Wastes of Shello - Group 1

[Agthorr]

Garnup

Garnup raises a skeptical eyebrow, while Gwen replies, "Master Moonshadow, what imminent danger threatens our survival?". While she's talking she stares closely at the new arrival (detect evil).

[Toliudar]

Gideon

Holding back retorts about how very, very long it had been since she'd been relying on men to save her, Gideon drifts down to about 30' above ground, to get a closer look at this new arrival. She puts away her scroll, and again pulls out the ornate staff.

She sends out a telepathic message to her companions.

Any of you recognize this one?

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She is working to use his name, appearance, manner, and any insignia to learn more about who the heck this guy might be:
Knowledge Arcana (1d20+28)[35]
Knowledge History (1d20+11)[16]

[WhiteKnight777]

Raj

Raj turns upon the newcomer, his eyes suddenly bright. But rather than a roar, he moves closer, his voice soft. Yet somehow, the dreadful quiet is more dangerous than any roar.

Cleaned? No... no, this land is defiled. It will only be cleaned when the dead no longer walk and life returns. It will be clean when I can walk on the soft grass and hear the music of the soft breeze between the trees. when I can hunt in the moonlight and taste the clean water once more. Then this land will be clean

After a moment, he seems to compose himself, looking carefully at the stranger. Your arrival is convenient. Still, we shall see. Why do you wish to help us?

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

He looks at Gwen as she poses her question and then to Garnup, "I apologize if you have not yet noticed, but there is currently a rageforged invasion all about you. This battle can't be won."

Garnup only.

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He doesn't appear to be evil.

Gidgeon only.

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You scour your thoughts and memories for details you might be able to pull from your mind. You notice an amulet around his neck with a sapphire gem embedded in it and a few thin runes surrounding the edges. He is Jarran Moonshadow, sapphire mage and member of the Order of the Magi.

"Because, good lycanthrope, it is my duty. I have been sent here by my superiors to save those who may be stuck. We have been informed that this location is a special target for rageforged... which has confounded us greatly... as rageforged never target anyone but victims, at least under the most normal of circumstances."

[Toliudar]

Gideon

Gideon sends her thoughts to her companions.

He's either Jarran Moonshadow - sapphire mage, member of the Order of the Magi, and insufferbly stuffy man - or a very good impersonator.

The halfling boy smiles down at the wizard. There is no warmth in the gesture.

Jarran, I would argue that anyone targeted by a horde of rageforged that can appear outside of a city in a few minutes is, by definition, a victim. As you can see, though, unless the horde changes its tactics, we would remain quite safe.

Who has informed you that this place is a target, what is it that they want with the silver, and if you knew all this, why didn't you come, oh, a few hours ago, when the information might have been used to help defend the town?

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

"We at the Crystal Citadel believe that... this is a tactical strike. We've been gathering information that a new kind of ragelord is responsible for these attacks, one rivaling the power of Bloodsword himself. We don't know much about him, but we do know that unlike Bloodsword, he is capable of gathering rageforged into tactical strikes against locations, and if you are still alive now, it is obviously a part of this newcomer's plan.
"...I order you not, I simply implore you... come with me and find safety. We may find a way to overthrow this and possibly other ragelords if we can leave now and organize it." His voice has a trustworthy and sincere tone. He then floats down to ground level and walks along the ground, his silvery cane making tiny 'clink' noises as it hits cobble.

[Agthorr]

Garnup

Gwen replies, "I suspect that all of us prefer to believe that we are alive based on our own merits, rather than the schemes of a hypothetical chessmaster."

She continues, "In any case, would it not be more advantageous to determine where this army originated? Leaving now sacrifices our ability to gather information, and you have yet to make a convincing case for the urgency of our departure."

As Gwen talks, she and Garnup walk casually around one of the statues and fail to reappear on the other side.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

He lowers his head with a somewhat sorrowful look on his face and he strokes his beard before holding his head up again to look around at each party member. "I know you do not trust me, and it is true I do not have all the details that my superiors may indeed have. I ask you, however... how might I prove my trustworthiness to you?"

[Krezzlar]

Gornak

Gornak speaks to the rest of the group, not caring if the Sapphire mage listens in. "While I do not doubt this Moonshadow's sincerity, there is still a wealth of tasks to do in this city. Even if all the inhabitants are dead as the wizard claims, there are supplies in the theater that we should recover. Also, Gashblade's sword arm alone is worth a small fortune in adamantine material that I am reluctant to surrender so easily."

With that said, the minotaur turns to start heading towards the downed titan with his greathammer preparing to extract the monster's swordarm.

"Outside of those concerns, I leave the decision as to whether to we go with this human up to the rest of you. I trust your judgement in this matter."

[WhiteKnight777]

Raj

Raj chuckles softly at Gornak's words That, at least, should not be a problem... surely you and I could sever it quickly enough, and lift it with both our strengths together..

He turned once more to the interloper. As for myself... perhaps this is part of a greater plan... but I think the game is not chess. There are too many players on the board. And I like to think that if I am but a piece, than I am a knight for my Lady. he spoke the last word, as always, with reverence, and touched a small medallion on a chain near to his heart. But if you are right, let us salvage what we may and be gone. I, for one, have no fear; I will at least come and hear what you have to say.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

He looks reluctant and gives a long pause before speaking again. "Very well... but It was my duty to protect those here. I will come with you, I am an accomplished arcanist..." He taps his staff on the cobble twice and holds his chin up slightly.

[The_Snark]

Etain

Etain drifts silently down to the ground nearby. "This place is as fine a nest of enemies now as I have seen in a long time. I would be loath to leave it so soon." She's smiling, a little unnervingly given the conditions around them. "Should we not harrow this new ragelord's armies, while we have the chance? Thin his forces and make those who live to retreat fear the sight of us?" Her questions sound genuinely curious, rather than confrontational as before in the theater. The battle seems to have made her better-tempered.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

"Now we may be able to put a metaphorical dent in their forces, but if this new ragelord comes to both fight and organize his forces... I'm afraid we'll have no hope to even escape in time." He seems to hesitate for a moment when he shows a moment of wising up to them. "Though I doubt with as much convincing as I am willing to attempt, it will not dissuade you from fighting..."

He looks at Gornak and Rajahtar begin to hew the dead titan's sword from his arm. "...For the love of Boddis... Do you need assistance? Perhaps to speed things along for you."

[WhiteKnight777]

Raj

Raj gave him a pointed look as he hacked at the dead titan's arm This isn't about stealing gold from corpses, Moonshadow... do you know how many blades we could forge from this thing? Adamantine hews rageforged like my claws hew soft flesh. We are fighting a war, and wars require more than strength, they require weapons. I'll gladly give this thing away if it can be put to good use, but I am a soldier and I'll be damned if I'll let my land be lost again because I did not do all I could to aid the fight.

[Toliudar]

Gideon

Gideon steeples her fingers in thought.

So, you don't know so much as this new Ragelord's name, but you presume that if a group of individuals are left alive after his invasion, that this was part of some strike. Further, you presume that his very arrival would preclude our escape alive. Fascinating.

The halfling boy sighed.

Sometimes, Jarran, you make me wish I had joined your order. There are clearly too many men in charge.

And if it was your duty to protect those here - perhaps you could make use of your divinations to tell us whether they used portals or some kind of mammoth illusion to get so close to the city in such numbers. Either way, this seems like a dramatic departure from the "rampaging horde" tactics they'd been using.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

"I meant no offense... good Lycanthrope. I am sincere in my thoughts of assisting you in removing the blade." He begins to walk over to the rageforged titan's body, now holding his cane like a weapon, the head of which being gripped like a hilt.

He turns to Gidgeon when she speaks and speaks himself when she is finished. "You might wish to remove your illusion. You are a far more attractive gnome woman than you are a halfling boy." He gives a small smile and speaks again. "What we know is he used highly coordinated stealth tactics, as well as teleportation methods for the larger warriors. And it is the organized strikes that this new rageforged is putting together that is making us fearful. This is not the first village that has been stricken like this and taken so easily."

He reaches the dead ragelord and holds up his cane, and suddenly in a brighter flash of the silver light the silver and grey wrap contracts and twists off, forming an elegant guard around the silver dragon-shaped hilt and a bright silver blade manifests up and out of the guard and decorated with images of silver dragons. "Spread your Wings, Sarabin." Suddenly there is a silvery manifestation in front of the old wizard in the shape of a large silver dragon in elegant silvery platemail with brightly glowing silver eyes and it walks over to the blade and begins to rip away at the plating holding the blade to the arm with it's teeth and claws.

[Toliudar]

Gideon

"[COLOR="RoyalBlue"][B]He turns to Gidgeon when she speaks and speaks himself when she is finished. "You might wish to remove your illusion. You are a far more attractive gnome woman than you are a halfling boy.

Gideon speaks plainly and with only a trace of an old bitterness.

No. I'm not. Not for some time now.

She turns to the others, and shrugs.

If Moonshadow is willing to help while we salvage what we can from this place, I'd say it's at least worthwhile to hear him out after. Do we want to check on the central rallying point first?

[WhiteKnight777]

Raj

Raj shrugged and gave Gideon a look, grunting as he hewed at the metal arm, alternating between axes. Both of them cleaved easily through the metal, treating it as if he were a woodsman felling a tree.

You perhaps judge yourself over-harshly. Humans say that beauty is only skin deep, but rarely do they mean it... my kind, on the other hand... He gave a deep chuckle We know well that particular lesson.

As he worked, he turned his attention once more to Moonshadow, his tone somewhat mollified as the silver dragon-shape began to hack at the metal. Then I apologize for my mistake. Your assistance is most welcome... If there are truly no more survivors, then I feel that we should regroup soon and find the best place to strike. There is no benefit in waiting for our enemy to come to us... we should chose the place and time to bring them low, and make it happen.

[Agthorr]

Garnup

Gwen adds, "Also, if the city is going to be looted anyway, we may as do some of the looting, yes? We'll investigate the Mayor's house, to see if anything there can be recovered that might shed light on the town's strategic value."

Garnup and Gwen begin making a bee-line for the Mayor's house, darting in between buildings. Upon arrival, they work like any good team of thieves: taking anything of value that isn't nailed down and perhaps some things that are. They easily step past any booby traps that might be protecting the seat of the city's government, locate hidden chambers, and focus on lifting anything magical, rare, or important-looking paperwork. The rageforged in the area fail to see the stealthy duo, although they get the creeping feeling that whenever they look away something of value vanishes from the room...

Naturally, as the pair make their way toward the Mayor's house, they mentally note any other important-looking buildings that might house items of value and hit them on the way back.

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Go, skill monkey, go!

Also, Gwen has detect magic at will.

[Krezzlar]

Gornak

"The theater is definitely worth taking a look Gideon. I believe the cityfolk kept most of their emergency supplies there and it might be the most likely place to find survivors. Raj, keep an eye out in case more Rageforged start approaching. The dragon and I should be able to handle removing the arm. With a good forge and a week's time, I can fashion some excellent weapons or armor from this. Any idea how we are going to transport this thing once it is severed? I can't picture us running out of the city with it strapped to Raj and I."

The minotaur blacksmith takes good measure of Gashblade's sword arm before raising his hammer to strike. He aims for the relatively softer upper arm of the metal titan.

"Rajahtar's plan sounds decent enough. Does the Crystal Citadel have a better one Mage Moonshadow? Or do they plan on lending some aid in this matter? So far all I've heard is that you plan to take us somewhere safe. If safety was our chief concern, I doubt any of us would still be in Shello. We would probably be off hiding in Tanzen like so many others."

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I think Gornak can average about 78 damage per hit on the titan's arm. Hopefully that plus his crafting will mean the metal work doesn't take too long.

How big is the adamantine swordarm roughly?

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

The old wizard holds his sword at his side as he scratches his chin and his dragon tears away the soft metal of the titan's arm to free the blade. "Hmm. With whose assistance did you defeat this creature? I did not see any armies that were not killed in the first moments of the invasion," He looks around for a bit, "and... I heard there was another ragelord in this area, by the name of Gut-horn?"
He takes a few moments of silence as he looks the group over, "No group would be good enough for the great Gidgeon unless they were mighty. Did you... defeat two ragelords on your own? If so... perhaps I can take you to the Crystal Citadel, and you can get more information than I myself already have... and become a part of the solution." He says all of this in a somewhat nonchalant but complementing tone.

With the combined efforts of the minotaur and the silver dragon, the blade finally comes loose and hits the cobbled ground with a loud clang.

[Toliudar]

Gideon

Gideon smiles, a bit tiredly.

Funny. I wasn't aware of being part of the problem.

In the meantime, Gornak - I agree that the central theatre is an excellent place to start. If you're reluctant to leave the arm on the ground here, I could always create an opening a couple hundred feet up, and we could slide it in there. Even if we leave the entrance visible, it wouldn't be terribly convenient for anyone to get to it.

She switches to speech over their telepathic bond.

And, Etain, I was wondering if you were still up for experimenting with using the horn to call off the horde. I'm kind of figuring that if these rageforged were using complicated stealth tactics, it would have been Guthorn coordinating them, and...well, you've got the horn.

[Agthorr]

Garnup

Garnup replies telepathically, "No amount of stealth tactics can hide an army of this size without powerful magic. Also, I have recently recalled that I have some magic that may help us devise something of the origins of the horn."

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Specifically, Gloves of Object Reading (MIC 107)

[Krezzlar]

Gornak

"Yes, we have dispatched both Gut-Horn and Gashblade on this day. The city may have been lost but those two will trouble Shello no more."

[The_Snark]

Etain

Outwardly, Etain continues to look at the mage with a small smile, one hand still holding the antelope horn at her side.

"I don't need the origins of the horn divined," Etain replies simply. "Gideon, I think the ragelord simply used the horn as a signal. It holds no special control over the rageforged. I suppose I might leave the city and attempt to draw them out, but I don't believe it will work very long once they realize their commander is dead.

[Toliudar]

Gideon

It's possible to hear the frown in Gideon's mental voice as she returns Etain's thoughts.

Pity. Still, I must compliment you on your quick mastery of the horn. It was most stimulating.

Etain, would you consent to joining us at what's left of the city centre? If the rageforgeds' object was a thing or place rather than a person, the odds are good that it's somewhere in that vicinity.

[Krezzlar]

Gornak

Reaching into his backpack, Gornak pulls out a chain that he ties along the dull upper arm portion of the separated blade.

"Very well then, shall we head to the central theater? We should all stay close in case this new Ragelord is as dangerous as is believed. How do we plan on leaving here after we have checked for survivors and supplies?"

[Toliudar]

Gideon

Gideon begins to drift up, preparing to sail over the hordes.

I rather expect that Mister Moonshadow would like to whisk us off to that citadel of theirs. Failing that, a few minutes of preparation and I can take us to a destination of our choosing.

She twirls about, taking in the city below and the carnage it contains.

Or we may be able to hole up in safety not far from here. I don't relish giving the stiffs another four thousand recruits for their army.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

You reach the theater, it seems to not have any rageforged left around or in it. You enter the front doors which have been ripped and slashed off the hinges and look upon the darkness inside. As your eyes focus, you can see more clearly... bodies... everywhere. Corpses mangled and slashes and gutted and whatever you can imagine, the scent of blood and gore heavy in the air.

[The_Snark]

Etain

Etain vanishes from sight again as they move towards and into the ruined theatre. "If we are going to leave, we should put this city to the torch first. Destroy the corpses and bloody the rageforged at the same time."