[IC] The Narrow Path

[Gardevoiran]

"Sorry for doing that. I had not known it was you," Jen says as Brock finally leaves the crypt, his sword drawn. Jen turns towards him and aims her mace at him, a dark glare across her face. "Undead wretch! You best have a good reason for leaving that crypt where you belong."

Brock looks at Jen, then you, back to Jen, then puts his hand where his nose should be. "Paladin. I'm holding the book for the guy you just slammed. We're going to destroy it so nobody can get their hands on it."

Jen looks visibly surprised as she looks back at you. "Is what he says true?"

[Skinner35]

As he regains his balance, he looks at Brock. "Ah, yes. He is with me. He is the one who can control the destruction of the tome. I understand your resentment towards them, but I implore you to find it in you to deal with it." He said, looking at Jen.
"Now, if I am correct, we have a journey ahead of us. Brock, where are we heading?"

[Gardevoiran]

"A dwarven forge. Not just any though," Brock says as he climbs on top of the Believer's crypt, Jen's expression turning into one of pure and unadulterated annoyance. "Hm... over... there," Brock points to a distant mountain range beyond a series of trees. "The Bronze Maul Forge. The only forge with fires hot enough to burn this book into nothing but ash."

Jen finally speaks up as Brock finishes his statement. "Y-You're not serious about trusting this skeleton?! He's a dirty undead skeleton!" She complains, lifting her shield and helmet off of the ground and dusting them off.

Gobbo runs back to your side, raising the book on Believers back up to you. "Thish ish yoursh."

[Skinner35]

He listens to Brock, processing the information, then looks at Jen. "I understand. But we need him. Just the same as I felt towards that Crab man in hell. But, trust me, we do need him." Then, he looks down at Gobbo and retrieves the book. "Thank you, dear friend."
Then, he turns back to Brock. "Lead on."

[Gardevoiran]

Jen grumbles before finally speaking again. "... if he so much as dares to hurt one of us, he dies," Brock, overhearing the threat, chuckles a few times before beginning to walk off towards the forest in the distance, his sword in hand and his green tome open to a specific page.

Gobbo trails behind you, having to step more frequently due to his smaller size. "Ish Missh Paladin coming with ush?"

OOC Question

Do you wanna start controlling Gobbo as a character? Advance him your own way?

[Skinner35]

"He won't." He blatantly states, the looks back at Gobbo. "Yes, she will be joining us." He smiles then turns back. "Jen, what ever happened to you after we disbanded in hell?"

[Gardevoiran]

Jen checks through her things again before responding to you. "I woke up in the center of a random village. I was naked with my underclothes. The paladins found me and saw me as one of them, once my armor was back on me. I then returned to my previous status before becoming Head-Paladin-Interim," Jen explains as she walks, her gear clearly inspired from her run through in Hell. "Grog was with me. I do not know where he is, now. I hope he is alright... and that I find him soon..."

Brock chuckles under his breath again as he continues leading, a few plants growing off of his armor.

[Skinner35]

"I would rather not find that alcoholic maniac. Nearly killed me on one to many occasions." He said, remembering how many times he almost died because of them. Being the offset, smaller brother of the group. "Although, if we do come upon him, he will not be allowed any alcohol, we would need him to be of a clear mind."

[Gardevoiran]

"You did not understand him like I did. Like the Light did," Jen states as she overhears Brock chuckling again. "You find something funny, skeleton. What is it?" she asks in an annoyed tone.

"You guys really came from Hell...? That's the most bullshit story I've ever heard, and I've played cards with Death." Brock says as the plants on his armor begin to move on their own, forming a snakelike pet, turning around and snuggling up to the skeleton.

[Skinner35]

"Trust me Brock, sometimes, I don't believe it either. Jen, back down." He says, refusing to let those two fight. "Our versions of Death and Hell differ."

[Gardevoiran]

"... Death is a person. Not a place," Brock corrects as he keeps leading the way, his gaze fixated on the mountains ahead of your group. "The afterlife exists. Some call it Hell. Some call it the Ascendant Plane. I call it the world. It's all complicated really."

Jen stays silent, but it's evident that she's clearly ticked off.

Gobbo, on the other hand, has a small light in his hand. Not a fire, just a light there in general. You don't know how he was able to conjure that, but it's there nonetheless.

[Skinner35]

"Gobbo, how did you do that?" He asks with a smile, proud of his friends discovery. "You're learning spells? I'm sure that someone can help with that." Emphasizing that end of the sentence so that Jen and Brock can hear it.

[Gardevoiran]

"Yashar taught me a long time ago," Gobbo calmly said as the light disappeared, a frown dropping onto his face.

The two other members of the party had... mixed reactions to you asking them to teach Gobbo magic. Brock shrugged as he flipped through his book with the assumed intent on finding something simple to teach. Jen, on the other hand, scratched her neck nervously as her face furrowed into a slightly disgusted expression. Paladins weren't really the best when it came to treating goblins, and Jen wasn't an exception in this case. Especially with the rep some goblins have, there was a full reason to not trust 'em.

[Skinner35]

"Well, that's nice. You will learn more along the way, and so will I." He says with a hopeful smile as they continued to trek, then he began to hear rustling in the wooded are around them, he placed his hand on an pistol. "Brock, Jen, we're not alone."

[Gardevoiran]

You aren't in a wooded area.

You're about to enter the forest, but you aren't surrounded just yet. In fact, you're along a clear path heading towards the town of Secondi Brook. A calm town that isn't known for much, but the people there are nice and the booze at their tavern is good. You do know that the gnome merchant there specializes in spellcraft and is an expert on the topic of lycanthropes, plus she's always willing to teach some youth her skills.

An unseen voice echoes in your ear. "Do not hijack the story. This is your only warning." As soon as it came, you forget it even existed.

Jen turns to you and looks at you funnily. "Tobias, are you feeling alright?"

[Skinner35]

He suddenly felt the burning need to flip the middle finger to the proverbial God. Then it faded as he heard Jen. "Yea. Guess it's just from sleep deprivation."

[Gardevoiran]

"Maybe we should stop at Secondi Brook? I can get a few rooms at the inn there." Brock prepared a snarky response to Jen before his expression melted. "... it is getting dark... and I'm out of booze..." Brock pulled the bottle out of his shirt and tipped it over, showing only dust falling from the bottle. "... there's also that Magdalene there. I heard she was a pretty good sorceress from the chumps that tried taking the book before you, Toby."

Gobbo's face lit up as he heard the word 'sorceress'. "Do you think she can teach me magicsh, Tobiash?!"

[Skinner35]

"Sounds good to me. I need to clean my arm anyways." He says, nodding. Then he turns to Gobbo. "She may be able to." He said, wondering if God wanted to mess around any more.

[Gardevoiran]

"QUICKLY! WE MUSHT GO!" Gobbo gleefully says as he runs off towards Secondi Brook. Brock eagerly runs after him, shouting "HOLD UP GOBLINS CAN'T GO ALONE!"

Jen simply stares ahead of her as she speaks to you one more time, kind of glad she's alone with you for once. "Tobias. How in the Light are we on another one of these adventures?"

[Skinner35]

"GOBBO! HOLD UP!" He yells, and Gobbo slows to accommodate to everyone else's speed. As he jogs past Jen, he says, "To Hell and back if I know."