After every thing was traded, keeping the best weapons to give to the teiflings at the grove, each member had around four hundred gold and eight health potions each.
They also had bought the Zhentarim out of as much food and explosives as they could.
The artist thanked Alfira, "Once you reach the city, my patron will pay you back ten fold."
Everyone fixed their gear ready to leave and get out of the cave. Once they left the cave the sun was starting the head to ward the western horizon.
"Back to the grove?" Shadowheart asked.
They all nodded and made the long treat back to their camp where they introduced Karlach to Withers.
Little did they know that it wouldn't be restful night at camp.
Chapter 15 : Maidens
Ruby sat down by the fire with a bottle of oil and a torn blanket as she took apart Crescent Rose with practiced ease. Every part had a place it went to as she carefully set each down. With a cloth and a bottle of linn seed oil, she cleaned the blood and soot from her weapon. The wiping the oil into the metal so it could absorb into it. Scrubbing the soot from the barrel and cleaning out her spent cartridges. She took the time to reassemble the weapon before setting it by her side.
Next she placed a cast iron cauldron on the fire and placed in lead cups, plates bowls and cutlery. From mer bag she pulled out a tin of primer percussion caps. Setting it down she used a dagger to pop out the fired caps from her spent cartridges. Then carefully replacing each one. Next she moved away from the fire to break down the smoke powder bombs and pour out one of ther contents into a bowl. Using her tools she pulled the bullet from one of her unspent rounds and poured the dust powder into a set of scales made from two teacups that weighed the same.
On a peice of tin plate she poured the contents of a second round and placed it on the beach with twine and a and placing a cast iron pot on top which she had tied her scroll to, set to record altitude time to reach max altitude and speed. She lit the twine and stepped back The bang startled everyone in camp. Gale, Wyll, Thalia and Karlach ran over. "What the hells are you doing?" Wyll asked.
"Science." Ruby replied as the dust propelled Crashed into the beach. Grabbing it she wrote down the info and reset. In the tea cup scales she measured an equal amount of smoke powder to dust. Pouring the smoke powder on the tin plate she reset with more twine.
"Look, I'm all for experimentation... but why?" Gale asked.
"Because I often launch myself with Crescent Rose." Ruby shook a fresh cartridge, the grains of dust shaking inside. "Don't need alot of Dust to launch myself fourty to fiftey feet in the air. But I don't know how powerful smoke powder is.on it's own. Ruby pushed everyone back and lit the fuse. "I need bullets, and well until we can make artificial dust, I have to do it the old way, smoke powder is called gunpowder in my world. We don't use it much since dust is better."
The bang wasn't as strong as the dust. When the pot landed Ruby arecorded the speed, time and altitude. Then she measured out more. and tried again, and again, and again. Closing in on the speed and power she needed.
Then she got it. Nearly three times the powder was needed. But it would barely fit a bullet. placeing a small torn cloth and tying it with twine and sealing with a red wax. The the exposed white cloth she wrote 'Smoke powder charge amount and placed it in her bag inside a leather pouch. She started loading up all the shells with their smoke powder. then poured what was left of the bombs smoke powder into one of her smoke powder satchels. Heading back to the fire where all the lead had melted, putting in more lead plates and cups. The using one of the extracted bullets packed sand in a rusty pan an pushed the round into the sand and made a grid pattern of molds. Ruby the filled the pot she had repeatedly launched with water.
With a bronze ladel she carefully poured the lead into the bullet mold holes. Dipping the ladel into the water to cool it off. she repeated the process till she had turned all the lead items they had into bullets each time the pan was full she too the out. Falled casts were remelted and soon she had a 20 pound leather sack. Dusting herself off Ruby made her way over to finish the process of making the bullets. With a modified pair of tongs she sealed each casing. Then she set about loading her magazines and marking which were laloaded with smoke powder and which were loaded with Dust. The remaining smoke powder cartridges were dumped into another leather pouch and tied shut.
"Fascinating process." Gale said as he had written down Ruby's process. "Once we can produce the artifical dust, I wonder how it will compare to the real stuff. "
"My real concern is what happens if I run out of primers." Ruby hand the tin to the wizard. "As good with guns and weapons as I am, I designed and built Crescent Rose from the ground up.I can't recreate the primers. I won't need to make more bullets, but the cartridges and primers are finite." She sighed. "Back home I never thought of how much I would need to consider them since I could go to a dust shop and replace them. But here... I would pay nearly four times the lien for that security for ammunition. But that resource just dosen't exist. Dammon can't forge new cassings, and while you could enchant the cassings and firing pin, wear and tear will eventually break those. It's just a matter of time."
"Hey, we just have to defeat this Absolute before that then. And after that, well Faerun and the the wider world are out there. I feel you would love the streets of Waterdeep or the flow of adventurers in and out of Neverwinter. The Dwarven kingdoms in the mountains and the barbarians of the north." Gale ruffled her hair.
Ruby smiled as she put away her tools. "Thanks. Gale."
She walked over to Karlach who finished setting up her tent as Wyll helped her. "She sat down on her sleeping roll with a corked bottle and two mugs. She easily popped the cork and poured the beer out for herself and Wyll as he sat on stool. "So kid, got any legends and stories from your home?" Karlach asked.
"I am interested as well." Thalia said as she sat down on a mushroom that grew to the height of a chair. One grew for Ruby aswell. Shadowheart leaned against the nearby boulder as Durge and Alfira joined as well. Gale started to pour drinks and hand them out with magical blue hands that were carrying the magically chilled drinks.
Ruby caught her dented bronze goblet out of the air, the drink swirled in the metal cup smelled of cherries and blackberries. She brought it to her lips and took a drink. The drink had a slight tart tastes but even cold it seemed to warm her core. "Well... we the is the story of the wizard and four maidens."
"Oh? Your world has a concept of wizards?" Gale asked sitting down next to her.
"Well yes, I suppose we do." Ruby took a breath to recall the fairy tale. "Long ago in a forest of Remnant lived a Wizard, he was a hermit who never left his cottage, sitting in his rocking chair content to watch the world through his window." Ruby started. The others sat in silence listening to her tale.
"One day he spotted a young maiden with hair white as snow siting silently under a tree. 'Who are you and what are you doing in my forest?' The wizard asked." Ruby recalled, "The young maiden looked at him calmly and stated 'I am Winter, Iam on a journey and I am waiting for my sisters.' She told him before closing her eyes and sitting paitently in the silence. The old wizard watched her for some time, till he began to feel the same peace and silence she did and slowly clossed his eyes as well."
"The sound of laughter awoke the wizard, and now under his tree wasn't one maiden but two, Winter sat with a girl's whose hair was a green as the leafs on the trees, spry and youthful with a basket of fruit and flowers. 'Who are you?' The Wizard asked. 'My name is Spring, I am on a journey and I am waiting for our sisters.' She said. To show her gratitude for his hospitality the girl retrieved a handful of seeds from her basket. She planted them in his garden. Through her hard work she turned a patch of dirt into a thriving garden,"
"As the days passed a third maiden appeared. 'Who are you?' The old wizard asked kindly. 'I am Summer, and I am on a Journey, I must wait for my sister.' She said her scarlet locks billowing in the wind. The Wizard found himself laughing with the maidens. Which surprised him as he had forgotten what it was like to laugh. Which inturn made summer laugh. 'Why witness the world through the dusty old window, when the door was right there?' she asked."
"The Wizard considered it for a moment the he left his home. Stepping out into the sun, there he played with the three maidens, the four of them laughing till one day they prepared a feast, Winter set the table, spring brought the food and summer cooked the meal. Then as they sat to eat a fourth maiden appeared. The Wizard asked her to join them, only needing her name. 'I am Fall, and I am on a journey, I came here to meet my sisters.' The eldest sister said her orange gold hair glowed with warmth."
"The Wizard shed a tear, 'What makes me so special that you fouelr would bless my home with your kindness?' He asked. The sisters looked to eachother in confusion before fall answered. 'There is no reason, me and my sisters seek to help all we can for we have the ability to.' Moved by her words and action the Wizard stood and summoned all the magic within his body and bestowed it upon the sisters, armed with the power of the seasons and elements they could do so much more, to reach more people."
"Then slowly one by one, they left, each promising to visit their friend once a year." Ruby finished.
"Fascinating, clearly a tale to explain the seasons, but there must be a grain of truth to it." Gale said.
"The magic within her eyes?" Wyll asked.
"Well before I arrived here I didn't know magic existed." Ruby said.
"Well to put it simply Faerun is filled with lost magic, imagine the secrets of a world that forgot theirs." Gale said excitedly. "A world of if magic unbound by Mystra's weave and her rules."
"That... seems like a dangerous idea." Alfira said. "There must be a reason our world's were seperate for so long."
"Remember Ruby isn't familiar with our pantheon, the weave may not work on her world with out interfering with their divine plane." Shadowheart cut in.
"Well, it's hard to say." Ruby said. "Aura, semblance, souls, dust, these have been the powers I have always interacted with." Ruby pulled out her scroll, "These were things that could be measured." She pointed at her Aura gauge, then scanned Karclach. "I could take the time to unlock all of your auras but... it is a very personal and intimate thing. I unlocked Thalia's after what happened with Astarion. But it may take longer for you to learn your semblances and strengthen your auras then we have time to fight the Absolute and save Wyll's father. Aura isn't trained in a day, it took me years to master mine along with my weapon. And I'm still just a huntress in training."
"We should focus on what we already have in terms of growing stronger." Wyll said. "A swordsman is not a man who has used a thousand different blades once, but a blade a thousand times."
"Correct, we have enough varrity in our skills we can focus on our individual abilities. There is no need for me to learn to swing a sword, just as Karlach has no need to learn how to cast fireball." Gale said proudly.
"Would still be fun." Karlach laughed.
The group finished their drinks as the sun went down Alfira and Durge getting a cooking pot ready for supper. The White dragonborn sitting on a log as he used a dagger to cut hunks of meat into smaller chunks as Alfira prepped the vegetables.
Between two claws he picked up a piece and ate it raw, his sharp teeth cutting through easily. Seeing that Alfira offered him a carrot which he let her put the vegetable in his mouth. The two of them worked together in a happy duality, the strange silent dragonborn Sorcerer the cheery talkative teifling bard.
Ruby sat next to Thalia, "I have to ask, You, Alfira, and Karlach are all teiflings, now... I don't.know if this is impolite to ask, but no two teiflings I've met look alike."
"Well, Alfira looks alot like her sister Lakrissa though you haven't met her, but it's due to several factors. Teiflings are magical by our very nature, like elves, genasi, and dragonborn, though our closest relative species is human. And there are two main ways teifling bloodlines are created, directly descended from a archdevil, or being born to one who made a deal with a devil. There are a few sub races of teiflings that aren't quite apparant to those less knowledgeable." Thalia explained. "I am a Mephostophales Teifling as my father is the cambion son of Mephostophales. Alfira and her sister as Asmodeus teiflings and Karlach is a Zariel tiefling. Now there is great divergence in each sub race as well from individual to individual. My horns used to be black and my skin bright red, but connection to Silvanus and the natural world shifted the color of my skin and horns. Another factor could be hybridization."
"Oh?" Ruby asked.
"Some teiflings can be born with wings by crossing certain bloodlines, half elves and elven teiflings are possible, half teifling half dragons are possible, as Half Dragons are different from Dragonborn. Very different and they will get mad about the distinction." Thalia explained.
"Wait, what do you mean by half dragon?" Ruby asked.
"Simple, a dragon and a member of the mortal races have a child. Happens way more often then one would think. More often then not it's a bard who gotten himself into a little too much danger with a female dragon." Thalia laughed.
"Know what I don't think I need more details." Ruby also laughed.
As Wyll and Karlach made their way over to the campfire a circle of fire appeared with a black portal in the center. "Hells she's coming." Wyll said with a tinge of fear.
Ruby Rose stats, class, and racial abilities
Class Fighter lv 5
Subclass Champion
Great weapon fighting style (rerolls one's and twos on damage)
Hp: 45 (3 d12 plus 0)
Strength: 18 (base 17)
Dexterity: 16 (base 15)
Constitution:10
Wisdom: 8
Intelligence:12
Charisma: 10
Race Human Variant (Remnant)
Feats:
Ability score improvement: plus 1 str plus 1 Dex
Savage Attacker : Reroll damage once take highest
Base Speed: 45 ft Total speed: 55 ft
Aura: 10 temp hit points per level (50 Thp) (resets on long rest)
Semblance: Petal Dash; Dash action is now a bonus action
Improved Critical: reduces critical requirements by 1 (18-20)
Action Surge: Gain an extra action
Extra attack x1
Gear:
Infernal Crescent Rose: plus 2 to damage and rolls to hit, 2 d 12 slashing an fire damage plus strength. 2 d 8 Piercing plus Dex when firing.
Infernal Critical, Reduces critical by 1, and on a critical hit target auto fails save against burn condition.
Searing Petal Smite: While Dashing from at least 60 ft away, auto cast searing smite at lv 2. 2d6 fire damage. Once per short rest.
All but Ruby Rose have disadvantage with this weapon.
Elemental bullets: 2d4 elemental damage added to ranged attacks.
Two-handed, heavy, extra reach
Cleave lacerate trip enemies, peircing shot
1 Half plate armor: Ac 18 (16 plus 2 dex) Medium armor. Reduces piercing damage by 1.
Haste Helm: Plus 10 ft to movement first three turns of combat (Effectively just 10 ft because I'm not drawing out combat for more then 3 rounds except for major bosses) plus one dex save
Speedy Light Feet: Gain three lightning charges when Dashing. Lightning charges deal additional damage on weapon and spell attacks.
Ruby's Explossive bag:
7 Alchemist fire bottles
5 smoke powder bombs
2 smoke powder bags