The Freetraders' League - Arkadius Hogg - 13.05.2020
May 20, 2020 1:19:36 GMT
BB and Queen Merla, the Sun-Blessed like this
Post by Deleted on May 20, 2020 1:19:36 GMT
This is a long and rambley pile of text. Listen to it as a podcast instead, why don't you?
Arkadius’ feet touched the ground outside the doors to the Flourished Hook, Bones’ feet landing a few feet away just moments before his. They looked at each other, and Arkadius nodded with a smile, grabbing the door-handle and opening the door for his friend to step in. The moment they entered, it was as if the staff were waiting for their arrival, and they were ushered through to one of the private rooms at the rear, where their anonymous associate was waiting for them. Once the full team had assembled, consisting of Markas, Sheryl, Bones, Ghesh and himself, Arkadius settled into a chair, all the smiles and happiness now evaporated. This was business.
The associate in front of him introduced himself as Himal, and offered the group refreshments. In particular, there was a bottle of special-brand Fire Whiskey on offer, which Himal had advised would be slightly less sweet and more flavourful and impactful than the Fire Whiskey they were used to. Between Ghesh and Arkadius, during and after the meeting that bottle would run dry.
Himal advised that his… secretive employers needed distance for the work that we were to complete. They needed to not be associated with the task or us when it was done. This caused concern to Arkadius, but Sheryl stepped in to help assuage these concerns, making particular note of the involvement of the Vanguard. Arkadius’ concern was that he didn’t know who to trust right now, given the Vanguard had their fingers in everyone’s businesses. Just weeks before, they’d impersonated Girelle Veluss. A high up figure. What’s stopping them posing as an employer and…
“You trust me, don’t you, Arkadius?” Sheryl asked, sincerely. “I trust them, and you can trust my judgement.” This argument alone would usually have won him around, but Arkadius could see her and Markas were trying to not be obvious about something, he just couldn’t put his finger on it. This warrants some further investigation, maybe, he thought to himself. The Fire Whiskey would clear this thought from his mind later on.
The mission was to take out some Inter-dimensional pirates, and the group were given the address of an office to head to early the next morning, and advised they would be plane-shifting to the target. Arkadius immediately offered Sheryl a place to stay at the FfirstGroup office, knowing that he hadn't used his bedroom for months now, given his ability to stay awake. She, of course, gladly accepted the invitation. They then, joined by the others, went drinking and drunkenly caught up. Arkadius barely got the news out to Sheryl about the letter he'd received just that morning.
The morning after, the group met up at the office. They were let in, and greeted by Tsue Pia. She explained that the pirates had last been seen in Shadowfell, and that's where they were heading straight away. The only person in the room who knew of Arkadius' history with the Plane of Dread was Sheryl, and as dread indeed hit his stomach, he looked over in her direction to see whether she had reacted to this, whether she was looking at him. She didn't seem to be though, so he calmed down somewhat. As Tsue's plane shift magic reached it's crescendo, he felt Sheryl's hand squeeze his own, and he couldn't help but react similarly, just to make her aware he was here for her whenever she needed him.
They landed roughly where they needed to be, in Shadowfell, and could see the ship, The Thunderstorm, docked nearby a keep in the far distance. It was raining heavily, almost vertically pelting them. The group estimated it was about a half-days march to the keep, and they set off, the only thing keeping him resolute was the thought that this was nothing like his home. Jornos was... wrong. He must have been. The only similarity was the mist that seemed to cling to the trees in the forest around the town of Fallford. Arkadius shook his head, *Focus on the mission*, he scalded himself mentally.
For some of the others in the group, however, they didn't have this mental resolve to keep them going. Sheryl seemed deeply impacted by the dreary effects of the plane, *Perhaps her strong connection to the planar opposite Feywild is not helping?* Before he could share this thought, Markas stepped in and seemed to fix the issue completely.
Shortly afterwards, Tsue led them to where they were heading, a rock-face in the fog, rising out to greet them. Or keep them away. Tsue let out a calling whistle, which was followed with as much silence as you could have with the rain still pelting down. A few moments later, she let out the same whistle, and the same silence followed. It felt wrong, there should surely have been a reply. Tsue darted out of sight just as an explosion rang in the groups’ ears, as three of the five towers of the keep crashed down suddenly. It was time to act, and the group darted to follow Tsue, now crouching next to a body. Someone who Markas and Sheryl recognised but Arkadius didn’t.
“She’s dead. I...” Tsue looked around at the group, trying to hold back her own panic, “I have to get her out of here. She-”
Sheryl interrupted, but Arkadius wasn’t listening to the words. He was staring at the great ship and the keep above them. Someone had to concentrate, and the others were better placed to deal with the emotional response, he thought. They followed the path onwards, which led to a rope bridge up to the keep. Markas, being light-footed, offered to dart across first, securing the path ahead with rope to make it safer for the others, but this plan was soon abandoned when he was attacked from the shadows. It didn’t take long for the assailants to reveal themselves, and Arkadius peppered them with Eldritch Blasts while everyone else piled in, and soon the shadar-kai attacking them had perished.
The Thunderstorm at that moment unfurled it’s shredded sails. Ghesh cried out, “They’re trying to escape!”, prompting Bones and Arkadius to both leap into the air, wings unfurling as quick as the sails on the ship. Sheryl, Markas and Ghesh followed suit after downing potions of flying, and the group made their way as quick as possible upwards. Their approach was not as stealthy as normal, and a fireball came raining down from atop the ship, Arkadius barely managed to dodge out of the way of the impact, only the very bottom of his long coat being singed slightly in the backblast. Bones was visibly annoyed, and threw back his own fireball, catching the bottom of the ship square-on, ripping a hole into it. Arkadius held back from being too impressed, the fight was far from over. Arkadius and Bones both threw up fireballs together, timing their spells to cause the most impact. Their combined Fireballs decimated the sails, which had started to draw taught, the magic that would grant it the ability to shift across the planes burning away in the flames, barely hampered by the heavy rain. The group all continued flying upwards to the deck, Sheryl performing some fey wonders as she did, her booming voice calling “YOU SHALL NOT LEAVE!”.
The group moved in to attack a battle-weary djinn stationed on the deck, and soon it ended with one more Fireball from Arkadius, the djinn and the ship now hurtling down towards the keep, totally obliterating anybody remaining down there and on-board.
After the ship had crashed into the keep, the group picked through the ruins and found a hidden room. Sheryl had picked up a map, held down to the table by various objects now clattering to the floor. One of which being a red Vanguard mask, that Sheryl was overtly smug about when she picked it up. “Ah-ha!”, she cried out. “I told you the Vanguard were involved, Arkadius!”
He loved it when she was right. He only disliked it moderately when she was as smug as he normally is when she was.
Arkadius’ feet touched the ground outside the doors to the Flourished Hook, Bones’ feet landing a few feet away just moments before his. They looked at each other, and Arkadius nodded with a smile, grabbing the door-handle and opening the door for his friend to step in. The moment they entered, it was as if the staff were waiting for their arrival, and they were ushered through to one of the private rooms at the rear, where their anonymous associate was waiting for them. Once the full team had assembled, consisting of Markas, Sheryl, Bones, Ghesh and himself, Arkadius settled into a chair, all the smiles and happiness now evaporated. This was business.
The associate in front of him introduced himself as Himal, and offered the group refreshments. In particular, there was a bottle of special-brand Fire Whiskey on offer, which Himal had advised would be slightly less sweet and more flavourful and impactful than the Fire Whiskey they were used to. Between Ghesh and Arkadius, during and after the meeting that bottle would run dry.
Himal advised that his… secretive employers needed distance for the work that we were to complete. They needed to not be associated with the task or us when it was done. This caused concern to Arkadius, but Sheryl stepped in to help assuage these concerns, making particular note of the involvement of the Vanguard. Arkadius’ concern was that he didn’t know who to trust right now, given the Vanguard had their fingers in everyone’s businesses. Just weeks before, they’d impersonated Girelle Veluss. A high up figure. What’s stopping them posing as an employer and…
“You trust me, don’t you, Arkadius?” Sheryl asked, sincerely. “I trust them, and you can trust my judgement.” This argument alone would usually have won him around, but Arkadius could see her and Markas were trying to not be obvious about something, he just couldn’t put his finger on it. This warrants some further investigation, maybe, he thought to himself. The Fire Whiskey would clear this thought from his mind later on.
The mission was to take out some Inter-dimensional pirates, and the group were given the address of an office to head to early the next morning, and advised they would be plane-shifting to the target. Arkadius immediately offered Sheryl a place to stay at the FfirstGroup office, knowing that he hadn't used his bedroom for months now, given his ability to stay awake. She, of course, gladly accepted the invitation. They then, joined by the others, went drinking and drunkenly caught up. Arkadius barely got the news out to Sheryl about the letter he'd received just that morning.
The morning after, the group met up at the office. They were let in, and greeted by Tsue Pia. She explained that the pirates had last been seen in Shadowfell, and that's where they were heading straight away. The only person in the room who knew of Arkadius' history with the Plane of Dread was Sheryl, and as dread indeed hit his stomach, he looked over in her direction to see whether she had reacted to this, whether she was looking at him. She didn't seem to be though, so he calmed down somewhat. As Tsue's plane shift magic reached it's crescendo, he felt Sheryl's hand squeeze his own, and he couldn't help but react similarly, just to make her aware he was here for her whenever she needed him.
They landed roughly where they needed to be, in Shadowfell, and could see the ship, The Thunderstorm, docked nearby a keep in the far distance. It was raining heavily, almost vertically pelting them. The group estimated it was about a half-days march to the keep, and they set off, the only thing keeping him resolute was the thought that this was nothing like his home. Jornos was... wrong. He must have been. The only similarity was the mist that seemed to cling to the trees in the forest around the town of Fallford. Arkadius shook his head, *Focus on the mission*, he scalded himself mentally.
For some of the others in the group, however, they didn't have this mental resolve to keep them going. Sheryl seemed deeply impacted by the dreary effects of the plane, *Perhaps her strong connection to the planar opposite Feywild is not helping?* Before he could share this thought, Markas stepped in and seemed to fix the issue completely.
Shortly afterwards, Tsue led them to where they were heading, a rock-face in the fog, rising out to greet them. Or keep them away. Tsue let out a calling whistle, which was followed with as much silence as you could have with the rain still pelting down. A few moments later, she let out the same whistle, and the same silence followed. It felt wrong, there should surely have been a reply. Tsue darted out of sight just as an explosion rang in the groups’ ears, as three of the five towers of the keep crashed down suddenly. It was time to act, and the group darted to follow Tsue, now crouching next to a body. Someone who Markas and Sheryl recognised but Arkadius didn’t.
“She’s dead. I...” Tsue looked around at the group, trying to hold back her own panic, “I have to get her out of here. She-”
Sheryl interrupted, but Arkadius wasn’t listening to the words. He was staring at the great ship and the keep above them. Someone had to concentrate, and the others were better placed to deal with the emotional response, he thought. They followed the path onwards, which led to a rope bridge up to the keep. Markas, being light-footed, offered to dart across first, securing the path ahead with rope to make it safer for the others, but this plan was soon abandoned when he was attacked from the shadows. It didn’t take long for the assailants to reveal themselves, and Arkadius peppered them with Eldritch Blasts while everyone else piled in, and soon the shadar-kai attacking them had perished.
The Thunderstorm at that moment unfurled it’s shredded sails. Ghesh cried out, “They’re trying to escape!”, prompting Bones and Arkadius to both leap into the air, wings unfurling as quick as the sails on the ship. Sheryl, Markas and Ghesh followed suit after downing potions of flying, and the group made their way as quick as possible upwards. Their approach was not as stealthy as normal, and a fireball came raining down from atop the ship, Arkadius barely managed to dodge out of the way of the impact, only the very bottom of his long coat being singed slightly in the backblast. Bones was visibly annoyed, and threw back his own fireball, catching the bottom of the ship square-on, ripping a hole into it. Arkadius held back from being too impressed, the fight was far from over. Arkadius and Bones both threw up fireballs together, timing their spells to cause the most impact. Their combined Fireballs decimated the sails, which had started to draw taught, the magic that would grant it the ability to shift across the planes burning away in the flames, barely hampered by the heavy rain. The group all continued flying upwards to the deck, Sheryl performing some fey wonders as she did, her booming voice calling “YOU SHALL NOT LEAVE!”.
The group moved in to attack a battle-weary djinn stationed on the deck, and soon it ended with one more Fireball from Arkadius, the djinn and the ship now hurtling down towards the keep, totally obliterating anybody remaining down there and on-board.
After the ship had crashed into the keep, the group picked through the ruins and found a hidden room. Sheryl had picked up a map, held down to the table by various objects now clattering to the floor. One of which being a red Vanguard mask, that Sheryl was overtly smug about when she picked it up. “Ah-ha!”, she cried out. “I told you the Vanguard were involved, Arkadius!”
He loved it when she was right. He only disliked it moderately when she was as smug as he normally is when she was.
