A not so giggling bronze-colored bat-shaped sprite jumps up to his feet with a bit of measuring in his blue eyes!
So, attempting murder is alright, then? Just don't want to get y illegals mixed up.
Ravenna snaps off two shots at the ooze, racking her brain for any bits of half-remembered facts about the monsters.
+
Ravenna recognizes the creature as a black pudding. These oozes are immune to acid, mental effects, piercing, and slashing damage. Fortunately, her concussive bullets harm it, as well as Sylva’s kicks!
The ooze sloughs towards Batman, grabbing him with a corrosive psuedopod!
Sylva just punch-kicks the crap out of this crappy monster!
She ducks for a moment, then leaps up and bashes the smile with her knee!
He does Shield Block the icky yucky touchy Psuedopod.
Sir Batman sneezes!
Storming Blast (fire)
The bronze-colored sprite grins, as he Raises his Sweet New Sturdy Shield!
I may be catching something....
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Nox pat's Ravenna's leg as usual she feels unusually fast in her movements. The shadows cast by the statue of Iomedae seem to linger down towards the fight happening nearby and slowly stretch towards the ooze. However in the meantime Nox and Hildy charge towards the ooze.
"Hey stop hitting my friend, hit me instead you overgrown mold puddle. I'll show you a thing or two about messing with THE Bronze Batman!"
Ravenna keeps up the fire, reloading faster than ever thanks to Nox's magic.
The ooze takes a beating from Sylva and Ravenna, while Batman's fire burns it! It keeps its grip on the champion as it constricts him! It finally releases him after squeezing him a few times.
“If you had a butt, I’d kick it. But you don’t, so I’ll kick your…your…
Evanescent wings that are just suddenly there beat like crazy to keep the little sprite afloat as she kicks the creature three more times—
—in the same exact spot!
…almost exactly as hard each time.
Sir Batman holds his breath!
Sir Batman exhales!
Sir Batman may have sharted!
Feeling a bit abused, the bronze-colored sprite wobbles just a bit before shaking his bat-like head.
I feel like he liked me a bit too much.
Raising his sturdy shield, Laying on Hands himself and Striking his former lover in the...well...
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Nox spurs Hildy into action and the pair dart around the back side.. well other side of the massive ooze. Nox watches as Batman and Sylva punch kick and schlorp with the agonizingly painful jelly and it can't help but remind him of his love lost so long ago. Sensing her riders disconnection from the moment Hildy barks, to awaken Nox from his dismal revelation and the tiny sprite begins to cry, digging deep in his soul for that painful tormented feeling which enhanced by his native magics explodes outward in a baleful cry.
Ravenna loads yet another round, this time infusing it with a little extra kick. When she pulls the trigger, the explosion that follows surprises even her.
The ooze ignores Nox's scream as the rest of you shoot and pummel it. Despite being badly damaged, the quivering mass rises up to batter and burn Batman again and again!
“Yowzers! Sir Bat?!”
Sylva stays focused on the one thing she’s good at: kicking!
Grim faced, Ravenna does the only thing she can: she keeps firing.
Between Sylva's kicks and Ravenna's bullets, you finish off the ooze! It shudders before melting into an enormous, inanimate puddle of muck.
The crowd gasps in surprise, and Gaar Steelflare is astounded. "Inconceivable!" he stammers "I was convinced—like everyone else in the Committee—that you lot were truly evil. But you have destroyed the living evil itself, a testament to your righteousness. I apologize a thousand times over for my mistake. Perhaps it would be wise for you to act more normally in the future so that others do not misjudge you. Go about your business in peace!" He doesn’t linger, ordering his agents to pull the cart away.
“Act nor..?” Sylva’s voice does not carry over the sound of the cart being pulled away, and she realizes that’s for the best.
She turns to her friends. “My, my, what a lovely town. As a perfectly normal woman, I would like to do a bit of sightseeing, and after seeing sights, mayhaps we can happen upon an inn. And… go in there. Is my nose sufficiently powdered? Eyes… adequately… made up?”
She glares back at the rear of the cart.
“Okay. That’s out of my system.”
She takes out her med kit and says to Sir Bat, “If you want to paint the town red, don’t do it with your blood. Let’s get those wound properly dressed.”
Sir Batman rises up from his unconscious state to stare absolute knives, daggers, shortswords, longswords, bastardswords, greatswords, and any sword that the pissed-off bronze-colored (red with blood actually) bat-shaped sprite can conceivably think of!
I hate you.
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Nox grumbles and flusters at the man who now tries to escape his tongue lashing by absconding from the area.
"Now you wait Right there! You falsly accuse us, assault us, and then expect that you can just walk away without proper recompense?! I'm sure the Inheritor herself would step down to explain to you just why that is a unjust. Now I demand of you to make things right, we have done nothing strange, other than be ourselves. And yet you claim we are being odd, when you yourself house a manifestation of 'evil' as you call it."
Nox sits tall, for a sprite, on Hildy's back and proclaims to everyone in the square. "Is it not a bit queer that one of your own who claims to be a force of righteousness houses a being of supposed evil to unleash on any unsuspecting new comers to your town unprovoked?!"
After his glowing oration the sprite seems to wilt again as if the very effort of being so upset exhausted him.
Clearly furious, Ravenna waits an uncomfortably long moment before lowering her jezail and slinging it across her back. She goes to help Sylva with Batman, giving his shield a quick examination in the process.
Gaar holds up his hand to stop the cart and listens to Nox's diatribe. The dwarf frowns, then hops down and gets on his knees before the sprite. "Again allow me to offer my humblest apologies. I shall seek atonement with the Inheritor for my transgressions against you. And I shall spread the word of your righteousness!"
***
Having overcome Gaar’s test, you find that you're treated very different in Egede now. The Committee makes no further attempts to obstruct you, and townsfolk treat you with outsized deference and respect that borders on hero worship.
The morning after your encounter with Gaar, a handful of young priests of Iomedae meet you once you step outside. The priests greet you warmly, ask to shake your hands, and offer to show you about town. The priests have
a hard time taking no for an answer, and soon are on their knees begging to touch your clothes or do practically any service for you!
Indeed, you find yourselves getting preferential treatment from the city’s business owners. Their prices are reduced to normal rates, and your lodging is compensated by the inn's owners.
Later that evening, a missive arrives from Doctor Ritalson:
Gatewalkers,
May this missive find you well. It’s come to my attention that you’ve recently arrived in Mendev. Taking the long way home, it seems? No matter. I’ve also learned that you have some interesting new companions, including a young seer who bears the same mark of the gatewalker as we all do. Continue to travel with her, and help her complete her quest however you can. I’ve little doubt that this seer will ultimately be useful to our investigation into the meaning of the Missing Moment.
Find attached a bank note with payment for your good work so far. Consider it a bonus. Once you’ve finished helping the seer, come back to Lepidstadt for a full report. You can expect a sizable reward upon your return.
I imagine you have questions—foremost, perhaps, how I know all this. Suffice to say I kept an ear to the ground after Fianara sent me word you’d disappeared from Sevenarches. The full story is too complicated to tell in a letter. I’ll explain everything when you finish your work in the Sarkoris Scar and return to Lepidstadt.
—Dr. Ritalson
The letter contains a promissory note for 400 gp. It can be exchanged at any bank of Abadar, including Egede’s local temple, for gold.
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"Whu...I."
The flustered sprite fumes and just returns to his companions, "We should go and rest I don't think I want to go to the market or anywhere else today and we now have to repair our things. Again, Unbelievable!"
Nox seems to sleep in today, but shakes his head when he finally wakes up from the night after the fight with the giant ooze monster. He still recalls that it was just a giant festering mess and he wanted to be out of here rather sooner than later.
The Sprite seems rather sluggish as the morning sets in whatever he did the other night having exhausted him slightly.
Sir Batman groans.
When are we leaving.
The miserable bronze-colored sprite sleeps the day and night away.
The following morning, he is stoic and silent, except with his friends.
After reading the letter, he frown deepens.
Ravenna smiles at Hildy, giving him some scritches behind the ear as a reward for his hard work. Later, in the market, she picks up a set of goggles to help with her detail work.
Sir Batman's mood brightens conceivably when Ravenna shows off her new sweet-looking eye piece!
It really brings out the color in your cheekbones.
The sprite then looks at the letter again from Dr. Ritalson.
We're in Mendev? And how does he actually know that? And how come we are still here? I hate this town. And I like towns.
Sylva giggles at Sir Bat’s grumpiness. “Oh, come now. People are nice to us now that immediately murdering us didn’t work.”
No sooner does Sylva say this than some old guy asks to touch the hem of her dress. “Ugh.. make it quickokaytime’sup.” She makes a sheepish grin. “Sorry, it’s not you. It’s me.”
When he leaves, she says, “Yeah, I’m the weirdo for not wanting my clothes touched by strangers.”.
The extra hundred bucks prompts Sylva to browse the shops. She makes sure any tailors she goes to are pretty young ladies, preferably with dainty fingers and non-creepy eyes. She wants to carefully choose who touches her clothes.
After a few days in Egede, Sakuachi finally approaches you. "Hey! So, good news: I've just made contact with a caravan driver who's headed west with building materials. The caravan’s final stop is Kenabres, which isn't far from the Sarkoris Scar. This is our best chance to go to Sarkoris. If we travel with the caravan, can restock on rations and supplies at the edge of the Sarkoris wastes before heading in."
Your departure from Egede is marked by your biggest crowd of fanatical hero worshippers yet. More than a dozen of your biggest fans—“true believers,” in the crowd’s words—assemble at the western road out of the city. It takes a bit of doing, but the caravan driver is able to clear the crowd long enough to pass through, but they shout and cheer and wave and swoon as you ride off, leaving the town and its strange inhabitants behind...
***
The journey from Egede to Kenabres is approximately 225 miles, which takes the caravan about 10 days. Rolling plains and craggy badlands fill most of the space between the two cities. After 2 days of travel, the caravan reaches the Estrovian Forest, where the gloomy atmosphere and bare trees offer only a minor respite from the otherwise-monotonous journey.
Somewhere in the badlands between the edge of the Estrovian Forest and Kenabres, the caravan camps alongside a dusty road beneath a starry sky. Suddenly, Sakuachi snaps awake and sits upright. She turns towards you, catching her breath. "I just had a dream vision. In my dream, I stood alone in a clearing among great pillars—stone monoliths, perhaps, or bare trees. Before me, a hole opened in the ground, perfectly circular and impossibly deep. Like a falling star in reverse, a divine being shot up out of the hole, and it floated before me so I could gaze upon it. It was a dazzling white bird surrounded by a whirlwind of snow. The bird swept toward me and wrapped me in its wings, which, though rimed in ice, felt impossibly warm on my skin."
Suddenly, something high above makes a faint popping noise. It’s the sound of a celestial object breaking through the atmosphere at incredible speed. As if on cue, the falling star arcs toward the western horizon and crashes somewhere far out of sight. Sakuachi, agog, points wordlessly at the meteorite’s trajectory. "It looks like we're leaving the caravan tomorrow morning," she says quietly.
Sylva magical-girls on a blue shirt with a red and yellow S (for Sylva) on it, and a red skirt, cape and boots. She thinks the cape would look great if she could fly, but sadly, it will get in the way of her wings when she stouts them.
She wears various travel outfits throughout the caravan ride, and it so happens to be Plaid Day when the falling star comes crashing down somewhere over the horizon.
Sylva doesn’t know how this relates to Sakuachi‘s dream. She knows it means the end of their peaceful days, and soon she and her friends will once again be forced to fight for their lives.
“Why?” She gives Sir Batman a serious look. “Why did this have to happen on Plaid Day?”
After a few days in Egede,....
The Batman seems a bit morose and short tempered during this time (except when Sylva mentions that they have more gold to purchase stuff!).
Sir Batman is seen packed and impatiently waiting with the caravan as soon as the words leave Sakuachi‘s lips!
Whatever is the hold up!
After 2 days of travel, the caravan reaches the Estrovian Forest....
Sir Batman is seen laughing, pranking and dancing now!
Sir Batman's blue eyes linger on the fallen meteorite, as Sylva bemoans the circumstances of her attire. Glancing down at his always bronze-colored gear, clothing, skin and armaments, the smiling sprite giggles.
I seem to not have gotten the memo.
Strapping on his even more Sturdy Shield, the bronze-colored bat-shaped sprite prepares to investigate.
Ravenna feels better with Egede at their backs, and even more so once it's over the horizon and out of sight.
She gives the falling star a sour look as it crashes to earth. Figures.
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Nox tries his best to stay low while they remain in Egede. He also sticks to the inside of the caravan for the better part of the trip, partially to stay out of the weather, but also just to rest and think about what had happened at the last city.
When the meteorite falls during their stay in the woods Nox sighs, "It seems your dream was more than just that once again. It also seems we are not destined to go all the way to the next town either."
The morning after her vision, Sakuachi explains the plan to her companions. To locate the fallen star, you'll part ways with the caravan here, a few days south of Kenabres, so you can cut across the West Sellen River and reach the impact site as quickly as possible. Once you make your last minute preparations, you begin to head off on your own.
The Worldwound wreaked havoc on northern Avistan for over a century, transforming the verdant plains of Old Sarkoris into a demon-plagued wasteland. Though the Abyssal rift was sealed several years ago, charred chasms and swaths of blighted earth still scar the region, hence its common name: the Sarkoris Scar. Demons and other terrible creatures prowl the wastes, and pervasive diseases keep both flora and fauna from flourishing. Crossing this poisoned landscape on foot is a struggle, even for the most prepared traveler. And you've got a long way to go...
"Easier than it used to be, at least,"[-/b] Ravenna says, checking her supplies. [b]"I've heard tales of what it was like before."
Sir Batman stands staring out across the wasteland that lays before them.
I remember when this was all farm land.
The journey across the blasted landscape is rather unpleasant. For the first few days, at least, nothing disturbs your travel. On the third day, about 50 miles from the West Sellen River, you pass by a small bubbling lake, its waters clearly fetid and toxic.
A low buzz drones beneath the sound of the bubbling muck in the pond here. The source of the buzzing quickly reveals itself as a pony-sized mosquito emerges from the rotten reeds, shrouded in a haze of much smaller but equally bloodthirsty insects. Sensing a fresh meal, the mosquitos surge forth!
Ravenna takes a moment to sight down the largest mosquito, focuses to infuse her bullet, and lets fly.
Sylva screams, “DYAaAaAaAaAaAHH!!”
Her breath is cold as a climate unfit for mosquitoes, she hopes!
▶️Really freaked by the swarm of little bugs, Sylva cowers behind Sir Bat’s shield!
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Nox rides up on Hildy and weaves his fingers into a web causing the very shadows that the bigger mosquito's cast to reach up towards their spindly limbs.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target is slowed 1 for 1 round.
Failure The target is slowed 1 for 1 minute.
Critical Failure The target is slowed 2 for 1 minute.
Ravenna's icy bullet strikes the giant mosquito in the abdomen, blowing a gaping hole in its body! It wavers unsteadily in the air but somehow manages to survive the grievous wound. As she reloads, Ravenna recalls that mosquitoes are carriers for diseases like malaria. The swarms resist physical damage but are weak to area and splash damage.
Sylva unleashes her icy breath, and though the mosquitoes avoid the worst of it, the swarms are weak to the area damage.
Nox's spell momentarily slows the giant mosquito. It flies up to Ravenna and stabs at her with its proboscis, though it is too slow to also grab her. Meanwhile, the two swarms buzz around Batman and Sylva, eager to drink their blood!
Sylva dodges with ninja-like reflexes, if there’s such thing as a ninja who flaps her arms overhead while screaming, “Getemoff!getemoff!getemoffame!”
She screams at the insects, “SHYOO!” and tries using her shoe to kick them!
Ravenna fires off one more burning bullet before retreating from the giant mosquito, loading a shot coated in frost. "Keep it up!" she yells.
Sir Batman dances amidst the biting creepy swarm!
The bronze-colored bat-shaped sprite huffs and he puffs!
Storming Breath Fire
The smiling bat burps and Raises his Shield!
Excuse me.
Ravenna's burning bullet finishes off the giant mosquito, while Batman's burning breath and Sylva's icy exhalation annihilate the remaining swarming insects!
"Well," Ravenna says, lowering her weapon and taking a deep breath. "That could've been much worse."
“How?!” Sylva asks as she rubs ointment all over her swelling bites. If there’s a Giant Bug Fan Club, she wants no part of THAT! The skeeters may not have passed on any disease, but they have given Sylva a severe case of The Willies!
Bug bites are no joke to a tiny person. Sylva ends up losing a lot of blood trying to clean out her wounds.
The sharp pain reminds her question of ‘worse-how?’
“Oh, right. By being dead.”