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In Arrabar, capital city of Chondath, Lord Eles Wianar is sending out messengers for adventurers to carry out various tasks. One such messenger reaches Taeddry, a hin warrior visiting the city.
Taeddry is confused at receiving the message and asks the messenger verbally, "Why did you choose me?"
"There have been reports of a cooshie, a rare elven dog, in the Chondalwood; milord Wianar wishes for its capture."
"Ah, I see," Taeddry replies, "but I am not familiar with this type of animal, what does it look like?"
"Hunters have been trying to kill it, but Lord Wianar needs it alive. It looks much like a regular dog, but its tail arcs high over its back, and it runs much swifter than most."
"The Chondalwood is very large; where was the dog seen last?" Taeddry askes with a slight smile because she cannot believe that finding the dog is even possible without knowing a general area of the wood to start in.
"The cooshee is quite elusive, so milord had a special device made to track it down." He holds out a clear glass rod with a red liquid filling half of it.
Taeddry isn't so sure about this device because she's not comfortable with too much magic. "How's it work?" she asks without touching it.
"As you can see, the red liquid flows towards the cooshee, so by moving the rod around you can divine its general direction." Indeed, as he moves it around Taeddry sees that it does seem to shift a bit.
"Hmmm, I see...okay, I'll go and try to find this dog for you. Is it friendly or am I going to have to worry about subduing it?" Taeddry doesn't want to have to hurt the dog in any way in order to get it to come back with her.
The man smirks. "Well, let's just say that a net would be a good investment."
Frowning in consternation, Taeddry takes the wand from the man, "Where do you want me to bring the dog when I've found it?"
"The Generon, milord's palace. The guards within will take of things from there."
"All right then. I guess I should ask you what the reward for this dog is?" Taeddry says with a smirk of her own.
Syonique:: The man holds out a thin line of parchment. "I assume you *can* read?" he sneers.
"No, I can't." Taeddry says with a slow blush of embarrassement rising up her neck to her face.
The man mutters something in a language Taeddry doesn't understand. "Two thousand gold," he explains in Tradespeak. "Far more than the creature's weight in gold."
Since money really doesn't mean that much to Taeddry, she simply nods as if she understands how much the reward really is, "That'll be fine."
"Very good; milord will be most pleased. I suggest you hurry; the reward is for capturing the beast *alive*."
Thinking to herself, "What an @#%$," Taeddry just nods and walks away from him. She begins to look for a store that will have nets, as well as some place that might be able to sell her a sleeping potion or two.
Although she is able to find the net easily enough, Taeddry has a bit more trouble with the poison. "Well, miss, I've got this here vial of Taggit Oil which should suit you just fine... I think I could let it go for, oh, 120 gold?"
Lady of Shadow:: "I don't want to kill this animal. Will that put it to sleep without hurting it?" Taeddry asks with complete confusion evident on her face.
"Oh, definitely. It won't even have any effect for a full minute, so it won't get suspicious. Then, poof! Lights-out."
"Hmmm," Taeddry thinks it over for a moment or two. "How about I give you a hundred for it?"
"A hundred?! Surely you jest. I couldn't let it go for less than a hundred and fifteen. The ingredients aren't easy to get ahold of, you know!"
"No, I don't know cuz that's not what I do." Taeddry then turns her back on the man and begins to rummage through the furs she is wearing in search of her money pouch. She looks over her shoulder at the man, "Gimme a second here to find my pouch." Locating it, Taeddry slowly counts out what she thinks is a hundred and fifteen gold pieces. She didn't bring too much money into the city with her because her gnomish friends had warned her about the city, so most of her funds were buried in a safe place in the woods. Turning back to the counter, she lays her money down; covering it with a grubby hand as she slides it across to the man.
"... eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen? You drive a hard bargain. Very well, have it your way. One moment, please... " The man scoops up the gold and disappears into the back room, returning with a small vial of clear oil in a cheap padded wooden box, which he hands over to Taeddry.
Taeddry gingerly takes the box from the man and opens it to examine the contents. "How much of this should I use for a dog?"
"Frankly, miss... all of it. Especially the kind that walks on two legs, if you know what I mean." He gives a sly wink and goes back to dusting off some of his more... 'legal' potions on the shelf.
Shaking her head at the man's reference to two-legged dogs, Taeddry closes the box again and places it carefully in her backpack before leaving the store.
((Stats: DC 15, Initial damage: none, Secondary damage: unconsciousness for 1d3 hours. Taeddry also gets a net and a tanglefoot bag, and heads out into the forest just after lunch))
As Taeddry leaves the city and starts marching out towards the forest, she overhears a group of humans laughing drunkenly and talking about 'that elven @#%$.'
Lady of Shadow:: Since she is looking for an elven dog, this catches her attention and she stops to listen to the rest of the conversation without being obtrusive.
"Heh, yeah. I heard some of those wizards wanted the blood, make a potion or summat... but hey, just so long as I don't have to drink it, right, right?" "Hey, you'd drink anything man, and you know *hic* it!"
Taeddry gets within 30 feet of the one talking the loudest and with out looking at the group, she says into his mind. "And what is the name of the wizard looking for the dog?"
"Oh, I dunno... I think ol' man Zerbin might like it... " The man's companions turn in shock on him. "What?! Don't say something like that, man! What if he's spying on you with a spell or somethin'?"
Taeddry tries not to grin at this reaction as she speaks silently to him again, "Old man Zerbin, who cares? Can he spy on you? Is he a wizard or somethin?"
"Well, yeah, I guess he's a powerful enough wizard to pull that sorta @#%$ off... " The man's companions nod and raise their glasses for another gulp.
"And he lives close enough to do that? How close does he live?" Taeddry questions silently again.
"Oh, I don- hey, waitaminute. How could you guys be talking if you're drinking? Who said that?!" The man begins to look around.
Taeddry sees that he's becoming suspicious, so she moves away from the group and continues out of town to the forest. She moves slowly so as not to attract any attention...
The man glances around for a few more moments, then dumps the rest of his mug in disgust. "I've had enough. Come on, guys, let's get going." The men begin walking out into the forest.
Seeing the direction the men are heading, Taeddry sighs and thinks to herself, "Jus' what I need, them fools in the forest lookin' fer the dog too."
Then she remembers that she has an advtange over them with the rod the toady gave her and she smiles widely.
Taeddry heads off into the forest, following the rod. For the first few hours it seems pretty straightforward, but then the liquid starts to shift left and right rapidly.
Taeddry looks questioningly at the rod, "Stupid magic." Then she looks up to see if she sees anything in the forest before her.
Trees. Lots and lots of trees.
Looking back down at the rod in her hand, she begins to turn in a circle to see if it calms down any.
The liquid seems to flow away from her, to the far end, when she faces to the west (away from town) and to the east (towards town), but everywhere else it seems to be acting rather chaotically, flipping between the two extremes.
Taeddry sighs in exasperation and can only figure that the dog is right in the area where she is and knowing her luck the damn thing can turn invisible. She sits down and tries to remain calm while she looks closer at the area around her.
Nothing seems to be unusual about the trees in the area... rather typcal, really. As she sits in silence, she hears some crashing through the trees, somewhere in the distance to the east.
Thinking to herself, "Probably those stupid drunks crashin' around out there. Nothin' like humans to make such noise in the forest," Taeddry sighs again and decides to go and see what the drunks were up to.
Taeddry enters a small clearing just in time to see a group of goblins come tearing through. The goblins gape in shock at the lone halfling, but then quickly recover and throw javelins at her. Three of the thrown javelins slam into Taeddry, but her savage instincts cause her to just barely dodge the fourth.
As Taeddry is hit by three of the four javelins, she says aloud, "I hate goblins." Taking cover behind a nearby tree, Taeddry draws her bow and nocks an arrow into it, then she aims for one of the goblins than managed to hit her.
The goblin stumbles from the shot and collapses, fatally wounded. Its companions glance over at it for a moment, then shrug and draw clubs, running at the lone halfling.
"@#%$" Taeddry says as she drops her bow and unlatches her hooked hammer from her belt. "I guess all of you are ready to die today then," she says with a fearsome smile as she strikes out at two of them, one she aims at with the blunt end of her weapon, the other gets the pointed end.
After Taeddry deftly dodges the goblins' attacks and counterattacks with a fierce blow to goblin noggin, the other two goblins break off and run away shrieking.
Taeddry manages to smash one from behind, then the remaining goblin disappears from sight, if not hearing, as Taeddry pulls her hammerhook free.
Wiping the blood from her hammerhook, Taeddry relatches it to her belt then she recovers her shortbow before searching these bodies for anything useful.
The goblins have a few grimey coppers each, a club, and a javelin (used on the Hin herself), but other than that the only thing of note is a pretty crystal on a string around the neck of one of the goblins.
Taeddry, liking the crystal, rips it from the goblin's neck and reties it about her own. Then she takes out a healing potion to soothe and heal her wounds.
Taeddry looks at the rod again to see where it is pointing now. It... still seems to be fluctuating between east and west. Taeddry thinks to herself, "How fast is this stupid dog anyway?" She then decides to follow the rod away from town to the west.
As Taeddry continues cautiously through the woods, she hears yet more crunching and snapping through the woods, this time behind her... and closing fast.
Thinking that the goblin went and got some friends, Taeddry mumbles, "Aw, crap" before beginning to look for a place to hide, as well as terrain that will hide her foot prints.
Taeddry hides behind a bush and waits; less than a minute later, a large worg runs by, a hobgoblin in tow.
Taeddry tries not to breathe, she's had too many bad experiences with Hobgoblins in the past and doesn't want to see a repeat.
The worg and hobgoblin tear past, not seeing the small Hin, and continue off through the woods... in the exact direction the wand is pointing.
Figuring that they are probably after the silly dog too, Taeddry follows them from a slight distance so that they are not alerted to her presence. "Sheesh, is everyone in the world after this animal," she thinks to herself.
The worg and hobgoblin lead the way to a rather large clearing, and Taeddry realizes that if she follows them now she might be seen.
Seeing the worg and hobgoblin enter the clearing, Taeddry stops short to see what is happening and she glances at the rod to see what it's doing. It's still fluctuating a bit... but now, it seems to be going between east and west-southwest. Taeddry looks to see which direction the worg and hobgoblin are going in to determine which direction she'll be going.
Taeddry is completely confused by the rod's readings and decides to continue following the rod, as well as the hobgoblin to the east. She now begins to think that perhaps there's more than one of these cooshie's here in the forest and keeping one away from the hobgoblin would be fun.
Fun is one thing, but up ahead, the worg and hobgoblin seem busy with something entirely different as the two stop, the worg growling audibly as the two move to encircle a humanoid at the far end of the clearing.
Taeddry moves a little closer to see what the worg and hobgoblin have captured. As Taeddry steps into the open clearing, she can see a young elven boy backing up toward the nearest tree as the worg and hobgoblin prepare to attack.
'Aw, that's not right' Taeddry thinks as she nocks an arrow into her short bow and takes careful aim at the worg. Then she fires the arrow, hoping that it hits home - and it does!
The worg snarls and turns to face Taeddry. Grunting in surprise, the hobgoblin also turns to face her.
Taeddry stands her ground, for the moment, and says, "Now, why are ya pickin' on the li'l elf boy?"
Snarling, the two charge at Taeddry.
Taeddry thinks that the tree near her would be a good place to be right now, so she slings her bow over her head and attempts to climb the tree as quickly as she can.
As Taeddry scrambles up the tree, the worg and hobgoblin storm over and glare up at her. The hobgoblin points up at her and growls something out, but while the Hin doesn't understand the words, the tone is quite clear.
"Yeah, yeah," Taeddry taunts, "I'm sure yer quite upset with me, but ya never answered my question about the elf boy."
Sputtering and cursing in Goblin, the hobgoblin tears a javelin off its back and hurls it up at Taeddry, but misses horribly.
Taeddry just laughs as she climbs a little higher up the tree until she finds a branch that she can comfortably sit on. Then she removes her bow from her back in order to nock another arrow in it and fire at the hobgoblin.
Once she reaches a comfortable and sturdy branch to rest upon, she attempts to communicate telepathically with the elf, but he's out of range.
Seeing Taeddry high up in the tree, the hobgoblin gives up and growls at the worg, causing the two to turn towards the elf boy... who by now has already started climbing his own tree. Screaming in frustration, the hobgoblin and worg charge at the elf's tree. The worg circles the tree while the hobgoblin places a knife in his mouth and starts climbing.
"@#%$, " Taeddry says as she tries to see if she can get a clear shot at the hobgoblin from her tree, standing up and walking along a tree branch closest to the elf's tree.
As she stands on the branch, Taeddry can get a clear shot at either the hobgoblin or the worg below, but she knows that as soon as she makes a shot both will be on their guard. She decides to take the shot at the hobgoblin because he is a greater threat to the kid right now.
The arrow slams into the hobgoblin's back; Taeddry can hear its scream of pain all the way across the clearing. However, the monster ignores her and continues climbing after the boy, who is now high in the tree and starting to run out of places to run to.
Taeddry yells out at the hobgoblin, "Why doncha come and pick on someone who can give you a challenge. What kind of challenge will ya get from that boy? Or are you a female who prefers an easier kill?"
The hobgoblin stops for a moment to turn and curse at Taeddry, shaking a fist at her before frantically grasping out before it falls off the tree.
Taeddry moves back to the trunk of the tree laughing loudly at the hobgoblin while she nocks another arrow. The hobgoblin screams out one last curse before continuing after the boy.
Taeddry sighs and begins to shimmy down the tree. As she drops, the orc ascends. Desperate, the elf boy runs out and makes a leap for the closest tree... and slips.
"NO!" Taeddry screams.
Snarling, the hobgoblin reaches out and manages to catch the elven lad's foot, causing the young elf to swing down and slam head-first into the tree. Its unconscious prey slung over one shoulder, the triumphant hobgoblin starts climbing down.
Taeddry screams in rage and charges the hobgoblin, dropping her bow and drawing her hammer... and barely manages to duck under the forgotten worg as it leaps for her throat.
As she rolls to her feet, her strange weapon slams into the hobgoblin, dangerously close to the elf slung over its shoulder.
The hobgoblin scrabbles for its longsword, but then its eyes flicker and grow dim as its lungs fill with blood. Coughing, the monster collapses on the ground, leaving Taeddry to face off with the worg.
The worg leaps at Taeddry once more, but she just squats a little and the oversized mutt goes flying overhead.
Taeddry turns towards the worg with a grim smile on her face and she growls at it before swinging at it with both ends of her hammer. Taeddry's gnomish weapon slams into both sides of the worg's head in a merciless flurry. Bleeding profusely, the creature whines and backs away from the unnaturally dangerous hin death-dealer.
Taeddry has no intention of allowing this creature to live, so she charges it to strike at it once more with her hooked hammer. Before the startled worg can escape, Taeddry is upon it. Her hammer shatters its braincase, causing the monster to slump twitching to the ground.
Taeddry is relieved that the creature is dead and as she begins to calm down, she realizes that she's very tired. Moving over to the unconscious elf and checks him over: the poor youth seems rather stunned, but he should recover with a good night's sleep. As she finishes her examination of the boy, Taeddry hears a low growling behind her.
Taeddry turns to see what is behind her; she has a strong suspicion that it's the elusive elf dog. Thankfully, that does indeed prove to be the case, at least based on the sketchy description she got from the messenger earlier. The dog is rather large, but at least it's a normal size, unlike the worg carcass under its feet. It lowers its head and growls once more.
Putting her hookhammer away, she raises her hands and slowly backs away from the boy, all the while saying, "It's alright... I'm not going to hurt him."
The dog, weighing perhaps two hundred pounds, marches over to stand protectively over the unconscious boy. Now that it's closer, Taeddry can see that it has a greenish coat with brown spots; this coloration must serve it very well in the forest.
Taeddry moves slowly to a nearby tree, sits on the ground, and leans back against the tree to await the boy's awakening. As Taeddry leans there, she hears some more crashing through the trees, once more from the west.
"Great," she thinks as she starts to rise from her position on the ground and faces in the direction of the crashing. Drawing her hammer, she waits...
Taeddry almost sighs in disgust when she sees the four drunken humans from before enter the clearing. She stands up and says, "Okay boys, this is my capture, so bugger off."
One of the men looks down at Taeddry and laughs. "What's this, a little girl doesn't want us to hurt her doggie?" He laughs and the other men join in.
Taeddry is hoping that the elven lad will awaken and take posession of what is so obviously his pet, but the jibing of the men annoy her. "Don't you big, strong men have anything better to do than chase a dog through the woods? Or are you all too incompetent to do anything else?" Taeddry says with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Alright, that's it!" snarls the leader, drawing a shortsword. The other three men quickly do the same. "Now leave before you get hurt!"
Drawing her own weapon, Taeddry laughs, "Sorry fellas, I told you that this was my capture. You can't have it."
The four men charge across the clearing, shouting off-key warcries. Taeddry sends a thought towards the dog, "You might want to help me here." Then she sets herself for the first attack.
As the leader of the thugs steps up, expecting the 'little girl' to be easy prey, Taeddry proves to be anything but. She steps forward and snaps out with her hammer, knocking out the thug's knees with one blow and puncturing a lung with the other. The human crumples to the ground as his cronies run after him.
Glaring at the other men, Taeddry snears, "So, you guys want some of that, or would you rather pick up your buddy here and go home?"
One of the men spits and readies his sword. "Bah, one fewer means more money for the rest of us!!" He lunges out at Taeedry, but only scores a glancing wound against his small target. The other two men also try to hit her but fail miserably. "Surround her!" snarls one of the men, frustrated.
Taeddry laughs at their bumbling attempts to hurt her, takes a few steps in an attempt to not be flanked, and then she strikes out at the one who did manage to strike her, "You put a hole in my shirt!" she screams in a rage.
The second victim of Taeddry's wrath fares no better than the first as the small hin goes into a berserker rage, tearing into the hapless human without mercy. Soon, two bleeding humans lie on the ground as the remaining two reconsider their chances.
"So, yer still wantin' some of this?" Taeddry inquires with a fierce grin on her face.
"Screw this, I'm outta here!" panics one of the men as he drops his sword and flees. His companion glances at Taeddry's blood-spattered face and follows suit, although he has the presence of mind to keep his blade.
Looking around for another combatant, Taeddry feels the rage begin to slip from her as she finds that both men have gone and weariness grows in her body. Moving to pick up the sword the thug dropped, Taeddry examines it to see if it's worth anything, then she moves to the men she took out to search their pockets and examine their weapons as well. She then remembers the dog and the elf boy and looks to see if they are still in the clearing with her.
The sword is serviceable, if not particularly noteworthy, but in the pocket of the leader Taeddry finds another glass rod similarly half-filled with red liquid. Seeing this rod, Taeddry realizes that the person who hired her has also hired others and that there might be more trouble coming her way.
Taeddry decides that they all need to get out of here before others arrive. She attempts to approach the dog while uttering what she hopes is comforting sounds, "It's okay boy. We just need to wake your master up and get out of here."
The dog growls, but after seeing her drive off the other attackers it allows her to approach. Taeddry slowly kneels beside the elf and checks him to see if he's all right and if he will awaken.
Deciding that she will have to give her one of her remaining healing potions, Taeddry pulls one out of her backpack and slowly pours it down the elf's throat. The dog growls when the boy coughs, but calms down once he waves his hand at it.
Taeddry puts her arm behind the boy's shoulders and helps him to sit up. "You all right there kiddo? You took quite a smack to yer head there."
The boy looks up blankly at Taeddry and rattles off a reply in Elven.
Taeddry sighs heavily. "Cripes, I don't speak your language." Then switching to the only other language she knows besides Halfling and Common, Taeddry asks in Shaaran, "Do you understand me?"
The boy nods. "Thank you for helping me, miss... ?"
Smiling and holding out her hand, she says, "Taeddry, my name is Taeddry. What's yers?"
"Sirrial. Please, Miss Taeddry, I need to go before the bad men come back. They want to capture Dopple."
"Yeah, no kidding." Taeddry says as she indicates the bodies of the two men lying a few feet away from them. "Apparently, a wizard of some sorts wants yer pooch to use for a spell. I dunno about all that magicy stuff, but agree that we need to get outta her now. I have to tell you that the same man hired me to find the dog, but I see that it really belongs to you and I'm wantin' to help you two get someplace safe."
"We can't, there's no place safe... somehow they always find us... "
Taking the rod out of her pocket that she took of the thug, Taeddry hands it to the boy. "This is how they're findin' you. You know anything about stopping these things from workin'?"
"I don't... but I'm sure the shamen of the village could use this to stop them! May I keep this, miss? Please?"
"Sure thing kiddo," she says with a smile. "So, where's this village of yers? Perhaps we should head there now and let yer shaman have a look at this thing."
"Sure, follow me! Come on, Dopple!" Thus saying, the elven lad runs off into the forest, his dog keeping pace. Taeddry picks up her bow and follows their lead and manages to keep up with them.
As the trio passes deeper into the forest, Taeddry is aware of eyes watching her... or more precisely, she's aware of when they *stop* watching her as the young elf calls out warnings to his kin, telling them to leave the accompanying hin alone.
Taeddry is only slightly uncomfortable with the watching eyes, but she's sure that she is safe in the company of the boy.
As night falls, two elven men step down from the trees and offer to watch the three for the night as they sleep, an offer Sirrial readily accepts.
Taeddry is still feeling fatigued from her earlier fight and is grateful for the guards to watch them through the night. Settling down in a comfortable position, she falls asleep almost immediately.
The next morning finds Taeddry and Sirrial surrounded by an escort of almost twenty heavily armed and armored elven warriors, a few of them wearing spellcaster's robes, and the group quickly makes its way to the elven village.
Taeddry looks at the boy with some amount of awe, thinking that he must be pretty important to generate this much protection and attention. Keeping her thoughts to herself; however, she simply follows along with the party.
Soon after the group enters the village, Taeddry is separated from Sirrial as a few of the elves remain to keep an eye on her, but most continue to escort the boy and his dog.
Taeddry is not happy about being seperated from her charge and says so in a tone that reflects her concern. "Hey there fellas, I promised to keep the kid safe and I really would like to go along with him." She then begins to follow the boy.
The elves discuss this amongst themselves for a few minutes before one of them realizes that the hin cannot understand their words. Bowing in apology, he offers her a small jade earring in the shape of a leaf.
Looking at the leaf with some amount of suspicion, Taeddry puts it on. "I suppose this is some magicy thing. It better not hurt."
"Please understand, traveller. The prince has been away for over a week and his parents have been very worried; their reunion should be a private one. You will be reunited in due time, as all things are."
Taeddry jumps slightly with shock over being able to understand the words of the elf. Crossing her arms to hide her momentary fear, Taeddry says, "Well, I suppose I can understand that. Ya say he's a prince? How come he was wanderin' the forest all alone then?"
"If I hadn't come along, he would be a dead prince and the dog would have been a potion in some wizards stewpot."
The elf coughs and glances at the other two guards staying with Taeddry, who glance away in embarrassment. "Certain guards were somewhat lenient and lax in their duty," he says wryly.
Taeddry frowns, "Huh, well I guess ye'd better keep a good watch on him then from now on. Especially since there is a reward out for the pooch."
"For... the dog? Why would there be a reward out for the dog?" asks one of the men in confusion.
"Um, because the dog's blood is a powerful ingredient for some sort of potion. Or at least that's what I overheard in the market place," Taeddry says.
The third man sniffs. "Stupid human wizards, always trying to kill everything in their quest for power."
Taeddry laughs, "Well, I have to agree with you there, humans are stupid all together."
Time passes as the small group stands there, the guards no longer feeling particularly talkative. Taeddry then notices her pocket is getting quite warm.
Taeddry, feeling uncomfortable with the warmth growing in her pocket, reaches into it to find out what is heating up: it's the glass rod, the one originally given to her.
Taeddry looks closer at the rod in her hand to see what the liquid is doing. It's bubbling and boiling around like a thing alive.
Thinking that this thing is going to explode in her hand, Taeddry shouts a warning to the elves standing with her, "Better duck boys!" Then she looks to see if there's a good direction to throw the thing.
Taeddry begins to run for the edge of the village so that she can toss this thing in a direction that does not contain any people.
Seeing her "fleeing", the nearest two elves try to tackle her, one of them managing to get ahold of the small hin.
Remembering that the kid had one of these also, she yells over her shoulder at the guards, "Get to the prince! He has one of these too and I think it's going to explode!"
The third guard looks at what she's holding and goes off to warn the other elves, shouting to the elders.
Taeddry manages to break the grapple and keep running.
She keeps running for the edge of the village and throws the wand as hard as she can.
The thin vial flies out about thirty feet and pops, spraying the fluid within over the nearby trees.
The guards look up and see the small 'explosion'. "What was that?" the closest one asks.
Taeddry decides that she wants to see what, if anything, the liquid might have done to the foliage where it sprayed. So she heads towards the trees to examine them.
Curious, the guards follow as well. "Wha... this is blood!" one of them exclaims, picking up the coppery scent with his delicate elven senses.
Taeddry wrinkles her nose in disgust, "Are you certain? It was inside a wand that allowed me to track the boy's dog."
"It was heating up and I thought it was going to explode in my hand."
"I'm sorry, miss, but you're going to have to come with us. Please don't try to resist."
Taeddry sighs heavily, "Aw, come on guys, gimme a break here. I wasn't tryin' to hurt anyone."
"I'm sure that's the case, but you have to understand our position. Your innocence is for the elders to decide, not us."
"Fine. Lead on then and lets see these 'elders'." Taeddry goes along without resisting, hoping that the prince will vouch for her.
As the group goes deeper into the village, there are screams and shouts from within. Taeddry has a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that something has gone terribly wrong. Taeddry's guards tighten their grips on their weapons, but nothing else happens. Finally, the third guard returns and explains:
The prince had shown the elders the vial as Taeddry suggested, and they used it in a ritual to purify the dog. This caused its blood to separate from the alchemical potion it had been mixed with (in the vials), which caused the vials to shatter.
"Was anyone hurt?" Taeddry asks with a hint of fear in her voice.
"No, thanks to you," says an elder elf, stepping forward from a nearby hut.
***
Conclusion/Spoilers:
It turns out that whoever had made the vials had captured the dog once before and injected it with a potion, then extracted some of its blood. This tainted blood allowed the wizard to track the dog's movement, as well as influence it when needed.
Apparently, the wizard had been using the dog as bait to lure the prince out... but for what nefarious purpose, none could say.
By purifying the dog, and by extension the blood in the vials, the elven elders were able to break the vials and hopefully prevent anyone from tracking the prince through his dog.
Although these elves do not hoard gold as do most humans, they do have magic at their disposal, and are willing to reward Taeddry for her actions.
((You can take a single 3000 gp magic item or two 2000 gp magic items as a reward... having existing magical equipment upgraded is an acceptable form of this. Mithral chain is also an acceptable form. Also earned 4000 xp for successful adventure (and taking the *right* path and not selling the dog to the wizard!) and good RP. -Sy))
Taeddry is confused at receiving the message and asks the messenger verbally, "Why did you choose me?"
"There have been reports of a cooshie, a rare elven dog, in the Chondalwood; milord Wianar wishes for its capture."
"Ah, I see," Taeddry replies, "but I am not familiar with this type of animal, what does it look like?"
"Hunters have been trying to kill it, but Lord Wianar needs it alive. It looks much like a regular dog, but its tail arcs high over its back, and it runs much swifter than most."
"The Chondalwood is very large; where was the dog seen last?" Taeddry askes with a slight smile because she cannot believe that finding the dog is even possible without knowing a general area of the wood to start in.
"The cooshee is quite elusive, so milord had a special device made to track it down." He holds out a clear glass rod with a red liquid filling half of it.
Taeddry isn't so sure about this device because she's not comfortable with too much magic. "How's it work?" she asks without touching it.
"As you can see, the red liquid flows towards the cooshee, so by moving the rod around you can divine its general direction." Indeed, as he moves it around Taeddry sees that it does seem to shift a bit.
"Hmmm, I see...okay, I'll go and try to find this dog for you. Is it friendly or am I going to have to worry about subduing it?" Taeddry doesn't want to have to hurt the dog in any way in order to get it to come back with her.
The man smirks. "Well, let's just say that a net would be a good investment."
Frowning in consternation, Taeddry takes the wand from the man, "Where do you want me to bring the dog when I've found it?"
"The Generon, milord's palace. The guards within will take of things from there."
"All right then. I guess I should ask you what the reward for this dog is?" Taeddry says with a smirk of her own.
Syonique:: The man holds out a thin line of parchment. "I assume you *can* read?" he sneers.
"No, I can't." Taeddry says with a slow blush of embarrassement rising up her neck to her face.
The man mutters something in a language Taeddry doesn't understand. "Two thousand gold," he explains in Tradespeak. "Far more than the creature's weight in gold."
Since money really doesn't mean that much to Taeddry, she simply nods as if she understands how much the reward really is, "That'll be fine."
"Very good; milord will be most pleased. I suggest you hurry; the reward is for capturing the beast *alive*."
Thinking to herself, "What an @#%$," Taeddry just nods and walks away from him. She begins to look for a store that will have nets, as well as some place that might be able to sell her a sleeping potion or two.
Although she is able to find the net easily enough, Taeddry has a bit more trouble with the poison. "Well, miss, I've got this here vial of Taggit Oil which should suit you just fine... I think I could let it go for, oh, 120 gold?"
Lady of Shadow:: "I don't want to kill this animal. Will that put it to sleep without hurting it?" Taeddry asks with complete confusion evident on her face.
"Oh, definitely. It won't even have any effect for a full minute, so it won't get suspicious. Then, poof! Lights-out."
"Hmmm," Taeddry thinks it over for a moment or two. "How about I give you a hundred for it?"
"A hundred?! Surely you jest. I couldn't let it go for less than a hundred and fifteen. The ingredients aren't easy to get ahold of, you know!"
"No, I don't know cuz that's not what I do." Taeddry then turns her back on the man and begins to rummage through the furs she is wearing in search of her money pouch. She looks over her shoulder at the man, "Gimme a second here to find my pouch." Locating it, Taeddry slowly counts out what she thinks is a hundred and fifteen gold pieces. She didn't bring too much money into the city with her because her gnomish friends had warned her about the city, so most of her funds were buried in a safe place in the woods. Turning back to the counter, she lays her money down; covering it with a grubby hand as she slides it across to the man.
"... eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen? You drive a hard bargain. Very well, have it your way. One moment, please... " The man scoops up the gold and disappears into the back room, returning with a small vial of clear oil in a cheap padded wooden box, which he hands over to Taeddry.
Taeddry gingerly takes the box from the man and opens it to examine the contents. "How much of this should I use for a dog?"
"Frankly, miss... all of it. Especially the kind that walks on two legs, if you know what I mean." He gives a sly wink and goes back to dusting off some of his more... 'legal' potions on the shelf.
Shaking her head at the man's reference to two-legged dogs, Taeddry closes the box again and places it carefully in her backpack before leaving the store.
((Stats: DC 15, Initial damage: none, Secondary damage: unconsciousness for 1d3 hours. Taeddry also gets a net and a tanglefoot bag, and heads out into the forest just after lunch))
As Taeddry leaves the city and starts marching out towards the forest, she overhears a group of humans laughing drunkenly and talking about 'that elven @#%$.'
Lady of Shadow:: Since she is looking for an elven dog, this catches her attention and she stops to listen to the rest of the conversation without being obtrusive.
"Heh, yeah. I heard some of those wizards wanted the blood, make a potion or summat... but hey, just so long as I don't have to drink it, right, right?" "Hey, you'd drink anything man, and you know *hic* it!"
Taeddry gets within 30 feet of the one talking the loudest and with out looking at the group, she says into his mind. "And what is the name of the wizard looking for the dog?"
"Oh, I dunno... I think ol' man Zerbin might like it... " The man's companions turn in shock on him. "What?! Don't say something like that, man! What if he's spying on you with a spell or somethin'?"
Taeddry tries not to grin at this reaction as she speaks silently to him again, "Old man Zerbin, who cares? Can he spy on you? Is he a wizard or somethin?"
"Well, yeah, I guess he's a powerful enough wizard to pull that sorta @#%$ off... " The man's companions nod and raise their glasses for another gulp.
"And he lives close enough to do that? How close does he live?" Taeddry questions silently again.
"Oh, I don- hey, waitaminute. How could you guys be talking if you're drinking? Who said that?!" The man begins to look around.
Taeddry sees that he's becoming suspicious, so she moves away from the group and continues out of town to the forest. She moves slowly so as not to attract any attention...
The man glances around for a few more moments, then dumps the rest of his mug in disgust. "I've had enough. Come on, guys, let's get going." The men begin walking out into the forest.
Seeing the direction the men are heading, Taeddry sighs and thinks to herself, "Jus' what I need, them fools in the forest lookin' fer the dog too."
Then she remembers that she has an advtange over them with the rod the toady gave her and she smiles widely.
Taeddry heads off into the forest, following the rod. For the first few hours it seems pretty straightforward, but then the liquid starts to shift left and right rapidly.
Taeddry looks questioningly at the rod, "Stupid magic." Then she looks up to see if she sees anything in the forest before her.
Trees. Lots and lots of trees.
Looking back down at the rod in her hand, she begins to turn in a circle to see if it calms down any.
The liquid seems to flow away from her, to the far end, when she faces to the west (away from town) and to the east (towards town), but everywhere else it seems to be acting rather chaotically, flipping between the two extremes.
Taeddry sighs in exasperation and can only figure that the dog is right in the area where she is and knowing her luck the damn thing can turn invisible. She sits down and tries to remain calm while she looks closer at the area around her.
Nothing seems to be unusual about the trees in the area... rather typcal, really. As she sits in silence, she hears some crashing through the trees, somewhere in the distance to the east.
Thinking to herself, "Probably those stupid drunks crashin' around out there. Nothin' like humans to make such noise in the forest," Taeddry sighs again and decides to go and see what the drunks were up to.
Taeddry enters a small clearing just in time to see a group of goblins come tearing through. The goblins gape in shock at the lone halfling, but then quickly recover and throw javelins at her. Three of the thrown javelins slam into Taeddry, but her savage instincts cause her to just barely dodge the fourth.
As Taeddry is hit by three of the four javelins, she says aloud, "I hate goblins." Taking cover behind a nearby tree, Taeddry draws her bow and nocks an arrow into it, then she aims for one of the goblins than managed to hit her.
The goblin stumbles from the shot and collapses, fatally wounded. Its companions glance over at it for a moment, then shrug and draw clubs, running at the lone halfling.
"@#%$" Taeddry says as she drops her bow and unlatches her hooked hammer from her belt. "I guess all of you are ready to die today then," she says with a fearsome smile as she strikes out at two of them, one she aims at with the blunt end of her weapon, the other gets the pointed end.
After Taeddry deftly dodges the goblins' attacks and counterattacks with a fierce blow to goblin noggin, the other two goblins break off and run away shrieking.
Taeddry manages to smash one from behind, then the remaining goblin disappears from sight, if not hearing, as Taeddry pulls her hammerhook free.
Wiping the blood from her hammerhook, Taeddry relatches it to her belt then she recovers her shortbow before searching these bodies for anything useful.
The goblins have a few grimey coppers each, a club, and a javelin (used on the Hin herself), but other than that the only thing of note is a pretty crystal on a string around the neck of one of the goblins.
Taeddry, liking the crystal, rips it from the goblin's neck and reties it about her own. Then she takes out a healing potion to soothe and heal her wounds.
Taeddry looks at the rod again to see where it is pointing now. It... still seems to be fluctuating between east and west. Taeddry thinks to herself, "How fast is this stupid dog anyway?" She then decides to follow the rod away from town to the west.
As Taeddry continues cautiously through the woods, she hears yet more crunching and snapping through the woods, this time behind her... and closing fast.
Thinking that the goblin went and got some friends, Taeddry mumbles, "Aw, crap" before beginning to look for a place to hide, as well as terrain that will hide her foot prints.
Taeddry hides behind a bush and waits; less than a minute later, a large worg runs by, a hobgoblin in tow.
Taeddry tries not to breathe, she's had too many bad experiences with Hobgoblins in the past and doesn't want to see a repeat.
The worg and hobgoblin tear past, not seeing the small Hin, and continue off through the woods... in the exact direction the wand is pointing.
Figuring that they are probably after the silly dog too, Taeddry follows them from a slight distance so that they are not alerted to her presence. "Sheesh, is everyone in the world after this animal," she thinks to herself.
The worg and hobgoblin lead the way to a rather large clearing, and Taeddry realizes that if she follows them now she might be seen.
Seeing the worg and hobgoblin enter the clearing, Taeddry stops short to see what is happening and she glances at the rod to see what it's doing. It's still fluctuating a bit... but now, it seems to be going between east and west-southwest. Taeddry looks to see which direction the worg and hobgoblin are going in to determine which direction she'll be going.
Taeddry is completely confused by the rod's readings and decides to continue following the rod, as well as the hobgoblin to the east. She now begins to think that perhaps there's more than one of these cooshie's here in the forest and keeping one away from the hobgoblin would be fun.
Fun is one thing, but up ahead, the worg and hobgoblin seem busy with something entirely different as the two stop, the worg growling audibly as the two move to encircle a humanoid at the far end of the clearing.
Taeddry moves a little closer to see what the worg and hobgoblin have captured. As Taeddry steps into the open clearing, she can see a young elven boy backing up toward the nearest tree as the worg and hobgoblin prepare to attack.
'Aw, that's not right' Taeddry thinks as she nocks an arrow into her short bow and takes careful aim at the worg. Then she fires the arrow, hoping that it hits home - and it does!
The worg snarls and turns to face Taeddry. Grunting in surprise, the hobgoblin also turns to face her.
Taeddry stands her ground, for the moment, and says, "Now, why are ya pickin' on the li'l elf boy?"
Snarling, the two charge at Taeddry.
Taeddry thinks that the tree near her would be a good place to be right now, so she slings her bow over her head and attempts to climb the tree as quickly as she can.
As Taeddry scrambles up the tree, the worg and hobgoblin storm over and glare up at her. The hobgoblin points up at her and growls something out, but while the Hin doesn't understand the words, the tone is quite clear.
"Yeah, yeah," Taeddry taunts, "I'm sure yer quite upset with me, but ya never answered my question about the elf boy."
Sputtering and cursing in Goblin, the hobgoblin tears a javelin off its back and hurls it up at Taeddry, but misses horribly.
Taeddry just laughs as she climbs a little higher up the tree until she finds a branch that she can comfortably sit on. Then she removes her bow from her back in order to nock another arrow in it and fire at the hobgoblin.
Once she reaches a comfortable and sturdy branch to rest upon, she attempts to communicate telepathically with the elf, but he's out of range.
Seeing Taeddry high up in the tree, the hobgoblin gives up and growls at the worg, causing the two to turn towards the elf boy... who by now has already started climbing his own tree. Screaming in frustration, the hobgoblin and worg charge at the elf's tree. The worg circles the tree while the hobgoblin places a knife in his mouth and starts climbing.
"@#%$, " Taeddry says as she tries to see if she can get a clear shot at the hobgoblin from her tree, standing up and walking along a tree branch closest to the elf's tree.
As she stands on the branch, Taeddry can get a clear shot at either the hobgoblin or the worg below, but she knows that as soon as she makes a shot both will be on their guard. She decides to take the shot at the hobgoblin because he is a greater threat to the kid right now.
The arrow slams into the hobgoblin's back; Taeddry can hear its scream of pain all the way across the clearing. However, the monster ignores her and continues climbing after the boy, who is now high in the tree and starting to run out of places to run to.
Taeddry yells out at the hobgoblin, "Why doncha come and pick on someone who can give you a challenge. What kind of challenge will ya get from that boy? Or are you a female who prefers an easier kill?"
The hobgoblin stops for a moment to turn and curse at Taeddry, shaking a fist at her before frantically grasping out before it falls off the tree.
Taeddry moves back to the trunk of the tree laughing loudly at the hobgoblin while she nocks another arrow. The hobgoblin screams out one last curse before continuing after the boy.
Taeddry sighs and begins to shimmy down the tree. As she drops, the orc ascends. Desperate, the elf boy runs out and makes a leap for the closest tree... and slips.
"NO!" Taeddry screams.
Snarling, the hobgoblin reaches out and manages to catch the elven lad's foot, causing the young elf to swing down and slam head-first into the tree. Its unconscious prey slung over one shoulder, the triumphant hobgoblin starts climbing down.
Taeddry screams in rage and charges the hobgoblin, dropping her bow and drawing her hammer... and barely manages to duck under the forgotten worg as it leaps for her throat.
As she rolls to her feet, her strange weapon slams into the hobgoblin, dangerously close to the elf slung over its shoulder.
The hobgoblin scrabbles for its longsword, but then its eyes flicker and grow dim as its lungs fill with blood. Coughing, the monster collapses on the ground, leaving Taeddry to face off with the worg.
The worg leaps at Taeddry once more, but she just squats a little and the oversized mutt goes flying overhead.
Taeddry turns towards the worg with a grim smile on her face and she growls at it before swinging at it with both ends of her hammer. Taeddry's gnomish weapon slams into both sides of the worg's head in a merciless flurry. Bleeding profusely, the creature whines and backs away from the unnaturally dangerous hin death-dealer.
Taeddry has no intention of allowing this creature to live, so she charges it to strike at it once more with her hooked hammer. Before the startled worg can escape, Taeddry is upon it. Her hammer shatters its braincase, causing the monster to slump twitching to the ground.
Taeddry is relieved that the creature is dead and as she begins to calm down, she realizes that she's very tired. Moving over to the unconscious elf and checks him over: the poor youth seems rather stunned, but he should recover with a good night's sleep. As she finishes her examination of the boy, Taeddry hears a low growling behind her.
Taeddry turns to see what is behind her; she has a strong suspicion that it's the elusive elf dog. Thankfully, that does indeed prove to be the case, at least based on the sketchy description she got from the messenger earlier. The dog is rather large, but at least it's a normal size, unlike the worg carcass under its feet. It lowers its head and growls once more.
Putting her hookhammer away, she raises her hands and slowly backs away from the boy, all the while saying, "It's alright... I'm not going to hurt him."
The dog, weighing perhaps two hundred pounds, marches over to stand protectively over the unconscious boy. Now that it's closer, Taeddry can see that it has a greenish coat with brown spots; this coloration must serve it very well in the forest.
Taeddry moves slowly to a nearby tree, sits on the ground, and leans back against the tree to await the boy's awakening. As Taeddry leans there, she hears some more crashing through the trees, once more from the west.
"Great," she thinks as she starts to rise from her position on the ground and faces in the direction of the crashing. Drawing her hammer, she waits...
Taeddry almost sighs in disgust when she sees the four drunken humans from before enter the clearing. She stands up and says, "Okay boys, this is my capture, so bugger off."
One of the men looks down at Taeddry and laughs. "What's this, a little girl doesn't want us to hurt her doggie?" He laughs and the other men join in.
Taeddry is hoping that the elven lad will awaken and take posession of what is so obviously his pet, but the jibing of the men annoy her. "Don't you big, strong men have anything better to do than chase a dog through the woods? Or are you all too incompetent to do anything else?" Taeddry says with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Alright, that's it!" snarls the leader, drawing a shortsword. The other three men quickly do the same. "Now leave before you get hurt!"
Drawing her own weapon, Taeddry laughs, "Sorry fellas, I told you that this was my capture. You can't have it."
The four men charge across the clearing, shouting off-key warcries. Taeddry sends a thought towards the dog, "You might want to help me here." Then she sets herself for the first attack.
As the leader of the thugs steps up, expecting the 'little girl' to be easy prey, Taeddry proves to be anything but. She steps forward and snaps out with her hammer, knocking out the thug's knees with one blow and puncturing a lung with the other. The human crumples to the ground as his cronies run after him.
Glaring at the other men, Taeddry snears, "So, you guys want some of that, or would you rather pick up your buddy here and go home?"
One of the men spits and readies his sword. "Bah, one fewer means more money for the rest of us!!" He lunges out at Taeedry, but only scores a glancing wound against his small target. The other two men also try to hit her but fail miserably. "Surround her!" snarls one of the men, frustrated.
Taeddry laughs at their bumbling attempts to hurt her, takes a few steps in an attempt to not be flanked, and then she strikes out at the one who did manage to strike her, "You put a hole in my shirt!" she screams in a rage.
The second victim of Taeddry's wrath fares no better than the first as the small hin goes into a berserker rage, tearing into the hapless human without mercy. Soon, two bleeding humans lie on the ground as the remaining two reconsider their chances.
"So, yer still wantin' some of this?" Taeddry inquires with a fierce grin on her face.
"Screw this, I'm outta here!" panics one of the men as he drops his sword and flees. His companion glances at Taeddry's blood-spattered face and follows suit, although he has the presence of mind to keep his blade.
Looking around for another combatant, Taeddry feels the rage begin to slip from her as she finds that both men have gone and weariness grows in her body. Moving to pick up the sword the thug dropped, Taeddry examines it to see if it's worth anything, then she moves to the men she took out to search their pockets and examine their weapons as well. She then remembers the dog and the elf boy and looks to see if they are still in the clearing with her.
The sword is serviceable, if not particularly noteworthy, but in the pocket of the leader Taeddry finds another glass rod similarly half-filled with red liquid. Seeing this rod, Taeddry realizes that the person who hired her has also hired others and that there might be more trouble coming her way.
Taeddry decides that they all need to get out of here before others arrive. She attempts to approach the dog while uttering what she hopes is comforting sounds, "It's okay boy. We just need to wake your master up and get out of here."
The dog growls, but after seeing her drive off the other attackers it allows her to approach. Taeddry slowly kneels beside the elf and checks him to see if he's all right and if he will awaken.
Deciding that she will have to give her one of her remaining healing potions, Taeddry pulls one out of her backpack and slowly pours it down the elf's throat. The dog growls when the boy coughs, but calms down once he waves his hand at it.
Taeddry puts her arm behind the boy's shoulders and helps him to sit up. "You all right there kiddo? You took quite a smack to yer head there."
The boy looks up blankly at Taeddry and rattles off a reply in Elven.
Taeddry sighs heavily. "Cripes, I don't speak your language." Then switching to the only other language she knows besides Halfling and Common, Taeddry asks in Shaaran, "Do you understand me?"
The boy nods. "Thank you for helping me, miss... ?"
Smiling and holding out her hand, she says, "Taeddry, my name is Taeddry. What's yers?"
"Sirrial. Please, Miss Taeddry, I need to go before the bad men come back. They want to capture Dopple."
"Yeah, no kidding." Taeddry says as she indicates the bodies of the two men lying a few feet away from them. "Apparently, a wizard of some sorts wants yer pooch to use for a spell. I dunno about all that magicy stuff, but agree that we need to get outta her now. I have to tell you that the same man hired me to find the dog, but I see that it really belongs to you and I'm wantin' to help you two get someplace safe."
"We can't, there's no place safe... somehow they always find us... "
Taking the rod out of her pocket that she took of the thug, Taeddry hands it to the boy. "This is how they're findin' you. You know anything about stopping these things from workin'?"
"I don't... but I'm sure the shamen of the village could use this to stop them! May I keep this, miss? Please?"
"Sure thing kiddo," she says with a smile. "So, where's this village of yers? Perhaps we should head there now and let yer shaman have a look at this thing."
"Sure, follow me! Come on, Dopple!" Thus saying, the elven lad runs off into the forest, his dog keeping pace. Taeddry picks up her bow and follows their lead and manages to keep up with them.
As the trio passes deeper into the forest, Taeddry is aware of eyes watching her... or more precisely, she's aware of when they *stop* watching her as the young elf calls out warnings to his kin, telling them to leave the accompanying hin alone.
Taeddry is only slightly uncomfortable with the watching eyes, but she's sure that she is safe in the company of the boy.
As night falls, two elven men step down from the trees and offer to watch the three for the night as they sleep, an offer Sirrial readily accepts.
Taeddry is still feeling fatigued from her earlier fight and is grateful for the guards to watch them through the night. Settling down in a comfortable position, she falls asleep almost immediately.
The next morning finds Taeddry and Sirrial surrounded by an escort of almost twenty heavily armed and armored elven warriors, a few of them wearing spellcaster's robes, and the group quickly makes its way to the elven village.
Taeddry looks at the boy with some amount of awe, thinking that he must be pretty important to generate this much protection and attention. Keeping her thoughts to herself; however, she simply follows along with the party.
Soon after the group enters the village, Taeddry is separated from Sirrial as a few of the elves remain to keep an eye on her, but most continue to escort the boy and his dog.
Taeddry is not happy about being seperated from her charge and says so in a tone that reflects her concern. "Hey there fellas, I promised to keep the kid safe and I really would like to go along with him." She then begins to follow the boy.
The elves discuss this amongst themselves for a few minutes before one of them realizes that the hin cannot understand their words. Bowing in apology, he offers her a small jade earring in the shape of a leaf.
Looking at the leaf with some amount of suspicion, Taeddry puts it on. "I suppose this is some magicy thing. It better not hurt."
"Please understand, traveller. The prince has been away for over a week and his parents have been very worried; their reunion should be a private one. You will be reunited in due time, as all things are."
Taeddry jumps slightly with shock over being able to understand the words of the elf. Crossing her arms to hide her momentary fear, Taeddry says, "Well, I suppose I can understand that. Ya say he's a prince? How come he was wanderin' the forest all alone then?"
"If I hadn't come along, he would be a dead prince and the dog would have been a potion in some wizards stewpot."
The elf coughs and glances at the other two guards staying with Taeddry, who glance away in embarrassment. "Certain guards were somewhat lenient and lax in their duty," he says wryly.
Taeddry frowns, "Huh, well I guess ye'd better keep a good watch on him then from now on. Especially since there is a reward out for the pooch."
"For... the dog? Why would there be a reward out for the dog?" asks one of the men in confusion.
"Um, because the dog's blood is a powerful ingredient for some sort of potion. Or at least that's what I overheard in the market place," Taeddry says.
The third man sniffs. "Stupid human wizards, always trying to kill everything in their quest for power."
Taeddry laughs, "Well, I have to agree with you there, humans are stupid all together."
Time passes as the small group stands there, the guards no longer feeling particularly talkative. Taeddry then notices her pocket is getting quite warm.
Taeddry, feeling uncomfortable with the warmth growing in her pocket, reaches into it to find out what is heating up: it's the glass rod, the one originally given to her.
Taeddry looks closer at the rod in her hand to see what the liquid is doing. It's bubbling and boiling around like a thing alive.
Thinking that this thing is going to explode in her hand, Taeddry shouts a warning to the elves standing with her, "Better duck boys!" Then she looks to see if there's a good direction to throw the thing.
Taeddry begins to run for the edge of the village so that she can toss this thing in a direction that does not contain any people.
Seeing her "fleeing", the nearest two elves try to tackle her, one of them managing to get ahold of the small hin.
Remembering that the kid had one of these also, she yells over her shoulder at the guards, "Get to the prince! He has one of these too and I think it's going to explode!"
The third guard looks at what she's holding and goes off to warn the other elves, shouting to the elders.
Taeddry manages to break the grapple and keep running.
She keeps running for the edge of the village and throws the wand as hard as she can.
The thin vial flies out about thirty feet and pops, spraying the fluid within over the nearby trees.
The guards look up and see the small 'explosion'. "What was that?" the closest one asks.
Taeddry decides that she wants to see what, if anything, the liquid might have done to the foliage where it sprayed. So she heads towards the trees to examine them.
Curious, the guards follow as well. "Wha... this is blood!" one of them exclaims, picking up the coppery scent with his delicate elven senses.
Taeddry wrinkles her nose in disgust, "Are you certain? It was inside a wand that allowed me to track the boy's dog."
"It was heating up and I thought it was going to explode in my hand."
"I'm sorry, miss, but you're going to have to come with us. Please don't try to resist."
Taeddry sighs heavily, "Aw, come on guys, gimme a break here. I wasn't tryin' to hurt anyone."
"I'm sure that's the case, but you have to understand our position. Your innocence is for the elders to decide, not us."
"Fine. Lead on then and lets see these 'elders'." Taeddry goes along without resisting, hoping that the prince will vouch for her.
As the group goes deeper into the village, there are screams and shouts from within. Taeddry has a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that something has gone terribly wrong. Taeddry's guards tighten their grips on their weapons, but nothing else happens. Finally, the third guard returns and explains:
The prince had shown the elders the vial as Taeddry suggested, and they used it in a ritual to purify the dog. This caused its blood to separate from the alchemical potion it had been mixed with (in the vials), which caused the vials to shatter.
"Was anyone hurt?" Taeddry asks with a hint of fear in her voice.
"No, thanks to you," says an elder elf, stepping forward from a nearby hut.
***
Conclusion/Spoilers:
It turns out that whoever had made the vials had captured the dog once before and injected it with a potion, then extracted some of its blood. This tainted blood allowed the wizard to track the dog's movement, as well as influence it when needed.
Apparently, the wizard had been using the dog as bait to lure the prince out... but for what nefarious purpose, none could say.
By purifying the dog, and by extension the blood in the vials, the elven elders were able to break the vials and hopefully prevent anyone from tracking the prince through his dog.
Although these elves do not hoard gold as do most humans, they do have magic at their disposal, and are willing to reward Taeddry for her actions.
((You can take a single 3000 gp magic item or two 2000 gp magic items as a reward... having existing magical equipment upgraded is an acceptable form of this. Mithral chain is also an acceptable form. Also earned 4000 xp for successful adventure (and taking the *right* path and not selling the dog to the wizard!) and good RP. -Sy))
