Post by ruthcd on Sept 19, 2024 12:16:31 GMT
Dee'arna is lazily drinking a hot coffee in the quiet of the morning bar at Fort Ettin, with a couple of sweet pastries. She's been lost in thought for some time, and tapping her fingers on her notebook sitting in front of her. She keeps occasionally glancing over at Jenna doing her morning work.
Meanwhile, when she's not ripping holes in reality to send adventurers on their way, Jenna spends a lot of her mornings checking in with the various other staff of the fort - looking in on the kitchens to make sure they have everything they need, saying good morning to Jacque the groundskeeper, assigning the tabards to their daily duties, and so on.
Meanwhile, when she's not ripping holes in reality to send adventurers on their way, Jenna spends a lot of her mornings checking in with the various other staff of the fort - looking in on the kitchens to make sure they have everything they need, saying good morning to Jacque the groundskeeper, assigning the tabards to their daily duties, and so on.
As Dee'arna looks up this time, Jenna's bright red hair is just visible over the top of the bar while she sorts out the glassware behind. Every so often she pops her head up to make sure the few patrons around have what they need. She meets Dee's gaze, and nods with a smile of acknowledgement.
Dee'arna gives her a little wave, and an inviting smile, "I'm sure you're very busy as our permanent hostess, but why not have a pause....? Care to enjoy your own coffee, it’s strong and worth savouring.”
"Uhhh...," Jenna looks around the rest of the room, runs through a quick list in her head, and then smiles more broadly. "Sounds great, Dee. I'd be happy to."
She walks over, waving to a spectral servant to grab a coffee for her as well, and then the young mage sits down at the table. "You've been here a while now - how are you finding the Dawnlands?"
"Oh, ssso fascinating. As an archaeologist I've enjoyed exploring a couple of ancient temples already. I am ssure you already know about the one to Gaknulak out in the desert? Very interesting. The people... the adventurers... they have so many stories to share, and very welcoming. And of course... I find your observatory a delightful spot to sunbathe."
Jenna laughs. "I'm glad you're making use of the observatory - I don't get up there enough. Which is absolutely wild to say about somewhere a hundred feet away. And yeah, the stories are what I love about living here too. I've ventured out a couple of times myself, but honestly I love being the person here at the end of everyone's journey, with a welcoming meal and happy to hear their tales."
"You must have quite the collection over the years..."
There's a considering pause.
"I will be honest with you. I came here chasing a rumour and I wanted to assk you if it is a ssstory you already know."
Jenna takes a sip from her coffee and tilts her head. "Interesting!" She says, eyes glimmering with curiousity. "Well if there's a story in the Dawnlands, odds are I've heard it. What would you like to know?"
"Tell me. Do you know about an ancient yuan-ti sssettlement here?"
"Aaaaaah, that makes sense," she nods. "Honestly I thought you'd have heard about that already. Sure thing."
Jenna leans back, creating a little flame in her hands to keep the mug of coffee heated.
"Now I'm not a historian. I just like stories, but I can certainly tell you what I know. So there's bits and pieces of ruined Yuan-Ti settlements about - the biggest I know of is just inside the Angelbark, and there's another site in the mountains I heard about right in the early days. But if I've heard correctly, that's because a long time ago (again, not a historian) this whole region of the Dawnlands were occupied by yuan-ti in some form! So if that's the kind of thing you're looking for, you've come to the right place."
Dee'arna smiles eagerly at this new information, places her coffee down precisely, and quickly opens her notebook to update it.
"The Angelbark? Wow, I've already been in the forest twice and missed any signs of it. A shame - but it is such a sspacious place. Could you point out specifics on a map for me? Or some simple directions? And there are settlements in the mountains... therefore posssibly more... fantassstic. And these places... I am sure adventurers have heard the call of their ssecrets. Do you know what has already been uncovered?"
"Ha, gosh that whole drama was years ago now." She thought for a moment, and then put her mug down. "Ok, you want a story? Let's do this properly."
Jenna moved back so she was now sitting on top of the next table over, feet planted on the chair in front. She waved a hand and the great fire in the hearth flared up, billowing smoke suddenly she adeptly pulled towards her, forming a dome over the pair, darkening the space in a way that was plausibly dramatic.
A couple of other breakfasters took one look at the dome of smoke in the centre of the room, rolled their eyes, and quietly got up to leave.
A man in the corner tuning his lute looked up with more interest, and quickly played an intense chord - da-da-dun - before providing some low, mysterious ambient music as Jenna spoke.
"I'll start with the mountains. That's a quick story." She pulled down some of the smoke and formed them into a row of tiny figures walking out of a large circle in the air. "People started noticing in the early days of Daring Heights that lots of Yuan-Ti were arriving, but they never stayed in the city, instead heading west to the mountains. Some people followed and found they were digging up what turned out to be an ancient mausoleum."
Dee'arna leans in, appreciative of the dramatics. Her eyes glimmer with intense interest, flicking her forked tongue to briefly see if she can taste the knowledge in the smoky air, "I ssee you're also a ssstoryteller. You should meet my friend Kem... the pair of you would put on quite the show. But please, carry on."
"Oh Kem? Guy who started a riot in my bar? I bet he can tell a story.
Anyway, so they found this big mausoleum, and the Yuan-Ti there were trying to awaken something - some great weapon. They did, sort of. It turned out to be a colossal snake made up of thousands of bones. It erupted from the pits as they tried to wield it to begin conquering the whole region!"
Smoke billowed around her, flames crackling through forming this large serpentine shape that roared at Dee'arna. A series of small smoky figures stood in front, protecting Dee as they faced this enormous monster.
"I've heard a few versions of this one, and you've seen the chucklefucks who call themselves adventurers fight. Chaotic, but effective. It was a huge battle, but they ultimately defeated this yuan-ti superweapon and blocked the entrance. I don't know what's happened there since, but I think it's been pretty quiet."
The smoke monster dissipated, falling to the ground before dissolving back into the dome as the other figures vanished as well. The bard outside, not quite sure if she was done or not, gave a dramatic sting for emphasis.
Jenna meanwhile, looked to Dee'arna for her reaction, and then hesitated. Suddenly, she seemed unsure how her yuan-ti audience might feel about this story.
Dee'arna's usually expressive face is neutral and hard to read right now, but she does simply ask, "I ssseee. And tell me, what happened to the yuan-ti?"
"I dunno specifically, to be honest. I imagine they were killed in the conflict, but you'd have to speak to someone who was there. I think Varis - that's the head of the Order of the Crimson First - is the only one still around."
There's a slow blink.
"The paladins. Good to know. Well, I will stick with hearing my stories from you Jenna, you tell them ssso effectively. I take it that, after this destruction, people have not returned to the scene? After all, you sssay the entrance is stuck."
"Umm, thanks. Yeah as far as I know. There's always something or other happening in the Sunset Spine, and I don't hear every story, but yeah I don't think anyone else has been there."
"At least I can hope that the areas of archaeological significance have not been further disturbed. Do you have a sssimilar tale to tell of the site in the Angelbark?"
Jenna nods, and then her breath catches on the smoke and she coughs. "Yeah, maybe with less theatrics," she says, waving a hand and sending the smoke back into the fireplace.
The bard, Asher, looks disappointed, and returns to polishing his lute. "So this one is more complicated, and I'll definitely point you to someone to talk to at the end, because I never really understood the whole picture,"
Jenna began, sliding back into her seat and picking her mug up again. "But there was a period of time a little while after that mountain encounter where a series of yuan-ti groups tried to unite all of the deities in their pantheon to, I think, recreate the bigger god they used to be a part of? You might know more of the details there than me."
Even Dee'arna cannot keep her face completely neutral at this. Her eyes go very wide, and there's a hiss of surprise at this news. "I don't know the details of their attempt... but of course I know the nature of my gods. They did not succeed. I am ssure." Her hand goes up to the holy symbol of her own deity for a moment.
"No, they certainly didn't. Now I've only got the high level on this story, but here's what I think happened. Yuan-Ti zealots tried to unite the gods into this mega-god, the... the One Serpent, that's it! But something went wrong. There was a god that didn't want to join up, didn't want to join in, and of course that's where our adventurers come into it. This little whisper of a god was talking to BB. Do you know BB? She lives just down the hill in New Hillborrow.
Anyway this god was talking to her and asking for help. On top of this, the Yuan-Ti were working with fiends. Glasya's lot, if I remember right."
Jenna shudders. "That part of things got really ugly. I don't know that the fiend/Yuan-Ti goals stayed aligned that much, but if even half the stories I heard were true... well, if you ever do meet Varis, tread very carefully on that topic."
She took another drink. "The long and the short of it is, they stopped the other cultists, protected this one god, and eventually dealt with the fiends too. It also seemed like maybe the whole ritual they were aiming for was a confusion in translation? This one little god, Egle, is a winged serpent god of dreams or something, and the yuan-ti had all been reading texts about the One Serpent, and maybe it had meant Egle not The One Mega-god thing, you know? Don't super know on that one, definitely questions for BB."
The ink from Dee'arna's pen is dripping on the page of her notebook as she holds it in the air, staring at Jenna.
"Jen-na... you are telling me news of a new god over my breakfassst. I will need a ssecond coffee! Who or what is BB? A god came to her asking for help... Egle? And there are ancient ssscriptures and rituals on their works? Connected to the Dawnlands perhaps? Dreams...
And significantly, who is this Varis, I should avoid? One of the paladins? Who ssslays yuan-ti but protected a serpent god... Fascinating."
Jenna laughs, a little overwhelmed herself, and sends another passing Tabard for more drinks. "Ok, local directions I can do." "Ser Varis Nailo, the Godslayer, Grandmaster of the Order of the Crimson Fist and Dishonour's Bane," she recites formally.
"A knight who has been to hell and back enough times to earn a discount. Violent, sure. Broody, definitely. Loves his speeches. He's a terrifying force when he wants to be. But," Jenna pauses, thinking. "I've never felt afraid of him. I think he's put a lot of armour around his heart because inside it's quite soft really."
She shakes her head.
"Anyway, he lives in the Order's compound, in west Daring Heights, Stoneside. I haven't seen him a while now, but he's there. Oh, and he earned the title Godslayer for killing a fiend rising to godhood, not one of yours."
"As for BB, that's Big Blue the Arcane Florist and Blue Lotus Mage. First follower and friend of Egle. She's a firbolg mage who specialises in flowers. You've seen the massive flower fields over New Hillborrow way? A lot of that's BB, and her shop BBBBBBBBBB... uhhh, B. Have you seen the house shaped like an egg over there? That's her place. Literally one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. Chaotic, too. You'll love her. And yes, friends with Egle."
The pen has returned to making notes. "These are very helpful contexts Jenna. I will give this significant consideration, before approaching anyone. Though this BB ssounds intriguing. It ssseems like there is a lot more to learn here." And she beams at Jenna "Which is exactly why I came."
The younger woman smiles in relief. "Well I'm very happy to have helped. Honestly it's good to know that listening to all these stories for years does come in useful. Anything else you want to hear about?"
"Oh you have been astonishingly helpful. More than I could have anticipated. I usually have a sstack of questions... but I need to consider all this. Can you sshow me the sites on a map?"
And Dee'arna roughly sketches out the immediate surroundings of Daring Heights, Angelbark and mountains on a piece of parchment and slides it over to Jenna.
Jenna looks over the sketch and points out two locations. "I'm only accurate to within a few miles, but if you ever want to go there just give me a shout. My portals are generally more accurate than my cartography!"
"Good to know. As is the ways here, I will need to gather up a very reliable group of friends for such significant exploration first. You have been a splendid breakfast companion Jenna, thank you for ssspending your morning with me."
"My pleasure, Dee. Let's do this again and you can tell me the stories of what you've been up to here. For now, hope you have a lovely day - I need to go yell at the wizards again. The alchemy lab is disgusting, despite the tabards' best efforts."
As Dee'arna watches Jenna walk away, she appears to be talking into the coffee in her hand briefly, "Well, I am very happy with this start to the day, I hope you're at least a little sssatisfied too."
"What was that?" Jenna calls back over her shoulder.
"Nothing."
Dee'arna gives her a little wave, and an inviting smile, "I'm sure you're very busy as our permanent hostess, but why not have a pause....? Care to enjoy your own coffee, it’s strong and worth savouring.”
"Uhhh...," Jenna looks around the rest of the room, runs through a quick list in her head, and then smiles more broadly. "Sounds great, Dee. I'd be happy to."
She walks over, waving to a spectral servant to grab a coffee for her as well, and then the young mage sits down at the table. "You've been here a while now - how are you finding the Dawnlands?"
"Oh, ssso fascinating. As an archaeologist I've enjoyed exploring a couple of ancient temples already. I am ssure you already know about the one to Gaknulak out in the desert? Very interesting. The people... the adventurers... they have so many stories to share, and very welcoming. And of course... I find your observatory a delightful spot to sunbathe."
Jenna laughs. "I'm glad you're making use of the observatory - I don't get up there enough. Which is absolutely wild to say about somewhere a hundred feet away. And yeah, the stories are what I love about living here too. I've ventured out a couple of times myself, but honestly I love being the person here at the end of everyone's journey, with a welcoming meal and happy to hear their tales."
"You must have quite the collection over the years..."
There's a considering pause.
"I will be honest with you. I came here chasing a rumour and I wanted to assk you if it is a ssstory you already know."
Jenna takes a sip from her coffee and tilts her head. "Interesting!" She says, eyes glimmering with curiousity. "Well if there's a story in the Dawnlands, odds are I've heard it. What would you like to know?"
"Tell me. Do you know about an ancient yuan-ti sssettlement here?"
"Aaaaaah, that makes sense," she nods. "Honestly I thought you'd have heard about that already. Sure thing."
Jenna leans back, creating a little flame in her hands to keep the mug of coffee heated.
"Now I'm not a historian. I just like stories, but I can certainly tell you what I know. So there's bits and pieces of ruined Yuan-Ti settlements about - the biggest I know of is just inside the Angelbark, and there's another site in the mountains I heard about right in the early days. But if I've heard correctly, that's because a long time ago (again, not a historian) this whole region of the Dawnlands were occupied by yuan-ti in some form! So if that's the kind of thing you're looking for, you've come to the right place."
Dee'arna smiles eagerly at this new information, places her coffee down precisely, and quickly opens her notebook to update it.
"The Angelbark? Wow, I've already been in the forest twice and missed any signs of it. A shame - but it is such a sspacious place. Could you point out specifics on a map for me? Or some simple directions? And there are settlements in the mountains... therefore posssibly more... fantassstic. And these places... I am sure adventurers have heard the call of their ssecrets. Do you know what has already been uncovered?"
"Ha, gosh that whole drama was years ago now." She thought for a moment, and then put her mug down. "Ok, you want a story? Let's do this properly."
Jenna moved back so she was now sitting on top of the next table over, feet planted on the chair in front. She waved a hand and the great fire in the hearth flared up, billowing smoke suddenly she adeptly pulled towards her, forming a dome over the pair, darkening the space in a way that was plausibly dramatic.
A couple of other breakfasters took one look at the dome of smoke in the centre of the room, rolled their eyes, and quietly got up to leave.
A man in the corner tuning his lute looked up with more interest, and quickly played an intense chord - da-da-dun - before providing some low, mysterious ambient music as Jenna spoke.
"I'll start with the mountains. That's a quick story." She pulled down some of the smoke and formed them into a row of tiny figures walking out of a large circle in the air. "People started noticing in the early days of Daring Heights that lots of Yuan-Ti were arriving, but they never stayed in the city, instead heading west to the mountains. Some people followed and found they were digging up what turned out to be an ancient mausoleum."
Dee'arna leans in, appreciative of the dramatics. Her eyes glimmer with intense interest, flicking her forked tongue to briefly see if she can taste the knowledge in the smoky air, "I ssee you're also a ssstoryteller. You should meet my friend Kem... the pair of you would put on quite the show. But please, carry on."
"Oh Kem? Guy who started a riot in my bar? I bet he can tell a story.
Anyway, so they found this big mausoleum, and the Yuan-Ti there were trying to awaken something - some great weapon. They did, sort of. It turned out to be a colossal snake made up of thousands of bones. It erupted from the pits as they tried to wield it to begin conquering the whole region!"
Smoke billowed around her, flames crackling through forming this large serpentine shape that roared at Dee'arna. A series of small smoky figures stood in front, protecting Dee as they faced this enormous monster.
"I've heard a few versions of this one, and you've seen the chucklefucks who call themselves adventurers fight. Chaotic, but effective. It was a huge battle, but they ultimately defeated this yuan-ti superweapon and blocked the entrance. I don't know what's happened there since, but I think it's been pretty quiet."
The smoke monster dissipated, falling to the ground before dissolving back into the dome as the other figures vanished as well. The bard outside, not quite sure if she was done or not, gave a dramatic sting for emphasis.
Jenna meanwhile, looked to Dee'arna for her reaction, and then hesitated. Suddenly, she seemed unsure how her yuan-ti audience might feel about this story.
Dee'arna's usually expressive face is neutral and hard to read right now, but she does simply ask, "I ssseee. And tell me, what happened to the yuan-ti?"
"I dunno specifically, to be honest. I imagine they were killed in the conflict, but you'd have to speak to someone who was there. I think Varis - that's the head of the Order of the Crimson First - is the only one still around."
There's a slow blink.
"The paladins. Good to know. Well, I will stick with hearing my stories from you Jenna, you tell them ssso effectively. I take it that, after this destruction, people have not returned to the scene? After all, you sssay the entrance is stuck."
"Umm, thanks. Yeah as far as I know. There's always something or other happening in the Sunset Spine, and I don't hear every story, but yeah I don't think anyone else has been there."
"At least I can hope that the areas of archaeological significance have not been further disturbed. Do you have a sssimilar tale to tell of the site in the Angelbark?"
Jenna nods, and then her breath catches on the smoke and she coughs. "Yeah, maybe with less theatrics," she says, waving a hand and sending the smoke back into the fireplace.
The bard, Asher, looks disappointed, and returns to polishing his lute. "So this one is more complicated, and I'll definitely point you to someone to talk to at the end, because I never really understood the whole picture,"
Jenna began, sliding back into her seat and picking her mug up again. "But there was a period of time a little while after that mountain encounter where a series of yuan-ti groups tried to unite all of the deities in their pantheon to, I think, recreate the bigger god they used to be a part of? You might know more of the details there than me."
Even Dee'arna cannot keep her face completely neutral at this. Her eyes go very wide, and there's a hiss of surprise at this news. "I don't know the details of their attempt... but of course I know the nature of my gods. They did not succeed. I am ssure." Her hand goes up to the holy symbol of her own deity for a moment.
"No, they certainly didn't. Now I've only got the high level on this story, but here's what I think happened. Yuan-Ti zealots tried to unite the gods into this mega-god, the... the One Serpent, that's it! But something went wrong. There was a god that didn't want to join up, didn't want to join in, and of course that's where our adventurers come into it. This little whisper of a god was talking to BB. Do you know BB? She lives just down the hill in New Hillborrow.
Anyway this god was talking to her and asking for help. On top of this, the Yuan-Ti were working with fiends. Glasya's lot, if I remember right."
Jenna shudders. "That part of things got really ugly. I don't know that the fiend/Yuan-Ti goals stayed aligned that much, but if even half the stories I heard were true... well, if you ever do meet Varis, tread very carefully on that topic."
She took another drink. "The long and the short of it is, they stopped the other cultists, protected this one god, and eventually dealt with the fiends too. It also seemed like maybe the whole ritual they were aiming for was a confusion in translation? This one little god, Egle, is a winged serpent god of dreams or something, and the yuan-ti had all been reading texts about the One Serpent, and maybe it had meant Egle not The One Mega-god thing, you know? Don't super know on that one, definitely questions for BB."
The ink from Dee'arna's pen is dripping on the page of her notebook as she holds it in the air, staring at Jenna.
"Jen-na... you are telling me news of a new god over my breakfassst. I will need a ssecond coffee! Who or what is BB? A god came to her asking for help... Egle? And there are ancient ssscriptures and rituals on their works? Connected to the Dawnlands perhaps? Dreams...
And significantly, who is this Varis, I should avoid? One of the paladins? Who ssslays yuan-ti but protected a serpent god... Fascinating."
Jenna laughs, a little overwhelmed herself, and sends another passing Tabard for more drinks. "Ok, local directions I can do." "Ser Varis Nailo, the Godslayer, Grandmaster of the Order of the Crimson Fist and Dishonour's Bane," she recites formally.
"A knight who has been to hell and back enough times to earn a discount. Violent, sure. Broody, definitely. Loves his speeches. He's a terrifying force when he wants to be. But," Jenna pauses, thinking. "I've never felt afraid of him. I think he's put a lot of armour around his heart because inside it's quite soft really."
She shakes her head.
"Anyway, he lives in the Order's compound, in west Daring Heights, Stoneside. I haven't seen him a while now, but he's there. Oh, and he earned the title Godslayer for killing a fiend rising to godhood, not one of yours."
"As for BB, that's Big Blue the Arcane Florist and Blue Lotus Mage. First follower and friend of Egle. She's a firbolg mage who specialises in flowers. You've seen the massive flower fields over New Hillborrow way? A lot of that's BB, and her shop BBBBBBBBBB... uhhh, B. Have you seen the house shaped like an egg over there? That's her place. Literally one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. Chaotic, too. You'll love her. And yes, friends with Egle."
The pen has returned to making notes. "These are very helpful contexts Jenna. I will give this significant consideration, before approaching anyone. Though this BB ssounds intriguing. It ssseems like there is a lot more to learn here." And she beams at Jenna "Which is exactly why I came."
The younger woman smiles in relief. "Well I'm very happy to have helped. Honestly it's good to know that listening to all these stories for years does come in useful. Anything else you want to hear about?"
"Oh you have been astonishingly helpful. More than I could have anticipated. I usually have a sstack of questions... but I need to consider all this. Can you sshow me the sites on a map?"
And Dee'arna roughly sketches out the immediate surroundings of Daring Heights, Angelbark and mountains on a piece of parchment and slides it over to Jenna.
Jenna looks over the sketch and points out two locations. "I'm only accurate to within a few miles, but if you ever want to go there just give me a shout. My portals are generally more accurate than my cartography!"
"Good to know. As is the ways here, I will need to gather up a very reliable group of friends for such significant exploration first. You have been a splendid breakfast companion Jenna, thank you for ssspending your morning with me."
"My pleasure, Dee. Let's do this again and you can tell me the stories of what you've been up to here. For now, hope you have a lovely day - I need to go yell at the wizards again. The alchemy lab is disgusting, despite the tabards' best efforts."
As Dee'arna watches Jenna walk away, she appears to be talking into the coffee in her hand briefly, "Well, I am very happy with this start to the day, I hope you're at least a little sssatisfied too."
"What was that?" Jenna calls back over her shoulder.
"Nothing."
--
Co-written with Andy CD