I guess I can't leave my mark on things here, because technically they're yours, not mine, right? Or is something else at work here?
When she finds the clothes have changed, she puts on clothes and boots more appropriate to the area. For pants, she still wears jeans, though perhaps not so tight-fitting as the ones she'd wear in NYC.
After learning what she can from the locals in her building, she heads back to Paul's tower, hoping to learn what progress he might have made. Crow flies lazy circles over her head while she walks across from her own compound to Paul's.
Hah, think girl... what did people do when the cops came around in your world and put tails on people or set up cameras so they could follow them later? You think a building full of thieves is going to leave marks around?
---------------------
Oh, also note that Luna's people can teach various rogue talents, rogueish skills (slight of hand, stealth, escape artist, etc) and stealthy/sneaky feats, including dirty tricks.
Luna heads back to her own compound and greets her neighbors cheerily... Asks a few about any local information about tunnels and cave systems in the area... If there are any of them, how to enter them and where they go. Also, what do the folks in her apartment building think of the new village.
You have a point, I was just curious if it would work... I guess not. Hey, would it work if I made the marks invisible? I can do that, you know. Bah, probably not.. never mind.
One old man, who lives on the bottom floor, rubs his grizzled chin. "Well now, there used ta' be rumor of creatures that lived underground in the Nether Realm. It's said dey was rich, 'cause they could dig up stuff out of de ground. De also were said tae be dangerous if ye riled 'em up. I tink.. yea, I tink dere was two or tree of 'em. Dere were Seethes, dey was like lizards but they walked on two legs, and had big nasty claws and teeth. De udder ones was more like people, but de was all white from head tae toe, wit big eyes, and dey had no bones. I cain't recall de last ones, if tey was a last one. Been a long time." He rubs his head. [b]"I tink dere used tae be a road dat went down, some sort a Killith or Kallith or Klathith or sometin like dat. A road. Ye'd have to find it on a map or sometin."
"Thanks, Mr. Martelli. . That's really helpful. Let me know if I can ever return the favor..." She flashes him a broad smile.
When she gets to Paul's place and up to the map room, when they start discussing looking at the cave, she starts poring over maps of the area, muttering to herself. When Paul has finished determining he cannot see into the cave past the opening, she turns to him and gives him a smile and motions him over to a local map.
"Hey, guys, there is a place underground the locals call the 'Nether Realm'. There are creatures living there who mine things. Maybe we could trade with them? Anyway, apparently they are called Seethes and are lizard people? Sounds weird, but this place IS weird. Anyway, they have claws and teeth and are dangerous when angry. There are a couple of other races there too. Some people with white hair and skin and big eyes and no bones? And maybe another race too, he wasn't too clear on that. Most interesting is that there used to be a road that went underground. He called it Killith or Kallith or Klathill or something like that, he wasn't too sure. So looking on your maps for anything similar... wanna help?" She turns back to the map, seeking something starting with a K that looks like a road... or anything that looks like a road, whether it appears to go underground or not.
"If there's indeed people in some underground place... they might have tunnels that go under the wall and give us a safe path out beyond the guardians. If we can make friends with them, maybe we can arrange to trade for whatever they mine from the earth and for safe passage."
Well, if true, the maps would be a good place to start. Sure I'll help. Sterling starts looking through maps for any cave or underground entrances
"Sterling, I need to talk to you about something while we look at the maps," Luna says while examining one of the maps. She moves over to Sterling's side before continuing, turning her attention from maps to his face.
"While you were gone, the three of us had a little discussion about leadership and we decided that we needed to establish some. Getting into fights and dealing with life and death situations without an ultimate decision-maker might not be the best of things. I know you're used to be in charge back home, but here we need to take a vote and decide amongst ourselves. Each of us has different skills and abilities to bring to the table so we're all up to the job, one way or another. We kinda took an interim vote while you were gone, but your input is important too, so I don't want to say we've made a hard and fast choice. What do you say about it?"
Just so I understand correctly, Your looking to assign tactical authority to one person during combat encounters...
He nods.
Sounds reasonable, as far as I know, none of us have any military or police experience. It would be a heavy responsibility to lay on a novice. I would reserve the right for group agreement on preplanning. I'm really a big picture kind of guy. I have a need to wheigh every option, and choose the most effective for the least amount of risk. I'm not confident that translates into SWAT tactics.
He smiles at her and rubs her arm affectionately. I appreciate your input too.
Luna smiles at the touch and leans a little closer to Sterling. Seeing that he seems to be attentive to the maps as well as the topic under discussion, she examines another local area map while talking.
"Oh, I totally agree... given time to plan ahead in any situation, it should be open to discussion from all, and considering all options is a great idea. But ultimately someone has to make decisions and maybe even give orders if there isn't time for pre-planning. It's too bad Lina isn't with us any more as she would have made a perfect leader in such situations."
He smiles at her, and starts feeling warm rise up through him. Well, there's no life and death decisions right now. His hand slips into hers. After we look for caves, maybe we can have dinner. I'm still trying to figure out my new place. Hopefully one of the foo creatures can cook a decent meal. He eyebrow raises in a comical fashion.
"Actually, I have some military experience. When I broached this topic with the others, what I had in mind was that the four of us make decisions when we are safe. When we are in an unsafe situation the leader is in charge. We can change the leader by vote any time when we're in a safe situation."
"Foo creatures, eh? Will you tell me all about your new creatures over dinner then?" She gives his hand a little squeeze. "Maybe while we look at maps, you can share with all of us something about your new abilities, as we are all going to have to work together. Something tells me they are a drastic change from what you could do before."
"I hope they CAN cook, because the inn is gone. Someone in the village needs to open a tavern, yes?"
Sterling looks back at Paul. What's safe and unsafe is relative, but I understand the intention. What is your military resume?
...after the conversation with Paul, Sterling focuses his attention on Luna. Actually, The new abilities are quite useful. He concentrates for a long time, and then his Eidolon appears.
He is amazing. He is practically invisible when he wants to be. I can see, hear, smell, taste everything he does. There seems to be no limit to the link. I was thinking of using him to do recon outside the wall. He is really incredible.
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+4 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 26 (4d10+4)
Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +1
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee 2 claws +8 (1d6+1), bite +7 (Bleed 1d6) and +2 Tail Slap (1d6+1)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft (10 ft for bite).
STATISTICS
Str 13, Dex 19, Con 13, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 11
Base Atk +3; CMB +4 ; CMD 18
Feats Weapon Finess, Weapon Focus(Claws)
Skills Acrobatics +10, Perception +7, Stealth +18, Sense Motive +7, +8 racial bonus to Stealth
"Wow... there's more than just those other creatures then. Does he have a name? And can he pass through the wall just as if he were you? Having an invisible scout who can do all that is just... awesome."
Luna walks all the way around the eidolon 360 degrees, examining it from all angles...
"Is it.. you know... friendly?"
I'm not sure what to call it. It doesn't seem to have a distinct personality. It is independant, but also an extension of my will. It will do whatever I want to do. I haven't tested it with the wall, but I'm sure it can pass with my help in any event.
"I served in the Navy for four years after college. Spent about half that in nuke school then was aboard boomers for the rest of the time."
Link: Eidolon
Luna turns her eyes to Paul for a moment when he states his military history and nods in acknowledgement. "Not career, but still it's experience. That's good. What's a boomer?"
"Maybe you should name it 'Draco' or 'Salazar'," she says with a little wink.
The creature looks between the two. "Salazar acceptable." It says with a rumbly hissing voice, an odd cross between a bear and an owl.
Luna stares at the eidolon in shocked surprise... then grins. "Salazar it is then... I didn't know you could talk.... that's so cool.""
She looks to Sterling and tilts her head slightly. "Did you know Salazar could talk?"
Yeah, but this is the first time it...Salazar expressed a preference.
"So, speaking of preferences... do you want to express yours about who should be our 'leader'?" she asks Sterling. She doesn't press though, if he doesn't feel ready to talk about it.
She continues to pore over maps while waiting for an answer, seeking anything that looks like a road going either underground, into a cave , or simply disappearing in the middle of nowhere.
As I said, I'm big picture thinker. I have no military or police experience. So for Tactical leader, I'm not the best for the job. It's a heavy responsibility, It should go to the person who is confident they can pull it off. My first choice would be Harry, since I know him to be capable in a fight and trust him with my life. My second choice would be Paul because of his military experience. I believe since all of our lives are on the line, any plan or goal should rise and fall on it's own merits.
The church we are fighting is militant. If you are asking what we should do now...I gave the choices, Stay here, or find an army to fight with us. We should be using fients. Pop out hit some patrols. Retreat to the wall. All from the same section in the wall.
This would make the church think we are predictable. They would move thier troops and reinforcements to that area. Then we do something unexpected, exit on a section of the wall where we are hard to track, like stone. If we can keep them focused on the wall while we head to Demonshales...we willmitigate our risk. But we need a guide.
The Lawkeeper was born and raised in demonshales. If we can convince him to be our guide, we have another great advantage. Customs, behavior, locations, all at our fingertips. Lastly, we should recruit mounts. I now have training in training them, part of the regular dealing with creatures of all kinds. Not to mention, I can summon creatures that can speak to the animals.
All that said, the possibility to move underground is something to explore. If only to secure them, to keep the church from using them against us.
"FInding an army to raise might be tough. It's not like we have a lot of people to draw from and I don't think the folks in Hell are likely to want to follow us into a war. Maybe if we get underground we might recruit some... or when we get to Demonshales."
"I'm kinda hesitant to say exactly what we should do about getting past the guards until we have a little more information on them. We know they are maintaining a watch, but I didn't learn exactly how many or what their patrol schedules are."
"I like the idea of sneaking out, and going underground sounds like a good way to do that, if we can. If not..." she shrugs.
"Having mounts would be good too, but whether or not we can use them depends on how we get out of here. I would love to ride an oversized tiger or something else furry and fast."
Actually, Ratharius is where we find our army, Demonshales is where we find a ship.
Salazar can help us to get intel for planning.
As far as a something fast and furry, we should be able to find something for you. he winks at her.
"Oh, I thought you meant finding an army just to get us out of here." She chuckles softly at her own misunderstanding. "Yes, Rantherius for an army, though we might find a few allies in Demonshales."
"So maybe we could all agree Paul would make the best leader for us as he has the tactical know-how and military experience? We still discuss things if there's time and opportunity, but in a pinch or when we can't agree about what to do, Paul's our guy, right?" She gives Sterling's hand a little squeeze and uses her free hand to trace yet another line on the map, hoping to find a name matching the one Mr. Martelli gave her.
Luna smiles at the wink, her eyes crinkling slightly when she does so. "Sounds good... I want a pet tiger.. something slinky and feline... but I'd settle for a giant wolf too if we can't find a kitty."
Sterling being a lawyer in his past life is uncomfortable by nebulous terms like pinch. Too many times he's seen ambiguity in the law exploited for greater grabs for power. I agree to Paul being tactical leader. You would need to define pinch in specific terms, before I can agree to that
"You know... when we're in a situation that doesn't allow for any advance planning or not enough to make a difference... Like a surprise fight or a fight with no time or opportunity to discuss our tactics, or if discussing would reveal our location, that kind of thing. Like right now, we're talking about how to proceed, we've got plenty of time to talk it all out... but say we go underground and run into hostile critters, there might not be time for talking... that's a pinch." Luna shrugs, not really seeing the need to talk all this out, but complying because Sterling obviously does.
"Luna, a boomer is ballistic missile submarine. The ones carrying the nuclear missiles. Unfortunately downsizing got me before I could make a career out of it."
Paul then looks a Sterling, "I agree there are several choices we need to make. If we are going to go to Demonshales, I think we need to exit from the northern end of the force field as that is least likely to give away our destination, unless we can find an underground way. This reminds me of leaving port at the start of a patrol. The Russians always have subs waiting for us, occasionally they even follow for a few hours, but none has ever made it more than 24 hours before losing us.
If we can find nothing in the maps, I say tomorrow morning we head out to Hell and see if you can talk the sheriff into being our guide or at least giving us information about what to expect."
Luna looks from Paul to Sterling. "Sounds like a good start to me."
So, do YOU know where this road to the underground is?
Not our people... Never dealt with them much...
No, I'm fully capabable of making my own decisions. Sterling extricates his hand. He begins to feel maneuvered and manipulated. We discussed tactical leadership in combat. I agreed to the benefit and Paul can take that responsibility. I don't agree to him being defacto leader.
Luna nods, understanding Sterling's objection to some extent. "I get it, we're all individuals who can make their own decisions about most things. We're all separate people with different backgrounds and ideas. I'm not saying we have to agree on everything. I hope though that out of fights, we will all be able to agree on most things, talking them through." She sighs when he removes his hand and pulls hers back, fights the urge to cross her arms in a self-protective gesture.
"Just when we're like you said in combat or similarly pressed and have to act as a unit, we DO need a leader. I think Paul's a good choice for that because he was in the navy and all. He's got experience. That should count for something. The rest of the time, we'll talk things out and make a joint decision for pushing ahead. Will that work for everyone?"
I've already stated what I agree to.
You're wasting your time, it's like talking to his former gem occupant... You might as well reason with a boulder to get it out of your garden... Both are about as useful.
Not a very nice person are you, nor a team player for that matter... I can see why nobody likes you. You're one of those 'typical men' who can't be bothered to get directions when you're lost aren't you? I knew a Caller once who couldn't accept he was lost, even when his Eidelon kept scratching the same tree over and over again. I mean, how stubborn do you have to be to keep insisting you're not passing the same tree fourteen times, each time with one more slash than the last time. You really should mellow out some, no alcohol though, you can't hold your liquor. Maybe some Tenthus Leaf, if you smoke it or eat it it'll give you a very mild outlook on life. Or you know, maybe get laid. That's going to be a lot harder though, since you keep insulting the only pretty girl around who likes you. Then again, maybe you're into guys, that Harry fellow is pretty handsome, and he actually likes you. You could try making a pass at him. If you're not into either, I wouldn't make any passes at the Foo's, you're not their type. Not nice enough, and you don't care about the welfare of others, only your own hide and feelings. That's why they don't talk to you, you know, right? They can sense you aren't a very good person. They only tolerate you because of me...
Somewhere inside, I don't think he's a bad person. He seems like there's a sweet side to him too. He can be very charming. I hope it's not just a practiced front he puts on. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a lost puppy, but I like him.
Your transparent attempts to shame me into behavior you deem appropriate by accusing me of being gay, when I know you know the opposite...makes you not nice either. The fact that Luna shills for Paul like a politician's wife for her husband is suspect at best. The fact that Paul doesn't share his compound's resources for group allocation and preparation make him selfish at best, and is the the behavior of someone, who will not put the interests of the group first, if they conflict with his self interests.
Those two facts combined, imply she is not 'interested', or even likes me, but instead she is manipulating me, to futher her true romantic partners interests. I should have known when both of them pushed me to eat another gem.
So not only are you as much of a 'not a nice person' as the rest of us, but your shaming speech implies you are too blind to the reality. Although based on experience with your kind, it's just another attempt to influence me using manipulation, instead of using outright torture for your own unspoken purposes.
And the fact that you say 'you don't care about the welfare of others' proves you really don't know me, as my actions in saving the lives of the villagers proves the exact opposite. If you want to have a real dialog, please forgo the self righteous attitude.
Oh my, yes, I am put in my place, obviously I am not as smart as you are, oh mortal among men. My pride is gone, I have been utterly humiliated by your insight and keen intellect. There is a decidedly amused tone. I am sorry sweetie, but you didn't help those people because you were concerned about them. Goodness, I wish you had. A good person helps someone because the person needs help. You helped them because it was better for you to have allies and people to tell you about this world. The voice continues, not sounding mad at all. You still don't understand deery, this is not your world. In your world, you were a gray man in a world of grays, and you fit right in. But this is not a world of grays, it's a world of stark contrasts and absolutes. In this world, you are not a good person. You aren't evil, but you are not good. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can change it. You want to be thought of as good, but you aren't.
And as to being gay, you may or may not be. I honestly never understood this mortal preoccupation with being gay or hetero or both. It seems like a completely arbitrary thing to me. Of course, some of my compatriots have the same distinctions and preoccupations.. your former Id, that's what you're calling them yes? Anyway, your former Id was very much concerned with the female of any species. Perhaps something of him rubbed off on you if the suggestion annoyed you... or maybe it annoyed you because it was an uncomfortable truth... I've noticed mortals tend to get upset if you tell them a truth they don't like. I get that a lot. I've never found lying to be worth much. I mean, it never leads to anything good.
Meh...
just 'meh? *mental laugh* I take it you don't agree... what do you see in him then?
So let me guess you and your ilk are the good guys? Yeah, I think it was Jesus who said kidnapping, torture and attempted murder was justified in the pursuit of the 'greater good'. I assume that makes those in the church of the trinity evil. But then I guess If I was raised in the church, I would consider myself a good guy and the ones behind the wall evil.
very black and white...don't feed me bullsh!t and tell me it's candy. And lets get more to the point. even the most altruistic do so, to make themselves feel good. So ultimately a selfish act.
But I'm sure being a mortal insect to your godhood status...I've got it all wrong.
You add your own words mortal. The word only means, one who dies from age. Immortal only means one who doesn't die from age. Yes, I am good. No, we are not good. Even good must, at times, work with evil to achieve a greater good. If you prefer the Others, then by all means, I can find a new host. But do not bullshit yourself and drink your own cool aid. You can consider yourself good if you choose, but you are not. And no, if you do good deeds to make yourself feel good, you are not good. The entire point is, you do good things because you are good, or you aren't good. The voice loses it's amused tinge, but still isn't angry. Perhaps... a lesson is in order...
...a waste of time...