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Dawn of Destiny; dun dun DUN!
Topic Started: Aug 28 2006, 03:35 PM (3,035 Views)
Pamela
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Molly
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Llana laughed, saying, “I’d actually be more comfortable called by my name, thank you. And thank you,” she repeated, at Avelaer’s willingness to join them. At the reference to Sune, she nodded, and remarked, “I’d be remiss in my duties if I refused the opportunity, though I will quickly note for now that the two goddesses do indeed share many similarities, as well as friendly relations between the two temples.”

She didn’t notice the moon elf’s lack of a bow because her attention was focused on her companions’ state of health. Skafloc’s injuries weren’t too serious, but Fade’s wince… She saw Karosin unconsciously rotating the shoulder, and decided to have a closer look at that in a minute. When Fade had finished confirming her fears- and adding an unusual piece of information- the Sunite approached her. One hand was raised towards her shoulder, to give her a chance to prepare herself for the touch. “If I may?” she asked.
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Mistress Elysia
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Fade listened to Avelaer's words, scanning each one for hints of condescension, expecting to find a slight in them somewhere. However, even she couldn't misconstrue his seemingly polite manner. Still, the rebel remained suspicious and a little guarded towards the elf. We shall see how this goes...

At Llana's request, Fade glanced towards the others and shrugged one shoulder.

"Don't worry..." she began, feeling a little uneasy about Llana's concern for the state of her health. She had been so used to nobody giving a damn for so long that such attentions felt almost wrong to her... well, that and the similarities between the cleric and Keita - their gentle natures, their concern for others, their natural diplomacy. This was defnitely beginning to make her feel a little uncomfortable; on one hand she felt reassured by these similarities, but at the same time she was very wary of them - those few she had counted as friends in the past had invariably met quite nasty ends, and this was something she did not want to happen to the Sunite. "See to the others first."

However, as Llana raised her hand, Fade realised that the question was simply a courtesy and she meant to perform her duty as a healer what ever she said. The fey'ri gave an inward sigh and nodded, giving the cleric permission to touch and therefore heal her.

Straight away, the pain in her chest subsided and she instantly felt better. With a small nod and small but very genuine smile, Fade thanked the Sunite and once again turned her attention to the matters in hand.
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Castamir
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Skafloc's attention drifted away from what was apparently going to be the newest group member - happy to let the others keep their eyes on him for the time being, he was sure they were probably better judges of character than he was.

He instead posted himself on the edge of the group as they readied themselves to move on, looking for anything that might be approaching alerted by the noise of the battle. He found it hard to believe that they hadn't been noticed, and the lack of response was significant.
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Pamela
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Molly
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Llana was glad that no further attempts were made to discourage her, and once she’d healed Fade, strode towards her husband. “No arguments, please,” she ordered, and lay a hand upon his shoulder, chanting another spell. When it was done, she wrinkled her nose at the remaining bruising but then smiled and whispered, “I’ll kiss it all better later, I promise.” She laughed at the look on his face and stood on her toes to give him a kiss.

She turned away, and looking around at their seemingly tranquil surroundings, asked Jonas and Fade, “What were the two fey talking about?”
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Mistress Elysia
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"Oh, bollocks... the fey..." muttered Fade at Llana's question "With all the excitement, I'd kind of forgotten about them..." Glacing around herself, the fey'ri unsheathed her blades once again in readiness for another potential skirmish.

"Basically, they thought I was in charge of you lot" she explained, her main focus of attention being Karosin. Her tone remained diffident, but after all the stick he had given her about her 'sub par' and 'stupid' plan, she couldn't help but want him to realise on some level that, in this instance (and even though it was more of a fluke than anything... not that she would ever admit it), her plan had actually worked and recovered the information she had intended to gather. After a millisecond pause, she focused her attention on the remainder of the group. "The fey'ri haven't actually had any large number of troops here in a while. Isiele said that Xhalph, Sarya's nephew, used to turn up now and again, but he hasn't been around for ages" Fade's expression was full of distaste "which is probably a good thing on our part. He's a very, very nasty piece of work. Completely insane and stupid with it. Absolutely massive, too" she looked to Skafloc, tipping him a wink "makes you look like a lightweight fairy. The only other fey'ri they mentioned by name was Vaerilmor. If this is the Vaerilmor I know of, he's a bit of an oddity... makes me wonder why he's been stationed here. He's a wizard, which is very unusual - normally, the fey'ri have no patience for learning; most of our arcane spellcasters are sorcerers as a result. He's also not as wantonly cruel as what is considered the norm amongst the daemonfey. However- that doesn't mean he's not to be considered out of hand. He's still a mean, dangerous bastard, and he's got the brains to be a bloody clever, calculating bastard too. One of Sarya's right-hand-men, or used to be a few years ago." Fade frowned a little. "Things may have changed since I was around." she shrugged her shoulders and continued.

"There was also mention of something called 'the withdrawl'... I'll admit I don't know what that is, but it was ordered by Sarya. Isiele also mentioned 'unspeakables' on the boat" Fade gestured to towards the small harbour and the seemingly wrecked ship moored there. "I can only guess at the true nature of these 'unspeakables'. If they're what I think they are... well, let's just say we don't want them getting out. Apart from that... she didn't tell me a lot else." Fade coloured slightly as she remembered the ruse she had to play upon the fey to get the information she had wanted, the feeling of self-disgust at how she had been forced to act returning.
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Castamir
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Skafloc laughed, though his expression was one of hunger, hunger for a challenge that suddenly sounded perfectly dangerous. He displayed a sense of humour however, and suddenly adopted a standard confused look.

"Makes me look lightweight.." he repeated, before asking "What? He's more insane, or more stupid?" he waited for a second, appearing to be getting angry with the Fey'ri for some percieved insult, before his teeth reappeared in a grin.

"You mean he's a big guy right? Then I hope we meet him." the grin suddenly became serious, an air of 'very dangerous and more than slightly psychotic indeed' suddenly evident around him, leaving no doubt in the Fey'ri's mind that going into a fight against something or someone bigger and deadlier held no fear for him. The scars evident on every bare area of skin, and the patched and repaired state of his hide armour seemed to attest to that. The fact that the warrior was alive at all was possibly down to luck rather than self preservation.
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Mwa13
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Jonas had been listening to the others, twirling his daggers again as he usually did when just listening, his smile wide upon his face. He turned to Llana when she asked her question and let Fade had her say first, although he had heard most of the conversation already, but some he had missed, so he listened intently.

Once Fade was finished, Jonas continued on it. "The one I was talking with wondered if I was one of the 'summoned', which can mean only one thing." Jonas twirled his daggers back into their sheaths. "I may not be the only from the Planes in here. She did mention that the 'summoned ones' do not stay for long, so there might not be that many here." Jonas stared up at the ceiling, wondering about what kind of tiefling would be there. Or it could be anything they could have here, there was a lot to choose from, anything could have been summoned. Even the worst kind, which made Jonas slightly twitch, remembering his own battles against some of the worst ones.
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eocine
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One of the things that Karosin disliked most were references to the fact that he could actually be hurt by those he battled, and as such his being healed by his wife was a source of slight discomfort for him. The ‘no arguments’ order from Llana was one that she’d learned to give otherwise he was more than capable of saying nothing and even shying away from mending wounds. A lot of the time as far as he was concerned the pain was how he chastised himself for making errors in combat, tolerating it as his penance. To do otherwise was in some way cheating to his mind.

It was one of the curious things about him that whilst he could be so pragmatic in some things there were others where he could be irrationally stubborn.

Still on this occasion he said nothing, letting his resigned look tell the tale instead, a look that faded away somewhat as it often did in the face of his wife’s cheer and general dismissal of those concerns. Unwillingly a slight smile crossed his lips at her kiss and he resisted the temptation to roll his eyes at her concerns, not that they were unwelcome, he just thought that they were misplaced.

Karosin’s face shifted back into an uninterested neutral at Fade’s attempt to excuse her plan by pointing out that it had worked for the better. A moronic idea that succeeds through fluke is still a moronic idea. Just one that some god or other had decided to smile on, and of course it probably meant that she’d try the same plan again and wouldn’t have such good fortune and then there would be the hells to pay.

He flat didn’t like being proved wrong, especially when he felt that the success of the idea hadn’t negated the fact that it had been a bad plan in the first place.

Listing to the rest of Fade’s story he came to two conclusions;

Firstly that if Xhalph were much stupider than the barbarian then there wouldn’t be a problem, as he’d be too stupid to move and breathe at the same time.

And secondly that if Fade was correct then there was every chance that their presence was known, and was just being ignored.

Putting two and two together meant that the ‘withdrawal’ was probably to blame for the lack of people here, presumably though there was a vanguard left behind? Or at least he would have expected one. More than that they had to assume that the gem was still here, had it been gone he would have expected the Mist-Master to contact them as soon as the place became scryable. Unless of course he hadn’t thought to ‘watch’ the area whilst they were there?

Well there was no certainty either way so best to press on and see what could be found.

“Well if you’re low on people it would make sense to bolster your ranks with summons”, he shrugged at Jonas words. The only problem of course would be to what extent they had done this, fighting off a Dretch was one thing, a Balor of course quite another.

“Unless I miss my mark I would have to assume that this Vaerilmor character would probably have the piece of the crystal, which of course means that we have to find him… Any preferences as to where we start looking?”
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Mistress Elysia
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For a split second, Fade's grip tightened on her weapon hilts and she unconciously shifted the weight to the balls of her feet as it seemed that her jest to Skafloc had been taken the wrong way. However, when the grin appeared on his face, she realised he had been jesting her in return, so she relaxed a little and matched his grin, feeling a little confused. She was used to her own kind displaying such chaotic natures, but in her experience, humans were all either wet blankets or cold bastards - that the barbarian seemed neither of these things puzzled and intrigued the fey'ri. Maybe she would have to reassess the two pigeonholes she had assigned to the entirety of the human race after all...

"I do mean he's a big guy... there again, the same could be said for the insanity and stupidity, too." she quipped back the Northman, and then offered the others a wry smile. "There isn't a lot out there that I wouldn't go have a go at if I had to - but even I have to admit I'd rather give Xhalph a wide berth. I'm not saying that you lot couldn't take him down if necessary - the ease in which you took Inther and my brothers down is testament to that - but I'd just rather we didn't have to face him at all. It's just safer for everyone that way." Fade tried to suppress a small, involuntary shudder as it rippled through her.

At Karosin's question, she didn't look to him, but did nod her head.

"I'd guess that Vaerilmor has the shard you seek. Considering his training, he'd be Sarya's most reliable choice. She certainly wouldn't have given it to Xhalph - he would've lost it, or eaten it, or something else as equally stupid." the fey'ri stroked her chin, tapping a talon-like nail against her teeth in thought. "But where is he? He must know we're here by now..." she then looked over to where Avelaer was standing.

"Oi! Twinkle!" she punctuated the 'oi' with whistle from between her teeth, unconciously slipping in to Luskan street slang. "Where did they find you, and who brought you in?" the fey'ri looked thoughful again. "And why did they bring you in? Traditionally, it's Sun elves the fey'ri want, not Moon elves. Why didn't they just kill you straight off? What makes you so special...?"
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Pamela
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Molly
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Llana listened carefully to the information that Fade and Jonas had gleaned from the fey: Xhalph’s frequent and recent long absence; Vaerilmor’s post here; the withdrawal, presumably of the fey’ri if not their prisoners; the unspeakables stationed in a wrecked ship; the summoned.

She listened with half her attention upon the ongoing conversation and suggestions as she considered her own. The fey’ri had set up a second settlement. Was this still their headquarters or the outpost? Sarya had been located here and ordered a withdrawal, but had she been one of those to withdraw? If they feared being found, this seemed logically the best place to have a headquarters.

Theoretically, their numbers should be divided. But what if these powerful creatures had had portals in this ancient city, and found a means to reopen it? Creating one would be harder, if not impossible, with the shard’s presence. It might account for the silence. But then so could their confidence in the existing defenses they’d set up which they hadn’t yet encountered.

Not the headquarters, she began to think. It would be too much of a presumption to have inferior types wander in.

But they like ambushes and traps, don’t forget. To make the trespassers pay for their transgressions…


She looked up at the whistle, suddenly wary, then realised it was merely a means to attract Avelaer’s attention. What probably made him special was his equipment, and ability to stay alive till they had brought him down, was her guess. But they’d only kept him alive long enough to stick him in the temple. Perhaps, however, they had decided to do the same with all of his kind. A mocking gift to an elvish god they’d long abandoned.

“I am concerned about the unspeakables being summoned against us if we do get close to the shard,” she remarked, with a glance towards Karosin. She was still surprised that he’d actually mentioned their actual purpose to Fade. She herself had no problems with it, but she hadn’t expected him to be so open. “But I also think that we are in danger of depleting our talents and energy if we dally too long. The crooked tower, is what I suggest. Vaerilmor’s a wizard; they seem to have a penchant for such buildings. Skafloc, if you’d lead the way?” She didn't care if they cared to contest her choice, but she wanted them to get to the point of their mission while she and Greg still had a decent artillery of spells.
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Darkwind
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"You're asking me? Your guess would be a lot better than mine, I imagine. They're your people, after all. As I said, I was on my way from Evereska to visit the Grandfather Tree before I took over the duties of a bladesingers weaponmaster." He let that hang in the air for a moment. "On my way through the High Forest, I was ambushed by some summoned creatures. I'd dealt with them without much difficulty, but was paralyzed and taken. Must have been an invisible spellcaster around--I normally make a point of taking them out first." He shrugged. "That's all I know. Maybe they meant to drive me insane just for the fun of it, or just wear my resistance down and dominate me so they could have my skills for their own use. Or maybe they had some other plans. Sacrifice comes to mind."
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eocine
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At her avowed dislike of the idea of tangling with Xhalph, Karosin said nothing. Recognising that battle against a physically overwhelming foe was always a discomforting thought for it only took one misplaced step to leave you in a position to be hewn in half. Quite literally if you were unlucky enough. In truth he was actually glad to see that she had the intelligence to respect opponents from time to time.

Not that he expected her to actually take her own advice… He would fully expect her to leap straight towards him with a scream on her lips, and then flop to the floor in two separate pieces.

He pondered idly as to what could be considered ‘unspeakable’ by filth like the Daemonfey… They must be degraded beyond belief.

The suggestion of the tower next elicited a shrug of the assassin’s shoulders. He wasn’t averse to trying there, and would sooner be moving than standing still, so as long as their was a decision then he was all for it.

At Avelear’s statement on his being a bladesinger weapons-master he raised an eyebrow and the side of his mouth curled upwards slightly. He held his hands out, showing that one held a dagger, and the other his sabre. “I would applaud you oh dancing dealer of death, but…”

He then turned to the others, “I suggest we move out as soon as possible. Any final words before we do?”
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Mistress Elysia
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Fade nodded at Avelaer's description of events, raising an eyebrow at his declaration that he was a Bladesinger Weaponmaster and had to suppress rolling her eyes at Karosin's decidedly barbed comment to the moon elf.

"Well, I'm guessing the spellcaster would very well have been Vaerilmor himself. Was there anyone else that you can remember?" she asked again. "If so - were they male? Female? What did they look like? Did you hear any names? Anything that may give me a clue as to who they might have been?" Fade looked towards the tower that Llana had pointed out and shivered again; not with cold, but with apprehension. Who else was here? she thought to herself, lost for a moment in her own thoughts. And how many of her family were actually involved in all of this?

The fey'ri found herself nodding unconciously to Karosin's suggestion that they moved out, and keeping an eye on the tower, began to move away from the rest of the group.
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eocine
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Sometimes you just have to burn the card fate dealt you.
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From atop the wall that encircled Elven Port a pair of black eyes looked over the party carefully. Hopping to the side to get a closer look at the tailed one it cocked its head to the side and gave a slight cawing sound that was easily swallowed up by the distance between it and the party that was gathered by the riverside.

Idly it preened the feathers at the base of it’s wings and then turned back to the group for the moment, giving them one last extended look and then dropped off the wall and swept low to the right, away from the group and below the level of the top of the houses that were still scattered around the area.

It’s master was of course aware of the arrival of the group, after all the empathic link would have told him that much, but there were of course things that could be better explained face to face…
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Pamela
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Llana tapped her foot against her husband’s leg as he mocked Avelaer, not wanting yet another argument. In an attempt to divert attention from the matter- as well as to gather some useful information- she asked the moon elf, “When were you taken?”

If it had been earlier that morning, it meant that their primary foe would not have had time to rest and restore his abilities. The moon elf’s resilience and status of health suggested that he had been imprisoned relatively recently; there were no signs of dehydration or difficulty in movement which would be normal as the muscles locked into an unnatural position. It might also explain the silence, she tried to convince herself.

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Castamir
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Skafloc listened to the unfriendly banter and was glad to be out of it. He truly didn't care what others thought of him, but there was a definite limit when it came to taking open slights on the chin, and then it became a challenge. Skafloc's repertoire of 'ways to answer a challenge' didn't include lively debate...

He nodded mutely at Fade's suggestion, and as the concensus seemed to be to move out, he did just that, sticking close to cover where possible, and assuming that at the least, Karo would also be sneaking off and keeping a much better trained eye out for surprises, though Skafloc's senses also strained for signs of the enemy...
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eocine
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At the tapping Karosin abruptly lapsed into something more like silence than before, though in truth he had pushed about as far as he’d intended anyway, and as it looked like they were about to move on he had little need to continue.

Letting Skafloc take point and the others follow he waited till the others had gone ahead a little way before separating from the party, leaving room for Jonas to follow if he chose to do so. Underfoot the grass was damp and slippery, and worst of all there were patches of mud that threatened to get dirt on him. Clearly this was unconscionable, but sadly also unavoidable.

Unlike some of the others he didn’t find the silence to be overly oppressive, it was after all his stock in trade to exist by stealth and move in silence. If you became discomforted by it then you wouldn’t last long in the nighttime world.
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Mistress Elysia
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At his mute nod and the wooden expression on his face, Fade realised that Skafloc had actually taken her jest as a very personal slight. She then glanced to Avelaer to see if he was showing any signs of offence to her questions. Great... she sighed inwardly Just keep on going - maybe you can alienate Llana next...

As proud and contrary as the fey'ri was, she actually didn't like to see good people upset, especially when the source of it all was a badly thought-out comment from her. Truth was, even Karosin could probably get an apology out of her if she thought him upset by one of her comments, even if it was more to please Llana than to build bridges with the difficult assassin. It was with this thought in mind that altered her course slighty to follow the barbarian. Since she was unable to comfortably reach his shoulder, when she reached him she gingerly tapped him lightly upon his back to gain his attention.

"Uh, Skafloc?" she asked quietly, trying to keep her tone as neutral as possible, not wanting to annoy him further. "You okay? You, umm, know I was kidding, right? I didn't mean to, you know, insult you..."

Suddenly, the fey'ri stopped dead in her tracks, her mangled attempt at an apology trailing off.

"Did you see that?" she hissed, pointing to the tower. "Movement... something moved in the tower. Something moving quickly." She then squinted, trying to narrow her focus, but culd see nothing more. "It wasn't humanoid... not elven, human nor even fey'ri... but something is definitely up there."
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Darkwind
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What did gentle Llana see in this boor? He kept his tone and eyes mild as he replied to Karosin. "Are you challenging me?" Please say yes. He drew Avelas and an arrow from his quiver. He'd had his share of blustering challengers who needed a lesson in manners, mostly gold elven youngsters. If this got ugly, there was always Llana to patch the loser up.

"Enough of this. We're a poor group indeed, if we cannot keep from turning upon each other. Settle this when we're back at the Mistmaster's tower. But keep your weapons ready. We can be ambushed at any minute by teleporting, or invisible, opponents."
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Pamela
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Llana stood up straighter at the devolution of the exchange and turned gratefully at Greg’s interjection. “Thank you,” she said to the sorcerer, and turned to Avelaer to try to soothe the situation.

Whatever she had meant to say was completely forgotten as she noticed Fade’s stillness. “What is it?” she called out. She tried to see for herself what had caught the fey’ri’s attention and at this failure, focused on her immediate surroundings, hands ready to weave into a spell.
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Castamir
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Skafloc paused, halting his approach on the tower and turned his attention back to the Fey'ri. He listened and shook his head, speaking quietly.

"No offense was taken. I'm just sick of the attitudes back there, it has been thus since I joined this group." he looked back at the tower, then up at the sky, taking a deep breath of the cold northern air.

"You'd know if you insulted me girl." he grinned, a wicked look in his eyes, "One of us wouldn't be here to talk about it."

He reached out and clapped his hand on her shoulder to proove that there was no hard feelings. Skafloc was not particularly graced with a mastery of social etiquette, his upbringing and endless travelling about Faerun (and indeed the spheres) had not really seen him get much practice. He turned his attention back to the tower at Fade's alert.

"No, I didn't, though I think a storm comes from the north, the clouds are low, it is just a matter of time. Unless we are magically scryed it will aid us if we prefer to remain hidden, a good omen I think."
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eocine
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Despite Fade’s glimpse of movement in the crooked tower, for the time being stillness reigned, with only an increasing Northerly wind stirring the low grasses around their feet. If one had an idle moment they would probably be tempted to wonder exactly what was keeping the grass to such a uniform length, but even to Skafloc’s eyes there were no obvious tracks that would speak of a creature that would do that.

Karosin and Jonas made their way forwards from the back of the group, and in a short time all were gathered before the large and ornate door that barred their entrance. It looked flimsy enough, pine or similar, but inlaid with an ornate series of carvings that depicted an age long past. An age where humans were making their first steps into the world, where dragons were being supplanted by elves as the dominant species, and where the dwarven races were still in their underground kingdoms.

There was clearly no way that this door had been left to stand through these years, so it was clearly a Fey’ri installation, which would seem to suggest that they had fully intended this settlement to be a place of strength for them, or else they would surely have simply made to with what was already there.

Standing in silence before the door Skafloc, Jonas, Fade and Karosin could all hear something that sounded like speech, but it was too indistinct to make out more than that. Furthermore there was also a noise that sounded like… Something being devoured, noisly and quickly by the sound of it.

The tower itself was around eighty feet in diameter, and shot up into the skies before them, the angle at which it lent adding a curiously dangerous air to the prospect of heading upwards at all. A filigree of thin cracks covered the whole of the building as well, and looking closely at the base showed a deal of erosion that had occurred over the years.

It was clear to all of them that had they been in a still functioning city that this building would have been condemned, and not before time…
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eocine
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Curious…

Karosin turned to the others and spoke quietly, “There’s something in there, or to be more precise it sounds like several something’s…” He let the implications of that sink in before carrying on. “Whatever’s going on in there I can only guess, but it does sound rather like something’s being eaten. Though whatever it is it’s clearly not alive… Living things would I’m sure tend to protest rather loudly at that kind of treatment.”

That particular piece of information was added purely because it meant that they wouldn’t have to rush in straight away with spells and swords flying, as there was no actual rescuing to be done…

“Perhaps rather than go through the door we could try gaining entrance higher up?” He suggested diffidently to the others, not really bothered if they chose to listen to him or not.
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Mistress Elysia
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"If it's related to what I saw, it isn't humanoid. And it was quick. Very quick." Fade replied quietly to Karosin's observation about the noise. She could hear it too, and could only agree with his assumptions. She then stepped towards the door.

Knowing her own kind rather well and their penchant for traps, Fade concentrated and began to search the door and the immediate surrounding area. At first, she just checked visually to see if there was anything obvious, and then, once she was certain there were no triggers to be seen, she very carefully but quickly ran her hands over the door and around the edges of the door jamb and immediate stonework. Finding nothing, she stepped back, confident enough in her ability to detect such things if they were there.

"No traps..." she murmered "They weren't expecting 'visitors', then." She looked over the general state of the tower, frowning. "This place is a wreck. We're going to have to be careful if and when it comes to combat. The last thing we want is this place coming down around our ears. One well - placed fireball, and this place will crumble."

At Karosin's suggestion, she shrugged her shoulders. She was quite happy to climb, but not knowing the layout of the interior meant that if they chose different entry points, they could all be separated. But there again, just bursting in through the front door also had its own set of problems.

"I'm guessing that whatever it is in there knows we're here... I don't mind climbing, but is it really necessary?" She turned to Skafloc and Jonas. "What do you two think?"
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eocine
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The raven appeared by his hand suddenly, but Vaerilmor showed no surprise at this, indeed why would he? For it and he were connected in mind and thus he simply held out one of his gloved hands for the magical creature to alight on. Once the bird had settled he reached up to lightly pet its jet-black plumage for a second, and his familiar responded with a light caw.

“So my girl, exactly what have you seen?” He crooned quietly in a language that was unique to himself and Ranix, a curious mixture of croaks and caws that sounded much as you would expect a language of crows and their kin to sound. All masters and their familiars share a bond like this, though the Fey’ri mage often used his familiar as a sounding board for his own ideas. In fact he was far closer to the raven that he was to any of his kin.

Ranix responded with his own series of vocalizations and hopped up and down on his hand in agitation…

“I see… The prodigal daughter returns and brings companions”. He observed, whilst pondering exactly what the presence of the party meant for him. To be frank he suspected that it would mean little enough, clearly Kher'tal had decided to try to garner some kind of revenge and had gathered a group of misfits around herself.

He hadn’t yet connected their arrival with the Mist-Master’s search for the Gatekeeper’s Crystal…

“Keep watch on them Ranix,” He ordered, “I am busy, but you are to return to me if they realise that you’re watching them.” Vaerilmor gave the bird one last affectionate pat before it hopped off his hand and flew away.

“Stay safe my raven…”
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eocine
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“We don’t think it’s necessary at all addle-cove!” Came an amused voice from up above them, speaking in an accent that Jonas would have recognised as being Sigilian. “Clambering up here isn’t a canny move on your parts, we’ll leave you red and dead all over, every last sod of you!”

Looking up they could see two heads peering down at them from one of the open windows. Neither face was human, though they wouldn’t have appeared uncommon to any planar travelers amongst the group.

The one that stood on the left had a whirling mass of dreadlocks that seemed to be in constant motion, and his lower jaw seemed to have an external hinge that allowed it’s mouth to open astonishingly widely whilst it was speaking, revealing rows of serrated teeth that encircled a faintly serpentine tongue.

To his right stood another curious creature, one that was keeping a singular eye on Fade, and another on Llana… Finally a third eye was swiveling around in the middle of it’s forehead and scanning the outside area rapidly.

“Now, you berks don’t look like you’re willing to pike off so it looks like this is going to end messy”, said the Tiefling with the distended jaw. “Paymaster says it’s pref to spill the gut-stuff on the grass rather than the carpets so well hop, skip and dip”.

With that they both vaulted down the drop to the grass, ten yards off to the side of where the party were stood.

“Quiet place this for a port, and a misfortune for you to boat your bodies into here”, grinned the tri-ocular one as his scimitars seemed to jump into his hands. “We’ve been waiting for a dance for longest times…”

“Don’t disappoint”…

Came the echoing voice of the deadlocked one as he launched himself through the air towards Avelear.

The other began to step and pivot elaborately as he moved over the damp grass towards where Skafloc was stood, his twin scimitars slicing unpredictably though the air with an audible hiss as he did so.
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Darkwind
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meta: Avelas chooses the guy attacking him as target for his Dodge feat, uses a free action to change his swordbow into its bow form, launches a full attack at the attacker, and uses another free action to change it back into a rapier. Greg casts Hideous Laughter on the other guy (DC 21).

The guy didn't seem to have a weapon, so was he expecting to rely on his bite attack? Regardless, they'd made the error of putting space between them and him. When the guy with the jaw attacked, he willed Avelas to become a bow. Conveniently, his first arrow was already in hand, so he fired it and four more, each charged with holy energy, at his assailant. Then, it was time for melee, and he willed his wonderfull weapon back into rapier shape and prepared to defend himself.

Finally, their presence was acknowledged. Their enemy was smart enough, however, to send some lackeys against them to test their power. How to handle them? He could go about turning them into dust, or glass statues, but perhaps something less flashy would do as well. They seemed like fighter or rogue types, and hopefully did not have powerful wills. With that in mind, he grabbed a handful of tarts and threw them at the guy with the scimitars while waving a feather around with as ridiculous an expression as he could master, and speaking the incantation.
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Castamir
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Skafloc was about to suggest simply smashing in the door when the voice from above called out. He looked up, a faintly annoyed expression on his face as he assumed they were being taunted by folk who wouldn't come down, but when they did, he spun on his heel and strode out a few steps, axe held at the ready, as if waiting for a ball to be thrown..

The temerity of the fools.. it made his blood boil, though to be fair, the very idea of combat made his blood boil. In the matter of seconds between considering the best means of entrance to the tower, and the two summons leaping down to engage them in combat, Skafloc had gone from calm and collected, to bloodthirsty and itching to engage in some serious toe curling violence - as if the axe toting maniac was always there under the surface, waiting for him to let it slip off it's leash and seize control.. it actually took a very delicate state of mind and a lot of practice to maintain such a balance, though for something so inherantly unbalanced, perhaps that was the wrong word to use.

"Dance then, while you've still got legs.." breathed the barbarian, as if language suddenly came hard to him, his features twisting into a mask of fury, his tattoos, scars and warpaint adding to the effect, until he became a vision of something that looked about as human as the planeborn being he planned to dismember..
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Mwa13
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Jonas listened through the door. "I can't make anything out of what they're saying... if saying anything at all." Jonas turned to Fade and stared up. "Climbing is no big deal to me, I could climb it ea-" He stopped his phrase when he saw the two heads and the other speaking, immediately recognizing the Sigilian accent in the tiefling's voice. Jonas instantly grabbed his weapons, holding his daggers tightly, knowing what was coming while the tiefling's spoke. His grin grew wide as he listened to the two taunt at them.

He turned to face the hissing one with his daggers ready. "Come 'ere, berk, an' I'll cut yer bone-box a little wider for ye! An' maybe spill yer guts all over tha groun'!" he shouted at the wide-jawed one with a heavy Sigilian accent, making sure they knew what they were up against. He dashed off, with Skafloc at his side, twirling the daggers in his hands, pointed at the hisser's ribs.
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eocine
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Avelear’s first arrow that sliced though the air was a flawless shot, perfectly aimed to dive through the Tiefling’s skull and drop him to the floor. Which is exactly what would have happened had the dreadlocked creature not brought his hand up to slap the arrow away and send it clattering against the stone wall of the tower.

Despite this however the time needed for this deflection meant that three more of the holy arrows did find their mark, though the monk still managed to twist away enough that they merely grazed him. The fact that these arrows were good aligned however meant that they left a series of scored burn marks across the outsider’s flesh, marks that smoldered and burned long after they should have stopped.

In the blinking of an eye the distance between himself and the Blade-singer had been covered, and the monsters jaw clicked excitedly as he skidded to a halt before Avelear and braced his left leg hard against the floor, then span in a circle and sent a vicious back kick towards the Moon-Elf’s stomach, not even stopping in his motion before twisting fully through the move and snapping a high knee towards his opponent’s face.

Dax was more than a little surprised at the fact that neither of his two blows managed to land, so surprised in fact that his jaw fell open, which was unusual in that it fell open far enough to touch against his breastbone. It seemed impossible that the Elf could have managed to twist his body so fully away from both attacks, but he had certainly managed to do so, which now left the monk slightly off balance and watching the point of Avelear’s rapier with some trepidation.

----------

Skafloc’s straight up and in your face style of combat was rather an anathema to the twisting form of the three eyed Tiefling, who seemed to be trying to meld dance and combat into a most unusual form. It was clearly going to prove difficult to pin down the being or get any bearings in battle against him, simply because he seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time, a whirling morass of limbs and blades.

Not that this kind of thing was ever likely to distract the barbarian from his intention of introducing the scimitar wielder to the business end of brain-biter…

First impressions count they say, and it would be fair to say that the impression that Skafloc left on the Tiefling wouldn’t soon be forgotten. Especially by his ribcage, as the great-axe sliced through enchanted mail to carve a deep scar across the dancer’s side.

“Argh… HAX!”

Screamed the Tiefling in pain as he continued his dancing path, pivoting away from the blade as best he could.

It was extremely unfortunate for the triclops that he couldn’t pivot quickly enough to be looking elsewhere when a series of small tarts struck him around the face… Through the mask of creamy pie filling he could just about make out the curious spectacle of a white face gurning at him from atop a pitch-black robe, whilst a feather was being frantically waved in the air.

Reaching up with one of his scimitar holding hands he made to wipe away the remains of the tart, and almost took the top of his own skull off with the blade as he did so. This was perhaps not funny under normal circumstances, but for some reason the Tiefling found his own stupidity amusing.

Then hilarious.

Tears of laughter sprung up to wash away the cream as the Tiefling stopped dancing and fell to his knees howling in amusement.

It was in this decidedly helpless position that Jonas met him, and showing a commendable lack of mercy for someone who, had the positions have been reversed, would had killed him heartbeat, set about plunging his punching daggers into the giggling dervish’s ribcage.

Barely able to see though the tears and tart remnants both daggers slammed home, and when he pulled the blades free the wounds bled freely, as the enchantment on the blades seemed to virtually suck the blood from the cuts.

----------

The sound from inside the building had been growing louder and louder as each second had passed, and was starting to build to a low level crescendo when a series of cracks started to appear on the door, a series that became more and more obvious with each passing nanosecond.

In an instant the door had exploded outwards in a series of splinters that peppered the party. Though the wood dust they could all see what could only be described as a horde or minor demons. Abyssal Mouths, Dretches and Skulkers by the dozen, that were advancing forwards in a swarm.

At the head of this legion stood another Tiefling, who raised a hand into the air to begin a casting. This particular example of a demonic bloodline had a series of bone protrusions that lanced outwards from his shoulders, knees and elbows, as well as cloven hooves instead of feet.
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eocine
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As the door splintered apart Karosin vaulted backwards into a somersault, twisting his cloak around himself as he did so and allowing the myriad wood shavings that exploded towards him to become entangled in the billowing cloth folds rather than actually striking against his flesh.

He landed lightly and examined the army of minor demons that was now before them, raising an eyebrow at their number…

An army of nothings… Why do they even bother?

Pondered the assassin to himself as he flipped his blades over idly in his hands, he bounced up and down impatiently on the balls of his feet as he waited for the mass of demons to reach him, not deigning to actually move for the likes of them.

Despite himself he’d been a little impressed by the blade-singer’s evasion of the Tiefling’s attack, though it would have been a cold day in the hottest parts of hell before the Elf would ever hear of this.
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Pamela
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Llana, who was standing a little off to the side was spared the splinter shower and responded to the sudden explosive burst by taking a few steps backwards. Firstly she checked the party members for any obvious signs of injury, seeming that as yet nobody was hurt instead she turned towards the newly revealed Tiefling, the cleric then pulled out a small flask of holy water and removed the lid .

As she did so she began a prayer to Sune, asking that the Goddess of Love help her to protect those she traveled with.

The gaze of Lady Firehair was soon up her, and her eyes rolled backwards in momentary rapture as the power of the Goddess filled her heart.

Her wings spread out behind her and the very air around her seemed to glow golden for a moment as she sang out the final exultant words of the spell.

As the spell was completed the flask floated upwards out of her hands and was lifted as if by some heavenly force over the remains of the door where the demon army were marching. There was a sudden flash of light and then rainbow patterned drops of liquid started to rain down onto the abyssal legion.
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Darkwind
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meta: Avelaer takes a 5 foot step away from the demons, launches a full attack and between the second and third attack casts True Strike as a free action with Song of Celerity class feature. Greg casts Glass Strike at the spellcaster tiefling

Ah, that cleared things up. If it weren't for the jaw, he'd have realized that the tiefling was a martial artist from the beginning. Skilled monks were formidable opponents. He recalled momentarily what he'd learned about their fighting styles: their hands and feet were deadly weapons, and they knew how to avoid attacks as well as, or better than, the bladesingers did.

With a healthy respect for his skill, Avelaer circled and made his attacks count. He decided to forgo the technique which would give him an extra attack but make each attack less likely to hit. In fact, after he struck at the tiefling once and twice, he weaved the casting of a spell into his attack to make the third one almost certain to hit.


With the appearance of the demons, Greg almost lashed out with another consecrated chained lightning spell, but decided to first take care of the spellcasting tiefling. Taking out a piece of a mirror, he concentrated on it as he spoke the arcane words and made the necessary gestures. At the apex of the spell, he pointed at the spellcaster and transmutation magic surged at him, seeking to turn him bodily into a glass statue of himself.
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Mistress Elysia
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Raising an eyebrow at the two tiefling's threats and snorting audibly in disdain, Fade picked the one nearest her as her target, simply so she could maximise the amount of attacks she could execute. This happened to be the tiefling monk with the ridiculously hinged jaw.

Working her way into a flanking position as to take advantage of Avelaer's attacks, she near began her own with a curiously balletic spinning jump, Tholdagnir leading.
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Castamir
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Though he appreciated it's end result, Skafloc was largely unamused by the comedic qualities of the tart throwing, though he'd never actually seen anything like it before. Later on, he'd probably consider it hilarious, especially for the creature to exit this world in such a foolish manner.

The exploding door barely got a glance, Skafloc was far enough away from it to deal with it next, for now he had a job to finish, and Skafloc was the sort of guy who liked to do things properly.

He took two steps towards the kneeling tiefling, pumped up arms bringing his great-axe back behind his right shoulder on the first step, and on the second step snapped it around in an arc, his momentum, his body weight and the vorpal edged axehead of brainbiter all working together in a perfectly smooth swing that finished with the great-axe held near perfectly horizontal in front of his left shoulder.

When the move was complete, Skafloc stood perfectly still next to the kneeling tiefling, watching critically as it's head rolled to a halt a good 20 plus feet away.

Skafloc had killed again in battle - he felt that it had been long overdue, and he didn't think it too greedy to want to do it some more, the fire in his belly was not sated in the slightest, like an itch that couldn't be scratched. It simply burned white hot, lighting up his eyes as he turned to face the newer threat, hardly noticing the last spurt of blood as the headless torso flopped forward onto the floor.
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eocine
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A beam of white light streamed out of Greg’s outstretched finger and dived towards the Tiefling that he had made the focus of his attack. The transmutational spell speared into the outsiders chest and then…

Nothing…

The bone-spiked Tiefling grinned at the risen martyr and made to continue with his spell. He was distracted though by the fact that he felt colder, as if a sheath of ice were starting to cover him, spreading from his fingertips inwards. He lifted one of his hands to his face, and his reptilian eyes grew wide with shock and horror.

His skin had grown utterly transparent, beneath it he could see the play of muscle and tendon as they flexed with every motion, and then worse, the very muscles paled then lost all colour, and he could see though the flesh of his own arm to the skeleton below….

A scream tried to burst forth from lungs that were now crystalline, but that proved impossible, as did everything else. Finally his eyes succumbed to the spell, cutting off his vision.

He felt his heart stop beating…

Finally his brain joined the rest of his body. As the last thing to be transformed it had stood out pinkly in the top of the Tiefling’s skull for the rest of the combatants to see, but it to was now glass, and meant that there was now stood a flawless glass statue where once had been a living and breathing creature.

-------------------

Off balance as he was the hinge-jawed monk was at a sudden and serious disadvantage when the attacks of the blade-singer came slicing though the air towards him. The first blow split open his side, the blessed enchantment on the blade leaving the wound smoking and burning, and the monk was unable to resist clamping a hand down over it. This however meant that the next attack got through more easily, spearing into the Tiefling’s lower belly.

The True-Strike spell ensured that he would connect with his next attack, and it was a brilliantly well judged attack, perfection itself as it plunged into the throat his opponent.

Hacking up blood he staggered backwards…

Straight towards where Fade was standing, a series of vicious attacks tore into his spine, first laying it open and finally severing it.

The monk was dead before he hit the floor…
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Pamela
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As the rains showered down upon the fiends, Llana stepped back, sparing another look up at the guard house’s windows. She was ready to face any demons that broke forwards towards her, but she didn’t want to be in the mess of melee, oblivious to any potential spell-casters who sought a concentrated circle of enemies. The largest threats were already dealt with; she refused to waste any more spells on these minor threats.

Why wait for the enemy to reveal themselves, when you can surprise them, she reminded herself, and fluttered her wings, gold and scarlet scarlet feathers bright in the overcast sky, soaring up to the window that the duo had emerged from less than a minute before.
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eocine
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Karosin watched through amused eyes as the Tiefling underwent its metamorphosis from living flesh and bone into glass. If nothing else it certainly worked to show exactly what was where in the humanoid body… This was the type of information that he would have paid for when he was making his way up through the ranks of the assassins guilds. Precision was of course everything when you were trying to kill someone quickly and quietly, and it paid to know where the more vital areas were.

He’d watched Llana cast her own spell and internally applauded, because it meant that the demons would have to travel through the storm to reach them, and it would most likely take out the vast majority of them…

Unless they were smart enough to stay inside of course, which would at least mean that Avelear and Jonas would be able to simply pour arrows into them though the rain. Hell all you would need to do would be to fire into the general demonic morass..

Still it would work even better if there was to be an attack from both fronts…

He watched as his wife flew by overhead, and sprinted off after her, invoking the magic of his boots as he reached the wall and beginning to climb towards the window from where the two Tieflings had vaulted earlier, his intention being to make his way down from that level into the room that stored the horde.
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Darkwind
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And so much for that. It was almost a pity to have used up so much effort on such a mediocre opponent. He smiled and nodded at Fade in appreciation. "Thank you for your help, Fade." Her style was similar to his, yet unlike. It intrigued him--but first things first.

Being in such a target-rich environment, he almost fancied he did not even need to aim--it would take a miracle for his arrows not to hit a fiend. His hands went through the motions almost by themselves--taking out an arrow, drawing the string of Avelas to the ear, and letting fly over and over. Each arrow found a target, each causing more damage by virtue of the holy enchantment than just the arrow itself. Soon, they would all be done with.


The storm above the fiends gave him an idea. How much better it would be if they could not escape it? Though he could certainly shock them all with a spell, why not let Llana's spell that is already in place take care of them? Greg reached into a pocket to bring out several strands of spiderweb. Selecting one, he put the rest away, and began the casting. When he was done, numerous large strands of sticky webbing suddenly sprouted in the path of the demons, directly beneath the storm.
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Mwa13
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Jonas had jumped away from the grinning tiefling after his punches with his daggers to let Skafloc finish the job. He looked about when the door burst open and all the small minions scuttered outside towards them. He stared with a glare of disgust at the creatures.

Jonas glanced briefly at the crystalline statue. 'Would be a good addition to my furniture at home', was his thought of the statue. He noticed Karosin climbing the tower and went after him, his cloak becoming active, spreading about him and giving him the magic. He leapt against the wall and stuck to it, starting his climb upwards.
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Mistress Elysia
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As the tielfling monk's body slid off her blade and hit the ground with a decidedly sickening squelch, the rebel fey'ri curled her top lip and utterd a short, sharp snort of contempt; not at her opponent, but at whoever had sent him out. To think that they thought this tiefling a worthwhile adversary...

Looking up, she caught Avelaer's smile, nod and few words of thanks. This took her aback more than any enemy could, as, in her experience, people tended to get angry if their kill was stolen from them. Couple that with her first ever entirely positive sentiment, one that was not tainted by sarcasm, scorn or outright disgust, expressed to her by a full-blooded elf, and her confusion mounted as yet another one of her deeply ingrained stereotypes was shattered.

With a hesitant, but nonetheless genuine smile, Fade watched the elf let his arrows fly towards the minor demon hoarde. Nodding in approval as they found their marks, Fade looked up to where the assassin and the shadowdancer were ascending the tower walls, taking in the highly enchanted items they wore to help them make such a feat seem effortless.

At that, Fade sighed. She had once had infinite access to a number of very powerful magical artefacts; now she had very little. The only thing she had ever bought was Tholdagnir, whom she had had made especially for her, paid for with a rich store of rare gems she had 'liberated' from a Luskan noble. Everything else, she had begged, 'borrowed' or stolen... even now, she would've laid money on a certain Dwarven weaponsmith still having a bounty up for the recovery of a certain fine short sword that had mysteriously gone missing from his own personal strongroom. Not that he'd want it back - Fade had made sure of that by paying a rather unscrupulous mage in ways he probably had fevered dreams of even now to enchant the blade against creatures that valued Law over Chaos. If she wanted to follow Karosin and Jonas, she'd have to do it the old-fashioned way...

The fey'ri stepped closer to the base of the tower, and then stopped. On one hand, she knew that the two men who had gone before her were more than capable of sorting out the few demonic stragglers that hadn't fallen to Llana's spell; on the other hand, she didn't want them to find the fey'ri wizard who possibly lived within the tower's walls before she did - just the thought of one of her former House livnig within these crumbling walls made her blood scream for revenge.

It was with that thought in mind that she began to scale.
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eocine
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Given that her journey though the open window was carried out by flying there rather than climbing Llana was the first to be spotted as she landed on the window ledge…. Spotted but not attacked, for the being was far too busy hiding under the bed to actually even consider poking it’s head out.

The Quasit considered itself to have made a very wise choice in not getting involved when it made out that the being that had just entered the room had feathery wings, frankly it had been a long time since his last kicking at the hands of a celestial creature, but not nearly long enough, and so it resigned itself to staying right there until this whole thing was over.

Life in the Abyss was worse than this admittedly, but not much… Still if he managed to escape with his life then he’d consider this a successful day’s work.

---------

As Llana looked around the small and bare bedroom she noticed only two things, that the sheets and bedding were torn to shreds, and that there was actually, completely inexplicably a housekeeper of sorts, for every surface shone, and there wasn’t so much as a speck of dust anywhere in the room.

One jarring thing that stood out was that the walls were cracked in several places, presumeably from the massive stresses that the leaning of the building placed them under, the doorframe too was slightly warped, and the door inside it was closed tightly. It seemed reasonable to speculate that through that door would lay the central staircase.

Other than the twisted and misshapen walls though the room was entirely typical of any small box room, there was a table and chair, both roughly and primatively cut, and probably fairly recently as well if the scent of sap were anything to go by. The bed and closet were equally shoddy and common place.

It was the classic room that is only really used for sleeping in.

--------------

Outside the effect of the combination of Greg’s and Llana’s spells were devastating the hordes of minor demons, the silken webbing strands holding them in place whilst the Holy Storm rained down rainbow hued death on their heads. The celestially charged water burned their flesh as if it were acid, and they fell to the floor moaning for the moment, before their bodies started to break down and they dissolved away.

The arrows of the blade-singer were no less effective and with each of his shots a demon was slain. The first to fall was one of the Dretches, a pitiable creature that collapsed into a heap of foul pus as the arrow burned away at its insides, another Dretch followed it back to hell before Avelear’s arrows took two of the Abyssal Mouthers from the fray.

-------------

Jonas and Karosin smoothly vaulted into the room behind Llana, their own paths being well smoothed by the magical items that they wore.

Fade followed close behind, and soon they were all ready to descend to the demon filled room below.
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Castamir
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Skafloc decided to stay where he was. He could climb, sure, he was even good at it. But with everyone else buggering off up the wall of the crumbling tower, there weren't many people left at the bottom, so he stayed put, standing the safe side of the spell effects, watching and waiting for any part of the pitiful creatures attempting to cross to poke a head or a limb out, and then smacking the offending appendage with his axe.

To be fair not many were making it, and it was more exercise than actual combat, in a way, Skafloc hoped that there would be some left to wade into once the spell effects ran out.

He was mindful to allow Avelaer space to fire his bow as he paced back and forth, like a hungry caged bear being kept from it's food.
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Darkwind
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ooc: Avelear makes a Search check inside to find anything that shouldn't be there (like that quasit). Roll: 5+11 = 16

After loosing a few more arrows to pick off the stragglers, Avelaer realized that the group was moving on. He spoke the word to activate the magic of his cloak and it morphed into bird-like wings. After a couple of perfuctory beats, the magic lifted him off the ground and he sped toward the window after the others, his bow changing to a rapier once again.

Inside, he dismissed the wings and looked around for anything out of place.


Greg watched as their two spells devastated the demons, alert for any that might get out of the web by burning it, and escape the storm. None were so capable, however, and he followed Avelaer by using the dweomer woven into his own cloak. This way was slower, but they weren't in a hurry and he had the pleasure of making a bit of an entrance by materializing in the middle of the room.

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Mistress Elysia
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Fade hauled herself into window, her tail whipping back and forth as she tried to maintain her balance on the crumbling sill. When she heard the sound of yet more wing-beats, she glanced over her shoulder "Bloody hells... what was there? Some kind of wholesale discount on things that makes scaling stuff easy?" she muttered to herself as she caught her breath and wiped a hand across her brow.

The fey'ri then jumped down into the room and scanned its contents, hoping to find some clue as to who the owner of this room was. As her gaze fell on the door, it became apparent that something was slightly wrong with it...

Lightly running her fingertips around the door jamb, Fade scrutinised the door for a moment. Once she was satisfied that it was trapped, she felt an inexplicable urge to kick it down rather than disable it - all of a sudden, this game of hide and seek between herself and her family felt rather tiresome and very, very irritating. The fey;ri knew they were here - why wouldn't they just come out and end this farce? Heh; set the trap off - then there would be no excuse; they'd know they were there and this charade could end.

Balling her fists, the fey'ri took a step backwards and blew a strand of hair from her face in irritation. She knew she was getting wound up again, and so tried to focus on the task in hand again - disabling the trap. Locating its trigger mechanism, Fade tried to set to work, but her fingers didn't seem to want to do what she was telling them to - once again, her temper was getting the better of her.

"Fuck!" she hissed under her breath, and slammed her fist into the wall next to the trap. She then spun on her heel and marched away from it.

"The door's trapped'" she announced curtly as she moved back towards the window.
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eocine
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By now it was becoming more than a little crowded in the tiny box bedroom, and Karosin watched the attempts of Fade to pick the lock with huge impatience. Impatience that made itself manifest though his tapping one of his feet up and down on the floor. At least until Llana kicked him on the ankle, at which point he smirked and instead slouched against the wall and silently drummed his fingers against the warped stoneworking.

As she stepped back in her first attempt to calm down he raised a single eyebrow in amusement. The perils of letting your rage get the better of you encapsulated in one perfect instant. It was the type of moment that he wished he could frame…

When she finally gave up and rammed her fist into the wall he watched as some of the plaster fell away, deciding that there was no chance that he would be fighting close to her when the time for combat came if they were still in this building. She would most likely bring the place down around their ears…

“Indeed…”

Smirked the assassin as he pushed himself away from the wall and unclipped the variety of metal tools that he kept for just this sort of even from his belt. “But it won’t remain that way for long”.

He crouched before the door and looked closely at the trap’s mechanism, it looked as if it was normally disabled by a key of some sort, though it wasn’t like any he’d seen before. Still the actual mechanism was reasonably simple, and amlost certainly not beyond her, it really had been a case of the Fey’ri being dominated by her fury.

Hopefully her kin are much the same…

From the tolls he had he pulled out a hooked spool piece that allowed him to lever the firing pin backwards, once it was out of the way he could see a small screw that had previously been obscured. After selecting one of the smaller screwdrivers in his kit he carefully removed it, and the trigger pin fell to the floor with an audible jingle.

That done he braced himself to spring away from the door should he have somehow made a mistake, and twisted the handle…

The door swung open to reveal a spiralling staircase that led upwards and back down towards the swarm of minor demons below….
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Castamir
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Skafloc stopped his pacing and rolled his eyes. Nothing else was attempting to come through the spell, and he was getting increasingly frustrated at the lack of action. He'd be dammed if he was sneaking in like a thief if all they had to face were these miserable creatures.

So he charged in.

'Skafloc charged in' would probably be a phrase that got a lot of use when he eventually got to sit with his tribe and hear the Skald tell his saga. He understood the need for stealth occasionally, but he figured that the time for stealth was probably long past in this situation, and even if it wasn't, then him charging in might distract any attention away from *everyone* else, who seemed to have all squeezed their collective arses through the window.

His annoyance faded fast as he once again could start swatting at the minor demons with brainbiter, heading for the bottom of the staircase, grinning frighteningly with a joyful embracing of simple but artfully employed violence, and appreciation of the finer aesthetic merits of the almost balletic way in which he swung the heavy weapon around in a seeming endless arc of sharp cleaving death.
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eocine
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As the door swung open Karosin took a moment to check out the immediate area. They were on a level platform with a set of stairs heading down to where Skafloc was currently tearing up the demonic horde to the right, and another set of stairs that headed up to the left. Directly in front of them was a low balcony that was more decorative than safety feature.

Every inch of the tower seemed to be cracked or fractured somewhere, including the stairs which took them upwards. In one place in particular there was a gap that much have spanned close to eighteen feet.

Everywhere seemed to be similarly spartan to the bedroom that they had just come from, which perhaps should have been no great surprise, for the place had surely been looted again and again over the years.

There was a choice to be made here, either carry on upwards of ensure that there would be nothing to slow their path should an escape route be needed…

The assassin’s decision was a quickly made one… Sprinting forwards he launched himself over the balcony, heedless of what could be beneath him, and dropped downwards, straight towards one of the Abyssal Mouthers, that opened it’s maw in anticipation of a meal that it was never likely to receive.

Turning his body to the side he landed heavily, one foot either side of the creature’s gaping jaws. Flexing his knees for added balance he proceeded to use the demon as a mobile platform of sorts, sending his enchanted returning dagger hurtling towards one Abyssal Skulker whilst hacking down a Dretch with his sabre, all the while the monster on which he stood was frantically trying to dislodge him and cause him to fall into its waiting jaws.
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Mistress Elysia
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Following the assassin out of the room, Fade decided to take the other path - up the stairs. She knew that the others could deal easily with the lesser demons, and anyway, she had her eye on a much larger 'prize'... if he was here, the fey'ri wanted to make sure she was the first one to deal with Vaerilmor.

After all, this was a family matter.

Getting the shard the others had come to find was really only second on her list of internal agendas. Well, second after getting her own particular brand of revenge on her entire family.

Not waiting to see where the others were going, Fade ran up the stairs, leaping the chasm at the top when she came to upon it, both her swords unsheathed, ready to take down any lesser demon she came across.


And ready to stand up to anything - or one - else.
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Pamela
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Llana watched her husband leap off the balcony with a tinge of concern, but over the years he’d proved himself adept at getting out of scrapes and generally he didn’t toss himself into anything he couldn’t handle… She’d watched Fade getting more and more angry and had been forced to push her concerns aside, for she knew that the Fey’ri would no appreciate anyone showing concern for her mental state at the moment.

Given that the greater part of her life’s work had been in establishing shelters for prostitutes and abused women in Arabel and Scornubel she could easily enough recognise where a lot of this fury was coming from, for she had counseled many women with the same issues.

Still this wasn’t the time or place for such thoughts, and so she stepped out into the hallway, smiling genuinely as she saw Skafloc had now followed through the front gate, she paused for a few moments fo check that her husband was ok, being aware at the same time that Fade had darted past her and hurried upwards.

Her eyes took on a concerned cast as she looked at all of the structural damage that the tower had accumulated over the years, and for a moment she again considered whether or not their presence in the building was folly. Yet even if it were so, it was probably an unavoidable folly at present.

Deciding that were the mage to be in the building it would most likely be at the top, and not wanting the headstrong Fade to face any such dangers alone, she began to beat the red and gold gifts from her Goddess, and soon was airborne again and heading for the other side of the broken staircase, there at least she would be able to aid the others in getting across if such help were needed.

Of course it had appeared that Fade had needed no such help for she was already present at the other side of the gap.
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Castamir
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Individually the creatures weren't a threat, but all together they were, if the barbarian lost his footing on the increasingly slick floor, or tripped over one of them, they would be all over him, and he wouldn't get up.

He had no intention of falling however, and moved around effortlessly, picking his steps with the same sureness he planted his axe, it's weight and momentum clearing a path and providing barrier to keep the critters back.

It was ceaseless work, and the big man broke a sweat, unable and unwilling to pause for breath, the satisfaction as their numbers started to dwindle clear on his face.

He swung around and withheld the swing he nearly launched as he saw Karosin balancing on one of the more ugly of the misshapen creatures. He paused for a split second and grinned, before having to lash out with his booted foot and then get back to mowing at the swarm with his axe, having let them too close for just a second..
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Mwa13
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Jonas had been following the others quietly, his glance turning from one to the next, slightly amused of the situation, but he pushed the amusement away, this was no time for that.

Once they got the door opened, he followed Karosin closely and stared as Karosin jumped down at the minions below and shook his head. He turned to Llana to say "Does he always do that?" before going after Karosin, making his own way a little simpler: by climbing down while his cloak still had the magic on. He scaled down the balcony, hanging upside down, looking up (from his point of view) and readied his daggers. He shouted a charge-attack-yawp in Abyssal as he let himself drop, going at the Dretch which Karosin was hacking away with his sabre, his daggers in his hands pointed in front of, meaning to skewer the beast as he landed.
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eocine
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The spells cast by Llana and Greg continued to work their magic on the demons that remained, the enchanted webbing preventing the beasts from escaping whilst the holy rainstorm seared the flesh from their bones and left them as rapidly dissolving puddles of gore that littered the floor of the main entranceway.

Jonas found that his attacks against the Dretch, much like Karosin’s own, weren’t as effective as might have been hoped, for the rubbery skins of the beasts proved to be tough even for weapons as powerfully enchanted as his own to penetrate.

In truth it would have taken a holy weapon to easily slip through the brazen flesh of the fiends, so they had to make do with what damage they could cause. This was less of a problem for Skafloc as his own monumental brute force drove brainbiter with a power that neither the shadow-dancer nor the assassin could even come close to matching.

Between the three of them and the spells though the horde was slowly being depleted, with less than half of it’s number still alive by this stage.
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eocine
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Posting as Skafloc;

The veins in his arms stood out hugely as they rushed to pump blood into his massive muscles as the barbarian continued to whirl around brainbiter as an average man might swing a cane. The edge of the huge weapon positively dripped with gore, sending it splattering across the hallway with every swing of his axe as he whipped the blade down again and again, his arms up to his elbows now drenched in demonic ichor, and the taste of demon blood in his mouth from one dretch that had burst like a boil after he had brought his axe down directly atop it’s head.

Skalfoc paused for a moment to wipe some of the slime away as it threatened to drip into his eyes before bringing the axe down suddenly, whirling it around one handed to backhand an Abyssal Mouther that had ventured too close to him.

By now the demons had realised that they had no chance of defeating the human, and were edging away from him as quickly as they could. Showing a survival of the fittest attitude that was entirely in keeping with their chaotic and evil natures they were freely using each other as shields and distractions in the attempt, pushing the weaker and wounded in their number into the barbarian’s path of destruction.

The Northern warrior watched this craven cowardice with disgust, and slung his axe across his huge shoulders. He deigned to run from this battlefield, and instead stepped heavily and slowly, driving each step down hard and somehow imbuing his scorn at the outsider’s cowardice and weakness into every footfall.

Once his feet touched the steps though and he was away from the combat zone though he began to charge upwards towards where Llana and Fade had led the way. Down behind him was no glory to be had, only the slaughter of the cowardly, and he had no stomach for that, not when a battle worth having might be at the top of the stairs.
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Darkwind
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Avelaer sprinted after Fade, frustrated at her apparent lack of common sense. One did not charge into the enemy stronghold, one crept carefully in, on the lookout for traps and ambushes. She was driven by something, a powerful emotion, but it was unhealthy to let your emotions get the better of you. Barbarian's example notwithstanding.

As he climbed the stairs after her, he considered the merits of using his remaining invisibility spell. It might certainly prove of great tactical advantage, considering that it didn't fade after he attacked, like some lesser dweomers. Then again, if there was going to be battle, he could always weave it into his bladesong. And he'd hate to waste it, and discover that the fight was going to be delayed.


Greg wavered momentarily between following Fade and assisting Karosin with the remaining demons, before deciding on the former course of action. He did send a parting gift downstairs in the form of a Chain Missile spell targeting the strongest of the demons first, and sending the rebounding missiles at the others. Then, he was away, skipping steps in an effort to catch up. The spellcaster they'd heard so much about was probably above, where the others were headed, so they would probably need his back up.
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eocine
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As the Mouther twisted to and fro in an attempt to topple him off Karosin spotted his next and most obvious target. A cruel smile flickered across his lips as he worked to correctly judge the distance and timing of his next leap, waiting until the daemon underfoot was facing in exactly the right direction before he would spring away.

Suddenly there it was, lined up perfectly…

In the doorway stood the transmuted form of the Tiefling, whom Greg’s spell had twisted into a glass statue of himself. Hand raised to its face and mouth wide open it was simply far too good of a target for the assassin to pass up.

He bent into a crouch and leapt across the room towards the crystalline being. His feet landed on the Tiefling’s shoulders, and instantly it started to topple forwards onto the floor. With near flawless balance he twisted his footing around so that he had one boot braced on the back of the glass skull and then allowed the statue to fall.

There was a loud crack as the arm broke away, and a smashing sound as the nose shattered…

Karo pivoted on his heels and looked out over the battlefield, it seemed to more or less be done now, the stragglers were few and far between and most had been destroyed by the holy shower that continued to fall. He looked upwards towards where the others were, and saw that they had gone in the other direction towards the top floor.

Well, he’d be joining them shortly…
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eocine
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As the door swung open Avelear, Fade, Llana, Greg and Skafloc were suddenly exposed to…

Nothing.

The room before them was utterly bare, everything had been cleaned out and removed, all that remained was a polished hardwood floor, that was marked all over by huge scratches that had clearly been made when everything was stolen the first time.

The cold wind blew in though the open windows, above which a few still had the tattered remains of curtains, though these were in the minority, as even the cloth had been stolen in most cases.

There was however one thing that was out of the ordinary, a single raven, stood in one of the empty windows and regarding the party with beady eyes that somehow seemed to flare with malevolence for a moment. The bird gave a loud caw and dropped out of sight, swooping away from the crumbling tower.

A few seconds after the bird had vanished they could all hear a magically magnified voice from outside…

“I had wondered”, came a voice in Elven, in an accent that Fade recognised, “when this tower would be of use to me.”

There was a pause for effect…

“I find myself gratified now to realise the task that the gods had intended for it”.

As they headed towards the windows the party could see, stood outside on the grass, a Fey’ri dressed in a wizards robe and with a red and yellow staff in his gloved hands and a look of amused detachment on his face.

By his side stood another figure, this one in a black breastplate and holding a shield to his side, though he held no weapon at all. He also appeared to be a Fey’ri, though given that he stood a small way back from the mage it was probably a fair assumption that he was from one of the more subservient branches of the daemon-elves dynasty.

“It is to be your tomb”.

The mage continued with a smile before turning to his companion and nodding.

Stepping forwards the armor wearer made an elaborate gesture with his free hand, and began to intone words of magic, which surely seemed out of place from one so dressed. As he reached the end of his incantation the humanoid raised his hand high into the air and brought it crashing down to the ground, dropping to his knees as he did so.

As they looked down in horror the group could see the ground forming into waves that spread out from the point of contact, and almost instantly the floor beneath them began to shake.

Large pieces of masonry started to crumble away from the walls, and worse from the ceiling above their heads. Beneath them the very building was collapsing, and quickly too as the ancient and already damaged structure succumbed to the power of the spell.

Whilst this was going on outside Vaerilmor began a spell of his own, and teleported away with his companion. His dry laughter seemed to echo in the air long after he had vanished…

OOC:

The drop down is sixty feet, and the building is rapidly collapsing around you. Thinking caps on boys and girls… ;)
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Mistress Elysia
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On hearing the voice, Fade ran to the window.

"Cowards!" she screamed in Elven at the fey'ri wizard and his companion, her face flushed with fury at being denied her fight "Forever the coward, Vaerilmor! Always fiddling with your books rather than fighting face to face! COWARD!!"

She then watched in horror as the conjured earthquake struck the tower, feeling it shift noticeably beneath her feet as large chunks of the ceiling began to fall, the already sizeable cracks in the tower's walls beginning to widen even further. Cursing rather viciously under her breath at their predicament and at cowardly wizards in general, Fade considered her options. Firstly, there was the window. She glanced down and involuntarily drew in a sharp breath; this tower was pretty high - she'd never escape a jump like that without some kind of injury. Then there was the stairs. Looking over in the direction of the door, she could see that the walls rapidly were giving in and that the stairs were probably even more treacherous than before... and then there was the problem of actually getting out without the whole building collapsing on top of you...

She looked back again to the window. Great - two options, both of which were going to end up in some kind of injury. She weighed up the odds for a moment, and decided that she'd rather take her chances with a fall rather than being buried under tons of masonry. The lesser of two evils, she reasoned as she closed her eyes and prepared herself for the fall. With that, Fade gripped the window sill and prepared to vault out of it.
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Darkwind
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ooc: Greg casts Greater Dimension Door to get them out. If he has time, he'll teleport back in to get the others out similarly. Avelaer changes his weapon to a bow and looks around for any enemies.

Was that a warmage? Greg had heard of such, people trained specifically to cause destruction and havoc, spellcasters nearly as powerful as any wizard, and better armed and armored. Well, no time now. He brought his hands together in a loud clap to get everyone's attention.

"Alright! Time to leave--I'm teleporting us out. Everyone, grab hold of me." As soon as everyone was in contact, he began the incantation. With a flash, they disappeared from the collapsing tower, and materialized on the ground below, as far from it as possible.

It was probably just what the fey'ri expected them to do, so as soon as they reappeared, Avelaer nocked an arrow to his swordbow and scanned for an ambush.
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Pamela
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I was wrong, the priestess thought with disappointment as she looked around the empty room. She looked over at the raven, frowning; the chances of it not being a familiar were slim. At least our enemy…

….is beginning to reveal himself,
she continued after hearing a voice calling out to them from below. She had a decent idea as to what was about to follow, considering the dilapidated state of the building and the smug satisfaction in their taunter’s voice. She moved to the window to see just how high up they were; a flight down the stairs would be dangerous at this point, and she was suddenly thankful that Karo had remained behind in the relative safety of the ground level. Please don’t let them be running up now, she thought and ignored the elf to call out, “Karo- Jonas- get out!”

She looked around worriedly at the others; she’d be able to carry either Fade or Avelaer as the lightest members present, and even that with some difficulty. Greg as a sorcerer would be able to use remove himself easily, but what of Skafloc and the remaining ally?

Any further plans were tossed aside as the earthquake began, and the building began to collapse in upon itself. Her wings rose to cover her head and arms and were battered by a falling roof beam. She hissed under her breath at the unfamiliar twinges of pain, and moved towards the window where Fade was braced when she heard Greg's offer of an immediate safe exit. “Hold on!” she cried out, and grabbed hold of the fey’ri to bring her in the ring around the sorceror with the others.

The rumbling of the falling masonry which had been deafening as thunder was still loud but not immediate, nor was the threat of imminent death. “Be careful, he’s a priest,” she warned; no druid would be wearing a suit of armour. Now where is Karo?!
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eocine
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Posting for Skafloc;

Skafloc had rushed into the room with his lips pulled back in a snarl and the familiar feeling of his heartbeat increasing as it strained mightily to push blood into all his limbs and thus fire his rage more fully. When he had screeched to a halt his feeling of disappointment at the fact that there was nothing in there for him to dismember was virtually palpable.

He let loose a guttural snarl and splintered the floor with one slam of brainbiter…

At which point he heard the voice from outside, he looked across at Fade, wondering if she recognised the speaker. Her run towards the window indicated that she certainly did.

His own heavy footfalls took him to another window, and yet again there was the maddening sensation that he just wasn’t close enough to the enemy to wet brainbiter with their blood.

Spittle flecked his own lips as he joined the rogue Fey’ri in snarling down at Vaerilmor. “You cowardly fucking scum”, he roared, “I’ll paint the floor with your guts!”

The grip he had on his axe turned his knuckles white, a similar colour, at least beneath the woad, to the colour his face turned moments later when the building began to furiously shake and crumble. Heavy masonry dropped down on top of him, and he was too big to evade all of it, leaving his arms with a series of scratches and bruises from his protection of his skull.

As Greg called out he sprinted back towards the sorcerer, careful to slow down early, people tended to jump away when a three hundred pound barbarian sprinted towards them, whether his intentions were friendly or not. Reaching out he placed a hand on the pale faced man’s shoulder.

There was a sudden feeling of motion and then he was standing outside the falling building. As Avelaer had done he scanned the area frantically for signs of an ambush.
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eocine
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Posting as Jonas;

Jonas had just been introducing one of the Skulkers to the… Finer points of his daggers when he heard the voice of Vaerilmor echoing through the door from outside. Listening with half an ear he grinned broadly when the ground started to shake beneath him…

Grinning at the demon he chuckled slightly… “Alas my dance partner though the earth has moved for me I must leave you now whilst the night is still young, for I fear that we have managed to bring the house down.”

The Skulker hissed and snarled before launching itself towards him, jaws wide apart as it aimed for his throat.

He twisted away from the attack and slammed one of his punch-daggers into its stomach, before pivoting his body and catching it on his shoulder.

“I understand that you wish this tryst to continue, but I must insist that you stay...” He watched as a piece of masonry detached itself from the roof and dropped to the floor, then hurled the creature under it.

There was a crunch and a squeak…

“Adios”, he grinned before he leapt through one of the windows and clear of the building.
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Mistress Elysia
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Fade nearly fell backwards as Llana grabbed her, preventing her leap from the window. Initially, she was annoyed; a small part of her fury diverted to the priestess for being what she imitally thought at an attempt to thwart her jump, but this was soon turned to confusion as her hand was forcibly slapped onto Greg's forearm. There was a moment of disorientation as his spell caught hold, and then as her senses returned to her, the fey'ri realised that she was now outside of the tower.

The tower that was rather noisily falling down.

She caught sight of Avelaer and Skafloc scanning the area for signs of ambush, the very act grating upon her already raw nerves. She knew that they were being sensible, but the very act seemed futile to her - they were playing directly into the fey'ri's hands. They knew they were there, and consequently were deliberately playing with them, as a cat would play with a mouse. Snapping her weapons from their sheaths, she paced to around for a moment, muttering to herself.

"They know we're here - they're toying with us" she hissed irritably. "They know we're here!"

More and more, her fury at the whole situation threatened to overwhelm any thought of common sense, and the more she voiced her thoughts, the louder the rogue fey'ri got. All her life, Sarya had played her. All her life, Sarya and her infernal kin had directed her thoughts, her actions....

"Well, come on! You know we're here! Why don't you show yourselves? Show yourselves and FIGHT! You've got a clear fucking shot! RIGHT HERE!" she gestured to her heart "YOU WANTED ME TO PAY, YOU BITCH!" she then screamed "WELL, HERE I AM! COME ON!"
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eocine
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As soon as Karosin heard the voices outside he darted to the side and out of sight, hiding behind the doorway and pressing his back flat against the cold stone. He listened to the statements and immediately worried for his wife, then realised that she’d be able to jump out of any window in the tower and float down.

What became a more prominent concern for him was how to kill both the pompous one and the other guy as soon as possible.

Unfortunately the fact that it was unlikely he’d get the chance became apparent when the floor rapidly vibrated up and down and pieces of the building started to drop down around him.

He watched as Jonas leapt out of the window on the other side of the building, so that was one member of the group safe.

At the sprint he darted out of the front door and ran across to one of the other buildings in the area, ducking behind it in case anyone was watching for a target. A moment later the others shimmered into sight in the small clearing and he allowed himself a slight relieved breath at the sight of Llana safe and sound.

Fade’s bellowing caused the assassin to sheath his dagger so that he could massage his temples. It was obvious why they were doing it wasn’t it? He wondered to himself as he watched her screaming obscenities, it’s because you react like this to the problems, but if they know that’s how you’re going to react then they’ll keep on toying with you until you do something foolish.

Taking a final breath he then stepped out of the shadows and ambled towards the group… “I doubt that your… Novel approach to calling them out’s going to work, if they desired to battle us now they would have attacked.”

“Still, I find it… Galling that they continue to toy with us, and thus would rather that we move towards the inevitable conclusion here as soon as possible..”
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Darkwind
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ooc: Spellcraft to recognize the spell Vaerilmor cast. Roll: 14+24 = 38

"Scatter! Everyone put at least a couple dozen feet between each other. We're too tempting a target for area attacks." He put followed his own advice and transfered himself away from the others. "Fade! You would know better than any of us how they think. What would you do in their place right now?" They teleported away, but how far did they go?

He followed the holy one's very sensible suggestion--while privately doubting he could be caught by such an attack--and commanded his cloak to bear him aloft. He shot skyward, still scanning the scene and ready to fire at will.
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eocine
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A few moments after Greg’s frankly valid suggestion that they should all scatter lest there be an attack the dust and smoke started to clear, and the silence fell once more over the settlement of Elven-Port. More than just the tower had fallen to the spell, a series of the now abandoned Elven homes had collapse as well, and the temple of Deep Sashelas had collapsed in on itself, finally giving the zombies a true resting place beneath its ruins.

Furthermore there would be more damage to come from the spell, as it had forcefully struck the river, and even now was sending a gigantic series of waves shooting down the Delimbyir River and heading towards the town of Seacomber.

More nervous minutes ticked past as the group waited for battle to be continued, but still there came no attacks, just the continued gusts of wind that were now picking up in intensity. Overhead the skies were rapidly darkening, and a rumble of thunder could be heard...
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Mistress Elysia
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When in doubt, assume you rolled a natural 1
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As the dust and the noise from the collapsed tower settled, so did the fey'ri, in a manner of speaking. Realising that their erstwhile foe had indeed fled, Fade dropped her hands and ceased her ranting. She watched as the wave made it's way down the river, shaking her head in resignation.

"Oh, hells. If that hits the ship containing the Unspeakables..." she left the consequences to the imagination of whoever heard her comment.

Sliding her weapons back home, Fade sat heavily on the floor, drawing her knees up under her chin. She looked over at Greg, remembering his question, and shrugged her shoulders. "Depends what outcome they want. They could have gone to muster some more reinforcements; they could have teleported to safety, to hide whatever it is they're guarding here. They could still be watching us right now. I just don't know. I don't know that much about tactics - to be honest, I just used to do as I was told. You learn pretty quickly not to ask questions." focusing her attention on the ship out in the harbour, she stared moodily at it, waiting for it to either sink or for hideous monstrosities to begin pouring out of it.

"Well - what now?" she asked the rest of the group. "Vaerilmor has gone, we're no closer to finding this shard thing you lot're after, that wave is going to hit that ship any second now and to top it all off, it's going to absolutely piss down in a moment." She sighed irritably "Personally, I vote we find an Inn and get absolutely wankered, 'cos I'm all out of ideas."
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Pamela
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Molly
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Llana stepped forward to greet her husband with visible relief as he walked towards them. She attributed her odd moment of humour to her nerves and relief, unable to stop grinning at Fade’s raving fit and the jumpiness they were all right to be feeling. She took a deep breath to dispel the sense of silliness.

What the exercise didn’t achieve, the next tremor did as she watched the collapse of many of the ruins, and the destruction of the ancient temple. She said a silent prayer for the lost sanctity, knowing that it was a better alternative to what had been taking place for the past few years. She rose from the ground, seeking some sense of balance, but this only lasted briefly as the wind began to rise and a tempest started to develop overhead.

She looked down at Fade’s reminder about the Unspeakables, then sighed. So another set of foes… She turned towards the tall spire in the south which still stood untouched, but also impenetrable, before them. “Well, there’s one tower left. I personally would prefer to avoid any unnecessary fights- or getting splashed- so it looks like we’ll have to see if that’s more than a decoration. Greg, can you ‘carry’ everyone a little farther away? Avelaer and I’ll fly ahead, and separately.” She would light to the ground when they'd gotten beyond more ruins, but for now it was important to move as quickly as possible, and that was one of the gifts of flight. The others at least might remain unseen if the miserable ruins of the ship didn't sink or get crushed by the shock of the tremors. She began to move north towards the rosy spire, which seemed tranquil and incongruous to the rest of their remaining surroundings. If I’m wrong, we’ll have to scout out the area. But they won’t be remaining anywhere along the coast, that’s for certain…
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Darkwind
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Native
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ooc: depending on how far it is to the tower, this could take several jumps. Avelaer follows Llana

Greg was staring at they skies with a frown. "Does anyone else think those storm clouds are gathering far too quickly? Seems it was sunny just a few minutes ago. I don't like the look of this." It was a teleport spell the fey'ri used, so they could be anywhere from a few feet to hundreds of miles away. This could well be their next attack, if they'd chosen to remain nearby. Better be elsewhere, then, so he followed Llana's suggestion. After making sure everyone except the two fliers was linked, he trasferred them all to the base of the tower.
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eocine
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Sometimes you just have to burn the card fate dealt you.
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Posting as Skafloc:

Skafloc looked up at the gathering skies glumly but said nothing, in truth now he just wanted to fight. Against these unspeakable things, against the Fey’ri, against anything he could get his hands on.

“Let them come”, said the barbarian to Fade’s warning, shooting her a grin that could best be described as midway between deranged and pleased. He ran a thumb gently across the razor edge of his axe, smiling as a thin red line appeared. “The rains that are coming will wash the taint of their blood from these grounds”.

He strode forwards and stood by Fade’s side, speaking with a slightly forced joviality that of a man used more to thumping people on the back to get them moving. “I can taste the battles to come, can you not?” He asked rhetorically, allowing himself to drift away slightly into a possible future of grand battles and heroic tales. “To leave now would be foolish when there is much glory to be bitten on yet”.

At this stage he was half listening to the conversation behind him, but span as they discussed moving towards the great quartz tower that rose into the heavens. “Yes!” He shouted, allowing himself to slowly become intoxicated with his own imaginings of battle to come. “Take us onwards sorcerer!”

With that he slapped a hand down onto Greg’s shoulder, grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of more battle to be had. So far what pathetic resistance they had met had been no more than an appetizer, and he was building towards the main course.

The teleportation dropped them close to the tower, and straight away Skafloc was searching the scenery for any signs of danger, his trusty great-axe held close.
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eocine
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Sometimes you just have to burn the card fate dealt you.
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Karosin embraced his wife as she walked towards him, in what was a rare public display of affection for him, and proof positive of how worried he’d actually been for her. Her and her alone of course, but small steps can lead on to great things over time…

At Fade’s resignation he sighed, this was ever the problem with the hotheaded and the impetuous, they burned up with such terrifying speed and they were then good for nothing. It was only with some effort that he kept a well deserved look of disgust off his face at what he construed to be her weak-minded moping.

He also found it entirely unsurprising that she hadn’t any real information as to possible tactics that they might use… Still it mattered little, they knew that they were known to the Fey’ri, which meant that everyone would have to be on their toes from now on, to be otherwise in this type of environment would verge on the suicidal.

Llana’s suggestion brought a nod from him and he stepped forwards to place a hand onto Greg’s back, though not before he had smiled up at Llana and mouthed a good luck message to her, being careful of course that this humanizing gesture remain unseen by the other members of the party.
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