82: The most evil looking of all

[Ebiris]

[12:05] <@Ebiris> Illie walks the party to the edge of her little wood, giving them a pleasant wave good bye and for good luck before she starts to pace around the perimeter of the woods, bending down every few steps and rooting around in the hard wintry earth. Meanwhile the foursome head off to round the lake once more, in search of aquatic fey...
[12:08] <@Henrietta> In the end, it will probably be up to Lucie to actually spot their friend. "Do you think there is any merit in summoning something into the water to attract her?" Henrietta asks Rudy, just in case.
[12:09] <@Lucie> "Might scare her off," Lucie suggests. "Not all Rudy's pets look that friendly, you know."
[12:11] <@Rudy> "Water elemental could just go say hi? Maybe?" wonders Rudy, stomping his foot and summoning a back of the watery beings.
[12:11] <@Rudy> roll 1d4+2
[12:11] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d4+2  and gets 5." [1d4=3]
[12:11] <@Rudy> *pack
[12:14] <@Ebiris> The faintly muggy air suddenly feels much crisper and dry as moisture is sucked out of it to form a quintet of shambling beings of coherent water. Oddly they don't so much look like pristine fresh water, seeming faintly cloudy and opaque and occassionally hinting to strange colours or shapes appearing within their bodies.
[12:15] <@Lucie> "Something wrong with the water in these parts?" Lucie wonders.
[12:17] <@Rudy> "No, they're just formed from my evil thoughts, so they look like that," replies Rudy, dispatching them to seek out their once-met friend and tell her they want to speak to her about Illie.
[12:18] <@Lucie> "Oh yeah? Which ones?"
[12:18] <@Henrietta> "Your evil thoughts are... orange?" Henrietta asks in surprise. "And sometimes purple?"
[12:18] <@Ebiris> The elementals shamble over to the water before slipping into it and propelling themselves out significantly faster in a fan pattern before they submerge and vanish from sight!
[12:18] <@Ebiris> OOC: duration on those, Rudy?
[12:19] <@Rudy> OOC: 7 minutes
[12:19] <@Ebiris> "You saw orange?" Liamae asks, "I saw a... y'know, I'm not sure I've ever seen that colour before..."
[12:19] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[12:19] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d100 and gets 59." [1d100=59]
[12:21] <@Henrietta> "What did you see?" Henrietta asks Lucie curiously.
[12:21] <@Lucie> "Sentient bilge water."
[12:23] <@Rudy> "Maybe it looks different to different people?" wonders Rudy.
[12:24] <@Henrietta> "Oh, that would be a good explanation!"
[12:24] <@Lucie> "Doesn't everything?" Lucie asks.
[12:25] <@Ebiris> "What, like your 'red' is different from my 'red' but since we both call it the same we've no way to know?" Liamae asks curiously.
[12:25] <@Rudy> "Yeah, we could only know if we traded eyeballs, or something," muses Rudy. "Is there a spell for that?"
[12:26] <@Lucie> "I don't want to know," Lucie says firmly.
[12:28] <@Ebiris> Minutes pass in conversation, and by the time Rudy knows they'll have vanished none have returned.
[12:28] <@Henrietta> "We could proceed along the coast," Henrietta suggests, "and repeat this once in a while?"
[12:29] <@Lucie> "I guess," Lucie says, sounding more eager about the alternative: "Or we could just go see this nymph in person. At least she stays put."
[12:30] <@Rudy> "No, I like Henri's idea, because we're already doing it and it beats changing our minds all the time."
[12:31] * @Lucie sulks as only a levitating woman in a horned hat can sulk.
[12:32] <@Ebiris> OOC: how frequently are you gonna summon shit, Rudy?
[12:33] <@Rudy> OOC: About every fifteen minutes?
[12:33] <@Ebiris> OOC: and how many times can you do it?
[12:34] <@Rudy> OOC: 8/day
[12:34] <@Rudy> OOC: I'll do it six times total, so five more
[12:35] <@Ebiris> OOC: okay, roll how many you summon for the first stop?
[12:37] <@Rudy> roll 1d4+2
[12:37] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d4+2 and gets 3." [1d4=1]
[12:37] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[12:38] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d100 and gets 60." [1d100=60]
[12:38] <@Ebiris> OOC: no dice, next try?
[12:38] <@Rudy> roll 1d4+2
[12:38] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d4+2 and gets 4." [1d4=2]
[12:38] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[12:38] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d100 and gets 74." [1d100=74]
[12:38] <@Ebiris> OOC: 4th summon, now?
[12:38] <@Rudy> roll 1d4+2
[12:38] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d4+2 and gets 6." [1d4=4]
[12:38] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[12:38] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d100 and gets 92." [1d100=92]
[12:38] <@Ebiris> OOC: penultimate summon go!
[12:39] <@Rudy> roll 1d4+2
[12:39] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d4+2 and gets 5." [1d4=3]
[12:39] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[12:39] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d100 and gets 58." [1d100=58]
[12:39] <@Ebiris> OOC: last try
[12:39] <@Rudy> roll 1d4+2
[12:39] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d4+2 and gets 4." [1d4=2]
[12:39] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[12:39] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d100 and gets 24." [1d100=24]
[12:39] <@Ebiris> An hour and a half of riding interspersed with occassional summons by Rudy to dispatch strange water elementals into the lake and there's no sign of Silke to be found...
[12:40] <@Rudy> "It's always the way. You just randomly meet people, sometimes, but then when you want to find them they're never around!"
[12:42] <@Ebiris> "It is a big lake," Liamae points out. "At worst we'll just have to ask the nymph to find her."
[12:42] <@Rudy> "I suppose. You think she has a house down there?"
[12:42] <@Henrietta> "Perhaps she will find us this time as well?" Henrietta suggests. She nods at Liamae's suggestion after. "We are not that far from the nymph, are we?"
[12:44] <@Ebiris> "Well, she's on the other side of the lake, isn't she? South of the lighthouse?" Liamae clarifies. "Probably won't get there until tomorrow at this rate.
[12:46] <@Lucie> "Best hurry, then," Lucie says. "Won't really have a day to spare."
[12:48] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[12:48] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d100 and gets 47." [1d100=47]
[12:49] <@Ebiris> There's no sign of Silke as the group pass Harvenstead before night falls, still several hours away from their goal...
[12:53] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[12:53] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d100 and gets 30." [1d100=30]
[12:54] <@Ebiris> Setting camp to eat and rest, an uneventful night passes before rousing with the rising of the sun to breakfast and resume the journey... "Six days left," Liamae comments with a look skyward.
[12:58] <@Lucie> "Hopefully whatever this gang's going to do doesn't take more than a day itself." Lucie packs up for another day of travel with evident excitement despite the dire circumstances!
[12:59] <@Henrietta> "Hopefully," Henrietta echoes Lucie quietly.
[13:00] <@Ebiris> OOC: any summoning or just beelining it for Hypathiae?
[13:00] <@Rudy> OOC: I'll do the summoning again
[13:00] <@Ebiris> OOC: same as yesterday?
[13:00] <@Rudy> OOC: Six times, again
[13:00] <@Rudy> OOC: Yeah
[13:01] <@Ebiris> OOC: roll for number then
[13:01] <@Rudy> roll 1d4+2
[13:01] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d4+2 and gets 4." [1d4=2]
[13:01] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[13:01] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d100 and gets 23." [1d100=23]
[13:01] <@Ebiris> OOC: next
[13:01] <@Rudy> roll 1d4+2
[13:01] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d4+2 and gets 4." [1d4=2]
[13:01] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[13:01] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d100 and gets 27." [1d100=27]
[13:01] <@Ebiris> OOC: next
[13:01] <@Rudy> roll 1d4+2
[13:01] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d4+2 and gets 4." [1d4=2]
[13:01] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[13:01] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d100 and gets 85." [1d100=85]
[13:01] <@Ebiris> OOC: next
[13:01] <@Rudy> roll 1d4+2
[13:01] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d4+2 and gets 3." [1d4=1]
[13:01] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[13:01] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d100 and gets 83." [1d100=83]
[13:01] <@Ebiris> OOC: next
[13:01] <@Rudy> roll 1d4+2
[13:01] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d4+2 and gets 6." [1d4=4]
[13:01] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[13:01] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d100 and gets 8." [1d100=8]
[13:04] <@Ebiris> It's over an hour since setting off, with the Western lakeshore drawing ever closer until a few minutes after the water elementals vanish that a pink-maned head pops out of the water nearby and waves a webbed hand in the air with a childish-sounding shout of, "Hey! I got your message!"
[13:04] <@Henrietta> "Hello again!"
[13:04] <@Rudy> "Oh, hey! That's great, I wasn't sure you would!" replies Rudy, peering down from his horse.
[13:05] * @Lucie merely waves back, with no great degree of enthusiasm.
[13:05] <@Ebiris> Liamae gives Lucie a sympathetic yet amused look as Silke swims a bit closer to shore, her head bobbing above the water. "Yeah, never knew you could command the elements! So what did you want me for? Did you need help again?" she asks brightly.
[13:06] <@Lucie> "Not us," Lucie says. "Illie. You know her?"
[13:07] <@Ebiris> "I told you where to find her, remember?" the little nixie replies to Lucie in a slow and rather condescending tone.
[13:08] <@Henrietta> "She is in trouble, you see," Henrietta picks up from there rather than have it descend into some sort of fight. "And since she cannot leave on her own, we offered to help her track down all of her friends. Would you be willing to lend her a hand, Silke?"
[13:09] <@Rudy> "See, there's this giant rock that's gonna fall from the sky, and, well, it's gonna land-" He spreads his arms. "Hereabouts. So she knows some kinda ritual that'll protect her from it, but she can't do it herself."
[13:11] <@Ebiris> "A giant rock!" Silke repeats, planting her green-webbed hands atop her shell-decorated head as if to provide some protection. "That's bad news! I bet its some kind of woodsy forest thing she's got in mind for it... how long has she got?"
[13:13] <@Henrietta> "Six days," Henrietta responds. "But if you, Hypathiae and... Talari? If you all help us, then we should be able to protect Illie in time."
[13:14] <@Ebiris> "Wow, that's like all of us! You sure this isn't some evil plot to get us all in one place to kill us so you can drain the lake and chop down all the trees?"
[13:14] <@Lucie> "Do we look evil to you?" Lucie asks, perhaps not the best person to ask that question.
[13:15] <@Henrietta> "Why would we want to do that?!" Henrietta asks, aghast.
[13:16] <@Rudy> Why would they bother with the gathering?
[13:18] <@Ebiris> "Well he does," she points at Rudy, "But I guess you're right. Okay! I'll head over to see Illie right away so we can set things up!"
[13:18] <@Rudy> "It's the tattoos, isn't it?"
[13:19] <@Henrietta> "Before that! Could you bring Hypathiae along with you, you think?"
[13:19] <@Lucie> "Well, it takes a strange person to get 'em all over his face, you have to admit," Lucie points out.
[13:20] <@Rudy> "I suppose I can't deny it."
[13:20] <@Ebiris> "Oh, yeah that makes sense," she nods to the wisdom of Henrietta's suggestion. "Just so long as you lot find Tarlari. Going away from the lake is bad for my skin."
[13:21] <@Henrietta> "We will be leaving to do that right away," Henrietta assures her.
[13:24] <@Ebiris> "Okay, good luck and we'll see you soon!" Silke waves before diving back under the water to swim away!
[13:24] <@Ebiris> "I guess you can at least meet Hypathiae when everyone gets together for the ritual?" Liamae consoles Lucie.
[13:25] <@Lucie> "I guess," Lucie concedes with a frown. "Let's head back?"
[13:29] <@Ebiris> Heading right back the way they came now, it's getting late once more by the time they near Illie's grove, but of note in the waning twilight is the thick mass of tangled thorns growing up around the skeletal trees.
[13:30] <@Rudy> "Plants versus rocks, eh?"
[13:30] * @Lucie hopes Illie at least left them a way in! Since is the best place around to spend the night.
[13:30] <@Henrietta> "W-Well, perhaps plants will win!"
[13:32] <@Lucie> "Well, they do," Lucie says. "....when they've got years and years to do it. Everybody's seen weeds crack up paving stones, right?"
[13:32] <@Rudy> "I've seen Henri kill things with flowers. I'm not prepared to put a bet on this."
[13:33] <@Henrietta> "Yes! We may not have time, but, well, magic works just as well!"
[13:34] <@Ebiris> "I don't think she's actually counting on this to work otherwise we wouldn't need to gather the other fey for this ritual," Liamae points out as they near the woods. There are gaps around the base that one could squeeze through, although a horse would have trouble.
[13:35] <@Lucie> "I'm beat," Lucie says, "and speaking of killer flowers, got those ahead of us tomorrow. Want to stay here the night?"
[13:35] <@Henrietta> "Alright."
[13:35] <@Rudy> "No objections."
[13:37] <@Ebiris> OOC: doing anything with the horses?
[13:37] <@Henrietta> OOC: Let's just tie them up and have a watch
[13:38] <@Lucie> OOC: I will take part of the watch as usual. Generally safe to assume this!
[13:39] <@Ebiris> OOC: so horses tied outside with someone on watch, the rest going inside to rest with the dryad?
[13:39] <@Rudy> OOC: Sounds good
[13:41] <@Ebiris> While Liamae takes the first watch with the horses, the rest go inside the thorny barrier to find Illie sitting at the base of her tree in the centre, her eyes closed until the three approach and she opens them. "Hello, again," she smiles gently, "Any luck with finding my friends?"
[13:42] <@Henrietta> "We met Silke, and she promised to bring Hypathiae over," Henrietta tells the dryad, returning her smile. "So we are almost there!"
[13:43] <@Ebiris> "That's good, they're both nice like that. Tarlari's nice as well, it's just that she likes things that would probably try and kill you," she shrugs apologetically. "It would be easier if I could go and talk to her myself."
[13:44] <@Henrietta> "It really would be. But we cannot have everything in life."
[13:44] <@Rudy> "That's a bit harsh, isn't it?"
[13:45] * @Lucie shrugs. "We're good at killing things that try to kill us. We'll get by."
[13:53] <@Ebiris> "I suppose. And there is something I can give you," she offers, turning to take something from amidst her tree's roots. What she holds is a long slightly curved but extremely sharp looking thorn with a rounded and slightly rough grip which it could be held with like a dagger. "This will help you fight against Tarlari's friends if they attack you. I made it when forming the barrier Lucie suggested..." she looks down, abashed, "I don't like such things, but Winter is when death is strongest..."
[13:55] <@Lucie> "What's necessary isn't always what we'd like." Lucie takes the object to examine it with her arcane senses.
[13:55] <@Ebiris> OOC: roll spellcraft?
[13:55] <@Lucie> roll 1d20+13 track record on this one is not great
[13:55] * +Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+13 track record on this one is not great and gets 31." [1d20=18]
[13:56] <@Ebiris> OOC: see loot post
[13:57] <@Lucie> "Thanks," Lucie says. "Could be useful. Who knows, might mean we don't have to kill something we otherwise would." Lucie briefly explains the dagger's functions for the sake of her companions.
[14:03] <@Ebiris> With five days left until the meteorite hits, the party leaves behind Illie to seek out the tainted valley where Tarlari dwells. Upon departing the woods, it's noticable that the thorny wall she made around it has grown significantly overnight, now close to forming a fully enclosed dome around her home.
[14:07] <@Ebiris> roll 1d100
[14:07] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d100 and gets 90." [1d100=90]
[14:11] <@Ebiris> Halfway through the first day of travel deeper into the foothills of the Pinnacle mountains, the party finds it starting to grow colder with alarming speed. The weather doesn't seem different, but the air begins to chill horribly without even so much as a breeze of wind!
[14:12] <@Rudy> "This hardly seems natural!" announces Rudy, as he huddles in his cloak.
[14:12] * @Lucie shivers and pauses to summon her magical armor. Just in case this chill doesn't come from something natural. Can never tell what you'll find out in the sewoods!
[14:13] <@Ebiris> "It's either a spell or some sort of creature doing it," Liamae says as she looks around.
[14:13] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+7
[14:13] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d20+7 and gets 20." [1d20=13]
[14:13] * @Lucie scans the immediate vicinity for magical auras.
[14:13] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+8
[14:13] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d20+8 and gets 26." [1d20=18]
[14:13] * @Henrietta follows suit, by casting her own mage armor and false life to last through the day. "For a spell, there would be signs of the magic, I suppose?" she voices, looking about with detect magic.
[14:13] <@Ebiris> OOC: one spell only, Henri
[14:14] <@Henrietta> OOC: In that case, extended False Life
[14:14] <@Henrietta> roll 1d10+7
[14:14] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d10+7 and gets 8." [1d10=1]
[14:14] <@Rudy> Rudy doesn't want to be left behind, quickly ensorceling himself with a mystical shield!
[14:14] <@Ebiris> roll 1d4 cold damage to everyone, including horses
[14:14] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d4 cold damage to everyone, including horses and gets 3." [1d4=3]
[14:16] <@Lucie> "Something doesn't want us here," Lucie concludes, fighting off shivers. "Let's oblige it and keep moving?"
[14:17] <@Ebiris> "It's heatsink grass!" Liamae shouts abruptly. "Turn back and go around!"
[14:17] <@Ebiris> OOC: everyone make a handle animal or ride check, whichever is better
[14:17] <@Rudy> roll 1d20+12
[14:17] * +Hatbot --> "Rudy rolls 1d20+12 and gets 22." [1d20=10]
[14:17] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+6
[14:17] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+6 and gets 12." [1d20=6]
[14:18] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+5 Liamae
[14:18] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d20+5 Liamae and gets 6." [1d20=1]
[14:18] <@Lucie> roll 1d20+4 I think handle animal is trained only? So ride
[14:18] * +Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+4 I think handle animal is trained only? So ride and gets 13." [1d20=9]
[14:19] <@Ebiris> roll 1d2 Henri
[14:19] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d2 Henri and gets 2." [1d2=2]
[14:19] <@Ebiris> roll 1d2 Liamae
[14:19] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d2 Liamae and gets 1." [1d2=1]
[14:19] <@Ebiris> roll 1d2 Lucie
[14:19] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d2 Lucie and gets 1." [1d2=1]
[14:20] <@Ebiris> While Rudy can bring his shivering horse about to retreat from the heat-stealing flora, Liamae and Lucie's horses freeze up in panic, unwilling to move further! Henrietta's horse bolts in fear, however, charging ahead deeper into the grass!
[14:20] <@Ebiris> roll 1d6 cold everyone but Rudy and his horse
[14:20] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d6 cold everyone but Rudy and his horse and gets 3." [1d6=3]
[14:21] * @Lucie kicks at her horse's sides and flicks at the reins. "Move, damn you! Move!"
[14:22] <@Ebiris> "C'mon, move you stupid thing!" Liamae curses and yanks on the reins of her animal to get it to preserve its own life!
[14:22] <@Rudy> "Oi! You gotta kick them! With the heels, in the sides!"
[14:24] <@Henrietta> Her skill at riding only goes as far as staying in the saddle during a gallop. Holding onto the reigns with one hand, Henrietta tries to cast Fly into her horse. Should it succeed, all it might be needed is to pull on his reigns to get it to take off into the sky!
[14:24] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+13
[14:24] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+13 and gets 21." [1d20=8]
[14:24] <@Ebiris> OOC: okay, same checks again for you three
[14:25] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+3 ride
[14:25] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+3 ride and gets 9." [1d20=6]
[14:25] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+5 Liamae
[14:25] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d20+5 Liamae and gets 18." [1d20=13]
[14:25] <@Lucie> roll 1d20+4
[14:25] * +Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+4 and gets 8." [1d20=4]
[14:27] <@Ebiris> Liamae follows Rudy's instructions and gets her horse to trot back to safety alongside him quick-smart! But Lucie and Henrietta's beasts are not so obliging, as one remains stock still while the other gallops further into the distance across the field of murderous grass! Henrietta thinks she sees a glint of something metal shining in the grass but her horse charges fast too quickly to get a proper look!
[14:27] <@Ebiris> roll 1d8 cold for Lucie/Henri and horses
[14:27] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d8 cold for Lucie/Henri and horses and gets 6." [1d8=6]
[14:28] <@Henrietta> She's getting frostbitten herself now, which can hardly be good! Henrietta decides to repeat her earlier spell, only this time around she will cast it upon herself and pull the resisting horse up with her!
[14:28] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+13
[14:28] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+13 and gets 22." [1d20=9]
[14:29] <@Ebiris> OOC: Lucie, doing anything else except trying to ride out?
[14:30] <@Lucie> OOC: I'll give it one more try, but I'm ready to leap off if this thing croaks with me on it
[14:30] <@Ebiris> OOC: same checks again, then. +2 bonus for Henri
[14:30] <@Lucie> roll 1d20+4 run or die horse
[14:30] * +Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+4 run or die horse and gets 14." [1d20=10]
[14:30] <@Henrietta> roll 1d20+5
[14:30] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+5 and gets 6." [1d20=1]
[14:31] <@Ebiris> roll 2d6 cold damage to those involved
[14:31] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 2d6 cold damage to those involved and gets 6." [2d6=3, 3]
[14:34] <@Ebiris> Both Lucie's shivering horse and Henrietta's galloping and flight-capable one collapse as the cold becomes too much for them! Still set in the saddle, the two ladies are brought down as well, tumbling into the heat-sucking grass and falling prone partly crushed under their comatose horses!
[14:34] <@Ebiris> roll 1d6 damage for you two
[14:34] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d6 damage for you two and gets 1." [1d6=1]
[14:34] <@Ebiris> "Just run for it!" Liamae encourages with a yell!
[14:34] * @Lucie has every intention of doing just that as soon as she squirms away from a couple hundred pounds of horsemeat!
[14:34] * @Henrietta spares a moment's regret to the misfortune, before she pushes herself free of the horse and flies straight up!
[14:34] <@Rudy> "They gonna be okay? Should I go get them?" asks Rudy, glancing at Liamae.
[14:35] <@Ebiris> "Can you summon anything that can help?" Liamae asks as Lucie hurries away and Henrietta flies up into warmer climes!
[14:35] <@Ebiris> roll 3d6 damage for you two but you're safe after this
[14:35] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 3d6 damage for you two but you're safe after this and gets 13." [3d6=5, 5, 3]
[14:36] <@Ebiris> OOC: horses dead
[14:37] * @Henrietta lands next to Rudy and Liamae, still looking back in disbelief.
[14:37] * @Lucie scrambles out of the grass field and sucks in one deep breath of thankfully less frigid air. "What was *that*?"
[14:38] <@Henrietta> "I, well, I saw something shiny? In the grass?" She gestures in the direction. "Maybe it was because of... whatever that was?"
[14:39] <@Lucie> "Shiny like what?" Lucie asks. "Valuable shiny?"
[14:39] <@Ebiris> "That stuff's nasty," Liamae shakes her head, "It's called heatsink grass, it's more common higher up the mountains. To cope with the cold that should kill other plants that high it draws in heat like a vampire sucks blood. Did you have anything important in your saddlebags?"
[14:39] <@Rudy> "If it can suck the heat out a plain, I guess it'd be valuable to someone?"
[14:39] <@Henrietta> "I don't know? Maybe something that isn't botherd by cold can go look?"
[14:40] <@Lucie> "Most of the important stuff I keep with me," Lucie says. "Learned from the last time we lost horses."
[14:41] * @Lucie looks to Rudy in response to Henri's query.
[14:42] <@Rudy> "Just, you know, travelling supplies?" replies Rudy. "I'll send a thing to go check it out," he adds, summoning up a frosty-looking, devious little implike creature, with wings lined with ice and frosty breath to match. "Alright, chilly. There's a shiny thing out there! Go get it!"
[14:43] <@Henrietta> "We should probably get the traveling supplies as well afterwards," Henrietta suggests. "Just in case."
[14:44] <@Ebiris> "Hey, ice to see you, too!" the frozen imp thing retorts with a wide-mouthed grin. "It's okay, be cool, I got this," it adds before flying over to go explore the grass.
[14:44] <@Lucie> "Never run out of friends, do you Rudy?" Lucie asks. "MAkes me wonder, do you know who you're summoning before you do it, or you just think of what kinda talents you need and you get something fits the bill?"
[14:47] <@Ebiris> "Hey, there's a guy in here!" the frozen imp calls over from deep in the field. "I think someone iced him! But don't worry, I'm not gonna freeze up from a little danger!"
[14:47] <@Rudy> "I've got a decent idea," he admits. "If I concentrate for a bit, it's... like there's this big black pit, and I can see things in it. I know what they can do, so when I need one, I just pull it out- hey, great! Drag him over here, wouldya?"
[14:47] <@Ebiris> Liamae covers her mouth and seems to be trying not to laugh. "Aren't these all summoned because they fit you, somehow?"
[14:49] <@Rudy> "Sure! His coolness is my invention."
[14:49] * @Henrietta shivers.
[14:50] <@Ebiris> "Hey, I get your drift," the thing calls back as it leans down to grab something. "What's a guy going alone out here to die for anyway? Think is wife was frigid?" it asks while dragging something along, grass crushed and parted aside as it goes.
[14:52] * @Lucie can only shake her head and wait.
[14:53] <@Rudy> "People dying is wrong, and not funny," mutters Rudy to himself, over and over.
[14:54] <@Henrietta> "Unless they are bad. But it still would not be funny even then!"
[14:54] <@Ebiris> Emerging out, the imp drags behind it a mummified male corpse wearing a set of dark blue robes trimmed in silver and bearing odd whorls and shapes evocative of flames surging up his body. They look quite pristine, actually. "Wow, what a cold reception. I get it, though, death is snow joke!"
[14:55] <@Lucie> "So this little guy's your terrible sense of humor?" Lucie concludes as she kneels to inspect the body, first for anything magical and then a more mundance search for notable objects.
[14:55] <@Rudy> "Don't mind her giving you the cold shoulder, friend!" replies Rudy. "She likes you as much as I do!"
[14:56] <@Ebiris> OOC: spellcraft, Lucie
[14:56] <@Lucie> roll 1d20+13
[14:56] * +Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+13 and gets 21." [1d20=8]
[14:58] <@Ebiris> The robes glow with an aura of necromancy, but Lucie can't tell what they do. Otherwise she finds a few Isernian gold coins on him and some unremarkable undergarments and frozen rations, and a rolled up and packed away tent that disintegrates into frozen flakes to the touch.
[14:59] <@Ebiris> "Yeah, she seems a real ice queen," the imp agrees.
[15:00] <@Lucie> "Something magic here," Lucie says. "Beats me how, though. Someone else want to take a look at the robe, be my guest."
[15:01] <@Rudy> "It's completely unstylish. I still barely believe than some male mages wear those robes in public."
[15:02] <@Lucie> "Style's got nothing on keeping you alive," Lucie says. "Though I'd rather have it than not, given choice."
[15:02] <@Ebiris> "Lazy," Liamae says, "It's like going out in your bathrobe. You don't have to change!" Still, she leans over to examine them herself...
[15:02] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+13
[15:02] * +Hatbot --> "Ebiris rolls 1d20+13 and gets 23." [1d20=10]
[15:03] <@Ebiris> "Oh! These are actually really good!" her opinion does a quick turnaround, "They help sorcerers access the power in their blood! Me and Henrietta could get great use from these."
[15:04] <@Rudy> "Gonna fight over them?"
[15:04] <@Henrietta> "Oh, so they are!" Henrietta exclaims after her own examination, before she blinks. "Fight... over them?"
[15:05] <@Lucie> "How 'bout whichever one doesn't mind pulling them off a corpse gets them?"
[15:06] <@Rudy> "And then you've gotta wear the same bathrobe a corpse once wore? That's a pretty strong disincentive, I gotta say," muses Rudy.
[15:06] <@Henrietta> "Oh, that is why prestidigitation exists."
[15:06] <@Ebiris> "Hell I don't mind doing that!" Liamae blurts out, "But since I got the amulet of poison immunity last time, I think Henrietta should get this."
[15:07] <@Lucie> "Wonder what he was doing out here in the first place," Lucie says. "Or how long." She glances over the coins to see if there's any suggestiong when they were minted.
[15:08] <@Henrietta> "Umm. Thank you," she says with equal measure of gratitude and dubiousness. "I suppose I should give them a try?" She gets to the task of cleaning the robes.
[15:09] <@Ebiris> The coins were minted in between 777 and 821.
[15:09] <@Ebiris> The robe is cleaned readily with ample application of magic!
[15:10] <@Henrietta> Once it is clean, Henrietta tries to put it on over her adventuring outfit, with which it would no doubt clash horribly!
[15:10] <@Rudy> "Whatever mages like this guy do. Trying to score with the fae?"
[15:12] <@Ebiris> Once worn the patterns shift and change so that instead of showing rising flames the robe now displays the boughs of leafy plantlife climbing up Henrietta's back. Except rather than growing from the ground, they seem to make their roots amidst a sea of bodies twisted out of proportion and either looking horribly bloated and distended, or otherwise skeletal and emaciated. It doesn't go well with her dress.
[15:12] <@Ebiris> But she does feel more powerful!
[15:13] <@Lucie> "You say that like there's something wrong with it, Rudy."
[15:13] * @Lucie gives Henri a critical appraisal. "You feeling alright, Henri?"
[15:13] <@Rudy> "I'd say there is, if it gets you killed. Hey, nice threads, Henri! I think you're beating me when it comes to looking evil, now."
[15:14] <@Ebiris> "Yeah, that looks really sinister," Liamae agrees with a wince.
[15:14] <@Henrietta> "If you think this is sinister, just wait until you see what this robe can let me do," Henrietta mutters.
[15:15] <@Lucie> "So what's it look like when Liamae's wearing it?" Lucie wonders. "Pattern changes for everyone I guess?"
[15:15] <@Henrietta> "Rocks falling from the sky?"
[15:16] <@Rudy> "Try it on sometime, maybe!" Rudy pauses. "So, uh, what next, guys? I guess we gotta go around this stuff?"
[15:16] <@Ebiris> "I'd hope for a pretty starlit vista myself..." the dusky sorceress opines, edging away from Henrietta.
[15:17] <@Lucie> "Yep." Lucie eyes the killing field. Does the grass stand out visually from its surroundings?
[15:18] <@Ebiris> The heatsink grass is a slightly deeper green than the normal non-lethal kind.
[15:19] * @Lucie nods and starts to navigate around the lethal patch of undergrowth, taking to the air to mitigate the strains of country travel as they continue.
[15:19] * @Henrietta is forced to walk gloomily after Lucie.
[15:20] <@Ebiris> It's a bit of a detour but soon enough the heatsink grass is left behind and a wiser party proceeds half on foot to find the tainted valley. Due to the slower pace night falls while still a few hours away based on what was expected with the original horse-given pace.