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Heroes for Hire (Courage Wolf and GargantuaBlarg)


Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Huldah: HP = 58, PP = 33, EP = 33, Status = Fine
Kor'Ensiloth: HP = 68, PP = 78, EP = 69/89, Status = Fine
Zahra: HP = 54, PP = 40, EP = 38, Status = Fine
Solidyn-Nolu: HP = 60, PP = 50, EP = 80, Status = Fine
Aurelia Korort: HP = 104, PP = 43, EP = 105, Status = Fine, Has 1 Zombie Minion

Ur-Wind, who was on the far side of the room from Kor when he awakened, double taked once to make sure that Kor was addressing him before replying; "Take some initiative, Solidyn's in charge of clearing this tower. I'm just here supervising." When Kor went ahead and made a Zone of Truth around the captives that the armored spider was questions, Ur-Wind glanced over his shoulder once and shouted; "That's the spirit!" The diminutive largely payed them as little heed as possible as he examined the walls of the tower, walking in a circle around the perimeter until he ended up back at the stairs leading up.

The gemini being interrogated seemed entirely unaware of what Kor was doing, so focused was it upon Solidyn, and when it answered the gigantic woman's next set of questions everything registered as true. Indeed, it didn't seem to register the woman's obviously threatening stance at all, the expression on the fallen cat-folks face seemingly more appropriate for discussing the weather with a friend than for one who was being interrogated by an arachne flanked by a pair of half vampires.

"We know things. I was not lying. We have heard no conjecture from our own regarding the contents of this tower. The masters have been attempting to gain entry into this tower for five hundred and seventy five days and nights. Our masters are our masters. They are the ones who created us, and gave us flesh so that we might be able to serve them more effectively than we could in spirit form. Six of our masters attempted to blast a hole in the shield before they called one of the progenitor's children, who was also unable to break through the shield. After that, the remaining masters left while the progenitor's child attempted to drain the power of the shield. Four of the masters were killed when they tried to break the shield, and the other two were badly wounded. The progenitor's child was among us for only sixteen days and nights."

Each question was answered in turn, one at a time as Solidyn asked them, and without any hesitation. The ritual that Kor had performed to prevent him from lying seemed to be working perfectly, but that merely meant that the man hadn't been lying. He could easily have been fed misinformation himself, which wasn't an unheard of tactic on the part of the aliens.

When she turned to some of their troops, the lesser fae nodded and got about it, most of them leaving the room while the others prepared to close the doors. Then her chant came, and one of the faerie witches moved off as well while the other remained beside Solidyn. When addressed, Ur-Wind turned toward the armored spider and replied; "No, firing that while within the tower would likely end very badly. Leave the gunners here, they might be needed in case more of the aliens show up." As he'd spoke, he moved toward her at a surprisingly swift rate for one of his stature, and when he finished he was standing beside her. "Clear the tower of all threats and find out what the aliens desired here. I'm leaving it to you, Solidyn," he said, and then sharply saluted the woman before exiting the tower, the doors closing behind him with an audible boom and leaving Solidyn with Kor, Aurelia, Zahra, Huldah, and a single fey sorceress at her disposal.

The stairs leading up were just wide enough for Solidyn herself to walk up alone, and the others would have to walk up two or three at a time. They were made of thick stone and in surprisingly good condition considering the apparent age of the tower. The stairs circled around the wall in a fairly easy slope, slowly leading up to the next level of the tower that they were unable to see from the bottom.

Current number of allies:

Ur-Wind Ramel
12 kobold gunners
9 satyr scouts
10 gruff thugs
Bob the Quartermaster. He also does stand up. And cooks.
3 Su-Ku-Ta snipers
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Aurelia's frown was concealed behind her helmet at the gemini's answers, though it was directed less at the information provided and more at the former Su-Ku-Ta. He didn't even flinch! What kind of steel was he made of!? The interrogation wasn't fun at all! It was fortunate for the ashen woman that her greathelm was in place, or else the tantrum that raged on internally would have been visible to everybody around her by her expression alone. She wanted to kick the turned man, punch him, something! Anything to get a reaction out of him! Or at least make him bleed on the floor.

It took a struggle to dismiss those urges and calm herself. And, of course, the reminder that the spider had threatened to eat him. Could she do that? Would she do that? The death-knight hoped that the answers on both counts was a resounding yes. That would be glorious. She hoped she could watch. It would, at least, pass for entertainment in the otherwise dull desert.

It gave her something to look forward to, as she expected little of interest would be found in the tower. If it had truly been sealed for so long, it seemed plenty possible that anyone inside had perished due to lack of food and water. They might find a trap or two, but little else. Picking clean the bones of some long dead mage sounded boring. Still, outwardly she did nothing as many of the other mercenaries left the tower, leaving the ragtag band, except to ask Solidyn, whom had apparently been left in charge; "Marching order?" Aurelia asked her question with disinterest, she couldn't care less where she ended up in the lineup. In her mind, it was only the difference between the person who tripped the traps, and by extension got a feel for the wizard's sense of humor, and the person who pulled the others out of said magic.
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Kor snorted at the answers, mind broken slaves with next to no real information. Well, he had a tower to search, and most likely traps to disarm. The captives would make decent energy stores but he doubted they would go willingly, best to just refresh the juices now and press on at full strength. Summoning the winds of the Aether around him again, Kor took a moment to increase his speed, he would make a decision based on the actions around him, and it was a simple enough spell to maintain...

Haste for 8 EP, Upkeep of 2
 
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Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Zahra listened quietly to the interrogation of the Gemini, taking in the questions and the answers given. He sounded like a robot with his answers, his immediate knowledge of all the figures asked for and his rattling them off somewhat chilling, really. Though obviously one of his answers was completely unacceptable to her. Judging from the truth-determining spell that Kor had set down around the Gemini, he actually believed the crap about having been created from out of the spiritual realm by the aliens. Huldah had been saved from this sort of fate. Maybe he could too. The Su-Ku-Ta wasn’t about to leave without trying, anyway. "That so?" she asked plainly and slowly. "You’re wrong. Aliens didn’t make you out of your spirit." She looked the Gemini in the eyes, a hint of sadness in her own green eyes, dulled though they were from years of seeing suffering and hardship. "You used to be like me. See?" she asked, swishing her tail around in front of her and grabbing it, rubbing at her cat-like ears. "Had a family. Friends. Alien bastards took it from you." Hatred was bubbling up just under the surface of her calm demeanor. "They killed your soul and left you with the scraps. You’re a useful leftover from their dinner. They put ideas like that in your head, get you to fight and die for them." Her disgust at the aliens bled through into her tone here, a small little flame igniting in her eyes. "You’ve no masters now. Free to serve yourself. Just like this one" she continued, pointing to Huldah. "Believe me or don’t. Just know you’ve been tricked."
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Huldah stood off to the side, watching the interrogation, and the gemini with particular interest. She chose not to speak up until after Zahra had said her peice, smiling encouragingly. "She knew me from before, I don't even like the aliens." She told the captive simply.
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Solidyn had to lean in a little to hear what he was saying...

She didn't get a useful answer on just what exactly she should be looking out for when he said "their masters"... but it didn't mean much just yet anyway. She could always get a better description out of him later, and she was rapidly losing patience, instead wanting to see what exactly there was to plunder in here.

The revelation that came with his belief that they were 'created', though... that... almost worse than what she thought before. If these grey freaks just... brainwashed them, or just ripped their souls up into complacency or something, it would be suitably terrifying... but, if what he was saying was true, they just... ripped you out, and then gave your body to some idiot spirit, to ride around as if it were actually theirs?

Damn. She'd have to talk to Bob about some kinda... something. Even if it wasn't likely, getting captured was all the less appealing to her, knowing a fate like that was in store for her. Some sorta failsafe, like a rigged cannon shell, to kill her instead. Or maybe some kinda summony thing, like how she had her little fae healer now... except when she used it, she went somewhere else instead?

Bah. She'd have to discuss this with the Marshall. Maybe they could use it to wheedle a little more coin out of their employers or something. Heh.

With money on her mind, Solidyn ignored the little archer kitty they had with them - though, whatever she was doing - waving her tail around and playing with her ears - was kinda cute - and turned to clank her way up the stairs. Aurelia was likewise ignored, her question drowned out from the spider's damaged hearing through a combination of greedy preoccupation and metallic rattling - though, if everyone else hadn't started to make their way behind her by the time she was around halfway along on the stairs on this level, she'd swing her arm to get them to follow, giving them a little "Time's a wastin'" before continuing on up. She had to remember to close the grille protecting her mouth, as well - getting hit in the teeth was always unpleasant, and if this tower was all closed up for as long as that cat had said it was, she was fairly certain whatever the tower saw fit to shoot her with would taste pretty musty.


Herp I am a derp.
I wanted to cast blessing on errbody last post, for X=5
So with upkeep, I should be down 8 EP right now, for total EP 72, honk.

Upkeep: 3 EP/turn

That's a +15 bonus to attack rolls, dodge, and resistance, which all the other players should also too have now yes.

Final stats (with +15 to dodge and res due to buff)
Dodge: 70
Armor: 28
Perception: 13
Speed: 8
Resistance: 48
A bonus of +9 VS Prone and +5 VS Stun or involuntary movement, also
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Huldah: HP = 58, PP = 33, EP = 33, Status = Fine, Blessed X = 5
Kor'Ensiloth: HP = 68, PP = 78, EP = 61/89, Status = Fine, Haste, Blessed X = 5
Zahra: HP = 54, PP = 40, EP = 38, Status = Fine, Blessed X = 5
Solidyn-Nolu: HP = 60, PP = 50, EP = 75/80, Status = Fine, Blessing X = 5
Aurelia Korort: HP = 104, PP = 43, EP = 105, Status = Fine, Has 1 Zombie Minion, Blessed X = 5

Rolls
Casting: Success. Kor has Haste!

I'm just having it take effect this post, because bleh.
Solidyn activates Blessing, X = 5.

Aurelia, her question ignored by the armored spider who was their temporary commander, was left to stew as Solidyn started up the stairs. The faerie she had summoned followed her, though she glanced worriedly over her shoulder at the rest of the group as they still stood around their captives. The former su-ku-ta, in turn, seemed more bewildered than anything else by Zahra's explanation, and even with Huldah's support of it they didn't seem to be able to form any sort of response beyond confusion. As such, none of the three said anything, simply staring at the cat girl and Huldah before turning back. Whether or not they actually believed them was up for debate, but they didn't seem to have time to fret over it as Solidyn was already trying to get them moving up the stairs.

Kor's spell went off without a hitch, and all of them felt the affects of Solidyn's blessing.

Current number of allies: (all outside right now)

Ur-Wind Ramel
12 kobold gunners
9 satyr scouts
10 gruff thugs
Bob the Quartermaster. He also does stand up. And cooks.
3 Su-Ku-Ta snipers
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Aurelia simply shrugged and followed the spider and faerie up the stairs. The bratty noble would probably be more frustrated about the perceived slight later, when the notion of climbing several stories of boring, likely empty, probably trapped tower was put behind them. For the time being, however, she needed to get started up the stairs as quickly as possible or she was likely to be left behind for the weight of her armor. She drew her blade from her scabbard as a precaution, hefted her shield high as to avoid banging it against the ascending staircase, and went clanking up after their temporary commander as quickly as she could manage.

Drats, meant to post this after Blarg made his post but kept forgetting. Ah well, follow yon spidertank up the stairs.

Stats (with +15 from blessing): 11 Speed, 74 Dodge, 18 Armor, 41 Resistance, 23 Perception, 52 Grapple
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Holdah stared at the captives a moment, expecting a response. When none was forthcoming as she realized the rest of the group had started away, she shrugged at them and jogged after, her long strides catching up quickly. A slight shrug took her greatclub off the strap holding it to her shoulder, and she carried it easily, though not very warily. With all these great people around, what would want to bother them?

Applicable stat stuff!
Speed: 21
Dodge: 48
Armor: 6
Resistance: 48
Perception: 22
+15 to attacks, just a note to remind myself.
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Kor felt the aether spin around him in a frenzy as his spell took hold, his face widening into a blissful grin as he bathed in the energy, the world around him slowing. Looking at the captives, he selected two of them at random and summoned a type of power the others hadn't seen before, a rare spell only available to those who had mastered the Arcane.

As both of his hands began to glow with a dim blue light that seemed to suck the energy out of the very air around them, he smiled sadistically and leveled them at the captives. A quick meal was always good, and he needed to recharge after wasting the ritual on a bunch of useless pawns. Whispering a few words of power quietly, a pair of bolts screamed from his hands into the chests of two of the captives, the bolts leeching their power and feeding it into the half vampire.

Empowered Mana Leak *2 Treated as a level 7 spell for damage, to keep the math simple, the flat damage is 91-133 per bolt based on die roll, and the NET regain after cost is 13-28 per bolt. (dmg/3) If you insist on doing things the hard way, then here's the equation. ((2d4)+mind/6))*7
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Solidyn had already begun to walk up the stairs of the tower as Zahra was giving her talk, apparently not interested in what the catgirl said or the outcome of the conversation. That suited her just fine, she supposed. The reaction of the Gemini was what she was looking for. Unfortunately they seemed confused by what she was telling them, perhaps a sign of disbelief, but perhaps also a sign that what they believed now was shaken. Maybe they could be swayed. It would have to wait though, as their temporary commander was impatiently calling for them to follow her. Zahra started to say something in parting to the Gemini who had once been fellow Su-Ku-Ta, but then something unexpected happened.

As Kor prepared the spells he was to use in order to fight his way through the tower, his hands suddenly began to glow blue, and he shot bolts of energy through two of the captive Gemini Zahra was still talking to. She was more than a little shocked. It wasn’t as if she had ever taken prisoners before, but then again how does one take prisoners as a guerilla who can barely feed and water themselves? This was different. It was also different because she had been having a conversation with the men he had just executed entirely unprovoked right up until he had killed them. The Su-Ku-Ta had had hope that one or more of them could have been salvaged, would have helped them. Now there wasn’t much chance of that. It was probably unfortunate that Kor was quite close to her, because it allowed Zahra to act on the anger and annoyance that she felt in that moment. Quickly she turned, digging her heel into the ground as she balled up her hand into a fist, and with all of her momentum slammed her fist into his nose. "A FUCK is wrong wit you!?" she shouted, rage in her eyes, "a was talkin’a’m!" The words flowed quickly, all running together in her dialect as she forgot any attempt to mask it.
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Kor's head snapped back as the cat woman struck him barehanded, with all the force she could muster, and found out first hand just how thick his skin was to begin with. His bodies natural armor negating a great deal of the hit as his vampiric heritage dulled any pain.

Staggering backwards a little, he slowly arched himself forward, his fangs bared at Zahra as he smiled like he would at a cat grinning at a mouse, his tongue snaking out to lick the small trickle of blood that made it to his lip from his nose. "Now now, There's no call for that my dear... They had energy, I needed it. Now before you call me evil, Is the Wolf evil for eating the rabbit?"

Kor saw the captives as both captives and food, below him on the food chain. They weren't his allies, so they were fair game as far as he was concerned. "Word of advice... If you're going to strike me, Make sure you try a little harder next time..." The mage whispered as he broke into a fit of laughter, his hand clenching and unclenching threateningly, he wouldn't tolerate that a second time...
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

A feeling of magical power quickly followed by a commotion behind her gave Solidyn pause. Was that the bow girl? She sounded like she was yelling pretty loud... Reversing down the stairs and looking at the situation, she found Kor laughing while the kitty glared daggers at him. It wasn't any feat to figure out why.

"KOR! Kor, goddammit, did I say you could kill those two?! I was gonna pump them for more information after we got done in here!" Solidyn shouted angrily. "I don't suppose YOU can tell me more about their masters and what they're capable of, can you?"

Ugh. She was going to have to tell Marshal Ramel about this... then he was going to give her another lecture about how she had to be aware of the situation at all times. She knew he was right, but, damn, it was hard to do when you only noticed the sound of trouble if it was right on top of you.
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Kor turned to look at the Arachne with slight annoyance. "You never said I COULDN'T kill them, and you still have one to interrogate later, they didn't seem too impressed with your methods. And given the issue with the barrier earlier, I'd figure you would want me at top form. It wasn't just an act of slaughter, I needed their essence. How many tricks like the exploding barrier do you think I have up my sleeve Hmm?" the mage said, crossing his arms, already tired of being complained at.
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Zahra’s blow caused Kor’s head to snap backwards from the unexpected attack, and he staggered back a step or two, though the Su-Ku-Ta could tell that she hadn’t done much of any damage. His skin was harder than normal, thicker, and the catgirl’s hand throbbed a bit after having hit him. The fangs taught her a bit more about him; combined with the strange skin, it meant he probably had vampire blood in his family somewhere. That was troublesome, perhaps, as vampires weren’t well known for being great people. It wasn’t quite as bad as the wretched grin he was shooting at her, though. She almost said something in response to his rhetorical question, questioning whether he really did need their energy or not, but he kept going, threatening her and then bursting out into maniacal laughter.

Zahra’s eyes narrowed as she glared at Kor, thinking silently as he laughed. He wasn’t quite playing with a full deck, of that much she was certain. Secondly, he was dangerous and threatening her. And from the way Solidyn came back to yell at him and chastise him, he was apparently prone to being loose with his orders. Troubling. The catgirl certainly didn’t trust him now, and she was beginning to question his usefulness. Sure, he was magically powerful, but what good is someone who’s powerful and insane? More trouble than they’re worth. If worse came to worst he had to sleep sometimes, and a dagger through the eye solved most problems.
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Aurelia ended up pressing herself against the wall in order to allow the sizable arachne to return to the first floor. When Solidyn had passed, the knight briefly looked at the scene that she had just ascended from and contemplated rejoining the group. It seemed the appropriate choice as a soldier, following her superior officer. But she had all the armor on and there were all those stairs...

The half-vampire shrugged. Solidyn was only her commander temporarily, right? And the tower was probably abandoned, anyway. Couldn't hurt to take some initiative, even if the only reason she was pushing onward was because she didn't feel like dealing with the conflict, especially since she couldn't hit anybody involved. Trust between soldiers was important when in the thick of things, and she didn't think there was any to be gained down there. She resumed her climb up the stairs, intent on finding the condition of the second floor. The rest would catch up later, she figured.

To the second floor! Wait there for the others, if it comes to it.

Stats (with +15 from blessing): 11 Speed, 74 Dodge, 18 Armor, 41 Resistance, 23 Perception, 52 Grapple
Stats (without, for when she's out of range of yon spidertank): 11 Speed, 59 Dodge, 18 Armor, 26 Resistance, 23 Perception, 52 Grapple
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

"No more." Huldah said suddenly, looking between the two arguing sadly. She addressed Zahra first. "They're gone now, no matter, kay?" She told her simply, then rounded on the half vampire, sounding a bit more stern. "They had surrendered, you don't need... The spider lady to tell you not to hurt them. maybe by the next fight they could have been friends, like me. Maybe next time, think about that first, or..." She paused, thinking for a second. "Or Zahra may not have to hit harder, your head would already be hurting from me." She finished, holding up one of her fists, looking nearly the size of his head on it's own.

"Now go, we wasting time here." She said sternly, pointing towards the stairs Aurelia was already out of sight on, and moving to climb them herself before any further arguments could be made.
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Kor look at Huldah with a pained expression for a moment. He had forgotten... damn. Raising an eyebrow at her odd threat and failing utterly in taking it seriously, he nodded and turned on his heel to continue up the stairs. "Alright Huldah." He said softly as he passed her.

Not giving the incident another thought, he turned his mind to the tower they were in, wondering what was going to go wrong first...
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Solidyn sighed underneath her helmet, scuttling back up the stairs after their other armored comrade. The situation was defused for now... though, there was bound to be something unpleasant brewing in the future.
 
Re: Heroes for Hire (Save the Desert Group!)

Zahra gave Huldah a sideways look as she was told that it "no matter" anymore, though it was true enough in a way. What was done was done, and there was no way to undo it. It did matter, though. Quite a bit, in fact. Just not in a way that she could do anything about at the moment. Her ears flattened against her head, her tail flicking behind her rapidly as she waited for the others to start up the stairs, and then following them. As she did so she pulled her long dagger out of her belt, knowing that in such a narrow and closed-in space her bow would be more or less useless. She wasn't very good with hand-to-hand combat, but orders were orders, and she couldn't just say "no" in her first battle under them.
 
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