No problem, Jelani. I was looking to be quite booked until middle May anyway. At least this game is easy to pick up and put away.
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Had she been any less stubborn and had she been chasing after any other foe, the Lunar Oracle would have probably retreated, but her desire for closure is just too strong. As such, she presses on. "Figures that he'd have some decent guardians," Yulia grumbles as she stumbles into the next part of the cave. Once there, she takes a careful look around.
I had to redo some math because I recalled that you can't crit elementals. It ended up taking Yuyu an extra round to beat them, so no big deal.
Although slightly bloodied, Yulia keeps the pain train focuses on the elemental she last attacked. She manages to land two solid blows. However, the strange sensation of punching at fire throws off two of her swings.
I'm a bit under the weather right now. I'll have a post up tomorrow.
I'll send you a PM.
I don't know if you can five-foot step while Air Walking, but if not, then Yulia just jumps to the ground. The bones don't seem to be hampering the elementals.
Yulia beats her four free fists against each other and then leaps into the fray. She picks out the closest elemental and takes four powerful swings at it. Like many warriors, the King of Southmoor opts to trade accuracy for a series of power attacks, but thanks to the Book of the Titan, her strikes are even mightier than in prior battles with no additional precision lost.
Not wanting to get burned, Yulia holds her ground and casts Resist Energy: Fire on herself. She also takes a second to charge her weapons with arcane energy. The Lunar Oracle then steels herself for combat.
Yulia manages to withstand the dispelling effect. She quickly charges her striking arm with positive energy and strikes once more. Despite picking a lower level healing spell, the strength she puts into it eclipses her previous attack.
Having few other options, Yulia once again strikes at the haunt with positive energy. While a heavy sense of dread would normally throw off her aim, the sheer size of her foe gives her a target nearly impossible to miss. Yulia's large hand comes crash downing on her undead foe, smashing bone into dust and pulverizing it with holy energy.
Suddenly realizing that she is standing right over the Haunt, Yulia abruptly stops in mid-step. She quickly conjures a powerful sphere of positive energy in one of her lower arms and strikes at the pile of skeletons with it.
Wishing that she could channel positive energy like some of her mom's friends in the Desnan Guardians, Yulia realizes that there is little she can do from a distance and opts to trudge forward instead.
Not fully sure what to do, Yulia takes a second to think about anything she knows about the haunt.
Weapon ready, Yulia decides to advance forward. She carefully walks over the bones via her Air Walk spell.
Knowing that there is very little she can do to hurt her nemesis in her cloud form, Yulia materializes in her normal state once she gets past the spikes. With her upper right hand, she quickly grasps her mother's cold iron sickle, and then the Lunar Oracle starts to inspect the cave. The sight of the skeletons and other remains distracts her, though.
How much further to the lair itself? EDIT: I'm also going to be online if you want to play this out in roll20.
Since you said that she didn't need to fight the skies, I don't think that it would take her twenty minutes to get to the top of the caldera. Wind Walk has a max speed of 60 miles per hour if you just rocket in one direction. That's 26.8224 meters per second. Since the caldera is described as 4,000 meters tall, my math has her reaching the top in 149.12ish seconds, or 2.49ish minutes. I'm only bringing this up because she casted a bunch of buffs at the base of the mountain, and those are mostly timed in minutes.
Wow. I think we just covered a week or two's worth of posting in thirty-something minutes.
Yulia is glad that she is always prepared for cold weather. Even without her Life Bubble spell, the magic boots that the Lunar Oracle has worn since she was a little girl make many of winter's worst problems trivial. Bar some weird antimagic, she should have no trouble physically traveling through the blizzard. The Linnorm King of Southmoor takes a moment to look around, hoping to find some telltale signs of Jörmungandr to investigate.
Now back in her half-elf form, Yulia decides to actually assume her Calikang state. It is weird, but that shape would let her wield a Cold Iron weapon as she fights Jörmungandr without costing her accuracy from her natural attacks. Based on her battle with the crag linnorm, Yulia knows that she will likely need Cold Iron to keep him down, so the Lunar Oracle picks her mother's old sickle. In addition to it being the weapon that slayed a Titan, it would also be so poetic for Jörmungandr to meet his end by a blade that belonged to Hilda Rockne. Yulia once again throws up an Ironskin spell and then asks for a small Blessing from Desna. She follows those up with castings of Freedom of Movement, Mighty Strength, and Communal Air Walk. Finally feeling ready, Yulia ventures through the portal.
Even if she hates her nemesis' beyond description, Yulia cannot help but admit that his way of cloaking his lair is clever.
Yulia also got two extra mythic spells from the new tiers. I picked Sending and Breath of Life.
After casting her usual personal buffs (albeit without Mythic Mage Armor for Trigva and with Life Bubble just covering herself), Yulia leaves for the portal as soon as she can. Thanks to her research, she knows the location of it about ninety miles away from Jol. Since its top speed is sixty miles per hour, her Wind Walk spell lets her get there in under two hours. Once there, Yulia immediately turns to her normal physical state. Assuming she has the twelve seconds to make it happen, she immediately Polymorphs herself into her deadly Four-Armed Gargoyle state and then casts a spell from her mythic well, causing her stone skin to morph into iron . Yulia then finally takes a look around the entrance to the portal.
On the day that she leaves, Yulia will not cast Mythic Mage Armor on Trigva as she normally does. Instead, she will use that point of mythic power to cast Wind Walk via Inspired Spell. I imagine that she would want a way to travel fast to the portal, but since she has not been at the sight long enough to familiarize herself with it, she cannot Almost Greater Teleport there.
Once the crowd has gathered, Yulia steps outside. Once everyone is settled, the Lunar Oracle makes her announcement. "Greetings, good people of Jol. These last few years of my reign have been fast but prosperous. I, once again, thank you for supporting me through thick and thin. I know that change can be terrifying. Believe me when I say that it can be for the worst. However, sometimes, it can be positive. I am aware that not all of my efforts have been resounding successes, but as a whole, I think that Southmoor is better off now than when I first took power. "Why do I talk so much about the notion of change? Well, a most drastic example happened to me nearly two decades ago. The first twenty-five years or so of my life were spent amongst friends and family. While there were tough, bitter times, they were mostly happy occasions. And then everything changed one dark day. "We all know about Fafnheir, the Father of All Linnorms. His wickedness is the stuff of legend. Of all the monsters that plague this land, he is the one who keeps the most children up at night. However, there is another Wyrm, who in my opinion is worse. While certainly a terrible creature, Fafnheir at least tends to keep to his lair; I have never heard of him picking a fight. His eldest son Jörmungandr is another story. "Unlike his father and brethren, Jörmungandr activates hunts down the great individuals of our time and ages past. You might know him as the Killer of Heroes. About twenty years ago, he attacked a group known as the Desnan Guardians of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. They were a collection of noble peacekeepers who worked to better Southmoor and its surrounding Linnorm Kingdoms. For example, many of the farming techniques that I have introduced are based on their work. Among them was perhaps the greatest druid of her generation. Her name was Hilda Rockne, and she was my mother. "The Desnan Guardians were at their Apex when he struck. His main target was my mother, but Jörmungandr also massacred the vast majority of them. I was among the few survivors, and I only escaped because of pure chance. Without a doubt, it was the darkest and worst day of my life." "In the days since, that Linnorm has continued his terrible killings in the years since, and no one has been able to stop him. However, that changes now. As a service to Southmoor and all the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, I am going to hunt down Jörmungandr and end his reign of terror! "I am aware of the danger of this task, and I am aware that the worst may very well happen. In that case, my friend Imperia will temporarily run Southmoor in my stead, and she will work day and night to find you all a worthy successor to me. However, I have been studying him for years, and I have been amassing the might to battle him. Unlike that terrible day two decades ago, I can now fight him and win. I am at my Apex, so now is the time to act. I have a chance to make a real difference, so I plan to seize it. "Remember, this is a service to the Lands of the Linnorm Kings and all its people. All I ask of you in return is to believe in me." With her announcement made, Yulia takes a bow and then returns to her meadhall.
The Linnorm King of Southmoor ponders what to do next. Neither of her closest allies have seen any real action in the last few years. Admittedly, her last major enemy would have been problematic for them both to defeat. Thanks to her mythic toughness, Yulia could tank a few blows from Bokragg and live; one would probably have squashed Imperia like a bug. Trigva could likely take a hit or two, but he lacked a way to patch his wounds in a pinch. There was also the fact that they would both be hard pressed to fight the Killer of Heroes. Based on her battle against the crag, one of the weakest Linnorms, Yulia knew that they were resistant to magic and that Cold Iron was the only means to effectively hurt them and put them down. Those facts would be problematic for a Sorceress and a tiger who relies on her spells and his claws and teeth respectively. Most importantly, Yulia was expected (and honestly intended) to fight Jörmungandr by herself. It would not be fair to drag Imperia or Trigva through whatever grind the Linnorm rigged his lair to be and then ask them to sit out the final battle so that the Lunar Oracle could have all the glory. Also, Yulia knew that Jörmungandr liked to target people close to his main opponents to distract them. During their last encounter, he had used the other Desnan Guardians as temporary hostages to make things much harder for herself and her mother. If he got desperate, Jörmungandr would mostly likely attack them. "Very well. Imperia, as we have sometimes done in the past, I will leave you in charge as regent. Trigva will remain here to protect you. If the worst happens, keep this place running until a good successor to my reign appears. I would rather not have Southmoor's new age of prosperity die with me." Yulia taps her fingers on her chair's arm. "Oh, someone should inform King Blood-Eagle of this Hunt as soon as possible. Something tells me that he would be quite interested in it. Now, I suppose we just wait until the city gathers to here my announcement."
Yulia patiently listens to everything that is told to her. "That sounds like a good idea, Imperia," the King of Southmoor concludes. She has kept her agenda for Jörmungandr quiet for several years. Now would be a good time to make it known; even if the news travels fast enough to reach the Linnorm's earholes, his arrogance will keep him from running or hiding. "I suppose someone should start spreading the news that I am going to make an announcement." Something occurs to Yulia as whoever plans to follow through with her suggestion does that. "Will you be coming with me, Imperia? As my animal companion, I figure that Trigva would be allowed to fight by my side. After all, I've spent the better part of a decade training him. However, Jörmungandr is... definitely not your average Linnorm. He's bested entire armies. Also, I'm not sure how much assistance I'm technically supposed to get. I went on White's hunt mostly to serve as a witness and a medic; I mean, we couldn't have her slaying Boiltongue and then promptly keeling over during the night from untreated injuries. Otherwise, I just largely watched her fight from a distance."
"Can someone remind me how these Hunts traditionally work?" Yulia asks her war council. The King of Southmoor shifts in her chair as she explains, "The last formal one I attended didn't exactly end like I expected. I'm pretty sure White befriending Boiltongue is a historical anomaly." Yulia cannot help but finally notice how her diction has improved since she added the new intelligence function to her headband; those last two words are ones that she never thought she would use in her lifetime.
No problem. Thanks for all the hard work that you put into this game.
Sorry for not replying. As I said in With Great Power, I had no internet access until today. Holiday vacation with the family. Jörmungandr isn't a canon Linnorm; sorry if I didn't said anything earlier, but I made him up to serve as Yulia's focus for the Linnorm hunt plotline that you listed in the game synopsis. Sort of like Boiltongue for White Estrid, except it ends with one of them dead. Here's what I have written for him. Yulia and many others believe him to be Fafnheir's eldest son. Jörmungandr is called The Killer of Heroes because he likes to target individuals making a positive difference in the Linnorm Kingdoms (like Hilda). He's infamous enough for it that Yulia's Snowcaster family is familiar with him. As shown in Yulia's Second Trial, he wanders the Grungir Forest between his hero hunts. As Yulia learned, like his father, he will occasionally humor people who plead for mercy or ask something of him. It's usually in exchange for their greatest treasure. For Yulia, it was her mother Hilda. As for a stat block, I imagine Jörmungandr as a slightly tweaked variation of the strongest non-Fafnheir subspecies of Linnorm. He tends to fight a bit smarter than other Linnorms; instead of charging in head-on, he flies around and makes liberal use of his breath weapon. He backs off when he takes too much damage and takes some time to let his regeneration kick in. He also tends to be quite cunning; he couldn't find Yulia while she was invisible, so he used a Greater Dispel Magic to target the general area.
While not as much as before, Yulia remains quite active to stay in fighting form. She regularly spars with her Rangers and patrols the city of Jol to make sure everything is in order. She exercises Trigva at least once a day to keep the tiger in good shape and generally feeds him the healthiest food she can get. Additionally, some problems occasionally crop up that are a bit much for Rockne's Rangers to handle, so the Lunar Oracle finds herself going on mini-adventures every so often to deal with them. Meanwhile, King Rockne gathers intelligence on the location of her nemesis. Most of it is done in secret via her Communion with Desna, but she has noticed that the Song of the Spheres gives more definitive answers if Yulia already has outside intel. After many months of diligent study, Yulia begins to go over her leads. "Our first objective is to nail down his lair. I know that he's probably in the Grungir Forest, but that's still a big area. I'd rather not march everyone into Fafnheir's den and gets us all killed," Yulia explains to her assembled advisers. Thanks to her many years of preparations, Yulia feels confident that she could handle the Killer of Heroes, but his father is another story.
Advancing in age wouldn't be too much of an issue for anyone in Yulia's crew. Imperia was only 22 when the game started. Yulia was 44, but due to her Elven blood, she doesn't hit middle age until seventy-something. While probably a bigger deal for Trigva, he was less than ten years old, and the oldest tiger in captivity lived to be 26. Yulia would keep him well exercised, and her Heal spell would probably nip a lot of age complications in the bud. Also, as a reminder, I'm going to be gone on vacation until 1/4/2015 starting tomorrow.
Yulia nods at Imperia's thoughts; they make a lot of sense, especially her point about humanoid-targeting spells working on giants as well. Yuyu finds it amusing that something so obvious was hiding in plain sight. She wonders what Elgigas plans to do about the discovery; he seemed very fascinated it all. "I think I'm gonna retire for the day," Yulia says with a yawn. "Negotiations and slaying evil titans sure tire a girl out. Tomorrow, we can start on all those other plans we have. Also, I think it is time that we start planning our Linnorm Hunt. With these latest powers from the Book, I feel... ready for our fated fight."
That was basically what I had in mind; I was just listing out Yulia's priorities since it did not make much sense for her just to run out and start the hunt now. I will tally everything up and get back to you tomorrow. I'm a bit busy with something, but after I get it finished, I have the next month mostly free.
I suppose Yulia's next course of action is going to be using her nightly Seventeen Questions to pinpoint Jörmungandr and get ready for the Hunt. That will likely take a while in-game, so she will also focus on in this order: 1) Getting Rockne's Rangers officially established. 2) Securing the border with Irrisen. Probably will take several years, but it is still a priority. 3) Improving farm outputs. She probably has the most arable farmland in the Linnorm Kingdoms, so time to make use of it. Sending some it to the Thanelands, Hagreach, and the Ironbound Islands will hopefully drum up some good will. 4) Finishing up Jol's new wall; even with the bulk of it built, I imagine that there is some refinement that could be done. 5) Secure the area between the major cities of Southmoor. 6) New roads. 7) Start gathering funds for some new Linnorm Hunting gear.
Yulia nods at Verakas' remarks. "It was. Both of your help was greatly appreciated. I don't need anything else right now, so just keep up the good work with building your kingdom. If you need anything, Queen Verakas, please feel free to contact me." As much as part of Yulia wants to charge out into the Wilds and hunt a certain Linnorm right now, the King of Southmoor figures that she needs to build her strength first. She has only sat on Jol's throne for a little over a month, and while she has done much good already, the Lunar Oracle has a military to build, a border to secure, walls to construct, farms to plant, and so forth before any of her personal plans should be initiated. ...Additionally, she would like to gather funds for some new gear. True, Yulia could probably make due with what she has now, but she always wants every advantage she can get on the second most powerful Linnorm on Golarion. She also needs to locate his general wandering area. Unlike his father, the legends say that Jörmungandr has never been keen to stay in one lair. "I suppose I will see myself out then. Take care, everyone!" Yulia chirps as she shifts herself to the safest, most boring part of Nirvana that she can imagine. Once there, she quickly charges the same spell with Mythic Power and warps herself to the front doors of her meadhall. Yulia enters the building and quickly locates Imperia. "Hey, Imp," the King whispers quietly. "Yeah, I know that was quick. Let's relocate somewhere more... private. I have something to yell you." Once she gets the chance, Yulia tells Imperia the entire story, this time sparing no details. "So what exactly are the theories of humanity's origin? I know that we're called Sons and Daughters of Aroden, but I'm pretty sure that we predate his rise to godhood."
Yulia chuckles somewhat uneasily at Verakas' remarks. "It wasn't quite nothing. He pushed me to my limits. I used every buff I could, and even then, it would've been suicide to engage him in a straight fight. You were also willing to talk. He basically decided to kill me for asking his name." The Lunar Oracle looks over at Elgigas' curiously. "I do wish that I could've asked her more. It sounds like we've stumbled upon something big."
Just before she makes a mad dash to the portal, Yulia quickly turns around, grabs her fallen morningstar, and then bolts for the exit. ~~Linnorm King: The Slayer of Fafnheir~~ A bit winded by the run, Yulia holds up a finger to ask for a moment to collect herself. "It's a long story, but I'm happy to tell you all," Yulia remarks after catching her breath. "This'll sound hard to believe, but..." Yulia repeats the entire story, though she omits a few details. Despite their less than pleasant initial history, the King of Southmoor does trust Verakas quite a bit, but there are some things that she felt were just better left unsaid. "So in short, the book used Elgigas as a channel to open a portal. It went to an evil Titan's prison. He decided to kill me, but I turned the tables on him. The power binding him went elsewhere, causing the pocket dimension to collapse. I barely made it back. Wow that sounds insane when repeated out loud." Yulia ponders something for a moment. "The Book Spirit said that my 'human blood' was 'too distant' from hers 'to handle the kind of flow' of power necessary for the portal. She also mentioned something about 'the peoples of the Titans' at the end. Any idea what she was talking about? That former seems to imply that I'm distantly related to the Titans, but that seems a bit... outlandish."
As her mythic might increases, Yulia sees several new choices before her. Immediately seeing finding something very useful, she quickly grasps one of the powers: a split second teleportation move away from danger. The Lunar Oracle has no qualms in fighting facing someone like Left-Eye in direct combat, but experience has taught her that brute monsters like Bokragg and Jörmungandr do not play by the rules. The next selection is much more difficult to make. There are so many awesome choices[/i]. She even finds the delicious option of immortality! The good eternal youth variant too! However, Yulia finds something Her Curse has always been something of a sticking point for the Lunar Oracle. Unlike many of her kind, since they came directly from a benevolent deity, her original powers had not come with a curse. However, that had not lasted long. One night shortly after her powers had manifested, some jerk imp had teleported into the Desnan Guardian camp. He seemed to have some mission ahead of time. Someone in Hell had decided that little Yuyu had it too good, and they used the imp as proxy to give her a crippling disability via the power of Asmodeus himself. In hindsight, it has not been the worst curse an Oracle could have; Hilda Rockne stumbled upon the little infernal pest cursing her sleeping daughter and killed the devil before he could finish with the ritual. Yulia had not been rendered deaf. She could walk just fine. Her body was not wasting away. She did not speak in Tongues when stressed out. All Yulia has to do is keep her word, and if she fails, she gets a slightly sick. It was admittedly bad when she was little, but nowadays, she could usually shrug off the sickness. However, as a matter of pride, receiving the curse had always disgruntled her. Lady Desna had given her a great gift, and some Infernal jackass had decided to ruin it. As such, when she finds an option to suppress it, Yulia seizes it. When she snaps back to reality, Yulia realizes what the titaness just told her, throws up another Haste spell, and begins to book it for the portal.
TWO tiers?! Aw man, I'm gonna need some time to think about all the options. I'll get back to you tomorrow.
Yulia holds a claw up to gesture that she will speak momentarily; the Lunar Oracle suddenly realizes how short of breath she is after such a titanic fight. Once Yulia collects herself, she begins to talk. "Feeling's mutual, Book Spirit," Yulia replies with a small smile. "I've always wondered who 'The Titan' was. By the way, thanks for the assist. It is much appreciated. Questions? Let me think..." Yulia taps one of her four hands against her Gargoyle chin. "Will Elgigas be alright?" the King of Southmoor inquires, recalling how pained the fire giant seemed. "He's the giant wizard who brought me here. Speaking of here, are we inside the Book?"
Yulia says nothing as one of her arms draws her cold iron sickle. Once the weapon is securely in hand, she gives it a swift charge of mythic power and then quickly closes the distance between herself and Bokragg. With a few flaps her her wings, Yulia levels herself with the giant's head and aims her weapons The King of Southmoor contemplates gloating, but after nearly dying several times, doing so would feel a bit hollow. Besides, there is always the chance that the titan might survive this next attack. As such, Yulia simply slashes her sickle across Bokragg's exposed throat with all her might.
Yulia once again enhances her movements with a quick charge of magic. Not wanting to take another hit or two from Bokragg's terrible axe, she flies away from his reach once more. Her supernatural Grace ensures that she dodges another attacks of opportunity that her titanic foe might take. Once in position, Yulia claps her upper set of hands together. An instant later, several powerful shining chains shoot out of them and begin to bind Bokragg...
How am I still alive? Yulia mentally wonder as blood pours in torrents from her wounds. Still, the Lunar Oracle endures the blows. She reviews her options and finds that they are not many. A quick search of her mythic well shows no new buffs hiding away like last time. Yulia quickly concludes that the smart option is to just Heal herself. Turning invisible again would be even better. She could Heal herself and then engage on her terms. Her Elven pragmatism even cooks up a better idea to tops those two. However, her Ulfen side (probably the blood loss) clamors for Yulia to prove herself without resorting to "cheap" tricks. The Half-Elf compromises between her conflicting thoughts. She quickly but carefully belts herself with a powerful pulse of positive energy, and thankfully, years of practice and her Gloves of Elvenkind allow her to do it without breaking her guard. In an instant, her wounds vanish entirely. Yulia then casts her newest spell, which makes her movements extremely agile and graceful. Without lowering her guard, she moves away from Bokragg and gets ready for the next round of combat. Hopefully, his only ranged attack is the big explosion barrage, which she is quite ready for this time.
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