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Post by Raoul O. Ardelean on Nov 5, 2023 3:45:54 GMT -5
Raoul was running his hand over his face as he was listening to Professor Lloyd babble on and on about the elusive Bugaboo. He was enjoying his quiet afternoon at the local tavern trying to relax and unwind for once he’d finished all of his case filings and legal work early. For once in about four months he was free, free to just stop thinking and hammer down as many drinks as he wanted to. His peace of mind lasted all but about ten minutes before the brilliant bumbling professor walked into the tavern and made a beeline towards him. He almost let out a loud cry and scream before quickly shutting his mouth and putting on his fakest kindest smile as the professor made small talk and nerded out about his newest discovery about the bugaboos.
After about twenty minutes Raoul had reached his limits and in his nicest but assertive tone he asked, “This is all really awesome and cool but um Professor what’re you here for?”.
The professor jerks up at a sudden realization, “Oh yes my apologies I was here for a reason, Raoul was it yes I’ve heard of your investigative abilities. I have a big problem that I’ve reached with my bugaboo research. I need someone to go into the field and actually find me one and analyze it in person. I've already approached another adventurer for this so this would be a team mission for the both of you. I’ll pay you two handsomely for your work if you get the job down, your partner has already been filled in as well and you should probably get going to the Black Bog right now your partner’s already probably heading there as we speak”.
Raoul takes a long sigh before smiling again, “Why of course I’d be delighted to help you in the exploit of science. I’ll head there right away”, and he got up and left the tavern in a silent fury.
“Of course the day I get to relax and not think is the day the universe throws some sciency old man on me”, he whispered as he jogged towards the black bog hoping he wasn’t keeping his partner waiting for too long.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Nov 10, 2023 16:04:24 GMT -5
In doing a bit of additional research on oozes for Lloyd, somehow the eccentric researcher managed to drag Astrid into something else, and she figured that it’d be easy enough to make her way to the Marsh Flats no matter where the ooze research took her. Luckily, the Marsh Flats is exactly where she had to deal with a monstrous ooze, so she’s not too far away. Unluckily, her partner had to leave for other work, leaving her alone. Lloyd did promise to find her someone new to help, so she went along on her own. Now standing in the muck of the Marsh Flats, Astrid is faced with a problem: there seems to be a significant amount of fog that has made its way into the land. Either it wafted in from the ocean and cooler weather all around, or it has a supernatural source. As much as she wants to just head on it, she decides it’s not a good idea to do exactly that without her backup. Finding someone in this muck would be absolutely disastrous. Hm, if only she took learning wind magic more seriously, she might be able to see through this thick fog without issues…
Quest details: Quest Name: Into the Marsh Participants: Two or more Location: Marsh Flats Post Requirements: 4 post per person, 200 words per post Description: You have been asked by Lloyd to venture into the swamp and study a Bogaboo, however the trip has already started off rough. A thick mist has settled across the region making your trip into the swamp even more difficult than normal. The first part of your task is to simply find your way. After getting lost in the dangerous bog, you need to find an area that resembles some sort of safety, and set up camp. This venture may take you a few days, or even weeks, so you need somewhere safe to set up and stay at for a little while.
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Post by Raoul O. Ardelean on Nov 11, 2023 10:41:44 GMT -5
Raoul arrived after about ten minutes of straight jogging, through the marsh flats as fast as his legs could carry him to at least not keep his new partner waiting too long. He still couldn’t believe that tricky Lloyd had gotten the jump on him and almost forced him to come here. Sure he could’ve said no but he was offering such a generous amount of solars for his time. That was Raoul’s biggest downfall, he was money-hungry. He couldn't turn down a single case, a single adventure no matter the reason, he was all about justice truly in his heart but the solars didn’t have their merit. Having grown up with nothing in his life at least for several years he foraged and scavenged like a wild dog for food from the townspeople treating the forest as his safe place to retreat after people would try punishing him for stealing. All that was to say he loved money and couldn’t turn down an opportunity to make some extra coin even if it was on his singular day off.
He entered the black bog’s entrance and sighed with relief as he stood catching his breath with hesitance and said, “Damn it, what’s with all this fog Lloyd didn’t mention any of this? I can’t see a single thing”, he thought as he walked straight through the fog.
He cupped his hands together and placed them over his mouth to increase his volume, “Hello there? Is anybody here? Hello?”.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Nov 12, 2023 14:35:11 GMT -5
Standing there with a ponderous expression on her face doesn’t do Astrid any good, so while she waits to hear from someone, the girl takes to doing a thorough checkup on Buttfellow’s joints. The lumbering metal golem stands obediently still while she makes sure the last trip through the Flats didn’t do anything to prevent him from being useful. Luckily, Buttfellow 2.0 seems to be fine. Just a bit of oil here and there and–
Astrid stands upright and looks around alertly. There’s a voice somewhere nearby. It’s either her partner or a creature of the swamp, so she opens her wings and leaps into the air.[1] With all the fog, it’s difficult to see, so she pulls her battle hammer out and taps it against the buckler on her arm. A low ringing of metal on metal echoes through the swamp and sends back information on living creatures inside. A few small things ping off the sound waves – squirrels or birds most likely – but one thing catches her attention: a humanoid-sized creature in the direction of the sound.
Landing on Buttfellow’s shoulder, Astrid raps her knuckles on his head. “Let’s go that way,” she says, indicating the direction of the shouts. Then she raises her own voice, and it booms through the swamp.[2] “Oi! Are ya Lloyd’s other sucker?” There’s some jest in her tone as the sound carries across the murky waters. “Stay where yer at, we’re comin’!”
And so Buttfellow lumbers toward Raoul, his shape obscured by the mist until he emerges rather ominously through the fog with the young girl on his shoulder.
Arcantek Golem - Buttfellow [1] Bat Wings [post 1/3] - echolocation [2] Voice of Thunder
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Post by Raoul O. Ardelean on Nov 13, 2023 3:20:26 GMT -5
Raoul continues to call out for someone, anyone to be there among the fog to make their presence known. After a couple of seconds he begins to get worried, did his partner just ditch him just for being a little late? Man, he was having a rough day today already and this was starting to make him regret taking the day off at all.
He was about to lose hope and begin walking away when suddenly he heard a loud booming voice appear all around the swamp. He gets startled a bit, almost falling over his feet into the bog water below although he catches himself before he falls.
He grins from ear to ear as he shouts out, “YEP, I’M ASSUMING YOUR THE OTHER SUCKER LLOYD ROPED INTO ONE OF HIS WEIRD SCIENTIFIC MACHINATIONS?”, he chuckles as he says so.
He does as he is told and stands still among the fog waiting for the other figure to emerge soon. He does spot something emerging only a couple of feet away, a hulking figure with a small child on its shoulder.
“Hello there?”, he questions a little dumbfounded at his partner’s appearance not looking like he’d expected.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Nov 13, 2023 21:19:16 GMT -5
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Buttfellow’s footfalls are heavy in the swamp as he makes his way in the direction indicated by Astrid. It’s a meandering pace without the golem in his combat mode, but at least riding on his shoulders, Astrid doesn’t have to clean water out of her boots. Finally, they emerge and approach Raoul, and Astrid waves.
“Hiya, nice ta meet ya!” she says chipperly, perched on her golem’s shoulder like the little gremlin child she is. “I’m Astrid, this is Buttfellow. He’s good at punchin’ stuff.” After Astrid knocks on Buttfellow’s head, the golem extends its misshapen metal fist to Raoul for some sort of offer to fist bump since the behemoth can’t exactly shake the other man’s hand effectively.
Looking out into the swamp, Astrid comments, “There’s a ton a’ fog out there. Probably best we find a good spot ta set up camp so we can look fer this…booger or whatever it is.” Once again, she raps on Buttfellow's head, and the golem turns and lurches forward, walking into the swamp. "Stay close, will ya? It'd be bad ta get lost in here. Lots a' critters besides boogerman!"
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Post by Raoul O. Ardelean on Nov 15, 2023 3:36:40 GMT -5
Raoul was shocked, to say the least as he looked over the giant golem alongside the little girl. Still, he was here on business not just here to waste time questioning why a literal child was out here adventuring with a golem. That was not his place to judge, he had to just roll with the punches, he smiled, “Why hello there, it’s nice to meet you too”, he looked over at the golem and child confused about who he should be addressing before shifting his attention to the girl settling that she’s probably the adventurer here, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Astrid and Mr. Buttfellow was it? My name is Raoul, Raoul Ardelean at your service".
Raoul steps back as he sees the golem filled with so much life hesitant about it before deciding why not and fist-bumping the best.
The dhampir can’t help but agree with Astrid as he nods, “Yes seems like a good plan, no point in running around this fog getting lost for no reason, better to have this bugaboo guy look for us", He looked around eyeing the fog before turning and walking behind the girl and the golem determined to stick together.
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Post by Lady Astrid Stormstone on Nov 15, 2023 17:34:04 GMT -5
“Nice ta meet ya, Raoul,” Astrid says with a grin. “If ya wanna stay dry an’ sit up here, climb on up!”
While they walk through the swamp, Astrid keeps rhythmically tapping her hammer against her buckler, getting immediate feedback on the location of living creatures in the swamp. The fog it thick and challenging to see through, and there are at least a couple of water critters who take a bite at Buttfellow’s legs only to realize that he is metal and not food and end up avoiding the golem and group altogether.
Eventually, Astrid feels Buttfellow shift beneath her as the golem trudges out of the dark murky water and onto a patch of dry land. His steps are unimpeded and heavier, clunking against the dirt. She looks around and decides that’s not a bad place to set up camp. If only they had a door so they could just come right back there without having to sleep in the mud. Alas, it wouldn’t be a camping trip and an adventure in the Marsh Flats without getting a little soggy.
Touching the wolf pendant around her neck on the nose, her armor disappears from her person and teleports into the amulet. It’s easy to sleep in the armor, but she’d really prefer that she doesn’t. Then she hops down, mud splattering in all directions as she lands, and looks at Raoul. “Seems like a good spot ta stop. Any later and it’ll be dark and foggy!!”
Bat Wings - [post 3/3] echolocation Necklace of armor storing
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Post by Raoul O. Ardelean on Nov 15, 2023 18:12:09 GMT -5
Raoul was about to walk back into the swampy wet dirty water when suddenly he heard Astrid offer him a ride on the golem. He gives a short chuckle relieved to have his boots saved from being doused in water.
He then does as told and jumps up reaching the fellow's back before pulling himself through and climbing up to its other free shoulder. He sits down holding on as tight as he can and looks, “Woah the sight up here isn't bad, way better than looking at the water below even if it's still the same fog, fog, and more fog".
The dhampir man stays silent noticing that Astrid seemed busy guiding them somehow, he couldn't tell how she was doing it but figured she needed to concentrate. Soon enough they made it to dry land and the dhampir almost jumped off of the golem in relief for the first time in a while. He's glad to see plain dirt below. The dhampir laughs as he takes off his boots completely soaked and places them to dry while they take time to set up a temporary camp.
“Good decision Astrid, looks like you’re a knowledgeable adventurer, it’s a pleasure to work alongside you so far. Now let’s hope we can investigate this bugaboo quickly and effectively. First, we should take a moment to gather our spirits after all the Marsh Flats aren’t exactly the most friendly place for an investigation, trust me last time I was here I was running away from this hulking serial killer with poisoned blade arm”.
After they had chit-chatted for a bit he decided to head laying down on the dirt floor making himself a pillow from the leaves ready to sleep gathering his energy for the next day. He was counting on Astrid’s golem to alert them if anything was coming for them.
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