IC: Ayuth, who was well aware that he was most likely the reason why Darrow was hesitant to let them go to the village, tried to put the elf at ease. ”Don’t worry about me, I am a very friendly dragon and I would never attack somebody unless they attack me of my friends first.” He said and sent the elves his most charming smile (something that probably helped the situation very little as such a smile just showed off his row of sharp teeth)

Lighthawk, who could see that the wild elves didn’t really knew how to respond to Ayuth, quickly spoke in order to break the silence. ”Yes we are honored by your invitation, but before we go, we need to heal up a little, and also see what valuables we can take from the dead goblins.”

-------------------------------------
DM:
”Of course” Elian answered ”If you need help I have a few light healing spells prepared…”
-------------------------------------

IC: ”Thanks for the offer, but I don’t think that will be necessary” Lighthawk said ”we have pretty good magic healing resources in our group…”
Turning towards Sul Lighthawk then asked ”Sul can you cast a healing spell on Fenris? He is pretty bad hurt and I don’t think you will need your spells for later, as I doubt that we will see more combat today.”
Lighthawk then started to heal himself with his wand. When he needed to expend two charges to fully heal himself, he realized that he had himself been more wounded that he had been aware of. The wererat spell had clearly prevented him from feeling the wounds much (Heal: 9+9=18, 1 extra point healed, Cure light wounds 7+1+1=9, Lighthawk is at 30 hp, Heal: 7+9=16, 1 extra point healed, Cure light wounds 3+1+1=5, Lighthawk is at full health (34 hp))

IC:Sul had to suppress a smile when Ayuth tried to reassure the wild elves that he was no threat. She wasn’t sure it was helping. She wanted to tell them that the dragon was her friend and she would trust him with her life, but they had already agreed to let them come to their village, so she figured it wasn’t needed.

When Lighthawk asked her to heal Fenris, she looked at the wolf and noticed that the poor animal was in a pretty bad shape.”Of course”, she answered. But first she thought she needed to introduce herself properly. She turned towards the wild elves. “Pleased to meet you. I am Sul, I´m a priestess of Soniia. Thank you for your help and invitation” It felt good to be able to introduce herself as a follower of Soniia. She was not just ”Sul the waitress” or “the elf with no past” and she was no longer “the cleric with no deity”. To think it was only a few days ago... In some ways it felt like another life.
Sul stepped over to the wolf and was about to heal him when she remembered what she had recently discovered that she should be able to do.” Wait… I realized recently that I can call on divine powers to surround us all with positive energy, so healing spells will work better, but it will only last a few seconds… I think…” She suddenly felt insecure about drawing attention to herself, with the wild elves there and everything. What if it didn’t work? “…So you should be ready if you want to cast healing spells.“ Sul waited a moment. Then she drew her holy sword, just to help her focus, and called on divine powers to channel positive energy, almost as if she was turning undead, but instead of shining out from the sword the positive energy made an aura around each person and animal. She laid a hand on Fenris and healed him. The wolf was completely healed up. It worked! The spell she had used was usually not that powerful. Sul smiled, this could be really useful.

Sul uses one turn attempt to make sacred boost (all cure spells cast on affected creatures is maximized for one round); Heal: 3+10=13, 1 extra point healed; Eagle’s splendor to Cure moderate wounds: 8+8+7+1 = 24, Fenris is at full hp (41).

OOC: I don't know if positive energy can be seen?

[This message has been edited by Tilia (edited 05-28-2011 @ 09:07 AM).]

OOC: now that Ayuth’s rage has ended his hp has dropped with 14 to 43.

IC: Having already healed himself, Lighthawk quickly stepped over to Ayuth and took advantage of the healing boost Sul had created (Heal: 4+9=13, 1 extra point healed, Cure light wounds: 8+1+1=10, Ayuth is at 53 hp) It helped a lot, but it wasn’t quite enough to fully heal Ayuth, so Lighthawk used another charge from his wand. (Heal, 14+9=23, 2 extra point healed, Cure light wounds: 2+1+12=5, Ayuth at full hp)

“Thanks…” Ayuth said with surprise in his voice. Only now that the pain from his wounds was lifted, did he really noticed that it had been there. When did I take those wounds? Ayuth asked himself. Sure, he had been hit during the battle, but at the time it had seemed like nothing… It must have being the battle rage doing that Ayuth thought That is going to be rather useful… But also dangerous he realized, if he wasn’t careful he might be so hurt that he died when the rage went away…

Zan also took advantage of Sul's spell. He changed his "comprehend languages" spell into a healing spell.

8+3=11, Zan at 76 hp.

He wasn't totally healed but with alittle rest he would be as good as new.

OOC: This RP has stalled, so I will try to get things moving again. Since there will be no more combat before the party gets a chance to rest, there is no reason to conserve spells, and the party should be able to heal fully, without using any more potions, scrolls or wand charges, so I will assume that everyone is healed to full health.

DM:
After having healed up the party searched the goblins and worgs fror anything of value. It turned out their enemies had carried all quality equipment, and that the commanders had plenty of magic items. Most of the magic items was pretty standard and easily identified, but the belt carried by the beastmaster was rather unusual.

”I can’t quite figure out what this belt does” Ayuth said ”it carries several magic auras of different types…”

”Let me see it” Elian said and took the belt. ”Yes, that’s what I expected… This is the belt that belonged to a friend of mine, he disappeared a few months ago. We suspected that he had been killed by Grasmish and this confirm it…” Elian moved over to Bearclaw ”You avenged his dead so by our custom the belt is rightfully yours. It is caled a Belt of the Ogre, will increase your strength and health, thicken your skin and allow you to increase your size 3 times per day”

DM note:
Below are the items found on the goblins, feel free to claim anything your character can use (all weapons and armor except the barding are of small size) Everything else will go into the bag of holding.

Loot:
8x MW studded leather,
4x MW composite +1 str. shortbow,
8x MW buckler,
9x MW Morningstar,
9x MW lance,
4x MW composite +2 str. Longbow
2x +1 chain shirt
+1 shortbow
+1 heavy shield
+1 morningstar
+2 chain shirt
+1 dire flail
8x MW studded leather barding
2 Large MW studded leather barding
Large MW chain shirt barding
Ring of protection +1
Amulet of natural armor +1
Belt of the Ogre (+2 str, +1 con, +1 natural armor, Enlarge Person 3/day (command word, lasts 3 min))
cloak of resistance +1
wand of lesser vigor
3 rune bones (scrolls) of cure serious wounds
1 rune bone of dispel magic
2x potion of cure serious wounds
8x potion of cure moderate wounds

OOC: Can Ayuth use the Enlarge Person function on the belt, since he's not a humanoid?

IC:

Beren thanked the elves again, and expressed his condolences for his friend's loss. "I know," he said. "I, too, have lost many, too many," he continued. He then began looking over the spoils, as well as the bodies of the goblins and their steeds. How did they assemble so formidable a force? In any case, time to consider the treasure. "I could use the ring, if none else needs it," he said.

"Nothing here is worth anything I would wish to part with," the brown-haired elven woman said, looking over the items. "Although perhaps I could make use of the wand"

Zan was honored that Elian would give him such a valuable item,he didn't know what to say the belt had some fairly strong magic on it(well to Zan it was strong) from what Elian had said it would do.

"I am honored that you would give me such a magnificent item." Zan said to Elian

"But I must say that without the help of my comrades, I could not have brought the beast master down. We all working together,including your help, made this victory possible. Beren our ranger brought the Shaman down and the others with their skill and magic made the goblinoids defeat possible."Zan paused again then continued

"I thank you, but I have one request if it is not too bold.I would ask that you allow me to speak with the family of your friend and inquire with them about the belt. The belt may be something that has been pasted down over the years and may be of importance to them. If they give up the belt to me then I will gladly accept such a gift."

Zan smile and nodded respectfully. He then added in the Elven tongue so he would know that Zan knew and understood the Elven tongue.

"I thank you again,and you honor us all in allowing us an audience with your tribe."

OOC:

Can Ayuth use the Enlarge Person function on the belt, since he's not a humanoid?

No he can’t

IC: Ayuth took a potion of cure serious wounds and a potion of cure moderate wounds from the loot, while Lighthawk took a rune bone of cure serious wounds and a potion of cure moderate wounds.

DM:
Elian seemed pleasant surprised by Zan’s politeness and thoughtfulness towards the family of his dead friend. ”My friend had no wife or children, so his closest family would be his mother. You can speak with her when we get to the village, but I am convinced that she will say the same as I did”

[This message has been edited by Kris Lighthawk (edited 06-18-2011 @ 05:52 AM).]

OOC: Wrong thread!

[This message has been edited by Beren V (edited 06-21-2011 @ 01:49 AM).]

OOC: Time to get this moving again… Please tell me if your characters take anything from the loot, otherwise everything will go into the bag of holding

DM:
When everybody had taken what they wanted from the loot, the party put the rest into the bag of holding.

The forest elves then lead the way towards their village. With the goblin worg riders gone, the forest elves worried little about running into danger, and when Lighthawk asked about their tribe and how they came into conflict with Zooris, Elian started to tell the whole story:

”Our tribe have not always lived in this forest, about 350 years ago we were two tribes living in a large forest on the border of a human land hundreds of miles up north. One tribe, a tribe of wild elves, where living in the depth of the forest, while the other, a lager tribe of moon eves, were living at the edge of the forest, close to the human lands. The moon elves were on friendly terms with the humans and treaded with then while the wild elves treaded with the moon elves.
This arrangement worked well for more than a thousand year while the human land grew from a few small towns into a strong kingdom. But then an evil and greedy human king came to power, and he soon cast his greedy eyes on the forest where the elves lived. Suddenly one day he attacked the moon elf tribe with his whole army. They tried to resist the best they could, but was soon overwhelmed by the humans’ far superior numbers. Those who survived fled to the village of the wild elves. Realizing that they would be next, the wild elves joined up with the surviving moon elves and fled south.
After months of travel and lots of hardship the joined tribe finally reached this forest, which apparently was uninhabited. A new village was soon established and it was decided to call the joined tribe “The Moon Tribe” in honor of the many slain moon elves.

Soon after they established themselves here, my tribe discovered that The Black Lake was infested with scrags and they decided to keep away from part of the forest closest to the lake. It therefor took years before it was discovered that a small tribe of goblins has established themselves in the southwestern part of the forest, and then they was so well established that they couldn’t easily be driven away, so it was decided to let them have that part of the forest to themselves.

That worked well for hundreds of years, partly because attacks from the scrags kept the number of goblins down, and the few times they attacked us in numbers, we was able to drive them back with little losses on our side. Then about 30 years ago a young human wizard established himself in a tower ruin located in forest close to what we consider the goblin part of the forest. He appeared friendly enough, so we didn’t worried much about him, until 16 years later when we discovered that he was preforming foul necromancy rituals and rising undead.
We first tried to reason with him, but he became hostile and attacked those that were meeting with him. We then attacked his tower with full force, and were able to kill him and destroy his undead creations. What we didn’t know at the time, was that he had performed a ritual that made him able to rise again as a lich after his dead…

Four years later he suddenly attacked the ancients’ tower in their forest with a small army of undead, he defeated them somehow, and threw them into the black lake. He also managed to drive the treant guardians of the forest mad, so the effectively works as his guards now, since they attack everything that moves into the forest.
Not long after Zooris had taken the ancients’ tower, he supported a major goblin attack on our village. We had expected such an attack so we was able repel the attack for long enough to evacuate our entire village to a hidden hideout deep in the forest. We have now constructed a new village there and, so far our magic users have been able to prevent Zooris and the goblins from finding it. Still, our conflict with Zooris and the goblins have weakened us a lot, almost half our people have been killed, and we have troubles getting food enough to survive during the winters.
With the goblin worg riders all dead, things will be a little easier for us, but I fear that we will have to find another place to live if we can’t find a way to put an end to Zooris soon…”

DM note:
I will wait a few days to see if anybody has any questions they want to ask Elian, then I will take the party to the elf village…
BeNotConformed should be ready to use her character when that happens…
(I would like to see a background description for Korreth)

As Zan walked along pondering Elian's words,he suddenly felt the need to hide,but he obviously couldn't.Zan was the only human in the group and it seemed that humans were the cause of all the Elves troubles.Zan got concerned though,when Elian said that Zooris had defeated the ancients!?! How in the world was their little band of adventurers going to be able to overcome Zooris, if Zooris, could defeat someone as powerful as the ancients?? Zan hoped that the defeat of the worg riders wouldn't cause more troubles for the Elves.

"I am glad we could help and I hope I'm wrong, but this defeat of the worg riders may bring Zooris's wrath down on you,he will surely suspect your tribe has killed them."Zan paused when they reached the Elven village but then asked Elian.

"Do you have someone here that knows the weaknesses of a lich?? I mean how can he be destroyed,is there spells or any sort of magic that will be affective against Zooris? I suspect that only magic weapons can harm him."

Zan stopped for a second as he realized he was firing alot of questions at Elian.He looked at Elian and smiled,shaking his head upset at himself.

"Please forgive me,I let myself get carried away there with all the questions.But if Zooris has defeated the ancients, we will most certainly need to proceed with knowledge and caution against him.I have never faced a lich in battle before and I don't know his weaknesses and strengths."

Zan felt way unprepared for the first time in his short life for an upcoming battle. He then realized he had far fewer days on this world than most everyone else standing around him!! He looked around and tried to process through his head that most everyone here(besides himself)had lived 100 years or more so far no doubt.He looked at Luthien and Sul and thought,WOW, a human woman would give almost anything to look as beautiful as they did at 100 years old.

[This message has been edited by Accusync72 (edited 07-16-2011 @ 00:29 AM).]

Beren and Lúthien mused in response to Elian. Lúthien, as she listened to the story, she began to wonder how typical this was of human kingdoms to behave this way, so unpredictably over such a long period. Her kind had very little experience with humans, and it was obvious that the semi-mortal Edain, Beren being one of them, were in fact far more elf-like than human like Zan was. Still, she suspected that the wood elf had not told her the entirety of the story - the human king most certainly would have had some reason to attack the elves in the forest, as mere greed would not be much of a reason: elves, by themselves at least, would have very little of value to humans, and what value they had would be lost by killing them. Of course, Elian might not know the real reason why the human king invaded them, she realized, but she feared that the truth was far worse than what Elian himself had suspected - as if the king were another, not unlike the very lich they now faced.

When the subject of Zooris was brought up, Lúthien replied to Zan "Actually, I doubt that Zooris will suspect that you killed the beastmaster," Lúthien replied. "His weaker minions have had encounters with us before, and he evidently fears me for some reason. I suspect that he will guess, correctly, that we did it, potentially, as was the case, with your help. And I can tell you what weaknesses liches possess: they have a magical object that contains a form of still-living essence, which, if destroyed along with the lich's corporeal body, will destroy the lich. Ordinarily, this would be a gem or something similar. Simply destroying a lich's physical form without destroying the object would enable the lich to merely remake its body later. My concern, however, is how Zooris defeated the Ancients, and, related, how he succeeded in driving the... treants... are they ents? ...insane. Are there any defenses we could have against that kind of counterattack?"

Beren walked quietly. He suspected Lúthien was wondering more or less exactly what she was wondering, but had enough experience with real humans to realize another thing the human king might have wanted: glory. But he said nothing so far - Lúthien's questions were good questions, and pressing questions. Mere might Zooris had, but so had he and his companions - not so much that Zooris might still defeat them, but at least such that they could try. But what if Zooris had some magical weapon that they could not defeat?

Zan thanked Luthien for her knowledge about the lich. She was right, He had brushed off their other encounters with those in liege with Zooris as mere victories over enemies rather than consider them attempts by Zooris to get his hands on Luthien.If these 'raiders' of Zooris don't return(and they won't) Zooris will no doubt know that their group is getting closer to him,as Luthien has explained.Luthien was somehow 'special' and Zan couldn't put his finger on it,but she was, or would be, far more powerful than she had proved to be so far and Zooris somehow knew.

"Thank you Luthien for your insight about liches.You have helps us in many ways of which we will be hard pressed to compensate you properly.We will need to find this.."magical object"..with his life essence in it first then."

Zan started to unbuckle his chest piece, as they waited, to help himself relax alittle better.It would feel good to get out of his armor and get cleaned up alittle. A thought came to him as he stood and Zan wondered why they kept talking in the common tongue? He was among Elves and he knew their language.Maybe out of politeness to him,which he appreciated, Zan didn't say anything about it though as he figured it was a small matter and of little concern for the time being.

DM:
“Don’t worry” Elian said ”Zooris already hate us and is already doing his best to eradicate us, so the death of Grasmish’s worg riders can only be beneficial as it will only make his task harder…
Elian then listened to Zan’s second question and Lúthien’s answer before speaking again
”Lúthien is correct, what she say is also what Galiriel, one of our elders who has learned all she can about liches, say, a lich has a magic item called a phylactery, which contain their life force and prevent their soul from leaving the material world. To fully destroy a lich you need to destroy both its body and its phylactery. The body of a lich is very tough and only magic crushing weapons can easily damage it. A lich also has an aura of fear around it and it can paralyze living creatures merely by touching them. What really makes a lich dangerous, is however its powerful spells and the fact that it usually commands an small army of undead…
If you want to know more about liches you should talk to Galiriel when we reach the village. She also have some theories as to how Zooris was able to defeat the ancients…”

As Elian lead the party deeper and deeper into the forest, the under growth started to become a lot denser with a lot of thorny bushes. The terrain also started to become a little hilly with many large boulders and small cliffs. In this part of the forest it would be difficult to move around without following one of the trails that Elian followed. The trails forked out now and then and they crossed each other numerous times, so even Lighthawk started to doubt that he could navigate this part of the forest without getting lost. Suddenly Elian stopped at some particular dense and thorny undergrowth and spoke a few words in a language that none in the party knew, although Lighthawk was fairly sure it was Terran. A new trail opened through the undergrowth and Elian took the party down that trail. Then about 200 feet down the trail Elian stopped and spoke a few more words causing the trail to close behind the group…

This happened 4 more times and each time Elian apparently spoke in a different language. Lighthawk guessed that the 3 first was the 3 other elemental languages , and the last time he knew what language it was, because Elian said ”Open the path!”and ”Close the path!” in Druidic
A little later the trail stopped at a 40 feet high cliff wall that seemed almost impossible to climb. ”Just follow right behind me” Elian said and then walked right into the cliff and disappeared!
”This part of the cliff is just an illusion” Darrow said ”you can walk right through it…”

The illusion was so strong that even knowing it for what it was it still looked like a cliff wall to everyone in the party, but they nevertheless was able to walk right through it. As soon as they had passed the illusion they could see that they were in a gigantic crack in the cliff wall. The crack continued 50 feet to the other side of the cliff wall. Here they came out in what was an ancient volcanic crater filled with large darkwood trees. The Elven village was spread out among the trees. Some homes and houses where on the ground, but most were up in the trees. The homes were of very different design and were connected by rope bridges and rope ladders.

The approach of Elian, Darrow and the party had not gone unnoticed, and a group of elven guards along with several large elven hounds were waiting just inside the entrance. The guards were armed to the teeth (but none had their weapons drawn) and both they and their hounds were all wearing darkleaf armor. A large powerfully build male elf stepped forward. He was wearing heavy darkleaf armor and was armed with 2 longswords. He sent a nervous look towards Ayuth before asking:
”Elian, why have you brought these strangers to the village?”
”Don’t worry Galahorn” Elian answered ”these people are friends, I will explain why they are here when all have gathered here to hear what I have to say…”
As Elian had already predicted, the news of the strangers spread like wildfire through the village, and soon elves came from all directions to see the strangers for themselves…

----------------

Korreth was in a meeting with everyone else in the tribe that possessed magic powers. They were discussing how they could improve the magic defensed that made the village hard to find.
Suddenly a young girl burst into the council hut. Korreth recognized the girl as one of Kivala’s great grandchildren
”Come quick! Elian has brought strangers! One of them is a human and one is a red dragon!!”
The girl was about to run out again when Kivala grabbed her shoulder.
”A red dragon!?” Kivala said with surprise and disbelief in her voice
”Well, it is very small for a dragon, but it is a dragon and it is red” the girl answered
”We better have a look ourselves” Kivala said and left the hut followed by everyone else. Outside a large brown bear joined her as she moved towards the entrance to the village, followed by the rest of the group that had been in the council hut.

-----------------

More and more of the elven villagers gathered around the party, creating a half circle at some distance. Some demanded to know what the strangers were doing in the village, but Elian told them to wait for everyone to get there. Then the villagers parted for a group led by an elf woman with a large brown bear at her side. Obviously a druid, the woman also had an “aura of command” about her, making it clear that this could only be the Lady Kivala that Elian had spoken about. To Zan and Ayuth she didn’t look particular old, but the rest of the party easily recognized her almost ethereal agelessness which told them that she was very old indeed, but also that she was one of the few elves that remained almost untouched by age until death. Behind her came what was obviously a varied group of magic users, some were young and some so old that even the non-elves in the party easily recognized them as old.

”Elian! Why have you brought those people here!?” Kivala asked
”Don’t worry they are friends, let me explain…” Elian answered and then explained everything that had happened since he discovered the party.

Surprise and joy showed in the faces of the listening elves as the story unfold and they realized that the Grasmish and his worg riders were slain.

Addressing the party Kivala spoke in common
”You have done us a great favor, without Grasmish and his worg riders our lives will be a lot easier, at least for the time being, but I fear that Zooris will eventually find other ways trouble us. It is good to have found allies against Zooris, and we welcome you to our village, Elian did right when he invited you here.”

An old male elf in the group behind seemed about to protest at Kivala’s last words but in the end he said nothing.


DM note:
Major NPC’s in the moon tribe:

Lady Kivala: Level 11 druid (Rillifane Rallathil), leader of the Moon tribe (wild elf)
Kivala is very old, so old that none in the tribe is exactly sure how old she is, but she is at least 800 years old, probably more… She is however physically fit and doesn’t look old, and to the untrained eye of a human she even look rather young, like in the early middle age. Another elf will, at least at a closer inspection, recognize her almost ethereal agelessness and realize that she is far older than that. Kivala was the leader of the Moon Tribe already when the elves came to the forest north of the black lake. Had it not been for her strong, wise and inspiring leadership, the Moon Tribe might not have survived.

Elian: Level 8 ranger, battle leader of the Moon tribe (mixed blood wild/moon elf)
Elian is the best ranger and archer in the tribe, and even in melee combat he is also among the best. He leads the tribe in battle. Together with his friend Darrow, he often scouts the forest and keeps an eye on the goblins (especially the worg riders)

Galiriel: Level 9 wizard, elder, Manager of the tribe armory (moon elf)
Galiriel is almost as old as Kivala, but unlike her she actually looks old with silver hair and a frail looking body. Her mind is however still very sharp and she has a vast knowledge in nearly any subject. She has specialized in enhancing items, weapons and armor, and she has enhanced many of the weapons and armor in the tribe’s possession. She is also an expert alchemist and she and her apprentice is the only ones that know the secrets of creating elven leafwave and darkleaf armor. Apart from being a member of the council of elders, she also manages the tribe's armory

Erandor: Level 7 cleric (Fenmarel Mestaeine), elder (wild elf)
Erandor’s body also shows clear signs of old age, but unlike Galiriel he nevertheless still seems to possess a good deal of strength and endurance. Erandor is the only high level cleric in the tribe and is such the tribes only source of high level cleric spells. Erandor is one of the few elves in the tribe that is unsatisfied with Kivala as the tribes leader (probably because he would prefer himself as the leader) and he often oppose her in the council of elders (but generally stands alone when doing so)

Darrow: Level 6 scout (wild elf)
Darrow is Elian’s best friend, and one of the best warriors in the tribe. He is also a very stealthy scout

Galahorn: Level 6 Fighter, War trainer (wild elf)
Galahorn is perhaps the best melee warrior in the tribe, and he is responsible for the combat training of the younger elves. He also act as Elian’s second in command in battle.

Elysia: level 3 wizard, Galiriel’s apprentice (mixed blood wild/moon elf)
Elysia is a young (and beautiful) elf that is Galiriel’s granddaughter and apprentice. She has made some of the lesser magic weapons in the tribe’s possession.

Agalan: Level 5 druid (Rillifane Rallathil), former apprentice of Kivala (mixed blood wild/moon elf)
Agalan is the second most powerful druid in the tribe

Belani: Level 6 sorcerer, elder (wild elf)
Belani is a sorcerer who specializes in illusion magic. She is the youngest member of the council of elders and her age is not really showing yet.

As the villagers began to gather, Lúthien immediately knelt down in the circle, and watched the people assemble. Beren sat next to her, then changed his position to kneeling as well. As the elders appeared, they glanced at each-other once or twice, their thoughts not totally unreadable, but the sense of surprise and exoticness was clear to them both. Lighthawk was right; they were not of this world.

Midway through the procession, Beren and Lúthien glanced at each-other, and then began scanning the crowd for the two half-elves they had met at Tillerin's post. Were Greenleaf and Rolanda here?

DM:
It didn’t take long for Beren and Lúthien to spot the two half-elves in the crowd. Greenleaf and Rolanda seemed rather surprised at seeing the party in the village, and they didn’t really seem to know what to say or do.

Lúthien made eye contact with Rolanda, and then turned her attention back to the elders. She did not say anything, but waited. What did these elders know of who they were? How had Rolanda and Greanleaf known their names, or about Melian? Lúthien waited for answers.

Beren could sense what Lúthien was thinking, and also remained quiet. He noticed Rolanda and Greenleaf as well, but he also notices the warrior and the cleric's cold gaze. What was this about?

Zan waited until the Elves finished speaking before he spoke up.

"We are honored that you have allowed us to come to your village,and have given us audience.We are glad we were able to defeat the goblinoids and weaken Zooris' influence in the area,for he is an enemy we must defeat also."

Zan continued his speech,explaining how their group met at the Red Dragon Inn,and introduced the group each by name as he explained.He then continued by explaining the Giant attack on his settlement on the other side of Howthen,and that their group was headed there until the problem of Zooris presented itself.He explained that they were not sure if Zooris was connected to the Giants but they needed to find out if he was. Zan then told them they heard of the Elves village in this area,and that they came looking for them for not only help against Zooris but maybe they had information about the Giants.

"We would be glad to discuss battle tactics with your fighting forces and hopefully come up with a good plan for attacking Zooris."

Zan stopped speaking,smiled and nodded respectfully, and waited to hear their response.

[This message has been edited by Accusync72 (edited 09-11-2011 @ 02:30 PM).]

"I still maintain that it's best to move deeper into the forest. Grasmish can't follow us everywhere. The primal spirits will find us a safer haven."

Korreth suppressed a sigh as Agalan spoke. The idea had been brought up before, and dismissed by most of the elves in the tribe. He didn't know why the druid was bringing it up again.

He leaned forward. "Agalan, you know well that there is something worse behind Grasmish's attacks. We must repel the worgs. Then we can turn our attention to Zooris."

He was prepared to continue to push his point when Kivala's young great-granddaughters arrived, announcing the arrival of visitors. That was highly unusual in of itself, but her accompanying description of one of them being a dragon caused Korreth to raise his dark eyebrows.

He rose with the rest of the group and made his way towards the clearing where the guests were. One glance at the group told him that these were adventurers. They all had the look of fairly seasoned warriors about them. Most of the group were elves, although there were a couple who were from other races. The dragon was the main source of interest for Korreth; he had never before heard of a red dragon who was friendly. He readied himself to cast a spell, just in case, but when Elian told them all what had happened, he let the magic seep away from him. This party had done the village a huge favor in ridding them of Grasmish. Although Korreth expected that they hadn't done it on purpose, he was nevertheless grateful.

As Kivala welcomed the group, he chuckled. Erandor wouldn't be happy about that. He glanced over, and sure enough the old elf was scowling.

A flutter of movement caught his eye, and he knew Hedwig had soared over to land in a nearby tree. She hooted, clearly interested in the visitors. He was glad she was here; as always, her presence made him happy.

The human had stepped forward and launched into an explanation of why they were here, exactly the question Korreth was going to ask. He was interested in how the group had seemingly started out with quite noble intentions, and again wondered how the dragon had decided to join them.

He was pleased though at the human's not-so-subtle hint that they should work together to attack Zooris. Long had he been a thorn in the tribe's side, and a direct attack had been something Korreth had long promoted. He glanced to Kivala to see what she would say in response.

[This message has been edited by BeNotConformed (edited 09-11-2011 @ 02:22 PM).]

Edit:

[This message has been edited by Accusync72 (edited 09-11-2011 @ 02:31 PM).]

OOC: I am going to assume that Zan told the elves the names of everyone in the party…

DM:
While Kivala was listening to Zan’s story, she looked over the party members one by one, obviously trying to learn as much as she could about them from how they looked. When her gaze fell on Lúthien, she briefly made eye contact with Rolanda and the half-elf responded with a slight nod. That briefly caused a smile to appear on Kivala’s face before her look turned more serious again.

When Zan had finished his story, Kivala asked ”Do you all speak elven?”

”No… unfortunately I don’t” Ayuth answered, obviously a little annoyed that Zan had spoken in elven, so that Ayuth hadn’t been able to understand a word of what he had been saying.

”Then we will continue to speak in what the humans call “common”” Kivala said and turned her attention back to Zan.
”It is good to have found strong allies against Zooris, but if you wish to discuss what can be done against him, please come with me to the council hut, where such matters should be discussed before the council of elders”
Turning her attention towards those around her Kivala said ”Elian, Darrow, Galahorn, Agalan, Belani and Korreth, you better come with us as well, as we may need your insight on this.”

Kivala then lead the way towards the council hut.
When the party started to follow, Rolanda discreetly moved to Lúthien’s side and wisped ”Lady Lúthien, please please don’t tell Lady Kivala that we worked for those slavers…”

Zan moved over to Ayuth as they walked to the council.

"Please forgive me Ayuth,I forgot you didn't know the Elven tongue,I thought you knew it and that I was the only one who just recently learned to speak it well enough to use.I didn't want the Elves to have to use common only because of me,you know I wouldn't try to leave you out of our conversation with the Elves on purpose."

Zan then told Ayuth all that he had told the Elves as they came to the council hut.

[This message has been edited by Accusync72 (edited 09-20-2011 @ 08:50 PM).]

OOC: I asked Ian to post for me since I am having trouble logging in. I see his posts haven't arrived yet, but for the moment I can connect (we'll see how long that lasts), so hopefully I won't need his help after all!

IC:

Lúthien immediately gets up and walks next to Ayuth, and Beren gets up and follows her as the company heads for the council hut. "He merely introduced us," she tells Ayuth. "In the future, I shall remember and translate for you if ever this comes up again,"

She then takes a look around the village as they walk. Suddenly, Rolanda is right next to her, imploring her not to tell the council of how they worked with the slavers "Of course not," she whispers back. "As you said, you did not know. I still must be honest in that I do not know how we are going to save you or us from Zooris, though. And I have learnt something of myself that is... startling." she adds.

When they reach the council hut, and Beren and Lúthien kneel down next to Ayuth, entirely attentive.

Eros found the elven village in some ways comforting and in other ways none too much. In some ways, he enjoyed being among his people, especially ones that had fought long and hard for their families, fighting a good fight against a powerful lich and his forces. It reflected what in his opinion were some of the greatest things about elves--their passion and surprising resiliency.

On the other hand, this was a life that he had forsaken. Back in the day, when he had been a priest of Corellon, places like this had been his home. When that life had ended abruptly and he had become a mercenary, he had turned away from all of this, and in many ways he had forgotten what it was like to be among friendly and familiar people. A mercenary received a welcome from none but his employer, and even then it was a wary one. Although Eros had begun to trust his present companions, especially Bearclaw, he wasn't sure if he could ever return to a life like this where he could make long-lasting friends. Maybe if he had a role like Elian now had....

The archer forced his mind back to the present. Thankfully, he hadn't been directly addressed, so his mental wandering seemed to have gone unnoticed. He was content to see where the discussion went in silence and only speak his mind if he perceived that the party was going to make a large mistake. So far, between Bearclaw and Lighthawk, there didn't seem to be much of a threat of that happening.

The council hut was one of the few buildings in the village that was built on the ground. It was round, fairly large and build entirely from darkwood. Its roof and sides was covered my 2 foot long flat pieces of darkwood that overlapped each other like the scales of a dragon. It had large windows that allowed plenty of light into the hut. Inside It was mostly empty, except for a comfortable bench all along the outer wall. Sitting on that bench everybody in the hut could face everyone else in the hut.

”We are happy to have found strong allies in our struggles against Zooris” Kivala began when everyone had taken a place on the bench but I am afraid that even with your strength added to ours, a direct assault on Zooris tower is completely out of the question!” Kivala’s voice turned very stern as she said the last bit and her gaze fell on Elian and Korreth who had both voiced opinions of a more aggressive course of action against the lich.
”Zooris will be prepared for such an attack and his army of undead is far too large and powerful for us to have much chance of success. Even should we succeed against all odds, our losses would be so great that the tribe would be decimated…”
Looking at the party members Kivala added
”But perhaps you had something else in mind?”

Lighthawk rose from the bench and spoke:
”Yes we have something else in mind… We agree that a direct attack in Zooris would be foolish, even suicidal, but I have a plan that I believe will allow us to defeat Zooris once and for all…”

”That sounds interesting, please continue” Kivala said and sad down on the bench

The key to defeat Zooris will be to find and destroy his phylactery, as well as to face him alone without his army. To do that we need to draw him and his army out of his tower and then send a small group into the tower, while others keep him occupied. Hopefully that group can find and destroy his phylactery before he realizes what is going on, and perhaps they can even find a way to restore the ancients to power… When Zooris realizes what is going on, he will hopefully use magic to go back to his tower fast without waiting for his army. That is when we will have our chance to defeat him once and for all…

The question is how we can draw him out of his tower?.. This is where your tribe come in… We know that Zooris hates your tribe, and we also know that he for some reason very much what to get his hands on Ayuth and Lúthien...

If you was to make a surprise attack on Zooris lizardmen allies, and Ayuth and Lúthien was with you, surely Zooris would not just sit by and see his allies destroyed… He would have to come out of his tower and as he is not strong enough to face you alone he would have to bring most of his army.

The rest of us could hide near the exit of Zooris tunnel, and wait for him to move out. As soon as he is away we could send a message to Ayuth and Lúthien, and they could turn invisible and fly to our location. I believe Ayuth that can fly fast enough to reach us before an invisibility spell runs out. Perhaps you could provide illusions that make Zooris believe that Ayuth and Lúthien are still with you.
As soon as Ayuth and Lúthien reach us, we will fight or way past whatever guards Zooris has left at the tunnel and enter his tower. There we will hopefully find and destroy his phylactery, and with a little luck, that will make him teleport back so we can destroy him too…

I am well aware that this will be dangerous, and that a lot of things can go wrong, but I believe that this is our beat chance of destroying Zooris…”

There was a moment of stunned silence among the elves, then Kivala rose and spoke
”That is a very… bold plan… but if we were succeed…
Perhaps the chance of success is worth the risk…
Galiriel what do you think?”

”I think it is well worth the risk” Galiriel answered ”It is after all our new allies that takes the greatest risk, and I believe they have a fair chance of success. Zooris is a powerful wizard, but without his army of undead he is much more woundable. I also believe we can fool him and keep him occupied for long enough for our allies to get into his tower.”

Kivala turned towards Elian and Korreth
“Elian, what do you think?” She asked
”I believe we can do our part. It shouldn’t be too hard to take the Lizardmen by surprise, and if they are not prepared for us, we can defeat them without much troubles. When Zooris comes after us we should be able to be relative save if we fight a retreating battle and avoid melee with his undead. After having seen our new allies in battle, I also have faith in their ability to get into Zooris tower, and even defeat him in battle, as long as he is not in command of his undead army.”

Kivala nodded agreeing with Elian’s assessment.
”Korreth?” she asked

Korreth couldn't keep a grim smile from his face. This was exactly what he had hoped for. The elves of this village couldn't let themselves be terrified into submission by Zooris any longer. He thanked Rillifane Rallathil for sending these adventurers just at the right time.

As one of the elves from the party explained the plan they had worked up, Korreth thought it through carefully. When Kivala asked his opinion, the tattooed elf nodded. "I agree. A well-conceived plan, despite the great risks. There is a chance that with this diversionary battle, many of our people will be killed. But I believe it's a chance we have to take. With Zooris out of the way, we may finally have a chance to live our lives in peace." There was a fire in his eyes as he spoke.

He rose to his feet. "I have only one request." He turned his gaze from Kivala and onto the party of adventurers, his dark hair framing his handsome face. "Allow me to be a part of the group that infiltrates the tower. You will need all the help you can get if you are to have the best chance of defeating Zooris, and we can't risk the chance--however small or large--that you fail. Zooris must be defeated permanently, or the sacrifices that our people will make in the diversionary battle will have been in vain."

Eros spoke up in response to Korreth. "That is why we must not fail to get the phylactery. Everything depends on it," he said. He discreetly sized up the wild elf, who was clearly a powerful spellcaster. It was, he decided, something that the party had been lacking--though Samuel and Ayuth were arcane spellcasters, it had never been their focus.

"I think it's a good idea that we take someone from the tribe with us," he said. "I think the tribe has at least as much reason to want to get rid of Zooris as we do..."

The plan did have some risk to it, but Eros was glad that the elves were willing to risk themselves to give the party a shot at the necromancer. He was supremely confident that they would be able to take Zooris down with most of the army out of their way. Everything seemed to him to be falling into place.

Lúthien listened quietly to the suggestion. In part, she didn't like being used as bait - but then, that's exactly what she would do, and part of her secretly liked the idea of using herself as a trick. "I have two problems with this plan, possibly three, although these problems may well be solvable," she said. Beren turned his eyes toward her.

"First, if it is possible, I would prefer to make this diversionary attack on the goblins, not the lizardmen. The lizardmen were beguiled and betrayed by Zooris - we know of one ghost of a lizardman whom we freed from the prison Zooris created for him who wished his kin be freed as well. If Zooris were defeated, then they would be your enemies no longer, I am certain. In fact, if we could somehow convince some of the lizardmen of what the true situation they find themselves in to be, then they might aid us in our attack! Not so the goblins - even with Zooris gone, they will still be a threat. A diversionary strike on them may aid you in two ways, first, in giving us a chance to destroy Zooris, and second, in further harming a genuine enemy, one who will not seek peace when the true evil in this forest is defeated.

"Second, there is the matter of the Ancients. I still know not what they are, but they are manifestly powerful and in ways that we cannot hope to be. Yet Zooris defeated them. Perhaps they have some weakness that I do not know of but which Zooris does and was able to exploit? Or perhaps Zooris possesses powers that we cannot even dream of, and may be able to use against us as well? Mistress Kivala, it has been said that you possess thoughts on how Zooris may have accomplished this feat: I would be greatly more comfortable were you to share these with us, as well as any thoughts you may have on how we might defend ourselves from this threat."

She paused, then added "The third question is what we may know of Zooris' tower that we might be able to use to our favor. Has anybody or anything scouted or scried upon it so that we may know what strengths or vulnerabilities it has?"

[This message has been edited by Beren V (edited 09-29-2011 @ 09:49 PM).]

Luthien had a good point, Zan pondered, listening to the discussion going on.If they attacked the goblins instead of the lizard folk,they might be able to get the lizards to help fight the goblins and Zooris,that is assuming the lizards disliked the goblins enough to agree to attack them.They'd have to send someone to the lizards to talk with them first obviously.Everyone seemed to think it was a good plan and Zan agreed that getting Zooris alone was the best thing to do.

"The plan sounds like a good one but it relies on things going perfectly, with Zooris being deceived and us finding his phylactery and destroying it.I believe Luthien has a good point in that we might want to consider attacking the goblins instead of the lizard folk,along with attempting to get the lizards to fight on our side. Not only would that give us more allies,but it might also cause Zooris to make major errors in battle when he sees the lizards are no longer under his control.It might confound him just enough to give us the edge we need, in time and battle tactics,as he no doubt will rethink his situation and options.

Now granted, this will take alittle extra time as we will need to negotiate with the Lizard folk without Zooris finding out somehow.But do you think getting the lizard folk to fight with us and attack the goblins can be done?"

Zan addressed the Elven council as a whole with his last question while scanning the group to see their reaction to what he said.

[This message has been edited by Accusync72 (edited 09-30-2011 @ 07:43 PM).]

Kivala rose again.
”You are right of course it would much preferable for us to attack the goblins as they are our true enemies, unfortunately, as I think Lighthawk has already figured out, it is not going to work…
There are several reasons why it is so, one is that they are well prepared for an attack from us… they has plenty of scouts and magic alarms in their part of the forest and they are well fortified with many wooden forts and all kind of deadly traps. They also outnumber us about 3 to 1, and if all that wasn’t enough, Zooris has also given them undead for their shamans to control.
We also have reasons to believe that Zooris has left a group of powerful undead in their village that he can take control over if he Teleports in…
There is simply no way we could make an attack that is serious enough for Zooris to need to come with all his army, not even if we could somehow convince the lizardmen to help us. And even if we could, Zooris’ tower is too far away from the goblins’ village, it would take him the most of a day to get his army there, far too late for it to give the goblins any aid in a battle…
Attacking the Lizardmen on the other hand… until now we had not even considered that, and nobody will expect us to do it, neither the lizards nor Zooris…
If we go ahead with the plan, we will of course try to kill as few lizardmen as possible, but no matter how they ended up allying with Zooris, they did make themselves our enemies when doing so.”

Kivala looked at Lúthien ”As for you other questions, it is not I, but Galiriel who is the expert on those matters, you can discuss it in detail with her later…

Does anyone think that we should not go ahead with Lighthawk’s plan?"

[This message has been edited by Kris Lighthawk (edited 10-06-2011 @ 04:04 PM).]