Always Ascending

[Roselli]

"Yeah, what he said!" Gwyn said trying to go a ling. She had no idea what was said. But she got the idea that her questions were a bit off topic, so she sat down and nested what was left of her second beer.

[Ordos]

"Thank you," Naethra said as Gavin put the tankard in front of her.  She bit her lip... or pursed it, at any rate.  She didn't have teeth, and she hadn't really thought about that at all until now. 

She cast a look at the arbor and Lucious tapping on one of the tree's breasts.  She wondered if she might have been planted here.  Just how close had she come to joining someone's orchard?  She shuddered as she wrapped her delicate green hands around the vessel. 

She looked down at the... ale?  She had been thirsty for a long while now.  She hadn't said anything about it, but her water skin had run dry yesterday, and she was almost painfully parched.  There was... a very real chance that the drink was poisoned.  Spiked with something.  But the other adventurers were drinking it, and Naethra was too tired and too thirsty to really stress out about it.  It could be a trap, but it seemed like a low-probability one.  She took a long, deep draught. 

This... felt good.  The sun was warm.  She didn't feel hungry.  For the moment she was safe, or as safe as she was likely to be here.

Of course, the last time she took a moment to savor how not everything was catastrophically falling apart, she turned into a plant.  She let slip a grim chuckle over the rim of her (half empty) tankard. 

"So... what have you been able to figure out about this... Lady?  Or this place?  I'm guessing we're not in Escain anymore."

[Alice]

She nods, "We are definitely not home. I'm not sure where we are.. but it's certainly not home. It may be the inside of her bag of holding for all we know."

Then a loud bell starts to ring and ring.. and ring some more as Gavin goes pale. "Hell.. there is a gnoll and at least fifteen goblins on the way."

The three adventurers stand up grabbing weapons, "finally.. some action!" They start towards the edge of town Gavin calls out.

"No. Come back we'll hide you!" The big man makes a ride gesture and keeps on walking. She looks at you. "Please tell me you'll be sensible. They are walking into their doom."

[Ordos]

I blink, quite confused for a moment by what she means. They're trees, obviously, and if they were people before... "everyone knows that formic matrices are only so stable, they degrade over time if an alternate form is held too long until the matrix warps and the new form becomes default- which takes a GREAT deal of sustained magical energies and effort to achieve, usually some ritual or some sort of heavily enchanted object to hold the enchantment stable." I explain, my tone somewhat pedagogical. "It's why such workings as baleful polymorph are short lived and expire with a lapse in concentration on part of the caster."

That... was almost comforting.  Naethra used to like listening to the elven wizards debate the fine points of theoretical spellcraft.  She couldn't work any of the magic herself, but sometimes they had her keep notes on lectures or meetings.  The humie was a specialist, and while she knew the fine points of that knowledge were beyond her grasp, she could follow the general thrust of this...

"Lucious, you're right, but I suspect you're arriving at the wrong conclusion," for the moment, she decided not to mention the spells of the elven mages of Sienhelm.  Humie spellcraft lagged tragically behind, and that information didn't really seem pertinent to the point she wanted to make.

"Yes, permanent transformations require more energy and articulation than most magic.  And we have all seen, first hand, that those are going on here.  If you follow the logic, it isn't impossible so much as it requires a tremendously dangerous amount of magic.  That is practically everywhere here."

She locked her eyes with the human wizard.  "Tell me, do you think this is going to wear off any time soon?" she asked, fingering some of the leafy vines of her hair with one green hand.  Her tone made the question utterly rhetorical. 

[Roselli]

Gwyn stands up, "we're a bit tired, but we can take a few goblins right? How do you expect us to hide?"

[Nihtgenga]

Retiaria kept quiet as the others talked magic stuff. She knew nothing about that sort of thing, so she chose to enjoy a free pint instead.

That changed when the bell began to ring. "Sixteen of them, and nine of us? I like those odds..."  Retiaria said with a grin, downing the last of her ale and standing up. "What do you think, ladies? Shall we take up these fine folks' offer of hospitality, or shall we have some fun?"

[Alice]

Gavin shakes her head, "They will have well rested spell casters.. these are not basic goblins. " she looks at the bare, "We get you to the back room of the inn and get the goblins piss ads drunk"

[Roselli]

"So we are supposed to hide in back with the staff and ignore goblins taking over the inn?"  Gwyn asked falling back on her asks in the seat. Maybe she didn't quite have the momentum for a fight that she thought she did. 

[darlingng01]

I scowl at the magicians overly academic statements, and apparent surprise at something quite common out in the wilds "You aren't much for practical study are you? Stuff like this happens all the time out in the Wild. Though much less frequently than in here. Given the way you talk I can only hope it's the result of a poor education." I take a drink and give a light frown, pushing it away. The worst part of my dwarven heritage is the need for strong drink, and obviously this town couldn't manage that with such limited resources.

I sigh as the adventurers leave "Well, hopefully they get blamed for our efforts. If we hide it's likely they wont even realize they're looking for us." With red commenting that she likes those odds I scoff "Count again. I'm out of power. So you'd be going into battle with eight people, three of which are foolhardy idiots, and none of which are clerics. That's a recipe for disaster even if you were just going up against the Wilds themselves, let alone enemies in them."

When Gwyn ads in her two scents I begin to get visibly angry "Oh yes, because charging out, dying, and making them angrier is so much more helpful. If you want to die I won't let you drag innocent people into it Gwolneir!" I blink as I finish talking and immediately turn away from the group, correcting myself quietly "Gwyn. I said Gwyn." I stand and move towards the innkeeper "Show me where you want me to hide."

[Roselli]

Gwyn gives a look as Oric gets her name wrong. "Gwolneir? That's not even close to Gwendolyn. Thinking of something else?"

Gwyn relents,  "We should wait, and let this pass. But I do have an idea. I do have enough energy left for a spell. I could disguise myself as a goblin and sit with them and get information."

[Ordos]

Naethra frowned.

The three other adventurers were rushing off.  Pooling them together, and assuming the wizard would fight with them, gave them good numerical odds.  The best they were likely to get, all things considered.  Hiding would mean leaving those others adventurers to their doom... but the bar keeper didn't seem to think that was much of a loss.

She had to know about all of this.  She had to have a good idea of what the goblins were capable of, and she really didn't think fighting here and now was a good idea.

Hiding would mean losing three fighters.  But those three were unknown quantities... no telling how competent, effective, or trustworthy they were.  Alternatively, while they wouldn't be able to rustle up three decent fighters from this village, if they could control engagements, fight the goblins in smaller groups...

Two of them had been a terrible challenge.  Naethra still remembered the binding arrow.  And her magic was tapped almost dry.  She didn't imagine anyone else in the party had anything useful left after the wolves.  That sealed it.

"I'll hide," she said to Davin.  She took a last drink of her mug, emptying it.  "Where do you need me and what do I need to do?" 

[Nihtgenga]

"Count again. I'm out of power. So you'd be going into battle with eight people, three of which are foolhardy idiots, and none of which are clerics. That's a recipe for disaster even if you were just going up against the Wilds themselves, let alone enemies in them."

"Damn it..." Retiaria grumbled. "There's no glory to be had in hiding in a damn basement..."

Still, this was frustrated, petulant grumbling, not belligerent grumbling. It seemed Orin had been quite convincing.

"We should wait, and let this pass. But I do have an idea. I do have enough energy left for a spell. I could disguise myself as a goblin and sit with them and get information."

"That could work, yeah... you sure you can pull that off though? I'm not bad with disguises myself, but goblins are kinda small..."

She glanced over at Orin, wondering who or what a Gwolneir was.

[Roselli]

"Red, think of it as that tense moment in the story where the heroes are down and could potentially be stopped before their story begins. Will they get found out, or will they turn this into an opportunity? The spell should do the appearance, as long as no one touches me, we should be...yeah, this might not be a great plan."

[Alice]

Gavin leads you into the inn. The indoor area is mostly a small parlor and she leads you into the back room where there is spare chairs for the tables and a wardrobe where there are a few spare uniforms for bar wenches including underwear and shoes.

"It will be fine.. you can see most of the town from the window but try not to be too obvious and before you go outside.  Remebr they have wolves and can smell most tricks.  I'm going to put some food on and that should mask you."

[Nihtgenga]

"Red, think of it as that tense moment in the story where the heroes are down and could potentially be stopped before their story begins. Will they get found out, or will they turn this into an opportunity? The spell should do the appearance, as long as no one touches me, we should be...yeah, this might not be a great plan."

"I guess that would make a good story..."

Retiaria allowed herself to be led into the back, scooping up a fresh pint and some snacks as she went.

Eyeing the uniforms, she had an idea. "Hey, how well do the goblins know this place? Could Gwen- or hell, any one of us- disguise ourselves as a barmaid and eavesdrop on them that way?"