"Risky as always, but I believe the benefits outweigh the downsides, so potentially useful all the same."
Even as the chaotic energy infused his bodies, "Eldren" narrowed his gaze at his younger self's curious behavior.
"What on earth is he trying to accomplish? Showing compassion to an enemy of that caliber in the heat of battle, foolish."
Despite his words however, he felt a small pang in his heart as he remembered what it was like to have a heart of gold and wanting to help others. He pulls out a potion and downs it to relieve the newest burning sensation flowing around his own body, even as he flitted in and out of reality.
Selgaer's attack causes the dragon to plummet to the ground! It impacts with a mighty thud, sending dirt and dust flying into the air! As it struggles to get to its feet, its eyes narrow as Imedren beseeches it to call off hostilities.
Blood drips from its wounds, and it opens its maw, seemingly ready to incinerate the impertinent sorcerer! But then it snarls and thrashes its tail in agitation. "VERY WELL! TELL THIS FLEA TO GET OFF OF MY BACK, AND I WILL GRANT YOU THE MERCY OF SPARING YOUR MISERABLE LIVES!" the dragon bellows.
Once Selgaer leaps off of the dragon's back, it roars again and takes to the air. After a few seconds, Imedren's time magic wear off, and the mighty creature soars away at top speed, quickly leaving you all behind.
Sel hangs on right as the dragon crashes into the ground, sliding across the earth like a surfer on an overly large board. When the dragon comes to a stop, Imedren goes crazy and starts talking to the beast! Who does that!?
VERY WELL! TELL THIS FLEA TO GET OFF OF MY BACK, AND I WILL GRANT YOU THE MERCY OF SPARING YOUR MISERABLE LIVES! the dragon roars at Imedren.
Ha! This "flea" brought you to the ground, Sel thought to himself with a smile. He pulled his spear out from behind the wing joint and walked along the back of the dragon until he was on the other side, them he jumped off to the ground.
Walking away, he said to Dramm, He just took away one of the best trophies I could have ever got.
Uruuna watches the dragon fly away with awe. She hustles first to her husband's side to see if he's okay, then moves to Selgaer. "That... was... extremely stupid!" she chides the faun. "You could've easily gotten yourself killed!"
Hey, the lake is right there; I'd have just aimed for the water, he says with a half smile.
"And probably hit the train cars," Uruuna counters with a scowl.
Imedren watched with a nearly stunned awe as his desperate, crazy gambit actually paid off.
It had been partly truth, part desparate intimidation, but mostly bluff from what he'd seen, but it was a remote possibility among the multitude of paths.
"It is extremely likely that several, if not all, of us were going to die if that fight had continued much longer. The dragon was either immune or resilient to our magics and was going to start winning that fight very soon."
A search through the wreckage of the train confirms Imedren's previous divinations. Aside from Igor Ironson, there were no survivors of the crash, nor does anything of value remain here. The only clues are the two sets of tracks, one leading south and the other east by southeast.
Dramm belatedly realizes where you are. If the second set of tracks continue in their current direction, they will intersect with his home village after 30 miles or so. They seem to be heading directly to Brace, where the cultists of the Long Mother dwell!
Joy looks at Imedren.
"Im, you still managed to talk a dragon into leaving rather than continuing to fight. That was great work!"
She has not yet seen Dramm's reaction to the tracks.
The pointless fight left Dramm in a sour mood. He gave Selgaer a piece of his own mind as well for drawing them into the deadly skirmish. The sorcerer was furious that the Faun would take their safety and his magic for granted. He then stomps off to help investigate the train. The anger is drained away when he returns and is replaced by worry.
"There are two clear trails. One leads to the South, the other leads East by Southeast. I had not realized where we were before, but I know where the Eastern path leads. If it continues the course, it will take us to Brace. My home."
Apprehension settles on Dramm's face. He had not expected to feel so suddenly ashamed, but the thought of his friends seeing his home stirred doubts in what they may think.
Imedren gives a sheepish grin at Joy's enthusiasm. It was a near impossible feat to have accomplished in the end, he supposed. "Thank you Joy."
After Dramm makes his discoveries, Eldren wandered over and looks over at the two sets of tracks with a thoughtful frown. "One goes to your hometown, eh, Dramm? Well that doesn't make sense unless..." he pondered the development for a few moments. "Dramm, how much do you know about this Long Mother's ability? Do you think it's possible she's attempting to feed off multiple people like you?"
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Sel was taken aback that Dramm was angry with him. Sure, Urunna he could understand; she was just concerned for him. She didn't trust him like the unfailing trust she gave Imedren despite the danger he is constantly putting everyone in. But Dramm? That he didn't understand.
It hurt. And it angered Sel beyond what was normal for the faun. The sorcerer was hitting Sel where he was most insecure - Dramm called for them to run, but Sel's natural skittishness was something he had always worked hard to overcome. And calling for Sel to run in the face of a challenge, calling for Sel to hide in cowardice against something that he actually brought crashing out of the sky! And then criticizing him for it! That was just something else.
Sel retorted to the sorcerer.
That I put you in? I'm not the one who blasted it with magic as soon as it showed up! I'm not the one who attacked it! It attacked me, and before I could even react Mr. Time Duplicate over there f%%$ing with reality immediately tried to blast it out of the sky! I brought the dragon out of the sky! Me, Dramm! I did that! And you have the audacity to say I'm endanger us all?
What are you? Jealous? Pissed that a mere faun could do something you can't? Because I've trained my f&!~ing ass to do things like that, while you're off making pacts with the gods-know-what and it's killing you from the inside.
You know what it is, Dramm? You're just a f##~ing coward. And you lash out at me for doing what you're too afraid to do. Get f~%@ing bent.
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Joy is relieved at making it to the ground without being eaten or burned alive. Then she sees Dramm giving out to Selgaer and Selgaer lambasting Dramm in return.
"Oh no.", she says softly, trying to work out how to help.
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Dramm's slight form seethes with fury at Selgaer's biting words, and Imedren's response falls on deaf ears for the time being. He draws himself up, toe to toe with the Faun. The past several days had been too much and his anger takes over.
"You leap onto the back of a flesh-melting monstrosity, and it's my fault for using my magic to aid you?! Then you've the stones to call me a coward for it?" Dramm snaps back, eyes blazing. "I have slaughtered men, beasts, demons, devils, and fey. I was along side you when the hag was laid low with the help of my magic. You weren't complaining as I set your bones and stopped your bleeding. I am no puppet, and I am no coward."
He jams one angry finger into the Faun's chest.
"But what about YOU, Selgaer? Did you think of anyone else when you were flying through the air? Or were you just thinking about how that trophy would look mounted on your wall?" Dramm can't seem to stop himself in his anger.
"You think I'm a coward? Well I think you're just trying to impress Uruuna, and you're willing to kill yourself to feel like a hero again. I'd tell you to take your own advice, but I think Rena has that already taken care of."
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Sel sighs. No. Not your fault. They're fault, he says, pointing to the temporal twins. And you're right, I wasn't thinking beyond bringing the beast down. I'm sorry, Dramm.
Joy lets out a sigh of relief that she didn't realise that she was holding.
Hopefully not too soon!
"Their fault? You're sorry for Imedren, then? Right." Dramm growls incredulously at the apology. He turns back to the group, voice still bitter.
"I don't know the Mother's full power, Imedren. She hides herself from her followers to help keep them in fear. I know she feeds on the people of Brace, but I don't know of anyone else like me or Ezra. But then, I never knew she could manifest the children so far from her home. We may have been a unique opportunity. I don't know what my home would want from the train. Maybe to salvage the wreckage?"
Eldren watched the exchange with some amusement until the blame was shifted back to him and his younger counterpart.
"Your insecurities about time magic aside, Selgaer. I'm not entirely certain where you think simplifying everything down to blaming me gets thrown in from a dragon attacking us makes much sense."
He looked at Dramm.
"What I was trying to ascertain was whether or not others were being drained by her. I can think of no reason a creature of Fey would ever bring a war machine made of Iron to their stronghold. But if perhaps a leader of a group was desperate enough to engage in war against her, then stealing some of the most powerful weapons created would make much more sense.
If we're lucky, there may be others marching ahead of us to do battle with the Long Mother."
He's mad because we didn't run away. There was a chance of the dragon leaving us alone until you two drew first blood. And yet I'm apparently to blame for bringing the dragon to the ground to give everyone an advantage in the fight. We could have killed that thing and saved countless lives in the future. We had the clear advantage.
But no, instead you want to throw hissy fits and blame me for the gods know what.
Ya know what, f%+@ all y'all. You're so f*+*ing conceited with that magic of yours that you think people can't do anything without it.
Selgaer walks away from the mages and goes to inspect the tracks.
Selgaer determines a large force of orcs, several dozens, took an iron titan with them to the south. The tracks to the east or more recent, and belong to only eight orcs and a titan. You decide to follow these first.
The faun ranger leads the way, allowing you to traverse the woods at a quick pace, on the heels of the orcs and their massive metallic minion. It isn't hard to follow the trail--the titan's steps have left flattened plants and broken trees in a wide swath.
The miles fly by, and just before nightfall, you near the farming village of Brace. Suddenly, you hear an explosion to the east, followed by large plume of smoke. It seems Brace is under attack!
Joy is quiet, still uncertain and upset.
They're so angry! I don't know what to do!
Then, she hears the explosion and sees the smoke.
"Quickly! We need to help in Brace!", she calls, readying her broom to launch into the air.
She turns to Selgaer:
"Are you getting on?"
Sel discovers the tracks - although they're so obvious that even a drunk cat could see them. But his eyes sees what most do not, the number of orcs that traveled and exactly where they were going. He could tell that orc there had a limp, likely from the crash or ensuing battle, while this orc was heavy set. And that orc there was clearly the leader.
I'm going after this group, he announced. And I'm moving fast. Keep up or be left behind. His voice was grim, and some of the anger from his argument with Dramm and Imedren was still evident. He set off, and he was fast. More than half again as fast as the next quickest person, and he didn't even seem to break a sweat. Despite the effort it took to keep up with the faun, he moved in a way that helped people choose the best spot to step and forged routes that were easier to follow. But still, he didn't want to talk to anyone and stayed ahead of the rest of the group. For most of the day.
When Boy offered him a spot on the broom, he nodded and sat down. I'm ready when you are.
"Who would attack Brace? It's nowhere and nothing."
An uneasiness filled Dramm as he rushed toward the town. None of this made sense to him.
You rush through the farms and fields surrounding Brace to get to the town proper. Brace boasts about twenty-five buildings. Half of those are mud- brick houses with sod roofs, standing alongside a trader’s depot, an abandoned temple of the New God, a public house, a smithy, a leatherworks, and a few other businesses.
Several houses have been reduced to smoking wreckage, courtesy of the massive construct that stands in the center of town! The iron titan is a 25-foot-tall giant made from metal. Its chest features a nozzle from which a tongue of ame constantly burns, while its left arm ends in a massive gun fed by a belt of ammunition stored in a shoulder compartment.
Eight orcs pillage in its wake, dragging people from the wreckage only to savagely chop them up with their axes! The bloody remains of several huge wolves lie scattered through the town. It seems the Long Mother's Children attempted a futile defense.
Joy, go above it! I'm dropping down!
When Joy is in position, Sel gets ready to become his flying spear, a tactic he not only has used in the past but also has been diligently training for. It's time to show off exactly what he can do.
He quaffs a growth potion becoming size 2 and growing stronger.
The extra size makes Sel too big for the broom, and he falls off diving down towards the Titan.
Sel slams into the Titan, landing perfectly on his feet and driving his spear into the mechanical creature at the same moment.
Joy gulps as she sees the iron titan.
So. Much. Iron.
Then she sees people being harmed and she forgets her rising panic, trying to get Sel into position and plan her own move!
[b"Aye, aye, Sel! Good hunting!"[/b]
***********************
Above the iron titan, Joy takes aim at the mob of orcs, trying to snarl them in a spreading morass of thorns and vicious creepers!
What bothers Dramm the most is that he had never expected that he would not be the instigator of the inevitable bloodshed. He wondered what that must say about him. He even considered letting the titan simply do its work in hopes that it would destroy the Long Mother without him. No, he was unable to let his people be entirely slaughtered. This was still where Dramm had grown up.
Dramm quickly moves to cover from the orcs and cures some of his minor wounds from earlier. He takes count of the orcs and then hesitates. He could already feel the heat of the titan's flames and the way the ground shook. Selgaer hurls himself at the iron behemoth and Dramm looses an empowered dart at a nearby orc.
Adopting a battle stance, Uruuna launches a barrage of arrows at the two closest orc and the iron titan!
Imedren launches a fireball that engulfs the two closest orcs. One is badly burned, and Dramm and Uruuna focus their attacks on that one to bring him down. Uruuna impales the other one with an arrow, and another of her shots sinks deep into the iron titan's leg joint.
Joy conjures a field of brambles that ensnare the iron titan and four orcs, then Selgaer leaps down upon the titan, the weight of his enlarged form denting its shoulder plates and his spear point tearing through gears.
The titan's clockwork parts whir as it repairs some of the damgae to itself. It swings a heavy fist at Selgaer, battering the faun. Then it fires its arm cannon at point-blank range, but Selgaer easily ducks under the blast!
The orcs roar in fury and move to attack. The two that are free of the brambles hack at Selgaer's legs. The others converge on Uruuna, one scoring a hit on the halfling.
Ducking under the fire, Sel spins and sweeps his spear back at the Titan, but he doesn't have enough force behind it and the spear bounces off the hardened shell of the engineering monstrosity.
Imedren's opening attack was wide and powerful. He watched as the Orcs and the Iron Titan withstood his attack and he directed a blast of energy outward. He would have to be more careful now, these were veteran warriors and most of his magics were used fending off the Dragon.
As the closest warriors rushed in to attack Uruuna, Imedren moved in, he channeled chaos to empower his magic but it faltered and only a weak blast came out.
His will held in that moment, although he wished it had not.
Joy hovers above the battle, hastily grabbing pinecones out of her satchel. The pinecones blaze suddenly with light, and she lobs one hard down at the clustered and scratched orcs below!
And then sees how close they are to Sel.
Oh no!
You touch the targets, imbuing each with magic that lasts for the duration or until a creature attacks with it.An imbued item sheds light in a 5-yard radius around it. A creature can attack with the target by throwing it at a target creature or object within medium range, making an Agility attack roll against the target’s Agility. On a success, the target of the attack takes 1d6 damage, and everything within 1 yard of it takes 1d3 damage from the flying sparks. Attack Roll 20+ The target of the attack takes 1d6 extra damage.
Now it would be 2/4 uses. :)
The orcs are significantly tougher than humans, Dramm notes. They would slow the advance to aid Selgaer and Joy. He hopes the two will still be fighting. Dramm circles the skirmish to get behind the attackers and unleashes a cast of Ruin on an attacker.
As Dramm had hoped, the excess magic lashes outward to consume the fray!
Uruuna stands her ground and fires arrows into all of the orcs attacking her!
The orcs howl as Uruuna shoots them but none of them fall. Selgaer's spear scrapes harmlessly against the titan.
A nozzle in the titan's chest tilts upward before spraying flames in a huge cone in front of it, engulfing Selgaer and Joy!
The orcs attack, striking Selgaer twice and Uruuna once. The faun is terribly wounded!
Joy hurls a fiery pinecone, but misses her target. Imedren's fire blast scorches two of the orcs attacking Uruuna. Dramm kills the third orc with his destructive magic, then his outburst incinerates one of the other orcs and singes the last one!
Seeing the likely outcome of his more widely dangerous spells, Imedren decided to hold himself back from blasting all of the Orcs, Selgaer, and the Titan. Instead limiting his destructive capabilities somewhat.
He was unable to hold back his building chaos energies but at least he was practiced enough to control them and ensure they only hit the Orc between himself, Uruuna, and Dramm.
Sel leans away from the blast of fire, still getting singed from the heat but avoiding catching ok fire. He whips back with his spear slashing into the Titan before hopping away.
Joy howls in agony as the flames scorch her, willing the broom up, up, up!
Dramm can't see the titan ravage his allies, but he can see theorange glow that halos the house between Selgaer and himself. It's the screams that make the hairs on his neck stand up.
"Joy! Selgaer!" He calls out desperately, his voice cracking. Then the Faun comes leaping out of the fray and Joy rises up over the thatched roofs. Dramm hops the garden fence to reach Selgaer and makes several sharp, calculated incisions with the green-glowing tip. Selgaer's skin and muscles writhe and regenerate!
Dramm grits his teeth and enforces his will on the excess power, keeping it contained for the moment. The risk had paid off. He turns his attention to the sky, trying to spot Joy in the chaos.
Uruuna fires another volley, striking the orc near her, the titan, and another distant orc. She tries to finish off her assailant with a snap shot, but the orc's brigandine foils her attempt.
As Joy flies up and away, Selgaer drives his spear deep into the iron titan's chest cavity, striking several key components. The faun then springs away, nimbly moving through the brambles to get to safety.
Th orc attacking Uruuna slices into her with his battleaxe.
Dramm moves to Selgaer's side an enacts powerful magic, allowing the faun to begin regenerating. Imedren scorches the titan with a fiery bolt.
The iron titan pushes through the brambles, its legs getting scraped up. Selgaer dodges its clumsy fist, but it blasts him in the chest with its cannon! The orcs move either through the brambles or around the buildings, rushing to rejoin the battle.
Imedren's outburst takes down the orc nearest Uruuna! Selgaer's wounds start to heal.
The explosion caught Sel by surprise. He supposed that he knew guns - and by extension gigantic guns - existed, but he'd never personally seen one before. That he was here the target of one gave him a new respect for the things. Based on the intensity of the sound it made, though, he was also surprised that he wasn't dead after a shot like that.
Taking advantage of still being alive, Sel dives past the two orcs and strikes the titan. Then he bounces away behind one of the houses to get out of that cannon's line of sight. That damn thing hurt!
Next attack against me has one bane.
Joy regains her composure, turns her broom around to fly at her new height, and lobs another fiery pinecone, this time at the iron titan!
The thunder of the gun freezes Dramm in place. He had never seen such a weapon and it was shocking indeed. There was no visible projectile or spell. Blood simply bursts from Selgaer's chest. The Faun beats a hasty retreat to the southern home, and Dramm is snapped out of his stunned surprise by the advancing orcs.
"Joy! To me!" He urges loudly as he blasts one of the raiders with Ruin. He then breaks into a run to the opposite house. He couldn't risk more injury to Selgaer or the others if his magic went wild with the cast.
Follow me, you fools. I'm alone. Come take the bait. He hopes to himself as he hides from the orcs around the corner of the house.
Sure enough, the magic tears loose and Dramm bursts with multicolored fire, hopefully consuming any attackers who rush after him!
Taking a moment to find an opportune set of targets, Imedren nodded as the field of Orcs ran around and near the Iron Titan. "This should do."
Uruuna focuses her fire on the iron titan, sending a pair of arrows into weak points in its superstructure.
Selgaer stabs the titan and darts away to safety, taking a few deep breaths to keep his vigor up. Imedren blasts the orcs and titan with explosive darts, then Uruuna fires an arrow straight into the flamethrower's nozzle in the center of the titan's chest. This sets off a chain reaction of explosions within the titan that culminates in the massive construct detonating in a massive fireball! Dramm is caught in the blast--the rest of you are far enough away to escape harm. The explosion engulfs the orcs--one of them is incinerated, while the other three are injured.
Uruuna snipes the most wounded orc, finishing it off. Dramm slays another one with ruin and runs behind a nearby building. Joy misses the final orc, who decides discretion is the better part of valor and starts to flee at top speed!
Sel grabs his bow while running to a position to get sight if the fleeing orc and takes aim.
You will not flee to tell your coconspirators of your failure here, he says to himself as the arrow looses.
Looking around, Sel surveys the damage. Joy! Dramm! Do you have any water magic or anything else to douse the flames on that house?