---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- Chapter 9: Mendahl and the Silver Lady ---------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (Arlon:) "Let's be off to the Wide for healing, I also want to show these things to Mendahl and relate our experiences." Arlon will seek out Mendahl and give a brief description of the more interesting things that happened during the battle - the resistance to magic, the potion etc... (Silver:) Hearing that [Mendahl and gang are in the wide, aiding setting up a 'field hospital' for the clerics] from Tuft, Silver will immediately head toward that direction, announcing to the party that she is going there because she may be of some help in tending the wounded. Turning from seeing Tarok alive, still smiling, she looks to the Wide, where she sees ... (DM:) Those of you talking about seeing Mendahl, look over to the Wide where you last heard he was. He is still there, and is busily fussing over a beautiful lady with long silver hair who appears HEAVILY wounded. She is suspended by pure magical energy, which springs up in a purple crackling well beneath her. The crackling energy now and then snakes out to Mendahl who stands next to her with a grieved expression on his face. While you watch, Adara Jheale (the innkeeper of Midnight's Run) walks up, her face smudged with soot, her clothes rent. With her is Lord Kael, also looking worse for wear, his armor hanging in shreds and tatters about him. The two look down at the silver haired woman, and gasp in shock. The three begin a heated discussion about something. (Dithion:) Dithion says, "Yon stands Mendahl, let us go and speak with him." (Shade:) "Maybe this is not the best moment we can choose, Dithion" - interjects the bard - "the powerful mage looks in distress for that lovely lady.." Realizing that no one is on the same line of thought, the drow shudders and follows the comrades to Mendahl. (Falrun:) Falrun approaches Mendahl with Dithion. While Dithion is attempting to engage Mendahl in conversation, Falrun carefully examines the body suspended in the air in front of him and tries to determine what it is that has these three in such a heated debate. (Silver:) Like Falrun, Silver will also examine the woman floating in the air carefully (considering the fact that she is "suspended by pure magical energy, which springs up in a purple crackling well beneath her") Silver will try to determine what type of hurt the woman has taken, especially curious about her hair (which matches Silver's). "My dear Mendahl, how has she been hurt - Poison? Physical blow? Mental attack?" Silver will ready herself once more to call upon her goddess once she knows how she can best help. (Kaeyar:) On the way to the Wide, Kaeyar skulks around at the back of the group, not taking any notice of the discussions the others are having. Upon arriving, he is fascinated by the awesome magical forces in use. He stares, and mumbles comments and questions, and hardly seems to notice the woman who is so grievously hurt... (Dithion:) Dithion walks over to Mendahl (with the others I presume), and says, when there is a break in the argument. "Lord Mendahl, my companions and I would conference with ye, if ye have a moment or two." (Shade:) Shade bites his lips to prevent himself from cursing Dithion "Och guy, we had better wait for him to ask us why we are here..." (Arlon:) Arlon to Dithion, seeing that he may be anxious to get a word in - he would also say this if Dithion starts to say something to Mendahl before he acknowledges us: "Dithion, perhaps we should wait for Mendahl to recognize us instead of interjecting ourselves. Their attentions seem to be keenly focused on other things." Arlon intently watches the goings on - the conversations and especially the lady in the magical light. OOC: Who has the bottle, with that liquid, at the moment? (Tatiana:) With immense relief that the Dwarf has survived, Tatiana turned in mock anger and headed toward Mendahl with the rest of her friends, although she stood quietly by observing. (Dithion:) He awaits his (Mendahl's) answer. (DM:) When you guys all reach Mendahl, Dithion rudely interrupts the ongoing discussion. "What do you want!" Shout Mendahl, Adara and Lord Kael simultaneously. (Shade:) "Forgive our impoliteness, master, may we be of any help to you ? As I said, masters, if we can be of any help just tell us" - replies the drow quietly - "when you will be able to dedicate some minutes to us, we'd like to submit a couple of strange things to your knowledge." (Arlon:) Arlon: "Forgive our impudence Master, we are weary from battle. I hope the spell will pull her through, I know the feeling of when a close one is seriously injured. (DM:) Shade and Arlon begin apologizing and explaining, and the triad visibly relaxes. "What is it that you want." Speaks Lord Kael. (Arlon:) "I will be brief, we found this potion near one of the strangely transformed natives, they seemed impervious to 'normal' weapons and even the weapons they carried were transformed; but alas these were destroyed in the magical fire. We thought the potion may be of interest to you." (DM:) The lady suspended by the purple energy cascade appears to be wounded physically. Large gashes and rends cover her body, here and there bone shows through, or the pearly membranes of internal organs. Not a pretty sight. As you look closely, it appears the energy well is slowly mending her body and the discussion appeared to be on the best action, whether this healing would be sufficiently fast, or whether they should ask a high priest to come and help, disrupting the current spell. (Arlon:) Well, Arlon will wait - for a little while anyway - to see if he can discuss the liquid in the bottle with Mendahl (and debrief him on other things). If there is time tonight to discuss it he will, otherwise he will ask Mendahl if he can see him in the morning (when the sun is up, I suppose it is still night). (DM:) Hmm, just to give you guys an indication, it is now about 5 am in the morning, and the sun's rays begin to pierce the light grey sky..... (Keilan:) While the group stands about interrupting important personages, one or more of you may notice that Keilan is no longer present. Indeed the observant might recall that he didn't join the flock of intruders. In any case he is no longer in the Wide. (Silver:) OOC: Silver does not notice that Keilan is not around, she is too preoccupied with other matters. Is Tarok with us still, or has he got hit on the head by a falling wall again 8-). (Silver:) With a very concerned look on her face as she surveys the extent of the damage that this woman has taken, she turns to Mendahl and says urgently "Please, allow me to assist - I can act as a channel to allow divine healing to take place." (Arlon:) "Hey Silver, why don't you send some healing over this way". Arlon is scratched and scorched, down 6 hps. (Silver:) Silver replies with a smile "I'll do that later, over the dinner you promised me !" (Arlon:) Arlon smiles back with a slight nod to his head. (DM/Mendahl): "Okay, what is it that is so interesting you got." (Arlon:) Arlon holds out the container toward Mendahl. "I can discuss the other things with you later if you wish, Master." (DM/Mendahl to Arlon:) "Now I do not have time to look into such things. It is interesting, those creatures you battled. We had problems with three other such groups, but our methods to their demise were so destructive as to leave no recoverable trace of them or their possessions. I would be very interested in seeing the potion you liberated. Come to my tower some time tomorrow night, or (looking at the arriving sun) rather this night. At my tower I have the proper equipment to attempt to see what it is. Also you might want to see Daermon S'Zrida'hn, our Drow friend who owns the local alchemy store. He is quite knowledgeable on the subject of potions and Necromancy both. As I can see from your own drow friend, you have no qualms of speaking to one, and know not all are twisted and evil (this with a slight acknowledging nod to Shade). For now I will stay at the side of Shilara, and then will have to sleep." (Arlon:) Arlon replies to Mendahl "Thank you for your patience Master, I will do as you suggest." (Silver:) I ask them earnestly once more to let me bestow the healing powers of Mielikki upon Lady Shilara. "We owe her such a great debt, will you not let me help ?" Meta: I *really* want to try this, but will eventually bow to their judgment if they choose not to accept my offer. (DM/Mendahl): "Please, do not heal the Lady Shilara while under influence of the spell she is. It is a regenerative spell that we hope will be able to cure her. She was at death's door, and we were afraid of losing her to Death. She (Lady Shilara) is the silver dragon that helped us so much, and she cannot be raised by mortal magic should she cross the threshold into the dark domain." (Arlon:) Arlon jumps a little bit: "Silver, I am sure they are doing all they can for her, even so you would probably need to wait for the current spell to reach completion - calm down." He then gives the trio of leaders an apologetic smile. (Silver to Arlon:) Silver looks with a slightly pained expression to Arlon as if to say 'please, don't think me *totally* stupid'. (Arlon:) "I did not mean to offend you, you appeared over-anxious - to the point of interrupting the current spell." Pausing for a moment, he adds "If you are any indication of what your god is like, I would like to know more about her." (Silver:) Silver will soften her expression to Arlon considerably, and then smile gently at him, before turning back to Mendahl and the Silver Lady. (DM/Mendahl): "Lady, please, do not be so pushy, this spell must finish ere another should be cast upon Shilara. (Silver to Mendahl:) "Of course I understand, I would not be so presumptuous as to interfere with powers beyond my knowledge. I offer my services, and those of my Goddess, if you feel you may have need of them. If you are beyond doubt that you will not need the help I offer the Lady Shilara, then I shall help some of the others. Her power and beauty are a thing to behold and must not be endangered." Silver will await his response before either helping Shilara or the others in the field hospital. OOC: The motivation behind Silver being so insistent here is that Silver remembers their conversation as we arrived - [.... the discussion appeared to be on the best action, whether this healing would be sufficiently fast, or whether they should ask a high priest to come and help, disrupting the current spell.]. She is slightly taken aback - do they not think her powerful enough (how would they know what she is capable of), or do they scorn her Goddess ? (Silver:) What happened with the Lady Shilara ? Did I actually cast my spell on her to aid her curing, or was I finally convinced not to bother with it ? (DM:) Nope, Silver did NOT cast the spell.. (Shade:) After talking to Mendahl, Shade suggests we all need some hours of restful sleep.... (Arlon:) Arlon will then go back to the Commons for some rest. On the way, he asks Shade "Would you care to go with me to see this Daermon S'Zrida'hn about the potion's properties, later today? Then I would go see Mendahl later tonight. Speaking of seeing anyone, where is Keilan?" (Tatiana:) Tatiana took an involuntary step backwards away from Mendahl and her friends. She pursed her lips as if she was stung by something sharp. *I knew you should have gone straight to bed!* Tuft's thoughts came to her. *I didn't hear you say anything along those lines?* she thought back empathically. *I thought it was obvious, even to a dullard* his thought were colored with playful sarcasm. *It's probably only a strangely colored healing potion anyways. Besides, Mendahl fared worse from the battle than you all did* *Look, I'm tired and I don't need to hear these discouraging words right now. These are my friends and I'm sticking by them even if we do make fools of ourselves by thinking we are more important than we are* *Fine have it your way, I'll be roosting in an abandoned tree I found earlier before all this racket started. Really you humans are up at ungodly hours* Tuft's mind flitted away and Tatiana didn't try to maintain the connection. She put on her best smile (when appropriate) and continued to observe quietly. (Arlon:) Then I will continue going back to the Commons (what is left of it) and get some rest. "Well, that was certainly an interesting welcoming committee." "I haven't seen a fire show like that since that red dragon I saw wipe out a small town, it had a severe personality disorder." (Silver:) After the battle, Silver feels desperately tired, but will not want to return to the Commons to rest until she is sure that all the wounded have been checked over and are not in danger of dying during the next few hours. Once that has been done, she will return to the rest of the party. (Falrun:) After the long battle, Falrun too feels the exhaustion creep over his body. "I've spent longer times awake during a battle but now that this battle is over, I too will head back to the Commons for what rest is available." With those words Falrun turns with the rest of the party that is headed for the Commons. (Kaeyar:) Kaeyar waits impatiently for the others to stop pestering Mendahl. As they break away and head towards the Commons, Kaeyar mutters to himself, wondering if the group will get charged another gold coin to use beds that they haven't even used once. "Of course," he says, "I'm now in a much better position to pay... Plucking corpses may be beneath the rest of you *snort* but nobility sure doesn't pay the bills." (Silver:) With a wry smile, Silver acknowledges Kaeyar "Without doubt you are ever the practical one, Kaeyar. I would not call it nobility, but it does indeed have it's own rewards." (Arlon:) "The dead have no need for trinkets, would we not take the treasure hoard of a fallen foe; and if you remember I was the one who openly suggested the idea. There is nothing ignoble about it, some people just draw the line before others - its just a mind set. We need to be practical now. Good job Kaeyar." Arlon wondering if he was able to get a trinket before the swift handed Kaeyar retrieved them all? (Kaeyar:) "I wonder if the Commons is even in any shape for us to use..." (Silver:) "Indeed, my friend, indeed. I shall be here for a while yet, so if you have any news about our accommodation, then please be so kind as to let me know. I shall be with the wounded for a couple of hours yet." (Kaeyar:) OOC: If we need to pay at the Commons again, Kaeyar will give a native trinket to anyone who is short of cash, and smirk. If the place is trashed, he'll retrieve any stuff of his that he can find (and loot any more native corpses :-), and head to the Wide. If we're sleeping at the Wide, he tells Dithion to wake him after Dithion's watch...