::"Which here can not fly other than our father? We* can give you flight for a time or We* can do can place you inside Nexqil who can fly you there."::
Gift sends.
Image here
Arlo you have flight for 14 hours.
Your crustacean allies present you with a map that shows much of what you know of the caverns plus a deeper passages connecting all the tunnels and wonder if you need anything else. They have a few hundred individuals ready to fight. They little training in combat (but do have a burrow speed).
You know worms feel vibrations but can also hear sound as it vibrates against stone...
Arlo feels uneasy as he levitates from the ground. He visibly dislikes it, but it's better than alerting the worms to their presence.
"Right now I can only make myself fly, but if there's time I could potentially make many dozens fly for a short period." replied Azzim.
He thought for a moment before pointing out, "Flight might not be enough you know. If the traders are paranoid, which they should be, they'll have left guardians and latent magics. At the very least we'd want mass invisibility and perhaps something to mask sounds..."
We probably won't be able to cover a large force with all that... Terexaltherin adds. Can we communicate long-distance? Let the rest of them know when we've started our attack, then they can attack aboveground? I wish we had more info, though, I don't like the idea of doing this with so little intel. But yeah, if we can mask sounds that would help a lot. Invisibility would probably only be important once we got close.
At the mention of flight comes up, from Bella's back comes a pair of clockwork wings that foundation ally clash with her appearance, as the wall she summoned vanishes as she drops concentration.
"I am... Not good at flight. But I can do it."
She turns to them, "I don't know how much I can help- I might be able to whip something up, but something against magic... It's hard to make that, and it's hard to replicate stuff against it. I'd need time to figure out how."
She then turns to the allies, and she pauses. She begins to wonder if she could perhaps replicate the design of the gun- Maybe simpler. Like... Putting it in a tube. A tube with an explosion. An exploding tube. Surely someone thought of that.
Through Gifts telepathy, she prods her "Can you tell me if you know of any exploding tubes to launch things exist? I think it would help them a lot, but I don't know how I'd make them."
She stands up, and turns to the crustrations- "When my old Mistress was hunting those who reached out to the mind, she wore armor made out of some dark glass. What I make can be a bit more fragile, and I'll have to make them per person, but I might be able to make them for you. I can't guarantee it'll work, but it can help. I can also create some older styles of weapons, but anything more advanced I'd need something to reference to try to re-create. We have people to train you, and plans to make. With coordination, we will cut the head off this hydra and save our lives."
[OoC]She's planning on creating shadowstuff armor, mimicking Voidglass, for the army to use in battle. Presuming it's as heavy armor, this will grant them all +3 bonus to saves vs mind-effecting[OoC]
So, as the party plans various methods to go through the worm tunnels, the Sarmidal aid by retrieving some "muffle tarps" from a nearby dimension and using these, you are able move both yourselves and your crustacean allies close to the fort being used by the Traders. The fort itself has it's inner walls removed to serve as a staging area.
The traders are occupied in moving supplies into and out of the black lake with different traders going into and out the lake in that time. By waiting a day or so, you find a moment where there are only one trader, twenty zombies and shadow dragon (adult) are present at the fort...
Your allies are ready with some crude but working guns (cannon) created by Bella...
The dwarf paladin draws The Arlosword, and cautiously enters just inside the cave entrance.
Through Gifts telepathy, she prods her "Can you tell me if you know of any exploding tubes to launch things exist? I think it would help them a lot, but I don't know how I'd make them."
Gift pulls her Bella to a place out of time.
That stand on a battle field ahead is an old style stone keep, below an army seging it. 4 men in medieval amor are lifing a stone ball into a round bell like object dug into the ground and supported by a wooden frame. place the ball on the lip. Two more men at arms came and drip tip bukets of black powder into the bell like object.All of the pay no heed to Gift and Bella.
"This is an early mortar, cast in Bronze and supported by rings of steel. The black powder is simple to make."
She holds her hand out and the formula somes into being in the air.
The 4 men drop the stone ball in and back away. One of the loaders comes up to the mortar and lights a rope fuse.
"The trick is not the making its the use. To much powder."
The mortor next to them blows up, and time then rewinds.
"Too little"
The mortor booms but the stone wall dose not go over the keep wall. Time rewinds.
"You have got to get the elevation, the powder and the loading just right."
The Mortor booms and the ball gose over the keep wall. Then men at arms jump about happy but very little change.
"Last of all you have to hit something of use. That just hit a pig sty"
Back to real time.
::"they will need training, but I can send you some plans."::
The mindscape pulls Bella out of her body in a timeless moment- In which, the artifice of herself becomes apparent, the life leaving her body as her whole leaks into the mindscape.
The soldiers create the cannons, as in the mindscape Bella reaches, the marks in her porceline skin clearer, unfolding from the seams of her joints. For a moment, as she runs her hands across it, you can almost swear the unearthly marking at the edges of her skin reach into the items shadow, as she quietly sings as it explodes, sings as it thuds, and sings as it fires. There's a quiet whisper of "I understand." before her soul crashes once more in her body, blinking at the out of body experience ends.
"Oh! Thank you- That'll be perfect!"
As they make their way through the caves and arrive to fight, Stella quietly scans the area as well as she can, creating a duplicating set of holy water for any familiars who wish to do battle, and preparing herself for the battle ahead, listening for any magic that might sing in the area ahead
Azzim considered what little he new about Shadow dragons.
Earlier he'd prepared several powerful spells spells, the to make a group fly. Azzim reckoned he could take fourteen people with him. The other spell could make even a small army invisible, assuming they stayed together.
Mass invisibility allows the crustaceans to transport their group, several hundred to within 80' of the fort along with the weapons Bella has constructed - any closer would trigger the undead's life sense.
Armed with several large cannons and many small arms, they're ready to obliterate everything between the fort and the lake (8 eight zombies and a Dark Trader overseer). But fort itself is powerfully built and might well survive this level of assault (it's frame appears to be admantite reinforced and magically strengthened). Inside the fort at the moment are only the umbral dragon and four zombie clerks along with supplies who's nature you're not sure of. Dealing with the dragon and allies will likely be the job of the PCs alone since the crustaceans would be devastated if it breathed negative energy on them. The party and your allies are poised to act...
(The shadowy dragon is technically called an umbral Dragon - Azzim can't determine if its an unusual subtype but he's aware of that dragon type's basic characteristics as described by common lore books.)
Terexaltherin doesn't like the waiting, but he knows it's important not to charge out unprepared. Today seems like their best opportunity, however.
Hmmm... if our group invisibly fly over the walls, we could engage the dragon quickly without it having much time to prepare for us. Once we have its attention, the rest of you, he indicates the Sarmidal and the 'crustaceans', Could pour out and destroy the Dark Ones in the open. Though maybe one of us should stick with that group to help with the overseer--they're dangerous. Once we've cleared out the forces here we can move the cannons to the fortress walls overlooking the lake to prepare to fight their reinforcements.
Stella gazed out at the army, quietly parsing and thinking about what steps to take- Quietly ruminating on things.
"My recommendation is to kill the dragon first- Once that's done, we can handle more stuff. I can drop a boulder and hopefully stomp on a lot of them, the walls won't be taken down but should hopefully keep the dragon on the ground for us to beat it up. After that, we can build some stuff up to hopefully let the people here stand up and stop an assault while we're going deeper."
Arlo nods. ::Just let me at the Dragon! Invisible or no!::
Arlo charges out of the tunnel and attacks the lounging Shadow Dragon as the zombie clerks shout for order... the dragon hisses and misses it's attack of opportunity. Meanwhile, the group outside waiting for further supplies from the Black Lake is unaware ... so far.
Arlo targets the dragon for his smite evil ability.
Gift look on at the coming battle. Power builds around her as she gets herself ready.
::"I will need a couple of moments to get ready. I will over areal bombardment support, what ever you do, do not come near where I hit. Tell every one keep away."::
Then she is in the air as waves of force arch out from Gift,
building and building, then all hell brakes lose as thundering into locations around the fortification and battle filed. Orbs of force come into being. The very ground shatters as her power mash everything in the area with waves of pour force. After a few rounds the sound is deafening as booms avter boom force coevals out shattering and crush.
[14r 3d6 5pp+4pp+2pp+2pp = 13pp each instance. Maximize Power [Metapsionic], Extended power, 24 rounds. 4x6x24 Force DMG Area 30r range 920']
10x Instances doing 576 DMG 60' area force DMG Fort for 1/2 over 24 rounds.
She will target key and choke points
That is 5760 points of Force DMG over 10 places on the battle field over 24 rounds.
130 PP used. If the fortification pust up a fight she will makes out the CL to 32 to get puts its defences. She will punch a whole in it V empowered disintegration, Less DMG for that instance by 1/2 force but add 22d6 Disintegration CL 32
While the others fight, Terexaltherin tries to slip past (staying out of the dragon's lifesense range) in the confusion and get a look at the papers the clerks were working on... especially any that they might be trying to destroy to keep out of their hands.
Laurana poked her head out of one of Azzim's pockets and she started to sing which completed a spell Azzim had started earlier. Suddenly you are hit by a wave of adrenaline!
.
Azzim wanted to protect everyone from the shadow dragon's breath weapon, but it was negative energy not elemental damage so his memorised protection spells were of no use. So instead he went on the offensive and he cast once again the mighty Jatambe's Ire spell. Suddenly the battlefield is transformed once again as a forest of vines as strong as iron erupt from the ground, snaking out to attack the undead and also the structure damaged by Gift's frighteningly powerful force explosion!
Azzim's tentacles hold and crush the Zombie clerks (who had not time to destroy any papers - which are records of troop movements within the Black Lake including various strange coordinates).
Arlo's first attack slices a huge gash in the side of the dragon and you guess it only survives by the other two hits missing.
At the point, the dragon flies to a corner of the roof of the fortress and from that top corner fills the fortress with its shadow breath. .
Meanwhile, the attack of Gift and others reduces everything outside the fort to literal dust...
Withered and blinded by the shadow dragon's breath, Arlo runs toward the sound of crumbling stonework, trying to find cover.
Terexaltherin nimbly flits behind a battlement before the breath weapon can strike him, but he sees Arlo suffers much worse. He thinks over what he knows and is pretty sure the blindness would wear off soon... but the dragon needed to die sooner rather than later. His wands would be ineffective, but...
Arlo! Let me borrow your sword for a bit! He telepathically 'shouts' to the paladin.
Assuming Arlo doesn't object, the little dragon grabs the Arlosword with his telekinesis and flings it at the dragon.
In the chaos, the Arlo sword is plucked from the dwarf's hand and flung at the dragon, misses and hovers nearby. It's bright glow has faded somewhat. The dragon softly laughs.
Azzim's summoned vines where persistent and one started to wrap itself around the dragon's hind leg!
Noting Arlo seemed to be having trouble seeing, Azzim rushed to his side, whispering the words to a powerful restorative spell. His hands glowed blue white as he touched Arlo's shoulder and suddenly the paladin could see again and strength returned to his limbs!
The dragon is grappled, crushed and looks horribly injured...
Arlo, btw, had stumbled a few feet and found his way under a table but that really doesn't seem like it's going to provide real cover... You can see the dragon's wise and malevolent eyes considering the possibilities...
... and as Arlo, Azzim and Terex watch, the dragon seems to choose caution, the shadows around it expand and then seem to fold into themselves and the shadowy wyrm appears to shrink and vanish.
The fort and the outside are now apparently empty of enemies. You can finally walk outside and take a look at the quartz and topaz mountains on the horizon in this plane - as well as the sky ... covered with the Black Lake's pattern.
Gift is depleted and goes catatonic for 2 hours while the others work.
The dragon hasn't gone far! It's just in the part of the plane of shadow trapped here, or it's going somewhere from there!
For a moment Terexaltherin reaches for <Shimmer> before remembering the 'stone' had gone home. Does any of us... Gift!
He flies over to check on her. Well, I suppose we're not going charging off to follow the dragon then... We'd better be ready for a counterattack soon, from both the dragon and Dark Trader reinforcements. Probably what we want to do is fight them off, then follow them back to where they came from. Hopefully they won't be ready for an immediate counterattack, and that will let us cut off the next link in their supply chain. But if Gift's out we're probably not moving until she's recovered.
I guess while we're waiting I can take a look at these papers...
Looks like we only have twenty minutes, tops. We'd better get those cannons in position.
Nexqil comes down onto gift and landing on her forehead, there is a shimmer of blue light and she is gone.
::"I have taken her into myself for the time being so she is safe. That level of power use depleted Gift and it will take a little while for her to recover."::
The Psicystal sends.
The five Sarmidal contributed some amount to the battle outside the fort; summoning an effect like huge pinwheel made of lava and screeching at the Traders and zombies. They now broadcast an urge to jump immediately into the Black Lake and seek the next level of the Dark Traders control zone... One of them even volunteers to stay behind and help organize the crustaceans... (while their chaotic qualities make it questionable what they could organize, they have been formidable allies so far and the crustaceans are well organized and have the weapons and understanding they previously lacked...)
"Anyone wounded?" asked Azzim keenly aware that the clock was ticking.
Check Arlo, Terexaltherin replies to Azzim. He floats the Arlosword back to its wielder. I think the rest of us escaped unscathed, though something happened with Gift.
The little dragon turns his thoughts to Gift's psicrystal. Nexqil, do you know how long Gift will be out? Is she all right?
He turns his thoughts to the group, including their allies. I'd rather not go on the offensive until Gift has recovered. As you've seen she's one of our best assets for dealing with large groups. So we'll probably have to deal with one wave of reinforcements. Bella, maybe you and I could collaborate on some traps? Unless some of you have another idea?
::"May master will be out two standard hours. But her sub minds are still available and Soruss her other servant is still maintaining the collective. My master has just depleted her psionic power and needs to replenish it with internal focus. Other than that she is fine Sir"::
::"Yes I am here if you need me, inside Nexqil with my lady"::
It sends.
The nearly bare mineral mountains of the plane are in the background in a light that seems to always be the same (like either dusk or dawn). Tiny blue, green and red gems sparkle here and there while small patches of blue lichen and green moss can be seen closer to the mountains base. You imagine this was once a pleasant place for earth-aligned creatures like the crustaceans (they have given their race no special names, calling themselves "people" in Teran and all others "strange ones").
Closer at hand, Terex, Arlo, Azzim and Bella stand with Sarmidal on the inch thick layer of dust that covers everything outside the (unnamed) fort while Nexqil hovers nearby. You look at the Black Lake. Everyone, including the crustaceans, is habituated to the subtle undulations within the thing by now, though undulations still seem to almost mock you. At the same time, you can each feel your attunement to the strange phenomena, it's movement touches your minds and your thoughts seem to shape the patterns as well...
Meanwhile, Sarmidal continue to broadcast impatience but offer to again summon objects from random nearby planes if the party has any suggestions (they have a certain block against repeating their strategies and sometimes are thus at a loss as to what to do next).
Laurana darted out of Azzim's pocket to marvel at the sparkling gems in the rock, before saying, "This place has been wrecked, even before we added the dust. Probably not good to breath that in by the way..."
Pointing at the undulating mass of the black lake and she said, "Reminds me of an oil spill and not in a good way. Terex what would it take to get rid of that planar disaster?"
If we had the time to sit and study it I might be able to answer you, but we're probably going to have to get to the bottom and destroy the Dark Traders' access point before we can have the time to deal with it. If we're going to wait here for a bit I can study the perspective here and it may help, but I think we'll need some traps. Remember how it felt like the Dark Traders were trying to bend our arrival here? I was thinking we could maybe do that to their reinforcements coming her to force them into some traps. Once we've taken care of a wave of reinforcements would probably be the best time to jump to the next plane--they should take at least a little while to rebuild their forces on the other side.
He suggests the Sarmidal pull in some traps, mines, and the like right now. He also asks the natives of the plane if they think they'll be able to free their people from the Dark Traders now that this fortress has been taken if the party can stop their flow of reinforcements.
After a couple minutes, the crustaceans report that the various mine uprising are ongoing but more of their people are arriving.
The Sarmidal pull a hundred 8' long mouse-traps - made of wood and metal. Also a huge, ancient decaying galleon that is quickly sucked under by the Black Lake and vanishes. Also some toy "laser guns" that only shoot sparks. Things only marginally useful.
And so the party finishes whatever other preparations you think of and wait the twenty minutes 'till the expected shipments. Using the manifest, you open fire when the forty zombies are on shore and once again you destroy the group. The manifest now says to wait ninety minutes and you wait the time doing what research you can and then ... nothing. It's easy to imagine the Traders biding their time and preparing a larger, tougher group...
In that time, a delegation of the crustaceans comes and asks the party if they know any way to magically seal the lake, preventing access to their world.
When you are inside the lake, it's qualities seem fluid. Sealing a single connections might well be possible with sufficient will and understanding. You feel like you probably seal entrance to this area, at least temporarily in the process of going to a different level.
We can probably do a temporary seal when we go... Terexaltherin 'says'
Arlo gives the pseudodragon a hard look as he picks up The Arlosword, allowing his quite menace to communicate for him.