Staging Area
<Svajoklis, Staging area>
I say we take Icarus. It has sensors to detect trouble and maneuverability to avoid it. Since our main goal is not to fight stuff in space but just get on board of a haunted spaceship, we shouldn't need overly powerful guns.
"That is a good idea. If the vessel has been compromised a quick scan and escape might be your best option. Even with no shields it would take powerful weapons to penetrate it.""Eh, the X is quite quick as well. And it's capable of forming a seal with the hull and cutting a hole through it... if given enough time.""Yes, but it is not as quick as Icarus' or Rodger's vessels."Kosak Durar:
"To think that vehicles could be brought so far..."
Kosak merely watches.
"Wait. Haunted? I vote whatever ship has the fewest ghosts."
Bloody ghosts. An enemy Kosak can't punch.
"Well, in a sense, Icarus is kinda like a ghost...""Am not!""And you know how children are, lying all the time...""I'm not a child! And I'm not lying!""I know you're not a child. Because you're a ghost.""Rrrrh! And you're... mean!""Oh, 'mean'. Such harsh language. You kiss your mother with that mouth?""I think we should take the Phoenix as well, although that perfect ship is very tempting."
"Well, just remember that his definition of perfect might be a bit different than yours.""Oh, come on, just because he might use your corpses for ablative armour, is he really that bad?""Not if ah kill yuh first, you overgrown lizardsicle. The other one is nice, though. Ah like you, whoever yuh are." William remarks, his drawl more apparent after shifting back before making his naked trek towards wherever he can get some whiskey. And maybe some clothes, but the whiskey is more important.
<Wha- Nice? You do? I mean, yes, of course you do, why wouldn't you?>She's clearly taken aback but also somewhat enjoying your compliment. Frostbite makes an angry grunt.
<Uh, anyway. The name is Aurora, human. And don't worry about getting to finish. I believe there's going to be some fun and explosions before this is over. In fact, I'm counting on it...>Frostbite isn't as amicable. He looks at you as he walks away, gives you yet another angry grunt and then disappears into the snow and ice.
<Kill you later.>Shift back to normal. Go find some whiskey. And maybe clothes, but the whiskey is the important thing.
Also vote for the Eternal Sunrise, because I can provide my own firepower.
You summon a monocle-wearing butler and have him serve you some whiskey to warm you up. He produces a bottle of Talisker and fills your glass, which you promptly empty into your esophagus.
"Refill, Sir?"
"Thank you for your trust.""Don't be so quick to thank him. Didn't you hear his reasoning? He basically wants to put a bomb inside a pressure cooker and put that in a spaceship.""Oh, you're just mad because nobody picked you."
Campaign
Alan, Master Chef
Alan looks at his hands in wonderment.
"My god. I amaze myself every day. What else could I accomplish with this power?
I should test my limits."
Start cooking a bunch of extravagant shit and narrating the cooking process in a Gordon Ramsay-like fashion, only use completely nonsensical ingredients - toasted carrots with a gummy bear reduction glaze and various other things like that.
You manage to burn everything you cook. Even the cocktails. It's kind of fascinating, in its own way. Like watching a horrible car crash in slow motion. Needless to say, everyone discovers they've forgotten something very important thing they need to do and within moments the area is deserted. It is, in a way, a superpower of its own.
THE FACTS:
We are interdimensional travelers here on a mission to hunt down and presumably destroy a similar interdimensional traveler (provide all known details of the thing we're hunting for)
We collectively possess much in the way of might and magic, as you would put it in a place such as this, and are prepared to trade these for information and material assistance if this is required.
We have a strong idea of what the cause of the disaster to the west may have been, as we had something of a first-row seat to the happenings in what is a fascinating story we hope to relate.
We know a little bit about the overall motives and modes of operation of a cabal of arbitrary interdimensional intelligences engaged in silly games and politicking that invariably involves the deaths of anywhere between 1 and several million innocents on a given mission.
We need information about disturbances and likely locations of the thing we're hunting, including a more specific in-depth description of Nether Pass and the areas surrounding in to shed light on what we can expect there.
Since this is a pre-industrial fantasy society, the Water Monastery presumably hoards a lot of knowledge that could help us with our mission.
We have little time for platitudes and nonsense, so let's trade facts for facts and conjecture for conjecture, shall we?
Though he seems a bit dismissive at first, his eyes suddenly flash with recognition. He politely dismisses the gatekeeper asks you to follow him into the temple before continuing. You get past the entrance, a pleasant spray of water droplets falling on you as you cross it. On the way to wherever you're going, you make your way through a large chamber with a hole in the ceiling through which water falls, disappearing deep below. Probably the way into that room that shady fella asked you to steal those items from.
You reach a small inner garden, decorated with miniature trees and small water ponds with water lilies. There is a pleasant smell accompanying the near constant sound of water falling. The sole occupants of the room at the moment are yourself, the other two members of your party, the Head Water and another man who appears to be meditating, completely ignorant of your presence.
You quietly discuss with the Head Water for a while, exchanging information. He says that they are well aware of the war in the east. They have been asked to help with the defence of the Kingdom but he states that, as has been done many times in the past, the Temple has chosen remain neutral unless attacked. Still, they cannot discount the possibility that they will be attacked, which is why they have begun flooding the area surrounding the temple to make it easier to defend.
He continues by stating that the situation is quite troubling and supports this by adding that this was one of the first time in his lifetime where most of their high ranking members were in favor of at least sending a few representatives away to investigate their surroundings, if not outright help with the situation. The slavers and the armies coming from the east are the least of it. While not common or expected, war and its maladies are not so strange.
What is unexpected are that armies of the Sovereign are supported by hideous beasts that have never been seen before (at least according to their quite significant stores of knowledge), beings that are clearly magical and quite powerful judging by the descriptions the refugees gave of them. Investigating them from up close would certainly help solve the mystery of their unnatural nature and origins.
And that's not the worst of it. A presence can be felt all across the land, especially during the night, a power of Darkness and Void that drains and corrupts everything it touches, especially those things with strong Fire in them. They have identified that it's coming from somewhere far away but they cannot tell much more about it, since it appears to be coming from two directions at the same time, both East and West. Luckily the temple is protected from such magic so at least the people here are safe, for now. The same cannot be said for everyone else though. This thing could adversely affect anyone and those that use fire magic in particular. Anything from mere weakness to accidental miscasts and use of dark magic.
Finally, word has reached them from their brothers in the South that the Confederation (the land South of the Scar) has also come under attack by both the Elven Tribes and the Sovereingty. While they have managed to hold their own for now, their current state means that this Kingdom cannot expect any help from them any time soon.
It is as if when the 'bubble' of the Tower of Fire burst, all the turmoil in the world has come flooding in to fill the void, he adds grimly.
When you ask about Nether Pass, he says that going there might be both good and bad. Good because it would most likely have been left alone by the Sovereignty's armies. And bad because there is a very good reason that place is left alone. He says that place is a cursed place, filled with Death.
Though not many people remember it, this kingdom and much of the known world were once part of a great Empire, led by a tyrannical Mage-Emperor. He brought this realm to an unnatural state, the living toiling to sustain the dead, every creature forced into slavery by his armies of Monsters and Undead. The man who would later be known as the First King and his band of companions were the only ones that gave hope to the people, fighting the Emperor's oppression and improving the lives of the people with every chance he got. He remarks that it's quite a shame about the man, to have his noble deedsreduced to a twisted and barely remembered dogma. Even you, who wears an armour with his emblem on it, seem to not know his story. He seems quite interested in learning how you came across said armour.
Anyway, the First King ended up chasing the Emperor out of his palace in the desert and into the darkest pits of his mountain fortresses. There the First King defeated the Emperor, using his own dark power against him. But his victory came at a heavy price, both for him and for the surrounding area. Energies of Death still cling to this place. Anyone who enters it can still feel them. And the servants of the Emperor remain there, still trying to serve their master. Monsters of darkness still cling to the mountain tops searching for intruders and skeletal fiends come out of the ground to drag the living back there with them, bringing them into the depths of the old fortresses for unknown but assuredly wicked purposes.
He says that if you are not in a hurry, it might be best to avoid the main roads and head south, passing through the small range of hills that are between you and your destination. He says that the area should be mostly devoid of anything that could hurt you. There used to be some insectoid and avian beastmen on those hills but they have long since been 'cleared' by the armies of the King to make room for mines and estates. Not many of them are still occupied, so there shouldn't even be that many people in your way. If you stay on the main roads on the other hand, you are bound to run into something, since the bottleneck formed by the hills makes for an excellent ambush point, one that someone who wishes you harm is quite likely to take advantage of.
As for ways to help you with your quest, he says he is not certain about what you would require that he could provide. He certainly can't hand you over powerful artifacts just like that. For one he would still have to consult the other priests before making any major commitments. He could offer you a Bowl of Communication, an artifact that would allow you to transmit short messages to them. He says such a thing could be beneficial to both, since you could give the Monastery more information about what's going on in the outside world and they could respond with short pieces of advice or information.
((yes its a doublepost, but its been days since the last one after all))
While we travel, I brief TripleSword on the observed combat abilities and style of both River and FeralRiver, and let them know that my intention for when River and I meet again is to be battle-ready but will not under any expected circumstance strike first.
I also ask if they think they can protect me from his Silence and ask about ideas for combined combat styles between us, showing them my memories of my past fights.
One thing Im considering is passing flames between each other, and I want to know if our abilities are compatible with each other.Basically we need to be ready to fight as a team, so lets work out how our teamwork needs to operate.
The Sword says that it will do as you require.
He says that his Silence sounds much like a Hex, a blast of Void energies guided by Dark magic that harms everyone around it and disrupts all sorts of magic. The Sword is capable of countering such effects with defensive and restorative Light and Order magic, so it should be able to protect you. Now that it knows what it looks like, it should be more easy for it to counter it since it can focus its efforts on negating its energies instead of casting general defensive spells. Witnessing such effects for itself would be even better, since it would allow it to get a feel for them. Much like that time the General countered Alan, you suppose, since he said he needed to know a thing or two about Alan's intentions and what he was doing in order to interrupt it. It adds however that he seems quite capable of hiding himself and escaping its notice, so it might not be that simple.
The Sword says its long range attacks consist mostly of fire, so that would be the simplest combination: its attacks will create fires that you can later manipulate. Since you are primarily a magic wielder and not a fighter it won't be able to use its more intricate fighting techniques, but merely pointing it at the direction of your enemies should be enough for it to harm them, if you so wish. Beyond that it can alert you to danger, cast general healing, defensive and concentration spells, maybe provide you with better physical skills with a bit of concentrated effort. It says that if you think you have the stomach for it, you could also try Sword-Flight. You ask it what exactly it means and in response it gives you a memory:
In a field of battle, one man stands amongst charred and mutilated corpses of monsters and men, wielding the Sword. The sky is orange and black, the sun barely visible through the smoke. You see the world mostly from his perspective, his view, his touch, his smells, although you also have a fuzzy understanding of the area around him, like a painting made of fat dots in various shades of grey. The ground shakes and a massive creature begins rising in the distance, standing up on skeletal legs, half of its torso missing, oil oozing from the torn flesh. It is as massive as a building, tall enough to block the sun. Its horned head turns to face him, its red eyes focusing on him, orange light and clouds of ash escaping from its mouth. The man grips the sword tightly with both hands, sizing up his opponent. Grey strands extend from the sword, tying themselves up around his thick gauntlet. The man spins the sword like a hammer thrower at the olympics and then releases it, letting it fly towards the monster. The monster breathes fire and ash at the sword and its wielder but it uses its magic to blast a hole through it. It hits the monster at its shoulder, getting embedded in it. And then a wave of energy passes through the strands linking man and Sword, causing them to contract like a spring, sending him flying towards the monster. The monster tries to intercept him with its massive hand but it isn't quick enough. He grabs the sword out of the monster's shoulder as he flies by and prepares for another throw, straight at the back of its neck.
With the memory concluded, it adds that you are much lighter, so it should be able to do something similar with you, even though you are weaker than the owner of the memory.
We should continue scouting, probably will turnaround tomorrow I guess?
Indeed we shall!
Set commwire to receive, and keep testing on multiple frequencies!
And let San decide who he retroactively goes with given all this information we all have.
"Hey Irine, that mention of nasty magical items made me feel better--if I had some of those, I could help more when we're in trouble rather than just being physical with things. What do you think if we ever meet any of them?"
San would like to continue going with you. He seems to prefer clinging to you and your protection rather than risk trusting someone else.
You keep going forward but don't encounter anything of interest. The road is empty of people. You hear one of those creatures with the shark-like mouth roar somewhere in the distance but they don't seem keen on approaching you. The only mildly interesting thing you encounter are the remains of some sort of building. You can't tell what it was with a short investigation, for now only four low rock walls remain to mark the place it once stood. Someone has placed a pedestal with some sort of symbol in there, perhaps as a memorial or an improvised place of religious worship. It looks more recent than the building, although you aren't certain how recent exactly. Definitely not recently enough not to have been coated with dirt but recently enough to not have been eroded too much by the wind and the sun.
You also receive no response to your commwire. If someone's out there, they're not listening to you. At least that's how it seems until about an hour before the sun sets. It is at that time that you and Irine both feel the same distorted thought.
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