Port Lorrel- Puppet Masters (part 2)

[Alberich]

"What do I want? To not have to kill a boy I watched grow up. A boy who I thought might be my son-in-law someday. To be able to take Eli home to his parents; for him to cry in their arms. Instead, I will likely have to bring back his body for them to lay to rest. You have been with him since it began. Is there anything left of that boy? Or is this just his shell, with a monster living inside?"

Tim nodded mentally, and if you could hear a nod through a mind-link, then Drusia would've heard it. His face stayed impassive but his thoughts raced to her.

Very well. I'll believe you. -- and may the Lord forgive him if he was wrong -- Yes, he's still there, but partly corrupted. He can be saved if you believe. But only after the fighting starts. After it's done I know how to let you out of here. Don't give him to the other elf.

He had to give her credit - she could fight, magick, talk, and mind-talk, all at once, without even hinting there was a plot going on.

He was perturbed when Eli broke their shield link -- he needed to be back together to carry out his plan. So after Eli unleashed his ice shard blast, he made another galdy and warned his ostensible enemy.

Galdy behind and to your right. Drive him back to me if you can.

* * *
Meantime, Jargalan and Tamina had ascended a curving staircase along a curving wall, and reached the top. The kobold looks nervously back down to the lower floor.

"Don't worry about her," said the elven smart-aleck. "She'll cook up a whole feast of pain in his kitchen! Or do you think we need some help...?"

As if on cue, the nearest window broke to flinders, and the unholily fast monk Angrist tumbled in, hit the opposite wall, and with a handstand and a flip, righted himself.

"As if on cue!" said Jargalan with a grin. "I'll orient you. Aleron's thataway!"

The tensed kobold sprang forward, unable to resist. Jargalan and Angrist followed close.

[Browncoat]

{Never a dull moment}
Angrist hid a smirk as he checked that the sack tied to his belt was still secure and intact.

[Drusia]

"Walk away?" He exclaimed. "Walk away? Did you forget that you were the one who attacked me first? Appearing in my tavern room in Goriel in a flash of magic and stabbing me before I even had the chance to explain myself? Oh, and by the way, you should have this on your conscience...if you hadn't attacked, I never would've had to torch the place; that was a desperation move, a move you provoked with your thoughtless, blind, self-righteousness."

Very well. I'll believe you. Yes, he's still there, but partly corrupted. He can be saved if you believe. But only after the fighting starts. After it's done I know how to let you out of here. Don't give him to the other elf.

I ready myself for Eli's attack and take that moment to respond to Tim.

"If Eli had walked away, I planned to tell the other elf I'd killed him and burnt the body," I note to Tim. "That might still work. However, there's another half-elf with us. I will probably need to kill the elf - if he survives Aleron - anyway to protect that friend." And Snamish, if Aleron runs his mouth off. "Do you have any advice on how to disable Eli without killing him? Non-lethal take-downs are not my usual speciality. I'm... scared I might kill him accidently." I let my fear leek through the link a bit. Not enough to harm his concentration, just enough so that he realizes that I worry about Eli like I would a nephew. Or a son-in-law.

"Aleron's methods are elegant and problem-solving. He can deliver something which you never could, boss. True freedom from the brutality your race represents. No more butchering of children simply because of what they might be. Does any other race have to endure such evil? A death sentence for a birth defect? Do you really think you have the moral high ground here?"

Galdy behind and to your right. Drive him back to me if you can.

Can do.

"I didn't attack you at that Inn, Eli," I remind him. "I attacked your necklace. You know me. That hit I landed on your shoulder - that could have as easily been your neck. I thought you were being controlled because I couldn't imagine the Eli I knew willingly doing some of the things Lillith said you'd done."

As I talk, I prepare a spell. It isn't one I use often, and it normally isn't useful on mages, but I've learned a few tricks over the past thousand years. Particular when it comes to dealing with Errants.

"As for my methods," I continue softly, "You've never seen Santuriel, Eli. The 'free' half-elves. They're plagued by birth defects, by disease and suffering. Their village limps along, in constant fear - not just of the elves, but of what one of them might become. And they die lingering, painful deaths from those birth defects. That's what the freedom you describe means, Eli - pain and suffering. I've created a village untained by that suffering - because I end that suffering at birth. It may be cruel to a few, but has worked. We used to have far more birth defects, centuries ago. Now, hardly any. It's selective breeding, Eli."

I pause. "Besides, if the half-elves ever joined the human population, they'd eventually breed themselves out of existence. Tsuirakushiti was a half-elf city, once. And now only humans remain. Humans with elven blood, but humans none the less. Your freedom is death, Eli. It's birth defects and suffering and eventual transformation into humans. If you wish to choose that destiny for yourself, then that is your choice. Your parents chose to escape that fate and joined me - do you have the right to unmake their choice? To unmake the choices of everyone else back home?"

The spell is ready. I wait until Eli has started to reply (OOC so you can respond to that before this occurs) and then activate it.

I turn invisible, and at the same moment, an illusionary version of me appears in the same spot. Both of us sprint away from one another in opposite directions.

Normally, an invisibily spell would be a joke for a spellcaster, no better than walking around with a sheet over one's head. However, when you only have a split second to react - and when you see something flying towards your face, as the illusion me currently is, you tend to react on instinct rather than logic.

My illusion attacks Eli from the front while I come at him from his flank, directly opposite Tim. With any luck, once he realizes my bluff, he will be forced to retreat from the real me (which he'll detect momentairly) and move back towards Tim.

That's plan A. Plan B is he holds his ground. If so, then I target the magic dagger he's holding, and if necessary the arm holding it.

-- Drusia

OOC: That should give everyone plenty to do. If anyone isn't clear on the tactics involved, PM me for a more detailed expalantion. But it basically goes like this:

Real Dru -> Eli . . . Tim
. . . . . . . . ^
. . . . . Fake Dru

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Cool, cool. I'll edit my next one in here in the next day or two. I've just finished my second double shift of three (I took extra work like a moron, blame the economy), so my creative juices are dryer than Oscar Wilde in the Sahara right now. /OOC

[Graybeard]

OOC: I have no idea where Khoo is during all this, but as I said in the other thread, I'm going to be on-line only occasionally for the next week starting tomorrow, and I'll be putting my limited connectivity to use more on that thread than on this one. As usual, just drag him along and use him as appropriate, and I'll pick him up again in ten days or so.

[Alberich]

[OOC: Good old Oscar could find some inspiration even in prison but I'll be glad to help...]

The dreadful animated-mage-corpse-thing Valja was not easy to faze or distract, but Udo gave it a whirl -- a whirl of flashing swordplay, a kata he'd learned in a "traditional weapons" course a while back. His blade dipped and leaped, thrust and figure-eighted, took a trip behind his back, and ended up pointed right at the creature's chest. "HA!" he said. "Better stay back!"

The lumbering brute responded with a grunt and a sort of two-handed clapping motion. One hand caught Udo's blade near the tip; the other struck it halfway down from the other side -- TSCHANG!!! -- leaving Udo holding a half-blade in front of a dumbstruck look. With a "w'wa-waa!" he retreated around crates, pushing them in the way to block his pursuer's progress, then running around to the other side of it while he tried to think of a better plan. Which he was sure would come to him any moment.

That man's nuts - grab 'em! thought Khoo. Still, if they couldn't stay occupied in the nursery over there, he'd never get his chemistry project done. So he should probably do something. And what better tool for the job than a jar full of dust devil? Not even looking up from his experiment on the altar, he unstoppered the jar and gave his commands. Once more, WWWHHHHSSSSHHHHHH!!!!! -- and in moments the other half of the room was a blinding cloud of dust and blowing debris. Valja could keep chasing Udo to his heart's content, but neither could see the other, nor all the stuff there was to stumble over...

[Jack Rothwell]

Tamina, Jargalan, and the newly arrived Angrist mounted the final flight of stairs, leading them to a sturdy pair of oak doors at the end of a sharp left turn. The kobold hit them at the run; throwing them open with an appropriately dramatic bang and presenting the trio with the scene beyond.

The roof of the tower bore an odd resemblance to the end of a mage's staff. It was in the faint green hue of jade inlay inscribed on the stones they stood upon, and in the spires which stood at each corner; elongated pyramids which cast thick shadows despite the backdrop of the clear sky and it's fattening moon. The kobold caught the faint rustling of things hiding in that deeper darkness, but her attention was riveted to the man who stood at the centre of the wide area.

Aleron's cane made a gentle rhythmic tapping noise on the dark stone, as if issuing a refined applause at the end of a good piano recital. Tamina saw the man before them with the creases of his thin mouth turned upwards in a smile; with his hood thrown back and bathing in the silver light of night-time, the old half-elf looked more like an emaciated marble statue than ever. She gritted her teeth at the high, quavering voice which greeted them.

"Well done." He said. "You've found me, kobold, and I see you've brought that tiresome elf and the monk as well. An exercise in futility, I'm afraid. And coupled with the inexcusable rudeness of trespassing in a man's home."

"I'm here to kill you." Tamina said flatly, although there was a faint tremor in the kobold's voice. It was anger certainly, but fear was there too.

"So I gather. Foolishness, but admirable in it's bravery... perhaps I should offer you a job."

The kobold mage ran forward at a full tilt charge, losing all patience for any further dialogue. She was halfway across the distance between the stairway and her target when the flash of movement descended from above her.

The flying creatures which had impeded Angrist's progress up the tall building had been waiting patiently for the traveller's return. As a pair of claws seized the kobold and lifted her off the ground, the other creatures (which, if Tamina hadn't been currently concerned with freeing herself, would have noted were Wrenkray, flying, humanoid predators from the dark heart of the southern continent) exploded from their concealment and took to a higher altitude, preparing to divebomb the elf and his monk comrade. The pair's attention was more immediately drawn, however, by the Ralkin leader raising his arms to invoke a spell. The two felt a sharp rise in temperature, the prelude to the pillar of a fire spell erupting beneath their feet...

......

""Your freedom is death, Eli. It's birth defects and suffering and eventual transformation into humans. If you wish to choose that destiny for yourself, then that is your choice. Your parents chose to escape that fate and joined me - do you have the right to unmake their choice? To unmake the choices of everyone else back home?"

"Life without freedom is no life at all." Eli shot back. "You keep us as animals confined to a z-"

Eli's plan had been a simple one; with the additional distraction of Tim and the power lent to him by the Ralkin amulet, all he would have to do to defeat his teacher was to let her wear herself down through a flurry of destructive spells and summoned creatures. After a long enough time of swinging a sword and magic jumps trapped within the confined space, he could pick the woman apart at his leisure. The real trick, however, would be to scratch Drusia with the knife in his hand and bind her to the altar. With his former mentor under his control, destroying any surviving invaders would be a simple task. However, as the best laid plans so often go to waste, the half-elf was caught momentarily by surprise by the illusionary attack of Drusia's false image (OOC Inspired by EDI's decoy skill in ME3?/OOC).

He'd been focusing on maintaining his barrier at least, but the unexpected angle of the strike as the real Drusia's blade struck his magic shield forced the half-elf turn abruptly and fall back a few paces towards Tim. He recovered enough to counterattack, dropping the barrier to knock Drusia's return swing wide with the audible clang of a low-level rock spell aimed at her weapon. He swiped at the woman's weapon-arm with The Needle, barely missing the ending blow with the faint rasping sound of grazed fabric. The elf wheeled with the momentum and lashed out again, forcing Eli back another step as he hurriedly directed his shield against the flashing sword.

"More galdy!" He called to the Priest somewhere behind him.

OOC I'll get in Valja and the Altar's actions a little later.../OOC

[Alberich]

"Do you have any advice on how to disable Eli without killing him? Non-lethal take-downs are not my usual speciality. I'm... scared I might kill him accidently."

Tim was alive to the nuances of Drusia's tone. Either she really meant it, or she was so far beyond him in manipulation that he'd just have to let himself be manipulated. Just drive him to me. Galdy behind you.

Drusia's cunning double strike had its due effect. She drove Eli back, back to where Tim waited. Taken aback, Eli once more let their shields merge, so that both covered both.

"More galdy!"

Eli and Tim created the diseased-looking but ferociously healthy cat-monsters to flank Drusia, an attack that might well have wounded her had Tim not telegraphed it in secret. Drusia took it down with ease, leaving no opening for Eli's knife trick. Something stronger was needed. So Eli traced a symbol in the air, focusing himself to create something far more powerful. Once she was focused on that, he could slip out of the shield and get his knife into her body and her mind into Aleron's power.

And then, at last, Tim acted.

From his left sleeve he drew the knife he always carried there. And plunged it straight into the half-elf's kidney. No truer act of friendship with purer motive had ever been done than this stab in the back.

Quick as a flash, Tim's left hand plucked the crystal on its string from around Eli's neck. Dropping his shield, he struck again, bore his friend to the ground, and gave him a quick dose of emergency healing. There would have to be more and it would take longer, and all the concentration he could muster. First thing was to get rid of the elf. He reached into Eli's pocket and drew out a small metal tablet, marked like the stone ones that were creating the teleport block around this room. He threw it to Drusia, barely looking at her.

"This'll take the barrier down," he said. "I can take him from here." Without waiting for a reply, he turned the half-elf over, gripped the empowering crystal, and remembered Rose's lesson -- only what he was trying now, with the extra power of the crystal, was far more ambitious than a mere sending of thoughts. In his state of deep concentration he was oblivious to any words Drusia might speak, and as vulnerable as a babe in arms.

Tim wasn't worrying about Drusia because he knew he'd placed himself in her hands. If she wanted to slice him in half with that glowing blade -- yes, and Eli too -- there wasn't a wretched thing he could do about it. He'd had two choices with her: kill or trust. He'd picked "trust." Now it was her turn to choose.

His knife was on the floor with the other one, now, and he wasn't touching either one. No more blood for him today.

[OOC: And for what happened next with Tim and Eli, see this thread.]

* * *

Jargalan, on the tower roof, had the opposite intent. Feeling the coming fire, he made one of his mana-powered leaps, right onto a corner spire. Even before he'd landed, he did a quick slashing wind spell, something like the one he'd used in the previous fight. His purpose was to take advantage of the Wrenkrays' momentum and drive them right into their own master's magic fire. Winged things could be a nuisance moving up, down, and around, but they were vulnerable to winds and air currents. As for the monk and the kobold -- he trusted them to look after themselves.

[Jack Rothwell]

In accompaniment to the oversized orge-like monster casting about for the highwayman through the haze of Khoo's dust-devil, the Altar of Sienya was extending a magic tendril to ward off the waiter's attempt to interfere with it. With near-mindless instinct of a lizard defending it's nest, the raw energy thrust forward to try to force it's way into Khoo's mind. It hit the ward of the anti-magic amulet and began burrowing it's venom into the defences. Destroying the artefact would be a race against time, one cut shorter if Valja succeeded in killing Udo.

Valja made an growling noise, in obvious irritation at the obstruction to his vision. The creature abruptly dropped a shoulder and ran forward in a short, blind charge, meaning to flatten anything that stood in it's way.

[Alberich]

Udo had slipped and fallen on the antique cushion he'd thrown earlier, and noticed something: the visibility was a lot better down here on the floor. Just as he got to his hands and knees, he saw the monster was starting a rush. So he positioned his body for a trip, the way they did in the barrooms of Tsuirakushita, or the playgrounds of Baka Ryu. The mighty ogre-thing struck his body and went sprawling. Here was Udo's one chance! Using the broken bottom half of his sword, he slashed at the monster's hamstrings.

He couldn't hope that would end it. Even crawling, the ogre could stop Khoo's project. The fight must go on. But now it'd be a real "dogfight" - down on all fours just like the dogs did it! Udo handsed-and-kneesed his way around under the dust, maneuvering for advantage.

Khoo, meantime, kept calm under pressure. You panicked, you forgot. He could do this. What he couldn't do was worry about what was going on in the dustcloud over there. Udo was on his own.