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We'll still need a place to hide the guards once you've taken care of them. Doesn't matter how sneaky you are if some random citizen finds one of the guards after the fact and raises the alarm. Actually, this very alley might not be a bad idea if we can manage to lure the guards to it.
"Long-term invisibility is as of yet beyond me, but I could manage one person with the aid of a scroll. For now, I can only turn invisible for a few seconds." He glances out from the group's hiding place near the saltworks at the guards patrolling the place. "So those are our mercenary friends eh? Well... there's a few different ways we can play this,
At the last one he shrugs sarcastically as he sits down on a nearby barrel.
Luthor likewise was somewhat unsettled by both the quantity and incredible danger of the things the previous Ravens had faced. He'd have to look in to Ba, a powerful enchanter such as that would certainly have left relics. Much more concerning was the dragon Rivozair. He doubted they'd killed the creature; from what little he knew of dragons that was nearly impossible; and dragons had unbelievably long lifespans. "Just one thing Rexus... whatever became of that blue Dragon?"
Luthor: Luthor took his leave the next morning and returned to his home/shop and spent most of the day working on the larger commission he had been taking sketches for. He heard one scuffle outside involving some spilled grain and stuck his head out the window to see what was going on, but the thugs just yelled at him to mind his own business and he went back inside.
That evening, exhausted from the previous day's odd sleep pattern and with a mild headache from concentrating for so long (painting and using mage hand all day) he decides to go out for a drink and a warm meal. Not to one of the seedy establishments nearby, (he has a reputation to keep if he wants to get larger commissions) but he makes the trip of a few blocks to go to one of the places the merchants tended to hang out at. Soon he's playing some cards, only reading people's minds a couple times to gain the upper hand as he and the merchants chat and bluff.
Will post tonight.
As the last fairy explodes Luthor's shoulders relax. Kitsune are rather fond of their teeth to begin with, but Luthor's were actually somewhat underdeveloped so he was extra protective of his. He'd never admit it, but he had been terrified of losing a tooth to the fairies. When Marillo locates the fairy den Luthor peers inside to witness the gory scene. He felt sorry for the child, but he's quickly distracted by the writings on the child. "Hey Marillo, I think I can make out what what's written on the girl's skin. Looks like it might be Aklo..." he kneels down and inspects the writings for a few minutes, then leans back on his haunches in defeat. Well, it's definitely Aklo, and I'd be pretty sure it was related to that ritual I mentioned, this child being the sacrifice, except half of it is nonsense and the other half is gibberish that I can't make out. He stands up, placing his furry hands on his hips. "I should mention though, that I don't think a human agent of Thrune did this to the poor child. You see those gash marks there and there?" he indicates some wounds on the child's arm and neck. "Those are claw marks, too big to be from the fairies and to deeply and cleanly cut to just be tears from a tight but un-clawed grip. I'm afraid that whoever did this was probably another tiefling."
Always sad when someone close to you passes. Sorry you have to go through that.
Backing away from the billowing cloud of putrid dust, Luthor casts his hand to side to draw what he thought was some rubble and hurl it at the remaining fairy, but it was actually a rather light wooden bowl. It clonks the fairy over the head with a loud but hollow sounding
It was almost comical, really; the angry fairy chittering away as it tried to bash Marillo with its pliers. But... nobody really wants to have more teeth yanked out, so he figured he'd better help.
Geez Marillo, overkill much? LOL
Lol, I should have looked at your stat sheet, I guess I took the word sage and assumed Crady had a few more years behind him.
Luthor is taken aback by the sudden aggressiveness of the weeds, casting a glance over at Crady. That old codger was full of tricks. As the fairies became stuck in weeds and stopped moving around so fast, Luthor figured he'd have a pretty could chance of squishing one if he dropped a brick on its head. Lifting a hand, one such brick slips off a nearby roof and hurls itself at the middle fairy!
Did we move up to level 3? I thought stone call was a level 2 spell (And a very useful one at that, I had a level 4 wizard decimate an entire pack of 25 Gnoll's with it once.)
Once they were away from the house they had stayed at, Luthor released the disguise self spell, then relinquished his human form for the second time that week. He would not be Luthor Aesernus tonight, no, tonight he was a kitsune, actively hunting the minions of those that had caused him so much pain. After all, it was almost certain that someone would see the group that night and reports of them could even find there way back to old Barzilai. His identity as a human would be safer if it remained uninvolved tonight. At Pakuzzo's words Luthor hesitates. It could just be a cat, or... nope! He quickly brings his hand in a quick motion as a blue disk appears around his wrist, then pulses into his palm and from there leaps as willow wisps to his allies.
Luthor rolls his eyes. He'd overestimated the sound blocking qualities of the walls and the Tiefling woman had heard his quiet question. "Sort of." he lied, "There are some minor magics useful for disguises. For example... he grimaces as a ripple originating from his face passes over his flesh. As it passes, it leaves his skin with a semi-scaly appearance and a slight red tint to it. His hair seems to recede, then form into two horns. His face shifts, leaving him with a broader jaw and dark eyes that tended toward scarlet. He'd release the disguise once they were out of sight; he'd rather not be a target for the fairies, but for now he needed to avoid having the Tiefling woman pry into his non-human heritage.
Luthor catches a nap for the early part of the afternoon, but wakes up a few hour before dark to do some sketches. If anyone bothers to take a look, it looks like he's making some rough images representative of the architecture in the district. The impending confrontation with the fairies must not be weighing too heavily on his mind since he's taking care of work in his spare time. When evening comes, he tucks away his supplies and stretches. "Is that Tiefling woman around? I've been considering and I don't think I should wear my human face tonight. The fairy's master is almost certainly an agent of Thrune, possibly a noble, and I'd rather not have the dottari knocking on my door."
Luthor follows along, trying to piece together what the old man was saying. He figured out "night of ashes" pretty easily; both the words "night" and "ashes" featured quite often in the infernal tongue. His thoughts of trying to decipher the tiefling's words were pushed away when he caught a glint of color in the dirt. "Heh, the fairies must have left someone's gold tooth behind..." he says mentally, stooping to scoop it up. As he pulls it from the dirt he quickly realizes that it's not a tooth, but a ring! Frowning, he turns it over in his hand, brushing the dirt away from the coat of arms and holding it close to his face. "Lamashtu have mercy, this belongs to the Fools of Thrune."
Luthor tilted his head at the grizzled woman's strange words. Something about flesh? After Crady responds, Luthor asks "What did she say?"
Yeah I don't speak infernal, which come to think of it is a bit of an oversight. I'll have to fix that.
XD Have a good night!
That night it soon becomes apparent that Luthor is not a peaceful sleeper. He turns and tosses most of the night, (emphasis on tossing since a random bit of debris went flying across the room once or twice), but does not awake until the smell of cinnamon rolls wafts over to him. Bleary eyed, he grabs one and then returns to his cot, sitting on the side as he meditates. After sleeping on it he had decided to shelve his suspicions of Rexus for the time being. He was in all honesty still a novice in the occult arts, which were less than reliable anyway. He'd just have to keep his nose wet (a Kitsune phrase equivalent to eyes open, since their race relies a little more on their noses). Besides, there were more pressing matters to handle, like a band of insane dentists and a skyline painting of Kintargo he was supposed to have finished by the end of the week for a rather wealthy merchant, one of his rarer and more valuable projects. *** Luthor stifles a small guffaw at Pakuzzo's pledge of loyalty, but Crady's sudden outburst of clicks, caws and crows provides ample distraction.
"That might be harder done than said. There's also an obscure ritual to summon these fairies that involves murdering someone with a full set of teeth. So unless someone has just been keeping them in a cage somewhere, that means that for every fairy you saw there's been at least one other murder without any teeth being yanked out. In either case, there's an actual person behind this, and until he or she is taken out of the picture more fairies can be summoned, one per murder."
"It's only fair, letting them have a turn at fearing for their lives." *** Back at the nest, Luthor grimaces as the cloth is removed. "I don't suppose you were able to get her teeth back?" As Metronicus takes care of patching her up, Luthor picks up a pinch of the dust and rubs it thumb and fore finger as Marillo reports on the faeries.
"Twisted irony though it is, judging by what that lieutenant said tonight Thrune might actually send agents to deal with these fey creatures if he gets wind that that's what's attacking the Tieflings."
Luthor considered his options. It was just the lieutenant now, there was no point in charming him to attack someone. Making an obvious retreat would undermine the overall effectiveness of the night, as he would undoubtedly relate how he had scared of the phantom that had overthrown several of his men. He crouches down, then runs straight at the lieutenant, 20ft, 15ft, 10ft, and then making as if to leap at the lieutenant, he vanishes as the specter breaks apart around the the dottari. Luthor had timed his jump to make it look like he would gain more altitude than he did. Instead, he quickly skirts around the lieutenant and dashes to the other side of the bridge and finds a place in the shadows to hide. Standing up, sniffing the air, the fox rears up on its hind legs and grows, but still maintains a somewhat vulpine form. Closing his eyes, he concentrates on the lieutenant, and begins mouthing four words, repeatedly. The lieutenant begins to here a voice that seems to come from nowhere and is barely audible, but he can clearly make out the repeated words. "The Ravens are returning."
Just to clarify, murderous command only lasts one round; any attacks after that are due to misunderstanding between the attacker and whoever got bashed over the head.
A three. XD Well, maybe he coughed mid-screech. If anybody wants to know what a screeching fox sounds like feel free to google it. It's kinda terrifying even without being drawn out...
The guards were on edge; now was the time to really make them fear for their lives. The sparks and shadows seem to gather in to Luthor. Then, just at it looks like they might disappear, there's a rush of air as the shades explode outward into an enormous spectral fox behind him, accompanied by a long, blood curdling screech as both the physical and spectral foxes gape open their mouths! Continuing to screech, Luthor slowly, purposefully begins walking towards the guards.
I've heard of the power attack intimidate combo, but Luthor is obviously of a different theme. I'd like to make an action, standard or full-round doesn't matter to me, where Luthor will recast Haunted Fey Aspect and make an intimidate check at the same time, using the spell to aid in the check (people make handle animal checks at little foxes, while an angry supernatural one would be cause for pause). The intent is to make them feel threatened enough that they back off. Not necessarily running for cover as per the frightened condition, but more like making self-preservation motivated withdrawal. Mechanically, that might include the shaken condition like a demoralize check, but the written rules don't really provide for this so far as I am aware.
Question for GM: I asked in the rules forum, and the only thing they could come up with was the GM decides. Can someone make an intimidate check at the same time that they cast a spell and get a bonus of some sort from that spell? For example, Luthor's haunted-fey aspect is expiring and he needs to cast it again to renew it, but I'd like to make an intimidate check with it at the same time. Sadly, the intimidate rules RAW are quite inflexible and baring any situational modifiers or bonuses from the spell, Luthor would be making the check at a -4 penalty (-2 total) due to his size. And then there's the issue of action economy.
Thanks Marillo! We might even be able to combine our two strategies. See a demon fox? Somebody's about to die... If we pull this off a couple of times pretty soon word will start getting around, and it won't take a genius to connect the dots between the two-tailed fox spirit who drives the agents of Thrune insane and the two-tailed fox spirit that occasionally visits the bereaved children of Thrune's enemies in Old Kintargo. Lol, it'll be hilarious to watch the clerics/mages try to cast spells that only affect fey/demons or whatever they think I am. Let's see if these guys are smart enough to run at me instead of just trying to hold back which ever one's mind has been overthrown. If I'm lucky they'll all just end up standing there pointing their weapons at each other, wondering which one of them will be affected next!
Luthor grins, the flickering shadows causing his bared teeth to appear longer and his distorting his vulpine jaw, giving him an expression of gleeful madness. Slowly, purposefully, he starts walking towards the guards as the shades pulse, a terrible impulse seizing upon the the guard who had been struck to attack the nearest Chelish citizen he had backed towards.
It takes some work, but Luthor manages to utilize his sharp canines to open the box and passes the potions and scrolls up to Lurio and Pakuzzo. Slinking back around the box, he notices some more pebbles and dust falling around the box. "Time to go!" *** As it's getting on towards night, Luthor opts to remain in his fox form, as he had run out of disguise spells and was not keen on having the CCG come knocking at his door. As they approach the bridge and spy the guards on the bridge, Luthor cuts in front of Pakuzzo and Lurio, turning to face them and bristling. He then continues on ahead, breaking into a run as he vanishes. Actions:
Casting his Vanish spell would give him about 12 seconds of complete invisibility. He wished he could do longer, but it would work for tonight. Still invisible, he halts about a stone's cast from the guards and the bridge. As he turns visible again his eyes begin to glow violet, and sparks and shadows of similar colors begin to swirl around him. As he bares his teeth, the inside of his mouth is revealed to glow the same color as his eyes. In all, it makes for a rather terrifying sight. A guttural growl comes from the fox's open maw, and the lights flash brighter than before as the most dangerous/stupid looking guard is seized upon by an impulse to kill the guard standing next to him.
Luthor bristles as the piece of ground collapses beneath Pakuzzo. Noting a few divets in the ground and the pattern of the collapsed debris, he figures they don't have very long until the whole thing gives way. There's a glint almost the color of his own fur a little below Pakuzzo. Luthor hesitates, paw raised, then pads over a few yards closer. Yep, definitely metal... a music box maybe? Or possibly a safe. He tries to lift it with his mind, but but is unsuccessful. He throws some pebbles at Pakuzzo's feet to get his attention, then throws a few more at the box.
Luthor walks the perimeter of the of the collapsed building, grimacing as he notes the partially buried rubble. He guessed there must have been some sort of underground area, perhaps not unlike the café. A partial collapse was almost more dangerous than a full collapse in this case though, he'd better tread lightly. He wanders off a little into an alley, then reemerges about 1 1/2 feet tall, four legged, and furry. He ventures out into the rubble, eyes peeled for dangerous spots and and potential valuables, and nose alert for bodies.
Shimmering water drips from the pendant as it floats up into Luthor's outstretched hand. He glances at it only for a moment before quickly tucking it away. "Best we not be seen in public with that particular artifact." He steps away from the water. "I'm afraid that's the best I can do with underwater things; I'm a fox, not a fish. Come on, we've got one more place to visit this afternoon." He turns and starts to walk back up the street.
Luthor scans the water for the pendent, finally catching sight of it as Pakuzzo points towards it. "I see something shiny down there, but I'm sincerely impressed you can make out any sort of motif on it. I think I can get it. He extends a hand over the waterside wills the pendant up towards it.
Though he would have liked to have poked through the ashes of the estate to see if there were any basement areas that survived the flames, Luthor figured that would have to wait until he could figure out how to significantly extend the amount of time he could spend invisible. For now, there were too many people watching, and he wanted to get out of the Greens before his disguise wore off. As they pass the rice picking citizens Luthor quickly surmises what had happened in the moments before; that the CCG goons had knocked the rice down in the first place. He was in his normal form now so he couldn't do much, but he did make sure a roof tile "fell" at one of the CCG guys faces. Arriving at the wharf, Luthor peers down into the water below. "How deep do you suppose the water is Pak?"
"Hmm-wha?" An apparently extremely distracted Luthor responds to Pakuzzo. Rexus callls over. Rexus, I-- he gives a shake of his head not entirely unlike a fox might do if shaking water from himself. That sounds like a good idea Rexus. We'll let you know if we find anything.
Luthor stumbles back in shock at the vision he saw. Steadying himself, his eyes narrow as he looks over at the apparently somber Rexus. It'd been awhile since he'd attempted to invade the mind of another living creature, but it was certainly worth doing now. In his mind's eye, he saw the area around Rexus, and saw the pulsating light that was his mind. He reaches out and touches it.
Luthor, presently in the form of a well-to-do student steps over the property boundary and closes his eyes. He breathes deeply, feeling the air grow still around him, tuning out the noise until he could hear only the sound of his own heartbeat. Most people don't know, but places and buildings have memories, particularly places where people spend a lot of time like their homes. He reaches out with his mind, searching for the pool of psychic energy where the memories are stored. Like a cool touch to his brain, reminiscent of a brain freeze but less painful, he finds it and plunges his psyche in to it. Flashes of memories fleet before him; there was Rexus, but before he could see what he was doing he was gone again. He saw a woman... perhaps Rexus' mother, but really it could have been any female resident who had ever lived there. His face contorts in concentration as he forces the stream of images towards the recent past; toward the night of ashes.
So are we all together at the Victocoras or are we splitting up? I kinda figured we'd do the exploration together and do the other stuff afterward since we should have the full party together in case we run into something nasty like we did at the Livery, but if its just a minor expedition it should be okay.
I put down gold and recruit freedom fighters for our actions since those two seem to have the most votes. Using the sisters to either gather info or earn more gold (assuming that's how this works, the teams get their own actions?) sounds like a good idea. Pak, you da boss! ninja'd! I'll fix it.
Luthor gives a shrug and absentmindedly picks one of the scrolls up again. "Well, sounds like we have plenty of work to do." He pulls a rolled up piece of parchment from a small case, then borrows a quill from Rexus. Marillo and Cerenity can get started among the tieflings... maybe you can visit relatives of the victims? Crady and Rexus seem to have their work cut out for them between the cipher and Crady's project over at the stinkery. Pakuzzo is up to who knows what with the sisters, but knowing him he's probably already recruited another half-dozen people... gods help them... and I've got some projects of my own." He pauses, frowning. "We're going to need money. Whether for bribes or just feeding people who are in hiding... Lurio? I don't expect you to commit your family fortune, but maybe you have some connections?" There's some discussion in which it is decided that for now they will focus on acquiring resources and intelligence, and to that end they figure that an investigation of the burn sites would be well worth the time given the rewards of the Livery. Luthor writes Pakuzzo a brief message instructing him to meet up with the crew at the Victocora residence and ties it to the leg of his inanimate silver raven to be released a little ways from the café. Their discussion concluded, they close the meeting.
We also may want to consider earning gold as an action since our revolution starts taking penalties if we don't have the minimum amount in the treasury. If there's no objections I'm going to go ahead and expedite the current IC conversation: someone will send Pakuzzo a raven, we'll agree to meet in disguise at a burned down location, Marillo & Cerenity will start to gather intel on the slasher, and Luthor is going to scout out the warehouses and salt works.
Luthor frowns at the news of the Tieflings. "It's a shame this slasher's fury against those touched by the infernal isn't better directed. Not to be insensitive..." he glances furtively over at Marillo. "So we've got two recruitment opportunities, and in either case we'll be saving lives; from either a gory death or a slow suffocation as slaves. The salt mines seem a little risky to me, but I think we could free the people in the warehouses relatively easily. As for the serial killer... I don't want to say bait, but I don't have any better ideas. Anyone?
"Looks like the last two scrolls are for obscuring one's motivations under magical scrutiny, and the other for sending long range messages. We probably won't need the latter since we have the ravens though." The scrolls lazily float down into a neat stack as Luthor straightens. Now came the important part. He could see that this rebellion had potential: Lurio; with his connections to the nobility, Marillo; presumably with rapport with others whose birth's were tainted by the infernal, Cerenity; with military expertise, Crady; with his knowledge of the streets, and Pak; well, it'd been less than 72 hours and he'd already recruited a team of ready made revolutionaries. And of course, Luthor had his own manipulative abilities. Depending on this group's actions, a lot of people could die, so Luthor would just have to make sure they didn't go that route. "We have some decisions to make. Kintargo is a big place to protect, and as it stands, if Thrune starts to figure that Kintargo's citizens are more trouble than they're worth he won't be particularly discriminatory in killing people. We need to figure out how to neuter his power structure without drawing significant attention to ourselves."
Gear is good to go. Glad to hear that your Father-in-law is doing better!
Luthor arrived in yet another guise, this time looking distinctly elven with sandy hair, but eventually someone from the group was able to vouch for him. As Rexus begins perusing the documents, he quickly verified which ones were magical and magically withdrew them from the stack. As the four sheets of parchment hovered in the air in front of him, begins reading: "Let's see... Removal of scent, adjustment of weight... touch targeting... This here is probably a spell of Pass Without Trace. Uhm... Crady, you would probably be the best at casting this one, though you might be able to teach Pakuzzo too." As he begins reading the next spell, Rexus speaks: "" "I've never even heard of a Strix, but I've spoken elven since I was a child and I've had some training in Celestial. I can probably help when I finish analyzing these things here... Oh! Hahaha, this thing here is a misdirection spell! I can't tell you the hilarity my brother used to cause wi" A funny look crosses his face as he pauses mid phrase. "...Anyways, it'll be useful." he finishes in a little more subdued tone. |
