Return to the Southern Continent

As we play, occasionally we'll close a thread and open a new one to keep the size of threads (and relative complexity) down to a dull roar. Here's where we store the closed posts from the history of Errant Road.
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Drusia
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Drusia »

"Forgot to ask... how we... umm.. getting to Lorrel 'slacty? Flying? Walking? Horseys? Dropla*? We seeing anything nice on the way?" Tamina's eyes were wide and hopeful as she asked the last question.

An old elven wizard once was known to say that being mysterious was, to a wizard, like addictive drugs were to most others. I've found that being an elf amoung humans (or similar) that I can get much the same effect.

I smile mysteriously at Tamina. "Magic," I reply simply.

-- Drusia
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Tamina's pupils grew bigger until they nearly eclipsed her eyes.

"Heard elf peoples the best with magics." She said in a breathy whisper. "Wanna see it! It big s'plosion magic? Fly like a bird magic? Telly, tellup, tally-poor..."

"Teleportation." Udo supplied.

"Yeah! That magic! Quicker than running magic, hummingbird, that's human word for the spell... s'tiring to do."
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Graybeard
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Graybeard »

"Well, let's go," Bauti said impatiently. "Time's a-wasting."

The illusion covering the oxcart disappeared in a wink, and it lumbered off with its three occupants, one of them invisible.

[OOC: Just to set the layout here: I figure that Drusia, etc., are still a bit more than a day away from the travel platform by foot, and the nasty trio are also a bit more than a day away by oxcart -- although less than a day by horse and wagon, if they succeed in, uh, "borrowing" one. This means that, since they'd be moving toward the PCs rather than back directly the way they came from, if they head directly after the three characters, they won't get to them in time to stop them from using the warp gate, although it'll be close. So this can be played in any of several ways. If somebody from town wants to tangle with them, that can be done. (Be braced for big-time magic from the trio. We're talking about two arch-mage-level Tsuirakuans, plus an elf with considerably greater offensive/defensive magic than Drusia, and all are utterly ruthless about using their capabilities.) Or if there are no takers, then we can fast-forward until the party gets to the travel platform, with the nasties literally minutes behind them. Whatever you folks want to have happen, but let's play it so that the respective trios don't come into direct contact yet; that would spoil all the fun. :mrgreen: ]
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Drusia
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Drusia »

"Heard elf peoples the best with magics." She said in a breathy whisper. "Wanna see it! It big s'plosion magic? Fly like a bird magic? Telly, tellup, tally-poor..."
"Teleportation." Udo supplied.
"Yeah! That magic! Quicker than running magic, hummingbird, that's human word for the spell... s'tiring to do."


I smile some more. "Indeed," I reply. "However, we must get to the proper location. And for that... we walk." I set off again, heading south.

That was fun. She's such a receptive audience. I'll have to play up the gate activation too.

-- Drusia

OOC: Whatever others want to do. Depending on who gets the drop on whom, things could go either way. After all, a Wizard's defenses don't mean anything if you attack before they can cast their first spell. Drusia specializes in killing targets quickly from surprise - if she gets the drop on Kuruo (ie, if she sees him before he sees her) then she's going to try to kill him. If he sees her first, or seems ready for battle, then she'll beat feet - she knows better than to tangle with someone who knows her capabilities in a head-on battle.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC Tamina's weak against competant magic-users as well, and her own magic is geared towards short-term, close combat. The possibilities I'm seeing... ambush, flee, decoy action by the knight protector, or a polite conversation and an exchange of cake?/OOC

Tamina walked south with excitement and impatience written in her body language. She felt the tension building in her stomach which she usually got prior to going on a hunt. Her eyes darted left and right, and her ears flicked as if fending off invisible insects, she also felt a not-unpleasant stirring in more personal areas connected to that deep seated desire for to give in to her primal side. She tried, pointedly, to take her mind off animal instincts by quizzing her new companion some more...

"Sooo... how come you out here and not with your elf-peoples? Come all the way here just for the blonde bad man?"

...not that looking at a pretty elf was helping her much.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC Shall we skip the confrontation if it's an awkward situation? Just have the trio beat feet to the platform and use teleport/speed type magic if things are looking close? Shall we jump ahead a few hours to a new scene in the meantime?/OOC
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Graybeard
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Graybeard »

OOC:
Jack Rothwell wrote:OOC Shall we skip the confrontation if it's an awkward situation? Just have the trio beat feet to the platform and use teleport/speed type magic if things are looking close? Shall we jump ahead a few hours to a new scene in the meantime?/OOC
That's fine with me. I'd really intended that the nasty trio not run into Tammy, Udo and Drusia yet, but rather, that they'd have misadventures while looking for them, largely for the sake of "interacting" with the Gorielians -- Alberich has done a lot of work setting up the culture (such as it is ...) of Goriel, and having these three blunder into the place could have allowed more of that to be exposed. Not clear that's really feasible, though.

You three go ahead and port to Lorrel or wherever you're going next, and we'll see what happens from there.
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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC Anyone mind jumping to setting up camp for the night then? Unless anyone's got an idea for shenanigans in the meantime?/OOC
Alberich
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Alberich »

[OOC: I've got an idea or two for things we might meet on the Southern Continent...so we can all tangle up our ideas together with Jack's Ralkin plot. My muse isn't suggesting anything for Goriel. Given that we're skirting the city, the most likely encounters would all be Gorielian humans, and since these characters are not involved, nor have any reason to be involved, in the clan politics of Goriel -- and between them are competent enough to get away without drawing any more attention to themselves...as far as I'm concerned we can jump to the portal anytime you want.]
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Graybeard
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Re: Return to the Southern Continent

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: OK, let's make it so. I'll help get you launched ...]

18 hours later:

"Dammit, we're still not closing in on them," Haniko Goto said, her voice uncharacteristically tight, which was scary, and uncharacteristically informal, which was worse.

They'd spent the night holed up in an old abandoned house -- rather a comedown from his castle/spy's nest outside Gervasiel, Arsoro Kurou reflected sourly -- that they'd festooned with enough defensive magic to hold off an invasion. Included was a neat trick that Bauti had put up. "I don't need as much sleep as you humans do," she'd said. (Goto and Kurou weren't all together pleased at the -- "security" implications of that thought). "I'll just set up a tickler that wakes me up if I do fall asleep, and I'll cast a Compulsion spell that I learned from a guy in our regular forces. [OOC: Korene. /OOC:] That'll make whoever's coming to investigate us run away as though death was after them." She snickered. "Which he will be if they don't haul ass and leave us alone."

That had actually worked once during the night, as a Duravsky patrol had passed by, playing what amounted to a police "special investigations" role to check out the deaths at the farm. The half dozen men of the patrol didn't get within a hundred feet of the house without simultaneously deciding they wanted absolutely no part of investigating it and moving on. Later on, they would come to the realization that they'd been magically duped, and return to the place with a fine-tooth comb and blood in their eye. By then, of course, it was too late.

So now the three nasties were rumbling slowly back southeast, the way they'd come. Arsoro Kurou, however, wasn't happy about it. "Not much out here for those two to be doing," he grumbled. "Are you sure your direction finding thaumato-sensors are working right?" That earned him a glare from Goto that might have killed some men in their tracks, but he went on. "According to this map, there's nothing out this way but some little town called Rosteriel, and --"

He stopped short as the realization struck all three of them simultaneously. "The travel platform!" they chorused. No need to discuss it; three sets of whips fell on the back of the unfortunate oxen hauling the cart. However, there were just limits to how fast an oxcart could go. They were still a good two miles from the site of the platform when the oxen, stressed beyond anything they could take, literally dropped dead in their tracks.

Bauti swore a particularly lurid oath in the elven language, jumped out of the cart, and being much the fittest of the three (not to mention fastest on uneven ground), sprinted for the platform ... but it was too late.

Just as she crested a low rise from which the scattered pile of stones could first be seen, a vortex of magic appeared in the pile's center. Seconds later, the characteristic KRAAK of a functioning travel platform reached her ears.

[OOC: So where are you know? I dunno, wherever you want to be ... but you do have some other people back there who are interested in the answer.]
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