Session Start: Sat Oct 27 17:17:35 2007 Session Ident: #castlevania [The intrepid party steps outside the main tent of the task force camp and heads north, looking for the scouts.] * Skip follows her, hoping to gain more information before venturing into the city. * Charlotte walks along, anxious and alert. [The party quickly runs into a section of the camp populated by drab, gray tents and somber-looking guards.] Skip? I'll let you do the questioning here, if you have any information you need from the scouts. * Skip nods, "All right. I'll do my best. Hopefully, the scouts are more cheerful than their surroundings." * Skip approaches a guard. "Excuse me, could you tell me where I can find those who have entered the city?" Guard: "Our lead acolytes are in the central tent." [She points.] * Skip bows, "Many thanks." He quickly strides toward the central tent and approaches the entrance. * Nyyx follows along. * Skip looks inside the tent, trying to decide whether or not it would be proper to invite himself in. * Charlotte stands around. She doesn't look quite comfortable. [The tent is darkly lit by weak torches. In the failing light, Skip can make out several scattered tables with chairs. Somber figures populate some of them, pouring over maps.] [One of the figures looks up, apparently ignoring the gloom.] "Come on in. Watch your step." * Skip slowly makes his way up to one of the populated areas, "Excuse us, we're sorry to interrupt, but we are here to help with the plague and would like to ask some questions, if we may." Figure: "Of course. You are new here, are you not? Likely you have much to learn." We were wondering about your attempts to enter the city undetected. Can you fill us in? Figure: "Of course. We attempted to infiltrate the city at the north end, furthest from the camp. After vaulting the wall, several of our agents began searching nearby buildings." Did they have any success? Did they see the whip guy? Figure: "We found very little. No signs of struggle or bodies. The houses were unlocked though. After about ten to fifteen minutes, they were attacked." By gargoyles and earth elementals? Figure: "They were accosted by gargoyles and large earth elementals. They retreated immediatelly. Their stealth abilities were apparently disrupted somehow. Likely by their contact with the ground." Figure: "We have attempted several breaches of the city with similar results." * Nyyx nods thoughtfully. What do you mean, contact with the ground? Figure: "Standing on the ground. We expect the attackers were using some kind of earth or vibration sense." Oh! That makes sense, being attacked by earth elementals and all. What if you move rooftop to rooftop? Has it been tried yet? Couldn't they feel the the shock through the contact point between the building and ground? Figure: "We assume that the gargoyles would spot rooftop travel. Plus, it is far more difficult." * Biff pipes up from the floor behind Nyyx, "If you're touching the ground, they can feel it. It's really annoying to try and get around." * Nyyx spins around to face Biff. "Who--? Biff!" Howdy, toots! Happy to see me? Oh, hey. It's that cat. * Biff jumps up onto Nyyx's shoulder. Where'd you come from? * Skip turns, "Oh, hello Biff. Nice to have you back." Well, yes. Roland said we were going to be meeting an old friend, and I suppose he meant you. He have a fetish for the Eye of Boccob? That would be Roland. Sounds about right. What brings you out to Stovograd? I got a letter saying you'd need me, and that you'd found a competent cleric or two. I finished up my business in Providence, came here, and whaddaya know, here you are. He sent for you? Probably. Excellent timing. We're just figuring out the situation before checking out what's happening inside the town. You heard anything about the whip guy, Biff? What whip guy? Biff, you're very skilled at illusion and trickery; do you know of any way to get around inside this town without being noticed? Figure: "A talking cat, how droll." Come to think of it, Gabriel came from this town, didn't he? There's some guy in that city with a whip tearing down gargoyles and earth elementals singlehandedly. I know -I- can do it, but that's because I'm a cat. Stealth is in our blood. * Skip makes a sour face, "Well, some say I am part cat." Skip shakes the wildcat tail he keeps in his belt. fft You can't be serious. You're about as much cat as you are monkey. A monkey is a very agile creature, so I'll take that as a compliment. There are some tricks you can use to fool senses like that, but they're pretty hard to learn. * Skip turns to Nyyx. "I don't remember anyone named Gabriel. Well, except for the strange man we met in the other world." Who's he? * Nyyx nods to Skip. "Yes, that Gabriel. His chosen weapon was the whip, and he mentioned at some point that they train many skilled whip-wielding hunters of the undead in this town." Why whips? He was a comrade of ours, Charlotte, who was killed by part of the Damacine Golem we mentioned before. * Nyyx shrugs. "Who knows. Any weapon could be effective in the hands of the right person." I see... How long have you been in town, Biff? Just got here. Took me a bit to find you guys. I see. Have you heard much about the situation here? Nope. I hear there are elementals about, though, and I can't say I like dealing with those. * Nyyx nods. "I'm not sure I do either, though I don't have much experience with them." There's a fair chunk I can do against gargoyles, though, if they're really gargoyles. If it's got a mind, I can take it. If I could have some decent cover, I could probably take them down from a distance... We were trying to help with the scouting efforts. We might consider a large frontal attack by our main group to distract them from Biff sneaking throughout the city from the north. Figure: "That is quite ambitious. Who sent you anyway?" The Lady of Secrets. The Contacts of Pelor and Boccob. The Inquisition. Kinda. They told me to tag along and help them any way I could Figure: "Impressive references." Figure: "Who might you be then?" * Biff flicks his tail at the figure. "I am Biff Mouser, Familiar for Hire!" Charlotte Dorin, priestess of Pelor. Natalia Ruthven, recently of Kronnenburg. Figure: "Well met, I am currently between names, but am pleased to meet you none the less." Murdock the Mudskipper, Nightstalker of the Panther Halfling Tribe. Pleased to meet you, as well. Have you discovered any way of bypassing the enemy's ability to sense your movements through contact with the ground? Maybe we could just not touch the ground. Not as easy as it sounds. Figure: "Regretfully, no. Some attempt at floating or using the roofs could work." Biff, could you keep both yourself and another person invisible for a while? How numerous are the enemy, anyway? If they react to touching the ground by bursting out of it, maybe we could set traps * Biff sneezes. Define "a while", Skip. Half an hour? Getting a little taxing, but it wouldn't be too bad. Well, some the druids in camp can fly. It might be possible to scout a lot of the city by using your stealth and their flight together. Gorrish mentioned last night that there may be some sort of force organizing all these monster attacks. Figure: "Well, we have already done that. That is why we have maps of the city." There hasn't been any sign of this organizing force, then? Figure: "No, just swarming attackers." Sounds more like we should just fight our way in. Is there anything else unusual about this city that you can tell us? Not that I'm particularly in favor of the whole "fighting" thing, mind. Unless there's some kind of... hm. The rooftops thing definitely works, right? How hard would it be to get some makeshift bridges across most of the buildings? Rooftops won't work. We still have one group of scouts we can ask for information before we make our foray into the city. It could keep us out of reach of the elementals, which I am in favor of, but it makes us readily accessible to the gargoyles, which I am... well. It's not a bad idea. I prefer the gargoyles to the elementals. How do gargoyles fight, anyway? Swooping in and slicing away with claws and fangs? * Biff shrugs. You got me. Speaking of which, those that were struck by the gargoyles fell into comas that the priests here couldn't get them out of. We'd best be careful. ...elementals it is, then. The same weird plague, right? I am definitely -not- in favor of going into a coma, thank you very much. Unfortunately, fighting the elementals bears the same risk. ...right. You don't mind if I hide in your backpack, right? * Nyyx smiles humorlessly. "No, be my guest. I hope that I don't meet that fate, either." All things considered, I'd probably prefer the gargoyles, because we're going to have to fight them anyway. How are you guys at the whole roof hopping thing? * Nyyx nods. "I'm not opposed to that." I might be able to do that. I'm definitely up for it. Before we go, though, Sirrus suggested that we speak to Harnish, in the north part of town. * Skip nods, "Right," he turns to the Figure, "Thank you for your help." Skip bows and leaves the tent. * Nyyx bows to the figure also. "Thank you." * Biff curls up on Nyyx's shoulder. This is going to be tricky, though... Figure: "Of course." * Nyyx heads for the druid camp to the north. * Skip walks with the group to the northern part of the camp. * Charlotte follows [The druid camp is a small collection of simple tents and caches of materials. The druids are collected around a table exposed to the elements planning the day's surveys.] * Skip approaches the table, "Hello, we've been sent by the Contacts of Boccob and Pelor to help in your cause." [Sirrus looks up with the others.] "Hello again!" Sirrus! Good to see you. Is Harnish here? [A stout bald man with rough features raises a hand.] "Present. What do you need?" Information about what's happening inside the city. Information, mostly * Biff doesn't sound particularly friendly. Harnish: "Well, I can only help you about the perimeter of the city. I can only see through the stone of the walls and buildings so far." That's fine. Harnish: "The outer areas of the city are mostly deserted while no one is attempting a breach. The houses are empty and look to be holding up okay. During a breach, the elementals just boil up from the ground. Also, I can't be sure, but I think there is a tunnel system under the city. Probably need it for the sewage and wells at least." The tunnels? MIght be good, if the elementals don't go down there. * Biff shudders. The last thing we want is earth elementals attacking from overhead. Yeah. I have no idea how we're going to go about this without triggering attacks taht'll put us in comas. We can't walk on the ground. We can't use the rooftops. We probably can't go underground. I don't think we could just teleport in, since we have no idea where to go once we're actually IN anyway. The answer is clear. We just have to not get hit. That would be why I'm here. How can you make us not get hit? Through clever use of my many and various magical cat powers, obviously. I'd like to hear more about these cat powers That's nice. * Biff turns his attention back to the druid. "have you seen where the gargoyles come from?" Harnish: "I have not, but Sirrus here seems to think that they deploy from the middle of the town." Sirrus: "Thanks for covering that one for me, Harn." Tch. It sounds as though the rooftops are definitely the better way. * Biff baps Nyyx upside the head with his tail. * Nyyx blinks at Biff. "What?" Huh? I know that was you. What was me? Nevermind. * Biff shakes his head. I say if we can manage it, we go for the rooftops. Rooftops it is. I'm better able to deal with the gar- wait, you agree with me? And I suppose we should head toward the center of town to see where these gargoyles are coming from. * Biff sounds utterly baffled by this happening. * Skip looks at Theodore, "Um, how is Theo going to manage up there?" He turns to Theo, "No offense, of course," "I will be fine. Never underestimate a fat wizard." You misprounounced "lazy", Theodore. * Skip smiles, "In your company, I never do." Anything else we should know to be prepared before entering the city? Sirrus: "Be prepared to get out quick." GOt anything to help us get out quick, or are we on our own? * Nyyx nods. "Theo, would you be able to teleport us out fairly quickly, if the need arose?" Harnish: "And avoid the cemetery on the southwest end of town. I've seen so strange elementals over there." Sirrus: "You are more or less on your own." Avoid the cemetary in the southwest. Right. Alright, sounds good to me I could probably, yes. * Skip nods and looks from person to person to cat, "Well. Sounds like a plan." Wonderful. To the rooftops, then? I'm all in, toots. * Biff curls his tail around Nyyx's neck. Thank you for your help, Sirrus, Harnish. Skip, Charlotte, you think you have what it takes to keep up with me? * Nyyx bows with a tip of her hat and heads out. Definitely! You haven't seen me at my fastest yet! * Skip nods. "I'll certainly try." * Charlotte grins. * Skip motions to leave, then turns back, "One more thing, Sirrus - Have any weapons or spells, anything really, been more successful against these enemies than others?" Sirrus: "Well, I expect that a blunt club would be best against the elementals, but that is about it." Uh... how are arrows? About as good as a bat in a staring contest. They'll be good enough. Sirrus: "Against earth elementals? Not very useful." Hopefully we'll be able to avoid most, if not all, of those. Alright. I guess I'll have to pick my targets carefully... or failing that, it's not like earth elementals are fast * Skip nods. "Well, no use delaying this any further. Are we ready to begin?" I think so Yes. * Nyyx heads to the wall surrounding the town. Once we get to the top, I have a distraction that might work. Buy us a little extra time. What do you have in mind? I'll pull a little something out of my bag of tricks, send it in a different direction. See what it attracts. Sounds good. Sounds useful. I was hoping you had something up your sleeve. ...what sleeve? Er, fur? fft. * Nyyx heads for the northeast part of the wall. * Skip shakes his head, "Nevermind." With a small jump, he clinges to the outer surface of the wall and begins scaling the structure. * Nyyx does the same, once they get to the northeast section of the town. * Charlotte starts moving [The party spends about ninety minutes slowly circling the town to the northeast side. The landscape slopes down toward the distance water behind them and the twenty foot high walls loom before them.] * Biff runs up to the base of the wall, leaps about ten feet in the air, and then claws nimbly the rest of the way up. * Nyyx makes it to the top of the wall and looks for the closest stable-looking rooftop. * Theodore casts spiderclimb on himself and scales the wall [The party scrambles up the side of the wall with little effort. Soon, they are standing on the five foot wide top of the wall and have a full view of the city of Stovograd.] [The city stretches perhaps one mile into the distance to the east and south. Everything is erriely quiet. The slight salt in the air and the overcast sky add little comfort to the scene.] * Biff reaches back into his pack and pulls out a small ball of fur. He throws it down on the other side of the wall and says to it, "Head for the center of the city." [The nearest rooftops are perhaps ten to fifteen feet from the edge of the wall. Most of the roofs have a slight slant and gutters for rain collection.] * The ball of fur unfurls into a massive black bear, which lumbers off into the city. * Charlotte blinks, and watches, impressed. Cute trick. [The black bear is quickly lost between the buildings.] Well, better take care of the distraction while it's still around Yep. * Skip leaps the distance to the nearest rooftop, staying with the rest of the party. * Biff casts a quick spell and becomes a blurry little blob. * Nyyx leaps smoothly onto the rooftop. * Biff takes a flying leap off over to the rooftop, lands, and promptly disappears. * Nyyx moves for the next rooftop in the direction of the center of town. * Charlotte watches. I'm fast, but I don't know if I can jump THAT far... * Theodore casts fly on Charlotte * Charlotte lifts up a bit. @_@ Woah. This is a new sensation... thanks. We'll have to try this out some more sometime when we don't have such pressing matters to attend to. * Charlotte follows. :D * Nyyx jumps from rooftop to rooftop toward the center, probably roughly following the unseen Biff. [The party works its way into the city along the roofs.] [Biff hears the bear howling in the distance.] * Biff appears for a moment on a rooftop about 50' ahead. He reaches one blurry paw back into his bag again, and withdraws a ball of fur that becomes a wolf, which runs off into the city at right angles to the party's path. * Biff turns and heads onward, vanishing as he leaps another gap. * Nyyx notes the wolf, as well as Biff's location, and keeps going. Whew. * Charlotte keeps flying Gargoyles coming from the tower at the center of town! * Nyyx draws her sword and keeps moving. * Charlotte draws her bow. * Skip draws his twin hand axes and presses on. "How many do you think there are?" About a dozen, I think. [The creatures fly in a loose swarm straight toward the party. The pass about 30' above Biff on their way to the rest of the party.] * Biff waits for them to get JUUUUUUUST past him, and then casts a spell. [The winged figures, gargolyes, lunge at each other in midair, crashing and screaming in rage. Soon, the figures are a mass of wings and limbs headed for the street below.] Wow. I wonder if that'll get the elementals on their case. * Theodore casts fireball at the mass of gargoyles * Biff waves his tail at the group and casts a quick Message spell, so they can hear him say "I LOVE that spell." * Nyyx smirks in appreciation. [The mass of gargoyles crash on a nearby roof and the ground. Only two continue to move.] * Charlotte points her bow at the gargoyles... * Biff broadcasts over the message spell, "I think the rest of you can take care of those two. I'm going to scout some more." * Biff leaps over the next gap and disappears. * Nyyx turns to face the two remaining gargoyles. "Come on, then!" * Charlotte fires two arrows. * Charlotte fires a third for good measure. * Charlotte misses with just one, but the other two plunge into the gargoyles and burst into acid. They quickly die. Whoo! Come on, let's hurry... this Fly isn't going to last forever * Charlotte flies. * Nyyx is already on the move again. [The bear cannot be heard anymore, but the wolf has started to howl. A crash and a dust cloud erupts to the south.] * Biff stops for a moment, reappears, and flings another animal, sending another wolf, this one in the opposite direction of the last. * Biff leaps the next gap and disappears, but sends back a message "I can only do ten of these, let's hope they don't speed up. Or better, slow down." [The party advances. The wolf screams amidst a burst of dust and the collapse of a nearby building. The tower looms in the distance.] Crap. That sounds possibly like speeding up, unfortunately. Uh oh * Biff keeps running as he chucks another animal, this one back behind the party, which unrolls into another bear. Then we have to do the same. * Skip continues to run, jumping as he goes. * Biff doesn't bother re-hiding this time, he just runs as fast as he can. Everybody move it, Theo, buddy, you're gonna have to burn a Fly on yourself, I think. I'm not sure we can make it at this speed. * Nyyx hurries as quickly as she can, though her armor slows her down. * Charlotte flies as quickly as she can, occasionally touching down on safe areas to run faster before leaping to continue her flight. * Biff stops for a moment, letting the others come in range, and then all the runners put on a burst of speed as his Haste hits. * Nyyx continues running and hopping between roofs with enhanced speed. * Skip seems to be flying as he leaps from rooftop to rooftop. He hasn't moved with such speed and determination since his days as a jungle stalker. His panther tribe would be proud. [The party rushed onward, crashing noises coming from the city behind and around them.] END OF SESSION Session Close: Sat Oct 27 22:12:47 2007