Yulia and Imperia also use their extra speed from the Mythic Haste for positioning purposes. If an ooze is not immediately in sight, they move closer until one is in sight, the Sage Sorceress warps them over, and then the Lunar Oracle King tears them to shreds.
Trigva, meanwhile, continues to romp around the city and pounce oozes into nothing. Normally, the people of Jol would probably be concerned about a giant tiger running around the city, but by now, Yulia has tried to make everyone aware that Trigva is her personal companion and docile as a kitten (unless his life is threatened or he is ordered otherwise). He also loyally follows his orders not to attack anything short of moving ooze chasing people.
Round 4:
Imperia:
Yulia:
Trigva:
Round 5:
Imperia:
Yulia:
Trigva:
Round 6:
Imperia:
Yulia:
Trigva:
After a minute of constant slaughter, Yulia and Imperia no longer locate any more moving ooze. They carefully search Jol over (Yulia healing anyone they find), but they do not find anything other that Trigva's path of destruction. After concluding that nothing is left, they begin calling for the tiger to return to them.
From his end of the city, Trigva also continues his hunt but quickly turns up nothing as well. He grows bored and decides to rejoin his friends, who are found easily enough. Yulia quickly scratches her friend's ears as she plots their next move, earning a purr-like sound from the tiger.
"Let's do a thorough sweep of Jol for casualties," Yulia says once they know for certain there are no more oozes left. "That all seems to have happened quickly, but I'm sure someone was injured."
Within 20 seconds Yulia and crew or some of the lesser heroes of Jol have put down every ooze within the city. So effective and expeditious was their response that it seems none of the townspeople were seriously injured during the event. Jol goes wild, praising their new king and her Court Magician. The grand hall is swarmed with gifts of food and drink (which is all most of the people of Jol have to offer).
During all this Yulia notices a woman hanging around the great hall watching her, Imperia and Trigva. She's a middle aged Ulfen woman in merchant's clothing, wearing a leather headband to hold back her hair. When she sees the King looking at her, she smiles in a friendly manner.
Not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings, Yulia does not outright refuse any of the gifts; after all, one of magic rings lets her bypass the need to eat and drink like a normal person. As such, unless it would be something Trigva likes (a big tiger's gotta eat, and after his heroic performance, he deserves a treat), she only takes a portion of what is offered for herself, gives some of it to her armed forces and the other local heroes, and insists that everyone keeps enough to sustain themselves healthfully.
Once she notices the female merchant watching her, Yulia engages the newcomer. The Lunar Oracle returns the friendly smile with one of her own.
"Hello there!" Yulia says cheerfully. "I don't believe that I've seen you before. What brings you to Jol, Miss...?"
"I'm a fur merchant,"[b] she responds. [b]"Sorry to stare, I've just never seen anything like you did today. Please excuse me, I'll be going." The woman turns and begins to walk out of the tent.
Yulia shrugs off the fur merchant's behavior. Nearly everyone has reacted in a similar manner to her performance. She waves the woman farewell before getting back to business.
"Thedan, mind staying for a bit? I could use your input on something important."
Once the celebrations winds down a bit, Yulia closes down her hall for the day and calls a council.
"Thedan, Imperia, we should plan. From what we suspect, I'm willing to bet good money that Ms. Stormy is behind that goop storm. We're lucky that nobody died today because of her antics. We have to find her and put an end this chaos. Any ideas? The only certain one I have is playing sixteen questions with Lady Desna tonight. If I can find a general area for this storm's origin, I'll repeated ask if the source is located at a specific mountain or its surrounding area. The more thing I know, the more clear her answers seem to be."
Thedan shakes his head. "I'm not sure how much more help I can be to you. I'm sure if the Storm Queen is behind these events as we suspect, that she won't be happy about you intervening. She might try to attack the city again somehow."
Imperia nods, "If it were me, I'd have eyes in the city. Jol is the only settlement of any size in the kingdom. It would probably be the only source of potential threats for someone as powerful as the Storm Queen."
"It seems that I just got my giants mixed up. For some reason, I was thinking of her original target, who lives in a mountain castle," Yulia mumbles when she realizes that the storm took place in Jol. She had even told by both Grunf and Lady Desna that the Storm Queen probably resided in the Jol area at the moment.
Using some the reasoning skills that her father taught her, Yuyu addresses Thedan's point. "As powerful as I am, I'm not blind to my flaws. I can make good plans, but I tend to overlook details. You are one of the smartest people in Southmoor, Thedan. As such, you can help me by pointing out any flaws in my logic."
After hearing both scholars on the matter, Yulia nods.
"I'll get those eyes out as soon as possible. I am curious about why she attacked Jol, though. From what we know, her target is someone who lives miles from here. Potential outside threats or no, if I had a weapon that could sack Jörmungandr, I would use it on him as soon as possible, not some unrelated city far away from his location."
"Maybe she has greater designs on the area than we originally thought? Or maybe she's not in full control of the artifact?" Imperia posits.
"Hmm..." Yulia mumbles as she absentmindedly scratches Trigva's ears. "Those are good guesses. I can even see both being right. She also wants to take over the area but first needs to figure out how to fully control the Orb. Therefore, she picks Jol as a practice target."
Yulia ponders her next move.
"Aside from another storm, what should we be looking for? Unlike most giants, Stormy actually takes care to cover her tracks. Also, since I've only been King for four days, I'm not sure who to send out looking for anything. Any recommendations?"
The last question is more for anyone in the hall. If nothing else, Opir Eightfingers managed to control Jol rather well. He sure had some network in place to help keep an eye on things.
Thedan speaks up again after a moment of thought. "If it were Opir still in charge he'd send his Huscarls around to bust heads and scare people until someone talked, and then go handle the threat himself. This method of information gathering can be effective, if unpopular. It also assumes whatever agent she has in Jol is local. She might also have access to divination magics, polymorphed or magically disguised spies....hells, I believe it's even possible that the town's vermin or animals could be serving as her eyes and ears. We just don't know at this point. I would advise my King to set a watch, and try to be prepared for anything that the Storm Queen might send at Jol. It's conceivable that if she used giants to attack in the past, that she might do so again."
"While I'll be dealing with her myself, that rest of the Opir Eightfingers Way won't be necessary. I don't want to burn all my goodwill in four days," Yulia chuckles lightly.
"It seems that we will be waiting for her next move then," the Lunar Oracle says as she turns her head to whoever runs the guard in Jol. "Set up a watch as Thedan suggested. We need to be ready for a literal Giant siege of the city."
Based on their last clash with giants, Yulia figures that she, Imperia, and Trigva be able to handle the bulk of such an attack, but they cannot be everywhere at once. She worries about the size of the invasion force. After all, the Storm Queen sent a small army to kill just Zoarth. What would such a spiteful individual throw at an entire city?
If there is nothing else left to discuss (all roads seem to point to "wait, prepare, and see"), then Yulia grabs some paper and a writing stick and retires for a while to send a message to Zoarth and commune with Desna.
Questions:
Question 1: Is the Storm Queen truly based in the Jol area as Grunf believed?
Question 2: Did the Storm Queen attack Jol to test out her artifact?
Question 3: Are the Storm Queen or her forces going to attack Jol within three days?
Question 4: Is the Storm Queen going to use the Orb Beyond on Jol again?
Question 5: Is the Storm Queen using divination magic?
Question 6: Does the Storm Queen have polymorphed or magically disguised agents in Jol?
Question 7: Is the Storm Queen using the town's vermin or animals as her eyes and ears?
Question 8: Does the Storm Queen have full control over the Orb Beyond?
Question 9: Aside from killing Zoarth, does the Storm Queen have greater designs for Southmoor?
Question 10: Are any of the permanent residents of Jol agents of the Storm Queen?
Question 11: Are any of my staff agents of the Storm Queen?
Question 12: Is anyone that I have interacted with recently an agent of the Storm Queen?
Question 13: If the Storm Queen was to send forces against Jol, would they be similar to what she threw at Zoarth?
Question 14: Has any news of my ascension to the throne of Southmoor not spread by me reached any of the major cities in the other Linnorm Kingdoms?
Question 15: Did Opir's soul make it peacefully to the afterlife?
Question 16: Given her Chelish heritage, do I need to worry about Imperia's safety in Jol?
Sending to Zoarth: Are you okay? The Storm Queen has artifact called Orb Beyond. Used on Jol. Created storm that dropped oozes on city."[/b]
"While I'll be dealing with her myself, that rest of the Opir Eightfingers Way won't be necessary. I don't want to burn all my goodwill in four days," Yulia chuckles lightly.
"It seems that we will be waiting for her next move then," the Lunar Oracle says as she turns her head to whoever runs the guard in Jol. "Set up a watch as Thedan suggested. We need to be ready for a literal Giant siege of the city."
Based on their last clash with giants, Yulia figures that she, Imperia, and Trigva be able to handle the bulk of such an attack, but they cannot be everywhere at once. She worries about the size of the invasion force. After all, the Storm Queen sent a small army to kill just Zoarth. What would such a spiteful individual throw at an entire city?
If there is nothing else left to discuss (all roads seem to point to "wait, prepare, and see"), then Yulia grabs some paper and a writing stick and retires for a while to send a message to Zoarth and commune with Desna.
Questions:
Question 1: Is the Storm Queen truly based in the Jol area as Grunf believed?
Question 2: Did the Storm Queen attack Jol to test out her artifact?
Question 3: Are the Storm Queen or her forces going to attack Jol within three days?
Question 4: Is the Storm Queen going to use the Orb Beyond on Jol again?
Question 5: Is the Storm Queen using divination magic?
Question 6: Does the Storm Queen have polymorphed or magically disguised agents in Jol?
Question 7: Is the Storm Queen using the town's vermin or animals as her eyes and ears?
Question 8: Does the Storm Queen have full control over the Orb Beyond?
Question 9: Aside from killing Zoarth, does the Storm Queen have greater designs for Southmoor?
Question 10: Are any of the permanent residents of Jol agents of the Storm Queen?
Question 11: Are any of my staff agents of the Storm Queen?
Question 12: Is anyone that I have interacted with...
1) Seems so.
2) Unclear.
3) Seems likely.
4) Unclear.
5) Unclear.
6) I think so.
7) Unclear.
8) Unclear.
9) Seems so.
10) Unclear.
11) No.
12) Probably.
13) Unclear.
14) Yes.
15) Don't know, ask Pharasma.
16) Don't you always worry?
Sending: Everything's fine here. No more attacks. Reconstruction going well. Ewww, oozes. Good luck.
Yulia wakes up with a yawn, lazily braids her hair, and studies her answers. She lets Trigva continue to sleep, knowing that the big lug is probably tired out from his heroism yesterday. After casting her daily buffs (this time including an 24 hour extended Mighty Strength on herself), the first thing that Yulia does is find Halleck Piniefrost.
"I have good intelligence that the city is going to be attacked within three days, most likely by giants. I'm going to be busy looking for a disguised agent of our enemy, so please see to it that the city's defenses are readied."
After Yulia throws together a breakfast consisting of eggs, steak, and wine, she calls over Imperia whenever the Chelish woman rolls out of bed.
"Imperia, do you think I can obtain some True Seeing Eye Ointment here in Jol? I think the going rate is around 250 gold. Anyway, the city's probably going to be attacked within three days. Stormy is most likely located in the Jol area, and she seems to have plans for Southmoor as a whole.
"Lady Desna thinks that the Storm Queen has polymorphed or magically disguised spies in Jol. It seems that I interacted with an agent recently, but LD also explicitly said that no one on our staff is compromised, and while he does not technically work for me, given how helpful he has been, I sincerely doubt Thedan is helping with Stormy. Zoarth is also doing well.
"So long story short, if I can get some of that expensive eye ointment, I'm gonna be running around invisibly scanning the city for polymorphed spies and/or magically disguised agents, who are probably non-Royal staff that I have interacted with recently."
After telling Imperia her plan, Yulia finally remembers to breathe.
Sometime during the night (after Yulia's divination) Yulia and Imperia are awakened to screams coming from the edge of town. They wake up and rush to the scene to find a cottage smashed to bits, and the corpses of a family strewn about the road. The husband, wife and their two young children have all been brutally smashed. The residents of the surrounding houses are standing in the street. Some look shocked, others are weeping and not a few of them look completely terrified.
"Oh, your grace!" one of the panicking neighborhood residents exclaims when she sees Yulia. "It were giants, three of em! A huge woman, and two smaller fat ones in armor. They came out of nowhere, smashed the Jorlberger's house to pieces and then ran off," the woman says pointing off into the forest nearby.
Before Yulia leaves, she wakes up Trigva, who quickly joins them.
Yulia seems to be slightly shaken at heinous murder of the family. She is certainly used to the brutality of living in the Linnorm Kingdoms, but innocent slaughter has always struck a nerve. Even over twenty years after the fact, the memories of the battle between the Desnan Guardians and the Kalvamen still haunt her.
"I'll handle the murderers," Yulia declares as she shifts into her Four-Armed Gargoyle mode. She glances down at her small subjects and softly tells them, "Please gather the bodies. I wasn't expecting another pyre so soon, but we'll be having one later today."
Once Imperia and Trigva are ready, the trio charges after the giants. The Lunar King does realize that they could be charging into a trap, but with Imperia's Dimension Door and their mutually high senses of perception, she figures they can probably handle one easily enough.
"My Commune says to expect an attack within three days. Still, I wasn't expecting something so cowardly so soon," Yulia mumbles to Imperia.
While the trail is not as obvious as the warband's before, the tracks of giants are easy enough to follow. They lead a short way from the town into a forest clearing nearby.
Standing there are two hill giants in full plate armor wielding halberds and a pale-skinned huge giantess, a cloud giant. She's wielding a massive morningstar and armored as well. "The Storm Queen sends her regards little King. She can't have you interfering further with her plans though."
The two hill giants lower their polearms, ready to fight. With an evil grin, the giantess raises her still bloody morningstar and says "Shall we?"
Initiative
Imperia 23
Yulia 18
Hill Gs 15
??? 12.5
Storm G 4
"Wait," Yulia says to Imperia in Celestial.
The Sage Sorceress nods and holds her actions as Yulia throws up a Mythic Haste spell on her allies. The Chelaxian woman quickly puts the extra speed to good use, moves closer to the giants, and hurls a powerful bolt of dark energy at the Cloud Giantess from the tips of her figures.
"Trigva, kill," Yulia orders coldly as she points a finger at the northmost hill and calmly walks toward the Cloud Giantess.
The tiger lets out a fierce roar and hurl himself at the designated enemy.
"I swear," Yulia hisses at the Cloud Giantess. The starry sky patterns of her kimono begins to shift and fall off the cloth. It slowly covers the Lunar King like a cloak. "You will all feel the pain you've caused my subjects a hundred fold."
The Dark Tapestry itself erupts from Yulia's otherworldly shroud and consumes the Cloud Giantess, sending her screaming into a void.
___________________________________________
Imperia:
Trigva:
The two giants move towards the tiger, trying to hold it back with the halberds.
Predictably, they are unable to touch the mythic beast.
Two sibilant voices fill the air with the sounds of chanted spell casting. Their sources are not visible.
The giantess is unable to find her way out of the kimono's maze.
"We have company," Yulia murmurs under her breath. Using the extra time granted to her by the Mythic Haste, she scans the battlefield while looking into her mythic well for something that might help, something that purges invisibility.
Before flying off in the direction of the casting (if she can even locate it), Yulia notes that Trigva is closer to the southmost giant and swiftly orders him to focus on that one.
Wanting a bigger tiger between herself and her enemies, Imperia quickly throws the Animal Growth spell on Trigva, causing the mighty feline to rocket up in size and bulk. She then retreats backward behind a tree to think over her next move.
Trigva quickly follows Yulia's new orders and attacks the south most giant with all his might. In his haste, he throws anything resembling accuracy out the window.
_____________________________________
Yulia:
Extra Move Action: Listen for the general direction of the casting.
Standard Action: Use Inspired Spell to cast Invisibility Purge.
Move Action: If she can find it, fly toward source's general direction. She has a 110 foot fly speed with the Mythic Haste up.
Free Action: Tell Trigva to attack southern hill giant.
Imperia:
Standard: Cast Animal Growth on Trigva.
Move: Move to M27.
Trigva:
Extra Move/Free Action: If necessary, five-foot step toward the southern hill giant. His size increase might do that for him, though.
Full-Round Attack: Full-round attack the southern hill giant.
ooc]My bad for not explicitly calling out difficult terrain this time Squares with a tree or bush in them are always going to be difficult. Like the one Imperia's in at the start of the turn.[/ooc]
Yulia doesn't have to fly far to locate the source of the chanting. Her purge reveals two large snake like creatures, both in midst of chanting.
All but the last of Trigva's claws fail to penetrate the giant's full plate armor.
The giants fight as a unit this time, stepping up with one harrying Trigva while the other one tries to stab him.
Miss
Despite their tactics, they are unable to land a blow on the tiger.
The two snake women finish their spells, and two swarms of thousands of bats appear out of nowhere around Yulia and begin biting her.
The snake women cast another spell each and their forms become blurry and indistinct, jumping about in place, never holding still.
The giantess fails to escape the kimono.
The mighty Yulia is barely phased by the bugs trying to bite at her. With a growl, she effortlessly flies through the swarms and crashes down net to the snake casters, and the Ulfen Half-Elf Four-Armed Gargoyle Lunar Oracle Linnorm King quickly launches into a flurry of blows. However, her foe's blurry existence proves to make it hard to hit them, and her aim is already off because of that.
Realizing how outnumbered her party is, Imperia begins summoning some outside help.
Trigva holds up much better than his master. The large tiger launches into his own barrage of attacks. One of his claws pounces off the giant's full-plate, but his other one spills blood, and he manages to find a weak spot to sink of his teeth as well.
Yulia:
Imperia:
Trigva:
All of Yulia's attacks miss the naga.
Trigva messily dismembers the hill giant, who dies almost instantly, screaming.
The other giant curses, throws down his weapon, and tries to run away.
The cloud giantess remains trapped in the kimono.
The two nagas step back from Yulia and cast more spells. Some form of magical protection flashes briefly around them in the shape of an aegis before disappearing.
The swarms of bats catch up to Yulia and continue to bite her.
Once again, Yulia easily ignores the tiny bloodsuckers biting at her. However, she grunts in annoyance as she feels their attacks starting to hurt. With a fierce roar, the Lunar Oracle bursts out of the bat swarms and crashes down in front of the Naga casters. The Linnorm King begins shifting through her mythic well for a power to (hopefully) hit all her enemies at once and quickly finds one. With a loud yell in angry Skald and a snap of her claws, a giant pillar of Desna's divine fire erupts from the ground and engulfs them all.
Seeing the coast clear, Imperia quickly puts aside her fears of being smashed to a pulp and joins Yulia in fighting the Naga casters. She quickly throws a Slowing spell at her foes, hoping to impair them enough for Yulia to dispatch them. Her tiger quickly follows at her heels, taking a few seconds to assess the situation before acting himself.
Trigva chases after the fleeing hill giant. With the extra speed granted to him by his master's Mythic Haste, he easily catches up with the armored brute and throws himself at his prey. With a load roar of his own, Trigva lungs with all his mighty behind his teeth and claws.
_______________________________________________
The swarms are incinerated by the divine fire of Yulia's spell.
The nagas seem to be slowed by Imperia's spell.
Her summoned tiger looks at the naga's and growls, preparing to attack them.
Trigva crushes the vertebrae in the fleeing giant's neck, killing it.
The giantess remains trapped in the kimono.
The two nagas hiss in frustration, stepping back and sending two fireballs streaking behind Yulia to explode and engulf her and the summoned tiger.
Yulia's finely tuned instincts and Hasted movement allow her to sense the fireballs coming long before they explode. Faster than something her size should be capable of moving, the King of Southmoor nimbly dodges the worst of each one. She quickly whistles Trigva over and then rather literally returns fire herself. Yulia once again grasps the mythic power than obliterated the swarms, lets out an indignant roar, snaps her fingers, and hurls another pillar of divine fire at her enemies.
Poor Imperia take the full-force of the first fireball, but her foresight of casting False Life negates most of the damage. She more readily dodges the second one. Overall, she is rather burned, but the Chelish woman still has plenty of fight left in her. Realizing that the melee might have problems hitting the Naga, she quickly begins working on dispelling their magical protections.
The tiger manages to dodge the first fireball well enough, but the second completely blindsides him. Luckily, Imperia's magic makes him hardier than usual. With an angry roar, he quickly charges into the fray himself.
Hearing Yulia's call to attack, Trigva quickly runs over the battle and continues his furious assault against the Storm Queen's minions.
_____________________________________________
The pillar of divine fire badly burns the nagas, and then Imperia successfully dispells the displacement on the northern naga. Then Trigva closes with the beast and tears its burnt, serpentine body to shreds.
The giantess fails to escape the maze.
The last naga steps back from the tigers and gargoyles and throws another fireball, this time catching Yulia and all her allies in the blast.
Yulia and her allies all anticipate the fireball, so everyone manages to dodge the worst of it. Trigva in particular jumps clean over the explosion altogether and lands nimbly on his feet without a care in the world. However, Imperia, far less durable than her allies, lets out a cry of pain as some of the fire scorches her skin. She collapses on one knee and whimpers in agony.
Seeing how badly burned her friend is, Yulia quickly shuffles over to Imperia and throws her strongest healing spell on the Sorceress. The Chelish woman's burns vanish instantly. She gives her Gargoyle friend a nod of appreciation before attempting to dispel the Displacement on the Naga. However, likely do the shock of the burns, her spell fizzles.
Nonetheless, both Trigva and the summoned tiger attack the Naga with everything they have.
_______________________________________________________
Yulia:
Imperia:
Summoned Tiger:
Trigva:
All the tigers' attacks miss the naga.
The naga steps back and throws another fireball into the center of Yulia's group, hitting them all.
"Gah!" Imperia grunts in pain as she takes the full-force of the fireball. Thanks to Yulia's healing, she is able to survive it, but the burns nonetheless hurt. The Chelish woman grits her teeth and manages to stand, looking over at her friend once she is steady on her feet.
Yulia herself manages to once more avoid the worst of it, but even with her constant dodging, the King of Southmoor is starting to slow down. Her breathing is heavy, and her rocky hide is covered with heavy burns. Still, Yuyu looks determined as always.
With her confidence renewed, Imperia raises her fingers to throw another bolt of antimagic at the Naga, but Yulia stops her.
"Allow me," the Lunar Oracle says, tossing the very same spell that Imperia intended to cast.
Imperia nods and switches tactics. As she runs closer to get a better shot, her own small hands ignite with fire, and the Sage Sorceress utters her fierce battle cry. It is not quite as fierce as those of Yulia, but it is still quite fearsome in its own right.
The tigers easily dodge the worst of the fireball, though the summoned one seems on its last limbs; however, Trigva once more avoids it entirely and looks as strong as ever. They once more charge the Naga, throwing everything they have at the serpent.
_____________________________________
Summoned Tiger:
Trigva:
Yulia manages to dispel the naga's displacement. Imperia nods and switches tactics. As she runs closer to get a better shot, her own small hands ignite with fire, and the Sage Sorceress utters her fierce battle cry. It is not quite as fierce as those of Yulia, but it is still quite fearsome in its own right.
A huge stream of molten magical liquid sprays from Imperia's hands and engulfs the naga, who fails to dodge it at all. Then the two tigers converge on the snake like creature. They both leap on it simultaneously, and Yulia and Imperia see why cats are predators of snakes. The naga stands no chance under their claws without its displacement. Within seconds the massive cats have made mincemeat of the snake.
As the dust settles, Yulia decides to do the intelligent thing and patch herself up. The Lunar Oracle quickly throws up a powerful Heal spell the first chance she gets. Seeing as the giantess does not break out immediately afterward, she follows that up with another couple bursts of lesser healing magic to get Imperia back in good health.
"Let's get ready for her," Yulia suggests once everyone is fully healed, using one of her extra hands to point out the approximate spot where the giantess is due to return.
With their last enemy still trapped, Yulia and Imperia take the chance to ready themselves. The Linnorm King throws up a Mighty Strength spell on Trigva, while her Court Magician casts Mirror Image and another False Life.
Yulia has Trigva stand near the Naga corpses and wait for her signal to attack. She and Imperia retake a position on the other side of the returning spot. Everyone makes sure to stay out of the giantess' immediate reach. Imperia's Summoned Tiger fades away long before the giantess returns. The Mythic Haste also times out, but King Yuyu does not bother to recast it.
When the giantess finally breaks out of the Otherworldly Maze, Yulia holds back from immediately attacking her; Imperia readies another Enervation in case her foe tries anything, and Trigva continues to wait for the signal.
"Your allies are dead," Yulia begins coolly, her voice thick with poison. She points to a corpse with each arm. "Now, you're going to answer my questions. All of them. I can fact check them with ease, so don't lie."
As if on cue, Trigva growls.
"What happens if she doesn't comply, Trigva? Well, let's not hope it doesn't come to that," Yulia "replies" in a voice laced with poisoned honey. She turns her attention back to the giantess, "So what do you say?"
"Two black-scaled serpents with female faces writhe into view, each guarded by a massive, armored humanoid. The squamous flesh of these creatures is punctuated by lines of red runic tattoos that run down the considerable length of their bodies. The giant warriors, girded in glistening steel armor inlaid with intricate gold patterns, wield massive halberds, likewise adorned. One of the witch serpents rasps, “This warning is both the first and the final word you little ones shall receive from the Storm Queen. Those who even contemplate crossing her die swiftly. She has no room for mercy in her heart—only vengeance!”
"I am Nashatha. Why do you oppose the Storm Queen's vengeance? I cannot defeat one as powerful as you, but I will not willingly betray my queen. Kill me if you must," she says, putting on a stern face and steeling herself for the worst.
Seeing a chance to willingly get some information, Yulia holds off on making any more threats. Part of her is still utterly furious about the brutal murders of her subjects. Such things have never sat well with the Lunar Oracle. However, she suddenly finds herself hesitant to just kill Nashatha after she gets her answers; then again, that is nothing new. Even though his warband had killed several innocents on their way to murder poor Zoarth, Yulia had seen it fit to let Grunf live.
She is very aware that decision will probably come back to bite her in the butt, but something inside of her had begged Yulia to show mercy.
Yulia often feels that she has too much empathy for a resident for the Linnorm Kingdoms. The Ulfen aren't exactly the most reflective of people. Imperia likes to joke that the Lands are easily the most dangerous place in Golarion (bar supernaturally twisted areas like the Worldwound), so they think little to nothing of using violence to solve every problem. In her homeland, death can happen at any time for virtually any reason; Yulia has long ago accepted that fact, but she has never liked that reality. Yulia wants nothing more than to change it, even just a little.
Sure, Yulia realizes that she can get caught up in the moment and toss aside mercy if sufficiently angered. That usually happens in a heated battle. When her life or someone she cares about is on the line, she will almost always rise up to defend them. However, after the dust settles, Yulia has tendency to think about her actions and wonder if there could have been another way, one with less bloodshed.
Sometimes, Yulia is even bothered by it all. She even feels a bit... sorry for some of her enemies at times. Jol is convinced that her battle with the Crag Linnorm was an epic clash of legend, not the eight second slaughter it really was. While it is easy to justify having Trigva and his summoned counterpart attacking the Naga while they were tossing fireballs at herself and her friends, their brutal deaths still... leave Yulia a bit uneasy.
She attributes that belief and mindset to her father. As a fine example of a progressive reformist, Raelrunodin is an oddity among the xenophobic Snowcasters. He believes that the status quo of sitting around in the ruins of their once great civilization is unproductive and that the outside world has good ideas right for the picking. For someone so young (relatively speaking; the man is probably seven or eight Imperias old), he has done so much to move his tribe to more worldly views. By all accounts, he seems to be on to something; his own group of Snowcasters is currently thriving. Her father does use immense arcane power to protect his people, but the Sage Sorcerer has always cared little for violence.
Yulia can only wonder how he would handle this situation; he has never sworn revenge against anything, even Jörmungandr. Would Raelrunodin let Nashatha walk after her surrender?
The talk of vengeance also brings up another thought. Jörmungandr is probably the only living exception to that rule. The Killer of Heroes will see no mercy from Yulia. That decision has been made for decades. In her mind, there are acts that cross the line, and killing Hilda Rockne was one such act. The murder of this family, though, reminds her so much of that loss, and so much of her believes that it crossed that line...
Yulia sighs and puts her chain of thoughts aside.
"Vengeance? What vengeance? What have the people of Jol ever done to the Storm Queen, Nashatha? What did they do to deserve such aggression? I oppose anyone who tries to kill my subjects."
"They shelter you, the allies of Zoarth!" she retorts, as if it should be obvious. The cloud giantess crosses her arms over her breasts in a defensive posture, and glares down at Yulia.
Personal revenge against me, huh? That's... ironic. She noticed that I left out Zoarth, and the Storm Queen knows that I've allied with him, Yulia concludes in her mind. They're more well-informed than I thought. Maybe Grunf said something to her?
"So this vengeance is all about Zoarth? I don't think so," Yulia says dryly. "Your forces have been killing innocents right and left. Even if Zoarth had thrown me out of his castle after I helped him, I still would've done something about the marauding horde of giants rampaging across Southmoor. And putting all that aside, what has Zoarth ever done to warrant an army invading his home?"
"Once long ago, the Queen and Zoarth were lovers. They lived together. She was a bird maven, bound to her birds as a mother is to her children. Then Zoarth summoned his cats, and they murdered all the Queen's children. When she found out, the Queen went into a coma caused by the shock. Zoarth left her for dead, and went to live with his cats, telling everyone she'd died. It is for this crime that he must die," Nashatha replies, seeming surprised that Yulia doesn't know. "As for stopping my smaller, stupider cousins from maruading across Southmoor...ha! You are funny! You speak of the genocide of all the less civilized races of the giants. For what are we if not raiders living on the fringes of the little peoples' world? Raiding is their way of life. They would have raided without the Queen, she just directed them towards Zoarth."
Imperia chimes in momentarily, "Her story aside, she's right Yulia. Giants are probably raiding some part of your kingdom right now. That's kind of a fact of life this close to the Kodar Mountains."
"I never said anything about stopping all the giant raids in Southmoor. When I said that I would do something, I meant looking into the Storm Queen's hired warband. Putting aside its abnormally large numbers, someone who employs devils is never up to any good," Yulia clarifies in a calm, even voice, more to Imperia than to Nashatha.
The Lunar Oracle turns back to Nashatha.
"If your tale is true, then that's unfortunate. I can... emphasis with the desire for revenge, especially after being wronged like that. If we had known this a few days ago, then I might have stood down and went about my business. I... probably would've even put aside what the warband did."
That's assuming the story is true. Backing off would probably trigger my curse, but with most of the raiders dead, I don't think Desna would blame me for moving on.
She feels rather conflicted about what she just heard. If there's any element of the truth, then the big picture just got much greyer than before. However, the King of Southmoor became personally involved in this matter when Jol was attacked and the family was slaughtered, so she keeps focused. As such, Yulia decides to keep asking for information.
"Then why not just use the Orb on Zoarth and call it a day? Why go through all the trouble with me? This conflict doesn't seem to be entirely between her and him; your Queen seems to have greater designs for Southmoor as a whole."
"I do not know. I am a soldier, following orders. The Queen hasn't shared all her plans with me," Nashatha replies. She hesitates before continuing. "Will you let me go, please? I cannot return to my Queen a failure, but as I said, I will not betray her. If you let me go, I will head south and leave your kingdom in peace."
Still sporting mixed feelings on the matter, Yulia looks over to Imperia and asks, "What do you think?"
In her mind, it is a difficult decision. It would be wise to get the opinion of the smartest person she knew before making any calls.
Imperia frowns. "It seems the Storm Queen is still dangerous, even if she has good motivation to be. I would suggest we let Nashatha go, and make sure she keeps her word about leaving Southmoor. Then we should find the Storm Queen and make it clear that we can't have her attacking people."
Imperia then steps close and whispers in Yulia's ear in celestial, "Also, don't forget why we started all this. We need Zoarth's help to complete the ritual in the Book."
After leaning over so the much smaller woman can speak in her ear, Yulia nods at Imperia's advice.
"Very well, Nashatha. If you leave Southmoor in peace and never stir trouble here again, I will spare your life. However, as I told Grunf, I will know if you break your promise, and if you do, there will be no further mercy from me."
Long after the giantess leaves, Yulia sighs in frustration and begins searching the bodies of the fallen for anything remotely useful. If nothing else, the Storm Queen equips her soldiers with some rather fine gear; Yulia rather likes the irony of funding the war effort with her enemy's own possessions.
"I hope my mercy doesn't come back to haunt us," Yulia says to Imperia after collecting everything. "Part of me still wants to rip Nashatha to shreds for what she did. By sparring her, though, I feel like I... let someone down, you know? My actions got those poor people butchered, and I let their murderer go."
Yulia waits for her curse to kick in. She made a promise, and she failed to keep it. She pets Trigva on the head. The giant tiger lets out a purr-like sound, especially once Yulia starts scratching behind his ears.
"I'll handle the murderers," Yulia declares as she shifts into her Four-Armed Gargoyle mode.
Whenever you break your word (either purposefully or unintentionally), you become sickened for 24 hours or until you meet your obligation, whichever comes first. However, once per day, you can make a vow to yourself that grants a +4 morale bonus on any one roll you make while trying to fulfill a promise made to another individual.