At Korada's
Radamare glances in Liliya's direction at the telepathic contact, though for a moment it seems that she is looking through the succubus rather than at her, as if at something else past Liliya and much further away.
"I met a very earnest archon in Lymnieris's sacred halls who gave me much the same advice." she muses, replying out loud rather than in mindspeech.
After a beat, the azata's eyes focus and she seems to remember who she is talking to.
"His other sacred halls." she adds dryly.
"And I fear that any advice that both an archon and a demon can agree on should not be lightly cast aside."
------------------------------
That Night
Any rooms prepared for Radamare go largely untouched, as she does not sleep. Throughout the time of rest she can be found on the balconies or on the rooftops, leaning against a spire and watching the city and the silver void beyond.
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Into the Abyss!
Radamare joins the party as they prepare to depart. Not knowing precisely where in Vlorus they will arrive or what may be waiting, the azata comes prepared for battle: her rose-embroidered silken garments have become a surcoat over elegant, gold-gilded armor, and her long blade, forged in Milani's armories and graven with sacred runes and sigils of anathema against fiends, is at the ready.
"Very well," she replies to Britta as the archmage indicates she is ready, "Let us go. And maybe, with luck and grace, we will return."
Once all are prepared, Radamare produces the tuning rod and begins to work her spell.
Unlike the rituals of the evening before, this magic is swift and direct. The party is caught up in a bolt of white lightning that whirls them across the infinite planes in a heartbeat and then clears just as quickly, grounding and spending itself as it reaches the plane that the tuning rod guides it to.
Vlorus, the colossal rusting ruin deep within the endless, living ruin that is the Abyss.
Rahlmaat emerges in the morning again in her catfolk form. She yawns deeply and stretches in the deep way only felinekind can. "Time to start unraveling this riddle," she declares, striding confidently to join the rest of the group.
She'd had some good time to observe them and think yesterday. They were a lovely little collection of riddles. She'd gathered enough information on them to have some ideas of their personalities and capabilities by now, but it would be fun to keep piecing things together as they worked. Of course, she hadn't just been doing this for fun. Rahlmaat had set her fine mind to putting together everything she'd learned yesterday to doing the best she could to plan their initial actions.
"Theorizing and researching is all very well, but I've found that riddles like these require field work to solve," she comments. "That said, I have put some thought into our first steps..."
She completely outclasses Liliyashina in terms of her flying abilities, but the succubus is of course the better dancer. By the time it's over, Liliya’s managed to get the respect of the Shulsaga’s at the training grounds.
Rahlmaat’s ancient mind contains within it many riddles and secrets. Bits of lore long lost to many, collected over the centuries. One such bit of lore she gathered in her earliest years. Taken directly from the mouth of a particularly chatty Quasit, he spoke as if he had directly served Xar-Azmak. The Lord of Rust could corrupt and destroy most metals just by a touch, but sometimes he encountered things even he couldn’t easily destroy. Holy Artifacts would require more effort, and to destroy them he would use a foul stomach acid. Where he got it was unknown, only that it was from within his palace. The Quasit also guessed it was tied to Quipploths, what with their whole “We’re essentially just living organs” appearance.
The group gathers, ready to travel into the depths of the Abyss. Blessings and spells are handed out, information is exchanged and plans set in motion. With the secrets Rahlmaat is privy to, the group’s able to narrow their starting search point to Xar-Azmak’s palace in Vlorus. As the final preparations are made and the party is ready, Radamare casts her spell. The white light engulfs the party, sending them spiralling through everything for a moment before spitting them out in the Abyss.
Standing on a platform constructed of pitted, rusted metal, they can look around at their immediate surroundings. Great mounds of debris block line of sight in most directions, except for a strange valley made between the two of them. Far below is a river of a king, a bubbling green and brown mixture, sizzling away and slowly melting the great piles down to a disgusting sludge. High above, rifts in the red stone cavern roof allow chunks of further garbage and debris to fall into the domain. A faint rain of green casts everything in an odd light, the way it sizzles lets the party know it is an acid rain.
While some would want to deal with that, everyone recognizes something. The platform groans, and they all know instantly that it will very shortly collapse under their collective weight. What is everyone going to do? Fly? Climb the great junk piles? Teleport? Anything to avoid falling into the acidic river below, surely.
Rahlmaat is still in her catfolk form, so simply taking off and flying isn't an immediate option (though she would have hestitated to do so anyway while the others were still on it to avoid breaking the platform too early). Switching back to her true form would likely overstress the platform before she could take off as well... and so it was magic.
With a thought, she bridges the space between her and the top of the most stable-looking junk pile nearby. In a flash she vanishes from the platform and arrives at her destination.
"What a lovely landscape," she comments sarcastically.
Upon arriving, she feels the platform and sees others leaving it for secure ground. Holding onto ward, she too vanishes in an instant, appearing next to the beautiful feline woman. The boy is set down and Britta begins to look around.
"Well, given our terrain, up would be the answer to get a better viewpoint of this valley and where it leads, but I think we can manage without climbing. I have a spell that can give me an aerial vantage point unless someone wishes to just move up to the top in an instant and see as far as they can?" she asks while looking to the Hellknight that just sprouted wings.
Liliya hums I am dancing in the rain, I am sniping in the rain, what glorious things... she will fly over to where the rest is, but is also ready grab and secure anyone who cannot start flying quickly.
She enters stealth using the very rain as cover.
I am ready to stealth, and then teleport sufficiently far upwards, as soon as Radamare is where the rest ist. I agree that the valley should be our primary target. Liliya says telepathically to the group, scanning the mountains for a good yet somewhat secluded vantage point.
I have the capability to send a remote sensor up 300 feet once per day as well. she adds using telepathy to keep stealth.
[/i] slight risk of teleporting next to something that will try to eat me, but I dont think anything can do so instantly[/i] she thinks to herself.
[ooc]How far up would I be teleporting to get a birds eyes view of the valley entrance area?
Hearing the rusty platform groan underfoot and seeing rust flakes begin to spall off and fall towards the vile river below, Radamare takes a moment to look around for a place to stand that seems more stable; then with a thought, she is standing there instead, not immediately next to Rahlmaat and Britta (not wanting to overstress the new spot much like the old), but not far away.
"Yes, let's get our bearings." she agrees with Liliya's plan of teleporting up stealthily to get a look at the lay of the land.
Her mass planar adaptation spell takes care of the acid rain, which is neutralized with a soft hiss as it falls on those who are warded.
it grants everyone acid resistance 20 that's the element I picked.
Active Spells
extended freedom of movement (48 hrs) - various benefits.
aid (14 minutes at will) - 14 temporary hit points and +1 morale bonus to attack rolls and fear saves.
extended mass planar adaptation (38 hrs) - acid resistance 20 and immunity to harmful Abyssal environmental effects.
extended mass lesser reversion (48 hrs) - once during the spell duration, when brought below half hit points, you can dismiss the spell as an immediate action to heal 1d8+19 hit points.
extended delay poison (38 hrs) - poison does not affect you until the spell ends
extended greater magic weapon (38 hrs) +1 to hit/damage with greatsword
extended magic vestment (38 hrs) +4 AC
tears to wine (180 minutes, from Britta) +5 to mental skill checks
nondetection (18 hours, from Britta) DC 29 caster level check to detect with divinations
Other long-term effects
impeded magic: Caster level check (DC 20+spell level) to cast any good or lawful spell
local reality hates me:-2 to mental (Int, Wis, Cha) skill/ability checks due to being a nonevil creature on a strongly evil-aligned plane
Rahlmaat thinks of what she knows of the plane and its landmarks.
If she remembers anything, she tells Radamere and Liliyashanina what to look for.
"Once we get close enough, it should be easy to recognize. I doubt there is much else intact in this... artistically arrange garbage heap." She pauses a moment. "It's almost as if a boy that liked to gross out his friends got older and more powerful without growing up."
Shaking herself from her musings, the catfolk-form sphinx adds, "We will want to be careful about teleportation as we draw nearer. By reputation the palace area will be creatively trapped, and that will no doubt include traps for those moving between planes."
"It may be advisable to scout while invisible, as we don't know what creatures below may see us if we just shoot up into the air. As for me, just out of caution, I'll be invisible for the time being. I will come into view as you return."
With that, the mage will herself turn invisible, once again, without casting a spell. This time, even to the more observant of the group, she just merely becomes instantly invisible with no spell cast at all. The child next to her now stands there alone and he sits down on the rust pile and begins to play with some scrap pieces. One would think he's dejected by his body language, but he doesn't show it on his face.
Liliya draws her weapon and vanishes. Seconds after this, her companions hear a telepathic communication.
My invisibility is a somewhat limited resource, I am expending one use of it. Aerially scouting ahead. Will scout 6 minutes into direction of the valley then return. Be advised, I will likely be out of telepathic reach.
I will not engage in hostilities, and withdraw if detected.
Stealth was done before hand, adding 20 due to moving while invisible brings it to 61.
While invisible, she scouts using her perception.
Fly if neccessary, if not she narratively uses her prowress to weaver in between acid raindrops, not because they are dangerous but to make her even less detectable:
The party all finds positions on the junk pile, as the platform gives way and goes tumbling down the pile. It splashes into the river below, sizzling away as the group discusses among themselves the next course of action. The decision to scout ahead is made, and Liliya vanishes, weaving in between the heavier waves of the rain as she heads out to scout. The first thing she notices from her airborne position is some movement from one of the piles further down the valley.
Scuttering around and occasionally taking to the air like cockroaches are creatures she's able to vaguely recognize as Rust Monsters. Many, many Rust Monsters, seemingly an entire colony of the things having built a hive in one of the piles. A place to likely avoid. She continues on and doesn't reach the end of the valley after six minutes. Probably around eight miles traveled, leaving the only option be to go up over the top and peek.
Flying upwards and remaining hidden, Lilyashina reaches a point where she's able to see over the top of the ridgeline. In the distance, over the tops of the other ridgelines, she can spot a series of crooked towers at what she can guess is the center of the plane. As to the actual distance, Liliya cannot tell. The perspective simply warps it too much for her to figure it out.
"As for myself... if the rest of you would give me some space, I would rather like to have my wings at present," Rahlmaat states. "My true form will be a larger target, true, but it is also a much more dangerous target."
She smiles, a predatory gleam in her eyes. "It would be interesting to see who still bites here."
Radamare notes with interest that she has no more luck seeing Liliya when the succubus is invisible than she has had in sensing any aura of evil around her. She nods to the sphinx, giving her plenty of space to transform, and prepares to move out once the party receives Liliya's report on the direction of what is, presumably, the ruined palace.
Once they begin, the azata at first travels largely by teleportation, making short hops of a few hundred feet at a time so as not to get too far separated from the others. She suggests that the party give the hive of rust monsters a wide berth, and she also makes herself invisible while they pass by - no need to stir the creatures up.
If they draw near to the palace without being accosted by anything else, then considering Rahlmaat's warning about teleportation traps, she will leave off teleporting and make the final approach by some other means... but whether they will indeed get that far without trouble remains to be seen.
Active Spells
greater invisibility (14 rounds at will) - note nondetection below.
extended freedom of movement (48 hrs) - various benefits.
aid (14 minutes at will) - 14 temporary hit points and +1 morale bonus to attack rolls and fear saves.
extended mass planar adaptation (38 hrs) - acid resistance 20 and immunity to harmful Abyssal environmental effects.
extended mass lesser reversion (48 hrs) - once during the spell duration, when brought below half hit points, you can dismiss the spell as an immediate action to heal 1d8+19 hit points.
extended delay poison (38 hrs) - poison does not affect you until the spell ends
extended greater magic weapon (38 hrs) +1 to hit/damage with greatsword
extended magic vestment (38 hrs) +4 AC
tears to wine (180 minutes, from Britta) +5 to mental skill checks
nondetection (18 hours, from Britta) DC 29 caster level check to detect with divinations
Other long-term effects
impeded magic: Caster level check (DC 20+spell level) to cast any good or lawful spell
"Yes, but you might cause more of a disturbance in the pile. At least a more noticeable one. But as you wish."
She will move over some of the trash and rust, seeking to distance herself about fifteen feet from the huge sphinx.
"You can't wait until we are closer to the palace to do this?" she asks with curiosity.
"Are the rest of you going to walk in this?" Rahlmaat asks pointedly. "Up and down over these mounds of garbage? This isn't my natural form. I'm not good at mountain climbing, much less when the mountains are made of rusting metal that isn't a solid mass."
Liliya returns to the group, being unwilling to operate that far out of their distance and not willing to risk teleport traps.
I have scouted the area roughly 8 miles ahead, other then a massive colony of rust monsters at this location she says pinpointing the location, I did not see any additional threats. However, even with my perception, one does not fully scout out a territory of 8 miles in 2 overflights..
I did take a peek over the valleys edge, over a set of ridgelines, a set of crooked towers was visible, these are likely the center of the plane.
I do not believe that fighting the rust monsters is an efficient utilization of our resources, I would assess many of them to be heavily mutated, and thus possibly far more dangerous then they normally would be.
Liliya uses her perception (instead of survival) to plot a course which would be efficient yet give the spotted rust monsters a wide enough berth to not trigger aggression.
Liliya is not fully happy with how the route looks and would not mind some assistance from other partymembers.
Adressing the dispute about true forms or no, Liliya says:
I believe that the ground of Vlorus may well be a more nasty threat then opportunistic attacks by the rust monsters. The crooked towers looked like fingers, several of the trashmetal shapes here look like maws. The overall area is mountaineous enough that, if we fly somewhat above ground, we should not be visible from extreme ranges, while benefiting from not walking here. I would be unsurprised if many of this areas predator hunt by sense other then the visual and are more based on tremor sense or equivalent abilities. Is there any of us who are suspectible to diseases? Tetanus is definitly a concern here.
Checking her sniper rifle she finishes with
I am reasonably confident that our group, me in particular, heavily outranges most possible adversaries. I would prefer to stealthily fly and scout above Lady Rahlmaat, usefully enough the rain and the general visibility conditions provide me with enough cover to do this, perhaps some 30 feet above her hover height, to both check of aerial attackers and to scout continously.
"You make a good point," she answers to the sphinx. "However, can we beseech you for a ride then? Ward and I would consider it a great honor then to not have to worry about the ground if you are taking us. Otherwise, I had planned on climbing through this, yes. I do not wish to waste resources on flying spells if I don't have to."
"Eww...I hate rust monsters. They get a little too touchy for my likes. I also prefer to keep my gear." She hums and considers this route and the plan as they head toward the palace. "Well, let me see if I can see a better route given your information."
"I will charge a small fee," Rahlmaat replies to Britta's request. "One clue to your riddle for each passenger--why do you bring this menagerie with you on this journey?"
"As for the rust monsters, I agree it is best to avoid them. Likely we will attract other attention, but for those of you who depend on metal equipment, there is no reason to risk a confrontation."
Once everyone is clear, she shifts back to her sphinx form. She stretches (carefully, to avoid knocking too much off the scrap heap) and then crouches down.
"I never feel quite right crammed into that small of a body," she comments.
Liliya quitly chuckles flying above Rahlmaat.
I can somewhat understand, I was running around as a halfling for a decade or so once, really felt great to stretch my wings thereafter.
Looking at Rahlmaat the not yet armored flying personel carrier, Liliya strongly sees strong potential assoicated with upgrading her into a fully airborne infantry fighting vehicle. Some plate armor on the flanks to protect both her and the crew, a flamethrower on a paw, and perhaps a shoulder mounted Katyusha style multiple rocket launcher system. Maybe bomblets under the wings?
Perhaps adding some arms of the marilith to facialiate quick rotations of weaponry to increase rates of fire...
She thinks she has to increase her influence first before she would approach Rahlmaat about this very unorthodox approach.
Shielding her notebook from the acid rain, she quickly draws some doodles of Rahlmaat the Sturmovik .
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She then gestures to the dragon ally on her shoulders.
"This magnificent being is Three River's Convergence, named after the three astral flows in which the Elder Great Wurm resides. This being here is summoned from one of the actual dragon's unique time-altering scales as a material component. I have brought this summon with me for numerous reasons. He is an extra set of eyes, he can poison lesser creatures that annoy me, and has a decent breath weapon himself. While all of that is grand, I mostly keep him around because he gives me comfort in this horrible situation to remind me of my friend."
She then gestures to her pack, in which is the wobbling Hag's Eye slime.
"I keep Squish the slime with me because I have given it life, and while kind of ugly, in a creepy wobbly way, I think it's cute. It is a mindless pet that follows my instruction. I am capable of seeing through his hag's eye, so he also is functional as a seeing sensor. With his invisibility, he is a formidable tool at a distance, even to such beings who can see invisibility. Such abilities or spells usually only function at a certain distance, giving my little slime the ability to well remain hidden and let me spy on an area. I mostly keep him by me because I enjoy it. To those lesser creatures that attack him, he has a significant paralysis, which is entertaining to see him employ...or you know...for pranks..." Her eyes shift to the left and right mysteriously in guilt. It is clear she has used this slime multiple times to paralyze people for pranks.
-----------------
If her answer is sufficient to the sphinx, Britta will help the child up on top, will climb up herself quite easily, and then will ask, "This is the first time I have had the greatest of honors to ride upon a sphinx. Will it hurt you to hold onto your coat? Is there somewhere we would do better? Before your grand wings? Behind them?"
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Rahlmaat chuckles deep in her massive chest. "Do you think I had not considered this possibility? I have been riddling for more than four millenia. Leaving an opening for vague clues is a part of the game. Still, your more complete answers leave me more open to ponder other riddles, so they are sufficient."
She lowers a wing almost like a ramp to her fellow wizard. "I had noticed your Ward scarcely acted like a child. Being a mother myself that first attracted my attention. As for your questions, I have scarcely enough experience with riders to be certain, but unless you yourself are hiding a particularly painful grip, you should be able to hold anywhere but my hair without causing me harm. If a fairly ordinary grip hurts me, I shall have to review my inbuilt defenses for weaknesses."
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Radamare politely accepts a ride if offered. If not offered, she sticks with her original plan of traveling by short teleportation hops until they are close enough to the palace to worry about wards against teleporting, at which point she has a shorter-term air walk spell ready.
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After a moment's thought, Radamare reconsiders and also asks Rahlmaat for a ride, wondering what clue the sphinx will request of her.
Liliya narrowly resists the urge to list all the interesting and diverse beings she has ridden.
Very very narrowly. It would take too much time. It would be somewhat gauche after all, and some of them did fully expect privacy, and would be unique enough to be possibly recogniced from her retelling the tale.
To Brittas revelation concernign the boy she says:
Ahh, ablative protection? And I thought he was a walking bomb to explode in the abductors face at your command if ever abducted. Are all of your companions keyed to regard us as allies? This is of course your choice, but it would affect my decision making when it comes to rescuing them in the event of them being seperated from you. It is highly unlikely for your slime friend to paralyze me, but I would rather not take this risk if it could be avoided.
"A price for the Azata? Hmmm..." Rahlmaat considers Radamere for a long moment. "Your past is not one I know. You are... young as an azata, yes? Yet clearly powerful in ways others are not. For you, a clue as to how you came to be this seeming contradiction shall be your price."
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A chuckle comes from Britta's mouth as she climbs up the wing, as if she had assumed the Sphinx would know better, which was why she graciously offered the mystery on top of common courtesy. Naturally, the sphinx believes there is more to her now.
"I would not wish to disappoint your curiosity. There is far more for you to discover, mighty Rahlmaat, should any further fees be required at a future date."
Britta will retrieve her ooze from her pack and will stick it onto the back of Rahlmaat in between her and Ward. It does not "slime" or "grossify" the Sphinx in any way, and is quite solid, like using far too much gelatine in a mixture; wobbly, but still cube-like.
"Suction here."
The small ooze suddenly becomes something similar to a "seatbelt" system, using its suction to "fwomp" all four of them together onto the back of Rahlmaat. It holds on with casual suction (nothing painfully hard), but will give them extra security should Rahlmaat suddenly have to evade something.
Britta then smirks and replies to the lovely Liliyashanina.
"I am highly doubtful that any of my companions here could do noticeable harm to any of you. There is nothing to worry about. I did not bring the slime for its voracious paralytic. I'm merely stating that if I were to run into a kolbold or a commoner who was far underwhelming in power to my capabilities, I'd much rather have my ooze strike him and render him out of the picture than have him face me. Plus, it's more entertaining!" she giggles. "It also does not eat until I tell it to, so you don't have to worry about it latching onto you inappropriately to digest you. As for Ward being an explosive...if I accrued enough monthly income even to an extreme amount, it would still be a waste. Ward is nearing an investment not easily repeatable or so easily expendable to just simply have him self-destruct. There are small clockwork constructs, oozes, magical beasts, or magical items I could easily make that would serve a similar function to what you were thinking. These would not cost one-tenth his price. Constructs are extremely expensive and most of all, time-consuming to create at his caliber."
"Most non-wizards don't know that about constructs as they are so rare and varied. Still, either she has millions in gold available to her coming in, or she is without this knowledge. Or she just didn't know he was worth that much, being that they are all so different. In any case, not surprising despite her age."
"I'd rather just use my own magical capabilities to incinerate something. It's quicker and usually far more destructive."
"These here, for the purpose of your spell, will be an ally." Indicating Ward and the dragon. Then gesturing to the ooze, she continues, "This one, not so much. If we get into hardship, I do not expect you to rescue them unless you wish to." "I can't believe I'm saying this to a demon." "Your lives are more important to me."
Well, Liliya awnswers looking somewhat puzzled
I do know that explosives are pretty cheap, my favorite engineer vasall can make essentially anything explode, sometimes even accidentaly but explosive prices have to be paid for scientific advancement.
Liliya clearly finds explosions amusing. You do not need to roll sense motive for that.
A clearly intelligent and good aligned entity like you bringing something that could be her child into the Abyss well, to me it looked like a cunning trap designed to mete out amusing punishment to the first, probably incubus, who abducts him with the aim of gaining control over you.
Switching tracks she continues:
By the way Other then me and Lady Rahlmaat, does anyone else here have progeny? I explicitly ask this with no intention whatsorever to target them in any way shape or form. I for one considered bringing some of my children along, of the 24 I did give birth too, 18 still exist and about 4 of them are fairly powerful, although not quite as powerful as I am. They however barely get along with me or each other, and I doubt that especially the more powerful ones would be a good fit for the party.
"Yes," Radamare admits as she allows the strange ooze to buckle her in, "I was only newly come to Paradise. I just recently passed the first year since my... I mean, the mortal woman whose soul this was, her death."
She gestures, indicating her own body, which is, as with most outsiders, also her soul, and no longer possessed of any distinction between flesh and spirit.
"I say her and not my because the other dwellers in Paradise, if I go to them for advice, have advised dissociation from... her, to look forward towards eternity rather than backward towards death."
Radamare frowns thoughtfully as she debates what sort of information might constitute a satisfying clue for the riddling sphinx.
"I do not doubt that it is good advice, but it is difficult to follow. Especially on an errand such as this, since to draw on that special power you remarked on, as I did last evening, is to look backward to my death. I suppose that may be your clue about it."
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Between Liliya and Britta's combined thinking power, they're able to figure out a relatively safe route. One that circumvents the rust monster hive, and keeps the party from becoming too noticeable by flying over the ridgelines. There are spots where the ridgelines dip, usually due to particular pieces of debris. These form natural passes which the two navigators figure they can use to get to the center while avoiding detection.
With that settled, the party set themselves up as best they can. Either riding upon the massive back of Rahlmaat, or flying under their own power. Taking into the air, they begin working their way through the mountainous piles of garbage and rust. Occasionally something would shift in the piles below them, but it was hard to tell if it was because of a creature or the constant erosion. What was less difficult to identify was the occasional breaching of something in the acid rivers. Things lived in there, something with scales that vanished just as quickly as they disappeared.
As they got closer to the center, the spires become more obvious. They do resemble fingers as if some great hand was raising from the ground to shovel more into its greedy maw. However, that's not the most interesting thing that gets spotted. It takes a while to notice it through the acid rain, but eventually, Radamare would notice it. Hovering in the air about ninety feet from the party is a strange little device.
With a set of rusted metal propellers on the top, it doesn't look like it really should be able to resist the rain. On the bottom of it is a simple small cylinder of metal, equally as rusted. Painted onto the cylinder is a worn image, a crudely drawn image of a demonic face with its tongue sticking out. As Radamare squints into the rain, she's able to notice more in the distance. A field of these tiny flying creations.
Some type of sensor field I believe, we can likely make a reasonable guess how far these sensors reach out by looking at how far they are from each other.
They could be rigged to simply approach whatever and self destruct, which I why I am hesitant to simply announce myself to one hmmm. Decisions, Decisions. We could retreat 60 feet, I bring one down, very stealthily from 150 feet, and we observe how they react? If they do not show direct aggression, we telekinetically move the remains to us so we can analyze its capabilities?
On the subjects of remains, do we see any wrecks of these things in the ground? The conditions of Vlorus likely create a fair amount of wear and tear. A wreck could be as good for analysis as a recently shot one.
I could summon a Babau, have it teleport there, pick up possible remains and return. This would give away less of our capabilities.
Liliya opines.
Radamare describes what she sees to her companions, but before deciding what to do she thinks whether she can recognize anything about these creatures or devices or about the image painted on them.
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The rain doesn't block Britta's vision at all. her veil tears through it with ease, as does her keen android life sensor pick up the forms and appearance of beings lying under the wreckage if within range. When they come after Rahlmaat, she will prepare to give warning, but none bother to give chase.
Upon approaching the claw-like spires, she is more on alert than before, and when Radamare gives notice of what is above them, she nods.
"We best set down here."
Britta, being an expert engineer and magical item crafter, can often identify even some futuristic equipment, such as the gun carried by Liliya just by looking at it. These unique flying machines in front of them worry her.
With her intimate knowledge of spying out other realms, she may even know the manufacturer of these. She delves into her memory to see what she recalls in the moment without further focus.
Liliya assists Britta with her inquiries.
If I would be going for a sensor/minefield, what would I put in in terms of payload, what would I put in for sensor/vision and for locomotion and can I thus guess what this is?
Do I know the "artist", does the way the symbol is painted tell me anything about the personality?
Which increases Brittas knowledge checks by 2 each.
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Rahlmaat seems faintly amused to be carrying passengers. She arches an eyebrow at Radamere's "clue". "An azata who remembers coming from a single mortal soul? A riddle indeed. Spend your clues carefully," she says with a deep chuckle as the azata boards.
As opposed to her surprising grace on the ground, Rahlmaat's flight is... ponderous. There is simply no way for something roughly lion-shaped the size of a small house to fly nimbly without magic. Still, it's clear the sphinx is experienced with how much space and time she needs to turn, and those on her back experience a smooth ride, even if it takes her gigantic gradual turns to accomplish the feat.
She makes a slow, wide turn when her passengers point out the nearby constructs, and starts a slow spiral towards the ground. "From your description it sounds like the typical childishness of a demon with more power than sense," she comments. "No doubt their creator finds their actions amusing--even if that action is simply to worry fliers enough to avoid them and so fall into another trap."
Just in case, she's keeping an eye out for trouble below as she descends.
The party halts, Rahlmaat slowly spiraling towards the ground while they discuss what exactly these things might be. One thing is pretty easy to figure out, a common facet of demonic culture that almost everyone there is familiar with. Weaker demons tend to be far cruder than stronger ones, but still, usually want to dominate and control. Graffiti and crude art, either a self-portrait or a symbol representing them tend to be used to mark territory or items they own. Inspection from a distance for a couple of moments allows Britta and Radamare to identify it as a depiction of a Quasit. No deeper meaning beyond a mark of ownership.
The vast engineering knowledge present comes together from the party's efforts, revealing... A lot, but also not a lot. One thing is obvious, the object has to be magical as well mechanical. The device is too small to power itself for any real length of time unless it had a magical fuel source. It'd definitely be light enough to be mobile, assuming this is a sort of standby mode. No obvious signs of weaponry or even sensors, though at least some of the interior has to be dedicated to the mechanism moving the propellers.
It could be possible to search the area below as Liliya looks down. Depending on how intact any wreckage is, it could be easy... or it could be very difficult. Considering it would have landed in a giant pile of junk, or the acid river.
"I recall reading a book. It was translated from abyssal in such a horrible manner, but it bore a similar mark. The mark of a quasit. In the book, which was titled "Treatise on Recycling in Engineering," they often used unclaimed objects, in bizarre ways, typically destructive or unsafe ways. That's all I can recall. My apologies. If the original translation had been better, I might tell you more accurately what these could contain, but chances are even not in that case."
The mage shrugs.
"Let's see, it is clearly magical. It would probably be safer flying above it, but if we want to know what it is, there are likely wreckage parts down below as the rain has consumed them over the years. What do you want to do?"
Liliya ponders.
A very industrious Quasit, should get along well with my Soviet engineer, the homonyms between Abyssal engineering Slang and Russian engineering slang are by the way far too numerous to be wholly coincidental.
A lowly Quasit pulling off such a thing is unusual, this exemplar may be considerably more capable then many if not most of its peers.
I can stealthily swoop down and retrieve one such object for closer analysis. I do expect an explosive payload, although they could also be kinetic attackers instead. Flying above them would almost certainly make us visible to attackers who arent Quasits. I do wonder how these contraptions would distinguish friend from foe, perhaps via this crudely drawn marking? Their individual shapes seem to vary considerably after all.
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"I can also probe them with images."
Radamare waits a moment in case anybody has objections to such a plan, but if nobody does, she proceeds. A moment's silent concentration causes a few wisps of cloud to coalesce into an image of a tiny, winged demon with fierce curling rams' horns and an obnoxious leer. A quasit, such as the painted symbol seems to indicate.
She sends the illusory quasit winging towards the field of strange devices to see whether they react to intrusions in any way.
Spells active on Rada
greater invisibility (14 rounds at will). Note nondetection below.
extended freedom of movement (48 hrs) - various benefits.
aid (14 minutes at will) - 14 temporary hit points and +1 morale bonus to attack rolls and fear saves.
extended mass planar adaptation (38 hrs) - acid resistance 20 and immunity to harmful Abyssal environmental effects.
extended mass lesser reversion (48 hrs) - once during the spell duration, when brought below half hit points, you can dismiss the spell as an immediate action to heal 1d8+19 hit points.
extended delay poison (38 hrs) - poison does not affect you until the spell ends
extended greater magic weapon (38 hrs) +1 to hit/damage with greatsword
extended magic vestment (38 hrs) +4 AC
tears to wine (180 minutes, from Britta) +5 to mental skill checks
nondetection (18 hours, from Britta) DC 29 caster level check to detect with divinations
Other long-term effects
impeded magic: Caster level check (DC 20+spell level) to cast any good or lawful spell
"An illusion seems a much better plan than theorizing or risking ourselves," Rahlmaat states. "At the very least it will tell us if these things are simple-minded automata or more sophisticated."
She keeps circling as she awaits the results of Radamere's illusion.
The image of the tiny winged demon appears, and flys over towards the flying machine. It gets closer and closer, yet nothing happens. Until eventually it just straight up touches one of the machines, with absolutely nothing happening. Which creates more questions as to what these things do, and how exactly they work. All that can be said, there isn't going to be an easy way out it seems.
[b]"I highly doubt anyone would make constructs with true sight or a lifesense effect. It would be extremely difficult and expensive. Our only hope would be that they either can't see anything, and are there to stop something coming in from the sky that didn't notice them. We did. Anyway, let us proceed and if we need to respond, we can do that when and if that time comes. They also are possibly under the command of someone within that place,"[/b she points to the fortress.
Then keep stealthily approaching? I should be able to bring a couple of them down if they make a move.
"Stealth is not particularly an option for me, unless I were to spend spells I do not think I need to as yet," Rahlmaat states. "I suspect we are overthinking this. We are either going to need to destroy these things or not. Let us test which it will be."
The sphinx starts flapping her wings, spiraling back upwards, aiming to pass some sixty feet above the nearest of the constructs to test its response. "Keep an eye on it for me. If it approaches, I would appreciate its destruction."