Company+of+the+Phoenix+Session+4

 ** Session 4** **2/19/16** **The King's Leaves Found, The Brass Minotaur, and Intro to the Shards of Evermeet.** Having defeated the enormous mantis in the depths of the cavern below the sinkhole, the companions continued on in search of the missing nobles... a company called The King's Leaves, consisting of family members from the Wyvernspurs. They had found a magic shield embossed with the Wyvernspur crest and the cut-down body of a mage bearing one of the badges of the King's Leaves. The cavern continued in a slow decline, heading deeper into the earth... and then the whole tunnel turned to the right. Charlemagne looked around curiously, scratching away the earth on the wall to find stone beneath, "I don't think this place is natural... it looks like it was man created long ago, but it seems the earth has been reclaiming it." They continued on and Alix looked back at the group, pointing out footprints and some hard edged scrapings against the ground, "I think they went this way..." Alaric cast a spell over the top of his staff, weaving a golden light with almost a soft glowing ember at it's center. It was getting late in the day as they continued on. Foliage came down from the ceiling and several vines and roots had been chopped away... it looked as though the group ahead had to clear it to continue on. Pressing on, the clicking sounds of insects could be heard ahead. Charlemagne turned to the elven priestess, "Can't you calm insects or something?" Tiri shook her head, "I'm not a druid." The flutter of insect wings buzzed closer... and increased in volume and speed as they began racing toward the light and noise. The muscular brown-haired warrior quickly put out his torch in the dirt, but Alaric held firm to his staff with it's golden glow. "I could dash ahead to distract them... lead them away. I move faster than any of you," Tiri offered. The golden haired mage shook his head, "If it's just a straight tunnel that we're heading down... there wouldn't be anywhere for you to go. We don't know where the branches are." She nodded in agreement, and he removed the lit stone from his staff and set it into the roots. 7 baby giant mantises came into view as they swarmed toward the light and the companions! "To the front!" Alaric stepped back, pointing for his cousins to form up and meet the incoming threat. Charlemagne and Alix took position together as 2 of the huge bugs charged in! One of them clipped the slayer's arm with it's sharp front arms! Tiri stepped forward to set her hand on his back, fully healing the damage. Alix stepped back and shot two arrows that went flying off into the depths of the cavern. Charlemagne swung with his sword, but the insects were fast and wove back around to miss him. Alaric wove a spell of defense as the other mantises moved in quickly. Two sharp hooked legs struck into Tiri as the bugs whipped around. Another mantis buried it's sharp hooks into Alix's chest and another clipped into Charlemagne's back! A soft warm blue glow pulsed out from the priestess to heal some of their wounds. Alix shot another two arrows with one of them fatally piercing into one of the massive babies, dropping it to the ground. Alaric stepped back, calling out to Charlemagne, "Step to the left!" The mighty warrior stepped to the left and struck his blade through another of the bugs, exploding it against the roots! A stream of fire came from the mage's hands to burn away 4 of the mantises in a line, leaving only one left! Tiri pulsed another wave of energy to heal her companions. The slayer sent another arrow off into the shadows, and Charlemagne cut the last of the bugs in half with his blade. Continuing through the cavern, they came to a break of 3 possible paths. With no sign of the missing group, Charlemagne took some time to assess the best possible choice. He pointed forward to the center tunnel, "That way seems to have the best airflow... it probably has a way out." The group continued on through the center passage. More of the natural stone shone through with old sconces on the walls that once held torches. The warrior and slayer looked around, speaking in unison, "It looks dwarven..." "Old though," Charlemagne nodded as he looked at the walls. The passage widened and continued deeper into the earth... ending in a large room with 7 other open archway passages branching off of it. A raised dais was in the center of the room and the ceiling was slightly domed... perhaps made of stained glass long ago, but now broken and crushed in by the earth. The day was late and the group felt weary. Alix scoured the room and shook his head with a sigh, "I don't think they came this way." Branches went off in the direction to possibly connect with the other branches that they passed, but the companions opted to go back to the 3 passage intersection to sleep for the night. The watches were uneventful with a gentle breeze of fresh air. Charlemagne dreamed... An elven man in beautiful, shiny, and gem-encrusted armor carried a flaming sword... he traveled with an elven company and a dwarf... hunting black skinned elves. They went through a man-made passage, entering a round room with 8 passages exiting from it. One of the elves from the company pulled out a coin, and as he flipped it through the air, time slowed... it fell back into his hand with an arrow that pointed down one of the passages. The elf in charge nodded, and the group went through the archway. They came to a stone manhole cover when the dwarf spoke something in elvish that Charlemagne couldn't understand. The group opened it to a ladder going down. They fought back waves of drow below... eventually getting cornered in a small room. All seemed lost... the drow numbers were overwhelming... the lead elf plunged his flaming blade deep into the earth, and Charlemagne jerked awake! The young warrior immediately woke his cousin, Alaric, "I had a vision..." The mage groaned, "Of Urd?" "Well... that was first... but..." Charlemagne shook his head, "But there was a magnificent elf and a dwarf... and some other elves and they were fighting off drow. I don't know who they were... elegant gem-encrusted armor." "They were fighting drow you say?" Alaric stirred more awake and looked inquisitively at Charlemagne. "Yes, cousin," the warrior nodded, "They went through a room like the round room down there." He gestured down the center passageway. The mage frowned, "Not a lot of drow in Cormyr... we put their type quickly to the sword. They're evil. I'm sure our elf here who is sleeping in her nighty would... well let's just not mention it to her." The warrior nodded. "Hopefully it was all a long time ago, and we don't need to be concerned about finding any drow here now," Alaric nodded thoughtfully. Charlemagne frowned, "It's strange that I would have this vision now." "Were there any humans in the party?" the young mage asked. "Perhaps in the elven armor... but none that I could tell," the warrior shook his head. "Sometimes traumatic events leave traces in the area... and sometimes those that are sensitive to that sort of thing pick them up," the young mage shrugged, "Perhaps we'll find some sort of evidence of this great battle when we get down there." Charlemagne nodded and agreed. The watches continued uneventfully and no one else seemed effected by any dreams. In the morning, Alix searched the area to find a single boot track heading in the left passage, and the group followed it in. The walls were caked heavily in dirt and the passage eventually banked further off to the left and deeper into the earth. Alaric shook his head, looking around thinking that the adventurers must surely be dead if they had taken this route, but he said nothing aloud and continued on the course. Miscellaneous empty pouches and some twine were left in the passage, and pitons were hammered into the edge... dropping another set of ropes to plunge into the darkness where rushing water could be heard below. Some of the heavier gear had been left behind on the ledge as well. Tiri looked around, shaking her head, "What possessed them to come down here?" "Maybe they just enjoy spelunking," Charlemagne suggested. The group climbed down the rope slow and carefully, descending into the shadows. The muscular warrior arrived at the bottom first. He stood in a curved aqueduct that had stairs leading up to a ledge where a suit of armor bearing one of the King's Leaves badges, a treasure chest, a sword, and some miscellaneous items glistened in the air. Charlemagne opted to wait for the others. As the others joined him at the bottom, the nobleman warrior pointed out the items to Alaric who wove a detect magic to see the sword light up... and after careful observation it seemed like the area was wet and shiny... he recognized it as a gelatinous cube and opted to guide everyone past it. Everyone moved down the watery passage to climb onto the ledge past the cube, traveling with the current. Leaving yet another of their dead companions behind... this missing group of nobles seemed to be driven to find something... Alaric paused thoughtfully and glanced over at his strong cousin, "This vision you had... did it come down a passage like this?" Charlemagne shook his head, "Not from this direction, no." The mage nodded, pressing everyone forward to try and find these people before they were all dead. A glowing source of light glimmered ahead in the darkness... eventually the passage ended with a waterfall down into a pool and a much bigger room... Braziers were lit below, and there were 8 pillars along the length of the room with similar waterfalls and pools at the center of each of the four walls. The braziers hung over the pools to reflect light around the room. Charlemagne spiked a piton into the wall to drop a rope near the waterfall to be able to get back up. As he hammered in the piton, chinking into the stone... there was a loud clip clop and a heavy snort from below. The warrior shuddered, glancing toward the room, "Minotaur?" The others looked over the edge to see another dead body bearing the leaf badge in the pool below... this one an elder warrior. Something was moving around the room, dragging a heavy weapon along the ground. Everyone held their breath, dousing their lights, and watched in anticipation. After some time, a female halfling, heavily wounded, moved quickly behind a pillar below, obviously hiding in terror from something else in the room. She carried a branch-like staff and wore a green cloak that was spattered with blood. Another heavy snort and the clip clop had more of a metallic ring clanging out as it moved closer. Blood ran down the column of the halfling's left side. A primal battle cry came from the other side of the room mixed with running booted feet until it was met with a loud clash of metal... followed by the bounce of metal off the ground and the room fell quiet. The halfling lowered her head, pressing her face into the column and squeezed her eyes shut as she suppressed the urge to scream out. Charlemagne dropped into the pool below. The halfling woman turned to him, and before he could stop her, she yelled out, "Hellllllp!" Immediately a large minotaur, covered in brass, clanged his hooves along the ground as he ran for her, dragging a double bladed axe behind him! The warrior quickly drew him off, dancing around the pillars to avoid the raging metallic beast. Heavy smashing strikes clipped off marble and sparks flew from the columns as the minotaur chased him, swinging his massive double-bladed axe! Alix prepped his bow, waiting for an opportune shot. Tiri splashed into the pool below, following Charlemagne down. Alix fired two arrows, one of them piercing into the brass minotaur, and Alaric followed up with a magic missile as Charlemagne led it past them from below. Alaric waited up top with his slayer cousin, watching the elven priestess plunge into the water and come up to whip her wet blue hair back at the surface. He took the moment to admire her glistening skin, her azure gossamer robes were nearly transparent as the material clung to her, and her ample bosom was perfectly displayed as she whipped back her hair. Suddenly her body arched and a deep red splashed up over her chest, face, and hair as her own blood sprayed up from the gashing strike of the brass minotaur who had stopped to strike her! She gasped only for a second before she sank back into the water, unconscious. Furious that the minotaur left him to strike down the elven woman, Charlemagne struck his blade heavily into the beast! Alix fired his bow rapidly to send 2 more shots, 1 of them impacting soundly into the minotaur's shoulder. Alaric sent another magic missile to strike through the brass to the center of the minotaur. The halfling wove her hands in a spell, sending out a swirl of sparkling transcendent leaves around the blue-haired priestess... stopping the blood from flowing and bringing her back to conscious. Unaware that she was still alive, and drawn by the sword strike into his back, the minotaur turned around, snorting steam at Charlemagne and gashed his double bladed axe swiftly into the warrior's chest, spraying blood on to the pillars behind him! Tiri took a breath back at the surface, moving back away from the minotaur and pulsed out a blue-ish glow to heal part of her own, Charlemagne, the halfling, and Alix's wounds. Charlemagne didn't falter, striking viciously back into the brass beast! Wanting to impress the pretty little halfling, Alix sent an arrow spinning to impact the minotaur in the neck! Not to be outdone, Alaric sent another magic missile into the powerfully strong brass minotaur. It glared up with hatred at the two cousins on the ledge above as the little druidess seized the moment to cast healing over Charlemagne.

"Yeah! Come at me!" Alix taunted it from the safety of the ledge, and for a moment he seen intelligence in the beast's eyes... before it turned it's gaze at the halfling who was leaning heavily on her staff, blood pooling at her feet. The minotaur charged, crushing her into the column with brute force, shattering her staff and letting her body crumple to the ground before chuckling with a deep mocking laugh.

Tiri quickly moved in a loop around the beast, to heal the halfling and pull her back, bringing her to conscious. With the great minotaur's back turned to him, Charlemagne charged, driving his sword between it's shoulder blades to pierce out of it's chest! The halfling opened her eyes to beam up with admiration at the warrior standing victorious as the minotaur crashed to the ground... a living being with brass armor attached by dwarven means.

Tiri healed the young halfling again with her wand. The druidess gasped with appreciation, and pointed out toward the dais in the center of the room where a human warrior was slumped, "Manny..." The elven priestess rushed to his side to bring him back to conscious, pulsing several waves of healing over everyone still alive.

The young druidess introduced herself as Merry Greenwich, and told the story of how when they lifted the great gem on the dais... a back gate had opened and the minotaur came out. "Let's hope there aren't more..." Alix glanced at the dead body of the great brass covered beast. Merry shook her head, "Gods forbid if there are more than one of those running around." "I'm Alaric Goldsword... this is Charlemagne, Alix, and the lovely Tiri," the golden haired mage introduced himself and his companions, "Are you the Wyvernspurs?" "Yes, I'm Manny and this is Martin," the warrior nodded, gesturing to his ranger brother, "It's a pleasure to meet you. We can't thank you enough for following us into this hole." Alaric nodded, "We came looking for you... but what are you here for?" "My father," the young warrior gestured to the body in the pool, "He had a vision of a blade... a fiery blade... and he was bent on finding it." "And you didn't find anything?" Charlemagne looked on inquisitively, "I had a vision too." The warrior went on to describe his father's vision which matched the one Charlemagne had almost perfectly, "If you find it... you're welcome to it... My family has suffered enough."

"Perhaps its a trap to lure people into this place," Alaric suggested thoughtfully, almost thinking aloud, "Preying on the weak minded." Charlemagne shot him an offended look. Realizing he had spoken the words aloud, the mage blushed, "I... I meant..." "I wouldn't say weak," Charlemagne disagreed, interrupting him, "Simple maybe... but not weak." "Of course not," Alaric agreed, sharing an exchanged look with the priestess. "Are you talking about me?" the noble Rallyhorn turned with accusation to the elven woman who was whispering a question to the mage. Tiri turned quickly to shake her head, "Only about how heroic you were... and that you saved me." She smiled sweetly. "Yes, quite the hero," Alaric agreed. Charlemagne nodded, an image of the fiery blade burned back into his mind.

"We think we found an exit up top... our first priority is to get you safe," Alaric nodded to the warrior, ranger, and druidess remaining of the King's Leaves. They nodded. Alix investigated the gem on the dais, "It doesn't appear to be trapped..." The dwarven runes on the dais depicted the clan of the Ember Anvils and seemed to have praises for the dwarven gods. The Ember Anvils were dwarves who had a large keep here back in Myth Drannor's prime time. Tales of drow and demons had told the story of how the dwarves were lost, though rumors held that some escaped.

Charlemagne took one of the minotaur's horns as a souvenir to be made into a drinking glass. Alaric had everyone move back by the pool, and while they were climbing up the rope to get out... he used a spiritual mage hand to quickly exchange a fairly equivalent bag of stones with the gem.

As the two groups moved back through the caverns together, the young warrior tapped the shield that Charlemagne now carried and nodded toward his father who they carried out, "May it serve you better than it did him." "I'll use it with pride," Charlemagne nodded.

The algae was slippery in the aqueduct as they fought their way back upstream, armor filling with water and weighing them down as the current swept over them... and hoisting the dead body of the elder Wyvernspur made the climb back up the ropes slower and more difficult... but eventually they made their way back to the 3 passage intersection, and the remaining members of the King's Leaves parted ways with their rescuing comrades to head back out to the surface back the way they had entered.

Charlemagne, Alix, Alaric, and Tiri wished them well, sending them to Knightswood to speak with Reigneir. "We will no doubt see you at the wedding?" Manny asked as he and his brother picked up their father, "I'm sure nobles such as yourselves have received invitations." "Yes, of course," Alaric nodded, "We'll see you in Suzail in a month." Manny nodded, "If you ever need anything... please... let me repay this debt." "We're just glad to have you still alive," Tiri nodded to him. "Not as glad as we are," the young warrior assured her. "There was another party looking for you... Lionel and Luke may still be in the area," Alaric noted. Martin nodded, "Thank you, that was very kind of them to go looking. They're good folks to go out of their way." Alaric nodded, "If you run across them... they travel with a ranger who goes by the name of Urd ... tell the lady that Charlemagne sends his regards." Manny raised an eyebrow toward the fellow warrior, "You fancy the lady Urd? I bid you the best of luck." "Why is that?" Charlemagne asked, curious. "Many a hunter has tried to win that heart to no avail," Martin nodded. "Bah! They were amateurs," the noble warrior shrugged it off, "She doesn't know what she's missing." "To be sure, m'lord," Manny nodded, "To be sure."

The groups said their farewells, and the four companions headed down the center passage back to the round room that Charlemagne had seen in his vision. It had been a long day... 12 hours of grueling work to get through the caverns down ropes and in water... and the battle with the minotaur. Alaric looked over Tiri curiously. Her azure gossamer robes were mostly dry, but heavily stained with a mix of dark red blood contributions. She had expended a lot of magic and brushed hands with death. "You look tired... is the power of your goddess waning?" He asked. The elven woman turned to him, "I worship a god... and //his// power //never// wanes... though admittedly, mine is slightly." She fondly brushed a finger over the 8 pointed star that dangled from a silver circlet she wore, "Corellion is ever powerful." "Well we're not under any time constraints... and this is a good place to rest," Alaric suggested as he looked around the round room. Charlemagne nodded, "I could go for another vision." "Let's rest," Alix agreed, nodding. Tiri healed everyone's wounds fully and everyone made camp for the night. Charlemagne had a hard time sleeping, tossing and turning... the room felt so hot, he was sweating. No one else seemed effected, but the others noticed that the warrior himself seemed to be giving off heat. Eventually the noble warrior slept, falling into a dream... of fire... and red rooms. Alix sat awake on watch, his back against the wall. A small fire crackled at the center of the group. Aside from the deep breathing and occasional snore of his companions, the room was quiet. ***Insert secret out of the room meeting here between Alix and drow woman*** ******************************************************************************************** The young noble sat with his back against the cavern wall, eyes peeled and ears listening for any movement in the darkened tunnel. He didn't relish his turn on watch but few responsibilities were as straight forward as this... to fail on ones watch is unforgivable... to have ones courage falter and flee a combat was at least.. understandable. To fail your turn at watch... to fail your sleeping comrades... well that was against every code that men live by. So there he sat...alone... the silence of the cavern and the soft breathing of this sleeping friends were Alix's only company... Directly in the middle of his shift (as though it had been timed) a soft thumping, reverberated down the tunnel... he quietly stood drawing his bow and knocking an arrow... his eyes pushed into the darkness... ... slowly and silently a figure began to appear.. her white hair hung in a thick braid that wrapped around her neck and back over her shoulder. Her dusky skin wavering with the darkness as she stood at the edge of the campfires light. The drow woman stood with her arms raised and palms out, her fingers stretched wide. The drow woman looked to be roughly his age... dressed in all leathers and a pair of long knives at her hips, and she was graceful beyond human measure and impossibly beautiful. Alix eyed her warily, "Who are you and why have you come"? he asked... she nodded back at him..."You and your group have been gone now for several days without word... some have grown concerned about your well being... I was hired to find you... alive or otherwise"... Alix leveled his bow at the rogue... "But how did you find us... down here"? The elf moved to relax and the young slayer barked at her "No !.. Keep your hands up and ... drop your weapons"... "Very well good sir.." she replied. With one hand she unclasped her weapon belt and let it slowly slide down her legs to the ground. "I assure you.. I mean you and yours no harm... I tracked you to the sinkhole... there I met with Manny and Martin Wyvernspur as they were preparing to lift their deceased father out of the hole. They spoke very highly of your group..." This information seemed to relax Alix some... "will you stay and travel with us?" he asked. "I would but as I've said... I must return to those who hired me to find you... they will be pleased that you are all still doing well..." she paused for a moment... and slowly ripped a hidden badge that had been sewn to the underside of the dark cloak and handed it to him. "Here... take this... come find us." Alix gestured for her to retrieve her weapons as he examined the badge... it was a simple image... the background was a dull black and in the foreground was a shiny black anvil. When he lifted his eyes she was gone... **********************************************************************************************  When everyone awoke in the morning, there was no sign of anything amiss and Alix chose not to share his encounter with anyone. They found an exit ladder leading up to the surface where fresh air wafted down one of the passages, but chose to continue searching the other archways. Warm air came from the passageway to the west. At the end of the passage was a covered round doorway, like a manhole, with the symbol for the Ember Anvils. The covered door was radiating heat. Alix drug the stone cover over the stone floor, opening the way down. Charlemagne excitedly moved his way down the ladder, and as everyone followed him... they too could feel the heat of the room. A shimmering red light came from the end of the tunnel. It wafted in waves like light dancing over water. Moving closer, they found a large room similar to the round room above, but all of the passageways except for the one in had been buried and sealed by landslides of earth. At the center of the room, a sword was buried into the ground halfway up the blade... glowing red and pulsing. Cluttered around it was the remaining pieces of the elven armor Charlemagne had seen in his dream. On the outer edge of the room, the armor of drow had been fused together and crumpled into the stone. Magic radiated off of the sword, and despite the power ebb that could be felt, it was not evil. Alongside the armor around it, the companions found a ring, a dwarven shield bearing the clan symbol of the Ember Anvils, and a long knife.

Charlemagne could feel the heat coming off of the sword, and as he grasped the handle the sword came alive with flames and an elven script ran up the center of the blade, "Ashweaver". Tiri recalled the name from stories about the Shards of Evermeet and shared the tales. There were a 9 blades forged in Evermeet for the purpose of retaking Cormanthor. They were all elemental or holy in nature... devised to fight the demons and drow of Cormanthor Forest. Ashweaver was wielded by the general of the army. His daughter was eventually handed down the blade and she was the one who led the group who finally retook the elven city of Drannor. A baelorn bestowed her later with a blade of leadership, and she passed Ashweaver to her lieutenant, charging him to chase down the remaining drow. 9 blades in total called the Shards of Evermeet...given to the general of the elven army and his lieutenants. Ashweaver Nights Fall Endsinger Skyfall Hopes Bond Shadow Bane Bone Carver Winters Thorn Oath Keeper The young priestess looked over the warrior curiously, "It obviously called to you... so you should take it." "It called to you though you're not an elf... interesting... perhaps it's been here a long time and it's settling... but it did call to you, so it is yours," Alaric agreed, looking over the other items they found... Ring of Protection +2 +2 Dagger with ghost touch (1D6 dmg) +2 dragon scale shield with 10 DR fire resistance Ashweaver = +1 flaming longsword with d6 bonus fire dmg (1D8 + 1D6 fire) on critical hits it has an additional bonus of 1D6 fire/per level. Charlemagne took the fiery blade, Alaric got the ring, Tiri was given the shield, and Alix took the dagger. The young slayer looked at the impossibly sharp edge of his new blade, "Hmm what should I call this knife?" The dagger answered him, "Doom Song." Alix blinked in surprise, looking around the room for a moment before sheathing it on his hip. "So these Shards of Evermeet," Alaric turned to the priestess, "Have all of these blades gone missing?" Tiri nodded, "One by one they have all gone missing since the retaking of the Crescent City." "So the lieutenant there would likely pay a handsome sum to get these returned to her?" the golden haired mage inquired, thinking to himself that the swords would be in much better service with Cormyr. Tiri nodded, "Quite possibly. They are precious elven relics... to just have them accounted for would be a relief." Over the course of the next couple of nights as they explored the rest of the cavern, Doom Song entered Alix's dreams... showing him in various ways that it loathed the undead. It was forged to slay spirts, liches, and the undead. The dreams were bold and inspiring as Alix seen himself ripping through specters, dripping in ghost plasma, and standing over piles of skeletons. As they searched through the passages over 2 days, they found gold, treasures, and gems worth 5000 gold... though nothing else living. In the level below, all of the dwarven runes and images had been defaced and carved out... and there were many skeletons in drow armor. There were a few points of final stands where piles of bodies were scattered... There was eventually a sunken hole that gave way to a natural cavern that ran deep into the earth. Returning to Knightswood, the companions were given a heroes welcome for having found the Wyvernspurs. Applause and cheers met them as they walked in. Drinks at the feast lodge with great tales of adventure. Manny and Martin had left, but Merry was still at the camp. "Merry! It's so good to see you!" Tiri embraced their new halfling druidess friend. "Thank goodness you're back! I was starting to get worried," Merry hugged her warmly. "We spent much longer than we probably should have searching the passageways," the blue haired priestess nodded. Merry looked over the bulging bags and pouches of the companions and nodded with a smile, "It looks like it served you well though! Much better than it did us." "Indeed," Alaric agreed, "We were able to find it." The young druidess turned to him with seriousness, "So it was real? ...We had begun to doubt it. His father had become obsessed." Charlemagne pulled the blade to show her. "And look at this dagger I got," Alix slipped in, holding up his own new blade. "Oh! It's so shiny... and see through," she peered at the knife closer. Alaric took the moment to pull Tiri and Charlemagne away, letting the young slayer have a quiet moment with the halfling woman. The mage nudged Alix as they moved away, whispering harshly "Talk to her!" "It's called Doom Song," Alix nodded to the dagger in his hand. "It has a name?" Merry looked more inquisitive. "Well... that's the name it told me," the youthful slayer nodded, his blonde hair cut so short, it almost looked shaved. "It //told// you!" the young halfling gasped, looking awestruck. "The elf woman over there told me," he nodded, suddenly changing his story. "Oh," Merry nodded, "How did she know? ...Elves just know that stuff, huh?" "Isn't love grand?" Alaric grinned at the elven priestess as they sat at a table a little further away, watching the interaction. "But I didn't tell him anything about the dagger... least of all it's name," Tiri shook her head. "Yes they do," Alix nodded. "I've never met one before. They seem pretty interesting," Merry nodded, smiling sweetly, "You should buy me a coffee or something." "You should go buy it yourself," the nobleman shunned her, looking irritated that she would ask such a thing. "Ohhhh!" Alaric exclaimed in shock. Tiri shook her head, "Well there goes that budding romance." She dove her hand into the table, showing the crash and burn. Alaric nudged the priestess back toward their table, "Okay... you can go back to talking to her now." The young priestess swept in, slipping her arm into the halfling's, "Oh, Merry! I want to introduce you to Iowyn! She's definitely going to want to meet you!" The small druidess still looked stunned, asking with disappointment, "Is she going to make me buy my own coffee too?" Tiri laughed, "No, no, honey... don't worry, We'll stop and buy you something on the way... something better than coffee... since we just got pouches of treasure." She muttered the last phrase accusationally toward the nobleman slayer.

The two women walked toward the bar, Tiri comforting the halfling. "I didn't mean anything by asking him to buy me coffee... I mean I really was just hoping we could talk a little more," Merry sighed heavily, continuing to walk with the priestess's guidance. Tiri nodded, "I know... I'm sorry. Young... noble... human men... what can you do?" "Apparently nothing," Merry shook her head, "I was practically taking him by the hand! ...I need a drink." Tiri nodded, stepping up to the bar to order drinks, "I know, right? We need to go to Highmoon ... You'll love it there... there's a gryphon rider there..." The young elven woman sighed dreamily. Merry leaned in closer, lowering her voice, "I've heard that Prince Nuada is here." The priestess's blue eyes widened, "He's a prince?" Merry nodded, "You didn't know?" Tiri shook her head, still stunned, "I... I didn't know." The petite druidess nodded again, "I hear that he's in town for the wedding." "Oh," the young elf nodded, "I'll have to try to see him again there." "You've met him?" It was Merry's turn to be surprised. Tiri nodded again, "He gave us a ride on his gryphon. He was very sweet..." "You elves have all of the fun!" Merry accused her, accepting her mug from the bartender as the priestess set down silver pieces. "It'll be alright," Alaric sat down at the table near to Alix who was still sitting staring after the halfling who had left in a hurry, "You just need some more practice." The green eyed sorcerer slapped his cousin's shoulder good naturedly, and glanced toward the two women at the bar, muttering, "I bet he gave her a ride..." The group was due to make it to Suzail in a month for the wedding... but there was still time for other adventures... take the river to the Mouth O Gargoyles? Or go back up to recheck on the necromancer and his zombie summoning? It was a decision to be made. "When we get to Suzail," Alaric nodded to Tiri, "Then you will see real civilization, my fine elven friend." She laughed softly and nodded, "I look forward to seeing your culture." "And we'll find you something suitable to wear," he nodded looking her over. "Yes, not those rags you're wearing," Charlemagne chimed in, nodding. The priestess's blue eyes widened, a look of both shock and offense, but her words were calm and proud, "These are the robes of a Corellion priestess." "Eh," the nobleman warrior shrugged, "Maybe things will turn around for you." The young elf muttered prayers beneath her breath, and slammed down a glass of red wine. *treasure note* 5k gem + 5000 in gold, treasure, and gems = 10,000 gold = 2500 gold each!