>> it's the only way I speak. and I sense it. Smell it. It's got a good smell to it, really.<<
there's a tapping of fingers on a counter, and behind it, a strange purple humanoid, with tentalces in place of a mouth.
>> never understood why people think this is rude. Not like I'm actually intruding any more then you are simply by speaking to me.<<
"That is a simple answer. Culture. Where I come from the mind is the closest thing to an impenetrable private sanctum, and allowing anyone into it, however mildly, is considered an intimate thing marking great trust. What are you anyway? I've not heard of your like before."
>>I'm a brain eating, extra-dimentional being. My name is<<
a complicated series of images and sounds flash by.
>> but everyone calls me Larry, becuase no-one can pronounce my name here.<<
"I'm guessing your people don't write names. Not your own anyway. I'm also guessing you haven't been eating the local's brains. So do you run this place or are you just visiting?" she looks at him with a calculating but not hostile look.
>>I'm the local librarian. And I haven't.<<
he creature holds up a clawed hand with a ring on it.
>>I don't eat at all, actually.<<
"Interesting. Do you have a good nook where I can do some research?"
the creature pauses, a moment.
>>Sort of. Besides all the shelves, there are many books in the upper reaches of the tower that I can have my magical servants retrieve. Simply ask for what you want, find a spot to sit... Or curl up in, and it'll be brought to you shortly if we have anything of the sort.<<
"Not quite what I meant. Have any tables or a desk for public use?" she asks as she looks around.
the creature points to a few tables skattered about the library.
She finds the most isolated and hidden one she can, then pulls out the scroll and her journal. She opens the scroll to see what it is, though she examines it before reading it, both to see the lettering and to detect any potential reading activated traps.
the scroll is quite simple, and is figured out in only a few moments- it's a scrolls of comprehend lanugages.
"Hmm."
She moved on to researching what happened to her, who chalk might be, who the players probably are, and who the tarhet probably is. Might take a few days. Luckily, she doesn't need sleep, amd food is only needed to recover from injuries (she will probably get a meal early on, so she is well fed if attacked).
about ten minutes ago...
"Hay! You there. Morrigan! There's something going on and we could use your help."
Morrigan sighs over the interruption, then slips over to where the captain was, "What sort of something? Bad, really bad, or one of those rare and elusive good things?" she finishes with a smile at her own comment.
"Bad. Quite bad."
Morrigan quirks an eyebrow, "Well in that case I'm leaving on vacation. I'll be back about the time it is all over." but she slides forward, smiling at her attempt to lighten the mood, a normal thing she does.
adya sighs.
"I won't make you come. I'm just trying to have some of our tougher residents come out and fight this thing, to minimize causatulies. Hopefully, we can get this thing dead before it even gets to the walls."
"So what are we facing?" she asks, as she gestures for the tiny (relatively speaking) creature to lead the way.
"Well. Have you ever faced one of this place's primal monsters before?"
she leads morrigan's toward the barracks.
Morrigan laughs "The toughest thing I've faced around these parts is you. I have faced a few dragons though in my home realm, crazed, tortured, and brainwashed as they were, still wasn't easy."
adya pauses, a while.
"... Anyway, I'm gonna have Antony fill you in on what they're like. You'll probobly be working with him."
she gestures to the barracks.
"And remember, whether he says so or not, there is no shame in running if you can't handle it anymore. I'll be coming with, but I've got to go get my armor on."
"Depends on what those things are. I am from a military society and So I am trained in many ways of fighting and leadership. But we never used terms like 'mage' and 'fighter.' We had brutes designed for assaults, scouts for maneuvering and proper tactics, workers to cover non-combat work, and then the ones like me, queens who are the strategic commanders, social leaders, creators of new reaplings, and research development, in addition to covering all the other areas to at least a basic degree." She shrugs. "Basically I can fit where needed."
She shrugs indifferently, "I've fought dragons and armies. Sometimes at the same time. Close enough? How much time have we got before contact, and what do we have on our side?" she asks switching to a more serious tone that sounds quite a bit like a general asking.
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"Dragons and armies at the same time eh? Look, confidence is important, but a braggart will get themselves and their comrades killed. A primal beast is a veritable wall of meat, capable of shrugging off ballista bolts, like you or I would shrug off a stone thrown by a child. They are unpredictable and powerful, no two alike"
"I wasn't bragging. I was giving my most intense experience for comparison, so thus you could focus on sharing how this might differ, which so far doesn't sound like much difference at all." she exclaims only slightly miffed at being mistook in such a way which turns into lecture.
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Conner rolls his eyes "regardless, we have no idea how long it'll take it to get here it's path is random, could be ten miniutes, ten hours, ten days no way to tell. But as to who's fighting it, just the three of us, you me and Adya. We're trying to keep casualties to a minimum so we're not sending in any newbies who'd die before leaving a dent in the thing" he pauses "I'm sorry if I've been harsh to you, but this is important and we can't get distracted"
"There is a difference between fighting and risking casualties. Use groups of archers for example. Attacking from distance, preferably places of cover and concealment, can minimize their risk while adding significantly to our offense. Further, such groups can draw the thing away from the town if it gets too close and risks non-combatant casualties and that makes them desirable even if they aren't expected to be the primary combatants. As for distractions, for any well practiced warrior there is always time fpr distractions. 'You should be able to think about going to work the next day and still fight.' As one master puts it. If you haven't achieved that yet, then you are not yet a master yourself."
She says as she gazes out there wherever the "dreaded" beast supposedly lurks.
"Being irrational is different from being stupid, or arrogant. Unless they are mindless, they will still follow tactics of some sort, even if not always the expected ones. And to be honest, mindless creatures are the easiest to manipulate once you understand their triggers. So if these creatures are so unpredictable, you either don't understand them, or they are simply untrained but somewhat intelligent. For an intelligent creature, when attacked, you run, counter, bluff, hide, trust an ally to cover you, commit suicide by way of enemy fire, possibly while focusing on a goal, or enact a plan which requires higher planning and thus is more predictable. Only mindless creatures ignore an attack without having some greater and more important goal than survival, no matter how weak the attack. I.E. when you step on a mound of fire ants, it doesn't matter that they can't kill you or even seriously harm you, you still notice and respond to end the attack. Some still panic over it even, though usually non-warriors."
"Not correct, what you describe is a being with a broken mind, a being incapable of survival, and reacts primarily on instinct, which is predictable when understood. Rational is not the same as logical. A being that always thinks 2+2 = fish tacos is being rational. They are internally consistent, following some mental rules which may be quite different from the norm. An irrational being simply has no consistency to their thought process, but this doesn't totally destroy their instincts, and they require some small measure of rationale to simply survive. After all, survival requires consistent results, even if only from their instinctive side. More, they can be inconsistent, yet always give applicable, if stupid, responses."
She is clearly simply waiting, unworried about anything else, but not worried about the conversation either.
Adaya comes back in, still adjusting her bracers.
"I leave you two alone for two minutes... Look, we can debate stuff later. The people on the wall say it's getting closer. Let's get in there, and do some damage. Maybe even kill it, if we're lucky."
adya leads the two to the top of the barracks, and points to a flying snake like creature in the distance, about the size of a house.
"There. So far, from what the guards have told me..."
there's a huge flash of light, and there's a charred, melting chunk of ground where a tree was.
"Iiiit's got a breath weapon."
"Well, if it is as chaotic as brains here says, at least we won't have to worry about it using smart tactics." she points at Antony with her tail when she says brains.
"... I can see you two hit it off well. And no. They don't use tactics, it seems. The closest thing to "tactics" I've seen from one of them is attacking sentient creatures first."
"So, you two ready?"
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"One moment" he says before turning to the snake "I would like your permission to cast a spell on you and my fellows that will increase our effectiveness in the fight it should last for a few hours, if you do not want to be blessed, please slither about sixty or so feat away from me" he then calls to any normal guards in the area and tells them "if we fail today you are the last line of defense to keep your loved one safe. I am going to be casting a spell that will boost your effectiveness for a few hours in case we fail or there other threats out there" he then casts the spell and affects all guards/allies within a 50ft burst
"I am ready." she waits patiently as the spell is cast then wanders off towards the beast.
assuming the group sneaks up on the creature, it's a farely easy task- the creature seems farely stupid, and isn't really looking for anything in preticular. Getting closer, the beast is a giant, rainbow colored snake with wings, and is currently coiling around a tree and crushing it to death.
With a shrug Morrigan blows a kiss at the beast, and a small puff of smoke grows larger and larger, swirling around it, with snowflakes and embers and static discharges appear, and starts dropping pain on the creature.