The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

[thetwo]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

"They will not," the Hunter answered. He turned away, then stopped and turned back. "I suppose their mothers might? But if so I do not know what..."

The hunter shimmered as he left the camp, only a few patches of the skin she had most badly burned remaining clearly visible even before he left the circle of firelight.

The two women gave birth less than an hour later. The normally-traumatic process was improved significantly by the presence of a team of trained healers, which was one of the reason that several conventionally-pregnant women had found themselves at Petra during the attack. The young hunters fled immediately, but didn't make it past the waiting adults, who quickly brought them away from the women and into a dark area prepared for them in advance. This seemed to calm them down. Soon they had been fed a surprisingly large portion from the remains of the hunters' own meal, and fell asleep.

It was nearly dawn when the hunters' leader returned. He looked exhausted. He spoke abruptly. "We are being hunted. I will answer your questions when I have slept some." He wandered off to the other hunters, and fell asleep.

A few hours later, when the camp was ready to move on, he awoke, looking somewhat less likely to fall asleep mid-sentence. He seemed willing to wait for Nadia to approach him rather than offering any further observations himself.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

"The mothers are already under care," Nadia replied simply, and that seemed a good enough solution as they were likely to find. The hunter then went off to scout, and though she considered trying to get someone to heal the burns she'd left on his hide she dismissed the idea. Something for tomorrow, perhaps.

The rest of their endeavors went off smoothly enough, the younger versions of the oft hated creatures born and taken into their own without incident while the healers tended to the mothers. That the were born quickly was boon enough, though she knew that they also matured quite quickly as well, and Nadia herself settled in to watch over both groups during the night. She needed rest rarely, and while she would have liked to have slept it wasn't an essential part of her day, and wouldn't be for some time yet.

The scarred hunter reappeared some hours later, when the sun had nearly come up, and though she gazed upon him crossly for his cryptic but dire report the angel simply let him go... For now. As they were breaking camp to depart for the rest of the day, however, Nadia approached him and his kin with squared shoulders and calmly demanded; "Well? What did you find?" The possibility of this being a trap did not escape Nadia, and she kept a wary eye out should one of the alien lizards try to blindside her.

 

[thetwo]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

Spoiler

First, lets talk XP. I have a personal copy of Nadia's character sheet plugged into my spreadsheet that (among other things) calculates XP spent. I've checked, and it agrees completely with your sheet in terms of talents/stats/etc, and it also agrees with your sheet that you've spent 50 XP on Nadia.

However, my records indicate that Nadia has 12 XP left, while yours say 4 XP. Since your character sheet was last updated April 23, I gave you 8 XP on April 23, and I can't find any record of you having immediately spent that XP, I'm assuming that it just wasn't recorded.

Anyway, I'm giving you 8 more XP for the whole "rescue the slaves" and "don't kill *all* the hunters" thing. Which brings your total to 20. You can spend that immediately if you like, given that I forgot to give it to you before the night.

If the hunters were trying to blindside Nadia, they weren't being obvious about it. Some still looked at her with near-worship, one or two others with what might have been contempt.

The leader answered deliberately, as if delivering a heavy burden. "I saw nothing." It seemed to take the Hunter a moment to realize that this wasn't exactly a satisfying answer. "I heard nothing. I smelled... nothing."

Again he waited a moment, then shook his head. "I mean... I saw no other humans. No deer. No birds. Nothing alive bigger than a worm. Almost no signs of animals either, from the last day or so. I didn't hear bird calls, or smell them..."

"We are not so far from where I have lived most of my life. If I see nothing, it is because something has scared everything away. I think are being hunted. But I do not know by what." By now the rest of the camp was well into the process of getting up, and they would soon look to Nadia for instructions on how they were to proceed.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

"Nothing?" Nadia replied in confusion, urging the hunter to perhaps offer some better explanation for himself. The reptilian alien was quick to offer such, however, and what he said left Nadia musing silently for several moments. Finally, she sighed as she realized that camp was breaking and would no doubt need some guidance from her shortly, and would part from the hunter after saying; "You'll need to feed yourselves still, and you cannot do that if there is no game. If you think it would be worthwhile to send out a group to hunt, I would permit as many as four, but if you think whatever this might be is too dangerous to risk separating then I don't know how I can help you. Perhaps if we encounter a stream we can fish, but beyond that you might have to go hungry for a day."

Turning from the alien after his decision, the angel went about organizing her group to move, as they were still in danger of orc raiding parties stumbling across them. "We're still going to Lockacre as quickly as we can make the journey," she would say to anyone who asked what they were to do, "despite that the hunter scout reports up ahead, we cannot turn back and cannot stop for a fear that we do not know. We merely need to be on our guard, which we were already doing anyway."

As she was aiding however she could in their morning meals and breaking camp, however, Nadia couldn't help but dwell on what the hunter had reported. Only unnatural beings could cause such disturbances in the local wildlife, and her very first thought strayed to a greater alien or demonic presence. Could something like that really go unnoticed? In the Pass of Ghosts, the barren lands between Badarian and Crolia... Maybe. She thought of the Winter Court but immediately discarded the idea, as they were unlikely to be the root cause of such a disturbance even if they were paying particularly intense attention to the new additions to her group. It could, of course, be a daemon or a mortal necromancer or somesuch, but those were less likely in Nadia's mind, and so she settled on the likelihood of an assault by supernatural forces taking place in the near future, and as they prepared to depart Nadia would find Sarah and whisper to her; "Something is out in the woods. Be on your guard as best you can, preferably with magical aid if you think you can spare the strength."

 

[thetwo]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

The hunter nodded understanding, and returned to his group. Shortly thereafter, four of the lizards faded from sight as they walked into the woods together. The remainder seemed to be having an animated discussion in their native tongue.

"Well, I suppose I could set something on fire..." It sounded like a joke, but the elf looked worried after Nadia's warning. "But other than that, all I can think of is to help a few people see or hear better. You and... maybe two other people?"

Meanwhile, the group had started moving. On the whole they didn't seem especially vigilant, or at least the majority of them seemed to consider the Hunters themselves as big a threat as whatever it was out in the woods. As they left the campground it became obvious that the lead Hunter had been right. So many people would certainly scare away most wild animals, but there seemed to be nothing moving in the nearby woods apart from the refugees from Petra.

The hunters' discussion seemed to be rising in pitch. And whatever it was about, the leader seemed to be getting the worse of it.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

"Yourself, me, and...." Nadia glanced back at the hunter leader as he was deep in conversation with one of his own kin, "that one." It didn't look as if the creature was having the better of the conversation, but Nadia couldn't really be sure. It wasn't like the alien creatures were easy to read.

"Come on," the angel said stoically, and headed over to interrupt the heated conversation. "Is there a problem?"

 

[thetwo]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

Sarah concentrated, and with a pair of gestures laid an enchantment first on herself, then on Nadia. The angel felt her vision sharpen, the smells of the forest suddenly grow deeper and more insistent, even the feeling of air across her skin became more obvious. "Hmm... if we ever get some time alone, maybe we could try it like this..."

The elf shook her head, glancing guiltily at the dozens of other people around, and backed off a step, following Nadia over to the hunters.

The conversation stopped at Naida's interruption, and the other hunters moved slightly away while their leader responded. "It is noth..." The sound of the lizard sighing was extremely odd. "They all want to be called Ted. There are names in our own tongue, of course, but... they don't see the point in having their own names that humans can speak." He shrugged. "I will be called Rex. And they... well, for now they will all be called Ted."

Sarah reached out and touched the Hunter's nose, laying her third enchantment on the lizard. She was starting to look... distracted. The lead hunter stared at her for a moment, suspicious, before giving her a grunt of acknowledgement. "You wish me to continue looking for... whatever hunts us?"

 

[Tassadar]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

"Try it?" Nadia asked innocently, but a wry smile would tell Sarah that the angel knew exactly what the elf meant. A pinch of her lover's bottom would follow, but then it was back on to business.

Later, when Nadia heard what she had expected to be extremely dire news, the angel couldn't help but burst out into genuinely mirthful laughter for the first time in days. Honestly, it felt like years, and the mild distress with which the lead hunter delivered the announcement of the names chosen by his kinsmen, combined with his own slightly melodramatic name, only made her laugh harder. She got over her amusement quickly, unfortunately, and after grinning at Sarah upon noticing her distracted state would turn to Rex and say; "You may, if you like. But I will be in the center, you will be back here unless you choose to scout ahead, and Sarah will be towards the front. I would hang farther back to protect your kin if you wished to scout ahead while we proceed farther ahead, however."

After the hunter answered, however, Nadia would turn to Sarah and inquisitively ask; "Is something the matter, my dear? You seem very... Distracted."

 

[thetwo]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

The hunter seemed on the verge of objecting for a moment, but then nodded. "I will Scout, at least for a time." With that, he was moving away, into the woods on one side of the group.

Sarah looked blankly at Nadia for a minute, then shook her head. "Sorry. I just... it's been a while since I've had to maintain three spells at once. I can do it, just don't ask me to do sums in my head at the same time." She smiled, and pointedly rubbed her bottom where she had been pinched. "Also, someone is distracting me. But that's not going to get any better until we can find some time alone."

A few minutes later, Sarah was up in front of the group, while Nadia was left to watch the flanks and tail. The hunters weren't causing any problems, at the moment, though the young ones were growing with remarkable speed, and already seemed able to communicate with their elders.

In the woods there was little enough to see. After about an hour Nadia spotted a shape moving past the group in the opposite of their direction of travel, but a brief shimmer showed an un-camouflaged Rex for a moment before his hide shifted back to near-invisibility on his way to see what lay behind the group.

So it continued until it was nearly dusk. Then Nadia's enhanced eyes caught something unusual. At first it was just at the edge of her perception, even with Sarah's spell. A pair of trees forming an almost-human shape, twin branches with unseasonably thick green leaves sticking out over its 'shoulders'. And it seemed to move slightly, against the wind. As the group got closer it became clearer. The shape wasn't just humanlike, it was clearly, almost vulgarly feminine, and she would have been able to make it out even without aid.

Nobody else seemed to be looking into the woods in that direction, or if they did they didn't have the power of Nadia's eyes, even unenhanced. And nobody at all was looking behind when the thing shifted again. There was no mistaking it, the shape took a step, turned to face Nadia, and stuck out one arm, pointing first straight at the angel, and then ahead of the group and off to the North. It stood like that for a second, then the setting sun came out from behind a cloud and bathed the thing in a column of light, blinding to Nadia's enhanced senses. By the time Nadia's eyes adjusted, it was just two trees again, in a slightly unsettling shape.

Before she could move to investigate, she saw Rex returning from behind the group.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

"What's one plus one?" Nadia demanded, her smile turning teasing as she said it and remaining so at the elf's reaction to her pinch. "We'll see what we can manage later tonight.... Maybe~" she said, and then they parted ways so that the group at large could be on its way.

The first portion of their daily journey South was blessedly uneventful, the hunters having fallen into line surprisingly easily and nothing moving in their way. Nadia dared to hope that the orcs she had annihilated had been the only opposition that they would face on the trek into Badaria. Warning flags went up in her mind at the sight of a shimmering figure, but then she realized that it was only Rex moving to check behind them and Nadia relaxed again.

Only when dusk rolled around and their daily travels were coming to an end did something strange finally happen. A figure in the trees, seemingly made up of them were it not for its feminine form, one the others missed despite that it stepped after a moment of her staring at it and beckoned to Nadia, pointing first at her and then at a point off to the North. It was almost certainly a faerie of some sort, and almost certainly wanted to meet, but before Nadia could speak or respond in any coherent manner it simply vanished. She frowned, and found Rex approaching her even as she swiveled forward again and prepared to call the group to a stop.

"Hold up! Lets rest here for the night," Nadia called out anyway, and then turned back to the hunter and waited for him to close in and say whatever he thought needed to be said.

 

[thetwo]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

The leader of the hunters had noticeably healed in the time since he had surrendered to Nadia. The first time she'd seen him activate his camouflaged skin, it had hardly been noticeable under the freshly blackened scales. Today there were patches that looked tender and didn't quite match the colors of the rest of his hide, but he was still practically invisible and it seemed likely that in another day or two he would have completely recovered.

Rex went straight to Nadia to make his report. "I went much further than yesterday, trying to see how far there was... the absence. Ahead of us and to the south it only extends a few miles. There were even some signs of game, ahead. Behind us... much further. But still I reached a place where I could hear birds in the distance. To the North..."

As he spoke, dust and leaves behind him swirled oddly, two columns of spinning debris joining into one thicker column a few feet above the ground, two more thin streams breaking off at an angle from the top... after a moment the shape fell apart. Nobody else seemed to have noticed, yet.

The hunter shook his head. "I think that whatever hunts us comes from the North."

Meanwhile the group as a whole had come to a ponderous halt, and there was already a small campfire burning near the head of the column, and half a dozen women were sitting down and warming their hands around it.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

Nadia listened to the hunter give his report with a stoic expression, noticing the unnatural swirl of leaves appear and then dissipate but not allowing it to distract her from the task at hand. "The it's following us.... Very well then. I have... Something that I must take care of. We are camping here for the night, ready your kin. Have those sent out to hunt returned yet?" Nadia replied, and afterwards she would quickly work to conclude the conversation with the subservient alien in order to go to the place where the mysterious figure had indicated her to go.

 

[thetwo]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

Spoiler

Perception(Nadia): 66

Rex looked back at the group for a moment, as if checking to see if anything had changed. "No. I told them to try further ahead, where there were still signs of game. They should still have been back by now. Perhaps they found game on their way back and were delayed. Or..." He shook his head again. "Or perhaps they found what was hunting us."

With things more or less settled, Nadia moved in the direction the mysterious figure had pointed. Unfortunately, nothing seemed unusual immediately in front of it. Or a few feet beyond. Nadia was nearly out of sight of the camp, ready to turn around and reconsider the situation, when something caught her eye. Stones shifting. This time she watched as a vaguely humanoid pile of rocks actually rose slightly off the ground, tiny pebbles flying through the air to fill in gaps until a figure was formed. It was only about two feet high, but this time completely unmistakable - at least to Nadia's enhanced eyes - as female. And the pair of tiny pebbles perched on the ends of its breasts suggested nude. And... with the unmistakable wings of an angel.

The rocks were too coarse to make out further detail, but the thing stared Nadia in the eye, and imperiously gestured off away from the camp, apparently in the same direction that the first figure had.

Spoiler

105 HP, 85 PP, 110 SP; 47 Perception

 

[Tassadar]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

"Or perhaps they encountered locals unrelated... I don't want any search parties going out into the dark if we are already in danger, as the propensity for your kind in stealth does not seem effective against whatever danger might have claimed them, but I am unsure of what else could be done. For now, we must hope that they are alright, and when I return from another errand I will see if I can get your group some food. I cannot promise anything on that front, however."

Once she was finished with Rex and on her way, Nadia followed the vague directions that she had been given until another figure appeared, this one even more feminine and bearing the unmistakable wings of an angel and gesturing her further out. This, she thought, absolutely reeked of a trap, particularly given the imperious look that the small stone figure had given her. Nadia's aura flared suddenly, not enough to draw more than a tiny amount but more than enough to alert whoever was watching her as well as the camp, and particularly Sarah, before calling out; "Enough! No more games! If you would speak with me, do it here and now!"

Nadia's proclamation was bold and passionate, but it like her aura was a test. Sarah would know that such wasn't an indication of danger so much as it was an indication of potential danger, and for the caravan to be on its guard. This figure did not know Nadia as the elf did, however, and if they showed themselves all the better. If they didn't, however, Nadia would grumble in annoyance and proceed off at a brusque pace through the woods in the indicated direction, her eyes peeled for signs of danger all the while. Her aura would hold, a beacon in the oncoming night that could be easily followed and a convenient light to see by in one.

(Battle Aura X = 2)

 

[thetwo]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

Spoiler

Perception: 59

Back in the camp, there was a brief confusion, then a flury of activity, as a significant number of people stopped watching the campfire and started watching the woods. Sarah left the group at a quick trot, coming towards Nadia's glow.

The little stone figure opened its mouth, a sudden flurry of pebbles reshaping it with more detail until teeth and tongue were visible. They moved soundlessly, and after a moment the face shifted into one of frustration, and suddenly the pile ceased moving. Though few of the larger stones shifted, the fall of the pebbles removed most of the definition from the shape, until it was hardly recognizable.

Nadia continued, muttering, in the indicated directly, and after a minute the elf caught up. "What's going on, Nadia?" She seemed to think for a minute, then grinned, taking a step closer and leaning into the angel. "Did you put the camp on alert so that we could get some alone time?~"

Just at the edge of her enhanced perception ahead there seemed to be a shallow cave. It glowed slightly in the last of the day's light.

Spoiler

105 HP, 85 PP, 108/110 SP;47 Perception, Battle Aura 2

 

[Tassadar]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

Nadia scowled darkly at the figure that had attempted to contact as it tried and then failed to speak, before it crumbled. Her frustrated scowl turned upon Sarah when the elf approached, and after the elf's suggestive quip Nadia quickly said; "We are in danger. Return to the camp - carefully - and make sure that everyone is ready for an attack." She turned in the direction that she'd pointed once again, and just before she started off again she continued; "I am either going to meet one of my own kin and find out more, or into an ambush. If I do not return within the hour, I am likely either captured or dead." The seriousness in Nadia's voice hopefully dispelled Sarah's flirtatiousness for the moment, as the angel was hardly in the mood for levity at that point. With a grim expression, Nadia would head towards the cave that she saw up ahead, her flaring aura leading the way, as it was presumably her destination.

 

[thetwo]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

Sarah frowned. "Oh. Well... come back within an hour, then. And we better get some time alone after this!" She started quickly back towards the camp.

As Nadia approached the cave, a feeling of heightened magic rose. Nadia's flaring aura grew brighter without any prodding by herself, even her skin seemed to glow brighter as the sense of magic grew.

This cave was unlike the one that the hunters had been holed up in. That one had been dark, almost a fissure in the rock, all sharp corners and damp. This one... without Nadia's aura it would have been pitch black, but the entrance was almost unnaturally round. And as she descended the impression only increased. It was all raw, undressed stone, no dirt. The walls were gently curved, the floor nearly completely flat. A few dozen yards, just far enough that a slight change to the angle of the slope had hidden the entrance, the tunnel opened up.

The cavern may or may not have been natural, but now there could be no doubt that it had been modified by some thinking being. A pool of water was the main feature, but around it were clearly carved benches, of some white stone. And in the center of the pool, an altar of the same white stone, intricately carved on all sides with symbols Nadia didn't recognize. Water dripped down stalactites on the ceiling into the pool in at a steady rate, and a small stream seemed to discharge out the opposite end of the cavern from the entrance tunnel.

But what drew Nadia's eye was what was on the alter. An angel lay face up on the altar, nude, all pale skin and great black wings. The face was one that the young angel would easily recall. There was a stirring of intense magic. Lilith's body sat up, and turned to face Nadia.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

The further into the strange cavern Nadia went, the more intense the angel's discomfort and belief that this was no natural cave complex became. The walls and the floor were too perfect, nearly worked but seemingly not quite at a single glance, and when she finally came upon a chamber that some sentient force had worked the tunnel was left entirely sure... Though when she saw what lay within, Nadia quickly stopped caring about the passageway.

"You!" she snarled before Lillith suddenly sat up, and by that point Nadia was already gathering energy into herself. The younger angel flared suddenly, blazing with brilliant light as her aura left her enveloped in golden light, and it was fairly obvious that Nadia was preparing to rend the fallen angel apart.

Spoiler

Activating Battle Aura up to X = 30. Total cost of 39 EP and 8 HP.

 

[thetwo]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

Lilith didn't look overly concerned by Nadia's aura, instead, she swung her legs out over the water and stepped forward, resting on the surface. "I... thought it appropriate... that you be here to witness my rebirth. Considering." The figure laughed. "Thought. I've done little else since you killed me."

Her wings unfurled. They were larger by a significant margin than Nadia's. And on each, a fist-sized clump of white feathers nestled among the black. Finally she seemed to notice Nadia's glow, theatrically shielding her eyes. "You surprised me once, child. Do you honestly think you will do so a second time? Or are you simply hoping to blind me? You may find actually killing me... more difficult... than last time, even if you do surprise me."

The fallen angel lifted a hand, and a wall of dark energy appeared between the two, from floor to ceiling, wall to wall. Nadia could practically feel the corruption of what might once have been holy magic.

Spoiler

97/105 HP, 85 PP, 69/110 SP;47 Perception, Battle Aura 30

 

[Tassadar]

Re: The Angel Angle (Tassadar) GMed by thetwo

While it might have been a foolish move, burning up so much of her power so quickly, Nadia knew that facing Lillith meant that she couldn't afford to hold too much in reserve. She could have unleashed a blast like she had last time, but Lillith would surely have been expecting as much and thus Nadia had to think of something else. Faced with a wall of corrupted magic, the young angel found herself blocked from her fallen opponent just as she was about to rush toward her, but that didn't daunt Nadia.

It might burn her, but it wouldn't do so nearly as fiercely as it would a demon, and without hesitation Nadia launched herself forward against the wall, her blades drawn so fast that they seemed to practically appear in her hands and with the one that she had enchanted with Lillith's own feather leading Nadia charged against the wall, towards the dark presence she could still plainly detect beyond it. Nadia wasted no breath on replying to the fallen angel, merely unleashing a grunt as she lunged in to try and slay the fallen angel once more. Should she break through that barrier, Nadia would try to impale Lillith through the heart with her enchanted weapon and then slash for her throat with the more mundane one.