Trick or WAR
Nov. 1st, 2003 09:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothLast night was Lazar's Friday Shadake game, in which we tried to go trick-or-treating and ended up getting in more trouble. And by 'we' I mean me, of course.
The game started late, because Snowwy forgot his cell phone, so Murdock couldn't call him, and Lazar was on the computer, so Snowwy couldn't call HIM, and without his cell phone Snowwy didn't have Murdock's number. Doh. He ended up taking another bus closer, then walking the rest of the way, but it took a long time.
Lord Mosher was in no state to study the zombie, being horribly mana-burned over most of his body. When asked, he explained that, no, Dragon-fire did not inflict mana-burns -- dragons didn't even have to breathe on you, or indeed, be aware of your presence, to do what it had done to him. "Don't attack a dragon."
He also scolded the three of them for hanging out with lower-class scum like Asher, for killing the Rystal, and for lots of other things they'd really rather he hadn't seen. He *had* been watching them. He agreed to take custody of the Life instructor and have someone look into his condition, then sent them off to bed. "You only have two days to rest up before MY class."
So instead, they decided to go out trick or treating, since it was the Day of the Dead -- they'd been so busy, they'd completely forgot! Oh, they sent Asher off to report for them and fence the stolen goods, since (as he'd seen demonstrated) they were still being watched.
Lacking proper costumes, they were forced to use magic. Tsuru went as a ghost, Sophie as a fire elemental, and Kiet as an invisible Zox. Sophie messed up a little on the fire spell, and ended up setting everything she touched on fire... but it wasn't fire that burned physical things, so the city was in no real danger, as long as no one touched it. This screw-up also destroyed or consumed all the green rocks she'd been carrying, which was the bulk of the loot they'd gotten from the mines.
[it also gave her three wishes fulfilling the next three statements she made, but she wasted them all on useless or counterproductive things, and NEVER KNEW -- it did really annoy the DM, however, as she spent most of the night giving orders and asking questions.]
They hadn't gotten much candy when they heard an ear-piercing shriek from nearby, and immediately rushed through the dense mist to see what had happened. They found a dying Zox boy, and Kiet put him in 'stasis' (wrapping him up as a mummy) while they looked for someone to take care of him.
Sophie tried to burn away the nearby mist so that she could perhaps see the assailant, but the mist was not natural, and fiercely resisted her spell -- she got 20 feet instead of the expected 1000. None of them being trackers, they decided to knock on the nearest door, which swung open.
Inside, the house was empty of people and valuables, but there was a creepy orange flicker upstairs. "Is that you, _____?" Sophie asked, speaking the name of the demon that had branded her. Somewhat to her surprise, that demon appeared.
He thanked her for summoning him ("You come when called?" "I can.") and offered to give her a boon for freeing him. Tsuru told her to wish for the kid's life (healing magic from a FIRE demon?), but she had more important things she wanted -- namely, she wanted to know who was stealing her elementals and how to stop them. He gave her a book that she couldn't read, and asked her to hold out her other hand so that he could allow her to read it.
Sophie was suspicious, as she had somewhat figured that the last brand from the demon had had dangerous side effects. "This isn't going to drive me insane, is it?" "No more so than you already are." She let her Tarot cards decide for her, in the end, and they said to do it. In addition to letting her read the firey script (and making the damage she had to her sanity permanent), the demon's boon allowed her to read fire-elemental body language.
At any rate, after that demon left, the three went upstairs to investigate the glimmer, and out a window saw a drakivolki tear a Manis' heart out of his chest, through armor and scales and ribcage and all. It must be the one who'd killed the kid! They hunched down to hide, not wanting to attract its attention.
Until Sophie's father appeared, and charged. Not wanting to have her parent killed, she summoned a fire dragon to attack... but instead of the designated target, it attacked the dozen draks plunging down at her from above. The monster ran off into the fog, and Sophie et al ran off in the other direction, as the fire dragon didn't seem to be faring well. Sophie was very annoyed that her fire elemental was unable to take out a mere dozen experienced soldiers.
They decided to go to the house of some Witches, parents of kids in their class, to take care of the kid. And since there was heavy fighting in the streets, or at least it seemed that way, they asked to stay the night. So the witches made them help.
After several hours helping heal the kid, the witched told them to go to sleep... and that they'd told the city guards where they were, since there was a price on their heads. Sophie panicked, and decided to sneak out and go home, but Tsuru and Kiet didn't much care.
So Sophie went home, to find everyone was dead. Or at least, her mother's second husband (not Sophie's dad), her older sister and all her older brothers except Corrain who wasn't present, and all the servants except for a drakivolki, who was only unconscious. Two very young kids were also alive -- one a newborn, the other a four year old. It looked to have been done by the same monster who they'd seen being chased by her father earlier (Was he chasing BECAUSE it had attacked the family? Or could she have saved them by going home earlier instead of helping the stupid zox kid?).
Sophie tied up the surviving servant, and interrogated her... and was quickly convinced of her innocence, as a tiny fire elemental was perched on her shoulder, whispering to her to take the blame. It looked like it didn't expect to be seen (but Sophie could *still* see magical things and spells, of course), and Sophie let it have that impression, trying to get the name of its master out of it obliquely.
Sophie was terrible at interrogation, though, and finally decided to try to take control of the elemental more directly, by using a spell from the book the demon had given her. She didn't yet understand the type of magic that would allow her to bind it to her, but she did know Alteration, which could reduce its bond to its master to nothing -- and then she could bargain with it, perhaps.
So she went back to the tied up drakivolki, quickly cast the spell... and accidentally killed the tiny elemental with a wild surge. Doh.
She dragged all the survivors, including the once-again unconscious drakivolki, outside, and summoned a bunch of fire dragons to attack the Shaoli port, figuring they were behind it since the monster had had a troop of soldiers guarding its back. She only stopped when a wild surge made her forget the spell she was using.
She enhanced the power of her creations, and sent them off, then noticed that her house was on fire. She was not able to save it (as Flokin was burning it down, and was still more powerful than she was, especially after she'd enhanced his mana incidentally along with the dragons').
Then she went across the street to Tsuru's house, and asked his mother to let her and the other refugees sleep in the stable for the night (the rest of the house was too small for them to even get inside). She slept all day, and in the afternoon, when she awoke, was immediately arrested for questioning in regards to the fire dragon attack on the Shaoli.
Meanwhile, Tsuru and Kiet were unmolested, and went to class somewhat refreshed from having actually slept. It was etiquette class, which meant sitting in court all day. The only 'excitement', if you could call it that, was the excruciating recital of all the attacks and damage that had happened during the night -- for each incident, the aggressor was charged 50 diamonds. There had been 16 incidents overnight, resulting in total fines of about 8 billion copper, distributed among the two warring empires.
After class, they were informed that Sophie had been arrested, and went to visit her in jail. She was out, though, having somehow resisted the mundane interrogation, and having defeated the truth spell by saying (truthfully) that she didn't even KNOW a spell to summon fire dragons. Which she didn't, anymore.
The religion instructor, who'd done the interrogation, started upon seeing Kiet, who was a skeleton again (he'd turned into one the night before, the victim of one of Sophie's useless wishes). He offered to cure the condition, but was forced to call on the power of the *Argent Claw* to do so successfully. He was a traitor too!
"Nice trick," Sophie commented, seeing the spell as it was cast.
"You'd know it to, if you studied your religion," he replied, smirking. "See you in class."
last week next week
Too much of the night was spent with me (Sophie) off on my own, but what the hell? I TRIED to wake them up to come with me. And was I supposed to not do anything about finding most of my family dead? Gaaah.
The game started late, because Snowwy forgot his cell phone, so Murdock couldn't call him, and Lazar was on the computer, so Snowwy couldn't call HIM, and without his cell phone Snowwy didn't have Murdock's number. Doh. He ended up taking another bus closer, then walking the rest of the way, but it took a long time.
Lord Mosher was in no state to study the zombie, being horribly mana-burned over most of his body. When asked, he explained that, no, Dragon-fire did not inflict mana-burns -- dragons didn't even have to breathe on you, or indeed, be aware of your presence, to do what it had done to him. "Don't attack a dragon."
He also scolded the three of them for hanging out with lower-class scum like Asher, for killing the Rystal, and for lots of other things they'd really rather he hadn't seen. He *had* been watching them. He agreed to take custody of the Life instructor and have someone look into his condition, then sent them off to bed. "You only have two days to rest up before MY class."
So instead, they decided to go out trick or treating, since it was the Day of the Dead -- they'd been so busy, they'd completely forgot! Oh, they sent Asher off to report for them and fence the stolen goods, since (as he'd seen demonstrated) they were still being watched.
Lacking proper costumes, they were forced to use magic. Tsuru went as a ghost, Sophie as a fire elemental, and Kiet as an invisible Zox. Sophie messed up a little on the fire spell, and ended up setting everything she touched on fire... but it wasn't fire that burned physical things, so the city was in no real danger, as long as no one touched it. This screw-up also destroyed or consumed all the green rocks she'd been carrying, which was the bulk of the loot they'd gotten from the mines.
[it also gave her three wishes fulfilling the next three statements she made, but she wasted them all on useless or counterproductive things, and NEVER KNEW -- it did really annoy the DM, however, as she spent most of the night giving orders and asking questions.]
They hadn't gotten much candy when they heard an ear-piercing shriek from nearby, and immediately rushed through the dense mist to see what had happened. They found a dying Zox boy, and Kiet put him in 'stasis' (wrapping him up as a mummy) while they looked for someone to take care of him.
Sophie tried to burn away the nearby mist so that she could perhaps see the assailant, but the mist was not natural, and fiercely resisted her spell -- she got 20 feet instead of the expected 1000. None of them being trackers, they decided to knock on the nearest door, which swung open.
Inside, the house was empty of people and valuables, but there was a creepy orange flicker upstairs. "Is that you, _____?" Sophie asked, speaking the name of the demon that had branded her. Somewhat to her surprise, that demon appeared.
He thanked her for summoning him ("You come when called?" "I can.") and offered to give her a boon for freeing him. Tsuru told her to wish for the kid's life (healing magic from a FIRE demon?), but she had more important things she wanted -- namely, she wanted to know who was stealing her elementals and how to stop them. He gave her a book that she couldn't read, and asked her to hold out her other hand so that he could allow her to read it.
Sophie was suspicious, as she had somewhat figured that the last brand from the demon had had dangerous side effects. "This isn't going to drive me insane, is it?" "No more so than you already are." She let her Tarot cards decide for her, in the end, and they said to do it. In addition to letting her read the firey script (and making the damage she had to her sanity permanent), the demon's boon allowed her to read fire-elemental body language.
At any rate, after that demon left, the three went upstairs to investigate the glimmer, and out a window saw a drakivolki tear a Manis' heart out of his chest, through armor and scales and ribcage and all. It must be the one who'd killed the kid! They hunched down to hide, not wanting to attract its attention.
Until Sophie's father appeared, and charged. Not wanting to have her parent killed, she summoned a fire dragon to attack... but instead of the designated target, it attacked the dozen draks plunging down at her from above. The monster ran off into the fog, and Sophie et al ran off in the other direction, as the fire dragon didn't seem to be faring well. Sophie was very annoyed that her fire elemental was unable to take out a mere dozen experienced soldiers.
They decided to go to the house of some Witches, parents of kids in their class, to take care of the kid. And since there was heavy fighting in the streets, or at least it seemed that way, they asked to stay the night. So the witches made them help.
After several hours helping heal the kid, the witched told them to go to sleep... and that they'd told the city guards where they were, since there was a price on their heads. Sophie panicked, and decided to sneak out and go home, but Tsuru and Kiet didn't much care.
So Sophie went home, to find everyone was dead. Or at least, her mother's second husband (not Sophie's dad), her older sister and all her older brothers except Corrain who wasn't present, and all the servants except for a drakivolki, who was only unconscious. Two very young kids were also alive -- one a newborn, the other a four year old. It looked to have been done by the same monster who they'd seen being chased by her father earlier (Was he chasing BECAUSE it had attacked the family? Or could she have saved them by going home earlier instead of helping the stupid zox kid?).
Sophie tied up the surviving servant, and interrogated her... and was quickly convinced of her innocence, as a tiny fire elemental was perched on her shoulder, whispering to her to take the blame. It looked like it didn't expect to be seen (but Sophie could *still* see magical things and spells, of course), and Sophie let it have that impression, trying to get the name of its master out of it obliquely.
Sophie was terrible at interrogation, though, and finally decided to try to take control of the elemental more directly, by using a spell from the book the demon had given her. She didn't yet understand the type of magic that would allow her to bind it to her, but she did know Alteration, which could reduce its bond to its master to nothing -- and then she could bargain with it, perhaps.
So she went back to the tied up drakivolki, quickly cast the spell... and accidentally killed the tiny elemental with a wild surge. Doh.
She dragged all the survivors, including the once-again unconscious drakivolki, outside, and summoned a bunch of fire dragons to attack the Shaoli port, figuring they were behind it since the monster had had a troop of soldiers guarding its back. She only stopped when a wild surge made her forget the spell she was using.
She enhanced the power of her creations, and sent them off, then noticed that her house was on fire. She was not able to save it (as Flokin was burning it down, and was still more powerful than she was, especially after she'd enhanced his mana incidentally along with the dragons').
Then she went across the street to Tsuru's house, and asked his mother to let her and the other refugees sleep in the stable for the night (the rest of the house was too small for them to even get inside). She slept all day, and in the afternoon, when she awoke, was immediately arrested for questioning in regards to the fire dragon attack on the Shaoli.
Meanwhile, Tsuru and Kiet were unmolested, and went to class somewhat refreshed from having actually slept. It was etiquette class, which meant sitting in court all day. The only 'excitement', if you could call it that, was the excruciating recital of all the attacks and damage that had happened during the night -- for each incident, the aggressor was charged 50 diamonds. There had been 16 incidents overnight, resulting in total fines of about 8 billion copper, distributed among the two warring empires.
After class, they were informed that Sophie had been arrested, and went to visit her in jail. She was out, though, having somehow resisted the mundane interrogation, and having defeated the truth spell by saying (truthfully) that she didn't even KNOW a spell to summon fire dragons. Which she didn't, anymore.
The religion instructor, who'd done the interrogation, started upon seeing Kiet, who was a skeleton again (he'd turned into one the night before, the victim of one of Sophie's useless wishes). He offered to cure the condition, but was forced to call on the power of the *Argent Claw* to do so successfully. He was a traitor too!
"Nice trick," Sophie commented, seeing the spell as it was cast.
"You'd know it to, if you studied your religion," he replied, smirking. "See you in class."
last week next week
Too much of the night was spent with me (Sophie) off on my own, but what the hell? I TRIED to wake them up to come with me. And was I supposed to not do anything about finding most of my family dead? Gaaah.
