A bit drained from his adventures, Surraruthru heads to his quarters. To his surprise, he finds Kascha waiting outside of them, watching her ioun stone fly around her head. "Oh, Surraruthru!" she perks up, "How was it?"
"It went well at first. But then we ran into a pit of hundreds and hundreds of undead and devils. We caused lots of chaos and destroyed Hopelorn, so overall it went well."
Surraruthru takes a moment to inspect Kascha, looking for anything out of place.
"How was it for you? You seem alright."
"I'm fine," Kascha says, "I'm busy right now, but I have some time for this. Elena and Galariel have been working on a more suitable room for you. Do you want to see?"
Surraruthru lands on Kascha's shoulders.
"Sure! What'd they do? What'd you do? What're you busy with?"
"You'll see," Kascha's smile dims as she catches her ioun stones, pocketing them. "Rosa didn't make it on Earth. However, she was resurrected but is traumatized. I'm helping her, she's asleep again right now. Elves don't normally sleep, so what it did to her is enough to make her mind shut down to escape it for a time."
"Hmm... I can use some illusion or dream magic. Think it might help? I can communicate with her at the least."
"Thank you, but no. We have her in one of Aurora's healing beds." Kascha says, "It will ensure her rest is a healthy one."
Surraruthru nods to Kascha and settles in for the trip.
Going within, you can see two rooms have been emptied and combined. The space is about right for that and all furniture is gone. The lighting is dim like a cave, though the air is clean and fresh. There's a few shelves and chests for possessions as well as a pair of open walk in closets. "You'll have to provide the coins and treasure, but it's not a bad starting lair." Kascha says.
Surraruthru takes an enthusiastic lap around the room, inspecting it.
"Yes! It certainly is. Much smaller than Baleruk's through. No problem, I'll just have to get treasure that's worth more than gold."
He flies back in front of Kascha. "A different issue. In the last few battles, I've found that while my current magic can be effective, it doesn't work well against the numbers and types of things we're fighting. I'm going to have to change my approach. Change how I influence the battle and others. I have some ideas, but I might need help from you... And maybe Sierra."
"Ahem. Seira," Kascha gently corrects with a cough, "Now then," she claps her hands together, "Why don't you lay out what you have and decorate a bit. Do you have some loose coins for a bed?"
Surraruthru nods and takes to the center of the room, shrugging off his haversack and dumping the coins!
45,349.5 gold is now present on the floor in a pile.
He then lands on the pile and sets about shuffling the coins around to make a nice little nest.
"Hmm... The coins are nice, but... Maybe I can get some silk from those Phase Spiders to make things a bit softer..."
Kascha sits in a corner, away from all the hard coins and on relatively soft ground. "That and phase spider silk is valuable as well. Get some woven rugs and it would add to your hoard's value. A good hoard is not merely coins."
Surraruthru nods that.
"Wise words. Befitting the disciple of a dragon. I could use some tapestries on the walls... Hmm.. What do you think the chances of my convincing the spiders are? And furniture. Though I don't need any myself, I could stand to have a chair or two for visitors."
"You'd best talk to Ebony about it," Kascha suggests, "She could help you with that, as she commands the spiders."
Surraruthru nods. "So, what was it you were working on. Certainly the aid of a dragon could be useful."
Meant to mention it before, but she can trigger her Wyrm Wizard bonuses off of consulting with me, correct?
That is correct. It merely says a dragon, so I assume any creature of the dragon type is sufficient.
"Rosa, as I said. She..." Kascha bows her head, "It was bad, Surraruthru. Extremely bad. From what I gather, her soul came in contact with Lixer's essence. Only the fact that it was brief and her own strength of will prevented her mind from being shattered or hopelessly warped. Even then, she's had repeated breakdowns since she awoke."
Any K checks I can make to help with this?
"Hmm.. Well, I imagine that her being near things close to her heart would help. I wonder if any of the gods we have contacts with could help speed along the process..."
K:P, Surraruthru.
> roll 1d20+34 K:P
<Kobot> Surraruthru rolled 1d20+34 K:P --> [ 1d20=11 ]{45}
It sounds like Rosa's been spiritually poisoned. Mortals coming into contact with powerful outsiders can be afflicted by the sheer essence of what they are and represent. Some small bit of that outsider infects them. The effects vary wildly as do how people recover from it - and if they recover at all. Mortals simply aren't prepared to deal with such things.
"hmm... Spiritual poisoning, it sounds like. I've heard it referenced before, but I don't know much about it."
"It's happened to Aurora before," Kascha pauses to put her ioun stones back out and around her head. "After Aurora managed to get Abigor cast from Hell for his failures against Aurora, he fled to Auril's court, where he had a pact with the Frostmaiden for protection. We managed to convince and bribe Auril into loosening it and allowing us a chance to fight Abigor. We won, but Adrian and Jaela both suffered from even that brief contact with his evil. The fact that Jaela is a half celestial and Adrian has dragon and hag's blood are likely the only reasons they're alive. It's hard to treat with magic, since it's not a physical or magical affliction. It's a spiritual affliction, one that has to be overcome by the victim."
Surraruthru nods.
"Well, if we can't help her, then we should find something to keep ourselves busy. I need to rest and get my spells back, but I'm not really sure what I could help with in Aurora."
"Something'll come up," Kascha promises, "That's a constant. Why don't you decorate with some of the other treasures you have?" she suggests, "Gems and artwork liven up anyone's hoard."
"I lack these things. Where could I acquire some?"
"Trade some of your wealth for them," Kascha says, "We have shops in Aurora. Filbrez usually has some art works you can buy, go check out his Emporium."
Surraruthru eyes the pile of gold he's on.
"... Perhaps later. I would like to have more before I spend it. I have a few plans of my own, for equipment, before that."
"Certainly. But oh mighty dragon, take this," Kascha stands up.
> roll 1d20+8 Kascha Dex
<Kobot> Kotono rolled 1d20+8 Kascha Dex --> [ 1d20=1 ]{9}
> roll 1d20-14 an exploding failure may be relevant here
<Kobot> Kotono rolled 1d20-14 an exploding failure may be relevant here --> [ 1d20=15 ]{1}
Unfortunately, her foot slips on a few coins that have rolled that far. She face plants right into the ground, hard enough to rattle Surraruthru's treasure pile.
Surraruthru winces at this, but decides to leave her dignity intact by not really mentioning it beyond a simple pat on the shoulder.
"Ooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" Kascha groans, twitching beforre slowly picking herself up. Coins are embedded into her face, falling away with a soft clang as they hit the ground. She looks fine after that, shaking her head and gathering up her ioun stones. "Um, I wanted to give you something for your hoard."
The DC of that check was 10. Dick move, Kobot.
"Well... I will certainly accept your gift. Though I will have to find one for you soon..."
She takes out a platinum coin.
"It's not much, but every hoard's built one coin at a time," she says, passing it over to him.
Loot post.
Takes it and stares at it covetously.
"This is a great gift. I will return an equal gift to you for it."
"You're welcome," Kascha smiles.
After resting things are done, what's next on your agenda?
Honestly, I have no idea. Exploring, maybe. I haven't really been here long enough to establish a group to help or be associated with. I think I remember you saying something about I should at least introduce myself to the Fey court? Other than that, I'm not sure where I could help out.
There's also the thing with the spiders if you want, or visiting Filbrez' Emporium.
I say spiders first, then the emporium. If we don't group back up by then, the Fey court.
Finding the nest of phase spiders isn't hard. They're all clustered in a corner of the courtyard, Ebony nearby. She sits on a chair of spider silk, gently strumming a harp. All the noise of the courtyard and preparations seem muted here, Ebony's head bowed and hood up.
Go ahead, Surraruthru.
Surraruthru flies over to her, subtly trying to get a peek under the hood, and greets her.
"Hello! Ebony, correct? I'm Surraruthru, newly arrived. I just acquired my soon-to-be lair and was wondering if I could get a few things from the Phase Spiders here for it. Kascha tells me you're the one to speak to for this."
Ebony looks up, brown hair and a beautiful face seen. She wears concealing robes the color of her name, save for the white wings from her back that sharply contrast it. She continues to strum on her harp, little eddies of music that are pleasing to the ear. "I am. What is it you need?"
"Well, back in my grove, I used to sleep in nests of treasure and silk. I have some treasure, but silk..."
Surraruthru trails off and looks at the various amounts of silk around.
"Phase spider silk is very valuable, too. Two birds with one stone. Or web, I suppose. I don't expect it for free, of course, but I'm not sure what you'd want in trade."
"You can buy some. The spiders can make use of money, they are intelligent," Ebony remarks, "How much do you want?"
I'm gonna have to defer to you on how much to make a nest. You have a much better sense of the size of stuff in this.
Just explain what you're trying to do and ask for an estimate.
"I'm looking to use it to build a nest for myself. I've got a gold pile right now, but it could stand to be a little softer. Back in my grove, we mixed in sticks, feathers, and spider silks with the treasure to make our nests. How much do you think that would require?"
"Quite a bit," Ebony says, rather thoughtfully, "How big is your nest?"
"Hmmm... A pile of about 45,000 gold."
Ebony frowns in thought, "A moment, please. Elena, would you please come here?" As the ghost girl appears, Ebony asks, "How big is Surraruthru's hoard room?"
"Um, two normal rooms combined and without most furniture," she says, a piece of paper appearing before Ebony. "There's the dimensions there if you need measurements."
"Thank you," Ebony takes it and reads it over, "Would you like a rug of sorts for it, or something less than that?"
"Less. More like a bed. Something I can mix into my gold pile for some softness."
Thinking like a big pillow or a dog bed type deal.
"2,500 gold," Ebony says after some thought, "Though it'll be a valuable piece of your own hoard in any matter."
Surraruthru considers. It's a very fair price for the item, but his hoard isn't exactly robust, comparatively... But Ebony's right about the value of it.
"Done. Comfort is important, and the luxury it adds to my lair will be worth it."
Post the expense in loot.
"It'll be done today," Ebony promises, "Is there anything else?"
"Not today, no. I may desire some unique tapestries in the future, however. Thank you for your service."
Surraurthru inclines his head to Ebony.
So since Faerie Dragons like nature and stuff, is there any way I can acquire the services of a nymph or something that can help turn my stoney lair into more of a nature grove type deal?
Entirely possible, though it would be fairly time consuming and probably beyond the scope of the time you currently have. It's good to remember for after the Astral event, though.
I shall. What's next?
What else did you want to do?
Not a whole lot. Unless I can help somewhere, I'd probably just explore or lair it up. I think you mentioned the Fey Court wouldn't be a bad deal, but I think I want to hold off on that until after I finish the rebuild.
Okay then, you're on hold pending the big group event. Locking this topic.