Desmond flicks back the end of his scarf, grinning confidently. He starts tumbling and cartwheeling between the demons, making his way toward the cleric, and slashes at her.
If one of the demons attacks him, he parries.
- Desmond counterattack him for 10 damage.
Desmond manage to avoid the Schir and even hurt one of them, but his main sword thrust is avoided by the elasticity of the small goblin.
=======================
- Miss
- Miss
- Hit - EDIT: It's actually a miss due to the +1 dodge bonus from haste
Schir D laughs at the situation of the goblin that invoked him and instead of rushing to defend her, he prefers to cast a spell on himself and then start running at great speed (70 ft) after the coward elf.
The female cleric of lamasthu see herself surrounded but she knows the punishment from her goddess would be even greater than death, so she 5 ft back and (move action) creates a double of herself and (standard action) send to sven all her hatred. The goblin power fill svens mind with images of corruption and chaos (Vision of madness, -3 to attack, + 3 to saves and skills, No save).
You are right, sight.
Then forget what I said, she tries to become invisible
- Crap. She fails. She does make an illusory double of herself as move action.
Desmond continues attacking the goblin.
Vendrick moves away from the Schir demon coming towards him and just tries to make it as obnoxious as possible to follow him by raising his staff and jabbing it into the ground.
The earth trembles as roots, vines and the grass itself roils, thrashes and twists in a 40ft radius between Vendrick and the Schir Demon.
Sven continues to assault the goblin Cleric, still wordless.
Seconds before the cleric death droplets of water started rising and the wind around Des and Sven got stronger. Seconds before the cleric death Des and Sven are inside Hurricane winds.
Vendrick see from afar how the wind sucked his companions and the demons (except for the one trying to cut past his way through the difficult terrain).
Desmons and Sven are raised several feet from the ground and are Thrown around violently, with no control on where they move (unless you can fly or something that don't require your legs touching the ground). Only sporadically the chaotic motion put you near enough to reach the still living demons. It's more like a collision mid air, so no enough time to full attack. The demon, of course, try to take use any chance to pierce your trhoat.
-
-
"Aren't you guys supposed to disappear after your summoner dies?"
Vendrick takes some distance holding his coat. He drops another entangle to further discourage the demon from following.
Well damn. That...I'm not quite sure how to get them out of that...
@ desmond and Sven
The schir release an enraged howl at Desmond. And that's the last thing you remember before anything goes back.
========
@ Vendrick
The arcane storm darkens the view. It looks like a dark Swirling cloud with some purple lightings here and there.
Vendrick lost sight of his companions and a second later the scream of pain of the schirs can be heard.
The torment advance in direction of the mage and the last demon. It's almost as if it were reaching for you both. When the winds reach the entangled demon the demon gets torn apart.
Then, perhaps the most unexpected thing, in an ancient elven accent a melodious sweet voice says to you
come!
And your legs start moving you in the direction of the storm.
=================================
@ All
You all awake in the same small room. You have no possession on you besides your armor and clothes. You have your hands tied with handcuff. The handcuff are made of mithral and are engraved with runes.
The walls are made from wood and there are some windows and a door. Everything (window and door) is open and the wind enters throw it. However, the same space that let the wind enter also stops you from leaving. A barrier is there.
"Aw...well don't worry, I know what to do. I've been in this situation many times as a young lad."
Desmond shouts toward the open door. "Hey! You didn't read us our rights! I want a lawyer!"
Vendrick shakes his head to wake up.
"Desmond...I think we're alright for now. If they wanted to kill us then we'd already be dead."
"Or they want to torture and interrogate us, then kill us."
"Fair enough though I think an opportunity will present itself, hopefully before the torture happens."
The day pass without seeing anyone. The cell to strong everywhere you forcing you way out, and teleporting doesn't work.
In the night you can sense a faint acrid smell. It strongly reminds Sven and Desmond to the time they were exploring the mines of Dawnmere (the black flying jellyfish and all that). It pass with the first rays of daylight.
An hour after sunrise, you hear steps of people coming our way. Soon you can see three (unusual) elves in front of you. .
The younger one is a female of approximated age (for the trained eye) of some 300+ years old. She is slim but athletic. Her tight clothes are old and cover most of her. An elven curved blade is sheathed at her hip. The unusual thing is her face. The veins of half her face are visible black, and the eyes of that half of the face is entirely black.
The man beside her seems of the same age. Is a taller and a little bit more fuller on muscle mass. He wears a cloak that covers him from toe to the head. Still, one of his arm is clearly deform and probably non-functional.
THe last one is a very old elf, 800+ years old. He is to old to walk so they move him in wheelchair. Although he seems very weakened by the age, you don't see any another sign of corruption.
With his hand the old one makes a greeting gesture to Vendrick. With an odd accent softly speaks the following words in elvish language:
Gi suilon- And old fashioned greeting -Long time without visitors. Not much people are brave or unlucky enough to approach this close Nyth Elanean
"Gi suilon, a scholar's thirst for knowledge takes him many strange places." Vendrick makes the best greeting gesture he can whilst still cuffed.
Ah, the never ending desire to know more and more is something we can understand here In Nyth Enalean - He replies softly and slowly.
I would like to interrogate you about the state of affair in the outside world...
THe other male elf interrupts - But we can't let you move freely, unless you accept a Geass spell.
Desmond, who can't speak Elven, stays uncharacteristically quiet.
"I don't negotiate with kidnappers."
The man with the non-functional arm harshly reply
Then don't. Stay there and rot.
Let's say somebody casted Shared language with Desmond and Sven.
"You just want to know what's going on in the world? You really didn't need to imprison us for that."
Well, things are a little complicated - Say the old one. -I'm afraid that what Illsyaser said is true. You'll need to accept a Geass to be allowed to leave the cell.
"I'm sure you understand why that makes us nervous. Wouldn't a Zone of Truth be enough for what you need?"
Desmond bats his eyes at the female one.
Zone of truth is unreliable - Says the old man -And who can tell if what you accept now would be forgotten after a new moon or a after a circle of the sun?. The short lived races are so fickle after all.
In the meantime, With her only normal eye the female elf take notice of Desmond and say
You can trust that we don't have bad intentions with you. If you are here is because we have already decided to not kill you. Normally trespasser in the mistpines are dealt with in a swifter way.
"You haven't killed us because you want to enslave us with a Geas. Trust works both ways. I don't trust you because you threw me and my friends in a box and are refusing to let us out unless we submit to your mental control."
"You don't trust us because we're not elves and not from here. Your reasons are flimsier than mine."
"We have something you want and you're strong arming us to get it. It's as simple as that. Dress it up how you like, you're just common thugs with a smug attitude."
The one-armed elf explodes: We don't need your trust or your cooperation. We can take the answers from your cold corpses!
The old man silence him by slowly raising his decrepit hand.
The geass spell would not numb your mind or cloud your conscience. It only have two effects. One, you agree to not attack, steal or do any kind of harm to the elves living here nor the city itself. Two, you agree to not leave the mistpines. Finally, you will not communicate the existence of the city to anyone.
They prepare to go
Old Man:We'll be around if you decide to agree. There is no hurry, we have elven patience.
They leave. The female nods to Desmond before leaving.
"You're a real charmer, Sven."
"I don't think we really have a choice. Whats stopping them from just casting the Geass? It's not as though I can do anything about it right now. Though being under a Geass does make it difficult to be flexible in problem solving."
"I accept though I loathe the idea of a spell inhibiting my thought. Sven is right otherwise."
"I'm fine with telling them about recent events in either event."
"If they want to talk like civilized creatures, fine. I've got nothing I need to hide. The method they're going about it is my problem. If they're willing to imprison and force mind affecting magic on people at their mercy, what else are they going to do? And how much easier will it be if they impose on us a compulsion to not fight back against them?"
"Maybe they can just cast it on us. In that case my conscience will be clear if I'm forced to rend them limb from limb to get back my freedom."
As he talks, Sven briefly closes his eyes, concentrating on growing his snout and strengthening his legs. He begins quietly sniffing around, pacing as he speaks. He also keeps a careful eye out for any leaves that may have blown in through the window.
About the proposed Geas: the spell involved is a stronger and, at the same time, weaker version of the Geas-Quest spell in the sense that the repercussions from disobeying it are harsher but the conditions can't be imposed. That's the reasons they are asking you to accept them.
Ok, the prison seems to leave you without options.
After a some hours a different elf approaches.
He wears clothes that are much more modern, in fact they look like Vendrick's.
Hi there - he says with a different accent that the elves before him -It's good to see new faces..., wait I think I know you, aren't you of the El'druin family?
And indeed, vendrick knows the guy, and elf from his homecity that left the city some 30 years ago and never returned.
"Indeed...so this is where you've been these years..."
"What brings you to our cell?"
The man is called Daeris Ilifaren, he is an archeologist.
I heard there were some, well, "visitors". My curiosity brought me here, it have been a long time without meeting people from the outside.
"Well, it's nice to know that at least one of you can be friendly!"
"Listen, buddy, there seems to have been a...misunderstanding between us and your friends. Do you think you could get us out of here?"
"Giving us a hand wouldn't violate the geass, if what they said the parameters are are true."