Hazardous Times: Chapter XI "Fit For A Queen"

[mistral4543]

Thank you so much, Attalus [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] That was really helpful... for the first time, I really know something more personal about the characters

As I mentioned, it might have been a case of misunderstanding and expectations of members joining this thread. I am trying to sort out the concerns of individuals through PMs since this thread should as far as possible stick to in-character posts

Sorsha: Started off inexperienced and later discovered that she is a princess. Even more recently, she has realised that she has a sister by the name of Isaura. She has found true love in the form of the elven ranger Legolas, and wishes to put the cares of the world behind her. Yet, she must see that the kingdom ruled by her father earlier is ensured of a good leader. She wears white robes and carries a mace which she hardly uses. Soft-spoken and trying to find her own feet, she needs constant reassurance even as she strives to prove her worth in whichever group.

[mistral4543]

Isaura: A 15th level illusionist, she has somehow lost parts of her memory after the attack on her in Korrup Shun. Formerly attached to Raymond, she now feels guilt about appearing indifferent to him after she had reunited with him. She carries a bejewelled dagger and bears a mark upon her right cheek to remind herself of her folly in her youth (she bore a child out of wedlock by Tobias - now a tree in Cora's garden [img]tongue.gif[/img] - and the child, Joy, died from cold unattended).

Having just reunited with her sister Sorsha, she is starting to feel real affection for someone. Her wish now is to follow Lady Galadria, if for nothing then to ensure Sir Blandamour finally sees his error in choosing the obviously inferior Eliza.

[TAOWolf]

OOC: I think my post will explain my character better than using D&D guidelines......

IC:
STEEPLEWOOD FOREST

She looks at each Druidess in turn, and looks to the ground....

She looks up as silver tears fall from her eyes, and begins...

"I'm sure you know part or all of the "Myth" I seem to have become...
but it is NOT myth I assure you...."

She smiles softly at the wolves, and wipes away the tears, whispering

"My true name is Kaylisa GreyWolf, sister of the wolfpack Siruis, and a Druid to the foundation of the citadel of the Kingdom of Ariandor Army. I was once an excellent ranger and swordswoman, instilled with the magic of my ancestors, strong magic. Then one day, I killed a child, that was by all rights evil.........."

The tears softly fall again, and she goes on,

"But I forgot my most sacred oath, to my kin, my druid family........ so now I am cursed to walk this forsaken time ~it has been over 200 years for her now" "So I am cursed to walk the earth, to be avenger, trial, judge.......with no remorse, no feelings,........ ~here she hesitates, because she has had feelings and remorse ~ "But humans have brought out what the fates said would never be brought out again....the compassionate side.........the side of me that I thought was given up.......... 'spioradail de madadh' (spirit of wolf) that is me."

She stops and sips of her wine, then continues…….

"It begins on the day it was found that I am more than just a shapeshifting Druid. The wolf is not only my familiar, but also a part of me, going back in my family for centuries. When this was recognized, it was also found that I could wield weapons of metal, and use my powers together. This is very rare among Druids. I was not recognized as human any longer, but something else, something.."

She hesitates here, for good reason, because she cannot tell them the name that was bestowed upon her. If only they had known what this naming would cause and the curse it would invoke.

“I was struck with the vision of a silver wolf dying not too long ago. That wolf was like a mother to me. She had been near me for 150 years, not a normal wolf. The smoke and fire I have seen in visions sent to me I now know was my home. It has been destroyed. Something has set the Dragons loose again. The curse. The bloody curse...."

She shakes her head, and sighs.

"I told you my true name. GreyWolf (liath madadh-allaidh), but that is not what they named me that day. I was out with my wolf-pack, Siruis, doing some Ranger work on the outskirts of a village near the Capital of Ariandor. There in the forest I came upon a group of "people", around a fire. I stood silently, waving the wolves down, watching carefully. They were trying to raise the Goddess Fay're. What I did not realize at that time, was they had a child, a girl-child, who could channel. Channel the evil side of the "ONE". I thought they were to sacrifice the child. So I waited until they slept, and snuck in, wrapping the child in a blanket, and hurrying back to the Citadel quarters of the Druid Foundation. The wolves tried to warn me, I know that now, but I refused to believe a child would be so evil. I took her into the garden, (one of many) and called to my brothers and sisters to come.......... thats when everything went wrong, and my life changed forever........"

Here she stops for a moment, the tears brimming her eyes, intensifying the amber/silver glow. She reaches up with a hand, but stops...instead letting the tears flow, letting the hurt out, and ridding herself of the last vestige of fear and madness. Letting the tears carry it away into the wind, leaving behind the strong resolve of her spirit and hope, She continues slowly.....

”My first clue something was wrong was the child. She sat up from where I had laid her, and reached back without looking. She gave me a smile so evil, the wolves who were sending me messages at the time, howled in pain, fleeing my mind quickly. Reaching back she touched the "nan tursachan" behind her. The sign carved into it glowed, and one of the "a' treigsinn" started to appear slowly directly behind her, and merged with her, the only sign it had happened was her eyes..........oh her eyes, blood-red as the rest of her face disappeared, becoming smooth. She stood, now 7 feet tall, truly one of the "a' treigsinn". I knew I had no weapons upon myself to fight such an evil being, and fled to the next garden, where the "nan tursachan" for the mighty wizard "Glandish" stood.

Among our people this stone was NEVER to be touched, it was a symbol of what can happen if you try to control the power instead of letting it flow thru you, and allowing it to help you. Of what would happen, if you got greedy, and tried to draw too much, for the wrong reasons. So I did the one thing that would set me on my path and what would get myself cursed, not realizing that at the time, only concerned with the fact I had invited "a' treigsinn" into a haven, a safe place, and if it ever left the garden, such destruction to all the innocents would be my fault...."

She pauses again, looking at them from the corner of her eye, trying to judge their reaction to this.......She sighs, and continues once again........

"I reached up, and touched the sign for the wizard, the one cursed to become this stone, the one who had gotten too greedy, thinking himself mightier than the gods.........." "As I touched the sign, the rock began to vibrate, the ground shaking, knocking me to my knees as if in obeyance to the stone. I looked up and the rock slowly fell apart, revealing the wizard, frozen, holding an ancient sword. One of the soul-reavers, the "aignean a' chlaidheimh" of legend, the "SpiritSword". Without thinking of myself, only for the others inside the walls of the Foundation, I reached up and took hold of the sword. Immediately the ground quit shaking, and for one brief second, the wizards eyes flared, and a message burned into my brain, knocking me to my knees again, the sword clutched in both hands, my hands on fire. The Wizard stated the following to me.......... “

"This omen I give you, this sword is now yours to use, and cure.. The marks now put on your hands are weapons, 22 more marks will you gain thru time. Your eyes will now betray you to friends and enemy alike. They will glow and change color."

” This is when I felt something snap around my neck.”

"This bracer you shall wear forever. Forever immortal to walk the earth, to gather souls for this sword. But beware, beware the Fey're who would free these souls, and bring about the last battle, the end of the Age...... you are now cursed to this task. Omens you will find along the way and this prophecy...

"Where two were born of wind,
so shall two be born of fire.
Where two are scarred and sorrowed,
so shall two unite in fire....fire....
fire and wind, storm and lightning,
so the prophecies say, and tell.
So shall it be, so shall it come forward.
Two shall be united, two shall love,
where heartbreak and curses roam...
so shall two break free...."
Until you fulfill this prophecy, you are doomed. Doomed to walk the earth."

“And so..............I will not tell you what has happened since then. I slew the "a' tregsinn", who instantly turned back to the child. My brethern appeared only at the moment after the forsaken fled the child, leaving me standing there, SpiritSword in hand, runes burned into my hands, a platinum amulet bracer around my neck, the Wizard's stone broken, and an innocent looking child, lying murdered on the ground...............I was cursed to walk the land, fighting for Chaotic Neutral, but with a cruel twist...."

She looks them straight in the eyes, hers showing no fear, no sorrow anymore, only fate, hope, and a strange kind of vengence. She waits for them to speak, slowly sipping at the wine....

[ 07-18-2002, 10:43 PM: Message edited by: TAOWolf ]

[mistral4543]

OOC>>> Galadria and Attalus - I've PMed you [img]smile.gif[/img]

IC>>>
Kira

Her knees tremble as she makes her way towards the door, occasionally darting glances behind to ensure no one has seen her. Upstairs, her parents are grumbling as usual, about the state of affairs in this city which has always been her home.

Her green eyes flash as they catch sight of the rapier hanging on the sides of the door. Deftly, she removes it and places it on her side. Praying to Mielikki for her blessings, she closes her palm over the knob and turns it.

The door yawns open, defiantly. She knows they have heard.

Sprinting, she dashes across the street, dodging the random rain of arrows showering about. Stumbling once as one grazes her shoulder ferociously. Whimpering, but stubbornly, she runs on.

Anywhere. Anywhere but this terrifying, gloomy city. She plunges on towards the forestry ahead of her...

[Galadria]

Okay, Mistral, if it will make you happy:

LADY GALADRIA FOEBANE (17th level Cavalier, wears red dragon armor and helm, giving it the distictive pinkish color. She bears Carsomyr +6, and the Dagger of Desire, though she does not know it has a name, or many of its properties, which will remain secret for now. Her bonded war horse, Gold Top, can change color at her will, and will always come when called. She is in love with Blandamour, and is jealous of Eliza, his esquire and lover, but feels guilty about it, as Eliza saved her life once.

PRINCESS ELIZA, DAUGHTER OF CEDRIC (12th level Bard/1st level Paladin) Once cruel, spoiled, and arrogant, she killed herself in despair and awoke not to oblivion, but the Abyss, where she had to fight in the Blood War as a Petitioner, until unexpectedly resurrected by the late Britomart Foebane, Galadria's sister. She was Britomart's slave for a while, until an unexpected chance allowed her to rescue Galadria and flee Britomart. She subsequently met Blandamour, fell in love with him, and now is his esquire and mistress. She dreams of being his wife. She struggles to do good, so as to avoid returning to the Abyss, but must fight murderous urges.

LILYBLACK OF THE SCAR (17th Level Planewalker, which means that she has the ability, given any component of a thing, to reach it agasin, by constructing a portal lens that will instantly take her there on her mind focussing on it. She was taught this skill by a mysterious individual who I am not going to introduce, yet.) Sensuous and beautiful, her lovely face marked with a hideous scar running from her left eyebrow to her right cheek, she is Spymaster for Sir Bors, but nurses a secret grudge against Eliza.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

WOW!!! [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img] What an AWESOME story, TAO! [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] Very, very good.

Now for my characters.

Addison Sinclair - dual class monk/mage 10/16. Chaotic Good

Addison has the physical build of a fighter (high STR, DEX, CON) Fighting school and the militia did not appeal to him, so he traveled to the Eastern land of Kara-Tur, where he found a style of fighting that suited him in the martial arts. He stayed at the monastary for 4 years before striking out on his own. During his travels, he became increasingly intrigued by all things magical. He began to study the arcane arts and - as he advanced in knowledge - researched many magical items.

He is very curious about any magical item and loves to find new items to study.

He carries +2 Quarterstaff, which he can wield with devestating affect thanks to his martial arts training. He wears a Cloak of Displacement and almost always has 2-4 Stoneskin spells in effect.

He LOVES researching new spells and has acquired many "non-standard" spells in his spellbook (Non-standard meaning spells that aren't in the spellbooks carried by most mages.) He has developed an improved version of the standard ESP spell that allows it stay in effect for several hours. This makes it almost impossible to fool him or sneak up on him. He is constantly monitoring those around him.

He also has a "pet" pseudo-dragon - named Skrith - that acts as a scout and fighting ally. Addison raised Skrith from an egg and is the only "mother" he has ever known.

He has several miscellaneous magical items he has collected. He developed a pair of Gloves of Anti-Magic to aid in his magical research. These glove nullify the magic of any item other than a relic or artifact. This comes in handy when Identifying cursed items. He can discover they are cursed without being affected.

Right now, Addison is also carrying The Amulet from Baz'guul. He truly meant to destroy it, but Carrick sensed his love of magical items and used that weakness to convince Addison to "study" the amulet, rather than destroy it.

The trapped mage is augmenting Addison's powers greatly, but he is also trying to "corrupt" Addison and convince him to set him free. Addison's mental discipline has managed to thwart Carrick so far, but the subversive attacks are very subtle.....and very constant. Carrick is always "whispering" into Addison's ear about which course of action to follow. This will develop more as the story progresses.

************************************************** ***********

Kellen Silverblade - Kellen is simply an elven fighter/mage (5/5) known as a Bladesinger.

[Lady Blue03]

OOC>>Ah, finally good to know we're getting back on track here! OK then...
Verloren
Fighter/mage 26/5. Originaly(before i entered the story)a half elf princess cast off from her home by the prejudice elves she lived with, except her mother. She's been training since she could lift a sword, which explains her high level in fighter. Recently leveled as a mage to obtain spells to better her in battle, though she rarely uses them. The swords she carries- Isan and Isak, +4 long swords, Isan being ice enchanted, Isak being lightning, were a gift to her from her weapons master. The circlet on her head, i think is called Circlet of Netheril(the one cespenar can make in ToB, dont remember its stats). Customized half plate +1. Her boots...well nuthing special about them, but they let her move like an elf, instead of a half-elf . She is arrogant(though not as much as Sanael [img]smile.gif[/img] )from the long years of harshness of her father. Hmmm what else...ah, she likes tough guys(in my book she leaves the hero for the villain), nuff said! Laurie, waitin for Lilyblacks post reply

[ 07-19-2002, 02:42 AM: Message edited by: Lady Blue03 ]

[Ar-Cunin]

OK - lets see

Sanael Ganahr (6''1')

using 2nd ed.

Elven Ranger lvl 17

STR 15, DEX 18, CON 16, INT 15, WIS 14, CHR 12

He is (as LB poited out [img]tongue.gif[/img] ) arrogant - And basicly looks down on all non-elves ( including ½-elves, LB ) as being 'lesser' beings although he 'tolerates' the paladins because he knows that they live up to a higher standard. (hence all the insults ) As elfs come and go he's not particulary handsome but he has a 'hard' edge to him.

He is a ranger because he (as expected/demanded) has followed the family tadition - and although he doesn't particulary like to trudge around in the wilderness, he is a consumate professionel, who does what is needed to accomplish his missions.

He was initially ordered to go on a mission to discover what threat the demon (that Larry played) posed by his liege-lord, Celefin, and encountered Blandamour and ELiza. After the threat was averted he was ordered (again) to act as a liason between his lord and the paladin Order in order to coordinate a response to future threats. Sir Bors then told him to follow Blandamour, as he usually is in the thick of the action. Initially he resented this assignment as he would prefer the conforts of home and elven company, but resently he has begun to enjoy himself.

I play SG as a hard man, who lives in a mideval society (torture is an acceptable way to gather info, enemies deserves no help and 'human' (or elf ) rights are an unknown concept) - I hope this explains his actions towards the druids.

Equipment: longbow +3, a rather tattered looking studded leather armor (non-magical but comfortable [img]smile.gif[/img] ), longsword +2, dagger, a multitude of different arrows, boots of grounding, and his most priced possesion: his multi-hued cloak that grants +35% to hide and stalk, +2AC and non-detection.

[ 07-20-2002, 01:48 PM: Message edited by: Ar-Cunin ]

[Attalus]

SIR BLANDAMOUR (OOps, forgot to add (thanks, Gal) Blandamour has a bonded warhorse, too, name o' Shaitann, black and vicious.)

[Cerek the Barbaric]

As Addison and Ni Deng travel down the road, Addison stops and begins rubbing his temples. Carrick is "whispering" into his brain again, and the strain of controlling his thoughts is becoming very painful. The mental discipline Addison learned in Kara-Tur helps him withstand the mental assaults, but his ESP spell gives Carrick easier access and adds strength to the attacks.

Why do you not act on your convictions? How much more evidence do you need? Have you not seen enough with your own eyes to believe they are evil?

Their actions can be explained.

Explained? HOW? Is it normal for paragons of Good to barter with evil dragons or threaten helpless captives?

The druidess wasn't harmed and Blandamour was bartering for the life of a party member.

For his LOVER, you mean. I wonder how quickly he would have bartered if it had been you in the dragons' clutches.....or would he have considered your death a tragic - but necessary - loss? Better the death of one than of many, after all.

You're wrong. He would not endanger a fellow party member.

You are blind, Addison. You have challenged thier authority in front of the others. Make no mistake, you would have met with an "unfortunate accident" in short order had you stayed. Who knows? You still might. The Order has many members and Blandamour is one of their champions. You have insulted his honor, and that transgression cannot go unpunished. I would be wary of a crossbow bolt from behind if I were you.

Yes, well you will be sure to warn me should someone attempt that then, won't you Carrick. After all, that was our agreement. You would add your strength to mine if I spared you, correct?

Correct indeed. That is why I am puzzled. I've given you power enough to destroy them both ten times over, yet you refuse to strike. Even though you know deep down that I speak the truth, you stay your hand. Why wait until you are ambushed? Strike the enemy before they have a chance to strike you.

No. I will NOT listen to your insidious lies and half-truths. If the time should come that I must face them, then I will do so. I will NOT resort to pre-emptive violence for the sake of convenience.

Carrick realized he had pushed too far- again. Still, Addisons resistance was slowly being worn down. Carrick could afford to bide his time. He had been trapped in the amulet for well over a century; a few more days - or even weeks - would not matter.
Forgive me, Addison. I forget that your ways are not the same as mine. My long years of confinement have made me irritable beyond my years. Come, lets forget about the paladins and seek out this druidess you spoke of

Much more than an ordinary druidess, she is also a shapeshifter. And I suspect her powers extend far beyond what is normal even for that. But you are right, we should continue our journey and put the past behind us.

************************************************** ********************

Ni Deng watches his new friend with concern. He is the only person that knows Addison didn't destroy the amulet, because it was he who gave Addison the tools for the deed - knowing full well that they could not actually accomplish the task.

He worried that Carrick would seek to subvert the young mage. Addison was powerful, both physically and mentally, and would make the perfect "host" if the evil mage were ever freed. The old gardener sincerely hoped he would not be forced to kill his friend in order to save him....but he knew in his heart that it may well come to that.