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Pip strains to hear her own illusion over the roar of battle everywhere, then shakes her head as she releases the magic. She hisses to Durothil on the ground level "What are you waiting for. There's handholds everywhere! I though you people were so good with trees and stuff...
She peers inside, and relays the information to the elf below her. "There's twelve initiates. And a halfling, who looks ready to set things on fire... There might be another person by the door, but I'm not sure."
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"Blasted vines. Listen pip are you going in the window up there or down here? If you go in down here I might be able to take him down with my bow. I think he is bluffing. We should just rush the place."
nuts again
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"We slow. You fast. You go. We stay. We distract."
Rravn then turns back to the door, clearing his throat. Again his eyes shift in color, this time choosing to stay in pearl white.
"Aspis agents! What you have done is unwise! You've chosen to attack our main base of operations during a feast when a majority is attending said festivities. And now look at you! Before we even got here, you've resorted to locking yourselves inside a building, taking hostages! And your greatest mistake; you haven't even listed your demands! What do you want from us? What have your superiors wanted from you? Do they list you as mere casualties once the ordeal is over? Are you truly fighting for a cause, or only because you've been ordered to do so? We only care for the lives of our pupils, the initiates, the ones you threaten with death. Do you blame us for this empathy?"
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"Ain't gonna work, Pathfinders! I don't have to go anywhere... I just gotta wait for my friends to come back. You ain't gonna get me out. No way, no how. Just you try it, if'n you want your novices dead."
Pip can tell that the halfling is getting ever more agitated. He looks up at the window, clearly sees Pip, and waggles his finger.
Lady BroKhan finds that the door is locked.
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Yikes!
Pip holds up her hands to show that she's not aggressive and then climbs down. She consults with Durothil. "There's some kind of trap just above the captives. It's a wine cup perched to fall. Maybe there's acid in there, of some kind of bomb. The halfling could easily topple it if he suspects an attack. The only thing I can think of is to fly right through the window and grab the goblet before it can fall. It's risky, though, and I'll need backup."
Pip grabs a potion from her belt, realizing that they're strapped for time and springing into action when Durothil agrees.
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Shaking some doubts from her mind, Pip drops the stopper from the potion. "Lady Chadali, you've not been too kind to me today. But this is about innocent youngster, I really need you now..." She quaffs the potion, sets off from the ground to gain some altitude and then sends herself crashing through the window. Arms forward, she aims for the goblet to snatch it up.
"CHARGE!"
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Pip flies up, and shatters the window! Seeing the window shatter, the aspis halfling shakes his head, a tear falling from his eye, and points his finger at the glass. Pip, who is charging at the glass, looks on with a horrified look on her face as a ghostly hand tips the glass over, and the bead falls.
It seems like hours to Pip as the bead falls to the ground over the unconscious novices. It explodes into a ball of fire, the immense heat felt by Pip, even though the flames don't quite make it to her. All of the novices are killed, however.
The halfling then starts to run, but the Pathfinders immediately rush in, and subdue to the Aspis agent, probably killing him.
A few minutes later, after the carnage is surveyed, the Pathfinders find Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin, and report the failure. "It was my fault, really," the gruff Venture-Captain says. "I was in too much of a hurry, too worried about the initiates, and in a hurry to get back to Skyreach. I should have found a more experienced team." He sighs heavily, and appears to be ready to move on. [b]"Now, go try help out around here. Chaos is everywhere, and I am sure that you can find something for your skills."
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Bow drawn and posied to fire, Durothil hears the glass shatter above him. He sees the bucket tip and the bead begin to fall.
Seconds were nothing in the life of an elf. Yet the few seconds as the bead descended towards the floor and the defenseless novices would forever be etched in his mind.
He stood at the window and willed himself to watch. He opened his eyes though all he wanted to do was close them and forget this ever happened. As the flame blew the window out and peppered him with shattered glass, he stood immobile.
Once the flames died down he went in and looked at each and every burned body. He bent down and whisperd something to each.
When finished, he rejoined the others, eyes forward, expressionless.
"Kill them. I wish to kill them all. Every. Last. Aspis." he intoned.
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As the bead falls, Pip knows she is too late. Her momentum takes her forward, but she misses the chance to grab it. She has the courage to look back, seeing the bead turn into a bone-crunching explosion. Her body falls limp in the sky, touching the ground and skidding on the smooth marble. In a corner of her mind she registers her companions coming in and taking down the halfling, but she doesn't look up. The young half-orc stays on the floor, face down and crying.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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When Drusilla hears the sound and feels the tremor of the explosion, she knows they had failed. Perhaps it was blessing of not having to witness it with her eyes. The charred remains are horrible enough.
"This is how Aspis works. They do not shy of killing those who cannot defend themselves. Remember, my friends - they will show you no mercy."
"We grieve for these initiates later. Now we concentrate on stopping Aspis doing any more harm!"
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The group starts patrolling, looking for dangers to overcome. As you are walking through a small park area, you see an older man running as if his life depended on it... quickly after, you see a pair of brightly-colored feline blurs resembling a cheetah with longer fur and lynx-like ears, and seems to scorch the air as it moves.
Lady BroKhan and Lady Drusilla think that these are the creatures they stared down at the animal handling test.
5
4
7
1
6
2
3
Drusilla and Rravn are up!
- => Drusilla
- => Rravn
- Pards
- Durothil
- Dekion
- Pip
- BroKhan
Conditions:
Dekion:
Durothil:
BroKhan:
Drusilla: Mage Armor (40 mins)
Pip:
Rravn:
Pard 1:
Pard 2:
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"And so it begins." Rravn's eyes had turned red, his gaze into a menacing look, as he blew the killing blow to the halfling who was responsible for this horrendous act.
----
Still in what appears to be a brutal, merciless mode, Rravn sees the felines and his eyes widen. "Beasts of war! End their lives!" he screams, casting a favor from the gods on him before dashing past the pastures to close in on the hostile creatures.
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Pip picks herself up and tries to dry her eyes with the edges of her sleeves. "The sad part is," she simpers, "that I don't think he really wanted to kill them. How did we get into this mess?"
--
"And now we have to kill innocent animals as well, to defend ourselves?" Pip sounds thoroughly demoralized, but her hand reaches you her weapon to do what is necessary.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Durothil noticing that these animals move quickly around the battlefield, tries to maneuver himself in a position to limit their quickness.
He draws his Bardiche. Swinging it two handed, he swipes at the fast moving cat.
"Anybody bring a bowl of milk to distract these cats?"
So 15 damage, if a 15 hits, 31 damage
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"Well done, ladies and gentlemen! Swift offence is the best form of defence!"
Lady Drusilla follows her allies into battle. She walks promptly, but with dignity, avoiding getting too close to the alien cat creature. Finding a flanking position with Rravn, Drusilla reaches out and starts stroking the pard's silky fur. "There, there, kitty... No need to get those claws out."
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Drusilla's attack misses the cat. Seeing this, Pip moves up to attack the cat with her long sword.
Unfortunately it looks like the half-orc does not know which end of the sword to swing.
The pard roars at the death of its mate, and starts moving in a very odd way. It moves with such speed that it bursts info flame, moving through each of the Pathfinders in turn.
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The Grand Lodge’s campus is overrun with marauders and monsters, while support staff, initiates, and visitors run in peril for their lives. Yet, nearby groups of Pathfinders cluster together and argue about what to do about it, which team should stand back and support the other, and who has the best idea of what is happening. A venture-captain approaches from the direction of Skyreach.
Venture-captain Janiff Ivulxtin, former head administrator of the Grand Lodge moves towards you, nodding to get your attention. "Pathfinders, we need to start coordinating our defenses, and there are just not enough Venture-Captains to pull this off. In this power vacuum, I am enlisting you to go remind your colleages that the Society's motto includes the word 'cooperate'.
"There are four areas that I need you to go start motivating some agents that are not acting like Pathfinders. areas. The Repository and the Center House both have wards and defenses, but should still be cordoned off and protected from the outside. The Society also has a number of visitors and guests who should be escorted safely off grounds and reassured that everything is under control. Finally, Absalom’s district guards needs to be stalled at the front gates before they overrun the campus and make a mess of everything. I am granting you temporary authority to see that jobs are handled.
"Do not let me, or the Society down. Our very survival depends on it!" With that he hurries off to put out another fire. Literally.
You all notice a group of five Pathfinders, led by a dwarven man in that just standing around. An elven man in spectacles is standing there, looking worried. "Please, you must help me to get out of here!"
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Pip clears her throat, at Brokhan and the dwarf. "Well, everyone has been under enough stress today, so I can understand that tension runs high." Pip herself seems living proof of that. Her eyes are blood-shot and her hair is a mess.
She starts into a heart-felt plea. "Still, that doesn't mean we should be at each other's throat. We should stick together, now of all times. As you may have noticed, we're short on Venture-Captains to handle everything that needs done. We'll have to fend for ourselves, to salvage what we can. Now, can you please tell us what's going on here?"
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Dekion stands there, too slow to react to the fast creatures before his companions put them down. He shakes his head as if to clear it. "Nice job everyone. Sorry I wasn't much help." Turning to Lady BroKhan, "Thanks for the healing. That creature hit me before I even knew what was going on."
He follows the others over to the group with the dwarf. He is about to lay into the dwarf, when Pip speaks up and tries to diffuse the situation.
In as calm a tone as he can muster given the situation, he adds "Venture-captain Janiff Ivulxtin just told us to get people going; that there were too many just standing around. He didn't point to you specifically, but you certainly seem to fit the bill." He glances quickly at his companions realizing he hasn't been much help either.
"Do I need to remind you of our motto regarding cooperating? The VC said to have guests escorted off of the grounds and that Absalom’s district guards needs to be stalled at the front gates. So you could accomplish both of those by escorting this elf to the gate. I'm sure the VC would be impressed. Now get going."
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Pip nods at Dekion, then resumes her convincing of the dwarf, annoyed that he isn't swayed directly. "Venture-Captain Ivulxtin didn't just tell us to get people going. He specifically granted us temporary authority. Now, I know you folks are keen on tradition and all, and I can tell you this has happened before in the Society's history. The Venture-Captain is well within his right to grant us authority." She takes a firm stance, making herself seem as tall as she can be. "Just consider our words to be equal to the Venture-Captain's. He wants you to escort the professor safely off the premises. Do you understand?!