After a snack, the Watchmen retrace their steps and head up the stairs from the fort’s archives. Above is is a comfortable reading. It is furnished with a large table, a few comfortable chairs, and a standing mirror. A fireplace sits cold in the corner. The room appears reasonably clean compared to the rest of the fort. The chairs are well stuffed and the large table allows someone to spread out numerous documents and books for research. A stack of books on the table shows that someone was doing exactly that before the fort was compromised.
As the Mariner reaches the top of the stairs Fearless spots a shadow move as a familiar skum jumps out from behind a chair with claws raised to attack!
PERCEPTION
INITIATIVE
INITIATIVE - Surprise Round
Fearless (31/34)
Skum
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Fearless' mind protects him as his dagger juts out from it's sheathe into the Skum through the use of it's own magical word of command. "GGWWAAHH!"
Fearless stumbles back as he nearly pisses himself.
AC 18 (22 w/ covering fire; 22 w/ mental barrier)
Spells: 1st 1/4 | 2nd 1/2
Inspiration 0/5
Tactician 1/1 (Rounds 3/3)
Challenge 0/1
Phrenic Pool 1/2
Responding with the mental reflexes of a startled cat, Fearless sends his dagger spinning about the room. The skum ducks it and lunges at the Mariner.
It’s fist catches the old man square in the side of the head.
You notice a strange reflective gleam in the Skum’s eyes. Almost like a mirror.
INITIATIVE - Round 1
Mariner (52/71)
Fearless (31/34)
Skum
Cats (38/38)
Butterfly (46/46)
Pinkie (48/48) *Shield other 6/300 minutes
"...", the Mariner silently eyes the side of his head where the skum's claw had embedded, then looks down the arm that's attached to the fish creature.
He brings up the tip of the sword to the skum and shoves it into it's chest.
"Anyone else notice that it's eyes gleam....like a mirror?"
Fearless looks around, remembering that Cats breaking the mirror before seemed to help. Or at least he was told it helped.
The dagger returns to Fearless' hand just in time for him to hurl it at the standing mirror's glass pane.
"Break the mirror!"
HP 31/34
AC 18 (22 w/ covering fire; 22 w/ mental barrier)
Spells: 1st 1/4 | 2nd 1/2
Inspiration 0/5
Tactician 1/1 (Rounds 3/3)
Challenge 0/1
Phrenic Pool 1/2
”Grrk!”
The skum looks at the Mariner’s sword impaled through him. Pushing off the weapon it groans, but still stands. It takes a step away toward the room’s standing mirror, but Fearless’ dagger spins past and shatters it, spilling shards of glass onto the ground. The skum gasps and part of the illusion masking its true form ripples like quicksilver. It looks around for another escape route, leaping away from the Mariner and throwing open one of the doors to the battlements.
INITIATIVE - Round 1
Cats (38/38)
Butterfly (46/46)
Pinkie (48/48) *Shield other 6/300 minutes
Mariner (52/71)
Fearless (31/34)
MirrorSkum (-28)
Fearless concentrates. "It's trying to run again!"
Two powerful orbs smash into the mirror Skum's back. "Don't letit get away. Pin it down!" Fearless points excitedly to the creature.
HP 31/34
AC 18 (22 w/ covering fire; 22 w/ mental barrier)
Spells: 1st 0/4 | 2nd 1/2
Inspiration 0/5
Tactician 1/1 (Rounds 3/3)
Challenge 0/1
Phrenic Pool 0/2
Round 1, Init 14
Perception
Cats sweeps into the room, giving chase. He stops to fire once at the scummy skum.
to hit;
damage.
AC: 17
HP: 38/38
[ dice]1d20+9+1[/dice] to hit; (+PBS)
[ dice]1d8+3+1[/dice] damage.
Mini Smite: 0/1: Once per day as a swift action, you can add your Charisma bonus to your attack rolls and deal 1 additional point of damage for each class level you have against evil creatures for 1 round. You must have a good alignment to take this trait.
+4 Bab +4 Dex +1 magic +1 PBS -2 DA -2 Rapid=+6/+6 to hit
+2 Str +1 magic +4 DA+1 PBS = +8 damage
"What?! You wanna me to capture it?!" the Mariner takes advantage of the barrage from Cats and Fearless and leaps on the prone skum.
Cats climbs the stairs and takes a shot with his bow, putting an arrow in the skum’s back. Fearless projects psychic mind bullets that knock the creature down.
Seeing the Mariner going to tackle the enemy, Brother Butterfly tries to help, but only manages to flop on the dogpile and roll off uselessly. His efforts fail to help the Mariner, who is unable to get a good grip himself.
The skum lashes out at the Mariner, its fist loosening some teeth as it wriggles away and jumps to its feet, trying to escape.
INITIATIVE
Cats (38/38)
Pinkie (48/48) *Shield other 6/300 minutes
Fearless (31/34)
Butterfly (46/46)
Mariner (45/71)
MirrorSkum (-50)
Fearless tries to think of any way to slow the creature down. His mind alters as a small link opens between himself and the Skum. The effects frighten him to his core as he shakes. His body goes rigid and begins to cold sweat. It acts almost like a night terror. Fearless can see but he can't move.
Run....RUN... His body screams but yet it won't move. Using every ounce of his will the connection severs, through his own accord or something else entirely he does not know. But the effect seems to wound the Skum's mind.
HP 31/34
AC 18 (22 w/ covering fire; 22 w/ mental barrier)
Spells: 1st 0/4 | 2nd 0/2
Inspiration 0/5
Tactician 1/1 (Rounds 3/3)
Challenge 0/1
Phrenic Pool 0/2
Round 2, Init 14
Cats fires twice into the scrum to kill the skum.
to hit; (-cover)
damage.
to hit; (-cover)
damage.
AC: 17
HP: 38/38
[ dice]1d20+9+1[/dice] to hit; (+PBS)
[ dice]1d8+3+1[/dice] damage.
Mini Smite: 0/1: Once per day as a swift action, you can add your Charisma bonus to your attack rolls and deal 1 additional point of damage for each class level you have against evil creatures for 1 round. You must have a good alignment to take this trait.
+4 Bab +4 Dex +1 magic +1 PBS -2 DA -2 Rapid=+6/+6 to hit
+2 Str +1 magic +4 DA+1 PBS = +8 damage
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"SON OF A FISH!", the Mariner launches with a leading fist followed by a choke hold. "Sheik! - get outta the way!"
[forgot aoo]
The Mariner’s sword clangs against the stone floor, missing as the skum rolls to its feet.
Cats fires two more arrows, but too many pounds of Butterfly and Mariner get in the way.
Targeting the creature’s mind instead of its body, Fearless focuses his mental energy at the skum and it buckles, falling to the ground again. The Mariner lunges to grab it again and finds it listless. As he holds the creature its body warps and ripples, settling into a liquid mirrored glass with cracks where it has been injured. Cracks that seem to be quickly repairing themselves.
STATUS
Cats (38/38)
Fearless (31/34)
Butterfly (46/46)
Mariner (45/71)
Pinkie (48/48) *Shield other 6/300 minutes
Fearless pants as he slides to sitting on the floor, holding his knees tucked in close. "What is that thing?" He crawls forward to inspect it further.
The Mariner holds the blade of the sword to its neck, but not giving it the coup de grace just yet.
This is the first skum to react like this.
This is a soulsliver - an extradimensional shapechanger that lurks in the half-dimensions behind mirrors. It watches creatures on the Material Plane through reflective surfaces, assumes their likeness, then crawls through the mirror to kill and feast upon its prey. Whether they are bizarre offshoots of the doppelganger race or originate from some aberrant magic used to create a demiplane, soulslivers are responsible for many unsolved murders, and their mirror travel makes them hard to catch.
A soulsliver causes trouble for a short while in its assumed form, then retreats through the mirror to its home plane. Its native plane is an aspect of the Plane of Shadow, with reversed and grossly distorted creatures and scenery from the Material Plane.
An odd feature about soulslivers is noticeable in their shapechanged form. Although it can assume the appearance of a specific individual, it is always the mirror image of the person it copies, which might give away that something is wrong.
”Cat it! Cat it dead!” Cats urges, not trusting anything. ”It’s too dangerous to live.”
Cats will search the creature.
Fearless pokes the creature. "Never seen anything like it before." His voice shakes as he stands back up.
”It’s too dangerous to live.”
"It probably is too dangerous to let live, though who are we to kill it when it is clearly unable to defend itself? We can always tie it up and toss it in a cell." Fearless is mainly arguing as the frightful thing needs studying. He wants to study it himself for selfish reasons. There is a lot he knows of the world, he just can't seem to remember most of it until the time is right.
He swipes his finger across the shimmering body to see if any of the substance comes off on his finger? "What are you?"
Fearless touches the creature. It feels hard and smooth, like glass, and does not come off on his fingers. The ridges, tail, and clawed hands of the skum have withdrawn, and it now appears as a featureless humanoid. At least some of the alteration to its form is illusionary, as it wears a basic gray tunic and sword belt, upon which are finely-crafted twin shortswords strapped close to its back. It also wears an small amulet made from a beetle trapped in amber.
Fearless scans the objects for any magical auras.
"It's healing! Cat it dead!" Cats asserts, ready to fire again...or considering drawing his sword to off the creature that way.
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This place is a Fortress, there HAS to be jail cells. I think it makes sense to try and at least keep this thing prisoner. Get information from it. I think this could bring down the Autocracy.
Seeing that Fearless is giving the thing the prudent eye to evaluate it, Brother does try to appraise the value of the swords. He also checks out the room.
The Mariner lays the creature down although still holding his sword at it as he gives room for Fearless to inspect. "...some kinda creature born from fine furniture?" Stupid idea but he said it anyways.
Though Cats continually calls for others to end the mirror-creature’s existence, none seem keen to do the deed.
Meanwhile, Fearless examines its weapons and amulet determining them to be magical.
Searching the room, Brother Butterfly finds a handful of magic scrolls sandwiched in between the pages of a stack of books.
Under the watchful eyes of Cats and the Mariner, the mirror creature heals, and soon stirs. Seeing sword and arrow close and poised to kill, it does not attack, instead speaking in a delicate otherworldly ringing female voice.
”You.. have spared me...?”
Fearless places a calming hand on the creature. "What are you and why are you here? Don't resist and no further harm will come to you. Speak the truth or my companion here has ways of getting the truth."
Fearless taps the scroll containing the zone of truth. He looks around as another thought enters his mind. "Anyone have a rope to bind her with."
Cats will help bind the creature. He had already offered it a chance at redemption and feels no need to do so a second time.
He keeps an eye out for danger while others do the interrogation.
He will, however, look at the mirrorjerk with his Cat's eyes.
The creature does not resist being bound.
”I am a soulsliver from the mirrorplanes. My name is Tilsitari. You have defeated me, and taken my weapons. I submit.”
Staring hard at Tilsitari, Cats gets a bad feeling.
Fearless kneels down to get eye to eye with her. "What are you doing here Tilsitari?" He waves his hand at the castle. "Who is in charge and where can we find Melisenn?"
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"Yeah, what are you catting here?" Cats says, still feeling the creature needs to be eliminated. "Are you willing to renounce all your catty ways and embrace the light? Speak now."
”I was summoned to this world by a woman and tasked with watching this fort and keeping strangers out. I would guess the woman who summoned me is in charge, but she is not here. She left the ugly fish creatures to defend it.”
She turns her mirrored face at Cats’ demand. ”I am bound to another. You would need to convince them to release me before I can swear any other promise.”
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Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Tilisarti, I don't think you are being very honest with us. There's minimal honesty- where you give your name, rank and serial number. That's what you are doing. Then there's REAL honesty. Which is what we demanded of you.
I know a thing about magic - which you know really damn well from watching us via the mirrors. I know that your summoning would give you the name of your master - yet you are being coy with us.
Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. I am disappointed. And when I am disappointed - The Mariner gets lots of opportunities to kill things.
You are smart- very smart. You attacked us at strategic points. Don't
play the stupid role. It's not befitting you.
Since you are smart -- you know that if you really try hard to give us the answers we demand - then the last thing that goes through your mind WONT be Mariner's sword.
BB tries diplomacy, but this might just be intimidation. He also uses the scroll and senses motive.
Ohhm. USB. Pulse, Respiration. polygraph.
Cast Detect lie from the scroll.
Tilsitari does not crack, and her mirrorlike face is hard to read. ”Whatever you think you know about magic is apparently lacking when it comes the field of planar binding spells. I have been summoned a handful of times to this world and only the very powerful, or very foolish, summoner volunteer their true name. Doing so makes it easier to hunt them down later, and my people are excellent spies and assassins.” She pauses, then continues in a less confrontational tone. ”However, I did see my binder, and I could mirror her likeness easily. If... you spare my life and do me no further harm.”
”However, I did see my binder, and I could mirror her likeness easily. If... you spare my life and do me no further harm.”
Cats shakes his head.
”Oh no, I cat let you go knowing that your work here isn’t done and that you might continue to hurt others. Nope. If you’re going to leave this plane, then maybe, but not if there is a chance you’ll hurt others.”
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Fearless feels a strange sensation come over him as BB completes the spell. An almost uncomfortable feeling. One that if he were to begin talking people may not like what he has to say. People generally don't like the absolute truths sometimes.
"I don't plan on killing you yet Tilsitari. But this one probably will." Fearless jabs a thumb at Cats. "I just want to study you." He clamps his hands over his mouth.
Why would I say that!
Cats chooses to fail his save. He looks to the sliver for answers.
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Your bargain is not good enough! Your attitude also tells me that you think you have some leverage. That you think we are messing around with you - or that we are some goodie- goodies. Little do you know that each of us just escaped a mental institution on Briarstone island!
So, let THIS go through your brain!
Brother Butterly puts his weight into the swing that connects with her head.
Without even pausing - after the thunk of the cracking of skull - he says to the others. She can supernaturally heal. I'm not trying to kill her.
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Fearless shakes his head no. "Yes, he is. He has been trying to kill me for weeks."
What. The. F$$!....am I doing?
Tilsitari takes the blow with a pained grunt. Part of her face is distorted and cracked by the mace, but quickly begins reforming.
”Owww..” She groans, not quite knocked unconscious. ”That was unnecessary. I am offering you what I can.”
”That was unnecessary. I am offering you what I can.”
"And if you catnot offer a way to guarantee us that you will not harm others here, then we are also offering the best we can," Cats replies as this is non-negotiable.
Cats sees his own face reflected in Tilsitari’s as she turns it to address him. There is evil in her gaze, and a memory of familiar eyes...
Kast leans upon a washbasin filled with red-tinged water. Before him is his reflection staring back from a mirror speckled with beads of red liquid. A scruffy beard conceals half his face, but his eyes glimmer in the candlelight. Hard dead eyes, without compassion.
The eyes of a killer.
Cats blinks and Tilsitari is speaking.
”There is a dungeon below the fort. Lock me in a cell with some food, and in a few days, when my contract is up, I will return to my home plane.”
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Kast's eyes defocus, then focus, then fill with self-loathing. He sees something in Tilsitari's gaze that unnerves him.
He shakes his head angrily trying to get the image out.
"No, I'm not like cat anymore! I'm redeemed! I'll redeem you too if I have to!" Kast backs away from the soulsliver, thinking about reaching for his sword, his hands trembling. "You can find redemption! You can! Brother said that Catrenrae offers redemption! You can find the light again. I can find the light again."
Kast backs into the wall, breathing heavily, trying to find some reality to grasp on to.
"If you hurt others again, I'll cat you dead. I'll cat you so dead that you'll be dead. Don't you think you can hide from Catrenrae's judgement. You can't. I can't. You can't. No one can."
Fearless looks all around. "We have been all over this Fort. Where is there an entrance to a dungeon below?"
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Feeling the pain in Kast's voice, in a palpable way that makes this encounter painful in a soulful way.
BB speaks. Holding sadness on his tongue and each word he gives reflects the same lament.
Redemption is certainly yours to grasp Kast. It is a choice that you have willingly made in light of your experiences.
I sure hope that is possible for the SoulSliver. But even as deeply rooted as I am in Faith, there are topics like this that leave us grasping for answers.
I am not certain that she is capable of redemption. More research is needed, because I don't understand Soulsilvers and conjurations -- but logic dictates and her words attest- that she has been summoned a handful of times to be an assassin and spy. It is not something she can avert to fullfill her contracts.
You have tough choices to make on her future.
Turning to her
Well, You know more about the fish faces and how did the troops get killed and turned into these hyper zombies. Who did it this necromancy?
What's the name of the Fishfaces that have magic? Are there others?
Lastly, what was your SPECIFIC goal here, and for how long? Did you have a way to communicate with your summoner if things went wrong?
Answer these, and your bargain might be honored - if Kast doesn't smite you instead.
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Tilsitari watches Cats’ outburst with a wary posture, and keeps an eye on him as she answers Brother Butterfly’s questions.
”The skum are led by a warrior named Itsqaal-Thoal and a sorcerer named Deggorhbaatha.” Tilsitari shifts shapes as she talks, taking on the appearance of two skum, one of which is the sorcerer you fought in the upstairs central room of the fort. ”They had a little over a dozen skum raiders with them.”
”The undead guards are commanded by the woman who bound me. As you may have witnessed, the undead are... unusual. I cannot claim to have much experience with such things, but I assumed most were mindless monsters. These are not, and I have heard them talking. They are like me. Unwilling. I believe they were, up until very recently, very much alive. My guess is they were paid mercenaries who made a poor choice in employer, and now perform their duty for free.”
”As for my contract, I cannot offer more details then I already have. I will say again that it is for a limited time, and if you can contain me for the duration it will be unnecessary to murder me.” Tilsitari grows quiet in contemplation for a moment. ”I cannot tell you how long that will be, but should you find yourselves in need of a... spy... in the future, I would accept a payment of 7000 gold, or something equivalent, for a week of service.”
Now, about the woman who summoned me. This is as she appeared.” The soulsliver shifts into the form of a human in her early thirties, with long, smooth hair and deep, dark eyes. She wears her hair in a ponytail and sports a ferroniere with a large, teardrop-shaped topaz on her forehead.
”Two others were with her. Another human, and... something not. Show me to a cell and I will show one of them to you.”
Cats seems inclined to agree with the sliver's request for imprisonment, but only after making sure that there are no mirrors, water, polished surfaces, or anything of the like nearby.
He will help drag the sliver to the dungeon if the party is done up here (and we might be).