Victrix takes a shaky breath.
"It... it's that I think I'm finally starting to realize just how big this whole thing really is. Before, it all seemed to easy to focus on the smaller bits, but now..."
Ema giggled at Baucrade and Baeldwin shaking and then smiled at the thought of giving Baucrade wings. "Oh that is just perfect, and far more efficient than what I had in mind." Ema lifted Baucrade up and twirled around like he was flying in a circle around her head. "Baucrade the mechanical flying fish! I love it!"
Ema lowered the mechanical fish and said, "We do need to decide what to do with you Baucrade. We could continue to take you with us but that would be quite dangerous and I don't know that any of us have been looking for a familiar or could even bond with one." Ema walked towards a comfy chair and sat down still holding Baucrade so she could loot into it's eyes as she spoke. "While I think I could bond with you myself I am not sure if it would work as I am not a traditional wizard by any means. I do, however, have an apprentice who I think you would like and is a regular wizard in training and I think you two would get along swimmingly."
Ema gave Baucrade a serious look and said, "That, of course, assumes you even want to bond with someone that way. If you want to be a free agent, that's fine too." Ema stroked the fish's face gently and said, "I want you to know I will support you whatever you decide Baucrade, you've had it hard enough as it is and now that you have your freedom you should do with it what you want."
Ema let Baucrade think as she looked at Baeldwyn and asked, "So where is Medrinnah anyway and how have her studies progressed while I've been gone?"
"Victrix," Antona says, pulling back to look the aasimar in the eyes. "You have fought against skum, faceless stalkers, aboleths, and even a lich's minions. You have defeated any enemies that have dared get in your way. You are a beautiful, fierce warrior with the biggest heart I have ever known. You've got this. I know you do!"
***
Baucrade wiggles his mechanical tail happily. "I would love to meet your apprentice. I was created to be a familiar, so I feel as if I should fulfill my purpose!"
"Medrinnah has been growing by leaps and bounds," Baeldwyn says proudly. "Soon she'll be giving you a run for your money, Ema! She's probably down at the Eagle's Roost hanging out with her friends."
Ema smiled at Baucrade and said, "I thought that is what you would say but I still felt the choice should be yours." Ema looked at Baeldwin and asked, "How much effort do you think it will take to add the wings and make our little friend here a flying fish?" She hesitated and then added, "Or for that matter should we give Medrinnah the chance to do it herself, assuming she is ready to do such a thing of course?"
Having finished checking in with Baeldwyn Ema carried Baucrade down to the Eagle's Roost to see if they could find Medrinnah and smiled and waved at the people she saw as she went. She caught sight of Perrell as she passed the library and gave her lover a wave and mouthed that she would come to see her later.
Ema gave Baucrade an impromptu tour of the burgeoning town as they walked headed towards the Eagle's Roost. When they finally reached the location Ema walked in and looked around for Medrinnah and her friends.. She figured she could ask the barkeep to find out where the girl had gotten off to if she had to.
Baeldwyn confirms it will take a few days' worth of work to give Baucrade wings.
Ema finds Medrinnah on the stoop of the Eagle's Roost, entertaining a handful of the colony's younger citizens with flashy displays of magic. She breaks into a grin when she sees her mentor, though, and ends her impromptu performance to give Ema a hug. "Welcome back!"
Ema saw how Medrinnah was using her magic to show off and, while she wasn't exactly pleased with it, she couldn't fault the girl since she was seeming to e careful about how she did so.
Once Medrinnah saw her and came up to hug her Ema shifted her grip on Baucrade to one arm and embraced the girl with her now free one. "It's good to be home again Maedrinnah and I see that you are busy 'practicing'." There was a slight smirk on her lips and a bit of cautious warning in her tone, but she wasn't particularly concerned since Medrinnah was showing restraint in her use.
"I brought someone to meet you My Young Apprentice," Ema said in her most mysterious tone of voice, "It has come a long way and is eager to be introduced to you." Ema had planned this with Baucrade to surprise Medrinnah a bit and set the mechanical fish on the table in front of where Medrinnah had been seated. She had asked Baucrade to be silent and still and then surprise Medrinnah suspecting it would enjoy the prank.
Medrinnah cocks her head. "Oh. You want me to meet this metal fish?" She cautiously pokes at Baucrade.
Suddenly, the fish springs to life, flopping around on the table while singing a song in Azlanti. Medrinnah squeaks in surprise nearly falls out of her chair!
Ema collapsed into a chair with laughter at Medrinnah's reaction to Baucrade suddenly becoming a singing fish. And she leaned against the table with one hand while the other pressed against her bare stomach. After she collected herself enough to talk through the laughter, and everyone had seen her nearly fall out of her own clothing, such as ti was, in her mirth, Ema held a hand out to Baucrade and said in Ancient Azlanti, "High fin Baucrade."
She reached down and picked the fish up, setting him upright so his fins would help keep him upright, and offered a hand to Medrinnah to help her up. She spoke to Medrinnah in Ancient Azlanti, both because she wasn't sure Baucrade even spoke common and to help her apprentice with the language, and said, "Medrinnah, I want to introduce you to my newest friend, Baucrade. He was made and, sadly, abandoned, by the lich Auberon and has expressed interest in becoming your familiar when you are ready if you would like."
Medrinnah's face is flushed with embarrassment and anger at the prank. "That was mean!" she insists, but her anger turns to curiosity when Ema tells her of Baucrade's offer. "Really? That would be so cool!"
"I am not sure what temperature has to do with it," Baucrade says flatly.
Medrinnah chuckles. "We will have to teach you some of the modern slang."
Ema smiled and said, "We all need to learn to laugh at ourselves sometimes Medrinnah, it makes getting through life much more entertaining. Besaid,e;" her expression became bemused,, "I can't wait to see how you will get me back for it someday."
Ema pulled up a seat to sit at the table and said, "Right now Baucrade cannot get around on land but Baeldwyn and I have an idea on how to fix that." Her expression lightened as she spoke and continued, "we're going to work out a way to give Baucrade wings so he can fly around." She looked around the table at Medrinnah's friends and noted which ones were staring at her, they were all too young, for now, but they would grow up eventually. Besides, she liked to know she could still turn heads after all these years.
Ema sat for a moment more and looked at Medrinnah and Baucrade in amusement and thought, They are going to be a pair of trouble makers once he can fly, I can see it already. Ema rose and said, "I need to return to my tower, I learned a number of interesting things while we were there and want to go over them while they are fresh in my mind. They are largely high level magical concepts he had detailed in various places in the tower and I did my best to memorize them. I don't want to wait too long or I might forget them. If you don't want to come along you are welcome to stay here if you do I wouldn't wait too long."
Ema looked then to Baucrade and asked, "Do you want to stay here and get acquainted with Medrinnah and her friends?"
"Yes, I will stay here!" Baucrade says happily. "Thank you, Ema. Thank you for everything you have done for me!"
Medrinnah picks up the clockwork fish and cradles him in her arms. "Come on, little guy. I'll introduce you to the crew." She smiles at Ema. "See you later!"
Victrix's shaking eases at Antona's words.
"...yeah, I definitely needed to hear that." She sighs, pressing a kiss to Antona's forehead.
"Has everything been going alright while I was gone?" She takes Antona by the hand and starts walking through the colony with her.
Ema gave Baucrade a smile and said, "You are very welcome Baucrade." She then nodded to Medrinnah and said, "Later it is then." With that Ema left the tavern and headed towards her tower once more.
Once she got back and reached the top Ema said, "It seems that Medrinnah and Baucrade are hitting it off very nicely. I got Baucrade to be utterly quiet and still and set him on the table in front of Medrinnah. Once she poked him the little guy started flopping around and singing in Ancient Azlanti." Ema began laughing again and fell into her chair as she said, "Medrinnah jumped so hard she fell right out of her seat and landed on her butt on the floor. It was priceless!" Once she stopped laughing Ema said, "They seem to like each other and I think it will be good for them to be together, caring for him will give her yet another thing to teach her responsibility and Baucrade needs someone with the drive to explore, which I think Medrinnah will one day."
Ema settled herself in and she pulled out her spell book. She flipped to the page she needed and her eyes flashed as she changed one spell out for another and then chanted and gestured creating an illusion of the wall from Auberon's tower with all of the planar formula. "So Auberon might be mad but the lich is a planar genius. We found all of this on one of the walls of his tower and it turns existing planar theory upside down."
"It's been mostly quiet," Antona says, "but in an uneasy sort of way. The locathah have said that large forces of skum have been mobilizing in the waters near Ancorato. They've moved their camp closer to Talmandor's Bounty for protection. We haven't seen any attacks yet, but it might just be a matter of time."
***
Baeldwyn laughs at Ema's story. "Ha! I wish I could've seen the look on the girl's face!"
He is intrigued by the theories Ema has brought back with her, and joins in her trying to puzzle out their potential meaning.
Terana spends most of her time swimming, the people in Talmandor's Bounty are nice enough but she doesn't fit in there and she knows it. Better for all concerned if she maintains a little distance and it's nice to just swim again, without needing to worry.
Over the next few days she sets herself the task of swimming around the island and eventually finds a lovely grotto which shows clear signs of habitation.
"Hello? Is anyone here?"
A water naga with sparkling blue and green scales emerges from the grotto. "Greetings," she hisses. "I am Vriskirsa. Are you a newcomer to Talmandor's Bounty? I have not seen you before. I have some...friends there."
"I am." Terana replies with a smile. "I met the protectors of the settlement while hunting an aboleth. We've joined forces for now and we're planning to head out soon so I thought I'd spend some time exploring. You have a beautiful home here!"
"...well. That's some unpleasant news." Victrix sighs.
"...and gods above, you're beautiful..." She adds, more to herself than anyone else.
"Thank you," Vriskirsa says. "This is but my secondary lair, though. My main home is in a sunken shipwreck a few miles to the south. The protectors you met helped me eliminate a school of sahuagin who had driven me away.
"At any rate, I know much of this island, so if you want a guide to show you the most interesting locations, I would be happy to help you."
***
"Speak for yourself," Antona says, giving Victrix a kiss.
"Well, we'd better make the most of your time here, since you'll no doubt be heading back out again soon."
Antona's kiss causes Victrix to forget where she is for a moment, with her heart hammering in her chest like a drum.
"...uh..." She starts before letting out a giddy giggle. "...so, did you have something you wanted to do?"
"Of course I do," Antona says as she strokes Victrix's cheek. "But not in public. Shall we head back to the house?"
"Yes... let's." The aasimar replies, her worries regarding the future rapidly evaporating.
"Thank you," Vriskirsa says. "This is but my secondary lair, though. My main home is in a sunken shipwreck a few miles to the south. The protectors you met helped me eliminate a school of sahuagin who had driven me away.
"At any rate, I know much of this island, so if you want a guide to show you the most interesting locations, I would be happy to help you."
"I'd certainly appreciate it." Terana replies politely. "It's always nice to have a guide when you swim in new waters."
Several weeks pass in an uneasy peace as you explore, train, and toil in libraries and laboratories, preparing for the expedition to the Compass. The looming threat of Ochymua and its minions is always present in your minds.
You are just nearing a final state of readiness when the colony's guards begin sounding the alarm. Dozens of skum warriors have emerged from the bay and are preparing to march on Talmandor's Bounty! The citizens rush to take shelter in their homes as Antona leads the guards to the palisade walls to fend off the coming assault!
Ema heard the clamor from the palisades as the alarm was raised and she knew trouble had finally come for them. She rose quickly and called out, "Baeldwyn, get whatever constructs we have ready to defend the town with ready and to the battlefield immediately."
She looked to where Medrinnah had been working on her studies and said, "I know you probably want to get into the fighting Medrinnah but I have a more important task for you right now." She glanced at Baeldwyn and then back to her apprentice, "I need you to protect Baeldwyn. He needs to be able to focus on commanding the constructs and you can help keep him safe so he can do that." She looked at the now flying mechanical fish and said, "He may also need messages delivered so Baucrade should be able to help with that as long as he stays low and out of sight of the enemy." Ema gave the pair a serious look and asked, "Do you think you two can handle that?"
Ema might have worried Baeldwyn would try to say he didn't need help but she knew him well enough to know he would get what she was trying to do. Her worries were not unfounded if the enemy got to the old man even if he could generally take care of himself.
Once things were dealt with there, Ema was chanting a spell even as she reached the balcony and finished it just as he jumped off. Her body became that of a brine dragon and she flew towards the palisade wall. Once she landed there Ema said, "Stand back!" She focused and tore open a hole in the space before her to a strange looking grey place. Nothing seemed to emerge but everyone could feel the presence of something emerge.
Once her summoning was done her eyes flashed as she converted magic back to her reservoir. Ema then looked to the closest group of people and caste another spell, including the elementals, to speed them up. "Go my friends, out beyond the walls and start picking off the edges of the attacking skum." The invisible elementals quickly complied.
|
As the alarm bell goes off, Simon breaks off from writing and sighs. Crumpling the paper, he tosses it towards a trash can where it hits an overflowing pile of similar crumpled papers.
Shaking his head at the waste, he muses. "How are you supposed to gift a library to a town without it sounding like a will or a statement of abandonment."
Rushing to gather supplies, Simon begins pounding his normal battle extracts as he approaches the pallisade, meeting up with Valentin along the way.
As Terana and Victrix approach, he will toss each of them an extract of Heroism as well. After noting Ema's Dragon Form, he nods in agreement, stepping outside of the palisade. "I never got a chance to put this to use, but it will be much more useful out here."
Consuming Monstrous Physique III, he assumes his Gegenees form before reaching out with his longspear and drawing a line in the sand.
Valentin rushes up to the palisade, prepared to do all he can to assist the soldiers on the wall.
Terana swigs down her extract and then shrugs with a smile. "Well I feel remarkably useless compared to all you mages."
Being unsuited to magic, or frankly any ranged combat, she heads for the gate/major way in or out of the palisade, ready to hold the breach that will be formed.
Victrix chugs the extract down, and dressed in her new suit of plate of the deep, she raises her axe and enters the battle!
The invisible aether elementals begin wreaking havoc among the skum, battering them from all sides. Half of their number shriek and snarl as they stab blindly at the air, trying to fend off the attacks. The others form into two troops that begin to rush the walls of Talmandor's Bounty.
"Open fire!" Antona shouts, the guards rapidly peppering the oncoming horde with arrows, bolstered by Ema's haste spell.
As the skum draw near, though, the ground begins to shake. Two enormous purple worms burst out of the ground in the center of the town, roaring and looking for targets to attack!
Ema was pleased with her elemental's job thus far. The invisible creatures were excellent at making the skum's plans fall apart. The fact they didn't even have to be very close and could use the skums own bodies for ammunition to throw at others to bowl them over made them even more effective.
When the two purple worms erupted in the middle of town Ema knew there was trouble. She hadn't expected something like that but she wasn't about to let it slow her down much. She drew on what she knew of such creatures to figure out a weakness or what kinds of abilities they had as she took wing and tore a tiny hole in space to appear much higher in the air than where she started.
Ema lined herself up so she could hit both of the worms and with a rattling roar shot a splatter of acid from her mouth in a line to coat the two monsters.
|
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Gegenees speed is 50ft. Natural Reach is 15ft, 30ft with the longspear. I will move that 50ft to get in reach of the second worm, while the first worm will be in reach of natural attacks.
As he heard the commotion from town, Simon swore to himself. He knew there had to be more to this attack than the skin but didn't anticipate it bypassing the palisade completely.
Turning, he stepped directly over the palisade, moving toward the worms. Studying the far worm, he stabbed it with his spear.
Terana turns on her heel and starts running towards the nearest worm.
Victrix follows Terana into the fight!
Ema knows that purple worms are giant scavengers that inhabit the deepest regions of the world, consuming any organic material that they encounter. They are notorious for swallowing their prey whole. They have venomous stingers, but no other special attacks or weaknesses.
The arcanist unleashes her acidic breath on the worms, badly scouring the far one.
Terana and Victrix both charge at the closer worm, slicing into its hide. Simon strides past them to stab the far worm with his spear, sickening it.
The close worm bites Victrix, grabbing her in its mouth, while its stinger whips at Terana but doesn't pierce her armor. The far worm moves closer to Simon and lunges at him, grabbing him as well.
Ema was pleased with the effects of her breath attack and decided it was time for another spell. Ema began to chant and gesture as she cast her spell while hovering and, when she was done, burned a little from her reservoir to amplify the persistence of the spell. When she finished she opened her mouth and a red bead tinged with black wisps shot out and exploded into black tinged flames when it got the two purple worms in range.
Terana slices away with wide, sweeping motions, carving gouges into the creatures flesh.
Valentin, seeing that he was needed, used a Dimensional Hop to move closer, and enacted Freedom's Call, freeing the combatants from the worm's grasp.
Victrix roars and starts swinging her axe!
Ema's shadow fireball badly burns both worms. Terana and Victrix cut down the one near them, while Simon stabs the other one again and again until it, too, collapses, unmoving.
You have a few moments to regroup before the skum will reach the palisade!
With the worms dead Ema flew up higher to get a look at the oncoming skum and picked a good spot for a target. She chanted and gestured and sent another shadowy firebal out to explode in the middle of the densest part of the skum army she could find.
Valentin rushes over to Victrix and heals her wounds with a spell.
Terana hurries back to the gates, untroubled by injuries.
Ema's shadow fireball wreaks havoc among the skum, slaying a broad swath of the assembled troops. Simon, Terana, and Victrix rush through the gates of the palisade, which the colony's guards quickly close shut again to prevent the skum from flooding through.
The troops move in on the three warriors, stopping forty feet away. While some of the skum hurl their tridents at them, the others brace their weapons and wait for the warriors to come to them.
Ema was having a lot of fun dropping shadow fireballs on the skum, it was even better because she could stay well out of their range in the air and keep dropping them. She was having so much fun that she decided to drop one more of them while she wheeled overhead in the sky!
Terana weaves neatly through most of the javelins, ignoring the few dents that are left in her armor. She closes in to the skum and her glaive whirls in a wide arc.