[ We find Alcinoe and Tebryn the drow elf vampire spawn bard on a mile- high, frigid-cold plateu. It's nearly summer now, so it's only five below here. ] ( Hm. Make that 33 degrees. ) (Hope you packed the spell Endure Elements) (I've got a couple memmed. ^^) (Hey, that's pretty tame!) (It is, but it's a lot more comfortable if it's a nice 71 degrees. :P) [ There isn't currently any snow on the ground, but that's probably because this is the relatively warm time of year up here. The appears to be primarily an evergreen forest, with tundra grass eeking out an existence in clearings. ] [ What a lovely spot for a stroll. Session Start! ] * Alcinoe is walking along! A nice day for a stroll, no kidding, but she's cast Endure Elements on herself and doesn't seem even remotely bothered by it. Nevertheless, she's bundled up relatively well... er, and wearing armor. And carrying a shield, and all. Can't forget that. [ Tebryn is looking at Alcinoe with a worried expression on his face. "Are you alright?" ] Hm? Yeah. * Alcinoe laughs a little, looking to the drow. "Why wouldn't Ah be?" [ Tebryn points at the spot just in front of Alcinoe. "I can see your breath. That can't be right." ] Oh, this? * Alcinoe blows out a breath, letting it frost in the air. "Yeah, that happens when it's colder." [ He frowns. "Really?" ] * Alcinoe nods, continuing her walk. "Somethin' 'bout warm breath and cold air. It gets ta the outside, and it sorta freezes." [ "How odd." He keeps walking alongside Alcinoe. "So, what happen when we find ice trolls?" ] (Ice trolls meet the mace of smashy fire.) * Alcinoe smiles. "Well, we either try ta avoid 'em or just go through 'em." [ "I good at avoiding. Are you?" ] [ "You are wearing heavy armor. Makes much noise, yes?" ] Not so good. Ah'll try, but... we'll have ta see. * Alcinoe nods and laughs a little. "Yeah. Ah never was very sneaky." [ He nods. Then points to something. Alci sees what it is even as his hand is still moving; a large, ugly figure carved seemingly from a block of ice. ] * Alcinoe furrows her brow. Does it look alive? [ It isn't moving, so you can't tell. ] * Alcinoe nods and starts going around it, giving some berth. But she keeps an eye on the thing. [ Alci hears a soft crunching behind her. At about this time, Tebryn says, "Following." ] * Alcinoe breathed out a sigh. She keeps going. (Make that present tense. breathes) [ Tebryn shrugs and keeps up alongside Alcinoe. "Perhaps we at least prepare for fight?" ] * Alcinoe lets out a faint noise of agreement. When they're sufficiently away from the ice statue thing, she stops and turns to him, holding out her hands. "Give me your sword." (Well, one of them. Torch in the other. ;P) [ He draws his rapier and hands it to her. ] * Alcinoe takes it. She hands the torch to Tebryn, then holds the rapier in both hands, lowering her head and murmuring a prayer. A spark of a glow starts a the tip, then moves down to cover the entire blade, before it winks away. [ Tebryn hands the torch back when Alci hands his rapier back. "Thank you. It be close behind us soon." ] [ He looks around the small forest clearing (With grass!) that you've wandered into. "Is good place for fight." ] * Alcinoe glances around, then nods. She readies her shield. "Don't wanna disappoint it." [ The ice troll is behind you, and it still thinks it's being sneaky. Roll init! ] [ Tebryn spins to the side, and strikes upwards to pierce the creature's heart! What he ends up doing is chipping away a little bit of ice from the center of it's chest. Oh well. ] [ The troll gives Tebryn a look, and then goes for the woman with the fire-mace instead. HATE HATE FIRE HATE. Sadly for him, his claws fail to penetrate Alcinoe's mighty armor. ] [ Alci, go! ] * Alcinoe winces a little at the hit, even though it didn't actually hurt her, and brings her mace around and down to sunder the troll's... arm. And then his chest. [ Alcinoe destroy's the creature's arm, more melting it than breaking it, and then does badness to it's chest, after which point it crumples. But two more trolls are entering the fray. ] * Alcinoe 's eyes widen. "Aww, c'mon." She reaches into her haversack. "How are you at tossin' things, Tebryn?" [ "I am pretty good. You have something to slow them down?" ] Or stop 'em outright. * Alcinoe hands a vial over to the drow. "Alchemist's fire." [ "Whatever that is," he says, and chucks it for the center of one of the trolls, hitting! ] [ The vial explodes in flame! Not much flame, but it doesn't go out immediately, either. Tebryn grins and hops back a bit as the afflicted troll comes towards him, now. ] * Alcinoe moves forward to engage the other one. "Just keep it busy!" she calls. [ One of the trolls goes after Tebryn, passing Alcinoe to get there. The other closes on the bearer of Belib's Amazing Everburning Torch, and lashes out at her! ] * Alcinoe turns as the troll passes her, bashing it with the mace! Before, y'know, she goes on her merry way. [ The troll is hurt, but it keeps going for Tebryn, who proceeds to make himself a difficult target. ] [ The other ice troll flails uselessly against Alcinoe's armor. ] [ Alci, go! ] * Alcinoe ignores the troll's flailing, deciding to smash the troll twice with her mace before ramming her shield into its stomach. Hey, if Kenji suggested it, he probably had something there. [ Alci lands a solid mace strike, which seems to hurt the thing. The shield bash doesn't seem to do much at all. ] * Alcinoe frowns slightly, but she doesn't seem particularly worried. [ Tebryn comes by Alcinoe, fiddling in her pack for a heartbeat before coming away with two more vials of alchemist's fire. One of these he chucks at the troll, scoring a hit and setting more of it alight. The troll catches up and tries to hit him, but doesn't. ] [ The other one attacks Alcinoe again, and this time he smacks her upside her unarmored head! ] [ Alci, go! ] * Alcinoe stumbles forward, nearly into the troll, but instead she manages to circle by it, slamming the fiery mace into its side and then leg. [ Alci destroys a good part of it's chest, and it collapses! ] * Alcinoe winces, then turns to look at the flaming chaos Tebryn is no doubt causing. [ Tebryn chucks his last vial of alchemist's fire at the troll following him, and that collected with the fires already consuming it seems to do that ice troll in. Tebryn grins. "That went good. How did you do?" ] * Alcinoe laughs, a little dazed. "Well enough, Ah guess." She looks around for any more incoming mob- er, ice trolls. * Alcinoe is also, as it happens, bleeding from the back of the head. But since when did that stop her? * NinjaDebugger is now known as SleepDebugger [ That finally seems to sink in. "Hey, you're bleeding. Here, I can fix that." ] * Alcinoe blinks. "Uh? Ya don't have ta. Ah can do it myself." She actually sounds fairly confused. [ "Oh. Well, that is good, too." ] * Alcinoe presses a hand to the back of her head, murmuring a prayer. It glows a little, and the wound begins to close. * Alcinoe lowers her hand. No more bleeding. Not even bruising. She smiles. "But thanks. If ya don't mind me askin', how do ya know how ta fix it? Just bandages?" [ He shakes his head. "Bards know many tricks, yes? Can cast magic." He wiggles his fingers in a 'ooo, magic' sort of way. ] * Alcinoe laughs. "Yeah, but healin' isn't somethin' Ah see bards do a lot." She reaches into her haversack and pulls out the rest of the vials, handing them to Tebryn. "Here. Ya can use these better than me." [ "Well, not often have good reason." ] [ He accepts the vials. "Thank you. These may come in handy." ] * Alcinoe raises an eyebrow. "So ya music types just don't get hit?" She looks him up and down. "Might have a point there." She grins and goes back to trekking towards the cave. [ "No, we don't. We talk, or we dodge. Works very well, until fight hungry vampire." ] * Alcinoe frowns. "Yeah. Guess it didn't work so good then." [ He sighs. "Vampire very fast, very strong, doesn't listen to talk." ] * Alcinoe nods. She glances at the bard. "But yer not that way, looks like." [ He scowls. "No, I get bad vampire deal. A little strong, a little fast, get controlled by ugly thing." ] Ah'm failin' ta see how a vampire deal can be good, mahself. [ He shrugs. "Supposedly, make very... powerful? That not so bad. But so many problems. Must drink blood, must sleep in coffin, heart is dead, so no fun with women. No say 'no' to ugly thing what control you. Much rather be living, yes?" ] * Alcinoe nods. "Yeah. Or dead, as ya figured would be better." She idly adjusts her shield, then eyes that and the torch. * Alcinoe slings the shield on her back, freeing her left hand up, and gestures vaguely. "How about living. Did ya like that?" [ He nods. "Living? Had good times, but mostly bad times. Am boy, so am dirt, yes?" ] * Alcinoe shakes her head. No, yer not. You were just treated like dirt. [ "I mean, is what they think. Thank you, I guess." ] [ About now, you enter another clearing with a very large cave entrance. ] * Alcinoe snerks. "Yer welcome, Ah guess. 'S good ya don't think that way." She looks to the cave and lets out a breath, once again frosting up the air. [ He sighs, again. "I miss breathing. It's always forced now. Make talk hard." ] * Alcinoe nods. "Bet the new language don't come easy, either." She sounds almost apologetic as she eyes the cave. * Alcinoe reaches back into her haversack and pulls out the map, checking it. The way to the pond's detailed, yes? [ "It slow. Have some sames as old language, so that good." And yes, it is. You seem to have gotten there. ] * Alcinoe checks the way, doing her best to memorize it, then tucks her map away again. "Yeah, it is. Probly came from the same language." She blinks. "It'd make sense, really." * Alcinoe starts heading into the cave. [ Tebryn follows, with his rapier still drawn. ] * Alcinoe idly draws her ebony sword with her left hand. She takes an experimental swipe with it, then lets out a faint 'huh'. [ The sword is a little heavier than your off-hand is used to, but you should be able to wield it alright. ] * Alcinoe chuckles to herself. "Looks like Kenji wasn't kiddin'." She keeps heading in. [ After following the tunnel in a few hundered feet, the passage widens to an immense cavern. There are three exits, two of them large enough for a trully ancient dragon to move through. Through the third, which is somewhat smaller, you can see a pool that shimmers with a dim radiance. Standing in front of the pool is a nine-foot humanoid figure with silver skin and wings. ] * Alcinoe peers at that. Then she nods to herself and keeps going, torch raised and filling the area with light. The sword is dropped down to a non-threatening position. * Alcinoe murmurs a quick prayer as she goes. * Alcinoe glances back to Tebryn. "Don't panic. It's a Solar... just stay with me. You - and me - might be tested." * Alcinoe sheathes her sword. Still need the mace for light. [ The figure strides towards Alcinoe after she gets near the center of the large room. As it approaches, it draws its massive sword. It speaks in a booming, commanding voice; "Stand, Alcinoe Kinder, and be judged." And then it swings its sword for her. ] [ Session End! ]