Scales & Spells

[ShadowFighter15]

"Sorry, I didn't think you were in-front of him." he said, sheepishly. When she asked about skinning it, he looked confused. "What good's the skin going to do us?"

As he spoke, he walked over to the wagon to inspect the damage. "Damn, looks like we won't be going any further in this thing. On the plus side; I remembered that the boots I'm wearing are teleporting ones. If they've got another charge in them then I should be able to get us to the city gates. On the down side; I now have the memory of a gnomish orgy to get out of my head." He didn't know where'd he'd accidentally teleported to during the fight and didn't want to know; only glad that he had a good enough memory to come right back.

 

[Vixandra]

Verrith

"I don't know, teleporting makes me nauseous," I admitted a tad bit sheepishly. At his quizzical look I explained. "I can dimension door hop with the best of them and no problems. Fly in blizzards and upside down carrying halfling archers with no qualms. But teleporting just unsettles my stomach something fierce."

As I spoke, I pulled a skinning knife I usually used on dragons out of my belt and began making the classic thorasic line cut on the behir. "I need a new pair of boots and might as well have them be electric resistant."

I studied the monster. "May even have enough to get a few other things too. I've got a hide-stasis oil in one of my pouches to preserve it. And worst case scenario, we end up selling it for a profit. Either way we win. You help me skin this sucker, find his nest and load up on his loot and I'll let you 'port us the rest of the way to Waterdeep."


A few moments later a thought struck me and I smiled wryly at Marcus. "So how does one forget he's wearing teleporting boots? Explain this to me."

 

[ShadowFighter15]

Marcus set to work on the behir with a knife from his boot as he answered her question.

"It's pretty easy to forget something like that; I just grabbed these out of a bag at random, I've got about four or five pair of boots in various carrying devices."

Once they'd finished and had the skin packed away, he turned to Verrith. "So, any idea where that thing's lair is?"

 

[Vixandra]

Verrith

I tilted my head to the side as I pondered his quarry. "I'm not a great tracker... honestly I'm a miserable tracker. I kill things, not hunt them down."

I rummaged through my bag for a moment before pulling out a wolf shaped talisman. "So I'll try summoning Turp. He's persnickety, but don't mind him. Just don't make any threatening movements toward me and you'll be fine... or I'll pay to have what he rips off reattached."

I set the talisman on the ground and stepped away, hands splayed wide and spoke the activating works, "Sum'iris S'canus Turpisis!"

The talisman grew smokey and the smoke billowed up to form a very large, winged wolf that looked at me with a 'what now lady' look on his face. I bowed politely to the great beast, noting that the injuries he had sustained last time he helped me had healed. "Welcome, Turp, and thank you for answering my summons this day."

The silvery wolf looked around the clearing, his ebony wings fluffing as his ruff stood up upon sight of the dead behir. A growl tingled in his throat as he looked back at me.

"It attacked us, not vice versa," I informed him and the growl eased. "I want to find its lair. Make sure there aren't eggs or young or treasure that would go to waste."

Turp gave a barking laugh and then looked at my companion. I nodded. "That is Marcus, my friend, Turp. He's helping me. He wants to find the lair too. Will you lead us too it? Your nose is so much better then mine. And I can't track a kobold in a mudflat on a sunny day, so I need your help."

I kept my voice upbeat, praising and firm. Turp was my friend, sort of. My mother had given me the talisman when I was young and I used it when I needed too. He didn't like being underground though, so I avoided summoning Turp when in the Underdark. His idea of revenge for unnecessary underdark summonings were stinky at best and equipment ruining at worst.

Turp sniffed at the half dragon, nodded once in nonchalant approval and trotted off into the forest, nose to the ground, wings slicked back against his back. I followed after him, my own footsteps falling unconsciously in his paw marks, a habit built over a lifetime.

 

[ShadowFighter15]

Marcus followed alongside Verrith for a while before asking the question that had been bugging him for a while.

"So just what is Turp? I can't remember ever seeing something like him before, and I've spent some time on the Astral Plane, so I've seen some pretty unusual things. And... pissed-off a few githyanki, but that's beside the point."

 

[Vixandra]

Verrith

"Turp is...." I trailed off as I tried to figure out how to say the words. "He's an ally, a friend. My only tie to my mother I have left, really. The talisman that summons him is all I have left from her."

My voice sounded far away and soft, remembered loss and pain with the strength of overcoming the challenges they brought. "I had a wizard friend once tell me he was a Celestial Wolf because of the wings and the summoning aspect of him, but that same wizard also said I was 'touched by a god' or some such nonsense, so I ignored her. Turp is Turp, and that's all that matters to me really."

The friend in question shot me a grin, tongue lolling out as he took in a deep breath. He rolled his shoulders and put his nose to the ground then, setting off at a brisk trot to the west, the direction the behir had come from.

 

[ShadowFighter15]

"I see." Marcus said, not wanting to let her dwell on her mother too much. He'd never encountered a Celestial of any description before, so whether or not that's what Turp was, he didn't know. Though a wizard saying she was touched by a god did remind him of something, namely a Mulhorandi woman he'd met near Candlekeep who'd claimed to have Celestial blood. Out of curiosity, Marcus had spent some time in Baldur's Gate going through various books to see if it was possible.

As it turned out, the woman had been telling the truth; she'd been an aasimar: a human with traces of Celestial ancestry. The book he'd found that in also made mention of creatures called half-celestials; hybrids of Celestial creatures and mortals. As far as all of this meant in regards to Verrith was that either she was from that mythical winged elven sub-species, or that she was a half-celestial (or an aasimar who got very lucky with genetics).

Maybe a proper cleric would know; I need to go to the Temple of Tymora to get my wing back, so maybe I could convince Verrith to get a second opinion on the supposed 'divine touch' she's got. But would she want to know? She seems happy enough with how she sees herself, do I really want to risk taking that away from her? Gah; quit thinking so hard about it you scaly bastard! I'll just ask her about her wings later and play it by ear from there. For now, just relax, follow her and enjoy the sight of her possibly-divine bu- WHAT AM I THINKING?! Damn it; why the hell'd these damn boots teleport me into a gnomish orgy? Now I've practically got sex on the brain.

 

[Vixandra]

Verrith

That innate sense that all women have alerted me to Marcus' eyes on me as I moved through the brush following Turp. A wry smile curved my lips as I put just a bit of extra movement into my stealthy walk, crawling over a fallen tree in an accented manner and keeping my wings held in such a way that they show cased certain areas at opportune moments. Part me chided myself, but the more prominent part (one that had been too influenced by Tixis who worshiped a goddess of sex and magic) thought the attention wasn't a bad thing... in fact it was a very interesting thing in both sides' opinions.

Turp came to a bounding stop at the entrance to a small looking cave for a moment before trotting inside like he owned the place. I shook my head and followed, eyes easily adjusting to the darkened interior. It was about forty feet wide after the narrow ten foot entrance and appeared to be sixty feet deep with stalagmites and stalactites lining the floor and ceiling along the edges.

A circular mound was raised in the center on piles of assorted things ranging from coins to a wand or two, a mace, about a dozen potions and an assortment of gemstones.

I looked it over with an adventurer's eye. "Look what we have here...."

 

[ShadowFighter15]

As their walk continued, Marcus was glad that he couldn't blush and was almost sure that Verrith somehow knew how he was looking at her from how her movement had changed. It reminded him of a flirtatious girl he'd been going out with back in Conyberry before he left for Neverwinter (who, in retrospect, was probably only going out with Marcus because of what he was). The relationship had broken down right after she learned that a certain part of his anatomy was to-scale with the rest of his body.

He tried his best not to stare at Verrith, but his eyes kept wandering back to her until they finally reached the cave.

"Well this isn't too bad a haul, let me see if I've got something to identify those wands with," he said as he started digging through the bag of holding he'd brought with him (he'd left the rest with the wagon) last time I tried to use a wand without knowing what it did, I got struck by lightning."

 

[Vixandra]

Verrith

I nodded in response. "I lost half the feathers on my right side and all of my hair on that side from a trick-fire wand. It reeked and stung plus grounded me until I regrew the feathers."

Using an innate affinity for magic, I began sorting through the loot, setting up a magic and a non magic pile. There were 14,000 silver pieces in a burlap sack, an alexandrite, an azurite, a black pearl, a chrysoprase, a green spinel, an eye agate, a freshwater white pearl, a yellow topaz, a pair of lapis lazuli cabochons, a silver pearl and a white opal in the non-magic pile.

In the magic pile went 2 scrolls, a club, a scarab, a mace, one decanter of oil, four potions, a ring with wavy blue enamel lines on it, and a wand with what appeared to be scorched kobold palm prints on it.

I tossed the wand to Marcus and gestured to the rest of the magic pile. "I know all of these things have or are magic. I don't know what they are- I can't identify things unless I've seen them before. And wands and I don't always get along well. My baseline magic is just too plain strange for it I think."

 

[ShadowFighter15]

"Well I think I might have something in... aha! I knew I still had this." he said, pulling a lens out of the bag after catching the thrown wand. "A Lens of Identification. Got it as payment for a job a while ago; guy said that it'd be worth a fair bit if I didn't need it, but since I know practically nothing about magic it's made more than twice my weight in gold. Now then, let's see what we've got."

Marcus managed to identify the club, the mace and the ring before the lens ran out of power for the day.

"That's the one problem with this thing; you can't use it often enough. Anyway, the club's got a Merciful enchantment on it, so we might be able to get a bit for it if we sell it directly to the City Watch. The mace is a mace of disruption; odd when you consider that there aren't any undead in the area and the wand is a wand of burning hands, though the palm prints have me worried about it being cursed. Wouldn't be the first cursed item I've come across."

He remembered that strength-enhancing belt he'd found near Baldur's Gate, which turned out to have a gender-swap curse on it. One thing he learned from that incident (aside from the fact that burly, half-dragon women aren't as attractive as artists would have you think) was to always look for signs that something might be cursed and to be reasonably paranoid with any items you find. Or failing that, have a way to use Remove Curse ASAP.

"Gonna have to wait til tomorrow before I can use it on the rest of what we've found. Feel free to experiment with the other stuff to work out what they do, I think I've got a wand of remove curse in here somewhere."

OOC: I'm reminded of something I read on a forum somewhere in reference to an artificer, where the artificer's answer to any problem the group came up against was "I've got a wand for that."

 

[Vixandra]

Verrith

I picked up the mace and gave it a good look over. "Could be useful. I've heard rumors of liches about and better safe then sorry."

We shoved the rest of the loot into bags while Turp rolled around in the behir's nest, obviously liking the scent enough to want to save it for later or take it home to show his pack. I rolled my eyes with a wry smile.

That smile turned into one of appreciation as Marcus leaned over to pick up something. I bit my lip lightly to keep from making a suggestive comment. I didn't know him that well- for all I knew I was about as attractive as sea slug. And I wasn't exactly conversant with human courtship rituals, if that's what his non-dragon half was. I understood elves of course, I was one. And I'd learned Baasti (not necessarily by choice) and halfling (defiantly not by choice) but the wide range of signals humans used bewildered me sometimes, so I wasn't quite sure how to show interest with out being offensive or sickening him. The idea made me flinch a little as I looked away, poking through some of the piles of heaven only knew what throughout the lair.

I mentally laughed at myself. I could handle amorous cat boys, naga warriors, elf men and halflings with ease, but this strong and fierce dragon man had me both curious and confused. I have a perflexed flutter of my wings and tried to push it out of my mind and looked at Turp.

"Thank you for your help, my friend," I said with a small bow. He nodded regally at me before giving me his version of a smile. "You may remain as long as you like or return to your home realm, Turp."

He trotted over to me and stood on his hind legs, his fore paws on my shoulders. Like this, he towered over me and knew it. He headbutted me fondly, something we'd started doing when I was a child and began to wisp away. After he had fully dissipated I looked to Marcus. "We should probably be getting back to our captive. I imagine she's hungry and I know I am. Would also like to get closer to Waterdeep if the horse is up to it."

 

[ShadowFighter15]

Marcus bent over to pick up the two scrolls as Verrith mentioned liches while using his tail to pick up the oil decanter.

"I hope those rumours are false; I fought a lich once, only reason I won was because I had a priestess with me who knew how to defend against death magic." He put the rest of the magic pile into the bag he'd brought, while putting the non-magic pile into one of the empty side pockets of his haversack (and once again making him marvel at extradimensional spaces). "We'll split all this later; save time for now."

"I wouldn't worry about her getting hungry," he said after she mentioned getting back. "I gave her that ioun stone, remember? I can probably teleport all of us - you, me, the drow and the horse - at once. I don't know about you; but I say we put off lunch for a little while so that we can get a really good feed in at a tavern."

 

[Vixandra]

Verrith

Travel by magic wasn't my favorite thing but the idea of an inn or tavern (and a hot bath) was worth the discomfort teleporting always gave me.

"Don't mind me if I turn green for a bit after we land, don't mention any kind of aquatic based food and I'm okay with teleporting," I told him and lead the way out of the cavern. Outside I stretched, going up on my toes, wings fully extended and relaxed with a shiver. Even being in small caves made me feel pinned in.

I let Marcus lead the way back, paying attention to the way he moved to keep my mind off the upcoming teleport (and because oh it was a nice view). "So what's Waterdeep like? I've never been. Are they welcoming of us... not quite so normal types?"

 

[ShadowFighter15]

Seeing her stretch after leaving the cave and the shiver as she relaxed was extremely distracting. Stay focussed, Marcus.

"Well, people are gonna stare, but no more than they would anywhere else in Faerun. That's about the worst it gets; the locals are used to unusual people coming through thanks to all the adventurers trying to make it rich by going down into Undermountain. Been tempted to go down there myself a few times; never have, though." He looked over his shoulder at her for a second. "Speaking of us being 'not quite so normal types'; how come you have wings? I've only heard of one elven species that has them naturally; winged elves that are supposed to live on top of high mountains or something. They're probably just a myth, though. Then again, there's stories of one who'd lost her wings and was travelling with a Bhallspawn years ago so who knows? Maybe they aren't just a myth."

It wasn't long before they got back to the wagon. "I'm gonna sort out the horses and see if I'm able to teleport the cage as well; I'd rather bring it with us rather than take her out of it. Plus a wheeled cage made out of pure adamantine's gotta be worth a fortune. Could you have a look through the wagon; make sure we didn't miss anything? There's no way we can bring it with us, unfortunately."

 

[Vixandra]

Verrith

I smiled at his question. I'd heard it before and the answer never changed. "I don't honestly know. As I said, my mother's people were killed and she was the only survivor from her village. They could have been those winged elves of yore but I don't think so. My father's people would have heard about them. Especially since my mother was found walking on the road, battle torn and bloody. The rider group that found her traced her steps back to a decimated village. She shared facial features with some of the dead there but didn't seem to recognise any of them. She was only ten and couldn't have wandered too far without help. To the day she died, she couldn't remember her people. The riders noted nothing strange about the bodies as they buried them, nor anything else odd as they lit the funeral pyres and prayed to Corellon to watch over the fallen ones.

"Anyway, I think I'm just some odd throwback. My mother was special, though. Her hair was like literal spun gold and she was very strong." My eyes dimmed for a moment. "It wasn't enough to save her though."

I started crawling through the wagon, tossing things into a pile or shoving them into bags as appropriate and I pushed away the painful memories as well. "I've never met another winged elf before. In fact, you're the first winged humanoid I've ever met. Half-dragons aren't exactly common around here. How did you come to be?"

 

[ShadowFighter15]

Marcus could tell he'd brought up some painful memories for her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up anything painful for you."

He set to work letting the horses off the wagon when she asked him about how he came to be.

"I don't know, to be frank; I just turned up on my foster-mother's doorstep when I was a newborn - or hatchling, I don't know which applies - with only a note saying my date of birth. Aside from that; I have no idea who my parents were or why they left me with her. Don't care either, to be honest; they didn't want to raise me then that was their choice. Besides; I think I turned out alright being raised by humans. I know my non-dragon parent was human, but that's about it."

 

[Vixandra]

Verrith

I listened intently, wanting to know more about him. "The pain has faded over time, but I doubt it will ever stop hurting. But I remember the good things too, so it about evens out."

He spoke of his foster family with warmth and I smiled. "Family is family, whether you were born to them or adopted by them. They're a part of you and you of them, for good or bad or both."

As I unlocked the cage from the wagon, the matron hissed at me in undercommon, insulting my parentage, my morality and my hair of all things. I raised an eye brow at her and informed her we were planning on selling her to a dumpling maker who specialized in rare delicacies and that she would be carved alive for confections for elfin royalty and human mayors. She seethed, eyes flashing with fury.

"I know, its not nice to rile up the prisoner," I said, switching back to common. I took a look down at myself and then one at Marcus. We were both on the grungy side from the past few days. "Are we going to be staying at a tavern with rooms? I'd like to get cleaned up before sitting down to a nice meal."

I didn't add that I also had couple of spectacular outfits that while totally unsuited to combat were sure to get his attention if it was at all possible and I didn't want to put them on dirty.

 

[ShadowFighter15]

"That's the plan. There's a good one I've stayed at once or twice; the Yawning Portal. If you don't mind sleeping above an entrance to Undermountain, that is."

He guided the horses around to the back of the wagon, near the cage. "You don't need to ride one if you don't want to; I'll try and land us close to the city gates. Our guest, of course, is staying in the cage; I can bring it and her with us easily enough." As he explained, he positioned himself so that he held the reins of each horse in one hand and wrapped his tail around one of the bars of the cage before offering a hand to Verrith. "Ready?"

 

[Vixandra]

Verrith

"I've heard of Undermountain and as long as we're not sleeping down there, I'm okay with it," I said, sliding my hand into his, the other going to Turp's talisman around my neck. I didn't want to loose either of them in the transport. Taking a deep breath to settle my stomach, I nodded to Marcus. "I'm ready when you are."

I'm not quite sure how he activated the teleport spell or how it worked. I was concentrating on keeping my own natural magic still so I didn't screw up the transport. A lurch and a drop in my stomach let me know we'd arrived somewhere in one piece. I opened my eyes and looked around, seeing that we were in a large, somewhat sandy area. In some places the sand appeared to have been melted into glass.

A fussy looking gnome looked at us from a chair and table set up about ten feet outside the large sandy circle. "You were not scheduled to use this Teleport Target. Who are you?"

I knew we must look a sight, two horses, a cage with a cloaked figure, a silver half dragon and myself a winged elf. I looked over at Marcus and shrugged before answering. "I am Verrithanis Mijai and this is my esteemed partner, Marcus Blakwell, bounty hunter extraordinaire. May I ask the pleasure of your name?"

My voice was soft, formal, and very respectful as I looked to the gnome with curious eyes. I didn't know Waterdeep but I knew bureaucrats when I saw them and knew how to play nice.

The gnome studied us for a moment and huffed. "Well, since you're polite, I guess I can let this pass. Where are you headed?"

I turned to look at Marcus, indicating that he should answer since I wasn't sure where we were taking the Matron to be dropped off and I wanted to hand her over to justice... if I couldn't dispense it myself. Maybe they'd let me execute her pro bono....

 

[ShadowFighter15]

"Nearest Watch barracks to turn in a bounty," he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the cage. "And somewhere the sell these horses." He looked around for a minute. "Are these targets new? I didn't see one when I left town last week."

"You probably left by the South-East Gate; this is the North-East one. The Teleport Targets redirect any incoming teleports over the city as a safety measure; wouldn't want powerful and crazy wizards to 'port into the middle of the city."

The gnome gave them instructions on where to take the drow and the horses and the two set off. "You feeling okay after the teleport?"

 

[Vixandra]

Verrith

I knew my skin was tinged a bit green and I signed. "I'll be okay. Its always like this for me. Any magic other then my own that moves me makes me sick. I can bounce around till I'm exhausted and it doesn't matter but someone else's magic, blah."

The walk, along with a fresh breeze from over the water, eased the nausea. By the time we reached the barracks, my stomach was settled and I was back to normal, at least for me. "This is better then the first time I was teleported."

I laughed at the memory. "I threw up all over the mage that did the spell and he was livid. I had to buy him and his familiar a new set of robes. Yes, his rat wore robes, it was strange."

I looked over the military-style building, noting it was well kept, freshly painted and tidy. Such attention to detail boded well. "So were they expecting you to bring Matron surly-pants here in or is this a surprise?"

 

[ShadowFighter15]

"Well it's not required, but I did inform the Watch that I'd be going after her; makes the whole turning-'em-in process run a lot smoother." As he spoke, he opened the cage and pulled the Matron out, keeping one hand tight around her bicep as he led her into the barracks.

"Might be best if you wait out here, Verrith; the sea air'll help your stomach settle." As he opened the door, he called out loudly. "Anybody paying for a drow Raid Matron? She's freshly caught!"

It was about ten minutes before the drow's identity was confirmed as the Raid Matron and another five for the guards to get their payment; 1000 platinum. Although he was able to sell them the cage for another 500 and decided to just give them the horses for free.

"750 platinum each, not bad for a few days work," he said as they left the barracks for the Temple of Tymora. "Now to fix my centre of gravity."

 

[Vixandra]

Verrith

I took the payment, not even trying to hide a grin. Easiest plat I'd ever made for only four days of work, including tracking time. I slipped the money into my bag of holding with a smile. I'd easily be able to get my armor fixed now. Or upgraded.

I followed Marcus through the streets of Waterdeep, taking in the sights and the fresh air. It was, for a human city, a rather pretty one in its way. Certainly very large.

The Temple of Tymora was a beautiful structure and surely worthy of worshiping any deity. I looked at the delicate arch work and the breathtaking stained glass with an artisan's eye and sighed. "This is a beautiful structure."

Marcus led the way inside, holding the door for me, earning a smile for him as well. "Thank you. This place is beautiful."

 

[ShadowFighter15]

"It is, but if you want to see real beauty you should see the Temple of Sune a couple of blocks from here."

He made a quick prayer to the Lady of Luck as he came in before speaking to the head priest about a regeneration. About a minute later, they were in a room in the back of the temple with one of the priests finishing up the spell.

"Now don't bump what's left of your wing while it's regenerating; it's going to be tender as all heck. It's going to take a while, probably won't be done for another hour or so-" the priest was interrupted by a strange, splurting sound as the wing completely formed in a matter of seconds. "or in a bit over ten seconds." the priest finished, looking rather annoyed that his own spell had made him look like an idiot.

Marcus tested the new limb for a moment. It felt a bit stiff, but otherwise fully regrown. The half-dragon paid and thanked the priest, glad that everything had been going quickly and smoothly.

One they were back outside, he turned to Verrith. "So, want to take the quick way to the Portal?" he asked, flexing his wings to show what he meant.