"I can handle myself in there, especially with Korina at my side and you at my back. Korina how do you want to travel? Riding my back or lifted up by an Air elemental?"
The Shard laughs a bit as he sees Korina looking dumbstruck.
"It depends on my form the way we travel that short end, would you rather prefer a bird, bat or elemental?"
"So you wish for me to further tighten the noose around their supply route? In exchange I will be given free reign to do what I want with the plunder, given safe haven, and fed information at your expense as opposed to at my own. Is this correct?"
"Yes. The offer is most generous. I might ask some other favors later but that is the gist of it."
"Now if you agree to join us please prick your hand and let a drop fall into this bowl and say"
"Knowledge beyond power.
Treasure and blood that flows
In the future of our subjects is where our power grows
I pelage myself to conquer all the foes who stand.
With the power we posses in my quite worthy hand.
May the fools you stand before us be destroyed by the power you and I posses
I pelage myself part of Here be dragons"
Korina flushes a different colour at most of the suggestions. "Err.. yea.. I" Korina snaps back to reality "I can fly .. remember our fight? Yes, I don't need to embar.. I mean if need be I can still let you fly me. Yes?"
Celty is trying to hold back her snickering at Korina's antics.
"Before I let my blood run, I must ask. This is a deal set forth between you and I, correct? I am free to bargain with the others as I see fit, correct?" Fremont would inquire while pulling forth his mithral dagger.
"Yes. However I doubt the others will be as generous. Also the knowleage does not all go one way. I am going to expect you to send me reports."
"But of course, I would assume that a man of your integrity would want to be given the rights to see my wares before others in case something of particular interest might come up."
As he spoke, he would gently drive the point of his dagger into the tip of one of his fingers.
"In return, I must let you know that any attempt to use my blood in a manner that would harm me, my wealth, or those I care about will result in rather unfortunate circumstances."
When he is finished
"Now that we are working together I have some intelligence for you. The cabin boy of the name of Sabin on the ship Redrock is a spy. If you search his cubby you will find a psi crystal that he has been using to report the ships position after you find the psi Crystal can you send it to me I'm collecting them trying to figure out how to replicate them. In other news, The merchant Calahan Cormwel sunk a fortune into perishable goods and is unable to wait for a convoy or escort. He is setting sail from Eros Ecin to Tros T'kil. If you hurry you should be able to catch him."
Fremont would raise his eyebrow as he listened to the tidbits of information. Once Min stopped, Fremont would flick the blood off of his dagger into the bowl.
"Those are some interesting claims. I must send word to my word to my crew quickly to take advantage of these opportunities before the door closes upon them. The boy will be dealt with as all traitors are and the ship shall be commandeered."
Turning his head to regard his first mate, he would continue on.
"Lucelle, if you would be so kind, make your way out and inform the men that the boy is to be taken alive and I wish for two fleets of ships to take control of Cromwel's ship once he hits open waters. The first fleet is to move in, while the second watches for any sort of trap they might have up their sleeves."
The Shard smiles to himself, as Korina blushes.
"Fair enough then, let's go. Celty where should we look precisely?"
The Shard transforms into his Air Elemental form again and flies to the other side. There he waits for Korina to land as well.
"Let's see what they still have in store for us." The Shard mentions as the Air elemental form solidifies as he changes back into his ratfolk form.
Vaklam launches several vile bolts of purely malevolent energy at the incoming avian.
Lucelle nods at Fremont. "Aye sir, I shan't delay. This should be done quick and easy!" With that Lucelle turns and walks out of the council chamber leaving the Overlords with Smoky.
Old smoky seems a little nervous, having stayed silent during their deliberations despite his hand being sliced off. After he feels a moment to speak he bows. "I am most happy to serve yes" The pain is still very real so he winces from it a little but otherwise has regenerated his hand.
"Er now sirs, is there anything else we might discuss? If not I might have a few suggestions.. If by doing so I don't step out of order?" He says meekly.
Korina quickly begins to run then jets up using her flames behind shard. Landing on the other side they begin to walk through the rest of the village. This side seems to be empty. Every house or building you peep your head through is eerily silent. The shard stands and listens, he hears the sound of a motor but it isn't close. Or maybe something is blocking the sound.
This side of the bridge is a set of 6 buildings for various purposes the Shard can't tell what and a temple. That temple is presumably the one to the Youkai Lord. Unlike the colour of most of the rest of the buildings the temple is a pale moonlike blue colour. It is very simplistic though with a hexagonal shape with 4 pillars, each of them are on one of the corners of the hexagon. With the two ends not having pillars.
The south end points on towards the rest of the village, with this building at the northmost point.
Each of the Dread bolts hits the Kestrel, it seems quite hurt by the bolts as it caws at you in rage. The Kestrel weathers the shots and tries to grasp you in it's talons.
Lucelle nods at Fremont. "Aye sir, I shan't delay. This should be done quick and easy!" With that Lucelle turns and walks out of the council chamber leaving the Overlords with Smoky.
Old smoky seems a little nervous, having stayed silent during their deliberations despite his hand being sliced off. After he feels a moment to speak he bows. "I am most happy to serve yes" The pain is still very real so he winces from it a little but otherwise has regenerated his hand.
"Er now sirs, is there anything else we might discuss? If not I might have a few suggestions.. If by doing so I don't step out of order?" He says meekly.
"You were created to be the perfect underling. Yes, do your creators proud and give us some excellent suggestions"
"Korina, let's explore the rest of the buildings, lest something surprises us as we head out into the temple. Let's sweep through them quickly and then return to that temple."
"Indeed. Your expertise would be most welcome."
As he spoke, Fremont would lean back in his chair with his wine glass.
Most of the buildings you go through are quite bare, and feel like they belong. One building however you can't shake the feeling is not quite right. It doesn't feel connected to nature as you'd think and doesn't have the same aesthetic inside as all the other buildings. The walls seem broken to pieces within and there are carved marks all over the ground. Almost like a battle took place within. Though you can't pin point if the destruction was collateral or the main purpose.
Old smoky bows again "You are to kind my overlords. I was going to mention now that we have the opportunity for sea travel we should exploit it a little. Yes attacking the trade routes is good and your men Captain I'm sure will be able to deal with it. I do have some information of drow raiding fleets that apparently rise up out of the water. We are unsure how they are doing this but they are. They could potentially be bent to be an ally, as you both well know drow seem to respect strength. Of course they have strayed away from the conflicts at large as I suspect their fleets are rather small and specialised but that could be useful. They have also explored quite a lot of the ocean and might have info on what Nazca cooked up between the two continents. I wonder what that could be?" Old smoky ponders.
"It is just an idea, we could just kill them and take their boats. I feel though diplomacy of one sort of another could be useful."
The Shard goes over the insides of the building looking at the tracks of a possible combat.
"This feels... odd, in some way. Were they looking for something in here? Were they scared or angry of what was depicted or held in here?"
The Shard looks on and focuses on his hearing, eyesight and smell for any signs about the destruction.
As the shard pokes and prods around the building looking for anything that might be out of place he notices something odd with his sense of touch first before he senses it with his eyes. As he was walking around the building he noticed that the floor seems to be lopsided going towards the centre. Every so often there is a groove he can feel with his feet. These grooves spiral out from the centre of the building and these grooves have a clear path from the rubble or destruction that has been left.
The grooves are etched out thinly in the ground.
"Good Smokey, that is news to my ears. I never would have imagined the mysterious force that has been haunting my seas to be the drow."
"You are correct though, they would make a lovely addition to my fleet. Do you by chance know if they have some type of pattern? Or have you be chance discerned there location?"
By the time the second dreadbolt hits the incoming bird, Malakai catches up to it, and attempts to shred the beast before it can attack her brother.
She'll get two attacks Touch attack for Str damage
Touch Atk 2 for Str dmg
The Shard tries to move the rubble aside to get a clearer picture of the grooves and where they lead.
"Korina, could you help me with clearing the debris in here? There seem to be grooves here leading somewhere. I want to see what kind of room we're standing in."
Fremont knows that the drow have been around for quite a while. Even before the overlords tried taking over their patch of land they would brave the seas trying to take down smaller fleets. The drow never have attacked and likely will never attack fleets beyond a certain size. This is likely to assure their survival. All reports and stories seem to say that the drow are always small in number, often they meet opposing fleets in a 2:5 ratio. So it is quite possible that there is very few drow in the first place. All bar the officers in the drow fleets are male, Fremont is unsure what that is partially because no one has found where the drow city (or cities) actually stands.
They also had a habit of knowing when to attack a fleet, the idea of them having a spy contingent somewhere has been brought up before. However they have not attacked Fremont's fleet before and have focused their efforts on Nazca. Min probably has had a hand in stopping any information getting into the drow hands.
Smoky strokes his chin "They have been attacking Varien ships that have come from the north that have no air support to help them. There are also several supply cargos that leave Nazca's protection from time to time that get pounced on almost instantaneously by the Drow fleets. Where the Drow come from I'm not sure. Perhaps you could find a way to draw them out?"
The two attacks Malakai sends toward the Kestrel land slowing the birds' flight. The Kestrel is starting to have trouble keeping its weight up with its wings.
Korina nods and begins 'clearing' debris. Her idea of this seems to be basically be a small wrecking crew. Korina is avoiding the major walls so not to bring the place down but is trying to clear it so you can get a good look at the floor. After she completes, she bends over catching her breath. "There we go.. woo... all that clear, what do you think we're looking at?"
As you look at the floor the grooves are about 10ft from each other and form a spiral like shape starting about 15ft from the front door. They then spiral continuously until they reach the centre of the room. The shard also noticed occasionally the floor would move and sway as Korina was blowing up parts of the debris. Each section seemed to move independent of the other.
"It's sounds like setting up an ambush would be the best matter of course. However, this may require that part of my crew act as bait. A concept I am not fond of. However, despite whatever might happen, I'm sure we can turn the situation to our advantage. We will need to arrange for a small fleet of my commandeered Nazcacian ships to set sail through their normal hunting grounds."
"Well Sir Fremont I like your idea about the ambush, I do not believe we have to use your crew as bait. We have far more expendable people we can use no? We have minions and some spare undead littered about from our recent victories in the north. If you could perhaps provide pointers on how to make them sail a ship and what they need to be dressed in the Drow will hopefully take the bait and attack the vessel. Of course we need to use a obviously seaworthy vessel but if we pull off this ambush of yours succinctly well I am sure we will be to recover the boat with minimal damage. With the bonus of claiming some extra boats too. Does this sound good to you Sir Fremont? Do you know of anything else we could add to his plan, Min you are usually good at this counsel. Would you know anything else?" Smoky says.
The Shard looks over the odd shapes across the floor pounding on his own knowledges.
He can't quite determine what this represents, but some deas come to mind.
"Well this is either some sort of puzzle, as the pieces of floor between the grooves seem to move as we walk across it or cast spells from it. Either that or it is a place where one can channel his energy to do something, in that case you'd probably need a certain magical spell to activate this."
The Shard walks towards the middle and inspects it for any point on which one might stand or in what way the pieces might have to move for something to work.
Vaklam conjures forth shadowy energy and fires a bolt of it at the bird flying towards him.
"The need for the bait to appear convincing does limit the options somewhat. "Undead zombies do seem the best choice due to their expendability and human shape. How important do you rank the recovery of the ship afterwards? We could fill it with something explosive just in case anything goes wrong. We could also position some gas bombs on the deck of the ship. Zombies are immune to possion, but the boarding crew might not be. Also we should have some flash bombs so as to blind the Drow. Coordination will be key in this mission. Fortunately we have minions that can greater teleport and turn invisible. Actually if you offer a bit more looting privileges I can have the bone devils make an illusionary ship."
Fremont would let a, "Hmmm..." escape his lips as he leans back in his chair and strokes his chin.
"With the resources you have placed in front of me, I think using one of my ships as a trap has the best chance of success. As effective as illusions are, they have a good chance of being seen through. So with that in mind, I suggest we make use of your undead, but not until the ship gets out to open waters. However, before that we will use some of my men to spread the word throughout the taverns and to get it set on it's course. Once out to sea, they will use their natural talents to escape the ship after releasing the zombies to man the ship while some of your minions lie in wait to knock out the drow as they board the ship. Seeing as they are few, it would be best that we don't kill any of them until we find it necessary as a bargaining chip."
So can we are using bait for the Drow correct? So we shall, let some boats up with an illusionary contingent from the bone Devils? Then the real one replaced with undead? Or only one or the other? For certain though spreading the word through the taverns will get the boats noticed." Old smoky perks up. "So shall we put this into action then, after of course hashing out the final details?"
When The shard stands in the centre he can see the spiral quite easily. The thing that now comes to his mind is that all of the room is slanted towards the centre. The grooves included. It almost feels like this room could be shaped into a funnel down. It just hasn't take that shape yet, maybe a large enough force to an certain area will change the shape of the room.
The kestrel takes the bolt square in the head and begins to plummet straight to the ground. As it does it looks like it is bringing the world with it. Slowly the world around Vaklam is being taken away like a painting being washed off its easel. A few moments pass and Vaklam finds himself in front of the door. Clark is waiting next to the door and says, "Well done sir, I think there is still one more trial ahead. Good luck in there."
"We will use one of the ships I have commandeered. It will lure the drow on board and it is there that we can set a trap for them. Methods of knocking them out will be preferred to killing them. So bombs set to release sleep gas and toxins to make them ill would be my weapon of choice in this matter. However, if they are capable of surviving underwater, it may be that they do not need to breath."
The Shard looks at the possible funnel shape of the room and just stares for a moment.
"Korina, if you please, aim your power directly at the center of this room."
The Shard moves a bit closer grabbing his katana with his one hand.
"Be ready for anything that we might encounter, I expect us to move real soon."
"If they are capable of surviving underwater it could mean they just utilise other means of breathing. So I believe gas would still affect them. I think Min might want to look into that, as I have a feeling that this is a new predicament for the Drow. Maybe to let them hide?" Old smoky brushes his chin a bit.
A few moments later Lucelle drops back in carrying a young lad that is thrown to the ground in chains. Lucelle fumes throwing a crystal on the table. "Fremont sir, Min's intel was correct I found this boy and this crystal. This is problematic."
The young lad yells back at the congregation. "I did nothing I swear!" Lucelle plants him to the desk. "Shut it, you will be permitted to speak when Fremont allows it. Not before"
Korina nods at the Shard. Stretches her arms high then runs into the centre of the room. She rockets herself into the air with a jet of flame then presses herself against the ceiling building up pressure with another bout of fire beneath her feet. She propels herself to the centre of the room. As she hits, the room breaks away beneath her. The centre point falls into the ground with a spiralling ramp climbing to the top where The Shard is standing. Korina lands on the side of the spiralling ramp and gives The Shard a thumbs up. "Looks like that worked!"
The Shard with his honed ears can hear something scurrying away at the bottom of the ramp. As he gets to the bottom he can see there is a doorway large enough to fit a huge creature. Beyond the threshold it is pitch black, only the occasional flicker of something shiny can be seen beyond it. A large groaning sound seems to be growing louder as time passes on.
Something is impeding the light even with better vision. It is likely magical in nature.
"It seems are plan making should be put on hiatus for a moment while I take care of this nuisance," Captain Fremont would say with a smile before leaning forward to look the boy in the eyes.
"Sabin, you know the price for betrayal, correct?" Captain Fremont would put up his hand to cut the boy off from trying to exclaim that he had done nothing wrong. "That was not my question Sabin. Do you, or do you not, know the price of betrayal?"
"Hmmm..." The Shard makes as a noise.
"There is certainly something down there Korina, be careful." he says as he comes down the ramp as well.
Something flickers there in the dark, something shiny? a treasure? or perhaps the reflection of light in an eye?
"Korina, this may get ugly, whatever is inside might be as large as that doorway. As we go in, I'll transform again, but I'll need you at the other side of what we find in there. I probably can't move around it. I need you to flank and distract it to fight optimally. Can you do that safely if possible?"
"We just need to communicate if I notice anything in there. Two growls is safe or yes, one growl is danger or no. Got it?"
After that The Shard transforms into a Dire Tiger for the last time and goes through the doorway.
As Fremont's hand raises up, Sabin ceases to talk. He only shakes his head at Fremont's question.
Korina nods trying to stay as silent as she can, you believe she is trying to learn what it means to stay in the Shadows. She crouches down to sneak in. You can see that she is nimble though is making basic mistakes in her movement that you wouldn't dream of doing at this point. Not a surprise really she moves with a gait of someone who is far more flashy.
The pair walk in with them either side of the doorway. As they pass through they are blinded for a few seconds before coming out the other end. When they are no longer blinded their darkvision kicks in, finally they are able to get a better look.
The pair see about 6 hobgoblins moving forward with what look like sticks held between their hands. The sticks are cylindrical and have an eye on the end of each one.
The groaning sound becomes more apparent, it looks to be a beholder, strapped to a makeshift cart made out of metal that has wheels. The beholder is still alive but it only has it's middle eye. Its stalks aren't there. It is being wheeled out by a set of 6 goblins that are tugging on the cart, the groan of the treads making a loud noise.
Fremont's eyes would turn to address Lucelle as he gave her a nod she had seen before. He wished for her to play the role of the unrelenting and cruel captor so that he might more easily fall into the role of the helpful and kind captor. They were roles they had played many times before when dealing with possible traitors and it never ceased to amaze him just how good she was at her role.
"You don't really need to go though all this. I have entire teams dedicated to getting information out of people. You could out source."
Fremont's eyes would once again return to Sabin as while he responded to Min.
"Yes I do. My crew is my family and family matters are always dealt with by me and Lucelle. So while I appreciate the offer, I will have to decline."
Then, with a quick glance and smirk towards Min, Fremont would add in.
"Besides, I wouldn't want to take away Lucelle's fun."
The Shard approaches the hobgoblins through the shadows, hoping to catch them quietly by surprise.
Hoping Korina will back him up, he can only think to himself.
[i]Goblins! bah disgusting creatures. I wonder what they are doing to that beholder though.
The shard jumps on the first goblin hoping to catch one that is in the middle and scare the living daylights out of them.
"Fine"
Don't know why people always want to do this the hard way. Maybe they enjoy being cruel?
Vaklam decides to fortify himself and Malakai for whatever the upcoming trial may be.
Casting Shield, Shield of Faith and Heroism on myself, and activating Spirit Shield. My total AC is now 25.
Then, casting the same spells on Malakai.
Last round, casting Greater Invisibility on myself.
Shard waits for the goblins pulling the cart to be far enough away before pouncing on the ones with rifles. The unsuspecting one in the centre gets pounced on and ripped to shreds before he has any idea what is happening. As he pulls away glowers at the others remaining.
Three of them look at the shard for a brief moment then begin to bolt for the beholder cart. Out of the shadows one of the fleeing ones gets blasted by Korina springing of the wall and hitting him with a pair of fiery fists. She then runs behind one of the ones you are fighting to flank with you.
The two remaining hobgoblins hastily fiddle around with their guns and shoot at point them towards The shard and fire. Now that the Shard can see the rifles clearly, he can see at the end of each stick is an eye of a different colour. One is White, the other is purple. The beams that pour forth are also of the same colour of the eyes.
You are slowed
Take 10d6 damage
The symbol of the spike shines brightly like the bird before it. Changing the scenery once more to a large circular arena with sand. Above Vaklam and Malakai they can hear the sounds of a crowd cheering. Around the top they can see what looks like stadium seats, on a rampart Vaklam can see a man clad in the typical Vampire hunter garb though is not Clark. This man seems far more experienced by his poise and equipment. He raises his hand and Vaklam sees out of the ground a large creature made of glass rise out of it. It has spikes all over its body and several holes in parts across its torso. As it rises Vaklam can hear the thing begin to clink as glass rubs against glass. A shrill sound emits from the creature like a shattering sound.
Lucelle kicks the mans knees in so he falls to his knees in front of Fremont. Lucelle makes sure that the man can't see her by standing behind him out of his field of vision. She slowly begins to stand on his feet with her boots. Slowly at first, to see how far he'll crack with only a little bit of pain. She draws a couple of knives and begins to rub them against each other to sound threatening. Bringing one towards the boy's back. Sabin is starting to quake wondering what Lucelle is going to do. He continues to beg to Fremont. "Sir I promise.. I've done nothing..I .. I really, I would never.
The Shard seems unphased by the beams apart from being flashed in the eyes by the bright colours. He growls ferociously at both hobgoblins with guns and attacks the one with the purple gun.
Vaklam, still invisible, summons forth a spiritual representation of his deity, which then attacks the glass warrior. , for and , possible crit[/ooc]
Damage:
The spiritual ally slams into the creature with a shattering force sending shards of glass all over the arena. The sound of a low humming begins to fill the arena. The humming quickly becomes a melodic tune, and for some reason Vaklam feels very relaxed by the tune. It isn't affecting his concentration yet but for some reason he feels the need to nod off. For the first time in a long time, Vaklam is feeling tired and he is unsure why at the moment.
The creature then slams its "Foot" into the ground and Vaklam can feel the sand beneath his feet start to rumble.
Unphased by the blasts, he quickly makes short work of the hobgoblin that is being flanked by Korina. With all his vicious natural weaponry ripping him to bits. The other hobgoblin shocked by the extrodinarily quick dispatch of his ally falls to his knees. "Take it, I don't want to fight Youkai no more!" He says trying to offer The shard the rifle.
The Shard motions with his head to Korina to take the weapon, then afterwards moves close to the goblin and bites his head off before running off after the goblins running for the beholder cart.