[Game Thread] Chapter 6c: A Shadow Over Feid

[SpatulaOdoom]

Morgan gives the blonde man a raised eyebrow.
”Well friend, if we were trying to be safe we wouldn't be in this city right now, would we? Since we don't seem to be stringing Invidia along, I guess off the building's a good idea though. In the mean time we're trying to figure out who's healing Mirik's opponents and how best to disrupt them.“ Morgan gestures to the sky where Mirik's fight continues in it's relative stalemate. ”Any ideas?” Morgan offers the blonde man one of his healing potions. It won't be much compared to his injuries, but it's better than nothing.

While they're waiting Morgan uses his remaining pearl of power to re-memorize his Nerveskitter spell. He also, without any particular fanfare casts Tiann's version of Comprehend Languages, and takes another look at Airin's scars.

[Acathala]

When he is offered healing Nallaul shakes his head. "I'm unscathed." So Gula was coming. Out of all the sins he met, Gula had been relatively the nicest. Though that was like saying out of all the ghouls, he was the one whom used a knife and fork. The arachnomancer really doesn't want to test his increased resistance to poison against anything Gula cooked up. This was turning into a disasster. The humans were oh so lucky Tel'shar was important to him, as you could count the number of people he would risk his life for, on one hand. Xufaer, Tel'shar, the twins, and probably his old apprentice Gul. Possibly Xudeln as well, though he counts that as risking his life for Xufaer. Arising from his reverie Nallaul agrees with the newcomer. "Yes, finding somewhere less exposed should hopefully give us more time to work out a plan." He also doesn't wish to be a target for any random nasty floating about.

[Battlechaser]

Ashtarte's hanging tits. That hurt. Léon sucked on his lower lip and tried to steady himself. Out of instinct the spy crouched down and drew the shadows around him as a protective blanket. "Now what?" He whispered as his eyes and ears scanned his surroundings. His pulse started to quicken - as was to be expected on a mission - so Léon breathed deeply to slow it down.

While the others were talking, Léon had already prepared himself for the worse. The thief drew his handcrossbow and peered around.

 

assuming the standard protective measures: touchsight, detect hostile intent, steadfast perception, freedom of movement

Dice * Spot:

1d20+25

(18)+25

Total = 43

Dice * Listen:

1d20+20

(11)+20

Total = 31

Dice * Hide:

1d20+41

(10)+41

Total = 51

Dice * Move silently:

1d20+29

(3)+29

Total = 32

[Blue]

Upon learning their apparent objective from Zilira, she immediately retrieved a tiny rod from her belt and tore off a scroll from her and released both magics on her person. "I imagine I'll probably be the most attractive target, seeing how I'm going be on them as soon as I find them, and I imagine it'll be hard to ignore the dragon flying around, breathing all kinds of trouble all over them. Any protective measure would be welcome."
She hadn't stocked on them much before coming to Halva. Battles really weren't part of how she had planned to pass the time between the meetings. Had she known.

Once Airin got there, she was reminded that they had been suggested to ask him questions as well but now hardly seemed appropriate. She was ready to get through the Shroud and braced herself for it, and readied herself to fly off toward the clerics, if she could see them.
Upon their arrival, the dragon immediately look around for them, wasting no time to inquire.
"Clerics. Where?"
First, looking for the probably easier to notice dragons that were being healed. They would probably be close.

 

Before being set out:
-Use eternal rod of Conviction, CL12 (+4 moral saves for 2 hours)
-Use scroll of Cloud Wings, CL3 (+30-ft. to flight speed for 3 hours)

After arriving, reactive spot checks: 38 (+longsight)

[Acathala]

(I don't think that Nallaul has met Leon yet, so please disregard this post if Nallaul has met him.)
The tall male drow arachnomancer looks at the new arrivals, some he knew, some he didn't. He absent-mindly strokes his white-blond hair. He is dressed in fine silk, obviously the expensive stuff. An ioun stone orbits him as Nallaul's red-eyed stare rests finally rests on Leon. He briefly wonders if all elerians look like sneaky *****. Of all human races, elerians were his least favourite. Perhaps his view had been coloured by Triss' "ally". Perhaps not. Or perhaps it was a remnant of his race's prejudge against non-drow, which would surprise him given Nallaul had thought of himself as more tolerant than that. His gaze leaves the elerian, his interest abated. The mage has no intent of speaking to him unless he absolutely needed to. The focus for him was completing this task so he can gain the trust of Zilira, so that he can better help Tel'shar. Assuming the goddess intended to keep her word.

[DiabolicalGenius]

Humility tensed up slightly when they suddenly heard Shadow's voice and saw an image of her face within Didina's shadow. Normally this would have piqued her interest and curiosity, even if she hid it behind a straight face. But right then she couldn't summon up much concern for such details, especially when it seemed so trivial compared to the strange woman's efforts in holding off one of the Sins. She merely took an instant to understand that it didn't signal approaching danger and then went back into her silent study of regret. She glanced across the people who appeared, noting the familiar faces of Didina's blind companion and Leon who she met when she arrived at the Halvan royal palace, and giving a measuring glance of the unknown woman and Shadow's comrade Airin who matched her description too well to be anyone else. But the glance wasn't as sharp or probing as it could have been, seeming done mostly out of habit and duty. The deeply ingrained need to evaluate those you might be fighting along side or even against under unexpected circumstances. The training still moved her, even if the will was lacking. It seemed a little hollow though.

The new arrivals might note that the drow Child of the Dark was standing noticeably apart from the rest with a noticeably bitter tint to her usual composed expression. A lot of the drive that had been present originally for those that had met her before, seemed to be lacking now and her face was painted with hints of chagrin and self-loathing. Even when the mysterious man approached offering to heal everyone, she simply accepted it without question or resistance, not able to muster enough concern for herself to wonder about the motives of Shadow and her friends. She simply nods in token gratitude when she feels the life that had been stolen by the Brachina return to her body, before widening her eyes behind her lenses as Airin seemed to lose some of the colour from his face in the process. For the first time since they arrived on the roof she seemed to show feelings beyond the realm of self-loathing and asked in slight disbelief.

"You....are you taking your wounds onto yourself? How....I mean why? Why would you do that instead of using healing magic? Is it permanent?"

Concern is swiftly followed by further guilt as she regrets inflicting her own condition on him when she could have simply endured it until a Child cleric could heal her after the battle.

[Makenshi]

Airin smiles at Morgan's offer of a potion but politely declines, raising an almost apologetic hand before answering his question. "Hmmm. Difficult to say with so many people around." He cocks his head to the side as he looks out at Feid and frowns slightly, or perhaps grimaces in pain again - it's difficult to tell for sure.

"You can sense people then?" Didina asks, curiously.

His response is a little distracted. "Mmmm, it's like what you can do but at a far greater range and with an empathic sense as well, provided people's minds aren't shielded at least." He continues to stare off into the distance while everybody else talks on acts, only speaking up in response to Humility's worried words. "As Didina will no doubt be able to confirm Psionics is a very inefficient form of healing. As for my injuries-" His lips quirk up into a slight smile as he glances at Humility for a moment. "-please do not worry yourself. My friends call me 'the Undying' for a very good reason. Once Gula shows his face it will-"

Amid his explanation Didina's eyes light up and she doesn't wait for him to finish before putting words to her suspicions. "You're going to use an Empathic Transfer."

Airin pauses and turns his attention fully to Didina for a long moment before smiling again. "Close enough." Before Didina can ask another question he points in the direction of the dragons. "There are two suspiciously small clusters of stationary mortals - groups of three each in fact - within healing range of those dragons." He shifts his finger slightly, pointing to one side. "One group in that warehouse and the other-" He points to the other side of the fighting dragons. "-is in that alehouse. Both groups also have three fiends with them and don't seem particularly bothered by that and the ones in the alehouse either have hostages or there are people hiding from them. Either way, there's about seven of them in a tight cluster feeling utterly terrified." He frowns at that last part before being distracted by the ground shaking and what sounded like a building collapsing. A quick look over in that direction confirmed it, as you could all see the dust cloud rising up into the air in a gap where there was another red roof. "I'd better go help Shadow." He glances back towards them all. "I'd ask you all to keep out of trouble, but it'd be useless, so just try to be careful and if one of the Seven or someone else beyond your ability to fight shows up then contact me." Before anyone can point out that they don't have a way to contact him everybody feels a strange resonance chime through their minds.

Fortunately, Didina recognises it and is able to reassure everyone. "It's a harmless Mindlink, don't fight it."

Assuming nobody does, everybody hears Airin's final 'words' before he hurtles into the air and towards Shadow incredibly quickly. "Good luck."

~MTWC

[Acathala]

"You too. Give Invidia a kick in the meat sac from me.". Nallaul turns to the others once the Undying has gone. "The way I see it we have two options. We either hit them both at once, or concentrate on one group at a time. Obviously each approach has benefits and drawbacks. If we hit them all at once, then we have the element of surprise. That also means we're spliting our forces and we'd be outnumbered at each location. If we concentrate on one location, then we can bring all our force to bear. However we would need to kill them quickly before they get help from the other group. There is also the possibility the fiends are telepaths." He doesn't look at Didina directly, treating her with the same respect he used to give a Lolthite priestess. "Lady Didina I don't suppose you can block their mental communications?" Looking at the group he sighs. "I am aware what I am about to say will make me appear callous. However they have hostages, but we can't allow that to stop. Yes if they were to die, that iwould be..... Regretable. If we don't stop the cleric many more will die."

[Blue]

Mrith coiled her neck to get a view of the group, noticing more people that she'd probably prefer to avoid burning with the likely friendly fire.
Might as well get that done with while they were figuring out how to tackle the problem and some of them were getting healed.
"Let me ward you from my fires, while we're at it."
She began with Rhys, who looked the type to be in the middle of things, then would proceed to breath her protection unto Humility, another apparent front liner.
She considered Nallaul, unsure, but would apply it unto him as well if she had the time.
"Do you believe you'll get close to them?"

She had little interest in strategy talk but it would be folly to throw themselves at them without a plan. She'd have to figure that stuff out first before flying off to get things done. She hissed.
"I could try to harass one of those groups. I have great mobility so I can drop in, obscure their vision so that they have no choice but to relocate to be able to heal those dragons and keep them busy and frustrated while you take care of the other group. I can join up with you all rather fast too. As long as I can keep my distance and endure through their spells I think I'll be alright. I doubt the three fiends will be able to keep up with me and I have a scroll of Banishment if things get rough. As for the magic, they have probably spent a lot of it on healing already so I ain't too worried. The spells they spent on me aren't use to heal the dragons. Even easier if they actually prepared them."

As for the hostages, Mrith didn't seem all too concerned.
"Let's just do our best and not fret over it much if we cannot save them. It happens."

She kept attentive to what everyone had to say before they stormed their preys but the eyes returned to the fighting dragons in the sky.
What a waste of scales.

[Acathala]

"It's possible if I assume spider form." Nallaul replies to Mrith.
"We should focus on the mortals. They are the most likely source of the healing whilst the fiends are their guardians,"

[Blue]

Mrith answered that with silence. She looked askance at him, preferring to avoid making any comment that might offend some kind of cultural nonsense the Drow might have taken to heart. Spiders were crafty and resourceful as far as bugs went, but they were still bugs.
...why would anyone want to assume the form of a spider!?
"...Right."

[SpatulaOdoom]

Originally Posted by Mrith

”Clerics. Where?”

Morgan shades his eyes as he continues scanning the horizon.
”That's what we're trying to figure out. If we knew we'd already be on our way to plant our boots firmly upside their heads.”
Fortunately Airin is able to pinpoint the most likely locations of their quarry. To Morgan their approach seemed fairly self-evident.
”They have powerful healers while we don't, so splitting our forces and attacking both equally is a poor move. Without the power to end it quickly we would get drawn into a slugging match we'd loose for the same reason Mirik's having trouble above. We strike the group at the Inn first. Kill them quickly before they can reinforce or try to use hostages against us. If the second group is more concerned with us than with healing Mirik's enemies then we've already achieved our goal. If not then we've at least cut it in half.
Mrith, if you think you can survive harassing the second group while we make our attack on the first, then I'm fine with it. Just be careful. Being alone, you've got nobody to catch you if you fall.”
As he had at the tower Morgan hops over the railing and off the building. His cloak billows out, slowing his descent to a feather's fall.
”Leon, Humility, you're our scouts. Try to find us a path to the inn that keeps us undetected.”
Inside Morgan is troubled. Things he'd missed before are becoming clear and his stomach is beginning to churn. Now isn't the time for it. He's got to keep that focus on the task at hand.

[Blue]

Mrith nodded approvingly.
"I'll get to the warehouse then. Wouldn't want to set an alehouse on fire. I wish I had a better idea of what I'll have to handle but I am confident I'll be fine - else I'll just retreat and group up with you all."

She could handle falling in various ways. It had never been something she concerned herself with past her first dozen flights.
With that, the young dragon spread her wings and bounced away with a powerful leap, thrusting herself into the air and soared up toward the warehouse.
The mindlink would allow them to keep informed of what was going on.

 

Mrith flies at elevation 250-ft. and double moves 540-ft. toward the warehouse.
She'll make reactive spot checks to notice them or warehouse windows that gives LoS to the dragon fight.

[Battlechaser]

Already on my way. While the others had palavered, Léon had already checked the door downstairs. It was locked solidly, so Léon peered out over the edge. Once he gauged it safe -safe enough -Léon jumped over the ledge, grasping the two edges of his cloak and drifted down. And now he was on his way to assassinate a few head-clerics of their enemy. Not his cup of tea, but it needed to be done.

[Makenshi]

OC They're on top of an inn, the entrance of which is locked from the other side by a chain, so unless he breaks it down or climbs down the side of the building, he won't be getting inside. Also, considering it's locked from the inside, chances are there are people inside hiding from the Fiends, so are you sure you want to go in and 'clear' it? ~MTWC