Day 33 - Deaths Final Embrace. (Ranvier's Catch-up: Coming Together)
Arredondo has washed out, he had lost it all gambling, in a drunken stupor. He found himself
camped out on the side of road, leading into the Dry docks, playing his Lute, begging for change.
He had been sitting there for some time when he noticed an Elf walking by. The elf was very familiar, and the tinker Gnome was struggling to remember when he called out to the Elf, "Stranger, can you spare some coin?". The Elf stopped, gave him a quizzical confused look, and then handed him a gold piece.
The Gnome was looking at the coin when it snapped, the Elf was one of Tyson's new party members, one of the ones they had attacked. Looking up, the Gnome saw a way to make things up to this Elf, and in the meantime, maybe make some money, and not live on the streets.
The Gnome ran up to the Elf, yanking on his coat "Mister, I can help!"
Day 33-34 - Deaths Final Embrace. (Ranvier's Catch-up: Coming Together, Continued) Ship Log of the Royal Pardon, Captain Dashing
Alsday-Erlsday, Mycius 14th-15th - Year 867;
My little white lie bought me one day, which really sucks, how am I supposed to get work, as a captain of a ship without a crew! I spent my day searching for work, begging pleading, even willing to do some things I'd really rather not talk about, ever, to anyone. But yet in the end I didn't get squat, I literally didn't have two copper pieces to rub together. The day was winding to an end and when I returned to my ship at the dry docks of Alaspar I was greeted by several agents of the Port Authority. They demanded that I undock and leave, even going so far as to tell me that I Captain Dash, the Dashing, was not allowed to come back and use the docks of Alaspar until I paid my past due payments and provided them with a deposit! I was in the middle of arguing with the lead Port Authority agent when a Elven Man and a Tinker Gnome walked up, literally cutting the Port Authority Agent off, mid sentence.
"I Noticed that you need to leave, and you need to make money. My friend here and I are in need of transport to the city of Sworn, If you take us, I will find you work that will get you paid. In the meantime my friend and I will cover any punitive cost necessary to get us to our destination." said the little Tinker Gnome... in one breath, very quickly.
With the Port Authority Agents forcing me out, the gnome and his friend seemed like my only reasonable recourse at the time, so I gave the Agent the bird and turned around. and led the two onto the Air Ship.
"Welcome to the Royal Pardon, I don't have a crew, so I'll show you what I need you to do, and i expect you to learn it quickly, we set sail now." With that I walked over the to docking ramp, pulled it in, told the Port Authority Agent "that I was the father of his newest brother or sister that would be about in roughly 9 months, and that I'd see him later" (though to be honest I may have used fewer words than that), and disconnected the moorings.
********
We had be flying for a few hours when I noticed Black smoke billowing from somewhere near the edge of the sea of reeds. For some unknown reason I felt that I should steer that way, and soon my suspicions were correct, there appeared to be one of the Gnomish made (read rocket powered) merchant zeppelins that the city will occasionally hire to ship out prisoners and goods. Someone had landed it right in the of the tall grass, left the rocket engines roaring away, and the ship appeared to be positively swarming with undead, no doubt drawn by the noise of the engines.
It didn't take long, for what I knew was inevitable to happen. As more and more undead clamber into the rocket engines of the ship it soon clogged up with the burnt remains of the undead, the pressure built up and the damn thing blew up. It was a crazy sight to see, mushroom cloud and everything. At first I had thought we were far enough away to avoid any of the debris from the explosion but that proved untrue when a large chest land smack dab on the deck next to the Elf Ranvier. I was at the helm watching him as he walked over to it, opened the chest, and then start freaking out over what he has seen.
I watched him squirm for a bit before making my way over to his side to see what was in the chest. Upon approaching I first smelled it, and assumed it was one of the undead that had somehow gotten into a chest and been flung on deck. I readied my Elven Courtblade, which was strapped across my back, and got closer to Ranvier. I could hear him sniffle and mutter the name "Mik", and upon looking inside the chest I could see the body of a large man who was not an undead. I relaxed.
"You knew him?" I asked.
"Yeah, he was my friend." replied the elf.
"Well good, that means we are going the right direction. Oh Look!" I said as I pointed to the small bronze porthole on the man's chest. the elf didn't seem to get what I was pointing at so I reached over, unlatched the port and reached in. Pulling my hand out I show Ranvier, who gave a weird squeel, and I told him about how these magically treated hearts are valuable, and if they are needed to be used, they could be sold for quite a bit of money. He reluctantly took the squishy heart, holding it out on the palm of his hand like it was going to bite him.
With a sigh of frustration I went into my cabin and found a small box, which I then put the heart into and gave back to him.
We resolved to keep the chest for the time being as the elf wanted to have a proper burial for his fallen friend, so we closed the chest and moved it out of the way.
We again set the ship in motion heading in the direction of Sworn from the remnant's of the zeppelin, sure that we would soon come across the Elf's missing friends.
********
We had been flying for a good deal of time and dawn was upon us. Ranvier and Arredondo were on lookout for the party while I was at the helm, when I heard Ranvier shout "There I see them!"
I rushed to the edge of the ship and looked in the direction that Ranvier was pointing and saw a group of people in the distance embattled with a large group the undead, and looking to the west of the group I saw a very large horde of undead that appeared to have adjusted it's direction and was moving towards the group, they would soon be overrun!
Jumping into action I brought the ship to a hard landing near the group. I engaged my magical augmentations, flames bursting from my feet, back and arms, and flew off the ship landing next a large group of undead while bringing my Elven Court blade down on one of them, cleaving it in half.
Looking towards the boat I saw Ranvier draw his bow and Arredondo his Musket with which they began taking out the undead.
With the main group, we shortly finished off the remainder of the undead and I rushed them onto the ship, we took off just as the horde of undead broke through the trees and brush into the clearing.
With the group reunited we stopped on the way to Sworn and performed a warriors cremation of Mik's body. Most members said good things about their lost friend, and the robot even said a prayer I had never heard to some "Becoming God".
The group got together and one of their members, a dwarf took me aside. we hashed out a deal where he would pay me a specific amount for my services and that if I ever accompanied them on any of their duties I would get a certain percent share. I agreed and we made our way to Sworn, docking at the Sworn Dry Dock just as evening was coming to a close.
Day 32 - Deaths Final Embrace. (Ranvier's Catch-up: Arredondo Bastion)
Money jingle jangled in his belt punch, so heavy that the Tinker Gnome felt he might need to go buy a bigger belt - which he could totally do, now that he was filthy rich.
He had just got back to his room at the Dirty Knave, an Inn in the trade district of Alaspar, and was going to gather his equipment and prepare to leave, as he knew the Mage, who seemed to have an endless pouch of money, would be on the move after this latest job.
He casually tossed the odd pouch he had been asked to retrieve on the bed and he went to the foot of the bed and opened the lock on the chest there. As he opened the chest he heard a noise, like a whisper, calling his name. He quickly shut the chest looking around.
There was nobody in the room.
Shaking his head he opened the chest again, this time hearing the whisper once more, this time he noticed it came from the bed. Arredondo slowly stretched, standing on his tip toes to look over the lid of the chest. There was nothing on the bed except for the bag.
Lowering the lid to the chest, Arredondo watched the bag, it seemed to move just ever so slightly, slightly pulsing as if something inside struggled to be free. The Tinker Gnome slowly walked around the bed until he was next to the bag. As if in a trance he reached out and held one of the strings that tied the bag shut, wondering if he was out of his mind, wondering what in the hell it was that Mage had asked him to get. He felt the curiosity gnawing away at his brain, unable to be sated with the current situation.
He slowly began pulling on the string, drawing it out, watching as the loops of the knot grew smaller and smaller. As he did this he felt the rumbling, rhythmic, pulsing from inside the bag grow stronger.
He paused, just briefly, as he felt an overwhelming sense of dread wash over him, an irrational fear and terror seeping from the folds of the bag. But in the end his curiosity won out and the string went taught again as he resumed tugging on it.
The knot was nothing but a small little bundle of leather string, on the verge of releasing whatever thing was inside the bag, when he heard her voice.
"Put. It. Down." Said the voice.
Arredondo turned, looking at the source of the voice to see the Mage standing there in his room.
"Er... How did you know where I was!? I never told you where I was staying!" He gasped out, half from surprise and half from the the effort it had taken for him to get this far with the knot on the bag.
"Do you honestly think that I would employ you without knowing where you slept?" She stated bluntly. "Now give me the bag" she held out her hand.
Glancing back at the bag The Gnome felt the urge to finish what he started, but instead he grabbed the bag itself and tossed it to the Mage.
With the bag in hand the Mage turned to the door and walked towards it, "Wait!" Squeaked out the gnome "Let me grab my stuff."
"There is no need" Said the Mage as she glared down at him with her piercing eyes "Your services are no longer needed" and with that she walked out of the room, not even bothering to shut the door.
"Wha... Wait!" Shouted Arredondo as he ran for the door. Sticking his head out into the hallway he looked up and down the hallway, in either direction, there was no indication that the Mage had even been there.
He gathered his belongings, and left the Inn, standing in the middle of the street he resolved himself to find the Mage and get his job back, it just paid too damn much. He reached up to the beads around his neck, intending to use the powers of the beads to transform and scout the city for the mage, but as he took hold of the beads he felt the entire thing crumble to pieces. Starting at the bits in his hand he muttered "Some gift Mage".
He spent the rest of the night looking for the Mage and the last other remaining companion Desina (The Chain Fighter), but was unable to find any trace of them, and questioning only brought up quizzical looks.
Inevitably he found himself sitting in one of the seedier gambling houses in the entertainment district with a drink in hand, wondering what he was going to do. Looking up from his glass he could see the bar top with about 5-6 empty glasses already on it.
That when he heard the whoop from behind him. he turned and saw an Elven scurve standing at one of the gambling tables, shouting and getting pats on the back. Arredondo reached into his pouch and felt the large number of coins there and smirked to himself, the faintest glimmer of greed in his eyes.
Day 32 - Deaths Final Embrace. (Ranvier's Catch-up: Introduction of Captain Dash) Ship Log of the Royal Pardon, Captain Dashing
Day of Penance, Mycius 13th - Year 867;
Today did not start very well. I awoke to the sound of yelling upon the deck of my ship, the crew from what I could tell. Casually tossing the arm of the tavern wench from my chest, I rolled myself out of bed, all while pulling on my trousers. Upon exiting the cabin door I witnessed what appears to be my first mate, Vanity, arguing with some official looking bloke. I strode up to them catching Vanity's eyes in the process, pretty sure I hear her say "Oh Fuck". "What this now?" I asked while coming upon the poor Port Authority Agent. The man turned to me slack-jawed staring in wonder at the modifications to my body, a large multitude of magical enhancements i've had added over time, as I realized I had forgotten to don my coat. "Wha...what is all THAT?" He asked as he motioned towards me "None of your business" I replied as I placed my hand on his shoulder and turned him towards the docking ramp "And that was very rude of your to ask sir, why are you on my boat?".
"Uh... overdue...er...overdue payments sir. You must move your boat or pay your dues, the city is evicting you." He said, obviously still distracted and attempting to hand me what looked to be like some kind of official notice. I took the notice from his hands, noting it bore the seal of the City Port Authority, and gave him a gentle shove onto the docking ramp while mumbling "thanks". I opened the document and was standing there reading the eviction notice - BY TONIGHT! - when I heard Vanity walk up to me. "You know we docked on the other side right?" She asked, as I looked up at her, the comments barely registering. "SHIT" I heard my self blurt out as I turned to the side of the ship where I assumed the docking ramp was... nothing but open air greeted me. Straining over the edge I could just barely make out what appeared to be a commotion on the streets several hundred feet below the ship. "Uh... Vanity, you should probably contact the port authority and let them know one of their agents just committed suicide from my ship... see if they'll give us a discount too, this was very disturbing, I think I'm scarred."
"You know Dash... you are such an ass." She said looking over the edge "I can't believe i'm doing this... Dash, i'm leaving." She said, looking up at me. "The rest of the crew is gone, they left this morning, we've been docked for a week, out money is all gone, you haven't been able to get any work, and all you've been doing is whoring around... I can't... I... I'm just done, I'm sorry." She said this as she handed me her First Mate's hat, and turned away, walking to the docking ramp on the other side of the boat.
She didn't even glance back at me as she walked down that ramp.
I don't know how long I was standing there when the wench came out of the cabin, half nekid, clutching her cloths to her chest. She came up to me, dropping her clothes to the ground and putting her arms around my neck, kissing my chest.
"No... you... you should probably go" I said in a daze as I broke her grip, stooped down and grabbed her clothes. I gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek and I gave her a gentle shove off the boat and onto the docking ramp.
"Fucking Hell" I started as the brief scream registered almost immediately.
Looking over the edge was not a pretty sight. I resolved myself to get dressed and go to the Port Authority, I had to file a report about one of their agents that had stumbled upon my boat in a drunken stupor with some whore, and with a vow of eternal love they had both jumped from my boat to certain death. I was pretty sure this would buy me a few more days if I played my cards right.
“Fire” is an inherited or acquired
template that can be applied to any creature (referred to hereafter as the base
creature).
A fire creature uses all the base
creature’s statistics and abilities except as noted here. Do not recalculate
the creature’s Hit Dice, base attack bonus, saves, or skill points if its type
changes.
Size and Type
Animals or vermin with this template
become magical beasts, but otherwise the creature type is unchanged. Size is
unchanged. Fire creatures gain the fire subtype. Fire creatures encountered
outside the elemental plane of fire also have the extraplanar subtype.
Special Attacks
A fire creature retains all of the
special attacks the base creature had plus also has the following special
attack:
Heat (Ex): A fire creature's body is
intensely hot, so its unarmed attacks & natural weapons deal 1 extra point
of fire damage per HD. Its metallic weapons also conduct this heat.
Aura of Heat: All creatures within 5'
of the Fire elf at the end of the round take 1 point of Non-lethal damage per
HD due to heat exhaustion; this can be surpressed at will.
Spell-like Abilities
A fire creature has the following
spell-like abilities: At Will-Heat Metal, 1/day-burning hands, Caster level
equals the creature’s HD, and the save DC is Charisma-based.
Special Qualities
A fire creature retains all the
special qualities of the base creature and also gains the following.
Fire Resistance 5
Takes X 1.5 times as much damage from
all cold damage.
Abilities
Increase from the base creature as
follows: Dexterity +2, Charisma +2.
Day 32-33 - Deaths Final Embrace. (Continued) Journal Entry of Tyson Harcord. Day of Penance, Mycius 13th-14th - Year 867;
They left his lifeless body in the hall while the Leader berated the Paladins for their poor performance, the paladins had been instructed to take their downed companion to be shipped off to retraining, and then to come back and retrieve Mik's body. The Jailhouse guard followed the Paladins out, possibly trying to figure out what the hell he was going to tell his boss about the dead inmate.
Leyla pointed out that she could see that Mik had a key in his hand, possibly swiped during the brawl, maybe in a final attempt to protect his team by securing their freedom. If he was anything he was loyal, even to the very end. Altus used his weird device, obviously of Gnomish make, to pop open the cell door, fortunately not breaking the door or the lock during the attempt, and we moved out into the hallway to collected the key. We stood there debating what to do next: We could either make a break for it unarmed against an unknown number of guards, or we could have our rogues attempt to infiltrate the rest of the Jail/Court house a possibly find out gear and return it to us, or come up with some other solution.
We got back into the cell and waited for the Paladin troup to come back and retrieve Mik's body, even waiting a deal of time after that. By the time we decided to make our move the Jailhouse guard had returned and was focusing on filling out a report. Zahara quietly slipped out of the cell and snuck her way right up to the guard. Stealthily she struck, hitting the guard in the head knocking him unconscious. She Quickly lowered his head down to the desk while deftly searching his body. She found a set of keys, a billy club wrapped in leather (a little bit large, but she could hold it in two hands), a flask of ale, and some spare change. Going through the desk she found a further four clubs, which she immediately disbursed to the other two rogues, some paper, ink and inkpen which she took.
After placing the flask on the desk, open with a little of the brew spilled on the table for effect, and positioning the guard as if he had passed out drunk. Zahara and Aura stepped out into the hallway and with a glance back at us, changed themselve to look like guards. Owla stayed back with us and guarded the door into the Jailhouse hallway, ready to deal with any stray guards. Resolving to be as inconspicuous as possible, we went about opening the cells of our other compatriots and gathered in the primary cell.
Time passed, we all waited straining our ears to hear any sounds of fighting or alarm, but thankfully none ever came. Eventually Owla whispered that there were two guards approaching, quickly she scurried back over to the cell and got inside, shutting the door behind her. The guards walked into the Jailhouse hallway, and shifted into the forms of two halflings.
Joining us in the Cell, the Rogueling twins described to us the events that transpired since leaving. They had scouted out, finding the janitors office, a stairway leading up to the barracks and mess hall, a short hallway leading to the courtroom, and a corridor leading to the morgue, evidence room, and barracks supply rooms. On the way they had encountered several guards, but none of them had noticed that the Roguelings weren't the guards they posed to be. In fact, their disguises were so well done that as soon as Aura had walked into the Storeroom she was mistaken to be the guard that was to relieve the two who had loaded up a cart that was designated to accompany some of us to the Deadlands.
They told us about going into the evidence storehouse and stumbling upon none other than a member of the mysterious mage's party, the Tinker Gnome - Arredondo. He was attempting to pick the lock on an evidence chest that had their supplies in it; but was failing horribly, because as he said himself "Dammit, I'm a Bard, not a rogue!" Soon after approaching the gnome, however, he was able to see through Aura and Zahara's illusory disguises and made a bargain with them. He wouldn't alert the guards and get them caught, if they would just open the chest and let him retrieve the item he had been paid to get.
Inevitably, backed into the corner as they were, they accepted his proposal. After taking what he was after he used a magic device he had to turn himself into a gaseous cloud and fly away out of a vent in the wall. Upon inspection the roguelings had found that the Gnome had taken Leyla's bag of holding, containing the Ebony Skull. With little time left the roguelings formulated a plan that involved altering the court records that were attached to the front of their evidence chest; modifying them with false names, changing the charges to "Prostitution", and then changing the penalties to "A term of servitude, fighting in the Dead Lands, not to exceed 6 months, or death, whichever came first". They then quickly swapped out the supply chests from the cart that was going to the dead lands with the chest with our gear in it and an empty chest (which they loaded up with Mik's body). After adding the cages containing the party's various pet, companions, and familiars into the cart they covered them with sacks of supplies and made their way back to the Jailhouse.
After all was said and done they had returned to the cell without incident. We locked up and waiting. Morning came finding most of us unrested, worried that our desperate plans would work. A new guard came to relieve the Jailer, but had found him "passed out drunk" at his desk. The Jailer was pulled out into the hallway where we could barely make out hearing the relieving officer yelling at him. Later, we were gathered up and transported outside, passing two more guards who were getting fired for leaving their post in the storeroom during the night. They chained us up in the back of a cart and drove us to the dry docks where we were forced to board a Zeppelin Air Ship, from the way it looked it belonged to mercenaries, and was not a City vessel.
After being brought onto the ship we saw our cart being loaded along with all of our stuff; a good indicator that the plans laid by the Roguelings was working. They led us down below deck and locked us up inside of some flimsy wooden cells that we could have easily broken out of. We didn't, but only because there was no need.
There were other prisoners being transported to Sworn, a dark skinned Human beggar (from the look of him) and a Dwarf.
After securing all of the prisoners, the guard troops, and supplies on the ship we felt ourselves cast off. It was an odd sensation, one not unlike swinging from a tree branch on a rope as a child. This time, instead of just hanging on a rope, it was the entire ship that was swinging... from a floating balloon.
We had been flying for several hours when Roth pulled something out of his pants that none of us knew he had, in fact, at first I thought he had just scratched his butt and was attempting to examine something he had found. But, it was in fact something that he had somehow managed to hide from our jailors; a large coin with what appeared to be an anchor on it. He just smiled at us, didn't say anything and placed the coin gently down on the floor. As soon as he placed the coin down the strangest thing happened. The entire ship stopped very abruptly, almost as if some giant creature had reached up and grabbed it. The resulting chaos due to the stop was more disconcerting, because everyone found themselves thrown forward. a few of us managed to not get hurt by colliding with the walls and each other, but most were bruised. I couldn't tell if anyone had been significantly injured, but I could hear screaming in the distance though even that seemed to fade away.
Roth picked up his coin and then proceeded to break down the cell door, where we found that the people in the other cells had already done the same. the two sailors who had been in the Cell block were out cold, having been thrown a good 10 feet head first into a wall. We quickly searched our level of the ship and found the storage area that contained all of our equipment. Quickly suiting up we spread out to secure the ship, but found quite the harrowing site. All but 10 of the 40 crew members of the Airship were gone, presumably thrown from the deck of the ship, including the pilot and captain.
This put us in quite the odd position. we were about 16k feet up, on the outskirts of the sea of reeds (a dangerous place to crash land) and none of us knew how to pilot the Gnomish craft. That didn't stop the party though, they immediately all started turning knobs, pressing buttons, and pulling levers. Now i'm not fluent in Gnomish, but I could swear one of the buttons was clearly labeled as "Emergency Balloon Release", thankfully none of the team members pressed that button. Eventually it appeared that Altus had gotten a basic enough understanding of what the controls did and he was able to gradually land the Airship at the edge of the Sea of Reeds, just a short 200 foot run from the Airship.
We all agreed that it would be best to get off the ship and out of the reeds before the inevitable happened and we prepared for what we knew was strewn all about in the sea of tall grass. The undead had long ago claimed this area as their own and no attempts to eradicate them had succeeded to this day. As we were getting ready to run, I saw that Roth had gathered the remaining ten crewmen and bullied them into forming a meat shield around himself. I was dwelling on that when the signal to run happened, we all jumped from the perfectly good Airship into the Sea of Reeds, and ran for our lives. Almost immediately I heard screaming, the crewmen, I could see undead stirring all around us. I put my heels to the dirt and ran like death was at my feet (because it was!).
We all emerged from the tall grass more or less at once, and by all I mean all but the crewmen. It appears that all of them were taken by the undead in the grass. We gathered and continued moving, trying to place as much distance between us and the undead as possible, though it appears that they did not leave the grass for some reason. After hours of walking through an eclectic landscape, sometimes consisting of forested trees, sometimes of short grassed meadows, and sometime barren scarred desiccated landscape.
Eventually we stopped in a copse of trees and made camp. We built a fire, laid out our sleeping mats and set up a watch schedule. with the day winding down, and things finally appearing like they would be much, much better.
I awoke with a start to find a stranger in our camp, an old lady warming herself by our fire. The rest of the party was already awake, speaking with the lady. She was pretty short with her answers but the questioning of the party revealed that she was in fact the lesser deity known as Fate. She appears to be one of the few godly beings that escaped the destruction of the great war. She explained that she was here to help us, as she had a vested interest in our fates. Though she neglected to tells us why she had that interest.
What she was offering was a trade, give her something, and she will give us something. the catch was we could just agree to the trade or not, she would then determine the terms of the trade. With that the only member of the party who seemed reluctant was the Lost Ranger, but he in the end choose to accept also.
The first to go was Roth, he stepped forward accepting her offer. She reached up to his chest and touched him lightly saying "From you I will take your mind, but I give you Ferocity!". Before our eyes we watched as Roth grew bigger, muscles rippling from his body, his body sprouted hair everywhere, his fingers lengthened - claws sprouting from the ends. His teeth lengthened becoming points, growing to a point where he couldn't quite close his mouth without some of them jutting out from between his lips like tusks. We watched all this, but when he looked at me I could see the faint glimmer of intelligence that had barely had a grip on the creature fade, his eyes darkening until they were just the blank black disks of an animal.
Next the newcomer Toh Yah stepped forward, and she went to him. She took from him his will, but gave him his heritage. He sprouted scales, his skin color deepening with a red tint. His muscles lengthened taunt, ready to snap at a moments notice.
The Paladin Gwenyth went next, sensing no evil from Fate she took her gift. Fate glorified the Paladin, and gifted her with the glimmer of divinity. She grew white Angelic wings, her skin now glowing slightly. But, Fate cursed her, taking from her memory of things new and old. She would forever live as if every day were her first and her last.
The other Dwarf stepped up, offering to accept her gift. "Like a leaf on the wind you will flow through the forest, like the vermin of the field you will devour your enemies" She said as she placed her hand upon his head "Though your mind cannot handle this gift, so I shall take your sanity" As she said this we watched as the dwarf turned into sand, then fell apart to the ground, only to turn to leaves and flutter around, then into locust, which crawled up each other until it had formed a roughly dwarf sized heap, which then became the Dwarf again.
The rogueling Zahara went next "From you I take your Father!" she said as she took a vial of ashes from the rogueling. I could see the rogueling twist with shock, reaching for the vial, the renunciation of her agreement on her lips. But there was no stopping Fate. She opened that vial and wove her fingers above it and said "But I give you your blood!" with that she dumped the vial over Zahara's head, but rather than creating a giant mess of ashes, blood poured forth from the vial and soaked into Zahara's skin. Soon there was no trace of the blood left as her skin had drunk every drop. I could see her skin shimmer as if something deep inside her had changed.
The rogue-scout Owla went next. Fate said there was a sickness in her blood, but that sickness would become her strength. Owla paled slightly as fate's magic took effect, and her features sharpened, becoming more avian in appearance.
Leyla stepped forward reluctantly. "There is great power in you" said fate, "but great sorrow also. I will help you harness that power but when this is all done and over you will die." Leyla, looked down. if she changed at all she did not give tell.
Aura seeing what had happened to Zahara was reluctant to accept. Maybe it was because she had never really known her father, or maybe because he was already gone, but she did eventually accept Fates bargain, only... Fate did not take her father, she took her mother. Tears streamed down Aura's face as she realized what she had done, and she too changed inside, body shimmering ever so slightly.
Altus held back, on the verge of telling Fate to leave and never return. As he was turning away he gazed off into the distance, squinting, almost like he saw something off on the horizon. He stopped, slowly pivoting, as if something tugged at him, a doubt perhaps. "I will take your deal crone, but do not cross me..." he said as he looked down. She stepped up to him and ran a finger down his cheek as she took his bow from his shoulder, "Shhhh... You may have your sister back, but she will never known peace again." Her words were just beginning to register with Altus as she handed him his bow back, it was glowing slightly as if recently enchanted, and a faint crying could be heard coming from it. "Pray she forgives you child"
And then she was no longer there, vanished, or never there, the only things that remained were her gifts and curses both....
Arredondo has washed out, he had lost it all gambling, in a drunken stupor. He found himself 
