Luck & Fortune (Player Post - Nipper of Heels)
Nipper strolled up to the pile of large stones which vaguely resembled a shrine. A crooked sepulcher stood behind a large rectangular doorway blocked by two thick wooden doors. The doors were slightly ajar and the small Tabaxi slide up to the doors and knocked.
"Hello?" he called out, voice echoing in the dark and cavernous interior. There was no reply. With a shrug, he planted his weight and heaved against the door, forcing the massive wooden frame open with a loud creak.
The interior of the Shrine is dimly lit. Green banners hang on the wall, their rich colors muted in the dim light. A golden coin with a woman's smiling face is woven into the fine materiel of the banners. Nipper recognizes this as the face of Tymora, the Goddess of Luck. At collection of chairs, benches, and stools make fill the bulk of the interior, all aligned towards a dais at the far end. There is a small shrine table with a white cloth laid out over it. A small golden chalice with a sprig of pine lay on the table next to a half-burnt candle. A scattering of gold coins, all embossed with that same woman's face. Nipper moves up to the dais and hops up on his toes, trying to see the coins. With a delicate paw, he begins to bat one of the coins behind the edge.
"Can I help you?" a woman says from behind him.
Nipper wheels and the coins he was trying to pilfer flies off the dais and clangs to the floor. A beautiful elf stands behind Nipper with her arms planted firmly on her hips. Her features are flawless, the classic elf features, a visual embodiment of beauty and perfection. Her features are marred. Cuts and bruises on her right cheek and a slender gash on her forehead. Despite her wounds, she presents an intimidating figure and Nippers draws unto himself against his will, shying away from her presence.
Nipper starts gathering all the coins that lay on the floor, to replace them back on the table. "Gggood day...Ma'am, I'm very sorry to have you find me like this" with a slight smirk. "I understand you have been troubled by something, or possibly...someone." After replacing all the coins, the cat stood up to face the woman. He looked up at the tall woman, removing his hat. "Again I am very sorry, I should have introduced myself sooner... my name is Nipper of Heels, and I am obviously very new to this hero thing, but I may be able to help you."
ReplyDelete"Do your troubles worry you?" He asks while scratching his chin "...are you able to share more information, so I may understand your current physical condition?"
The woman narrows her eyes and purses her lips at Nipper and she taps a lacquered fingernail on the wooden back of a nearby chair.
Delete"I have many troubles," she finally says after a time. "Interesting that someone so new to Phandalin would be so interested in my condition? Such altruism seems almost...suspicious. Tell me truthfully, did the Zhentarim send you? Or those zealots from the Order?"
"Bah, neither the Zhentarim, nor the Order are good enough to have me within their ranks. I am in fact, not associated with either of these factions. " Nipper shrugs and looks at the woman. " It's seems we may have more in common than I would have originally believed. Our distrusting nature's may have put us at an impasse. I am willing to put forward effort to earn your trust." The cat sighs, "What would you have me do to earn your confidence.? Trust is difficult to gain but so easy to lose."
DeleteNipper brushes off his hat before placing it back onto his head.
"This will have to work both ways, I don't have any intention of losing my life anytime soon."
"Nor I mine," she says with a snort. With two hands she pulls back her hood and exposes her long white-blond hair which falls over her shoulders with an almost serendipitous grace. She moves towards the shrine table and begins to passively arrange the coins around the sprig leaves.
Delete"It's not my confidence you have to earn really," she says derisively. "I have some...friends who I sometimes do business with - they're the one's you need to prove your worth too. Perhaps you...maybe if we...," she says pensively.
"My name is Sister Garaele and I tend to the Shrine here to our lady of Luck. I am also in the service of a surreptitious collective, the Harpers, perhaps you've heard of them. We have intelligence that the lost spellbook of Bowgentle the Kind is within this region. My benefactors have asked me to seek it out. I was able to determine that in the nearby ruins of Conyberry, just north of the Neverwinter Woods and along the Triboar Trail there is a banshee - Agatha," she says with a scowl. "That creature has the information we need. I went to seek her out. Ran into trouble in the woods - some kind of beast prowls those ruins and I wasn't able to reach her lair." Sister Garaele says. She moves towards a small box at the back of the room and rummages through the contents. She pulls out a small comb from it and points the slender golden item at Nipper.
"Agatha is dangerous but we can't just kill her. The creature is incredibly informed on the history and dealings of the region; about Bowgentle and many other...things. She is also quite vain from what we could determine from her past. I was trying to bargain with her for knowledge of his spellbook but I couldn't get close. Perhaps someone more her....taste could play to her vanity and exchange this bauble to her. I can assure you my benefactors are very interested in how you handle this. You've peaked their interest," she says coyly.
Nipper takes the golden comb. "I will retrieve the information you seek..." he says while turning around and making his way back towards the wooden door which he had come in.
DeleteAs Nipper departs Sister Garaele calls out to him.
Delete"Be careful little one. There are many dark things that lurk in the forest near Conyberry. I enjoy your company! It'd be a pity if you died."
Her words trail off as the large wooden door of the shrine closes behind Nipper.
END POST
ReplyDelete- 50 XP for Nipper of Heels
- x1 Golden Comb for "Banshee Bargain "