Tag Archives: Ethelred

Cleasing the Taint

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While resting before tackling the round room with seven pillars, Rask approaches Alexis.

“Alexis, if I may, I hoping we can talk more as a team about the… magic here… the treasure we have and the treasure we seek?

Rask waits for Alexis to accept his request.

“You said that the crystal ball is corrupted and the magic here is corrupted, right? It seems like this is all connected… The Tear must be corrupted too, right? If it is corrupted, can we really use it against… our Adversary uncleaned? Can we cleanse the taint of the Tear? Can we learn how by trying to cleanse the taint of the the crystal ball? Do you think we have to cleanse the taint of the Maiden to do so?”

Is Tarkus’ Shadow Tunic Helpful?

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The group’s put Nodden-Torr behind them, heading east. Gustav and Ca’armine say they’re close to where they’ll camp for the next few weeks. Alexis digs into the saddlebag and pulls out Tarkus Vell’s very fine tunic. He turns it over in his hands, then holds it out to Ethelred.

“Have you studied Ontic Instantiation within those scrolls? Summoning things that aren’t from around here?” He shakes the tunic slightly. “Would this help?”

Brewers, Light Your Burners

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A week into their time in the hills east of Nodden-Torr, the group gathers for a meal. Some look sharp, invigorated. Others are worn down. Alexis pulls his hat off, sets it beside him, and leans forward on his elbows looking at Gustav and Ethelred.

“Follow-up to what I said before. We should brew potions before heading back in.” He glances at Gustav. “Takes you more effort, Gus, but brewing’s still quick work.”

He shifts his boots under him, turning to address both Ethelred and Gustav jointly again.

“Let’s inventory what we’ve got for vessels. Flasks, vials, jars we can reuse. We’ve got Hadonis’ evil stuff, and I still have that resistance vial from the Emoi mage.” He pulls the vial out, turns it in his fingers and the Collegium ring catching firelight as he does. “These need thorough cleaning. Any trace of Hadonis’ god or the Emoi has to go. I can handle that. Just get me fresh moss.”

“The vessels for Hadonis’ oils and perfumes, the mundane stuff, we can be less careful with. But still clean.”

He looks between them. “Two questions. What other containers do we have? And what can you make that’ll actually help us down there?”

Summoning Happy, Fluffy Things

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As the blood-sweet-rot dimension collapses in on itself, Alexis turns to Ca’armine and Ethelred, pulling his hat back into place.

“Everything summoned we’ve seen so far has been evil. Can we summon something good? Angels exist in the stories.” He adjusts his belt and his shirt. “What about something that makes you forget nightmares like that?”

“And how do we prepare for the next time we meet something like that? What lessons can we take away from this time? That… thing fought Raiden’s magic hard. For a second, I thought it was going to shake it off.”

Red’s Special Purpose

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As Gustav is inspecting the room for tracks and to understand the story of the bugbears, Alexis is standing in the back of the room with Ethelred, leaning against the wall playing with a coin across his knuckles.

“Hey. Thanks for knocking out the bugbear back there. You’re hands-down my best man for taking someone to meet the lord of sleep in one shot. Rask gets it done, but it’s not as clean.”

Alexis flicks the coin in the air and catches it. “Thanks.” Alexis nods his head slightly towards Ethelred in thanks.

The Mystery of the Reset

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During the rest period after the group has gotten the first key of Nodden-Torr, Alexis addresses the group.

“We’ve been talking about the ‘reset rooms’. Maybe they reset when the four-part key goes in the door. That’d explain the bugbear bodies still being there when we came back.”

He pulls his whip off his belt, coiling it loosely in his hands.

“But if Hadonis came back after getting thrown out, there should’ve been dead bugbears from his fight. Blood. Something. Maybe the portals let you skip the room entirely; teleportation. Would’ve been a lot more hospitable if the dwarves put that bypass before the summoning chamber.”

He shakes his head, half a grin. Then he looks up at the others, settles on Ethelred.

A Magic-Focus Centerpiece

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As the group files out of the sarcophagus room, first key in hand, Alexis falls in beside Ethelred.

“Had a thought. You still haven’t made me that new focus… I’m working with whatever I can scrape together.” He pulls the coin from his pocket, the one they used on Hadonis’ demon. The one that cracked its prison. “When you carve me something for Raiden, work this into it. Seems fitting.”

Bugbear Math

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After the battle with the 36 bugbears Alexis fixes his hat, dusts off his sleeve and turns to Ethelred.

“Red.”

“A creature passed over the enchanted threshold 8 times. But there were 36 bugbears. How do you figure they did the math?”

Alexis ponders for a moment, working out some possible numbers on his fingers.

“If we hadn’t pushed the hyena-beast through 3 times, would there have been 15 bugbears in here?” Alexis gestures around “If we had pushed the gnoll-monstrosity through one more time would there have been 45 bugbears?”

“And if we walk through the threshold again, what will the number be? One? Nine? 37?”

What the What?

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After tending to the horses on the groups’ first return to the to top of the stairwell, Rask approaches the rest of the group:

“This,” he gestures all around them, “what… I’m not even sure where to start…”

“Hadonis… those giants… this… that five-eyed thing…” he gestures downward, and looks to Alexis, Ethelred and Gustav.

“You’ve explored dwarven ruins before, right? How are they different or the same? Were they this infested with magic? What do you make of all this? Anything Ca’armine and I should know?”