Bay 12 Games Forum

Ehto

[]Give Prevus a Pep Talk!

"Huh, I see..." Ehto said. "Look, Prevus, don't be so hard on yourself, okay? Like I said earlier, everyone starts somewhere. I might make what I do look easy, but I've been practicing my whole life, and I had the best teacher around too. You'll find your footing around here with some time, I'm sure of it. Though..."

She looked the lad over, pondering the tidbit of how he'd gotten to this position in the first place. His posture, his stance, his soft heart... he was no warrior. She could see that plain as day.

"If I may suggest something?" She asked rhetorically, "Maybe being out in the front isn't the best way for you to contribute. I think that's the real problem here. An organization like yours is made up of more than just enforcers and directors after all, there's gotta be support staff too. You seem to be pretty good at tinkering, so why not try to focus on that? You've already made something to help clean everyone's clothes, so maybe you should make more stuff to make life easier around here? Or help everyone by maintaining their gear? Or anything really, I'm sure if your smart enough to make your own machines you'll figure something out. Look, my point is: I think you've a lot of potential to help this place, but you're never gonna realize it if you're stuck out here doing grunt work."

She let go of him and looked him in the... eye stalks. As best she could anyway. "And If you're too afraid to approach the bosses about it on your own, I can back you up! I'm not sure how much weight a grifter's word will carry, but they'll listen to reason. And they should probably take into account that I resolved things here without a drop of bloodshed."

Brynn

"More's the pity then, but that is your choice to make." Brynn shrugged, seemingly unimpeded by the massive blade resting on her shoulder. Nor did she seem to notice the mysterious bird that had just perched itself on the other. "Should we happen upon the Rajang, you are free to retreat to safety. I wish merely for company on the long search, not to endanger those who lack my curiosity. I am young, but not foolish."

With that said she turned and began walking away. The satisfaction in her voice was unmistakable as she called back. "Make what preparations you must, knight of black. I'll await you at the gates. We shall see what beasts this forest holds yet!"

Brynn

The giant's curled tail began to wag in interest as she listened, heartily beating against the wooden platform. "Oh my, an ape who wields the power of a dragon, breath weapon and all? that sounds much more fun to face than the exploding cancer bat! I hope to see him for myself then, Mages alone seldom make for worthy opponents."

She honestly couldn't recall how many the blade hefted on her shoulder had cleaved through. They seemed to never expect Arisen to be coated with her breath- likely because it was one of the few objects in their world that couldn't at least be melted by it's effects. She'd say it was a true shame how much the technique behind personal shielding spells had stagnated, but in all honesty they were destined to fail against her regardless. Coating the sword was usually quicker and more humane than simply blasting them directly, in her experience. Come to think of it, when was the last time she'd even been forced to teleport around during battle or use other spatial manipulations? Or actually attempt to block an attack instead of just letting it glance off her scales? A long while indeed. The beings in her world who could force such effort out of her were few and far in-between. And most of them served her and her father besides.

"Friends, who will join me in my quest?" She asked as she turned to the others. "I hope to start in the forest. What about you, knight of black?"

There was the only person present who fit that title, and Brynn's lingering gaze upon Mira would've made it painfully obvious even if that hadn't been the case.

Ehto

[] Decide what to do with the Boggers... but first ask one important question!

"Well, that depends on you," Ehto said as she finished reading over the map and stowed it away. Looked like her suspicions about the deep swamp had been confirmed. She tossed a brief glance at Rasma then back to Bludd "Did you really murder her friend Khevin? Because either way, she definitely believes you did. I'm gonna turn you over to the Barons no matter what you answer, so if you've got anything to get off your chest now's the time to do it. I'll doubt she'll listen once I release these binds."

Ehto

She briefly weighed her options as she sat in the shadows. On the one hand, this could get messy if those two were captured. On the other, there was still quite a bit more to learn here before she was comfortable just taking them in... or down, whichever proved more necessary. In the end she decided to bide her time for now, observe just a little longer. Those two had been a fair distance from the camp, and if they'd somehow known they were there the whole time...

Her mind was made up. Black sigils formed in the shadows of all three boggers, virtually impossible to detect for laymen in her world, let alone those from one where magic seemed to not even exist. She held the three instances of Shadowlash ever at the ready, observing both the bogger's movements and whatever was about to happen next...

[] Wait and see what happens...
Ehto sets a trap for the Boggers in their own shadows! If things start looking dicey, she'll spring shadow tentacles to restrain all three of them.

Ehto

[] Enter the camp stealthily

"Uh-huh. Well everyone starts somewhere, I'm sure you'll do fine!" Ehto said as she patted him on the shoulder. She turned on her heels and began walking towards the bogger camp, waving farewell as she did so. "Wish me luck! Oh, and if you guys hear screaming, howls, or see a massive black dog, just know I've got it handled."

And with that said, she vanished into her own shadow.

Within the camp, she stuck to the same shade she had emerged from. A simple cantrip, not even worthy of its own independent sigil, made sure that she blended into the darkness with supernatural ease that hid her even from the likes of infrared detection. For now she simply waited, and observed the boggers.

Eilyth
"No name, huh? Figured." Eilyth said. "Mine's Eilyth. Tell ya what, how about I just call ya Fairy? You remind me of one in a way. Sound good?"

Eilyth

She didn't know whether she was more crushed or relieved. On the one hand, there was definitely something that felt familiar here. On the other, what the hell even was this girl? Eilyth saw no immediate signs of an external holy weapon, or obvious structures on her body which could suggest an integrated one. More likely she was some creature connected to their cosmology, not unlike herself now.

Brigitte deserved a better fate than that nonsense.

"What bridge?" She again laughed mirthlessly, stretching out one leg as she stared up at the ceiling. "The bridge that got burned before I even crossed it. Yeah, I'm sad, kiddo. I just realized the only thing I ever wanted was always impossible. That no matter what I did, it was probably gonna end up like this one way or another, because all the cards were set before I was even born."

She gestured to the still cooling corpse of her third eldest sister just a few feet away.

"It's frustrating how this all turned out, ya know?" She sighed, "Only one of my big sisters was ever nice to me. And I couldn't even appreciate that until it was already almost too late. I was so fixated on what I wanted from the rest of them that I couldn't even stop and see what was right in front of me. I was a stupid, naïve little kid who wasted all her time absorbing the petty bullshit around her. And now here I am. Half of my sisters are dead. My mom is probably an emotional wreck right now. And I've got a boat load of regrets and what-ifs that I'll never know the answer to. Because at the end of the day, I can't fix this shitstorm. I can only focus on what I can."