The Order Of The Shining Plume [IC]

[JNAProductions]

Spoiler: OOC

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Make a Persuasion check. Meekly has Helped you for advantage on the roll.

On a 13 or less, they'll be quite panicky.
On a 14-19, they'll be alarmed, but up until actual danger shows up, they'll keep it together.
On a 20+, they can even keep their cool if danger is handled quickly.

There's a moment of silence. No one so much as breathes. The silence is broken, though, by someone asking "How long do we have?"

Meekly answers, saying "We don't know for sure, so please, pack quickly and safely. Leave non-essentials behind. Your survival is more important than any random knick-knacks." The villagers begin moving out, quickly, and while some people are breathing heavily, others are talking to them, keeping them calm. You can hear some children crying as the reality settles in, but everyone seems to keep their heads about them, overall. When the temple is mostly empty, Meekly breathes a sigh of relief. "That... That went better than I could've hoped. If you'll excuse me, I've some packing of my own to do."

[Xihirli]

Leflabah examined the glass while Eris spoke, taking some time to cast Detect Magic yet again, letting her steed fade away in the meantime. She examined the glass, trying to find anything that might make it different from others, at the same time keeping an eye out for anything that stuck out.

[JNAProductions]

Leflabah examined the glass while Eris spoke, taking some time to cast Detect Magic yet again, letting her steed fade away in the meantime. She examined the glass, trying to find anything that might make it different from others, at the same time keeping an eye out for anything that stuck out.

The glass has shattered unevenly, probably along natural faults in the windows.

Spoiler: Detect Magic

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No magic on them.

[Xihirli]

Leff frowned, then left the glass where it was and met up with Eris.

"There's nothing special about the glass. Whatever happened, my guess it was an instantaneous effect. Those are harder to trace."
She looked out over the not-too-panicked streets.
"Good job, by the way. Where do you think Scribe will be able to find us most easily?

[Valmark]

"Heh, thanks. Might not be good with magic, but I can handle a crowd just fine" Eris says chuckling, looking at the church's entrance.
"If Scribe is here I doubt she has missed us. The thing is, this place is too open and everyone knows where we are" she shrugs.
"If she's fearful of possible spies we need an isolated place. Otherwise we need to leave a message that the Slaughterhouse won't be able to read... which is where you lose me" she continues "What was your relationship with Scribe?" she's now addressing all three of them "Do you know of something that might be recognized by her and not by our enemies? I barely knew her, but maybe someone with a some deeper ties might have a way. I'm going to investigate the village, see if there's anything I can recognize. Anyone coming?" she waits for an answer before exiting the church.

[JNAProductions]

Spoiler: Scribe

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Ask questions that you would reasonably know about Scribe, and I'll answer.

Exploring the village doesn't yield much. The people are hurrying about, packing what they can, but it really does appear to be nothing other than an ordinary little farming village. The only thing that seems to be of note is that many people have golden or silvery hair or eyes.

[Xihirli]

"Heh, thanks. Might not be good with magic, but I can handle a crowd just fine" Eris says chuckling, looking at the church's entrance.
"If Scribe is here I doubt she has missed us. The thing is, this place is too open and everyone knows where we are" she shrugs.
"If she's fearful of possible spies we need an isolated place. Otherwise we need to leave a message that the Slaughterhouse won't be able to read... which is where you lose me" she continues "What was your relationship with Scribe?" she's now addressing all three of them "Do you know of something that might be recognized by her and not by our enemies? I barely knew her, but maybe someone with a some deeper ties might have a way. I'm going to investigate the village, see if there's anything I can recognize. Anyone coming?" she waits for an answer before exiting the church.

Spoiler: Questions

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Are there any code phrases we may have shared?
Does Scribe have any oft used disguises?
Did Scribe have a crest or symbol uncommon to the rest of the Plume?

"We'd need an isolated place that she can easily follow us to," Leff agreed. She decided to look through the church for a relatively isolated room. She could be very obvious when she wanted to be, lighting her way with flame sprouting from her hand. Assuming she could find one, she would sit down and wait for Scribe, casting Comprehend Languages mostly to pass the time.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Investigation (1d20+7)[20]

[JNAProductions]

Spoiler: Scribe Questions

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No code phrases-the Plume has believed themselves safe for a long time when not out crusading.

Scribe normally appears as a short woman in purple robes. She easily has the magic to appear just about anyone she wants to, though you know she favors appearing as a frail elder-to see how people treat her. She also likes having a beard.

Scribe has eyes of endless starry nights, so there's that. She also had a tattoo of a glyph-inscribed purple cube, within a transparent cube, which was in turn within another transparent cube. All three cubes rotate out of sync with each other. It's a magical tattoo, obviously.

Spoiler: Investigation

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What are you investigating? Your post did not make clear.

[Xihirli]

Spoiler: OOC

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Just looking for a nice isolated room in the church where someone could approach me without drawing any attention.

[JNAProductions]

Leff begins to look for a good room, and soon enough finds an empty room. There's a table up against the wall, with some blank parchment on there, and a few chairs about.

[Xihirli]

Leff pulled the chair away from the wall and set up two chairs before sitting down and muttering out her spell.

[Valmark]

"Damnation!" Eris exclaims, in an hushed tone, before running back to find the group.
"Apparently an hour is all we've got if we want to get away" she says, nervously "You can see the lights from here, assuming it was the Slaughterhouse" after finding Leff to tell her the same thing she goes to find the Mayor to ask about how much time the village still needs.

[Xihirli]

Leflabah received the news with a curt nod, then let Eris leave for a bit.
Leff rifled through some of the papers on the desk to find one with a blank side, grasped about for a pen and started writing.

Lost Chickens
Regrettably, an infestation at Sunrise Ranch led to one of our farmhands hastily vacating the premises. In the process, many of the chickens were scattered or killed. Notable among them are four recently purchased chickens. The Sunrise Ranch didn't manage to tag them before they ran off, making it more difficult to track them down. We can, however, describe their Plumage.
Leann is a red hen. She's difficult to wrangle, but will cooperate once you get her inside a cage. Lunar is a brown rooster, a fighter with enough brains to recognize our farmhands. Elvira is a little devil, a lighter shade of red than the other hen. Victor is a brown-speckled rooster, and a scary one at that. Don't let him intimidate you.
Those familiar with Sunrise Ranch will be sad to hear that these lost chickens cannot be returned to Farmer Calvin, who died recently. His partner, who handled the writing, should be happy to see these untagged chickens. Best we can figure they headed west about fifteen miles from the Ranch.
Please keep a lookout, and have a Shining Day!
Sunrise Ranch

She looked it over and laid a finger on a corner of the paper, burning away a fraction of it before putting the flame out. She laid the paper on the desk and partially covered it with another document, leaving the door open on her way out. Hopefully Scribe would be able to find them, but for now she had to see to these people's safety. Leff reunited with the others.

[JNAProductions]

Outside, everyone is assembling. meekly is directing those with horses and carts to gather them and is trying to maintain order. The carts are being loaded, packed tightly as possible, and the horses knicker a little nervously.

[Janwin]

Lucius does his best to keep the packing organized and moving, while keeping an eye out for any threats that might approach the village sooner than expected.

[Xihirli]

Leflabah paid most of her attention toward remaining ready and vigilant in case of attack, but if nothing stopped her then in about thirty minutes she will recreate her mount.

[JNAProductions]

The sparkling in the distance draws closer. Quite quickly-soon, anyone looking that way can see them with ease.

[Xihirli]

Leff stopped when she saw how quickly the lights were glowing. An hour was looking too optimistic for her tastes now.
"That looks like our cue," she told the other initiates.
"Mayor Meekly, we don't know how long we can give you."

She looked toward the lights and took a deep breath. This was supposed to be the first day of a new life, and now it was time to die.

[JNAProductions]

He nods. "Does anyone have anything essential they still need?" he yells to the crowds.

Someone calls back "I've got to pack my tools, and-"

"Doesn't matter!" Meekly replies, loudly. "If it isn't going to help you survive the next few days, it gets left behind! Move!"

While plenty of people are grumbling now, given the late hour and having to pack up and everything, the caravan of innocents begins to move. Slowly at first, but picking up speed as the horses hit their stride.

Spoiler: Perception DC 18

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There's a humanoid figure in the midst of the shiny.

[Athaleon]

Variel squinted back at the approaching lights. "I can make out a humanoid figure in the middle of that. Let's not stick around to find out who it is," he said with deadpan stoicism.

[Valmark]

"Betting on the uncolored lady" Eris says, spotting the figure "I agree, let's get out of here and hope they change direction. Not sure our refugee caravan can keep them at distance for long" she lowers her voice to be heard only by their group.

[Xihirli]

Upon hearing the suggestion to vamoose, Leff found herself too shocked to immediately respond.
"It is our mission, it is our privilege, it is our burden to save these people," Leflabah reminded them.
"We can slow them, or draw them off. We can save these people. How can we do anything less?"

[Athaleon]

"I was recommending that we get these people moving with more haste. Calgar ordered a retreat even as we were all gathered, meaning this foe is beyond any of us. His sacrifice allowed us all to escape, but a delaying action here would throw that away for a few moments at best. And," Variel added icily, "I know our mission, and my oaths. Don't question my valor again."

[Valmark]

"What he said regarding moving them" answers Eris "The only reason I'd leave them would be if it meant them being safer. And who said we can't take them?" she fist bumbs her chest "That Siberian girl might be too much, but I can play all day with those monsters. And we aren't even sure she's there!" she grins, confident, the tail waggling left and right.
"But feel free to question my valor instead. I love a challenge"

[Xihirli]

Leff looked Variel dead in the eyes as his voice grew cold.
At Eris's suggestion that they could take the creatures, Leff wasn't entirely certain. They'd gotten very lucky in that fight, and hadn't really gotten a chance to see what those abominations could do. The things were still too unknown for her taste. But she nodded.
"We bring up the rear. If nobody more must die this day... wonderful. If, however, it calls for more blood, the only lives we have a right to sacrifice are our own."

[JNAProductions]

The caravan has started on its way now. Meekly brings up the rear with you, leading horses your way. "Here-one for each of you. Try to keep them safe, okay?" he asks, smiling a little. "David loves his horses."

At the rate the shining swarm is approaching, the caravan should be just out of the village when it arrives-but well within sight of the person within.

Spoiler: OOC

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If you stay in the village to fight, you risk the person moving past you. You'd have to have some way to lure them into a fight-whether via actually trapping them, appealing to their ego to get them to stand and fight, or anything else you can think of.

If you follow the caravan, there's a much, MUCH larger chance of collateral damage, but no chance of the figure fighting the villagers without you.

Choose wisely.

[Valmark]

Eris looks at the horse, lightly patting its head. Turning towards the others, she says "On second thought, I think we should neither abandon them nor go with them. Those lights are getting here too quickly- the best option for me is to take the fight to them. The villagers will snap if they are confronted by those things" she says gesturing around the village "Dunno how you do things, but this place is filled with spots to hide in. They certainly won't expect getting attacked, and..." her voice trails off for a second.
"You all probably know I've got experience with taking people by surprise and murdering them. Never did it in a group though. Or against a group. I'm sure you have... less mundane ways to prepare traps. Hopefully"

[Xihirli]

"Traps? Not really. But..." Leflabah withdrew a white cloth from the pouch at her side and barked out some Primordial incantations while waving it. White fire spilled from her hands, flowing out over Eris, herself, and Variel. Their vitality was built up, and their blood pumped with increased vigor.
"And I'm not much for ambushes, though as bait I can be pretty difficult to ignore."

Spoiler: Aid

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Increase your current and maximum hitpoints by 5, Eris and Variel.

[JNAProductions]

Soon, the shimmering grows near enough that you can make out details. It looks like a woman-NOT Siberian, but another woman-in the center of a swarm of glass, a lot of it in various colors.

She is swooping by, near enough to be shouted at.

[Xihirli]

Fire doesn't fear death, Baat, Leff heard her mother's voice in her head.
Fire eats everything around it, and in the end that includes itself. Its mission ends in its own destruction. Fire knows no fear.
Leff's eyes burned gold rather than yellow and her voice boomed out from two uses of Thaumaturgy.
"Envoy of Somalia," she boomed out.
"It seems your organization missed a spot when trying to wipe away the Order of the Shining Plume."
You have no need to fear anything - our place in this world is to eat all around us until we starve as there is nothing more to devour. There is nothing anyone can do to us that will hurt worse than our own success.

"Stamp me out, if you can," Leflabah challenged, golden fire wreathing her body and expanding in a fifteen foot radius around her, glowing bright with power.
"But I guarantee: you will burn your foot."