Krokkin's face suddenly turns thoughtful, then confused and apprehension.
He looks at the two creatures, I am following in the Path that Desna once walked, drawn into the same cause?
The realization momentarily causes him concern, but as he does with anything he cannot grasp he tries to put it to the back of his mind.
Slightly distracted by Ohime kissing Brek, and maybe or maybe not letting out an involountary eep of excitement on par with Brujah's usual cries, Sorogar almost misses her big sister's sound advice and Krokkin's sudden insight.
Almost. She decided to ask about Desna and what was bothering the Catfolk later, after dealing with the immediate problem first. No idea how much time was left before this demon strike force got here - if the Fey spies were off, it could be in minutes rather than days.
"O-oh. Yes, all right! We should definitely destroy the cloak first," she begins, answering Ohime. "So that would mean summoning forth a wolf from it and besting it, or putting it on someone and then fighting them. If nothing else, it'd make for good practice before the demons arrive," She muses, then turns to the fey. "How exactly would summoning the wolf from the cloak work? What kind of magic or activation is required?"
"After that... we will get to the circles. And I hope we can find a different solution than bargaining with all seven of them. That feels like we'd probably be making a lot of uncomfortable bargains I'd rather avoid."
I'm not going to make you roll for the info because the satyr and grig would be able to supply it. I also am somewhat fried mentally so I am not going to narrate it especially with that knowledge roll number on the cloak.
"...Okay, I take back what I said. The bad news is: I think it's pretty much impossibly to activate the cloak without anyone wearing it. And... as such, also impossible to destroy unless someone puts it on and thus places him- or herself at great risk - from both us, and from the possession and forced shapechange this cloak will probably try on them," Sorogar concludes as she and Brujah study the cloak.
"The good news, I sort of know what a Wolf summoned from it can do. The stories speak of it wielding lightning, as well as being extremely resilient to both magic and physical damage," she continues, then sighs. "Which, come to think of it, is *also* bad news. Maybe we should leave trying to destroy it for a later time in general, when we have better tools to handle it."
"I'd suggest leaving this for now and working on destroying the circles connecting this plane to the Abyss."
Desna guides your steps then as well! cries out the grig in excitement.
The satyr, looks preoccupied, and is abnormally solemn and quiet. It appears that he might be considering something in depth.
Dazed, Brek gives Ohime the cloak and looks around the group.
His brow furrows as his mind begins to work furiously.
How long do we have before the demon forces arrive?" he asks.
"I may have just the plan to deal with the cloak without endangering us."
"Too much..." he amends his words after a swift thought.
Ohime is not so much hitting on Brek than repaying him in a sweet way with her kiss. She now has the cloak and thinks hard onto Brek's words. The fact he could perhaps have something else bear the cloak would work to their advantage.
"They said a bit of time, but it is unknown. If I were going to summon something, I would summon a dolphin. Something out of its element hah."
The cloak will linger in her hands for the moment as she considers what she would be willing to sacrifice for them all if needed. As of yet, she doesn't make that decision. She keeps far away from the fey though. Ohime still doesn't trust the fey to be anywhere near the cloak. As they said, they would be willing to help out, but were disobeying the Great Old Ones. How far did that go? And with the Satyr staring hard, she wondered what he was planning. In fact, she calls him out.
"What are you scheming?"
I.. the satyr begins, I was just deciding if I should volunteer for the pelt's activation. I was trying to remember if I heard anything about how it effects the wearer. Not sure whether or not the wearer has his abilities while under the guise of the wolf. I think I recall, but am not completely sure, that the wearer is simply a captive and not actually able to use their abilities while the cloak dominates. I wish I could be certain, He states quietly.
"...I remember the stories my brother used to tell me, the ones he said were important. He mentioned the wearer of the cloak is unharmed during the transformation. Almost as if removed from the world while it lasts. There was one such story where a captive used it to transform, the wolf escaped into the wild and he transformed back there, unharmed," Sorogar recalls.
She walks over to one of the circles. "If you wish to be the one sitting out this fight, Satyr, that is fine with me. However, to ensure you don't run off with it instead, I would insist that Krokkin puts it on you himself."
Then, she pokes the circle with her adamantine-ended quarterstaff, the one she got from Ohime. "Yet, we are about to face an incredibly powerful wolf, still. Tell us you two, since you are so versed in the magic of these circles, which them contain a creature that would be best suited to aid us against a lightning wolf, and we can trust to keep their word. It sounds like you already had dealings, and might know specific ones to try first."
"That is not all, out with it," she directs to the Satyr, who again is speaking in half-truths. "I swear..."
Ohime is starting to get pissed off again. She covers her mouth with a hand and whispers to her companions. "I don't trust them...I'm not putting this cloak on them. We'll either have to summon something, or I'll put it on. I'm the least combat-capable among you. While I'm transformed, my bird can sing for you and strengthen you with its song as though I'm with you. I also will fight this cloak with everything I have inside me."
I believe that I won't be of any use to you against the wolf. the satyr stammers. Looking down and avoiding all gazes, he continues I was apprenticed to the queen and to be honest still love what she was trying to do. Join together the orcs into a single nation. I left when she allowed herself to become corrupted. If this creature you summon fights like she did, she reveled in physical combat and often grappled her foes, tearing into their flesh with her tusks and teeth. I would expect the same from the creature if it is still connected to her.
The grig exclaims in surprise and dismay at this piece of missing knowledge. I was not aware of your connection. I agree, as much as I know you, your story sheds strain on my trust. You should not be the one who wears the cloak. You also can't be trusted to be free or partake in the fight for the same reasoning. I suggest that you be restrained in manacles or something away from the upcoming fight. The diminutive creature states vehemently.
Danger and Life will create a sanctuary and protective circle against evil. Life and element will bind what ever is summoned to that circle. THe life and element stones I have found can be moved to with in a summoning/calling circle and still function. They both say almost simultaneously.
Ohime is starting to get pissed off again. She covers her mouth with a hand and whispers to her companions. "I don't trust them... I'm not putting this cloak on them. We'll either have to summon something, or I'll put it on. I'm the least combat-capable among you. While I'm transformed, my bird can sing for you and strengthen you with its song as though I'm with you. I also will fight this cloak with everything I have inside me."
"It's not a matter of who is stronger than whom. We need you with us. We're used to your prescence and your guiding words. We shouldn't break that familiarity." Sorogar whispers back.
...Actually, something about what ohime had just said lingered on the back of her mind. Something about her familiar...
Slowly, she turns towards her bat. "Brujah. Have you ever wanted to be a wolf?"
The bat vigorously shakes his head as he stares at the cloak with wide eyes.
"Heh. It's not so bad," Movah says, grinning an extremely toothy grin. "Coward."
The bat familiar glares daggers at the translucent wolf, then slowly flies down to poke the cloak with his wing.
"Would a spirit being work? If we are going to try on an animal, maybe it should be my birdy. He's kind of use to my experimentations hah," she nervously chuckles. "Plus, he should be alright."
As Brujah pokes the cloak it seems as if the cloak tries to wrap itself around the little wing.
Ohime will pull the cloak away and use her other hand to brush away Brujah caringly. The last thing they need right now is to have it preemptively wrap itself around anything.
umm hey, if it uses a flying creature for transformation, would it be a flying wolf? Krokkin asks with a horrified expression.
"We might have to make use of the surrounding stones to keep this in check. Maybe a friendly Stone Elemental or such. We could also activate the combination to sanctify this place as well as bind the wolf. As for using the activation, I can summon an invisible servant to use the cloak since that'll send my servant away leaving this wolf in its place." he muses.
"Now if I had the means, I'll dig a hole, fill it half way with some water and then bind a water elemental inside it and have the cloak be activated inside. Would that work as well?" Brek begins coming up with various scenarios and discarding the ones that wouldn't work.
"We are all linked. No matter what." he declares as he thinks about it.
Ohime groans slightly as the boys aren't paying attention.
"The reason we are doing the cloak first is because whatever we summon is going to request things of us in order to destroy them. What if they request the cloak? That's why we won't want a stone elemental or any other kind of summon through these stones. A zone, sure, but none of the entities within," she answers Brek. And it won't gain the attributes of the creature it changes from. It will replace the creature. My bird will become a wolf. Then upon being defeated, my bird will return. Or if we use your unseen servant, that will...maybe return? I'm not sure how this pocket dimension thing works with spells. I don't care...I just hope it gets destroyed and is an easy fight. Now let's camp and talk about it in the morning.
She begins to set up a camp and bed like they've done many dozens of times by now.
"I agree. We will rest for the night and I'll prepare the lightning protection spells for tomorrow. If Ohime prefers it is her bird over Brujah, I am fine with that. Let's deal with it swiftly and then star preparing defenses for this demonic invasion of sorts," Sorogar adds, also starting to unpack her bedroll. It still sounded off to her that the stakes were suddenly that much more massive, way beyond a somewhat local problem of Rakshasha infiltrating primitive tribes.
Now, the entire world was at stake.
"We fight it tomorrow. If you have any special preparations, I suggest making them tonight," he says, hoping they were ready.
Sleep did not come easy that night.
Song going for +5 vs fear, attack/damage
Grease DC14 in the area of the unseen servant
Potion of Displacement (50% miss chance)
Potion of Shield of Faith (+2ac)
Potion of Levitate (move up 10ft)
Readied Glitterdust spell to be cast on the wolf summoned.
Sanctified Area from stones.
The next day, Ohime readies herself for the coming battle and awaits Brek to summon his unseen servant. She informs the Grig, "Do not join the battle unless you need to. Your Satyr friend better not be anywhere near here by now and dealt with. If he interferes, I'll treat him as a hostile."
Mage Armor
Shield
See invisibility
Mirror Image
Brek seems to go into a whirl of motion as he taps himself with a wand and then suddenly with a flurry of feathers a veritable flock of different birds descends on him!
An owl flies towards his eyes and then settles its head where his eyes would be giving them a slight glow.
The wand emits a shimmering light that sparkles as it gets absorbed into his skin.
A peacock spreads it tail feathers and the tail feathers detaches to form a tangible force around him like a magical spinning shield.
A cuckoo seems to take great delight as it flies around him and duplicates itself into 5 other images of Brek.... looking as if it was laughing at some hidden joke.
He then summons his servant to come forth to don the cloak after his instructions on where and when to don it.
Krokkin wakes and stretches preparing himself for battle. He muses thinking about the fight they are about to engage in. We are getting ready to fight a rug, with teeth.
He chuckles to himself. this will either be a lot of fun really strange.
Should I use the sword and shield or try out my new toy? He asks while looking at his weapons.
The cloak begins to move as the unseen servant moves under it.
"Use whatever you think will hurt it the most..." she voices darkly. She clearly is in the mood to harm this beast and to be done with this item once and for all. She will quickly instruct her birdy to take an upward position in the sky of 300 feet or so to keep eyes on the Satyr. If it moves toward them, to fly back and let them know.
Brek communes to his servant, guiding it what exactly he wanted it to do...and then..........
After blessing everyone with different kinds of enhancing magic, especially herself, Sorogar raises her Falchion at the cloak and assumes the defensive stance she'd picked up from her sparring matches with Krokkin along the way. "It's moving! Everyone, get ready! Fall back to me if you need healing!"
Slowly a mist forms around the cloak as it begins to writhe and morph. It grows bigger and bigger reaching huge proportions before stopping. Lightning flashes out of the mist and thunder peals from within. A howling of storm winds or maybe wolves can be heard emanating out from the impervious mists. The first indication of creature with in is glistening white teeth, dripping blood the freezes on the way down then shatters against the ground.
Who would summon me in this such manner? Using magic to deceive my physical vestige. I am rather offended and impressed by your audacity. The huge white and blue tinged wolf says in a deep guttural almost unintelligible speech.
Surprise Round
"One who would destroy you, you slime!" Ohime calls out in a forceful manner from 30ft away. There is an explosion of light and glitter as she explodes the glitterdust about the beast.
"Greetings." Brek replies to the wolf as he too throws his spells as a flock of spectral sparrows flies in to hinder the wolves movement.
You aren't the only thing that can grow in size when it wants to! Krokkin laughs as he runs in holding the dagger in a comical two handed grip up over his right shoulder. As he runs he lets the rage build and wash over him adding strength and fury to the attack. As he begins to swing he shouts out tiichiul it, changing the dagger to the Great sword just before it strikes.
Enhanced by Ohime's earlier casting of Haste on the group. Sorogar blurs forward and strikes it! "I'm sorry, but I can't allow demons to get a hold of you."
A quick flurry of wings from the Grig as it flies up about 20 ft in the air. Suddenly its hands fly out and a burt of air shoots debris up from under the wolf. The wolf shudders as if irritated but remains where it is.