Sticks and Stones - Celina Zabinski - 22/06/21
Jun 23, 2021 0:16:57 GMT
Merla, the Daughter of Summer, Toby (DM), and 1 more like this
Post by Celina Zabinski on Jun 23, 2021 0:16:57 GMT
Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones
…. but turning into stone may last forever?
Narrated by Celina Zabinski
It all started with a note:
"Well, it’s taken some time but I finally have the location of the third dig site. I’ve made a preliminary survey, and it all seems to be in order - far less dramatic than the last few times, and there are some absolutely gorgeous statues outside this one. Meet me at the Ettin Dragon. Remuneration on retrieval of the item, as usual.
Eloise Danforth,
Daring Academy"
I was after having had a successful time in Daring Heights last week so decided to stay on a bit longer. I mean the place isn’t soooo bad once you get used to it. I found the note from Eloise and thought this might be a quick and easy job before I head back to Port Ffirst. So off I went that morning to meet Eloise at the Ettin Dragon, a local tavern. As I get there I spot Varga immediately. She’s having an intense conversation about an eel and chocolate cake… to be honest it was confusing. She does appear to have some type of grey creature on her shoulder. It’s small looks like a rabbit but it doesn’t have the ears, looks like a large rat but it’s different. Never seen this creature before but Varga doesn’t seem to mind it. I decide I need a drink immediately and then I would listen in on Varga’s story. I mean anytime is drink o’clock and booze makes things better. Also there was someone already drinking a bottle of wine. It seemed super rude not to join in. So I quickly went to the bar and asked for a bottle of wine. I decided to haggle for a better price with the kobold bartender. She seemed to recognize my business manner and agreed to give me a bottle of wine for 1.5 silver. I mean what a great deal there? I take my bottle of wine happily and take a big swig out of the top of it, who needs a glass. AM I RIGHT? Ha and decide to go back and listen to the end of Varga’s conversation. As I am listening I notice the rest of the people in the room. I spot Ivan and Kelne who I’ve met on many occasions. But I also spot someone who I hadn't met before who I learn is called Viereari but goes by Vi. They appear to be a drow.
Next thing I know I also spot Oziah walking in the door, she spotted me and immediately. She sighs and says “Don’t you have a shop to run?” and then makes her way into the room to talk to other people. I decide to smile at her comment and take a drink out of my bottle. I decide to look at the person also drinking a bottle of wine in the room and notice she’s in her middle age, she has ink stains on her sleeves and… oh my she’s wearing SENSIBLE SHOES. Hah wow! As we all gather around her and she begins to tell us the mission. She wants us all to go escort her to a place where she can examine some statues. She starts telling us about how some shark people died. Yada yada yada. If I am honest, I am not really paying attention here. I am listening out for the part about how much she’s going to offer. Oziah says as it’s dangerous we need at least 120 gold to complete. I stay silent as I believe that’s the best this woman is going to be able to offer us. I don't think I need to step in here. Eloise says she is going to join us and we all get ready to leave. Varga decides to leave her strange creature with the kobold bartender who looks completely confused. Is this a new pet Varga has? Interesting… I must ask Varga about it another time.
We all leave the bar and head out passing some carts along the way that have some trading company logo. We also pass a bright tent that appears to be like a circus. We all spot some figures practicing under the watch eye of a young gentleman who glares at us as we walk by but says nothing. What a strange man! I nearly feel like using my mage hand to slap him in the face… but... maybe I won’t this time. Another time… yes!
We all finally get to the edge of the forest and spot that the land looks different. The patch we can see looks blighted. The grass looks dead. As we get nearer we can see a figure in the tree line. All of us can see it's a Firbolg. She is wearing fur and leather. She appears to be pulling up the sick plants with her garden troll. Varga sees this and immediately pulls out her axes to fight. After our last encounter with the Firbolg I am not surprised. However this Firbolg appears slightly different and Varga doesn’t attack the woman as we pass by. We continue on a well-trodden path.
It’s around lunchtime and Eloise sees a smaller trail. She appears to know where she’s going and leads the way. She leads us all down a path. What appears to be odd is that the further we keep walking on this path the quieter everything seems to get. The wind doesn’t appear to be stirring the tops of the trees, there’s no birds singing, there’s no nattering of small creatures or buzzing of insects. It’s all very odd. Then out of nowhere something nearly falls on Kelne. She quickly dodges out of the way and finds it’s a squirrel. But it’s entirely made of stone. Odd.... Then from out from behind us appears a woman standing around 9 feet tall. She whistles a tune and some blossoms form and change into an apple. This woman then takes a bites and stares at us. I immediately have to know how this woman makes these apples appear out of thin air. I mean what an amazing thing to have on tap. Definitely something valuable for my shop. I introduce myself and ask her if she would be able to tell me how to do what she just did with the apples. She appears to be slightly nervous as Ivan has taken out his axes ready to fight this woman. Ivan is ready to chop this woman in half, you can see it in his eyes. Good reliable Ivan. But not now as I need to know her secret. I attempt to ask her again how she gets her apples to form out of thin air and she just says it’s easy all you have to do is talk nice to it. Nice… Nice… how on earth do I talk nice to some freakin plant? This woman then turns her attention to the rest of the group and mentions that we’re all brave going into the wilds and old places. I have no clue what she means by that but we’re on a quest. I mean it’s kinda what we do… we're always brave. Next thing I know she hands me an apple from her hand and she just disappears into one of the trees. I have no clue where she went but she’s completely gone now.
Eloise continues to lead the way forward. As I’m walking I am shouting at the apples to duplicate but it’s not working. I mean it has to be easy... it looked easy. I know I can do this. Ivan comes besides me and suggests I use axes to scare the apple into doing what I want. I think to myself could this work! I mean the woman did say we has to talk nice to it. Threatening with an axe could be a nice thing maybe… So I decide to go with Ivan’s advice and I spend the next few moments trying to get the apple to duplicate with my daggers. However all of my attempts fail and I can't get the apples to do anything magical. Next, Varga comes up to Ivan and starts discussing battle etiquette. They get into a lively debate where Ivan is for magic and Varga isn’t convinced. In the end Varga accepts that big books can be useful to hit your enemies on the head. I love listening to Varga and Ivan. They need to debate things more it’s very entertaining.
We keep walking and come across a glade. There’s all types of statues around in this place. There’s quite a lot smashed in. But the ones that seem to be intact have a look of fear and horror on their faces. I decide to move around slowly and look at a few thing but mostly I am there just watching what's going on with the rest of the group and enjoying my bottle of wine. Eloise is clearly quite drunk and Ivan slaps her bottle of wine out of her hand. She doesn’t resist at all and it comes crashing down. I decide to look ahead at Kelne and Vi who appear to be up to something. I see they’re trying to cast spells or something and before I know it, everything is silence. I can hear nothing it’s so quiet. I try to cast Message to Kelne to see if it was her but no sound comes from out of my mouth. I can't use my handy spell. I decide to then gesture to her and we decide to communicate to each other that way. She points to Vi and I understand she means it was him who made this place so quiet. I decide to take advantage of this silence and usher Kelne and Vi forward towards where we need to go while keeping out of sight. We are all jumping and hiding behind everything we can find. We're all super sneaky, it’s amazing. I love this silence thing. We come across a place that has an entrance and also has stairs going down. As we get there Varga appears to arrive at the same time. I can see it in her eyes she’s not concerned about being stealthy and she starts to dart for the stairs. However I decide to challenge her going down and we both arrive at the same time.
Once we get down the stairs, I immediately spot a glowing statue holding an orb that’s shining so bright. I am so fascinated by this orb I decide I must have it and I want to see it closer. I step forward and cast my mage hand invisibly to pick up the orb. Everything is still silent I can't hear anything else around me. I am concentrating so hard on the orb. However out of the corner of my eye I see a figure moving. I follow it and see it’s Ivan and he’s attacking some creature. I try to focus on what this creature is and I make eye contact. It stares into my eyes and I immediately start to feel my whole body stiffen up. What is happening? I have no clue but my feet won’t move and my hand controlling my mage hand is stuck in place. My red skin is starting to look grey, almost like stone and everything is getting harder to move. I do one attempt to attack the creature. I reach into my pocket with the hand I can move and pull out the largest apple I can find. I decide to use my new spell 'Catapult' to attack. Take this you stupid thing!!! That’ll teach you a lesson for trying to hurt me… I can hurt you too. This is all I can think while firing my apple at this creature. It hits and takes damage. Success! But it’s still standing. It will need a lot more apples thrown. However at this point the battle is hard to keep up as I am still frozen in place. At one stage it appeared Deimos, Oziah’s mount nearly turned to stone as well. But Kelne came in and managed to use her skills to help avoid its blows. Oziah and Deimos moved to the left and out of sight for me to see to keep track off. I can feel my body is getting a lot stiffer and I can’t move my neck now. However next thing I can see is Kelne getting punched by the statue coming up from behind her. I try to move but I’m stuck. I go to yell, to warn her but the silence spell is still up. I then try to warn her with my eyes but she isn't understanding what I am saying. All I can do is scream and hope someone can hear me... somewhere. “AHHHHHHH”, I roar and then all of a sudden I can hear again, but I’m still screaming. Vi is up beside me and I quickly stop screaming. He asks if I’m ok and I tell him no. I can’t move. He enquires how I got like this and I told him it was staring into that damn creatures eyes. To which Vi appears to run off in the direction of the creature. He's out of vision and I can't see. It’s only Kelne that is in my eye line now. And I can see that the statue looks like it’s going to attack poor Kelne again. I want to go help her. I want to scream, to warn her but then my whole body stiffens. The tightness is going through my whole body now. I can’t move an inch… and then everything goes blank.
I can’t move
I can’t hear
I am stuck in nothingness
…
Am I dead?
…. but turning into stone may last forever?
Narrated by Celina Zabinski
It all started with a note:
"Well, it’s taken some time but I finally have the location of the third dig site. I’ve made a preliminary survey, and it all seems to be in order - far less dramatic than the last few times, and there are some absolutely gorgeous statues outside this one. Meet me at the Ettin Dragon. Remuneration on retrieval of the item, as usual.
Eloise Danforth,
Daring Academy"
I was after having had a successful time in Daring Heights last week so decided to stay on a bit longer. I mean the place isn’t soooo bad once you get used to it. I found the note from Eloise and thought this might be a quick and easy job before I head back to Port Ffirst. So off I went that morning to meet Eloise at the Ettin Dragon, a local tavern. As I get there I spot Varga immediately. She’s having an intense conversation about an eel and chocolate cake… to be honest it was confusing. She does appear to have some type of grey creature on her shoulder. It’s small looks like a rabbit but it doesn’t have the ears, looks like a large rat but it’s different. Never seen this creature before but Varga doesn’t seem to mind it. I decide I need a drink immediately and then I would listen in on Varga’s story. I mean anytime is drink o’clock and booze makes things better. Also there was someone already drinking a bottle of wine. It seemed super rude not to join in. So I quickly went to the bar and asked for a bottle of wine. I decided to haggle for a better price with the kobold bartender. She seemed to recognize my business manner and agreed to give me a bottle of wine for 1.5 silver. I mean what a great deal there? I take my bottle of wine happily and take a big swig out of the top of it, who needs a glass. AM I RIGHT? Ha and decide to go back and listen to the end of Varga’s conversation. As I am listening I notice the rest of the people in the room. I spot Ivan and Kelne who I’ve met on many occasions. But I also spot someone who I hadn't met before who I learn is called Viereari but goes by Vi. They appear to be a drow.
Next thing I know I also spot Oziah walking in the door, she spotted me and immediately. She sighs and says “Don’t you have a shop to run?” and then makes her way into the room to talk to other people. I decide to smile at her comment and take a drink out of my bottle. I decide to look at the person also drinking a bottle of wine in the room and notice she’s in her middle age, she has ink stains on her sleeves and… oh my she’s wearing SENSIBLE SHOES. Hah wow! As we all gather around her and she begins to tell us the mission. She wants us all to go escort her to a place where she can examine some statues. She starts telling us about how some shark people died. Yada yada yada. If I am honest, I am not really paying attention here. I am listening out for the part about how much she’s going to offer. Oziah says as it’s dangerous we need at least 120 gold to complete. I stay silent as I believe that’s the best this woman is going to be able to offer us. I don't think I need to step in here. Eloise says she is going to join us and we all get ready to leave. Varga decides to leave her strange creature with the kobold bartender who looks completely confused. Is this a new pet Varga has? Interesting… I must ask Varga about it another time.
We all leave the bar and head out passing some carts along the way that have some trading company logo. We also pass a bright tent that appears to be like a circus. We all spot some figures practicing under the watch eye of a young gentleman who glares at us as we walk by but says nothing. What a strange man! I nearly feel like using my mage hand to slap him in the face… but... maybe I won’t this time. Another time… yes!
We all finally get to the edge of the forest and spot that the land looks different. The patch we can see looks blighted. The grass looks dead. As we get nearer we can see a figure in the tree line. All of us can see it's a Firbolg. She is wearing fur and leather. She appears to be pulling up the sick plants with her garden troll. Varga sees this and immediately pulls out her axes to fight. After our last encounter with the Firbolg I am not surprised. However this Firbolg appears slightly different and Varga doesn’t attack the woman as we pass by. We continue on a well-trodden path.
It’s around lunchtime and Eloise sees a smaller trail. She appears to know where she’s going and leads the way. She leads us all down a path. What appears to be odd is that the further we keep walking on this path the quieter everything seems to get. The wind doesn’t appear to be stirring the tops of the trees, there’s no birds singing, there’s no nattering of small creatures or buzzing of insects. It’s all very odd. Then out of nowhere something nearly falls on Kelne. She quickly dodges out of the way and finds it’s a squirrel. But it’s entirely made of stone. Odd.... Then from out from behind us appears a woman standing around 9 feet tall. She whistles a tune and some blossoms form and change into an apple. This woman then takes a bites and stares at us. I immediately have to know how this woman makes these apples appear out of thin air. I mean what an amazing thing to have on tap. Definitely something valuable for my shop. I introduce myself and ask her if she would be able to tell me how to do what she just did with the apples. She appears to be slightly nervous as Ivan has taken out his axes ready to fight this woman. Ivan is ready to chop this woman in half, you can see it in his eyes. Good reliable Ivan. But not now as I need to know her secret. I attempt to ask her again how she gets her apples to form out of thin air and she just says it’s easy all you have to do is talk nice to it. Nice… Nice… how on earth do I talk nice to some freakin plant? This woman then turns her attention to the rest of the group and mentions that we’re all brave going into the wilds and old places. I have no clue what she means by that but we’re on a quest. I mean it’s kinda what we do… we're always brave. Next thing I know she hands me an apple from her hand and she just disappears into one of the trees. I have no clue where she went but she’s completely gone now.
Eloise continues to lead the way forward. As I’m walking I am shouting at the apples to duplicate but it’s not working. I mean it has to be easy... it looked easy. I know I can do this. Ivan comes besides me and suggests I use axes to scare the apple into doing what I want. I think to myself could this work! I mean the woman did say we has to talk nice to it. Threatening with an axe could be a nice thing maybe… So I decide to go with Ivan’s advice and I spend the next few moments trying to get the apple to duplicate with my daggers. However all of my attempts fail and I can't get the apples to do anything magical. Next, Varga comes up to Ivan and starts discussing battle etiquette. They get into a lively debate where Ivan is for magic and Varga isn’t convinced. In the end Varga accepts that big books can be useful to hit your enemies on the head. I love listening to Varga and Ivan. They need to debate things more it’s very entertaining.
We keep walking and come across a glade. There’s all types of statues around in this place. There’s quite a lot smashed in. But the ones that seem to be intact have a look of fear and horror on their faces. I decide to move around slowly and look at a few thing but mostly I am there just watching what's going on with the rest of the group and enjoying my bottle of wine. Eloise is clearly quite drunk and Ivan slaps her bottle of wine out of her hand. She doesn’t resist at all and it comes crashing down. I decide to look ahead at Kelne and Vi who appear to be up to something. I see they’re trying to cast spells or something and before I know it, everything is silence. I can hear nothing it’s so quiet. I try to cast Message to Kelne to see if it was her but no sound comes from out of my mouth. I can't use my handy spell. I decide to then gesture to her and we decide to communicate to each other that way. She points to Vi and I understand she means it was him who made this place so quiet. I decide to take advantage of this silence and usher Kelne and Vi forward towards where we need to go while keeping out of sight. We are all jumping and hiding behind everything we can find. We're all super sneaky, it’s amazing. I love this silence thing. We come across a place that has an entrance and also has stairs going down. As we get there Varga appears to arrive at the same time. I can see it in her eyes she’s not concerned about being stealthy and she starts to dart for the stairs. However I decide to challenge her going down and we both arrive at the same time.
Once we get down the stairs, I immediately spot a glowing statue holding an orb that’s shining so bright. I am so fascinated by this orb I decide I must have it and I want to see it closer. I step forward and cast my mage hand invisibly to pick up the orb. Everything is still silent I can't hear anything else around me. I am concentrating so hard on the orb. However out of the corner of my eye I see a figure moving. I follow it and see it’s Ivan and he’s attacking some creature. I try to focus on what this creature is and I make eye contact. It stares into my eyes and I immediately start to feel my whole body stiffen up. What is happening? I have no clue but my feet won’t move and my hand controlling my mage hand is stuck in place. My red skin is starting to look grey, almost like stone and everything is getting harder to move. I do one attempt to attack the creature. I reach into my pocket with the hand I can move and pull out the largest apple I can find. I decide to use my new spell 'Catapult' to attack. Take this you stupid thing!!! That’ll teach you a lesson for trying to hurt me… I can hurt you too. This is all I can think while firing my apple at this creature. It hits and takes damage. Success! But it’s still standing. It will need a lot more apples thrown. However at this point the battle is hard to keep up as I am still frozen in place. At one stage it appeared Deimos, Oziah’s mount nearly turned to stone as well. But Kelne came in and managed to use her skills to help avoid its blows. Oziah and Deimos moved to the left and out of sight for me to see to keep track off. I can feel my body is getting a lot stiffer and I can’t move my neck now. However next thing I can see is Kelne getting punched by the statue coming up from behind her. I try to move but I’m stuck. I go to yell, to warn her but the silence spell is still up. I then try to warn her with my eyes but she isn't understanding what I am saying. All I can do is scream and hope someone can hear me... somewhere. “AHHHHHHH”, I roar and then all of a sudden I can hear again, but I’m still screaming. Vi is up beside me and I quickly stop screaming. He asks if I’m ok and I tell him no. I can’t move. He enquires how I got like this and I told him it was staring into that damn creatures eyes. To which Vi appears to run off in the direction of the creature. He's out of vision and I can't see. It’s only Kelne that is in my eye line now. And I can see that the statue looks like it’s going to attack poor Kelne again. I want to go help her. I want to scream, to warn her but then my whole body stiffens. The tightness is going through my whole body now. I can’t move an inch… and then everything goes blank.
I can’t move
I can’t hear
I am stuck in nothingness
…
Am I dead?
