Prologue: To Boldly Go Where People Have Not Been in a Good

Posts : 7109 Join date : 2017-05-17

Zeiss wrote:: Kathryn pronounces the words too. "I swear to complete this quest. I swear to complete this quest. I swear to complete this quest."

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Kolson wrote:: As you guys say the oath three times the following happens in order--a shiver travels up your spine, a sudden tingling occurs upon your tongue, and finally your hearts are filled with joy for an oath freely given. You know this, but not how or why you know.

Eninahes completes her part of the oath, swearing it three times. She is filled with the same joy, "Go my champions. I await your return."

She points at the oak tree Eyton and a portal shimmers into being. It clearly shows the Grove and a surprised Liam and Zoe back in the Mortal World.

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Zeiss wrote:: Kathryn's eyes widen at the sight of the portal. "Wow..." She smiles at Eninahes and takes a step forward, but before she crosses the portal, a thought occurs to her.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot." The young woman joins her hands together, closes her eyes, and whispers, "I swear to free Eni from her prison. I swear to free Eni from her prison. I swear to free Eni from her prison."

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Rory wrote:: Hunter smiles in spite of himself. He may not agree with this, but his..."trust issues" as the others would say, have backfired before. And this is the right thing to do, even if it means going above and beyond the call.

Then, he stops in his tracks and looks at Kathryn with wild eyes. "Kat! What...!"

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K wrote:: Carlos begins to walk over to the Grove, when he hears Kat recite the Oath three times. He jolts back around and exclaims gravely in a voice that loses all it's Dwarven accent - "Kathryn!!"

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Kolson wrote:

The oath is made with the usual side effects. Eninahes says, "I thank you for the oath Katheryn. Here, take this and go with my blessing." The eladrin raises her hand and leaves blow from Eyton's tree and attach themselves around Katheryn's neck in a necklace pattern. The largest leaf--a red, heart-shaped leaf a few inches in size--forms the "stone" of the piece. She can take it on and off but the leaves cannot be pulled apart.

Magic Item:

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Rory wrote:: Hunter's tail slashes through the air as he shakes his head. "Well, it's official now, and I have to help her. She kinda needs us."

"I'll help her keep her promise to you. I'll help her keep her promise..."

And then, instead of repeating himself again, he offers Eninahes a sly grin, and turns around and walks through the portal.

Persuasion - 15
To be charming about the way I do that. Not deceptive or flippant. I imply that I am binding myself to my word, not to the Feywild through a magical "on your head be it" oath.

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K wrote:: Carlos just sighs, frowns, and steps through the portal.

Kolson wrote:: A pleased Zoe smiles as you guys emerge from the portal. "You're back! What happened?"

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Zeiss wrote:: Kathryn clumsily relates everything they have learned so far about Eninahes, how Allinandra may be responsible for the tragedy that has taken place here, and that they swore to unravel the truth. Once she finishes recounting all the details, the young swordwoman also adds, "Oh! I also swore to free Eni from her prison, and as a token of gratitude, she gave me this necklace." She points to the chain of leaves around her neck. "Isn't it pretty?"

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Kolson wrote:: Zoe's countenance falls. "I wish you guys hadn't made any oaths. You don't even know who her aunt, mother, or stepfather are. Especially you Katheryn. Her enemies are now your enemies."

"Zoe is right, you've put a great big target on your back making long-term deals with the fey. But what I don't understand is this business with Allinandra. If she is making a play to remove her mother why didn't she strike before the attack? And if she did why is she still alive?"

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K wrote:: Carlos is still out of it, and just shakes his head in dejected frustration - "I'm guessing we'll find out if we go out there and start talking about the Fey lady. Allinandra may find herself put on the spot without even having to accuse her, considering how volatile she's seemed."

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Rory wrote:: Hunter's tail continues to flick at nothing, showing his irritation.

"It wasn't a token of gratitude, Kat, it's a way for us to tell her what we learn without having to leave the druids to flee, so that we don't have to fight a pact-fused warlock in the event we learn she's deceived the archfey. Until then, you just hold onto it tightly, Kat. We're sort of counting on you now, but don't worry, even you of all people should be able to manage that menial feat."

He continues without missing a beat. "We agreed to help Eninahes find out if Allinandra had deceived her, or her mother. I'm still sane, I don't trust Allinandra for one wit, but she wouldn't have helped us if we didn't. And I'm not numb to the plight of her position minus the Harken's Heart druids, but Nuts-for-Brains over here decided to bind herself to help," he says, jerking a thumb at Kathryn, "And now we're under oath to play matchmaker under pain of god-knows-what."

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Zeiss wrote:: Kathryn frowns in displeasure at Hunter's words, and crosses her arms.

"Don't worry, Red-Tail. If you don't want to help, you can just sit back and let us take care of the rest."

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K wrote:: Carlos lets out a grumpy sigh - "You know, it's hard to be a bumbling ol' Enano when everyone pulls this thing their own way."

He shoots an annoyed glare at Hunter - "Oy Cazador, we don't need the snark if it serves no purpose here. You wanna vent, fine. But do it after we don't have lives on our hands anymore. And for pity's sake, get over your girlfriend out there and start seeing this past your own nose. There's more to how we deal with Allinandra than just what names she called you when you tried to come on to her."

He shoots an annoyed glare at Kat - "Oy Kathryn, you may think you're only risking yourself by recklessly swearing your life to an Archfey you only just barely met, but try to remember whatever you do affects the rest of us. If you go and kick her stepfather in the face, there's no way we'll just abandon you to it. Because it's you. And we'll all share in the trouble if and when it happens." - he sighs again - "You go, we go. And i don't need to swear that three times to make it real."

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Rory wrote:

Hunter nettles under Carlos' browbeating. "No...no purpose!?"

K wrote:: He shoots an annoyed glare at Kat - "Oy Kathryn, you may think you're only risking yourself by recklessly swearing your life to an Archfey you only just barely met, but try to remember whatever you do affects the rest of us. If you go and kick her stepfather in the face, there's no way we'll just abandon you to it. Because it's you. And we'll all share in the trouble if and when it happens." - he sighs again - "You go, we go. And i don't need to swear that three times to make it real."

"Here here. We can't just walk away, Kathryn. You know us better than that."

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Zeiss wrote:: Kathryn tilts her head, bemused by the turn this conversation took.

"You guys make no sense at all. You'll help me because it's the right thing to do, but you won't help Eni because you don't know her very well? Even though it's the right thing to do?" She shakes her head in an futile effort to make sense of this reasoning. "I don't get it. We're already risking our lives everyday because of this job. Doing it for Eni's sake makes no difference."

She sighs.

"Let's just take care of Allinandra and her mother. That's a simpler thing to do."

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K wrote:: Carlos just shrugs.

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Rory wrote:: Hunter moves in front of Kat, shoulder-to-shoulder and starts to talk with his hands. Let me explain this a little clearer. "You don't get it. There is no 'just' about it. You didn't have to be bound by a Feywild oath to help her, Kat. But now you are, and now in addition to wanting to help her, we have to for your sake as well. Do you understand now? Being honor-bound to do as you said you would is now second to you doing it because you have to, or some otherworldly planar crap will find you and jack your soul up. That is why we're freaking out on you, okay?"

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Zeiss wrote:: She shakes her head. "You're wrong. I had to swear an oath to save Eni. And I had to do it without asking for anything in return. She's still stuck there because no one else has done so before. This is how you beat that kind of curse; by doing what everybody else will hesitate to do."

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Rory wrote:: He blinks. "Oh..." You're smarter than you--do NOT say that. "That's...one way to look at it. Still, I don't buy it. Don't you wonder if anyone has tried? Maybe her father is just too strong. What if he's too strong for you? What then? I'm calling it now. You're going to need our help, the help of people who won't swear, to do anything to break that curse, whether it means defeating a false hero like Allinandra and her mother, or a centuries-old archfey. You are wrong--respectfully."

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Zeiss wrote:: Kathryn shrugs. "Finding a way to lift the curse will prove me right. And this starts with Allinandra." She starts walking towards the door. "Come on, let's go."

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Kolson wrote:: Zoe looks very uncomfortable at the conflict in the party, needing her hands and hunching her shoulders as if to protect herself from any potential splash damage. "Yes lets. We still need to figure out our plan of attack." She follows the rest out of the Tree area of the Grove. "If we want to stick with Carlos' plan we'll need to figure out the teams. Are we still set on Kat, Liam, and Carlos for the confrontation party? Or did we all want to go out together?"

Liam stays silent throughout the discussion, feeling it's not his place to say anything during the argument. With things moving on he helpfully adds, "Jojo said he has something important to share with us. He's waiting back in our room with the kids."

You guys head back to the room with Jojo and the two children. Lily and Tom are both asleep on the bed and Jojo carefully sets aside a book and motions for you guys to turn right around and head back down the hallway. He motions you back to the Grove and when everyone is there he says, "I'm happy everyone is okay. Zoe filled me in after you left. There's no way around it--it's bad you guys." He takes up a pose, arching his back and forming an "L" with his arms. "The pendant that Nesme gave us was able to hear everything we said. It's a rather clever enchantment really. I almost didn't recognize it underneath the other one. Whoever worked it has a subtle touch. I've quarantined it for now in the adult wing."

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K wrote:: Carlos has been growing increasingly irritated - "There's no point in sneaking around them anymore if they heard about that plan; will only put them on guard the minute they don't see us all come out. I'm going out there and talk to Nesme. The rest of you come along if you want."

He turns away and goes find the necklace.

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Rory wrote:: "Whoa, hold on." Hunter walks over and grabs Carlos by the arm. "I assume you're going to find the necklace, otherwise they won't let...us...out...dammit. Leave it there, it's useless now. It's Eyton's grove, he'll let us out."

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K wrote:: "Sure." - Carlos goes to see the tree.

» Prologue: Just another day
» Prologue Interlude
» Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold
» Prologue: The Barony of Harkenwold
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