They're there, as they were before. Massive abomination towers, along with hosts of smaller, faster ones. If you don't focus on any one spot, it feels like looking at a writhing sea of flesh.
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They're there, as they were before. Massive abomination towers, along with hosts of smaller, faster ones. If you don't focus on any one spot, it feels like looking at a writhing sea of flesh.
It occurred to Leff that she hadn't learned how these things stood up to ordinary fire, so she took a few potshots with firebolts at some of the ones with arrows in them.
Spoiler: Like three tries I guess.[roll0]; [roll1]
[roll2]; [roll3]
[roll4]; [roll5]
She carefully watched the monsters she hit, looking for signs of pain or, failing that, weakening.
The arrows are primarily on the big beasts, which scorch slightly, but show no other reaction.
A third shot, on a smaller creature, does seem to cause some damage. The burnt appendage has trouble holding the thing's weight.
"...is it about Scribe?" Eris asks, following Leff up the stairs "We'll find her, you'll see. And after we destroy the Slaughterhouse... You'll see you'll know what to do then" she says, looking at the firebolts.
"If we could get a fire going I bet it would spread pretty quickly. Given how much concentrated they are we'd have to worry about suffocating from the smoke"
"Ground's not overly flammable. But fire works on them, and that's all I really needed to find out."
Leff closed her eyes before reopening them, trying to hide the black fire trying to overtake her irises.
"She was the first person who thought I could become better if I tried. She was the first one who thought I could be good. She's the only thing separating me from Somalia."
"Alright," she says, and opens the door again.
Inside, it's quite cramped for someone not built on gnomish size, but you're able to find a spot to sit. Gafler is in the back, sitting at a desk, staring at a blank sheet of parchment.
"Aren't you the only one who stands between you and... Somalia? Whoever she is? I mean, she may be one of your pillars but you yourself need to be good first and foremost" Eris says, looking at the mass of monsters.
"Let's go meet with said sorcerers, assuming you're done here. After that I think we should meet back with Variel, unless you've got other ideas" she turns towards the stairs, asking the guards (or whoever's closest) "Where can we find the spellcasters of this city? Assuming they have an hangout spot of some sort that is"
A guard mentions the gnomes' enclave, but they're more tinkerers and artificers than proper casters. Other than that, there's no hang-out for casters in the city.
"How could I not be? It's there, day and night, always at the walls, never stopping," Gafler replies morosely.
"Always at the walls—why do you think that is?" Variel moved round to look the gnome in the eyes, and tried to put every ounce of his conviction into his bearing and voice. "Because we can beat them! They dare not risk an assault on the gates. Instead they sit outside while this, this disease of defeatism does their work for them. It is unnatural, a tool of the enemy, and it too can be overcome. The gods' sake, man—the siege has not been that long!"
Why? They were good. And now they're dead. "Good" wasn't good enough.
"I suggest we meet with Variel," she said instead of vocalizing the old thoughts coming back.
"Searching this entire city for anyone with born magic seems a waste of our time."
"Uff, very well" Eris said, defeated.
"Take us to the enclave where our companion has been brought" she asked to the man in attendance.
She wondered why Leff hadn't answered. She hoped everything was going to be alright.
"What can you do?" Valien echoed. "Rally your people; I will help you dispel the enemy fog from their minds. I can think of many ways for civilians to assist an army in noncombat roles, but you know your people and your technology better than I do." He continued before Gafler could interject. "To devise the right solution we need to properly frame the problem—surely an inventor can appreciate that. While the enemy is content to lay siege, we have time to observe and apply logic to this problem. My fellow Knights and I have faced these creatures before, and I can personally attest that they do bleed. They do feel fear. This enemy is just another problem in need of a solution. You give us that solution," Variel promised, "and we will deliver this city."
"Thank you for the directions," Leff noted to the guide before asking those about if they'd seen "Another member of the plume - a half-elf in plate armor?"
"Not recently, no," the guard replies. "Just when you all flew in."
Leff directed her inquiry at the denizens about, trying to get the attention of the gnomes who lived in the area.
You're able to get directed to the largest home of the gnomish enclave, where the door's ajar, and you can see your companion within.
Leff stepped over the jar and into the room, knocking on the wall before going entirely inside.
"I don't mean to alarm you. I am Leflabah, and behind me is Eris. We're the other members of the Order of the Shining Plume."
Leff turned her attention toward Variel.
"I think I found something out about the malaise, too."
Leff briefly explained her hypothesis on the Malaise.
"Based on the image of Jack we fought earlier,this could be Illusion, but it could also be Enchantment or even Necromancy. It's similar to, but not exactly, the same sort of fear magic you wield."
She went on to the bad news.
"We're not currently equipped to remove this on a massive scale, but you should be able to dispel the effect on an individual basis. It would be temporary, but it might get us the orders we need to get at least half-hearted help from the city we're trying to save."
"I see," Variel sighed, and he turned to cast Dispel Magic on Gafler. "If this malaise cannot be removed by mundane motivation, and an outright dispel is only temporary, then our timeline is that much shorter—who know how long we will last before we are affected? On that note, what else have you found out?"
Spoiler: Dispel MagicMake a casting stat check, as if trying to dispel a spell of 4th level or higher.
"Fire works, and the sorcerers the baron referenced aren't any kind of group we can appeal to." Leff shrugged, and looked to Eris for anything she'd like to add.
"I think that's it."
There's a brief scuffle, as Gafler backs up a bit, unsure quite as to what's going on.
But, as the magic settles in on him, you see him change. He looks brighter, happier. His face looks a little less pale. "I... I'd rather you warn me next time, youngster, but that being said... What have I been doing? What have we all been doing? We've been sitting in our homes, wasting away, waiting to die! That's not how we work-we might not be warriors, but we will NOT roll over and die! Honey, get the alchemists and apothecaries," he says.
She nods, and starts off, slowly. Gafler continues, saying "Tell me what you know about this-anything, everything. I don't know how long this will last against the forces against us, so best be quick. But you-Variel, was it? Stand by me-I can feel myself empowered by you. It might help stave it off longer."
Spoiler: OOCVariel, your Aura of Protection will, of course, offer bonuses to the saves Gafler's gonna be making to resist the malaise. Stick near him.
"The main gate is unusable" Eris says, watching the gnome bark orders.
"And... yeah, that's it. It could be used by removing the reinforcements, but removing them of course will mean the city could be broken into" she adds.
"Let's hope these guys can make something.
Like a big bomb, I'm all for that plan"
"Noted. Master Gafler, I'm afraid we know little enough. These creatures are conscious enough to feel pain, or something like it. And they can even be made to feel fear. I believe therefore that they are "living" creatures as opposed to undead—poison, for example, might still be effective. A Slaughterhouse mage that we slew seemed human, but fought on and remained animate even after dismemberment. Someone among them, probably their leader, must have command of some kind of "body-magic" to afford such abilities to their lieutenants, not to mention the construction of the creatures in that army. Have you ever heard of any such thing?"
"Hm..." Gafler lets out.
Spoiler: Knowledge CheckGafler's knowledge:
[roll0]
DC is 22 to know of [REDACTED], so not likely, but I'll give him a chance.
"Afraid not. But I was more talking of this Malaise-doesn't matter how easy or hard the things at the door are to defeat if we can't muster enough motivation to care," he says. His wife returns, with three other gnomes.
She says "These are the only ones who were willing to come."
"Perhaps if you built something that could amplify and spread out that spell of Variel's. If you could provide me with the materials, I could research the spell myself so that we could combine our powers."
Yes, a mass version of the dispelling might work, at least for long enough to get these people to cursed fight!