Long Live the King - Temple - In Character Discussions
5/9 Qui Fon smiles upon entering the cave. (so does Brother) "To think this is from a time so long ago that humans worshiped in caves. Do we even know what Gods this is too? Indigo, I understand this is your mission, but please let me know how I can help. I may be rusty, but I should be of help underground."
As the group entered the dark entrance to the temple, Indigo took out his light to illuminate the front tunnel. He looked back at the entrance to see if Red Cloak was going to follow them, knowing in his head that he would not be. “Thank you Qui. I am sure we will need both your and Brother Foto’s expertise as we get deeper into the rooms below. Before we go any further, we might as well talk about this.’
‘We should have talked earlier, but I wasn’t sure if we’d ever even find this temple what with everything that has happened so far. But I guess we don’t have any more time to waste. People and now lizardmen come have come here for years and years looking for treasure and they never come out again. There must be a number of traps here. And we know there are stone dragons that might not always be stone. So it will be dangerous.’
‘But this is a temple and not a battlefield. Killing everything that moves is not always going to be the right solution and might even make things worse and not better. We are here on a mission for our Queen to retrieve the shield of the great King Chandler Cowles. We are not here to loot this temple. I think there will be traps designed to keep people from looting and stealing. We must remember our mission and be careful before we try to take the shiny things we might find. Some traps can be brushed aside and conquered and some may be lethal and no one will be able to help if someone gets caught in one.”
Indigo then looked specifically at Miranda, Imari, Foto and QuiFon. “I know you have spells and this is what you do, but please be careful with them. We have much to get through and there will be times when we are in desperate need of them. We might not have time to wait until morning if you have used all your spells for the day. You must not worry about me. I am still injured from fighting all those lizardmen from last night, but I’m here and I’m fine and no spell can make me more alert than what I am feeling right now.’
‘I also don’t want any ward spells on the entrance to the tunnel here. If someone has to come in and rescue us, I don’t want them stopped at the entrance. I know enough about Red Cloak by now that if he says he’s not coming in; he’s not coming in.” Turning back to include everyone, he finished by saying, “And Miranda put the room scroll in our pack. When we find the shield, we can use the scroll and then hide it on us and we will walk out safely. Red Cloak will not be able to take what he cannot see and we will all go home and sleep in our beds and have a fine feast with the Queen and Sir Toybin. We will tell our tales and listen to all of Tristan’s tales of Skull Church. So are we ready to go in?”
Shurkural smiles and shifts from one foot to the other. "Sure thing, sugar. How do you want me? Up front, or in the rear? In front I can be following tracks and looking for spoor or blood with my sword out, or I can stand back and cover the rest of you with my bow?"
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Miranda speaks quietly to Indigo. "You may give Red Cloak too much credit. I would not put it past him to be listening to us now. Either way, what ever we do, keeping the shield until we get home will be a challenge and one I plan on being prepared for before we leave the temple. I will not cast unless necessary but you should not feel like you can not be healed."
Qui adds "I do not have healing and I am unsure how well my divination spells will work, I just do not want to wait until it is too late to try and help our situation. I know Procog will guide me.
“Up front with me, Shur, at least until we get further inside and see what we’re dealing with. If these corridors stay this narrow, I’m not sure you’ll be even able to use a bow well. But the rooms have to open up once we’re really inside the temple itself.”
Indigo looked at Qui and nodded. “I know. And that’s what I was trying to say, even if I’m not very good at it. What I meant was that I wanted us all to use our knowledge and skills as we come across the obstacles before us. It's just that I wasn’t sure if now is too early, before we even see what we will be facing. I understand what you're saying because yes, if someone picks a vase up off a pedestal and a spear flies out of a wall and into his head, it will probably be too late for much of anything!”
And lastly Indigo smiled at Miranda’s confidence. “That’s good, Miranda! Leaving this place might be the hardest part of everything.” Indigo starts trying to count on his fingers. “When Red Cloak first sold me to the goblins, he was more powerful than Branwyn was then. So, it’s been how many years since then? Even though Branwyn is much stronger now, Red Cloak still has to be even more powerful than that. And he is a necromancer so he has all those kinds of spells. But from what we know, he doesn’t care about anyone or anything other than himself. So if he is after the shield, someone’s paying him and that is the only reason why he’s here. And that’s why he won’t risk his own neck coming inside here to get it. If he fails, he just loses some gold. If we fail, the Queen and her whole rule are in jeopardy. I want to find out who he is working for at the end of all this and why the person that hired him didn’t want to kill us.”
(after the events of May1614
Miranda looks at the battle worn crew in shame. "I am so sorry. Indigo, I want to help, I want to be a part of the team, and I respect your leadership, but sometimes I just not sure what to do or say. I know it is a little late, but I realized, we are not outside where a lot of our battles have taken place. Especially with the particular team we have here. It might have been possible for you to stand in the doorway and taken on the ants one or two at a time with the rest of us behind you in a support role. Heck, we could have even closed the door and talked about it first. I know you are a knight and a fighter first but we are all counting on you to work with us as much as defend us. I hope that does not upset you." She looks down hoping for approval.
“Please don't apologize Miranda. We’re a bit banged up, that’s all. If there’s anything to say, I suppose it would be that I want everyone to use their heads. After so many years adventuring together, I didn’t think we needed to have a meeting on how to fight a dozen ants. Look at me!” Indigo said, smacking his belly a couple times. “Chain mail. All that fighting and only one stupid ant was able to bite me. And even he could only do it once before he was killed.’
‘We need to be able to search this room and the ants were going to have to be killed at one point or another. And unless someone was willing to take some of our food and leave a trail, they probably weren’t going to come to us, so I went to them. I did not ask or expect that members of our group would jump into a close range fight unprotected with a dozen of anything. You are right. It is different outdoors when creatures are more spread out. It is easier than what we faced in this close room. Shur has to speak for herself, but I suspect she only came close to help protect Qui and Brother Foto instead of using her bow from the doorway like she might have done ordinarily.’
‘These are the very situations that I was talking about earlier that you need to save your spells for! A nice sleep spell would have put out a group of them or maybe a hold creature type spell thing. The kinds of things that can affect many little animals, like these ants. Look at Imari! Her spell was absolutely brilliant!! I wish she hadn’t fallen into a spike pit full of killer skeletons, but when she did, she thought fast and cast a perfect spell to save herself. My own heart almost stopped beating when Foto told us she was dead, and I really hope she doesn’t do that ever again, but it worked and she is still with us. Thanks to her and Partik.’
‘Look ... Qui scared me when we entered the tunnel and we had a discussion of casting one spell on the entrance and then a spell on each member of our group before we even got to the first door. Maybe I should have just not said anything except don’t cast any spells on me unless I’m dying and let you all do what you want to do. It seems like my saying something just made you all second guess yourselves and that is the last thing I wanted to do. I want you to be comfortable doing what you think you need to. But I just don’t see things that way I guess and I was worried that if after casting six or seven spells of prevention that you, Qui or Foto might not have any good spells left when we walk into a room full of ants or flying spear things or spike pits or stone dragons. The last thing I wanted was for you to think that when we walk into a room full of ants that I don’t want you to use your powers to annihilate them if you know something that would be useful. Sometimes we have time to discuss options and sometimes ... well, it's like a big gong goes off in my head and it is just time for battle and not for discussion.”
Shurkural shrugged her shoulders. "Shooting into a crowd ain't exactly a good idea, honey. And besides, couldn't see 'em too well from the doorway what with the benches in the way." (ooc: I hope I'm remembering the map right and that there were benches or something they were behind)
'Miranda gives Indigo a look. "I am not second guessing my actions. Maybe Qui Fon and Brother will regret trying to help but to think that we will all sit back and wait for you to kill everything is not a plan. I understand you may not know all the spells we have available but if you don't want to hear our suggestion or possiblities then we are missing the point of being a team. If something lead you to believe I can cast Sleep or Hold, then maybe you have not been paying attention. I am not Brawynn and I never will be. I only hope I will be enough to help you get our people home.
Indigo looks at her in total confusion. "I have no idea what you are trying to say. One night I ask for help and you don't get help for me. Another time you are upset because I don't ask for help. You are the one who apologized and said you didn't know what to do. I'm glad you aren't second guessing standing around doing nothing because at least you didn't get yourself seriously injured today. You are one less thing I have to worry about. But if you hadn't said what you did, I wouldn't have said anything at all! I was just trying to answer you with throwing something out there since what you said just two minutes ago was that you didn't know what to say or do. Sometimes I think you just want to start fights. But okay Miranda. You tell me when you want to sit down and have a chat next time because I give up."
Miranda sits down on a partially eaten pew and speaks as calm as she can. "clearly there is a miscommunication if you think I am starting a fight. I was upset how this fight went and clearly this is not the time or place to have a lengthy discussion. One quick question, are you upset how the lizardman fight went, because I thought it went smooth, a lot better than this fight where Shur was involved from the beginning?
Indigo blinked and stared at Miranda in amazement and then sighed. “Is that what you think? Really? That this is all about what I think about what you think? Battles are what they are and the these two were different. I wasn't upset until you started harping at me ... again. I know you don't like the decisions I make. And I know if you don't like those decisions, you will do whatever you want to do. And I will have to listen to you telling me what I did wrong. That's fine. I'm not going to stop you and I will do what I have to do to get this shield for the Queen.'
'Do you want to know why I was upset after the lizardmen? You might have thought it went well since I was the only one injured in that fight, but I didn’t think it went well at all. In some ways we got really lucky and in other ways, we just handed Red Cloak a lot of information we didn’t need to give him.’
‘Red Cloak set a trap for us at the campsite that I fell right into. I know that. By his calculations, we could have been dead or still paralyzed out there, so he sent half a dozen lizardmen back here to find out what happened. When I asked for Shur and Wapit it was because I didn’t know if these six were the only ones we were going to see or if Red Cloak would be following. Imari and Foto needed sleep after all they had done that day so I didn’t want to go yelling and wake everybody up.’
‘So what happened? Without anyone else there, I didn’t feel I could go chasing the one that I hit and ran away. I don’t know how long you can play that flute and if I run off and leave, the camp would be at risk. I would never have heard the end of it, if I would have done that! So where do you think he went, Miranda? And what exactly do you think he told Red Cloak? He now knows I’m alive and I bet he heard a story about a mage playing a flute that charmed all his friends. If later you try to take it out in front of him, he will probably know exactly what you are going to do. And so when we get to the temple and we get a note from Red Cloak, knowing that I was coming and letting us know he’s waiting to ambush us. So no, I didn’t think that was such a great night.’
‘I didn’t even want to talk about it, but since we are, you want to know what really got me about that whole thing? Maybe you can answer a couple of questions. Did you not wake anyone because it was me standing in the stream with six lizardmen or would you have done that to anyone in this group? If anyone else was out there and they had only one weapon or weapons that don’t do the kind of damage my swords do, what would have happened if they hit them and not killed them? They would have been attacked. Would you have risked anyone else or was it okay to just do it to me, Miranda? And if it is okay to do that to me, what exactly is your problem with me running into a room with a bunch of ants?'
Indigo paused and then he waved his hand at her. "Ah, just forget about it. Doesn’t matter anyway.”
