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

Posts : 7109 Join date : 2017-05-17

Rory wrote:

Kolson wrote:: "Oh, that's okay. We had fun reading books and singing songs with the kids." [Insight success] She's hardcore deflecting now. She doesn't want to talk about visiting the Feywild.

He nods along. Slowly. There's nothing here to disbelieve, but... "That was really nice of you."

"Well, we are going to be going there soon, after we've had our rest. Whatever bugs you about that, you should probably tell us now."

Persuasion 15
Convince her that she should tell us why she really doesn't like the Feywild

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Zeiss wrote:: "Okay, good. Thanks."

Kathryn then takes her leave from the rest of the group, and goes to another room. A few minutes later, she can be seen dragging gnoll bodies (the less bloody ones) towards the front entrance of the grove, lifting them up so they can stand straight, and maintaining this position by tying them to spears planted in the ground.

Once this is done, she goes to ask Liam if there is a place where she can take a bath and get rid of all this blood.

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Kolson wrote:: "We usually bathe in the creek running through the Grove. Will that be okay?"

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Zeiss wrote:: "It'll be perfect. Thanks again."

Once she has bathed herself and cleaned the blood off her armor, Kathryn goes to ask Eyton if she can go to the Feywild to visit Eni, and sleep over there.

She will be gone until it is time to enact the plan.

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Kolson wrote:: "Oh!" Zoe looks really uncomfortable now. She hunches over, arms akimbo. "Noticed that did you? It's nothing bad, really. I'm just...you know...banished."

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Eyton transports Kat to the Feywild once more, where she greeted by a pool water, sans the marble chair and no sign of Eni.

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Rory wrote:

Kolson wrote:: "Oh!" Zoe looks really uncomfortable now. She hunches over, arms akimbo. "Noticed that did you? It's nothing bad, really. I'm just...you know...banished."

Hunter blinks. "'Banished'? You mean banished from that plane?"

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Zeiss wrote:: After placing her armor on the ground next to the well, Kathryn searches for Eni, knowing she cannot be far from here. If there is really no sign of her, she'll look into the well itself.

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Kolson wrote:: "Yuppers!"

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When Katheryn looks into the well, she sees several visions of her friends.

1. Hunter and Zoe are kicking chickens while running through the streets of a town you've never been to before. Each kick is a bone-crushing affair, and yet, somehow, the chickens are walking around fine not 10 seconds later. They laugh and hold hands as they run off to find more.

2. Jojo wipes off his brow after a hard days work taking inventory in a massive warehouse. Satisfied with the job, he leaves and heads to an alehouse where he shares drinks with two old dwarves. One is clearly a sergeant of the guard by the look of his insignia while the other is clearly a blacksmith.

3. A nervous Carlos is having a romantic dinner with a pretty tiefling woman in a beautiful green dress. Katheryn recognizes a fellow warrior when she sees one and while the dress shows off her figure there's more than a little muscle there. If she seems uncomfortable in the dress she doesn't show it. Carlos makes a joke and they both laugh.

4. Hot Lips the mule is happily munching away on meadow grass before his ear twitches and he looks directly at Katheryn. Recognizing her, Hot Lips goes back to munching on the grass. In the background Nesme turns into an eagle and flies away from Allinandra, who watches her flight until her mother is out of sight. She looks pleased from the smile on her face, and walks back towards the entrance to the Grove.

"What do you see?" says a deep bass voice. When Katheryn looks to the voice she sees a ghostly eladrin man, wearing an old robe and carrying an equally ghostly quarterstaff. He smiles at her through a scarred face.

There was supposed to be a 5th, so it's been retconned in:

Kolson wrote:: 5. For her final vision, Katherine see a familiar sight, the old stump in the middle of the field on her mentor Robert's property. The man himself is sitting there, as he is want to do, shouting at a group of five teenagers as they run through the familiar drill routines with quarterstaves. Kat's brother Brian cracks a joke to his twin Alizah as she swings her staff, causing her to break her focus laughing and disrupting the class entirely. Robert springs to his feet with practiced ease and storms over there as only a veteran can. He lays into them, yelling, cussing, and generally intimidating everyone back into formation. He stands right behind them as he double-times them through the routine six more times. The class is thoroughly exhausted when they finish, and they all collapse to the ground. Robert praises them for their work, saying exactly how much each of them have improved since they started. The kids can't help but smile at each other with pride. Robert then says it's time for lemonade and the class cheers, helping each other up and making their way to Robert's house. He follows along last, making sure everyone leaves together. Good old Robert, never leaves a man behind.

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Rory wrote:: "Oh...and you're happy about that? Actually if this is a long story, maybe we should wait until you can share it with everyone."

While she responds, he's reaching out to touch her shoulder as if he might not actually feel her there, and as if he's never done that before. Then her face.

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Zeiss wrote:: These unexpected visions initially startle Kathryn, but the more she looks, the more entranced she becomes. Once she hears the voice call out to her, she calmly turns her head to get a good look at the apparition of this stranger. For some reason, she doesn't feel threatened, even though she still is on her guard.

"My friends... having a good time." She pauses to look at the well again. "But there's nothing about me."

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Kolson wrote:: "Why shouldn't I be proud?" Zoe challenges. "It's not everyday a girl gets banished from an entire plane you know." She makes no move to stop Hunter.

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"Yes, there wouldn't be. Thanks to the Lady's influence it only shows what could have happened or what might be, usually with a bias towards love. She's a kind girl, but terribly lonely."

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Zeiss wrote:: "Hmm. That doesn't really answer my question, but okay." She refocuses her attention on the man again. "What about you? Do you love Eni? Or are you just a 'what could have been' thing?"

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Rory wrote:: Satisfied, and disappointed, Hunter eventually stops. He secretly hopes doing that wouldn't be punishable if she had not been banished. "It's certainly something straight out of a fairytale, but I sure wouldn't be proud if I were banished to the Nine Hells. I guess it would depend on what I'd done to deserve it... Point is, I like it here. Do you like it here? And I do mean overall."

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Kolson wrote:: "Pfff, I was just visiting some relatives at the time, the Prime is my home." Zoe laughs at the idea. "Why would I want to go back to those poncy, backstabbing dandies anyway? Tell them their hair is last season and they'd run back to their rooms to have a cry and then beg daddy-dearest to release the Wild Hunt on us all and then where would we be? No thanks."

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The ghost considers Kat's question carefully. "Yes, to both young lady. That's why I check in on her, from time to time. Who are you? Folks call me Wanderer."

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Zeiss wrote:: The white-haired woman considers these words carefully before she replies to him.

"I'm Kathryn. I'm a new friend of Eni. We just met today in fact." She instinctively touches the pendant around her neck before she takes another look around. "Where is she? The place she was bound to must be bigger than I thought."

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Rory wrote:: "Ah, I get it. I'm definitely not going to judge. Heh, I wonder if my mother feels the same. I'm sure they're not all limp-wristed in the Feywild, though."

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Kolson wrote:: "No, not everyone." Zoe shivers. "Don't mess with the Archfey if you can help it. I wasn't kidding about that. If my paternal great, great, grand uncle hadn't hated my cousins with a passion I wouldn't be here right now. As it is, I'm likely only safe for as long as he lives, which is hopefully forever."

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"You are half right, Katheryn." He points at the well with his staff. "She'll appear from the well to hold court with visitors but when left to her own devices she sleeps in the depths of her Well and dreams of love and loss."

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Zeiss wrote:: "Oh, she can breathe down there?" Kathryn is surprised by this. "Hmm, it's not a normal well after all... Do you think she would be upset if I joined her down there? It seems she could use a friend, but I don't want to intrude. It's like getting in her bed while she sleeps."

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Rory wrote:: "So, if he liked your cousins, then...what?? Okay, we can go over this later. I'm going to follow our tree-friend's advice and take a nap."

"Hey, can you sing me to sleep?" He playfully nudges her.

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Kolson wrote:: "Sure," Zoe agrees sarcastically. She breaks into an off-key rendition of "It's a Small World After All." It's just as horrible as it usually is except Hunter lacks the context of the song completely and it's been translated into elven besides.

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"Unless you can breathe water, I don't recommend it," Wanderer says with a snort and a kind chuckle. "But if you want to rest without disturbing her you can do so near the well. I'll watch over you both, if you like."

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Rory wrote:: "What the heck is that?" he laughs. "Are you sure they went to sleep? They were probably pretending just to get you to stop!"

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Zeiss wrote:: "She can breathe underwater?" This impresses her greatly. "Oh, but I guess it would make sense, since it's her well and all." She starts to prepare a little spot where she'll be able to sleep. "Oh, why are you transparent? You a real ghost or something?"

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Kolson wrote:: The cleric's pointy ears turn bright red. She punches Hunter lightly on the shoulder in a joking manner, "Shut up." She leads Hunter back to the bedroom to take a quick nap on the beds. No reason to waste them. Hunter does likewise.

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Wanderer laughs. "What gave it away? The lack of smell perhaps? My eyebrows maybe?" He shuffles his fine eyebrows up and down on his face making a ridiculous image.

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Zeiss wrote:: Kathryn laughs at this amusing expression. She then rolls one of her shirts into a ball, and then lies down on the grass to use it as an improvised pillow. "I should rest now. Gotta be ready for the battle."

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Kolson wrote:: "A good plan if battle threatens. Sleep now, Katheryn, I'll wake you when it's time."

» Prologue: Just another day
» Prologue Interlude
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