[Numenera] The Nightmare Switch

[Krugar Rockbiter]

Raiche keyed into Korch's embarrassment and immediately capitalized on it. She started clapping and whistling, then called out, "Hey, a fight AND a show! This is the best boat EVER!"

,,

The cat-calling caused Korch's actions to speed up and his color went beet-red from the neck up. He grumbled out a begrudging, "I am to please." under his breath as he finished yanking on his pants.

,,

Arisi giggled at Raiche's antics, her eyes bright and following Korch's movements as he put himself in drier clothes and tended to the wounded splash-bird.

,,

Splash-bird-fish, she amended mentally, as the captain had said they could swim too. That seemed a little unfair, to fly and swim, but then Arisi hadn't made the rules of the splash-bird-fish. Just the name.

,,

She found her own bags and rummaged through for Stitch, pulling out the small disk-shaped device. While Korch soothed the splash-bird on the deck, Arisi ran Stitch over his sodden clothes; the small rips and tears and bits of blood disappeared under the white glow Stitch gave off. It was one of her favorite little friends, very useful if not so powerful like others could be and it hummed so happily when it had work to do.

,,

"Are you gonna keep it as a pet?" she asked Korch curiously from crouching over his clothes.

,,

Note

'Stitch' is just one of the numenera Arisi uses for her "hedge magic", unless I'm misunderstanding how that goes and she somehow actually does mystical magic-y stuff with that Esoterie.

Jim, please correct me if I have misunderstood.

,,

Korch silently marveled at Arisi's numenera as it repaired his clothing, wishing he had such a brilliant creature. "No...no, such creatures do not often let themselves be tamed in such a way. I merely hope to repay my debt of damage so that it may live its life as it was destined."

,,

He walked back near the struggling creature that was now nibbling at the piece of jerky, deciding if it was edible. His voice dropped to barely a whisper as he squatted down near it, "Those that become close to me would only find themselves disappointed."

,,

Korch held out his hand which had the larger piece of meat in it and waited to see if the prism bird had decided on the easy way or the hard way.

[Alice Chalk]

"Well fought and hard won, my friends." Alice diligently cleaned her sword before resheathing it. "But Deymish has the right of it! I'll check to see if any of our cargo is setting scent to the wind, lest we have more feathered freeloaders about our booty." She caught Korch's eye. "The other kind, that is."

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Alice doffed her hat, bowed, and descended into the hold.

[SalmonMax]

"I love how she talks," Raiche said jovially as she came over to Arisi and peered curiously down at what her weird little numenera was doing. "So dramatic. Even normal things sound kind of...grandiose when she says them."

,,

She looks over at Korch and raised an eyebrow. "Think you can tame it?"

[jameson (ST)]

Below, in the cramped hold, the crates appeared secure, despite a thorough search Alice found no signs of breakage, damage, leakage, or even so much as a hint of residue of jili berry left over from the clave. Whatever had driven the birds to attack them it was not an over abundance of jili berry aroma. Meanwhile on deck, the bird was looking at the dried meat with apparent disdain, and cawing at Korch. "They don't eat meat." Korch looked up at Heymish, "Dunno what gave you that idea, but they do be vegetarians. You'd have better luck with a pommo, check the locker off to port, I bought some for the trip."

[SalmonMax]

Raiche gave the salty sea dog captain a puzzled look.

,,

"But...if they don't eat meat, then why did they attack us?"

[Krugar Rockbiter]

"... about our booty." She caught Korch's eye. "The other kind, that is."

Alice doffed her hat, bowed, and descended into the hold.

,,

Korch's flush re-flared at the innuendo but he was too embarrassed to think of a witty retort before Alice had descended into the hold.

"I love how she talks," Raiche said jovially as she came over to Arisi and peered curiously down at what her weird little numenera was doing. "So dramatic. Even normal things sound kind of...grandiose when she says them."

She looks over at Korch and raised an eyebrow. "Think you can tame it?"

,,

"I am not sure or that..." Korch cut himself off as Deymish spoke up.

Meanwhile on deck, the bird was looking at the dried meat with apparent disdain, and cawing at Korch. "They don't eat meat." Korch looked up at Heymish, "Dunno what gave you that idea, but they do be vegetarians. You'd have better luck with a pommo, check the locker off to port, I bought some for the trip."

"Well, that certainly explains the look of disdain it offers me." Korch said, ripping a chunk of meat off and beginning the long process of making it edible. Korch made his way to the port locker Deymish referred to. He retrieved one of the pommo and split it in half as he approached the avian. The creature's eyes immediately locked on the fruit and it was readily apparent that it was far more interested in what Korch was now offering. Korch cautiously crouched and held out half the fruit, not wanting to be stabbed or sliced by the over-eager thing.

,,

It went for the fruit as soon as it was near, lunging the last bit of distance and snatching it from Korch's hand. He couldn't help but jump in startlement, but Korch quickly controlled his nerves and bent to examine the creature's wound as it was preoccupied. The bleeding had stopped, but the tears in the membrane were significant enough to need stitching or the thing was not likely to fly again.

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Korch noticed Arisi's little creature and an idea crossed his mind, "Does your little pet have the power to work on wounds as well? Or does the powers it have only extend to things that no longer live?"

[Alice Chalk]

Alice emerged from the hold, giving her eyes a moment to adjust.

,,

"Not a stray drib or drop, not a split barrel nor a rotted stopper be. If they were after our jili berries they must be able to smell through solid wood... unless, of course, any of us have been snacking. Not I, of course. Not my favorite dessert."

[z011]

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It went for the fruit as soon as it was near, lunging the last bit of distance and snatching it from Korch's hand. He couldn't help but jump in startlement, but Korch quickly controlled his nerves and bent to examine the creature's wound as it was preoccupied. The bleeding had stopped, but the tears in the membrane were significant enough to need stitching or the thing was not likely to fly again.

,,

Korch noticed Arisi's little creature and an idea crossed his mind, "Does your little pet have the power to work on wounds as well? Or does the powers it have only extend to things that no longer live?"

,,

Arisi shook her head, frowning in apology. "Stich can help with little things, simple things, but healing is too complicated for us." She finished working on his clothes and went to rummage in her sack to see if she had a friend that could help; her expression was downcast when she came back and peered down at the splash-bird-fish. She glanced up a Korch, "Maybe if I hold it, you can sew up it's wing-flipper? We could find somewhere to keep it until it can fly or swim again. Or maybe it'll want to stay?"

[Krugar Rockbiter]

"The danger is too great to allow such a thing. The wild creature cannot be trusted to risk such handling." Korch said, "If needs come to it, I shall club it and stitch it while it slumbers. Though I feel with the reaction it had to the fruit and that the brazenness has left with its brothers, it may yet find us of service without violence. Should the creature choose to stay, I would not argue, however I would not leash it to servitude."

,,

The bowman offered the other half of the pommo with one hand while also reaching with his free hand to touch it. "Deymish, you are familiar with these creatures. By what name are they known?"

[jameson (ST)]

The boatman shrugged, "Depending on the town you be finding yourself in they do be called by many names. I have heard them called, rakk, llooma, and dactyls." He shrugged again, "Names matter not, I'd never ask after them normally, their flesh tastes horribly to all but the most bereaved of sustenance." Looking to Alice he shook his head, "With no leaks to be found , nor nest to defend, I can't imagine what would drive a flight of rakk to behave that way. Perhaps whatever has been acting on the people on Redstone has extended unto the animals of the area as well. We'd best be cautious as we make the final leagues."

[Alice Chalk]

"Perhaps these nightmares you spoke of beset the birds instead of us! Ha. The thought drives one to giddyness. What would a bird dream of? A bottomless can of worms, mayhaps. An endless sky. Who'd to know. But fear not, we shall watch the skies with vigilance."

[SalmonMax]

"Water too," Raiche suggests. "Might not just be birds. Are there any big dangerous fish in these waters?"

[Krugar Rockbiter]

The boatman shrugged, "Depending on the town you be finding yourself in they do be called by many names. I have heard them called, rakk, llooma, and dactyls." He shrugged again, "Names matter not, I'd never ask after them normally, their flesh tastes horribly to all but the most bereaved of sustenance." Looking to Alice he shook his head, "With no leaks to be found , nor nest to defend, I can't imagine what would drive a flight of rakk to behave that way. Perhaps whatever has been acting on the people on Redstone has extended unto the animals of the area as well. We'd best be cautious as we make the final leagues."

"Llooma...I have heard that name, though not intimately familiar with it. I agree that caution is best. Perhaps we have been relaxed in our journey thus far and not realized the potential dangers." Korch said, gently caressing the llooma as it devoured the second half of the pommo. "I will assist as soon as my debt is repaid to this one."

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Korch retreated slowly to his pack and retrieved his stitching kit. He snatched another pommo and quickly washed his hands and the needle in some water before setting about to his task on the llooma.

[jameson (ST)]

In short order Korch had managed to stick the creature's wing to an acceptable level, enough that the creature would heal with time. They placed it into the water as the boat continued to cut the waves and make toward Redstone. "There now," Deymish said, "Yer good deed be done, an we do be only half a day from Redstone by my reckoning." The large man pointed to an outcropping, like a rib of stone that ran up the walls of the canal on either side and arced upward and over, very nearly meeting overhead. "That formation do be one of the few like it in all Seshar, so I do be sure of my words."

He nodded to Alice, "If you like you can rest with the lot of 'em an I'll wake you to take the final distance to Redstone at the middle night. Sun'll be down soon an the dusk of the desert will have waned soon thereafter. After all this excitement some rest'll be warranted." Deymish smiled wanly. "An if these jili berries do no work rest will be hard to come by in Redstone," he added almost as an afterthought.

[Alice Chalk]

"Resting sounds positively splendid and I shall tackle it with all the seriousness such a weighty activity demands." She tipped her hat, and left for her quarters.

[SalmonMax]

Raiche came over to the captain and looked up as the immense rock formation passed by overhead and to the sides.

,,

"So...anything you need help with?" she asked with a shrug. "I could use something to keep busy."

[Krugar Rockbiter]

Korch took Deymish's suggestion to heart, reinforced with Raiche's apparent volunteer to keep a look-out. His head hurt and the cold of the water had sapped much of his energy. He felt he could use a nice nap wrapped up in a blanket in the sun to wash away the pain.

,,

He announced to no one in general as he lay down, "Yell if you need me, I have grown a habit of sleeping more to the waking world than of lands far off in dream."

[z011]

Arisi finished mending Korch's clothes and then watched the group disperse. She made her way back to the spot between several crates on-deck she'd picked out early, made a small nest of her blankets in the tight space, and promptly curled up, laid her pack on top of her, and fell asleep.

[jameson (ST)]

For several hours all seemed to go well. The water quietly lapped against the hull, lulling half of the crew to sleep. Deymish manned the tiller, leaning against the raised stern. Raiche sat atop a pile of boxes forward of the mast, peering into the darkness. The walls of the canyon-like canals slide by in the darkness, many looking like nothing more than the cut edges of stone and earth that they were, others embellished by figures, symbols, and features long since worn away, and now only vague hints of past civilizations from the prior worlds. After a time the moon, bright an luminous, half full, rose above the canal walls, shining into the shadow within and illuminating the water in a silvery shimmer.

,,

The peaceful night was broken shortly before midnight as Alice, Arisi, and Korch all awoke screaming, all at very nearly the same moment, from horrific dreams. Dreams so alien that they were indistinguishable from nightmares. Screaming awake their echoed cries reverberated within the canal, bouncing along the canyon walls and returning as faint and diminished haunted cries in the night. "Bloody hell, what be that for? Is everything all sorted?" Deymish loudly asked from the rear of the ship.

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OOC stuff

Alice, Korch, and Arisi need to make Intellect Defense rolls. Difficulty 5 (TN 15).

Failure means you lose 5 intellect pool, success means you lose only 1.

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Each of you is woken by a dream that is a nightmare due to its alien nature and impossibility to understand.

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I'll leave it to each of you to describe your dream during the next round of RP (each person's dream is vaguely similar to the others' but is also drastically different due to each person's perceptions). Describe the dream as though you are looking through someone else’s eyes, and those eyes are not human. You are looking at creatures and objects that not only are unknown, but that do not seem to obey any rules you understand regarding movement or interaction with the world.

[Krugar Rockbiter]

Korch jumped to his feet, his crossbow held tightly in his grasp. Sweat dripped down his brow and threatened to run into his maddened eyes. Before reality could take a firm grasp, the disturbed man's finger had tightened over the trigger and let loose a bolt at an errant shadow that embedded itself into the railing near where Arisi was dealing with her own demons.

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Korch's eyes widened in horror as the realization of his actions hit him. Shivering, his words came forth as a mumble, "Apologies. Hand leaps before thought." He stumbled back and forth in place as the ship listed slightly then sat down again quickly. His eyes were wide with confusion and horror as he tried to process all that he had just experienced. Unlike his normal voyages in the lands of slumber, this was not fading. It was lingering, festering.

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Numbers

Welcome! You have entered [Lobby] at 9:31 am
[Lobby]: Forge has entered at 9:31 am
/backtime 5
[Forge] 9:31 am: spending effort to drop to Diff 3
Forge *rolls* 1d20: 3: 3
[Forge] 9:31 am: well, that helped

[Alice Chalk]

OOC

[Mike] 5:09 pm: Okay then...
Mike *rolls* 1d20: 4: 4
[salmonMax] 5:09 pm: ...what happens if you run out of Intellect?
[Mike] 5:09 pm: That's a nope.

,,

Alice didn't leap out of her hammock so much as get so tangled up in it that in her thrashing, it pulled free and sent her rolling.

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When she emerged from the netting, she was not the picture of grace that she typically wore, but a disheveled, unsettled mess. She took her hat in shaking hands and smoothed out her hair. Then she took a few deep breaths.

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"Like drowning," is all she said, thinking of the pressure of - it wasn't an ocean. Or if it was, it was no ocean she'd ever set sail on. She saw herself dwindling to a point in inky, warm blackness that numbed her as she fell, her breather working perfectly well and keeping her alive enough to suffer.

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She shook her head. "I'll not dismiss such tales so lightly again, I imagine."

[SalmonMax]

Raiche heard the screams and quick as a wink was on her feet. She scooped up her spear from where she'd left it by the box her feet had been propped on, and hefted it as she looked around for whatever Korch had seen that provoked him. But then she heard another cry from below deck where Alice was bunking.

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"Korch!" she demanded, "What's wrong? Is it..." Raiche blinked at the captain and relaxed a little. She looked around for where Arisi was. "They must be some really bad dreams then," she said, trying to keep it light...but there was definitely some tension as she went to the side of her charge. "Should I wake her up?"

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Just then Arisi woke up on her own with a terrified shriek and clutching at the blanket she was wrapped in. Raiche quickly wrapped the smaller woman in a hug and rocked her gently to and fro as Arisi clung to her and buried her face in her shoulder.

[jameson (ST)]

Deymish shifted from foot to foot, "Everybody ok?" He was, to an extent, stuck at his spot by the rudder. "If ya do be having bizarre nightmares, it be as I feared. Whatever is afflicting Redstone continues, and by the sounds of it you do be suffering." He tilted his ear to catch the activity in the cramped space below deck.

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Finally he sighed and tied off the rudder. Deymish's bare feet slapped against the deck planks as he made his way forward, "Hey! Everybody ok down there? We're only a few hours out of Redstone, hopefully the Aeon priests can cure this ... whatever it do be, if ya be having the nightmares." The large man ran his hand worriedly through his untamed hair, "Looks like I won't be sleeping soon either."

[Alice Chalk]

"Whatever hardships and whichever travails await, we shall meet them most assuredly as we have met all others in the past: with stiff chins, clear minds and able sword-arms." Alice sounded a bit like she was talking herself up as much as everyone else.

[Krugar Rockbiter]

"Korch!" she demanded, "What's wrong? Is it..." Raiche blinked at the captain and relaxed a little. She looked around for where Arisi was. "They must be some really bad dreams then," she said, trying to keep it light...but there was definitely some tension as she went to the side of her charge. "Should I wake her up?"

Deymish shifted from foot to foot, "Everybody ok?" He was, to an extent, stuck at his spot by the rudder. "If ya do be having bizarre nightmares, it be as I feared. Whatever is afflicting Redstone continues, and by the sounds of it you do be suffering." He tilted his ear to catch the activity in the cramped space below deck.

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Finally he sighed and tied off the rudder. Deymish's bare feet slapped against the deck planks as he made his way forward, "Hey! Everybody ok down there? We're only a few hours out of Redstone, hopefully the Aeon priests can cure this ... whatever it do be, if ya be having the nightmares." The large man ran his hand worriedly through his untamed hair, "Looks like I won't be sleeping soon either."

"There are not words to describe what I witnessed." Korch says, his eyes lost in remembrance. "If this is what those of Redstone must endure as exhaustion takes them, then our mission is truly of import."

"It was dark, yet visions still accosted me. There were words that I did not understand, yet the meanings penetrated. Fear grips the soul with what will be taken to my grave."

[SalmonMax]

"That doesn't sound so bad," Raiche says. She glances down at Arisi and adds, "But I'm obviously missing something in saying that."

[jameson (ST)]

"Aye, an' a jiraskar don't sound so bad 'til you find yerself runnin' fer your life from five tonnes of hungry lizard monster. Trust me when I say that tha people of Redstone were literally scared sleepless." Deymish was leaning down into the cramped hold, "Ya should all come up to deck, the fresh air'll help ya stay awake. We're only a few hours from Redstone anyway." He moved away, allowing the pale moonlight to filter back into the space. The big man's footfalls traced his progress back to the stern as he once more took up position at the rudder.

[Alice Chalk]

Alice nodded, reasserting her confidence and her composure. She ably climbed up the crow's nest to act as spotter.

[z011]

OOC

Sorry for the *poof* on you guys. Had some of the worst sick days of my life the past ten days or so. But I am feeling better now, so that's good.

Onward with the gamingness! ,,

Current Pools:

Might 9

Speed 11

Intellect 11

,,

Arisi clung to Rachel, desperate to feel and hear again. Her own nightmare had been one of utter absence - of sound, of touch, of everything. She had been alone in the nothingness, no numenera song humming in her head, none of the thousands of little sounds and sights and touches that told you, even when you were sleeping, that the world was there and you were there with it. In her dream even her own body had not been there, only the knowningness enough to be horrified at the lack of everything. She hadn't even been able to scream - not until she was already partly awake. She wanted to ask Alice to sing again and to wander around, touching everyone to prove to herself that they were really there. That she was really there again. But her legs wouldn't obey her yet and she didn't want to pull away from Rachel just in case.

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So she clung to the other woman, tears slipping down her cheeks and wetting Rachel's shirt, making soft, terrified noises into her shoulder. Anything more coherent would have to wait a few minutes until Arisi was convinced Rachel wouldn't disappear into the nothingness if she let go of her.

[jameson (ST)]

... several hours later ...

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The waves lapped softly against the hull of Deymish's ship, as it sliced through the waters of the canal. The sound was soothing, helping Arisi and the others to recover somewhat from their ordeal in the night. Above Alice suddenly shouted, "Ho there! Land ahead!" and began to clamber down from the upper spar.

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Redstone's docks jutted out in the water like fingers grasping at reeds. The village itself was cut from the bedrock, sloping upward from the water and disappearing beyond sight from the water. Unlike Tirrum, Redstone's waterfront was only twenty feet above the water level, the remainder of the canal walls had been sliced away, harvested to form the building blocks of the oldest part of town, shaping warehouses and inns and storefronts and homes. Farther back the buildings changed from the pale tan rock of the canal to a deep red, the signature red stone that the town was known for quarrying was integral to the structures farther up the hill.

,,

Deymish, with Alice's help, guided the vessel to one of the piers as expertly as one would expect of a man who made his living at waterborne trade. From the piers the group could look up and see the slope cut into the bedrock, the buildings built from the excised stone acting like stair-steps toward the plateau above. At the highest point, several hundred feet back from the water a large column rose above the structures around it, a red spike into the azure sky. "That there is the Clave's tower," Deymish noted, pointing toward the nearly fifty foot spire .

[Alice Chalk]

"As assuredly phallic as a sword's tip entering a tunnel whilst eating sausage." Alice nodded. "I shall surmise that that is the most important building for the biggest of big wigs here?"

[SalmonMax]

Raiche shielded her eyes with her hand and squinted up at the tower. "Claves, huh?" she repeated to herself. "Clave a title? Or is it short for something...? Seems like we oughtta start off by finding out what they already know about this."

,,

She stifles a yawn. "Quicker we can get it sorted out, quicker we can grab some shuteye."

[jameson (ST)]

As he tied the ship up Deymish tried to explain. "Tha clave do be a thing. It's what the Aeon priests call their little group here. Everywhere that I know actually. Guess it;s like a flock of birds, a clave of priests, right?" Deymish chuckled a moment. "At any rate, we should get this cargo up there. As you said Raiche the sooner we do the sooner this'll all be over." He walked over to the cargo and began picking up the small crates, thrusting them into the arms of whomever was nearest. "OK, let's go get paid!" he said cheerily as he made his way up the dock.

,,

The walk up to the clave's tower was uneventful. The town itself was in a stupor, the people looked exhausted, and many had the bleary or glassy eyed stares of those who had not slept in days, or longer. Most of the townsfolk barely registered the strangers, and those who did seemed inclined to do little save nod or wave halfheartedly at Deymish. With little preamble the procession of crate bearers arrived at the wall encircling the tower. Breached by a single gate and rising a dozen or so feet high the wall ensured the privacy of the clave and the safety of the town.

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"Ho there," a woman clad in armor and holding a polearm said. She stood by the gate and, though she appeared tired, she also appeared to be ready enough to ensure that anybody seeking to pass through the gate, passed by her first.

[Krugar Rockbiter]

Korch's mind was numb. It had kept him quiet and sullen the rest of the trip. It had not taken him long to shrug off most of the effects of the nightmares, however the disturbing imagery was lingering and he could not stop dwelling on what he had witnessed. Yes, witnessed. Korch didn't believe that what he saw had been a creation of his own mind, but more that he had been intruding on the thoughts of something...else. There seemed no other logical explanation and this thought process would explain the maleficence that Redstone seemed under. The more he had gone down this thought process, the more he believed that the berries would bring no relief. There was an outside force invading the thoughts of man. Bringing battle through attrition, and winning.

,,

When the self-induced logic train finally came to a stop, the bowman found himself carrying a crate and before a guardsman, or guardswoman.

,,

So many women of late.

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"Greetings. We come to fulfill promises and contracts of Captain Deymish and seek entrance to the grounds beyond the wall which you steadfastly patrol." Korch said, setting down his crate and taking a step beyond the others. "Hope has been brought to your threshold. Will you let us pass?"

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Recovery

[Carver] 12:38 pm: Hey, Forge.

Forge *rolls* 1d6: 6+1: 7

[Jeremy] 12:38 pm: Hey

[Forge] 12:38 pm: Heya

[Alice Chalk]

"Greetings! We bear good tidings and even greater spoils. If you inquire as to whether we be friend or foe, set your mind at ease, for we be friend." Alice nodded, a little frustrated that she could not doff her hat with her arms full.

[SalmonMax]

Raiche, her arms both loaded with crates she scarcely seemed to feel the weight of, nodded amiably at the guardswoman.

,,

"Hey," she greeted. "Like they said. Stuff from Captain Deymish. Uh, berries mostly, I think."

[jameson (ST)]

Deymish merely peeked around the stack of crates he carried and nodded to the guards-woman. There was little to add, Korch and the others had covered the situation well enough. For her part the guard merely stared at the group and blinked. Her eyes were rimmed in red and it was clear that she was as sleep deprived as the rest of the town. After a moment she seemed to realize she wasn't alone and said, "What?"

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"Hataniah, it's me Deymish. I have the jili berries that the priests wanted."

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"Oh. Umm... " Hataniah suddenly yawned, "Umm, the priests requested not to be disturbed until they told me otherwise."

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"But we be here to help," Deymish protested. "Cannot ye tell them so? I'm sure they'll not mind the interruption."

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Hataniah blinked wearily. "Please come by tomorrow. Perhaps the priests will be ready to see you then." She yawned once more as though for emphasis.

[z011]

Arisi had to put her crate down. She was only carrying one, while most of the rest of them where carrying two, but it was so heavy. "You're tired," she declared to the guard. "And we all just had...nightmares. It was awful. We don't want to have more nightmares. I doubt you do either. Or the priests. The jili berries are supposed to help. The priests asked for them. You should check and make sure they don't need them for what they're trying to do right now. They knew we were coming. Well, the Daymish was coming, and we came with him."

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She wasn't being imperious, or even very forceful, just pointing out what she saw as true and trying to get Hataniah to see it as true, too. The last thing Arisi wanted to do was accidentally (or from exhaustion) fall asleep anywhere in or near Redstone again until the nightmares were banished. She blinked owlishly at the guard, waiting for her response.

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Coercion Roll

Per her character sheet, persuasion/coercion type rolls are one level more difficult for her. I'll spend 3 Intellect points to reduce the difficulty by two levels (5 pts for two levels minus her Edge of 2). She has no relevant skills. ,,

[Malachite] 5:13 pm: Color test.

Malachite *rolls* 1d20: 19: 19

[Alice Chalk]

"I will add, with all the honesty that I can muster, that even when beset with these nightmares ourselves, not a drop of jiji juice did we imbibe, for we saved all of it for the priests, as was the condition of our job. A long way we have sailed. Likewise, a long time they have waited. Surely this is a priority and their gods shall understand?"

[jameson (ST)]

Hataniah blinked and nodded, seeming to agree with Arisi, "OK. One moment." She turned and waved a hand over a section of the wall, revealing a panel built into the stone. Pressing a small glowing button she spoke aloud, "Pardon the intrusion, but Deymish has returned with the jili berries you requested. Shall I allow them in?" She waited as only silence responded from the panel.

,,

After a few moments she release the button and closed the panel with another wave of her hand. "They must be too busy. You will have to come back tomorrow. I am sorry." Hataniah hung her head, "Truly, I had hoped they would see you, I am so very tired."