Triple Threat - Double or Nothing

[Sliver]

As the two of you begin to get more... Intimate, you see Octopus and Toronin leaving the Jester and looking for you. They seem to be alone.

[Archmage1]

Pausing in her activities, suspecting that Airis might be a little unhappy about this, Eolande whispers in her ear.
"Airis... Octopus and Toronin are here..."

[PersonMan]

Airis stops as soon as she notices Eolande's pause - the half-fey's flashbacks had put her on a bit of a hair-trigger regarding sudden stops in her motion. Luckily, though, she didn't seem to have been hit with one of her more unpleasant memories...instead, they were being interrupted. Looking down, to make sure that the steel parts of her gear, armor and rapier, were where she had slung them over one branch, Airis feels a surge of heat hit her face. She was, luckily, not quite undressed yet, but the duelist has to shift to keep her pants from dipping lower than they already were, having been undone already.

"Um, do you think they'll see?" Airis asks, detaching herself from the half-fey with equal reluctance and haste. On one hand, her embarrassment at being caught in such a situation was great. On the other, well...Eolande was Eolande. It was hard to even want to pull away from her. As the half-fey replies, the duelist pulls her clothing back to where it had been before, hiding her skin beneath the crimson cloth.

[Archmage1]

Smiling when Airis blushes, planning for the future, Eolande is a bit disappointed when Airis ends their embrace more fully. After all, both of them enjoyed it quite a bit, now that Airis had a bit of training.
Still, her fingers casually stroking Airis, Eolande leans back slightly, and looks up into Airis's eyes, seeking something, but her voice is soft, quiet.
"I think they are looking for us, so probably. Are you sure..."
Eolande pauses, and then shakes her head, considering Airis's reactions to the mere idea of being found so far, she can answer that. Perhaps Airis was embarrassed to be seen with her? A disturbing thought.
"Of course you are. Perhaps later then?"
Her voice seems confident, although there is a questioning lilt to her voice at the end.
Eolande then reaches out for her dress, and calls out to Octopus and Toronin.
"We're over here! Did something happen? Are the others coming?"

[PersonMan]

"Mmm...Sorry for, well, cutting this off like this," Airis says, breathing heavily as she buttons up her duelist's jacket. "You know it's different for me, with...things like this," she continues, smiling to Eolande before the half-fey goes off to speak with the others, giving her a chance to dip down and grab her steel items.

[Archmage1]

Eolande speaks gently, her hand gently caressing Airis's face one last time.
"It's ok, Airis, I understand."

Having called the others over, Eolande starts getting back into her dress, stepping into it, before pulling it up and fastening it.

[Sliver]

Toroning begins heading over but Octopus motions for him to slow down and they give you a bit of time to prepare before they reach you. "Kalti's training will take some time, and the others decided to stay and study... She has a lot to teach, so I guess the call of knowledge was greater." Octopus says with a shrug. "I'm sure the three of us will be fine..."

"Let's get moving, shall we? We'll set camp in a couple of hours and reach the village of Hotwire before noon."

"Can't you summon your horse? You've seen the girls, they are fast fliers. According to the map, Hotwire isn't that far away. I think we can reach the village tonight... What do you say?" Octopus asks as he turns to you.

[Archmage1]

Eolande sighs as Octopus reveals what the others were doing.
"Are you sure? She seemed... off, to me, and there was the mind control... but then, there would be little any of us could do in there."

When they discuss moving faster, Eolande thinks about how tired she is, but also how much nicer it was in the wilderness compared to a city... but Airis seemed to prefer cities...
Before she really thought about it, she heard her voice speaking.
"I can fly faster than any horse I have encountered..."
Unspoken is the reason that she knows this, all those times that people had seen her, and tried to catch her, after she had left the monastry.

[PersonMan]

"I'm not sure," Airis says. Her first answer is, sure, of course, but she's reminded of Eolande. Even though, at times, her endurance was (literally) breathtaking, the half-fey was quick to tire in general. Besides that, the thought of making camp soon again appealed to her for...other reasons. She did feel a bit guilty, after all, Eolande didn't have her issues regarding that sort of thing, and Airis hadn't had the self control to keep them from getting into something she knew they probably couldn't finish.

"Do we really have an option?" Airis decides to ask, thinking of another issue. "I mean, we don't really have anything to spend the night in out here, do we? I'm fine with camping, but I'm still hurting from that fight earlier..."

[Sliver]

"I have a spell to create a safe area for us to rest in." Toronin offers, but Octopus smirks. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm sure whatever you got works well enough for you..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, really!" Octopus laughs. "It's just that when you are working with someone as resourceful as the Jackal, you can afford sleeping in something more classy."

"Says the guy that slept in a warehouse yesterday because they didn't have a spare room."

"I didn't really sleep, I was taking care of business..." Octopus shrugs. "Anyway, I guess we won't be rushing it and camp out once the sun sets..."

[Archmage1]

Eolande smiles, glad that she wouldn't need to travel as fast as she could. Sadly, she never seemed to be all that enduring.
"That sounds nicer, really."

She prepares to set out, flying slowly about 10 feet up, following the others.

[PersonMan]

"Well, to be honest, Toronin...He's kinda right. The Jackal, well, he's steinreich*," Airis explains to the foreign-born Aurelian. Briefly, she turns to Eolande, but her words get caught in her throat with a surge of thought, and she says nothing, instead shrugging.

"Well, let's get going!"


*German-as-Aurelian, using the term 'stone rich' aka 'has tons and tons and tons and tons of money'

[Archmage1]

Since we are moving to the breakfast scene, possibly with more talking



Eolande smiles at Airis as she comes in, still waiting for the others to arrive.
"It is! I have never seen anything like it before."
She smiles once more.
"I wish I could make a place like this, but that would be far beyond my power. Far enough that I wonder why Octopus even needs us for this."

[PersonMan]

"Well, the Jackal may have oodles of money, but unless he can get Octopus a pile of amazing power artifacts, being able to get something like this doesn't mean he can go through this all himself," Airis replies, shrugging and pausing to take a bite of her meat-heavy breakfast.

[Sliver]

"But he sure can rub your face in it..." Toronin remarks as he enters to grab something to eat. "Those servants of his kept bothering me until I went to bed, as if Octopus ordered them to remind me of how much more awesome this place is than what I can create."

"That's because I did." Octopus says with a smile as he follows behind Toronin.

"What a pointless and unnecessary gesture." Toronin remarks as he piles on meat and a select few vegetables into a glorious sandwich.

"Yeah, well... It's a bit more... Empty, with the others gone. Have to keep myself occupied somehow." Octopus shrugs.

And they were gone.

You hear the communion ahead and Eolande expresses her worries. What will you do?

[Archmage1]

"He could have easily hired adventurers that are far more experienced that we are, even now. Something to make him invisible, and something to let him fly, and he could have done all that we have, but have avoided all the danger. Not doing so is interesting... but, it would seem that it is time to move on."

As she speaks, Eolande reaches into her bag, extracting the suitcase given to her by the wizard, and offers Jinn his food.

After he is done, she packs up once more, and follows the others.

[PersonMan]

"Maybe he could've, maybe not.

Hey, Octy, how about it? Why did you hire us instead of more powerful people if you and the Jackal have all that money?" Airis asks, turning to Octopus. Since he was present, she might as well, right?

---

As they approach the town, the duelist raises an eyebrow and shrugs. She's clearly interested as Octopus mentions gnolls, but still a bit confused. "Sounds interesting. Gnolls, you say? What exactly are they? I'm not sure I've heard of them..."

[Sliver]

"It's more interesting to support and see how young adventurers grow..." Octopus answers as if it's obvious.

(It was Toronin who mentioned the Gnolls, since he knows the village, not Octopus)

"Really?" Toronin looks surprised. "Huh, ummm... Gnolls are humanoids with canine heads... Errr, hyenas, I was told... I read that they are usually tribal hunters, but this village is peaceful and pretty civilized. Reminds you that you can't judge everything by it's cover, as they say, right?"

[Archmage1]

Eolande does not believe Octopus's explanation, but, then, he is the one with the amazing trinkets... Pushing him further on the topic does not strike Eolande as a good idea.

"If the village is peaceful, and civilized, they will probably let us through, so long as we don't interfere with whatever it is that they are doing. We aren't staying here tonight, are we?"
As she speaks, she looks up at the sun, noting how early in the day it is, far too early for staying the night...

[PersonMan]

Airis considers their new situation, frowning a bit. Gnolls...she didn't really know anything about them, so she isn't sure exactly what might be happening. Toronin's explanation didn't tell her much about their ways, but then again he probably didn't know many gnolls himself. This group was also different from the rest, so any knowledge he had would be unreliable anyways.

"Let's try and just enter normally, if need be we can easily escape and we may be able to get an explanation out of them," Airis suggests.

[Archmage1]

Eolande looks rather nervous, but she nods.
"If... if you're sure, Airis..."

[PersonMan]

Airis notices Eolande's hesitation, and smiles to her, hoping to comfort the half-fey as she steps closer to her. Swiftly, but gently, her hand seeks out the mage's, her own calloused palm closing around the soft skin of her partner. Feeling confident after the morning's events, she gives a light squeeze to try and reassure Eolande. "Remember what you said?" She asks quietly. "You fly faster than any horse? We can cover those two as they run if they need to, then fly away. It's going to be fine."

[Archmage1]

Her hand automatically closing around Airis's hand as she reaches for her, Eolande tries to remember to be brave, but it's so hard, and so different from what she usually does.
"I... I'll try... I just hope that nothing goes wrong..."
Her voice does not resound with confidence, but she is clearly trying.

[PersonMan]

"Hoping is a good start, but knowing you can get out of trouble even if things go bad is better," Airis says. "But you're getting better. I'll make a courageous battle-mage of you yet!" She adds, grinning and briefly dipping to give Eolande a kiss on her cheek. "Only if you want to, though," the duelist adds, whispering into the half-fey's ear. It was nice to be close to her like this, just doing normal things.

[Archmage1]

Eolande smiles, momentarily, when Airis kisses her, but clearly, she is not feeling full of confidence.
"But... I can never seem to get out... they always have nets, or webs, or poison, or something... But... you... you'll keep me safe!"
With that declaration, and not really wanting to be a battle mage(more of an enchantress), Eolande answers Airis as best she can.
She hugs her.

[PersonMan]

Airis has some kind of reply ready, to counter the point about nets or poison or such, but as Eolande makes her declaration and embraces her the she just smiles and returns the embrace. "If anything goes wrong, I'll make sure it all ends up being fine," she says, voice low as she speaks to the half-fey alone.

[Archmage1]

"I know"
Seeking reassurance, Eolande continues to hold the hug for a few moments, before letting go.

[Sliver]

And with that, you proceed into the village.

On your way to the center, you can see a gnoll in white robes and golden lining, with a holy symbol of some sorts sown in their center. He seems to be shouting at the crowd, but they brush him aside.

"Rghall, what is going on?" Toronin exclaims as you continue.

The gnoll turns and nods grimly at Toronin. "I have a bad feeling about this..." He says. "The mayor found a letter on his desk this morning, a threat to his life. He immediately called for more men to patrol, but a few minutes ago this monster strode in and killed two of them. The others rushed to the scene and quickly overpowered him, but I think it was too easy... Someone must have been in the mayor's house when he was asleep, why didn't he kill the mayor then if it was what he wanted to do? Toronin, please, I-"

"Rghall! Come already!" Another gnoll, wearing a red vest with silver buttons and a black hat, calls to him.

"Yes mayor, I'll be right there..." Rghall replies and turns to look at the four of you, clearly distressed.

[Archmage1]

Eolande, staying near Airis, is quite nervous about this whole thing, clearly not liking this much.
"I... I don't like this. Something... something feels wrong about this... Can we go?"

[Sliver]

Rghall looks at Eolande, pleading, before turning away and joining the mayor and his wife.

"Look, if you want to leave, I won't stop you." Toronin says. "But I'm not going to abandon Rghall and the village. Wait for me outside the village or continue by yourself if that is what you want, but... They need help, or the entire village will die. I'm sure of it." And with that, he turns to follow Rghall.

Octopus looks at you in silence, curious to see how you act.

[Archmage1]

Eolande pauses, as she considers her options.
I... I could go, and Airis might come with me, but if we do, the entire village dies, which would be terrible! They havn't tried to catch me, or chain me, or anything... But if I stay, that man... that man might get me... And I won't let that happen again. I won't! But sacrificing an entire village... that... I don't think I could do that. Could I? No... No, I couldn't. Which means that I will stay.
After a few moments of thought, the visibly paling Eolande nods.
"I..."
As she often does, her nervousness provokes a pause, while she gathers her thoughts, a simple thing, but it means a lot.
"I can't let an entire village die because I'm scared that the man might get out, or that they will try and capture me. I just can't."

[PersonMan]

"The strong protect those who cannot do so themselves," Airis says, quiet but firm, after Eolande speaks. "It is the truth of power, whether in Aurelia or anywhere else,"

With that, she turns her gaze to the man surrounded by gnolls. "So, when do you think he'll make his move?" She asks.

[Sliver]

"I think he is waiting for something." Octopus says as you begin to walk to the crowd. "It must be a trap, but for who... If the mayor was his real target, he would have killed him instead of leaving the letter."

Octopus continues to walk after you reach the crowd and talks with Toronin. After the short exchange, Toronin returns to you and Octopus stands near Rghall, the mayor and his wife.

The trial begins.

"You are charged with threatening an official, murdering two guards and trespassing!" The mayor says, keeping a stern voice. "How do you plead?"

"I plead..." The man pauses, for dramatic effect. "Hold on! The real crime has not been committed yet!"

"You stand on trial so you don't commit any further crimes. Do you think we'll just let you kill me and then proceed with the trial?" The mayor asks, annoyed.

"I don't think you have a choice." The man replies with a smirk.

"I would reconsider this statement if I were in your position. How do you plead?" The mayor tries to continue with the trial.

"Oh, but you are not in my position..." He says and then sighs. "Fiiiine. I'm guilty. Let's get on with this..."

"For your crimes, this court sente-" "Hooooold on! I almost forgot!"

The man raises his now free arms into the air. "Kill the guards, if you will?" As he says that, five shuriken rip through the guards, only one remaining alive, and fly up to the assassin, exchanging greetings as the guards fall. With a quick move, the man draws a cold iron longsword out of the sheath of the falling guard, probably his own sword.

"Where's your brother?" The man asks.

"Probably on his way. The young guard was sleeping on duty and got punished, so he didn't eat breakfast!" One of the shuriken answers.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." The assassin says and shakes his head. "Such lack of discipline. Alright... Kill the mayor now."

Up until now, the crowd was frozen in shock and fear. But as the assassin orders the shuriken in an oddly gentle voice, the crowd breaks into panic and disperses almost as quickly as the shuriken fly.

In front of the mayor, Octopus appears. A blade extending from his wrist blocks most of the flying blades, but one passes through. It gets stuck in Octopus' raised left arm and is unable to wedge itself out. Octopus doesn't seem to react to the supposed pain.

"Dammit! What is wrong with your arm!" The shuriken exclaims. "It's all black and dead-like... It's harder than... Me! Let me out!"

"Huh, interesting..." The assassin says and scans those that remained. "Honestly, I knew that the mad flame would be around here, and I prepared for some fey interruption... And about a few others... Although most didn't show. But not you... I'll have to exchange words with my informant."

"Hide!" Octopus orders the three gnolls behind him.

"After 'em." The assassin orders the four shuriken as the last one arrives. "Finally... Eh, you too. After the mayor."

"Octopus, I'll hold him back! You three should defend the mayor!" Toronin says and rushes to stand between Octopus and the assassin.

[Archmage1]

Wincing as she feels the nearness of the cold iron burning in her mind, Eolande struggles to form the words of power that the situation requires, a spell to trap the shurikens before they can do any more harm, slaughter any more.

But she manages it, and webbing appears from nowhere, coating the shurikens chasing the mayor.

[roll0] init
dc 18 web(unless the shurikens are flat footed, then it is a 19)

[PersonMan]

Initiative: [roll0]

Seeing Eolande's magic cover the shuriken, Airis takes to the air and draws her rapier, her aura surging around her. Extending her right arm, the duelist sends a surge of energy through it, a crimson bolt flying out of her weapon and at one of the now-webbed shuriken.

Move towards the shuriken, get 10' up. Draw rapier, EB a shuriken in the Web.

A: [roll1] touch
D: [roll2]

[Sliver]

Eolande catches the shiruken within her web and they seem to struggle. "Boss!" They shout as they squirm, cutting slowly through the web.

The assassin speaks words of magic as he deflects a blow from Octopus and the web vanishes. (Spellcraft 18: Dispel Magic) "Go already!" He commands.

While Airis manages to blast at one of the shuriken, it is not enough and all five are gone through the walls of the mayor's manor.

"Go now, I'll ho-" Toronin begins.

"No, I'll stay. You go with them." Octopus interjects. "Eolande, be careful! These things are dangerous and you'll be fighting in close quarters..."

[Archmage1]

Eolande frowns as the assassin effortlessly dispels one of her best spells, and then frowns more as Octopus tries to send her to a place where she would be useless.

"I... My magic won't really work on the shirukens. I can't target their minds. This assassin, though... I might be able to help with."

She casts mage armor, boosting her defenses.(Reserving her move for now)

[PersonMan]

Airis, knowing that she can help keep the mayor alive if she can get into striking range of the shuriken, follows the pack of animated weapons at full speed, firing off another surge of crimson energy as soon as one comes into range.

Another EB.

A: [roll0] touch
D: [roll1]

[Sliver]

Airis is unable to keep the shuriken at striking distance because the shuriken broke through the manor's walls, and she is still outside. They seem to have broken at the second floor, which has a balcony and a couple of glass windows, closed. Alternatively, Airis can enter through the doors that the mayor used, although they are closed, and likely locked, now.

Toronin runs to the manor at full speed and, before even reaching the doors, sends a blast of fire, creating a man-sized hole in the still standing doors. You might notice that it doesn't seem like anything caught on fire...

The assassin dodges from Octopus' swing and speaks words of magic, causing 5 images of himself to appear as they maneuver around Octopus. The six assassins look at the frustrated man with glee.

[Archmage1]

Eolande, unthreatened for now, chants briefly, and extends her finger at one of the assassins, sending all of the color in her in a beam towards the assassin's eyes. When the beam flickers out, the half fey has vanished.


Blinding color surge again, dc 18 will vs illusion
She also moves 75 feet towards the house.
And does it sneakily.
[roll0] move silently
[roll1] hide

[PersonMan]

Airis, seeing a way in offered by Toronin's blast of flame, follows through it, looking for any shuriken that may still be in the room where she can blast them. If there are, then she focuses her aura and sends a crimson bolt of power at one of them, hoping to break them apart before they reach their target.

Move, following Toronin's new way in. If there are shuriken in range, EB them. If not, double move.

A: [roll0] touch
D: [roll1]

[Sliver]

The assassin fails to block out the blinding surge of color and covers his eyes in pain, allowing Octopus to get a solid slash with his blade.

As Airis enters behind Toronin, a large oak suddenly crashes through the ceiling and plants itself in the ground. Airis uses the new opening, which is only mostly blocked but the boards got broken enough to allow for her to slip past, and flies to the second floor while Toronin runs to the stairs. Eolande just enters the manor and sees the tree.

The five shuriken are hovering by the tree, arguing about how should they pass the tree, around or through. The gnolls are likely to be on the other side of the tree.

[Archmage1]

Eolande has an idea, an inspiration, even.
She moves away from the entrance, and chants, concentrating on one thing: an illusion, a creature, almost the color of rust, coming out from around the tree, and seeing the shurikens, a sight which seems to make it quite happy. Its pair of antennae wave in the air, before focusing on the shurikens, and it makes a small sound, of glee.
Eolande carefully controls the illusion of the rust monster, hoping to use it to drive to shurikens back, careful to keep it emitting all the right sounds.


DC 19 Minor Image of a rust monster. Hopefully, that will get the shurikens to hesitate just a bit. :smallsmile:

[Sliver]

"Oh ew, what the heck is that?!" One of the shuriken exclaims.

"It's just an ilu-" Another starts, but he is quickly cut off.

"I don't know. Maybe the druid summoned it?" The third suggests.

"Hey, listen, it's just an i-" The fourth tries to interject, but the first shuriken flies at the monster and gets stuck inside the oak.

"They tried to tell you..." The fifth shuriken seems to laugh.

Perhaps the shuriken don't know what rust monsters are...

[PersonMan]

"I think you have other worries, actually," Airis says as she ascends up through the hole in the floor, arms crossed. With a sigh, she shifts into a ready posture, looking at the shuriken as her aura flares outwards. Speeding forwards and upwards, she lunges at one of the flying weapons, relying more on the raw power of her swing and the crimson force flowing through her rapier than on the actual piercing of anatomy.

After all, shuriken didn't really have organs to poke holes in.

Move in, initiate Mountain Hammer.

A: [roll0] (-1 if Airis can't move to a square above the target)
D: [roll1] + [roll2] Ignoring hardness and DR

[Sliver]

Crimson energy begins to cover Airis' rapier, but her concentration breaks as she tries to keep her defenses up. The shuriken laugh and quickly decide to split, two of them flying through the wall and you can hear the wall on the other side of the oak tree breaking.

The two remaining shuriken attack Airis, flying at her quickly. Fortunately, the duelist manages to quickly sidestep both their charges, although it's a close call.

You can hear Toronin coming up the stairs from the other side of the tree.

[Archmage1]

Eolande tries to blind the shurikens, sending a wave of wing-dust towards them.

dc 20 will or blind.