[IC] Keratia: Tales of the Arisen One

[Lucius Cypher]

Nodding you watched the goblins a bit more. They seemed to mostly look around the rocks, trying to dig or push stones out of the way, but didn’t seem to have much luck. There was some form of bickering between them before one pointed into the trees and kicked a smaller goblin into climbing it. He did so begrudgingly, putting his spikes club away as he started climbing. Pylia looked to you, her shield and dagger in hand, ready to go when you are.

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

Sylvia watched the goblins, and as soon as the smaller one started climbing the trees, she looked to Pylia and nodded. With her staff in both hands, she waited for all of the goblins to focus on the tree, before she silently charged at the closest goblin and attacked with her staff. After attacking with the staff, she then try to punt the same goblin like it was a football.

[Lucius Cypher]

Bursting from the brush you crack your staff over the head of an unsuspecting goblin. He falls to the ground without even a peep. By the time the second goblin turns to see what caused the noise your fist strikes right into its nose, knocking the red-skinned gremlin backwards. As he stumbled and screamed Pylia came up from behind and stabbed her dagger right into its neck, silencing it.

The other goblins immediately turned to face you, even the ones in the tree. The one on the ground takes out his weapon and gets ready for a fight, but the small climber looked like he was going to try and put more distance between you and him. Seeing this Pylia aimed her dagger at the climbing goblin. ^Summon Holy Fire!^ Almost as if it came from the sun itself, a bolt of fire was launched at the goblin, however he was able to avoid it by jumping towards a nearby branch, climbing higher to hide in the canopy.

The goblin on the ground used this opportunity to try and attack Pylia, swinging his spiky club right at her. However she was easily able to block the attack with her shield. “Sylvia, now!”

Rolls

Goblin Dex Save vs Sacred Flame (DC 13) = 16

Sneaky Goblin = 16

Goblin Attack vs Pylia = 6

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

Sylvia called to Pylia in response to her call, "I got him!" She took the opportunity and attacked the goblin who dared to try and strike Pylia. She first swung her quarterstaff at him, before going for another unarmed strike with her elbow.

Rolls

Quarterstaff strike: 24
Unarmed Strike: 17

Quarterstaff Damage: 9
Unarmed Strike Damage: 4

[Lucius Cypher]

As the goblin got ready for another smash, your staff caved it’s skull in, and your elbow smash knocked it into the ground. That was three out of the four goblins taken care of, but the forth was hiding somewhere. Pylia stood defensively looking towards the tree, getting ready for when the goblin might show itself. And sure enough he did, armed with a knife that he threw right at you. Just as it was about to strike you however, you were able to knock the blade aside without cutting yourself, causing it to bury itself into the dirt.

However this was the moment that Pylia was waiting for as she opened her hand open, her knife being gripped loosely with her thumb and index finger. {Creation Fire!} this created a small ball of flame that illuminated the shade, allowing the both of you to see the goblin. And with this small ball of flame Pylia hurled it towards the creature, hitting him squarely as his armor started to burn.

Rolls

Goblin Sneak Attack = 12/15
Dagger Damage = 4

Pylia Conjured Flame Attack = 19
Fire Damage = 2

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

Sylvia turned her attention to the tree as well as soon as the goblin fell. She saw the dagger fly her way and she was able to knock it aside and into the dirt. After Pylia lit the goblin on fire, Sylvia took her chance. She first took one of her own ninja throwing knives out and threw it at the goblin. After that, she decided to direct an unarmed strike at the tree, to see if she can make the tree branches shake enough to send the goblin tumbling down to the ground.

[Lucius Cypher]

The goblin was startled when you managed to barely deflect his knife even after he tried to sneak attack you with it, and he was certainly shocked as you threw your own knife right at him, slicing a good part of his ear off. Your unarmed strike shook the tree a little but didn’t seem to do anything except cause the goblin to hold onto the tree, but that was the exact moment Pylia casted her second spell. ^Summon Holy Fire.^ This time as a radiant flame descended upon the goblin he wasn’t prepared to avoid it, setting him aflame with a searing white fire. He screamed for a short while before falling to the ground, his body reduced to ash. Only his equipment, some scraps of leather armor and his club, was left.

Looking around there didn’t seem to be anymore enemies. Though Pylia was still going to be on her guard. “Why don’t you see what’s in that tree? I’ll keep an eye out for any danger and clean up these bodies.” Using her magic Pylia was able to quickly burn the corpses into ash, keeping out eye out for more danger while you do what you wish to do.

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

Sylvia looked around as well, to see if there were any other dangers nearby. However when things seemed to be clear, she nodded to Pylia and she answered "Will do. Shout if you need anything," She then headed for the tree and started to look for the loot that Dirk had stashed away.

[Lucius Cypher]

Hidden in the tree was a leather satchel that looked like it was still open, likely when the goblin got up here. It was somewhat heavy for you as you climbed down to check it’s contents. The first thing you found was a lantern: with a bronze frame and glass around the burner, this would be a handy-hands off way to provide light in the darkness. Near the lantern were three clay bottles. Pylia checked this and confirmed they’re some sort of oil, likely corn oil, meant for the lantern. Finally tied to one of the clay bottles was a wrapped bundle of matches though Pylia called them tindertwigs. They functioned just the same though; strike them against a rough surface to get a small flame going

Aside from the oil was the tools that Dirk had mentioned having. Including the knife that the goblin used, which appeared to be a sort of hunting knife, there was a sickle, a hatchet, and a light hammer. There was also a length of rope and a few wooden stakes in the bag as well. Everything but the knife seemed rather dinged up and in rough condition. Sure enough whatever Dirk was using these for, he used them roughly. “Doesn’t look too bad. Let me work my magic on these when we’re back in town and I can fix them.”

Finally there was some miscellaneous items. There was a single thick fur blanket, very heavy and in dire need of a washing. There was a small copper ocarina on a string too. It was a little dinged up but doll played well. Hidden at the bottom of the bag there was a rusted iron ring. It was terribly rusty and faintly stained with blood. And finally there was the satchel itself. It was smaller than your backpack but lighter and easier to carry. It looked rough and dirty, but if you got it cleaned and fixed up it might actually look somewhat fashionable. At the very least it would be a good place to store more important adventuring gear such as potions and weapons, whilst free I g up your backpack for heavier traveling items.

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

Sylvia looked at the items she had and she nodded to herself. All of them looked useful, despite being somewhat dinged up. When Pylia spoke up, she nodded and answered "OK, sounds good," She then looked back at the tree. Didn't Dirk steal some gold as well? She told Pylia, "I'm gonna keep checking the tree. Just in case we missed any hiding spots," Never hurts to be thorough in a search like this.

[Lucius Cypher]

Looking around the tree some more you eventually do find a coin purse smartly hidden between the cracks of the rocks. It was a single pouch containing a combination of coins worth about sixteen gold. Not much, but it was something at least. Other locations or looked around didn’t yield anything of note aside from sturdy sticks or a sizable rock, so overall it seemed like that was everything here.

“If you’re done, we’ve still plenty of time to look around, so some foraging. If we hunt wolves we could sell their pelts for a good price too, now that we have a hunting knife to skin them properly.”

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

Sylvia smiled to herself when she found the pouch of gold. After stashing it with her other gold coins, she clambered down and met up with Pylia again. At Pylia's suggestion, she nodded and answered "Let's go forage. If any wolves try to attack us, then we can try and sell their pelts,"

She would rather not kill if she could help it. She still felt quite uneasy over killing the goblins. That was the first time she killed off something that was alive.

[Lucius Cypher]

The two girls would soon after leave to do some foraging. Though even with Pylia’s guidance to tell you what to look for, it takes you both a good hour before you can find any useful herbs. You gathered as much as you can before Pylia says that you’ve found enough, but now you need one more type of flowers for some potions she can make. These might be slighter harder to find, but you still have some time left. Just have to head to the beach.

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

Sylvia headed to the beach with Pylia, glad that they were able to find the herbs at all. After the hour it seemed somewhat hopeless. The fact that Sylvia was clueless about the flora of this word became painfully obvious during their search. And it would become apparent again during the search on the beach. She only wished that she had read the books Yerro gave her beforehand.

When reaching the beach, Sylvia begins her search for the special type of flower. Now the only problem was...what was she looking for exactly? What did this flower look like? She felt lost.

[Lucius Cypher]

The flower you were suppose to be looking for was called Moonglow, because at night it would glow under direct moonlight. Obviously being that it's still the middle of the day, the flowers would not bloom making it much harder for you or Pylia to find the flowers. Worse part was that without the moon the flowers didn't look too much different from the various spiky grasses and weeds that dotted the beach, and Moonglow had to be handled carefully. After about an hour of searching, neither of you had much luck finding moonglow. The sun was starting to set with a red horizon in the distance. "Red sunset means it's going to rain. Hopefully it'll only be tonight and not tomorrow." Pylia says as she points towards the horizon.

There was still about two hours before sunset, so if you'd like you could try and stay out here a bit longer. Pylia thinks maybe they'll have better luck this time. Alternatively, you could leave the herb hunt to her since she knows what she's looking for, and you can try and look for other things on the beach. Finally you could always return back to Cassari. You have some tools now, which you could either refurbish or sell to those traders. There didn't seem to be anything particularly dangerous on the beach though occasionally you'd see the outlines of a goblin wandering the beach, but they never seem to head in your direction.

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

Sylvia looks towards the horizon when Pylia pointed it out. Seeing the sunset and hearing Pylia's words reminded Sylvia of the old saying, "Red sky at night, sailors' delight. Red sky at morning, sailors' warning," But was that true here? She answered Pylia, "We'll find out tomorrow. Hopefully there won't be a red sunrise,"

Sylvia thought about her options, and she decided that since it was dangerous at night, and during the day with the goblins wandering about, she wasn't going to leave Pylia alone. She told Pylia, "Let's keep searching for the moonglow for now, but we should head back before the sun actually starts to set,"

It's better to be safe than sorry. She'd figure she'd give the search an hour before they start heading back.

[Lucius Cypher]

As the sun began to set, you and Pylia kept looking around for those herbs. Knowing what they vaguely looked like and that they grow near water, you look around the crags near the beach while Pylia is within walking distance as she also looked around the rocks. So far however you were about about as much luck as before, which is to say none at all. Just as an hour was about to pass and it looked like it wasn't going to go very well, you notice something in the water. It was stuck between the rocks, likely ended up there due to high tide. A figurine of unknown origins. It is crudely shaped out of clay with some twigs and straw adorments on the head. It looks to be prehistoric.

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

Sylvia sighed at their lack of luck. However, before she could suggest going back, she caught sight of something in the rocks. She asked out loud, "Hold on...What's that?" She headed over to the rocks and looked at the figurine out of curiosity. If she could, she would carefully maneuver the figure out from between the rocks so as to not break it and inspect the figurine a little more.

[Lucius Cypher]

Getting the figure was somewhat difficult, as it was water lodged and stuck between the rocks, but soon you managed to pull it out. It looked vaguely humanoid, but with very long arms and short legs. It had some sort of hair made of the straw-like bristles, which felt oddly soft to the touch, like a brush. Aside from the hair there wasn’t much details to the small figurine aside from a lump where it’s face may be. But as you examine the figure there’s a faint white glow as you hear a voice speak to you.

Once a day, I may be tried
To speak a truth, without a lie
Things that are, or were, or yet to be
Are known, unhidden from me.

The glow stops. As it does Pylia comes over. “I found a few moon blossoms. Not as much as I’d like, but enough to work with. What do you have there? Some sort of doll?”

[Guardian Angel Haruki]

Sylvia certainly hadn't expected the doll to glow, nor to hear the voice. Was...was that doll speaking to her? Soon the glow faded, and Sylvia was left in slight shock. She looked to Pylia and answered, "Y-Yeah. And I don't think this is an ordinary doll. Pylia, have you heard of talking dolls before?"

She kinda wanted to test the doll's words and ask the doll a question, but...what if there was some unknown consequence to asking the doll questions. It could be helpful to her journey!