The cave was silent for a moment after the High Priest spoke, the Acolytes basking in the feeling that everything would be alright soon, while the light from the pillars mixed with that from the fire Sun Fox had set, making the water of the lake and the Acolytes' weapons glint eerily.

Then, suddenly, a voice spoke, low and menacing, breaking the silence like a stone's throw.

"You will not keep anybody safe; your mere human body will yeld to the power of the plague like everything else always does."

Many a head turned in the direction the voice was coming from, and the man who'd used it. He was tall and broad shouldered, and his figure was wrapped in as red a robe as Vshna's Bishops, yet it couldn't have been more different. Their robes were old, somewhat tattered and worn on the edges, and not always fitting, the cut often a dull one that merely covered, without hiding or emphasizing the wearer's fiture.

The Cener's robes, on the other hand, where fine, thin embroidery of green ivy branch running along the sleeves and on the rim; they had been clearly been shaped to measure, making the muscular figure of the man clearly noticeable, but they were elegant too, layered in such a manner that his hood kept his face in shadows artfully arranged to make only his dazzling green eyes visible. It also allows everybody to see a sort of ripple running across the man's figure, yet it was no shiver, for he stood still and tall in the manner of one who has full control over their muscles - nor was the buzzing sound that came from his figure in any way natural.

Behind the red cener was a varied group, both a menacing presence and a prove of the man's power, for how they waited for a command from him to move. Many were Vazhag, armed with short swords or spears and covered in scraps and blood, yet grinning like madmen at the enjoyment they were taking from the battle they'd just been throught. More impressive, though where the four soldiers wearing polished armors, the sigil of a tigers on their shoulder pads; the only part of their body not encased in steel were their head, all similarly looking in their corpselike pallor, long white hairs falling on the shoulder, and empty eyes devoid of any pupil or iris. Among them, it would be pretty easy to almost miss the black cloacked woman to the Cener leader's right, except that the tip of the spear she held was glowing blue, just like her eyes under the hood she was wearinig.

The High Priest said nothing at the challenge, his mask hiding all his features, but he did turned his head toward the side, to the Acolytes who'd been fighting the attacking group, and who were now reduced to about six people, one of them wearing red and wielding a golden staff, who had knelt when he spoke, but looked now ready to rejoin the battle at his command.

Instead, the man moved, flanked by the other two bishops, and wlaked into the small boat that connected the island to the rest of the cave, and once thei all were inside, he raised his hands. Suddenly, a wind started to whip around the room, and then, without any apparent force moving it, the ship started to move forward across the water, delivering the trio to the shore. As the ship moved, the air started to look darker, and many an Acolyte looked upwards in wonder and admiration - for, within the closed cave, a vast blanket of clouds had suddenoly formed, and was covering the entirety of the ceiling with menace.

Once his feet where at the shore, the High Priest spoke, his words once again echois across the cave everywhere.

"You, who believe you can withstand the unleashed power of Vashna, I'll give you the one chance; repent, or you will know that such arrogance is always punished with death."

A thunder from nowhere suddenly shook the room, as if to punctuate the man's words, and the Cener stood silent for a moment, before suddenly bellowing, as he pointed both of his closed fists forward:

"Attack!"

And at that, swarms of monstrous insects exploded from the holes that were now visible on his hands, while at the same time, with a single motion so perfectly coordinated and syncronyzed that it went beyond mere discipline, all four white soldiers lowered the staves they were helding, unleashing a barrage of glowind death rays on the Acolytes, while the Vazhags darted forward, bellowing as they charged.

Merely a moment later, just as the Acolytes raised back and answered the charge with one of their own, another robed man appeared atop a tent near the cave's wall, noxious smoke of four different colours raising from his figure and then darting toward the follower of Vashna as he moved his hands to direct it, and the woman behind the lead Cener raised her spear high, blue fire erupting out of it in a brutal explosion before reforming in hundred of bird made of flame, divebombing the Acolytes.

And then, the raised hands of the High Priest closed into fists, and within the underground cave, from the dark clouds that now covered the entire ceiling and were so black as to resemble smoke, it started to rain, a torrential downpour that washed down on everybody and everything within the cave.

And then I said: let it be Chaos. :)

So, just to make a couple of points clear, the High Priest is still standing next to the boat, with the two bishops at his side; everybody else is busy fighting, except for the small group of Acolytes standing by one side which are actually Sabre Fox, Water Hornet, Frost Ferret, Sun Fox and Silver Raven covered by an illusion... not that anybody knows that. They'll be noticeable soon, though, if they keep standing still while the fights explode - especially since things are going to get a lot more vicious from now on, and, as I hope it's well clear by now, there's going to be plenty of deadly and devastating area of effects attacks going on in this one fight.

Sun Snake, you and your current companion are currently near one of the elevated tunnels that give entrance to the cave, overlooking things from there; you're placed so that, if you wanted to, you could strike at the back of the group of Ceners - a perfect position for a pincer attack, if you will, although two people being an useful pincer support force for an army does feel like a little bit of a stretch, especially considering the circumstances here.

Dusk Rat and Swift Fox, you're still tailing Sun Snake as you were earlier, hidden in exactly the same manner, so you're free to do whatever you want from that position; your passenger is still out of it for now.
Any questions you have, feel free to ask! ^_^

Sun Snake was both impressed and depressed by the raw power on display. He knew the High Priest would be formidable, but the enormity of the task at hand was finally upon him. He had surmised stealth would be required, not direct confrontation. However, having the possibility of it removed by seeing the power of the man also removed an unexpected comfort.

"You see," hissed Sun Snake to Bishop Madayl by his side. "The High Priest indeed takes the field without the Deathstaff, for he does not need it. Nor is the Maiden of Sacrifice by his side, and I know she was with him. One of this shell's last words were of his failure to fool her. The abomination's intervention, I believe. The two things most precious to raising Vashna are still in the temple, along with the traitors who will take one or both from us."

Sun Snake's hands clawed and it was with reluctance he seemed to come to himself. "Bah, we cannot be distracted. We cannot distract the High Priest from the holy cleanse to remove the Cener's filth. We need to get to the temple now. We need to wrap hands and magic around the throats of my treacherous kin and stop them from fleeing, until the High Priest can hear of their lies and deal with every false foe infecting the ranks."

Sun Snake pointed to the group around the High Priest. "Is someone missing from the group? A trusted member who should take the field with him?"


Lol, wow, a lift sure might be good around about now...

It would, wouldn't it? ^_^

Madayl shook his head as he said, pointing at the two bishop's on the High Priest's sides:

"No, Hurlon and Everell are there with him, and the third of the leading bishops, Jhala, was likely killed by an ambush from the lizard warriors who have been roaming the caves, the ones who look like Gourgaz but fight smarter and were lead by an hellion wreathed in fire, several days ago now... I wonder where those have ended up, they didn't acted out at all yesterday."

He seemed thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged and continued:

"Anyway, they both are there, where they are supposed to be. Hurlon is the strongest and most skilled warrior in our ranks, so he standing there and guarding the High Priest makes sense, and Everell's powers are long ranged ones, thus he usually stays out of the melee."

Madayl paused for a moment before adding, troubled:

"Although, it is strange that he hasn't summoned any golem yet - they would surely do wonder against those armoured soldiers the Ceners have with them."

Swift crouched low on the Kraan, cursing quietly under her breath.
"Looks like war just got unleashed down there" she muttered.  "Hoping both sides don't mistake us for the enemy.  Even if we are!"

Narrowing her eyes, she peered around at the layout of the camp below, trying to spot anyone recognisable or anything useful...


OOC: Can I see any of the others from here?
Also is there anything that looks like a supply tent or something full of useful items worth looting? :)
This message was last edited by the player at 00:51, Fri 24 Jan 2014.

Water Hornet instinctively crouched when the thunder boomed acrossed the cave, hunching his back even more when the rain started.

"The boat," he shouted trying to make himself heard over the sound of rain and battle, pointing towards the High Priest and his retinue, "the temple!"

"We have to be faster than Yugash...the young Cener," he added, made a few steps forward and looked at other Kai. All the doubts he had were clearly written over his face. Nevertheless, his posture was that of urgency, and again he pointed towards the boat.

Fox immediately nodded towards the boat as Hornet suggested.

"I agree. This is the perfect chance to get to the temple while they are distracted. Let's go!"

Silver Raven seemed thoughtful at the commented and commented, a note of worry entering his tone:

"Are you sure we can do that? We'd need to defeat both the High Priest and the two men standing next to him to get the boat... and we'd need to do so without any of the other Acolytes noticing we were attacking their leaders. That's very risky."

Sun Snake looked to the indicated bishop, then snarled theatrically. "Does not raise creatures, yet protects himself with Nadziran magic?" Sun Snake pointed. "I have had my mental defenses augmented by Nadziran magics more than once and been in the company of kin similarly boosted. I recognise the black globe of nothing where a mind should be." Sun Snake shook as and twisted his features and hands as if to change, but then composed himself. "Do you employ such means too? Would this Everell of yours possess means or device like that?"

Madayl's eyes narrowed at that, as he answered:

"No, he would not; he's the one who thaught us how to make our thoughts unyeldingly confused - he would not rely on a different technique over the one he mastered."

His grip on the staff hardened, and he asked, sounding menacing for the first time since Sun Snake had known him:

"Do you have any suggestion as to how we can strike you traitorous kin, Child of Vashna?"

"None more than the obvious. A magical strike to make him reveal himself, for if he has Nadziran magic he may have a way to disguise himself from casual wounds that would prove his falsehood."

However, Sun Snake did give an unpleasant smile. "They have made a mistake though. They act in secret not with the High Priest's blessing. They have taken one of your own and replaced him. You simply need to reveal the treachery to the High Priest, we will not need further explanations nor proof. We almost do not need the abomination. Though if my kin falls without a word, we will still need someone to tell us how deep the rot has set in, and what others may be hiding in plain sight."



Is there a battle in between our position and the High Priest, or is there a clear run? How close is the Cener and in what direction exactly from us relative to the High Priest?

If you were to trace a line from your position to the High Priest, it would run straight through the mass of fighting people - and the Ceners are in the middle of that group.

Madayl nodded seriously and said, in a determined tone:

"You're right, we need to releal this treachery at once; we should move, right now."

Even as he spoke, the High Priest made a sweeping gesture with his hand, and a lighting strike suddenly fell from the sky, hitting one of the four soldiers who were supporting the Ceners' attack and completely melting both the armour and the man inside it; that caused the vazhag to waver a bit, allowing the Acolytes - who'd been on the defensive that fat - to start pushing their enemies back.

Sun Snake nodded, though pointed to the outside of the battle, co-incidentally in the direction of the the other Kai. "Let us skirt the enemy though - let us not be caught in the fire of the High Priest's wrath in our haste to warn him."

Madayl nodded at that, returning to his normally stoic expression.

"That sounds sensible. Let's move, then."

And with that, the man moved to descend to the ground using the ladder carved in the rock, clearly unwilling to waste any more time in which his leader could be easily backstabbed by the enemy.

Follow the man, try to avoid confrontation while appearing to not care about confrontation!

Also sad for no Kraan rescue...

Swift flinched slightly at the lightning strike.
Steering her Kraan closer to Dusk's she called across, hoping the noise of the storm and the fighting below would cover her voice.
"Can you tell if any of the others are down there?"
She glanced towards the High Priest's position and then the tangled battle he was casting destructive spells into before shifting her gaze to the island the Temple was built on...


OOC: Is there enough space for us to circle around the battlefield and land on the island behind the Temple, so the building would conceal us from the view of the High Priest and his troops?

"Then in that case we need a distraction" Fox spoke up. "Any suggestions people?"

"The snakes," said Water Hornet thoughtfully looking at the lake, "they are not acting naturally; something...or someone is holding them in place. If we could break this control, that would create enough of a ruckus, I guess."

The Magnakai focused on the trio of Acolytes in the distance. "Although doing it so the High Priest doesn't realize what is happening will not be easy."

"If we put the temple between us and him, does it matter if he notices something happening?" Ferret looked between the three figures by the boat and the water surrounding the island. "If we could be in the water holding on to something that was propelled across...." He blinked for a moment at the lake's surface. "We might be quick enough to reach the temple before he moved far enough around the lake to see us."

"Use the snakes against them" Fox said. "We could use them as a barrier as we get across. They may be felled easily but it will be a good enough distraction none the less"

Don't have a full idea of exactly where everyone is standing in relation to everyone else...but that always seems to happen so I'll just sort of bumble along and make do, lol.

Dusk Rat is silent for several moments, staring down at the carnage below. She momentarily casts her gaze down, staring at the neck of the kraan she's riding. Eventually she looks up and, in answer to Swift Fox's question, points toward a group of Acolytes who aren't currently assisting in the chaos.

"There." she says. "Frost Ferret, Sabre Fox, Silver Raven, Sun Fox...and a fifth I'm unable to recognise."

Hornet slightly shook his head. "Just wrestling control of the snakes from whatever holds them in the water will be difficult - I'm not sure I can order them to attack Acolytes. But, more importantly, the attempt to gain control over the reptiles will cause a fierce reaction, I think..."

Water Hornet paused, but then made several steps forward. "In any case, seems this is our best chance - I will try to do my best, we just need to pull the boat towards us quickly."

Sun Fox shrugged at that, flexing her right hand's fingers.

"That's easy enough to do - the hard thing would be to do so without actracting the Acolytes' attention. You're sure your diversion will work?"

"With any luck they will believe it's the Ceners" fox said. " either way the Acolytes will be hard pressed to attack both us and the Ceners. Regardless we could use the ice rafts during the confusion to get across, using our. Nexus abilities to increase our speed"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:36, Thu 30 Jan 2014.

"I wouldn't be so sure - in a storm, lightning can strike at more than one place at once."

And, as if to mark her words, the high priest unleashed another such strike, this time not hitting any one target but causing the Vazhag's formation to break apart, making it easier for his own men to handle. Sun Fox flinched at the sight.

Upon Sun Fox's question whether Water Hornet was sure if his diversion would work, the Magnakai snapped his head towards her. "No," he replied, maybe a little too sharply, but Sabre Fox's following words covered the possible surge of tension.

Hornet turned to Sabre Fox when he mentioned ice rafts. "That would indeed allow us to hide behind the temple as Frost Ferret proposed," Water Hornet nodded to his Kai battle-brother.

Hornet looked worriedly at the dark clouds that looked very unnatural in the enclosed space of the cave. "Seems like our best plan...?" he looked inquisitively at each of the Kai, "I will do my best to create even more chaos among the Acolytes without them noticing where it is coming from...and then let's hope the crossing of the lake goes swiftly and smoothly." The doubts were almost palpable in Hornet's tone, but his expression was one of determination.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:53, Fri 31 Jan 2014.

OOC: Does that someone else can make an ice raft too?

Ferret looked up sharply as the newcomer started to concentrate on the water (?). "We should be moving." He looked about at his fellows. "If the snakes will not attack then yes, we should hold on to pieces of ice to go across. But not from here."

Ferret set off towards the other side of the temple from where the priest stood.

No, nobody else can freeze the water but you, Frost... well, no other player, at least. Silver Raven do has the power, so he can help you with it if it's necessary.

Everybody who's moving now should roll for Caomuflage; the Dc for Frost Ferret and the ones following him to circle the lake is 2, while Sun Snake, you need to beat a DC 4. Those who fail will end up being noticed by the combatants... and I'll let you guess on what that will mean. :)

Swift Fox, Dusk Rat, if you want to move, now might well be the time - I already told you that reaching the Temple's roof by kraan unnoticed requires a DC 6 Camouflage check - but, of course, you're also free to use your knowledge of everybody's positon to come up with more creative plans.

Silver Raven nodded at Frost Ferret's suggestion and added, his tone practical:

"We should move - I don't think the Ceners will last much longer, and we want to be out of the Temple by the time this battle is done for."

Then, without further comments, he quickly moved to follow his disciple.

Rerolled two poor rolls to get a 5. No more FP left now.

You really should try and go forward with the bad results sometimes, Sun Snake, to see where they lead! Take some risks, live dangerously! ;D

It didn't took long for the two men to circle the entirety of the battlefield, and they were lucky enough to go unnoticed until they finally reached the High Priest and his two bodyguards. The man hi8mself said nothing, clearly focused on directing the storm he'd called up, but the shorter of the two next to him, an athletic-looking man with dark hairs and several small scars on his face, looked to the two of them and asked, annotyed:

"Madayl, what are you doing here, and where's your patrol? You should be leading them into the melee, doing your duty, not wasting time."

Then, the man's brown eyes moved to Sun Snake's eyes and bore into him, his brows furrowing as if trying to puzzle out something even as he barked out, in a very intimidating manner:

"And who would you be?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:30, Fri 31 Jan 2014.

"Whoever I want to be," hissed Sun Snake, standing tall but giving the Bishop an equally appraising look. "And I try not to forget a face, you never know when the shade of it may be a useful shell. I have seen you somewhere, once. You were a sell sword, or some other lost human. You are now a bishop? How did you find true faith in Vashna? I am not the Helghast you should beware."

The last words were said in the secret language of the bishops and if an odd curse or osth. Sun Snake's eyes darted to the other bishop to see if the words were understood.

"Bishop Madayl's most faithful men were killed in an ambush by a fallen Kai abomination. The rest are unimportant. It was the abomination's plans that drew me to Madayl, and thus he here to the High Priest."

Forgot to ask, can Sun Snake sense where the others are at the moment? This includes hints of Alyne this close to the temple.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:34, Fri 31 Jan 2014.

Without further ado Water Hornet followed Frost Ferret. Every now and then he would look over his shoulder, checking what the trio of high-ranked Acolytes were doing and also looking at the lake.

Camouflage roll: 6.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:57, Fri 31 Jan 2014.

Ferret continued to concentrate on holding the illusion as he moved. It was becoming more difficult all the time, so getting the group out of sight of the priest was starting to be urgent.

OOC: Roll: 4

Hopefully I will eventually think of something to do...

Swift peered down at the ground below, squinting through the un-natural storm that was sweeping through the area.

"Can you sense what's happening down there?" she called to Dusk, pointing to Sun Snake's position.
"If the High Priest can sense he's lying about being a Helghast, he could be in trouble."

As she spoke, she reached to her belt and retrieved Sun Snake's sword, still trying to make out what was happening below...


OOC: I think we're playing the waiting game at the moment... :)

Hurlon glanced for a moment to the High Priest's figure before glaring at Sun Snake and answring, no trace of fear on his person:

"I was taught the truth, that's how I found it. And what do you mean, you're not the only Helghast I need to watch out for?"

"We have a saying in my country, 'of the Darklands. A child of Vashna who betrays our master for the Deathlord - the true owner of the Deathstaff - is lower than a Kai. Everell has not summoned his golems yet, has not launched his ranged magic yet, and appears to have eshewed the mental defenses he taught you for a Nadziran mental screen. Oh, and cannot understand a word we are saying.' It roughly translates as 'do your duty for the faith, and do not question Madayl's actions nor my own."

Sun Snake ensured his body drifted a moment so Hurlon would block Everell from view, then cast a meaningful look backwards.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:19, Sat 01 Feb 2014.

"Then let's go" Fox said simply

9 Camo roll

Bear with me, Swifty, while I try to gather the information ;).

Sun Fox took the tail of the group as they made their way around the lake as she said to the others, in a determined tone:

"Let's be fast with this, we don't just need to make it out of here, but to warn the others as well before they stumble into this death-trap."

They moved quickly, and they reached the opposite end of the Temple at about the same time Sun Snake showed up in front of the High Priest and had his brief conversation with Bishop Hurlon.

The man, after a moment, turned toward the High Priest's other bodyguard and asked him, quite directly:

"What do you think, Everell? Should I believe what he said, and act accordingly?"

The other bishop merely shrugged and answered, his tone neutral:

"You should do whatever you feel is right."

Hurlon nodded at that, and then, without any apparent warning, his hand flashed out, a weapon flying from his grasp and embedding itself in the middle of the other bishop's chest. The weapon stood there for a moment before glowing red, and molten lava started to leak out of it, immediately setting its target on fire while the few drops that fell to the ground ate through the rock immediately, the air itself turning uncomfortably hot and hard to breath while the attack's target screamed, his body losing Everell's features to assume those of a decayed corpse for but a moment, before being completely reduced to ashes by the sheer heat coming from the weapon.

Whithout any readable emotion on his face, Hurlon stalked to the place where the short sword had imbedded itself into the rocky ground after killing the Helghast and was slowly melting through it, recovering the weapon with a firm grip on the handle and then returning it to the empty one of the four scabbards he had at his side under the red robe, thus restoring the air to what it was before - although that did nothing to remove the vapour which had spread when the hot temperature caused by the contact of the rain with the magma.

That done, Hurlon turned a comptemptuous glare on Sun Snake and said, very matter-of-factly:

"Problem solved. Is there any other minor trouble you have to bother The High Priest with, fell creature, or are you now going to help our brethens bring Vashna's vengeance on these faithless Cener Druids?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:51, Sat 01 Feb 2014.

These bishops are quite powerful, are they not? Kinda scary to do anything around them! Remind me not to get Sun Snake drunk, where he mocks Hurlon about getting the man to kill a Helghast for him, and Madayl for killing his acolytes for him. Sun Snake might not survive that one!

Anyway, thank you for having all that duplicitousness pay off and have the Helghast killed off! Of course, you've just shown the other bishop is actually the worse of the two, and really we should have waited until the Helghast had surprise killed that bishop first.


Anyway, time to do something else stupid and dangerous...yell at the man who can slay you in an instant...


Sun Snake was stunned the moment Hurlon showed such casual power, slaying the Helghast. Luckily, his instincts - whether Kai-born or not - kicked in.


"Nooooo!" he yelled in consternation, clawing his hands, dropping his jaw as low as possible and using shadows to make it a little less than human, and burying his jaw in his throat to help make the utterance as gutteral and inhuman as possible. It also helped hide his more human reaction to the air.

"This...this face..." said Sun Snake, saying it in a sing song way and looking to Madayl as if for understanding, "he's..trapped me with this face. And the abomination...I'll..have to speak to that idiotic abomination again..." Sun Snake held his head in his hands for a moment.

Sun Snake turned back to Hurlon, apparently bringing himself under some form of control, co-incidenatlly when the air improved. "I approve of the skill and pain of the kill. But that traitor was the only intelligent link to the plan of the Deathlord cultists. The only other link is the insane Kai abomination that hates this shell's face. The Nadziran that created it use that compulsion to drive it. However as Madayl can tell you, even when I surrendered to it, allowed the indignity of being bound captured, it still believed this shell whose head I made fall off was some mastermind still orchestrating a trick. I...cannot shift my form and back for fear of being off with an eye or fingerlength if the thing is that paranoid of trickery. You've just killed the only thing we might have tortured for information that won't drive me insane to deal with."

Sun Snake shuddered. "Now this traitor by the High Priest's side is dead, the matter is less urgent. But you may still be infested by traitors supernatural and mundane. The Nadziran are looking to raise the Deathlord. Not a creature I believe will share space on this miserable world with Vashna. The traitors that they gave you to shepherd the Maiden of Sacrifice to the Monastery to retrieve the Dagger mysteriously failed, and only luck I presume saved us from losing her. And yet the Nadziran have a second Vonotar in the form of the second highest ranked Brotherhood mage under their thumb! They have attacked the Monstery themselves having been given a secret passage to Sommerlund, and stolen things from the Sun Vault itself. Did...we get the Dagger from them? They knew we wanted it, and owed us for the faiure that almost cost us her. A platoon of Drakkarim come here and steal the Sommerswerd from under our noses and walk away with it, having been told where Aki-amaz's* body is by the Nadziranim, yet...did they share this information with us? And the Agarashi trapped as a contingency sacrifice has been destroyed. Do you think anything other than the hand of Naar under one of his wizards could destroy something that ancient and defeat the security around it? All we have left is the Deathstaff, something we now fight the Cener over. And yet it is the tool of this Deathlord. Why did the traitor not stay in the temple and steal it away when it had the chance? I think the Deathstaff is a trick, to harm Vashna's rise, and then the traitors will take the staff away for its real purpose of raising this new pretender."

Sun Snake looked defeated. "I will stay and watch the slaughter, but then I must track the abomination. I had called faithful to me, to find that thing and take it to me. And yet they do not come. And they were faithful." Sun Snake looked to Hurlon. "The abomination does not have your skill. Either it is exceptional at hiding, or else something else helps it and my kin are dead. Either way, the only lead to discover how deeply the Nadziran plot against us goes is not here."

Sun Snake looked to Madayl and motioned as if for the man to corroborate the story and make plans with his fellow bishop. Sun Snake instead turned his head to look the battle, as if enjoying the senseless slaughter between the two foes.




* couldn't resist :)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:58, Sat 01 Feb 2014.

Ooh, it's all kicking off now, isn't it? ;).

Hurlon looked perplexed at Sun Snake's reaction, then shrugged and commented, his tone bored:

"I don't really care about your troubles, fell creature - the High Priest will listen to your spiel once this battle is won, and then he'll decide what to do with what you know."

He paused, then added, smiling smugly:

"Which means you'll see these matters adressed sooner if you contribute in ending this... although perhaps you're not a fighting beast - you're the first Helghast I've ever heard of so concerned with aquiring and connecting information."

Madayl turned to Hurlon at that and commented, his tone clearly respectful:

"You would be well advised not to underestimate this Child of Vashna, Bishop Hurlon - he's just as much dangerous, cruel and lacking in empathy for others than himself as all of the other Children are. He's proven his dangerousness to me."

Hurlon raised an eyebrow at the other man's words, then shrugged and answered, his tone dismissive:

"Perhaps it's as you say, Madayl, but I think he's much too caught in acting out his emotions, as all them do when faking humanity, to be as effective a slaughterer as he can be in this instance."

While the two men were talking, and the High Priest directing the rain - it seemed as if whirpools were starting to form in the air as winds swirled and started to form miniature twisters - neither of them noticed as all the snakes in the lake started to move on their own, escaping from their aquatic habitat to start mixing among the Acolythes, their powerful maws dripping with magically empowered poison snappingn shut on whichever was closer and often killing their targets with a single bite.

The group of magnakai on the other side of the lake, though, did noticed, mainly because the snakes were all moving away from their position, cleaerly heading to the other side of the lake and the fight and thus leaving them a free path to cross. Sun Fox nodded at the sight and grinned, patting Water Hornet's back as she said, excited:

"Now that's what I'd call a great job, Hornet! You're just as good as always, aren't you?"

Sun Snake gave an unpleasant look to Hurlon. "When we seek information, you will never notice us. As I say, I have seen your face somewhere in the past. And our friend there was under your nose the whole time. It was our purpose under Vashna. That and battle."

Sun Snake hover looked to the battlefield speculatively. "I would gladly purge myself of this human shell and its mental stink. But it might not be my hands you need this day, but my eyes." He looked over to Madayl rather than Hurlon, as if considering him the more intelligent of the two. "After all, if the Nadziran planted at least one traitor here, perhaps they also planted traitors in the Cener to ensure both sides would fight and be weakened so as not to interfere later."

If I can't see what I say next because you can't see her from this position, let me know and I'll delete it.

Sun Snake made as if scanning the various factions the High Priest faced, then pointed to the one he knew well. "Interesting. The woman over there appears to have more right handed magic to her spells than I would expect from a Cener. And you will need to trust my fell eyes, but her skin seems too clear for one of those deep in the Cener ways." Sun Snake shrugged and made as if to move on, looking around in other places.


Nice to have a front row seat to all this cool carnage. Hope I don't become part of it!

When the group had reached the side of the lake ooposite to the High Priest, Water Hornet made several steps forward, stopping just a couple of yards from the water. He was poised to start with their plan when the snakes moved.

"It's not me," replied Hornet to Sun Fox in a shocked tone, "it's somebody else!" He started turning his head around, trying to pinpoint who had such effect on the serpents, before realizing how futile that attempt was.

"This might be our chance," the Magnakai spoke to other Kai, "I will try to discover what is driving the snakes, but we should make haste and cross the lake while the water is clear." He nodded to Frost Ferret, approached the lake and knelt on one knee. Holding his dagger in one hand, he submerged fingers of the other one into the water and invoked his powers.

He probed slightly in the minds of the moving snakes, connecting their instincts and reflexes to his own mind to understand what was driving them; here and there he would push slightly his own command back at them to see how would individual specimen react, "listening" with his psychic powers if there was any mental communication established with some other source.

The aim is to find out what is driving the snakes. I don't want to give them any specific command, yet, but just probe into their minds and see what is controlling them (while I'm not using Sixth Sense to detect a psychic communication directly, maybe it could give a bonus to the roll...?).
Rolled a 4.

The High Priest would notice if enemies were converging on his position and keep them away with plenty of brutality - the only reason he didn't do that to you, Sun Snake, is because he recognized Madayl.

Hurlon seemed perplexed by Sun Snake's comment, but then, all of a sudden, the rain tripled in intensity around the woman who was slinging blue fire across the battlefield, and she immediately switched gear, from her wide area offense with walls and flying creatures to a focused defenses with long strals of flames spiralingn around her person in a dome-like formation and massive giants trying to form around her to keep her covered. Even so, the fire had trouble forming as the water in the limited area around her got more and more condensed, to the point that she seemed to be under the relentless power of a waterfall unleashed fromo the sky directly above her.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:58, Sun 02 Feb 2014.

After a few moment Water Hornet jerked his hand out of the water as if it was boiling; literally jumping to his feet he turned to the rest of the Kai.

"The snakes are being commanded by a Kai!" poured out Honet with surprise, but then his voice changed to a more thoughtful tone, "if it's neither one of us...then it must be someone else - like Sun Snake...?" The Magnakai furrowed his brows as he was trying to recall how advanced Sun Snake's skill was in Animal Control. His mind was still a little cloudy, though, so he abandoned the futile attempt and instead focused on the lake again.

"In any case, let's hurry while the odds are in our favour," he said. In fact, Water Hornet was relieved - he imagined that wrestling control over the snakes from whoever commanded them would cost him much mental energy. Now it could be used elsewhere.

Is there near any tent that looks like it could contain a weapon? I need to re-arm Hornet, again. :)

There's pleny of tents around and pratically all of them are empty now that the Acolytes have all converged to the area where the High Priest is to joing the battle he's directing. As for wether any of those contains weapons, you won't know until you check them one by one, I'm afraid. :)

Of course, Sabre Fox has two swords on his person, and Sun Fox has three, so if you really feel you're defenseless, you might ask them to borrow one. Who know, they might even agree! ^_^

Sun Snake brought his attention back to the woman, and nodded in a detached way. "If she stays on the battlefield then perhaps she is not false, just an arrogant Cener in training. If she runs, then perhaps she has no loyalty to the Cener nor investment in the attack beyond instigating it. If so, I will run her down."

Sun Snake went back to looking around the battlefield, deliberately letting himself gaze to long to one or two places that were completely removed from where the others may be.

Swift's eyes widened as she watched the slaying of the Helghast disguised as a bishop, soon followed by the growing magical battle between the strange Cener woman and the High Priest of the Acolytes.
She looked over the High Priest, clearly examining some of the ritual items he was wearing with an expression of interest.
Then she moved her gaze back to Sun Snake again.

"Screw this" she muttered irritably.  "Someone has to save him from his own plan I suppose..."

She looked up at Dusk Rat.
"You should go join the others" she said, nodding in the general direction of where the other Kai had been indicated as being.
"I'll get Sun Snake and meet up with you all later, assuming I haven't gotten myself blasted into smouldering dust" she added with a wry smirk.

With that, she began looking for a place to land away from the High Priest's view...
This message was last edited by the player at 23:14, Sun 02 Feb 2014.

Dusk Rat gives Swift Fox a querying look.

"What use do you think I'd be down there?" she asks. "I'd prefer to stay where my abilities can be of use without attracting attention to myself."

Swift peered at Dusk for a moment then shrugged.
"Well, just make sure my Kraan doesn't fly away without me then" she replied curtly.

With that, she unhooked the Mirrored Shield from her back and slipped it onto her left arm, keeping it angled upwards towards the storm clouds overhead.
Checking to make sure Lobster was still unconscious, she began to direct the Kraan to fly lower...


OOC: Hope Lord Sour Snake appreciates this! ;)  hehe.

"Let's get to that temple then" Fox says "if its not Snake it could be Rat. Either way I owe someone a dinner"

but he quickly motices Hornet looking at the tents.

"Something in there?" He asks.

To avoid fruitless time wasting searches, can Foxsense any magical weapons with Battle Magic that are near? If not he has the Drakkar dagger to give away

"Rat?" asked Water Hornet, addressing no-one in particular, but Sabre Fox's question drew his attention away for that moment, "no...I just wondered if I could arm myself."

With that, Hornet pointed at the empty scabbard at his belt: "Fighting a White Tiger costed me a short sword - but better lose a weapon than a head, I guess." Water Hornet gave a weak smile at that. "Venom here is a good weapon," he continued raising his dagger, "but I'd prefer having one more. Never mind, will have to find something in the temple - crossing the lake while the luck is with us is far more important."

If Fox could find some other weapon, that'd be great, but Hornet is not completely unarmed so we probably better not waste time now.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:58, Mon 03 Feb 2014.

You have your power wrong, Sabre Fox - it allows you to tell when an item you're examining has Old Kingdom Magic into it, not to tell if there's source of Old Kingdom Magic laying about.

As for your plan, Swift Fox, the camouflage DC for passing yourself off as an Helghast is 8. Feel free to post yourself as you approach the High Priest, and good luck! ^_^

OOC: Actually I was planning on landing somewhere nearby for now, trying to avoid being noticed by the High Priest and Hurlon but close enough for Sun Snake's Divination to detect my presence.
Getting the feeling that if I just walk up there wearing a Kai Cloak, I'll end up with a lightning bolt in the face before I can do much acting!

I take it Sun Snake an detect her? Also Fall Lobster aswell?

You could detect Swift Fox all the way to where she was hiding with Dusk Rat, Sun Snake, so you'd not just know that she's close, you would know her exact distance to you - and of course, you don't need me explaining how your Pathmanship would fill in the blanks of her spatial position so that you can follow all her movements.

In fact, you actually know everybody's location and a close approximation of what they're doing, if you care to check for it with your powers; as always, you're the one person who has the highest amount of information on what's going on, from a spatial standpoint if nothing else.

Also, Swift Fox, you can't hide from the High Priest in the cave - as soon as the rain hits you, he'll knew you're there, so really, the best you can do is try not to do anything suspicious to catch attention... unless you think you can sell me a way in which Invisibility would allow you to avoid the rain? If you can come up with it, I'll gladly allow you to sneak up on them, but otherwise it's not happening. :)

OOC: Ahh ok.  Didn't know he could sense me through the rain like that...
I'll land nearby, but in an open area, so it's obvious I'm not trying to hide then...
Rolled 4, using Invisibility for a +6 :)


Swift peered up at the storm clouds overhead as she descended.
Pausing to return the Mirrored Shield to her back, she then drew the obsidian stone from her backpack and tucked it under her arm.
Dropping down lower, she felt the cold aura of the rain envelop her.

Focusing on her advanced camouflage skills, she tried to add a slight 'roughness' to her form, as if her skin was considerably paler than would be considered healthy, and her eyes were much darker than normal.
She fixed a sense of "detachment" from her body in her mind, as if believing her physical form was a mere favoured disguise that could be shrugged off at will.

One hand slipped into her pocket and closed around the green marble Silver Raven had given her as the Kraan landed.
With one more quick glance up at the clouds, she raised her other hand as if signalling in Sun Snake's direction...


OOC: Assuming I at least managed to reach the ground.  If I actually get attacked in mid-air, let me know and I'll edit the landing out.

The rain intensified slightly around Swift Fox, and when she took her first step forward in the direction of Sun Snake and the others, she felt it immediately redouble in power - clearly, the power of the rain would grow stronger and stronger as she got closer to the High Priest, and considering the literal waterfalls he was pouring on the Cener woman, it was clear the man could eventually make the rain powerful enough to flatten her to the ground if she got too close without his authorization.

Meanwhile, the High Priest snapped his finger to catch Hurlon's attention, and pointed out to him Swift Fox's presence with a gesture of his head, making the bishop blink for a moment before he turned to Sun Snake.

"Uh. It seems, fell creature, that there's another of your kin here. Is it one more of those spies and traitors you spoke of?"

And as he said that, his hands hovered meaningfully next to the handles of the four short swords at his belt, clearly only waiting for the supposed Helghast's confirmation to strike.

Oooh, the High Priest is scarily powerful. Sure you wanted to join in the scariness here Swift?

I thought Sun Snake could sense the whole lot, just wanted to double check before I made assumptions.

The question about Fall Lobster was more a case of 'where is he, did Swift Fox take him with her or is he with Dusk Rat?'



Sun Snake had looked away as Swift Fox came close in the air, pretended to sense something, then spot movement in the corner of his eye in thr sky, then bring his focus to the distance as Swift Fox landed.

The swift reaction of the High Priest surprised him, and of course made him concerned for Swift Fox's wellbeing. Bishop Hurlon's quick actions were also off putting.

"Give the High Priest my apologies, his reactions are quicker than mine," said Sun Snake, for once giving no tone of condescension in his voice, merely plain respect. "It is indeed one of the faithful I summoned. Though whether it comes to us with the abomination or not, I cannot tell. The shadow of the Kraan in the air it rode in upon is a positive sign."

Sun Snake gave a curt nod to Swift Fox and barely paid her attention, holding up a hand dismissively to pause her motioned. He looked to the High Priest rather than Hurlon for confirmation his fellow Kai could continue forwards.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:42, Mon 03 Feb 2014.

At Sun Snake's wave, Swift slowly released her grip on the green marble in her pocket and turned back to the Kraan, heaving Fall Lobster's bound form off the back of the creature.

Moving slowly, she began to approach Sun Snake's location, dragging Lobster behind her, glancing back at him every so often to check he was still out of it.

When she was close enough she called out to Sun Snake, giving her voice a rather curt monotonous quality, devoid of her usual Anskaven accent.
"I caught the abomination" she said.  "The one who fired the arrow evaded me, but another of our kin is on her trail."

She paused in place and peered at the High Priest and then the bishop, cocking her head to one side in an affectation of some feral curiosity and studying the bishop for a moment before looking back at Sun Snake and holding up the obsidian crystal.
"The abomination carried this.  To communicate with his masters I believe..."


OOC: I knew that thing would come in handy if I held onto it long enough :)
Now I just need to find a use for that pile of keys I'm carrying around...

Also don't worry about the scary.  There's only one creature in Magnamund that Swift truly fears.  And it ain't the High Priest! ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 00:19, Tue 04 Feb 2014.

Ferret noted Water Hornet's nod, quickly looked about to check that the group were concealed from all enemies, then dropped the illusion. His shoulders slumped. He couldn't help but take a few moments to recover from the exertions of magic use. But he knew that he had more to do, so was soon kneeling by the edge of the lake reaching a hand out to touch the water. As his fingers broke the surface he closed his eyes.

Around Ferret's fingertips the water stopped moving. The effect rapidly spread several feet out from his hand and it became more difficult to see into the lake as a slab of ice several inches thick formed.

"Get into the water." Ferret motioned sharply with his free hand. "Stick a dagger or something into the ice and hold on."

OOC: The piece of ice isn't big enough for us to ride, but if everyone gets around it in the water and can hold on - preferably with something sharp - then FF can push it quickly across.

Sun Snake took the obsidian crystal from Swift Fox, looking to it and Fall Lobster more than the woman. His face held an unpleasant smile and he looked to the fallen Kai.

"Is the abomination awake? Did it see you?"

Sun Snake's eyes flicked imperceptibly hopefully to anyone who did not share a knack for Invisibility to communicate that Lobster seeing her would be a good thing.

"It saw me.  Though it believed I was the one whose form I took.  It chose to try to flee rather than fight, but it didn't get far.  I imagine it will wake up sooner or later."

She chuckled morbidly at that, although it seemed rather artificial as if it was merely a rather poor imitation of an emotion, making it a little creepy to watch.

Her gaze shifted to the battle raging across the cavern with a rather disinterested look...
This message was last edited by the player at 01:33, Tue 04 Feb 2014.

"Then take this" Fox said offering Hornet the Drakkar dagger. "I will need it back though to prove my loyalty to then still" he winked before looking at Ferret

"You did this on purpose" he pouted. "Ferrets like water while none of us do" he smirked getting ready to use the raft

"Thank you," said Hornet gratefully, although he wasn't able to completely hide the hesitation when accepting a Drakkarim weapon, "when you need it back, just say."

Water Hornet spent a moment looking at the acquired weapon and then attached the dagger to his belt.

"Not quite true," interjected Hornet and now it was his turn to wink at Sabre Fox, "and under this circumstances I guess you will prefer getting wet to meeting Vashnites' High Priest, as well."

Is there anything special about the Drakkarim dagger? Even if it was just an uncommon design.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:47, Tue 04 Feb 2014.

"I wasn't aware that Hornets liked water. Then again your name is a contradiction" fox winked

No properties. Just a regular dagget

"Good," said Sun Snake with an unpleasant sneer to Swift Fox when she mentioned she had been seen. "Then you are as trapped as I am. The creature is insane to the brink of paranoia. Unless it is a practised form, do not change yourself if you plan on being seen by the creature again in that form again. He still thinks this dead shell is masterminding a plan against itself."

Sun Snake moved to Fall Lobster. "Being its prisoner did not work. Lets see if it becomes more defiant and lucid when it is back where it belongs - on the losing end of things."

Sun Snake jostled its leg, making the kick seem for more unpleasant than it was.

The High Priest made a vague beckoning gesture with his elbow before returning his focus on the battle, at which Hurlon said, speaking to Swift Fox in a warmer tone than he had to Sun Snake, although still far from friendly:

"I will take that thing, fell creature - I am better placed to take care of it, and perhaps that way you can contribute to the fight, something your kin seems to have decided against doing."

And he made a demanding gesture with his hand, apparently refusing to even lower a glance toward Lobster.

Meanwhile, near the lake, Sun Fox laughed loudly at the interplay between Water Hornet and Sabre Fox, moving some the hair that the rain had plastered onto her face away from her eyes before commenting, her tone quite amused:

"Yeah, it would be horrible to get wet at this time, wouldn't it?"

She shook her head again, then plunged into the lake after Frost Ferret, with Silver Raven following immediately after her.

You two coming Sabre and Hornet? :)

This message was last edited by the player at 20:23, Tue 04 Feb 2014.

I think I already had Sun Snake take the crystal when Swift Fox first came over.

Oh! I missed that. Doesn't change anything about the post, really, but thanks for making me notice - there was a lot of posts between my previous one and this one, and while I'm overjoyed about that, it does means I can occasionally miss some details. :)

Meanwhile I remain, your eyes in the sky, hiding at the back as usual and appearing to be doing very little ;).

"Well your a fine one to talk!" Fox retorted to Sun Fox "your the crankiest out if everyone when your wet!" He said before heading after her

Water Hornet watched his fellow Kai and despite the serious situation they were in, he couldn't help himself not to have a wide smile on his face. In his thoughts he drifted back to the last couple of months when he had stalked the Cener group - he had never felt any big discomfort at being alone, but presence of his battle brothers and sisters did feel refreshing.

He quickly glanced around and followed the others into the water.

Swift turned her head to peer at the bishop, cocking her head to one side and staring unblinkingly at him again.
The gesture appeared something like an extremely spooky version of a child's curious stare at something she found intriguing on an unknown level.
Her gaze travelled up and down his body then she looked back at the battlefield.

"You appear to be doing well without help" she finally said.  "That said though, I can think of one way we could aid you."

She narrowed her eyes, peering through the rain as if counting the numbers of troops there.
"The abomination had another agent assisting them.  One whose physical shell was less... tampered with, than this thing."
She peered down at Lobster, momentarily wrinkling her nose in an expression of contempt.
"That one arrived from the Port City of Argazad flying on a Zlanbeast which, from overheard chatter and rumour among your troops, I believe they abandoned in the cavern where your Kraan were housed, attacking one of the guards in the process."
She looked up at Madayl.
"That was the one who fired the arrow at you during the initial attack.  And it was due to my intervention that it didn't get to fire a second or third shot before fleeing the area.  Since my attention was on this one, another of our kin left in pursuit.  However..."

She examined the Cenerese troops again.
"I cannot help but wonder if the timing of this attack is coincidence.  Clearly this creature was meant to assist in some way from the inside.  Is it possible that the Nadziranim have manipulated these Cenerese fools into a suicidal attack that destroys or at least weakens your defences, thus serving their purpose?"

A humourless grin crossed her face, an expression that would look more at home on the face of some nightmarish predatory creature as she raised her gaze towards the tunnel entrances beyond the battlefield.
"They're likely to be out there now, watching and waiting for the right moment to strike" she said, lowering her voice to a cold whisper that spoke of one anticipating the coming carnage.
"We may be in a position to strike first however..."


OOC: I could have fun with this... :)
This message was last edited by the player at 10:47, Wed 05 Feb 2014.

Hurlon shook his head at Swift Fox's words and said, his tone annoyed:

"This is not a suicide attack. The Ceners are already trying to retreat, and it's easy to tell that the armoured soldiers are just working on defense - they're static and using their magic to cover the leaders from the attack, whereas, if they were to want and strike, they'd not shoot while standing still, they'd march forward as they do, making their charge almost unstoppable. And that holds true for the Ceners as well - Smokey is only attacking on the flanks rather than using his powers to break our ranks, the woman limited her offensive by only using small animals but now that she's forced in defence she's using giants, and the leader is holding back most of them all."

The former mercenary pointed at the tall, red robed man and expained, his tone disdainful:

"Look at how the insects keeps buzzing around him and only darting forward minimally; they're holding a defensive perimeter, as if unable to go further than him by more than five feet or so. Yet, when he unleashed them at the beginning, he struck in the heart of our faithful, more than thirty feet in front of him, and each one of those hit by even just one insect was dead in short order, whereas now he's only killing those who move closer to him, and only killing those who show the more determination to reach his person. It's not a suicide charge at all, they're merely biding their time, although what for, I couldn't say."

He then glared at both Swift Fox and Sun Snake as he added, sounding very annoyed now:

"That's why I want you to enter the fray - that kind of defensive fighting wouldn't stop you fell creatures, and if we can break through their defenses, overwhelming them will become a lot easier. I'd do it myself, but that would mean leaving the High Priest without my protection, which I'm not going to do."

Meanwhile, the raft of ice started to move across the lake, carried by the Magnakai's power to manipulate winds...

I need somebody with Nexus to beat a DC 4 check to keep the raft from losing balance due to the power of the Nexus push that is acting as your motor, unless you want to paddle your way to the island.

Checking something before posting.

Sorry Swift, I have some sneaky info from a reliable source!

Sun Snake suddenly laughed a rumbling laugh, devoid of any real mirth. "I've been looking for Nadziran interference without thinking of the Cener as having deceitful plans of their own. This form is truly limiting me." Sun Snake looked to Hurlon. "You need our eyes and minds, bishop, not our force of arms. There is a reason we were chosen to be the captains of the Darklands forces. But you are right, this is no suicidal charge followed by clarity and retreat. Yet what is the purpose? If they were looking to pull us to an unwise attack, they would provoke us more than the initial flashy assault. If they were awaiting a signal to attack, they would be looking for a signal and co-ordinating better. As you say, they are simply hunkered down. They are playing for time, but not for a purpose connected to this battle. Thus, they are just a distraction."

Sun Snake looked to Swift Fox. "If we were leading our own troops against a Ceenere fortress that held the Deathstaff, think what we would do. We would get our troops to attack as a distraction, whilst we shifted form to infiltrate some lowly outer area in the initial confusion. And we would make sure that small group was not attacked, for fear a stray shot give away our immortality or disband our cover."

Sun Snake pointed to an area that was not currently under assault with some dark glee. "Odd that such a shifting chaos of their initial attack did not manage to reach that area there. And strange they have now turtled themselves conspicuously out of range of it." Sun Snake shook his head and growled. "I was looking for that which stood out. I should have been watching for that which was to be overlooked."

Sun Snake looked to Madayl. "And so, with such chaos, and with so many dead, it is easy for a face that none around really know to be assumed to be one of the faithful. You see why I large numbers of lesser beings trouble me. It is too easy for a traitor to slip in."

Sun Snake against spoke generally. "It would not surprise me if they relented soon, and then made a second similar assault once their infiltrator had secured the Deathstaff."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:21, Wed 05 Feb 2014.

Hurlon raised an eyebrow at Sun Snake's words and commented, clearly surprised:

"You understand warfare? I thought you fell creatures to be murderers, not generals of armies."

After a moment, though, his eyes narrowed, as he looked at the battlefield following Sun Snake's suggestion, and then said, sounding hard:

"Perhaps you're right - I can see the area they're refusing to attack, now that you pointed it out... but we can't be sure which one of those is a traitor, and the rest are faithful who are bravely fighting the attackers, and I would not have them all killed just because one of them might be a traitor. I'd rather discover the traitor, take them alive, and question them properly."

He looked at the High Priest, as if expecting for a command, but the man seemed completely focused on intensifying the rain - and, all of a sudden, a real multitude of thunderbolts started to strike violently at the Cener's woman defense, forcing her to summon even more fire to keep herself alive, and completely closing the woman out of the battle. It was clear the High Priest was eventually going to wear down the woman - he was clearly winning now, at least - but just as clearly, the battle was taking enough of his focus that he was not able to comment on sun Snake's and Hurlon's discussion.

Hmm...

Swift let out a short, rather feral sounding hiss as she looked towards the area Sun Snake indicated.
"Of course.  My apologies" she remarked, sounding more irritated than apologetic.  "I have been too distracted chasing these puppets to get a full view of the situation."
She peered down at Lobster's unconscious form, muttering something at him in the Giak tongue that probably wasn't very complimentary.

Returning her attention to the battlefield, she eyed the Cener woman, watching as she was beaten back by the lightning.
Her gaze flickered briefly towards Sun Snake, as if waiting for a command or action from him...


OOC: Hmmm, well I'm now assuming Sun Snake has a "cunning plan" (said in the style of Baldrick of "Blackadder" infamy!) :)

Hmm, wonder what will happen when that woman's defenses get battered to nothing. Maybe pointing her out wasn't a good idea. If she does die, there might be unexpected consequences. And if the High Priest is looking to get through her defenses for other reasons, he might be able to pick her brains and get some flashes on who we really are.

If he doesn't know already, of course!

And cunning plan? I'm sort of hoping for Dusk Rat to do something spectacular! Well, either that or us to seem so powerful and impressive that the High Priest completely forgets to scan us while we are low on WP and spot we are Kai.

If he does spot we are Kai, well, then the fun really kicks in.


"What is warfare if not the ultimate way to murder all your foes in one simple series of actions? Infiltration is only a tool for preparation. It is no substitute for battle. Single combat and assassination are pleasurable only, not efficient. "

However, Sun Snake's sneering face showed a spasm of disgust at the man's compassion for his men. "Faithful? If they have true faith they would gladly kill themselves to reveal the traitor and ensure our master's ascent. Is your faith really so faltering that you would put their lives above the High Priest's and Vashna's?"

Sun Snake gestured dismissively. "Go lead them if you wish them to have a chance. Order them to attack, and see which one falters, or is avoided by the Cener's counter attack. My kin and I can protect the High Priest from a physical attack, and Madayl can touch those beyond the reach of our hands. If they are truly faithful you will find the traitor easily."


Sun Snake seemed to deliberately avoid Swift Fox's gaze, but it did not seem to be anything to do with the Helghast guise.

Rolled a 3 for Nexus. If we can get that to 4 with assistance from Sun Fox? Then again if Fox helps direct it with his swimming seen as he is in top athletic shape with Huntmastery and all

If I understand it correctly, you need at least one of us (with Nexus) to beat that DC 4? Or once Sabre made the roll, that is the result that counts? Anyway, I will roll, too, we can drop my result if it can't be used.

Water Hornet used the newly acquired dagger to help him hold to the ice. The water looked still from the shore but it was not easy to make their makeshift vessel move straightly towards the temple. It bobbed and tended to turn around its axis; with his gaze fixed on their intended destination, Hornet willed it to move forward.

Rolled a 7.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:45, Thu 06 Feb 2014.

You understand it right, Hornet. You pass. :)

It wasn't a long process to cross the lake in their ice raft - the hardest part of it, in fact, was avoiding the many islets in the way, which required careful guidance, but Sun Fox took in charge that aspect of the navigation, while Hornet's efforts were enough to stabilyze their raft so it didn't send them all into the water.

Once the ice stopped near the central island, the group quickly took land in front of the majestic structure of the temple... and then, the very moment each of their feet touched the ground, their Sixth Sense howled in warning in their head, for the very ground they were walking was dripping with dark magic, enough of it that the whole island was like a cursed snctuary for the powers of Naar.
Meanwhile, Hurlon narrowed his eyes with suspicion at Sun Snake as he said, his tone harsh:

"I already told you I'm not going to leave the High Priest's side, fell creature. Why are you so eager to push me away from him?"

Before any response could be given, though, there was a sudden explosion of blue fire in the middle of the battle, and then the cener woman was flying through the air, although not under her own power - it was a result of the explosion she'd caused, and her spear was now held broken in her harms.

Even so, she gestured at the walls and long spikes erupted from them, some of them draining the High Priest's next lighting strike while others slowed down and then stopped her escape, allowing ther to run into one of the tunnels; the High Priest's next attack was headed for the opening, but she suddenly touched the ceiling and it collapsed behind her, covering the hole and saving the woman from the attack.

A moment later, the insects from the Cener Druid still on the field exploded outwards, suddenly ravaging all of the Acolytes but the fartest ones from him - among which, Sun Snake noticed, was the group that had attracted his attention - and then, with that cover and the only one surviving soldier of his group at his side, firing his disintegration rays to keep pursuit away, the man quickly reached the closest tunnel and disappeared through it.

If you have reactions, this is the moment to offer them. :)

Swift glanced towards Hurlon as he spoke but almost immediately her attention was drawn back to the battle by the explosion.
She watched as the Cener troops began to fall back, occasionally glancing at Sun Snake while flexing her fingers, as if eager to pursue and kill the retreating forces.

Then she looked back towards the area Sun Snake had pointed out before and back to him.
"If they have something planned, it must happen soon.  What do you think?" she hissed in a low voice.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:26, Thu 06 Feb 2014.

At Hurlon's earlier words, a distracted Sun Snake then put his full focus on the bishop, his eyes locking on to Hurlon with equal suspicion. "I only pressed you on your own words. The High Priest's security and Vashna's rise are your only concerns." Sun Snake's eyes started roaming around Hurlon's face and quickly shot down to his body, as if reassessing the man as being anything other than he was. Sun Snake  seemed to stop the assessment with reluctance, and then was distracted from further comment by the sudden end of the combat.

"Indeed. We need to stop that section of acolytes - the ones coincidentally spared from the red robed mage's wrath - from reforming with others. Ride that Kraan over there and make sure they stay separated. Tell them the bishop wishes them back here immediately to form a line to defend the temple against tricks while the rest recover. Anything."


Can Sun Snake detect anything odd from anyone over there?

"Am I the only one feeling a sense of endless dread?" Fox asked casually "best foot forward I suppose.......... Hornet goes first"

Do I need to subtract any WP for Nexus use?

"We all sense it, I think..." said Water Hornet, sharing none of Sabre Fox's light mood. But there was also something else the Magnakai sensed. "The young Cener is still with the Acolytes," he glanced to the chaos taking place on the other side of the lake, "I just hope the Deathstaff is here in the temple."

Without further words he took point of the group as ordered by Sabre Fox (he was himself surprised how natural it felt taking orders from his fellow Magnakai). The warning his Sixth Sense was screaming to him wasn't that much disturbing - he had expected the place to be the concentration of evil. It was the fact that he would not be able to sense the incoming immediate threat that really made him nervous. With Drakkarim dagger he cautiously started walking towards the temple.

Is High Priest still by the boat (if we can see him)? I just think it might be a good idea to pull the boat towards the central island in case we will be leaving the temple in a haste. ;-)

Swift turned to peer up at Sun Snake, giving him a momentary frown hidden from the view of Hurlon and the High Priest.
Then nodded.
"I'll leave the abomination under your guard for now then.  Be wary, he is capable of undoing his bonds through psychic manipulation, and will take any chance he can get to flee the area."

With that, she turned and began to run back towards the Kraan...


OOC: Okies, will play along and fly out there unless the bishop or High Priest stops her...

The High Priest is still near the boat, yes.

It seems like Frost Ferret doesn't want to post anything, or hasn't had the time, so we'll move forward now.

As they reached the island, Sun Fox eyes the big temple in front of them with a critical gaze before saying, in a serious tone:

"Well, it seems like this is pretty straightforard - the temple has a door on each side, and I guess the one here is the best one to enter it from. Shall we go?"

Before she could, though, Silver Raven put an hand on her shoulder to stop her and said, his voice a terrified whisper:

"Be careful... this temple is drenched... maybe even built out of... the darkest of magic. Argazad was less noxious than this place is... we might be making a big mistake here."

On the opposite side of the lake, the High Priest had eventually lowered his hands, and turned now toward Sun Snake, apparently ignoring Swift Fox's deaprture completely, before finally speaking. Without the powers from before amplifyingn and making it echoe everywhere, the voice sounded old, but not weak - it carried a great deal of authority and, in fact, the end result was something that sounded grandfatherly and carrying great wisdom.

"I would take pleasure from knowing your name, newcomer, if you are willing to disclose it to me."

Sun Snake turned to the High Priest, internally caught off guard by the man's reasoned tone, and also knowing exactly how dangerous it was. While sending Swift Fox to intercept the Cener infiltrator and rival to their own plans had been tactical, perhaps a part of him had simply wanted her away form any consequences of his folly.

OUtwardly, he seemed reserved, and the occasional sneer and disrespect he had directed at the other bishops was gone. "My name is unimportant. There are only two I would bow to in this world. One does not yet walk it again, and the other is his right hand."

Sun Snake then took a knee before the High Priest in deference, though still looking up to the man inscrutably.

Swift reached the Kraan and clambered up onto its back.
Glancing back towards Sun Snake for a moment, she muttered something under her breath in a rather angry tone, then directed the creature into the air and began to fly towards the group of Acolytes that had been indicated...


OOC: Cener infiltrator?!  In that group I'm flying towards? (O.o)  I think I'm unaware of the part I'm playing in this "plan", lol.

Well it could be a Darklands double agent, but it sounds like the Cener wanted to sneak in their own super-sneak in to the temple. That's our job! I didn't just get one sneaky infiltrator killed just to have another sneak in!

I think it's the guy Water Hornet mentioned to the others?

Also, powerful Cener and all you'll have is meatshield and a Kraan...so you might not be out of harm's way if you annoy the guy!

So, Swift Fox, what are exactly you going to do? The Acolytes haven't even raised their eyes when the kraan got closer to their position - they're used to seeing the beasts fly overhead, after all.

The High Priest lowered his masked face toward Sun Snake, taking him in with what was likely a long look before saying, in the same wise tone:

"We are working on that goal, as you know, and I daresay we are closest than ever to it now. I know you have much to tell me, but that can wait for now."

That said, the High Priest turned toward the Acolytes, raising his hands and then saying, his voice once again echoing through the chambers:

"Faithful, as you have seen, the power of Vashna runs great into our bodies, and granted us victory against the disbelievers! Kneel, that I may bless you all with His approval!"

At those words, all the Acolytes went to their knees, with Madayl and Hurlon doing the same while the High Priest started to speak uncomprehensible words in a strange language - the very same one Sun Snake had used earlier when speaking to Madayl.

"Be strong, faithful of the Dreaded Darklord, and unwavering in your belief, for every soul who does not yeld to doubts and fear is one who will be praised, and become a soldier in the great army that will raise the Day of Rebirth; for each soldier in that army will bring destruction to one of the oppressors. Gather you8r strenght, and hold it tight, and might your revenge be carried to fruition!"

Ferret noted his mentor's comment to the senior kai. He wondered what Silver Raven had felt in Argazad that compared to the temple. But he had survived that, and their current objective was crucially important if the others knew what they were about.

OOC: Hmm, well I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here, been kind of winging it so far, and now I'm completely lost, lol...
Is my Sixth Sense picking up anything from any of the Acolytes, specifically a feeling that one of them isn't really an Acolyte? :)

Sun Snake gave a small nod to the High Priest but otherwise said nothing, not daring to risk drawing more attention than necessary to himself just yet. He stayed on his knee, while looking around.

The motivation the High Priest used was, in a way, the same as the Nadziran had inflicted upon Fall Lobster. Sun Snake felt a chill, but it was a cold anger and not fear.

Edit: Likewise Swift Fox! I'm just doing a mixture of drawing focus from the other group and securing a means of getting inside the temple for a chance at the DEathstaff. The other Helghast distraction lasted about one second and happened outside of the temple, so its death was a mixed blessing :) We need a new distraction, and Fall Lobster/Cener spies seem to be it. Though the added wrinkle is Sun Snake is still hoping to save Fall Lobster somehow...
This message was last edited by the player at 22:18, Sun 09 Feb 2014.

OOC: Hmm, I don't think I've got any real way of ordering these guys around, since they'll probably just shoot me out of the sky the moment they see I'm wearing a Kai Cloak...


Swift flew higher above the Acolytes, circling around and peering down at the figures below.
Her limited senses couldn't pinpoint which, if any, of them was a spy.  Either Sun Snake had overestimated her abilities, or this was just a wild goose chase to get her out of the way.  She shot a nasty glare back in Sun Snake's direction at that second thought...

Looking back at the Acolytes, she decided to wait and see if one of them left his position suddenly or did anything else unusual...


OOC: Okies, just going to keep an eye on them for now, for lack of anything else to do...

What's the point in killing people if you aren't going to steal their stuff! :p

Sure. Madayl might have spotted the robes of his friends, but, you know...


You've got Invisibility, you can just hug the Kraan and yell arrogantly at the acolytes with the full power of Kai Arrogance :D

"What else do you suggest then?" fox replied to Raven. "The Deathstaff is in there and we need to get it while thier main force is busy, and even if it weren't Rain and Blade are in there. We can't leave them. If we enter we leave with all of them"

OOC: Ahh, so Sun Snake's plan is to have me use up the last of my WP and attack me when I'm helpless?
I'm onto you! ;)  hehe.


Swift began to circle lower, glancing up at the storm clouds overhead.  The High Priest hadn't dispelled them, although he seemed to be allowing them to fade away by themselves.

Focusing her mind again on the subtle changes that had made her appear as a Helghast, she sat up straighter on the Kraan, also concentrating on diverting the attention of the Acolytes from her Kai Cloak.
Dropping lower and gliding across the open area, she called down to the figures below.

"Faithful of Vashna, you have done well.  The Bishop wishes you to regroup in front of the temple and guard against the return of our foes!"


OOC: Using Invisibility to try and make the Kai Cloak look like a not-Kai Cloak, or just make it go unnoticed :)

Sun Fox nodded determinedly to Sabre Fox's words and added her own contribution:

"Yeah, we're not going to let our friends in there, and taking the Deathstaff means saving the world from Vashna; there's no way we're not doing this."

And with that, she stalked forward with a determined step...

If all three of you, Frost, Hornet and Sabre, confirm that you're going to enter the temple, I'm going to need a luck roll from each of you. Even is good, odd is bad; roll well! ^_^

As for you, Swift Fox, roll against a DC 4 for Camouflage to pass yourself off as an Helghast to all these people; however, to actually fool the spy you'll need to roll a DC 12 - there's a very specific reason for that spike in difficulty and it's more than familiarity with the creatures, but I can't tell you without spoilers - I can tell you, however, that not fooling in is not going to have negative consequences for you, since, as long as the Acolytes believe your ruse, Sun Snake will likely find a way to spin the spy's reaction to keep you safe anyway. :)

"Rain? Blade?" asked Hornet surprised, although e=he was talking more to himself than to other, "how many Kai are here...?" But seeing Sun Fox walk forward he cast last look around and hurried after the female Kai as if it would be his personal shame if he lagged behind by only a single step.

Despite the haste, Hornet was fully aware of Silver Raven's warning and cleared his mind, focusing on the danger ahead. Whatever awaited them in the temple he had his psychic defences at the ready, and he held the Dakkarim dagger firmly in his sword-hand.

Luck roll: 4. Phew. :)

OOC: Ouch, rolled a 1.  Oh well, better to roll out all the 1s now and save the 9s for later :)
With the Invisibility boost that gives me 7.
I was hoping to make the spy reveal himself to me in some way, so this may be a good thing...

"I appreciate your warning Raven" fox said. "If you think we should enter with psychic defences or any other speak now before we do so"

Rolled 2 so good luck. And just awaiting a final mod of advice from Raven. The usage of low numbers being good luck here's may bring us high numbers soon when we need them!

Ferret nodded at Sabre Fox's words and looked to Silver Raven for a response.

OOC: Rolled 1. The worst of all luck to counteract the other two's good fortune! :)

At Swift Fox's words, the group of Acolytes looked up with surprise, but then aquiescence filled them, and they complied... although one of them moved just a fraction of a moment slower, and Swift Fox's Sixth Sense immediately singled him out. The man's reaction when she'd showed up had been much different from the others: at first, she'd felt from him a spike of astonished disbelief at her boldness, and then incredulous surprise when the rest of the group complied, apparently completely falling for her ruse, which was followed by an haste to follow along, and a very strong desire to remain unnoticed.
That was when the temple suddenly lighted up, a dazing purple light erupting from its marble walls and filling the cave with a deafening pulse.

The source for that, of course, had been the group of Kai trying to enter it; the moment Sun Fox had put her feet over the first step of the stairway leading iniside, the stone had cracked with a sudden outburst of purple energy which exploded outwards, slamming into the group like a wall of energy. Water Hornet was lucky because, being almost exactly behind Sun Fox, her body shielded him from the magic, and Sabre Fox's had dodged by throwing himself to the ground before he'd ever realized, his honed reflexes acting faster than his mind would, but the other three were hit straight up, and were now all glowing a soft purple energy.

And then, from all over the ground of the island, spectral wraiths started to raise, they glowing eyes glaring evilly at the group...

Sun Snake had been focusing on Swift Fox's actions, he man resisting the urge to react to them. However the noise made him turn around to the temple. He allowed his face to show only confusion instead of fear.

Water Hornet opened his mouth but was too shocked to even let out a shout. The next moment his eyes widened as wraiths started to emerge all around them.

"Sun Fox!" Horner grabbed the Kai Lady in front of him by the shoulder, but then he realized another threat: despite the chaos in the cave, the flash of energy was sure to draw attention of present Acolytes.

"Into the temple, hurry!" he shouted and pushed Sun Fox, himself breaking into the run. His mind already started analyzing the purple glow coming from the Magnakai - he feared this acted as a beacon for the ghosts.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 07:17, Thu 13 Feb 2014.

OOC: I can't post. It's telling me I'm using a low ASCII character again and I've taken out all symbols, smileys and stuff like that.

"Water Hornet, Sabre Fox," Ferret said, "the defences aren't alerted to you. You should go in while we cover you." Ferret glanced at the temple entrance. "Try not to set off any other beacons."

Fox instantly drew his weapons at the sight of the ghosts, but he was drawn to Ferrets words

"You sure you can handle all of them?" He asked quickly

Water Hornet stopped in his tracks at Frost Ferret's words - it seemed the young Kai reached the similar conclusion as Hornet regarding the glow that emanated from those hit by the energy pulse. "But...even if you manage to somehow fend off the ghosts, every Acolyte of Vashna in the cave will be after you," Hornet tried to protest, gesturing towards the other side of the lake, "we can't just leave you here."

The Magnakai looked at Sabre Fox and then Sun Fox. Hornet wondered how many such serious situations the group had faced before coming here? How many difficult decisions they had made?

"Come on, in the temple we will face the ghosts together," Hornet made another weak plea, but he knew it was up to the three Magnakai to decide. One thing gave him a small comfort, though: at least it seemed the energy flash had no serious harming effect.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:14, Sat 15 Feb 2014.

Sun Fox glanced to Frost Ferret even as she drew the scimitar at her side and said, sounding worried:

"I would like to come along with you, Hornet, but if what you and Frost said is right, then we'll be calling any traps ahead over the heads of the entire group - we might be able to escape from these ghosts and the Acolytes somehow, so long as we're here in open ground, but once we're inside, what'll happen if one of the magic traps stops us from leaving?"

She glanced to the others, noticing the grimace on Silver Raven's face as the man drew his sword and moved closer to Frost Ferret to ready himself for the upcoming fight, and then called to the two of them, asking:

"What do you think? Should we stay or should we go?"

That's for you, Frost; once you confirm you actually want to escape (or change your mind and decide to follow the group inside), I will have the battle with the wraiths start, and everybody will have to either give me escaping rolls or fighting rolls.

This is basically your last chance to change you mind, Frost - let me know! ^_^

"Sun Fox....." Sabre trailed off his face a mask of pain. "I swear to Kai if you did here I'll come and beat you myself!"

He then grabbed Hornet knowing what needed to be done

"Hornet..... We cannot let thier feelings be in vain...... We have to complete our mission. It's up to is two now!"

"We mustn't stay with them while we attract the temple's defences." Ferret glanced around, hoping to see the two unmarked kai heading into the building. "But we should stay on this side, away from the acolytes' priest as long as possible."

Ferret readied his gauntlet and the axe that had been gifted him.

Knuckles on Water Hornet's hand, that he held the dagger in, went white as the Magnakai tensed, but he didn't hesitate.

"Hold on and may Kai give you strength - we will come back to you," Hornet said before nodding to Sabre Fox and rushing into the temple.

The moment Sabre Fox and Water Hornet ran toward the Temple, the wraiths launched themselves at the other three; almost immediately, though, a sudden discharge of blue fire wrapped in lighting exploded outwards, mowing down the wraits as it moved in the arc of a powerful swing. Sun Fox let out a deep breath as she lowered the weapon Lone Wolf had gifted her, before shouting, loudly and brashly:

"Come on you bastards, try and get me if you can!"

As if spurred onward by that challenge, four of the seven surviving wraiths flew toward Sun Fox, while two headed for Silver Raven and the last one moved toward Frost Ferret, its long, see-through green fingers clawed as if to grab the Magnakai...

Sabre Fox, Water Hornet, you both should give me an Hunting roll, DC 6, to avoid stepping on the area that triggered the beacon early - now that you've seen where it is, you can avoid it, but it requires a little bit of effort.

Frost, you're in combat.

Sacrifical Wraith: END 42, CS 17

Give me five roll, be aware that Mindblast is not going to hurt these ghosts, remember you have two turns where you can make any special manouver, and good luck! :)

Water Hornet risked a look back over his shoulder. He was relieved to see that the blast - whatever was its source - seemed to actually help the three Kai battling the wraiths.

The next moment he was at the temple's entrance and let his instincts guide his steps, trying to avoid the temple's defences.

Rolled a 9. Yay!
This message was last edited by the player at 08:38, Mon 17 Feb 2014.

OOC: Not got time to do decent post now, but I'll give you the rolls for if you want to move things along. But if you're not worried, I'll try and post later on and maybe think of some tactics. Not sure what tactics will be of use with these amazing rolls though.... :)

Rolled: 4, 2, 4, 3, 5.

Fox sneered as they moved away from the others. He hated the fact he may have just left them to a fatal encounter but he knew it had to be done.

For the good of the mission.

That didn't mean he had to like it.

"We find and take that Deathstaff" he said aloud to Hornet defiantly of the situation

Re rolled to 5 Hunting. Making that 8 with Huntmastery bonus

I'll wait for your strategy, Frost.

Swift Fox, Dusk Rat: any reactions from you?

Um, not really...I'm still just kind of...watching...

Swift turned to look at the temple as the light flared up.  She didn't need to fake the look of surprise on her face at the sight.

As the wraiths appeared, she narrowed her eyes, her hand dropping almost by instinct to the hilt of the Jade Spike before she snatched it away again.
She looked towards Sun Snake's position and then back to the temple again.
If the others had triggered some sort of magical defence then they would be hard pressed to survive the attentions of the wraiths and every Acolyte in the area.

She remembered the spy below, but something drew her attention back to the temple.  She needed to get over there, but she had to deal with the current threat first...

For now, she hesitated, torn by indecision...


OOC: At the moment Swift doesn't seem to be reacting, but anything could change that :)

<quote Frost Ferret>

OOC: Mr GM, sir, best run through this first bit of combat without waiting. Very busy next several days, not had chance to look up anything creative FF could do.

Ok then. Frost, you're using the Kai-Axe, so you don't get the Weaponskill bonus (you're not wielding a Short Sword, as it happens). You also decided to use neither of the Axe's powers, and didn't said if you wanted to use Mindblast, either, so I'll have to assume you aren't.

that leaves you with a CS 0f 16, and thus a Combat Ratio of -1.

Rolls of 4,2,4,3,5 mean 23 END lost by the Wraith, and 20 END lost by you, which means you now only have 5 END total remaining.

Sacrifical Wraith: END 19/42, CS 17

Also, you rolled a 3 twice, so you're getting armour damage - from now on, it no longer gives you any extra END. Luckily that is accounted for in the damage you already taken, so your current END is still 5, but your maximum is now only 27.

Ready for the next bout? You're looking like you might well need some help...

During his first clash with the Wraith, Frost Ferret learned a lot about it. First of all, it wasn't completely incorporeal - it was solid enough that he could feel the recoil from his hit on his arm, and the still failing rain made it slick enough that his blow slid a bit more to the side.

He also discovered that the Wraith did not felt any pain, as it struck back at his face with a punch without hesitation, despite the axe cutting a part of its essence away. The last thing he discovered, as he felt the sting of the hit on his face eating at the flesh, was that the touch of the monster had the same power as a melting acid, and a particularly painful one at that.

As Frost Ferret reeled back from the hit, an hand on his face as he felt his face burning, the wraith barreled forward, its claws thrusting forward and piercing easily through Frost Ferret's leather armour, although it retread when the blind swing of the Magnakai took away one of its arms.

Taking advantage of the brief respite, Frost Ferret recoved his footing and darted forward, his axe cutting horizontally through the Wraith's body twice in quick succession, even as he dodged to the left - the side where the creature had lost one arm - thus avoiding any harm other than a pair of slashes from the ghost's claws on his side, just before unleashing a powerful downward chop that cut away half the Wraith's head... only to receive a brutal bite to the hand which was holding the weapon in return.

Even as he took a couple step back to recover his breath, Frost noticed that neither of the other two Magnakai there with him could give him any help; Silver Raven had frozen a portion of the falling rain into an ice cage to keep one Wraith trapped, and managed to dispatch the other just in time before the second broke free; Sun Fox, on the other hand, had only two opponents left and one was already missing several pieces, but she would clearly need another little bit to finish them all and come to Frost Ferret's rescue.

Until then, he knew, he would be completely on his own.

---

As the purple blast of energy filled the air, the High Priest had turned toward the temple, before commenting, his tone carrying something akin to wonder:

"Intruders are trying to profanate the Dreaded Darklord's Great Temple, it seems. Do their foolishness knows no bounds?"

He shook his head, almost sadly, then turned to Sun Snake and said, in a tone that was polite but carried the same amount of authority one would expect from a king:

"Creature, you shall come with me and Hurlon, to see if these are the same faithless you spoke of, or others. As for the rest..."

He turned to the group and, when he spoke this time, his voice was once again echoing through the cave.

"Bishops!"

At the call, Madayl straightened, while three more people walked forward from the group; they were a red-haired woman with a satisfied gait and a golden staff in her hand, an old man with a big mustache whom right hand wrapped in a red gauntlet, and a middle-aged man whom left lef was so deeply wounded and covered in blood that he was hobbling forward, using a black wooden staff studded with diamonds to substain himself.

The high priest's gaze moved across all of them, although the mask made it impossible to say what kind of attention he was giving them, at least until he spoke, and pride was clearly heard in his echoing voice.

"Most faithful of Acolytes, choosen for your faith and devotion. Adjaz, Emhris, Madayl, Ulven. I leave to you four the care of the flock; you are to stay here, organize the survivors, and prepare the wounded for the tribute ceremopny, while myself and Bishop Hurlon go to the island to sort out these transgressor. May your faith held you strong."

The four all bowed at the same time, in a manner that was clearly well practiced, and then the High Priest moved to the boat, motioning for Sun Snake to follow, with Hurlon waiting next to the shore.

---

The moment Sabre Fox and Water Hornet entered the temple, they found themselves in a small hallway; the interior of the temple was not in gold, but rater in yellow marble, and at the end of a small corridor the two found a single gate, wide and tall enough to let an ox cart pass through it... except that it was clearly closed, and no lock was forthcoming anywhere.

Note to everybody - Frost Ferret is battling on the southern side of the Temple, while the High Priest and the Acolytes are standing on the northern side, opposite to them, so you can't see anything of what's going on there.

Ouch Frosty, that looked like it hurt...

"Why do I feel like there's a trap here?" Fox said almost in a whisper to hornet. "You picking anything up?"

I'll use a general Sixth Sensr scan too

"It will be my pleasure," said Sun Snake hopefully, bowing to the High Priest.

He looked back to the bishops left behind. "One of my kin will come on a Kraan with acolytes looking to defend this place. It will indicate if a Cener spy is in their midst." He nodded to Madayl in passing farewell.

He then fell in step with the High Priest, masking his concern for the battle he could sense.

"I guess a trap will be set off if we don't follow the right procedure opening the door," responded Hornet scanning the gate, before coming closer, "but I do not sense any immediate danger."

He stopped within an arm's reach and moved from one side wall to the other, scanning the gate for any signs of a keyhole or an opening mechanism.

"If it's controlled by magic, we might have serious problem here," the Magnakai mumbled, moving back along the gate. He studied its design trying to recall if he had seen anything similar during his journeys across Magnamund.

Swift narrowed her eyes, her gaze suddenly darting in the general direction of the High Priest for a moment before looking back at the Temple.

"Stay alive..." she muttered under her breath.

With that she returned her attention to the grouping of acolytes below, beginning to descend towards where the bishops had assembled.
Her gaze continually roved over the acolytes below, as though watching over them all, but her full attention remained with the one she had identified as the Cener spy...


OOC: Going to land near the bishops for now...
Hope someone saves Frosty! :(
This message was last edited by the player at 12:42, Fri 21 Feb 2014.

Well, we will see, won't we? Maybe he'll save himself! ^_^

When Swift Fox landed, one of the bishops, the man with the red gauntlet, turned to look at her with distaste.

"You're the one he was referring to, aren't you? I saw you overlooking the battle - without helping. What do you want?"
Water and Sabre, as far as your Sixth Sense can tell you, the door is trapped against being forced, just like Hornet said, but without Pathsmanship, Craftmanship or Divination, none of you could say for sure what the mean to properly open it is.

Sabre Fox, you can also tell that whatever magic has been cast on this door is not Old Kingdom magic, but other than this, you're as much in the dark about how to enter the temple as Hornet is.

Isn't it amazing that I'm stumping two psychic uber-warriors with just a closed door? Must do it more often... ;P

Sun Snake, there's no need for you to worry about posting too slow - you'll be limited by the High Priest's speed anyway, so I'm sure I'll be able to accomodate your posting times without delaying things too much.

Lol, that's always funny - characters who are so powerful at something being stopped by something so mundane as a locked door. Of course, in this case, maybe not so funny as the characters in question seem about to be discovered by the High Priest and probably lightninged to death, but still ;).

OOC: Hey, who's a psychic uber-warrior? Hornet is neither much of a warrior nor he is such a great psychic...at least not offensively ;-D
Besides, it's not just a closed door...it's a magically-trapped closed door ^_^

After a moment of silently watching the door, Hornet turned to Sabre Fox as if he had an idea. "Maybe it's Acolytes' faith," Hornet frowned at the word, "that would open the door. Haven't you possibly picked up any trinket that might have sacral meaning to them...?" The question sounded rather skeptically. "Well, trying won't hurt, will it?" said the Magnakai to himself and raised his left arm, so his forearm was parallel to the door and just a few inches away from its surface.

As Hornet recalled his earlier encounter with one of the bishops and how she had literally dragged him into the battle against Cener Druids, he could almost feel her touch on his skin - the unpleasant tingling feeling returned. Hornet shielded his mind and forced himself to look at his own arm as if it was detached from his body. 'In the name of Vashna, open!' he whispered to the door but attempted for his tone to sound commanding.

Nothing happened.

Feeling like a fool, Hornet made one step back and, as if in apology, said: "Let's do it the Kai way then."

This time he outstretched his hands, palms facing the doors and used the power of his mind to mentally palpate the surface, as they had tried during their lessons of Mind over Matter discipline.

OOC: I assumed the simple: "Open, Sesame!" wouldn't work and went for plan B, but if I was wrong, ignore the last bit. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:13, Fri 21 Feb 2014.

Yep, open sesame doesn't work, or those are not the proper words to make it work at any rate. :)

This message was last edited by the GM at 22:48, Fri 21 Feb 2014.

Hey, anything's worth a try, right? ;)

Fox almost started to kink on the spot as he was having a spasm, then all of a sudden it turned into a cry of laughter despite the situation they were in. He quickly composed himself while smirking

"Why did you even think it would be that easy?" He said. "Let's try the old fashioned way"

Nexus to see if it opens, if not it may be an attack the door situation

His fellow's laughter made Hornet blush. "I just thought...that somtimes you don't have to come up with something overly clever."

The next moment he was completely serious again, though, and raised his hand to stop Sabre Fox. "Wait, while the...ehm, command...didn't work, I afterwards did try to investigate the door with my Kai powers." Water Hornet moved to the left wall and pointed at something: "There is a keyhole of some sort, see? Well, it's just a small recess, but it seems that if a magical key is pressed into it, the door will open. That's another thing: the door bolts are made of stone slabs connected to the machanical part of the lock and the magical part. Unfortunately, the mechanical locking mechanism is of unknown design to me and evades my comprehension. Unless you have experience with foreign lock-craftng, we seem to have serious problem here."

OOC: Sabre, I did scan the door with Nexus (which doesn't prevent you from trying it yourself, of course) and we either have to find a magical key or decipher the combinatorial lock - that would take a roll, but Hornet can't beat the DC with his set of disciplines.

Shadow, please correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I understood:
we need the magic key OR unlock the combinatorial lock (with a roll) - one would suffice.

Swift emitted a short rather inhuman and disturbing snickering sound at the bishop's words, clearly something meant to pass as amused laughter made by a creature which barely had any comprehension of the concept of amusement.

"You did not appear to need my help.  And we each have our own tasks to perform, do we not?"
She blinked slowly and glanced back over the Acolytes before returning her gaze to the bishop and staring unblinkingly at him.
Remembering Sun Snake's use of the Acolyte's secret language, she formed her reply to the bishop's question in that tongue.

"Our Master blessed me with the power to infiltrate, which gives me an edge when it comes to detecting one less effective at infiltration.  Are you aware that you have a Cenerese spy lurking amidst your faithful flock?"

Her gaze slid sideways momentarily towards the group of Acolytes where she had identified the spy...


OOC: Hoping this particular spy can't understand what I'm saying, hehe :)

You have it right, Hornet.

At Swift Fox'ws words, the red haired woman suddenly surged forward, her green eyes almost glowing from the sheer outrage within her gaze.

"Where is he? Who is the bastard who dares try and pretend they have a place among us, when they didn't earned it like the others faithful have?"

"Hmmm" fox mused pondering the lock and rubbing his chin "well we can try a combined effort to unlock it with our skills I suppose".

He then drew his Blue Steel Blade

"Otherwise we will have to be more aggressive. This bad boy can let me use Battle Magic effortlessly to hammer the door into submission. But is rather not until we have exhausted our options as it would make a lot of noise"

I mentioned about Nexus as you put in your post you used MoM to unlock it so I assumend you didn't have Nexus is all.

Anyway plans can try and unlock it jointly, or I can use Power Word to hammer it down, possibly even Fire Dominion to melt it

To unlock the door by manipulating the mechanism holding the door closed with Nexus, Sabre Fox, you need to beat a Tracking check with DC 13, which I don't think you have the bonuses to.

If you want to batter down the door, that'll be a fight - the door has 300 END and 20 CS, will inflict no damage when attacked, but an "instant kill" will only inflict it 20 damage, not destroy it.

Of course, if you can think of any way to open the door without resorting to a fight, you're free to... although I don't think that's possible at this time. Is not like you have a mean to cut through anything with a single strike, right? ;P

Stop teasing, as I know what your referring to, but I'm Just keeping costs down on WP ;). Does either melting the door with Fire Dominion or using Power Word/Strenghth to destroy it not have merits?

If not I could do with WP potions Hornet!

Power Word would be an attack, and count as fighting. As for Fire Dominion, you can get the fire there and you can control it, but to fan it hot enough to the point it would melt rock? That's going to take a lot of time. You can try, if you want, but it'll likely take more to do that than to just batter the door down, I feel. After all, you don't have the Sommerswerd's holy fire to speed things up this time around!

And I wasn't referring JUST to your "cut-though-everything" sword ability - you also had one of the disintegration staff from the White Tiger you slew. If you hadn't let it on the Skyrider, it would have come in handy right about now, wouldn't it? ^_^

Hornet looked at Sabre Fox wide-eyed: "You wield enough of it to destroy the door?" He quickly continued as he realized it might've sounded like he didn't believe him: "But you are right - that would take time and create noise." Suddenly, Water Hornet stopped and approached the door again. He was muttering to himself. "Noise...sound...air...pressure..."

OOC: Wow, if even GM says he doubts we have another option, then we probably really have to employ brute force.
I'll ask anyway, though: are Mustow fumes flammable? The idea: if the door is not airtight, we could use Nexus to blow the most of fumes into the space behind the door, then use it to ignite the fumes and burn out the oxygen on the other side. This would lower the pressure (on the other side of the door) - even if it doesn't make the door to implode, it could perhaps lower the door's END score...<
A crazy idea? :)

Regarding WP restoring potions - if I had any, Iwould've used them myself. :D Sorry, Sabre, out of anything WP restoring...well, except for Tortwich salt. Shadow, would we be allowed to eat a meal even if not instructed to do so?
This message was last edited by the player at 21:03, Sun 23 Feb 2014.

You can eat any meal you want whenever you want, yes - as long as you met the goal of two meals a day, it's not really important when you do it.

Also, I think I misrepresented my point - I said that you had no way to break the door other than by brute force - ie, that the magical way to break through Sabre Fox left himself unable to use. That does not mean you have no way to get past the door by cunning use of others abilities... although, that doesn't necessarily means that you have the necessary abilities yourselves, either - you'd have made it through easily if Swift Fox or Sun Snake where there to help.

As for your idea, that's an interesting one, but I think you're making a judgement error. Do you want to use Nexus to try and get a feeling for how big the room on the other side is? I'll ask you top pay 2 WP for a Nexus push if you feel like trying that, but I think that, just by saying this, I might have helped you gain perspective on what I meant.

OOC: What I was thinking of was to make the air pressure on the other side of the door to drop rapidly - thus weakening the door.  I thought that might be achieved by creating a fireball (and thus burning out all oxygen) on the other side - and for that we would need to get some flammable substance "through" the door (like under it).

Hmmm, by writing all the text above I perhaps start to understand what you meant now :) (I guess we would need a really BIG fireball). Will have to come up with something different, it seems (damn, left Grond back at the Monastery).

OOC: Is it raining? I thought we were in a cave....?

Does the wraith seem corporeal enough for FF to hit with his short sword and get the CS bonus? Or to use Nexus on? How much has FF noticed about SR's ice cage? Does it seem to be containing the wraith for some reason? Clearly the wraiths weren't corporeal when they were floating up out of the ground - have they undergone a general change or would FF suspect it's a momentary thing when they attack?

EDIT: Oh yeah, can anyone remind me where the list of herbs and potions is? I can't remember what the two potions I'm carrying are and whether they might help.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:13, Tue 25 Feb 2014.

It was raining because the High Priest made it rain - he was calling down the thunder, too, if you paid attention.

As for the wraiths, they're half-corporeal; they're solid enough that normal weapon can harm them, so you can use the shortsword if you want, and solid enough that Silver Raven's ice cage kept one trapped in for five rounds, but they're also incorporeal enoguh that they can float through more inert things, like the ground.

Notice that they dissolve what they strike, so the one silver Raven caged is now free and is attacking Silver Raven - and they feel no pain and don't tire out.

As for the potions, if you check the Herbmastery thread, it should have all the information you can possibly need. :)

OOC: Frost, the Herbmastery list is on the first page (when you are looking at the game menu, you see the second page - it's just like when you go into one of the threads, there's a page chooser on the bottom right of the page). The direct link is:
link to a message in this game
I had trouble finding it myself, so I'm expanding Shadow's answer (or maybe I'm just slow ^_^)

Water Hornet stared intently at the obstacle in front of them as if he could push it away just with the force of his will. Absentmindedly, he prouced a piece of dried meat from his backpack and, before consuming it, he spiced it with Tortwich that he also fished out of his pack. Suddenly he turned to Sabre Fox and asked apologetically: "You want some?"

OOC: Sabre, I have enough doses of Tortwich salt and I could also provide you with a meal (as it's necessary for TS to work), but if you also have a meal left, I'd rather not give away my spare one.

OOC: Cheers, Hornet - I'd been looking for something like that, but never would've seen it down there!

I've only been reading what's happening round our side, not on the other side where the priest is, so didn't know he'd made it rain. Still uncertain about the wraiths - would FF think they might be solid enough to be pushable with Nexus? Turns out I do have a potion that could be VERY useful, but I need to get the wraith away for a moment to drink it. When you say the ground is inert compared to the ice - when we use the Freeze spell, do we create magical ice?

EDIT: Ah, okay, found the rain in the first post. Sorry, that was ages ago and I'd forgotten.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:41, Tue 25 Feb 2014.

The ice of the freeze spell is not magical itself, but it is created with magic, and that's enough for the wraith to be forced into destroying it to escape, rather than simply phasing through it as he would a normal cage.

Fox took the meal from Hornet and raised an eyebrow

"What sort of mad scheme are you planning?" He asked

Does this meal do anything? And I had no meals :/

OOC: Tortwich salt - when consumed with a meal, restores 3 WP.
Two meals and two doses of TS erased from backpack.

Water Hornet shook his head. "I wondered if igniting a fireball in the space on the other side of the wall could help us damage the door's structure." He looked back along the way they came: "Maybe we should get Silver Raven...and others?"

OOC: To be honest, I'm somewhat at a loss what to do. I don't feel applying the brute force is the best way to go. And since a bad decision is still better than no decision at all, I'm leaning towards returning back outside, helping the others (*winks at Frost Ferret* ;) ) and then coming back in greater force. Of course, it gives High Priest time to get to us, but every plan has it risks, right? ^_^

EDIT: Shadow, two questions about the Tortwich Salt (TS):
1) With two doses of TS gone, does the pouch containing it still take up 4 Special Items' slots?
2) The description for TS says: "...gain 3 WP for the duration of the day." Does that mean that if we don't use these 3 WP during this day (I assume that means before we go to sleep), then we lose them (don't have them the next day)? Not that I expect to have some WP left before the next day comes, but just checking. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:54, Wed 26 Feb 2014.

For you questions, Hornet, the four places were one for each doses of salt, so if you used two, that freed two of your special items slots. As for the salt, indeed, that's the correct interpretetation - you lose the 3 WP at the end of the day if you haven't used them yet, but on the other hand, you get them even if your WP are full, so that should strike some sort of balance.

As for what you want to do, you and Sabre Fox need to agree on the same plan, and then tell it to me, so that we can see how hard it is to be put into being. However, I think that you giving Sabre Fox those extra 3 WP might well have given him the means to cut open a path for you to the inside of the temple... quite literally, as these things go. It's just a matter to see if he wants to go that route or not.

Swift glanced at the woman for a moment as if considering her question.
Then with a sudden movement, she turned and pointed her finger straight in the direction of the man she had identified as the Cener spy, emitting a savage inhuman hiss for added effect as she did.


OOC: Assuming the spy is actually still there of course, if he's not let me know and I'll edit this...

The bishop didn't lose even a second, acting immediately the very second Swift Fox pointed; she aimed her golden staff in the very same direction with a sudden motion, and several globes of glittering ice wrapped in starlight shoot forward from it.

Most of the Acolytes dodged, but the one Swift Fox had been pointing at did nothing of the sort, reacting quickly by grabbing the two men closest to him and pushing them into the globes' path, the attack frozing them solid but failing to reach their intended target.

The spy didn't lost even a moment before barreling into another group of Acolytes, sending many to the ground before one of the bigger ones moved to stop him; he struck suddenly, his jab apparently light as a feather as his finger hit the other's man jaw... which was apparently enough to make the man fall to the ground on his back, without being able to do the barest thing. The man that placed his hand over the neck of a child - a kid of seven - that was lyihng on the ground, and barked to the other Acolytes around him, his tone deadly:

"You move, he dies - and then I'll go after all other childs specifically. Is your faith strong enough to see all your children die today? Will your ridicolous cult even survive the loss of all your young?"

That seemed to be enough to at least make the Acolytes pause, and the spy took advantage of that to turn toward the bishops and said, his voice now a bit less cutting, and instead filled with arrogance:

"And as for you lot, I suggest you thread carefully - your attacks are powerful, but they tend to cause plenty collateral damage, the crude weapons of people with no appreciation for subtlety. You might take me down with enough of them, perhaps, but so many of your followers would die, that almost nobody would be left to worship Vashna anymore... is that something your so called Lord would appreciate, I wonder?"

Despite the challenging tone, now that he was more conversational, it was clear that this man was not very old - Swift Fox would have pegged him as being around her own age, and his quickness suggested the same.

Woah, there's kids there? Where did they come from? Or were they mentioned before and I missed it? I had no idea there were actual families present, I thought it was just an army of Acolyte dudes...

The Acolytes are families, yes. They're a cult, a bunch of exalted, emarginated, fanatic and persecuted people who were so desperate that, when a charismatic demagogue (the High Priest, in this instance) wove great promises of revenge and a future where they'd get to punish their oppressors with the power of a supernatural being at their side, they let themselves be swayed. Of course there are families among them - plenty so, in fact.

I didn't thought it was something I'd have to constantly remind you of - you have not faced any kid so far, after all, they were all huddled here in the main camp. Also, among the very first two Acolytes Sun Snake and his team interacted with were a woman and her teen daughter, so it seemed to me like I'd made that point already.

In any case, if it was unclear, now it should be cleared up, hopefully. If there's any other doubt you have, feel free to ask, everybody, and I'll answer! ^_^

Oh, I knew there was a city or something in the area, but didn't realise the Acolytes brought their kids to the battlefield (well, I hadn't even thought there would be kids or any kind of familial stuff going on even in the city/outpost/wherever they live, but even so, I still wouldn't expect mummy and daddy to bring their little babbies along to see the slaughter...then again, it's a cult of death and stuff, so maybe...). I thought this cave was just a big area with the lake containing a bunch of shrine thingys and the small island with the temple. And a load of dead bodies now, obviously ;). Also, when you say "Sun Snake and his team", do you mean "Sun Snake and his team before the rest of us reunited with them"? Because...yeah, that'll be why I missed that one. And someone described as a "teenager" could easily be eighteen or something - Dusk Rat is only sixteen, after all, and apparently considered an adult (what with going on life-threatening missions to Nadziranim-infested fortresses and stuff ;)).

This shouldn't be a battlefield, don't underestimate how deeply the Cener are taking the fight to the Acolytes here! They forced the High Priest to personally take the field and abandon the Temple and Deathstaff, after all. :)

And yeah, even though a younger daughter was presented earlier, she didn't seem too young and I missed that detail of families being here. No wonder Sun Snake seemed bloodshirsty even obliquely referencing blowing up all the Acolytes to get the spy!

"I'd stand back of I were you Hornet" fox said as he sheathed his Blue blade.

Once Hornet had done as he asked, Fox began to breathe deeply before bringing Vigilance up to his face to stare at the metal. A second later the blade began to glow a silver hue like aura that spread along Fox's arms as it travelled across his body until he was finally covered in the same fiery silver aura.

Then he began to move, rushing at the door and with a low cutting swipe he sliced into the door, the steel melting like butter along the bottom

"Wrath" fox said almost in a whisper

He then back flipped twice away from the door before rushing forward again this time cutting diagonally along the door starting from a point he had previously cut. As he did, he actually run up along the cave wall for a few meters during the slice. Then using the wall he flipped back to his starting point

"Of" he continued

Repeating the same move he sliced into the door as his maneuver was complete. As he re landed at his original spot, a large triangle shape had been cut into the door that was still holding fast with the silver aura of his blade. Standing up, Fox sheathed his blade as his own aura dispersed as well as the doors. With nothing now to hold it, the triangle cut put in the door simple dropped and fell forward to the floor with the tip crashing just infront of Fox.

"The Vigilant" he finished

They now had a way into the temple

"Let's go"
This message was last edited by the player at 11:27, Sat 01 Mar 2014.

Swift narrowed her eyes, her hand dropping towards the weapons at her belt, but not yet touching any of them.

She glanced briefly towards the female bishop who had attacked the Cener and then back at him, waiting to see what he would do next...


OOC: Just letting him talk or threaten the Acolytes for now and waiting to see if he drops his guard for a second... ;)

...I guess you're right, Sun Snake, I should have been more clear about the kids, and you too, Dusk Rat, are correct that, since it happened before you joined, I should have pointed out that the Acolytes' families were here.

Anyway, making up for it now: about a fifth of the Acolythes are children, of all ages from 0 to 13 - higher than that and you'd be considered an adult in a medieval setting like this one, as you also correctly pointed out, Dusk Rat.

Also, most children weren't, of course, actually fighting - only the older ones, and those few whom parents would have allowed them to, like Hurlon's sons.

Anyway, as Sun Snake said, Dusk Rat, this place is not just any one encampment, this is the very heart of Vashna's faith. As such, the Acolytes actually live their day to day existance here in these tents, along with any family member they helped convert as well as any family they actually made amng the Acolythes themselves - unlike the Kai, they don't have a chastity vow to follow.

The red haired bishop was the first to recover from the Cener's words and she said, taking a solid step forward and levelling her staff at him:

"You think that'll stop us? The children and their parents both will be more than happy to offer themselves or their kids to the great Vashna if it will help smite one of his enemies, and no matter how many of us fall in the attempt, we'll forever rise again, greater and stronger, for no mere mortal can stop the unavoidable, fated ascent of the Dreaded Archlord!"

Only about a third of the Acolytes present nodded along at the bishop's declaration, but she didn't seemed to notice the relative lack of success her words had obtained as she prepared herself for an attack. Before she could, though, one of the other bishop - the old man with the red gauntlet - put his hand on her shoulder and said, his tone severe:

"Emhris, this is idiotic. None of the faithful are going to fail to lie down their life for the cause - they proved as much merely moments ago, when they took the field against the Cener. Nobody here is hesitant in their faith, you should know that, and they're not to fault for not matching yours. After all, if they did, they would be bishops themselves, as you know."

Those words seemed to settle the Acolytes who had been spooked by Ehmris' declaration of faith on their behalf, but the woman merely bristles, smacking the other bishop's hand aside.

"So what than, Hendell? We let this scum of the earth walk away without doing anything to stop him?"

"What would killing our own here accomplish? We'd not further the cause, we'd just be giving the Cener what he wants - the dissent his words aim to spread among us is as much a plague as that he delivers with his touch. We can surround him and make it impossible for him to escape before he can manage it - it's much more practical than trying to fight when all of our attacks will only end up hurting ourselves."

"Oh, that's not completely true now, is it?"

Everybody turned toward where the Cener had spoke in his lazy fashion, and the man grinned to the group before saying, sounding amused:

"You have the Helghast there, and aren't they said to be superior, invulnerable beings that no mere mortal weakness can affect? Why, they're the creation of you very own Lord and Master - surely, as the avatars of his power on Magnamund, nothing would be better suited to bring down an heretic like myself... not to mention, if they're really as powerfu as it's said, then it could be on me with the speed of an arrow, and be able to hit me without injuring your brethen. Worth a shot, isn't it?"

Madayl turned a cold, considering gaze on the man as he spoke, but everybody else turned to look at Swift Fox, some with surprise but most - especially among the lower Acolytes and what few ten- and twelve-years olds were part of the mob - with quite a lot of devotion, awe and, above all, hope.

The Cener turned his eyes on the Kai Lady as well, and merely grinned smugly, as if daring the one who had put him on the spot to come and end him with her own hands.
--

Meanwhile, inside the temple, Sabre Fox and Water Hornet could see a vast room stretching in front of them, one that had to clearly be the heart of the temple and to comprise the majority of it. The room was completely dark, and looking into it from the opening Sabre Fox had given them yeld nothing to see except for what looked like several glyphs on the ground, each one as big as a human hand.

The glyphs seemed traced with some kind of glowing blue ink, and were arranged in geometrical patterns which, while undecipherable to the uninitiated, gave off a sense of death and wrongness that was almost suffocating for the two Magnakai's Sixth Sense.

Sun Snake, I'll update you and the High Priest's group once you reach Hornet - I need to know what he'll do, and whether some external force will swoop in to miracolously save him or not, before I can update that piece of story.

I'm not sure if the slow motion would be fitting, but you can surely go for orchestral music being playing on the background in the meanwhile - the High Priest do knows the effect of a proper entrance and controlling air currents to make sounds is something I think he might manage, if he applied himself to do it. ;D

This message was last edited by the GM at 20:20, Sat 01 Mar 2014.

A brief flicker of anger crossed Swift's eyes before she restored her neutral mask again.
Her hand touched the hilt of the Jade Spike, her fingers wrapping firmly around it and partly drawing the weapon from her belt.

Her mind quickly assessed her chances of incapacitating the Cener before he could use his deadly touch on her or on his hostage.

Unlikely...  In fact, almost impossible, especially in her currently depleted state.

Whatever action she took here, it would almost certainly result in the deaths of both herself and the child.
She couldn't take any action at all...

Maintaining her act, she cocked her head to one side in the exaggerated curious stance her Helghast persona seemed to have developed and grinned in a rather disconcerting way.

"Egor edgak...  You seem to think I have any desire to somehow 'prove myself' against you?  A strange delusion.  Or did you come here specifically seeking to challenge me?"

The Cener raised an eyebrow in mocking wonder, and then he said, adressing the Acolytes at large:

"Is this the kind of creature your Lord crafted, that it refuses to help in an endeavour that would improve his possibilities of returning from the dead? Quite traitorous of it, if I do say so myself."

A murmur of mixed confusion and disbelief passed among the Acolytes, and while it did, the Cener adressed Swift Fox directly, the challenge and smugness back into his voice.

"Is that it, Helghast, that you don't care if your Master ever come back? Or are you really just filled with fear, trembling at the thought that your Master's powers will fail when pitted against the deepest darkness we create from Nature itself? Not what I'd expect from one of the fell captains of the Darklords, for sure."

He paused, then added, his smirk drippling condescension:

"Beside, aren't Helghast supposed to feel no emotions at all? And how could a darkspawn born of Vashna's own power doubt that very same power would assist it in a fight against a mere mortal? Why do you behave so strangely, dark creature?"

There was no mistaking the hint of an accusation in the man's words, and Swift Fox could sense the doubt his words were creating starting to spread, very slowly, among the nearly one thousand Acolytes who were spread throughout the area...

Swift peered back at him, showing no noticeable reaction to his words.

"Perhaps you suggest that I too should be cowering behind a mortal shield while spouting meaningless words clearly intended to create confusion and doubt among mortal foes...  Something that seems to work oddly well against those of weaker faith it seems.  Or perhaps they have greater faith in their enemies?"
Her last comment was accompanied by a rather nasty glare towards the nearest of the Acolytes.

"As for your belief that I fear you, you are wrong.  In fact I know I could kill you easily even using nothing more than this borrowed shell and its weapons."
As she spoke, she drew the Jade Spike from her belt and twirled it around in her hand as if testing the weight of an unfamiliar weapon.

"If you really want to test your so-called powers against me, then I'm standing right here.  On the other hand, if you'd prefer to keep cowering behind that creature and running your mouth off, you're welcome to.  We'll see which of us succumbs to hunger or the need to sleep first!"

Lol I didn't know about a chastity vow either. Good job I didn't make Dusk Rat into someone who's interested in that sort of thing (mind you, I never make characters who're interested in that sort of thing, so that's hardly new ;)), otherwise that could have got awkward quickly :D.
Anyway, I think I've misimagined the size of the cave. Now you mention tents, I think I remember some of those being described at some point. But there was also a rather large battle going on here not long ago, with Cener and Acolytes blowing each other up or whatever they were doing to each other, so presumably there's a fair few dead bodies lying around. And probably some charred corpses/ash piles or whatever became of those who got struck by lightning.

The Cener didn't raised to the bait of Swift Fox's words, instead answering, with a grin:

"You really want to put that theory to the test? My body is capable of withstanding more pain that you could ever imagine, I assure you."

He paused, then shrugged.

"Besides, who says that I want to test my mettle against anybody? Your bishops already proposed corraling me here, as you did now. What makes any of you think that I'll actually let me be trapped so?"

He seemed genuinely amused at the thought.

Lol, this guy seems to be asking to have his arse kicked...

Swift stared back at him, her expression giving away nothing of her inner thoughts.

Her inner thoughts were desperately trying to figure out a way to turn the tables, but failing...

There was only one option, and she knew it would likely seal the hostage's fate.  Along with her own if the bishops were content to sit back and allow the Cener to fight her alone.

No choice though...  She wasn't a saviour, it had never been her destiny after all, she had known that for a long time.
She was a killer.  A killer who would one day encounter that one enemy who would end her nightmares.  Was it this man in front of her now?

Her mind drifted briefly to Silver Raven.  She hoped he would survive and escape this area.
Perhaps he would miss her.  Few others would...
She lowered the barriers she had built up within her mind, her grip tightening on the Jade Spike as the hate, pain, fear and rage she had once felt focused itself into a debilitating psychic storm in her mind.
Using the last of her energy, she suddenly darted forward, faster than any normal human could have moved as the full force of her collective nightmares slammed into the mind of the Cener like a blazing warhammer...


OOC: More likely to be me getting my arse kicked if those bishops don't decide to finish him off for me...  I've got no WP left, no FPs left, and he can kill me with a single touch...

As Swift Fox suddenly darted forward, the Cener Druid suddenly doubled over, a scream of pain exploding out of his lungs; however, before he could retaliate by grabbing the throat of his hostage, a sudden gust of wind exploded at his back, sending him barreling forward - enough so that, when Swift Fox's dagger flashed out, she opened a wide gash in his side, which was already losing copious quantities of blood.

The young Cener landed in a crumpled heap on the ground, breathing heavily and still wining for the pain his mind was into... and then he suddenly rolled to his left, a scream of pain once again rippling out from his lungs as more blood splurted forward and stained the ground... a ground that had now turned from mere dirt to granite in the place the red gauntlet of the closest bishop had struck.

It was impossible not to see the panic in the young Cener's eyes when he realized that he'd been landed straight into the circle of bishops, most of whom were already turning toward him - Ehmris with a sadistic, satisfied smile on her face - although Madayl had instead turned toward Swift Fox, and nodded to her in aknowledgement.

"Thank you, child of Vashna - now the heretic knows that our Lord's power always manifest itself for His most devoted followers, to keep them safe."

Swift blinked in surprise as she realised that the child had somehow survived despite her attack.
Clearly someone else had decided to intervene at the same time.
Her mind was still clouded with the darkness she had released into the psychic attack, making it difficult for her to think clearly, but enough of her mind remained to maintain her act in front of Madayl.

She nodded slowly.
"Indeed.  Now I must return to hunting down the one who attempted to kill you before.  May the Lord watch over you."

With that she turned to head back to the Kraan.
Despite the hot anger that had coursed through her, the hilt of the Jade Spike felt ice-cold in her grip and she hastily tucked it back into her belt again...


OOC: Phew, that was close.  Guessing that was Dusk Rat saving my ass again? ;)
Anyways, unless someone stops me, I'll take off and circle around the cavern as if heading for the tunnel openings on the far side.
Is it possible to fly around to the opposite side of the temple, using the building to hide me from the view of the Acolyte army so I can sneak in the back door? :)

That would have a Camouflage DC of 4 to accomplish, Swift Fox.

Meanwhile, this fight isn't finished yet...

The bishops slowly moved to close rank around the Cener, who was keeping an hand over his open wound to stench the blood loss... but then, just when the limping cener and the one with the gauntlet were moving nearer to him, he made a sudden, swiping gesture with his hand, sending his blood splashing in a wide arc that hit both Acolytes on the face.

That had them stop in surprise for a moment, then the blood suddenly turned black, the point where they'd been hit decomposing slightly before the blood was suddenly sucked inside the wound it had created. Exactly an heartbeat later, the two men dressed in red fell to the ground, like puppets with their strings cut, while the young Cener Druid slowly got back up to his own feet, his brown eyes holding a cold, disdainful glare as he fixed them upon the last two survivng bishops, Madayl and Ehmris.

"You might want to be careful what you say, Vashnites; the protection of your Lord would seem to be awfully fickle."

He had returned his hand to keep his wound from bleeding himself to death, yet even so, the young man suddenly had aquired a menacing presence, and even Ehmris seemed hesitant to act.

OOC: Oh crap...!  (O.o)


Swift quickly turned around to see the Cener rising to his feet again.
With a sinking feeling, she tugged the Jade Spike from her belt and dropped back into a defensive stance again.

She watched the Cener carefully, knowing she would have to react quickly to save herself from any attack he launched against her...


OOC: If this guy kills all the bishops, would that make the Camouflage DC easier? :)

Well, it must have some benefit, I'm sure ;). Can you not just stand back a bit and finish the guy off with an arrow, btw?

You're scared of the Cener, Swift Fox? Good thing you're not fighting it all on your own - think how much harder it would be if you lacked the Acolytes' support!
As for your questions, Dusk Rat, she can kill the Cener with a bow, if she manages to hit him. Also, even killing all the Acolytes here wouldn't help with the Camouflage DC of flying the Kraan around the Temple, because that's the High Priest you're trying to fool, not any of the others.

Despite his words, the Cener didn't seemed really keen on attempting to close on either of the two bishops, and Madayl seemed to pick up on this as he said, his tone level and his expression, as always, lacking any emotion:

"Ehmris, move to the left, I'll go to the right - he can't take us both at once if we keep separated, and if he tries for one of us, he'll left himself open to attack from the other."

The Cener merely shrugged at that, but then grimaced as the movement pulled on his open wound; a moment later he spoke, sounding quite sarcastic.

"You really think I'll let you do that to me? You're ridicolous."

And then, without losing even a moment, he turned and run, using the tents scattered among the area to cover his retreat as he dodged the savage barrage of glowing blue orbs that Ehmris had unleashed on him...

OOC: Kids? Families? Well, that explains the tents then! I was wondering why an army would bother erecting tents in a cave. Then again, if this priest makes a habit of causing it to rain inside, maybe they would anyway. :)

I'm guessing FF can't tell whether Nexus might be effective or not, so he's going to have to be a copycat.

Ferret staggered, almost fell to his knees. It made no sense to allow the acid agony of the wraith's strikes to slow him down; it would only cede advantage to his enemy. But even logic couldn't get the better of the smearing, burning pain that gripped his face, arm and side. He couldn't fight, and that meant one certain outcome: he would die. Even though time seemed to have slowed as the hideous apparition drifted above him, he knew he needed more of it. He couldn't save himself in an instant.

Then his notice was caught; away past the wraith, falling water glittered to a standstill. Silver Raven may be unknown to him now, but his mentor still knew how to wield his magic. And Ferret had learnt the same. Wet from crossing the lake, he'd forgotten the rain. He reached a hand out in front of him, felt cool, cascading droplets, prepared for a fresh agony and sought to follow his elder's desperate lead.

OOC: Trying to cast Freeze and do the same as SR did in order to buy a moment to drink a potion.

Fox narrowed his eyes at the darkness before him before looking to Hornet

"Don't suppose you have any torches?" He asked

Water Hornet was still looking with opened mouth and bated breath at Sabre Fox's display. "How..." was all he was able to mutter.

His fellow's question brought him back to reality, though. In fact, Hornet smiled and pulled a torch out of his backpack. A tinderbox followed from one of his pocket's and soon the torchlight was battling the darkness in the room with glyphs. "Sommlending made," said Hornet raising the torch a little higher, "but I'd never guess all that time ago it would end up lighting our way in the temple devoted to Vashna."

Hornet approached the opening in the door and examined the room on the other side in the light of his torch.

OOC: Does the light show any new details?

You? :D

OOC: Well I've run out of tricks to use, so it's kind of a precarious situation.  So yep, definitely scared of him, hehe.
Hopefully he doesn't have much in the way of anti-air ranged attacks though...


As the Cener turned and ran, Swift also turned in the opposite direction, dashing back to the Kraan and hopping up onto its back.
Thrusting the Jade Spike back into her belt, she took up the bow and the black arrow from her quiver, lifting off and flying in pursuit of the Cener, hoping to spot him from the air and finish him off quickly...


OOC: At the moment I'm actually more concerned about getting to the temple than finishing off the Cener, so I'm really more "going through the motions" of chasing after him to keep up appearances to the Acolytes rather than making any serious effort at it.
If I do see him I might take a shot at him anyway, since I have a feeling he'll only trouble us again later if he gets away now...

With the torch lighting their way, Water Hornet and Sabre Fox could see a bit within the room, and although the light did not shone all the way through, they could see that the room was surprisingly lacking in features, with nothing but more blue glyph spread all over the room's floor. In the distance, a big, static structure could be seen, likely a statue, but the details were impossible to make out... and next to hit was a cowled figure, clearly waiting in silence and much too hidden in the dark to distinguish anything more about it.
Meanwhile, Frost Ferret's magic suddenly coalesced into ice around the wraith, trapping it; the creature's claws immediately closed around the frozen bars, but it was clear that it would take a little bit of time for the creature to destroy its improvised cage.

You have four combat rounds before the wraith gets free, Frost, although that's mostly meaningless - the High Priest, Sun Snake and Bishop Hurlon will be upon your position in two turns, so well before the ice cage is melted. Sun Fox might be done with her opponents by then, but Silver Raven is unlikely to be.

Swift Fox, I'm not going to let you go after two targets at once; either you move to the temple, or you try to follow/shot down the young Cener. Doing both at the same time would go against the spirit of the game - after all, you need to pick a path and go to the proper section of the book, don't you? ;D

OOC: Has FF got any idea of the big bad guys coming his way? I've not been reading the bits about stuff happening round the other side - I can do if you want, but I'm not sure whether it's clear when things become visible to us lot round the back.

The impulse was there to study the wraith as it made to escape its prison, to try and understand what type of creature it was. But it was a temptation easily overcome. Ferret shrugged his soaking pack off and hurled it to the ground in one movement, then thrust his hand into the bottom of it, hoping the heaviest of the contents were where they should be. He immediately grasped the two vials and pulled them out, looked to see which one contained a grey potion, unstoppered it and drank the contents. He knew the effects of Moon Balm should be to sharpen his reactions, clear his mind, make him ready for the fight. He also knew that his body was almost broken. Considered rationally, drinking the potion was unlikely to be enough.

Frost Ferret gathered his equipment as quickly as he'd discarded it and turned to face his enemy once more.

OOC: So as I understand it, FF should recover to base 18 CS, making 19 while wearing the Silver Gauntlet and 20 if he uses his Short Sword. With End 5 it's still gonna take some much better rolls to make that enough, but hopefully it's a fighting chance.

By the time FF has drunk the potion, what's the situation?
This message was last edited by the player at 00:57, Tue 04 Mar 2014.

Well, maybe the Cener is heading toward the temple (for some reason) anyway, so she can do both at once :D.

"Why do I feel this place is gonna be full of traps?" Fox said before indicating to move forward. "avoid stepping directly on the glyphs if you can and let's head towards that figure...... But cautiously"

Dancing so as not to touch the Glyphs at all would be a DC 12 Hunting check.

And Dusk Rat, I'm afraid that the Cener is escaping in the opposite direction from the temple, toward one of the tunnels who lead into this cave.
You don't know that the High Priest is coming, Frost, but, you do know that the blast of light that happened when the wraiths were awakened filled the whole cave - so the urgency of the situation should not be lost on your character.

Also, your math about your CS is correct; additionally, since the Wraith is trapped and can't retaliate, I'm reducing the damage you take fighting it in the next four rounds by 5. You have now one round only before the High Priest shows up and Sun Fox finishes her last opponent, and three before Silver Raven has defeated his own adversary as well.

OOC: I'll go after the Cener for now, but only to try to get a clear shot at him.  If he escapes into one of the tunnels, I suspect he's trying to lead me towards where the rest of the Ceners are waiting, so I'll break off pursuit and try to sneakily circle around to the temple like I'd intended to before :)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:09, Tue 04 Mar 2014.

Even from Swift Fox's position high in the air, the Cener Druid was not an easy target - he was running fast and weaving among the tents with incredible agility for a wounded man... but then, he did knew that his life depended on it. Either way, his dodges were erratic and hard to predict - it would take an exceptional shot to down him.

DC for hitting the Cener is 8. Also, by making this choice you can no longer help Frost in his battle, Swift Fox - that's meaningful for his next decision about the predicament he's in.

OOC: Ouch, sorry Frost :(  I hadn't really expected to get there quickly enough to help him even if I did, what with trying to make sure none of the Acolytes noticed me breaking off pursuit.
Swift is really just trying to put on a show for the Acolytes who were probably expecting their Helghast champion to chase after him, she's not really too eager to push her luck any further, or waste her Kagonite arrow on an uncertain shot...


Swift drew the black arrow and sighted down the shaft at the small figure of the fleeing Cener below.
She cursed quietly as she tried to line up a shot on his constantly dodging figure.
He was fast for someone badly wounded and probably still suffering the lingering effects of psychic shock.
"What in Dazganon are you?" she muttered.

It didn't help that her hands were still a little unsteady from the dark memories she had tapped into during the earlier confrontation and also having weakened her own inner power to the point where her Kai abilities no longer gave her an edge against this kind of adversary.
Easing off the tension on her bowstring, she glanced back over her shoulder towards the Acolytes and the temple before looking back at the Cener and then towards the tunnel entrances ahead of where he was running...


OOC: Is it possible to get far enough away or high enough in this cavern so that the Acolytes wouldn't notice me turning away and circling back towards the temple?  I'm hoping to keep them thinking I've just kept on chasing him into one of the tunnels :)  Less concerned about avoiding the notice of the High Priest, since both me and Swift suspect he'll soon realise we're not really his allies anyway!

You mean you're changing your mind, and not trying to catch the Cener at all but rather going to the Temple? The DC for doing that unnoticed is not going to change, it's still 4.

OOC: Well she's chasing after the Cener until the Acolytes lose sight of her to give them the illusion that she's chased him into one of the tunnels, while really she's flying in a wide arc around the cavern to get to the Temple hopefully unnoticed.
Rolled a 7 for that.  Seems like I've used up the bad rolls for now :)

That's a good enough roll to get you to the temple, I say. :)

While what few rain was still falling no longer impeded normal sight on ground level, a few hundred meters of air filled with it between things were enough to make visiility very scarce. Thus, it was not a problem for Swift Fox to manouver her kraan to circle around the Temple, reaching the other side of it just in time to see Frost Ferret freeze the rain itself to trap a green, ghostlike creature that might have once been vaguely human, but now looked monstrous, with parts missing as if severed yet showing no signs of being affected by such wounds.

She could see Sun Fox, too, her silver scimitar moving incredibly fast as she cut down away pieces of two such wraiths at once, dancing admist their forms with such grace that no attack seemed to reach her.

The two weren't alone in their fight, though. Silver Raven was fighting too, the wraith fighting him pushing on aggressively despite the Magnakai's skill with the sword, uncaring of the damage already inflicted to it. Raven's already tattered clothes were now halfway gone, and long, stripe-like signs of acid burns were visible on the exposed portions of his chest and arms, yet his expression was merely determined and unflinching, showing no sign of the pain he must surely be suffering.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:03, Tue 04 Mar 2014.

As the Kraan circled in to land as silent as the dissipating rain clouds, Swift quickly glanced over the battle going on below.

Her gaze was immediately drawn to Silver Raven who looked as though his opponent was pushing him back.
Frost Ferret looked the more wounded of the group, but the wraith attacking him seemed to have become trapped inside some sort of cage-like structure for now.
She looked back to Silver Raven, her eyes picking out the wounds the creature had inflicted on him.

The inner rage she had unleashed at the mind of the Cener sparked up again, this time directed at the wraith-like creature.
This time her grip went to the Jade Spike without even thinking about it, the familiar green fire igniting around the runic jade carvings on the hilt as she gripped the weapon tightly, flipping it around and casting it towards the wraith with a blindingly-fast flick of her arm.

As the Kraan touched down, she leaped from its back, reaching for Sun Snake's sword as she darted quickly towards Frost Ferret and the trapped wraith...


OOC: Next I'll try stabbing at the trapped wraith through the bars of the cage if I can, looking to finish it off before it can break free.  Dunno if these things count as undead, but hoping a magical sword will have some effect anyway :)
Hope this is a suitably bad-ass entrance! ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 23:25, Tue 04 Mar 2014.

Lol, look at all the arse-kickers getting to kick some arse, yay :D.

The Jade Spike flew through the air with unherring, supernatural accuracy, and then pierced the wraith dead center, causing a suddenl flash of green light and a ghastly scream of pain before the evil spirit started to crumble into a shower of harmless sparks under Silver Raven's surprised gaze.

A moment later, Swift Fox's feet touched ground, and she stumbled for a second as she landed...

The Wraiths would count as undead, Swift Fox, you're correct about that. Attacking the one which is facing Frost Ferret you will only be able to do in the next combat round, though - the same one Frost still has to decide what he wants to do into, and the one after which the High Priest will show up.

"Perhaps because it is full of traps...?" Hornet replied to Sabre Fox in half whisper, but despite the answer, his face showed no signs of amusement.

Upon Sabre's notion, Water Hornet moved to the side to put some distance between himself and his Kai brother and started walking slowly forward after checking his psychic defences were at the ready. Once again he equipped himself with the Drakkarim dagger while Venom stayed at his belt, for now.

OOC: Will try to get as far as possible without stepping on the glyphs (although can't avoid them completely). Need a roll anyway?

Swift had intended to leap from the Kraan and run straight towards Frost and his attacker.
As soon as she made contact with the surface of the island, her intent was suddenly ripped apart in a wave of Darkness that surged through her as if coming from the ground itself.

She stumbled and narrowly prevented herself falling, almost losing her grip on Sun Snake's sword as she doubled over, retching.
Just like in Argazad, there was nothing there to come up.  But unlike Argazad, she could feel no familiarity with this Darkness.  More blood had been spilled in this place than even her own hands had been responsible for...

A distant sound of a lonely bell rang in her ears, a familiar sound she had once heard years ago on a fog-bound street...

A single small cloaked figure stood in the middle of the street, surrounded by spattered blood which had clearly come from the heavily-mutilated corpse behind it.
The figure turned around slowly.  Its hand held a plain iron dagger, both the blade and the hand that held it dripping with scarlet tears, matching the tears that ran down the figure's own cheeks in all but colour.
It was a young girl with dirty blonde hair like lank straw hanging from beneath the hood of her cloak...

The sound of chilling laughter, the voice of her greatest fear, echoed inside Swift's mind as the cloaked figure raised her head to the sky and let out a scream that split the air like the breaking of a soul...

Swift came to with a sudden jolt, she had dropped to one knee and it took her a moment to remember what she had intended to do.
There was battle here, there were enemies to kill...

Her hand tightened on the sword she held as she straightened up, seeking out her target again.
There he was.  The man in the green cloak.  He was already injured, he would be an easy target.  Then the others would follow, one by one...

She took a step forward, but something faltered in her mind.
She was wearing a green cloak like that too.  What did that mean?

The gemstones in the diadem she was wearing flickered oddly for a moment.
For a brief instant, she remembered how she had felt on picking up the object for the first time back in that ruined forest temple.
There was battle here, but she hadn't intended to kill.  Not this time...

Her grip relaxed on the sword as awareness returned to her, the uncomfortable feelings from the island pushed aside for now where they felt like a lingering nausea in the pit of her stomach.
She began to run towards Frost's position.  Raising her voice, she called out to the others as she ran.
"The High Priest is on his way!"


OOC: Now THAT'S more of a bad-ass entrance! ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:39, Fri 07 Mar 2014.

Bah, only rolled a 3 for the Glyphs. That's 6 with bonus so I suppose I've half met the check do half the consequence on being careful? lol

Spend a Fate Point and reroll?
I bet there's actually some kind of light switch or something on the wall just inside the door, which the High Priest just presses every time he needs to come inside the temple ;).

This message was last edited by the GM at 17:24, Sat 08 Mar 2014.

There's a mechanism where the glyph's magic trap is deactivated and they glow brightly white, lighting up the temple like lamps, yes. It's not built with a switch, though - you need to properly open the door to have it automatically activate. Cutting through it doesn't work. :)

The glyphs on the ground were much too close together to avoid; both Sabre Fox and Water Hornet did their best to try and not touch them anyway, but eventually their feet brushed against one at almost the same time, and immediately a sudden burst of blue light erupted from them, causing glowing chains of energy to sprout from the ground and trap the two Magnakai.

A moment later, an anymalistic laugh echoed through the temple, and the cloaked figure who'd been standing next to the statue moved forward, stopping only when the light from Water Hornet's torch made it completely visible.

The build was that of a woman, a particularly tall and thin one, but it was only barely recognizable, for the figure's left hand had been replaced with a paw, while a multitude of spikes protruded from the entirety of the left arm, similar to what a porcupine would have; and the head was that of a rare breed of dog from Vassagonia, with oversized jaws and long black stripes all over the white fur, with only the blue eyes being recongizably human.

For a moment, it just cocked its head to the side, as if studying them in the manner a dog would, and then spoke, the voice undeniably feminine but raspy and somewhat distorted from the multitude of fangs in its mouth.

"Would you look at that: the great and famous Sabre Fox one one of his flunkies caught like children in the stupidest of traps. And to think she was so hopeful you'd save her like the knight in shining armour you're supposed to be... and this would be the best and brightest the Kai Order can muster? So, so pathetic."

And then she let out her creepy laugh once again, crearly certain that the two would never be able to get free from the trap they were now ensnared into.

You're both chained, Sabre and Hornet - the magic trap is keeping you in place, so you can't escape or fight, although you can still somewhat move. The chains are made of glowing blue energy, so Nexus would be unable to act on them, as there's no matter for your mind to take control over. If you have any idea on how to free yourself, don't be afraid to ask; I'll tell you if it's workable or not. :)

Water Hornet was both repulsed and intrigued by the creature speaking to them. In fact, if he hadn't been held by the magical chains, he would've taken a few steps back when the creature approached. At the same time he was plainly curious to see how this...blend...could function coherently.

He studied the creature carefully, starting with the paw and examining what was visible of the rest of the body. Ironically, it was human eyes sat into an animal head that unsettled him the most.

As he attempted to raise the torch higher to get a better view on the creature, he felt the energy shackles protest. 'Time, we need time...' he thought to himself desperately.

"My name is Water Hornet," the Magnakai said struggling to maintain a neutral tone and tried to at least indicate a bow, "and I am genuinely flattered you would consider us the best of our Order. Please excuse me, but I seem to have missed your name...?" Hornet was talking in even pace, but his mind was racing.

OOC: Will Animal Control be any good at estimating the creature in front of us? What interests me the most:
1) spikes on the hand - can they be shot at distance (if I'm not mistaken real-world porcupines can't do that, but who knows...)?
2) Would Hornet know anything about this type of Vassagonian canines? Like: are they cowardly if properly intimidated; are they scavengers; are they afraid of fire or repulsed by a specific smell...? (If you'd like me to make a list of specific questions, just say.)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:45, Sat 08 Mar 2014.

1 - Who knows? You certainly don't, in characater, so I'm not telling. :) Porcupines don't shoot their quills normally, that you would know, but this creature was made from dark magic, so you couldn't tell what changes were made.

2 - Like most wild dogs, this species hunts in packs, but they're mainly scavengers. They're not diffused outside of the Vassa region and not much is known about the species, but as an AC user, you would know that their jaw is reportedly the most powerful on Magnamund, with bites capable of shattering bones or hard wood without effort and some say even dent and bend metal.

The creature barely glanced in Hornet's direction before dismissing him in a cold tone.

"I wasn't talking to you, flunky."

Then she returned her gaze on Sabre Fox, clearly waiting for something she expected him to do.

"And what in Naar are you supposed to be?" fox said raising an eyebrow. "Or did the dark forces realise my weakness for dogs and thought they could distract me by taking you for a run with a ball?" He asked

He was stalling for time despite his humour, Fox knew they needed to escape

Now most traps of this nature require a circuit to be complete to take effect, so if some of the glyph on the floor is destroyed, say perhaps with a blast from Power Word, would that work?

It might work - destroying the source of the magic is a good solution for negating most magical effect, and your knowledge of Battle Magic would confirm this for you, and these Glyphs do look like some form of Old Kingdom magic, so there's a very good chance that'd work.

There was a moment of silence from the half-human woman, then disappointment filled both her eyes and her body language.

"Everything is a game for you, isn't it? Ah well, I guess that just goes to show that she was even stupider to trust in your rescue than I though. Whatever."

She shrugged, then malice suddenly entered her eyes as her spiked hand, the only one to still retain an humanoid structure, reached inside her cloak to retrieve a dagger.

"I guess I'll just play a bit with you then... tell me, how long do you think it'll take for you to bleed to death?"

"See now why do you have to go and say nasty things like that?" fox asked

As he spoke he tried his best to bring a hand down to grip his Blue Blade

"Because now I'm gonna have to kill you to rescue her. And I was hoping we would be able to play fetch together"

I'm hoping that by having contact with the Blue Blade will resonate with the glyphs since they both are Old Kingdom based so that Fox has a decent target to attack for the source. Since the statue is tempting, but failing that destroying the glyph might work.

The abomination didn't seemed amused as she answered, her tone deadly:

"Oh, I'll play alright; let's fetch your liver to start with."

That said, she started to advance menacingly toward the two Magnakai...

So, Sabre Fox, you need to tell me if you're aiming for the statue or the ground with your spell, and either way, give me a luck roll.

Also, I should make you aware that after your next post, wether you act or not, she'll start hitting you anyway... just thought you might want to do something before the torture begins.

And yes, you can move enough to touch the Bluesteel Sword and thus take advantage of its non-combat effect - nice thinking there. :)

"I prefer my liver with onions" fox smirked

Going for a Power Word at the ground. Didn't roll lucky despite re rolls :/ but I'm hoping it won't matter in some respects. I am going to aim at the floor infront of the abomination. Two things can happen here I think, either the glyp will be destroyed and we will be free, or the ensuring blast will render the abomination incapacitated for a while via power Words effect so we have time to escape.

Water Hornet watched the verbal exchange with unease bordering on panic. He tried his best to come up with a way to break free from the magical shackles, struggling against them in the hope the reaction would yield any useful piece of information. But they just seemed to be what they appeared: chains made of magical energy instead of mundane metal.

When the creature started closing on them, it was a test of Hornet's will not to cry out in fear. But the desperate situation forced him to focus on escaping. He noticed Sabre Fox was struggling to move in his chains and, while he didn't know what his fellow Kai was aiming for, it gave him an idea.

Hornet tried to swivel his hand holding the dagger so it pointed directly at the creature and then he gathered his psychic powers for a strike. At first he thought about trying to fling the abomination away, hoping it would crash against the statue; but on the second thought (inspired by his encounter with the White Tiger) he decided to opt for a more unexpected move; especially since the beast seemed more imterested in Sabre Fox.

OOC: If it is possible for Water Hornet to point the dagger at the abomination, he will then use Nexus to pull the creature right towards him, hoping to impale it on the dagger.

Wait. You spent 3 FP to reroll luck?

...you're not going to be happy about having done that, when you see what the result of bad luck will be, I think. But, I guess that just goes to show that, sometimes, letting the dice lie as they will is the best way to go.

Of course, the real mastery is in being able to correctly guess when the reroll is necessary, and when it isn't...

As Sabre Fox shouted, the ground in front of him exploded, with enough strenght that the abomination stumbled backwards, and three glyphs were destroyed... which caused every glyoph within several meters to the left of the impact point to suddenly power down and stop glowing.

It also caused one set of chains to disappear, and the man held by it to fall on his knees, free from the trap and capable of fighting. Which was just as well, for, while the man got up, the abomination did the same, and then sneered, her voice filled with contempt:

"Ah, now this is going to be fun; I do love small snacks before the main course."

And, having said that, she started to charge at the one free Magnakai in the room: Water Hornet.

So, that was bad luck: you freed the less skilled fighter among you two, Sabre Fox.

Hornet, we'll be doing this fight one round at a time; you have time to draw any one weapon you've on your person for this fight, but you can't get to Sabre Fox before being hit - the area he's in has all the glyphs still glowing, and if you made a misstep, you'd be ensared by the magical chains again.

Your move with Nexus was pre-empted by Sabre Fox spell, but if you want to open with that, you can - you'll need to pay 2 WP for using the Nexus push and, if you inflict more damage in the combat roll than you take, it will work. Alternatively, you're also free to pick a different move if you want, now that you're free from the chains and as such have more mobility and the additional options that brings.

Kai Abomination: CS 24, END 30.

Good luck... and be careful what you use your FP for! ^_^

It was actually two spent, but one free is better than none :)

Now while Hornet is busy with the dog, is there any way to struggle free? spending CS perhaps? Even if it gets just to the free area it's better than nothing

You can't get break the energy chains with muscle strenght, Sabre Fox. If you were still the owner of the Sommerswerd, as your biography note proudly states, merely having the blade touch the chains would dissolve them, but you're no longer the one who is carrying it, are you? :)

You're free to use any power you have - if you launch another Power Word, you'll free yourself easily enough - to attempt and escape, but any attempt you make will be one round of the battle Hornet is fighting on his own. That's why we're doing Hornet's fight one turn at a time, because during each of those turn, you also get one action to try and free yourself. You can't access your backpack, and you can touch but not draw any of the rest of your equipment; if you had a weapon in hand, you would be unable to swing it, but the weaponn itself would not be touched by the chains.

You were not wielding any weapon when you entered the Temple though, so that is a moot point anyway, isn't it? Still, it should give you a good idea of how much leeway for movement you have - that is to say, none at all except for small movement that stay about your own body.

Aha! I knew something was stirring in my old Foxy brain! ;) he still has the energy ring that Raven identified to drain life force to create magical barriers. He said it was quite rare so possibly powerful :)

So two questions.

Can I now use this to create a barrier under Fox's feet? Essentially giving him a stepping stone to escape the glyphsagic since he won't be in contact?

If not, any way it can help Hornet?

OOC: Heh, comparing Hornet's and abomination's CS I think the re-rolls attempts were justifiable. ;D Fortunately, it's not just about CS values. I hope. :)

I also have several questions:
1) Is the statue high enough that if knocked down, it would hit the glyphs around Sabre Fox?

2] Did the abomination avoid glyphs or was it unaffected by them (or were there no glyphs in its area, so I can't tell the effect those would have on it)?

3) Would Animal Control +3 CS bonus applicable when fighting the abomination?

Well, you could trap the abomination in the energy cage, Sabre Fox, which would give Hornet some time to organize himself; using the ring costs 3 WP to activate the cage, and each turn after you've cast the spell, you can pay 1 WP to manipulate it - widen, contract, move, change shape, or just stay there - and if you don't pay, it disappears. The ring reduces your CS by 1 when you're wearing it though, so I KNOW you're not wearing it at this time - you just have it pocketed, so it would take a first turn to retrieve it, and a second to wear it on your finger - your movements are quite limited right now. Thus, even if you want to use it, you'll need to waste two turns before you can.

You can't use the cage as a stepping stone or have it touch anything, really, because it's acid energy which dissolves what it touches - I'm sure you remember where you got the ring and thus why it has this particular effect. Yeah, I can see several ways using it would quickly solve this problem, depending on how much creative you can get, but none of those involves you or Hornet touching the cage in any manner, since any contact with its walls would lead to a very quick and very painful death.

I hope that helped! ^_^

Now, Hornet, for your questions:

1 - the statue is high enough that, were it to fall, it would likely smash the temple's walls something fierce; it's all shadowed so you can't tell what it represents, but from the side you can see, it's wide enough across that twenty men could comfortably sit around it, and tall enough that the abomination's full height barely reached a fifth of the statue's full height. It's too big to be Nexus pushed.

2 - The abomination is only stepping on some specific glyphs, a combination it's been taught that avoids triggering the trap, but without Pathsmanship (to discern the glyph's meaning and thus decypher the combination), Invisibility (to act the same as she's doing, mimicking her and thus "bluffing" the trap) or Divination (to read her mind and stole the correct path directly from her brain) you can't properly use this to your advantage. However, you have a wide enough depowered area to move into that you don't have to fear running into the glyphs by mistake - although the situation does gives your opponent the advantage of retreating outside your reach if she needs to. Also, get +2 CS for assessing the battlefield before the fight to negate some of your opponent's homefield advantage.

3 - No. She has body parts of an animal, but has been put together with dark magic and is moved by an human intelligence, so other than knowing her theeth are likely the most dangerous weapon she has, AC doesn't help you in this particular fight.

This message was last edited by the GM at 23:38, Mon 10 Mar 2014.

The explosion and sudden disappearance of the chains shattered Hornet's concentration and he fell to the ground. He was quick to recover, though, with triumphant shout on his lips - which never came out as he realized Sabre Fox was still trapped.

Strengthening his grip on the Drakkarim dagger that he had been holding in one hand and the torch in his other hand he quickly overlooked the area. It seemed only a part of glyphs disappeared with a big area still covered with glowing symbols. Another thing he noticed was that the fell creature appeared to be stepping only on specific glyphs, its movement resembling some intricate dance. It didn't make any sense to Hornet, so he couldn't hope to replicate it, but it did tell him something important: the creature wasn't "immune" to the trap. Just like a spider avoiding the sticky strands of its web thought Hornet to himself.

The several seconds before the two fighters met, Hornet used to get as close to the still active glyphs as possible. He raised the torch in front of him to force the abomination to make the first move - be it smashing the torch aside or circling around it. The dagger in his other hand was poised to strike.

OOC:
OK, the overall plan is following: fight at the edge of glyphs-free area, then when an opportunity comes push the abomination (possibly with the help of Nexus) into the glyphs, hoping it will step on some "wrong" symbols and be ensnared.

Can I tell in advance if it is immune to Mindblast (or I won't know I until I try)? I guess it is immune, since it is Kai-originated, but not necessarily. Plus Hornet has no idea who he's fighting against.

Ferret readied the kai axe to strike while he appeared to have successfully trapped the wraith. Then he heard Swift Fox's shout. The high priest was coming, was almost there. He concentrated to try and unleash the axe's greatest power to destroy the wraith as quickly as possible.

OOC: Using the 1 round power of the axe to attack the wraith.

Roll: 8.

I like the idea of you two sharing equipment, Hornet and Sabre, but I think you're not really putting your all into it. I already said Hornet can't get close enough to you for it to be useful, Sabre Fox, and your weapons are all sheated; yes, he could unsheat any of them if he could get close, but he cannot, and you yourself have not enough freedom for the kind of movement required for drawing a sword. Fetching the ring would take two rounds, and that's a small item in an easily accessible pocket; that's about the amount of leeway you can get in moving.

Hornet, if you're using any power, state it plainly, otherwise I'll take this as positioning - meaning, if you inflict more damage on your opponent than she does on you, I'll allow you to relinquish half the damage you inflicted in order to get the opponent in a position that'll give you a bonus next round.

Also, if you're ready to fight, I'll need you to roll, as well - and Sabre Fox, once I have Hornet's action for the round, I'll need to know yours, as well, even if it just to do nothing.

Also, nice idea, Frost! The one-turn use gives you a +4 damage bonus, which is doubled to +8 against undeads, of which the Wraith is one. And I've not forgotten that any damage you take is reduced by 5 this turn, nor that you've drunk the Moonbalm and thus your CS is back again to 19 (since you're using the axe and not a short sword), giving you a +2 Combat Ratio.

Thus, with a roll of 8, you inflict a total of 19 damage, taking none. You won! Congratulations. :D

Now, on to new developments! ^_^

When Frost Ferret's axe went past the gap in the ice cage and hit the Wraith within, a dazzling burst of sunlight erupted from it, dissolving the foul creature.

A moment later, Sun Fox's last swing dissolved the last opponent, then she let out an exhilarated cackle and then added, quite amused:

"Well, that was fun."

Silver Raven's voice answered, in a very deadpan tone:

"For yourself, maybe, but don't speak for others."

He then moved toward Swift Fox, nodding in her direction and offering her a soft smile and a few half-whispered words:

"Thank you for saving me again."

"Yeah, that was a pretty amazing save, Swifth Fox - you've really been training hard to get that much more brazen! You trying to outdo me or something?"

The curly haired Kai Lady smirked as she jested, clearly glad to see her friend.

Swift Fox, you can get a reaction post where you heal somebody if you want, and then the High Priest will show up. :)

This message was last edited by the player at 23:06, Tue 11 Mar 2014.

Swift paused to place the sword she was holding on the ground next to her and peered around at the others with a slight frown and a noticeable blush rising to her cheeks.

"I haven't saved anyone yet.  Wait till we get out of this cave alive" she replied with a wry smirk.
"The High Priest and one of his bishops is on the way here.  The bishop's swords are magical and can kill at a distance, and you've seen what magic the High Priest possesses already."
She indicated the remnants of the storm clouds overhead.

"Sun Snake is with them.  He has fooled them into believing he is a Helghast loyal to Vashna, as have I.  But that illusion might not hold once they see me here among you."

Turning towards Frost Ferret, she glanced over his injuries before moving closer to him.
"Hold still a moment" she said, placing her hands on him...
This message was last edited by the player at 23:07, Tue 11 Mar 2014.

Frost, recover 8 END.

Swift Fox's hands glowed softly as she healed the tired Frost Ferret a bit; however, she wasn't really done when a voice commented, old but carrying a clear tone of authority:

"Well, would you look at that, we've found our trespassers... and it's Kai Lords, it appears. There is quite an infestation of them these days, don't you think so, Hurlon?"

Everybody turned in the direction of the voice, and they saw a small boat, who had clearly circumnavigated the island, touching the shore, and on it three figures: the red robed, green mask wearing High Priest, the tall bishop Hurlon, and Sun Snake's hooded form.

One the boat had stopped, the High Priest gestured for Hurlon and Sun Snake to take land in front of him, and as the two complied, Sun Snake had to stop for a moment in his stride.
Before Hurlon could move onward to attack the Kai, though, the High Priest put an hand on his shoulder, holding him back and closer to him than Sun Snake's was and said, clearly adressing the undercover Magnakai:

"It seems, guest of ours, that we've found a bunch of your sworn enemies. Now, I don't doubt your dedication top the cause, but, you see, with all these traitors and meddlesome Kai Lord milling about, it is quite hard to know who to trust and who not to. Luckiliy, this gives us the perfect chance to clear any misunderstanding. Slaughter them all, Helghast, as you were bron to do, and once I have all of their blood drenching this land, your allegiance will be sure... and your soul, if you have one, will be mine."

There was a note of amusement hidden in the High Priest's command - clearly, he was very curious to see what Sun Snake would do about the order he'd been given.

Will post a reaction at lunchtime, need to leave now :(

OOC: Got it about equipment. Will have perhaps to use Mind-over-Matter, but let's see how this goes, first (Hornet's pretty occupied right now anyway ;) ).

Shadow, yes, this round I'd like to use for positioning - i.e. get the abomination at the boundary between glyphs-covered and glyphs-free area. If it goes well, I will attempt to push the abomination into the glyphs next round.

Rolled a...6.

Sun Snake walked forwards slowly but with no hesitation, looking around. "This place has clearly been built with tremendous patience and power," he said as he casually moved.

He stopped about half way between the two groups, and then turned around crossing his arms. "Hopefully by someone powerful enough to not need to act recklessly, nor order followers to act instantly either. And hopefully patient enough to avoid the opportunity represented by a trap our mutual enemies have set now, to secure their goals in the future."

Sun Snake shrugged. "I am Sun Snake, and the only lies I have told you were the ones to get me close enough to you to tell you the truths I have spoken. I hope I have earned good faith by pointing out the spies acting against you, rather than using your confrontations with the Cener to have you both weaken each other. It would certainly have been a tactically superior plan if my goal was to harm the Acolytes this day. Certainly I could have been better served here with my comrades than being in harms way one word from being instantly dispatched."

Sun Snake raised an eyebrow. "Will you set aside our animosity for a moment to speak with me?"


Lol, let's see if Sun Snake gets the opportunity to unleash a Wall of Text, or if we're just dead here. Anyway, at worst Sun Snake is trying to position himself to take the brunt of a first strike so the others can move to better combat positions. Or maybe we'll just get captured - our GM is always telling us to let things go wrong sometimes.

I'm not sure even Sun Snake's Wall of Text power can get us out of this one. I'm certainly going to try if I get the chance, though :D
This message was last edited by the player at 12:11, Wed 12 Mar 2014.

Swift frowned as the flow of energy from the diadem suddenly faltered.
"Sorry, looks like I don't have enough power left" she remarked to Frost.

Before she could think what to do next, the sound of the High Priest's voice echoed across the island and she quickly turned, reaching for the sword she had left on the ground.
Her other hand disappeared beneath her cloak, but made no immediate move to pull anything out, if that was indeed her intent.

She watched Sun Snake approach, glancing down at the sword.  Her mind thinking of various ways she could pass the weapon back to him.  Her eyes widened as he turned back to address the High Priest.
That was unexpected...  The hand hidden in her cloak relaxed a little on whatever it was holding for now as she watched to see how the High Priest would react.


OOC: Hoping Sun Snake's Righteous Wall of Impenetrable Text powers can save us! :)

A boyish laugh came from the masked form of the High Priest, and then he said, his mature voice carrying a surprising amount of spry:

"So, you're Sun Snake, are you? I think I've heard of you a couple times in the last two weeks. Or was it a couple hundreds?"

He gestured vaguely to the boat where the limp form of Lobster was stored to let the group understand his joke, before moving his arms to include all fo the people on the islands as he continued:

"And you've proven that, whatever the abomination's other intellectual faults, he was right in fearing you mightly. You sneaked your full force in the heart of our sanctuary, and even managed to fool me, which, let me tell you, is quite a feat - I really did believed you were an Helghast for some time there. You were just unlucky that I'm a methodical man, and thus always require the initiation to be completed before I allow any new follower among our Lord's Acolytes, be them mere humans or His own sons; even so, your performance was worthy of your deceptive kin, and I'm impressed."

He clapped in a very polite fashion, before speaking again, the mirth in his voice still growing.

"I am completely certain that it will be you who will start the hostilities in a moment, Magnakai, but if you want to talk, sure, I lose nothing by listening. I'm really curious to see wether or not your diplomatic talents match the abomination's description of them as well as the rest of your skills did."

And with that, he elegantly sat on the border of the small boat, clasping his hands in front of his masked face and waiting for Sun Snake to start his speech.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:25, Wed 12 Mar 2014.

It will be interesting to see how many of Sun Snake's and my own guesses/surmises are true / not true here...


Sun Snake was shocked but did not show it at the High Priest's words and the priest's tone of voice. Being reminded how easily Sun Snake had been mistaken for a Helghast was not a pleasant compliment. And visibly the mention of Fall Lobster made Sun Snake's face fall.

"The process to turn our brothers from us seems to be to make them focus on some minor slight and build it up in their mind to overwhelm their other selves. I would not believe Fall Lobster's words on my abilities. I am no more nor less than my brothers and sisters. After all, I put myself fully in to his power, gave him a victory to break the mental hold, yet it did not work. His delusion is too powerful to be broken" Sun Snake grimaced at how the Kai's mind had been twisted, more galling to be the unwitting target of the twisting.

"As to diplomacy, all I can say is what I know, and what I have surmised. And hope you see the logic of a ceasefire, and of allowing my comrades and I to act as we need to."

Sun Snake focused himself, having not expected to be able to speak to the High Priest without hiding his identity and the sources of his information. "Let us start at the beginning. We know you made a deal with the Nadziran of the Darklands to have two Helghast sneak your Maiden of Sacrifice in to our monastery for the Dagger of Vashna. They took twelve Vordak, forty Sommlending villagers, and set up a trap. Interestingly  - and I'm sure co-incidentally - of all the groups they could have picked to spring that trap upon, they picked the group coming to the Maakengorge on an urgent mission. We never could have returned to the monastery if we had wanted to. Still, they wore us down with the Vordak and made us attempt to save the villagers. And then, despite being empowered by Nadziran magic, despite being the same feel as the Helghast who sat at your right shoulder undetected, we managed to detect them. And even beat those creatures. Yet apparently they still had so much power they could use their psychic abilities against all around, churning the minds of the villagers in a final death blast. Oh, and your Maiden too. She would have been made brain dead had she not been taught by you the rudimentary skills of the Kai heritage you hide from her. I suppose the Helghast did die, after all who would they be concealing their deaths form with that final act that temporarily knocked our own focus?"

Sun Snake shrugged then carried on. "Meanwhile, our mission took us to Toran first before coming here, the Maiden having secured her passage with us skillfully. Little did we know that instead of being aided by the second most powerful Brotherhood mage, Valador, we were confirming our plans to a second Vonotar. The second in command of the Brotherhood has turned traitor, along with a Vakeros Knight called Haxadrom. They have taught the Old Kingdon and Left Handed magics to the Nadziran, in return for the secrets of powerful Right Handed Magics. And the ability to experiment and create the turned Kai you have seen. Interestingly, you personally have assembled a large group of people who may well have mixed disciplines and different skills. And who are clearly susceptible to being focused on a single slight and turned from their previous lives by it. Just as our Kai have been." Sun Snake shrugged at the detail, then continued. "The mage also conspired to create a shortcut in to the heart of Sommerlund from the Darklands. A Darklands attack force had gathered, and assaulted the monastery in our absence days ago. The Nadziran wishing something from there, and took it. Not the Dagger, however. Which is strange, as such a strike force did not sudden;y appear from nothing. It must have been long in the planning. Did they ask you if you wished to wait for their force to assault the monastery instead, rather than risk your Maiden in her attempt? Anyway, Valador has committed great treacheries, and yet has politically positioned himself such that we cannot share what we have discovered. Were we currently in a position to return and report it. The order is weakened, implicated, and we would sound mad accusing the man."

Sun Snake paused and moved onwards. "Perhaps I have not started from the beginning. This began with Cadak of the Cener coming to you with the Deathstaff, and our Grandmaster coming here to stop him. I wonder why Cadak - who had previously visited the Darklands - thought the Deathstaff capable of raising Vashna. Indeed, where did he get it from? The Deathstaff, despite being of Naar, is not an implement of his champions, but an implement of a creature called the Deathlord. A creature apparently seeking rebirth itself, though the Nadziran. Something powerful enoguh to have a weapon equal to the Sommerswerd gifted by Naar. Powerful enough that the Nadziran betray their previous masters to be in its service instead. And so Cadak and Lone Wolf fought here, and the city above was levelled and both sides were stricken, leaderless and broken for months."

Sun Snake's face was a grim mask, but he continued. "So, the reason we knew exactly where to come was the Sommerswerd, calling to us. And to make doubly sure, Valador himself gave me a magical device that allowed us to track the blade in this place. Incidenatally, the Deathstaff too, when we discovered it existed. Well, he also tracked us with it. But more on that later. Still, those are the tools we had to find Lone Wolf and the Sommerswerd and the Deathstaff. Surely the Nadziran, beings who resided in the Plane of Darkness, teamed up with Valador, and master mages themselves, could have found the Deathatsff in an instant? I suppose it is reasonable that some strange quirk of magic or ...dirt... meant it took them so long. Oddly just long enough that the Cener and Kai had regrouped and sent teams back here. Wait, or did you even find it? Or did oddly enough the Cener find it first. A Cener woman who has no visible scars or diseases of the Cener found it first. An odd woman who seemed powerful enough to lead a large command of Cener, yet when one of my Kai teams came upon her, did not quite managed to destroy them right away. Seemed reticent to do so. I have no idea why the delay, it was not as if someone - say yourself - was bearing down on her group at that moment to wrestle the staff from her. Still, at least she was smart - if I were her, a non Cener weilding power, and I had failed at the last minute so spectacularly to keep the staff I found, I would have fled. No, wait, but she was in the attack earlier. She was the same woman who I directed your ire at earlier. Quite powerful to hold you off for so long, you will agree. How interesting...."

Sun Snake then shrugged again and moved on. "And the Cener and the Kai were not the only ones to come here. Colonel Vyctar - I believe the second most powerful man in the Hammerlands - led a company of Drakkarim here personally. I believe you have had skirmishes with them. We too crossed his path. His plan is to conquer the Darklands, and to do so he has made a pact with the Nadziran. Of course, you may ask why if the Nadziran were making plans with him, that he was not here to help bolster your efforts. And you may ask why they would make any offer to the man, if they plan to aid this Deathlord instead? Still, the Nadziran made an offer to him. Not for the recovery of the Deathataff though. No, they wished Lone Wolf's body. Or Valador does. Interesting, to have a whole company come here, without making you aware of it, and asking them to take something so valuable to your own efforts efforts away from here. I did not know that was his mission when I met him, but the man was singular. Still is. Singular enough that I made an alliance of sorts with him. His aid to help us get the Deathtaff in exchange to help him with his quest and allow him to take it away. I did not know what it was at the time."

Sun Snake drew himself up, despite the reminder of what he had done before. And the words he was about to say. "So you know the sort of man I am, and my belief in what is at stake here, I will tell you what I did. I let him go." Sun Snake paused, just as must to control the emotions deep within as for effect. "That was a small lie I told your bishop earlier. Vyctar does not just have the Sommerswerd, he has the body of the Grandmaster. I don't think he expected that. I am certain Valador nor the Nadziran would have ever expected that either. Not without every Kai being dead first, of course. Yet with the Cener, the Nadziran, Valador at home and  - I beg your forgiveness - , the acolytes here all ready to use Lone Wolf's body as they see fit, it seemed the logical choice. Vyctar is a cautious man, in the same vein as you. And so I know I can act against the Darklands and have time to deal with Vyctar later. So that is the sort of man I am. I made a promise and I kept it. I made a gamble on a delayed evil to combat a great evil now. And currently such deals have been the only unexpected ways I have managed to combat the Darklands enemy and Valador, enemies working in the shadows and always a move ahead."

Sun Snake seemed to recall something. "I mentioned being traced by Valador? Just when the Vyctar situation was coming to a head, and I discovered his reason for being here, then who should appear - having tracked my group - but the Vakeros Haxadron, Valador's partner. The Vakeros fought us, and I think we surprised him in our abilities. He had thought to win, but seemingly had underestimated us. Strange for a skilled warrior to do, given the resources behind him. He was killed, and I am sure Valador was surprised and saddened to have a partner who would share power die. Especially since by killing Haxadrom, my group had further created unfortunate circumstances to bury ourselves with if we tried to tell anyone the unbelievable truth." Sun Snake made a mock shrug. "Haxadrom did manage one thing. He oddly did not kill Vyctar, yet there was something else that Vyctar cared about besides power. Or rather, someone. Haxadrom struck that person down, struck Vyctar's heart in a way that no warrior would have been able to touch the Drakkar otherwise. Focusing Vyctar purely on his quest for power, and losing a little of the Drakkar's exceptional caution and reason in his grief. It is the reason I parted com with him. Even if that meant giving up the Grandmaster and a powerful force of Drakkar aiding us."

Sun Snake raised his eyebrow to the High Priest. "Is there anything you care about, besides the raising of Vashna? Would the loss of the Maiden - were she to have died out there in the Helghasts' 'final' spiteful assault - have torn in to your heart? Or do you have another weakness that someone standing hidden by your right hand would have discovered? Something a foolish seeming turned Kai, with all his skills intact, have felt for while you thought him insular and disconnected from reality? If the Nadziran ever wanted you focused on nothing but raising Vashna, pushing you to be less methodical and patient in grief, could they do it?"

Again Sun Snake shrugged. "Of course, why would they need to do that? After all, there is nothing wrong with the Deathstaff. There is no reason for you to hesitate in using it. And the Nadziran offer seems reasonable, to allow you to raise Vashna first, and then they will take it so they can raise their own lord. Safe in the knowledge that both will co-exist. And Vyctar a happy third. And besides, its not as if you are being funnelled in to using nothing but the Deathstaff. It is not as if the Dagger has been denied to you despite a plans available that could have secured it. It's not as if the Maiden is only alive because of a fluke. It is not as if the body of Lone Wolf you seek has been taken by ones acting for the Nadziran. It is not as if the ancient and powerful Agarashi you had hidden away is apparently now killed by...well, I do not know what power would be needed to kill it. I suppose such power is commonplace though. And it is not as if you had agents of the Nadziran hidden right beside you, unbeknownst to you despite you alliance with them. And it is not as if I read Fall Lobster's intention to bargain with you for help in capturing me. Bargaining with the information he had, which was that the Helghast of the Nadziran in your company was going to betray you over the Deathstaff."

Sun Snake looked to the High Priest. "Are there holes in my knowledge? Is there a flaw in my reasoning? It appears to me that we have all been wrapped up in the machinations of the Darklands, a Darklands gearing up to welcome a new Lord. And a Darklands with allies deep inside the strongholds of its enemies. A Darklands relying on our divisions and our quests for power to create further cracks so it can act in between those cracks with impunity. A Darklands that has succeeded in reducing almost all of us. Struck down our leaders or - in the case of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star - poised to do so. The acolytes seemed be the only ones not so depleted, and are faring well. I suppose you will need to fight off the Cener for a while longer. More acolytes will die. The weaker, I presume. Those strong in powers of some kind, and focus, will survive I am sure. And then when you think it safe, you will use the Deathstaff to raise Vashna."

Sun Snake focused on his final thoughts. "It is mere speculation on my part, but I think you may not survive that use. And the best and most useable of the acolytes will suddenly be leaderless, right when there is a way to turn such skilled and focused individuals to a new cause. Fodder for a new Vonotar. And then the Deathlord will be risen in Vashna's place, with none to contest him."

Sun Snake stopped speaking, and looked to the High Priest for his response.


Can anyone spot the difference between the truth of the situation and the lies of omission / lies of lies? I'm not sure Sun Snake can anymore... and maybe there are none!

Sorry for the uber wall of text...but maybe if I stack it high enough we can get a CS bonus during the following combat for cover...

Well, that would be an interesting use of metagame... I'll think it over and let you know. ;)

So, on to the game!

The High Priest cocked his head to the side as he listened to Sun Snake's explanation, but between the mask hiding his expression and the ample robes hiding his body language, gauging the High Priest's reaction to the words was impossible.

Eventually, he spoke, his tone still carrying some traces of amusement, although it was also clearly veering toward a more serious, authoritative voice.

"That's quite the web you unfolded, Sun Snake of the Kai, and I admit I was only peripherally aware of some of it, and lacked knowledge of a good portion. Yet, I do not see how this changes anything."

He gestured airily with his left hand to add emphasis to his words:

"You speak as if the Nadziranim being treacherous should be something of a surprise to me. I might not have known the extent of their plot - which, I recognize, is impressively wide - but the fact they planned to betray me to further secret goals of their own? That's just common sense. I'm already prepared to deal with it."

The man leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his hands under his chin, willingly conveying interest with both his posture and voice as he asked, the green lens that hid his eyes aimed straight at Sun Snake:

"So, tell me, Lord Snake, Kai Master who allies himself with his own enemies to triumph over them, what kind of advantage do you think our cooperation would bring about? You allied with the Drakkar for the Deathstaff in exchange for his taking your leader's corpse - the corpse is gone, and the Deathstaff is still not in your hands. That suggest that your alliances makes you easily duped, and I'm interested in duping you like the Drakkar did; let's hear how you propose I do it."

Despite the speech's content, there didn't seemed to be any sarcasm in the man's words - as if he was challenging Sun Snake to prove his assumptions wrong.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:23, Wed 12 Mar 2014.

Lol, I love that last paragraph.

Sun Snake shrugged. "Make me remove the Cener from your door."

Sun Snake paused a moment to gather his thoughts. "The Deathstaff was not our my mission, Lone Wolf had no way to tell us what he had found and thwarted. My mission was two fold. To discover what happened to the Grandmaster and the Sommerwerd, and recover...what we could. And discover the fate of the previous group sent on the same mission. The second part we sadly completed early. Valador and Haxadrom managed to intercept the previous group with Gourgaz augmented by experimentations. I believe you have also encountered these creatures preying on those on the outskirts of your camps? And I achieved the first, in my way. Lone Wolf and the Sommerswerd is away from anyone's direct machinations. The Colonel has no direct designs for now. I would like to continue the mission to a proper conclusion and intercept the man before he disappears in to the Hammerlands."

Sun Snake shrugged. "The Colonel wishes to trade Lone Wolf for power. He has not even got back to his stronghold yet. And that power is ephemeral. Meanwhile he has aided me to get here, and aided me in keeping Lone Wolf safe when my group's focus became split. We both think we have an advantage over the other. We both know another clash will be forthcoming, and yet have managed to walk away from each other without watching our backs. That seems to be a worthy goal?"

Sun Snake pointed to the temple. "The Deathstaff has been a distraction from the real dangers growing around us all. It needs to be neutralised, certainly. And I would clearly prefer to leave here with it so we can destroy it. However, since I doubt you will let me take it from you even if I asked politely for it, the other alternative seems to be this: do not use it. Hide it and do not let the Nadziranim nor Cener take it from you. And let us leave here. In exchange, use us as a distraction. Act as if we have stolen the Deathstaff. Move a portion of your forces as if chasing for us, creating a barrier at our backs. We will act as though we have succeeded, and move away from here in pursuit of the Colonel. Let the Cener think they need to focus on us, but create a barrier they will need to move around to buy us time. I doubt they will wish to engage you again if they think they can bypass you and catch up with us."

Sun Snake looked to the High Priest. "Is that suitably deluded? I doubt anyone would believe us working together. The Cener have been clever, dublicitous, but even the most paranoid planner would not think for one moment my group would willingly leave and colude with you, pretending to possess the Deathstaff and leave it in your keeping. And I similarly doubt Valador nor the Nadziran would believe such a thing either. You remove yourself as part of this secert war being waged. And get to sit on the sidelines awaiting your moment."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:37, Wed 12 Mar 2014.

The High Priest chuckled at Sun Snake's words, and then said, sounding bemused:

"So, you basically ask that I let you leave alive and with your companions here unbothered, and also to move my forces in a distracting manouver; in exchange, you offer ot take upon yourself the wrath of Ceners and Nadziranim alike, making yourself a target so I can work my own plans unimpeded. And of course, once the Ceners catch up with you, you will not, oh no never, suggest them to ally with you in exchange for gaining access to my temple in the chaos of their attack and steal the Deathstaff back - why, that doesn't sounds at all like what just happened, and I can't see any way an honorable Kai like you would ever join his enemies and pit them against each other to accomplish his own goals. Why, such plans are better left for cunning masterminds, not for a Kai that was incredibly overestimated by one of his own brethen and only succeed in almost breaching my Temple and infiltrating my flock's ranks by sheer luck, right?"

He shook his head, and then continued, sounding more neutral:

"I don't know if you're crazy, a mastermind like the abomination said, or merely brazenly reckless, Sun Snake of the Kai - but, something I do know, and that is that you would not let any of your followers die for the sake of your plan. You just proved it to me, after all."

Slowly, the High Priest got back to his feet, and his next words now had the slightest hint of an edge.

"You and I both know, Magnakai, that you're not going to leave the Maakengorge at this time; you'll stop pretending that's true soon enough, and then, as I predicted, you will be the first to attack and break this truce you yourself asked me for. You're interesting, and you know much I want details about, but I can't trust you any more than you'd be willing to trust me. And so that we cut right to the chase: you do know what I need to raise my Lord, Sun Snake of the Kai, don't you? What I need more than the Deathstaff or even the Holy Dagger, and which I currently already have, and which I know you won't let me keep, and which you won't leave this place without? You've told me much; so, tell me why you're going to attack me, why I'm so sure of it, and why I know your offer is not honestly meant. I want to hear it from your own mouth."

And he crossed his arms, even as Hurlon quietly shifted to a more ready position, clearly anticipating an attack but also clearly unwilling to start it without his leader's explicit command.

It's hard to bluff in poker when your opponent clearly has something good,,,and is also playing Magic: the Gathering. Oh well...

Sun Snake's face contorted in to a look of contempt. "If I wanted to betray you to the Cener you already would have been. A Cener would have been inside the temple by now after the battle, and would have been able to use the revelation of the Nadziran Helghast as a distraction at the most opportune time. And my group could have stayed well back and taken the staff after the Cener weakened themselves against you."

Sun Snake's disappointment with just as aggressive as the High Priest's own edge. "You know the final thing the Colonel gave me? Hope. For once. After a millenia of hostility, the Kai and the Drakkar actually worked together for once. For a single moment on a battlefield, but I think that is a first It may have been the best of a bad situation to keep the agreement, but it was more than that. It was a reckless gamble for the mission, but there is a larger fight. A fight against Naar. I would rather - when evil turns upon itself and Naar and his followers betray each other - have the Drakkar remember that there was once a time when men could trust each other. Maybe the Drakkar and the Sommlending will always fight, but maybe we can fight for our own reasons, not for Naar's ambition."

Sun Snake then pointed away from the island, back to the battlefield. "And you forget one other thing. You forget who those acolytes out there really are. It is easy for us Kai to forget to, until we come see them face to face. They are our people. Not just Sommlending. But all of them out there. The downtrodden, the outcasts. They were the ones Kai wished us to protect. They are our conscience for us failing. Without someone like you telling them something else will make things right, perhaps they can rise up to make things right themselves. Not just for themselves, but for others too. Become a true people on the outskirts of the lands, championing outcasts like themselves, being a force against oppressors instead of awaiting their chance to become the oppressor. I don't have to promise you a thing, but I will promise them. I won't let the Cener slaughter any more of them if I can help it. I'm not going to bring a battle back to them if I can draw it away."

Sun Snake looked the High Priest up and down. "What do you speak of inside the temple? The Maiden? You think I won't abandon her because she is a Kai? Well, she is a great many things. A half blood Drakkar for one. Loyal to her true family, the acolytes for another. You think I won't leave her here? I count upon it. She is clever and devoted. With her links to the Drakkar, with her latent Kai powers, she will become a fearsome leader here. Of course, you may think she will carry on at your side. However, I have more faith in Kai, and in evil to turn on itself. You've lied to her once. Hidden a part of her from herself. No matter how much to try to keep her with you, a part of her will remember that. You think I will strike you down and betray you? I plan on being a man of my word. I plan on her seeing the best of the Kai. So that one day, when you are old, and frail, and your power and your patience are for nothing, and you look to her to lead...she will lead. One foot in the Drakkar world, one in the Kai, beloved of the people around her here. A bridge in many directions for peace. She'll lead them away form your teachings, out in to the world. To be a conscience, to be healers, to fight for those we champions forget? Who knows. But I have faith. So no, I will not attack you, I will not give you death. Unless you truly threaten those you have gathered around you with your plans, I will give you a long life. Knowing you will help mold a better leader in spite of yourself. You crafted this place with patience? I'm happy to see the people here slowly come in to their own power after being denied it for so long in the wars we have always fought."

Sun Snake rocked back on his heels. "Are you simply so sure I am false because you claw for power and nothing more? Or do you truly have faith as I do in your own ways? Please, let us test it together. I will fight for those you have under you, and you can sit back and try to keep their loyalty. I believe one day through days like this we will earn them back. Are you not as confident in your lord and your power to keep them?"

Sorry, getting very late...this might make no sense. Still, it doesn't have to...just need to buy Sabre and Hornet time. And also set up the High Priest for the 'doh, that thing we can't leave behind' moment he's going to land on us. Plus I presume he'll unmask himself and make us all 'oh noes!' :D

As the dog began her stalk of Hornet, Fox merely laughed out loud

"Your telling me that your so frightened off me you can't even take me on one on one? Talk about a yellow belly!"

Just trying some distraction tactics now lol

I apologize to all for the lateness of this reply - today my job stole me for over twelve hours, so I'm a bit spent.

Anyway, on with the post! ^_^

When the High Priest spoke again, all amiablity had disappeared from his voice, and his cutting words now finally carried clear threat.

"I see, so that was your plan all along, the reason you corrupted her to your way of thinking. Unluckily for you, your Maiden won't survive past midnight; she'll kill herself by her own hand as the day dies with her, as it's written it must be, and if the Deathstaff holds a trap, as you say, it'll not be me who falls for it."

He paused to let the words sink, then went on, his tone cruel:

"And of course, you think she'd never do that, but you made a mistake which gives me leverage over your precious Maiden. You see, I have another abomination in there, and she recognized the bodyguard you sent inside for what she truly is... and besides, she wasn't as good in fooling me as you were. I do understand why you sent her, don't misunderstand - those mind powers of her were a match for even me, and truly scary - but she couldn't take me and Hurlon together, and we subdued her easily enough."

The man's voice lowered to an hiss, as he concluded, leaning forward:

"And once we started with the torture, your Maiden started to beg for me to stop; thus, I know she will kill herself as needed, rather than watch as we melt the othe one drop of lava at a time. I've won already, Sun Snake of the Kai - your help is worthless to me."

The last words were spoken with haughtiness, letting the man's pride and arrogance show throught.
---

Meanwhile, inside the Temple, the abomination barely glanced at Sabre Fox before saying, in an annoyed tone:

"Of course I'm scared of a fair fight the man who's supposedly the fifth best swordman in the Monastery, I'm not stupid. Beside, bleeding you to death will be much more fun... but I'll let you watch myself tearing apart your flunky first!"

And with that, she suddenly charged ahead toward Water Hornet's position; the Magnakai managed to sidestep the attack somewhat as he thrust his dagger forward, but his opponent simple used her pawed arm to soak the attack as she swung with the spiked arm, pushing Hornet back with the brutality of the hit while also opening thin, bleedy lines across hiw shoulder and face where it had it.

She looked at him with a feral expression, a long, snake-like tongue coming out of her mouth to lick the blood away from the pointed extremity even as she seemed to almost wait for her opponent's next move...

Since your CR is -9, with a roll of 6, Hornet, you take 6 damage while your opponent only 3, so your attempt of positioning failed. However, I did realized I forgot to tell you that the abomination is not armed with Mindshield - so, if you want to retroactively add in that you're using Mindblast, you can, and that'll give you a CR of -7, reducing the damage you took to 5 and increasing that you inflicted to 4. You still take more damage so you still fail on the tactical goal of positioning your enemy, but given the kind of battle you've just jumped into, every little bit counts, right?

Kai Abomination: CS 24, END 25/30.

Swift glanced at the High Priest as he spoke, her gaze flitting briefly towards the temple as he spoke of the abomination and the "bodyguard" he mentioned who must have been Rain Feather.

Slowly she withdrew her free hand from her cloak, her fist closed around something.
Her gaze moved back to the High Priest, clearly studying something about him closely...


OOC: Ouch, hope Rain isn't gone now too... :(
This message was last edited by the player at 08:18, Fri 14 Mar 2014.

Yeah, that doesn't sound too good...but the guy sould just be saying this stuff to provoke a reaction or something - either Rain Feather is dead, or she's locked up somewhere (injured or not).

Any dust/dirt around to whip in this things face to blind it a round and assist Hornet?

OOC: Yeah, will need any little bit of advantage I can get; thanks for allowing to activate Mindblast.

Water Hornet let out a hiss but didn't relent in mentally attacking his enemy. Without taking his gaze off the abomination he retreated back as far as the safe area on the floor allowed him. The creature's words finally reached his consciousness and sparked an idea. In that moment, he didn't care to think how the dark creature could've evaluated who had been the best swordsman in the Order.

Hornet quickly released the clasp of his Kai cloak and let it fall on the ground behind his feet. "Sabre," he said, "doesn't this remind the famous battle against master Starfire...?" He hoped his fellow Kai would understand. He desperately needed to at least distract his opponent.

OOC: Sabre, maybe Hornet's Kai cloak could be used as a distraction instead of a dust/dirt cloud?
In any case, Hornet will wait for the beast charge, again trying to get it close to the glyph-covered area of the floor.
Rolled a...2. Rerolling...8!

This message was last edited by the player at 11:42, Fri 14 Mar 2014.

Everyone dies Swift Fox. Who knows, Rain and Alyne may very well outlive us... Hopefully Sabre and Hornet can at least!

And I'm always surprised how much you manage to keep the game running wihtout mentioning any work/RL related distractions Shadow. The fact a 12 hour days is what it takes to be noticeable, and that you still foudn the time to update afterwards is very cool :)


Externally Sun Snake's face froze in a neutral mask, though clearly there was a pause in his thinking. His eyes did dart once to Hurlon, at the mention of lava rather than the initial aid in capturing who was most likely Rain Feather.


Sun Snake looked the High Priest up and down. "I saw a place here made with power, made through patience. I should have realised the balance of such thngs is the toll allowed to be taken by the passage of time. Vyctar is a man in his prime, confident in his power. You...I see now you are facing your own mortality. You gamble against your methodical claims with a poor hand. You sacrifice your slow patient moves to power with a recklessness. A man who skillfully crafts people and places a decade ago so quickly falls to his dotage now. This isn't a test of faith, then. This is me telling you why, whether we stand or fall just now, you have already lost."

Sun Snake stood tall. "You already state your power wanes, then? The person you claim to have faced is indeed strong in mental powers. But by no means the strongest. Certainly my own teacher is stronger. Or the one who taught her." Sun Snake said it in an odd way, perhaps indicating himself to an outsider, thought that could have been a mask for something else.


"You presumeably have kept her conscious, for the full effect of your torture? And so you allow a person with considerable mental skill the ability to snuff their own mind out if they believe your Maiden may be forced in such a well. How evil turns upon itself. Still, you mind is clearly becoming clouded from what it once was. You have forgotten the power of real faith and familial ties you trade upon. She is beyond my aid, and my aggression would mean nothing. Her fate is in her own hands. And yours."

Sun Snake folded her hands. "You knew the betrayal of the Nadziran a possibility? Then I have overestimated you. I presumed full confidence in them was the only reason you allowed the Maiden in to the world to be harmed. And lied to her of her heritage, and yet then risked her being amongst those you tried to turn her against?" Sun Snake shook his head. "And you claim I did anything to turn her against you? Bah, I thought I had made it an extreme gamble to allow her to come back to you, a foolish hope for a better future. I did not expect you to turn around and do everything in your desperation to turn her fully against you. You threaten her with a single card that will remove itself. You have eradicated all faith in you she possessed. How will you use her now when she is poised to depose you or die trying?"

Sun Snake grimaced. "Here is my own faith. I may wish to save everyone I can, but that is simple a desire to end this with the minimum of casualities. However I do not doubt we will win. You already show how you betray everyone who has faith in you. No wonder you have forgotten how people act for a cause they know is true. I do not wish the acolytes here to die in the crossfire of the Cener and the Nadziran ambitions, but if you damn them to it then that is you act, not mine. I have no doubt they will emerge out of your grasp and stronger, no matter what happens here. Lone Wolf came here, and even if he died, he brought this whole place down on you all and weakened you all. Whether my group live or die, I already know we've struck at your heart. You've just done it for us with your ill-thought out actions you crow about. We will weaken you and everyone who blindly follows you further if you force a conflict. The next of my group that comes here will end your ambitions. If the Nadziran and Valador have not done it first."

Sun Snake looked to Hurlon. "I see there is no use talking to the High Priest any more. You seem to be eager to be let off the chain - perhaps knowing the man cannot defend himself any more and needs you jump in front as soon as his own gamble fails. Knowing his words were hollow, and I will not strike first. So, I ask you. Do you let us walk out of here and take the Cener with us - all of us, now - or do we all assure each other's destruction in combat. I win either way. Every death here is regretable, but one more life that is added to the lifeforce that keeps Vashna bound in his prison below here. Thank you for showing me that no matter what I do here, there is nothing any longer to fear from this place."


I'm sort of hoping to keep the High Priest angry enough that he wouldn't notice Sun Snake's psychic defenses altering and lowering. The idea would be - and I have no WP to invest in this - to try and mimic the High Priest's defenses as Sun Snake first felt them, using Divination nd Invisibility. Combine that with Psi-screen too, so that Sun Snake is basically presenting a good representation of those defenses for Dusk Rat or Shinign Peacock to study without being detected themselves. Perhaps even be able to find a way through as practise on Sun Snake.

Also, if possible could Sun Snake extend such a defense right to the edge of the High Priest? In that way, perhaps an attack coming form outside could use Sun Snake as a blind side so that the High Priest's own defenses would be tricked in to letting such an external attack come through? Or at the very least, it would disguise who attacked.

Sun Snake would for a few moments alter that with dropping his defenses completely. In those moments, he'd think very clearly about Hurlon.

Sun Snake is also trying to provoke Hurlon to see what side the man is on. Is he even remotely caring that the High Priest might not be acting in the best interests of the Acolytes, according to Sun Snake? Is he devoted the the High Priest and so ready to now strike no matter what? Is he feeling challenged regaring the High Priest's powers on the High Prienst's behalf?

Basically, whatever even tiny sliver of intention Hurlon might harbour, Sun Snake would like to imagine Hurlon acting on that. In the hopes that one of the psychcis around might be able to read Sun Snake's mind and push Hurlon regarding that? at the least, push the man enough he feels uncertain, very cool if he did it!

So either push him by proxy to throw one of his blades at Snake, fall back behind the High Priest so the High Priest has to make the first move alone, or heck, in magical fairy land perhaps even Hurlon striked the High Priest himself :)


If Sun Snake can push Hurlon to throwing a blade rather than attack directly in melee, can Sun Snake be prepared for it and maybe use some 'shadow power' stuff to do something coo. again, sadly, no WP to invest. The idea would be using Invisibility/Pathsmanship to know the perfect place and way to stand -without appear to - so that if something came at him, Sun Snake could dodge as efficiently as possible. Use a combination of divination and Weaponmasery with sword to know exactly when and how the blade would come at him - and perhaps even be able to therefore pluck it form the air or bat it away top land safely near one of the others like Swift Fox?

Anyway, lunch is very over now.... I think I've typed enough!

That you have. :)

As for my presence to the game, t's just a matter of care - I care for this game very much, so I always do my best to be present to it.

Now, as for your ideas, Sun Snake, the lack of WP is not the same as being out of options . you have less, and a lower chance of success, but you can still make use of plenty of skills, even if some are inaccessible.

So, you can use Invisibility mostly for free, and same goes for Weaponsmastery as an evaluation tool; Pathsmanship is only partially free, so you have reduced options. Divination and Psy-Screen, on the other hand, almost always have at least a minimal cost, and of course, it's important to notice that you don't have Patience on your person at this time, which would have helped with that.

So, Weaponsmastery + Pathsmanship to track the path of a thrown weapon is something I think I can let you do, if that comes up; you'll still have to roll Hunting to dodge, and if the Thrown weaopon is not a sword or axe, you can expect it to be less effective, but it will nevertheless yeld you a bonus, something like a +5 or so, to your attempt to dodge.

Divination and Psy Screen you can't use, not in any WP consuming manner at least, so you will not get your mindtrick - I don't think I'd have allowed all of it anyway, because, even if Psy-Screen + Invisibility to make a psychic picture of the High Priest's defences is something you can do, projecting it would require use of either Telepathy, Spirit Walking or Mindfort, none of whom you can access.
There was clear annoyance in the High Priest's voice when he answered, and maybe even the slightest hint of rage as he took a step forward, preventing Hurlon from reacting in any way, although from his glare, the bishop was not going to have kind words for Sun Snake's request.

"I know you are not stupid, Magnakai, so I will assume you're trying to provoke me, or drive a wedge between me and Bishop Hurlon... or maybe both at once. I forgot nothing, and failed in nothing. The Maiden betrayed me, siding with you, the lowest scum on this planets, the only ones who constantly fight to twarth our plans from succeeding. Such an action is the equilanet of disowning oneself from our faith, spitting in the face of the family who took care of her every need, her every necessity, just for the hope of surviving: a true Acolyte would have known that no amount of lies and promises should be heeded, and that there is no way other than sacrifice to reach the final goal. She joined the oppressors, forsake us all, and as such a traitor deserved, she's been punished. My faithful know, when I take them under our wing, that it's us against the world; the moment she stopped being one of us, she become part of the world, and to protect my flock, I'll strike viciously to all in the world who oppose us."

Hurlon's expression of rage had shifted to one of satisfaction and even pride at the High Priest's words, so he glared smugly at the group while the High Priest slwoly composed himself, taking care of settling his robe correctly on his figure before speaking again, his voice now calm and cold.

"So, you see, there is no fear of dying wich hurries me along, Magnakai, I'm merely doing the necessary to raise my Master. As you say, I've worked hard and patiently for this day, so I know what needs to be done - the power of the sun god must destroy itself, a maiden daughter of Sommerlund must be slain of her own will, by her own hand, by a weapon carrying the power of the night, as the day dies, and from the earth He will raise again, drawing the strenght of body and soul from that wich was marred by the blood of sacrifice. That is what will happen, Magnakai, what my patient and long planning meant to bring about, and the weapon of the night, the last component of the ritual, is now finally in my hands. As for the reason I sent the girl, it was a test of her skill, of her faith, and of her dedication; I was always by her side, I had control over the Helghast who you slew; had she failed, in death or otherwise, that would have meant that she was no worthy Acolyte, and that her faith wouldn not suffice to make her carry on with the sacrifice... something I needed to know, and failing she did."

Afther another brief pause, the High Priest shook his head, then concluded, his tone final:

"As for me not being all powerful, that's hardly a sign of weakness - only the Darklord Vashna is, and since I'm not him, I need to assess my enemies and recognize their strenght, without for that dismissing how great my own is. So, is there anything else you want to try, Sun Snake of the Kai, or was that the last arrow in your bow? I'm not letting you go - discovering all the truths you know is something I'll need - but if you truly thinks there's any trick you've left other than fighting to escape my grasp, please, do show me."

Swift shifted her position slightly, taking a step closer to Sun Snake's position and leaning casually on the sword as if growing bored with the conversation between Sun Snake and the High Priest.
She had been studying something about the High Priest's equipment and now suddenly spoke up.

"I'm curious.  Have you ever visited Anskaven?  You remind me of someone I used to know there.  Someone who liked to pretend they were some all powerful puppet-master when they were nothing more than an arrogant fool who had no real power of their own..."

She glanced back at Silver Raven momentarily, indicating the High Priest's mask.
"Am I right in assuming that that Jade Mask gives its wearer the ability to manipulate the element of water?  And the embroidered detail on that red scarf, the same for wind?  Items worn by a powerless man who wants to impress people and make them view him as the divine right-hand of a more powerful being.
Surely if that were true, the spirit of Vashna would have gifted you with power such that you wouldn't need those trinkets.  Or maybe you truly lack the faith you try to create in the others you use as puppets?  I wonder if you would even dare to try to release the full power of the Deathstaff yourself, suspecting what it might do to you.  Will you order him to sacrifice himself to it instead?"
She nodded towards Hurlon as she said the last part.


OOC: Thought I'd join Sun Snake in the wind-up attempt :)  hehe.
I should probably get ready to dodge now!

Silver Raven nodded to Swift Fox's comment and added, in tone impassionate:

"His rings are all magical as well - quite the selection, too. I can tell he has not even a smidgen of true power in his body - all he has is a bunch of impressive trinkets, nothing more."

The High Priest merely scoffed at that and answered, irritation clear in his voice:

"If I had power in my body, I'd either be a darkspawn of one of you accursed Kai. The fact I have none is only further proof of my skill - unlike you freaks who are born with the ability to control the forces of the world with your mind, I worked, and worked hard, for every scrap of power I have; I earned it all by my sheer will of succeeding, and that will is what Vashna choose me as High Priest for - something much more valuable than any inborn talent you have could ever be."

Swift peered at him a moment longer, then lowering the sword and holding it in a more relaxed manner clearly intended to be non-threatening, she began to walk slowly towards Sun Snake, as though intending to stand alongside him perhaps as a show of support, or simply to place herself in the same visible position to the High Priest and Hurlon.

As she went, she looked back at the High Priest.
"You assume so much.  Whoever said the gifts of a god were always gifts?  The first of our Order, Sun Eagle, also had to work hard to obtain the means by which he gained those powers.  If not for his legacy, we would have to do the same.
And you know nothing of what I once was.  When my powers first emerged, they were twisted into a dark curse that held a city in a grip of fear.  What I do now, I do to atone for that.  Where once I brought death, now I stand to protect life, and unlike you, I would stand by that goal alone if I had to.  I did not come here as part of Sun Snake's team.  I had another purpose.  I merely came here with a message to impart to him..."

She shrugged and nodded in the general direction of the camp on the shore beyond the temple.
"Only two of your bishops survived an attack by a Cenerese spy.  I confronted him in the guise of the Helghast I used before.  He could see through my disguise, and he threatened the lives of the children, cowering behind them to try to save himself.  Much as you would if it suited you I presume.  While your bishops could easily have destroyed him with their magic, they hesitated, sensing that the Acolytes were not so willing to sacrifice their own children for the sake of your insanity.  Everyone has a line they will never cross after all.
I saved the child, and the Cener escaped, wounded but alive.  I can't help but wonder if that incident taught those Acolytes something, that there is something they value more than your rather laughable pretence at power.  Will they stand there and sacrifice their lives and their childrens' lives the next time the Cenerese attack?  Will your two remaining bishops be enough to bully them into giving up their humanity and becoming your puppets again?  Or will they leave you to the fate you deserve at the hands of the Cenerese?  Will you cower behind Hurlon there when your time comes, or simply flee?  Personally, I have no idea what Sun Snake has in mind, but maybe you can't afford to ignore a chance of removing the threat of the Cenerese, even for a short time.
Though I can't honestly say your mastery of strategy has impressed me so far..."

"Ah. You presume to teach me wisdom, Kai girl? You say my Acolytes were weakened by the worry for their children, but at least I let them have the comfort of a family, something your Order instead forbids you, afraid of you gaining that same weakness you now call out in our Lord's followers. But let me tell you, that weakness is but a hidden strenght: those children you saved will one day raise again as followers of the Dreaded Darklord, and maybe among them hides one who'll serve the cause better than even I have. You don't understand us at all, Kai girl, so stop pretending to."

Roll for Camouflage, Swift Fox, DC 2. If you beat it, you can get next to Sun Snake without Hurlon stopping you.

OOC: Yay, got a 7 :)


Swift stopped near Sun Snake's position and faced the High Priest again.
"Teaching wisdom would require intelligence, something that you've yet to convince me you possess" she replied sharply.

She propped the sword upright on the ground, leaning casually on it.
"I mean look at your tactics thus far.  You left your Maiden and a prisoner and the object you so foolishly pin your hopes on under the guard of a failed experiment of the Nadziranim, whom you yourself already claimed you didn't trust."

She waved her hand in the general direction of the boat where Lobster was.
"Even if the creature lacks the intelligence to betray you, they are still failed experiments.  I myself rendered that one unconscious with a single blow while he was trying to flee from me rather than fighting back.  I killed another in the Darklands, and I'm sure one more wouldn't prove a significant obstacle.  Something I am more than happy to prove if you don't believe me."

Her expression changed to a rather amused smirk.
"As for what I was trying to teach, I suppose it was something you are incapable of ever learning.  But something that was taught particularly forcefully to me at a very young age.  People are not puppets.  They have their own will, their own minds.  Perhaps one of those children will indeed grow to be greater than you.  Perhaps the one whose life was saved by the Kai when their own bishops openly admitted they would have happily allowed them to die in the name of their 'faith'.  They are already greater than you, they have potential you threw away a long time ago.  It is only a matter of time before they reject your path.  And when you have failed and destroyed yourself trying to master a weapon that was never intended for your use, how many of them will even remember you, and the empty promises you made them?  You are set on a course to nothing but your own doom.  Surely even a deluded fool like you can see that?"

She straightened up, leaving the sword sticking upright in the ground beside her.
"As for family.  I have all the family I require, and unlike you who would allow all your followers to suffer and die just to save your own worthless carcass...  If you continue to threaten my family, I may just send you to Dazganon faster than your own foolishness will take you there.  It was Sun Snake here who promised not to attack you after all.  He does not control me, and I gave no such promises!"


OOC: Ok, definitely getting ready to dodge now...  :)

If I pull Hurlon's focus for a moment if I sense Swift Fox is moving forwards, can I get her out of needing to roll?

And oops, I did mean to have all the mechanics questions be private... that's what you get when you have someone almost standing over your shoudler when you're trying to finish up! Now everyone else can appreciate that my long posts can be like an iceberg...there's even more under the surface you have to read through! :(


Sun Snake smiled wanly to the High Priest and his increasingly aggressive words, especially as Swift Fox joined in. The comments that Swift Fox might know the High Priest's identity were interesting, but for the moment Sun Snake did not react. "Arrows? Wedges? This is merely speech. How else can I get to know you when you act so duplicitously to your own people, and see tricks everywhere. This is how I learn what is threat from the Nadziran, and what is merely more trickery of a father figure against one whom consdiered herself an adopted daughter. It was you mind I touch, then then, back in that battle? I am glad the Helghast are truly dead. Of course, you slaughtered the minds of forty ordinary men and women who were also working to better themselves. Still, they were born without something...proximity to you I suppose...and so were also outsiders? So you strike both up at the oppressors who are born with gifts or position, and down at the common folk with less position than yourself? No wonder I felt no humanity in that mental touch, and assumed a Nadziran backer augmented the Helghast. You lied and tested the loyalty of the Maiden, and you wonder why it drove us to her? You regained her, and then you abused her in worse ways than any oppressor she hasd ever know? She did not betray you nor her family, you turned from her. She would still act to save you all, as I try to save the others out there, but you wish to build a pyre to your 'faith' and kill or have sacrifice all who are not in your narrow faith. And allow those out there to die in your name. They have no true faith in Vashna, it is you they have faith in. And the Darkspawn come from Naar, just as Vashna does. So you do Naar's work even as you rail against those he has corrupted? Kai slowly shares his gifts to all, even those born with the blood of the enemies of his homeland. And wherelse do you get your will, your intelligence, your very life but from kai and Ishir. And instead of taking it as hope to have a Maiden with such potential, and instead of taking it as an opportunity to grow, you narrow yourself even more."

Sun Snake pointed to Hurlon and took a subtle sidestep as he felt Swift Fox shift. "Your man there has no true faith in Vashna, it is you. He'd kill me right now if you didn't hold him back, making him blind and pushable. I provked him to see where his heart lies. To see if the hand that admited to harming one of mine could be saved. But he has become as blinded as your other bishops. You claim all your flock know it is the world or themselves. But one of your bishops, in your name, slaughtered nine by his own hand in faith of you. I played a souless minion, but the ones whose souls are truly being corrupted under your oppression are your followers. The less die without care, the faithful kill without thought. You serve death - literally, for I have touched Vashna's mind and know exactly what he is. You twist every gift that has been given to you in your life, that you have earned, and turn it towards death. Towards the servant of Darkness."

Thought I'd better react, but I'm enjoying Swift Fox weighing in! Pity large text walls will make it hard for Frost to interject... I guess the summary is 'peopel were chatting at the High Priest' :D


Edit: Oops, double posted. Eh, it's probably easier to let it all stand as happening simulatneous, right? Let me know if I need to edit anything.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:42, Fri 14 Mar 2014.

It works very well, I think.

Hurlon seemed outraged and ready to say something, but the High Priest put an hand on the bishop shoulder, stopping him from acting, and then let out a dark chuckle.

"You claim to have touched my Master's mind, to know that he's death incarnate... and yet you fail to understand anything, Magnakai. Yes, we worship the Master of death - He who can give it, and He who can revoke it as well. Through our death, if it's for the cause, we buy ourselves a second life, an eternal one, as he who will be raised will in return raise those who died for their faith in him. True Acolytes need not fear death, shoudln't, because it's our Lord's oath and promise that He'll bring us back from it. That you couldn't see this shows how frail your mind is, how meager and lacking your understanding."

He crossed his arms, and then his masked gaze turned to Swift Fox as he added, disdain in his voice:

"As for you, Kai girl, I couldn't care less wether you'd attack us or not; I only need one person to interrogate, and that will be the mastermind; the rest will die either way. If you want to be the first, we're here to satisfy the request - do as you wish."

"I've already seem the life that Vashna creates from death. You know their names. Helghast. Vordak. Humanity is fodder for his Vordak Gems. His true children are those many faces abominations without frail bodies and burning souls. The ones you call as bad as us. I have touched Vashna's mind and his prison. Everything that has ever lived - the oppressed, the downtrodden, the innocent victims of countless wars and attrocities you and I and those like us have been constantly engaged in - strangely choose in their next life to keep Vashna down, not aid him back to this place. even though surely he would grant them new life. An odd choice, don't you think?"


Sun Snake shrugged. "I have not heard anything yet that convinces me you will succeed in your task. Certainly not today. And I now have faith you never will. Do you truly wish more of your flock to die so we can engage in one more futile round of death to honour your false master. And ironically ensure his prison becomes ever more secure?"


Edit: Aah, since Swift Fox didn't explicitly give Sun Snake the sword, I missed thta it was now right in his reach. Without drawing attention to it, he'll stand beside it. Does his Divination sense it's safe to lean on it?
This message was last edited by the player at 22:05, Fri 14 Mar 2014.

Ooh, this thread has been busy today. Not that I have too much to contribute to it, so far, lol.

At the High Priest's reply to her, Swift snorted with amusement.
"Oh, I love it when I run into an opponent who is so stupidly overconfident.  Makes things easier for me."

She narrowed her eyes, making a show of peering closely at the High Priest.
"I'm very tempted by that Jade Mask.  I might keep that.  It'll go nicely with my dagger."
As she spoke, she pulled her cloak slightly aside, revealing the hilt of the Jade Spike, though she didn't reach for it just yet.

"I'm not sure though, masks aren't really my style.  A bit too show-off.  But that scarf, I really like that scarf.  Red is definitely my colour."
She glanced over to Sun Snake, as though about to ask his opinion, but then shook her head.
"Oh, sorry, I'll wait till you two are done."

With that, she took a step back, leaving the sword where she had put it...


OOC: Yep, even if Swift is about to die horribly in the ensuing carnage when we finally tick this guy off enough to make him attack us, at least she's having fun now :)

(And yep, I really do want that scarf, it'll look awesome on Swift!  And red is good for hiding the bloodstains!) :)

OOC: Oh good grief. Five minute check in and....blam. Not sure i'm gonna manage to read all that any time this side of Easter. 2015 :)

Swift Fox, don't apologise about the healing - no matter how it may relate to the healing you've done before, you more than doubled a li'l Ferret's capacity to get out of this alive. It's still very slim, but much better. So thank you! :)
This message was last edited by the player at 23:25, Fri 14 Mar 2014.

To quote myself:

Sun Snake:

Pity large text walls will make it hard for Frost to interject... I guess the summary is 'peopel were chatting at the High Priest' :D

An inerjection on acolyte dogma, Kai dogma, or a tactical assessment while we're distracting the High Priest might be a good idea right now :)

Lol yeah...Sun Snake and the High Priest spamming increasingly complicated Walls of Text at each other whilst Swifty sneaks in, makes a few comments, and sneaks Sun Snakes's sword back to him while the High Priest and Hurlon get more and more pissed off :D.

The High Priest raised his right fist high over his head, and once again, his voice echoed throughout the cave, his words strong and commanding:

"Faithful, circle the lake, and arm yourselves with bows and arrows; the unfaithful invaders are now cornered, but the full force of your beliefs will be necessary to bring them to their knees. Come show them the strenght of your faith!"

That said, the man lowered his hand again and said, facing Sun Snake:

"There, that should make it clear to you that nothing is going to go the way you think it will. Earlier, you praised me for my long-term planning, yet now you try to pretend you truly believe I don't know what I'm doing, what I'm talking about when I say I will raise my Master tonight? It's pathetic, and it won't keep me from doing what must be done. As for the way our immortality will be granted us, so what? You think that having a body whom look we can change as we please, invulnerable to the ravages of weapons and time, and being freed from those emotions that weakens us every day, all except our faith and obedience in the Lord, is somehow a fate we despise? Yes, the Dreaded Darklord will turn us all into his own creatures, so that we can better carry on his will, better punish the oppressors in the world and command over them, and that's something I've always known."

Hurlon seemed a bit surprised by the High Priest's words, but it was merely the type of surprise one could have over discovering a friend of them was twenty years older than he looked like - nothing the Kai could use against the man.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Acolytes had gathered on the lakeshore, lead along by the female bishop with red hairs, Emhris; the full group was now scarcely a seven hundred people - barely a third of what they'd been before the Cener Druids' attack, but still plenty enough to be an overwhelming force against the five Magnakai. Also, over half of them where carrying bows, and while they were too far away to hear the conversation going on along the island, the High Priest had already proved quite clearly that such things were no trouble to him at all.

He crossed his arms again, and when he spoke, his voice was smnug.

"Now, Magnakai, all of you will throw your weapons into the lake, and then get down to the ground, so that we can properly secure you and start with the interrogation... or my men can make arrows rain over you while I use more mundane rain to keep you in place, until you'll still be laying on the ground and unable to fight. Your choice, but choose quickly - my patience I reserve for raising my Lord, not for treating with the errand worms of the sun god."
---
As Hornet fell back, the creature immediately capitalized on it, charging forward; the Magnakai managed to dodge to the left at the last minute, but even so, the abomination's clawed paw opened a bleeding gash into his side. Owever, being overextended, she exposed her back to Hornet's counterattack; the Magnakai could have easily plunged his dagger into her spine, but instead he opted for a wide slash, opening a long but much less deep on the creature's back... and forcing it to stumble forward, so that it now was only a few step away from stumbling into the area covered by glyphs.

So, Hornet: with a roll of 8 and your CR of -7, you take 3 damage and inflict 6. By halving that inflicted damage to 3, you can get your opponent to be right where you need her next turn - you can spent 2 WP to use Nexus push and send her toppling to the ground, or you can try and tackle her. Either way, to succeed you'll need to roll and inflict more damage than she does - if you use Nexus, it'll be safer for you, but should you fail, you'll take the full damage and inflict none; if you go for the tackle, failing would mean ending up chained once again, but on the tackle I'd give you a bonus +2 to damage you inflict for being willing to take the risk - after all, you can control your own body better than you could a gust of wind, and thus you're more likely to succeed.

Up to you! ^_^

Abomination: CS 24, END 23/30

This message was last edited by the GM at 20:15, Sat 15 Mar 2014.

One of the problems with playing for time was that his followers were likely to come looking. I didn't expect him to actually call on them to come over, I thought they might be some form of invisible clock. Still, since we can't deal with them if they entered the fray, I was just playing to my outs and only thinking of the High Priest himself.

Anyway, time to double down to see if we can keep him off balance one last time. But I guess we either need to die, be captured, or attack him now.



The corner of Sun Snake's mouth twitched obviously, as if being unable to contain some amusement. He put his hand to his mouth to hide the smile, but kept a large twinkle in his eye.

"You are correct, this is going far easier than expected. You plan well, but your goal is flawed and it keeps introducing flaws that I did need to speak with you face to face to fully appreciate."

Sun Snake briefly looked to Swift Fox over his shoulder. "Just to check Swift Fox, we offered to leave, taking the Cener threat from his door. We pointed out the lives that would be saved. We asked him to not use the Deathstaff and it was a trap. We told him...as we knew it at the time...the extent of the Nadziran and Toranese problem, with some understandable errors from his own collusion to the problem. We've had a spirited debate on our varying ethos. You've shared your own story of another way. We've confirmed that we allowed Alyne to go back to him, and that he has been the one to betray her time and again. We've pointed out the potential there. I don't think we've made any direct threats yet for any torture." Sun Snake made a face as if ticking off an internal checklist then looked back to the High Priest. "There are sadly some things you must do if you are being the good ones. It is you villains that can be duplicitous and selfish."

Sun Snake picked up his sword, and with a small flourish got in to a crouching position, digging the sword in to the ground.  Sun Snake winked to Hurlon. "I do wish I had made you throw a weapon at me. Still, you were too much the good lapdog."

Sun Snake looked across to the High Priest. "You've lost six bishops. Barely a third of the Acolytes who started the fight with the Cener now stand, but they are all looking to this place. To you." Sun Snake nodded. "Go on. Use your amplified words...another trinket? A ring?... in your copiable voice to order those looking to this place and to you to fire. Don't make us do it for you with our powers." Sun Snake looked around to Swift Fox. "The jade mask for water?" He nodded then looked back to the High Priest, his face flat. "Just remember I gave you a choice."

Btw, I count four bishops dead - the Helghast bishop, two in the Cener fight and the one that died earlier to Gourgaz? Sun Snake is deliberately adding two to the number. Can you adjust it if as a player I made a mistake on what Snake should know, up or down from that number?



Anyway, the idea here is just to unbalance the bishop and High Priest for a moment longer, make them not instantly use their rain/words.

After that of course, I'm not sure. It would be nice if we suddenly had help from the sidelines from NPCs or if Dusk Rat has any ideas. Snake's been trying to signal her, but not sure if she can read those signals.

Can Frost Ferret do anything with the ground/elements?

I think it's a suicidal tactic, but if Sun Snake can run - using Divination/Pathsmanship/Invisibility to keep himself on the safest trajectory putting the High Priest in the way of arrows and Hurlon - can he made an attempt to strike the Jade Mask and maybe anything else the High Priest might be using for defense/attack?

If Sun Snake has been very obnoxious to Hurlon, maybe Hurlon will make a throw at Sun Snake and we can attempt that fun dodge/deflection thing.  Which may give Swift Fox the ability to plant a knife in the High Priest's mask or Hurlon? Or pick up a cool lava weapons?


I'm equally open to everyone else surrendering and Sun Snake becoming a human pin cushion. It's all good.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:40, Sat 15 Mar 2014.

Swift nodded to Sun Snake's words.
"I would say we gave him every chance.  Not our fault he was too stupid to take advantage of our good nature.  Of course, now that he's pulled all of his troops into a thinly-spread out circle formation around the lake, he's foolishly left the area vulnerable to further attacks by the Cenerese if they are still watching, so perhaps we should hurry."

She turned her attention to the High Priest, glancing briefly at the boat behind him and allowing herself a hint of a smirk before focusing on him again.
"As for your request.  I'm afraid I'll have to decline.  I never give up my weapons, especially not at the command of a weak little man like you.  If you want my weapons, you're more than welcome to come over here and try to take them from me..."

She flicked her cloak aside slightly, turning her body side-on to hopefully present less of a target to Hurlon if he chose to attack.
Her left hand tightened slightly on something clenched within her fist, while her right hand hovered in mid-air at her belt level, clearly prepared to grab one of the weapons from her belt at a moment's notice...


OOC: No WPs left...  No FPs left...  And I think I'm the only one left in the group who's even close to full END...  Well, it's been fun guys!  Time to either perform some truly epic against-the-odds ass-kicking or at least go out in style and take at least one of those two down with us! :)  hehe.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:14, Sat 15 Mar 2014.

Actually Sun Snake has full CS and EP. And now his sword. How can we lose???

OOC: What about poor Frost though? :(  I think he should run away!  Very quickly!

Haha, he's got two foolish meat shields to protect him. I pity those poor fools... wait...

Ooh, it looks like the Walls of Text are about to come tumbling down as the actual arse-kicking begins. Dun dun dunnnn!
Btw Wuffy - I've completely and utterly missed this "signal" you've been trying to give me - no idea what it is, sorry! :(

Hurlon seemed to stiffen at Sun Snake's flourish when drawing his sword from the ground, and his hands quickly went to the short swords at his side, but before he could have any greater reaction, the High Priest's voice echoed through the cave.

"Shoot!"

Immediately, hundreds of arrow filled the sky... but when they fell, not one hit any of the Magnakai, the darts somehow all missing them, as if subtle, precisely applied gusts of wind had carefully protected the Kai from all damage.

The High Priest took one instinctive step forward, shouting out a "What!" of disbelief before he could control himself - and, as soon as he did, a voice spoke, being heard all through the cave. Yet, it was not the same quality as the High Priest's voice had been - this sounded like a person was speaking from a single place, except somehow his voice was carrying through the entire cave, as if the wind itself had agreed to let the words be heard by everybody around.

And the smugness in the words was second to none any of them had ever heard before, even as each one of the Magnakai recognized who the deep, elegant voice belonged to.

"So, was that the unleashed might of Vashna? Because if so, it seems like the protection from harm bestowed by Kai trumped it quite easily indeed."

Everybody turned in the direction the voice had come from, and, as if on cue, a man emerged from the darkness of one of the raised tunnels overlooking the cave. He was tall, but not excessively so - just enough that his figure resulted lean, an effect enhanced by what he was wearing. The cape he was wearing - for that's what it was, rather than the more utilitarian cloak one would likely expect - was ample and billowing, with an high collar that framed the man's sleek cheekbones, the shimmering green material, the gold embroidery along the hem, or the double length of chain in white gold that fixed it to his frame, all contributed to make the figure more imposing, whereas the refined leather armour he was wearing was black but with a motive of silver feathers running along the edge in vertical lines emphasized the man's height even more.

What was even more attention grabbing, though, were the man's hairs, cut in an elegant fashion to frame his face and stop just shy of reaching his shoulders, and colored in a purple hue that was so carefully applied, it would be easy to believe it their natural colour.

If the man's voice had been smug, his dark blue eyes and soft smile looked almost pitying as he overlooked the cave, something which clearly spurred the High Priest into greater fury as he shouted, his voice burning with rage:

"Who are you?"

The man laughed, in a surprisingly light manner for one with a voice as deep as his, and then answered, as he continued to walk forward:

"I am the bird who caught the beauty of the world in his feathers. I am the light who shreds the darkness to pieces. I am the Shining Peacock of the Kai, and I am here to bring your evils to their reckoning, and your life to the end it deserves."

That seemed to call forth the rage of Ehmris, who raised her staff as she shouted, her voice carrying clear hint of craziness:

"You're only a bastard sun-lovers, and our Lord's power will vanquish you!"

And, as she said that, she unleashed a barrage of glowing orbs of shimmering crystal light toward the Magnakai, who merely chuckled, then raised his left hand, and the globes fell apart in midair, dissolving without causing any harm to anybody.

Then, he continued to step forward, past the limit of the tunnel and then into the air, but without falling, instead continuing to walk on the air as if he was descending an invisible stairway, and continuing to speak softly as he did.

"You seem to believe, Acolytes of Vashna, that you still have some hope for victory, or even absolute triumph. Dispel those thoughts, for all hope you have left is for you to survive, and even that will only be yours if Kai should choose, in his endless generosity, to let you have it."

He landed softly, his black boots studded with small shards of sapphires somehow raising no dirt as they touched the ground. He then raised his hand, fingers spread wide, the golden inlaid in his white gloves glowing softly as they caught the light, before stating, his tone now solemn:

"I am one of the chosen of Kai, the Lords who brings his hope into the world, the heirs of Nyxator, dragon of light and slayer of demons. Here, I call upon that inheritance, I summon the power of my god and my ancestor, so that it might be used to once again slay the champions of night and evil. Nyxator, here I call you forth, come and destroy the servants of darkness!"

And with that, he lowered his hand to the ground in a flamboyant gesture, the white leather of his gloves somehow still avoiding to mar itself as several circles of golden light surged forward, spreading through the entire cave with a surprising glimmer.

For a moment, there was no reaction to the display of power. Then, suddenly, the ground started to rumble, shaking the entire cave, and then something started to surge forward from it, initially merely two small mounds but then more and more, until in the end a massive figure was raised completely, filling almost half of the cave with a massive size - a wide, long and powerful tail slashing the air with power, six powerful limbs thicker than a small three supporting a form so wide, it could likely easily hold hundreds of people within, four massive wings spread wide through the cave and moving with a slow, majestic power, a long neck raising all the way to the ceiling to support the wide, powerful snout similar to that of a crocodile, except much sturdier and covered in small protrusions, the six biggest of whom sprouting from atop the head like the antlers of a stag, the two holes under them shining with the supernatural light of a monster's eyes.

Then the monster shrugged, causing all the earth to fall from his form causing a wide cloud of dirt to raise from the ground, and it's full majesty was revealed as the green scales shimmered into existence, the horns revealed the black bone they were made of, and the creature raised its head even higher, letting out a powerful, terrifying roar.

Many of the Acolytes took several steps back, sheer terror radiating from them with such clarity that all the Kai in the room could feel it, and then Peacock raised slowly, just to the right of the dragon, and aimed a cold, judging gaze on them as he said, his voice for the first time carrying a threat that sounded even worse for how it made his deep voice sound totally devoid of emotions:

"You have killed so many, that their spirits now seeks vengeance on you. Leave this place to seek redemption, or their wrath will cut you down, and drive you mad."

And, as soon as that, suddenly a series of screams raised from the Acolytes as many started to back down hysterically, while the more brave - or perhaps just more faithful - ones suddenly unsheathed their words... and started to attack each other, as if their brethren had become their worse opponents.

Ehmris, who was still amidst the crowd, let out a shrill cry as she shouted orders:

"Stop, stop fighting you idiots! There's no ghosts, they're just illusions, he's only tricking..."

Then she screamed again, but it was a cry of pain as she fell to her knees, her weapon forgotten as she clutched her head with both hands, the pain clear on her features, even as the great dragon breathed out twin jets of fire that set some of the nearby tents on fire and caused the majority of the Acolytes to finally broke their ranks and start running away.

And that's the artillery. Everybody, you get two free rounds to act into - damage won't be received by any of you for those two rounds and you can do anything you think would be helpful. You've had your wish, Sun Snake, and Peacock is come to help; I do hope you'll manage to make the most of it!

This message was last edited by the player at 16:18, Sun 16 Mar 2014.

Swift had been on the verge of beginning her attack, her still form prepared to explode into action at the slightest signal from her brain, her gaze peering upwards to watch the flight of the incoming arrows with the intent of using what little ability remained to her to try to avoid the majority of them.
But at Shining Peacock's appearance, she too was caught by surprise and looked up to watch him.

The appearance of the dragon left her stunned and open-mouthed for a moment.  Her mind drifting momentarily to the two Lorestones in her pack that had once been created by the mighty Dragon King himself.
Then her she cocked her head slightly to one side and narrowed her eyes, as if she had noticed something odd about the dragon.  A hint of her wry grin crossed her face and she looked back at the High Priest, distracted by the sight of the monstrous form and the Magnakai terrifying the people he had made into puppets to carry out his own ambition...

'Magnamund doesn't need another puppet-master...  Another lost child, dead inside and cursing their own existence as a nightmare in the world...  Another Ghost that lurks unseen in the Darkness, its hands spattered with the blood of the innocent...
Your evil path ends here and now, by my bloodied hands!'

The words echoed through her mind, driving back the lingering remnants of the darkness she had summoned up against the Cener before.  Casting off any remaining nausea the aura of the island was making her feel.
Quickly she tucked her left hand back into her cloak, returning whatever item she had been holding to her tunic pocket.

She then snatched the Pink Rose from its sheath and darted forward, towards the form of the High Priest.
The dagger seemed to move like a natural part of her hand rather than a separate object as she raised it to strike.  Her footfalls made no sound as she approached the High Priest, like a silent shade bringing vengeance.  Like Death Incarnate...


OOC: Wow, that was very unexpected...  While the idea of owing a favour to Shining Peacock isn't really too appealing, at least we might all have a chance of surviving this now if our luck holds...  :)
This message was last edited by the player at 14:05, Sun 16 Mar 2014.

"You had a choice," hissed Sun Snake with sudden hatred at what the High Priest's actions had forced to happen. He was to his feet and charging towards the High Priest in a moment. Only his Kai instincts seemed to realise Swift Fox was closing the gap. He crossed towards Hurlon, still intent on the High Priest but moving himself to be a barrier to allow her to strike uncontested. "You had a choice!" he bellowed and he raised his blade.


Ok, rolled two attacks. Will try to use all the various tricks - Divination and Ivisibility - to read the threat/body language of the High Priest so Sun Snake can target the items that the High Priest either instinctively flinches to protect, or moves to use.

Will go back to trying to use Ivisibility and Psi-screen combined to ape the High Priest's own mental defenses, just to possibly temporarily confuse any mental assault there.

Will keep a Divination eye out for Hurlon's own strike, but for the moment hoping to strike the High Priest quickly first then turn attention to Hurlon after the initial two rounds, leaving Swift Fox and anyone else to clean up.

Rolls: 6 and 4.

Wooo, the bright-tailed birdy finally showed himself! With his friend, MR EPIC DRAGON!!! :D

Lol, and some of us know you feelings on dragons! :D

Suppresing the surge of pain shooting from his side Water Hornet saw his chance. He tensed like a coiled spring, knees slightly bent, and then flung his whole body forwards, aiming to hit the creature with his shoulder square in the middle of her back.
It was certainly a gamble since Hornet had to lower the dagger and the torch was on Hornet's side averted from the abomination, leaving him open for a counterattack, but the Magnakai had to take the risk.

OOC: Going for tackle.
Roll: 6. Uff, close!

The abomination dodged backwards, laughing in satisfaction as Water Hornet fell short of her form... but the laugh turned into a shout of surprise when the Magnakai's hand grabbed her legs and sent her tumbling into the zone covered in glyphs, her fashion haphazard enough that she got ensnared by chains of light before she could recover her own footing.

The creature let out a roar of frustration and powerlessness, while Water Hornet slowly got back to his feet in the area empty of markings on the field.

-7 CR, with a roll of 6, means you receive 5 damage, and inflict 4... but the bonus brings that up to 6, so you succeed! Congratulations. :)

With a smirk of satisfaction, Fox merely laughed as the creature was ensnared

"Now I suggest you tell us how to deactivate that trap unless you want to be bled" fox smirked. "Do so and I give you my word as a Kai that you can keep your natural life without harm"

For a moment Water Hornet just stood there, panting heavily and watching the abomination. He realized his hands were shaking from the exertion and tension and with poorly concealed irritation he returned the dagger to his belt and took the torch in his right hand.

When the other Magnakai spoke, he sharply turned to the man...and hissed because of the pain of his wounds. Regaining his posture he said: "Sabre, don't. Don't promise her anything...and don't expect anything from her. You might be used to a warrior's honour...which even Drakkarim has some form of...but this is a creature of the Dark God. We must not trust her and we must be prepared for any trick she might use to deceive us." Rather than hatred or anger one might've expected, Hornet's voice was filled with exhaustion and frustration.

"It's up to us to escape the chains, so let's see what we can come up with," the younger Magnakai said picking up his cloak and moving closer to Sabre Fox's position, "just keep an eye on her, please".

OOC: Good thing Hornet doesn't know what is the abomination's origin (although that might change soon, I fear) :)

I'm thinking about implementing the following plan:
1) Use the Kai cloak as 'a rug' isolating Hornet's steps from the glyphs (ideally, folded in half).
2) Unsheathe Sabre Fox's sword with a noose on a rope (so as to avoid any contact with Sabre/chains he is tied with).
3) Use the sword to smash the glyphs on the ground.

Sabre, any objections/suggestions?

Shadow, could you please tell if there's anything obviously impossible in the actions above?
(Of course, I understand you can't tell if the plan will work, but maybe there are some 'factual errors of judgement' - like: the cloak isn't big enough to reach Sabre, the sword can't be taken out of the scabbard because of the chains, Hornet would know he has not enough strength to smash the rock of the floor just with a sword, etc.)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:35, Mon 17 Mar 2014.

"I will offer her whatever I please" fox replied curtly. "She has a chance here, and that is now up to her, take it or leave it"

Fox then looked over his shoulder

"I have climbing equipment in my backpack. If we can get it out we could lasso me out of this trap"

Fox then looked over at the abomination

 "And that puts a time limit on your choice creature. Tick tock tick tock"