Trial by Fire - IC Thread

[Psychie]

Spider quickly pipes up with, "You can go and I'll meet you wherever you head to. As a Lunar, I can fly away and not be caught by these fools. Are we going to be traveling overland from here, or back to the ship? I need to know so I can find you again."

 

[D. Rex]

Taking a moment of opportunity during this instrumental segment, he finally spoke. Quietly so as not to ruin the song. "Don't worry about me, my dear moon maiden. I'll stay behind. Should my music cease suddenly their attention will be back on us." He winked at Spider. "Besides, I got moves you ain't even seen yet. They won't touch me. And I'll meet you on the river or wherever with none of them the wiser. Gives you more time too."

 

[D. Rex]

"Besides!" He added to Spider, "If you stay behind. I'm not leaving either."

 

[Random Word]

Maja is a bit disappointed when reality intrudes on her joyous reverie, but can't stay disappointed for long when reality comes bearing gifts. "You can do what?" exclaims Maja, incredulous. "That sounds amazing. I want to be magicked away. If Rivers and Thallus are already leaving to break the ship, that only leaves four of us to teleport to the edge of town or the Seagull." Maja prods Kuaidao, "You're the great general. Make a battle plan!"

 

[Psychie]

Spider looks at Melinda and says, "Ok lady. Do your mojo to get everyone but me and Bard out of here. We'll meet you guys . . . where? Back on the ship?"

 

[jaydude]

"I wouldn't say I'm a 'great general'; more a guy who suddenly found himself gifted with the knowledge of one." Kuaidao would say.

He scratched his chin. "If we're going to sabotage the Wyld Hunt's warship, then it does make more sense to escape on our own ship. In order to pursue us across the river, they'd have to either repair the sabotage, or commandeer another ship or two. Either one of those gives us a head start."

"The teleportation might be obvious when it's being performed, but assuming the Wyld Hunt can't identify the spell's destination, they won't have any idea where we've disappeared to afterwards. That might grant us the opportunity to hide until Dromond's ready to set sail. So there might not even be any need for a battle plan, if we can slip out from under the Wyld Hunt's nose."

 

[Syvvaris]

"Wait, what?" He looked at Maja with confusion and disbelief. "Me break the ship? What makes you think a bookworm like myself can do anything of that sort? And when did I agree to doing anything risky of that sort?"

 

[Random Word]

Maja shrugs, "If Rivers says you can break a ship, I believe you can break a ship. She's wise like that. Just go with it - trusting her has never steered me wrong."

 

[Sherwood]

Melinda says, "If we are to do this, we must move quickly! Follow me." She then makes a beeline to one of the smaller side streets where there are fewer people around to get in the way. Breaking into a run, she tears off and makes another turn, this time into an alley. "If he comes this way, delay him long enough for me to complete the spell." With that, she begins to draw in the needed energy from the world around her to generate the sorcerous power to cast the spell.

Out on the street, Spider and Bard are now left facing the Dynast with only the growing numbers of celebrating people between you and him. At the moment, the man on his Hound is continuing to advance through the throngs of people, but as he gets closer to Bard, the crowds are getting thicker, and they don't seem to notice the massive dog that the Dynast is riding on since all their attention is locked on Bard.

With all attention on Bard, unless Spider does something to draw attention to herself, no one is paying any attention to her.

What do you guys do while all of this is going on?

 

[jaydude]

Kuaidao chooses to stick close to Melinda, resting a hand on the handle of Stormbringer and keeping an eye on the surrounding crowd, in case he needs to be ready for a fight quickly.

[Rolling to check for any sign of hostiles within the crowd. 5 successes.]

 

[Syvvaris]

This woman has gone mad! There was no way she, bard or any of the others knew about his ability to channel magic into any form of spell. He didn't even know her name or which one of the others was this so called Spider. Right now the only person making sense is Melinda and only barely. Thallus followed her around a few corners for her to make an exit and tried his best to not bring any notice to him.

(I'm assuming Stealth is Dex+Stealth)

 

[Sherwood]

D. Rex and Psychie What are the two of you doing as the Dynast is still trying to push his way through the crowd of people towards you?

 

[D. Rex]

D. Rex and Psychie What are the two of you doing as the Dynast is still trying to push his way through the crowd of people towards you?

I'm gonna keep playing. Of course!

 

[Sherwood]

I'm gonna keep playing. Of course!

Do you try to hype up the crowd even more, try and turn them against the Dynast, or just let the man and his Hound slowly work his way closer to you?

 

[D. Rex]

Will let him come.

 

[Sherwood]

The Dynast seems to be a bit mesmerized by the power of Bard's performance, but the Hound is still trying to push through the crowd to get to Bard and Spider. They are now in Short range of you and continuing to advance.


In the alley, Melinda is continuing to shape her spell. Swirling bands of Essence are wrapping around her as the power builds up, but she is out of sight of the Dynast so the light show is not alerting him to your presence.

 

[Psychie]

With the attention on Bard, Spider decides to try and do something a bit risky. Since it seems that this hound is going to try and make a move on Bard, she will do what she can to engage the Dynast himself by slipping behind him and striking from surprise.

3 successes in her Stealth roll, unless I get any bonuses from being in the crowd.

 

[Random Word]

The unnatural flickering light in the alley and all too familiar prickling of her skin brings unpleasant memories rushing back and Maja closes her eyes, swallows hard, and focuses on taking a few deep breaths. New and exciting and taken straight from a story this might be, but it also surfaces memories of pain, fear, and impotent rage. Perhaps this wasn't her best idea. Back down that alley there's a Dynast who's probably every bit as terrifying, but he didn't cause her to break out in cold sweat.

She grits her teeth and wills herself not to move - Kuaidao doesn't seem afraid of anything, and she isn't going to look like a coward in front of him. She looks around for something to distract her. Thallus looks easily as unhappy about this as she does, though certainly for different reasons. Focusing on someone else's problems makes it easier to ignore her own. "Hey, you don't have to do anything you don't want to. Let's be real, Rivers is clearly the one who's going to break things - only one of us is a giant sea serpent - so she probably wants your help with a distraction. One well placed arrow from very far away could be just what she needs to slip in. She's not going to put you in any more danger then we're already in. I know you have no real reason to trust her, or me, other than some reincarnation mumbo jumbo, but if she says she could use your help I believe her. I'll owe you one." She does her best to smile encouragingly, but isn't sure if she's reassuring Thallus or herself.

Spoiler: OOC

I was presuming I learned Thallus' name when we spoke on the Seagull the first night. Certainly he learned Maja's name - she would have introduced herself, even if it was only in parting. We just didn't go into detail on the conversation before the scene moved on.

 

[HumanPlus]

This young man. First he has shown obvious weakness through sickness aboard ship, then secluded himself after the fight against the river beast in what seemed to Rivers to be a sulk. Now he seemed to be panicking about being part of this plan. After all the tales Rivers had been told of the Sun's gilded champions, Rivers could not help but be confused by just how frustratingly human he seemed to be. She would have to temper her expectations in the future.

She listens to Maja and agreeingly says "yes indeed. I am not asking anyone to sink a warship on their own. I believe most of the actual danger will come upon myself, as even in my True Form I am not sure I can survive if multiple of their chosen by the Breath of Water engaged me in the depths. Some support or distraction would be greatly appreciated."

She could feel the violent roiling energies of Melinda's magic as she ripped power from places different than the ambient latent energies that the Exalted could usually draw upon. Rivers could not help but feel that there was something terribly unnatural about this practice.

 

[Sherwood]

Spider is more easily able to slip away from Bard's side than you would think; all the people want to be closer to the man making the beautiful music and they let you do your best to vanish into the crowd. The Dynast on his Hound is still edging closer to Bard, and his eyes are locked on him, so you are not sure if your efforts to vanish into the crowd were successful.

The Hound is almost up to Bard, and with it being so close, you both can get a good look at the man on its back. He looks young, appearing to be in his mid-twenties if he were a mortal, with a shock of bright red hair on his head. As you could see from before, he is wielding a Dire Lance made of Orichalcum, and he's wearing a suit of armor that is a Reinforced Breastplate made of red Jade. His eyes appear to be quite glassy as he stares at Bard, showing that he's quite under the effects of the music that the Solar is putting out.

It does also seem that the Hound is locked onto Bard, and is snarling as it approaches him, appearing to be ready to attack.

Psychie and D. Rex Join Battle rolls, please.


In the alley, Melinda is building up the power to fuel the spell, and she gives the group a quick warning of, "Here it comes! Be ready for a bit of a bump!" With that, everyone sees the alleyway vanish around you in a swirl of purple light, and just as suddenly, you find yourselves on the rooftop of one of the many warehouses that line the harbor. For a brief moment, you are a bit disoriented, but it passes quickly.

Melinda looks around, peeking out over the edge of the roof. "Good. It looks like we weren't spotted. Your river boat is about a hundred yards that way, and the Realm warship is four times that, farther up the river. There are at least fifty soldiers on the street in heavy armor, and I spot five Exalts on the dock and at least one more on the ship. There are a lot of people on the docks that are gathering to look at the Realm ship, so getting to your ship should not be too difficult."

HumanPlus Syvvaris Random Word

 

[Psychie]

Join Battle roll for Spider.

Only a total of 4i

Spoiler

Health Levels
- 0 [ ]
- 1 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
- 1 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
- 3 [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
I

Willpower: 7

Essence: 1
Personal: 16
Peripheral: 38 / 33
Committed: 5

Join Battle: 10 +3 successes

Parry: 6
Evasion: 4
Resolve: 4
Guile: 1

Natural Soak: +5
Armored Soak: +5
Total Soak: +10L

Weapon Damage
Paired Moonsilver Short Daiklaves
Attunement: 5m; Type: Light (+5 ACC, +10 DMG, +0 DEF, OVW 4)
Tags: Lethal, Melee, Balanced
Hearthstone slot(s): 2

Armor
Reinforced Breastplate +5 Soak

 

[D. Rex]

Rising and rising the music continued, raising his hand he pointed to the crowd and sang along with them at hook.

"Baby, I love the way you move
Baby, I love the way you groove"

He sang loudly, nodding at the crowd of those who sang along, "One more time!"

"Baby, I love the way you move
Baby, I love the way you groove!"

Bard went right back to a quick instrumental, sporting spider in the crowd and mouthing the words [Let him attack me first] Psychie hoping she could see and understand him.

He had his reasons. Hopefully this would turn the crowd against the dynast if things got out of hand. But also it wouldnt ruin their reputation by being the ones that started the fight.

After the chorus, the tune of his song winded into something more soulful.

"You're... my... obsession~" he sang smoothly.

"You... walked... out... on meeeee~" adding weight to each word and leaving the last word hanging suspensfully in the air, sharing his anticipation with the crowd that things were about to reach a climax.

Join battle
6i

 

[jaydude]

Shaking his head to clear any disorientation, Kuaidao would look to see if there was any sign of the Seagull. If there was, he'd look to see whether Dromond was there.

 

[D. Rex]

Again using 3 peripheral motes for harmony and masterful performance charms. Double 9s. 1 auto sux. And reroll 1s. Also stunting.

7 successes

 

[Syvvaris]

The jump from one alleyway to another was abrupt and disorienting. Thallus rubbed his eyes at the sudden change of the scenery and the awful feeling that suddenly set upon him. "That... Was... Unsettling..." He said before he turned toward Melinda and crouched near her. "I don't like assuming things, but do they know what we look like?"