Swift nodded and accepted the arrows.
"Well, I'll be sure to make you some more when we get back to the ship.  Archery is a handy skill to have, though not one I practiced with as often as I should have.  I mostly kept and enhanced this bow because a lucky shot with it saved my life and probably a few others back in Toran, so you might say it's become a sort of lucky charm for me."

She grinned slightly at the memory of that.


OOC: Think they were two normal arrows weren't they?  (Only just noticed that I forgot to remove them from my character sheet with all those connection problems I had back then.  *facepalms*).
Also she still has the healing arrow too.  Never got around to using that one yet :)
This message was last edited by the player at 12:39, Sun 14 Aug 2016.

"It indeed is," whispered Water Hornet as Sun Snake confirmed his actions towards the Agarashi; it sounded peacefully.

The young Magnakai sheathed his weapon and turned to the south, the direction from which the Kraans were supposed to appear.

OOC: Can Hornet use Animal Control to sense how far our ride is? Or there's no point in doing that, since it will appear very shortly?

As I don't think there's anything left here for any of you to do, I might as well have them arrive now. :)

It took, like Hornet had said, a few more minutes for the kraans to arrive. In the meantime, a few more of the roosting spires had collapsed, and all the other building had been covered by the lava, but it would clearly still take another half an hour or so before the fortress was destroyed in full and the real eruption started - plenty of time for the Magnakai to escape from it safely.

The kraans landed on the roof with relative calm, but it was clear to see that the state of what had been their home was spooking them, and it was only an external, unnatural force that was keeping them pacified enough not to snap at each other or at the people they would be carrying.

Feel free to mount two people on each kraan (there's a total of four, remember), and then you can leave.

And once you've confirmed that you're leaving and your mount combination, everybody should give me a luck roll, to see if any of the things lurking in Helkona forest will do anything to disturb your flight - this only happens if both people on the same kraan roll bad luck, so it shouldn't be hard to avoid, but I feel like giving you the chance for one last thrill is only fair. :)

As usual, Snake rolls for Dawn Sword, Swift rolls for Raven, and Hornet rolls for Sun Fox.

The moment first of the flying beasts landed on the roof, Water Hornet stepped forward towards it. He walked with confidence, oblivious to the clearly agitated state of the creatures. For a second it might seem the Kraan, which Hornet approached, considered attacking the Magnakai, but Water Hornet swiftly lifted himself up onto the back of the beast and gave no room for doubts who was its master.

"Let's go," he stated simply, "they will not attack any one of us." Hornet accompanied his words with a nod towards Sun Fox, inviting her to join him on the back of the Kraan that he'd chosen.

OOC:
Roll for WH: 1.
Roll for SF: 2.
Phew... :)

This message was last edited by the player at 20:48, Mon 15 Aug 2016.

Sun Snake looked to the Kraan, then towards Dawn Sword. "More fearsome than the ones the acolytes breed, but I presume you are familiar enough riding the? I would like to take some time to meditate and think on all that has happened. Would you ride with me?"

As they went to the kraan, Sun Snake spoke more. "That bow is indeed a powerful weapon. But you have also showed skill in general. Usually a Kai Lord only masters one weapon, with you it would appear to be the sword. But it does no harm to keep your mind open, and try to find that same focus with other weapons. By the time one reaches Kai Master, multiple weapons can become an extension of oneself. More importantly though, it might be worth your while doing exercises with the bow while we fly. By keeping your mind open and in the mental shape of weaponskill, other disciplines may become open to you instead. Tracking, hunting, sixth sense are all logical extentions of a mind focused on battle and picking a target. More importantly, attempting it while mounted may awaken animal kinship, as you find your mind reaching out to your mount to help you keep your concentration. There can be no harm in such practises, while we fly."

Sadly rolled an 8 and 9, which is good in terms of luck rolls, but sad in terms of losing two good high rolls!

Dawn Sword nodded at the counsel, and said, in a humble tone:

"Thank you for your counsel, Master, I'll try to follow it as best I can."

She paused as she neared the kraan, observing it with pursed lips before nodding and adding:

"And yes, I can see how they're not the same - I can tell from their eyes, they're just barely controlling their agression, instead of having toned it down to a weak instinct they can suppress."

But then, the young woman offered a soft smile, and added:

"However, flying is fun enough that I don't think I'll mind too much!"

"That's the spirit!"

The shout had come from Sun Fox, who had quickly climbed on Hornet's beast and was now grinning, and appeared ready to start bouncing on the saddle as she added:

"Swift, Sabre Fox, Silver Raven, come on, get on top! It's great!"

Swift tucked the arrows back in her quiver, glancing back at Silver Raven and following him in clambering onto a Kraan.
"That went well" she remarked quietly to him with a hint of a smile.  "Now to just get back home in one piece..."


OOC: Having Swift and Raven take the same one.
Rolled 9 for Swift and 4 for Raven...

"Oh great" Fox said "leave me all to fly this thing without anyone watching my back" he said mounting the Kraan

Fortunately 2 for luck :)

As the group flew over the petrified forest, they saw the stone three shaking from impacts, even as a hundred different cries and shrieks arose from it. It didn't took any special power to understand that the creatures within could feel the effect of the lava encoraching on them, and were trying to escape it.

Fortunately for the Magnakai, though, none of the beasts inside the forest seemed to be capable of flying - or if any were, they weren't willing to face off against four kraans.

As such, it didn't take any long for the group to reach the Skyrider, which they found already flying as they reached the area. This made it easy for the group to land directly on the airship's deck, where Frost Ferret and Groumor were waiting. The latter seemed elated upon seeing the returning Magnakai, and nodded respectfully to Sun Snake before speaking.

"When we saw the kraans take flight, Lord Snake, we took flight in worry that it might be enemy action, although Master Ferret here was confident you were safe. I'm glad to see you all are fine."

At that, Frost Ferret interjected, with an inquiring tone:

"Well, not everybody - I don't see Rain Feather's mother, Renora. Was she killed in the action?"

As the distance between the group and the dreaded fortress was growing, it looked like Water Hornet was regaining his mental balance, his face showing less and less inner strain; as if merely remaining in the vicinity (and inside) Gazad Helkona had been stressing the young Magnakai.

But those closer to him, like Sun Fox sitting right behind Hornet, would realize the reason was rather mundane - the further they were from the fortress, the easier it was to command the Kraans.

After their flying mount had landed, Water Hornet deftly jumped onto the deck and gave a quick, but hearty greeting to the dwarf and the Kai Master. When others dismounted, the Kai Primate approached the winged beasts and patted each of them with a closed fist. Eventually, with a wide gesture he dismissed them. Cawing loudly, Kraans took to the skies without even slightest delay.

Having dealt with that matter, Hornet re-joined the group silently. He seemed very interested in Snake's answer to the question regarding the witch.

Inwardly, Hornet realized he'd forgotten about Renora Nematah, but in retrospective he felt neither guilt nor regret for leaving the woman behind with very slim chances to survive. But he was curious what information Snake might've had.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:23, Sat 20 Aug 2016.

Sun Snake had nodded in greeting to the Groumor. "Kai has smiled on us more than any of us could have hoped. Let us make haste away, before such good fortune can be taken away from us." Sun Snake hesitated a moment. "There is an announcement to be made, but I feel the Guildmaster must hear it first before yourself and the crew."

Sun Snake looked to Frost Ferret. "Renora separated from us to help us gain access to the place, but I do not doubt she had her own reasons too. I could not feel her mind when we left. She may have perished in aiding us, or perished in her own mission. Or she may well have found what she sought, and be a challenge for us another day." Sun Snake sighed. "One thing at a time..." he said, though which fate of Renora would weigh on him he did not hint at. Instead he asked Frost Ferret, "Has our guest behaved himself? Now that the threat of Vyctar is gone, I do not wish Valador to take us unawares. We may not have much time to difuse the threat of him, and our true focus needs to be getting backto the monastery now."

Sun Snake is planning on contacting Banedon to plan how exactly to deal with Valador. I suspect Frost Ferret and the Skyrider going to Toran as quickly as possible, after dropping us off close to the manoastery, might be the order of the day?

Swift hopped down nimbly from the Kraan, looking back in the direction they had come.
She sighed softly and allowed the Jade Spike to drop from its hiding place in her tunic sleeve, neatly catching it in her hand.  She studied it for a moment, a glint of green-tinted light reflecting across her face from the blade then tucked it back into her belt.

At the mention of Renora, she said nothing and her face gave away no noticeable emotional reaction, although she turned away from the group and moved towards the rail, looking out across the forest.
Only her head slightly turned to one side gave any hint that she might still be listening to the discussion between the others...

That seems like a sensible plan, but of course, as these things always go, it could be subject to change depending on how you decide to handle it and on your discussion with Banedon.

Also, I should now say that you will have three in-character days before you meet Peacock somewhere near the Sommerlending border's airspace, so you should give me a list of, let's say, nine things you want to do across these three days. This means three things each day (you'll need to space them out) which can be anything from training to chatting with people about something to making plans together to crafting to just spending them all sleeping late in the most laziest of fashions.

The immediate chat with Banedon will be free of charge for you, Sun Snake, and anything you lot want to do as "having just arrived on the ship" also is free of charge for everybody else, but anything else you choose to do will need to be counted as one of the three actions you'll be spending "today" on.

Frost Ferret nodded.

"I spent most of the night surveying him, but nothing strange happened. If I'm honest, I think there's some sort of trick or spell woven into the roots binding him - I'm almost sure that, at least twice, they tightened their hold to keep Lobster from escaping - but I'm no Herbmaster, so I can't really be sure of it. Mabe my imagination was just playing tricks on me."

The man then shrugged, as if to say he had nothing else to add.

Meanwhile, Silver Raven had moved next to Swift Fox, leaning on the railing just as she was.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:02, Thu 25 Aug 2016.

Water Hornet nodded almost imperceptibly as if confirming something to himself, when Snake mentioned Nematah and her disappearance. Upon the mention of the Guildmaster and the other Brotherhood magician, the young Magnakai's expression grew gravely serious and he hanged on every word Sun Snake was saying, but the other Kai Master hadn't said much that would be new to Hornet (probably because Snake hadn't really disclosed much, for obvious reasons).

Frost Ferret's reply made Hornet narrow his eyes...and brush his chin - a typical gesture when the Kai Primate was deeply in thought (and one that reminded Hornet he'd wanted to shave when the chance came).

Eventually, looking from Sun Fox to Sabre and, lastly, to Sun Snake, he asked: "So, we head to Toran?"

"The skyrider should probably head to Toran without delay, and yet I think we must head to the monastery without delay. Too much evil is being done under our noses, and while the order looks to itself not to the world, this will not change."

Following Hornet's and Snake's discussion, Groumor shrugged and commented:

"Whichever you want us to head to firrst is not really going to affect our route right now; I'm not going to attempt crossing the Darklands to get into Sommerlund from the Durncrag mountains, that'd be a suicide. Which means we'll enter Sommerlund from south, in the Ruanon region, and from there, the flight path for the Monastery and Toran is mostly the same."

He paused, then added, his tone respectful:

"If that's fine with you, Kai Lords, I would like to give my sailors the orders to start heading out of the Darklands - that cloud looks dangerous to me, and it's headed our way."

And in saying so, the dwarf pointed to what, at the current distance, might be mistaken for a stormfront, but which the Kai could see was concentrated around the volcano next to Gazad Helkona, and thus was more likely the beginning stage of a real eruption, sign that Swift and Sun Fox's engineered disaster had finally reached the volcano itself.

"We could fly directly to the Monastary really" Fox said "I'm pretty sure that the Monastary will recognise this ship coming, since it's been there many times"

I'll have to have a think about the actions :)

Swift looked out towards the growing signs of the eruption in the distance, her gaze still looking neutral, in fact her whole expression seeming "emotionally dead" rather than anything else.


She seemed to give a dismissive shrug, as if pushing some dark thoughts to the back of her mind for now and looked up at Raven.
"Well, I wonder what we can do now?  We still have the materials we took from the forge back there, as well as what else we found."
A hint of a smile crossed her face then.


OOC: Will probably spend at least some of those actions playing with our new toys, making toys for the others, hehe :)
Will definitely make enough arrows for everyone with a bow.  (Might even try making a bow if anyone wants one).
If anyone has any ideas for something in particular they want, feel free to approach Swift with it and we'll see what we can do :)
Not too sure how many goodies we can make in one action...

Can't think of anything else to do yet, although I probably will when it's too late to do it!
(>.<)'

I'll take "Crafting things" as a process you will do across three days, Swift Fox, and threat it as only a single action out of the nine, including the crafting of anything you decide you want to make and any request you decide to take. More items you choose to make, more restrictive will be the type of dice, bonus to the rolls and DC you need to make, but on the other hand, if you want to spend multiple actions on crafting, those will give you a bonus to the process - basically, one action is enough to craft what you want, but spending multiple will make your job easier. I hope that's useful to know! ^_^

Also, and this is for everybody, when selecting actions you want to take, you need to give me the day in which the action will take place (day 1, day 2, day 3) and which of the three slots of that day you're using for it (morning, afternoon, evening). That way I can wrap up an easier schedule to manage everything.

Silver Raven grinned, suddenly looking like a kid who'd just received a present as he said:

"Oh, I can't wait for that! The mere idea of all the things we can craft with what we recovered from the fortress... this is going to be so much fun!"

He seemed completely unaware of how much unsual such an outburst was for the other members of the team, who were used to seeing the long haired Kai Lord be much more pacate and serious than this.

"I think making good speed is the best idea," said Sun Snake to the dwarf, "Swift Fox may have been quite... expressive ... in her actions."

Groumor nodded and offered a parting remark to Sun Snake:

"If you want to make use of the Captain's cabin instead of your own, Master Snake, just tell the people I left to guard its door, they'll let you in."

And with that, he moved, to give his sailors their orders.

I'll need to know the location, as well as wether you're inviting any other character (PC or NPC) along for this chat, to properly set the scene for your private thread, Sun Snake.

This message was last edited by the GM at 19:13, Fri 26 Aug 2016.

"Thank you, that may be for the best," said Sun Snake, inclining his head to the dwarf. He looked around to the rest of the group. "While we should probably speak in private to Banedon regarding our plans, I do not see the need for us to have secrets from each other, nor the crew once we have resolved our plan of action. If any of you wish, I believe you can be linked in to the conversation."

I think we did this with Swift Fox before?

It can be done, yes.

Frost Ferret shook his head to decline Sun Snake's offer.

"I think I'll go back to check on our prisoner - he's always checking his bonds, and while he hasn't beaten them yet, I don't want to trust Peacock's work when I can use my own eyes instead. If you want to check on him later, I'll be down there."

"I'd like to join you, then," said Water Hornet reacting to Sun Snake's proposal without hesitation, "it seems like a good way to fill me in on some pieces of information I feel that I'm lacking."

OOC: WH will join Snake contacting Banedon if possible.

"I'll just get the jist of it when your done" Fox said to Snake "Although give the Guildmaster my best"