"Wait, are we sure this isn't just a goat someone tied a magic lantern to!?" Maka yelled to the others.”Not likely, Maka, the goat is undead!”
Maka's cheeks flushed with embarrassment at Fin's revelation of another witchy trick. "I should have blown you up!" Maka pointed an accusing finger at the undead goat.
Given what it looks like and how it's acting, Kalchine assumes it is a long shot, but he reaches out with his connection to nature to try to keep the creature from acting.
"I think the soldiers are gone, let's go help mop up," Kalchine says to his brother before stepping out of the tent.
Selena pulls out one of the new rifles and tries it out on the undead boar.
Selena's shot hits, as do two of Bulvi's attacks. Fin's arrow strikes home as well, as does Sakitu's spell.
In spite of the barrage, it stubbornly refuses to go down. Instead it tries to ram Bulvi with its horns, then kick him.
You note it's healing a little.
Maka unleashed a flurry of fiery fists upon the undead goat!
The foul beasts hooves do little more than clang against Bulvi's heavy armour and he sneers at it before striking back at it though only one of his blows lands he is sure he and his allies can overcome whatever regeneration it has. [b]"It's healing rapidly, hopefully not like the regeneration of a troll or we are going to spend all day pouring alchemical concoctions on it.
The goat crumples under your combined assault. After a tense moment watching, you can tell it's no longer healing.
Its lantern continues to glow evenly, untroubled by the violence. Searchlights from the nearby watchtowers, having lost Maka when she left the assault on the nearest tower, start roving around the camp, though they have bad angles to the area you're in right now.
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Seeing the goat drop, Fin rushes over to his friends careful to avoid any searchlights that might come his way…
”Lets stay between these tents; the searchlights will have a hard time finding us…hopefully either Saki or Selena can identify this lantern? Gotta be magic…oh and also,try to identify this helmet I took from a sniper…it radiated magic but we didn’t have time to identify it…curious as tow what it does…”
He tosses the helmet down, then looks around, his face furrowed in worry, he queries, ”Speaking of which…where’s Hlao-roo?”
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"I can't believe they haven't started up those sirens again. We may have lucked out for once." says Quasit breathlessly as she puts her swords away. "And Saki is here somewhere, I just saw her a minute ago."
"I know the plan was to draw these horsemen over to the ruin, but when they scattered like that, it sorta looked like that plan was going up in smoke. Maybe running over here wasn't the best plan B, but at least we got them finished off relatively quickly."
She looks down at the dead goat and its magical lantern.
"That thing still creeps me out. I feel like it's gonna jump up again any second. Tell ya what, while you all try and work out what that lantern does, if anything, I'm gonna go back to that commander's tent and have a look around. If they have what we're looking for in this camp, that's seems like the most likely spot."
"And it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to drag the goat inside one of these tents and everyone go inside after it and get out of sight for a few minutes."
"Be right back." She then goes trotting off to the commander's tent.
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Fin nods to Quasit. ”Too dangerous to go alone, Q, dunno what else might be lurking. I’ll cover you, just call out if you find anything nasty in that tent; I can keep an eye out for Saki that way as well. Also, I want to take a look in that pit; I want to make damn sure that undead horseman leader didn’t survive the fall…”
Turning to the others, he says, ”Like Q says, take cover in the tent…and try to ID that lantern and helmet…”
Fin goes into stealth mode with his bow ready, following 10’ or so behind Quasit…once she goes into the tent, he’ll quietly and cautiously move next to the pit, taking a wary look down into it for signs of that undead headless dude…
The pit is empty when Fin looks in it.
The interior of the cavalry commander's tent is arranged with military precision, including a cot that has obviously not seen use, a number of medals pinned in neat rows to the canvas (worth 1000 gp), an ammunition box with four grenades in it (which radiate magic if you check), and a trunk of personal effects. In it is a small picture, so finely painted you can't see any brush strokes, though it's in black-and-white. It depicts the commander in life, his head still attached to his body, standing guard next to a family that includes the Tzarina you met earlier.
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Finding the pit empty, Fin frowns. Hmm, perhaps the acid dissolved his remains? he thinks as he steps back from the pit and stands watch within the shadows of the tents as he awaits for Quasit to re-emerge. He keeps an alert eye out for Sakitu, in addition to any enemies that might still be lurking…
"Stupid goat wasn't a match for my Bull!" Maka threw her arms around Bulvi before pressing her lips to his.
"I can't believe they haven't started up those sirens again. We may have lucked out for once." says Quasit breathlessly as she puts her swords away. "And Saki is here somewhere, I just saw her a minute ago."
"Well if they do I'll bust up all the other lights too."
While Fin and Quasit did their stealth routine, Maka began moving bodies as out of sight as she could make them.
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As Quasit moves through the commander's tent, she finds herself getting melancholy at the cruel fate that somehow befell him. Before her group befell him. And he befelled into acid.
She goes through everything twice, but doesn't see anyth8ing that might conceivably be the piece of the hunchback she's ostensibly searching for. Sighing with weariness, she begins to gather up the items that might have some value -- the medals, the grenades and the curious black and white painting.
"Amazing... it even feels smooth." she mumbles to herself as she rubs a thumb over its surface. "I bet one of these kids must be Ana-whatshername." She spends a moment searching the features of the children, looking for hints of Rasputin's parentage, but quickly gives up. She shoves the medals and the picture into her pack and carries the grenade box back out the way she came.
Upon re-emerging she gives a quick whistle to get Findurél's attention followed by a quick shake of her head, then begins heading back toward the others.
The lantern is a sort of soul-trap, which was linked somehow with the goat. Now that the goat is dead, it can be destroyed to release any souls trapped within it.
The helmet is a sniper's helmet: A sniper’s helmet looks like the
simple steel soldier’s helmet
common to the European trenches
of the First World War, with the
addition of a steel eye shield. Once
per day, the wearer of a sniper’s
helmet can, as a standard action, denote one creature within
her line of sight as her target. The wearer can perceive the
target when it is invisible or ethereal as though using the
see invisibility spell, and gains a +20 competence bonus on
Perception checks to locate the target. The wearer ignores
concealment provided by fog or mist, blur, displacement,
invisibility, and similar effects affecting the target, but not
concealment provided by darkness. These bonuses last for
5 minutes or until the target creature is dead. The sniper’s
helmet provides no benefits to the wearer’s allies, and the
wearer gains no benefits against creatures other than her
chosen target.
In addition, once per day, the wearer of a sniper’s helmet
can create a magical sensor up to 600 feet above her that
gives her a full 360-degree viewpoint as if she were actually
there. The wearer perceives with her normal visual senses,
and though the sensor cannot penetrate solid surfaces, it is
unaffected by foliage and the like.
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As Selena explains what the lantern is, Quasit kinks her forehead.
"Ah, of course! The missing part was his soul! That's why a regular resurrection spell wouldn't have worked. Boy, Rasputin must've really hated this guy... or wanted to make sure he didn't talk with any meddling kids like us."
"Maka, you like smashing things. Care to do the honors?" she says, gesturing to the lantern.
"On it!" Maka tossed the lantern into the air with a dramatic flourish. As it fell, Maka spun into a fiery axe kick smashing her heel into the lantern right as it struck the ground. One Maka had confirmed the lantern sufficiently smashed, she gave Quasit a big thumbs up.
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Fin arches an eyebrow at Selena’s explanation of the objects; he then nods at Quasit’s words, murmuring, ”Aye…his soul…makes sense…”
He then looks over the helmet. ”Hmm…looks a little funky…but think I could put it to good use…should prove useful against tough targets…and for scouting,” he mutters, before placing it atop his head and pulling the hood of his cloak over it…
After watching Maka smash the lantern with gusto, he turns to Quasit, asking, ”Q, what now? Pay another visit to that tombstone fairy?”
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After Maka so dramatically smashes the lantern, Quasit solemnly steps up to her. She has surreptitiously pulled one of the medals at random out of her pack. She addresses the monk in a grave voice. "Maka Na'Shota, for smashing above and beyond the call of duty, I hereby award you the Order of the Pink Ogre. Congratulations." She pins the medal to Mika's jerkin up near the left collarbone, kisses Maka performatively on both cheeks, then steps back and salutes crisply and whistles a few strains of the Taldoran national anthem.
Then she looks around and sees Findurel gingerly putting the funky helmet on his head before he has a chance to hide it with his cloak. Quasit does her best not to giggle. It looked so out of place on the noble elf. She coughs into her hand and clears her throat. "You can also use it if you need to bake a pie. Looks good on you though."
"Yup, back to the fairy. Let's cut across the compound through the ruin again."
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Oblivious to how awkward the helmet look on him, Fin wonders at the baker comment before it finally dawns on him…and he chuckles lightly, Glad my hood covers it, at least…
"Yup, back to the fairy. Let's cut across the compound through the ruin again."
Fin nods but furrows his eyes. ”All of us, Q? Or just you and I? Don’t think all of us could make it to Polina unseen by the NW tower…”
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"I think for now it's best if we all stick together." says Quasit. "Too many nasty surprises turning up tonight. We'll see how things look once we get closer."
Fin fidgets a little, then pauses before speaking, trying to hide the doubt in his voice. ”Umm…as always, it’s your call, Q…but, if you might indulge me for a moment…”
He ponders, gathering his thoughts. ”If I recall correctly, Polina’s last location was about 100’ or so from the northwest tower and trenches, outside the compound amongst the graves. I was thinking I, and perhaps you, could sneak underneath that tower; I could cut a way through the wired fence as one of my adamantine arrowheads should easily slice thru the wire. From there we’d sneak between the western and northern trenches to reach Polina…
“If we all go, there are at least a couple of areas of significant open space to cover; only my opinion, but I don’t think we could all make it to that tower unseen. I would go by myself but, while I speak Polina’s language (Sylvan), you’re the only one stealthy enough that also speaks the dead guy’s language (Russian) if she can revive him…
“Just my thoughts, Q; I’ll back you no matter what…”
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”Yeah, but I doubt she only lingers in one area of that graveyard. In fact, my hunch is that she’d prefer this huge armed camp to go away entirely. I have a feeling she won’t be too shy about letting us find her.”
She shrugs. ”Like I said, we can always reassess things when we get over there. But for now, I want to try and keep us together in case we encounter some new undead menace, or Rasputin decides to show up again, or whatever. We may need to teleport out in a hurry.”
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Fin curtly nods in the affirmative to Quasit. ”As you wish, Q…I’ll scout ahead in my normal fashion, waving the rest of you over when I come to areas of open space, when I deem it more safe to cross…”
The Elf cinches his hood tightly, draws his bow, and after getting a bead on the searchlights’ pattern, he moves quickly to the shadows of the nearest building…
…when the way is clear again, he’ll wave his friends over, and then proceed ahead again, only pausing at places where there’s minimal cover to wave his friends over when it’s most clear…
Maka was delighted to see Quasit relaxed and able to joke. The dramatic voice brought forward a giggle from Maka before she quickly stood at attention. The fire monk beamed with pride as she accepted the medal and kisses and returned Quasit's salute.
"I only hope I can continue to smash in your service!" Maka said in her best pompous knight impression before the giggles finally escaped.
"Let everyone return to where they came from," Kalchine says as the lantern is smashed and the souls within are freed.
His ears droop and point back at the medal ceremony but he makes no comment and follows closely as Fin leads the way across the camp, doing his best to keep Chest Thumper in the shadows and hidden behind buildings.
You get to the last barracks before the fence without issue. Fin glances in one of the windows as he passes and sees rows of bunks with soldiers laying in them. That wouldn't be so unusual were it not for the fact that they're strapped to the bunks, and most of them are gazing glassy-eyed at the ceiling rather than sleeping.
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Quasit comes over and gets up on tiptoes to look into the window. She squints at what she's seeing and frowns.
"Hmmm... they don't look undead. More like they're drugged. Or hypnotized or something. What's going on?"
She drops back down to think, chewing her lip, hands on her hips. She glances back at the waiting group, then peeks around the corner at the graveyard area.
"Saving soldiers isn't our mission, but... these men might be able to help us, if we free them. They might help us take out the towers when we go to deactivate the machine, which is something that is going to be hard to do without setting off alarms."
"Plus they might have useful information, presuming they aren't totally catatonic. Like what else is running around this compound, or where this Anastasia might be."
"Anyway, it would be useful to have this building at our disposal. It'd be a good place for the group to hide out while you and I go looking for Polina, maybe."
"Let's check it out."
Quasit goes to check the door to the building, looking for traps and seeing if it's locked.
The door is locked, but yields easily to Quasit's lockpicking skills. Within, you see roughly thirty soldiers, all strapped to their bunks. Each of them has a pair of small puncture wounds in their necks, and they all look very pale.
One of them stirs weakly as you enter.
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The man's question catches Quasit by surprise. She squints as she looks about the dark interior, and seeing the small puncture wounds, suddenly understands.
She looks over at Findurel. "Pharasma's knickers, he thinks we're vampires!" she gasps.
She moves into the room and kneels by the man who spoke and begins to undo his straps.
"Relax, we're going to set you loose. We're just normal people, like you. Well... pretty normal anyway. If you don't count the giant white ape. We're here to turn off Miroslav's machine."
She looks back over her shoulder. "Fin, get everyone inside. Quick."
Then she goes back to addressing the soldier and gives him a quick reassuring smile. "You can call me Quasit. What happened to you?"
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She looks over at Findurel. "Pharasma's knickers, he thinks we're vampires!" she gasps.
Fin arches an eyebrow. ”Vampires? I guess that’d explain the neck punctures and catatonic state of his friends. Once you convince him we’re not, remember to ask about Anastasia…”
She looks back over her shoulder. "Fin, get everyone inside. Quick."
Fin nods and immediately heads to the door, waving the others inside, explaining what Quasit has found out as they enter…
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Sakitu fades back into view just as Maka smashes the latern. She listens as the others make plans and then follows the group as they make their way across the camp.
Fin nods and immediately heads to the door, waving the others inside, explaining what Quasit has found out as they enter…
Sakitu scoots past Fin and into the room. Her eyes are drawn to all the creepy soldiers before she turns to Fin.
"You said that Quasit said that this was caused by vampires. But in that case, where are they? I mean, it would be a lot of vampires, right?"