seeing what the priests have to say. The priests are close by, so visiting them is convenient rather than important.
The interior of the Temple of Gond reveals the Wondermaker's love of tinkering. The main door opens into a wide hall with a cavernous ceiling. On either side of the walkway, myriad strange devices with thousands of perpetually moving parts line the walls. The tick-tock and whirr of clocks and gadgets and the ringing of hammers is everywhere, and the floor reverberates beneath the adventurer's feet from some unknown subterranean activity. The clerics themselves are a sight to behold. Most of them are dwarves or gnomes, though a few halflings and humans bustle about the temple as well. They wear belts full of tools and all manner of odd goggles and glasses and monocles. One rather distressed dwarf hurries after some sort of metallic insect creature, huffing and grunting.
As Nailo ( @Delvarian) opens the door, an earnest-looking young gnome with a hammer at his belt and a pair of goggles perched atop his wild hair rushes up to greet the adventurers.
"Hello, hello. Welcome to the temple of Gond the Wondermaker! I am Castar. I ah...assume you aren't supplicants and rather came seeking some service. Ehm, but forgive me if I'm wrong. How can I help you?"
"Ehm," Castar shuffles about a bit. "We have a somewhat unfortunate situation on our hands, actually....Our high priest Gharri, well....I suppose you haven't heard. He sort of...well...disappeared a year ago, along with the King's daughter. Subaltern Burlan is filling in for him, but Burlan is rather busy right now. The King of Cormyr and his advisor the wizard Vangerdahast are arriving here any minute. Burlan's advised me that he should be disturbed under no circumstances. Trust me, if I interrupt his preparations for the King's arrival I'll be down in the forges manning the bellows for the next half century." He shudders. "But if there's something else I could do for you...?"
Hmmm... the High Priest is missing? Along with the king's daughter? I suppose that's why he's coming here now... So close to where we woke up with these markings. I wonder if this could all be connected somehow. Maybe I could sneak into the meeting... I could cast Invisibility, but Vangerdahast is likely a powerful mage... he could probably detect a simple invisibility spell, and I ought not underestimate these gnomes either...
Jin rolls up his sleeves to reveal the markings on his forearm.
"Well, I can't say I do. Should I?" He reaches out and touches Jin's tattoos before the mage can react. "Odd. Hmmm. I've really never seen anything like that before. I can try to remove them though, if that's what you want. I reckon I might have a spell scroll around that could do the trick."
"An odd coincidence. After you check my companion Jin's tattoos, I would like to tell you of our situation and maybe ask you a question or two"
Lulu turns to her companions "Does no one else find it odd that the head cleric has disappeared before such an important event, at the same time that we mysteriously arrive in town? Just as the king is coming as well." She pauses and thinks to herself "What could possibly connect us to the king...?"
A worried look crosses her face as she thinks out loud "Think about this. Some random powerful organization, clearly up to no good, kidnaps 7 unsuspecting adventurers. They bring them to the same town that the king will be arriving at shortly. No one really knows much about them, except for their tattoos. Why bring us here, to this town of all places, and make sure that we are taken care of and wake up at this time, unless they wanted us here at the exact moment the king arrives."
she gasps suddenly "If someone was to hurt the king, who would make a better patsy than 7 foreign adventurers with the symbols of various evil organizations tattooed to their arms?
"The king may be in trouble, we must be careful and make sure to protect him!"
"But he disappeared a year ago..." Nona pointed out, "We've only just gotten these marks." She eyes the blue tattoos warily. "Still, it's odd that the king is coming at the same time we awaken."
She turns back to the gnome again. "Why is the king coming? Perhaps...looking for his daughter?"
"Officially he's here to work on a defense treaty with Tilverton," Castar says. He pauses, looks around quickly, and resumes speaking in hushed tones. "But there are rumors that his daughter has been spotted recently and that's the real reason he came."
"If he disappeared with the princess, then they may have returned together. It seems odd that the person who is most likely to help us is gone. Then again, that rumor of the king's daughter being spotted may have been spread just to get him here at this time, while we are also in Tilverton. He may still be in trouble. When is he scheduled to arrive? We should warn him at least, and make sure they know that we do not mean him harm, despite these evil body paintings"
"If someone was to hurt the king, who would make a better patsy than 7 foreign adventurers with the symbols of various evil organizations tattooed to their arms?
"The king may be in trouble, we must be careful and make sure to protect him!"
"You are a brave one." Jin remarks with a smile. "But if someone truly intends to frame us for an attack on the king... mayhaps common sense would be to get out of here first, and visibly so."
Jin hesitates.
"That said, I would like to find out who was behind the attack on us, and why exactly we've been brought here. For all we know these marks are a magical beacon that allows our enemies to track our movements, and so fleeing may not necessarily lead to safety."
Jin turns to the gnome.
"When and where is this meeting exactly? Is there any chance we could be granted an audience with the king? Or be allowed to serve as guards in some capacity?"
"Running is for cowards, and might only make us seem more suspicious! I prefer the plan of being open and honest about our situation. If we can save the king, then there will be no reason to suspect us. However, we are jumping ahead of ourselves.
What can you tell us of the king? Is he a good man? Would he listen to reason?"
"I agree, only guilty men run and we have done nothing to warrant guilt. We have no reason even to believe that the king is in danger from anyone, much less that we will be blamed for it."
Comments
"Sorry Nano" she shrugs, and leaps up and begins to cross the street.
Richie barely notices, letting out a yawn.
You keep calling Nona ( @Nonnahswriter ) Nano :P I though Lulu and Nona were friends? Is it a pet name Lulu uses for her? lol
Jin's mood was visibly improved with the knowledge that Long'er was okay. As Lulu's lion joined the company, Long'er, perhaps recognising another magical creature, flew over to him and hovered just in front of the beast in a inquisitive and friendly manner.
"Nice lion." Jin remarked with a court nod to Lulu. "Come on Long'er, let's go, don't bother the lion.
Jin turns to Filani,
"Goodbye for now." He says, as he cupped his right fist into his open left palm, a common gesture of respect amongst the Shou. He did not bow though, still smarting at being overcharged.
If she truly has the acquaintance of Elminster, then there must be more to this elf than she is willing to share...
Nona follows the rest of the group with a sigh, trying very hard to hide her disappointment. Her efforts were futile. She waves Filani goodbye over her shoulder before disappearing out the door and running to catch up with everyone else.
Perhaps they could catch Elminster another time...so she told herself, to keep her pace calm.
Jin stepped into the street, with Long'er hovering at his side, and suddenly stopped.
"Ah I forgot! Better be safe than sorry..."
He begins to chant in ancient Shou, whilst gesturing in very specific patterns with his hands and arms. Suddenly his body glows four times in quick succession, and then his spell was done, with no obviously visible effect.
As Jin moves towards the Temple of Gond across the road, the air around him appears to shimmer a little, as if he was in a hot desert.
He gestures at Falagrim ( @mlnevese ), already waiting on the other side of the road.
"That dwarven platemail and formidable shield is your protection, this ..." Jin gestures at the shimmering shells of arcane energy that surrounded him, "... is mine."
Jin just cast Stoneskin, except I always found the concept of stoneskin rather silly and hate how it made my characters look in BG.
I mean mages cannot cast spells wearing leather armour, and yet somehow they are not encumbered by layers of rock covering their bodies?!
Given that it is long duration and pretty much a constant protection in BG 2, it makes colourful robes and customization rather pointless. Also... I imagine people would look at you funny if you walked around in stoneskin all the time.
Anyway I've just described a spell that proxies Stoneskin, the four flashes refer to four shells of protection, as a lv8 mage should have 4 layers of stone skins.
"Flashy magic is all right but dwarves prefer more sober tones. If we ever get in combat together you will see, Jin."
"Are you expecting to be attacked by these clerics? Or are you simply being over cautious?"
Jin replied with a little smirk.
"It's a wonder", he said. "It shoots bullets that go through armor as if it was air", he said. Then he tried to show me how it worked.
Damn thing exploded in his hand, blew all his fingers away, nearly took my nose too. And it burned my beard...
So if the damn gondorites are testing anything, just keep away from it.
"I have never been called mundane before."
He pats both Jin ( @Heindrich ) and Crevs ( @CrevsDaak ) on their backs with his large gauntleted hands.
"Come friends, let us visit these clerics and hope that your caution is unwarranted."
Nailo heads to the temple and pulls open the doors. He holds them open that the group might enter, and gives both Nona ( @Nonnahswriter ) and Lulu ( @booinyoureyes ) a nod as they walk past him.
Nailo also listened to the dwarves ( @mlnevese ) tale, though he was somewhat distracted as he did so by watching Lulu's graceful figure stepping by him.
" Yes, yes truly a wonder." He answered the dwarf.
"I know its not gibberling flesh, but it will have to do"
Lulu walks by Nailo with the lion in tow.
"Let us enter the temple and see what these priests have to say. They always seem to have the most interesting contraptions. And gnomes are so adorable!"
As for Elminster, Smoke fully intends to seek him out immediately after seeing what the priests have to say. The priests are close by, so visiting them is convenient rather than important.
As Nailo ( @Delvarian) opens the door, an earnest-looking young gnome with a hammer at his belt and a pair of goggles perched atop his wild hair rushes up to greet the adventurers.
"Hello, hello. Welcome to the temple of Gond the Wondermaker! I am Castar. I ah...assume you aren't supplicants and rather came seeking some service. Ehm, but forgive me if I'm wrong. How can I help you?"
"Greetings brother, may The Lord of all Smiths look over you. We have a few questions that you may be able to assist with."
Nailo nods toward Lulu ( @booinyoureyes ) as if to show that she will speak for the group.
"Neither of those rings a bell," he frowns. "Who exactly are...Tyrantulus and Moriander?"
Jin rolls up his sleeves to reveal the markings on his forearm.
"Do you know anything about these?"
OOC:
lol ninja'd you. That's exactly what I thought of and figured rolling up a sleeve was easier than taking off armour plates.
"Well, I can't say I do. Should I?" He reaches out and touches Jin's tattoos before the mage can react. "Odd. Hmmm. I've really never seen anything like that before. I can try to remove them though, if that's what you want. I reckon I might have a spell scroll around that could do the trick."
Lulu turns to her companions "Does no one else find it odd that the head cleric has disappeared before such an important event, at the same time that we mysteriously arrive in town? Just as the king is coming as well."
She pauses and thinks to herself "What could possibly connect us to the king...?"
A worried look crosses her face as she thinks out loud
"Think about this. Some random powerful organization, clearly up to no good, kidnaps 7 unsuspecting adventurers. They bring them to the same town that the king will be arriving at shortly. No one really knows much about them, except for their tattoos. Why bring us here, to this town of all places, and make sure that we are taken care of and wake up at this time, unless they wanted us here at the exact moment the king arrives."
she gasps suddenly
"If someone was to hurt the king, who would make a better patsy than 7 foreign adventurers with the symbols of various evil organizations tattooed to their arms?
"The king may be in trouble, we must be careful and make sure to protect him!"
She turns back to the gnome again. "Why is the king coming? Perhaps...looking for his daughter?"
Jin hesitates.
"That said, I would like to find out who was behind the attack on us, and why exactly we've been brought here. For all we know these marks are a magical beacon that allows our enemies to track our movements, and so fleeing may not necessarily lead to safety."
Jin turns to the gnome.
"When and where is this meeting exactly? Is there any chance we could be granted an audience with the king? Or be allowed to serve as guards in some capacity?"
What can you tell us of the king? Is he a good man? Would he listen to reason?"
Nailo shrugs.