That's Not A Knife! This... Is Also Not A Knife - 03/03/2022
Mar 8, 2022 13:06:41 GMT
Jaezred Vandree, Delilah Daybreaker, and 2 more like this
Post by Andy D on Mar 8, 2022 13:06:41 GMT
Fort Ettin - Mid Afternoon Deadlifts at Kavel’s Corner
Kruger came and sat in the gym with us. He was mopey. He was glad he could no longer turn into a werewolf, but he was still forlorn about what he had done as a werewolf. Tim and Sampson - still ‘moon-touched’, as Sorrel put it - had finished a workout and stayed to keep an eye on Kruger, and for some reason there were fewer people walking by the Training Grounds than there were before it was known that Tim and Sampson were goliath werewolves.
It was my time with the adamantine bar, and it was deadlift day, and it did not matter that it was cold out here on the Training Grounds. I was halfway through my sets when Silvia came by. She offered to spot me. This was nice of her, but I declined. Silvia wanted to know if I would accompany her to Daring Heights. She had received a note from her patron - wasn’t sure what that was - but it seemed suspicious, so she wanted back up, before going to the meet at the Gilded Mirror. I said I would be ready to join her after a couple more sets, and carried on with the deadlifts.
A blue-black furred Firbolg, taller than me, with eye make-up came and joined us. Fog was familiar with Silvia and they chatted about the patron and also Sorrel, to which I mentioned during my reps:
“My sister? Is she joining us, Silvia?”
“Not gonna talk about that right now. And no. She’s sleeping,” Silvia replied. She then appeared to engage in conversation with a black cat that appeared from behind my gym. I didn’t realise that my red-haired human friend could also converse with animals like me.
Another person new to me joined Silvia’s band, an elf woman dressed in dark clothing - much like my sister Sorrel. I was introduced to Delilah between sets, and she and Silvia chatted about her patron as if Delilah was very familiar with him, and it also seemed to me like Delilah and Silvia were quite sisterly.
I gave introductions to my Irong Strong brothers in the back of the gym. I told everyone that Tim and Sampson were werewolves. Delilah figured that must be why no one was passing by this area of the Fort. I think it’s because most people aren’t dedicated enough to strength training when the weather is cold.
Anyway, I had just finished my last rep. “I’ve finished. I’m ready to go,” I announced. Silvia commented that my elbows were a little flayed on my last few reps. I didn’t know if this was cheek or seriousness. I turned around to look back at Tim and Sampson. They were laughing. I turned back to Silvia, slapped her lightly on the shoulder and said, “okay. I’ll tuck my elbows tighter next time.”
Off To The Gilded Mirror
On the way to Daring Heights, Delilah mentioned that Gadenthor was no longer on its side. The city had been righted, but was now floating above the Harnashian jungle. Was this an over correction? It made me wonder if the city needed masons? All of us Iron Strong here in Kantas were proficient masons. It might be good for the boys to go to Gadenthor and help out with things like door re-alterations on the buildings. I’m sure they would enjoy the fitness culture out there too.
I spent a good amount of time chatting to Silvia on the journey. I updated her with my adventures since I last saw her when we helped comrade Derthaad interview a Hag. I told her about my journey to the Witching Court and the moon. I told her about how my bros became werewolves, and how with Sorrel’s help we tracked down Kruger and got him help at the Temple of Selune, and I told Silvia about a pie fight in the teleporting library.
It occurred to me as I looked at my combat-construction ready clothing and compared myself to everyone else's dark clothing and dark make-up - I stood out, and this time not because of size.
We passed by some familiar places; the OMTC and Hung Rabbit, as we made our way into Daring Heights proper and just a bit away from the Temple of Selune was the opulent building, the Gilded Mirror.
Delilah went scouting for us, while we hung back by the temple. I wanted to talk to Silvia about the time we both were in the temple together with Sorrel, but she had disappeared! Fog said not to worry, it’s something Silvia can do where there are shadows.
Delilah reported back that an ally that Sorrel had mentioned, Lord Jaezred, a powerful drow mage, was in the Gilded Mirror and willing to help. With this update, and Silvia now visible, I walked over behind her and slapped her on her shoulders and shook her a little. This is what we do in strength-training to prepare people for a big lift. It’s good because it gets you focused and a bit angry. Silvia seemed nervous, so a bit of anger would be much better than nerves. But, my preparation method did not prepare her to go inside the Mirror. She said she wanted, “some warning next time Kavel, before you decide to slap my shoulders and violently shake me.” I said that’s fine, and mentioned that my elbows were not flayed as I did it, they were tucked in tight.
Into The Gilded Mirror
Delilah went back in through the back way, so that when the rest of us entered through the front; she, on her own, would be able to see if anyone else in the Mirror were eyeing up Silvia suspiciously.
Silvia got us a table while me and Fog went to the bar to get drinks. When we joined Silvia at the table, she seemed busy staring at the people, the walls and the floor - this was weird. Silvia was whispering at some point, but no sound was coming out of her mouth - this I recognised as the Message spell.
Lord Jaezred joined us. He had a magical parchment that offered us death protection if we signed our names - so we did.
Silvia mentioned she can see enchanted magic on one of the bar staff, a dwarf man. The man came up to our table and took our drink order. Silvia ordered a bottle of wine on Lord Jaezred’s recommendation. Apparently the dwarf server was staring a lot at Silvia. Delilah confirmed this from her distanced observation spot. Silvia asked Fog to see if he could determine whether the dwarf man knew who she was. Fog, who it turned out has a well known sister among the adventuring community, went back to the bar to speak to the man.
Fog came back from his mission. He pretended he had only just met Silvia, but couldn’t remember her name and was wondering if the dwarf man knew it. Fog said that the man said he didn’t know Silvia’s name, but was clearly full of shit. He advised Fog to ask Lord Jaezred, since he knows everyone, and then he disappeared to the basement to get the bottle Silvia ordered.
Lord Jeazred said he sent his spider familiar, Velve, to follow the dwarf down to the cellar. He also said the dwarf walked passed all the wine, went to the cellar trapdoor and exited the establishment through the trapdoor, and was looking over his shoulders as he walked. Delilah was notified of the update through the Message spell and tailed the dwarf, picking up Velve on the way.
“You aren’t getting that wine,” I observed to Silvia.
Down Some Back Alley
Delilah learnt that the dwarf man was called Jonathan. She learnt this as she spied him entering a back alley and then saw him talking to something with green scales, who called him ‘Jonathan’ before snapping his neck. Delilah spoke to Velve, so that Lord Jaezred could hear through his familiar, “it’s a trap! Come now!”
We got up from the table, and hurriedly walked out of the Mirror, leaving our drinks.
Jaezred gave us directions - straight past a block then turn right down the alley - and I ran off ahead of the others to back up Delilah.
It was getting dark now, but when I got to the alley - it was pitch black. I couldn’t see into the alley at all. I quickened my breath, entered a barbarian rage and stormed into the darkness. I must have ran forty feet and was still stuck in this absurd magical darkness. I could hear Delilah casting a spell though, putting her ahead of me.
Back Alley Brawl
I could hear Delilah had company. A couple of creatures were attacking her.
I could hear Silvia - above me? I wondered how she got up there. I heard her command someone to, “kill!”
“Kavel?!” The voice of Fog from behind me. Another ally had caught up, and then suddenly the spell of Darkness vanished. I could see Fog now beside me, Delilah flanked by black scaly creatures, and when I turned around, there was Lord Jaezred with an arm outstretched - he had dispelled the Darkness spell.
Another of those black, scaly creatures came to confront me, armed with a blade. I ran forward to meet him. First swing missed, second swing bashed him in the shoulder with the hammer of my poleaxe, and then I stabbed him in the shoulder with the top spike, as he screamed in pain.
I could see Delilah fight in my peripheral ahead of me, down an alley. Though she was flanked by enemies, with no space to move, she was handling a flanked assault extremely well. She could turn and slash at her opponents with such skill she always had one opponent stunned as she engaged the other one. Her foes could barely attack her back despite their numbers.
There was a lot of noise coming from the roofs above. Silvia seemingly had jumped from one roof to another as a lot of fighting took place on the roof she jumped from.
“Your screams will summon him!” I heard someone from above shout at Silvia.
Fog began scaling the wall to our left to go help Silvia. I could not follow his progress as someone cast the Darkness spell anew right on the space I was in. My foe cheekily slashed me in the darkness, but I managed to push his face away as he came in to bite me.
No vision, I attacked recklessly back at my enemy and made contact both times with the hammer of the poleaxe. Once into the arm, and then the shoulder. Even in the darkness, I could estimate well where my foe’s head was, as I drove the poleaxe’s spike into my foe’s scaly face. I didn’t hear a body collapse to the ground though. Instead there was the smell of sulphur. I once fought a sexy devil man whose body turned to lava when I smashed his head off. I guessed I’m fighting another type of person who doesn’t die, but instead returns back to their native plane - lucky for them.
I ran forward and managed to exit the darkness. I could see Delilah and her opponents ahead, and I ran to flank the one I could. I didn’t get there in time to stop the one in front of me slash Delilah across the back, but she had visibly caused far more cuts on both her opponents since last I was able to see her fighting. But, this was all I was able to see - the Darkness spell engulfed me in the alley with Delilah.
I had begun to suspect this was the case; the Darkness spell was following me!
The Pursuit of Darkness
Well, at least I was warmed-up for attacking, what I later learnt were abishai, in pitch black darkness.
I knew one of the abishai was in front of me, then it was Delilah, and then another abishai.
Even though it was pitch black, nothing could get passed me without bumping into me, because we were in an alleyway. So, I brought my poleaxe up and swung it down, and it crashed into the abishai in front of me, and the smell of sulphur was once again filling the space before me. I walked into that space, drew my poleaxe back and yelled, “Delilah! Duck!”
I heard Delilah’s feet move to the right and her back hit the wall, so I thrust the top spike of my poleaxe forward, passed the space Delilah occupied and into her northern foe. No fumes of sulphur, but perhaps at this point I could help more by moving away from Delilah, because this would probably draw the Darkness spell away from her as it no doubt would follow me.
So, I left Delilah to her remaining foe, turned around and ran to the building where a lot of fighting was happening on its rooftop. There was a crate by that building. I climbed on top of the crate, and as I stood up - whoever was casting that Darkness spell had caught up with my movement, as I could now see a familiar pitch black darkness surround me!
I hadn’t seen Silvia, or Fog in a while. I occasionally saw Lord Jaezred casting spells between periods of being in the centre of the Darkness spell. I was getting worried about the fight on the roof. However, I could hear abishai flying away from above me towards where I could hear what seemed like a much larger set of wings flapping.
I could hear Fog leap from the roof above me to the one behind me. He was pursuing abishai and attacking them on the move.
I could hear footsteps pass me on the ground, heading towards the new engagement spot. This was Lord Jaezred, whose footsteps moved from the ground to the roof in an instant, and was then accompanied by the sound of him casting projectile magic at someone, which then seemed to be linked to - the Darkness spell vanished!
I could now see again. I thought about jumping down off of the crate and climbing a different building to get nearer the action, but then I remembered the Halo Knife many of us were given when we fought the cowboy surfer man. I drew the dagger and used the teleportation spell locked inside to teleport to the roof opposite me.
I found myself alongside Fog and Lord Jaezred. Delilah was all by herself on the roof I would have climbed to get to Silvia - who I couldn’t see at that point. I was a little surprised to see Delilah there. I wasn’t sure how she got up on a roof before me, when I had a head start.
The wind moving from Delilah’s spot towards me brought with it fumes of sulphur. Delilah’s attention was facing northwest. I turned my head to join the direction of her gaze, and there on the rooftop next to and northwest of the one I was on, was a huge, shadowy and green dragon being attacked by a green abishai and a pair of black ones.
Halo Knife in hand, I ran on top of the roof, leaving Fog and Lord Jaezred behind. I got to the edge facing the rooftop - and Delilah was already on the opposite rooftop helping the dragon attack the green abishai. Delilah had somehow beaten me again to where I needed to be! She sort of looks like Sorrel and seems to move like Sorrel too.
I decided to lend a hand in attacking the green abishai, and I threw the Halo Knife across the rooftops and it cut the green abishai on its back. My attempt at throwing a javelin at one of the black abishai missed though.
The dragon did not miss. It flew up and launched a breath weapon attack at its three adversaries, causing one of the black abishai to turn into sulphur fumes.
The green abishai spoke to the dragon in draconic, and then the remaining black abishai and the green one double suicided their way back to the plane they came from.
Chat With A Dragon
Fog and Lord Jaezred joined me by the roof edge, where the Lord explained to both me and Fog that the shadowy dragon was Silvia’s patron. I wondered why we were not more certain that the letter was an ambush when it was now clear to me that a dragon could not have fit through the Gilded Mirror’s entrance. A short while later, we descended to the ground to what was like a backyard for several of the buildings surrounding us. It was here that Mr. Kurtz, the dragon transformed into a black-robed, bald human man.
Fog offered to heal Silvia, which was the first time I was alerted to the fact that Silvia, though she fought well, unfortunately, like back at the Watch headquarters, came close to death. Silvia said she was fine though. I couldn’t immediately check for myself though, she was hiding with her shadow invisibility.
There were some questions for the dragon man, Mr. Kurtz. I barely followed the conversation. Devils, contracts, inter-planar politics - these were not my area of specialty. And despite seeing a ‘human’ man, I was additionally finding it hard to wrap my head around this male dragon being Delilah’s - an elf’s father. This did, however, explain the sisterly bond I picked up between Delilah and Silvia back at the Fort.
Silvia became visible again. The dragon man took her fancy dragon claw dagger and used magic to turn it into a trident with five dragon claw tips. I measured it up against my poleaxe - it was good.
The dragon man then showed his gratitude for coming to Silvia’s aid and gave us all a dragon tattoo with a one-off magic spell in it. I shook Mr. Kurtz’s hand to receive my tattoo - impressive grip! Probably the best grip I’ve felt in Kantas - why did it take a dragon for this to be the case?
Mr. Kurtz suggested we find a more comfortable place to carry on our conversation, so we decided to go back to the Gilded Mirror.
We exited the backyard space and walked down a new alleyway, making our way to the alleyway that brought us here. Before we got there though, we stumbled across Jonathan’s dwarven corpse. Poor guy. But also poor us, because this meant we also had some City Watch business before we could go to the Gilded Mirror!
This was the trouble with not having comrade Derthaad on a task with you. When you have trouble in the city and Derthaad is with you, you can leave statements until later. No such luck today!
Birthday at the Gilded Mirror
I started to get a better understanding of Mr. Kurtz and his situation as the conversation continued while we had drinks at the Mirror. Going back over the subject matter a few times helped me. So too did the Cooper’s Pride and Stoneford Reverse whiskey that Mr. Kurtz generously picked up the bill for. The five platinum he put down also covered rooms for the night.
At some point, I mentioned the sexy demon man I fought in the Angelbark, Adyhël. I wanted to know if he was related to everything that was being discussed. It didn’t seem to be, but Lord Jaezred asked me to; reproduce the symbol I saw that night, which I did, but also to; tell him what the demon said through the mouth of the possessed dwarf, which I didn’t do, because I simply couldn’t remember.
It turned out that it was comrade Delilah’s birthday! I guess that was part of the reason why Mr. Kurtz put down five platinum for us all. I like Mr. Kurtz, he is both generous and has an impressive handshake.
Kruger came and sat in the gym with us. He was mopey. He was glad he could no longer turn into a werewolf, but he was still forlorn about what he had done as a werewolf. Tim and Sampson - still ‘moon-touched’, as Sorrel put it - had finished a workout and stayed to keep an eye on Kruger, and for some reason there were fewer people walking by the Training Grounds than there were before it was known that Tim and Sampson were goliath werewolves.
It was my time with the adamantine bar, and it was deadlift day, and it did not matter that it was cold out here on the Training Grounds. I was halfway through my sets when Silvia came by. She offered to spot me. This was nice of her, but I declined. Silvia wanted to know if I would accompany her to Daring Heights. She had received a note from her patron - wasn’t sure what that was - but it seemed suspicious, so she wanted back up, before going to the meet at the Gilded Mirror. I said I would be ready to join her after a couple more sets, and carried on with the deadlifts.
A blue-black furred Firbolg, taller than me, with eye make-up came and joined us. Fog was familiar with Silvia and they chatted about the patron and also Sorrel, to which I mentioned during my reps:
“My sister? Is she joining us, Silvia?”
“Not gonna talk about that right now. And no. She’s sleeping,” Silvia replied. She then appeared to engage in conversation with a black cat that appeared from behind my gym. I didn’t realise that my red-haired human friend could also converse with animals like me.
Another person new to me joined Silvia’s band, an elf woman dressed in dark clothing - much like my sister Sorrel. I was introduced to Delilah between sets, and she and Silvia chatted about her patron as if Delilah was very familiar with him, and it also seemed to me like Delilah and Silvia were quite sisterly.
I gave introductions to my Irong Strong brothers in the back of the gym. I told everyone that Tim and Sampson were werewolves. Delilah figured that must be why no one was passing by this area of the Fort. I think it’s because most people aren’t dedicated enough to strength training when the weather is cold.
Anyway, I had just finished my last rep. “I’ve finished. I’m ready to go,” I announced. Silvia commented that my elbows were a little flayed on my last few reps. I didn’t know if this was cheek or seriousness. I turned around to look back at Tim and Sampson. They were laughing. I turned back to Silvia, slapped her lightly on the shoulder and said, “okay. I’ll tuck my elbows tighter next time.”
Off To The Gilded Mirror
On the way to Daring Heights, Delilah mentioned that Gadenthor was no longer on its side. The city had been righted, but was now floating above the Harnashian jungle. Was this an over correction? It made me wonder if the city needed masons? All of us Iron Strong here in Kantas were proficient masons. It might be good for the boys to go to Gadenthor and help out with things like door re-alterations on the buildings. I’m sure they would enjoy the fitness culture out there too.
I spent a good amount of time chatting to Silvia on the journey. I updated her with my adventures since I last saw her when we helped comrade Derthaad interview a Hag. I told her about my journey to the Witching Court and the moon. I told her about how my bros became werewolves, and how with Sorrel’s help we tracked down Kruger and got him help at the Temple of Selune, and I told Silvia about a pie fight in the teleporting library.
It occurred to me as I looked at my combat-construction ready clothing and compared myself to everyone else's dark clothing and dark make-up - I stood out, and this time not because of size.
We passed by some familiar places; the OMTC and Hung Rabbit, as we made our way into Daring Heights proper and just a bit away from the Temple of Selune was the opulent building, the Gilded Mirror.
Delilah went scouting for us, while we hung back by the temple. I wanted to talk to Silvia about the time we both were in the temple together with Sorrel, but she had disappeared! Fog said not to worry, it’s something Silvia can do where there are shadows.
Delilah reported back that an ally that Sorrel had mentioned, Lord Jaezred, a powerful drow mage, was in the Gilded Mirror and willing to help. With this update, and Silvia now visible, I walked over behind her and slapped her on her shoulders and shook her a little. This is what we do in strength-training to prepare people for a big lift. It’s good because it gets you focused and a bit angry. Silvia seemed nervous, so a bit of anger would be much better than nerves. But, my preparation method did not prepare her to go inside the Mirror. She said she wanted, “some warning next time Kavel, before you decide to slap my shoulders and violently shake me.” I said that’s fine, and mentioned that my elbows were not flayed as I did it, they were tucked in tight.
Into The Gilded Mirror
Delilah went back in through the back way, so that when the rest of us entered through the front; she, on her own, would be able to see if anyone else in the Mirror were eyeing up Silvia suspiciously.
Silvia got us a table while me and Fog went to the bar to get drinks. When we joined Silvia at the table, she seemed busy staring at the people, the walls and the floor - this was weird. Silvia was whispering at some point, but no sound was coming out of her mouth - this I recognised as the Message spell.
Lord Jaezred joined us. He had a magical parchment that offered us death protection if we signed our names - so we did.
Silvia mentioned she can see enchanted magic on one of the bar staff, a dwarf man. The man came up to our table and took our drink order. Silvia ordered a bottle of wine on Lord Jaezred’s recommendation. Apparently the dwarf server was staring a lot at Silvia. Delilah confirmed this from her distanced observation spot. Silvia asked Fog to see if he could determine whether the dwarf man knew who she was. Fog, who it turned out has a well known sister among the adventuring community, went back to the bar to speak to the man.
Fog came back from his mission. He pretended he had only just met Silvia, but couldn’t remember her name and was wondering if the dwarf man knew it. Fog said that the man said he didn’t know Silvia’s name, but was clearly full of shit. He advised Fog to ask Lord Jaezred, since he knows everyone, and then he disappeared to the basement to get the bottle Silvia ordered.
Lord Jeazred said he sent his spider familiar, Velve, to follow the dwarf down to the cellar. He also said the dwarf walked passed all the wine, went to the cellar trapdoor and exited the establishment through the trapdoor, and was looking over his shoulders as he walked. Delilah was notified of the update through the Message spell and tailed the dwarf, picking up Velve on the way.
“You aren’t getting that wine,” I observed to Silvia.
Down Some Back Alley
Delilah learnt that the dwarf man was called Jonathan. She learnt this as she spied him entering a back alley and then saw him talking to something with green scales, who called him ‘Jonathan’ before snapping his neck. Delilah spoke to Velve, so that Lord Jaezred could hear through his familiar, “it’s a trap! Come now!”
We got up from the table, and hurriedly walked out of the Mirror, leaving our drinks.
Jaezred gave us directions - straight past a block then turn right down the alley - and I ran off ahead of the others to back up Delilah.
It was getting dark now, but when I got to the alley - it was pitch black. I couldn’t see into the alley at all. I quickened my breath, entered a barbarian rage and stormed into the darkness. I must have ran forty feet and was still stuck in this absurd magical darkness. I could hear Delilah casting a spell though, putting her ahead of me.
Back Alley Brawl
I could hear Delilah had company. A couple of creatures were attacking her.
I could hear Silvia - above me? I wondered how she got up there. I heard her command someone to, “kill!”
“Kavel?!” The voice of Fog from behind me. Another ally had caught up, and then suddenly the spell of Darkness vanished. I could see Fog now beside me, Delilah flanked by black scaly creatures, and when I turned around, there was Lord Jaezred with an arm outstretched - he had dispelled the Darkness spell.
Another of those black, scaly creatures came to confront me, armed with a blade. I ran forward to meet him. First swing missed, second swing bashed him in the shoulder with the hammer of my poleaxe, and then I stabbed him in the shoulder with the top spike, as he screamed in pain.
I could see Delilah fight in my peripheral ahead of me, down an alley. Though she was flanked by enemies, with no space to move, she was handling a flanked assault extremely well. She could turn and slash at her opponents with such skill she always had one opponent stunned as she engaged the other one. Her foes could barely attack her back despite their numbers.
There was a lot of noise coming from the roofs above. Silvia seemingly had jumped from one roof to another as a lot of fighting took place on the roof she jumped from.
“Your screams will summon him!” I heard someone from above shout at Silvia.
Fog began scaling the wall to our left to go help Silvia. I could not follow his progress as someone cast the Darkness spell anew right on the space I was in. My foe cheekily slashed me in the darkness, but I managed to push his face away as he came in to bite me.
No vision, I attacked recklessly back at my enemy and made contact both times with the hammer of the poleaxe. Once into the arm, and then the shoulder. Even in the darkness, I could estimate well where my foe’s head was, as I drove the poleaxe’s spike into my foe’s scaly face. I didn’t hear a body collapse to the ground though. Instead there was the smell of sulphur. I once fought a sexy devil man whose body turned to lava when I smashed his head off. I guessed I’m fighting another type of person who doesn’t die, but instead returns back to their native plane - lucky for them.
I ran forward and managed to exit the darkness. I could see Delilah and her opponents ahead, and I ran to flank the one I could. I didn’t get there in time to stop the one in front of me slash Delilah across the back, but she had visibly caused far more cuts on both her opponents since last I was able to see her fighting. But, this was all I was able to see - the Darkness spell engulfed me in the alley with Delilah.
I had begun to suspect this was the case; the Darkness spell was following me!
The Pursuit of Darkness
Well, at least I was warmed-up for attacking, what I later learnt were abishai, in pitch black darkness.
I knew one of the abishai was in front of me, then it was Delilah, and then another abishai.
Even though it was pitch black, nothing could get passed me without bumping into me, because we were in an alleyway. So, I brought my poleaxe up and swung it down, and it crashed into the abishai in front of me, and the smell of sulphur was once again filling the space before me. I walked into that space, drew my poleaxe back and yelled, “Delilah! Duck!”
I heard Delilah’s feet move to the right and her back hit the wall, so I thrust the top spike of my poleaxe forward, passed the space Delilah occupied and into her northern foe. No fumes of sulphur, but perhaps at this point I could help more by moving away from Delilah, because this would probably draw the Darkness spell away from her as it no doubt would follow me.
So, I left Delilah to her remaining foe, turned around and ran to the building where a lot of fighting was happening on its rooftop. There was a crate by that building. I climbed on top of the crate, and as I stood up - whoever was casting that Darkness spell had caught up with my movement, as I could now see a familiar pitch black darkness surround me!
I hadn’t seen Silvia, or Fog in a while. I occasionally saw Lord Jaezred casting spells between periods of being in the centre of the Darkness spell. I was getting worried about the fight on the roof. However, I could hear abishai flying away from above me towards where I could hear what seemed like a much larger set of wings flapping.
I could hear Fog leap from the roof above me to the one behind me. He was pursuing abishai and attacking them on the move.
I could hear footsteps pass me on the ground, heading towards the new engagement spot. This was Lord Jaezred, whose footsteps moved from the ground to the roof in an instant, and was then accompanied by the sound of him casting projectile magic at someone, which then seemed to be linked to - the Darkness spell vanished!
I could now see again. I thought about jumping down off of the crate and climbing a different building to get nearer the action, but then I remembered the Halo Knife many of us were given when we fought the cowboy surfer man. I drew the dagger and used the teleportation spell locked inside to teleport to the roof opposite me.
I found myself alongside Fog and Lord Jaezred. Delilah was all by herself on the roof I would have climbed to get to Silvia - who I couldn’t see at that point. I was a little surprised to see Delilah there. I wasn’t sure how she got up on a roof before me, when I had a head start.
The wind moving from Delilah’s spot towards me brought with it fumes of sulphur. Delilah’s attention was facing northwest. I turned my head to join the direction of her gaze, and there on the rooftop next to and northwest of the one I was on, was a huge, shadowy and green dragon being attacked by a green abishai and a pair of black ones.
Halo Knife in hand, I ran on top of the roof, leaving Fog and Lord Jaezred behind. I got to the edge facing the rooftop - and Delilah was already on the opposite rooftop helping the dragon attack the green abishai. Delilah had somehow beaten me again to where I needed to be! She sort of looks like Sorrel and seems to move like Sorrel too.
I decided to lend a hand in attacking the green abishai, and I threw the Halo Knife across the rooftops and it cut the green abishai on its back. My attempt at throwing a javelin at one of the black abishai missed though.
The dragon did not miss. It flew up and launched a breath weapon attack at its three adversaries, causing one of the black abishai to turn into sulphur fumes.
The green abishai spoke to the dragon in draconic, and then the remaining black abishai and the green one double suicided their way back to the plane they came from.
Chat With A Dragon
Fog and Lord Jaezred joined me by the roof edge, where the Lord explained to both me and Fog that the shadowy dragon was Silvia’s patron. I wondered why we were not more certain that the letter was an ambush when it was now clear to me that a dragon could not have fit through the Gilded Mirror’s entrance. A short while later, we descended to the ground to what was like a backyard for several of the buildings surrounding us. It was here that Mr. Kurtz, the dragon transformed into a black-robed, bald human man.
Fog offered to heal Silvia, which was the first time I was alerted to the fact that Silvia, though she fought well, unfortunately, like back at the Watch headquarters, came close to death. Silvia said she was fine though. I couldn’t immediately check for myself though, she was hiding with her shadow invisibility.
There were some questions for the dragon man, Mr. Kurtz. I barely followed the conversation. Devils, contracts, inter-planar politics - these were not my area of specialty. And despite seeing a ‘human’ man, I was additionally finding it hard to wrap my head around this male dragon being Delilah’s - an elf’s father. This did, however, explain the sisterly bond I picked up between Delilah and Silvia back at the Fort.
Silvia became visible again. The dragon man took her fancy dragon claw dagger and used magic to turn it into a trident with five dragon claw tips. I measured it up against my poleaxe - it was good.
The dragon man then showed his gratitude for coming to Silvia’s aid and gave us all a dragon tattoo with a one-off magic spell in it. I shook Mr. Kurtz’s hand to receive my tattoo - impressive grip! Probably the best grip I’ve felt in Kantas - why did it take a dragon for this to be the case?
Mr. Kurtz suggested we find a more comfortable place to carry on our conversation, so we decided to go back to the Gilded Mirror.
We exited the backyard space and walked down a new alleyway, making our way to the alleyway that brought us here. Before we got there though, we stumbled across Jonathan’s dwarven corpse. Poor guy. But also poor us, because this meant we also had some City Watch business before we could go to the Gilded Mirror!
This was the trouble with not having comrade Derthaad on a task with you. When you have trouble in the city and Derthaad is with you, you can leave statements until later. No such luck today!
Birthday at the Gilded Mirror
I started to get a better understanding of Mr. Kurtz and his situation as the conversation continued while we had drinks at the Mirror. Going back over the subject matter a few times helped me. So too did the Cooper’s Pride and Stoneford Reverse whiskey that Mr. Kurtz generously picked up the bill for. The five platinum he put down also covered rooms for the night.
At some point, I mentioned the sexy demon man I fought in the Angelbark, Adyhël. I wanted to know if he was related to everything that was being discussed. It didn’t seem to be, but Lord Jaezred asked me to; reproduce the symbol I saw that night, which I did, but also to; tell him what the demon said through the mouth of the possessed dwarf, which I didn’t do, because I simply couldn’t remember.
It turned out that it was comrade Delilah’s birthday! I guess that was part of the reason why Mr. Kurtz put down five platinum for us all. I like Mr. Kurtz, he is both generous and has an impressive handshake.
