Once the tank had been cleared and the canoodling concluded, Maka helped the others sort through the loot.
"I figure these masks must be protective gear of some sort, almost certainly against cloud attacks as they cover the whole face and not just eyes and seem to press tightly around the whole border. We should probably each keep one with us till we know more about what kind of attack they protect from and can arrange other protections.
Maka removed her goggles and managed to get one of the masks on after a few moments of struggle. "Ughh I hate this, it's hard to see, and breath, and it hurts my hair." Maka's annoyed and muffled voice came through the mask. After a few more moments of struggle she managed to pull the mask back off and took a deep breath of fresh air. "Is my braid messed up?"
"How do you load it? I don't see a ramrod or anything." she says in confusion. She sniffs it cautiously. "It smells funny. Kinda oily."
Maka gave one of the weapons a good sniff. "I don't know, I kinda like it. Reminds me of fireworks."
Once they were back with the rest of the group he helped round up the various weapons. After a bit of messing around with the long guns he pulls a level and a small metal box falls out. Looking inside he sees tightly packed bullets. "It's like a magazine for a repeating crossbow but it's on the bottom rather than the top. Maybe it makes it easier to aim with. I suppose if you don't have as many people to magically enhance your weapons you start getting very clever just at enhancing the weapons. They're too loud for being stealthy but that aside they hurt."
"Okay that makes sense. So these are basically crossbows that shoot mean fireworks?"
A few moments after Kalchine puts the pin back where it came from, the object explodes.
Damage: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 4) = 13 20-foot radius, Reflex save DC 15 for half.
Maka's monastic reflexes took over before her brain even recognized a threat. In the blink of an eye she minimized her profile against the explosion and created a small, protective explosion of her own. Before the dust had even cleared, she took to the sky in search of the enemy. Flames engulfed her as she roared a challenge to draw any further attacks.
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Fin frowns as Chest Thumper plays around with what the Elf assumes is a weapon. ”Careful there, my friend, we don’t know what these weapons do…”
He winces when the pin is pulled not knowing what it might do…then when Kal puts the pin back in, he asks doubtfully, ”Are you sure that f…” which is all he managed to get out before the thing went BOOM!!!
Deftly tumbling to try and avoid the blast…
…Fin is able to avoid any hurt…
Looking around at his friends, he yells out, ”Is everyone OK?”
Rising slowly, he dusts himself off, murmuring, ”Guess we know what it does now…”
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"It's like a magazine for a repeating crossbow but it's on the bottom rather than the top. Maybe it makes it easier to aim with. I suppose if you don't have as many people to magically enhance your weapons you start getting very clever just at enhancing the weapons. They're too loud for being stealthy but that aside they hurt."
"Oh. So it kinda loads itself? Once you put the bullets in the box you mean. Huh, that's clever."
Quasit loads 5 bullets into the box and puts it back into the ventral side of the gun and tries the trigger, pointing it at one of the empty buildings. At first nothing happens, so she spends a bit of time fiddling with it, and eventually pulls at the lever that loads the first bullet into the chamber and then successful fires the gun with a load report that makes her jump a little in surprise.
"Ow! This thing kicks like a mule when you shoot it! I think it bruised my shoulder!" she says, laughing nervously. It's clear she's mostly pleased she succeeded in making the thing work. Seeing that the gun has a strap, she slings it over one shoulder like a veteran, then slings her pack over the other. She takes one of the strange masks and looks at it with distaste.
"What a hideous thing. And it smells nasty too. What a sad and unpleasant world this must be."
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"Probably just as well for me he wasn't actually here. I'm just glad it all worked out and nobody died."
"Me too!"
Sakitu shares some smalltalk with Quasit until there is a large boom!
She dives to the ground but even so, she is peppered with tiny bits of metal. Once she's sure that there won't be a second explosion, she stands up and looks around. Everyone seems to be ok. Her ears are still ringing but she hears Fin and replies back to him.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Just a few more cuts and scrapes."
"What the heck happened?!"
"See! That's why you don't mess with things you don't understand!" Kalchine shouts at Chest Thumper.
But the ape is already pointing an accusatory finger at the triaxian.
Kalchine sighs and then starts handing out healing again.
After it was clear there was not any further attacks incoming, Maka landed with a huff. "Everyone check in again!"
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Once Maka had confirmed everone was, mostly, fine, she gave Kal and Thumper a talking down. "Fire and explosions are dangerous! You have to be more responsible than that! I expect this kind of behavior from Thumper, but Kal you're supposed to be the responsible one! Maka waved a finger in Kal's face in her best impression of her father.
Jets of flame from Maka's feet brought her eye to eye with Thumper. "But don't think that lets you off the hook Thumper. You're lucky your brother has healing magic! But just because a burn has been healed doesn't mean it didn't happen!" Maka repeated her finger wagging to Thumper as well. Kalchine gets the impression that Maka might be channeling a talking to that she herself has received more than once.
"Quasit is worried enough as it is. Now let's get packed up and go find Cluckers!" Maka went back to gathering and packing the equipment up while have odd thoughts about becoming her father.
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Quasit raises an eyebrow and smirks a little as Maka dresses down Chest Thumper, fully expecting her aggressive display to yield amusing results.
"Well, at least we know what the funny clubs are now. Exploding clubs don't seem like the best melee weapon. You'd have to time your hits just right. Or maybe you pull that little cord and throw them at people. Sorta like an alchemist bomb."
"Now if we can figure out the little cannons on tripods, we'll be able to use all the things. But maybe let's not allow Chest Thumper to be the investigator on that, k?" she says, beginning to walk west down the road.
Chest Thumper growls at Maka as she gets in his face, but then just sits down with his back to her and his arms crossed over his chest with a huff. He jerks his head toward Kalchine as though accusing him, again.
"It wasn't me! It was him!" Kalchine says, indignantly. "We didn't even know they were explosive!"
As the party sets out, he goes to Chest Thumper and gives him a pat on the shoulder. The frost ape huffs and turns away again, but Kalchine scratches behind his ear and then nods in the direction everyone else is travelling.
They both glare at Maka periodically and you can't help but get the impression that they are whispering to each other and grumbling about her.
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Sakitu thanks Kal for the healing once again. Sadly, the healing only affects her body. There are still many rips and burn holes in her clothes. "I'm going to have to get these replaced at some point."
She watches Fin head out and sighs.
She adjusts her backpack to ride more comfortably. and then catches up to Quasit heading down the west road.
"I don't think we need to be stealthy here, right? Like, that hut is making a ton of noise so no one will be surprised. Where do you think it's going? I think it's going to find Baba Yaga."
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”Oh I’m sure it’s heading for Baba Yaga. Unless it’s got a boyfriend chicken hut here it’s off to meet up with.”
Quasit considers for a moment. ”As far as being stealthy… it seems like Rasputin is aware of where the Hut is, since he was waiting here for us once we got outside. That was too quick to be a coincidence. And he knows we must be coming, since we managed to survive his ambush, and knows why we’re here. But it’s possible he can’t track us specifically. So we might be able to avoid any more patrols he sends to intercept us. From now on, we treat this like our mission to get Yrax — infiltrate, avoid encounters where we can, go right for the main guy. At least that’s how I see it.”
”And as for your dress, Selena is obviously a pretty good seamstress, and can work fast. She’d probably fix it for you. Just say something mean about me and she’ll probably jump at the chance to help you.”
The Hut's trail leads on for more than a mile, before you find it stopped at the edge of a terrifying hellscape. The forest ends abruptly at the edge of a muddy field, which is riddled with snow-rimmed craters and snarls of wire with sharp-edged knots tied into it. Beyond is a high metal fence, studded with watchtowers from which shine lights that play around the blasted wasteland outside the fortress. As the group huddles out of sight, its stealthiest members peaking out, you see a pair of metal wagons--smaller yet much stranger than the huge one you encountered in the burned-out village--roar across the mud, circling around the fence like patrolling hounds.
The muddy waste between the forest and the fortress is nearly a thousand feet wide, and from here it's difficult to make out details of what lies beyond the fence other than that there are several structures, the tallest of which has towers tipped with onion-shaped domes, which seem to have been blackened by fire. The sky above is dark, sullen flakes of snow falling in still air as the occasional bolt of lightning flashes in the clouds above without approaching the ground.
Chest Thumper growls at Maka as she gets in his face, but then just sits down with his back to her and his arms crossed over his chest with a huff. He jerks his head toward Kalchine as though accusing him, again.
Maka growled right back at Thumper. Once the gorilla finally backed down, Maka blew smoke from her nostrils in victory.
"It wasn't me! It was him!" Kalchine says, indignantly. "We didn't even know they were explosive!"
"I'm not concerned with whose fault it was! I'm concerned with you both doing better."
Maka gave the pair one last finger wagging before she turned and caught back up with Quasit and Saki. "I sounded just like my dad and I don't know how to feel about that."
So we might be able to a void any more patrols he sends to intercept us. From now on, we treat this like our mission to get Yrax — infiltrate, avoid encounters where we can, go right for the main guy. At least that’s how I see it.”
before you find it stopped at the edge of a terrifying hellscape.
"Well avoiding all of that might be hard." Maka said a little too nonchalantly.
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"What are those... cannon golems?" says Quasit as she peers out at the moving wagons. "They're certainly loud enough."
Quasit considers the scene, rubbing her fingers across her mouth and sighing a couple times, as if she's considering and discarding ideas as she goes.
"We're not going to avoid it. Not exactly." she says. "just like Yrax's fort, we're gonna try and bluff our way in."
"OK, listen up. There are sure to be more soldiers with fancy guns up in those towers, and we have to assume those wagons are able to fire off big explosive bombs like the ones back at the village. Running across 1000 feet worth of open ground is suicide. And those fences would slow us down."
"Every fortress has a gate, and that's the weak point. We're going to send Fin out to scout the place, flying and invisible. He's going to find out where the gate is, whether it's barred or locked, and how many soldiers are defending it."
"We're going to wait until dark. In the meantime, a few of us go back to the village and get enough soldier uniforms for all of us. Saki and Kalchine and Selena rest and restore their magic. Then after dark, we walk up to the gate like we're one of their own patrols. Then we either bluff our way in or fight our way through."
"The other option is to make us all invisible and flying and just slip over the wall and land in the courtyard beyond. That's using up a lot of magic, and I have this bad feeling like Rasputin might have some defense against something so obvious. Maybe I'm just being paranoid."
"What do you guys think?"
"I think we be calm and patient. See if we can find any written materials in the village to start learning local lingo, and while we are at it, I craft a few spell bracelets. We can use those to get in at full magic andd possibly have a few others for use to escape or for tactical advantage depending on how long we want to spend." Selena said thoughtfully.
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"I think we be calm and patient. See if we can find any written materials in the village to start learning local lingo, and while we are at it, I craft a few spell bracelets. We can use those to get in at full magic andd possibly have a few others for use to escape or for tactical advantage depending on how long we want to spend." Selena said thoughtfully.
"What sort of spell bracelet?" asks Quasit. "What would they do?"
”While I recon the layout, y’all can grab the uniforms; we can meet back at the hut and rest there till night comes…”
Quasit shakes her head. "Rasputin can sense the Hut, I think we should stay away from it. He may send patrols to watch it. Or worse. He seems able to project himself to a place and cast spells as if he's actually there."
"Also, I'd like to hear the results of your scouting before we set out to get the uniforms. You might find out something that makes the plan unworkable. After you get back, we'll reassess the plan and go from there."
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Fin nods. As you wish, Q…but methinks he’s afraid of the hut…or perhaps he needs it intact…he hasn’t directly attacked it…plus the door is facing away from it, so, if needed, we could enter and leave unseen, at least from the direction of the gate…”
Winking at Sakitu, he says, “Hlao-roo, can you please hit me up with that greater invisibility spell and add fly to it, if you will, m’Lady?”
Once Sakitu spells him up, he’ll add blend to his spells as he plans to move stealthily despite his invisibility, just in case Rasputin or one of his cronies can see invisibility…he pulls up his hood and quietly takes off, flying near the trees to get a grasp of the layout before proceeding…
…once he grasps the layout, he looks for an inconspicuous place on the wall or perhaps atop a tower, to see the comings and goings of troops, gun wagons, patrols, and the buildings within…
"Those things seem to be moving by themselves. At least, I don't see any animals. I guess they might be underneath," Kalchine says, indicating the cannon wagons.
"Do you think the one back at the village can move, too? Maybe we can figure out how it works and drive it back here with us inside. Then, we don't need disguises and, if they're suspicious, we'll be protected from their attacks. Unless they have a person who can turn into fire..."
Quasit shakes her head. "Rasputin can sense the Hut, I think we should stay away from it. He may send patrols to watch it. Or worse. He seems able to project himself to a place and cast spells as if he's actually there."
"I don't know, even if they know where he is, it still feels a lot safer inside of Cluckers than outside. At least we'd be protected from the bombs and stuff. And it's probably harder for Rasputin to use his magic."
"Also, I'd like to hear the results of your scouting before we set out to get the uniforms. You might find out something that makes the plan unworkable. After you get back, we'll reassess the plan and go from there."
"Also we can't just leave you alone, what if you get caught again?"
Fin cautiously scouts the perimeter of the camp, staying away from the roving lights, metal wagons, and a couple patrols of gun-armed soldiers in spite of his invisibility.
The blasted wasteland around the camp extends for about a thousand feet from the inner fence in every direction, broken only by a road of packed earth that leads up to a gate in the southern part of the fence. The fence is surrounded on each side by earthen trenches, in which numerous soldiers stand and look out on their surroundings. More soldiers man the towers, each of which looks to be armed with one of the larger fast-firing guns that the big metal wagon had several of.
Beyond the fence Fin sees a number of structures. Several of them look to have been damaged or destroyed by fire, including the large central temple-like structure. One corner holds a campsite with many tents, and Fin sees a few horsemen riding about the inner part of the camp. The north side includes an area with odd yellow fog in it, which seems somehow contained within a fenced area.
As he watches, Fin sees on occasional bolt of violet lightning jump between the corner towers and the burnt temple in the center.
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Fin will look for an inconspicuous spot not too far from the gate, trying to observe the patrols coming and going, looking for a pattern. Since Quasit mentioned trying to infiltrate as soldiers, he wants to know the procedures and quietly looks and listens to see if any paperwork or any code words are required for entry…
With Fin's plan in place, Maka began to make her way to the other side of the camp. While she might not be anywhere as skilled at stealth as Fin, she had still picked up a few tricks from their many training sessions together. Plus, she could keep her distance and take her time. Fin would be watching troop movements for awhile yet.
Fin watches for a time, and at some point a patrol comes up to the gate. They stop some distance from the gate and salute--bringing the right hand to their right temple--and the lead soldier shouts, "патруль возвращается!" The gate opens, and the troops march inside, going past the front area and into one of the long, low buildings beyond the second fence, opening the gate in it and closing it behind them (it's apparently not locked).
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As he doesn’t know their language, Fin focuses on the phonetics of the lead soldier who speaks…
…and then retrieves the obsidian raven and transmits the following:
The passcode is: "патруль возвращается!"
The rest of the message is: I’ll stay here till you arrive, then sneak in with you in the shadows…
Fin then sends the obsidian raven back to Quasit…
He’ll patiently stay concealed till his friends arrive…
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When the Raven returns with the message, Quasit can't help but grin a little as Fin's voice comes from the bird. But she manages to keep things together enough to write down the sounds of the 'password' so she won't forget it.
"OK, we're committed now, we're going in after dark. Maka, stay here and watch over Saki, Selena and Kalchine while they rest. Bulvi and I will go back to the village and grab some uniform coats and hats and maybe some boots. We should be back in an hour."
"Let's find a good resting spot that isn't this close to the fort."
Maka gave Bulvi a kiss and Quasit a hug goodbye. "Don't worry, I'll keep everyone safe. Just be careful!".
Bulvi returns kiss. "I'll mind Quasit and she'll drag me out of trouble if it comes to it."
By the time they were making plans to sneak in Bulvi had picked the shrapnel out of his hide and the ring had done it's thing. "Well at least I look like someone who'd been fighting a war"
He heads back with Quasit and takes the opportunity to go over the password practicing it so if he had to speak he wouldn't stumble over the words if he had to use it. "It's a very interesting language, I've never seen any thing like it. As much as I wish we had time to learn more sticking around here while Rasputin is active doesn't sound fun... of course Selena might just prove us all wrong and win her cousin over." He gave Quasita side eye look with a smirk.
Once they got back to the body and started trying to cobble together the best uniforms. "They're so odd, aside from the helmets this offers no protection, it's just cloth." He stopped taking off the pants of one of the larger soldiers, his eyes darting around. "Quasit do you see any women amongst these soldiers? Is it an all male force or do they have strict cultural gender roles. We might want to grab some extra cloth to make bandages, not to be insensitive but if having women in our group of soldiers will tip our hand maybe we should downplay some of the more female characteristics."
His face was scrunched up as he pointed towards her chest. "Getting shot isn't great, getting shot because the locals have some weird sexist hang ups is worse."
As he went back to looting uniforms he added. "Maybe it's a matriarchal society and the women are all priestesses or the ones making the guns?"
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Once they're back on the road, Quasit seems to be in remarkably good spirits and overly energetic, perhaps in a delayed reaction to her recent episode of panicked despair. She bounces around Bulvi, shadow boxing at him at him playfully, sometimes landing little hits on his chest or arms, like a kitten playing with its mother.
"Well at least I look like someone who'd been fighting a war"
"You always do, thanks to Maka." answers Quasit with a teasing smirk.
He heads back with Quasit and takes the opportunity to go over the password practicing it so if he had to speak he wouldn't stumble over the words if he had to use it. "It's a very interesting language, I've never seen any thing like it. As much as I wish we had time to learn more sticking around here while Rasputin is active doesn't sound fun... of course Selena might just prove us all wrong and win her cousin over." He gave Quasita side eye look with a smirk.
Quasit snorts a laugh at this. "I honestly think she's crazy. Out of her mind, toys in the attic crazy. Why on earth she thought that Rasputin was going to release Baba Yaga or help us or be persuaded if she asked nicely... it's just delusional. You might as well ask a hungry bear politely not to eat you."
Once they got back to the body and started trying to cobble together the best uniforms. "They're so odd, aside from the helmets this offers no protection, it's just cloth."
"I don't think armor is going to be much protection against those bullets or those explosions. Even if you were in plate armor, all that metal flying around would probably just punch right through it. It looks to me like the main purpose is just to keep people warm. Plus cloth is way cheaper." says Quasit as she pulls on one the hats that's not completely filthy. She strikes a seductive pose. "How do I look?" she simpers goofily.
He stopped taking off the pants of one of the larger soldiers, his eyes darting around. "Quasit do you see any women amongst these soldiers?"
"Now that you mention it, no I don't. Huh."
"We might want to grab some extra cloth to make bandages, not to be insensitive but if having women in our group of soldiers will tip our hand maybe we should downplay some of the more female characteristics."
Quasit snort-laughs again. "I assume you're talking about Maka and Saki. No one has ever accused me of being too voluptuous. I get mistaken for a teenaged boy all the time." She tries on one of the coats and pats herself down. "Honestly, I don't think it'll be much of a problem. It's going to be dark and the coats are pretty heavy and shapeless, and the hats are big enough to tuck hair into. It might be tough finding boots to fit girl feet, but we can always wrap our feet in rags and stuff some rags in the toes."
"You should probably give them the password, come to think of it. My voice will just make them suspicious."
"I think the bigger problem will be Selena -- she's going to look like a child, and we aren't going to find anything that fits her. If she had some kind of enlarging spell or body altering spell, she might fit one of these coats. Honestly I don't know a lot about what sorts of spells she has. Invisibility would work, but it probably wouldn't last long enough. Maybe she could do that thing where she turns into snow and she could just kinda snow-shuffle along behind our group."
As he went back to looting uniforms he added. "Maybe it's a matriarchal society and the women are all priestesses or the ones making the guns?"]
"Like drow." says Quasit. "Yeah maybe. But if they don't have magic here, do they even have priestesses? What would be the point? Maybe there are no gods here at all. Aside from the ones you bring with you. I don't really know how druid magic works."
"It would be interesting to find out more about this place. When I was doing my Pathfinder training they mentioned other planes, but this just seems like a Material Plane world, but different. I wonder if it's a planet circling a different star, or if we're in ... like, some alternate dimension, you know? Maybe we'll find some books we can snag and take out of here with us, once we're done. Tez would love that, I'm sure."
She stops for a moment and blinks. "Do elves sneeze? I hope Fin doesn't sneeze while he's sitting on top of that tower. Or imagine if he had to go to the bathroom and just was stuck sitting up there holding it -- elves pee right? He barely eats and sleeps, but what goes in must come out, right? Or maybe he just exudes his leftover nutrients in a magical minty vapor? It just occurred to me I've never seen him relieve himself -- but he's so sneaky, maybe he just makes sure we never catch him at it. Anyway, I hope he'll be ok, sitting up there. If things go south, we're really going to need his archery skills up there."
"Well if any of Rasputin's goons have a well stocked library we'll raid it that's for sure. I could spend years trying to figure out all sorts of words from context."
Bulvi listens to Quasits musings about the inner workings of elves. "I'm pretty sure I heard him farting once... real quiet. Really sneaky. I'd say they have to alright. He'll be alright, once we get past the gate we'll figure this place out. Hopefully the guards will accept the password and just wave us through because if they start asking questions we are in serious trouble. That said they seem overly reliant on their guns. No offense to boot knives, I suppose if people aren't even bothering with padded armour you are just lugging around extra weight with a big battleaxe or warhammer if you are just going to be shooting people."
As he gathered up the last of the needed gear he looked at her. "Anyone who mistakes you for being a teenage boy needs their eyes checked. And I don't recall anyone talking like that about you in a long time. I know it's not always easy but you carry yourself different than when we started. In a good way, more self assured."
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"I'm pretty sure I heard him farting once... real quiet. Really sneaky. I'd say they have to alright. He'll be alright, once we get past the gate we'll figure this place out."
Quasit giggles delightedly at Bulvi's musings about the inner workings of elves, then nods in agreement. "Yeah, this is totally gonna work." she says.
"Anyone who mistakes you for being a teenage boy needs their eyes checked. And I don't recall anyone talking like that about you in a long time."
Quasit feels a pang of something at this. She blushes but shrugs nonchalantly, looking away. "Well, you know, I just meant I'm not crazy curvy like some girls." she tosses out, a little awkwardly.
" I know it's not always easy but you carry yourself different than when we started. In a good way, more self assured."
Quasit looks at her feet, then smiles a little. "Yeah, I suppose so. It's 'cause of you guys believing in me. And having my back." she says. Then still smiling, she looks up at Bulvi silently for a moment.
Then she shrugs again, quickly counts up the number of coats and hats and books they have, then has a sudden thought.
"Hey, you think these guys would have money? There's a lot of bodies here. If they have enough money in their pockets, we might be able to bribe someone if we need to."
She drops her load of clothes in a heap and begins rummaging into the pockets and packs of the soldiers.
Some of them have some bits of colored paper with numbers and pictures on them. Maybe they're like bank notes of some sort?
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Quasit keeps finding herself drawing bits of colored paper from wallets and pockets, and she invariably looks at them in confusion and annoyance.
"What the hell are these? It's just worthless paper! Don't they have gold and silver here?" she sputters indignantly. "It can't be their money, can it? It must be some sort of military scrip. I know the Taldan navy uses something like this at their outposts and garrisons, to make sure the men are buying from the camp sutlers and not on the black market. Ugh, and these things are all filthy and ragged."
After about 10 of these finds, she gives up and shoves the colored paper in a pouch. "I can't even tell if this is enough to buy an onion. Forget it, let's head back."
"Ah grab it anyway, we can at least bribe other soldiers with scrip. I'd guess the average soldier would have enough to buy a meal at an inn. So yeah you've got a reasonable bribe their right?" Bulvi heads back with Quasit.
Once they returned to the others he revealed their two new conclusions. "So we noticed all the soldiers were male so factor that into your disguises ladies and they seem to use military scrip or vouchers of some kind."
"I think the bigger problem will be Selena -- she's going to look like a child, and we aren't going to find anything that fits her. If she had some kind of enlarging spell or body altering spell, she might fit one of these coats. Honestly I don't know a lot about what sorts of spells she has. Invisibility would work, but it probably wouldn't last long enough. Maybe she could do that thing where she turns into snow and she could just kinda snow-shuffle along behind our group."
Selena tut-tuts Quasit. "I'm a witch, a noble of high training and skill. I can change my appearance quite well thank you. I could even look like this guy if I wanted to."
With a sudden shift in topic as she looks at the various bodies, carefully picking cleaner clothes. "We should keep an eye on the uniform differences for any marking of rank and the rarity of each. That'll give us a rough idea of the rank structure. And let us respond appropriately if needed."
Upon making her selection of disguise, "I took a look at the battlewagon earlier, I think I'll take another look and see if I can get it to move. If so, that'd be a helpful piece on our side. Maybe I can animate it." she finishes almost wistfully.
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Selena tut-tuts Quasit. "I'm a witch, a noble of high training and skill. I can change my appearance quite well thank you. I could even look like this guy if I wanted to."
"I took a look at the battlewagon earlier, I think I'll take another look and see if I can get it to move. If so, that'd be a helpful piece on our side. Maybe I can animate it." she finishes almost wistfully.
"No, we're not going to bother with that thing. We're trying to sneak in, remember? Look inconspicuous? A returning patrol wouldn't have that thing, and if they did there'd be a lot of questions. And they've got six more of them circling the place."
"Our one real advantage here is magic. We're not going to outgun these people.
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After sending the message, Fin lies low…and waits for his friends to show…
He bides the time looking into the camp…looking for anything significant and getting the timing down of any patrols that might be in the camp itself. He also trues to judge how far down to the ground from the tower…he’s figuring on jumping from it into the fenced in camp once his friends are in…
Then he looks back towards the hut and looks for his ‘disguised’ friends to approach. As he resigns himself to a long wait, he appreciates his ring of sustenance all the more; since he doesn’t have to eat or drink or any more, he doesn’t have to worry as much about the calls of nature as he used to…
"I took a look at the battlewagon earlier, I think I'll take another look and see if I can get it to move. If so, that'd be a helpful piece on our side. Maybe I can animate it." she finishes almost wistfully."No, we're not going to bother with that thing. We're trying to sneak in, remember? Look inconspicuous? A returning patrol wouldn't have that thing, and if they did there'd be a lot of questions. And they've got six more of them circling the place."
"Our one real advantage here is magic. We're not going to outgun these people.
"I'm not suggesting it as plan A, but it might come in handy as a plan B or C. One should always be looking for every possible advantage even if it won't help the initial plan because you never know when your plan will be torn to shreds leaving you scrambling to improvise something. I would have expected you to learn that by know."
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"So your suggestion is that if the plan to bluff our way past the guards doesn't work, we should turn and run 1000 feet back up the road where we have the gun wagon parked, then all jump in it and drive it 1000 feet back to the gate and try to blast our way through, when they have 6 more battlewagons and maybe a 1000 soldiers?"
"Assuming you could figure out how it works, it had a crew of, what, six or eight men? That seems like it might be a pretty complicated piece of machinery."
"Not to mention that if we get it running, we'd have to drive it a mile up the road, and we've already established there are patrols out looking for us. Us lurking in the woods is one thing, but a big loud smoking battlewagon rumbling down the road might attract some attention."
"Look, I understand you're trying to help, Selena. I appreciate that. In another circumstance, I'd be intrigued by that thing too. But it just doesn't seem practical here."
"Plan A is to bluff our way in. I think that'll work if we look as boring and inconspicuous as possible. If it doesn't, we're gonna have to force our way in somehow, quickly enough that we don't get ripped apart by their guns and cannons. That's gonna mean a lot of magic. Invisibility and flying spells, teleporting, walls of stone, entangling spells, whatever. And Maka flying around roasting everything while Fin turns a bunch of guys into pincushions. You know, the usual."
"The one thing we're really missing is a spell that lets us speak their language. That'd really boost our odds of success. If you're feeling bored, work on coming up with a spell like that. I mean, if you can. I don't really know how magic works. Maybe Tea could whip up a scroll or something."
Maka gave Bulvi and Quasit a tight hug once they had returned.
Once they returned to the others he revealed their two new conclusions. "So we noticed all the soldiers were male so factor that into your disguises ladies and they seem to use military scrip or vouchers of some kind."
"Well that's fine for me and Quasit, but how are we going to make Saki not look like she's the most gorgeous girl in the world!?" Maka exclaimed, her hands firmly planted on her hips.
"Our one real advantage here is magic. We're not going to outgun these people.
Maka narrowed her eyes as she couldn't help but take a little offense at Quasit's comment. A part of her wanted to start an angry argument about how Maka could outgun anyone. Thankfully, the much more mature monastic part of her won out, and she calmed herself with a deep breath.
---
Maka examined the array of uniforms Bulvi and Quasit had brought back. As usual, her statuesque frame clashed with the sizes available. Among the dark grey clothing, none of the shirts fit, but one of the jackets was big enough that she could button it up and still throw a punch. Only one pair of trousers fit, albeit overly snug at the hips and generously loose around the knees. They also fell short in covering her long legs. Thankfully, she had found a good pair of long leather boots to hide this deficiency. Her lengthy braid was tucked neatly beneath a fleece-lined cap adorned with flaps that covered her ears and neck. Completing the ensemble was a substantial, heavy grey overcoat. It was too small at the shoulders to actually wear, but Maka had draped it over herself like a cloak, adding an air of gravitas to her attire while also helping to further hide her exotic features and form.
At Quasit, "Try thinking beyond the next step! What happens if we need to retreat but have the enemy on our heels, or just have finished but have the enemy chasing us, or need to set up an ambush and draw the enemy to us? What about two or three days from now? How about five steps ahead of what you're thinking about now? It isn't always about just the next step! Do you honestly think Rasputin, Elvanna, or basically anybody else is thinking one step at a time? Thinking one step at a time is for surviving the elements or a disaster. When you need to survive a war against enemies, you need to think as far ahead as possible, and have as many contingencies and backup plans and options as you can manage, snd the more difficult and savvy and powerful the enemy the more you need those backups. We got this far mostly because we have been an unexpected wildcard to our enemies, but Rasputin seemed very unsurprised to see us, which means we are no longer the unexpected wildcard. Rasputin is not stupid and he is expecting us, and while the people here may not know much magic, rasputin obviously does and will absolutely be waiting for us to use magic to bypass his guards and any other obvious plans for getting in. We need to be ready not only for one plan to fail but to find ourselves ensnared after doing something he was ready and prepared for."
At Maka's comment on disguising Saki, "No worries, I can make her the most gorgeous of guys, or an old crone. Whichever attracts less attention." She smiles at Saki showing her joke is all in good fun.
"It's a good thing he doesn't speak your language," Kalchine says, pointing to Chest Thumper as the suggestion is made that they need protection.
"Be careful," he calls out to those leaving, though his gaze lingers on Quasit.
While she...they're gone, he contemplates the magic that he can do that might help in their attempts to sneak into the base. Most of his usual choices of spells are focused on dealing out and mitigating damage, but this will require more stealth.
"You know, I think its still pretty cool for you guys, right?" he says as people begin discussing disguises. "Well, if that's the case, pulling a hat down low and wearing a scarf around your mouth and nose isn't that uncommon and cold weather clothing is so heavy it hides a person's shape, anyway. It seems reasonable that you'll only have to disguise the area around people's eyes."