Port Lorrel- Puppet Masters (part 2)

[Jack Rothwell]

"You should know by now that it wasn't my good sense which got me into this situation, Tim." Eli's voice carried easily as he stepped from the arch of the tower entrance and made his way down the short steps to the group. The half-elf approached hesitantly, his hands empty and fingers splayed to show he meant no challenge.

When Tamina spotted the hated Ralkin she let out another growl and tried to charge him as he descended. It was a short lived attempt, however. With the addition of her recent exertion on Tim's shield the kobold was spent. Three steps and her legs buckled, depositing the woman into a sagging kneel, her teeth still bared at her new arrival.

"I deserve that reaction I suppose." Eli admitted, and caught Tim's eye. He answered the unspoken question in the Priest's expression with a shrug. "Sentimentality. Blame your 'memory gallery' for bringing it out in me. You reminded me..." He turned his gaze to Drusia, his words lowering. "...ally, enemy, teacher... damn you woman... you still mean something to me... and right now you're the only link I have left to home. The only way of passing a message on..."

"Gonna- kill- you!" Tamina managed, struggling unsuccessfully to regain her footing.

[Alberich]

"Check the magic," said Tim to Tamina. "He doesn't use it anymore. He's fine."

Udo, coming up in his new boots, greeted them with a "Hey, can we do this somewhere else? - whoah!" - and he had a shield up around himself and the kobold. Then he ran to her side, got an arm around her, and looked to Drusia for guidance. Which guidance he hoped would be a healthy mixture of "killing whichever of these dudes is still the enemy" and "hauling ass out of town." Great strategists knew the importance of making simple plans!

He didn't do anything more aggressive because this looked like a parley, and maybe it was like the girls had said before - when the head of the snake was cut off, they had no beef with the tail.

[Browncoat]

Angrist had watched Drusia's decapitation dispassionately. It was not what the monk had intended, but curiously, he wasn't upset. Despite his convictions against taking life, Angrist simply couldn't feel any regret for this matter. It surprised him.
{He would have killed me...And it would've meant nothing to him.}
Now the elf was nothing more than a body and a detached head. And the half-elf was alive. Yet it could have easily been the other way but for chance.
{I don't want to think about this right now...I'm so tired}

[OOC: Angrist's energy recharge was a side effect of being so close to the blast hitting the magic rocks. But between that and the mana into health trick he used earlier, he's about ready for a couple days of natural recovery.]

[Alberich]

[OOC: My vision for the coming scenes: Eli says a brief farewell to Tim; Tim heads templewards by himself; Eli and Drusia have their heart-to-heart, or head-to-head if they use mind speech, on the way out of town with the rest of the group; after the group reaches their out-of-town campsite, Eli heads for the hills; the others then rest, destroy any Ralkin books and artifacts they still have, and make their decisions about how to split up and where to go. Which I suspect will mean Angrist and Udo heading one way for a mission of Angrist's while Drusia and Tamina go another, and Khoo heads back home to Tsuirakushiti, but of course that's up to - everyone.

If Rose and Co. are going to pick up stray adventurers here, it makes sense for them to show up at the Veracian temple after Tim has been debriefed and pick him up; if Drusia and Tamina found any excuse to go back there, they could be picked up too.]

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Agreed. I'll wait til Dru puts in before Eli's farewell to Tim, then he can talk with Dru on the way to exit point afterwards./OOC

[Graybeard]

OOC: OK, then. Big thing coming tomorrow that will attempt to unify the Gona stuff with anyone here who wants to join it, and then accelerate toward that set of threads' BBEG. Too late to write it tonight, though; there is going to have to be some choreography for it all to make sense.

Incidentally, Khoo will probably "retire" if and when that meetup occurs. I would point out that Layla is still up north, busily learning magic from her friend Galina and waiting for the next shoe to drop...

[Alberich]

[OOC: Suits me except that I think it would be tasteful to let Eli's & Drusia's conversation play out, and this group to split naturally in its different directions, rather than trying to hustle the end of this long, and excellent, storyline, even if it takes more than just one more day.]

[Graybeard]

OOC: Not a problem, the main unifying thing will happen in the other thread, but there'll be a cross-reference here.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: So a hook to the wrapup in Douaga. Note that the airship referenced below is NOT the one that everyone used to get to the southern continent, as will be seen. What's going on here needn't affect anything else happening in this setting, until the novice finds Tim, which is entirely up to you.]

While all of this was going on, a small, fast, obviously military airship was approaching the terminal in Port Lorrel. Rapid communications occurred with a surprised overnight ground crew, who learned that clearances for this ship to land had been arranged from on high -- very high.

A single man, tall and spare, emerged from the ship, and brushing away the waiting ground party, made his way directly to the Veracian temple.

Minutes later, a skeepy-looking novice emerged from the temple, looking for Tim.

[Drusia]

OOC: Actually, aside from finishing up with Dru/Eli conversations, I was planning on putting Dru back in the box again. Desiree's supposed to be my "main" now - Druisa is a guest start at best. I never meant her to be back in the group this long - the plot just sort of ran away with itself.

So, now that it's over, and she's gotten Eli back... she's ready to go back into PC retirement until she is needed again.

Much of this depends on what you all want to do with your various characters. If Tamina is joining up with Rose, then Drusia and Tamina will be parting ways. If Tamina's plot is finished, then Dru can stick around to help Tamina rebuild off-screen. Either way is okay with me.