A hard-fought anticlimax.
Oct. 4th, 2003 02:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothToday was (finally!) Lazar's Friday Shadake game, although it was moved to Murdock's house because, well, he asked for it to be. He being Murdock.
Murdock's house is about half as far away as Lazar's, as the crow flies, but it takes just as long to get there thanks to labrynthine streets and the fact that they're both on the wrong side of I-90.
At any rate, we fought the fight we stopped just before last session, then didn't actually get to meet the dragon, which was probably a good thing.
Before the trio could even ask who the birds were (or, more likely, were representing, since they were obviously elementals), the birds attacked, dive bombing the Anur and spraying the party with cold breath. The party fought back with knives and spells, but the birds were fairly tough opponents.
It soon became clear that Sophie was the main target of their ire -- or rather, the fire-breathing serpent she had wrapped around her (whose fire had been tuned to melt ice, which helped to counteract the birds' inherent resistance to fire) and the Anur she carried on her back. After her clumsy dodges nearly got the three of them killed, she started concentrating on defensive spells.
Unfortunately, being a fire mage, she didn't have a generic 'prevent damage from any source' spell like many mages... instead she had one spell to protect against damage from heat or cold (which worked excellently against the birds' cold breath) and a different spell to protect against physical attacks (which worked adequately against a bird dive-bombing her and damaged it in the process). The birds were smart enough to notice this weakness and start feinting, causing her to waste quite a few spells -- although as she was doing nothing but casting defensive spells, she managed to keep most of the damage from hitting her or her passengers.
Meanwhile, Kiet was taking out the birds one by one by dive-bombing them with his hawk, by surprise, from the smoke cover, and casting a touch-range dispel through its talons. He took out two of the birds with it, in one hit each.
Tsuru had leaped on a third bird, stabbing it with his daggers, and managed to shatter it... but it didn't die, instead transforming into the all too familiar shape of a bomb. Flokin, not wanting to be nuked along with the party, snuffed it before it could explode -- the first time he'd ever acted *openly* to aid the party in combat. The fourth bird was eventually worn down by Sophie's spells and her fire-snake. It tried to transform into a bomb, but a wild surge on Sophie's last spell made her fire-whip echo and kill the bomb before it could arm itself.
At the end of it, Sophie's fire-breathing snake was about to die, so she dismissed it, afraid of pyrotechnic consequences should it expire while wrapped around her body. The Anur they'd come to 'save' (aka 'sacrifice to the dragon') didn't seem to be breathing, but a healing spell proved that he was, indeed, still alive, although nowhere near consciousness.
So Sophie, following Tsuru's directions and followed by the others, flew to the waterfall, and drifted down through the hole it had melted in the glacier to the door to the dragon's cave. The two hannah who they'd seen earlier getting bombed, and who had tried to steal from and/or kill them during the initiation ages (a week or two) ago, were there, but fortunately -- and somewhat to Sophie's surprise -- seemed to be on the same side, for once, and let the party past, telling them that they'd managed to wound the elementalist, but that he wasn't dead. The blue fur near the blood scattered about suggested that the elementalist in question was Glick, of all people.
The jade tiger did, indeed, open the door to the dragon's cave, and the party hesitantly stepped inside, and walked deep into the pitch black void, which appeared to them (somehow) as an ancient corridor reminiscent of the complex deep beneath the mines. An attendant received the Anur from them unceremoniously, and then they turned around and didn't *quite* run back out.
It was probably a good thing that they didn't meet the dragon, since the dragon hated them and wanted them dead. So, apparently, did Glick. And, for that matter, the procyonisk that Glick had sent them to steal from, and probably Tormierre as well, since he'd sent them to kill another of the sacrifices and was unlikely to take the news that a sacrifice had gone through well.
"I hope you're happy," Sophie snapped at Tsuru outside the cave, "Now everyone wants to kill us."
"We stopped the dragon from destroying the city!" Tsuru protested.
"Tormierre wanted the dragon angry for some reason. Don't you think we should have gone alone with his plan, so we'd at least have *someone* on our side?"
"We live in the city!"
"Do you even know why they were trying to prevent the sacrifices?"
"Obviously it was a distraction to prevent them from taking on the other threats," Tsuru said.
"You mean the Argent Claw?" Sophie asked. "Hey, is the Argent Claw one of the people you can summon by saying his name?"
"I don't think so..." Tsuru said, uncertainly.
So Sophie chanted 'Argent claw argent claw argent claw argent claw' until a silver flame appeared, and said, "I'm busy now, but I'll speak with you in a little while."
After a few seconds of speechlessness, Sophie turned to Tsuru. "I hate you."
Back in the city, the party discovered that, apparently, Midrein itself was to be the next battlefield in the war, as all the mercenaries and Manis who'd been drafted by either side -- and more! -- were back on the streets.
They also discovered a wanted poster with their names on it, posted by Lord Aberhad... which meant that in addition to all the people listed above, the head wizard of the city, and the city guard, and all the mercs out for a buck, would also be after them. Sophie whined more about how they shouldn't have betrayed Tormierre, since he could have saved them, and now they were doomed. Then they all put on disguises, although it was unlikely to work for long since most of the city guard knew them on sight from all their previous shenanigans.
As a slight upside, they found a merchant selling actual real-live demon-repelling amulets. They could tell they were real because they repelled Sophie's brand. If only 9/10ths of the people hunting them weren't mortal...
previous session next session
After the session, Murdock passed out dessert... gingerbread. Which somehow made me sick, despite not having nutmeg in it. Or at least, not listing nutmeg in the ingredients. It was suggested that maybe I was actually allergic to mollasses, since most of the other things that made me sick had molasses in them, but Chai? I don't think Chai has molasses.
Murdock's house is about half as far away as Lazar's, as the crow flies, but it takes just as long to get there thanks to labrynthine streets and the fact that they're both on the wrong side of I-90.
At any rate, we fought the fight we stopped just before last session, then didn't actually get to meet the dragon, which was probably a good thing.
Before the trio could even ask who the birds were (or, more likely, were representing, since they were obviously elementals), the birds attacked, dive bombing the Anur and spraying the party with cold breath. The party fought back with knives and spells, but the birds were fairly tough opponents.
It soon became clear that Sophie was the main target of their ire -- or rather, the fire-breathing serpent she had wrapped around her (whose fire had been tuned to melt ice, which helped to counteract the birds' inherent resistance to fire) and the Anur she carried on her back. After her clumsy dodges nearly got the three of them killed, she started concentrating on defensive spells.
Unfortunately, being a fire mage, she didn't have a generic 'prevent damage from any source' spell like many mages... instead she had one spell to protect against damage from heat or cold (which worked excellently against the birds' cold breath) and a different spell to protect against physical attacks (which worked adequately against a bird dive-bombing her and damaged it in the process). The birds were smart enough to notice this weakness and start feinting, causing her to waste quite a few spells -- although as she was doing nothing but casting defensive spells, she managed to keep most of the damage from hitting her or her passengers.
Meanwhile, Kiet was taking out the birds one by one by dive-bombing them with his hawk, by surprise, from the smoke cover, and casting a touch-range dispel through its talons. He took out two of the birds with it, in one hit each.
Tsuru had leaped on a third bird, stabbing it with his daggers, and managed to shatter it... but it didn't die, instead transforming into the all too familiar shape of a bomb. Flokin, not wanting to be nuked along with the party, snuffed it before it could explode -- the first time he'd ever acted *openly* to aid the party in combat. The fourth bird was eventually worn down by Sophie's spells and her fire-snake. It tried to transform into a bomb, but a wild surge on Sophie's last spell made her fire-whip echo and kill the bomb before it could arm itself.
At the end of it, Sophie's fire-breathing snake was about to die, so she dismissed it, afraid of pyrotechnic consequences should it expire while wrapped around her body. The Anur they'd come to 'save' (aka 'sacrifice to the dragon') didn't seem to be breathing, but a healing spell proved that he was, indeed, still alive, although nowhere near consciousness.
So Sophie, following Tsuru's directions and followed by the others, flew to the waterfall, and drifted down through the hole it had melted in the glacier to the door to the dragon's cave. The two hannah who they'd seen earlier getting bombed, and who had tried to steal from and/or kill them during the initiation ages (a week or two) ago, were there, but fortunately -- and somewhat to Sophie's surprise -- seemed to be on the same side, for once, and let the party past, telling them that they'd managed to wound the elementalist, but that he wasn't dead. The blue fur near the blood scattered about suggested that the elementalist in question was Glick, of all people.
The jade tiger did, indeed, open the door to the dragon's cave, and the party hesitantly stepped inside, and walked deep into the pitch black void, which appeared to them (somehow) as an ancient corridor reminiscent of the complex deep beneath the mines. An attendant received the Anur from them unceremoniously, and then they turned around and didn't *quite* run back out.
It was probably a good thing that they didn't meet the dragon, since the dragon hated them and wanted them dead. So, apparently, did Glick. And, for that matter, the procyonisk that Glick had sent them to steal from, and probably Tormierre as well, since he'd sent them to kill another of the sacrifices and was unlikely to take the news that a sacrifice had gone through well.
"I hope you're happy," Sophie snapped at Tsuru outside the cave, "Now everyone wants to kill us."
"We stopped the dragon from destroying the city!" Tsuru protested.
"Tormierre wanted the dragon angry for some reason. Don't you think we should have gone alone with his plan, so we'd at least have *someone* on our side?"
"We live in the city!"
"Do you even know why they were trying to prevent the sacrifices?"
"Obviously it was a distraction to prevent them from taking on the other threats," Tsuru said.
"You mean the Argent Claw?" Sophie asked. "Hey, is the Argent Claw one of the people you can summon by saying his name?"
"I don't think so..." Tsuru said, uncertainly.
So Sophie chanted 'Argent claw argent claw argent claw argent claw' until a silver flame appeared, and said, "I'm busy now, but I'll speak with you in a little while."
After a few seconds of speechlessness, Sophie turned to Tsuru. "I hate you."
Back in the city, the party discovered that, apparently, Midrein itself was to be the next battlefield in the war, as all the mercenaries and Manis who'd been drafted by either side -- and more! -- were back on the streets.
They also discovered a wanted poster with their names on it, posted by Lord Aberhad... which meant that in addition to all the people listed above, the head wizard of the city, and the city guard, and all the mercs out for a buck, would also be after them. Sophie whined more about how they shouldn't have betrayed Tormierre, since he could have saved them, and now they were doomed. Then they all put on disguises, although it was unlikely to work for long since most of the city guard knew them on sight from all their previous shenanigans.
As a slight upside, they found a merchant selling actual real-live demon-repelling amulets. They could tell they were real because they repelled Sophie's brand. If only 9/10ths of the people hunting them weren't mortal...
previous session next session
After the session, Murdock passed out dessert... gingerbread. Which somehow made me sick, despite not having nutmeg in it. Or at least, not listing nutmeg in the ingredients. It was suggested that maybe I was actually allergic to mollasses, since most of the other things that made me sick had molasses in them, but Chai? I don't think Chai has molasses.
