Post by andycd on Oct 28, 2019 7:49:17 GMT
It took a fumbled Restoration spell to clear the headache Khazifa awoke with, without question the most valuable spell she knew, and feeling a little better she clambered out of the pile of fur that was the... family of bears she had crashed with. Feeling the damp morning dew clinging to the walls of the cave, Khazifa took a deep breath and centered herself, letting her senses reach out, finding herself in the world. Ah, north Angelbark, that made sense. Yes, she'd met these bears before. They'd spoken highly of Daemorys, as she recalled. Oh that's right - Daisy. Mornings were hard.
The dwarven woman stretched, cracking bones much older than her face betrayed, as she looked out the cave entrance at the quiet woodland morning. There were few better things than the morning silence of a forest - hardly silent at all really, but even the morning birds and small beasts seemed to all understand that dawn deserved a little respect, muting their sound. Glancing back at the pile of bears still sleeping, Khazifa knew she owed them for what had undoubtedly been a loud intrusion last night. Those Bullywugs really knew how to party. Stepping out onto the wet grass, she grinned a wolfish grin, canines elongating until it was the much wider grin of a wolf as she loped away. May as well make this sporting.
--
Dragging the corpse of the buck in her jaws back and depositing it in front of the cave and the stirring bears, Khazifa gave a deep wolven bow to the family before continuing with her day, shifting directly into her favourite form - the great eagle, and soaring off into the sky.
The hunt had been good, but there was nothing like stretching one's wings to get invigorated for the day. She circled a few times, gaining altitude, before flying north west - Kundar was the destination today. The trees thinned out at the edge of the forest and the Angelbark gave way grudgingly to the harsher, and more arid biome of the Scorching Badlands over the next few hours of her flight. The thermals here made for outstanding flying conditions and while she swooped down occasionally to check out the odd caravan or supplies wagon, the updraft always carried her back to the swirling wisps of cloud higher up.
--
Kundar was huge and fascinating. So many kobolds and dragonborn in one place, living a civilisation quite unique for their kinds. Khazifa dove into the city, streaking towards the ground like a falling star, causing some alarm in those who looked up. Just before she hit the ground of course, she pulled up and slowed, dropping onto the ground as a hefty iguana - a lizard about the length of her dwarven forearm - scuttling into the shadows to observe.
The heat made her new scales expand slightly and shift as she crawled, her lizard form regulating temperature very differently to how she had done moments before.
Waddling swiftly down a side passage and out to an overlook above a busy thoroughfare, Khazifa waited for a moment and then leapt from her perch, landing on the back of a wagon of goods trundling past along the crowded, sandy street.
The sun was heading towards its zenith as she rode through the streets, checking out the crowds and the conversations. As she slipped from wagon to awning to alley to cart, she heard snippets of all manner of talk, things she knew the speaker wouldn't want anyone to hear. No one minds a lizard though, and she didn't really care to correct them. Hurrying past a few secrets, Khazifa continued to make her way down and down through the city, until she finally found what she was looking for - a break in the stone street.
Squeezing through, she gave a tiny lizard yelp as she slipped out of the crack and fell 20 feet to the ground below, and she sprawled out of her lizard form back into a slightly bruised dwarven woman again.
"Old fool," she said. Chuckling, she stood up and looked around the cave she'd falled into, again feeling the walls to get her bearings. After a moment she nodded to herself and strode off, a wooden staff appearing in her hand to steady her way.
An hour's hike and scramble down tunnels and rock faces, she found the cavern she remembered. It was large, perhaps 200ft across, and looked like the inside of an hourglass, with one great stalagtite drooping down from the ceiling reaching down towards an impressive stalagmite reaching up. Khazifa gave a small cry of excitement and leapt over the last few rocks in her way with impressive speed and clambered up the side of the mighty rockface, trying to get a better look at the point where they came together. As she got to the meeting point, her teeth flashed a grin in the darkness. They were nearly there. Only another 25 years or so and these two immense specimens would come into contact, completing a journey they had been taking over millenia in this one, unknown cave. It was a story Khazifa followed avidly, and she could not wait for its completion, when rocks finally met after reaching for so long.
She stared at the two points colliding, only an inch apart now, her own face mere inches away too, for nearly an hour, watching the infintesimal progress with the glee of a theatre goer in the front row. Finally, she tore herself away and walked back to the edge of the cavern to take in the whole sight. She was done here. Satisfied, she whirled a hand into the air opening a portal before her, flames licking out towards her outstretched fingers, and stepped through.
--
The streets of the City of Brass were much, much hotter than even those of Kundar and not just because of its furnace-like surroundings in the Elemental Plane of Fire. Most of the denizens of the city added to the heat - fire elementals, efreeti with comet-like trails of flame behind them, azers and more populated the streets here, making crowds an intense experience. Khazifa, in the form of a Fire Elemental herself, had no trouble with this, but was very glad for the protection. She stomped down the street as a hulking mass of magma, leaving dripping trails behind that didn't even scorch the metallic street underfoot.
It wasn't her favourite plane by any means, and even then she preferred the open fiery expanse to the city. However, there were few finer markets in the multiverse than the Burning Bazaar, especially for fine jewels. She strode into the bazaar and started looking for the stall she was looking for. A Fire Genasi draped in a gold necklace that was so long that it was slung over one shoulder and then back around several times, in long looping orbits, stood behind a likely looking stall, arms raised to keep the obviously heavy necklace hanging in view.
"What desires would kindle your soulfire today?" the merchant asked in a soft-accented Ignan.
"Diamonds," she replied shortly, also in Ignan - not the strongest of her planar tongues, but that's why she'd chosen a more brutish form. "Show me your diamonds, please."
"Ah, the elemental looks to impress someone, I'm sure?" the genasi replied smoothly, and waved a hand over the display case, changing the jewelled contents within completely. "These little drops of starlight will delight and entice any wearer - I have some already in necklaces, rings, pendants, I can even make more bespoke items for the more," he paused glancing at the bulky figure before him, dripping splashes of lava on the floor, "um, more bespoke clientele."
"How much?" Khazifa asked, gesturing to the display. She was really starting to get into character and she loved it.
The golden loops dropped a little as the merchant lowered their arms in confusion, and then regained their composure. "For a particular item?" he ventured.
"All of it."
The merchant stared for a moment, and then smiled broadly. "Of course you want it all, a molten figure like yourself! Let me see now... the rings, the loose gems, the beautiful pair of necklaces, this will all come to.... 2,700 platinum. I can wrap this all up for you so...," and he leaned forward eagerly, gold chains jingling. "How do you want to pay?"
A broad, fiery grin spread across the boiling rock face of Khazifa, held up a hand for the merchant to wait, and waddled around the nearest corner. Changing back into her dwarven form just long enough to grab something from her satchel, she shifted back to the elemental form and came back to the puzzled but still excited merchant and threw a large object onto the table.
"Arm," she boomed, and indeed it was. The genasi leaned forward curiously and began to inspect this large arm, clearly broken from a statue somewhere, covered in silvery scales - no, not silver - platinum. The platinum arm ended in a clawed hand, which he ran his hand over almost tenderly before looking up back to the towering fiery figure before him.
"You wish to trade this... arm, for the diamonds?" Getting only a rumble in response, he looked back at this arm made of solid platinum, clearly broken off a statue of Bahamut and easily worth twice as much as the diamonds, and smiled. "Then it is done!"
Diamonds in a heat-proof bag, Khazifa stomped happily away. That arm had been nothing but dead weight since she'd broken it off in a fight with some Tiamat cultists - she was glad to be rid of it. It probably wasn't actually cursed, but she'd never felt great about carrying it round. She paused, stopping in the busy street. Then she shook herself and carried on. It probably wasn't cursed. And besides, it was all worth it to protect Daem- Daisy.
--
She arrived back in the cool dirt of the Feythorn Forest, south of Daring Heights back as her dwarven self, clutching a steaming bag full of diamond jewellery. The merchant had been kind enough to label the value of the different pouches within. Searching around until she found a particularly friendly birch that stood out from its neighbours, she gave it a few words of reassurance before turning into an Earth Elemental and burrowing down.
A few minutes later she emerged from the ground again, bag gone. She closed up the earth and sorted out the tree roots so that it was comfortable. No one would find it there but her - her insurance policy in these dangerous times. The Lower Planes next, was it? Khazifa was never going to fight Daisy's battles for her - that would only undermine her, but she'd be damned herself if she didn't quietly put out a safety net of her own.
So, with granddaughter safe, and a productive day complete, she looked north towards Daring Heights and hefted the single velvet pouch that remained. She'd acquired 2,000 gold's worth of diamonds more than she'd needed, and the Gilded Mirror was a great spot to while the night away. She shifted into her eagle form for the final time that day and lifted off, thinking of the casino tables and the easy smile of Leocanto, a wicked glint caught her eye in the sunset. Perhaps she'd do better than bunking in a bear cave tonight.
The dwarven woman stretched, cracking bones much older than her face betrayed, as she looked out the cave entrance at the quiet woodland morning. There were few better things than the morning silence of a forest - hardly silent at all really, but even the morning birds and small beasts seemed to all understand that dawn deserved a little respect, muting their sound. Glancing back at the pile of bears still sleeping, Khazifa knew she owed them for what had undoubtedly been a loud intrusion last night. Those Bullywugs really knew how to party. Stepping out onto the wet grass, she grinned a wolfish grin, canines elongating until it was the much wider grin of a wolf as she loped away. May as well make this sporting.
--
Dragging the corpse of the buck in her jaws back and depositing it in front of the cave and the stirring bears, Khazifa gave a deep wolven bow to the family before continuing with her day, shifting directly into her favourite form - the great eagle, and soaring off into the sky.
The hunt had been good, but there was nothing like stretching one's wings to get invigorated for the day. She circled a few times, gaining altitude, before flying north west - Kundar was the destination today. The trees thinned out at the edge of the forest and the Angelbark gave way grudgingly to the harsher, and more arid biome of the Scorching Badlands over the next few hours of her flight. The thermals here made for outstanding flying conditions and while she swooped down occasionally to check out the odd caravan or supplies wagon, the updraft always carried her back to the swirling wisps of cloud higher up.
--
Kundar was huge and fascinating. So many kobolds and dragonborn in one place, living a civilisation quite unique for their kinds. Khazifa dove into the city, streaking towards the ground like a falling star, causing some alarm in those who looked up. Just before she hit the ground of course, she pulled up and slowed, dropping onto the ground as a hefty iguana - a lizard about the length of her dwarven forearm - scuttling into the shadows to observe.
The heat made her new scales expand slightly and shift as she crawled, her lizard form regulating temperature very differently to how she had done moments before.
Waddling swiftly down a side passage and out to an overlook above a busy thoroughfare, Khazifa waited for a moment and then leapt from her perch, landing on the back of a wagon of goods trundling past along the crowded, sandy street.
The sun was heading towards its zenith as she rode through the streets, checking out the crowds and the conversations. As she slipped from wagon to awning to alley to cart, she heard snippets of all manner of talk, things she knew the speaker wouldn't want anyone to hear. No one minds a lizard though, and she didn't really care to correct them. Hurrying past a few secrets, Khazifa continued to make her way down and down through the city, until she finally found what she was looking for - a break in the stone street.
Squeezing through, she gave a tiny lizard yelp as she slipped out of the crack and fell 20 feet to the ground below, and she sprawled out of her lizard form back into a slightly bruised dwarven woman again.
"Old fool," she said. Chuckling, she stood up and looked around the cave she'd falled into, again feeling the walls to get her bearings. After a moment she nodded to herself and strode off, a wooden staff appearing in her hand to steady her way.
An hour's hike and scramble down tunnels and rock faces, she found the cavern she remembered. It was large, perhaps 200ft across, and looked like the inside of an hourglass, with one great stalagtite drooping down from the ceiling reaching down towards an impressive stalagmite reaching up. Khazifa gave a small cry of excitement and leapt over the last few rocks in her way with impressive speed and clambered up the side of the mighty rockface, trying to get a better look at the point where they came together. As she got to the meeting point, her teeth flashed a grin in the darkness. They were nearly there. Only another 25 years or so and these two immense specimens would come into contact, completing a journey they had been taking over millenia in this one, unknown cave. It was a story Khazifa followed avidly, and she could not wait for its completion, when rocks finally met after reaching for so long.
She stared at the two points colliding, only an inch apart now, her own face mere inches away too, for nearly an hour, watching the infintesimal progress with the glee of a theatre goer in the front row. Finally, she tore herself away and walked back to the edge of the cavern to take in the whole sight. She was done here. Satisfied, she whirled a hand into the air opening a portal before her, flames licking out towards her outstretched fingers, and stepped through.
--
The streets of the City of Brass were much, much hotter than even those of Kundar and not just because of its furnace-like surroundings in the Elemental Plane of Fire. Most of the denizens of the city added to the heat - fire elementals, efreeti with comet-like trails of flame behind them, azers and more populated the streets here, making crowds an intense experience. Khazifa, in the form of a Fire Elemental herself, had no trouble with this, but was very glad for the protection. She stomped down the street as a hulking mass of magma, leaving dripping trails behind that didn't even scorch the metallic street underfoot.
It wasn't her favourite plane by any means, and even then she preferred the open fiery expanse to the city. However, there were few finer markets in the multiverse than the Burning Bazaar, especially for fine jewels. She strode into the bazaar and started looking for the stall she was looking for. A Fire Genasi draped in a gold necklace that was so long that it was slung over one shoulder and then back around several times, in long looping orbits, stood behind a likely looking stall, arms raised to keep the obviously heavy necklace hanging in view.
"What desires would kindle your soulfire today?" the merchant asked in a soft-accented Ignan.
"Diamonds," she replied shortly, also in Ignan - not the strongest of her planar tongues, but that's why she'd chosen a more brutish form. "Show me your diamonds, please."
"Ah, the elemental looks to impress someone, I'm sure?" the genasi replied smoothly, and waved a hand over the display case, changing the jewelled contents within completely. "These little drops of starlight will delight and entice any wearer - I have some already in necklaces, rings, pendants, I can even make more bespoke items for the more," he paused glancing at the bulky figure before him, dripping splashes of lava on the floor, "um, more bespoke clientele."
"How much?" Khazifa asked, gesturing to the display. She was really starting to get into character and she loved it.
The golden loops dropped a little as the merchant lowered their arms in confusion, and then regained their composure. "For a particular item?" he ventured.
"All of it."
The merchant stared for a moment, and then smiled broadly. "Of course you want it all, a molten figure like yourself! Let me see now... the rings, the loose gems, the beautiful pair of necklaces, this will all come to.... 2,700 platinum. I can wrap this all up for you so...," and he leaned forward eagerly, gold chains jingling. "How do you want to pay?"
A broad, fiery grin spread across the boiling rock face of Khazifa, held up a hand for the merchant to wait, and waddled around the nearest corner. Changing back into her dwarven form just long enough to grab something from her satchel, she shifted back to the elemental form and came back to the puzzled but still excited merchant and threw a large object onto the table.
"Arm," she boomed, and indeed it was. The genasi leaned forward curiously and began to inspect this large arm, clearly broken from a statue somewhere, covered in silvery scales - no, not silver - platinum. The platinum arm ended in a clawed hand, which he ran his hand over almost tenderly before looking up back to the towering fiery figure before him.
"You wish to trade this... arm, for the diamonds?" Getting only a rumble in response, he looked back at this arm made of solid platinum, clearly broken off a statue of Bahamut and easily worth twice as much as the diamonds, and smiled. "Then it is done!"
Diamonds in a heat-proof bag, Khazifa stomped happily away. That arm had been nothing but dead weight since she'd broken it off in a fight with some Tiamat cultists - she was glad to be rid of it. It probably wasn't actually cursed, but she'd never felt great about carrying it round. She paused, stopping in the busy street. Then she shook herself and carried on. It probably wasn't cursed. And besides, it was all worth it to protect Daem- Daisy.
--
She arrived back in the cool dirt of the Feythorn Forest, south of Daring Heights back as her dwarven self, clutching a steaming bag full of diamond jewellery. The merchant had been kind enough to label the value of the different pouches within. Searching around until she found a particularly friendly birch that stood out from its neighbours, she gave it a few words of reassurance before turning into an Earth Elemental and burrowing down.
A few minutes later she emerged from the ground again, bag gone. She closed up the earth and sorted out the tree roots so that it was comfortable. No one would find it there but her - her insurance policy in these dangerous times. The Lower Planes next, was it? Khazifa was never going to fight Daisy's battles for her - that would only undermine her, but she'd be damned herself if she didn't quietly put out a safety net of her own.
So, with granddaughter safe, and a productive day complete, she looked north towards Daring Heights and hefted the single velvet pouch that remained. She'd acquired 2,000 gold's worth of diamonds more than she'd needed, and the Gilded Mirror was a great spot to while the night away. She shifted into her eagle form for the final time that day and lifted off, thinking of the casino tables and the easy smile of Leocanto, a wicked glint caught her eye in the sunset. Perhaps she'd do better than bunking in a bear cave tonight.