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Feanor Moss came into the church in time to hear the conversation between Sister Gwen and Lillianna. He'd been informed that adventurers had finally come to deal with the situation on Temple Hill, something he'd been anticipating for quite some time. After speaking with a friend, he'd caught up with party and now waited for a chance to speak, intrigued by the topic of the two women's conversation. After he understood the situation regarding Sister Gwen's brother, he intruded.

"Hello there," he said softly. "I couldn't help but overhear - I'm sorry to hear about your brother, Sister Gwen - the situation is more dire than you understand. The ghost of your brother is in danger of permanent purgatory, trapped in a restless state, in the Mazy Hillocks for eternity, if something is not done as soon as possible..."

***


When the party met up on the other side of the village, Lillianna anxiously explained the emergency she'd discovered regarding the ghost who'd warned them about the direwolves in The Mazy Hillocks. She could not stand by and let the spirit of that man be destined for such a horrible fate, and had to go with Sister Gwen to help her save her brother's soul. She had to leave at once, and return to Valhiem to prepare a ritual that would release the ghost from this world.

It was an unfortunate situation, but Lillianna Steiner, after being begged by Sister Gwen and convinced by Feanor Moss, would abandon the mission to help. She apologized to her party members and promised to meet up with them in a few days, once her task was complete.

Second Chance would be without their wizard for the foreseeable future.

After wishing Lillianna luck, the rest of the party left Cherrad and headed to the foot of Temple Hill, to start the climb up to the Temple of Hades where they would camp outside until the full moon shone bright enough to open up the temple entrance.

***


Feanor Moss could not believe his luck. It took all his charm and powers of deception to convince the two women that Gwen's brother's spirit needed saving as soon as possible. Using a mixture of truths and old legends, with lies made up on the spot, he'd riled up the trainee priestess into such a tearful frenzy that both of their pleas to the inexperienced adventurer had somehow managed to convince Lillianna to abandon her own party!

He only hoped that his warning would reach his leader, The Listener, in time to prepare the cult for a fight.
From up in the air on the way to Panama, I wanted to write and say I appreciate getting to RP with all of you. In no particular order:

Teyao - watching James develop (not always for good when alcohol is involved lol) has been great.
Crusader Lord - your posts are always detailed and I can tell Lillianna has a lot of thought put into her. I think our collab broke the post length record here :P
Saiyan - Zell is hilarious to me. He's so unlike anyone I've written.
Loksfjoer - Fenna is being fleshed out nicely. Her presence keeps the team grounded in a sense and Adam needs to interact with her (and Sil) more.
Xenon - of course, the work you've put into the setting makes it succeed. This wouldn't be here without you GMing it.
Zool - MacKensie is an interesting character. I did not intend for Adam to have so much in common with her. I'm glad it worked out that way though, their dynamic has been fun to write and I look forward to seeing it continue.
Jay009 - Barracker is a solid (literally and figuratively lol) addition to the RP. He's already had an impact on the team and I expect that to continue.
>>>Zapdos - Active in IC and OOC from day 1. Essential to the success of the RP. Wouldn't be the same without him!<<<

I look forward to writing with you all more in the future!


Edited.


Cherrad, Valhiem Region, Central Mytheria



The road through the region was a gentle incline, taking Second Chance around and through a cluster of hills that signalled Central Mytheria reverting to type - the naturally hilly terrain of Central Mytheria was only flat in patches.

As the party came around the hill that originally blocked their view of what was ahead, the vista suddenly sprung upon them; the sight of the village, Cherrad, the hills and trees sprawled out beyond.

The road would now gently decline, lowering them into what was undoubtedly one of the smaller villages in the region. Cherrad was a place of no more than 50 houses. Complete with a meeting hall, a modest church of Iris, an inn, post office and one or two other amenities that passers-by might be interested in, it would be difficult to tell which building was which, seeing as all were as similarly built as the houses people lived in. Cherrad was kind to outsiders, but they were simple folk, with a way of life that didn't take kindly to the changing times or the general 'living speed' and chaos of the city they neighboured.

In the backdrop, Temple Hill could be seen, almost big enough to be called a mountain.


The wagon driver was caught between a mixture of relief at Barracker confirming that they were indeed adventurers come to deal with the Temple of Hades, but also wariness at the sight of the vampire. The paladin was positively terrifying to look at.

"Information? Hmmm," he thought about Adam's question, his eyes searching the party as he did so. "Well, s'gotta be at least twenty cult members up in that temple, to be sure. A small army, it must feel like. They've got weapons, magic and they're not afraid to come out and use 'em on the neigbouring villages."

As he looked at Barracker again, he was suddenly reminded of something that might be useful.

"Actually... there is something you ought'a know. The village of Wensleydale, a couple'a miles on other side o' Temple Hill: A man came to the village, last week, looking for help to rescue some injured folk who'd escaped the cult and were at the bottom of Temple Hill in need of some aid and escort. Wensleydale sent ten of their men with the man to go and get the escapee 'nd bring them back to safety. Only, it turned out t'was a trap. The man was actually a cultist who was luring in unsuspecting villagers for recruitment. One villager managed to get away but told that the rest were beaten and taken prisoner." The wagon driver shook his head. "It'll give a man nightmares wondering how they manage to brainwash innocent people. Be careful adventurers. This cult is not above using deception in it's evil workings."

The wagon driver wished them luck and took his leave, continuing down the road on course for Valhiem. The party were left to their own thoughts, with the small village of Cherrad a short walk away on their route to Temple Hill.


"How could I be so stupid?" Clarissa Shields muttered.

How could she have ignored the clues? The WellSprings temporarily dry up due to Universal Tier, top secret magical rituals being performed in Capitol City. A few days later, unprecedented, revolutionary technology is delivered to her doorstep by a party whose Ranger outright tells her that she was from another world. And now she's finding out that the Cleric who leads them is blessed by the entirety of the Quinity and their kin. Not to mention that this same party somehow managed to kill Aurok the Maneater.

"Excuse me?" Areleth asked. It was he whose instincts had led him to the highly classified library of The Academy to research the possibilities of Second Chance's presence in the city. The findings were clear.

Clarissa looked at him and shook her head, then turned to the closest subordinate in the office. "You... go down to the city and find the party; Second Chance. Take whomever you need. They must be somewhere in Valhiem. I want them here as soon as possible."

"At once," the subordinate replied and disappeared.

Mayor Pendlebury frowned. "Will somebody tell me what in the world is going on?"

Areleth bowed his head. "I'm afraid this may above all of our stations, Mayor." He then looked at Clarissa. "Mytheria hangs in the balance."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________


But Second Chance were no longer in the city of Valhiem.

The party had gathered together and were gone before the morning was out. Joji never did show up at The Mended Drum, but replacing him was Barracker Kassel, the paladin monster hunter. The vampire had finally been introduced to Lillianna and Second Chance were now headed towards the Temple of Hades in the local region. They had made good headway during the afternoon, using the well-kept roads of the local region.

The mission sat firmly in all of the adventurers' minds: Arrive outside the temple on the hill by nightfall, and the full moon's light would reopen the entrance. Once inside, they would find their way to the main chamber and do battle with the Greater Wraith that had taken control of the temple and enslaved it's followers. It would not be easy, but success would take them all one step closer to the answers they sought.

Eventually, the party would come across a wagon that was going the opposite way. The driver recognized the attire of the adventurers and stopped to speak to them.

"Afternoon there, adventurers," he greeted, tipping his hat. "You ain't, per chance, on business in the area, are you?" He pointed back the way he came. "The village of Cherrad's up yonder way. They're in dire straits, right now, what with Hades' Temple gone rogue 'nd all. They've been waiting for the Adventurer's Guild to send some help about that."
@ZoolYep, you're saddled with us, I'm afraid. Try to stay emotionally stable

@ZapdosI remember 'Greens Grocery' but I'll have to go back and read again to find the others.

Wow, it's reigning puns right now!


Old Gilligan grumbled to himself as he grabbed the things MacKensie needed to patch up Adam. But he did so a little more quietly than usual. And a little more softly. He also handed her a potent healing salve to apply before the bandages. Then he went to the fireplace to sit down, adjusting his chair to make sure his back would be completely to his unwanted guests.

After getting a fire going, he sat back, ignoring the chatter from the youngsters.

"Don't even think about asking to stay the night because it's not happening," he told them randomly. "When you're hale enough to walk your skinny little behinds back down my mountain, you can scram."

He would however, explain anything Adam asked about the transformation, including that it would cost him a lot of energy to activate it until he gained more experience and passed further trials. Once a day would likely max him out until then, and he wouldn't be able to hold his shape-shifted form for very long. He also warned that the first couple of times he did it, he would struggle to think rationally and logically, and be himself mentally. But with practice, he would soon learn how to keep his mind human, and at higher levels, he would even learn how to speak common tongue.

And last but not least... "That was no easy task for a new Druid. Well done."


Gilligan sneered as Adam made eyes at MacKensie, then shouted at the young man when he got slashed across the chest. "Focus, you idiot!" Then he turned his anger on MacKensie. "What did I tell you!? Pointless distraction!" he shooed her away. "Back off."

Then Adam's clever maneouver blinded the Black Bear who was stunned as Adam rose and charged. The beast swung a paw, but Adam's connecting punch staggered the animal and it's swing diverted and just whiffed over Adam's head. The bear staggered backwards a step and swung again, but Adam's impromptu fighting stance meant that he took the blow on his forearm, an excellent block that left the bear vunerable to a continuation attack!


Simon waited for Lillianna to locate the spell in her mind, a relaxed and content expression on his face. The thought of a Cleric-led adventurer party had warmed his heart and boosted his spirits, so for once he wasn't thinking about the next thing he would complain about. When Lillianna told him that something was wrong, he just figured it was regular newbie struggles, so he gave her some encouragement.

"You can do it, miss. I promise you it's there." All with the Light Domain affinity had access to this spell. Sometimes, hidden abilities required regular sessions of meditation to find within the mind, but something like a basic Spirit Bolt should've been able to be easily found once a wizard had read the spell from a book. "Keep looking."

Then she found... huh? ...something else?

Simon's hands moitioned in unison, the special hand movements required to silently cast Lesser Ward. The magical shield materialized in front of him.

"Spirit wha-" Simon was interrupted as the blast shot his way and hit the shield. The shield shattered completely and Simon flew backwards into the wall and then dropped to the floor. "Oh, shit," he cursed in pain. "What the hell was that?"

That was something like a Spirit Bolt, but bright like higher level version of it, and boy did it pack a punch!

Simon struggled to his feet. "By the winged sandles of Iskara, that was amazing. Spirit Gun? I've never even heard of that, before." He walked over to her, his face a mix of admiration, confusion and perhaps a little fear. But he managed to smile through it all. "You think you could do that again? I mean, is still there, in your mind?"



Adam's punch landed squarely on the bears nose and it reeled backwards with both paws covering it's hurting snout, it's head trying to shake away the pain.

"That's it, Adam! Show it who's boss!" Gilligan shouted.

The bear growled and roared after recovering, then rushed Adam. With a left, it threw an uppercut and it's claws slashed Adam's chest, drawing blood. The right paw came around with all the bear's might, aiming for a knockout blow.............
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