The Order Of The Shining Plume [IC]

[Valmark]

"Tch, I wouldn't have felt that while alive!" Eris said, sheating her sword. In that situation it was basically a useless lump of metal.
"Big and strong and yet you can barely scratch me!? I was a better warrior even before growing horns!" she screams taunting, trying to seize him.

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Why in all hells (and probably in some abysses too) there's no taunting mechanic anymore? I'd be spamming it.

Anyway, first off, two grab attempts with advantage

(1d20+6)[7]
(1d20+6)[8]

(1d20+6)[23]
(1d20+6)[13]

Now, if either sticks, she'll Action Surge to Dash and drag him 40 ft. in the back, hoping they're enough to give Leflabah breathing space when her turn comes. And she'll tell the guards to stay the hell away from him, possibly by moving the line closer to the abominations.

If she doesn't grab then she'll Action Surge and grab again.
(1d20+6)[18]
(1d20+6)[13]

(1d20+6)[21]
(1d20+6)[24]

If one sticks she'll drag him for 20 ft.

If, after four rolls, no one managed to touch him she'll get back to where Variel is flipping him the middle finger and screaming some words "unbecoming of a fine lady" like she is in Infernal, AoOs be damned.

[JNAProductions]

Eris drags the man a short distance away, leaving the kids behind him.

The kid dragging the injured other looks to Leff. She speaks a word that you can feel in your bones.

The man vanishes from Eris' grasp, as you see the form of the child morph and change. As the guards, who are momentarily stunned, begin moving forwards to try to hold the gate, you see Scribe struggling to stay conscious on the ground.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

The guards can, with your assistance, stem the tide enough to shutter the gates and get them fixed... Enough, at least.

So, Imma post what happens when you get Scribe conscious enough to talk.

It takes nearly ten minutes of fighting and toiling, but you manage to get the remnants of the gate shut, and enough piled against it to temporarily stop the flow. Engineers are already working on getting it fixed properly-it won't look pretty, but it should hold.

Scribe, who was rushed to the infirmary along with the children, is awake when you arrive. She's sitting among the kids, who are clinging to her. I feel I owe you an explanation, she says. I've been tracking the actions of the Slaughterhouse for a while. I found who they were praying on, and took the form of a child myself to lure them. That's when I encountered King-that man. That... void of a man. You felt it too-magic barely even exists where he is. It was all I could do to maintain my deception. I stayed as far away from him as possible-not easy, with the chains. I barely slept-but I learned enough. I hope...

He's not someone you can kill easily-his wounds simply don't happen to him, instead happening to those he feeds on. I've severed his connection to these children, or they'd be dead now-but it took all I had to get a spell through his emptiness. I can no longer lead the Order-I'm virtually powerless.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

In game terms, technically King has antimagic around him. Meaning that, by strict RAW (I know, homebrew monster, but stay with me) she couldn't've cast anything at him. At all.

But, sufficient power can counter that kind of thing. Such as, for instance, draining your entire reserve of magical energy to the point that they're gone. If one of y'all feels it's appropriate to do this, let me know-I'll let you do something appropriately awesome! But, that will mean retiring your PC from active duty. Scribe here (since there's no way in hell you were getting Scribe at full power) has approximately enough power to handle cantrips. And that's it now. So... You know, don't do the epic self-sacrifice unless you're ready to sacrifice.

[Valmark]

The second the man vanished from Eris' hand she suppressed a curse, thinking it was yet another trick up his sleeve. Luckily enough it wasn't.
Pulling out her sword she went to help the guards, letting one of the others handle the kids and Scribe, grinning.


*****Later*****

Eris listened attentively, raising an eyebrow.
"First off, told you Scribe was alive, Leff. Second, still a better spellcaster then I am. Third, do you know what happened to Goultard?" Eris said, thinking.
"...fourth, we still don't know how to deal with King, short of finding him when he isn't dominating anyone and filling him with arrows. It took all my strenght to drag him for a short distance, that coward" she added.
"Where did you even send him?"

[JNAProductions]

Up. Very, very far up, Scribe responds. I haven't heard from Goultard since I was captured. I've... Lost track of time, honestly. Lack of sleep does that to you.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

When's the last time any of you would've heard from Scribe? I want to double-check the numbers on how long she could've been gone for.

[Xihirli]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Wouldn't the last time have just been before the ceremony? She's been missing since the game started.

When the man vanished, Leff had rushed the gate with her golden fire outstretched to block it off. Only when looking back had she seen that Scribe was here. Her knees shook, but there were abominations to be dealt with and she kept ahold of her spell.

*******

Leflabah stared at Scribe, closer to tears than she'd care to admit. When Eris pointed out that she'd never given up hope in Scribe when she herself, Scribe's pupil, had she was filled with shame.
"I... Jack said you were dead," Leflabah managed.
"I thought you were dead."

[JNAProductions]

That's not a bad assumption. He might not even have been lying, to his knowledge-but Leflabah, she says, it's okay. We know what we have to do-and we've got you three alive and well to do it. We will stop them.

[Valmark]

Eris lended a hand on Leff's shoulder.
"You should be smiling 'cause she's alive, no?" she told her, trying to grin while feeling her newfound coldness creeping in.
"On that note... You may want to hold back that "you three alive".
I'm... Kind of far from being alive" she said, looking sideways.
"Honestly, if we couldn't have stopped him I planned on giving myself over to them. After all, there was a certain chance that they wouldn't have been able to thoroughly kill me... I don't suppose you have any way to, you know, bring me back? Or to repa- ehm, to regenerate this?" she let go of Leff's shoulder and pointed at the void around her right shoulder.

[Xihirli]

Leff nodded, one hand on the spellbook that Scribe had taught her to read.
"I know we will." I'm just worried about what we'll give up to do it.
She opened the spellbook that Scribe had taught her to read over her most powerful healing spell once again.
"Everyone stay calm, please. This will heal you. Heal-ah shel hii-oon-yote." White fire spread out from her, entering the wounds of Variel, Eris, Scribe, and any injured children.

Spoiler: Rolls of healz

Show

(2d6)[10]+5
(2d6)[10]+5
(2d6)[8]+5
(2d6)[6]+5
(2d6)[9]+5
(2d6)[7]+5
(2d6)[8]+5
(2d6)[8]+5
(2d6)[8]+5
(2d6)[10]+5

[Xihirli]

"Honestly, if we couldn't have stopped him I planned on giving myself over to them. After all, there was a certain chance that they wouldn't have been able to thoroughly kill me... I don't suppose you have any way to, you know, bring me back? Or to repa- ehm, to regenerate this?" she let go of Leff's shoulder and pointed at the void around her right shoulder.

"Any spells I could attempt that you have access to, perhaps I can try," Leflabah suggested.

[JNAProductions]

The children seem a LOT better.

Scribe, though, is working off fumes, and your healing only goes so far. What do you... You're not breathing. You're missing an arm-but despite the exertion, it's not bleeding. Your stitches have even come undone, but, all is still. Honestly, Eris, I'm not particularly concerned about HOW you're functioning, only that you are. I would assume you came back on your own? As a Revenant? It's a shockingly common occurrence among the Plume-though only in times of crisis. Which, of course, Calgar insisted we weren't in. Velgaurdr and I both knew better, but he was always the loudest. How is he? Do you know?

[Xihirli]

"Her stitches have... I'll have to fix that." Leflabah tried to guide Eris to sit on a bed, though of course she couldn't push her friend at all. She began restitching Eris's flesh with her healer's kit as she spoke.
Calgar is... in light of recent events, I hesitate to say that Calgar is dead. He ordered a retreat as soon as he saw a woman named Somalia, and he was left alone to face her and her army of these flesh monsters. Do you know why he would jump from such confidence to immediately ordering a retreat? Do you know who Somalia is?"

[Valmark]

Eris glanced at said stitches.
"Uh, I didn't notice this" she said letting Leff do her work.
"And yes, I am a revenant apparently, which... Doesn't tell me a whole lot. My fighting abilities seem to work without problems- even better if we consider that I don't feel pain.
I don't really feel anything, that is. Which I... Kind of regret. I'm feeling cold with a human torch beside me- all of this if we only talk about the physical conditions. Which are more then enough now, I'll worry about my mind by myself"
After mulling it over, she added "Wasn't she called Siberia? Monochrome girl anyway. As Leff said, he ran away jumping in a portal from which a lot of screams were coming, wouldn't know anything past that. Goultard threw the gatekeeper through his own portal and we ran away through more conventional means"

[JNAProductions]

Good news, bad news, on Siberian, Scribe says. The bad news is she's completely indestructible. To the point where she killed a dragon by walking at it and literally just... Went through it.

Good news is, she's not real. What I mean by that, she says, is that she's a projection-there's a man who can summon and control her. She's completely tied to him-get rid of him, and she's gone too. Most of them don't know-I think only Jack and Bonesaw know the truth about her.

[Xihirli]

"That can be good. Who's the man?" Leff frowned at a particularly messed-up stitch that she had to cut away and restart entirely.
"And which is Bonesaw? Have we met that one?"

[Valmark]

"Bonesaw...?" Eris stared blankly.
"Right, can we get a rundown of the Slaughterhouse figureheads? 'cause this is getting difficult. We already met Chicken, Jack, Monochrome, Glass Lady and Icy Patch- the last one some guy who kept the entire town under some sort of depression"

[Athaleon]

"I don't believe we've spoken before. I am Variel," he introduced himself. "I am glad you made it out alive, whatever the cost. We need to know what we're truly up against—everything we've done so far has come down to brute force and guesswork. And since Jack was mistaken, or lying, it's possible that Goultard made it too. He's nowhere near as powerful, but he's wily. Speaking of whom, he suspected the Slaughterhouse had some method of tracking officially-initiated Knights of the Plume, and I'm keen to know if he was right."

"As for what we do know: The 'Glass Lady' at least has been put down, along with whatever mage had cast his pall of hopelessness over this city. Eris could give you his description; charging out to cut him down is what led to her... current state. Jack appeared inside the walls, as an illusory projection, to taunt us and to ask the Baron to turn us over. Thankfully, even under the malaise he had the wits to refuse. And the soldiers reported someone of Siberian's description outside. On the other hand, that tells us there are limits to what she's capable of, else she'd have just walked up to the gates and broken them with impunity. Or, it wasn't really her out there," Variel concluded.

[JNAProductions]

It likely wasn't her-they've got tricks aplenty, Scribe says. Their head is Jack. He's not the most powerful-he's a damn good fighter, but as far as I can tell, nothing more than that. That, and his personal magnetism for these monsters is... It's frankly impressive.

Bonesaw might be his daughter-he certainly acts paternal towards her. She's the one who creates the things you're seeing outside the walls, and improves the others. I'm not sure what you've seen, but they can turn off their ability to feel pain, their bones are harder than steel, their limbs can operate independently, and a whole host of other unnerving things.

Bakuda makes bombs. She's on the ropes with Jack, though-she's bad at following orders. We might have an in there, if you can barter with her.

Crawler regenerates, better than before. When I last saw him, he was 16' tall. One of Bakuda's bombs took his head clean off. He was better in five minutes.

Grey Boy thinks he can replace Jack. They get along, or at least seem to, but there's an undercurrent of tension between them. He can create small bubbles of time loops-no more than about 15' in diameter. The time within the bubble loops for anywhere from ten seconds to a minute. And nothing in, can get out. Nothing out, can get in. Except for Grey Boy. He likes to torture those within-lighting them on fire, cutting them, leaving them bleeding, only to reset a minute later, she says, shuddering for a moment.

Shatterbird, I'd assume, was glass lady. She ca control glass with her voice, but if she's dead, good.

Winter was the one who created the malaise, if you're describing it right. Again, better off dead.

Oni Lee teleports, and leaves behinds duplicates of himself. He may be Bakuda's lover, but he's pretty devoted to Jack. He likes to take an active bomb, teleport several times, leaving behind duplicates with the bombs, and let them all go off.

That's all I know for sure who are... Call them ranking members of the Slaughterhouse. They, unsurprisingly, have a cult of followers as well.

[Valmark]

"Honestly? I didn't think Jack would be the leader- looks too unpredictable to think anyone would follow him. There again, I assume very few members of the Slaughterhouse are sound of mind" Eris said.
"Looks like we could find a way to get Bakuda and Grey Boy on our side. For one, I like any girl who prefers to solve problems with a big enough explosion" she added, thinking.
"Well, when they'll come around we'll worry about them. Right now there's a siege to break, which isn't easy. As Variel said, last time I stepped out there it ended... Even, I guess. Got any idea? Oh right!" Eris jumped up, completely forgetting to check if Leflabah finished mending the stitches.
"Before King came barging in the scolars said to have found some informations- I'd better go see, now that I finished my questions. If a choice needs to be cast before I'm back, I'm for the direct one" she concluded before walking away.

[Xihirli]

Leff's small shears missed a cut as her patient ripped herself away.
"We'd better go with her," Leff decided.
"You need some rest in any case," she prescribed to Scribe.
She was nearly out of the infirmary when something crossed her mind.
"One more question. You said that other members of the Plume became revenants. Does that stop them from being brought back to life by magic at all?"

[JNAProductions]

Not at all. If I had the power, I could bring Eris back now, but alas...

[Xihirli]

Leff nodded.
"I'll figure it out. Please rest, Scribe."

And with that she started trying to keep up with Eris.
What was that about explosions?

[JNAProductions]

You head for the sages and scholars. They're currently in a library, attended by a small swarm of servants who are keeping them going.

They do not notice you come in-they're quite absorbed into their work.

[Valmark]

Eris clears her throat -or whatever sound passes for that now- in order to attract attention.
"Did you send for us? You discovered something regarding the abominations?" she says, tail stomping around impatiently.

[JNAProductions]

One of the sages looks over. "Oh! Sorry, we've been... Yes... Er, well," she says, standing up and finding a good spot to stand near you.

"While we can't be certain, we've just about ruled out some possibilities. They are not undead. Nor are they golems. They seem to be... I hesitate to say 'natural' beings, but they're more similar to us than one might expect from their appearance," she explains. "As such, we believe they're simply mutated animals or, gods forbid, people. Somehow grown into their forms. As such, we think there may be a way to handle all of them-if we can find some weakness in their constitution, some disease or toxin they are notably vulnerable to, we might be able to infect them, getting rid of most all of them. Now, diseases spread, of course, so we'd have to be very careful about such a tactic-but it may work. If we had some remains to study, we might be able to be more precise, but as it stands now... There's also more detailed information, written there," she adds, gesturing to a considerable stack of parchment, "but I figure that's not needed for the moment. Feel free to peruse, though."

[Xihirli]

"We just got a large collection of remains, actually," Leff mentioned.
"And I would like to read these. Eris, would you mind grabbing an abomination body while I go through this?"

[Valmark]

"It's... Strangely comforting to know that I'm not the same kind of monster as them" Eris said "I'll go fetch it, got the same thought anyway"

[JNAProductions]

Sorting through the notes, you can tell it'll take a while to parse out all the knowledge within. While you're certainly no idiot, it's simply a lot of advanced things that have been collected by some of the smartest people in Indos.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Anything else y'all want to do while Eris gets some corpses?

[Xihirli]

Leff will look chiefly for any information on the creatures' sapience, whether they could be relied upon to think or if they were simply big dumb beatsticks. Aside from that she'll just wait for Eris.

[JNAProductions]

Looking through, the best guess seems to be that they're working off instinct, and have been programmed from birth to follow certain patterns.

[Xihirli]

Leflabah put the notes back, more or less confident in the findings of the other scholars.
"Thank you so much for this."