Points of Light: The Twisting Halls

[Vanira]

Riona Oota​

HP: 17/17
Interactions: Nala MToki | GinkyGotBack
Mentions: Aelena & Kostin

The door opens, Goblins get alerted, what is that lizard-thing? Riona did not have much time to think, however as she saw Kostin and Aelena freak out. What are they-oh! Fire! In a moment of panic at seeing bright flames heading towards them, Riona quickly jumped back holding her shield in front of her face, and despite not seeing the fire she certainly felt the shield heat up. Not enough to hurt her, like the fire did her companions, but enough to freak Riona out some. That could have gotten her face and messed with her makeup.

Riona steps ten feet into the room and sees the lizard-thing attack Nala. Holding out her hand she spoke quickly while having no emotion in her eyes, ”Sacred flame!” White flames erupted around the lizard but did not hit. Instead of staying angry she quickly pointed at Nala, ”Healing word.” A light purplish glow surrounding him for only a moment before healing him (healed 5 HP).
​

 

[Soap]

Aelena

HP: 24/31
Interactions: GinkyGotBack
Mentions: Keth, KingHalliwell

It was one thought after a second with Aelena, unsurprisingly, yes. The markings on the door, Keth trying to talk to the Goblins and she watched carefully with a weary eye. Once they basically laughed in his face there was no way they were gonna hand over the box that easily now when they’ve already been so rude! Her eyes widened as something much more scarier than the goblins appeared, it seemed as if it was their pet, but if one thing was for certain it was no baby Rhys.

Aelena reached for her bow and knocked an arrow back aiming for the Goblin that decided to be a threat. “Thraen.” The half-elf whispered, effectively marking her target. The arrow flew from the bow and through the Goblin’s skull as the body fell to the ground, the arrow sunk deep into a crack of concrete. Aelena sighed relieved that the Goblins wouldn’t be their problem anymore, only to focus her attention onto the lizard in front of them. She doubted Keth would try to talk to this one.

 

[GinkyGotBack]

Noam (Kostin) MToki (Nala) KingHalliwell (Keth) Vanira (Riona) Soap (Aelena)

The lizard let out a loud, guttural hiss as it lowered its body closer to the floor, looking almost snakelike. Given the time to study it, it looked almost like a dragon, only shorter and thicker and without the wings. Spines grew all along its back and tail and over the crest sticking out the back of its head. Its snow-white jaws glistened with Nala's blood as it watched all of you with wild, wary eyes. Its tail swung back and forth like a cat ready to pounce. It made no move aside from that. The drake was ready to kill at a moment's notice, but even an animal could tell when it was outnumbered. So it waited patiently for its prey to make a move, never taking its eyes off of each of you for more than a second.​

 

[Noam]

Kostin Nemetsk
8/14 HP
​

Kostin raised her bow again in the drake's direction, gritted her teeth, and forced herself to think. She ignored her throbbing shoulder and the hot blood soaking into her shirt. The drake was cornered and wary for now, but soon it would realize that three of them were injured and one of them half-blind, and all of them in its lair. And who knew how many more of the bandits were deeper within the cave, waiting for the party to tire themselves out before they finished them off? This was not a fight they wanted.

Tiefling magic was not the result of decades of arcane study or a pact with any god. It was more like being able to wiggle your ears--entertaining at parties, but largely useless. Still, she summoned the little candle flicker and twisted it around her throat. "GET OUT," she boomed, and lashed her tail warningly against the rock.

 

[GinkyGotBack]

Interaction:
Noam (Kostin)

The guard drake reeled back at the sudden loud noise but replied with a furious roar of its own. Though it was outnumbered, the beast stood its ground and refused to budge. Slamming its own tail on the ground, the dragonlike creature had no intention of retreating in the face of an enemy.​

 

[MToki]

Nala Ammil



HP 11/13

Still reeling from the shock of the bite, Nala decided to try and befriend the lizard, as fighting him seemed to be a painful experience. "Why must we fight? We're both brethren of the wild, why can't we be friendly with one another? My companions and I, we only wish to retrieve our stolen goods, we never meant harm onto you." The words were rushed out, a safe distance from the drake. Although most of the bite mark had disappeared from Riona's healing magic, he could still remember the pain and did not desire to repeat the incident. His grandmother always told him to treat other creatures of nature with respect, and while she might not have expected this, he believes the philosophy still applies in this situation. Slightly panicked, Nala reached into his bag, offering some rations to the beast. "Here, and if you let us go peacefully, I'll even try to heal you."​

Mentions: Vanira
Interactions: GinkyGotBack

 

[GinkyGotBack]

Mentions:
Noam (Kostin) Vanira (Riona) Soap (Aelena)
Interactions:
MToki (Nala) KingHalliwell (Keth)

The guard drake flinched as the sack of rations flopped on the ground in front of it. Sniffing it, the dragonkin snapped it up, tearing apart it and gorging on its contents like a starved animal. When it was finished, the lizard kept its eyes on all of you, still wary. Then, without warning, the beast rushed to a set of doors to the north, running past Keth as quickly as it could manage. When it reached the stone doors, it slammed itself against them but they didn't so much as budge. Shaking its head in frustration and hissing angrily, the beast then turned itself back towards you all and resumed its careful surveillance on you.​

 

[KingHalliwell]

Keth​

HP: 34/34
Interactions: GinkyGotBack


Keth slammed his axe into the drake as it rushed passed him towards the closed door, carving a long gash down its side (9 Damage). Keth turned on it as it settled down stalking forward hefting his axe back into his hand. He pulled it back with a roar and sliced across the chest of the drake (17 damage). Pulling his axe back and readying himself for retaliation.​

 

[Vanira]

Riona Oota​

HP: 17/17
Interactions: GinkyGotBack
Mentions:

Two separate people tried to calm the lizard in their respective ways. Smart but didn’t work. Fine by Riona as she wanted it dead for hurting her comrades. While the drake was distracted by the wounds Keth had given it, Riona raised her hand and pointed at the creature. ”Sacred flame.” She watched as the flame erupted around the lizard, engulfing it for a mere moment (3 damage). A smile crossed her lips as she finally hit something. That’s what you get for hurting Nala, you stupid lizard.

​

 

[Soap]

Aelena

HP: 24/31
Interactions: GinkyGotBack

Aelena was conflicted, her gaze switched from her comrades and back to the lizard every passing moment. Of course she didn’t want them to hurt her party, but she truly believed he was just a scared animal! One that hadn’t gotten much needed attention from the Goblins that previously had them. The half-elf believed the lizard didn’t have to die by their hand and much less vice versa.

She backed up, hitting the door which they’ve entered in with her back as she reached for the handle stepping aside. Maybe it just needed a way out, a way it could be free and far from any controlling abusers without the need to starve or protect the likes of any terrible Goblin. “It’s okay, you don’t need to protect them.” Her eyes met the lizard’s with a silent stare, opening the door wider in case they wanted to make their exit.

“Sal don’t kerradun lor hurt va.”

Translation: “I don’t want to hurt you.”

 

[GinkyGotBack]

Mentions:
Vanira (Riona) MToki (Nala) Noam (Kostin)
Interactions:
KingHalliwell (Keth) Soap (Aelena)

The guard drake eyes the door suspiciously as Aelena holds it open for the creature, giving it an opportunity to escape. The monsters breathing was rapid as it looked at all of you, before settling its eyes on Keth and his greataxe which was covered in the drake's blood. It didn't look too fond of Riona either. With a feral roar, the guard drake slammed itself against the stone door once more in an attempt to open it. The door swung open with great force, allowing the beast to scurry into the next room.

A burst of cold air blew into the chamber you were all standing in as the guard drake ran down a long, empty hall and disappeared down a corner. With all the goblins slain and the drake having fled, the chamber was empty save for all of you and the black horse that stood in the southeast corner of the room.​

 

[Vanira]

Riona Oota​

HP: 17/17
Interactions: Aelena Soap | Keth KingHalliwell | Nala MToki | Kostin Noam
Mentions:

The little bitch ran away, Riona glared at the door the drake escaped into and sighed heavily as she lowered her shield. She had no idea why everyone, besides Keth, was trying to subdue the drake. It attacked them first, another bite could have really hurt Nala. However, the scaly creature was gone and now they were left on their own. Well, except the black horse that was in the room, but at least that wasn’t attacking them. Yet, anyways.

Riona turned on her heels, the sweet smile back on her face as she looked at her friends. Although, soon her eyes wandered to the corpses on the ground and soon grew curious if they had anything. She quickly made her way over to each goblin, crouched down and started to look them over for items. Much to her disappointment, she only found 50 copper. Why couldn’t Goblins be richer?

Glancing slowly over her shoulder at her friends, she contemplated just keeping her findings. It's not like it was a lot of money, nothing worth fighting over, surely. She barely knew these people so who cares if they got any. Traveus is tasked to pay them, not her. Yet, the growing guilt in her made the blonde decide otherwise. They did take all the hits for her, they deserve something for that at least. If anything, if she gives them this now they might give her something better later. So with that she stood up and divided the measly sum into five. “Hey everyone,” she said with her usual singsong tone. “The goblins had some money on them. 50 copper. Not much but it is enough for us all to get an even amount.” She walked over to everyone and handed out 10 copper to everyone.

Afterwards she slowly glanced over everyone, making sure they were okay. “Everyone is fine, right?”

​

 

[KingHalliwell]

Keth​

HP: 34/34
Interactions: GinkyGotBack Everyone


Keth placed his axe in the holster on his back and made his way back to where most of the party was standing, accepting the 10 copper from Riona. Glancing over at the horse that stood in the middle of the room. It was a beautiful horse, Keth had a horse back at the tribe. But it had died years ago due to a major injury it had gotten in one of the battles. “I’m gonna try and talk to the horse,”he stated, before stepping away from the party. He slowly approached the horse, making sure to stay within its area of vision. He wiped what little blood was on his hand off on his pants before raising it slowly, palm face up. Waiting to see its reaction to him.

When it made no aggressive portions towards him, Keth slowly rested his hand against the neck of the horse. He slowly pet the horse, allowing his hand to move down his neck. He closed his eyes and started to ritual cast speak with animals. He spent the next ten minutes, petting the horse and using the motions to cast the hand motions of the ritual. Smiling as he felt the spell complete. “I’m Keth, what do they call you?”He asked, pulling some of his rations out of his pack and offering it to the horse. Waving over the rest of the party, although cautioning them to approach slowly as to not spook the horse.​

 

[GinkyGotBack]

Interaction:
KingHalliwell

The horse blinked as the spell took its effect, allowing it to speak with Keth and have him understand. It ate the rations out of the barbarian's hand and snorted with satisfaction when it had finished. "I do not have a name. My master calls me 'horse', and the little ones call me 'beast'."​

 

[MToki]

Nala Ammil



HP 13/13

After the lizard man, or whatever it was, ran from them, Nala slowly collected himself as the battle was now over. Today was definitely not turning out as planned. Carefully, he scanned the room, finding a basin of clear water, which was odd. This was a cave that housed goblins, who probably wouldn't care if the water was clean, and a lizard man who looked like he hadn't been treated the best. Feeling thirsty and not with the best judgment, he cupped his hands and drank from the pool. Almost instantly, he felt the remaining pain from the lizard's bite fade away. (Healed for 8 HP) This was unexpected to say the least. Nonetheless, it was healing water. He pulled out his waterskin from his pack and emptied it onto the floor, filling it back up with the magic water.

Looking around further, he found glyphs on the floor encased in red glass. Unable to read them, he touched the glass, almost shocked by how warm it was. It looked like it was something used for rituals that required someone to be engulfed in flames. Then he looked up to a fire that burned much brighter than the others.

"Can anyone read this?" He yelled over to the group, unsure of the symbols behind the red glass. "And the water over there, it's enchanted, or blessed, or something. It healed me." He added, not wanting to feel as if he was hiding anything from the group. These people clearly knew how to handle themselves in a fight, and they were a group working toward the same goal. By the look of things, some were also hit pretty bad, it was in his best interest to make sure they'd be ready for another encounter.
​

Interactions: Everyone
Mentions:

 

[Noam]

Kostin Nemetsk
9/14 HP
​

Kostin skirted the edge of the room, giving the horse a wide berth. They had an unfortunate tendency to spook around her, and she didn't want to get Keth kicked after he'd tamed the thing. She accepted her share of the money from Aelena, and then followed Nala into the room the drake had been guarding. If you were going to set a dragon to guard a place, even a little one, then there had to be something pretty valuable inside.

Like a pool of healing water, for example. She knelt down cautiously, still holding her injured arm to her side, and drank. It didn't feel all warm and fuzzy like Riona's healing magic, but the pain dulled a little, and that was something. She drank until her mouth didn't feel dry anymore, then refilled her water skin and skulked after Nala. (Healed for 1 HP)

The other room was much more confusing. It was pleasantly warm, with a brazier in the corner that looked as if it had just been fed. It crackled brightly, and the flames lit up something red puddled on the floor. For a moment, heart still thrumming from the fight, Kostin thought blood. But it was too bright, and the shape too perfect, and she realized that it was a circle of flat red glass.

She poked her head back out into the common room. "Riona. It's bright in here."

Human attended to, she headed over to examine the circle. It was covering a set of symbols carved into the floor. Kostin tilted her head, squinting down at them.

"I think I've seen these before," she said, slowly. "In a book." She couldn't remember where she'd stolen it from, only that she'd read it in a fit of boredom while recovering from the stomach flu before reselling it. She tapped the spikiest symbol. "This one means fire. And the one next to it means clean, or pure, or something. They're magic as shit, though, I know that much."

Interactions: Vanira MToki

 

[Vanira]

Riona Oota​

HP: 17/17
Interactions: Kostin Noam | Nala MToki
Mentions: Keth KingHalliwell

Watching the horse wearily, Riona couldn’t help but be concerned when Keth walked closer to it. She wanted to warn him. Yet, he seemed to know what he was doing and the blonde was not in any position to tell someone what they should or shouldn’t do. So she stayed quiet and kept her distance and let the expert handle it.

Not long after she perked up at the sound of Nala asking a question. Casually she walked into the much brighter room that Kostin and him were in. Both looking at the red glyph on the ground. Magic had never been her specialty. If my sister Lanas was here I’m sure she would have known, Riona thought bitterly as she knelt beside the glyphs. Riona might not have known, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have a few tricks up her sleeve. “Give me ten minutes and I can figure this out.” Riona boasted as confidently as she could to her two comrades.

Clasping the amulet with both hands, Riona closed her eyes and started to chant under her breath. Near the end of the ten minutes she let go of the amulet and started making different hand gestures. Then, at the ten-minute mark, her amulet glowed a faint purple for a second before disappearing and Riona opened her eyes. The red rune caught her eye first. It’s aura was hard to read first, a mixture of colours that blended together, but intuitively she figured it out. What did her sister call those magic schools again? “It’s a mixture of abjuration and… evocation, yes.”

Then her eyes looked over at the bright braziers, whose aura was much larger than the runes. “That is a lot of evocation magic in those braziers, too.” Riona smiled proudly as Nala and Kostin, yet knew she shouldn’t be proud. Wow, good job, you told them the school of magic. Idiot, they probably already knew that. “I-I don’t know what they do though. Wish I knew how to figure that out,” she sighed in defeat.

She paused for a moment, she wondered if there was anything else nearby with magic. She would have to check.

​

 

[KingHalliwell]

Keth​

HP: 34/34
Interactions: GinkyGotBack

Keth glanced around at everyone as the horse spoke, watching as Riona and Kostin disappeared into the other room, hearing the faint talking about a glyph. Keth nodded, wondering if the horse was treated right. “I just have a few questions. Think you can answer them for me?” He asked, stepping back from the horse. “Can you tell me what to expect if we go through that door, or what that glyph on the floor is? If they talked about it?” Keth asked, watching the others walk through the room. He didn’t think that the Horse knew anything about the glyph, as it seemed this is where his master left him. But it was worth a try. He could feel his spell beginning to fade, as his 10 minutes were running out, but he had just enough time for the horse to answer him. Maybe shed some light on the situation.​

 

[GinkyGotBack]

Interactions:
KingHalliwell (Keth)

The horse shook its head and whinnied as if to say no. Or perhaps it was just a horse thing. "I don't know what a glyph is. I've only ever been in this room, though sometimes master will take me for rides outside. He did today, but there wasn't much riding. He, the short ones and I went out to the hills today. We watched a fight and then we came back here. We used to go riding a lot before we came here, but now I just stand around here.." There was a sad tinge to the horse's voice as he told his story. "Are you new friends of the masters? Did he bring you here so you can take me out for rides?"​

 

[KingHalliwell]

Keth​

HP: 34/34
Interactions: GinkyGotBack Vanira Noam

Keth smiled at the horse, giving him one last pat on the neck, “When we are done, my friends and I will take you on all the rides you want.” Keth answered, as the last part of the spell faded. He fed the horse one more bit of his rations before, walked away from it to join Riona and Kostin in the other room. ”Have you guys figured what this Glyph is yet? The horse didn’t know much,” He answered, as he bent down to look at the glyph. He had no idea what it was. The arcane was never his specialty, but the red glass was cool.​

 

[GinkyGotBack]

Interactions:
Noam (Kostin) MToki (Nala) KingHalliwell (Keth) Vanira (Riona) Soap (Aelena)

Having satisfied your curiosity with the horse and the chamber with the glyph, and taking a hearty drink from the basin's pure water, you set off further into the lair of the goblins. Deciding on taking the path least traveled, or in this case, the one the guard drake hadn't run down, you passed through the doors and into a wide room that looks like some kind of antechamber. Two doors on the opposite wall lead off to the left and the right, but between you and the doors is the largest rat you've ever seen, easily the size of a small dog! It screeches at you angrily and bares its filthy pointed teeth.​

 

[Noam]

Kostin Nemetsk
9/14 HP
​

"Fucking really?" Kostin said to the universe at large. After a drake and a weird, magical fire prism, a giant rat was frankly underwhelming. At least they'd be able to eat it later.

She yanked out her bow again and fired, but the bolt flew off-course and shattered against a stalactite. Cursing, Kostin ducked behind a slab of fallen rock and reached for another arrow.

 

[Soap]

Aelena

HP: 31/31
Interactions: GinkyGotBack

Aelena was fairly quiet after the Drake had went his own way and everyone had started to investigate around them. She didn't say much to her party as her mind wandered, why did they even need that poor animal? Did it truly matter for them? Well, Goblins aren't all that capable in Aelena's eyes, so maybe they did. Nevertheless, she felt it was cruel and meaningless to protect such things that had only given you harm.

Thanks to Nala, Aelena had took a sip by the basin and spread some of the water on her burns. Ouch. She almost forgot that even happened in the first place. The burns didn't look as bad as it did before, and it soothed her pain to none. Deciding to follow the rest of the party, a Rat had startled her and on instinct she pulled her bow out and shot with an arrow, straight through it skull as it flopped to the ground. Well... so much for protecting animals.

What? She got scared!

​

 

[GinkyGotBack]

Noam (Kostin) Soap (Aelena) KingHalliwell (Keth) Vanira (Riona) MToki (Nala)

A collective of confused and shocked grunts came from the next room as the door on the right side of the room opened up, revealing a groggy goblin. Seeing the intruders, its eyes shot wide open as it bellowed out a warning in Goblin. Taking cover by the corner of the door, it shot an arrow over at Aelena. The arrow hit the wall beside her and fell uselessly to the stone floor. Ducking back out of sight by the doorframe's side. Another goblin followed suit, copying his comrade and shooting an arrow at Kostin, but was equally unlucky as his arrow missed as well.

The door on the left swung open and slammed against the wall as a goblin kicked it. It seemed like the goblins were having a bad day, however, as he too let an arrow loose only for it to miss its mark entirely. Feeling embarrassed, the other goblins also disappeared from sight, no doubt hiding beside the doors where they could continue to let loose arrows in peace.​

 

[KingHalliwell]

Keth​

HP: 34/34
Interactions: GinkyGotBack

Keth walked further into the room, heading to left door that only had one enemy behind it. He swung around the door, facing the goblin hiding against the wall. Before he even had a second to think about it, Keth swung the axe down on the goblin carving a long gash across its chest. The goblin fell to the ground, allowing Keth to twist on his feet glaring at the rat a few feet in front of him. Keth hesitated for a moment, he saw how scared the Drake was when it ran from the group, he figured the rats may be a similar situation. So Keth grasped his bear totem hanging on his neck. Feeling the bear burst to life in him. Keth roared, towards the rat who had turned to look at him, he rather the rats run away than fight him. Keth nodded when the roar caused the rat to run away from him, and towards another portion of the Lair.​