That'll work. As for timed, well, if you screw up enough times, the monsters will eventually catch up with you - but your head start has given you a wider margin.

One of the two monsters suddenly fell, letting out a painful shriek of pain, while the other was pushed back into it, creating a mess of tangled limbs that stopped the two creatures long enough that the Drakkar could regain his footings and let them behind once more.

However, even as they managed to move closer and closer to their goal, the group could see that the creatures were starting to appear in great numbers, and seeking to manouver themselves around the fire...

There's a big group of creatures that is readying themselves to chase you; you need to disperse them. Any of you can suggest how you're trying to do it - I do hope you realize you'll need a ranged attack again, and one that'll be able to take down / scare away a great number of enemies at once. Of course, one of you charging into the midst might scare them all away... but it'd be suicidal. And you all do want to survive, yes? ^_^

Blast it, why do I think the only thing that's really going to stop them is a scream?  I have another of those bursts I can set off, but I don't know how effective it would be...  I'll leave it up to you two.  Would I have to stop if I was going to scream, or is it something I can do on the run?

Sun Snake turnewd and regarded the creatures for a seocn,d as if seeing them through the flames. "Too many of them - they'll just swarm around us and overrun us. We need to bottleneck them! Teach them a greater lesson in fear!"

Sun Snake moved quickly to get behind the Drakkar he had been calling orders to, making sure the man escaped towards the group.

"Rain Feather! I need you here! Sabre, Colonel, we're going to give you a confused target, take advantage of it if you can! Or just run!" yelled Sun Snake, even he he bent down and seemed to be come more...present... Certainly the most tempting target to the oncomign swarm.


I can assume Rain Feather's coming forward, yes?


"Rain Feather," said Sun Snake quietly and quickly, "I still have an echo of the Agarashi's mind in mine. You better than anyone know the terror of that thing. If I let you into my mind, can you pull those alien thoughts out and throw them towards the c oncentrated mass of the swarm? That and your own...feelings...on the agarashi may buy us time."

Sun Snake bowed his head. His jewelled sword was in his hand, having appeared from the folds of his cloak, and he dug it in to the sand and closed his eyes, ignoring everything.


I've made my rolls already. Good luck Rain!

This message was last edited by the GM at 22:01, Sun 12 Aug 2012.

Snake... was putting his life in her hands?  That was kind of a strange feeling.  It was almost like her path was forking...

"...I understand, Snake.  I hope this won't hurt, but prepare yourself.  It may be a weird feeling."

She opened her mind and placed one hand on his shoulder, then drew Breakwater, planting it in the sand to steady and focus herself.  She'd link her mind to his and locate the echo... and then poured her power into their plan, issuing forth the echo that Snake had been planning.  She'd pour plenty of power into it, hoping to disorient the enemy, and at the same time, prove something to herself.  She pushed her own experiences forward- adding everything she could remember of the Agarashi- the three heads, the needle-tipped tentacles, the acid-spit... every bit that she'd have bored into the surface of her mind when she looked death straight in its faces.  She'd try and add that to the seeming as well.  Then, she'd amplify the power through his Divination skills, and suddenly the fish-things would be presented with a snarling, angry, giant Agarashi.  She would try to help push forwards the rage, the fear, and the terror she'd felt upon being in that thing's tentacles and almost killed by its poison. She wanted the fish-things to skid to a stop, mess themselves in the corridors, and then run back home to the lake where they wouldn't bother them again, so that there might even be a chance to get a further lead upon them.


"I'm not going to lose you, old man.  I need your advice to help me keep the Second Order from tearing apart the Kai."  The simple statement might even shock Sun Snake.  What was she thinking, anyways?
This message was last edited by the player at 18:06, Sun 12 Aug 2012.

Suddenly, the first line of beasts - more than a dozen - stopped, forcing those behind them to crash into them, creating a confusing mess in the creatures.

Then, in a repentine change, rather that trying to keep up with the chase, they suddenly turned, trying to scramble away from the Kai while letting out desperate cries of fear. And when their fellows stopped their advance, trying to go through them and keep up the attack, the beasts that had been influenced by Rain Feather's and Sun Snake's combined psychic attack started to attack their brethen, tearing into the other creatures and soon starting a cruent, bloody battle among the monsters, tearing each other apart in the mixed frenzy of those who were trying to destroy the invaders and those who would do anything to avoid the wrath of a terror more ancient than the world itself...

And that was a successful way to defeat a mob! You might want to keep it in mind. :)

I think I should get Run rolls now, but given this great success, the DC will be 1 for this round only - you're really going to have an easy time of it. ^_^

Sweeeeet! Still want to see if Sabre or the Colonel's going to do anything, that's a frenzied mob paying no attention to us right now :D


The echo inside Sun Snake was not simply that of someone peering in. It almost seemed as if everything Rain recalled - the tentacles and spiked and malice - were being viewed from the inside, as if wearing the Agarashi like a skin. Sun Snake lurched as it was pulled out, and he bellowed in a low, deep scream even as Rain threw the full force of her psychic might at the creatures.

He seemed surprised at both the effect, and then looked to Rain as if recalling something she said. "Later. Run!" he said quickly, quickly placing his sword back to his side, and helping Rain even as he himself staggered, quickly righting himself and moving forwards towards the exit once more.


4 and 6 for running this time.

She'd slam a hand to her forehead and wince.  Dropping that much power always gave her a headache.

"Promise me we'll talk." she breathed, and then was off running again, carrying Breakwater in her hands as she pressed forward.

"Come on!  We'll make it- just keep moving!"

"Count on it," said Sun Snake, moving with confidence, perhaps spurred on by Rain Feather's certainty.

Seeing the mob starting to fight amongst itself, Fox didnt need to see anything else

"Thats good enough for me! Lets leg it!"

5 and 6 from me. I dont see the need to do anything else if its worked that well! lol

The group was closing to their exit by now - Zahira already there, waiting for the others to reach her - but they could see that, even if they'd stopped a great mayority of them between the fires and the psychic attacks, another small group - about a dozen - had manouvred to exit the lake as close to the exit as possible, and were now charging to reach it, some of them even using the powerful arms and tail to move along the wall itself, rather than on the ground. And the area, rocky but slimy, made their progress much faster than any of the other groups had...

Well, this is the last group, then you'll reach the exit... assuming you don't screw up with this one, allowing the rest to recover! ^_^

Sun Snake, how much oil do you want to spend on this? Consider that you'll need a very powerful fire here, for you don't need to just create a line on the ground - it must be a wall high enough to stop the ones moving along the wall, as well.

And you might want to leave at least some to protect your escape into the tunnel, unless you're willing to risk being assaulted when you're climbing down... :)

This message was last edited by the GM at 22:11, Sun 12 Aug 2012.

Five units I think, and perhaps persuade Zihara to do some flashy pyrotechnics.

:) Zahira doesn't like fire.

When Sun Snake gestured for the man to do so, the Drakkar carrying the oil emptied his first vial in front of himself, so that the line of oil reached to the wall, and then threw the torch to it, immediately setting the liquid on fire.

The closer of the charging monsters were going too fast to stop, and ended up set on fire; four, however, who'd been running so high up on the wall that they were practically on the ceiling, managed to move above the flames and, in a moment, were upon the the the group.

Vyctar snapped an order to his soldiers and, while they surrounded and started to attack a creature, he took on one by himself, leavhing the two remaining ones to the Kai - Zahira was too far away to charge toward the battle immediately and, for some reason, her eyes were wide with a flicker of fear as she looked at the flames.

So, combat! There's two opponents:

Lake Creature 1: CS 20, END 18
Lake Creature 2: CS 21, END 16

If you want to continue without others monsters joining the battle, you need to kill both of these in two rounds of combat only... how to do that is up to you! ^_^

Sun Snake cursed that some of the creatures got through, and appeared to rush towards the two creatures unarmed. However, he pulled out the small power dagger from the folds of his cloak as he closed the gap, turning to pull the focus of one of the creature off to the side, away from the second. He tried to fill the creature's mind with any residual feelings of the agarashi, knowing he was not really equipped to push his mind as Rain Feather could.


Rolled 8 and 1 for combat rolls. Will Mindblast (hence the flavour text) for -1WP, and also using power dagger. Sun Snake would assume it's Sabre and Snake taking one each, but he's backing off a little so if Rain is taking out one, then Snake will be placed to attack second after Sabre and so gain the +2CS ganging up bonus.

Drawing his swords quickly, Fox cursed as they horde kept coming, but he could see that the exit was in sight and hopefully this would be the last encounter.

5 and 6 combat rolls for Fox. Using Mindblast to boost his CS again! Going for the stronger one first unless Rain takes that one out, in which case he will divert to the weaker one

She would turn and find her target, and would hold out her fist and will the power that was inside the ring at one of the fish creatures.  They were so close... and she wasn't going to lose anyone to a bunch of fish creatures.

"Sabre, whatever you picked up, it'd better be worth all this trouble.  Kai help me, if we're doing this because of a few gold crowns..."

Hitting the creature with higher CS.

As Rain Fether pointed her fist toward the enemy further back from the group, the monster exploded in a globe of bluish flames.

Meanwhile, Sabre Fox and Sun Snake were onto the other one. Sabre Fox was faster, his swords cutting away the monster's arm and ignoring the scrapes their claws opened into his hands, so that Sun Snake's could thrust his dagger straight into the creature's face, easily dispatching it.

One moment later, they could see Vyctar moving away from his kill and offhandedly behading the monster that his men had cornered, before sheating his sword and nodding to the Kai.

"Good work there - you work well togheter."

He eyes Sun Snake's dagger for a moment, and also noticed that the Kai was nwo carrying a sword, but didn't commented and instead pointed to the shoreline:

"It seems that we've gained enough of an advantage, right? Still, we need to move fast."

The Drakkar motioned for the Kai to follow and moved to the exit, looking at the waiting Zahira in a questioning tone; she smiled and pointed to the tunnel, explaining:

"There's a precipice down there; we'll need to descend it as fast as we can."

The Colonel sighed.

"Which means that we haven't the time to check for traps. Alright, go ahead."

She grinned, then, without losing even a second, turned, sprinting, and then just plummeted downward, letting out a scream that was clearly not one of fear or panic - it was the excited shout of a person who's enjoying herself.

About thirty seconds later, they heard the tremendous sound of metal smashing against rock, and two seconds after that, a energetic cry from the bottom of the well that claimed, in an entusiastic shout:

"It's alright, there's no traps! The landing is a little rocky, but I think I'll manage to pulverize enough of it to make it safer for any of you who falls; the descent is long enough that I should have the time."

One Drakkar had already took some climbing equipment from his harversack, and was preparing it for the descent  - but if everybody wanted to climb down before the monsters caught up, they'd likely need another one.

Sabre Fox, you got scraped for a total of 2 END damage.

Sun Snake, you should tell me how much oil - if any - you're going to use to keep the exit from the cave secured.

This message was last edited by the GM at 15:24, Mon 13 Aug 2012.

Sun Snake gave the Colonel a strange look. "You really did trust me..." he said, shaking his head for a moment. "Your sergeant did not debrief you about anything we found, did he?" pressed Sun Snake. Sun Snake shook his head again. "I was waiting...I assumed you would..." Sun Snake shook his head again. "Yes Colonel, my group work well together. I'm used to trusting those around me implicitly. I suppose that needs to remain an aspect of my dealings, no matter who are around me."

Sun Snake then winced as Zahira leapt down without checking further, breathing out when she found nothing.

Sun Snake seemed genuinely consternated that the Colonel had picked now to decide to be tactically unaware. "Your sergeant and I explored here as best we could yesterday - while the conditions were not ideal, and I was distracted looking to the signs of our new friends and the acolytes' history here, we found no traps. And as I said, the acolytes were so soundly thrashed by those creatures they have never come back here, and never will. This is an unexplored area. It might be the perfect place for someone to hide something under the noses of the acolytes, but only a fool wouldn't further trap the way to ensure any curious fools died, presumed claimed by the creatures here."

Sun Snake looked the the Colonel closely. "So unless you have a further part to your own mission you are not telling us of, the power source you seek is not this way. Even if the Deathstaff is buried here in this place they were forced to abandon, it cannot be the source of power used to conduct the experiments."

Sun Snake pointed down the exit. "Everything we have told you regarding our own activities and discoveries was true, but you probably suspect that is not the entirity of our mission here." Sun Snake pointed down the exit tunnel and onwards. "What is thta way might be something my group needs, and as long as you have been true in your own words, then nothing we do to recover it needs affect your group."

Sun Snakle looked back to the lakeside. "What do you say, Colonel? Clearly we are far stronger working together for a common goal, we have just proven we could do somethign a hundred acolytes could not. And clearly there can be near fatal lapses in our tactical situation when we are dancing around each other. So are we of one goal, or do you have your own needs you have not shared?"

Sun Snake spared a glare at Sabre. "And after Rain and I warned you something was wrong with the lake, why did you let me drift off, let alone dive in there. What did you find - this might be our last chance to so somehting about it before we close off this passageway from pursuit."

Regarding the oil, awaiitng Sabre's input on what he found before almost sealing off access t othe lakeside.

"If you want to see, then I suggest both you and Rain come and look" Fox said seriously. "I GUARENTEE, that its something you will want to see"

Nodding towards the Colonel, Fox continued

"And for the record, I wasnt going to check across the lake, it was infact the Colonel that helped me decide I should go, and for what I found, im glad he did"

"Look where?" asked Sun Snake, looking back to the lake confused. "We're not going back near there, let alone in there!"

The Colonel seemed surprised at Sun Snake's question, then shrugged.

"My man had not the time to report to me at the end of your watch - he would likely have told me come morning. It's less a matter of trust and more a matter of circumstances - the same ones that forced me to have Zahira jump into that pit to check for traps."

Then, seeing that the Kai were starting to discuss their own matters, he concluded:

"What I'm doing here is just as secret as what you're doing here, Kai Lord; I didn't asked for specific, and you won't get anything more out of me than that I have to recover some magical source of power. Be fast with your discussions; those things will be on you soon if you dally too much."

That said, the man moved to the rope that all his men were already descending, and quickly he too was out of sight of the three Kai.

Specifically, you have a grand total of 8 posts before I make the Lake Creatures precipitate on you - and if that happens, you die. This is your fair, only warning... you want to be on the ropes quickly! ^_^

Gathering the two Kai Lords together and being out of earshot, Fox took out of his backpack his prize. He held the pieces of a broken silver bow out infront of him

"The thing I saw glinting was this bow.......... the Bow the Grand Master won so many years ago. I found his backpack too, there were spoilt meals and various potions there and his wolf brooch" Fox said, showing them the brooch he now wore.

"I tried to investigate where it had come from. I arnt exactly a tracker, but I was able to see that the water that was flowing from the small cave managed to bring it through the caves to that point, but I couldnt find out where it exactly came from. I was going to wake you in the morning for you to both investigate, but the creature attacked me on the way back"

Looking at the bow infront of him, he managed a smile

"Ive heard that masters of Divination can sense the aura of the person with thier personal belongings. Perhaps one of you can use his bow or the brooch to lock onto his aura and find out where he is? Or at very least what happened to him?"

Looking back at the Colonel's exit descent, he finished

"But we best be quick"

Lets do this asap! If you can do as Fox asks then be quick! Lets not waste time asking questions!
This message was last edited by the player at 00:08, Tue 14 Aug 2012.

Can I used Invisibility to speak to Rain and Sabre quietly?

"There is a magic so powerful it can only be the Deathstaff or the Sommerswerd down this tunnel. Sun Feather and Sun Fox have gone down already to investigate, and haven't had the time to come back."

Sun Snake looked to the items with restraint, perhaps realising he needed to focus on the dangers around. "If the Grandmaster does not wish to be found, I probably cannot lock on to his mind... and you are right, we must hurry."

Still, Sun Snake rested his hand on the pommel of his Jewelled Sword, and even as he told the sergeant to deploy a large amount of the oil to cover their retreat - three spots of two units - he focused his attention on the items.


Can Snake use Divination that way? Hopefully Snake has at least established an emotional connection to the Grandmaster, if that helps :)

Rain didn't really need to hear any more.

"Check for any other signs of magic- because if she's really going to do what I think she told me she was, I'm going to strangle her myself...  But hurry up and get down here- I'm not going home with a bunch of Drakkar!" she growled as she began to climb down the rope, trying her best to avoid skinning her hands.

Sun Snake shook his head as he tried to focus on the items. "I can't focus, unsurprisingly, with out friends below and friends above. I'll need to try when we have a better environment for such attempts."

Sun Snake then made a pained and frustrated face at Rain's comment, settling on his usual frown. "One of these days we will actually share all the information we have with each other at the right time," he said meaningfully to Rain Feather, and then started bustling around.

Says the person who doens't tend to share informatioon. I blame the plot or metagame circumstances 6 out of 10 times though :D

"Sabre, check the route the Drakkar took, and get your gear out," said Sun Snake, setting up three oily spots on the ground close to the precipice, and then setting them alight with a torch. "Look out below!" he yelled, throwing donw some of the torches as far as he could.

Sun Snake then looked down at the precipice himself.