You're not exactly on the lakeshore yet, no, but you're close enough that it doesn't really matter - you can assume to already be there if you want.

In fact, Frost anf Sabre were arguing - since there's a chance that the boat might be on the opposite side of the temple, the one you can't see from here - on wether it would be a better route to that area going through the battlefield where it's more dangerous but you're less likely to be noticed, or the other way around, where there is no fighting going on but you would stand out that much more.

This message was last edited by the GM at 21:29, Mon 13 Jan 2014.

Again, Water Hornet gave Sabre Fox somewhat surprised look, but said nothing. He just stepped away from the group, closer to the lake and knelt on one knee, placing both hands on the ground. His face was turned away from the Kai and Drakkarim, so they didn't really see him close his eyes and focus his mind. A Kai advanced in the psychic techniques (or anyone else for that matter) who would try to intercept the mental communication would feel how Hornet reached out with his own mind, establishing a connection with present living creatures - be it even a simple earthworm.

It took no more than two minutes and Hornet rose to his feet again. When he turned and stepped back towards the motley group, his face showed signs of strain the act put on him - although it wasn't so much a fatigue, but rather the difficulty to return the grasp on the real world again.

"The young Cener is on the other side of the lake," Hornet concluded, his voice progressively growing stronger, "he very likely pretends to be one of the Acolytes...and I guess he is betting to cross the lake with a group of important Vashnites who will want to access the temple - be it seeking more support or for daker reasons." The Magnakai brushed his face with his palm and concluded: "We have to make haste and circle the lake...even if merely to find means to cross the lake."

"At least that is what I propose," he added, turning to look at Sun Fox - maybe Hornet expected support; or, the other way around, he expected the Kai Lady to be protesting the most.

OOC: Ooh, ooh! I love that notion of struggling to get a grip on the physical world again after going into the psychic realm - nice! :)

Ferret ignored the newcomer's gaze being directed towards the most senior kai and responded immediately. "Clearly that is what we must do," he said bluntly. "But does your experience of being here suggest which route would be safest? We must go unnoticed. Can we move past the battle to use it as a distraction or not?"

Ferret glared at Water Hornet, eyebrows quirked and features taut, as though he couldn't understand why the man hadn't answered his question already.

"Our course is set regardless of the method" fox said firmly. "We have a target now we must pursue it, we minimize the exposure firstly to prevent unnecessary battles, but we will carve our way through if we must"

"Eh...," Water Hornet snapped his head towards Ferret, taken by suprise, how straightforward the unassuming Kai could be. He was poised to answer when Sabre Fox spoke.

"It will be safer to avoid the battle - I'd rather face a random group of Acolytes of Vashna than risking being pulled into fight involving Ceners, White Tigers and Acolytes of Vashna," said Hornet and added, "besides, I managed to trick one of Vashnites' leaders - namely Bishop Ehmeris - to believe I was part of their force working in the guise of a Kai Lord. If she could be fooled, I think it would be worth a try to keep this rouse should we encounter any Acolyte eager to question us."

Silver Raven raised his eyebrows in disbelief at that, and gestured at the nine Drakkarim standing next to the group before saying, his voice still carefully devoid of inflexion:

"Perhaps the five of us could pass ourselves off as allies of the Acolytes, but how would you manage to justify them? Some of these Drakkarim we've just freed from the Acolythes' tortures - there's no way they'd believe they're allies."

Water Hornet bit his lip. Of course. He didn't get used to the fact the Drakkarim were now part of their team and had to be included in the plan.

"Maybe we could pretend they are still prisoners who are being transported further away from the fighting...?" Hornet was thinking out loud - there were too many things that could go wrong with this plan, but it was first thing he could come up with. He looked at the Drakkarim leader - they probably wouldn't like the proposal too much and Hornet would have to agree with that despite everything.

The Drakkar merely shrugged at the look.

"That worked well enough to get us this far, but without Lord Snake and his student here to help with it, I don't see how we could pull it off at this point."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 20:14, Tue 14 Jan 2014.

"The rest can hide once again" Fox said before looking at Raven and Ferret. "And you both wield magic, this i know. Surely you could Mind Charm lower ranking foes that cross us? Just thier leaders will be enough to confuse. We could easily tell the others to go join the fighting to further split thier ranks, and if Hornet is already considered one of them, he can lead"

Water Hornet clung to the idea, although he doubted even a full fledged magician would be able to persuade a whole crowd of fanatics that they were seeing not what was actually in front of their eyes. But he had a far way to go before he would be able to wield the powers of the Brotherhood, so his judgement could be wrong.

"I have been able to persuade only one of the leaders, so far," said Hornet carefully, "but I do think we should try what Sabre Fox proposes anyway." Hornet looked at Sabre Fox, then at the Drakkarim leader. "What do you say?" Hornet then added: "If we get attacked, though, at least we will afterwards have Acolytes' robes to use for disguise." A wry smile appeared on the Magnakai's face.

Sabre Fox, when you said "the rest could hide" you meant "hide somewhere and wait for us" or "hide" as "stay under disguise"...?
This message was last edited by the player at 20:03, Wed 15 Jan 2014.

"We can use the freed Drakkar for this purpose. " Fox said looking at the Captain. "If you will allow it sir, we can perform the same rouse as before, but we will have an advantage in these men will be known as Captive and are simply being moved to be questioned personally by the leader as regular torture didn't work"

Rankhar's face was unreadable behind his mask, but when he turned toward Sabre Fox and spoke, his tone was clearly annoyed.

"Except that we won't have Lord Snake's student here to give us an in in their ranks; that was a big part of how we managed to get here unmolested, or have you forgotten, Drakkar Fox?"

There was a pause as the man scoffed, then turned toward Sun Fox and added, adressing her in a dismissive tone:

"If you have a plan you want to put into motion, and with which you need my help with, agree on it now; otherwise, I'll get bored of talking here, where we could be noticed at any moment, and wait for your decisioon in a location that will at least be more tactically vantageous - no amount of valour will allow my nine men to withstand ninehundred or more Acolytes should they choose to attack us."

So, in the end you're running in circles? Nobody in your group has Invisibility, so nobody is going to be able to pass the Camouflage roll that would be needed to fool the Acolytes into falling for your ruse. So far, I think we have Hornet and Sabre for "going through the more peaceful portion of the camp" and Frost for "going through the battlefield", so unless you all change your idea within 24 hours with some in-character planning, that's what's going to happen.

Let me know! ^_^

'Drakkar Fox?!' Water Hornet's eyes almost fell out of their sockets. He turned over every memory of Sabre Fox, but not a single time he had heard anything implying his fellow Kai was of Drakkarim origin. Hornet doubted becoming a Kai with Drakkarim ancestry was even possible.

Nevertheless, he had to wait for the answer to this question. Hence, he added to the conversation: "Maybe that is the plan we are trying to draw up," he looked at everybody around, "to split up. You see, the Ceners left one druid - named Shegzu - and a White Tiger at the tunnel through which their group, and consequently I, came. He was instructed to prepare some kind of a trap - once Ceners get the Deathstaff they will fall back to the tunnel and the following Vashnites would be caught in the trap. That is their plan." Water Hornet addressed the Drakkarim: "So, maybe you could overpower the Cener and the Tiger and prepare an ambush for the Ceners themselves. Meanwhile we would get the Deathstaff - utilizing our skills to the maximum - and meet you at the entrance to the tunnel - I'm sure the Ceners chose this path because it is the best escape route. Besides, they destroyed any opposition encountered on that way. And this way we could steal this advantage for ourselves."

Again, Water Hornet looked at the assembled people and waited for their reaction. It was clear he had some doubts himself but was at the same time determined to come up with a plan and proceed to implementing it.

OOC: Yes, Water Hornet is for the 'peaceful path'. And I didn't mean to start another round of discussion, but from Hornet's perspective this is the best route: avoid the battle area and send the Drakkarim who he met only several minutes ago away.

Rankhar crossed his arms across his chest, then said, keeping the same annoyed tone as before:

"I might do that, if it helps us get out of here sooner, but you might not know, sun-lover, that your mates here just a moment ago argued for my men to stay with them when I suggested a more strategic retreat. I do think the improved tactical situation warrants me doing exactly that, though - and if we can kill some powerful opponents on the way, all the better."

The Drakkar Captain then turned to Sabre Fox, adressing him in a commanding tone:

"Drakkar Fox, now your orders are to help the Kai steal this thing they so dearly need, and then regroup to where we'll be waiting. And see that it's done fast - I don't like waiting."

Dismissing Sabre Fox by turning his back to him, Rankhar then started to walk in the direction Water Hornet had indicated, gesturing for his men to follow.

And that's Rankhar gone, which reduces your group to only five units; I believe that Frost's magic can now hide you all much more easily, making the Camouflage attempt no longer a suicide option. So, you can go through the peaceful area of the camp, but I'll need Frost to cast an illusion over the group first, and then everybody needs to pass a DC 5 Camouflage check.

"Yes sir" Fox said to the Captain before nodding respectfully. He would quickly let the Captain walk away several paces before speaking ensuring he and the others were out of earshot before the weight visibly left his shoulders

"This thing is really starting to grate" he sighed

Water Hornet watched Drakkarim leave with mixed feelings: he was relieved their uncertain allies left, but what the Drakkarim leader said also left Hornet puzzled. The man was ordering around one of the Magnakai - Sabre Fox himself! And everyone acted like it was the most natural thing.

He was just about to start asking questions when it was exactly Sabre Fox who spoke. Hornet looked at other Kai, mask of perplexion on his face. Eventually, he reached a decision: starting moving was currently more important; he could collect information while on the move.

"This thing...is very confusing," he echoed Sobre Fox, "but I guess now we can at least proceed with sneaking into the temple...? With only the five of us left, we should be able to move around the camp without drawing undue attention..." Hornet looked at Frost Ferret who earlier objected against going this path: "What do you say?"

While we're waiting for Frost, you two do can roll for your Camouflage attempt... and talk to each other while you walk, as well. This is post #990 - I'll let you have six more before I post in place of Frost and end the thread one way or the other - we have a new one to start and I'm really looking forward to it. :)

Sun Fox chuckled at Sabre Fox's words and commented, clearly amused:

"nobody forced you into going double-agent, it was your idea to begin with. Are you starting to think it wasn't all that brilliant, Sabre Fox?"

Then she nodded to Water Hornet and added, her tone still friendly:

"Let's start moving anyway - standing still here we'll draw more attention then if we were walking, given that everybody else in this camp seems to be moving about someplace or other."

"Hey" fox said towards sun Fox. "I never said it wasnt brilliant, but then again I didn't say I particularly liked it either"

OOC: Not sure I've quite understood the discussion, but I need to cast Illusion now, I assume.

As his fellows were moving off, Ferret looked about to observe the acolytes fighting in the distance. It was going to be difficult to create an illusion based on the uniform of an order he'd not seen up close, so he studied what he could among the chaos before drawing power through himself to try and make the group look like the other acolytes.

OOC: That's what FF's supposed to be doing, yes?

Yeah, that and giving me a Camouflage roll, DC 5... something Sabre Fox and Water Hornet are supposed to do as well, since without, I can't push thing onwards. :)
Silver Raven patted Frost on the back in an encouraging manner and said, in a tone that carried the barest hint of respect instead of the usual neutrality:

"You're growing better into your support role, Frost, I've noticed. You're improving your array of skills in making missions succeed, and I wanted you to know, in case anything goes wrong here and I don't make it: I'm proud of your progress."

Five post to the end of the thread! ^_^

This message was last edited by the player at 00:35, Wed 22 Jan 2014.

I was actually waiting on Hornet since he probabally has more WP to improve an attempt. Though I just rolled an 8 :)

Sorry for the delay, guys, crazy week.

Water Hornet nodded absentmindedly to Sun Fox proposing to move; he was musing about her previous words. 'So, it was all pretense? That Sabre Fox is with the Drakkarim?' he thought to himself. He wanted to ask Sabre Fox about that, but the group started moving and Hornet made haste not to stay behind.

In fact, he moved to the front, took his dagger in one hand and tried to look determined like a Vashnite on some important mission; from time to time he would pretend to give orders to the group - like 'Make haste, brothers, High Priest will not wait.' or 'Bishop Ehmeris expects us to succeed, do not linger.'

Camo roll: 8.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:54, Wed 22 Jan 2014.

Fox noticed Hornet walk to the front of the group and he sniggered before speaking

"You can at least acknowledge your home town hero now" he smirked. "No Drakkar are around"

Water Hornet turned his head sharply, but his look was a mix of surprise and embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, Sabre Fox," said Hornet and slowed down to let Sabre Fox draw level with him, "this past hour was really confusing for me. And everyone, including me, in Ruanon is forever in debt to you." He fell silent for a second, but hten continued: "I'm very happy it seems it's just some game you - and I mean all of you, including Sun Snake - are playing with Drakkarim...for a moment it looked like the world...well, went completely insane." The Magnakai smiled and looked genuinely relieved. "There is so much I'd like to ask and I hope you can answer my questions...," at that Hornet looked around, "but I assume some of the questions will have to wait for later."

"Most importantly: although I won't ask directly about your mission, could you tell how you learnt about the Deathstaff...and what that is?"

Sun Fox smiled as she answered that.

"We interrogated a bunch of Acolytes, mostly, although the Drakkarim did volountereed some information as well in exchange for collaboration. And there was the stuff Swift's team learned too... I'd say it was a joint team effort, all things considered."

Before she could say anything more though, any of the others could replicate, the group reached a place from where the other shore of the lake was perfectly visible, as was the presence of a lot of people grouped near it, in front of three red robed individuals who had clearly been corralling the Acolytes, but had now stopped doing so because everybody had turned to look toward the middle of the lake.

The Temple's access point was clearly visible from this side, and the group could see that the only boat on the lake was standing there, near the central island; but what caught much more attention was the figure of two red robed Acolytes flanking the entrance, while a third exited it, walking with slow care.

It was not a very tall man, but he walked straight and solemn, the posture giving him more presence; his long black robe moved slightly, unnaturally in a place so devoid of any breeze, and the echoes of dark song seemed to raise from his figure, even as the ends of his cloth belt and scarf rolled around his figure, almost suggesting lightinig, in a completely independ way. His face was hidden behind a glowin mask of green jade, long white hairs flowing out of his hood in an almost regal manner, and when he opened both of his empty hand in a clear salute to the Acolytes, all of them went to their knee immediately while a velvety voice echoed through the cave, as if coming from everywhere, intimidating with the aura of power it carried as he spoke.

"Do not worry, Faithful of the Darklord; our Master's blessing will keep you safe."

And every Magnakai Sixth Sense almost went into overload at those words, as a violent, unmeasurable sense of relief and worship raised from over a thousand people, its meaning impossible to mistake for any one of them: a deep, all encompassing sense that they were saved, they were safe.

The High Priest was here.

And that ends the thread; I'll need a little bit to update the next one, but it should be up either later tonight, or tomorrow evening at the latest.

This message was last edited by the player at 20:33, Wed 22 Jan 2014.