Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

Anona startles as she nearly bumps in to Laisren. She blinks for a moment before taking a step back. She wipes her eyes clean with her sleeve before replying in a rather flat tone, it's obvious she's shaken though.

"Oh.. hum.. you.."

She looks Laisren over very briefly, then just frowns at him.

"I don't owe you any answers. I don't feel like talking to you anyway."

She huffs slightly under her breath as she waits for him to leave. A few minutes after he left she leaves herself then, quietly walking out off Doron only to return a few hours later.

---

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Anona returned just prior to Mealir entering the room, sitting beside Alea on the bed. She holds Alea's hand while she sadly looks up to Mealir. When Mealir asks her what happened, she tells him the story she heard so far. In a trembling voice she explains to him, while she comforts Alea.

"She's not waking up.." She murmers soflty, while occasionally glancing up at Mealir. A heavy sigh escapes her from time to time, sitting there talking.

// PM sent.

Post edited. \\

//edited the my last post Oh, Laisren also explained about the amulet IG to those gathered, FYI

Pm sent to Maverick \\\\

Edit: My post after Laisren's edited to reflect his RP. \\\\

Laisren was last seen standing at the gates of Candlekeep, asking for Guide Wendel and his council on a specific matter he would not say.

The news of Alea's state finally reached Karovir. He would leave the path he is traveling currently and make his way to Doron Amar. Not having visited the place for a long time it took him a while to find his way through the forest until he reached the elven city. The tall human in dark armor would walk around in the city and ask for the two sisters not minding the suspicious looks he would get from the elves most likely.
After he eventually was escorted the Inn and the room where Alea shall be resting in he knocks the door before opening it slowly to peek inside. If he is allowed to enter he would regard Anona with a concerned look asking what has happened then he would shift his attention to the unconscious Alea.
Not saying much he would stand next to her bed letting his calming aura have it's effect and takes her hand feeling it's warmth and her pulse. He would stand there like this for several seconds which might feel like minutes watching her breath. Then he lays his other hand on her forehead murmuring a few silent words not really audible to anyone around.
After a few more seconds he steps aside turning back to Anona and saying:

"I wish I could do more than visit and pray but my healing won't have any effect I fear. But I assume you tried that already anyway. Her body is completely healthy."

Then he walks towards the window if the room has any and opens it.

"Give the child of nature some fresh air and the sound of singing birds at least."

He would stay for a while watching or silently talking to Anona if she feels like talking. If other visitors come he would rather leave the room to keep it as less crowded as possible.

A soft breeze brushed over her as the sunlight broke through the clouds. The air was thick with floral scents, as if it had just rained and the flowers were opening up to greet the new sun, she could hear the leaves dancing in the walnut trees as the birds chirped sweetly and softly, only adding to the music of the deep wood.

A small turquoise beetle climbs up from the surrounding leaves to her fingers, clattering slowly along her skin, it wings unsheathing while making its way up to her arm. ‘I’ve been here a while’ she thought, rubbing at the film from her eyes with the tips of her fingers, trying then to focus on the murky shapes around her. The trees seemed darker than ever against the brightness of the sun, never seeming to end. ‘This isn’t home’ Alea rolled her head to the side, a sparkle of pure white and silver catching her attention for a moment in the distance.. ‘Eiren?’

“Why are you here?” whispered a voice carried by the wind.
‘Who are you? Wh-’ she questions wordlessly as she searches for the source.
“Why are you here?” the words became firmer, yet maintaining the shallow low tone.
‘Where am I?’ she asks again, no words escaping her lips.
“You are here. Why are you here?” the voice softening as it continues.
“I don’t know…” Alea says out loud her voice raspy and hoarse, a sudden dehydration becoming apparent then as her vision clears to the blackened trees.
‘I... I.. want to go home, let me go-!’ her chest tightens as she panics, “This is not home!” she almost shouts, piercing the silence.
“My child, open your eyes”
“No! No! I want to go home! Let me go home I wan-” she chokes as the trees around her fade from view, as if a moonless night had fallen upon her.
‘Then you must follow me…’ The words drift away as easily as they had come, the wind picking up now as rain begins to fall; crashes of thunder shake the ground and the flash of lightening offer a glimpse of the cloaked wood around her.
“No.. Where? What?” She futilely tries to pull herself away from the ground now, vines tightening around her wrists as the mud squelches under her frantic fight to release herself. “N…No!” she screams as the vines wrap tighter still, pulling her under the mud, the taste of dirt filling her mouth as she loses consciousness once more.

“Am I… alive?” Alea asks as she stands central in a stone room, waterfalls silently pouring down the walls. She steps closer to them, her hand automatically reaching to touch one, the water mirroring her reflection. “Is this real? But I... remember...” Her fingers touch the water, it turns to mud and they collapse around her, the images of a dream filling her mind, a rhythmic sound approaching from the darkness past where the walls once stood.

“Run Alea! Run!” The voices chanted “You must! You Must!”


[As Alea remains asleep as small saplings seem to sprout from the wooden bed.. only to wither and die moments later.]

When Anona hears the knock on the door, her eyes glance up to see who is there. Seeing Karovir her face displays surprise, as she slowly stands to her feet. She seems quite at ease with him entering the room, while curiously looking at him for a moment. The question he asks her seems to not register for a while, she just watches Karovir approach Alea.

"..Karovir?"

Her voice sounds confused, it pitches up briefly, while she lets him check on Alea. His aura seems to calm her to a degree she finally snaps out if it, a sigh of relief escapes her lips as she sees a friendly face.

"How did you know.. I mean.. Where.. Who?"

Her eyes follow him still, she seems rather baffled for a short while before she quickly straightens her robe out and walks up to him. She gives him a slight hug before she stands back, she stares at a point on the wall for a while then. Thoughts seem to race through her mind, before she slowly looks back to him, softly replying to his question.

"She won't wake up.."

She says sadly while looking at Alea then, her eyes widening when small saplings sprout from the wood. Anona goes quiet for a while... her silence seems to last ages before she nearly gasps. Karovir's aura slowly works its effect on her, calming her down as her face displays some hope now. Now calmed down somewhat, she starts to explain what happened.


Edit: PM sent \\\\

The gold elf priestess abruptly woke up from her reverie, her ears filled with cries, sighs and complaints too loud to allow her to finish her mental exercise. Slowly getting off of her bed, she exits her room inside the Jest, heading towards the room housing the ill druidess.

"Wonderful! - she said in an annoyed tone - how on Arvandor is humanely possible that I am never able to enter reverie inside this bloody tavern without having either a ghost, a dragon, or someone else waking me up?"

Knocking on the room's door, Luthien slowly enters, gazing at everyone inside, especially at Alea's unconscious body laid in the bed.

"My sister - Anona frantically said to her - she has been this since that ritual has been interrupted. She's in this state because of...of Thergal! But that is not the real Thergal!"

Anona's crying shook for a moment Luthien's calm. She too had siblings, and she could understand all too well the druidess' distress. Approaching the bed, Luthien first checks Alea out to determine if any spell is affecting her, then she checks Alea's pulse.

"Allright....I don't mean to offend but you're not making any sense to me for now. Let us concentrate on healing your sister first and on what happened later. From what I can tell she's extremely weak, as if she underwent an enormous stress, but her condition seems stable. I am fairly sure that her life is not in immediate danger....allright, I'll try to heal her with a greater restoration spell. Let's hope it will work...."

Suddenly, a voice coming from the first floor of the tavern interrupted Luthien.

"Priestess, we urgently need you down here. There are some dire news you need to know."

Mumbling in an annoyed way, Luthien addressed Anona before leaving the room

"I'll do my best to heal your sister after this talk will be over. Just don't give up, allright?"

//ooc: please do tell me when you and the others are ready to play the healing attempt IC. I also clarify that this little scene actually happened in game yesterday evening (european time)

/// We'll be jumping IG soon to get some of the RP done. Luthien as far as I'm concerned your write up is from yesterdays IC RP - and the restoration spells etc, failed. Feel free to RP from what has already been posted just recently though. And of course, you can join in later if you wish.

//allright, now that that's clarified, could a dm kindly delete this last post of mine? thanks

*Heran has now told the tale to many different people now, the tale growing as time goes by.

Luthien, however asked for a written report, which he readily agrees to submit.

With Mila by his side to help him remember, he places quill to paper.*

Report of observations leading to the fall of Anu and the corruption of Thergal.

This is what we observed to have happened, to the best of our recollections.

Mila and I were at the second site of "The Fear" in the deep forest, where we came upon a druid of Malar.

Thergal approached to try and talk with the druid, accompanied with Anu and Lais, and Mendel I think. I do not know if any words were actually said by Thergal or the Malarite druid, but, a portal was called forth for an instant which was followed by Thergals death.

We prevailed in the battle, killing the druid and its bevy of snakes and hydras. There was an orb present which was destroyed, along with an amulet which was brought back to be studied.

After the fighting ended I raised Thergal with a scroll, he acted rather rough and curt with those showing concern, but I put it off to his pride being hurt for falling to the Malarite.

The forest of the area where we destroyed the orb almost immediately began to heal itself. So Thergal ported us out of the black orcs territory, to the safety of the Sharpteeth.

We decided to take the two amulets to Candlekeep so that they could be studied and hopefully discover how they work so that we could better prepare against further incursions.

The Anu sisters, Lais, Thergal,and myself carried them back to the Keep. Along the way it became more evident that Thergal was acting strangely. It was also noted that Lais might be having or may have had some ill effect from the amulets so the sisters each took and carried one amulet each.

When we got to the Keep, one was given to Guide Wendel for study, while the other was kept by Anu.

We left the Keep, heading towards the Friendly Arms, Thergal now acting -extremely- hostile towards the sisters.

By the time we got back to the Arms, Thergal was no longer interested in anything aside from strong drink and wild women. The sisters began to try and force Thergal to follow them back to the grove, which he was vehemently resisting. A crowd was gathering so I whispered to Anu to release him and i would get him to follow me to a place in the Sharpteeth where we could talk, and argue if necessary with Thergal in relative solitude.

She nodded and let him go and i managed to get him to come with me to gather drink, with promise of women to follow. The more time passed, and the more we interacted with others, the more evident it was that something was seriously wrong with Thergal.

I did not manage to get to the place where I had told Anu to meet us, but fortunately one of them returned to look for us and managed to track us to the pond near the Gibberling cave, where we had settled down.

Anu tried to convince him to come along with her to the grove, where she had told me he could be treated properly and returned to his senses.

Thergal suddenly shifted to another form and was about to run, Anu hold on as best she could she turned her face to me and pleaded for my aid.

Without proper time to think of anything else ... I bellowed out a song that I often use against enemies that place me in great peril. It was all I could do to call off the song before killing him.

But with him now unconscious, I carried him into the sharpteeth , following Anu who was leading while she and Mila were protecting Thergal and myself from the orcs.

She lead us to the top of a hill near that old tree stump, where she had me lay him down and she told us she was going to do a rooting ceremony to bring Thergal into healing by way of the nature he loves and holds so dear.

Having never seen such a thing before, Mila and I simply stepped back and watched as Anu held her hands to Thergal and began concentrating.

Vines and roots started springing up all around the two of them, wrapping themselves around them both. We watched in amazement.

But then things began to look wrong to me, the vines that were surrounding them began to squeeze. We watched unsure as the tightening continued, obviously making it difficult for Anu to breath.

I drew my sword and was about to begin hacking at the vines when suddenly the vines began to relax. My first thoughts were that the ceremony was over and things were coming to an end.

But Thergal began cursing and jumped up when finally released, he grabbed his staff to help himself to his feet, but, he had to drop it when it burned his hands. Mila and I had no time to react as he suddenly turned and ran into the forest.

The main reason for our hesitation was when we looked to Anu, she had fallen back to the ground, looking pale and ... dead.

I checked for breath and pulse, finding both were slow and weak.

Fortunately Catam came by at that time and checked her more thoroughly, deciding she was not in imminent danger, he lead the way as I carried Anu, Mila seeing to out safety.

Thus we got to Doron Amar where she even now lies under the care of the elfs in an unconscious state.

I later took a much closer look at the staff that had burned Thergal ... his gods blessings are gone. It is no longer the staff of an archdruid, but merely a staff that could be wielded by anyone.


Herran

*Herran has copies made which he gives to Guide Wendel, Silias, Luthien, Catam, and he folds one up placing it on the bed next to Anu(Anona) so that she can read it at a time when she has the heart to do so. He makes one more copy to give to another who he thinks may be of great help.(sent by PM)

//// these are recollections of a bard, and as such may not be exactly what happened, but, quite close ... so if you want me to edit this letter .. forget it do IC comments on your own

// I would like an explanation as to how Laisren's actions were disconcerting, from Herran's view. A better explanation could be more useful thanks

Ele walks across the bridge to Doron Amar. “Fair winds rangers, thank you for your duty,” softly calling out her customary greeting. She follows the winding path through the trees. She stops at the bend alongside the creek and pauses letting her hands rest on the back of the bench. She takes a moment to listen to the crash of the waterfall. Resuming the slight climb up the widening path she circles the Triune statue. She spends four hours in silent meditation he gaze inward. Eventually she takes a few more steps reaching the upper bridge. Laying her hands on the stone rail she gazes over the plaza. Exuding serenity and calm she makes her way to the temple unaffected by greetings and words of those she knows.

Stepping inside she whispers a prayer at each station before leaving a letter at a side table. The letter is illustrated with a moonbow and stylized stars as well as other depictions of the Seldarine.

It reads,
“Heavenly Auriel Elenviel, High Priestess of Sehanine Moonbow, Knight of the Seven Sacred Mysteries, Founder of the Souress-Everae,

By the Luminous Cloud I remain your servant in service to the Seldarine.

Elethineth Mooncalled, Priestess of the Goddess of Moonlight”

Atop the letter she places an especially lustrous dark blue faceted gemstone with twinkling points of light within it before stepping outside. After crossing the high bridge she comes to the statue of the Triune and spends many minutes in meditation and prayer. Circling the statue she stoops to pick the flowers of two plants. Carrying roses and moonflowers at her breast her eyes now glisten as she follows the path to the lower bridge, managing to repeat her oft stated greeting to the rangers there, “Fair winds rangers, thank you for your duty. Farewell.”