Post by Andy D on Apr 15, 2022 11:01:17 GMT
This takes place before The Greenleaf Massacre
Many thanks to Stephen/Sorrel
Kavel had heard recently from Velania and Nessa that Sorrel had been seen busying herself with the High Diviner, Rholar's security at the Temple of Selune. This tracked with the absence of any recent chit-chat between adventurers involving Sorrel. So, after putting in some hours with Tokh Mar in the carpentry workshop at Fort Ettin, the goliath headed back to Daring Heights to go see how his human sister had been keeping herself busy since he last saw her.
…
Sorrel is pacing back and forth near the temple entrance. Her energy is so unsettling clergy and laity have cleared a space around her, which she barely notices. She seems to be muttering to herself but her eyes are as sharp as ever and if an unfamiliar face appears in the temple door, she'll briefly shake them down, placing anything potentially fatal from a wand to a vial in a large lead box.
…
Walking along Castle Road, Kavel tried to remember all the adventures he'd been on since he last saw Sorrel. There was the time he met a dragon, Mr. Kurtz. The goliath had also travelled to the Witching Court and many other planes including Hell. He'd also met a new comrade in Ivan, who was regularly training at Kavel's Corner now. Kavel had adventured with Sorrel's dear friend Toothy a few times now too, as well as smashing the odd hag, githyanki and hell creature along the way.
Kavel had done quite a bit since he last saw his human sister. Surely Sorrel had not kept herself to the temple for all that time, Kavel thought to himself. Some priestly people do ordinarily spend all their time at a temple, but surely not Sorrel?
The only other time Sorrel restricted herself to the temple was when she had a terrible curse... the thought of this worried Kavel. But, Kavel did not want to get swept away in negative thinking, so he actively switched his mind's focus to remembering what he recently learnt at carpentry class. With his mind at ease, it wasn't long before he found himself at the entrance to the Temple of Selune.
…
Sorrel's heart almost stopped as a giant shape loomed in shadow in the temple door. Was this it? A fiend arriving to... she squinted and focussed then shouted in delight - "KAVEL!" - and hurled herself towards him.
The acolytes and clerics turned, shocked. The sullen ranger's endless pacing had their nerves on edge and in the months she'd been here they'd never seen her smile once. The cry of joy seemed to come from an entirely different creature and they gawped as she leapt to wrap her arms around the goliath's muscular neck, her feet dangling some distance from the floor.
"Brother, what are you doing here?" she laughed in his ears, holding on tightly just in case he had any plans of going anywhere. "Come inside please please, I've missed you."
With his sister hanging off his muscular neck, Kavel raised both arms and curled his hands towards his shoulders to perform a double bicep pose. The goliath posed for his own pleasure, but his enormous bare arms were on display for the clergy to see. Satisfied with himself, he then hugged his hanging sister right back.
“I am here to see my sister, of course!” Kavel said, as he moved Sorrel from around his neck to around his shoulders into a fireman’s carry. With a childish grin on his face, he started to rotate himself and Sorrel clockwise, never coming to a stop. As a big brother, you get to tease little sisters like this - Kavel law.
Whilst letting Sorrel enjoy a new form of flying, Kavel explained:
“I’m always coming back and forth to Daring Heights from Fort Ettin, going from training and carpentry instruction to adventures setting off from The Dragon next door. But, I never have time to visit you, so I left carpentry practice a day earlier to come see you before I go away on another mission. How have you been?”
Sorrel timed letting go perfectly so that the centripetal force would propel her through the temple door. She jacked and spun in the air, landing on her feet at the top of the stairs then stepping down a step and sitting in the evening sun. "Come and sit with me brother," she patted the ground next to her. "I have spent too long inside. And there's very little point in working your muscles to a size I'd previously thought impossible just for the clergy. The city deserves to see them."
Kavel was amused - even with a grip on Sorrel, she still moves faster than he can see. Hearing her words, he went back out and joined her on the steps, and sat beside her.
“So, how are you, and what have you been up to?”
Sorrel’s Vision
Sorrel shrugged. "Honestly, nothing." She paused. "I mean everything and nothing. About a year ago I received a vision..." she looked up at Kavel quickly, embarrassed, and looked away. "I mean I really did. I'd had some beers yes, but it was real Kavel. I think it was a messenger from the goddess - from Selûne. She asked me to protect the High Diviner - boss man back there," she jerked her thumb back at the temple and dropped her voice a little. "Who is a bit of an arsehole to be brutally honest. But you know, Selûne saved me from the Hunger Spirit, and you were there when I entered her service - thank you again by the way. So when the call came, in the form of fiends plotting to destroy all followers of the goddess, because fiends don't fuck about, I moved in to keep him safe."
She sat in silence and drew shapes in the light dust coating the temple steps. "Except I'm not sure I made the right choice," she said eventually. "I met a guy - the Jackal, funky name - and he wants me in the field. So when that call comes... in the meantime, I sit here and listen to stories. From you. Tell me, let me live vicariously through your adventures... What's been happening? And what are the thicc bois?"
‘Thicc bois’ - Kavel laughed to himself. “Okay Sorrel. I will tell you what I’ve been up to. I can tell you everything. But, first this Jackal man, can he not put you in the field sooner? It does not sit well with me, thinking of you idle. Although, I suppose on the one hand,” and it was here Kavel could see a positive, “this frees up your time for training?”
Sorrel laughed. "Funny you should say that Kavel, I've been working with your clubs. I'm feeling a stronger core and the shoulders are building muscle - even rotator cuffs. My string pull back is sharper and the thrust of the rapier is more precise. So, yes. Time for training. Now. You."
Kavel clapped his hands emphatically with pride, and then clenched a fist and pumped it into the air.
“This is great Sorrel! A little bit of Iron Strong training has done you well. So proud!”
“Okay then,” and Kavel turned a little to face Sorrel, and put his hand down. He also moved a couple steps lower so his face was level with Sorrel’s instead of above hers, “I still have questions for you, and something to say about visions, but yes. Now I’ll tell you what I have been up to.”
Kavel and the Dragon Man
Kavel thought back to the first adventure since he last saw Sorrel, and remembered, “oh yes that’s right. You may already know this story, because Silvia is in it. I was helping her...”
Kavel told Sorrel about how Silvia asked for his help while he was doing deadlifts, and how they went to the Gilded Mirror and met the person he had heard about from Sorrel, Lord Jaezred. Kavel told his sister about the fight in the back-alley, and how the Darkness spell kept following him, so he had to smash the opponents while blind. And then, there was learning that both Silvia’s patron and comrade Dellilah’s father are the same person - a dragon called Kurtz.
Kavel focused in on the most important part of that last bit for him:
“The oddest thing for me, is how a male dragon could impregnate a humanoid woman? The sizes are too different. But then the dragon changed into a humanoid man before me, so I assume the sex took place in humanoid form, atleast for the insemination that led to baby Dellilah, right?”
Kavel did not leave long for Sorrel to respond though:
“Also! I copied you! I had a magic item that could cast Misty Step, and I used it to get from the ground to the rooftop. No wonder it looks like you’ve disappeared sometimes when you move so fast - you literally do! I was thinking though, surely someone so strong like me, could just learn to jump that high, right? I mean, I’m never going to learn how to cast Misty Step, but maybe a 1,000 more heavy squats and I reckon I can jump as high as rooftops, what do you think? For real?”
Sorrel thought back to her anatomy classes - which tendons, ligaments and muscles to sever in an opponent - and reflected on the rooftop work she’d mastered in the alleyways of more than a few cities. “The issue is priming,” she mused. “You need to build up the energy to propel you by compressing the fast twitch muscles, so you’ll have to crouch or tense. The ligaments, tendons and nervous system need to be prepared. It’s as much an agility play as a strength play in the speed of the spring then the Iron Strength gives you the distance. It’s tight, compact muscle rather than bulk in the hamstrings - I mean, still bigger than most folk. But you’re asking your muscles to do something a little different. I can help with that if you want. The question is how high or far can you get without telegraphing your move. It’s a challenge.”
She considers it for a few minutes. “I think I can help. We’ll see. I have heard a little from Silvia but the father dragon business takes her off in all sorts of directions. I never quite get the full picture. It’s good that she isn’t in pain anymore, is the main thing. That can’t be all though?”
She jumps back in before Kavel can answer. “The kettlebells. I think they’d be key. This is a very interesting problem.”
Kavel pondered for but a second, “yes good. Help me with jump gains, I look forward to it! And, Silvia seemed more confident when I saw her in a later adventure. But, before that one…”
Kavel Returns to the Witching Court
Big brother then told Sorrel about his second visit to the Witching Court, and how he met his new comrade Ivan, later to be known as a fellow thicc-boi.
“And I met three hags. Usually, I smash hags. But these hags, I didn’t smash. These hags offered me tea. These hags were comrade Zola’s three mothers, and are not to be confused with hags from hell. It seems Fey hags are nice. One of them, Pearl the ‘Feeble’, offered to help me with my gains, but everyone keeps warning me about taking fey deals, so I haven’t gone back to her.”
"Ivan is brave if a little undiplomatic," Sorrel smiled. "I have fought alongside him a few times. He has no fear. Once he fought the dark corruption in the Angelbark entirely alone and triumphed. When that Langston character tried to achieve his plans the party I was in relied on Ivan to battle the beast almost solo. I'm impressed by his skills and courage. They will write poems about him one day. As for the fey," she pondered for a few second. "I have a little fey blood from my father. I have been uncomfortable with it for much of my life as my father... is a story best left for another day. But since coming here I realise it is more complicated than I had thought. I do know that the fey gifts are rarely transparent - although my misty step is a fey gift and I have yet to pay a price for it." She shrugged. "I bet hags are difficult to deal with unless you have some power over them though."
Kavel had certainty now. “No hag or fey deal for me then. Too complicated. And that story about Ivan sounds amazing. I’m surprised I didn’t hear about it from Ivan himself.”
Kavel Travels the Staircase
Kavel then mentioned planar travel via the Staircase. “I went to the Beastlands, and Hell. Hell was shit. Also, between you and me,” and Kavel lent in to his sister to speak so only she could hear, and in a quieter voice he said:
“... I really don’t like being hit with psychic fucking magic! Honestly, with my body, and when I’m prepared and have a battlerage going - throw what you like at me; blades, hammers, fire, cold, poison, bring down the heavens; thunder and lighting; I’ll shake it all off. I can. But, psychic attacks? I feel those. So painful!”
“Brother I hear you,” Sorrel’s reply was heartfelt. “I had a brush with mindflayers once. Very little scares me. They do. If I never meet that again it’ll still be too soon.”
“But Hell… impressive,” Sorrel nodded proudly. “Rite of passage stuff. It’s like big school. Have you done the Abyss? Hell, you can kind of reason with devils sort of. Demons it’s just them or you.” She paused. “I need me some more radiant damage options come to think of it. But brother, you have been working. I’m jealous. Don’t tell me there’s more?”
“The Abyss?” This was not a place Kavel had been. “If there are psychic magic-users there then it can wait a long time before I visit the place. But yes there is more sister. I suppose it was comrade Nessa or Velania that told you about the Thicc-Bois, right?”
Kavel and the Thicc-Bois
“I was actually on my way to visit you three weeks ago, when I heard, ‘Oi Kavel!’ and comrade Ivan was standing there. He was in need of a team consisting purely of beasts, or as he put it, ‘thicc bois’. It was a fun day. I got to fight alongside Ivan and Varga again, and Toothy for the first time! You know, Toothy is much like me. I know that observation seems strange, but I think it’s true. In fact, now that I've come to mention it, if anyone can see Mr. Bear, like me, it’s him.”
Kavel paused for a second. Sorrel wanted to hear about his adventures, which he was happy to oblige, but he realised this was a good time to mention something he wanted to bring up earlier.
“There’s still more Sorrel. Two more adventures, but first I must say something about visions - visions are good. Whenever I have questions about the local environment, I see a spirit bear who helps me out. It’s weird, because no one else sees Mr. Bear. But, if I stop to think about the local three mile area, Mr. Bear gives me his advice. For example, on the walk from Fort Ettin, I was a little thirsty, and I wanted more water than was in my water-skin. But I couldn’t see a stream. I thought about it for a few minutes, and then Mr. Bear appeared walking alongside me and said, ‘don’t worry about it Kavel, there’s a well just up ahead mate, next to that farmer’s barn there’. Sure enough; Mr. Bear was correct. I had a look, and there was a well! So, why feel embarrassed about visions? Visions are good. Do you see what I mean? And I reckon Toothy can see Mr. Bear, just like me. Oh! Also - comrade Kelne, the Halfling; they’re a thicc-boi too.”
Sorrel beamed. "Mr Bear sounds like a dude," she looked Kavel up and down. "From what little I know about spirits, I believe they choose who they appear to. I think you earn it, you don't get to just have it. And I didn't realise. I feel awkward talking about visions to some people because... you know... saying a god spoke to me might sound... I don't know, a little delusional. But I'm not embarrassed it happened, just careful who I tell. In all honesty, brother, I'm not sure I've actually told anyone else. Rholor thinks I'm acting for a client, but I haven't told him the full story. Toothy - I love that kid. I'm so glad you met him. You guys have a quality I can see in common even though he's drow and you're goliath. I guess it's not where you're from, it's where you're at."
“Yeah, Toothy was at Kavel’s Corner and lifted twice what we expected. You could say he’s a deceptive thicc-boi. Me and the other Iron Bros are eager to have him come visit again soon.”
Kavel had a swig of water from his water-skin. “You know, that gym session leads straight into the next adventure.”
Kavel Returns to Gadenthor
Kavel told Sorrel about his second journey to Gadenthor, and how he spent half that mission doing ‘Sorrel work’ by which he meant he had to be light of foot and stealthy, using stuff Sorrel had shown him.
“After the stealth work, I got to smash githyanki with my poleaxe. Since comrade’s Ivan and Toothy were with me, it was like a Thicc-Bois reunion. I was getting used to having a thicc-boi team on adventures. Oh and Silvia speared the life out of a githyanki soldier with her new trident, right at the beginning of combat. It was so fast, it was as if she was you.”
Sorrel smiled affectionately. "Her power is growing so fast. I think her new relationship with her... patron? I don't really understand... is good for her. And I like that you can learn something from me. It makes me feel it's less one way with the strength. I swear Kavel, one of these days I'm going to end up back in the front line if the training keeps going the way it is. I can feel the muscle replacing the... well, the scars. Gadenthor. That's a wild place. I was there with Kelne, Tayz and Varga some time back. Strange vibes. But lots of strength training, no?"
“More of a bodybuilding culture, but still very strong,” Kavel said in agreement.
“I wish I could tell you everything about my last adventure in the Turning Fields,” Kavel began. But, there was a problem for the goliath.
Kavel Returns to the Turning Fields - Redacted Version
“So, I’m sworn to secrecy on a couple of points,” Kavel said disappointedly. “We stopped the village’s water supply from being poisoned though. I can say that much. We killed a nasty hag to do it. And we ate some stew. Oh, and that reminds me, is drinking spirits for breakfast a practice for clerics of Selune? I ask because Nessa was drinking spirits before breakfast when I met her.”
Sorrel tried to hide a smile. "Nessa is a... I don't really know how to describe her. I think she is... she has the blessing of the moonmaiden in her in a way few clerics or acolytes have. The radiance shines out of her at times. And yet she isn't quite at home in herself. She seems like a tourist sometimes, but not just in Kantas - it's like she's a tourist in her own body. And for all the deep connection with the goddess she's not... traditionally holy, I would say. She embraces life like she's hungry for the tiniest detail. She told me a little about the Turning Fields - but it was all about the stew. She seems more interested in stew than slaying monsters. But, in fact there are legends about Selune taking the form of a mortal woman and owning a tavern in Waterdeep so perhaps she is channeling the moonmaiden in a more honest way than some of her followers."
Sorrel shivered. "I am glad of her power, I must confess. I think there are dark times ahead for the temple. I hope things don't spill out into the Dawnlands. But there are things at work that - I don't know, brother, you are not bound to the temple so I don't want to drag you into it."
Kavel thought to himself, “Nessa could be the moonmaiden herself. Hmmm.”
“Well about your temple,” Kavel continued, “I did fight a sexy devil man with Marto and others in the Angelbark before me and you went and helped Celina in that old lady’s crappy shop. The fiend’s name was Adyhel. He said he was one of five. I’ve heard some of the other adventurers talk, I suppose he’s part of your temple problem? If there’s anything you need from me. Let me know sister. If you are staying in the temple much longer, I can bring you stuff. Right now though, I can get us a meal and drink at The Dragon.”
Kavel smiled at Sorrel, “you haven’t earned any gold recently. So, my shout.”
Sorrel raises an eyebrow. "So you were the first to fight the... five or whatever they are. You know, Kavel, in the end they can only be defeated in Hell. So I'm going to have to go back there. Eventually. Which means I can't promise to shout you back because I have people who wish to see me there and I may not get out again. Now. I have played drinking games with the Company of the Wolf, the Bloodaxe boys and the Order of the Burning Dawn and walked away over their unconscious bodies but you are Iron Strong and I think that makes us about even. So I won't challenge you for the bill. But you gave me the clubs and I cannot let you pay. So do me the kindness of humouring my girlish ways and remember that I may not have earned, but I haven't spent either."
Kavel smiled as he put his hands on his knees and stood up. "Okay then. You pay. But you have to make it back from hell when you go, otherwise I won't be able to pay for food and drink for us next time."
Many thanks to Stephen/Sorrel
Kavel had heard recently from Velania and Nessa that Sorrel had been seen busying herself with the High Diviner, Rholar's security at the Temple of Selune. This tracked with the absence of any recent chit-chat between adventurers involving Sorrel. So, after putting in some hours with Tokh Mar in the carpentry workshop at Fort Ettin, the goliath headed back to Daring Heights to go see how his human sister had been keeping herself busy since he last saw her.
…
Sorrel is pacing back and forth near the temple entrance. Her energy is so unsettling clergy and laity have cleared a space around her, which she barely notices. She seems to be muttering to herself but her eyes are as sharp as ever and if an unfamiliar face appears in the temple door, she'll briefly shake them down, placing anything potentially fatal from a wand to a vial in a large lead box.
…
Walking along Castle Road, Kavel tried to remember all the adventures he'd been on since he last saw Sorrel. There was the time he met a dragon, Mr. Kurtz. The goliath had also travelled to the Witching Court and many other planes including Hell. He'd also met a new comrade in Ivan, who was regularly training at Kavel's Corner now. Kavel had adventured with Sorrel's dear friend Toothy a few times now too, as well as smashing the odd hag, githyanki and hell creature along the way.
Kavel had done quite a bit since he last saw his human sister. Surely Sorrel had not kept herself to the temple for all that time, Kavel thought to himself. Some priestly people do ordinarily spend all their time at a temple, but surely not Sorrel?
The only other time Sorrel restricted herself to the temple was when she had a terrible curse... the thought of this worried Kavel. But, Kavel did not want to get swept away in negative thinking, so he actively switched his mind's focus to remembering what he recently learnt at carpentry class. With his mind at ease, it wasn't long before he found himself at the entrance to the Temple of Selune.
…
Sorrel's heart almost stopped as a giant shape loomed in shadow in the temple door. Was this it? A fiend arriving to... she squinted and focussed then shouted in delight - "KAVEL!" - and hurled herself towards him.
The acolytes and clerics turned, shocked. The sullen ranger's endless pacing had their nerves on edge and in the months she'd been here they'd never seen her smile once. The cry of joy seemed to come from an entirely different creature and they gawped as she leapt to wrap her arms around the goliath's muscular neck, her feet dangling some distance from the floor.
"Brother, what are you doing here?" she laughed in his ears, holding on tightly just in case he had any plans of going anywhere. "Come inside please please, I've missed you."
With his sister hanging off his muscular neck, Kavel raised both arms and curled his hands towards his shoulders to perform a double bicep pose. The goliath posed for his own pleasure, but his enormous bare arms were on display for the clergy to see. Satisfied with himself, he then hugged his hanging sister right back.
“I am here to see my sister, of course!” Kavel said, as he moved Sorrel from around his neck to around his shoulders into a fireman’s carry. With a childish grin on his face, he started to rotate himself and Sorrel clockwise, never coming to a stop. As a big brother, you get to tease little sisters like this - Kavel law.
Whilst letting Sorrel enjoy a new form of flying, Kavel explained:
“I’m always coming back and forth to Daring Heights from Fort Ettin, going from training and carpentry instruction to adventures setting off from The Dragon next door. But, I never have time to visit you, so I left carpentry practice a day earlier to come see you before I go away on another mission. How have you been?”
Sorrel timed letting go perfectly so that the centripetal force would propel her through the temple door. She jacked and spun in the air, landing on her feet at the top of the stairs then stepping down a step and sitting in the evening sun. "Come and sit with me brother," she patted the ground next to her. "I have spent too long inside. And there's very little point in working your muscles to a size I'd previously thought impossible just for the clergy. The city deserves to see them."
Kavel was amused - even with a grip on Sorrel, she still moves faster than he can see. Hearing her words, he went back out and joined her on the steps, and sat beside her.
“So, how are you, and what have you been up to?”
Sorrel’s Vision
Sorrel shrugged. "Honestly, nothing." She paused. "I mean everything and nothing. About a year ago I received a vision..." she looked up at Kavel quickly, embarrassed, and looked away. "I mean I really did. I'd had some beers yes, but it was real Kavel. I think it was a messenger from the goddess - from Selûne. She asked me to protect the High Diviner - boss man back there," she jerked her thumb back at the temple and dropped her voice a little. "Who is a bit of an arsehole to be brutally honest. But you know, Selûne saved me from the Hunger Spirit, and you were there when I entered her service - thank you again by the way. So when the call came, in the form of fiends plotting to destroy all followers of the goddess, because fiends don't fuck about, I moved in to keep him safe."
She sat in silence and drew shapes in the light dust coating the temple steps. "Except I'm not sure I made the right choice," she said eventually. "I met a guy - the Jackal, funky name - and he wants me in the field. So when that call comes... in the meantime, I sit here and listen to stories. From you. Tell me, let me live vicariously through your adventures... What's been happening? And what are the thicc bois?"
‘Thicc bois’ - Kavel laughed to himself. “Okay Sorrel. I will tell you what I’ve been up to. I can tell you everything. But, first this Jackal man, can he not put you in the field sooner? It does not sit well with me, thinking of you idle. Although, I suppose on the one hand,” and it was here Kavel could see a positive, “this frees up your time for training?”
Sorrel laughed. "Funny you should say that Kavel, I've been working with your clubs. I'm feeling a stronger core and the shoulders are building muscle - even rotator cuffs. My string pull back is sharper and the thrust of the rapier is more precise. So, yes. Time for training. Now. You."
Kavel clapped his hands emphatically with pride, and then clenched a fist and pumped it into the air.
“This is great Sorrel! A little bit of Iron Strong training has done you well. So proud!”
“Okay then,” and Kavel turned a little to face Sorrel, and put his hand down. He also moved a couple steps lower so his face was level with Sorrel’s instead of above hers, “I still have questions for you, and something to say about visions, but yes. Now I’ll tell you what I have been up to.”
The Adventuring Tales of Kavel ‘Smashy Hands’ Castiron
Kavel and the Dragon Man
Kavel thought back to the first adventure since he last saw Sorrel, and remembered, “oh yes that’s right. You may already know this story, because Silvia is in it. I was helping her...”
Kavel told Sorrel about how Silvia asked for his help while he was doing deadlifts, and how they went to the Gilded Mirror and met the person he had heard about from Sorrel, Lord Jaezred. Kavel told his sister about the fight in the back-alley, and how the Darkness spell kept following him, so he had to smash the opponents while blind. And then, there was learning that both Silvia’s patron and comrade Dellilah’s father are the same person - a dragon called Kurtz.
Kavel focused in on the most important part of that last bit for him:
“The oddest thing for me, is how a male dragon could impregnate a humanoid woman? The sizes are too different. But then the dragon changed into a humanoid man before me, so I assume the sex took place in humanoid form, atleast for the insemination that led to baby Dellilah, right?”
Kavel did not leave long for Sorrel to respond though:
“Also! I copied you! I had a magic item that could cast Misty Step, and I used it to get from the ground to the rooftop. No wonder it looks like you’ve disappeared sometimes when you move so fast - you literally do! I was thinking though, surely someone so strong like me, could just learn to jump that high, right? I mean, I’m never going to learn how to cast Misty Step, but maybe a 1,000 more heavy squats and I reckon I can jump as high as rooftops, what do you think? For real?”
Sorrel thought back to her anatomy classes - which tendons, ligaments and muscles to sever in an opponent - and reflected on the rooftop work she’d mastered in the alleyways of more than a few cities. “The issue is priming,” she mused. “You need to build up the energy to propel you by compressing the fast twitch muscles, so you’ll have to crouch or tense. The ligaments, tendons and nervous system need to be prepared. It’s as much an agility play as a strength play in the speed of the spring then the Iron Strength gives you the distance. It’s tight, compact muscle rather than bulk in the hamstrings - I mean, still bigger than most folk. But you’re asking your muscles to do something a little different. I can help with that if you want. The question is how high or far can you get without telegraphing your move. It’s a challenge.”
She considers it for a few minutes. “I think I can help. We’ll see. I have heard a little from Silvia but the father dragon business takes her off in all sorts of directions. I never quite get the full picture. It’s good that she isn’t in pain anymore, is the main thing. That can’t be all though?”
She jumps back in before Kavel can answer. “The kettlebells. I think they’d be key. This is a very interesting problem.”
Kavel pondered for but a second, “yes good. Help me with jump gains, I look forward to it! And, Silvia seemed more confident when I saw her in a later adventure. But, before that one…”
Kavel Returns to the Witching Court
Big brother then told Sorrel about his second visit to the Witching Court, and how he met his new comrade Ivan, later to be known as a fellow thicc-boi.
“And I met three hags. Usually, I smash hags. But these hags, I didn’t smash. These hags offered me tea. These hags were comrade Zola’s three mothers, and are not to be confused with hags from hell. It seems Fey hags are nice. One of them, Pearl the ‘Feeble’, offered to help me with my gains, but everyone keeps warning me about taking fey deals, so I haven’t gone back to her.”
"Ivan is brave if a little undiplomatic," Sorrel smiled. "I have fought alongside him a few times. He has no fear. Once he fought the dark corruption in the Angelbark entirely alone and triumphed. When that Langston character tried to achieve his plans the party I was in relied on Ivan to battle the beast almost solo. I'm impressed by his skills and courage. They will write poems about him one day. As for the fey," she pondered for a few second. "I have a little fey blood from my father. I have been uncomfortable with it for much of my life as my father... is a story best left for another day. But since coming here I realise it is more complicated than I had thought. I do know that the fey gifts are rarely transparent - although my misty step is a fey gift and I have yet to pay a price for it." She shrugged. "I bet hags are difficult to deal with unless you have some power over them though."
Kavel had certainty now. “No hag or fey deal for me then. Too complicated. And that story about Ivan sounds amazing. I’m surprised I didn’t hear about it from Ivan himself.”
Kavel Travels the Staircase
Kavel then mentioned planar travel via the Staircase. “I went to the Beastlands, and Hell. Hell was shit. Also, between you and me,” and Kavel lent in to his sister to speak so only she could hear, and in a quieter voice he said:
“... I really don’t like being hit with psychic fucking magic! Honestly, with my body, and when I’m prepared and have a battlerage going - throw what you like at me; blades, hammers, fire, cold, poison, bring down the heavens; thunder and lighting; I’ll shake it all off. I can. But, psychic attacks? I feel those. So painful!”
“Brother I hear you,” Sorrel’s reply was heartfelt. “I had a brush with mindflayers once. Very little scares me. They do. If I never meet that again it’ll still be too soon.”
“But Hell… impressive,” Sorrel nodded proudly. “Rite of passage stuff. It’s like big school. Have you done the Abyss? Hell, you can kind of reason with devils sort of. Demons it’s just them or you.” She paused. “I need me some more radiant damage options come to think of it. But brother, you have been working. I’m jealous. Don’t tell me there’s more?”
“The Abyss?” This was not a place Kavel had been. “If there are psychic magic-users there then it can wait a long time before I visit the place. But yes there is more sister. I suppose it was comrade Nessa or Velania that told you about the Thicc-Bois, right?”
Kavel and the Thicc-Bois
“I was actually on my way to visit you three weeks ago, when I heard, ‘Oi Kavel!’ and comrade Ivan was standing there. He was in need of a team consisting purely of beasts, or as he put it, ‘thicc bois’. It was a fun day. I got to fight alongside Ivan and Varga again, and Toothy for the first time! You know, Toothy is much like me. I know that observation seems strange, but I think it’s true. In fact, now that I've come to mention it, if anyone can see Mr. Bear, like me, it’s him.”
Kavel paused for a second. Sorrel wanted to hear about his adventures, which he was happy to oblige, but he realised this was a good time to mention something he wanted to bring up earlier.
“There’s still more Sorrel. Two more adventures, but first I must say something about visions - visions are good. Whenever I have questions about the local environment, I see a spirit bear who helps me out. It’s weird, because no one else sees Mr. Bear. But, if I stop to think about the local three mile area, Mr. Bear gives me his advice. For example, on the walk from Fort Ettin, I was a little thirsty, and I wanted more water than was in my water-skin. But I couldn’t see a stream. I thought about it for a few minutes, and then Mr. Bear appeared walking alongside me and said, ‘don’t worry about it Kavel, there’s a well just up ahead mate, next to that farmer’s barn there’. Sure enough; Mr. Bear was correct. I had a look, and there was a well! So, why feel embarrassed about visions? Visions are good. Do you see what I mean? And I reckon Toothy can see Mr. Bear, just like me. Oh! Also - comrade Kelne, the Halfling; they’re a thicc-boi too.”
Sorrel beamed. "Mr Bear sounds like a dude," she looked Kavel up and down. "From what little I know about spirits, I believe they choose who they appear to. I think you earn it, you don't get to just have it. And I didn't realise. I feel awkward talking about visions to some people because... you know... saying a god spoke to me might sound... I don't know, a little delusional. But I'm not embarrassed it happened, just careful who I tell. In all honesty, brother, I'm not sure I've actually told anyone else. Rholor thinks I'm acting for a client, but I haven't told him the full story. Toothy - I love that kid. I'm so glad you met him. You guys have a quality I can see in common even though he's drow and you're goliath. I guess it's not where you're from, it's where you're at."
“Yeah, Toothy was at Kavel’s Corner and lifted twice what we expected. You could say he’s a deceptive thicc-boi. Me and the other Iron Bros are eager to have him come visit again soon.”
Kavel had a swig of water from his water-skin. “You know, that gym session leads straight into the next adventure.”
Kavel Returns to Gadenthor
Kavel told Sorrel about his second journey to Gadenthor, and how he spent half that mission doing ‘Sorrel work’ by which he meant he had to be light of foot and stealthy, using stuff Sorrel had shown him.
“After the stealth work, I got to smash githyanki with my poleaxe. Since comrade’s Ivan and Toothy were with me, it was like a Thicc-Bois reunion. I was getting used to having a thicc-boi team on adventures. Oh and Silvia speared the life out of a githyanki soldier with her new trident, right at the beginning of combat. It was so fast, it was as if she was you.”
Sorrel smiled affectionately. "Her power is growing so fast. I think her new relationship with her... patron? I don't really understand... is good for her. And I like that you can learn something from me. It makes me feel it's less one way with the strength. I swear Kavel, one of these days I'm going to end up back in the front line if the training keeps going the way it is. I can feel the muscle replacing the... well, the scars. Gadenthor. That's a wild place. I was there with Kelne, Tayz and Varga some time back. Strange vibes. But lots of strength training, no?"
“More of a bodybuilding culture, but still very strong,” Kavel said in agreement.
“I wish I could tell you everything about my last adventure in the Turning Fields,” Kavel began. But, there was a problem for the goliath.
Kavel Returns to the Turning Fields - Redacted Version
“So, I’m sworn to secrecy on a couple of points,” Kavel said disappointedly. “We stopped the village’s water supply from being poisoned though. I can say that much. We killed a nasty hag to do it. And we ate some stew. Oh, and that reminds me, is drinking spirits for breakfast a practice for clerics of Selune? I ask because Nessa was drinking spirits before breakfast when I met her.”
Sorrel tried to hide a smile. "Nessa is a... I don't really know how to describe her. I think she is... she has the blessing of the moonmaiden in her in a way few clerics or acolytes have. The radiance shines out of her at times. And yet she isn't quite at home in herself. She seems like a tourist sometimes, but not just in Kantas - it's like she's a tourist in her own body. And for all the deep connection with the goddess she's not... traditionally holy, I would say. She embraces life like she's hungry for the tiniest detail. She told me a little about the Turning Fields - but it was all about the stew. She seems more interested in stew than slaying monsters. But, in fact there are legends about Selune taking the form of a mortal woman and owning a tavern in Waterdeep so perhaps she is channeling the moonmaiden in a more honest way than some of her followers."
Sorrel shivered. "I am glad of her power, I must confess. I think there are dark times ahead for the temple. I hope things don't spill out into the Dawnlands. But there are things at work that - I don't know, brother, you are not bound to the temple so I don't want to drag you into it."
Kavel thought to himself, “Nessa could be the moonmaiden herself. Hmmm.”
“Well about your temple,” Kavel continued, “I did fight a sexy devil man with Marto and others in the Angelbark before me and you went and helped Celina in that old lady’s crappy shop. The fiend’s name was Adyhel. He said he was one of five. I’ve heard some of the other adventurers talk, I suppose he’s part of your temple problem? If there’s anything you need from me. Let me know sister. If you are staying in the temple much longer, I can bring you stuff. Right now though, I can get us a meal and drink at The Dragon.”
Kavel smiled at Sorrel, “you haven’t earned any gold recently. So, my shout.”
Sorrel raises an eyebrow. "So you were the first to fight the... five or whatever they are. You know, Kavel, in the end they can only be defeated in Hell. So I'm going to have to go back there. Eventually. Which means I can't promise to shout you back because I have people who wish to see me there and I may not get out again. Now. I have played drinking games with the Company of the Wolf, the Bloodaxe boys and the Order of the Burning Dawn and walked away over their unconscious bodies but you are Iron Strong and I think that makes us about even. So I won't challenge you for the bill. But you gave me the clubs and I cannot let you pay. So do me the kindness of humouring my girlish ways and remember that I may not have earned, but I haven't spent either."
Kavel smiled as he put his hands on his knees and stood up. "Okay then. You pay. But you have to make it back from hell when you go, otherwise I won't be able to pay for food and drink for us next time."