RP type: Quest

Date: Wednesday 19th December

Active Attendees:
Avina
Draenen
Kaolla
Kenjii
Kirious

Summary:
[[In the Middle Lands]]
When Kenjii decides to check on the Tenshodo to inquire about the Aht Urhgan passes, Avina starts to act strangely, and tries her best to keep him away from the Neptune's Spire. However, the ninja manages to drag her inside, and together (although Avina is generally quiet and reluctant) they ask around the Tenshodo HQ. A strange Elvaan man with an unusual accent catches Kenjii's eye, and the Hume inquires about him. After some staring contest, the man introduces himself as Faursel, a man of Aht Urhgan who has recently started to give out passes on a new open sea route from Mhaura to Al Zahbi. Kenjii isn't too convinced, and decides to go check in Mhaura to see the ship with his own eyes. Avina though misunderstands his decision, and thinking he may be trying to acquire a pass, she suggests that they go after the most difficult list, requiring testimonies. At this point it's Kenjii's turn to misunderstand, and believing that Avina wants a pass for herself, he agrees to go.

Outside of the Spire, Avina tries one last time to persuade Kenjii, first faking an injury without much success, and then insisting that they need someone else to go with them if they want to make it. That's when Kaolla makes a rather nicely timed appearance. Kenjii asks the Mithra if she'd be interested in acquiring a pass too, and the black mage is quick to agree when she is reminded of the advanced alchemy and great food found in the Empire.

The three then trek to Castle Oztroja and get quickly rid of the most powerful Yagudo warriors guarding the doors to the Manifest, stealing their testimonies. Before going back to Jeuno to deliver the items Faursel asked, the trio goes to Mhaura, to finally see with their own eyes the ships that have lead so many adventurers to the Land of Sacred Serpents…

In Aht Urghan…

In the streets of Whitegate, Kirious and Draenen are starting to feel restless; there is only so much information that can be found inside the city without possibly poking their noses into trouble. Kirious expresses that he is about ready to just go through the front gates of the palace and start a fight for answers, much to Draenen's horror. She calls his plan a suicide mission and quickly starts firing out ideas to try to dissuade him, citing that they had no idea how many Immortals, palace guard, and soldiers they have inside the palace, that the palace might be boobytrapped in case of invasions, and that it would be better for them to try and draw out the ones they were looking for and not fight them on their own turf. She even goes as far as to half-plan raids on Immortals that are at outposts, which seems to catch Kirious' attention away from his original 'knock down the doors' plan. He then fixates on the possibility of traps inside the building, and starts thinking about trying to sneak into the palace, just to survey it. Realizing that further argument might put him back on his original idea, Draenen lets him continue to think on this line of thought and he eventually goes in search of Raka, to get her in on the planning.

Grimalkin approaches Draenen soon after she's left alone, asking if she knows anything about the plan that Kirious brought up to Raka. Draenen says she does, and while its not a great plan its a lot better than what he had come up with previously. Grimalkin accepts this, and the two start comparing notes on how their different missions seem to have progressed; both have gotten leads, but just like Draenen's dried up after meeting the rogue from the Reef, Grimalkin hasn't found anything more than the person she seeks did arrive in the city many years ago, but has not been seen since. Grimalkin suggests that, for Draenen, another investigation of the Reef might be in order. Draenen agrees, and wonders if Aht Urghan has a public records archive… and bemoans the fact that the city seems to be 'dry' so there's no alcohol for her to use to get people to talk more freely… to which they both decide that a trip outside the city to see if there were any fermentable ingredients to be found was in order.

Outside the gates, they eventually find some beehives and after some time mauling the inhabitants, they walk away with a good haul of honey which Draenen is confident she can turn into honey wine. The two do some exploring after that, noticing similarities and differences between wildlife there and back in the Middle Lands; Grimalkin remembering a time when a variety of the local birds could be found in Ronfaure. They encounter some ruins and go to investigate them, only to first be attacked by small dragon-like creatures, and as they round the corner find themselves face-to-face with a tall lizard-like beastman.

There is a minutes-long staring match between them and the beastman, and just when Grimalkin and Draenen are about to back off the beatman rushes them, and both are rather shocked when the beastman starts using similar techniques to the ones Kirious uses. They manage to slay the beastman, but it is less dead than it appears: as Draenen starts to inspect the corpse, the beastman's eyes open back up and fixate on her. Grimalkin is quick to decapitate the beastman and kicks its head out into the bushes, where shockingly it continues to move slightly. Two more beastmen arrive, much like the first, and finally Grimalkin convinces Draenen that they should return to the city, but not before Draenen comes up with an interesting theory on how Immortals are created. Grimalkin suggests that she not share this theory with Kirious, and after reaching the city they part ways.