Post by Celina Zabinski on Oct 27, 2021 2:05:09 GMT
Love Is In The Air...
or maybe it's just a dead manticore
Written by Celina Zabinski
Celina is walking through Daring Heights. She's getting used to coming to this place often. She looks to the local noticeboards for some interesting jobs when one notice catches her eye immediately.
"A Manticore is on the loose and terrifying the locals of New Hillborough and has been attacking the local farms, luckily no people have been hurt just yet but we fear it is matter of time. Anyone interested please assemble at the Hearth and Road to meet the hired tracker."
Celina's eyes light up and she immediately thinks what if it attacks Sammy... and his farm. She quickly shakes that thought from her head. No, she won't think of him. She tries to go about her day normally but she gets distracted. Thoughts of what could happen if this beast lands near his farm flood her mind. "God Dammit", Celina thinks to herself as she eventually gives in and starts prepping herself to get ready for this mission "I'll just go and have a peak... no one will notice me".
Celina makes her way to the location in New Hillborough. However, she's worried she'll be spotted by Sammy or his family. They must all hate her. She can't bare to be seen. She decides to wrap a scarf around her head and throw on some sunglasses. She keeps her head down as she enters the tavern. She thinks everything is going smoothly until Kelne comes up behind her, tugs on her outfit and says Hello Celina. Celina immediate tells Kelne to shut up and be quiet. "God Kelne should get a hint I don't want to be noticed... I have a scarf on... but I can't be mad at Kelne. Ugh I'll forgive Kelne", Celina thinks to herself and grins at her halfling friend. Looking around Celina recognizes some familiar faces she's met previously, Sabeline, Derthaad and of course Varga. She quickly makes she way over to the table where everyone is talking and silently joins. Sabeline seems to be quite enthusiastic about this job and asks the bartender lots of questions. She mentions that she should ask the tracker more question and that he's upstairs. She goes off to get the tracker upstairs. Meanwhile downstairs, there's an elderly couple in the corner. Derthaad goes over to talk. Celina stays behind. Celina debates wherthere these people could be Sammy's family and she agrees she would rather be quiet now than give herself away. She decides to ease drop in on the conversation. Apparently, their farm was attack by a creature and they just fled out of there quickly. The couple look very shaken they seem genuine. Kelne immediate jumps in to offer to buy these people food and accommodation for a few nights and organises something with the bartender. However, they are not Sammy's family and Celina breathes out a sigh of relief.
All of a sudden, there's a thundering sound coming down the stairs. Celina looks in the direction and sees it's a goliath. Looks to be about 8 foot tall. He gives off an intimating look and everyone can tell that he's quite strong. Sabeline follows down after him. This is the tracker, Sabeline tells us all. He introduces himself as Stoneheart. Celina looks to him and then to Varga. "Varga seems to notice how strong he is and... is that a teeny tiny blush from Varga?" Celina smiles to herself and thinks "These could be a good couple... maybe...". Stoneheart tells the group the plan. That they were to find the Manticore and kill it so it doesn't cause any more havoc. He answers everyone's questions thoroughly. Finally, he asks if everyone is ready to leave. Celina debates for a few moments, whether to ask about the money. There's been none mentioned so far. For this job, she actually doesn't care. She wants Sammy's place to be safe, however she doesn't want anyone to know this. Eventually, she decides to do her usual routine, she can't break the act now. Celina asks "What's the price for taking this manticore down or are we doing this out of the goodness of our hearts?". It's the bartender who says the locals all chipped together and will offer our group 80 gold each for our troubles. Stoneheart adds he'll add an extra something to our group as well, if we manage to take down the manticore. Celina smiles happily knowing that's more like it and heads on the way. Stoneheart takes the lead and guides the group.
About 20 minutes later, everyone arrives at a farm. It's the farm that the elderly couple in the bar owned. Everyone splits up to find clues around the place. Celina decides to slink off away from everyone. This whole day feels weird to her. She's half-heartily looking around when out of the corner of her eye she spots something on the ground. Upon further investigation she notices it's animal spikes in the dirt. Celina recalls hearing that Manticore can attack people with their tail and throw these spikes as attacks. Celina bends down and picks one up. She spots Sabeline close by and shows her what she found. Sabeline is very curious about these spikes. She has more questions to Stoneheart who comes over to join us. Celina stares at him while he continues talking to Sabeline about something. "Varga and him would make a good couple", Celina thinks to herself. Celina starts thinking of a way to... help. Celina turns to Stoneheart and decides to cast Suggestion. She suggests to Stoneheart that if our group were to kill this manticore that he could kiss Varga on the cheek. A nice reward, no. He grumbles unhappily and says something about being a professional. Celina curses that her spell failed. She just replies back with sure you are. "Dammit my plan isn't working", Celina thinks angrily "...maybe it's just not meant to be".
Suddenly, Varga picks up Kelne and Varga seems to be going where Kelne is pointing. Everyone decides to follow Varga and Kelne. The group is brought to the entrance of a cave. After a debate, the group decide to be sneaky so they don't set off this manticore if it's in the cave. They needed someone to confirm if the manticore is in the cave. Kelne casts her sneaky spell and Celina decides to volunteer to head in. She quickly goes in and has a quick peak. She spots that the cave has two entrances and Celina immediately notices the manticore asleep on the ground. Celina backs up really quickly and relays this to the group. They decide to split into two groups to block this creature in. Celina, Derthaad and Sabeline on one side and Kelne and Varga on the other. Celina quickly moves into the cave first. She grabs her rapier and is about to go up to stab it when she trips over a rock. Celina immediately darts behind a pillar in the middle of the room and hopes she was quick enough at hiding. She succeeds and the manitore doesn't budge. Finally, Celina comes out and attacks the Manticore with her rapiers. She gets attacked back by the manticore with its spikes. Celina launches tones of apples at it in response. Varga does some serious amount of damage to the manticore and it leave the entrance to the cave. Derthaad heads out to attack it in the sky and Celina rushes out beside him. As she does the manticore launches more of its spikes at Celina. Celina uses her uncanny dodge to react quickly to it. She forgets momentarily who is beside her, Derthaad and that a shopkeeper wouldn't have moves like that. She looks awkward to Derthaad knowing she just messed up her act. She avoids eye contact with him again. She can sense he has suspicions about her. Suddenly there's a deafening cry from the manticore. All eyes look to the direction, Celina can just about make out Varga underneath the manticore holding up her axe and then the manticore falls down from the air and lands flat on Varga. Everyone rushes over to Varga but she happily throws off the manticore and yells the most excited anyone's ever heard her. She's ecstatic. Varga proceeds to hack of the head and with that the manticore was dead. Everyone gathers their things. Sabeline offers to heal everyone on the way back. Stoneheart leads everyone back to the tavern. Once they arrive the bartender immediately says to Varga the head is not coming in. Celina wraps her scarf around her head coming in again. They get their gold agreed and some food. Everyone hangs around for a bit but Celina feels she's had enough of this place. She quickly packs up her things at the first chance she gets and leaves the place quickly. She can rest easier now that she knows Sammy and his family are safer. However, she would hate if anyone found out that she helped with this job.
or maybe it's just a dead manticore
Written by Celina Zabinski
Celina is walking through Daring Heights. She's getting used to coming to this place often. She looks to the local noticeboards for some interesting jobs when one notice catches her eye immediately.
"A Manticore is on the loose and terrifying the locals of New Hillborough and has been attacking the local farms, luckily no people have been hurt just yet but we fear it is matter of time. Anyone interested please assemble at the Hearth and Road to meet the hired tracker."
Celina's eyes light up and she immediately thinks what if it attacks Sammy... and his farm. She quickly shakes that thought from her head. No, she won't think of him. She tries to go about her day normally but she gets distracted. Thoughts of what could happen if this beast lands near his farm flood her mind. "God Dammit", Celina thinks to herself as she eventually gives in and starts prepping herself to get ready for this mission "I'll just go and have a peak... no one will notice me".
Celina makes her way to the location in New Hillborough. However, she's worried she'll be spotted by Sammy or his family. They must all hate her. She can't bare to be seen. She decides to wrap a scarf around her head and throw on some sunglasses. She keeps her head down as she enters the tavern. She thinks everything is going smoothly until Kelne comes up behind her, tugs on her outfit and says Hello Celina. Celina immediate tells Kelne to shut up and be quiet. "God Kelne should get a hint I don't want to be noticed... I have a scarf on... but I can't be mad at Kelne. Ugh I'll forgive Kelne", Celina thinks to herself and grins at her halfling friend. Looking around Celina recognizes some familiar faces she's met previously, Sabeline, Derthaad and of course Varga. She quickly makes she way over to the table where everyone is talking and silently joins. Sabeline seems to be quite enthusiastic about this job and asks the bartender lots of questions. She mentions that she should ask the tracker more question and that he's upstairs. She goes off to get the tracker upstairs. Meanwhile downstairs, there's an elderly couple in the corner. Derthaad goes over to talk. Celina stays behind. Celina debates wherthere these people could be Sammy's family and she agrees she would rather be quiet now than give herself away. She decides to ease drop in on the conversation. Apparently, their farm was attack by a creature and they just fled out of there quickly. The couple look very shaken they seem genuine. Kelne immediate jumps in to offer to buy these people food and accommodation for a few nights and organises something with the bartender. However, they are not Sammy's family and Celina breathes out a sigh of relief.
All of a sudden, there's a thundering sound coming down the stairs. Celina looks in the direction and sees it's a goliath. Looks to be about 8 foot tall. He gives off an intimating look and everyone can tell that he's quite strong. Sabeline follows down after him. This is the tracker, Sabeline tells us all. He introduces himself as Stoneheart. Celina looks to him and then to Varga. "Varga seems to notice how strong he is and... is that a teeny tiny blush from Varga?" Celina smiles to herself and thinks "These could be a good couple... maybe...". Stoneheart tells the group the plan. That they were to find the Manticore and kill it so it doesn't cause any more havoc. He answers everyone's questions thoroughly. Finally, he asks if everyone is ready to leave. Celina debates for a few moments, whether to ask about the money. There's been none mentioned so far. For this job, she actually doesn't care. She wants Sammy's place to be safe, however she doesn't want anyone to know this. Eventually, she decides to do her usual routine, she can't break the act now. Celina asks "What's the price for taking this manticore down or are we doing this out of the goodness of our hearts?". It's the bartender who says the locals all chipped together and will offer our group 80 gold each for our troubles. Stoneheart adds he'll add an extra something to our group as well, if we manage to take down the manticore. Celina smiles happily knowing that's more like it and heads on the way. Stoneheart takes the lead and guides the group.
About 20 minutes later, everyone arrives at a farm. It's the farm that the elderly couple in the bar owned. Everyone splits up to find clues around the place. Celina decides to slink off away from everyone. This whole day feels weird to her. She's half-heartily looking around when out of the corner of her eye she spots something on the ground. Upon further investigation she notices it's animal spikes in the dirt. Celina recalls hearing that Manticore can attack people with their tail and throw these spikes as attacks. Celina bends down and picks one up. She spots Sabeline close by and shows her what she found. Sabeline is very curious about these spikes. She has more questions to Stoneheart who comes over to join us. Celina stares at him while he continues talking to Sabeline about something. "Varga and him would make a good couple", Celina thinks to herself. Celina starts thinking of a way to... help. Celina turns to Stoneheart and decides to cast Suggestion. She suggests to Stoneheart that if our group were to kill this manticore that he could kiss Varga on the cheek. A nice reward, no. He grumbles unhappily and says something about being a professional. Celina curses that her spell failed. She just replies back with sure you are. "Dammit my plan isn't working", Celina thinks angrily "...maybe it's just not meant to be".
Suddenly, Varga picks up Kelne and Varga seems to be going where Kelne is pointing. Everyone decides to follow Varga and Kelne. The group is brought to the entrance of a cave. After a debate, the group decide to be sneaky so they don't set off this manticore if it's in the cave. They needed someone to confirm if the manticore is in the cave. Kelne casts her sneaky spell and Celina decides to volunteer to head in. She quickly goes in and has a quick peak. She spots that the cave has two entrances and Celina immediately notices the manticore asleep on the ground. Celina backs up really quickly and relays this to the group. They decide to split into two groups to block this creature in. Celina, Derthaad and Sabeline on one side and Kelne and Varga on the other. Celina quickly moves into the cave first. She grabs her rapier and is about to go up to stab it when she trips over a rock. Celina immediately darts behind a pillar in the middle of the room and hopes she was quick enough at hiding. She succeeds and the manitore doesn't budge. Finally, Celina comes out and attacks the Manticore with her rapiers. She gets attacked back by the manticore with its spikes. Celina launches tones of apples at it in response. Varga does some serious amount of damage to the manticore and it leave the entrance to the cave. Derthaad heads out to attack it in the sky and Celina rushes out beside him. As she does the manticore launches more of its spikes at Celina. Celina uses her uncanny dodge to react quickly to it. She forgets momentarily who is beside her, Derthaad and that a shopkeeper wouldn't have moves like that. She looks awkward to Derthaad knowing she just messed up her act. She avoids eye contact with him again. She can sense he has suspicions about her. Suddenly there's a deafening cry from the manticore. All eyes look to the direction, Celina can just about make out Varga underneath the manticore holding up her axe and then the manticore falls down from the air and lands flat on Varga. Everyone rushes over to Varga but she happily throws off the manticore and yells the most excited anyone's ever heard her. She's ecstatic. Varga proceeds to hack of the head and with that the manticore was dead. Everyone gathers their things. Sabeline offers to heal everyone on the way back. Stoneheart leads everyone back to the tavern. Once they arrive the bartender immediately says to Varga the head is not coming in. Celina wraps her scarf around her head coming in again. They get their gold agreed and some food. Everyone hangs around for a bit but Celina feels she's had enough of this place. She quickly packs up her things at the first chance she gets and leaves the place quickly. She can rest easier now that she knows Sammy and his family are safer. However, she would hate if anyone found out that she helped with this job.