Day 146: Moonday the 11th, Calistril, 4708
Jonathan woke me up just after midnight. It is amazing how he knew exactly when to do that, but he was always right on the money. I got up, stretched a bit, and went to the impromptu armory that we had set up on the plane. Really it was just a place to have all of the equipment in easy access for quick equipping, but it worked. Faunra and Dame Rebekah were of course already there. I asked Dame Rebekah if heading to this raid would cause her problems with her beseeching her deity for miracles. She laughed and said that she would need to take some time when sunrise came up, about an hour, but that she could get a completely new set of miracles to help us on our quest then. Faunra agreed and said that if we took some time then, she might be able to do the same.
Jonathan, thankfully, applied his air bubble effect around us again, even though it caused him to suffer some bruising. He smiled and said that where we were going, we would definitely need it. I had not even thought about how the air was thin up here. Hopefully we can ensure that we are fully prepared for the next time that his power recedes. Faunra and I went into the cockpit while Jonathan and Dame Rebekah got seated in the first two seats of the passenger area.
I looked out the window as I caused the light to start. I was amused when a seventy-foot cone in front of us, with a less bright area out to one hundred and fifty feet. It was much less than what I figured would have been good enough to use with the engines, but then again, we were not looking to use the engines. The enchanted drive that Faunra had put in would have to suffice. The lights should be fine enough for that though.
Before I started up the liftoff, I noticed that the foliage cover was gone. I guessed that Jonathan must have went out to get it. With the immovable rods deactivated, I gave the ship the go ahead and we lifted up. I got us oriented and we started flying up the path of the phantom river, about one hundred feet above it. There was a definitive uneasy feeling about this place and I wasn't about to say anything before Jonathan and Dame Rebekah moved forward into the cabin. Jonathan spoke up that both Dame Rebekah and himself felt the uneasy feeling that permeated this area, and that he felt it was similar to a feeling that he had in the past.
I looked to Faunra, who looked almost ghostly and translucent for about a minute before snapping back into focus. She told us all that there was a field that we had crossed into that was designed to keep people out. It was something from the dimension of Leng, and that it must be what Svevenka had been referring to. I nodded along with her explanations, realizing that I had forgotten her warnings about this. We flew for a good twenty-five minutes, before the river turned into a road. It was then that Jonathan noted that we were getting close to the area. Even with the enchanted engines running in silent, we slowed down while rising in elevation to creep above the cave that the two of them had noticed. We were a hundred and eighty feet above the cave, which itself was about sixty feet above the roadway.
Jonathan and Dame Rebekah activated the immovable rods when we were in position, a task involving magical radios and looking out of the rear drop ramp. We quietly walked back to the ramp and got in position. Jonathan kept watch on the giants while we quickly performed the most crucial prep. Faunra, Dame Rebekah and I all did our parts while Jonathan was our lookout. Dame Rebekah blessed us with a benediction, Faunra enspelled several of our weapons (her bow, Dame Rebekah's sword, Jonathan's favored cestus, and my chainsword and bolter) to be silent, and possibly transmit that silence on to their victims. I invoked the speed that we have used so effectively since we first gained the ability to use it through Faunra.
As one we lined up and jumped off of the ramp. One hundred and eighty feet to drop. Ten feet a second. While we were dropping, Jonathan reinforced his force field, knowing how heavily the giants tended to hit when they did do so. Dame Rebekah prayed for Iomedae to guide her blade while Faunra summoned up her mirror images. I took Faunra's lead on this, while we were dropping.
It was kind of unnerving dropping at this speed but not progressing any faster. Dame Rebekah gave us a nod, pulled out the "Amulet of Silence" that we had found in the cave, and dropped it between the two giants. Faunra let loose a barrage of magic and missiles into one of the giants, and Jonathan launch a bearing at the other. Me, not knowing what to expect, dropped a bolter round into each of them. The first one, the one that Faunra had hit, was taken out with a shot to the collarbone. The one that Jonathan had bit with his bearing was done even worse. It got hit square in the head. With a bolter round. It dropped to the ground in a crumple.
We landed shortly thereafter and immediately rushed into the cave, Jonathan picking up the amulet that Dame Rebekah had dropped as he went. I know I'm going to have to come up with a witty title for the style of drop that we did, but I don't think that L.A.F.F. works. Or maybe it does, because we were all pretty giddy from what I could see on their eyes. We crept into the doorway and I activated the night vision mode for my helmet. I needed to be able to see fully in the dark without any source of light. For that reason, Dame Rebekah kept her twice flaming sword sheathed.
As we slithered our way into the cave, we noticed that there was a giant that was smaller than the ones that we had just dealt with. It was lightly sleeping, and I kid you not, it had an eyepatch. I swore to myself silently (thanks to the spell) and it woke up. I figured that it was my bad luck, but as luck would have it, there were two others of those giants who we had taken out on the cliff face, who were walking towards the front of the cave as we were rushing in. Apparently, we had chosen poorly, and they were just at relief turnover.
Faunra responded quickly, but didn't perform any feats of magic, as she was still silenced by Jonathan's new toy. She let loose a bevy of arrows which were further enhanced with fire at one of the two cloud giants that had come up from the back of the cave. She severely wounded that one but didn't drop it. I was still staring at the one-eyed giant that was getting up to his feet, a silent roar on his lips. I fired three times with my bolter. On the third round, his head exploded in a cascade of blood and gore. This caused a problem for Jonathan, as he charged the remaining one. He landed five of his seven strikes, and the ground literally shook from where he had swung, missed, and connected with something else.
We calmed down and Jonathan rushed to the back of the chamber. He came back after a few moments, putting the silence amulet into his belt pouch. He noted that they had some things that they had… purloined… from other unfortunates, that he had re-appropriated. They also had some giants sized things, like a large painted clay drinking horn, an ivory brush and comb set (those were on a bald one, go figure, maybe a gift for someone else?), a white dragon hide headband (ten feet long!) and a sack of salted turnips. We collected everything we could, and Jonathan floated all of the bodies down further into the cave.
I didn't want to just leave them like that, so I had Jonathan go up and grab some of the spare oil that we had. I doused the bodies and set them aflame with a flask of alchemist's fire. I hoped that they would at least have some kind of cremation funeral. There wasn't enough timber or other burnable material for much else. After I was done, Dame Rebekah came up to me and watched as the fire burned. She nodded and leaned over, telling me that I knew that they were all evil, right?
I looked at her and she nodded. I walked off to make my way back to the plane. Jonathan and Faunra had made their way back up to the plane, released the immovable rods, and slowly brought the plane down. I walked back in to the plane and made my way to the cockpit. Faunra gracefully vaulted over to the co-pilot seat and asked where we were heading next. I noted that we should continue on while we could and get to a good hiding spot within actionable distance of the city. Dame Rebekah agreed with that assessment and we took off.
It was a further two miles along this one-hundred-feet wide road to get to the city. We flew at an altitude of about sixty feet, just enough to give us a good visible look of the road from the light that only Faunra and I can see. We made our way at that the thirty-five mile an hour pace and got there in just under four minutes. Some of our enhancements were still even in effect. When we got close enough, in this witching hour, we saw that the road branched off in two directions. We rock-paper-scissors for it and Faunra won. I should never have picked scissors. Traitorous back stabbers they are, scissors that is.
We followed this right-hand path to see a looming stone wall flanked by glossy black towers. We elevated to three hundred feet, Jonathan and Dame Rebekah activated the immovable rods and we all made our way to the back ramp. Jonathan whipped out a very lightweight tarp, and Faunra poured a potion vial out over it. The tarp disappeared. I activated the "See-invisible" setting on my visor. The tarp was visible.
Dame Rebekah and I jumped out of the back of ramp while Faunra and Jonathan flew up to apply the tarp over the plane. The two of them dove down to catch up with us as Dame Rebekah and I floated down at a controlled speed towards the top of the gatehouse. When we landed, quietly behind a group of four of some vulture-harpy looking things. Jonathan fired off a set of Sith Lightning, that he had amped up while we were falling. Faunra picked off things with her arrows after they survived, but were badly wounded, by the electrical discharge.
We landed and Jonathan was NOT happy. He rushed off into the building to scout it out. We heard a faint squawk and the three of us looked at each other. We all took off, rushing in to be his back up. As we ran in to the block house, I saw Jonathan have a gleam in his eye that I had never noticed before.
He let loose with a group of eight ball bearings from his supply. They went rocketing off in different directions. From the rafters fell seven vulture-like harpy things and a fine mist, with small bits of meat and bone in it. I assumed that this was the one that had taken the brunt of his fury. A bunch of oversized bows and arrows fell down with the corpses.
Getting a better look at them, I actually identified them as Kuchrimas, the lowest form of Lamia. I might have studied Lamias a bit after having to deal with them twice. Between Lucrecia and Xanesha, I didn't want to be left out in any of their abilities. These things were basically carrion eaters and garbage disposals. Thinking on it, I decided to tell the rest of the group my reflections.
I told the others that that settled it. That we were definitely in the correct nearly destroyed, ancient city with a giant face carved into a mountain over it. Dame Rebekah looked at me like I was stupid. Jonathan and Faunra got the joke apparently, because they both started laughing. This was a gory mess and we were an invading force, but it is good to know that we were still at least a little well-adjusted.
We got ourselves situated and cleaned up, and Jonathan sorted the area enough to find that their bows were actually decent, and they had a few of the alchemical gear known as thunderstones that he just could not WAIT to use as a projectile. I asked him how long he has been able to launch multiple items. He just shrugged. I looked at the others and they kind of looked away like they had secrets of their own. I sighed audibly and headed back to the top of the building. Jonathan took the main door off of its hinges telekinetically and carried it with us.
When I got to the top, I got some assistance in getting back into the plane. Jonathan and Faunra went out and got the tarp back inside. I asked everyone what we should do next and they recommended parking the plane somewhere close and then we can continue to explore the city on foot. I looked around outside the city proper and found a section of the former lava flow that looked to fairly undisturbed. I landed the plane slowly and carefully.
Dame Rebekah and I got on a door that we had scavenged earlier, that would support us while Jonathan and Faunra flew out to the outside of the ship. Faunra had the artifact book with her. She seemed to twitch a little as she opened it up and then the ship took on the appearance of just another section of the lava flow. I hoped that this would be enough, but then the two of them put the tarp back over the ship. Jonathan floated the door that Dame Rebekah and I were on away from the plane.
There wasn't anything that changed, but apparently the tarp would now be permanently invisible. Faunra flew over to us and I asked her what this would do. She smiled and told me that the tarp would act as a blockage in case someone can see past invisible things, they would just see the camouflaged tarp. So, those who can't see the invisible item will see the lava flow, whereas those who could see through illusions and invisibility would not see the ship anyway.
I laughed and we silently floated/flew towards the inside of the city. I wondered if we should all just pile on the door and then turn it invisible. Faunra shook her head, noting that we should probably touch down here soon anyway, as we all needed to be ready in case we encountered anything that needed a specific bit of the old ultra-violence. I figured that this was a good assessment, and that we needed to be as quick as we could through all of this, as once the Kuchrimas, or what was left of them, was discovered, a general panic would ensue and it would be more difficult to be hidden.
It was still oh-dark-thirty out, balls to four watch really, so we had the opportunity to go through the area as hidden as we could. Most thinking beings would gladly be asleep at the moment, trying to get whatever rest that they could before heading back out for another grueling day. I had no illusions that this shithole of a city did not run on slave blood. But those slaves were apparently just as evil as those over them. Not the best situation to be in. Definitely didn't deserve to have them all slain, but we can't really afford to be soft hearted in a place where discovery can lead to us being turned into dispersed aerated particles or true Jackson Pollack smears.
We rushed through the area and made our way past the city walls. It was MUCH easier when we could just walk along the hardened lava flow that had devastated half of the city. I guess it was good that it didn't go full Pompeii. While we were VERY quietly stalking through the Jonathan notified us that someone HAD seen us and was tailing us. I asked if he was certain and he nodded yes, as we continued to move. I asked who the person could have seen, and he turned his head to look at Dame Rebekah, who was sticking out like a sore thumb, comparatively. I asked if we had the means to try a reverse ambush and he shook his head.
We stopped by a nearby alley and set ourselves up to be prepared for whatever might come. We were not prepared for a pale, morbidly obese humanish looking thing, to carefully peer around the corner and have his eyes go wide. He walked up to us speaking Thassilonian. Faunra and I both understood him and translated for the other two as he spoke, off and on. He introduced himself as Morgiv, one of the Spared, and that he was grateful that we had come. He told us that we were the prophesized ones who would come to his people's aid, to save them from slavery.
I looked to the others and asked if they felt that we felt that the ship would be safe while we were dealing with this. Faunra shrugged, noting that the invisibility spell would be permanent, but that any entity that could see through it would be suspicious of a giant camouflaged tarp, no matter how well it was disguised. I asked her how close something would have to get to see through the invisibility. She shrugged, saying at least a hundred and twenty feet away, maybe further for those with better sense. I sighed and looked over at Dame Rebekah. She was almost transcending this plane with how much she was vibrating with fury. Jonathan wasn't much better. Morgiv offered to lead us, and we headed off to his tunnel.
We took off, with us following this unlikely guide, into a series of tunnels that we cunningly obscured. We bade him to rush and we ran down thru areas where we happened to spot other "skulks" as they were known as, jumping back into other corridors. Morgiv led us to his apparent home. On the wall, there were "depictions" of us. I mean in the absolute loosest sense.
A figure that looked like a comically busty Joan D 'Arc in silvery armor (her armor was of course the same black with silvery and green veins that mine was). There was a depiction of a werewolf that looked like a monk that I was guessing was Jonathan. Very Lon Chaney rather than Dog Soldiers. There was a well-done painting of Keira Knightly as Guinevere, with added elvish features. And magic sparkles, because of course there were magic sparkles. Then there was "me". Or my supposed rendition. It was like it was the Iron Giant directly lifted from the illustrated cover of the VHS, but of course with the color armors.
If I didn't know any better, I would have suspected that someone had played a fast one and had taped up these pictures. Nope. They were actually painted onto the wall, and there was some age about them. I asked Morgiv who we were supposed to fight. He told us that we needed to slay the "Hidden Beast" Faunra translated for me, "Vampiric Decapus Spellcaster." I thanked her, sarcastically, and asked him to lead us to the front door. Morgiv sat shocked and told us that he could lead us to a safer route. I asked if it was faster.
Morgiv shrugged and said that it would mean less of his people who were stuck underneath the sway of the hidden beast would be killed. I straightened up and said pip forth and tallyho, we are off to penetrate the evil entity from it's backside. Morgiv looked to the others and they told him to lead on. We gathered up and followed Morgiv. It took over an hour to get there.
Morgiv indicated to us that we were really close, and that if we needed to do anything to prepare, that we should do it now. Dame Rebekah told him that she would hand him an amulet and ask him to walk thirty feet ahead of us until we signaled him. Faunra started out with her Flame Arrows Spell, on her bow and my bolter. Dame Rebekah summoned forth a divine force enhancing her already respectable defenses. I decided that I needed to get ready for a lot of dodging, since I felt that I didn't want to get bitten by any of the vampires that were around it, and if they were anything like any of the vampires I had heard of, I didn't know if a little thing like tank armor would stop them, let alone what we had.
By the time that I had gotten back into focus, several more spells had been cast by the two spellcasters of the group. Something to the effect of Faunra's Quieting Weapons spell, a Blink Spell, and her version of Greater Invisibility. Dame Rebekah had enhanced us with a Protection from evil spell, a Hunter's Blessing against the Undead that we would likely be facing and praying for some Divine Favor. Jonathan had ended up going through a couple of wands to get some enhancing effects. Later, Faunra told me that I had entered a fugue state and cast a series of spells before disappearing from sight like her own, including the Haste spell that we were all so used to.
With ourselves prepared, Dame Rebekah signaled to Morgiv who came back. He handed us back the Amulet and asked us why we had done that. Dame Rebekah indicated that we wanted a sound block while we were preparing. Morgiv nodded, not knowing exactly what she meant, but apparently happy to help. We got to work heading the rest of the way. At a certain point, Morgiv stopped, and indicated that the lair was only a little way further, but that he could not enter, for fear of getting ensnared by the Hidden Beast. Faunra thanked him and we sent him off with our blessing.
We rushed into the room, which was apparently a former basement gallery. A raised balcony to the northwest had a pair of stairs heading to it with a fancy columned railing. There were pillars throughout the room which seemed to be the main reason why the void existed. In the center of the room was a dais with a stupidly ornate throne. Upon the thrown was a skeletal figure in musty robes which had arcane sigils stitched into it. The skeleton seemed to speak for effect, demanding blood for itself. Yeah, none of us took it up on the offer.
Dame Rebekah indicated that it wasn't undead, or living, but that there was a vampire skulk in the shadows. Faunra took aim at that one and at the skeleton, just for good measure. The Skeleton exploded from the force, and the vampire just dissolved into mist. I happened to see another Vampire Skulk, so I unloaded into it with my bolter. I unleashed fire-blessed ammunition until I emptied the magazine, it too dissolved into air. Dame Rebekah asked what she should do, and Jonathan pointed to an area and told her blinding burst, while he launched a series of bearings forward.
Two more of the vampires dissolved, which I had not even noticed were there! And a ball-bearing flung itself high into the sky to strike at something in mid-air. Jonathan forced out another ball bearing, with much less power than the previous one, and the barely visible thing dissolved into barely visible mist, which floated down underneath the dais, while the other misty forms float up to the balcony to the north west. Jonathan focused his telekinetic power to attempt to lift the basalt slab. He was bleeding ether while the massive, almost ten-ton rock lifted, revealing a large hollow area. Dame Rebekah and I assist in pushing it out of the way.
The decapus had rematerialized and was helpless. I puzzled about what to do. I mean, we couldn't let it live, and we didn't really have sunlight down here. Jonathan noted that he couldn't lift it since it had an animating force. I sighed and went through the litany of Hollywood Vampire lore that I had collected. Wooden stake in the heart? Does this thing even have a heart? Even then, I don't have any communion wafers. Running Water? Where the hell are we going to find that. No, Sunlight was the best disinfectant, especially for Nosferatu, and we were very close to sunrise if my watch was accurate. Faunra offered up that we could teleport to the surface, but that we'd have to carry the vampires up there. I resolved that we needed to get rid of the other vampires at the same time.
Dame Rebekah went with me and we quickly gathered up the other vampire corpses from where they had rematerialized, with a fair amount of hacking from Dame Rebekah's and my adamantine swords. We summoned Morgiv to tell him that he had to see that his people's fears would be put to rest. He reluctantly gathered along with us as Dame Rebekah, and I took up the brunt of the carrying of the vampires. Faunra checked with us to make sure that we were all ready, and then she teleported us up to just outside the ship and we waited for sunrise.
Morgiv seemed a bit more hesitant to be in the sunlight, but it just ended up being that his eyes were a little light sensitive. I fished out my spare sunglasses and handed them to him. Faunra, Jonathan, Morgiv, and I all watched the corpses of the vampires as they burst into flames while Dame Rebekah went to go perform her prayers. Jonathan, Faunra, and I all got together with Morgiv and asked him to keep an eye on the area here to see if there were any creatures trying to get at our ship. Morgiv nodded and said that there were at least two more major forces in the area that could be of a danger to us, excepting the horde of giants.
I asked him how many giants there were, and he shrugged, saying that he didn't have a good count, but that it was more than four hundred. I nodded thoughtfully, as this was more than we had even dealt with at Jorgenfist. I asked Faunra if we should go into the camp and go all Spetsnaz on the camp. Faunra asked Morgiv what types of giants they are. Morgiv didn't know the types of giants, but he described them enough for us to identify them as a motley group of Hill Giants, Stone Giants, and Frost Giants.
We were silent for a minute before Jonathan offered up that we could get rid of them all. I looked at him and asked him if he thought that we could take them all at once. Jonathan shook his head, noting that it would be a real pain, but that between the four of us, we could do it. I told him that I didn't think that I had enough ammunition to provide a single bullet to each one, let alone however many I would need to kill a single giant, let alone all of them. Jonathan sighed and said that I didn't need to take on all of them, just a quarter.
I looked at him dumbfounded and told him that if I wasted all of my ammo on the giants, that we wouldn't have anything for Special K or anything else. Jonathan offered up that I'd still have my chainsword, and that I could use my chainsword for the attacks on the giants. Faunra offered up that we could deal with the giants after. Morgiv offered up that the blue dragon and the devils might be a more immediate problem. I looked at him and asked him what dragon.
Morgiv looked a little shocked and said that we had not asked yet about the two major forces. I sighed and asked him to explain the other forces. Morgiv offered up that the dragon had a blue scarred hide and that he was larger than anything he had ever seen. Faunra offered up that this dragon sounded more dangerous than the White Dragon that we had killed. I agreed and said that we needed to get prepared for this. I asked Morgiv if he can get back to us with a more complete dossier of all of the beings here with a map.
Morgiv said that he would try, and that he would get back to us by tomorrow. I thanked him and he headed off. Before he left, Jonathan stopped him and gave him the handful of rings and bows that the Vampire Skulks had. Morgiv thanked us and said that he would get these to the people who could use them the best. Jonathan thanked him and said that we would be hiding here, as best we could until tonight, when we will do another raid. Morgiv nodded and said that he'll try to get back here as soon as possible.
So, with almost all of the major danger out of the way, we had the opportunity to finally look around at this place during the daylight. There was a roadway through the city, some seventy-five feet wide, and it looked to be plated in gold. It was like seeing a three-lane highway that would lead to the Wizard of Oz, so it seemed partially right. There were enormous towers of different types of stone on both sides of the road, rising to heights that definitely not normal in this world. About a quarter of the city was gone, buried firstly under the lava flow and secondly under the expanding ice and snow drifts that had come to follow it.
As you look further through the city, the buildings get larger and larger, becoming truly massive edifices as they climbed the slope of the mountain. The road terminated at the base of the mountain to become a golden stairway. After what can only be a few thousand feet up the mountain the buildings taper off, and a spired citadel rests, sitting just below the carved face of a stern man. All of this, along with the wind creating strange cries and shrieks in the thin air. It was, suffice to say, it gave the location a strange air.
Faunra had retreated back to the ship by then and Jonathan had been hiding out, acting as a sentry. Honestly, I think that the main reason why he did it was because there wasn't all that much that he could really do to assist the rest of the group. Dame Rebekah came up to me after an hour and asked if I was ready to head out. I shrugged, saying that we could easily check to see if there was some other force that could be taken out, but with daylight being here, it would be on completely even footing. Dame Rebekah asked if I didn't think we could win in a situation that wasn't completely balanced to help us.
I looked at her almost reflexively and asked her if she thought that it would be the "right thing" to do to put Chelger in a position that he either live without her or have to jump through Hell and High Water to bring her back. I stopped and apologized, saying that I shouldn't have blown up like that and that this wasn't my idea of a good situation, but that we needed to make sure that we always struck first, and struck decisively. I added that we were in the kind of situation where we didn't have fallback plans or cavalry that we could call in, or even a way to definitely have our bodies brought back for the closure of our loved ones. Hell, if half of what I've heard is true, we could end up being enslaved to this evil wizard and the others would have to deal with that.
Dame Rebekah looked at me and made some kind of magical effort. All of the worry about the situation seemed to be decreased a little. I wasn't foolhardy about it, but I was beginning to see that it was do-able. I asked her if she had just used a magical effect on me, and she told me that her goddess grants her the ability to decrease an entity's apprehension, if the situation calls for it. I grumbled a bit but noted that the fear really was getting the better of me. I did reiterate that it was much better to try these assaults against others when we had the benefit.
Jonathan broke us out of our conversation with running back and giving us a warning. Something we had dealt with before, back in Jorgenfist, was heading towards our camp. I asked him what, and he told us the bright one, that tried to blind us. He ran towards the ship's ramp to go get Faunra. Dame Rebekah and I positioned ourselves to be the wall upon which this thing would stop. It seemed to notice us and where we were, because in an instant, it launched out a ray of searing light at me.
Odin must have been looking out for me, because it missed. It got buffeted by an exceptionally strong wind and was just off target enough to miss me but vaporize a section snow and vitrify the top layer of stone beneath it. It was a hundred feet away, and I knew that fire wouldn't do jack shit to it, so I did my best Aragorn and nodded to Dame Rebekah before pulling my Chainsword, revving it up and rushed towards it. There was a merciful quirk of fate that the quieting spell was still on it, but I knew that we didn't have all that long.
I leapt forward, knowing it was the only way to cross the distance and maybe get within glorious melee range. I glided through the sky like an aggressive green rage monster towards my chosen foe. Dame Rebekah had apparently whipped her bow out and took shots at it, as I noticed arrows flying underneath me and striking it with one of them. So. These things are at least intelligent. It got struck by an arrow, with a decent amount of force, and upon seeing me coming crashing towards it, chose to teleport over to the bow user.
I landed (superhero landing of course) and turned to start running back towards the slippery thing. The fact that it was now inside of target range of Dame Rebekah. Not the best thing, but still better. She dropped her bow and drew her sword in one fluid motion, slashing across the thing with two quick slices. Then I noticed that she wasn't looking at the thing but reacting from instinct. I think it blinded her somehow. I wasn't there to help warn her.
The thing sidestepped after the slashes and made its way behind her. It made for lining up a twin strike on her less protected back. Before I could shout out a warning, I saw the marble launch into it and cause it to dissolve. As I made it back, I asked Dame Rebekah if she was okay. Faunra came rushing out and asked what had happened. I gave her the synopsis of the attack, and Dame Rebekah offered up that she had been blinded by the thing. Faunra's eyes lit up and reached into her pack. She produced a very aged scroll and indicated that I should read it for Dame Rebekah.
I looked over it and it took some careful consideration and sounding out of the words, but eventually, the scroll disintegrated, and Dame Rebekah exclaimed that she could see again. I was a bit surprised, but glad that it was a success. Jonathan brought up that since we had been spotted by a random patrol, that we should probably strike somewhere far enough away so as to draw suspicion elsewhere, away from our shoddily hidden plane. I agreed and said that it would be wise to do so. I asked everyone where we should head next.
Faunra looked around and asked about the very large dome in the center of the city. I asked how that would help, and she indicated that we could attack it, be seen fleeing towards the North, and then teleport back here when we were hidden in a place with multiple exits. I told her that this is solid advice, especially if we can find a way to get some images of us running in different directions. Faunra indicated that we could do that if we have enough illusions up. Dame Rebekah noted that we should head out there right quick.
Faunra took me aside and indicated that the witchlight crystal of the bolter had long since drained, and that I should swap the one from the Nugget. I shrugged and said that we needed to just get it recharged, removed it from the gun, and set it on the outside of the plane in a safe location. We got everything loaded up and I refilled my magazines. Everyone else had done pretty much the same with their own gear. When we were ready, we took off down the side of the lava flow and into the city.
We took to the streets to stealthily make our way to the dome. Along the way, we kept to the shadows and avoided any kind of conflict with the maneuvering troops of giants going to their morning assignments. We got assistance with hoots and signals that we had figured out were coming from "The Spared" that we had saved. With enough effort, caution, and assistance from the skulks, we made it to the dome. It was huge, about five hundred feet in height with a smaller dome at the top that gets it to a total of seven hundred feet in all. There were a lot of arches and openings in the dome's sides, allowing a lot of access into the building. This plan was getting worse and worse.
Before we got into the dome, Faunra hit our weapons with the silencing and flame spells again. I generated the haste effect and the greater invisibility effect on myself. Dame Rebekah invoked a prayer for us and the sun metal effect for her sword. Jonathan just increased his shielding and then focused to ensure that he was at full power before entering into the dome. We made our way into the dome and I recognized the interior design of the building as the craft of that of stone giants. What was in there, were not stone giants, however. We were spotted (thanks Dame Rebekah) and a half dozen yetis jumped out from the various hollows.
I let loose with a barrage from my bolter across the varied yetis, burning into them. Faunra did the same with her arrows and a set of three scorching rays, further burning the yetis. One of them roared out in rage and leapt towards Jonathan, taking a swipe at him. It missed and then he let loose with a series of launched items. The Abominable Snowmen all dropped from a sudden onset fatal allergy to super accelerated marbles. The six dropped and we were amazed by the fact that this assault all happened within six seconds.
There was a roar behind us and from some of the other chambers. It was another twenty of the bastards. All coming out to attack us. Dame Rebekah hefted her sword and smiled. Jonathan lifted up another batch of almost a dozen and a half stones, Faunra notched another arrow, and I ejected the magazine and loaded another. There was hooting and yowling from the assembled yetis.
Faunra immediately set loose with a series of arrows with another blast of three gouts of flame. One of the Yetis was close enough, so Dame Rebekah stepped up from our station and delivered a series of three slashes across the chest to the yeti closest to her. It bit at her and slashed at her twice with its chilled claws. Dame Rebekah evaded the teeth and one of the claws but got hit on the second one. Another Yeti jumped at Jonathan and attempted its series of attacks, but missed, not even causing an effect on the force field.
I didn't get to notice more, as one of the yetis tried to attack me. It missed, only getting close once. Jonathan let loose another supreme shot, knocking several back and dropping a few of them, including the one that had tried to attack me. Of the ones that did not fly back, a pair of them apparently teamed up on Faunra. She was deft at avoiding them, but one finally hit her at the last. I stepped back from the fallen yeti and let loose another barrage, dropping three from my five shots.
One of the abominable snowmen jumped towards me and tried to swing on me again. Dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge. Thank you Rip. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Faunra was getting ganged up on again. I couldn't get off another good shot, especially because I had emptied my mag.
Faunra apparently stepped back a bit and set a series of six arrows into three of the remaining Yetis, dropping them. Dame Rebekah stepped up and dropped one of the ones who had been next to Jonathan, who I had missed seeing getting attacked again, opening him up to drop the one that had attacked me. When I looked around, there was, more or less, a pile of twenty dead Yetis on the ground. Damn it, sorry Loren Coleman. I can only hope that the DNA test comes back as something other than mountain goat or polar bear on these Yetis.
We did some investigation about the rooms that the yetis were in and figured that we had gotten all of them. When we got back together, I asked if they felt that we had done enough of a distraction. Dame Rebekah shook her head, noting that these creatures were mostly just among themselves and not part of the true social structure. I told her that I definitely didn't think that we'd be up to attacking the dragon today. Jonathan nodded, and asked what about the devils. I asked if we knew where they were.
Everyone shook their heads, and I noted that we should probably enact our plan and head back to our hideout in the caves. Everyone agreed, so we sent out an illusion to the north to keep running while Faunra teleported us back. After a quick flash, we were all back on the ramp, where we walked inside. I told everyone that I'd be heading back to my quarters where I'd be working on whatever I could to upgrade and repair any armor. Dame Rebekah noted that she'd be dropping off her armor to get it repaired from what the Abominable Snowman did to it. Faunra agreed that she'd do the same.
I went to the pilot's quarters and got out of my armor before giving it a once over. I summoned up the unseen crafters and set them to maintaining the equipment and setting up anything that might be able to be done to work on the gear to enhance it. Dame Rebekah and Faunra both arrived into the room after a few minutes. I used my spell to transfer the armor from each of them onto what Faunra had whipped up a few days ago. It basically worked to temporarily summon a creature to act as a stand for the armor. It skirted the "rules" of the spell nicely.
I used it and all of the armor was on a series of stands. Now the unseen crafters would be working on all of this after my own armor, but that was just the way things had to be set up. With both of them now denuded of their protection, they asked me if there were any other tricks or improvements that I could pull out of the armor. I shook my head as I turned back to face them and explain the situation. I had basically improved everything to the highest extent that I could, at least until I figure out Jonathan's telekinetic force field trick to add into the armor.
Dame Rebekah offered up some suggestions about design which Faunra offered up that the spellcasting wasn't as much of a concern anymore. I offered up that I didn't know if it would be with what I can do. Faunra nodded and said that we can try it out sometime later. Faunra indicated that we had found a Mithril breastplate, so I could attempt to work some of that into the armor to try to increase its protective capabilities. I told her that I would look into it when we got back to Sandpoint, but for now I'd be working on trying to keep all of our gear in the best shape and recover any ammunition that I've expended.
Faunra asked me how I could go about doing that. I showed her how I can make the rudimentary gunpowder for my firearms even here, with a few different items and the bag of endless dung that we had been rewarded in Korvosa. I went through the process and described the various parts of it. About halfway through, Dame Rebekah excused herself and Faunra just sat, enraptured by the fifth-grade science project.
When I was done, Faunra asked if there was anything else that could be done with the powder. I told her that we could make some different forms of explosives from it, and that I'd probably work on some more grenades for both herself and me, especially if we can get some more holy water items made, considering that we had run out. I asked Faunra if there was anything else that would be of use against what we were looking at coming up against. She thought for a minute and offered up that some kind of protection against lightning would be good. I nodded and got to work on the armor to add in the grounding system.
I started the process of updating everyone's armor, starting with my own first. I had already included a thermoregulation package in the armor and adding the grounding feature wouldn't be too difficult. For my armor, it was just using the massive amounts of copper coinage that we had found, converting it into a fine web mesh that connected to my stabilizing spikes. Thank whoever thought up this spell to make massive amounts of unseen skilled craftsmen.
While I spent the day working on the protection systems for all of us (and a cloak-based system for Jonathan, just because I was worried that even he could use it. And because this wasn't enough to keep me occupied during the day, I worked on some basic lightning rods that could be enchanted by Faunra to automatically set up or something similar. It wasn't difficult since we can get ahold of stone and iron fairly easily anymore. Honestly, I still want that fabrication chamber from the Runeforge. Maybe I'll try to get a way to have one of those rooms quarantined off and have a portal built right to there from the school.
When I was done with what I could get done, I sought out the others with their newly upgraded gear. Dame Rebekah was swinging her swords all happy-like. Turns out that her goddess had blessed them all after a suitable donation. Yay divine capitalism. Apparently, she had used one of her miracles to have one of her deities' divine servitors appear, take the swords back to the deity's home realm, and come back. Must be nice to have a divine entity on speed dial. Faunra had apparently focused her time on getting Jonathan's gear improved with that Star Ring that we had found at the Vampire's place. It also allowed him to change his clothing and not feel the environment. Bonus!
Apparently, as some time during the day, Morgiv had gotten back to give us a magical bag of all kinds of swag. And had a bit more information about the devil. Or rather, he had a contact that we could talk to in the Giant's compound. Apparently, this giant wanted to escape with some of his brethren. I noted that it would be good to not have to kill ALL of them, especially when we had started up a pair of them in gainful employment. Morgiv told us that the results of our raid on the Kuchrimas had been discovered by the giants and conflict was starting to break out.
Jonathan had been the one who had talked to him and had asked what Morgiv had meant. Morgiv had told him that the giants were all blaming each other because it looked like something huge had smashed them. I laughed, thinking about the tiny bearings that Jonathan had actually used for it. Morgiv then noted that the Stone Giant, who had been one of the few who had been willing to trade with the Spared, had suspected that there was some other reason, and had reached out to the Spared after the workday ended. Morgiv told us that the Giant offered to meet with us, and talk.
Jonathan told Morgiv to set it up for tonight, and that we would meet him at the edge of the giant encampment. I asked him how much time we had. Jonathan told me that it was about forty minutes left. I asked Faunra if they wanted me there, and if so, what form. Faunra said that it would actually help if I was seen as a construct in her control. I nodded and we ensured that I kept my more fantastic (technological) gear back at the plane. No weapons beyond my exogloves enhanced gauntlets and the grenade launcher (since it was designed to look more like a crossbow).
I got into my newly improved armor and gave Jonathan his new cloak. He took it and put it on. It wasn't armor of any sort, but he was glad that he could make it disappear with his newly enhanced ring. Faunra and Dame Rebekah came out next in their newly enhanced and reinforced armors. We all gathered up and Jonathan changed up to look like a stereotypical Elven Wizard. I looked over the others and we headed towards the meeting point, stealthily.
About halfway there, I activated the "see Invisibility" aspect of my helmet and my darkvision aspect. When we got closer Faunra whispered to me that she'd be activating her ability to see the truth behind appearances, once we got closer. I guess it wasn't as long lasting of a spell. When we got to the appointed spot, I saw a stone giant with a lot of tattoos standing in the edge of the fire light. We signaled for him to approach and the giant did so.
It greeted us in the tongue of giants and Faunra responded back before Dame Rebekah to even take over for me. Faunra asked what its true intentions were and called it an Oni. I stayed rock still and it looked at her with a vicious smile on its face. The Giant said that it just wanted to get a group of giants and find a place for them on the Storval Steppes. Faunra asked him back whether he would be using this opportunity to harass and intimidate the humans and other people in the area.
The Giant laughed and said that it shouldn't matter to us, as we were just dealing with the issues here, and not to worry about the future, especially when he can get rid of several of the hill and stone giants from here and we wouldn't have to fight them as well. Dame Rebekah seethed, saying that we'd not take kindly to his new "tribe" attacking the locals of wherever he moved them to. The Giant smiled to Dame Rebekah and told her that we didn't really have a choice, as he had information that we needed, and he was looking at leaving. He added that he'd be leaving with his group whenever we made an attack on either the dragon or the devil, so it didn't matter to him whether we liked this situation or not, as he was getting what he wanted either way.
Jonathan sighed and asked him what information he could give us, as this was getting boring. The Giant looked at him and told us that the dragon was a very old blue dragon by the name of Ghlorofaex and could point us to his lair. Jonathan countered that we could find it on our own if needed and asked if he knew anything else. The Giant shrugged and said only that the dragon would leave to do a flyover of the area every couple of days, and that it should be tomorrow or the next day if he follows his previous schedule.
Dame Rebekah asked if he knew anything of use about the devil. The Giant offered up that the Ice Devil's name was Gamigin, and that he had a dozen or so giant red spider things that stayed with him. He added that the devil was known to be at the order of the one in charge of all of this, and that there have been times where the Ice Devil was sent to remove a problem. Dame Rebekah asked if there was any other information that he could provide. The Giant smirked and shook his head and asked us if we were going to attack sometime soon. Dame Rebekah noted that we would probably attack some time the day after tomorrow.
The Giant nodded and said that he would plan to get his group out of here when we started the fight, to cause further chaos. The giant turned and went to leave. He stopped short and turned back with a smile before telling us that there was something that had been given to each of Karzoug's (I prevented my flinching) lieutenants and others who tried to ascend the mountain without whatever had been given to the lieutenants never made it back. Jonathan nodded sagely, Faunra was distrustful, and Dame Rebekah was just stoic. The Giant continued on his trek back into the camp. We left and made a few varied movements through the city until we made it back to the ship.
When we were back in the safety of the ship, we secured the gear and walked through several of the different extradimensional rooms just to ensure that we had no individuals scrying on us, if the private sanctum spell didn't finish off the scrying effect. Everyone collected in the former clerical passenger wing and we sat around talking about what we had discovered. I asked Faunra, Dame Rebekah, and Jonathan if they thought that we should attack fairly early in the morning, no matter who it was we attacked. Everyone seemed good with that, and I asked if we should try to prepare whatever we could in the way of long duration spells and bonuses before we crash for the night and recollect our energies. Everyone agreed to that too and noted that we can use the rods of extend to make them last throughout the day.
My questions satisfied for now, Faunra asked who we should attack first. Dame Rebekah wanted to deal with the Devil first. Jonathan said that we should deal with the dragon first, arguing that it was more likely that the dragon could do heavy damage to the ship and was more likely to find it. Dame Rebekah countered up with the fact that the devil was an evil force in the world and was a blight on the very surface of the world. Jonathan countered that the dragon was evil as well, and generally more dangerous to civilizations in a larger area than a likely bound devil. The three of them looked to me.
I thought about it and told them that it was far more likely that they could damage the plane, but we could throw some stone walls over it to protect the plane if it was necessary. I offered up that if we dealt with the dragon tomorrow, we might be able to do it and not have any more alarms ring up before we go after the devil. I countered myself that the dragon might leave from their lair tomorrow when we would attack the devil, and discover out hiding spot, and then it could leave to give everyone the notice of where we were hiding. I offered up that I was a bit biased, in that it was the plane that I had made, and that my armor and weapons were enhanced against dragons, according to Faunra anyway.
The other two looked at Faunra and she nodded, saying that my armor and one of my weapons were indeed enhanced to be stronger against both dragons and giants. Jonathan perked up and asked about giant dragons. We all looked at him with a sideways glare. Faunra continued that we should plan on taking out the dragon, because it was more likely that it would have access to additional resources that we could use to go against the Ice Devil and its abilities. She added that I had already added the grounding feature to our gear, and it would be a waste to not use it.
Thus, it was decided that we would go to fight a dragon tomorrow. Honestly, it was a bit more thought and discussion than a lot of the other times we had faced a dragon. The Red that had attacked the city was a spur of the moment. The white that had attacked us when we got to the Runeforge location had ambushed us. Now we had time to research. Now we had time to get all our setups prepared.
Dame Rebekah, Faunra, Jonathan, and I all scoured through what we could do to prepare. There was a LOT more to consider since we had been looking at this stuff months ago. Now there were all kinds of little tricks that Jonathan could do, different miracles and blessings that Dame Rebekah had been granted in the name of her goddess, more powerful arcane spells that Faunra had discovered, and even different tricks that I had picked up, and the ever-present effects that I had figured out how to generate. We knew the "type" of dragon, roughly how large it was, and even knew that it had one of the magical rings that Jonathan now had.
Also, we knew a lot of what wouldn't work against the dragons. Illusions were out. Mirror Images were out. Invisibility was out. Their enhanced senses could really do a number on a LOT of the misdirection that we use in terms of getting ready for combats. I trusted Faunra and Dame Rebekah to have more access to different things. About all that I could provide to everyone was the speed up effect. That and maybe a few other minor tricks. Mostly all I could do was get my own gear in line.
With the decision that we would be facing off against the blue dragon, we started to get whatever we would need to get done set up, especially the effects that would last for longer periods of time. We had the rods of extend to increase the amount of time that the effects would last, so I borrowed one for two effects for myself. An enhancement on the enchantment for my rifle and setting up my armor for a bit of reinforcement. That was the ceiling that I could truly accomplish right now to get ready for the fight. Eventually, it was found that we could get closer to the location and hide in an abandoned building, so I worked on ensuring that the plane was ready to go.
When I caught back up with everyone, they were getting ready to turn in for an early night. I said my goodnights and went to the cockpit, where I used the radio to get in some time talking with Savah. I updated her on the issues with the Oni that Faunra had identified and what we could expect. Savah told me a bit about how everything had been going on there, including what the pair of vets were doing in the town. I thanked her for that and told her that I hoped to be home within two weeks. Savah welcomed that news and asked me to keep her up to date.
We signed off and I got myself ready. The plane was ready to fly for at least a few hours, if the need shows itself. The others know at least the rudimentary details on how to fly this, especially Faunra. Savah was set up in the event of the worst, and we already set up a bunch of failsafe actions if it falls to it. I get worried thoughts about the future attacks and especially against Special K, but I'm going to dive back into the books and see if there are any other tricks that I can pull out to make us more likely to succeed.