Leaving Cromlin for the ruins of Giustenal

[Skrye [AC3; 48/48HP]]

- "That's a non-sense" - talking like to herself as she continues walking following Attilius and the rest of her original party. She turns to Quila, asking to her friend from old Celik - "Did you hear that?"

[Quila Oris (John M.)]

Feb 1, 2024 11:26:58 GMT -12 DM Bob said:

This conversation occurs after perhaps five miles of winding travel, as the ground is littered with sharp scree, silt patches and what looks to be stone tree trunks (some upright, others broken upon the ground).

As the ground begins to gently raise in elevation, the first tar spots are seen.

This is when the brothers warn you to keep your mind still and keep the pits somewhat distant.

"You don't want to get too close, lest one o' the tar folk gets antsy. Our camp pit is in a few miles, we should reach there by early evening."

(OOC: Backposting a bit here as discussed)

During the ride and before being warned, Quila will begin to mentally concentrate upon the efreetess Liandrin. She specifically targets the brass necklace with the large ruby first. If not getting the results she wants, her next item she focuses upon is Liandrin's masterwork obsidian blade. Quila tries to manifest her powers of Environment and use her skills of Power Manipulation to receive the extended one minute instead of just a snapshop of 360 degree AV sense.

(OOC: Rolled 19 on Environment, needing a 19. So I get the power score effect and don't need to power manipulate at all. Used PSPs 4, 142/146 PSP.)

[Quila Oris (John M.)]

Feb 2, 2024 10:27:02 GMT -12 Skrye [AC3; 48/48HP] said:

- "That's a non-sense" - talking like to herself as she continues walking following Attilius and the rest of her original party. She turns to Quila, asking to her friend from old Celik - "Did you hear that?"

"Did I hear what dear? All I hear besides the wind and the clicking of the kank mandibles are the tar pits. I guess you could read some rhythm and rhyme into their popping and zsushing. But you're of the earth elements, are you not? If anyone could gain an understanding if there's communication in this," Quila holds up her finger at a particularly loud pop and frowns at her furry friend, "pop sizzle blorg flup blaaaarp. Makes no sense to me, but then, I am not of the earth elements like you."

[Skrye [AC3; 48/48HP]]

- "Yes, I commune with the earth elemental but this is surely just the blopping of hot tar, as it can also happens to seem a hiss when it's just wind moving through a narrow slot in a huge rock elevation. Let's keep moving with the others" - not paying any more attention to the fact of the tar pools and keeping her face covered with the mask as she takes Quila's sleeve to get her attention to follow Attilius, Coden and the rest of the party

[DM Bob]

The tari continues to hear the same nonsense phrase repeated over and over, with varying tones of urgency.

***

Quila's use of environment gives her an inside view of a palace-style room with dozens of attractively sweaty nude men and women, of various humanoid races, lounging on expensive pillows in a great marble columned room. There is a substantial amount of metal here, copper or brass fixtures abound, lamps afire all about. Crimson & orange curtains flank the walls. It feels extremely hot and smells of burned incense, opiates and hemp. There are moans and groans of foreplay, midplay and climax, as well as conversation... most of it too lewd to repeat.

The view begins to jostle up and down. There is more than one partner, the amulet wearer seems to be dominant, er, topping.

[Skrye [AC3; 48/48HP]]

- Skrye gets closer to Attilius, a bit further and pulls his sleeve briefly - "I hear non-sensical blurps from the tar pits, keep an eye on me, in case I deviate from the route. I'm going to be cautious and protect myself from it, just in case" - starting to briefly chant protecting words upon her, as a precaution

[OOC: Protection from evil spell on self, 24 rnds duration, all attacks from evil sources at -2, my SThrows at +2. Also any attempt to exercise mental control over or to invade and take over her mind is blocked by this spell]

[Niachi]

Niachi whistles for his familiar and calls to it:

“Eyes open for lava boys!”

and decides to follow the tari and pivots a quick 360 to cast his own personal Prot. From Evil. He next starts to mumble what others may understand as the elven words “not today, fire” over and over, his hands open and oddly posed, as if to start a gesture.

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2024 19:30:57 GMT -12 Attilius said:

Feb 1, 2024 16:41:42 GMT -12 @arkinneas said:

Chat'cho takes a few deep breaths, waggling the compass around.

"We're well on our way, now."

The giant turns his head to the kreen Druid and smiles under his silt mask "Your common tongue is getting really good Chat. I could understand everything you just said!"

"I s-eak Common just xhine. The sounds you hear that aren't correct are a-roximmations. So whenexher there are words that don't haxhe those s-ecixhic letters in themm, they sound xhine."

She rattles off a few of these words.

"Enthusiastic. Hello. Whorehouse. Terrain. Sorcerer-King. City-State. Tyr Region. Wilderness. Alhulak. Carrikal. Trading House Tsalaxa."

[Attilius]

Feb 3, 2024 22:05:41 GMT -12 Skrye [AC3; 48/48HP] said:

- Skrye gets closer to Attilius, a bit further and pulls his sleeve briefly - "I hear non-sensical blurps from the tar pits, keep an eye on me, in case I deviate from the route. I'm going to be cautious and protect myself from it, just in case" -

"I's got a better idea..." the giant puts the pole in his left hand and offers his right hand to the small rodent. If she takes his hand he'll grab her and lift her up onto his large backpack frame [much like Master-blaster]
"you can see better up here and keep watch to our flanks."

[Skrye [AC3; 48/48HP]]

- Skrye nods and holds Attilius'hand - "Thank you" - smiling to the best of her ability

[Quila Oris (John M.)]

Overlaid over her minute-long vision of fiery and sweaty orgies which mightily distracts Quila and makes her forget time and space a bit due to the trance-inducing gyrating motions she still manages to observe several of her companions cast warding spells.

Feeling quite flushed and antsy herself, upon the vision of the plane of sexy time vanishing into thin air, she does query in a hoarse croaky voice ”What are you seeing which I am not? I’m loathe to activate my Danger Sense as not to fall prey to the Caller, but please keep talking amongst ourselves when you become aware of something or feel the need to protect yourselves.”

[DM Bob]

Blushing to the scenes of otherworldly orgies, Quila still remarks about her allies use of warding.

The rough travel causes much twisting and turning to avoid near obvious pitfalls. The silt covered tar being the worst of it, with Attilius' stick poking into a few as he tests the broken, flaky earth. It brings to mind a pastry that has been cooked at an improper heat. Crispy on the outside; uncooked and gooey in the middle. The tari continues to hear the noises repeat. While she feels safer on the goliath's shoulders, she can't help but worry.

The silt still blows in the air, the haze keeping visibility low.

You eventually see a camp set, with about two dozen laborers, mainly human and dwarven, slathering various items with semi-cooled tar to provide waterproofing and protection... as well as setting arrow and spearheads to their wooden bases. The work space is mainly tents and ringed with pieces of the petrified tree pieces. Six wooden work tables are set near a tar pit, where large pots of pitch sit adjacent. A few kank are seen scuttling slowly at the ring of the camp. A small fire cooks what looks to be a string of kip. A decent amount of pitch in jars stays near the flame's warmth.

And in the distance?

The edge of a broken wall rising in shadow, as the day's work begins to end.

[AthasianLaborer]

[Elven: "Lovely"] 'Muiko says as the camp enters view.

'Muiko does what he can to maintain the accuracy of his map, updating it with the location of the tar camp.

He keeps near enough to the kreen to be in their personal space without touching them.  "Chat'cho, where does your compass point!?"

[DM Bob]

It still seems to be glowing bright as you've headed closer to the walls of Giustenal.

[Attilius]

Upon reaching the camp, Attilius helps Skrye down "Don’t go ANYWHERES alone."
then removes his pack and shield to stretch and sit in any shade he can find behind a covered wagon while taking a swig from his water skin