Session 40: Blanketed Expectations. Report
General Summary
Nahemah and Eleanor make their way back to the party, new information in hand. Nahemah herself has a hardned stare on her face, her arms crossed as she turns to her partymembers. "We can't exactly go after both issues now, can we?"
eleanor bites her thumb in visible frustration, giving a light groan. "Fuck, we shoulv'e offed that guy when we met him, I feel so stupid for falling for his nice act. Why'd I decide to start trusting the upper class folks now?!" She says before looking to the rest of her party. "We've let a dangerous rich asshole slip through our fingers and a fairy serial killer or whatever loose... Any ideas yall?"
"This might be me resting on my laurels," Says Nahemah, "But I think our best option is to follow after Ornable while we still have the chance. If he slips away we might never find him again."
Ayame nods her head in agreement. "I agree... he seems to be the greater threat."
"Lets hope he's not just working for the people we just did jobs for to help Eleanor's standing in the city."
Eleanor looks to Ragia. "Folks at the guild don't generally work with the upper class. Higher ups might want to but most of the guild would through a fit if they were caught."
"I could send a message to my mother to have someone sent to take care of the Vita issue." Nahemah offers.
"Oh that's a great idea!" Ayame says, clapping her hands happily.
"It will take some time to cast, the spell is intensive at longer distances. We should get moving and I can send it while we are on the road." Nahemah says, collecting herself.
Ayame waves a hand as her skeletal smith minion dissapears. "I'm Rerady when you are!"
Nathan sips at his tea while the party spoke. "So... I believe I am due a ring back?"
Ayame looks to the preacher and gives a light nod. "I imagine so."
Nathan sets down his cup and puts out a hand to Nahemah. "I thank you for at least bringing it to my attention. I will try and find someone else to take up the cause."
Ayame smiles and gives a curtsy to the cleric. "Thank you for your hospitality and the wonderful chat we had~"
Nahemah looks at the hand for a long moment. "Hwuh? Oh right the ring, right. here you go." She says taking off the ring and handing it back to Nathan.
Preacher nathan smiles and nods back to Nahemah. "Thank you, and thank the both of you for your company as well. Not every day you get to meet a dragon fresh born from vita itself." He says with a chuckle, giving a knowing nod to Ragia and yara, before giving a bow to Ayame.
With little fanfare, the party collects their gear, grabs the carriage, and leaves the city within a few hours.
Nahemah casts her spell, sending a message to her mother, knowing it may be her last chance to get both threats taken care of.
"Fey abomination near Our Fathers Mercy. Hunting down city ending magical threat. Send hunters for the fey. It's a hag. Love you Mom."
DATE: Vamendour 16/625
It took a full day for the party to reach the border of Baal, coming upon The Ash Forest by nightfall. The party sees that on the roads just before they reach the forests are a huge number of tents, flying banners of the Baal army.
As the party passes by, they can make out many banners with holy symbols emlbazoned upon them, from the Order of the Stone and Grandfather of the Mare as the two major paladin orders that Nahemah recognizes, to a few smaller deities of combat. To the trained eye, it looks to be a crusade was called to protect the border.
"I hate politics." Eleanor mutters to herself as she peers out of the carraige.
"A crusade huh? best we keep going." Ayame says, ushering her horses onwards.
The party goes past the gathering armies and moves onwards into The Ash Forest, traveling till just about nightfall before all three of them hear Ornable speaking to them. "Take but a moment, stop, and listen to my message young ones... This is more complicated than you think." As Ayame, driving the carriage sees a pair of lips appear on the trunk of a tree just ahead of the carriage.
"Huh... that's new." Ayame says, stopping the carriage beside the tree, Nahemah staring at the tree in disbelief.
"He probably guessed we would know by now and follow him." Ragia says as the mouth speaks again.
"I wish to appologize to you all. I knew from the outset that at the very least two of you would follow me. I cannot, and will not appologize for what I did, buut I wish as little harm to everyone as can be. i am not a bad person, I just don't have the time to accomplish my goals in as peaceful a way as I can. You decided to follow me, and for that, I must warn you. This message has activated poximity traps along the roads, similar to how this spell was set up. Each trap is made to activate hidden spells, and prevent you from catching up with me for as long as possible. These spells will disperse in four days, so that your own adventures will only be slightly delayed. I must finish my task, I wish you no harm, but I cannot fail when victory is so close. I will not ask for your forgiveness, nor will I ask for mercy should you make it to me. Let me be, let me finish my life's work. Thank you."
And with that, the illusory lips upon the tree vanish.
"Huh..." Says Ayame. "I feel kind of bad that we are trying to stop him now."
"I just want to catch up so he can tell the full story to be honest, that's too much of a cliffhanger!" Ragia says.
Eleanor holds her chin, thinking for a few moments. "I sorta do too but some of the most earnest soundin folks end up doing the most dangerous things. Nothing more dangerous than a powerful insane person who earnestly believes what they're doin is for the best. I wonder if there's an alternate path we can take to avoid those traps... If he's trying to buy time for four days we can't give him two."
"I don't feel bad in the slightest. For today, we march on. Tonight, I shall meditate and commune with Rhamnasia. Hopefully there is some sort of magic that will show us these traps." Nahemah says.
"I'm a lil worried about what sort of traps he thinks would delay us by four days, he also got a read on... mostly all of us so he might have an idea of our skills too already." Eleanor says, tapping her chin in thought.
"maybe..." Ayame says with a shrug. "I'm not too worried though."
"I'm not worried about us, considerin everything as much as I am worried about givin him time." Eleanor says. The wind winding through the woods while the party discusses.
"I can catch us up, but it would require my voice going raw." Nahemah says, speaking up. "My mother drilled the spell into me. I would have to commune to gain access to it. However, for as long as I sing or chant, we will be able to go twice our speed without tiring."
"Would that work for the cart?" Ayame says, looking intrigued.
"Well it would work on the horses wouldn't it?" Eleanor says.
"The spell works on everyone that can hear me, even the horses. However, I couldn't use the ability to see the traps while we traveled. It requires an expensive component I do not have. Not that it would help us, as I'm not enen powerful enough to allow such a magic to last longer than several minutes." Nahemah says.
"Sebastian can walk ahead of us, he can take the brunt of the traps." Ayame says with a smile, looking to Sebastian. "BUt all we can do is march forward!"
Nahemah bites her lip. "If you give me an hour of meditation, I can gain access to the spell, and we can really get moving."
"Sounds good to me, the horses need to rest." ayame says as she and Nahemah hop off the cart, the horses being fed by Sebastian.
Eleanor hops off as well, leaning against the wheels. "Seems like we got a hard road ahead, I really hope whatever that merchant is doing is not somehow worse than we can imagine."
The party takes a rest, Nahemah getting her spell and coming up with the plan. Eleanor was best in the dark, and as such, would be keeping an eye out for traps as best as she can while the cart was hustling from the spell. And as such, Naomi began to sing, the horses hooves starting to sparkle gold as Ayame charged them forwards.
After two hours of singing, The party spots a cart that caught ablaze hours before they did, but they pressed on. Another two hourrs later, they find another mouth that begins to speak, but they travel so fast that they get far out of range before the crackle of lightning erupts behind them. Another six hours later, Eleanor suddenly tenses up and shouts out "STOP THE CARRIAGE NOW!"
Ayame brings the carriage to a screeching hault, as Eleanor points out some runes carved into a tree within the past hour, carved crudely enough to stand out against the bark.
Nahemah nearly stops singing, but gives a cought and manages to upkeep the spell. Eleanor looks to Ayame and Ragia. "We need to get those runes taken care of or find another path around.
Ayame leans down and examines the trap, giving a light blink. "It looks like that going over this line will produce a fireball."
Eleanor pulls out Calypso from the aether, her large crossbow. "If we can't dispell it, we can at least try to activate it from a distance so some poor unsuspecting folks don't get broiled. Honestly a miracle no one's already activated this." Eleanor says, noting that the first rays of morning light are barely starting to appear in the sky.
"Well... alright then, or I could just run a skeleton through it." Ayame offers.
"As long as its one of the disposable ones." Ragia says looking to Sebastian.
Eleanor nods, "Yeah if thats okay with you Ayame, whatevers fast. Don't wanna make Nao sing even longer than she has to." She says looking to the clearly exausted cleric atop the carriage.
Ayame backs up the cart, summoning her skeletal smith, who runs up the path, before a massive fireball appears and vaporizes the skeleton. Another mouth appears near a flambed tree. "I warned you twice now. Turn back, this trap is far from the last I will set, and I don't want to hurt more people than I have already. Granted... if any of you survived this, I hope you understand your life is in danger. I have everything to lose, and you shouldn't throw your life away like I need too for mine. Go forth and live... help your injured friends."
Ayame sighs slightly, looking at the charred bones. "Poor Mr Smith... I'll recreate him later. EVERYONE back in the cart! LETS GO!" She says jumping in and immediately setting the party off again.
Only an hour and a half later, the party clears the forest, and Eleanor points over to the east, to Ayame, noting a few carts with people resting on the ground a considerable distance from the road up against the forest itself. "I can't tell if that's our guy, but there are carts over there!" She says to Ayame.
Ayame peers at the group of carts, but then to the forest as she hears the chirping of birds. She throws out her hand, the wind coalescing around a bird as it flutters, panicked directly into Ayame's hand. She looks to the others. "I'm going to go take a look at the camp. Stay here, I won't be long." She says, her form shimmering and dissapearing into the beak of the bird as she possesses it, Nahemah's voice finally giving out as she erupts into a coughing fit.
Eleanor scrunches up her face in confusion. "Ayame doin wild shit again," She mutters under her breath before looking to Ragia. "Magic?"
"Probably." Ragia says. "I'm still grasping at the spheres of magic I know."
Ayame jumps slightly, getting used to the possessed creature before flying off to examine the camp from above. As she flies, she spots four people outside the carts on the ground, resting, but finds one person inside the carts along with the cargo, covered in a blanket. Not spotting Ornable in the group, she lands atop the cart, taking a brief look at the gathered people, spotting a few normal weapons, but their appearance to be more of a set of merchants than mercenaries. After listening to the merchants talking about going through the forest all night, Ayame flutters back to the party.
Nahemah is given water by Eleanor, of which she is chugging like crazy as Ayame comes back, jumping out of the bird. "He is there, hiding in the cart. There are three mercenaries there. They look harmless honestly." Ayame says with a sigh. "I think it would be best if I possess him... or try to, and then while i'm in control you all tie him up and disarm him while he can't resist, if we do it quick enough we will have him restrained before his lame merchant buddies can react."
Nahemah with a raspy voice speaks up. "Just let me c-" She says before being wracked with a coughing fit, barely able to speak.
Ayame pats Nahemah's back. "You got us this far, just help dogpile him and deal with the guards." She says, smiling at her companion.
"Well... I dunno much about how that'd work Ayame but if you think you could do that and avoid a confrontation I'm willing to give it a try."
The bird Ayame possessed starts to wake up, shaking as it jumps away from the party, obviously distraught about the possession it went through.
"Good!" Ayame says seeing Ragia nod in agreement. "You should see me possess him from here, once I do... charge!" She says before looking at the bird and once again possessing it with a squack, flying back over to the carriage.
Making her way back to the cart, she transfers her possession into Ornable, who she immediately can tell was awake, but overpassed his will and sits up, holding her arms in the air before putting them down and getting out of the cart. "I'll be right back, going to relieve myself." Ornable says, before walking to the rest of the party. Mentally, Ayame can hear him think. "Well... allright then." She hears with a slight sigh. Violet responds to the merchant in her own thoughts. "Sorry, but we can't let you do what you were going to do, at least not without knowing what it is... so what is it you were going to do?" She asks internally as her magics flow throughout Ornables body. "I am more than happy to speak with you, but not inside my head." Ornable says, his own spirit manuvering beyond her magics as his body comes up to the party, holding his arms behind his back. "Restrain and disarm me! Quickly!"
The party goes through his gear, and tye up his hands. They find a bundle of magical rune covered sticks, a gemstone, a locket and a bag of holding on his person beyond his clothes from a brief search. Ragia opens the bag of holding to find it completely filled with incense as well., Ragia's eyes glinting at the sheer amount of gold she holds while she tosses it into a pile with all of his other stuff.
Violet vacates Ornable through his mouth once Eleanor restrains him, his hands bound by rope, and reforms beside him.
Ornable gives a light sigh of relief and smiles at the group. "Allright, you caught up with me, and you didn't get hit by the traps I laid. Looks like I didn't prepare as much as I should have." He says with a chuckle. "Again... sorry if I did manage to hurt any of you."
"You hurt naomi's beautiful voice, got any syrup on you for that?" Ragia says sourly.
"Sadly no... If anyone in miles had the capability to help, shes the one in need of it." He says motioning to Nahemah.
Eleanor pipes up, "Hold the chit chat for later, we don't wanna get in a tussle. Lets pack up on the cart and get going."
"Ah... actually some of my undead did eat a fireball or two... but they will be fine... you set up some very fine traps." Ayame says appreciatingly as the party walks to the carriage.
Ornable seems unbothered. "That is fine, we could always talk somewhere more comfortable." He says as Ayame opens the carriage and letting him inside.
"Allright. where too?" Ornable says as he sits down, his hands still tied behind his back.
Nahemah just raises his brow mouthing "the fuck?" as Ragia speaks up. "Well we can start with why the traps?"
Ornable gives a light chuckle at Nahemahs reaction. "Hey I treated the lot of you to food last we met, it would only be courieous for that sort of deep conversation."
Eleanor gets in the cart too and groans, "You're a rich man that we know has a scary amount of powerful items somewhere and after you left we learned you were a wanted criminal, then you left us lethal traps and vague messages. We got a lot of questions. For now though, lets just head on forward to avoid suspicion to start, I've got some whiskey if that sorta drink if your deal, otherwise its just water."
Ornable nods, shaking his hands bound behind his back. "Whiskey would be perfect given the situation." He says, still maintaining his smile.
Eleanor gives Ornable a drink. Don't want you too drunk for this to start since we're hopin for coherant explanations."
Taking a gulp of whiskey, Ornable chuckles and nods, "Of course, I know if I don't play my cards right, it will only speed up my demise. So, what is your question?"
"Why." Ragia says simply.
Ayame shakes her head “I have no interest in killing you if it isn’t necessary, but I am willing to keep you in a trunk for weeks, probing your mind until it is entirely laid bare before me” she says with a cheery smile “but if your truthful it won’t come to that”.
"I needed to slow you down so I could make my escape. After meeting the lot of you, I knew you would be the ones who would come after me when my..." He says with a sigh. "My neccessary evils were discovered."
"Alright there we go, lets start there because that's just a whole terrifying potentially world affectin' sentence from what we know about you. What necessary evils? And why were they necessary?" Eleanor says, leaning towards Ornable.
"Well, let me answer your question with one of my own. What made you realize to come after me?" Ornable replies.
"Frustration, we spend a day searching for you, and just after letting you go, we learned you're a traitor to the country, we just wanted answers to be honest." Ragia says, still looking sour.
Ornable smiles, pointing to Ragia. "Treason. Exactly. There is really no way to prevent a country that worships the divine from finding out the truth of a set of murders... I used a special relic that forces those of weaker mind to turn on each other, and it resulted in quite a few sons of noblemen to kill each other. You might have heard of the dragon cult that was slaughtered back in town?"
Ayame nods. "We did."
Eleanor nods as well. "Well yeah, we did like Ayame said. Personally we went after you because despite other pressing matters at hand, you're someone that grabbed the attention of one of the largest magical organizations I know of, so understandably we found it a lil' pressin when we learned that ver person was potentially dangerous."
Ornable nods back in response. "You are correct. Before yesterday I was quite possibly the most dangerous person in the world... but now, all I have in material wealth is... well..." He points to the magical bag Ragia took from him. "Sitting there, ready to be taken away by those who understand little about politics between these neighboring countries."
Ayame blinks. “why did you do all of this? To incite a war? And what did you do with the rest of your wealth?”
"Incite? No no no... simply get one to start when neither side is ready to fully commit to it. A lot of money in war you know. Magical items are far from cheap, just one is enough to feed a man for the rest of his life."
"Don't I know it." Ayame says with a nod, glancing at her new staff.
Eleanor gives a gruff, unhappy stare at Ornable. "So wait, how did this go off exactly, why give a nudge to it and why run away as though you were off to some other task you needed to do?"
"For the money?" Ragia says.
Ornable shakes his head in response. "Because there is a third party that wants both countries at war, and they can provide me with something no amount of wealth could ever grant."
"Right,.. but you're skippin steps in the explanation here and not answerin my questions directly. This can get unfriendly real easy so... one thing at a time, what third party? Greater good isn't exactly the sentence I think of when triggerin' a war." Eleanor says, cracking her knuckles.
"If you say eternal life i might be inclined to give you the opposite." Ragia says.
Ayame baps Ragia on the head. "Don't go threatening him to not say things, then he might not tell the truth!"
"Oh no im afraid i'm not long for this world myself, instead, im preparing my legacy. I do not fear death, and eternal life feels like more of a bore than anything else... No I've spent my life finding the lost history of Pondera."
Ayame raises a brow. "From before the consumption?"
"Right that was a thing." Eleanor mutters.
"From before the last four consumptions." Ornable says with a nod. Ragia and Eleanor looking both surprised and excited by the prospect.
"T-the last f-four!" Nahemah says with a raspy throat.
"Impressive... continue." Ayame says, genuinly impressed.
Ornable nods. "Let me start from the beginning. How was the world of Pondera made?" He says looking to Naomi for a moment, than to the rest of the party. "According to the teachings of the faith."
"By the spirits." Ayame says.
"Don't look at me, I think our lil' fireball here might be the best informed about what that is though." Eleanor says, looking down to Ragia.
"There is only one constant among each religion on pondera. One eternal fact. When the gods came, Pondera was already here, albeit, in a desolate, unnatural state swarmed over by demons, and before that, controlled over by the unshapen masses of chaos. The last time that the world was formed was two consumptions ago, where the divine took shape, and took back the world, exiling the swarms of demons, and brought stability to an unstable land... I have found artifacts from before the gods came about."
He holds up a shoe. "I always keep one on me... take it off, its always sitting near my toes."
Ragia takes off Ornables shoe, finding a small metal barrel rolling around inside with a rounded end. Made of two different sections of metal, it is old... obscenely old looking, worn and rusted, but looks like it has been rubbed by ornables toes for some time, getting some of the patina off of it."
"U-uh." Nahemah rasps out.
"So small that a common traveler would completely miss it should they happen upon it, but... If you have the skills I have, you can see the weave is completely severed from this object. It is not from this consumption, and has been cut from a different cloth than the reality of today."
Ayame takes a closer look at it, having never seen anything like this. Man made, but beyond ancient in its age.
"Is it... some sort of totem for fertility rituals?" Ragia says, twirling it around in her hand.
"I don't know... But what I do know is that it is made of two different metals, with two separate parts, and one of them is hollow, the contents being long since destroyed."
“Well, your goal to unearth the history of the world is a noble one…but why the war? How does that fit in?”
Meanwhile, Eleanor looks at the artifact in pure silence, looking puzzled and confused until some spark of recognition hits her and her eyes light up. "Fuck, what! Wait- that... Ornable, was there anything else with it?" She says.
"Im afraid not, just this..." Ornable says with a sigh. "But thats why I have been making a collection of these artifacts... its too important to find the istory of the world far far deeper than anyone would have thought of. A few deaths here and there are unfortunate, but there are only two places that I can't look, and because of my affiliations in trade, the Credell Empire doesn't want me looking through their waters for ancient lost civilizations... nor do I have the time left to find them if they do exist."
"Could I see that bullet for a second?" Eleanor says, motioning to the object.
"Eh? Bullet? What's that? Do you know what it is?" Ayame says, half curious, half in shock that Eleanor knows something that Ayame doesn't, before realizing what Ornable says before looking back to him. "Ah, so you wanted the war to allow you to perform archaeology..."
Ornable gives a gentle nod. "I have two months left to live."
Ayame blinks. "Eh? Why's that?"
He chuckles. "Ahh... old age finally catching up with me." He says, turning his body and pulling up his clothing slightly, revealing some bandages wrapped around his torso. "These bandages are preventing me from coughing up blood all the time. My time is soon to come. Its why I don't care if I am executed, but I cannot let my lifes work be stopped." He says before pulling his shirt back down, and turning back to the party. "Which is why... I must ask, and I will only do so once... I can see these objects. I've never seen or heard of another with this ability. I can help piece together the lost past of our shared history... Hell, I'll even ensure that your college gets my collection when I pass on... But I need to do this, its the only way... Will you let me go, to finish my life's work?" He says, looking directly at Ayame.
Ayame takes the bullet, staring at it for a moment before handing it to Eleanor, looking conflicted. “I think your work is truly important…do you really have no interest in extending your life to continue it?” She says, looking him in the eyes.
"Of course I would be willing to extend my life to continue my search... but I would have had to change my studies a long time ago in order to make that happen, and im afraid the possibility is long gone now." He says with a sigh to Ayame. "It is soon to be my time, and my work itself will keep me in memory long after I fade from this world." "if your life end in two month, why try to do this war?" Ragia questions. "Is there no other one way trip to gather artifacts that doesn't involve destroying nations you could do in these last months?"
"If I was captured somewhere I was not supposed to be legally, it would defeat the purpose entirely of gaining access in the first place." He says looking to Ragia. "Not everything I find is worthless like the... bullet... there." He says pointing to a blankly staring Eleanor.
“I ask because…If you where willing to align yourself with Orzhov, I am sure the thousands of tomes of knowledge and wizards could extend your life hundreds of years…and with your knowledge of past consumptions I imagine you would be welcomed with open arms… If you are interested, and if the others here would agree with it, we could send a message to the college and have them come to pick you up. I imagine your dedication to knowledge…being willing to start a war to find it would impress even the highest levels of leadership in Orzhov." Ayame says.
"Wizards are not known for their bedside manner. Sure i would live a long, long life... but... I would suffer every day. The magic in my bandage keeps me sane, but I am in great, great pain every day... Even now while I speak to you. I would rather end the pain, on my own terms, doing something important with the time I have left, otherwise everything I have done, sacrificed, and set into motion will have been for nothing." Ornable says. "You can keep me captive, or you can let me go. Those are your two options I give you now."
Eleanor holds the bullet in front of her between two fingers and her magenta eyes seem to give off a glow for a few moments as she once again goes silent.
As eleanor touched the ancient bullet, she gets brought back in time to the far far far flung past of this objects history. Its being hammered in by a machine she recognizes, with a bearded face observing it, with a scar and eyepatch made of metalic parts as steam and hissing wizz around her before the bullet is placed in a pack of its own, and there it stared in darkness for a long time before being opened up again, this time by someone cursing over and over again as he shakily reloads his revolver and the sounds of terrible hissing of a familiar monster she knows she has seen before... but doesn't want to remember. it is dropped, and there, it rests, until it is suddenly covered in earth, and finally, picked up by the shakey hands of a young ornable, fascinated by such a rusted, busted, and overall useless item.
Eleanor lets out a sudden gasp as though pulled out of water and blinks in a bit of a stunned state, "O-Okay right, alright.. yeah.. this's.. I mean there's not much story to this, think of it like a crossbow bolt, except the body of its weapon is.. well specialized for this. Honestly there's probably tons of those in the area you found this...
Ayame looks to the others. "I say we release him."
Eleanor hums, "What about go with him?"
"So just to be clear, you're gonna start a war and be known through this part of the world as a traitor and warmonger, killer of innocents. Who will know you as a collector of artifacts again?" Ragia says, not backing down from her suspicion.
Nahemah raspilly tries to speak. "G-go with. end before war." She says with a cough, Eleanor nodding at her in agreement.
"Even Gerard Schwert was a warmonger that killed countless people, and all he did was create a kingdom. What I do now, is on a larger scale of good, with a much smaller evil." Ornable says.
"Well we're good at dealin' with individuals, dunno how to stop a war that was aimin to happen anyways. But that-..." Eleanor looks down to the bullet, "We can at least make it more worth it?"
"I also do not believe you will be able to stop this war." Ornable says, leaning to look out the window towards the sky. "If anything, I just may have stalled you just long enough."
Eleanor scowls slightly. "Well with comments like that I sorta wanna knock you out." She grumbles. "What do the rest of y'all think?"
Ayame nods. "There is no stopping the war now, I agree but..." She says, looking at Ornable. "I am going to enter your mind once more, to confirm you have told us the truth. If you lied even once, you will never see the outside of this carriage, and the same if you resist or conceal anything from me."
"Feel free." Ornable says with a nod. "If anything, that is the least of what I deserve for starting a war, probably deserving worse. But... I have not lied to you once this entire time. But, I will admit to ommiting some truths for the sake of time."
"Then there will be no issues with my exploration of your mind." Ayame says, turning into a fine mist and posessing him, internally asking him questions to confirm.
After a brief few moments, Ayame exits through his mouth again as Ornable shudders. "He didn't lie once." Ayame says with a nod. "So I say we release him to do his work, with the understanding that the college gets his research."
"So with the war happening, the credell empire promised you access to archeological sites? If thats so, what proof do you have they'll keep their word?" ragia says looking to Ayame, freshly exited. "You found where he's storing everything in his mind?"
Ayame shakes her head. "It doesn't work like that. I have to go searching for the information, and I don't have the juice to keep looking. We have to work with the info we have. But... I still say we allow him to go free. He didn't lie to us... I guess we put it to a vote?" Ayame pauses. "I say he goes free." She says before looking to her friends.
Nahemah searches the cabin with a sigh, finding a ripped piece of paper writing down, "Follow" in charcoal dust.
"I don't like it." Ragia says with a huff. "His story is full of holes, and we still don't know where the artifacts are, which mean we won't get any since we're unlikely to find him again later."
"We do got us a murderer on the loose back north to sort out if we did... I'm also curious what other artifacts will be found though... ugh." Eleanor says with a groan. But she sighs and nods to Ragia. "Information being purposefully left out really isn't helpin us either Ornable."
Ayame blinks. "I read his mind... not many holes really..." She says with a frown, but looking to Ornable. "We will allow you to continue on your quest, but we will accompany you, I imagine we will be useful while traversing a war torn land either way."
"He still hasn't said what this war will give him that will help with obtaining these artifacts, that's a huge hole in my opinion." Ragia says.
"Then I shall sweeten the pot." Ornable says. "You can keep my locket, but I need the bag for my journey." He motions to the one in Ragia's hand. "When... hmm... When it activates, yo uwill be able to open it, and it will allow you to find my trove of artifacts. The bag that the small one holds will teleport everything within it into my trove once a day. So, I need the bag for retrieving the artifacts."
"So the trove will also have a metric ton of incense?" ragia says.
Ornable nods. "Well... partly... A lot of it burned up by a trap I failed to set up properly. Killed the horses too... and the cart..."
"Yeah we saw that..." Ayame says with a nod. "I'm happy with that... sounds like a deal... Everyone in agreement?"
"I guess with everything, that's fine. We can at least try to protect any innocent village we find on our adventures without jeopardizing your contract?" Raggia says.
"You can try, but war is war... I suggest you stay away from conflict until its over... I don't think it will last long."
"Whyy wouldn't it?" Nahemah says, before coughing up blood this time, pushing herself too hard.
"Because," Ornable says, looking a light bit worried about the blood "Allthough war is inevitable, one side is much stronger than one would think.
"Which one would that be? So we know which side of the border to stay on." Ragia says.
"I would say that... Baal is a safe place to be for a time." Ornable says.
"Alright then." Ayame says. "If we are all in agreement, lets start there then." She says with a smile.
Ragia turns to Eleanor. "Sorry for your dragonslayer pals."
Eleanor rubs her forehead. "It seemed inevitable... I'm just one gal, not Rea or any big name folks. Sometimes... bad things just happen and you're too late to stop it. We just gotta move on." She says with a hint of defeat in her voice, Nahemah giving her shoulder a pat, nodding in agreement.
Ayame pats Eleanor as well. "In the end, no war kills everyone and destroys everything. The majority of people will still be fine. Conquering a barren wasteland isn't a victory for any nation." She says before looking to Ornable. "Its settled then, we will join you for your er... quest."
"Thats still not a good idea." Ornable says with a sigh. "My offer of protection for my search extended only to me... as a... special offer. If you let me go... I'll have to go alone."
Nahemah squints at ornable while he continues. "Here is another thing to note. What happens when the world finds out I am a war monger? That I started a war between two nations, and they discover a group of adventurers hunted me down, then instead of striking me down as normal, joined me on an expedition to go artifact hunting? I die in two months, but you lot will have to live with that on you for as long as you live."
"Im going to be frank with you," Ayame says, crossing her arms. "If you say no to us joining you, i'm shoving you into a trunk until I am rested enough to probe your mind again and again until I get the answers I seek."
Even with Eleanors gaze turning irritated, Ornable responds to Ayame. "And to be frank with you, what I'm doing is no place for people to throw away their reputation and lives! I'm trying to SAVE you!"
Eleanor exhales through her nose, trying to keep a cool head, "Alright Ornable, we're not lettin you go without you tellin us whatever bullshit you're hidin. I'll only ask nicely once more, what else is there to this?" She says sternly.
"I'm afraid the only way you could get the answer you seek is if you knock me out and stick me in a trunk." Ornable says.
"Well you do like stalling." Ragia says. "So living in a trunk for a day should be right up your alley."
Ayame shrugs. "Ok, you will go to sleep, I'll kill your buddies out there, and we will try again in the morning." She says starting to get up.
"Well thats fine." Says Ornable. "They just happened to be traveling by when my cart burned up so..."
"I don't think the merchants are his buddies, unless you mean travel buddies, in either case, I'd feel bad if you killed them." Ragia says.
Eleanor growls. "No-" She says grabbing ornable by his clothing and shoving him against the wall of the cart, shifting into her monstrous form. The inkly black amorphous figure appearing as her claw grabs him by the neck, multiple sharp eyes glaring the merchant down. Her voice distorts slightly, "I don't have the patience to test with a war about to start. Now I've been called much worse things than a war criminal and I can prove it with mroe than just this form. You either fucking talk or you leave a legacy behind as my fucking afternoon snack."
Nahemah jumps back from Eleanors monsterous form, as the magical clothing that Ornable wore suddenly activates, his eyes opened wide in a light bit of fear before he vanishes, his clothing drooping upon Eleanors clawed hand, along with the rope, and the bandages he was wearing. Everything, save for his underware.
Looking at the garments, still feeling pissed off, a small book falls from the back of his shirt, a bit of adhesive sticking it to the shirt itself. Ragia, shocked but curious, picks up the book and begins to rerad it. Eleanor lets out a roar and hops out of the cart, cursing up a storm as her form starts to revert, while Ragia flips through the pages. Inside the notebooks contain lists of trades, bookkeeping, notes on where people and things are, as well as rumors for certain magical objects that could be found, but mostly those items are crossed out in apparent frustration. On the final page of the notebook however, are a list of three phases, two of which are crossed out, the final one, specific, only reads. "Find Relics in Anguish."
Rewards Granted
a bundle of magical rune covered sticks, a gemstone, a locket, a bag of holding type 3 (Teleportative), a large quantity of Incense, a bullet from time immemorial, bandages of soothing pain, Ornables Notebook.
Character(s) interacted with
Ornable Frobisher
