Zg Session 108

Aleithilithos: Winter 88
Aleithilithos: Your airship has whisked you from Seobriga to Ursaliña in a day and a half, and it's late morning. You've already looked around a bit, and while the city seems fine on the surface, there's a disturbing undercurrent to the city. Between the occasional question, maybe a ritual, and Zane's prior experience being here, you've put together an overview of the city's current condition.
[OOC] Aleithilithos: http://storagebin.wikidot.com/zg-ursalina
[OOC] Aleithilithos: For Ursaliña's news, see http://storagebin.wikidot.com/zg-case-notes
Gerald: "Your old country is weird, man."
Aleith|DM: Most people ignore you, but as you're travelling through the Troughs again, a merchant calls out to you, "Foreigners! You look like you've travelled a bit. Need any clothes mended, loves?"
Chandrasekhar: "I have traveled across most of Lanjyr at this point. Even before the world's… changes… every land seemed strange to me, until I realised that none were."
Gerald: "Don't worry you're still weird too, invisible eladrin."
Chandrasekhar smiles, not that Gerald can tell.
Zane: "As a matter of fact…"
Aleith|DM: A lanky orc woman with a broad smile stands in the booth, behind a wall of fabric formed by piles of blankets, hand towels, rolls of unbleached rough-spun cotton, and other household linens.
Zane heads over to get a tear in his shirt mended.
Aleith|DM: She has stringy blond hair held in place by a kerchief decorated with rose patterns, and wears a well-tailored tunic and trousers. A pocketed apron holds a pair of small scissors, shears, a measuring stick, and a long length of twine knotted at intervals. She gestures you closer, speaking in a hushed voice, "let's get out of the sun. It's so bright today."
Garrett‘ stops short, turning at Zane’s move and at the odd phrase…
Zane gives a small toss of his head at the others. "C'mon."
Gerald: "Alrighty."
Chandrasekhar followed Zane as soon as he made the slightest move in that direction, duh.
Flida: "I'm Flida. I can mend that shirt for you right quick. Meanwhile, what're you in town for?"
Phyllis: "A shibboleth, I see."
Garrett: "Mmm." He heads over, attempting to blend in.
Phyllis almost speaks, but isn't quite sure how to phrase … all of everything. Not succintly enough, at least.
Zane: "Sight-seeing."
Garrett: "Tourism in the age of reason."
Garrett: "Learning what's new about the world and what feels the same."
Garrett: "Same same, but different."
Filda: "Ain't the best time to do that here. Things have been…weird…since the stars fell."
Zane smiles slightly. "I know. That's what I am here to see."
Filda: "About a week after they fell, a lot of townsfolk spotted something large in the sky, glowing like maybe it had dozens of candles all over it. 'Twas at least the size of a fishing boat, and after a few moments it simply disappeared."
Filda: "People talked 'bout it for a few days, but then some 'em started going missing, and those who asked questions were beaten and arrested. Now no one talks 'bout it."
Filda: "Then the Fool's Day celebration was cancelled, and ever since then things have gotten steadily stranger and more dangerous."
Phyllis: "Beaten and arrested by who?"
Filda: "I had a customer in Cadagyr District—a housemaid for a wealthy house. I asked her to deliver a message to the Executores Lodge. I never saw her again, and it was weeks before an executore came by. Exedcutore Nieves mentioned she was going to investigate the Jaula, but then I never saw her again either."
Filda: "You'd be best not to be spotted by the city guards—they're the one's beating people up—and they have a habit of arresting outsiders and taking them to the governor, Lord Cadagyr."
Zane: "The jaula de Oso?"
Aleith|DM she nods. "That also reminds me of an odd rumour I heard of a masked vigilante. Apparently some police were accosting a young cripple girl who was out after curfew, and were about to arrest her, when a person in a mask swept in and killed the police. When another patrol arrived, their bodies were missing."
[OOC] Aleith|DM: whoops that should've been * instead of /me
Zane: "How odd…"
Filda: "I wonder if that might've been Nieves, but hte news I heard mentioned something about the bodies being cut apart, which doesn't sound like an executore."
Zane: "Mmm."
Filda: "I've also heard that the factories shut down in Triunfo district because no raw supplies are coming in. Plus, the Lord's eldest son, Dieter Cadagyr, briefly made a ruckus about the odd goings-on—rumor was he got thrown off his father’s estate. People say he's letting unemployed workers live in his own personal house."
Filda: "Lastly, the skies aren't empty. I sometimes hear things overhead—hissing and moaning, reminding me of me old grandmother's snores before she died. But I never see anything up there."
Zane: "Curiouser and curiouser."
Filda finishes with her last stich. "There, good as new. That'll be 3 copper pieces now."
Zane passes her a silver piece. "Keep the change. You have been most helpful, and this stitching is superb."
Filda: "Thank you kindly, sir. You be careful in the city now."
Zane: "Always."
Phyllis: "We can handle ourselves. Fuck the police."
Garrett‘ nods with a pursed-lip smile.
Gerald` opens his mouth, closes it.
Zane muffles a laugh.
Aleith|DM: Where to first?
Garrett: "Perhaps we track down our missing Executores, first."
Zane stretches once he’s back out in the half-light of the Gyre. "Well. That was certainly interesting."
Phyllis: "Normally, I have at least some inkling of the supernatural phenemona, but … this has me stumped. At least for now. Possibly another plane leaking into this one?"
Zane: "I think you are thinking too big, Ursinho."
Zane: "But for now, yes, let us go see the Executores Lodge."
Gerald: "Good as place as any to start."
Zane has his hood down, and runs a hand through his short-cropped hair. "It feels… strange, to walk among my people again."
Aleith|DM: Alright. The toll to get into the Cadagyr District is one silver piece each.
Gerald: "What's the toll for?"
Chandrasekhar: "What sort of strange, Mr. Bieito?" There's… an odd tone in his voice.
Guard: "Normal entrance fee. 5gp for an annual pass througout the city."
Garrett: "While not native to Ursalina, I could guess that depends on who you ask…"
Zane: "Theoretically, Gerald, it does towards maintaining public works like the roads and the walls and the water/sewage lines."
Gerald: "I thought that's what taxes were for. This just seems like it would make trading in the city harder…"
Zane grins at Singh. "Too many tusks. I am not used to these visions of beauty, too accustomed to scrawny human wenches."
Gerald‘ scratches at the back of of his head, but hands over a silver.
Zane passes over a silver as well.
Garrett: "They could also be used to prohibit free travel of poorer people," he only says after having paid his silver and passed through.
Zane: "Clearly an unintended side-effect of course."
Gerald: "Oh."
Chandrasekhar laughs.
Phyllis pays her part of the fee. Fourmyle and something about property. No. Mojang and artifice - runes scribbled into gold pieces, drawing them into Nem - no. Zane’s right, she's thinking too big and she's losing the thread.
Zane keeps walking. "I think they have a flying castle of some sort."
Phyllis shakes off her thoughts. "They?"
Chandrasekhar: "An invisible flying castle? Whoever they are, I like the cut of their jib."
Zane shrugs. "The Ob, probably. But I don't know for sure. Lights in the sky? Noises that sound like those flying machines Gradiax invented? 'Glowing albatrosses' that swoop down on ships? Makes sense to me."
Gerald: "I don't think they have anyone on staff talented enough for something like that. But hm."
Phyllis: "Replacement of the lighting systems in the Jaula de Oso. Wayfarer's lanterns, perhaps?"
Garrett: "That's an idea, yeah."
Aleith|DM: Once you get to the Executores Lodge, the building looks quite empty and devoid of life. The door's locked.
Zane scowls. "Probably." He scowls even harder at the locked Executores lodge.
Phyllis stares at it for a few seconds before pulling out her ritual book and turning to [Knock].
Aleith|DM: Garrett opens the door quicker. [Thievery]
Garrett: "Time for some good ol' thieves' work." He picks the lock with a brush of his hand.
Phyllis closes it shut. Yeah, Zane's definitely right.
Garrett‘ slowly opens and slithers in, taking care with his steps.
Aleith|DM: The Lodge hasn’t seen much use in a couple of weeks. There's some newer footprints in the dust that's started to settle.
Garrett: "I don't gather these lodges run this light, normally," he says, but it's sort of like a question.
Phyllis: "What light?"
Zane shakes his head angrily. "These halls should be bustling. There should have been at least a squad if not two of Executores outside practicing. This emptiness is just… wrong."
Aleith|DM: After looking around a bit, you find a bedroom in the lodge that's more recently used, but hasn't been used for at least a few days.
Aleith|DM: In it, aside from some personal belongings of Salome Nieves, you also find a scroll of sending.
Garrett: "Matches what Glaucia said, anyhow."
Chandrasekhar: "So, what happened here?"
Phyllis: "Think you can divine anything from the surroundings, Garrett? The things here, footprints, the … cause/"
Garrett‘ nods. "I’m not sure about the cause, unless whatever caused everyone to disappear happened here."
Zane: "We were told that they disbanded the Executores… but to see it, like this… I am enraged."
Zane sounds calm.
Phyllis: "Zane. The Executores are meant to serve as a safeguard against corruption among the powerful, right?"
Zane: "Mmhmm."
Phyllis: "Anyone that could possibly call Nicodemus out on his crap. Vanished into the night."
Phyllis: "The Executores. The true believers of the Clergy. Us."
Zane: "Any who would forget the past of Ber and act like tyrants in their own right face the Executores justice. I am unsurprised that the Obscurati wanted them gone."
Chandrasekhar doesn't sound calm. He LOOKS calm, but… "They can -try- and impose their silence."
Garrett: "Can easily confirm that Salome was the last one here, but, well… let's see what I can get." He places a hand on a nearby doorway, near the middle of the lodge. [Urban Bond]
Aleith|DM: Arcana check?
Garrett‘ rolled 1d20+22 and got 17 ( Total: 39 ) for secrets of the city
Aleith|DM: Ah, right. That ability. What 5 images would you like to see?
[OOC] Garrett: The last person who was here besides us.
Aleith|DM: You see an image of Salome Nieve, matching Glaucia’s description, leaving the Lodge and locking it behind her, only lightly burdened. Her broken-chain of office seems to be hidden under her clothes.
Garrett: "Salome was definitely the person here, so that's at least a relief that nobody planted her things."
Garrett: "Seems like she expected to return, of which her left-behind pack already spoke volumes."
[OOC] Garrett: The last time the lodge was bustling and busy.
Aleith|DM: You see an image of various Berans, most wearing the broken chain of the Executore's office. Some are writing or looking over books, others are cooking or cleaning.
Aleith|DM: Probably about a couple dozen people all told.
Garrett: "Hmm… well, I suppose if their mass exodus happened all at once, it wasn't here."
Garrett: "The building remembers the last time it was busy, and everything seems relatively in order."
Zane smiles faintly. "No, it wouldn't. This place is a fortress. Trying to take the Executores here would have been a slaughter."
Phyllis picks up the scroll of Sending and hands it to Gerald. "Your eyes are better than mine, and I have no magical means to pierce such a veil. I don't think there's anything, but if you could look for hidden writing..?"
Gerald: "Yeah sure. Make a light?"
[OOC] Garrett: The time when everybody- not us, not Salome- left.
Gerald‘ holds it out in front of himself, tilted at an angle.
Aleith|DM: You see an image of several dozen city guards leading away the Exectures and their staff in chains. Many of them are injured on both sides.
Phyllis: "I, uh."
Phyllis: "I can no longer do so."
Garrett: "Uh, well, no they definitely did take them from here, nevermind."
Garrett: "You have to be specific with buildings, apparently."
Gerald: "…"
Gerald` digs around in his pocket, then holds out a match to Phyllis.
Garrett: "I mean they definitely didn’t give up without a fight, but there's a lot of wounds all around."
Garrett: "But several dozen city guards led away the survivors."
Aleith|DM: Looking over the scroll, there doesn't seem to be any secret writing.
Phyllis stares for a second, then lights it for Gerald.
[OOC] Garrett: The person who led the city guard.
Phyllis: "Magically speaking, this new world feels as if someone cut out my tongue."
Gerald: "Nothin' on the scroll, but…"
Aleith|DM: You see an image of an older orc in fine clothing-Lord Cadagyr.
Garrett: "Huh. Apparently Lord Cadagyr himself led the raid."
Gerald: "Now that there's not a dozen flowers around - do you guys smell that?"
Gerald‘ hands the scroll back to Phyllis, before making his way outside and up to the roof of the building.
Chandrasekhar: "…huh. Wonder where his kid’s holed up."
Zane: "This dust is doing wonders on my nose…" He follows Gerald.
[OOC] Garrett: The hiding place of any survivors.
Gerald: "Can't really identify it but it's not a smell I'm used to smelling. You see those stands running all through out the town, though?" He gestures at a particular spot on the wall, as he sclimbs up past it.
Aleith|DM: It's actually quite nostalgic, the scent.
Zane: "Yeah…?"
Gerald: "Or… hm. No what the hell is that…? Is 'too many humans in one place eating food' a particular smell?"
Aleith|DM: The building hasn't seen that, but you catch a few fleeting glimpses of masses of people, market stalls, ranshackle buildings…the Troughs…?
Gerald‘ pulls himself up onto the roof, then squint at the sky.
Garrett: "There’s probably a few survivors, at least, likely escaped into the depths of the Troughs."
Garrett: "Which- obvious place to hide, yes, but it's nice to have a vague confirmation."
Garrett: "If we dig deep, we can find even more answers."
Garrett‘ gives the doorway a comforting pat and warm smile. You’ve been a big help, my sturdy friend.
Chandrasekhar: "…reminds me of the jungles back home."
Garrett: "Man, now that you mention it…"
Zane pauses and sniffs. Sniffs again. "Yes. It's… I have eaten this… but I cant remember…"
Garrett: "It's a smell from back in 'the day.' And man, I mean even… pre-RHC. Stolen kebabs in the forest, day."
Gerald: "Okay."
Garrett: "Not -exactly- that but."
Gerald: "I have a hunch, that there's absolutely no way in hell we all have the same thing in mind we're thinking of when we smell this so…"
Zane: "Definitely not."
Gerald: "One of you has a ring of feather fall or something similar on, right?"
Chandrasekhar: "A common thread, though. Nostalgia."
Phyllis: "Absolutely not. The memories the scent stirs in me outlive over half of you."
Gerald: "Want someone to teleport up into the sky above me and… I don't know. See if you hit sometyhing, or get denied passage?"
Garrett: "I think we can agree that it's a weird thing to be happening, right here, right now."
Garrett: "Unless there's a really killer food stall next door and that's why the Executores built here."
Phyllis: "The opposite of aberrant, the comforting and familiar…"
Phyllis wipes off some dust with her finger and inspects it. "I wonder."
Zane laughs. "Actually, they did their own cooking for the most part. Where do you think I learned?"
Garrett: "I think that'd attract a lot of attention without some way to also cloak the person."
Gerald: "I can't imagine we haven't already attracted a lot of attention, being a band of heavily armoed mostly humans waltzing into town accompanied by a floating mask and cape, as is."
Gerald: "There's definitely something up here though I just can't… see it. Keep hearing these hissing noises, and the ocassional moan."
Garrett: "The key to concealing a bonfire is not to throw more fuel on…"
Aleith|DM: Garrett and Zane can hear the noise as well, if they listen for it.
Garrett‘ focuses, and tries to sense if there’s anything else in here with them.
Aleith|DM: It's definitely coming from the air above the Lodge.
Phyllis stares upwards. Then reaches out with her mind, in an effort to pry the hidden and insubstantial into the half-light of day. [Thoughtform]
Garrett: "Can we get some sort of arcane reading of the building and area around it?"
Garrett: "Hissing, moaning sounds like snakes and zombies, to me."
Aleith|DM: …Wisdom check?
Garrett: "And if what is happening in Ursaliña-" he remembers to use the accent this time "-isn't the work of the Ob…"
Phyllis rolled d20+18 and got 8 ( Total: 26.0 ) for half level plus mod, right?
Aleith|DM: +9 on top of that, yeah.
Aleith|DM: You don't sense anything.
Garrett: "Then it'd probably be one of the few other powers that are projecting themselves internationally-"
Phyllis: "Do you suspect the bleak gate, perhaps?"
Garrett: "So either a long Gradiax plan, or the 'Risurians' who attacked- agents of Rot."
Phyllis: "You asked for a reading." [Detect Planar Energy: Bleak Gate]
Garrett: "I'll take anything arcane, really."
Aleith|DM: If there's any signs of the Bleak Gate, it's only from things on your own persons.
Gerald‘ sighs exasperatedly, then fires his grappling hook in the direction of the noises, though doubting they’re low enough for it to reach.
Aleith|DM: It…bounces off of something, about 20 feet above you.
Gerald: "…"
Gerald: "Oh, that's… way lower than expected."
Aleith|DM: An unseen strand of something brushes your cheek.
Aleith|DM rolled d20+33 and got 17 ( Total: 50 ) for vs AC, CA
Aleith|DM: Before you can flick it away, an entire coil of wriggling tentacle has wrapped around you, and lifted you off the ground!
Aleith|DM rolled 3d6+25 and got 3, 5, 2 ( Total: 35.0 )
Aleith|DM: Hitting for 35 damage and grabbing you!
Zane: "What the f-"
Gerald: "I found the thiiiiiiiIIIIIAAAAAAA!"
Garrett: "Good job Geraaaaaaaaaaald-!"
Zane doesn't even think, just leaps upward and slashes at the tentacle holding his friend.
Aleith|DM: Battle Order: | 36:Gerald | 30:Ernst | 30:Garrett | 29:Phyllis | 28:Chandrasekhar | 25:Zane | 25:Invisible Thing |
Chandrasekhar: "!!!"
Aleith|DM: Gerald!
Gerald‘ fades into mist, then reappears with his feet firmly on the gorund, and not held by an invisible tendril. [Step of Morning Mist], marks it as his [Quarry], then fires a [Pounding Barrage] in the direction he just was.
[OOC] Gerald: -5 to hit…?
Aleith|DM: Yeah
Gerald` rolled 2#d20+27(1) and got 20 ( Total: 47 )
Also rolled 2#d20+27(2) and got 15 [Total: 42]
[OOC] Sugarlips: Grand Total: 89
Gerald` rolled 2#d20+27(1) and got 3 ( Total: 30 )
Also rolled 2#d20+27(2) and got 19 [Total: 46]
[OOC] Sugarlips: Grand Total: 76
Gerald` rolled 2#d20+27(1) and got 19 ( Total: 46 )
Also rolled 2#d20+27(2) and got 20 [Total: 47]
[OOC] Sugarlips: Grand Total: 93
Aleith|DM: Crit, hit! 1 hit! 2 crits!
Aleith|DM: It’s also insubstantial…
Aleith|DM: You estimate it's about 20 feet above the roof, by the way.
Phyllis: "Theory: The executores formed a hivemind."
Phyllis: "… no, Garrett saw them leave."
Aleith|DM: The thing may-or-may not be bloodied.
Aleith|DM: Garrett! Ernst!
Garrett‘ utilizes a [Minor Action] to focus around the creature! Targeting its Fortitude! "Come on down, creature! (Hopefully!)"
[OOC] Aleith|DM: It’s really hard to say until I see Gerald's buckets-of-dice damage
[OOC] Garrett: ahahah yeah fair
[OOC] Garrett: but I think I'ma do this anyway
[OOC] Aleith|DM: Ice is the only one that gets bonus damage against insubstantial anyway
Aleith|DM: Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma check verus Fort! +9 bonus!
Garrett‘ rolled 1d20+29 and got 5 ( Total: 34 ) for half level plus mod plus nine vs Fort
[OOC] Phyllis: oh what i could have chosen int
[OOC] Aleith|DM: my bad
Aleith|DM: Miss!
[Sly Fortune’s Favor]
Garrett‘ rolled 1d20+29 and got 19 ( Total: 48 ) for half level plus mod plus nine vs Fort
Aleith|DM: Hit! It’s no longer insubstantial! …but it's still invisible.
Garrett: "Contact!"
Garrett: "It's definitely a thoughtform! And it is here!"
[OOC] Aleith|DM: 275! Bloodied!
Garrett: "…trust me on that one!"
Garrett‘ hurls a dagger towards the beast where he kind of knows where it is now sorta! [Sly Flourish]
Garrett` rolled 1d20+27 and got 1 ( Total: 28 ) for vs AC, -5 for invisible right?
Aleith|DM: Yeah, but that’s a miss!
Garrett‘ is just gonna take that miss.
Aleith|DM: Ernst! Phyllis!
Phyllis: "I lack any more radiant spells. I’m curious to see how it reacts to light from the old sun. In the meantime - " [Illlusory Ambush x2, Quickened Spellcasting]
Phyllis: And a [Mage Hand] slightly hovering in the air where Gerald hit it.
Phyllis rolled 2#d20+25(1) and got 20 ( Total: 45.0 ) for vs will, -5 taken into account
Also rolled 2#d20+25(2) and got 10 [Total: 35.0 (Low), Avg: 10.00]
Total: 80.0, Avg: 15.00
Aleith|DM: Crit! Miss!
Phyllis rolled 5d12+41 and got 3, 12, 4, 4, 5 ( Total: 69.0 )
Aleith|DM: 69 damage to Zane! [Unearthly Refraction - Change the target to another creature within the power's range]
Gerald: "…Did it just bounce your spell?"
Zane staggers. [Resist 15: Psychic]
[OOC] Aleith|DM: -6 to your next attack, -2 UEoPhyllis'NT
Aleith|DM: Chandrasekhar!
Phyllis: " - yes."
[OOC] Chandrasekhar: asdhghfj can someone take this turn for me my mom is Being Yell ><;
Chandrasekhar growls and points in the direction of the mage hand- this burst will get it! [Demand Respect] [Close Burst 10]
[OOC] Aleith|DM: that's an interrupt
[OOC] Garrett: oh what I meant was
Chadrasekhar covers the area around the mage hand in a conflaguration of fire and even more, slightly more yellow fire! [Vision of the Fall]
Garrett‘ rolled 1d20+25 and got 18 ( Total: 43 ) for vs Will
Chandrasekhar spends a healing surge to use the radiant power.
Aleith|DM: Hit!
Garrett` rolled 2d8+12 and got 6, 1 ( Total: 19 ) for fire and radiant damage
[OOC] Aleith|DM: 19 fire damage!][Immune: Radiant
[OOC] Garrett: also each ally of primary target that I can see takes 5 fire+radiant damage. but
Aleith|DM: Zane!
Zane takes a runnign leap upward, his free hand digging into something unseen for a split second to gain him purchase as the Arsenal slashes back and forth into apparently emptiness. [leaping Charge!]
Zane rolled d20+32 and got 15 ( Total: 47 ) for vs AC
Aleith|DM: It feels like a floating mass of gas-filled sacs with various things, like feelers and eye stalks, hanging off of it…
Aleith|DM: Even with a -6 penalty that hits!
Zane rolled 8d10+19 and got 10, 10, 4, 3, 7, 1, 6, 4 ( Total: 64.0 ) for assassin strike and attack finesse
Also rolled 3d8 and got 8, 5, 6 [Total: 19 (High), Avg: 6.33]
Total: 83.0, Avg: 5.82
[OOC] Aleith|DM: 83!
Aleith|DM: It’s badly wounded, but not quite that wounded yet.
Aleith|DM: It strikes out with a couple of tentacles! [Sample Collection]
Aleith|DM rolled 2#d20+31(1) and got 14 ( Total: 45.0 ) for Gerald, Zane
Also rolled 2#d20+31(2) and got 7 [Total: 38.0 (Low), Avg: 7.00]
Total: 83.0, Avg: 10.50
Gerald‘ [Disruptive Shot]
Gerald` rolled 2#d20+27(1) and got 16 ( Total: 43 )
Also rolled 2#d20+27(2) and got 13 [Total: 40]
[OOC] Sugarlips: Grand Total: 83
Gerald` rolled 4d8+29 and got 4, 2, 7, 5 ( Total: 47 )
Aleith|DM: 2 hits! (no longer insubstantial)
Gerald: "Once was enough."
Aleith|DM: It tries again! [AP -> Sample Collection]
Aleith|DM rolled d20+31 and got 14 ( Total: 45 ) for vs Chandra
Aleith|DM rolled 3d6+25 and got 1, 4, 1 ( Total: 31.0 )
Aleith|DM: Hitting Chandrasekhar for 31 and grabbing him!
Chandrasekhar: "-nghh!"
Aleith|DM: And then tentacles reach for his face… [Drain Blood and Consume Eyeballs]
Aleith|DM rolled d20+31 and got 10 ( Total: 41.0 ) for vs Fort
Chandrasekhar has a mask on you asshole brain!!!
Aleith|DM rolled 3d6+25 and got 2, 5, 6 ( Total: 38.0 )
Aleith|DM: The tentacles pry the mask off slightly, and one of Chandrasekhar’s eyes is gouged out. 38 damage! Chandrasekhar is dazed and takes ongoing 5 damage (save ends both)!
Gerald: "The FUCK."
Aleith|DM: The thing turns visible!
Aleith|DM: Battle Order: | 36:Gerald | 30:Garrett | 29:Phyllis | 28:Chandrasekhar | 25:Zane | 25:Invisible Thing |
Aleith|DM: Gerald!
Chandrasekhar screams!
Gerald‘ unloads an [Manticore’s Volley] into the thing before it can do that again!
Gerald‘ rolled 2#d20+32(1) and got 15 ( Total: 47 )
Also rolled 2#d20+32(2) and got 15 [Total: 47]
[OOC] Sugarlips: Grand Total: 94
Gerald` rolled 2#d20+32(1) and got 3 ( Total: 35 )
Also rolled 2#d20+32(2) and got 16 [Total: 48]
[OOC] Sugarlips: Grand Total: 83
Gerald` rolled 2#d20+32(1) and got 9 ( Total: 41 )
Also rolled 2#d20+32(2) and got 20 [Total: 52]
[OOC] Sugarlips: Grand Total: 93
Aleith|DM: 2 hits! 1 hit! 1 hit, 1 crit!
Gerald` rolled 4d8+29 and got 2, 6, 4, 2 ( Total: 43 )
d8+29: 2 [Total: 31]
Also rolled 6d6+61 and got 6, 2, 6, 5, 4, 6 [Total: 90]
[OOC] Sugarlips: Grand Total: 164
Aleith|DM: It’s Very Dead
[OOC] Gerald: +16 more.. but w/e
Gerald‘ hopes Zane caught that eyeball before it rolls too far away so they can put it back inside Chandra… guah.
Aleith|DM: It’s…gone.
Zane matches Chandrasekhars scream with a bestial roar of his own. Fortunately Gerald does for the beast, so he can catch the Eladrin before he hits the ground.
Phyllis looks over the creature, now that it's visible, trying to ascertain origin or … anything.
Chandrasekhar only screamed the once, but it feels like it echoes; his mask's stained with bright blood.
Aleith|DM: The thing starts deflating as it dies. It has many multihued and faceted eyes hanging off of the mass, as well as numerous tendrils.
Aleith|DM: A glossy green prism can be found in the middle of it.
Aleith|DM: It's…definitely not from this world.
Gerald: "I uh… shit. Good thing we've already got regeneration down in one of your ritual books?"
Garrett‘ snarls and sweeps the area, looking to see if anyone or anything else is going to come at them, but figuring they might be invisible, he starts to stand down and backs up to the party.
Gerald` frowns a bit as he pushes squishy brainpyre bits away from the prism.
Zane carefully wipes the blood from Chandrasekhar’s unseen face and then the mask. His head stays cocked to the side, listening intently for the approach of anything else.
Phyllis looks at Gerald, then jerks a thumb back at Ernst.
Aleith|DM: You hear a few dozen footsteps approaching the Lodge.
Garrett: "…we should make ourselves scarce."
Gerald: "If you're the local guards, you're a bit fuckin' late!"
Aleith|DM: …staying or going?
Phyllis: "They could be freed from whatever hold the creature had on them. Maybe."
Phyllis: "That's … jumping to a lot of conclusions, though."
Garrett: "We can't rely on the guard to be on our side, not after what they did to the Executores. Even if misled and misguided."
Zane will unobtrusively take a look over the edge to see who it is. [Stealth, get on my level]
Gerald: "
Aleith|DM: It's a few dozen of the city police, mostly orcs.
Aleith|DM: They'll be here in a minute.
Gerald: "Worst comes to worst they take us to the root of whatever's causing this, but Ernst and Chandra may want to take off to heal up."
Zane: "Shit. City guards."
Phyllis takes the prism, then cuts open an [Arcane Gate] on the other side of the building, from the roof to the floor.
Garrett‘ shakes his head. "Let’s get down and hide."
Phyllis: Opposite the direction of where Zane looked.
Gerald‘ rolls a shrug, then steps through Phyllis’ gate.
Aleith|DM: Stealth checks?
Garrett‘ rolled 1d20+29 and got 15 ( Total: 44 )
Aleith|DM: You’re good. The police are looking around, but they aren't finding you.
Phyllis rolled d20+39 and got 12 ( Total: 51.0 ) for i retrained out of the Light cantrip to Chameleon's Mask so I get to substitute Arcana for Stealth no
Zane slings the dead aberration over the edge of the roof. "This is what is causing the lights in the sky. Warn your citizens." And he vanishes with the others.
Aleith|DM: …they start looking a bit more urgently, but you practically vanish like a ghost.
Aleith|DM: Something about that monster reminds you of the Gidim warbeasts from over a year ago…
Gerald‘ made that connection pretty quick yeah…
Phyllis: "Do we get a room at the - at anywhere safe from prying eyes?"
Zane: "Well, maybe its not a flying castle, then. I’m… not really relieved."
Garrett: "The Troughs. I'm sure we can find a sympathetic…" He tries not to look at Chadra's bloody mask. "…ear."
Chandrasekhar actually grit-snorts out a ghost of a laugh, staggering against Zane.
Zane: "C'mon, I'll get us an inn room. We can spend a few hours to get Singh his eye back."
Phyllis: "That may be best, yes."
Garrett‘ nods. "Lead the way."
Garrett: "Or, well-" He moves to also support Chandra.
Garrett: "We’ll hobble together."
Chandrasekhar: "I… I appreciate it."
Aleith|DM: You find a place to stay in the Troughs. There's some space still, though not too much as visitors doesn't seem to be leaving.
Aleith|DM: Those that try have been turned back by the guards, and those that ran…some people saw them attacked by something invisible when they left the city limits.
Aleith|DM: And they were slashed apart or struck by a beam of light and darkness.
Garrett‘ speaks in a low tone, once they’re in a room.
Garrett: "…so, something's been bothering me, upon reflection."
Garrett: "I don't think we can trust what I learned back there at the lodge."
Chandrasekhar: "…why's that?"
Garrett‘ leans back and studies the ceiling in thought. "Communicating with an area is strange in and of itself, and I’m not sure I could even convey what it's like entirely…"
Garrett: "But even like the conversation we're having now-"
Garrett: "Communication isn't always a clean or very precise thing."
Gerald‘ glances at Phyllis, then nods to Garrett.
Garrett: "But, communication with the lodge was almost exactly that."
Chandrasekhar: "…ahh. Something was talking back, and oughtn’t've been."
Phyllis feels like she should take some kind of offense, but her face shows that she isn't clear on exactly what.
Garrett: "I couldn't 'sense' anything amiss really, but it's… just reflecting on the images I saw when asked."
Garrett: "They're really… clean."
Phyllis: "Practiced, like one can't easily imagine imperfections unless they take special care to do so. We most often envision things in their ideal form."
Phyllis: "Platonic, even - "
Phyllis: "But continue."
Garrett: "That's about the size of it."
Garrett: "Whether they were somehow placed there for us to 'find' or fed there by the abomination we just killed, I can't say."
Phyllis leaves Ernst some residuum if he doesn't have enough for the ritual.
Garrett‘ sighs. "I think attempting to find any wayward Executores is still a good idea, though, and again that our best bet of doing so is in the Troughs."
Gerald: "Alright."
Garrett: "…with the creature gone I might have different results upon a second attempt, but the area’s too hot for now."
Phyllis: "Divination may also be an option. Within an hour's time, I can discern where Nieves is at this moment."
Garrett‘ nods. "We have the time. Definitely not making any big moves until we’ve crossed some t's and dotted our,"
Garrett: "Lower case j's."
Phyllis nods and gets to work in scrying Nieves and her whereabouts. [Observe Creature]
Zane: "Useful. I'll spend some time learning the city in the meantime, if nobody objects. I haven't been here in a long time." [Peerless Exploration]
Phyllis rolled d20+39 and got 3 ( Total: 42.0 ) for arcana but i mean the best result is on 40+
Aleith|DM: An hour later, it's about the time when afternoon turns to evening, and you spot her in a small bazaar in the Troughs you passed through earlier today. It's about a 15 minute walk from here. She's purchasing some dinner from a roadside stall.
Aleith|DM: She glances skyward while she's haggling with the man. Just in general, not in the direction of the scrying sensor.
Phyllis: "She's not … taken anywhere. Just purchasing dinner. Possibly looking at another invisible … y'know."
Aleith|DM: Zane can show you the fastest route there after his Exploration.
Garrett: "Good to hear."
Aleith|DM: Several minutes later, you make it to the stall, and it's only a couple of questions to figure out where she went from there. A couple minutes, you catch up to the Executore–tall, well-groomed, with short-cropped black hair and a physique built for smashing evil-doers with a staff.
Garrett: "We've been looking for you…" he says not-ominously.
Phyllis: "That description of the dark and light beam reminds me of the floor in the Symposium that Nicodemus held."
Phyllis: "Not the one in Cherage, in the Gate."
Aleith|DM: Salme turns around. "…who are you? Obviously not the city guard, but…"
[OOC] Aleith|DM: *Salome
Zane holds his hands up, showing they are empty. "Executore. My name is Zane. Zane Bieito. These are my friends."
Salome: "Zane? Beatriz's boy? I've heard stories about you. What are you doing here, of all places?" She's talking more quietly now.
Zane bows slightly. "A long and complicated story. But something is wrong here, and we are trying to find out what."
Salome: "There sure as hells is, that's for sure. Let's go somewhere else. You staying somewhere?"
Zane: "We have a room, yes. Join us?"
Salome nods. "Lead on. My own place right now is quite cramped."
Zane: "How many are you sheltering?"
Salome: "I'm sheltering in someone else's home, rather. The rest of the Executores are gone."
Aleith|DM: Once you get back to her room she continues. "I wasn't at the Lodge long before things went to shit."
Zane: "A problem I intend to remedy in due time."
[OOC] Aleith|DM: *to your room
Salome: "I'd asked them what was going one, and asked around a bit, but didn't get much. This one merchant, Flida, was helpful, but I didn't have much when I used one of the scrolls Glaucia gave me to send her. I swear that must have triggered something, because it was just minutes later that officers came to arrest me."
Salome: "There was a fierce fight at the Lodge, and after my sisters and I defeated the police I entreated them to flee, but they wouldn't. I dared not go back after that."
Salome: "That was only a few days ago. It wasn't even a day later before some rumours about the Lodge being empty started circulating."
Garrett‘ thinks, knee bouncing, hand on chin.
Zane: "You all… defeated the police?"
Zane: "And then they allowed themselves to be captured anyway?"
Salome: "Hmmm? Yeah, of course. Even if they sent twice our number we managed to take them out."
Salome: "Allowed? I doubt that. But I didn’t see what happened."
Gerald: "What happened is a brainpyre ate them."
Gerald: "Not that hard to figure out."
Salome: "And even while I was hiding down here, I swear I was being followed one time, something floating above me, always watching. I tried to hide in the tunnels for a bit, but that didn't seem to shake it. It was only when I fled through an open-air alchemy market that I was able to lose it. Maybe all the strange smoke thick in the air.
Phyllis: "There may be something to that. You may have, in fact, been followed by an invisible assailant."
Gerald: "Yeah they can fly and are invisible, and psychic to boot. They're kind of a pain in the ass."
Garrett: "…Funny that the factories all shut down, huh?"
Chandrasekhar shudders.
[OOC] Chandrasekhar: wait no I don't I'm not there.
[OOC] Chandrasekhar: …I shuddered anyways.
[OOC] Phyllis: I think you are? we went back to the room
[OOC] Gerald: naw we brought her back to where you are! you're good
Garrett: "The events are certainly linked."
[OOC] Chandrasekhar: OH lawl okay
Garrett: "…also Flida sure gets information around, doesn't she?"
Gerald: "I mean,"
Gerald: "Ber probably has the best spy network of them all."
Gerald‘ rolls a shrug.
Zane: "Hmmmm."
Garrett: "Oh I’d believe it, but in our circumstances, coincidence is never due to chaos."
Salome: "Hmmm, she just seemed motivated and socially-connected, but you could be right about that…"
Gerald: "Right, I was implying she was part of the spy network."
Chandrasekhar: "Assume everyone is part of the spy network and you'll rarely be surprised by anything."
Gerald: "So anyway…"
Salome: "So where did you want to check out next? I was thinking of taking a look at the Jaula, but I'm surprised the police haven't tried to drag you to see Lord Cadagyr."
Gerald: "At this point seems pretty conclusive that a brainpyre has mindjacked the ruler of this city and is setting up shop. So. Probably want to mvoe in thta direction and start killing them once Chandra can see again."
Zane: "They havent found us yet."
Chandrasekhar: "I vaguely suspect any interaction with Cadagyr will be rather… fractious. Yes."
Zane: "Dieter first, then Lord WInslow."
Garrett: "Interesting. What do we hope to learn from Dieter?"
Phyllis: "With any irritants that create smoke like firegems or restaurants or factories being shut down. Hm."
Salome: "Dieter's easy. I'm in contact with him-he's trying to figure out what's going on as well. You can find him at the Red Peacock most night."
Chandrasekhar: "…that suggests a means of sabotage, though. Zane, there are compounds that release quite a bit of noxious smoke, are there not?"
Zane: "Oh yes. I am already running through a list in my head."
Chandrasekhar: "Most excellent."
Zane nods at Salome. "Mostly I want to know what he knows, before moving on to dealing with his father."
Salome: "He's been keeping a bit of a lower profile after he tried confronting his father a few days ago. Said he was spooked, feeling like he was being watched throughout the District. He'd made a public speach to rally support before that, but the police came and violently broke up the event. I found him at the Red Peacock after that and told him to be more careful."
Garrett: "Fair enough. And if we can get help in lighting up the factories before a push, all the better."
Salome: "He'd agree with you about it being likely his father's being mind-controlled."
Phyllis ponders something, then starts casting [Detect Planar Energy: Gidim] as the conversation goes on. 10 minutes.
Aleith|DM: Yes.
Aleith|DM: The answer is yes.
Aleith|DM: It's everywhere.
Aleith|DM: But especially in the northern, eastern, and southern districts.
Phyllis closes her eyes shut after gleaning that much information. Which … it probably isn't done through eyesight, arcane stuff is weird like that. But less sensory input seems. Appropriate.

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