Chapter 21: The Razor's Edge

[Ken]

Jul 13, 2021 17:33:23 GMT -4 Jeff said:

The galeb duhr allow Belarin to continue.

Belarin looks up at the griffon rider and, as if he were discussing odd fauna to students at the monastery, says, "A tiefling on a griffon - not an everyday site. I've learned much about tieflings from my dear friend Melethos. As is often the case with the humanoid races, there is a wide range of behaviors and motives among members of the race...."

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Belarin adds a few tidbits about tieflings, especially those that are arriving. Again, he doesn't portray them as enemies - because he doesn't seem them as such, despite the rider's imposing presence - but he does reinforce the galed duhr's own conclusion about the diversity of the other races.

[Brian]

The slap of oars striking water accompany the longboat's approach. When they are close enough, Ajdalarr calls out a greeting.

"Well met, Ajdalarr," Melethos returns in Supernal. Then he also switches to common. "Our truce holds. You have nothing to fear from us." He pauses. "A large lizard lives in the cave behind us, though. I would take care not to alarm it."

Then the griffon flies by, its rider clearly visible for the first time, and Melethos stiffens.

The tiefling rider, the one bristling with weapons, is called Khazamus, he thinks to Kal. He could be trouble in a fight. A lot of trouble.

He shifts his attention back to Ajdalarr. "Indeed, it seems like an age since we parted. I hope you had an uneventful voyage."

[Jeff]

Jul 14, 2021 5:34:02 GMT -4 Brian said:

"Indeed, it seems like an age since we parted. I hope you had an uneventful voyage."

The tiefling woman gives a dark laugh. "We did not. Dark Shadows, storms, river beasts. We certainly did not." She eyes the beach cave where Melethos indicated. Then Ajdalarr smiles and bows her head at Melethos, her smaller horns dipping in obeisance. She steps out of the boat where she splashes into the water up to her knees and then walks up onto the wet sand, twenty feet from both men. (Do you remain further back on the beach or will you approach her?) "

Then she looks up and calls up to the griffon rider. "Khazamus, you heard Condign with your own ears." She says this with a trace of scorn; there is some history between them. "Tell Therain we will land! The truce holds, they are as allies still."

Khazamus looks on Kal and Melethos, his face neutral. "What of the stairs? What dangers?" he calls out, his Supernal accent thicker. "What do the elementals demand?"

Ajdalarr steps a couple of paces closer to the two men and throws another glance at the beach cave. She indicates the cliffs above. "You knew of these stairs as well. Have you found access? Khazamus is our warden, our . . ." She looks at Kal. "Our captain of security, you might say. He says there are earth elemental guardians. They are not hostile?" 

Kal thinks, compared to Khazamus, this Ajdalarr sounds cosmopolitan, for her accent is only slight.

[Brian]

Melethos approaches Ajdalarr, then stops and returns her bow. Khazamus's presence has made the tiefling battle master wary, so he forces his muscles to relax and a smile to brighten his expression.

"The earth elementals are called galeb duhr," he says. "They act as guardians of the upper cave. Part of that guardianship involves passwords in order to proceed. But they are also intelligent and desire information. One of our party is talking with them to see if he can secure our passage." Melethos makes no attempt to deceive the other tiefling. He intends to approach this encounter with as much honesty as he feels is prudent. "As you know, we just arrived. We're still trying to discover the best path to the stairs." He pauses. "We do think it is through that upper cave."

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Melethos will stop ten feet from Ajdalarr.

[Jeff]

"Go, Khazamus, please," Ajdalarr calls out. "We will land. Tell Therain. Tell Orvak." She looks back to Melethos as the griffon leaps back into the air and heads over to the longship. "We are all together at last," she says. "Is there anything we can do to assist with these . . . galeb duhr?"

Before he can answer, Ajdalarr looks over his shoulder and raises a hand in greeting to Kal. "I am Ajdalarr. We have not properly met, you and I. Nor any of you, except for Condign." She makes a gesture in the direction of the shrinking Dragonfly. "That was your ship?"

Attachments:

[Brian]

"My pardon," Melethos says, and gestures to Kal. "This is Lord Kalarian d'Deneith, the leader of our group. The wolfhound back there is Tangat and he belongs to Lord Kalarian." Now he gestures to the other tiefling. "Lord Kalarian, this is Ajdalarr. I spoke of her before. She and her crew helped us battle that yugoloth back in Last Chance."

[Dave W.]

Jul 13, 2021 21:02:25 GMT -4 Jeff said:

Seeing the proximity of the newcomers, Thul clears his throat as if to get others' attention about it. He then spits on the ground. "The Redmen are here. Be ready to fight and die, if that's what comes."

"Nothing is changed. We can not proceed until Belarin clears the way. We have to wait... calmly."

[Darren]

Kal offers a slight bow in greeting to Adjalarr. "It is an honor," he says formally. "Your assistance and friendship are both appreciated. Allies on this journey are hard to come by. We appreciate knowing that we have a few less enemies on the road." He glances behind him at the cave above. "Our friends are up there now. I do not know if you will need to negotiate your own way through, but the elementals don't appear to be prone to violence that is not brought on them first."

[Jeff]

Thul just gives Adamant a single nod of his head. "Whatever."

Ajdalarr waits a moment to make sure the griffon is well and truly out of hearing. "I apologize for Khazamus. He is paranoid and surly, to say the least, and trusts no one that Orvak has not avowed. Even then . . . " 

The tiefling woman turns and speaks to the others in the boat, quickly, and Melethos catches a few simple commands. The two armored ones and the bugbear prepare to return to their ship for more, it seems. The unarmored tiefling, who only wears a sleeveless leather vest finely made but well-worn, comes and joins Ajdalarr. He is wiry, certainly not a weapons-variety warrior. "This is—"

"Shorn," the tiefling says, giving Kal and Melethos a nod of greeting. Whether a nickname or a given name, the name seems fitting: his red scalp is bare but for a dark stubble of hair, and his two horns, which look like they would have curved like a ram's, appear to have been cut clean off only two inches from his skull. Not neatly. Melethos cannot help but wince inwardly; it must have been painful, and this brutal scarring must have impacted him greatly. "Hello." His voice is monotone. Now that you see him close, he certainly looks like a mage. He wears a dagger on his belt, and Kal spots a gauntlet with two wooden wands affixed to it.

Ajdalarr says, "Kalarian and Condign," she says, introducing them, and they can't help but wonder if she is leaving off his title and house affiliation on purpose with her companion beside her. "I would like to get us all on solid ground. Would you have us make camp apart from you? Or shall we join your parlance?" She indicates the higher cave and the rest of yoru party. 

Then points to the river back east, the way you came. "We have fought demons before, your party and mine. Therefore I will tell you that the Order of the Emerald Claw has one ship behind us, a day out. Two wind-galleons, ships sponsored by the Dragonmarked, have already come and gone. They did not harry you?"

[Brian]

"Apart, for now," Melethos says. "Let Belarin do his negotiations without further distraction." His eyes fix on Shorn. "I've abandoned my 'virtue' name of Condign. I had to in order to save our lives. I now go by my given name, Melethos. I didn't want you to hear someone call me that and wonder why I hadn't been honest with you.

"As for the Emerald Claw..." He shrugs. "We've been chasing one another for weeks now. Eventually, we will go head-to-head and see which side prevails. I'd love to shine some sunlight on Major Krez's flaws." Now he smiles. "Can we help you in any way?"

[Jeff]

"Melethos," the bald tiefling says, acknowledging the name. "Got it."

"Melethos," Ajdalarra repeats it, too, slower, as if processing it more deeply than her companion. Her eyes flick up to Melethos's horns, so briefly, maybe he imagined it. Since the "reshaping" of them, and the fire-blackened rings near the tip, he has been more conscious of them.

"So the Dragonmarked ships?" Ajdalarr prompts again.

Meanwhile she studies the land, then points up the slope in the middle region between the galeb duhr's cave and the waterfall path. "We will camp there, then, if is all right, to give you some peace. And no, no thank you, we need no assistance. I will speak with my people, and see how long they are willing to wait. About that, I can promise nothing." She says this in an apologetic tone.

"Ajda," Shorn says, then speaks in Supernal. "Khazamus will scout the top, to see how if it is safe, yes?"

"Yes," she answers. "And whatever he learns, we will share with them."

---

Anything else anyone wishes to do before the tieflings come fully on land? Will Melethos and Kal move off the beach again?

[Darren]

Kal looks over Adjalarr's shoulder, then into her oddly colored eyes. "The Twelve are, as I hope you will be, allies. Although we are all competitors in the same race and may some day have to square off against each other, we have agreed that our enemies are many and until such time as there is no other choice, we will not stand in each other's way and offer assistance should the need arise." Kal extends his hand to the tiefling woman. "May I count you among our allies as I count the expedition from The Twelve?"

[Jeff]

"The Twelve? Ohh, the twelve houses, yes." Ajdalarr opens her hand reflexively and almost extends it, but stays her hand. "Were it up to me, I would say yes. Orvak is the one we follow; he is a seer of our people, a wise counsellor, and our honorary leader. I would have him make that choice." She eyes Melethos. "If you would still be willing to meet with him . . . he would surely agree. But let us camp first, and give you your space." She gives Kal a friendly smile, and he sees the slightly sharp teeth of her kind, as he has seen with Melethos.

Regarding her name: I've misspelled it myself sometimes and thus misled you, and but the correct spelling is Ajdalarr, j before the d, two rs. Hence the short version is Ajda.

[Brian]

"Let's go, Lord Kalarian," Melethos says. "They will need space to disembark." To Ajda, he adds: "We will be on the upper part of the beach. Once we learn something from Belarin, I'll let you know what our plan is. If you have need of me, give a shout."

He gestures for Kal to follow, if he wishes, and starts back up the beach, climbing upward toward the rest of the group.

[Darren]

Kal holds his hand out a moment longer, then withdraws it, clearly looking disappointed. He quickly replaces the look with a smile. "I hope you will consider it," he says, then nods at Melethos, gives Ajdalarr another small bow, and follows his friend back to the cave.

[Jeff]

As Kal and Melethos and Tangat return to the others, the tieflings and their nonhuman allies begin the process of disembarking. The longship turns, re-positioning itself, as the rowboat goes back and forth to shore. The griffon is used as well, and lifts and carries some of their number up onto the higher rocks overlooking the beach and up the slope from your party. But most go to the beach and up the path. The bugbears number at least ten, and the tieflings at least twice that. They come no closer than seventy feet from the back of your party, Histra's skeleton.

You can's see what they're doing, but a number of them linger on the beach right before its cave, clearly venturing close to the lizard there.

Attachments:

[Jeff]

Belarin figures he's got at least another ten minutes more to say, if he's to round out the things he's telling the galeb duhr. They have listened patiently, even the skeptical one. But all of you are aware of the gathering tieflings; their group outnumbers yours by at least three to one. You're not sure what they're intending to do with their ship. By the numbers, it looks like most, if not all, of them are disembarking.

The galeb duhr seem aware of them, but they don't turn their heads this way and that like you do, when trying to see or hear better.

When most of the tieflings and their allies are on land, the griffon rider begins a gradual ascent up the cliff face. Reconnaissance.

[Ken]

Belarin pauses to ask the apparent leader, "Would you like me to stop here so that you can watch the new arrivals? Or should I continue? I believe we're nearly done."

[Jeff]

A rumbling sound. Maybe akin to laugher. “We are not as hurried as you.”

[Ken]

"Point taken!" says Belarin, chuckling as well. "Very well, I'll continue..."

Taking pains not to sound hurried, Belarin tries to shorten the rest of his lecture, cutting out a few nonessential details.

___________________________

If Belarin had 10 minutes left, he'll try to finish in 5.

[Joe]

Streko watches in dismay at the number of new arrivals. "I certainly hope they are allies. He watches Kal and Melethos return. "What's the word? Should we feel worried or bolstered?"

[Dave B.]

Shorak continues to listen to Belarin's sharing of information to the galeb duhr. He does glance occassionally down at the beach, down the path and above as the griffon flies overhead. Staying aleert is just a natual impulse for the half-drow/changeling. But, his ears stay open to Belarin and the galeb duhr. He finds this similar to meetings he used to listen in on when his father would meet with visitors to the tribe.

[Darren]

Jul 15, 2021 19:31:22 GMT -4 Joe said:

Streko watches in dismay at the number of new arrivals. "I certainly hope they are allies. He watches Kal and Melethos return. "What's the word? Should we feel worried or bolstered?"

Kal looks over his shoulder and smiles at the tieflings, but when he turns back to Streko his smile fades. "I do not think they will harm us, yet. I offered them the same alliance we have with The Twelve, but they answer to one man in particular and I wasn't able to speak with him, yet. They're camping here, so hopefully we can be gone before they even start moving." He looks again at the bustle of activity among the tiefling camp. "They may have more resources, but it will take them more time to move it all. We are nimble. That will be our advantage."

[Brian]

Melethos nods in agreement. "We are safe for now. I trust Ajdalarr at her word. She will keep our truce as long as possible. Khazamus worries me." Melethos describes the griffon rider and what he knows about the warrior. "He could act outside Ajdalarr's agreement, and the man is dangerous. The real unknown is their leader, Orvak. I know little of the man." He glances at Kal. "Twice I've been offered a meeting with this Orvak. It might be useful to meet him, get a feeling for the man. What do you think? Can we spare half an hour?"

[Joe]

Streko nods. "To learn more about our competitors? I think the delay might be worth it! Also, there might be something about that will make their griffon-rider less of a threat, if our flying skeleton's demise means anything."

[Dave W.]

Adamant tries to stay alert to threats, especially the glidewings. But his attention keeps getting drawn back to Belarin's story-telling.

[Jeff]

Adamant sees that the glidewings are staying away. The growing number of people on and around the beach has them keeping their distance.

Belarin starts to wrap things up, hoping it’s enough.

Those not actively listening to Belarin (Shorak, Sem, etc.) are aware of some commotion on the beach. Some raised voices, a loud series of hisses. And then . . . that great lizard appears up on the path above the beach among the tieflings. Another non-armored tiefling stands beside it, speaking to it. It may have been magically charmed or otherwise controlled. It appears oddly calm for being so close to strange intruders.

[Jeff]

When Belarin finishes, the two galeb duhr before him "stand up" in that they don't really rise up so much as produce stumpy legs again beneath their considerable mass. "You have not called these . . . tieflings enemies," the original one says to him. "Do you speak for them? Would you consider their passage yours?"

[Ken]

"They're not enemies," says Belarin, who also gets to his feet. "But our paths are separate. I can't speak for them."

[Jeff]

After a few minutes, Shorak, Melethos, and Streko spot griffon further out over the water, taking a wide swooping descent from its scouting the cliffs high overhead. It then comes down near the beach, where you can hear or see nothing of its rider's report.

"Very well." The two galeb duhr each move to the side, back to where they were first standing looking like just a loose extension of the cliff rock itself. Even the skeptical third moves back where it was. For all their weight, they leave minimal impressions on the ground as if the earth responds and fills itself back in when they move away. "Go in peace and with caution. We cannot provide you with directions, and there are other dwellers on the Stair who cannot be reasoned with, predators of the region for whom we also cannot speak. They often ignore creatures of greater number, like those who came before you and, it would appear, those who follow. "

Starg and Sem both stand at the cave mouth. "There is some writing on the wall in there," says Sem. "And I think it's in Orcish."

Thul barks out, "Redman!"

When Melethos turns toward the Karrn, he sees the man pointing down the slope toward the temporary tiefling camp. Ajdalarr is standing there, looking up. She is holding up a hand, and beckons once. Melethos feels confident it's intended for him.

Pausing here, hopefully for Kal to weigh in.