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[The Froggy Ninja]

((Coin tosses are awful like that.    Any other ideas?  Offensive, defensive, utilitarian?

Or we could still do trap spells.))

((That's why GM's discretion is supirior.))

[Karkov]

   Ustris and Kleine could feel the changes to their body slowly happen over the day, and the changes were visible as well.  Ustris muscles became slightly more toned, and he felt that he could demand slightly more power from them than recently.  He also found himself moving slightly faster than he had been.  He didn't notice himself being anymore charismatic, though he did notice the other humans glancing at him more often.  Kleine was visibly more agile, she had to slow her pace multiple times for Ustris and the other humans to keep up.

   When Jeeves had finished making the changes to their bodies he began teaching the two of them to exude mana from their circuits.  It was slow going, and tiring even to their new physiques, they understood quickly why it took two months or longer to learn this.  After a week of exhausting work they had finally mastered the basics of their mana circuits, they could expel mana easily, and even limit the amount they expelled.  Forming the mana became a simple step afterwards, one which they both took to with fervor.  Kleine found that fire spells came to her almost naturally, and had Jeeves teach her spells to protect herself with fire.  Ustris felt as though he had been ambushedon one too many times and began learning spells that would lay dormant until anything passed by it, he had also found himself comfortable with earthen magics.

   Ustris had taken to ritualistic casting, meaning he had to set up physical representations of his spells.  Most of the spells could just be diagrams, or sort of small channels which he filled with mana.  He had learned a spell to harden the sand so that the wind wouldn't erase any of his rituals carelessly.  Kleine had taken to evocation very quickly, her spells forming practically instantly.  The first spell she spent time learning was a sort of fire armor, it wreathed her in a thin layer of fire that would ignite anyone who got too close to her.  She could only keep the effect up for short times, it cut off her oxygen supply while it was in effect.  Ustris had learned two things rather quickly, traps that would explode and a spell that would alert him if anyone entered a certain area.

   The week after they had begun learning magic passed rather uneventfully, training went as normally, and they became more accustomed to their magic.  It had seemed an eternity since they had last seen Rikuroa, which now was visible over the horizon.  Their group was still too far to be seen by the lookouts.  They needed to decide on a plan of action, what would it be?

Spoiler: Stat Sheet (click to show/hide)

Kleine

STR:   3 / ??
AGI:   12 / ??
CON:   4 / ??
WIS:   4 / ??
INT:   8 / ??
CHA:   8 / ??

Ustris

STR:   10 / ??
AGI:   5 / ??
CON:   8 / ??
WIS:   7 / ??
INT:   5 / ??
CHA:   4 / ??

Crystal Staff

SPD:   1
POW:   1
PRC:   2

Effects:
None

Crossbow

SPD:   1
POW:   1
PRC:   1

Effects:
Automatic Bolt Generation

OOC:  Not a lot going on in this one, no dialogue anyway.  So what's our plan of action?

[The Froggy Ninja]

Secure a base. Have Ustris trap it with explosive runes in ways easily bypassed by people who know where they are. Also use the alarm spell at all entrances.

[Karkov]

   Ustris gazed out over Rikuroa, hatred clouding his vision.  Here he had spent countless months working for no gain, backbreaking and dangerous work with no profit for himself.  Here he had been exploited simply because he was human, and nothing else.  “Kleine, I feel like destroying the Skrellits and taking their home.  Are you with me?”

   Kleine was shocked, destroying the Skrellits?  She had daydreamed of killing a few of them, the trader that owned her for instance, but destroying them?  “Ustris, are you mad?  Destroy the Skrellits?  This entire city is theirs’!  Where would we get the support?  Even the two of us aren’t powerful enough to kill an entire city’s worth of Skrellits!”

   “We don’t have to proclaim open war on them, I’m thinking about a war of attrition, for now at least.”  He began scrawling the diagram to harden the sand into the dune he was laying against, after a moment the entire dune had the consistency of a hill made of dirt.  He shoved his crystalline staff into the hill, and began setting up an alert trap on top of where it was resting.  He’d be able to tell if anyone tried to take his staff, and he was reasonably sure Jeeves could track the staff itself.  “We can’t take our weapons in with us if we do, they’ll make us stand out too much.  If we stay wrapped in our cloaks we can shuffle in with the slaves when they come in from working the dunes.  I’m thinking that we find an abandoned warehouse or building and use it as a temporary base to strike at them from.  As for support to our cause, I know for a fact that most of the humans here are fed up with the slavery, they’re just cowed into submission.”

   “Ustris, what you’re planning is a siege from the inside.  If we do this it will be as good as war.”

   “Exactly.  We are powerful enough to lead our race to glory, Kleine.  You’ve experienced it firsthand, and Gilgamesh estimated that we can become powerful enough to kill even Gods!  We need to settle down somewhere so that we can attain this power, not only for us but for the entire human race!  If we don’t, who will Kleine?  Humans will stay slaves until even our children’s children are dead.”

   “What will we do with a city in the desert though?  There isn’t enough land out here for agriculture, there’s barely enough food to keep the slaves fed every day, you know how the Skrellits skimp on those expenses.”

   “Ah, but we’ll still have the spice.  I’m certain that whoever is running caravans will still trade with this town.  The spice is a powerful tool if we use it.  We can bargain for supplies for the people.  If that doesn’t work, we can always move the city.  It’s the people that make the city, if the people can’t live there, relocating won’t seem so bad.  I’m also certain that most of the humans wouldn’t mind not having sand in their boots every day.”

   Kleine looked at Ustris, he made compelling arguments; if they had a base of operations they could do so much more, and being a nomad didn’t seem too appealing at the moment.  “Fine.  On one condition:  If we find that we can’t support these people without the Skrellits, we leave and don’t come back.”

   Ustris nodded, his revenge was too close at hand to actually care about the humans, and he knew he couldn’t do it without Kleine. “Deal, hand me your crossbow.  I’ll put it in the hill with my staff.”

…

They waited until the slaves began to come in from the dunes shortly before nightfall.  They left the rest of the humans behind; though they’d be helpful when the time came to begin striking against the Skrellits, this was to be a scouting mission.  If they could find an abandoned building they’d be able to mount attacks from inside the city against the Skrellits.  They saw a promising group of slaves, about sixty strong with only four Skrellit guards, and looked for an opportunity to blend in amongst them.

Kleine managed to enter without a hitch, she simply dashed into the formation when the guards weren’t looking, her immense speed letting her go practically unnoticed.  Ustris had a bit more trouble however, not being nearly as fast as Kleine.  Earlier he had made a handful of hardened sand and formed it into a ball, when the other guards weren’t looking, he threw it into the back of a guard’s head.  He still had superior speed to the Skrellits however, who were slow naturally, and sidled around the guard into the group when he whirled around to look for whomever had hit him.

Inside the city, they were being herded towards the western section of the city.  There had been a small section devoted to being slave quarters there, and he knew that it was heavily guarded.  He waited until they passed an alleyway, hanging back for a moment.  The guard behind him tried to shove him roughly forwards, but found himself shoved into the alleyway with a crushing grip on his throat.  Struggling to yell out, he didn’t notice the other, slimmer shape entering the alleyway with them.  A moment later, Ustris crushed the throat of the guard, and shoved the corpse roughly into a pile of refuse.

   “You could have just slipped away unnoticed.”

   “Yes, but this way I get a small bit of revenge.  Come on, they’ll notice they’re one short pretty soon, we need to find somewhere to hide.”

   They took off down the alleyway, heading to the east side of the town.  Building began growing larger in size here and the area was practically deserted, most workers had finished their business here and had gone home some hours ago.  The two were appropriately startled when they emerged from an alleyway and into a Skrellit guard patrol.

   “You there, halt!”

Spoiler: Stat Sheet (click to show/hide)

Kleine

STR:    3 / ??
AGI:    12 / ??
CON:   4 / ??
WIS:   4 / ??
INT:    8 / ??
CHA:   8 / ??

Ustris

STR:   10 / ??
AGI:    5 / ??
CON:   8 / ??
WIS:   7 / ??
INT:    5 / ??
CHA:   4 / ??

Crystal Staff (Currently Unavailable)

SPD:    1
POW:   1
PRC:    2

Effects:
None

Crossbow (Currently Unavailable)

SPD:    1
POW:   1
PRC:    1

Effects:
Automatic Bolt Generation

OOC:  Well, we've been found out.  Do we run or fight?  Prepare for this to be a tougher encounter than the rest (also, fun fact, I rolled for this encounter.  Sucks to be us, I guess).

[The Froggy Ninja]

How manny guards are there?

[Karkov]

((At a rough count, 20, not including anyone else around.  They were out patrolling the area for thieves and the both of you walked down the street looking at the buildings instead of being stealthy.))

[The Froggy Ninja]

((Do we need to breath? Also, how tall are the buildings?))

[Karkov]

((Breathing's still a thing, you're about to enter the warehouse district, but not quite.  There's a bunch of one story buildings intermixed with two stories.  There's a tavern down the street that you can see light still emanating from.  If you're wanting to take to the rooftops, it's possible.))

[The Froggy Ninja]

Flee! Take to the roof tops and hightail your way out of the city/town/whatever.

[Karkov]

   "There's too many, let's move!"  Kleine bolted back down the alleyway they had come from, Ustris taking her lead.  If they had their weapons they could have fought their way out, but there were too many to safely take care of with only their fists.  Ustris cursed his luck ran after Kleine, they had been so close to their objective, what had that patrol been doing there?  A whistle went up behind them and activity seemed to sprout up from everywhere.  Kleine pointed towards the roof of a nearby building, "Ustris we have to make it up there, these alleys are going to be filled with guards soon."

   "Yeah, I agree, let me do something first."  They were in the alleyway behind a tavern, from the size and bustle of activity inside, and there was a broken stone bench thrown in the refuse.  Ustris grabbed the larger piece and tossed it towards the guards that were rounding the corner.  Three of the guards took the brunt of the force, falling into the rest of their dettachment.  "Alright, you lead."

   Kleine rolled her eyes and began scrambled up to a nearby balcony.  Ustris followed her up, using his strength to leap up to the balcony.  The guards had recovered and began chasing them again, the three hit however laid where they fell.  Kleine began finding her way to the south gate, crossing alleyways with barely any effort.  Ustris was easily outpaced by her, she was running without holding herself back, seemingly flying across the rooftops.  Ustris tried to keep up but she was moving at nearly twice his speed, he hadn't realized just how fast she had become.

   As Kleine came across the gate, she noticed there being slightly more guards at the gate than she remembered there normally being, had the alarm reached this gate already?  She was distracted by the number of guards when she saw movement from the corner of her eye.  Shifting, she saved herself, the arrow flying at her slammed into her shoulder instead of her neck.

   Ustris saw Kleine get struck with the arrow, cursing himself for not being faster.  He sprinted towards her, tracing the trajectory of the arrow to a small guard tower not too far from her.  He could see one a figure in one of the windows nocking another arrow, he was not going to let it hit her.  He closed the distance faster than he thought possible, grabbing Kleine and jumping down to the street level with her.  He could hear the clatter of the missed arrow on the rooftop. "How bad is it?"

   "I don't know if I'll be able to use the arm again."  Kleine said through gritted teeth.

   "Worry not madame, I can fix the arm, it will take time, however."

   "We need to get out of here.  We have to sprint through them, can you still run?"

   "Yeah, just, get the arrow out of my shoulder first."  Ustris nodded, noticing the arrow had pierced through.  He broke off the end and pulled it all the way through, Kleine enduring it with merely a grunt.  "Alright, let's get out of here."

   Ustris took the lead, sprinting directly at the guards to make a diversion.  He caught two of them by surprise, smashing their heads together with an extreme amount of strength, both slumped instantly with cracks visible in their heads.  He grabbed the halberd one had dropped and turned to face another five that had weapons drawn.  Kleine took the opportunity and dashed out into the desert, towards the group they left in the sands.

   Ustris dispatched two of them quickly, a few thrusts of the halberd and he had decapitated them.  One of the guards got close enough to get a thrust in with his sword, both of them surprised when the sword glanced off of Ustris' chestpiece.  Ustris threw an elbow into the side of the guard's head, a satisfying crack resounding.  The two remaining guards backed up, trying to keep their distance until their reinforcements arrived.  Ustris was about to press them, but this time he heard the clanking of metal armor nearing.  Cursing his luck, he threw the halberd at one of the guards and fled towards the desert.

   When he reached the humans he saw that Kleine had already seen her arm tended to, a couple of hasty bandages made from torn clothing wrapped up her shoulder.  "We need to move, I killed a couple of them and they'll be looking for revenge."  He headed towards the hill where they hid their weapons.  He erased the diagrams from the sand, dispelling the magic he had placed.  He grabbed both of the weapons and brought Kleine's back to her.  He pointed to two of the humans.  "They'll be tracking us, you two try to cover our tracks.  Everyone be ready, it's possible we might have to fight tonight."

   The humans packed up quickly, used to being on the move at a moment's notice for a while now.  They skirted around the city, finding a place with not nearly as much activity.  They waited for most of the night, muscles taut and ready for combat.  The confrontation never came though, the night passed quietly.  What were they to do now?


OOC:  Well that was some fun rolling.  Kleine's arm will be back to full use in a couple of days.  What next?

[The Froggy Ninja]

Kleine: Learn some fireballs or other offensive magic.
Ustris: Wall traps. Walls that trap people and walls that block things.

[Karkov]

((I'm probably going to post the next part tomorrow, sort of burning myself out with these long updates.  After they're done learning the magic, what do we want to do next?))

[The Froggy Ninja]

Try again.

[Lyeos]

Consider way to make decent disguises. I mean, now that they've probably seen us, it'll be even harder.

[Karkov]

   Kleine’s shoulder healed quickly over the course of three days.  It seemed as if the world dragged by slowly to Ustris, the object of his vengeance being less than half a day’s walk away from him.  To pass the time more quickly, he had Jeeves teach him the most basic forms of earth magic, which consisted mainly of moving around anything stone or otherwise earthen in origin.  After some practice, he found that he could create crude walls with an extremely simple ritual.  He quickly combined this technique with his previous sand hardening skill he had learned, as such he was able to create walls that held themselves up.   A simple tweak in direction and he had made a small shelter.  He used this to hide the humans from the Skrellit patrols that had begun patrolling the outskirts of the city.  The only downside to this was that it was extremely draining on Ustris, moving earth was a difficult task, earth didn’t like to move very often.

   Kleine took advantage of her downtime as well, she had Jeeves instruct her in the use of fire offensively.  The simplest spell was just to convert the mana expelled directly into fire and throw it at her enemies.  She also learned a spell that would work with her crossbow, one that changed her bolts to be explosive after they struck an enemy.  She would have to cast the spell before she decided to fire a bolt, but when it hit it would be devastating.

   The humans themselves had been busy as well.  A couple of them had gone out to the slaves that were  mining  the spice out in the wastes, and had tested the waters to see how accommodating they would be if a coup were to happen.  Most every slave they talked to out in the wastes agreed that they would side with them, even if it came down to having to lay their lives down for the cause.  The slaves had even told them the location of an abandoned warehouse, telling them that the patrols had increased on that side of town because of reports of runaway slaves.  Not them, of course, more recent ones.  The humans thanked them, and told them to be ready when the time came, and returned to Ustris and Kleine.  Kleine devoured the news, “Ustris, there could be other people plotting to rebel against the Skrellits!”

   “Yes, but they wouldn’t have any Shards like we do.  If they had found a way to train themselves fighting skills and tactics, they might be able to whittle away at the Skrelits themselves.  If they make too much of a nuisance of themselves though, I’m almost certain that the Skrellits would send some Champions to take care of them.”

   “You mean like they did with us?”

   “Yes, but unlike with us they’d, send someone who was actually trained to fight.”

   “…  You think so?    Because they’re in the city, or something?”

   “Yes, exactly.  I’m almost certain that grouping up with them will be in our best interest, a group of rebels doesn’t need much persuasion to join up with someone who can help with their agenda.  We need to get back in there tonight so we can group up.  How’s your arm?”

   “It’s slightly weaker than normal, but I think I’ll be fine by tonight.  We have one great doctor looking out for us.”

   “Your compliment does wonders to my ego, Madame.”

   “Anyway, won’t we need disguises?  I’m sure they’re looking for us specifically after that incident.”

   “I wouldn’t be adverse to it, but if we’re seen inside the city at night they’ll try to arrest us anyway.  Remember the curfew they had for slaves?”  Ustris made a disgruntled gesture, there had been many a time when he had been late for the curfew because of the mining company keeping them out there too long.  If you were late, no matter what reason, you were beaten publicly until you couldn't stand.  You were still expected to be out in the sands the next day.

   “Oh, right.  They’ve probably also added extra guards to the gates and spice crews as well…  Could you tunnel through their wall?  You can manipulate earth now, right?  Their wall is made from adobe, so you should be able to move that, right?”

   Ustris blinked, why hadn’t he thought of that before?  “Yes, I should be able to do that.  We’ve got our in and out, what do we do afterwards though?  We know for a fact that they have patrols near the warehouse that we have picked out.  We could strike at somewhere else in the city, cause a distraction.”

   “True, we could take out a barracks.  Well, you could.  Not much burns in a town made of adobe.”

   “Except the trappings of the rich.  You could set fire to a few of the palaces on the richer side of the city.  The Skrellits value wealth over everything else, if there were a mass arsonist on the loose they’d be looking to protect that wealth instead of a bunch of empty warehouses.”

   “It’s a tough choice, do we search for the other rebels, or strike at our enemy?”


OOC:  We know where an abandoned warehouse is because of our human pals.  Later we just have to sneak everyone into it.  Do we strike at our enemies, or do we find more allies to the cause?  Or does anyone have another suggestion? 

Also, I'd really love to do the disguise thing, but it wouldn't really help us unless we could look like Skrellits, and right now I don't think Ustris has the ability to make a really thin layer of metal for the two of them to wear.

EDIT:  Sorry for the delay and whatnot, PAYDAY2 has basically eaten my free time.  Probably another write up tomorrow, unless somehow PAYDAY lets go of my leg or something.