Kalchine manages to avoid the worst of the winter blast his victim sends out, though he feels strangely sick, a very odd sensation for a mass of coherent air.
He keeps tumbling his victim around in his winds to limit her options.
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Kalchine blows past his allies (literally, slipping between and around them like a coherent wind.) When he gets close, he transforms into a towering whirlwind, reaching from the floor to the ceiling and the top of his form half the size of his height. He engulfs the red skinned creature.
"Maybe," Kalchine answers.
The effects of the arrows finally wear off and Kalchine springs up, once more a mobile tempest of vaguely humanoid shaped air. "My apologies. I could not overcome the paralyzing effects of those arrows," he examines them all to see how much damage they've taken but decides to save his healing for the moment as their wounds are minimal. "Perhaps I will have to come back as a woman," he adds to the conversation. "I'll be as furry as Sakitu is."
Three of the arrows hit Kalchine and as they pass through him they take some of the air he's holding together that make up his form with them but leave behind their magic in their wake. It locks him in his current shape, the wind roiling around but not allowing him to move.
C'mon, guys! It's gonna be great! Dev teams almost always get things right the first time and only ever make things better. (Apologies to any developers. I know how hard your job actually is.)
In this form, Kalchine is almost as agile as Maka and he darts in behind her. He isn't nearly as devasting though as he swings one airy pseudopod made of wind at one of the archers.
I don't know how many of you follow the Paizo blog or play in other places where it may be discussed but the Paizo site is going to experience a planned outage starting on Monday. It's supposed to last 2-3 days, but I'm betting on at least 4. You can see more HERE See you guys on the other side!
Kalchine also keeps his eyes and ears open, though he doesn't technically have eyes or ears at the moment.
Kalchine, still a walking whirlwind comes down near Bulvi, frigid water and snow flakes misting into his form and swirling around as he gets near the surface. "Should I assume you will depend on your own regenerative abilities rather than requiring my healing?" he asks, his voice coming out like winds escaping his aerial body.
Kalchine is shocked to watch the pile of bodies demonstrates what a mass of fists can do to a human body. In only a few seconds Bulvi looks seriously injured and Kalchine moves closer and infuses him with the healing power of nature to keep him in the fight.
"Weee sssshall sseee," Kalchine says, flying a bit closer to the corpses before reaching out to swirl the air around the corpses so rapidly that it ignites into a fiery conflagration.
Kalchine's form expands again, growing transparent then shifting and roiling. Flecks of snow are lifted up in his wake and swirl around in his form as he becomes a mass of rushing wind. He shoots up and over the wall at phenomenal speed, a personification of the winter wind itself.
The stony man shape formed began to nod its head but the motion was somewhat hidden as it shrank and its features returned to flesh and fur. Then, it is Kalchine standing there in his alien but more human form once more. He does not approach the rope but begins concentrating, expunging his earthy essence rapidly and replacing it with the roiling nature of air.
I hope you can get housed and settled quickly!
The ground under the group's feet begins to rumble and shift but before they can prepare themselves for some strange earth magic by the residents of the demiplane, the earth and stone begins to rise in a column. It slowly takes on a humanoid form. "What's the situation?" Kalchine asks, his whispering question sounding like sand flowing between stones.
Understanding the plan, Kalchine nods but pauses to put his hands on Quasit's waist for a moment, holding her close. He presses his forehead against hers, letting their breath mingle for a few seconds, literally inhaling her essence. "See you soon," he promises, looking from her to the others then turning to Chest Thumper. The frost ape seems to know what's coming and starts to back away but Kalchine catches him by the finger. Then, Chest Thumper shrinks down into a tiny stone shape that could easily be mistaken for a chess piece. The triaxian then undergoes a similar yet opposite transformation, growing notably larger but also stony in texture. He looks around a final time before seemingly dissolving into the earth.
"I can shrink Chest Thumper and transform into an earth elemental," Kalchine replies. "Though clearly it will take me longer to get there than it will you." His ears flick a few times, rapidly then slowly and his eyebrows go up before lowering. "Also, I can grow horns."
Kalchine sighs, "And we will likely have to kill or sneak past her guards, as well. After so long and pointless a task, the logical conclusion would be to simply give up on it, but people are surprisingly stubborn about clinging to things if they have done them for a while. The longer they've done them, the more they cling. "And no doubt Bremagyr is at least bitter over her confinement, even if she is not undead. Unless we can find some way to convince her we can get her out or get revenge on Baba Yaga, I'm going to guess she won't be interested in discussion."
"What a terrible fate," Kalchine comments as he takes his cup of coffee. Those gathered may think he means Bremagyr but he's actually speaking of Mametqul. To have to spend untold years, perhaps millennia doing nothing but watch misery and decay all so that he can tell someone who doesn't care enough about it to watch herself what it looked like seems cosmically pointless. And now, they were going to kill this queen because Baba Yaga had changed her mind and decided that ending her now was more suited to her purpose than letting her suffer. At least ending her suffering was better than letting it continue, but Kalchine didn't feel good about being Baba Yaga's instrument of spite.
Kalchine's ears flick up, a nod of approval. But then he frowns. "Unless the doll needs us to be sacrificed via poison to release Baba Yaga and this is just part of her plan."
Kalchine flicks his ears down, a negative gesture. "I did not prepare for that, today," he confesses. "Let me drink first. My connection with the natural world has made me resistant to some toxins."
Kalchine takes a seat next to Quasit. Quite close, actually, partially so that he doesn't crowd the dour looking woman nearby and partially because he likes sitting close to her and partially because it will be easier to protect and aid her if there is danger. "We're not..." Kalchine breaks off in the middle of his denial, realizing it may not be the best idea to disagree with this man. More importantly, in a real way, they are servants of the ancient witch. "...opposed to having some coffee as we talk," he says, instead.
Kalchine shakes his head in disapproval as Fin simply strides into the blackness. It's a bad idea by itself but even a worse idea to do it without checking in if it follows any plan Quasit might have come up with. It works out, though and Quasit follows. Unwilling to let her go alone and unwilling to remain behind alone, he takes a few seconds to convince Chest Thumper to join him, then follows her into the darkness.
Chest Thumper hoots in confused disdain as members of the group walk into the unknown within the darkness. "Well, we have to figure it out somehow," Kalchine explains, as he prepares himself to charge in should there be any sign of things going wrong.
"I'll perform a more thorough examination of your body for other places that need to feel better later," Kalchine answers Quasit after bestowing both the psychological and magical healing she requests. His ears give two sharp asymmetrical flicks, the equivalent of a wink. "It is probably magical darkness," he comments when his own ability to see in the dark is also stymied by the cave. He summons up and focuses the light from outside into a small ball.
"Is anyone hurt?" Kalchine asks, pulling out two now well used wands before helping Quasit look for lost arrows. If it becomes necessary to climb up to the ledge, he will cling to Chest Thumper's neck like an infant ape. An act that highly amuses his brother who cradles and rocks him like a baby before letting him scramble away. "You know I hate when you do that!" he exclaims.
Though threatening at first, Kalchine suspects that these creatures are on their last legs...or wings as the case may be. As fire, arrows, bullets and spells fall on them like rain, he draws another lightning bolt through one, not willing to spend more resources on them that will undoubtedly be needed for more perilous threats later.
Kalchine keeps the storm cloud overhead but does not call down another bolt of lightning. Given the damage the drakes have already done, and the fact that many of the group are bleeding, he sends out a wave of healing energy, instead.
Chest Thumper does an impressively agile shoulder roll to avoid the blast of acid that comes at him.
Kalchine is not nearly so lucky and takes the full brunt of the acid. Chest Thumper looks smug but then his expression turns to one of irritation and anger as he gestures helplessly at the flying figures and looks imploringly at Kalchine. "What do you want me to do about it?" he asks through teeth gritted with pain. "Learn how to throw things, or something!" He casts a surreptitious glance at Quasit, his own pain somewhat soothed by the fact that she has obviously avoided the acid, as well. Kalchine reaches up to the heavens, and a cloud overhead roils and darkens. He clenches his fist and draws it down sharply and a bolt of lightning cracks down through one of the drakes. Electricity.
Given that the first time I played the first book of this AP I was the only survivor of a TPK then a casualty of a second near TPK, and have died in this run, I don't hate watching the Fin & Maka Massacre Show.
Ok, ok, you guys can stop hinting, now. I get it. Kalchine will do it. He'll become your new supreme alien overlord.
And just like that, Baba Yaga, a being apparently of nightmares is a quarter of the way free. Kalchine trails behind the group, wondering just how much fire they're playing with. After all, they're now going to face a queen who was both brought to power and deposed as practice for Baba Yaga's true purpose. He knows it's all for a good cause, that the quest needs to be done, but the true weight of it bears down on him for a moment and he pats Chest Thumper on the shoulder to comfort himself.
Kalchine reaches out to his connection with Nature and reels at the power of it in this chamber. He's never experienced so much Life. It's like a bright, ever shifting kaleidoscope imposing on his senses. Yet, he finds the threads he needs and coaxes the water weeds and grass growing on the edge of the pool to fuller, wilder life.
Having approached more closely, Kalchine takes an involuntary step back. Not as Vigliv's full height is revealed but as she explains who and what she is. Before joining this quest, he had never heard of Baba Yaga, but everyone knows of the norn. After all the threats they've faced, he feels that they're before the most dangerous creature they've encountered and he fears displeasing her and garnering her wrath. "We are highly grateful for your assistance and guidance, milady," Kalchine says, respectfully. "Are the items we seek here in the Hut or will we be going to another plane?" Given even his small experience with this magical structure, he feels like there is an equal chance for both option.
"Perhaps," Kalchine says, though he looks around at the others quizzically. All this vibrant green and flowing and standing water is strange. How much life and motion is here? It can't possibly be real, can it? He reaches out through his connection with nature to determine the truth.
He moves closer to the apparent Fae. His knowledge of nature gives him special resistances to the often mischievous actions of such creatures, in case she has a less than straightforward and honest goal in mind.
It takes some doing, but Kalchine convinces Chest Thumper to stay behind. Soon enough, he is smiling and chatting with Quasit, though and all the frustration and guilt involved in leaving his brother melts away. He is particularly happy as she seems happier than he's seen her in a long time and his own giddiness rises to match hers as he laughs and jokes. When they come in sight of the village, he grows notably more somber. This is serious business, after all. He also transforms himself. Given Anastasia's reaction to him, he suspects it would only cause problems if he walked into the village in his normal form. So, it is a human man with prematurely white, shaggy hair and beard who enters the village with Quasit rather than a humanoid covered in fur and with exceptionally large ears. There was a bit of excitement when he used his magic to summon water but Quasit had already made her donation so it was decided that he had performed some sort of miracle rather than called upon demonic forces. Kalchine was careful to hide any magic he needed doing after that, though. He was surprised when Quasit spontaneously embraced him, but returned the hold. He hadn't changed back so they looked like just human couple out on a stroll. He didn't know it, but, given the turmoil surrounding them on this world that moment of peace and calm was almost as rare as if he would have been in his normal form. *******
Kalchine nods to Selena as she makes her presence known after the grandest return possible for a living being. "Thank you for agreeing to return. Your skill, power and knowledge are great boons to our cause," he says, appreciatively. He gives Quasit a slight nudge with his elbow before putting that arm around her waist and giving her a sleight squeeze.
As the designated healer on the team, I also vote for healing. Without a dedicated cleric, we need all the healing we can get.
Kalchine is only marginally less off put by Zilvazaraat than Anastasia. Yet, he knew the man was an ally and had seen him once before. His share of the loot is the headband that they took from a fallen foe so he doesn't have anything coming from this provider of provisions and watches the others get their goodies with empathetic glee. He watches Quasit test her new blade, admiring the dexterous deadliness displayed. Though, his gaze lingers on her hip a little longer than necessary once he follows the blade to it. "What? Oh, it's not magic that is known to me," he says, quickly meeting her eyes. "I fear it would make even less sense to me than it would to you. This is beyond the purview of the natural order."
Kalchine is still wary as Quasit settles into his embrace and extends it, though the purr in her voice causes the fur along his spine to raise nicely. He relaxes as she confirms that she doesn't consider the previous night a mistake but is even more disappointed because of that as she begins to bustle around the kitchen. He smiles, his ears perked up as she bounces around the kitchen, full of energy and, what he hopes is joy. It's only a little diminished as he sees the mess Chest Thumper has made. He snatches the bag of oats from the frost ape and glares, though his much bigger brother just smugly starts eating the spilled oats off the floor as though he's outsmarted Kalchine. "You don't have to do anything special," he protests as bustles around rattling off options. He gladly, but confusedly takes a bite of the raspberry jam, nodding his approval at the taste. But, as with most of the food, its communal so he doesn't take any more, simply setting the jar and spoon aside. He blinks and his ears droop as she seems to read his mind and he stares with his mouth open. Until she comes and kisses him again then slips from his grasp once more. He doesn't know what "ride this slide" means and might ask Fin about it later. It's clear that, while they're delightfully compatible, physically, there are still some things culturally that are different. She seemed quite surprised by at least one of the more common things done on Triaxus and he was likewise confused (but delightfully) by one of the things she did. "That's what I want, too," he confirms, forcibly stopping her from moving and staying in one place for a moment to embrace her and kiss her. "Hello, Fin," he says, not coldly, but still awkwardly. But he nods to Quasit at her question when she gets back to business. "Yes, I would like to follow up and see how they're doing, before we leave."
Once Fin and Maka are gone, Kalchine decides that it is safe to come out. Yet, he isn't at all sure of his footing with Quasit. She seems pleased based on what he overheard, which makes his heart swell with delight. she also seems to have no regrets, though she, like most people, doesn't always show her true self and feelings to others. Especially when it's the people it matters to the most. So, he is not sure whether to be casual or intense when he makes himself known and ends up doing the worst option, which is a bit of both and a lot of neither. "Good morning," he says in greeting. He kisses her awkwardly on the cheek though puts his arms tightly around her. Despite his intention to be calm and cool in the situation, he keeps smiling broadly. "How are you feeling this morning?" he asks. Ostensibly, it is in regards to her likely hangover. In reality, he is fishing for her true feelings regarding their liaison so his words are rather obviously loaded.
Chest Thumper gives Quasit a look and grumble that suggests that he might not have slept through quite all of it. But, for the moment does not press the issue, but rather takes one of the potatoes and starts eating it. Kalchine's hearing is exceptional, even for a Triaxian so, as he makes his way toward the kitchen, it is easy to identify Maka and Quasit's voices and he's well out of sight when he can make out the contents of their discussion. He hesitates, listening. He knows he should not be eavesdropping and that Quasit deserves her privacy but he does not want to interrupt them and he can't quite bring himself to walk away, his urge to hear Quasit's unfiltered thoughts simply too strong. The satisfied, pleased, bleary smile he was wearing fades to intense concentration as he listens.
Aw man! I was looking forward to using the words "heaving," "throbbing," and "sensual." On the upside for Quasit, she'll never have to worry about Kalchine asking her to shave anything.
Kalchine is understandably surprised. So surprised that he doesn't resist at first. But then, he doesn't resist for other reasons, though he does coax the kiss toward something not quite so violent. It is no less lusty as he puts his arms around Quasit and drags her closer. His eyes, wide at first, close and his ears relax, flicking occasionally at the sounds of enjoyment, though he isn't exactly sure which one of them is making those noises at any moment. He is lost in the moment so he does not know how long their mouths explore each other before breaking off by silent, mutual consent. "See? Your plans are almost always better," he says.
"It was hard to lose her. Sometimes, with all the death around you during a war, you forget how much losing one person can matter. It all just seems like assets and capabilities and shifts in danger and success potential as you meet and lose people. But then, one person is lost and you remember that they're all people and they're all people who are important to someone and everything comes into crashing perspective again," he replies. "I wish you would not do that. You are the only one here...except maybe Selena and Baba Yaga, if they're watching, who doesn't think you're special and deep and vibrant. You have to learn to see yourself through other people's eyes. Do you think everyone is a fool and would follow the guidance of a fool? No. Everyone trusts you because you are a dynamic person who fights on even when things seem hopeless," he chides her. "I would like to," he replies to her offer of a kiss. "But not now. When you haven't been drinking," he clarifies, as he continues to stroke her face and shoulder.
Kalchine's eyes widen and his ears go back at Quasit's proximity. He flinches faintly as her alcohol coated breath strikes his nostrils. "No need to apologize. It is a stressful time, even with our latest foe defeated. It seems that each time we eliminated one link in this chain, there is simply another that must be dealt with. We likely should be focused on more important things than comparative anatomy," he says. His hands go up to a neutral place at his shoulders as she slumps into his lap. He looks down at her briefly then brings one hand down to rest on his thigh and the other to lightly stroke her face, shoulder and arm. Leaning back into Chest Thumper, he answers her questions. "I don't have any more questions. At least none that need to be answered tonight," he confirms. "As far as girlfriends. I have had two people who could fit that definition. The first was a dragonkin named Verangia. She had the most beautiful crimson scales and a soul that was as vibrant and deep," he says, growing wistful as he speaks. "We met during a mission and found out afterwards that we could just talk to each other for hours at a time. She was fascinated by my powers and history and I was fascinated by...her. "Of course, Chest Thumper hated her," he says with a smile. "We were going to partner bond. That's something dragonkin can do. They can telepathically bond to a single partner," he explains as an obvious aside, then pauses. It takes him several seconds to continue. "Right before we were going to do it, she died in a raid. She was targeted by a group of archers. I don't know how many arrows it took to take her down and she crashed in a crevasse so we couldn't recover her body." He pauses again, gathering himself. "After that, probably too soon after that, I was seeing a woman who had lost her partner bonded dragonkin. In hindsight, it was probably our grief more than anything else that attracted us to each other. Honestly, I think we were both relieved more than anything else when I got transferred after a few months."
Whether or not Kalchine's keen sense of hearing could defeat Quasit's impressive stealth skills under normal circumstances is a question that will have to be answered another day. As it is, he if vaguely aware of her voice calling out to him and drifts toward wakefulness slowly. Only to surge to consciousness at the touch on his ear. He jerks and brushed her hand away like waving away a fly. That abrupt motion awakens Chest Thumper who huffs and growls softly at them both in unmistakable indignation before rolling over to go back to sleep. "I'm awake," he confirms, slowly sitting up. With their faces so close together, there was no way that he could not notice that she'd partaken of the vawdka so he wonders where this conversation is about to go.
"Some murder ideas aren't bad ideas," Kalchine points out, wary about one of their most dangerous warriors suddenly turning pacifist. His ears droop at the loud clattering of the bowl as it hits the wall but then rise in confusion. [/b]"But what do birds and bees have to do with it? Are you some sort of multigender species?"[/b] he whispers, growing ever more confused by the conversation and beginning to wonder if these differences don't have something to do with Quasit's disinterest in him.
"No, no, I mean...is that how women give birth?" he seems at a loss to further explain his question then points to his mouth. "Instead of..." he doesn't seem quite prepared to point to the location where Triaxian women give birth.
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