Careful what you wish for... – 29.03.2022 – Delilah
Apr 2, 2022 15:29:19 GMT
Jaezred Vandree, Velania Kalugina, and 1 more like this
Post by Delilah Daybreaker on Apr 2, 2022 15:29:19 GMT
Rolled into a palm sized tube is a piece of nondescript parchment written in a mix of common, symbols, elvish, and draconic.
ASSIGNMENT REPORT #29
People/Organisations of Note:
Oziah Daybreaker – holy warrior, aasimar (fallen), female; mount: Deimos (skeletal, fiend)
Jaezred Vandree – mage (pact magic, patron: the Moonweaver), noble, drow, male; Velve (black widow spider familiar)
Veridian Pentaghast – mage, human, male; homunculus companion, Paraceleus XI
Zul – mage, airotaur, male
Tab – guardian of the Sanctuary, tabaxi-like, male
Axi – guardian of the Sanctuary, tabaxi-like, female
Tasha – diviner, seer, barter of secrets, gynosphinx, female
Locations & Organisations:
Fort Ettin – Adventurer’s hub
Zot Goran – capital city of K’ul Goran
The Sanctuary – located in the southern most point of Jar’s Skyreach, home of Tasha
Body:
Daybreaker received a message from a then unknown origin saying they knew she wanted to de-curse a set of rather powerful armour we had retrieved from the northern Angelbark (Assignment Report #27). Rather fortuitous as she was saying she wanted to have the armour to be wearable without being a hindrance to her health just the night before…
Delilah couldn’t help but smirk. When Beastie went to get Viridian at her request they had been curious as to her designs but now, seeing the results, it was too perfect. She knew her love did not like the mage and to be honest, it surprised herself how well she got on with him. But there was just enough of a darkness to Veridian perhaps, a rather vicious side that made their little group of four fit perfectly.
Plus, for all his pompous, ‘I’m-better-than-you’ attitude, Jaezred’s magic had changed and she was still uncertain how full his magical reserves were if this little jaunt resulted in a confrontation. Not that she was expecting to fight. But the girl of shadows didn’t live this long being an optimist about the unknown.
“The planar passageway you seek seems legit,” Jaezred’s voice suddenly filters into mind. “Unfortunately the natural entrance in the Witching Court only opens every one hundred years or so. I’ll be seeking out someone in Daring tomorrow, he should be able to do something for us.”
“If I can help with researching or searching for answers in general let me know. I don’t want you doing all of this on your own. Jaezred…”
If a cat could raise an eyebrow, Beastie would do so at her – in surprise.
“I will, let me just speak to this person first. We know each other.”
That made more sense. “Alright. Thank you.”
It took a day of gathering information on where we could find a sanctuary that was rumoured to be the abode of a powerful, wish-granting creature but between the four of us we managed fairly well. What didn’t go so well was when Zul, a local mage, botched the teleportation so we didn’t get anywhere near our destination. It took Pentaghast using his own arcane reserves for us to get to the foothills of the mountains and to the entrance of the sanctuary…
The Pale Daughter winces at the brightness of the midday sun, her eyes watering.
Jaezred lowers his goggles briefly to squint at Delilah. “Are you… alright?”
She pulls her hood up her form becoming the illusion of Tinuviel but not before the drow lord sees her own squinting eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s really bright here…”
“…Miss Delilah, does the sun hurt your eyes right now?”
Oziah turns around to look at her, a flash of sudden panic followed by even quicker anger.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” is her too quick response. “It’s just… I’ve been spending a lot of time up at night recently and I forgot how bright the sun is, and-”
“You have sunlight sensitivity,” Jaezred states matter of factly. “Trust me, I know.” Then he notices how her whole form even in the illusioned disguise, appears to be more shadowy and insubstantial. “My gosh…”
Oziah notices it too and comes right up to her, placing a firm hand on Delilah’s arms. “Are you fucking cursed again?”
There’s a blast of radiant anger that zaps through her from Oziah’s hands. It sends a giddy shudder through Delilah but nothing beyond that. The sun still burns her eyes.
“I- I don’t think so? No. I can’t be. I haven’t done anything or-”
“You might not know it,” Veridian offers, looking worriedly at her.
“I swear, even though it goes against everything I stand for, if I have to lock you up in a tower and throw away the key, so help me-” Oziah runs her hands over Delilah again, casting another spell on her. “Well? Do you feel any different? Suddenly aware of something you weren’t before? Like a curse?”
Delilah shakes her head. Veridian frowns.
“Here,” Jaezred takes off his goggles and holds them out to her. “Take these.”
“No, Jaezred, I’ll be fine. You keep them,” she says, holding her hands up and backing away from the others towards the gigantic stone archway entrance with its message of ‘No violence in my sanctuary. Any violence will be met with irreversible death’ written on it. “We can deal with whatever this is later. We’re here for Oziah, not me. Let’s go.”
She kept her head down for the rest of the hike up the mountain path…
The sanctuary is a place people from anywhere across the Planes can come and ask Tasha, an exceedingly powerful and talented diviner who also happens to be a gynosphinx, to answer questions that would normally be out of the realm of possibility. The payment method? Years of one’s life. Depending on the deal or how strong the magic is they are trying to See past, it can take up to a mere three, all the way up to the lifespan of a young red dragon.
That was what we saw when we entered Tasha’s sanctum: three githyanki, clearly part of the raiders currently attacking Gadenthor, and their red dragon ride. We heard them all speaking about trying to find ‘Coll Bahtenda’. Tasha said the magic surrounding Coll was layered, powerful, and would require a lot to see past. The githyanki offered the life of their dragon but what they got was only a marginal, rough estimate, but enough for them to work with. Curiously, Tasha said her next guests, us, might be able to help them should we wish.
None of us did, of course. In fact, Vandree deceived them into believing Coll was on a different plane entirely. Once they left, he told Councilwoman Aurelia Archselon what just happened.
After seeing how Tasha worked I was wary of giving in to the initially offered bargain. I wanted to guarantee that those who would seek to find me and mine, be they past or present adversaries, would not so easily gain such valuable information. This sphynx, though powerful, was not cautious enough with her imparting of spied upon information. The new agreement made was sufficient enough to warrant for the next 100 years, it would cost 10x more of the ‘going value’ for information on any of the four of us. The price? 10 years collectively – Daybreaker paid this herself without hesitation – three hairs from each of our heads, and three meaningful facts about ourselves.
Tasha then plane shifted us to the Astral Sea where the ritual to remove the curse of Daybreaker’s armour would happen. The ritual site had guardians, tough creatures that looked like they were made of reflective glass. Pentaghast’s magic ended up being the most useful (NB: I’ve never seen a mage counter so many spells in one minute before.) whilst Vandree and I guaranteed Daybreaker stayed safe.
“Keep this up! I might actually enjoy your company Pentaghast,” Oziah says.
Oh, and the three githyanki from before tried to approach us in the midst of the ritual – more than likely to further ‘question us’ on where to find ‘Coll Bahtenda’. But they were properly deterred by the guardians and Vandree’s polymorphed blue dragon.
Daybreaker now has a fabulous set of gold and black plate armour that really becomes her.
Report passed on 28 day of the Claw of Sunsets.
Neh diis lus’a, lus diis’a.
Continued in ‘The Thief of Forms’ 🗡️
ASSIGNMENT REPORT #29
People/Organisations of Note:
Oziah Daybreaker – holy warrior, aasimar (fallen), female; mount: Deimos (skeletal, fiend)
Jaezred Vandree – mage (pact magic, patron: the Moonweaver), noble, drow, male; Velve (black widow spider familiar)
Veridian Pentaghast – mage, human, male; homunculus companion, Paraceleus XI
Zul – mage, airotaur, male
Tab – guardian of the Sanctuary, tabaxi-like, male
Axi – guardian of the Sanctuary, tabaxi-like, female
Tasha – diviner, seer, barter of secrets, gynosphinx, female
Locations & Organisations:
Fort Ettin – Adventurer’s hub
Zot Goran – capital city of K’ul Goran
The Sanctuary – located in the southern most point of Jar’s Skyreach, home of Tasha
Body:
Daybreaker received a message from a then unknown origin saying they knew she wanted to de-curse a set of rather powerful armour we had retrieved from the northern Angelbark (Assignment Report #27). Rather fortuitous as she was saying she wanted to have the armour to be wearable without being a hindrance to her health just the night before…
Delilah couldn’t help but smirk. When Beastie went to get Viridian at her request they had been curious as to her designs but now, seeing the results, it was too perfect. She knew her love did not like the mage and to be honest, it surprised herself how well she got on with him. But there was just enough of a darkness to Veridian perhaps, a rather vicious side that made their little group of four fit perfectly.
Plus, for all his pompous, ‘I’m-better-than-you’ attitude, Jaezred’s magic had changed and she was still uncertain how full his magical reserves were if this little jaunt resulted in a confrontation. Not that she was expecting to fight. But the girl of shadows didn’t live this long being an optimist about the unknown.
“The planar passageway you seek seems legit,” Jaezred’s voice suddenly filters into mind. “Unfortunately the natural entrance in the Witching Court only opens every one hundred years or so. I’ll be seeking out someone in Daring tomorrow, he should be able to do something for us.”
“If I can help with researching or searching for answers in general let me know. I don’t want you doing all of this on your own. Jaezred…”
If a cat could raise an eyebrow, Beastie would do so at her – in surprise.
“I will, let me just speak to this person first. We know each other.”
That made more sense. “Alright. Thank you.”
It took a day of gathering information on where we could find a sanctuary that was rumoured to be the abode of a powerful, wish-granting creature but between the four of us we managed fairly well. What didn’t go so well was when Zul, a local mage, botched the teleportation so we didn’t get anywhere near our destination. It took Pentaghast using his own arcane reserves for us to get to the foothills of the mountains and to the entrance of the sanctuary…
The Pale Daughter winces at the brightness of the midday sun, her eyes watering.
Jaezred lowers his goggles briefly to squint at Delilah. “Are you… alright?”
She pulls her hood up her form becoming the illusion of Tinuviel but not before the drow lord sees her own squinting eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s really bright here…”
“…Miss Delilah, does the sun hurt your eyes right now?”
Oziah turns around to look at her, a flash of sudden panic followed by even quicker anger.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” is her too quick response. “It’s just… I’ve been spending a lot of time up at night recently and I forgot how bright the sun is, and-”
“You have sunlight sensitivity,” Jaezred states matter of factly. “Trust me, I know.” Then he notices how her whole form even in the illusioned disguise, appears to be more shadowy and insubstantial. “My gosh…”
Oziah notices it too and comes right up to her, placing a firm hand on Delilah’s arms. “Are you fucking cursed again?”
There’s a blast of radiant anger that zaps through her from Oziah’s hands. It sends a giddy shudder through Delilah but nothing beyond that. The sun still burns her eyes.
“I- I don’t think so? No. I can’t be. I haven’t done anything or-”
“You might not know it,” Veridian offers, looking worriedly at her.
“I swear, even though it goes against everything I stand for, if I have to lock you up in a tower and throw away the key, so help me-” Oziah runs her hands over Delilah again, casting another spell on her. “Well? Do you feel any different? Suddenly aware of something you weren’t before? Like a curse?”
Delilah shakes her head. Veridian frowns.
“Here,” Jaezred takes off his goggles and holds them out to her. “Take these.”
“No, Jaezred, I’ll be fine. You keep them,” she says, holding her hands up and backing away from the others towards the gigantic stone archway entrance with its message of ‘No violence in my sanctuary. Any violence will be met with irreversible death’ written on it. “We can deal with whatever this is later. We’re here for Oziah, not me. Let’s go.”
She kept her head down for the rest of the hike up the mountain path…
The sanctuary is a place people from anywhere across the Planes can come and ask Tasha, an exceedingly powerful and talented diviner who also happens to be a gynosphinx, to answer questions that would normally be out of the realm of possibility. The payment method? Years of one’s life. Depending on the deal or how strong the magic is they are trying to See past, it can take up to a mere three, all the way up to the lifespan of a young red dragon.
That was what we saw when we entered Tasha’s sanctum: three githyanki, clearly part of the raiders currently attacking Gadenthor, and their red dragon ride. We heard them all speaking about trying to find ‘Coll Bahtenda’. Tasha said the magic surrounding Coll was layered, powerful, and would require a lot to see past. The githyanki offered the life of their dragon but what they got was only a marginal, rough estimate, but enough for them to work with. Curiously, Tasha said her next guests, us, might be able to help them should we wish.
None of us did, of course. In fact, Vandree deceived them into believing Coll was on a different plane entirely. Once they left, he told Councilwoman Aurelia Archselon what just happened.
After seeing how Tasha worked I was wary of giving in to the initially offered bargain. I wanted to guarantee that those who would seek to find me and mine, be they past or present adversaries, would not so easily gain such valuable information. This sphynx, though powerful, was not cautious enough with her imparting of spied upon information. The new agreement made was sufficient enough to warrant for the next 100 years, it would cost 10x more of the ‘going value’ for information on any of the four of us. The price? 10 years collectively – Daybreaker paid this herself without hesitation – three hairs from each of our heads, and three meaningful facts about ourselves.
Tasha then plane shifted us to the Astral Sea where the ritual to remove the curse of Daybreaker’s armour would happen. The ritual site had guardians, tough creatures that looked like they were made of reflective glass. Pentaghast’s magic ended up being the most useful (NB: I’ve never seen a mage counter so many spells in one minute before.) whilst Vandree and I guaranteed Daybreaker stayed safe.
“Keep this up! I might actually enjoy your company Pentaghast,” Oziah says.
Oh, and the three githyanki from before tried to approach us in the midst of the ritual – more than likely to further ‘question us’ on where to find ‘Coll Bahtenda’. But they were properly deterred by the guardians and Vandree’s polymorphed blue dragon.
Daybreaker now has a fabulous set of gold and black plate armour that really becomes her.
Report passed on 28 day of the Claw of Sunsets.
Neh diis lus’a, lus diis’a.
Continued in ‘The Thief of Forms’ 🗡️
