The Elven Village Take Two

Illuvaen led Kilink through the forest, past the blooms, and into the heart of the half-elven village. The children ran up close, and after being frightened for a moment at Talathel and Darvin ran off to play with the fox pup. A small party walked up close, nodded at Nym and raised their hands in the traditional greeting.
"Welcome heroes from the prophecy." Said a women, clad in a rich green dress interlaced with gold designs, who had stepped out from between them. "The world has awaited your arrival."

"Decisions in the Grove" or Something Silly Like That

Pipper hopped down from Nym's arms and exclaimed, "I wanna see the elves again!" while wagging his tail.

"Map" of the region as according to Hii Gnowe.

Elsewhere....

Hooded figures sat in a circle high carved chairs around a large diamond. The room is large and poorly lit. Other than the carved chair, only a few tables and shares fill the room. High above the room a single solitary chandelier floats in midair. It was clear that the occupants had intended the room to be foreboding. Alas, the sounds of an odd rhythmic thumping filled the room. Occasionally a female voice crooning "boom, boom, boom" could also be heard. Several of the hooded figures shook their heads.
"Why do we allow this frivolity in our tower?" A gravelly voice asked.
"Experimentation." A squeaking voice responded.

"Well, that certainly is troublesome. Will it last much longer?"

"No."

"Good." He turned and nodded into the distance. At his nod a door opened and the rhythmic thumping and crooning voice grew instantly louder. Another cloaked figure quickly stepped into the room and slammed it shut before dashing to join the seated figure.
"What have you to report."
"At some great difficulty I managed to arrive in town. I searched their belongings and it appears they are not from this world masters." His voice was soft and slithery. "The half-elf forest dwellers seem to think they are some heroic and prophetic heroes."

"And the others?" 

"They haven't drawn as much attention from the townsfolk -- idle curiosity perhaps, but no one is seeing them as saviors."

"Good." The first voice responded. "I think it is time we move ahead with our plan."

The Mystery of the Black Hole in the High Flying Hotel

"Nym!" Druuv calls out, frightened. "Is that you? I could use some help in here!"

Druuv continues to try to pull herself out of the doorway, and gets on her hands and knees, crawling out to try to see Nym.

Nym's story

This is for Nym.

Talathel's story

This is for Talathel's story.

To get this rolling again...

After Miss Stake left Talathel in the park he made his way to the pub where he found a very drunk, and very sleepy Druuv. Being a kind gentleman he finished off several rounds of Xhosan firerum before carrying Druuv, drunkenly, back to the High Flying Inn and throwing her into a spare bed in what he thought was room 12. Alas, it was actually room 21. He spent the rest of the night meditating over his decision before waking up, roughly around the same time that Darvin and Nym were smooching and being all "lovey."

Miss Stake and mistakes

Come on, you knew that vid was coming.

Not wanting to wait for Nym much longer, Talathel explained to Darvin what he had learned from the professor. He then tried unsuccessfully to get Darvin to come with him.

"You could use a good night! We won't do anything to extreme!" The half-elf though would have nothing to do with it.

"Bah. For an adventurer, you don't adventure all that much."

Before Darvin could respond, Talathel looked at Druuv.

"You in? You want to go hit the town and unwind?"

Thakalakan nodded. Talathel was grateful that he didn't say anything that rhymed.

The elf and arctic goblin descended down the stairs. Miss Stake was not at her usual spot, but the current bartender, a burly half-orc handed him a note.

"Talathel, I hope you and your friends can join me this evening. I am with some of my friends at the Royal Empress' Mezzanine. Its a strange name for a pub, but we're a unique town."

"I know where to go!" exclaimed Thakalaken, who had been reading over Talathel's shoulder. "Its just down the street and round the bend, and they say that once their the fun never ends!"

"You're not from any of my good dreams." Talathel said under his breath, as he followed Thakalakan out of the inn.

As annoying as the goblin's directions were, they were accurate. In no time, they found themselves inside that pub. It was a smaller place, with just a few tables. Talathel caught the unmistakable scent of perfume with lustful intentions and soon found Miss Stake's table.

"Talathel! I'm so glad you could make it!" Miss Stake looked radiant. Her long hair draped gracefully off her shoulders, her ears sticking out playfully, her green eyes shone like the brightest emerald the elf could have imagined.

"These are my friends, Esther Baskette, Rose Maeblum, and Ann Shovie," she said, pointing at an elf, a dwarfm and a human.

"Pleasure to meet you," Talathel said, still lost in Miss Stake's gaze.

"Shall we drink?"

"I think...that we shall."

Meanwhile, back in the village

As the village stirs in the morning there is no sign of Nym, only a note. Thus, Illuvaen, wanting to make sure she was safe searched around the area and find that her tracks lead off away from the camp. He then sent off several skilled trackers who eventually found the embers of a small dying fire. The trackers quickly return to camp and relay the news to the Queen Aethea and Prince Illuvaen.
"Ah, so she must not have been the one." She says. "The chosen one would not have run so quickly."

"Don't be ridiculous mother - she went back to see her friends."

"Without saying anything to us?"

"Well... there was a note. She did thank us for her hospitality and said she would return. Plus, there were complications..." Illuvaen said thinking back to the kiss. Though there had been something there it had been fleeting and he suspected that her heart had turned from him.

"I did see your inappropriate behavior last night." The queen grabs a bag of bones and throws them onto the ground. "Interesting."
"What is it?" Illuvaen had no skill with divination preferring to rely mostly on martial and very light magic.

"If we ignore her and her companions something very bad will happen. But, if we help them and they are indeed those of the prophecies then someone will face a fate worse than death." She said looking up from the bones to him.

"Well..." Illuvaen says smiling. "I will have to make some decisions than."

Day 2 in Wonderland

Pipper woke Nym before sunrise because he needed to tinkle but couldn't get out of the tree by himself. "Momma.... MOmma?" he whispered, nosing her with his cold, wet snout, "I need to potty!" The cold nose on her face woke Nym rather quickly. She chuckled and said, "Alright! I'm up..." She collected the apothecary's sack, straightened her clothes and hair, left a note for Illuvaen saying she'd returned to the village and thanking him for his hospitality, and climbed down from the tree-house with Pipper in the sack. A fine mist hung in the pre-dawn air. The forest birds had not yet awoke and the plants were covered in dew. Nym set Pipper down and began walking into the forest.

Away from the elven village the forest was still dark. Nym cupped her hands and a soft blue light grew between them. After a moment, she let it go and it floated gracefully around her. After about a minute, she'd released six of these light, which Pipper found excellent for chasing. After this, they continued into the dark forest.

Aside from seeing a few strange animals in the trees, they saw few animals this early in the day. In the distance, they heard the last calls of nocturnal forest beasts before they settled in for the night. Blue firefly-like bugs floated daintily throughout the forest making the silent forest both beautiful and eerie. As Nym and Pipper walked (well, Pipper really was running circles around Nym, refreshed and excited for the morning), the forest birds began singing and the rising sun peaked through the branches.

After about a half hour of traveling, they came out of the forest and were standing in a large field of tall blue grass swaying in the light breeze. The last wisps of the mist clung still to the grass. Nym and Pipper walked about 20 meters into the field before finding a cleared area to start a fire. Once the fire was started, Nym collected the apothecary's sack and Pipper, said "cabbage and brussel sprouts!" and jumped over the fire.

Nym found herself in the village square near the fire once more. No one was out in the streets yet, likely because it was still ridiculously early in the morning. Nym set Pipper down and headed to the apothecary, which hadn't opened yet. The door, though, was unlocked, so Nym let herself in and left the sack filled with the requested herbs and plants with a note thanking Miss Common Scents for her help. Nym carefully took her own herbs out of the sack and then headed back to the floating inn.

When Nym reached the top of the rope ladder, she set Pipper down and walked into the lobby. Rather than seeing the smiling Miss Stake, a sleeping and rather angry looking half-orc slumped behind the desk. Not really wanting to interact with this unpleasant looking fellow, Nym and Pipper quietly walked past the desk upstairs to room 12.

Nym quietly opened the door, which to her surprised was unlocked, and walked in. Talathel, Guybrush, and Druuv were nowhere to be seen, but Darvin was sleeping soundly where Nym had left him the day before on bed rest. She felt a pang of guilt for leaving him with three caretakers who had disappeared somewhere but then couldn't help but smile watching Darvin sleep. Pipper wandered around the room sniffing despite having done the same ritual the day before. Nym silently walked up to Darvin and began unwrapping his woulds and examining how well the had healed. He stirred a bit and then slowly awoke and blinked groggily at Nym. "Where have you been?" he asked, sounding hurt. "At a big party in the woods," she said, smiling mischievously at him. He raised an eyebrow in disbelief, but didn't question her further. Darvin watched as Nym washed and examined his wounds. "Everything's healing nicely. I expect I'll be able to take your your stitches in a couple days," Nym said, smiling at Darvin, "You're officially free from bedrest." Darvin smiled halfheartedly, sulking about how Nym had left him in the hands of others. He sat up and put on his shirt. "I guess we should go find Talathel," he said, looking around and noting the other bed was not even disturbed from use. Nym nodded in agreement and watched Darvin stretch from having spent a day in bed. "I'm sorry I had to leave you here alone," she offered, feeling genuinely guilty about leaving Darvin when he was injured. He smiled at her, taking heart in the apology and walked up to her. "Shall we?" he said, holding his hand out toward the door, meaning to hunt for Talathel. Nym stood still, studying Darvin's face. Her eyes wandered over his face and lingered on his eyes that were both gentle and mischievous. He had gone all the way to Silverymoon just to make sure she was safe. He had jumped in front of a giant worm to protect her. Her heart fluttered; something had awakened in her that she hadn't allowed to be before. Yes, she did love him too. Nym was shaken from her revelry by Darvin's nervous chuckle. "What's so interesting, fair maiden?" he said half mockingly half in earnest. She wrapped her arms around Darvin and kissed him.

The Inn 2

After a few moments a note is slid underneath the door of room 12. It is addressed to Talathel.

The Mysterious Elf

There is a hint of movement to your right and out of habit you jump back, narrowly missing two tentacles that had lunged at you. It pulls back all of its tentacles and the plants seems to glower.
"I am impressed that you would tangle with such a nasty thing... I try to stay away from them myself." An accented male voice says behind you. When you turn around you see a tall man with a long ornate tattoo running down his arm. He has a bow slung across his shoulder and is clad in a flowing cape and green jerkin. From his hair poke out the pointy ears of the half-elf. He smiles and flashes brilliant white teeth, handsome well defined features, and perhaps just a bit of mischievousness in his smile.
"However, you have done much better than any outsider I have yet to see - your talent with magic and nature must surely surpass your beauty. " Out of curiosity Pipper runs on over and paws at him.
"Greetings friend My name is Illuvaen, might I ask yours?" He says kneeling down and scratching his head. "What brings you to the realm of the H'alorith."
"Pipper!" He says squeaking before running back to Nym. "His accent is funny momma!" Pipper responds laughing. The man blushes looking at you and smiling again. "Could I ask yours as well beauteous Elf? I aslo pray you forgive me - I do not intend to come across as a spy or snoop, I was out gathering roots and I noticed you wrestling with this vile plant. If you are looking for a simpler solution you could borrow some sap from family's collection - we live not far from here and we could spare some for you."

Apothecary

As you open the door to the Apothecary you return to the pleasant meadow. As you step inside the door you feel soft grass beneath your feet and a fresh sweet smell of nature.
"Hello! Have you returned to settle your debts?" The female centaur says turning and smiling at you.

The Village 2

As you leave the hotel and climb on back down the ladder you find that most of the buildings have changed colors and that the square is full of people who nod politely as you pass. You follow Miss Stake's directions out to Gnowe's house and find that it looks like an overtly large nest with an oak door set into its side. As you knock you hear some rustling inside.

"Hoo hoo is out there?"

The Inn

The rope ladder wasn't all that difficult to climb, although Darvin attempted to slip off several times. However, you managed to catch him before he slipped too far. The ladder led up to a porch with several benches and a door. When you step through the door you find yourself in a richly decorated room covered with wood panneling, paintings of old dead white guys, and several bust of oddly shaped elephants. There is a reception desk made from marble and behind it sits a beauitful woman with shoulder length red hair, large green eyes, and most importantly for you Talathel, elven ears poking out.
"Why hello handsome!" The woman says. "My name is Miss Stake. Welcome to the High Flying Inn. Are you a member of the mile high club?"

Village

As your leap across the fire the scenery shimmers and changes to that of a small town or large village. As you move away from the large fire in the central of the square you see several taller buildings growing and shrinking seemingly at will. Beneath your feet the cobblestones change colors as you step on them. Standing in the doorway of several of the buildings are a mixture of humans, elves, dwarves, and many unrecognizable species, wearing a mixture of bright pink dresses, yellow coats, and some clad in only a barrel. In a nook of a two buildings you see what looks to be a naked man standing in a pool of water. There are four cobblestone roads leading away from the square.