CH. 15: There and Back Again

[Nuke]

Knowing full well that Mist will get the idea, Val attacks the Sahuagin with the Trident...

[HorizonsDream]

"So, then, that means you don't mind if I come back every now and again if I need help?" Jocelyn asks.

[BishGada]

"He is not civilized," Baeros says, the irony in his words lost as he doesn't know he himself lacks being civilized. "He was left on an island for too long and, well, it seems he lost it a little bit..." Baeros whispers quietly to the cleric covering his mouth. "What was your name again? And does that Son believes Crizza is a genasai? Everybody lost their minds here?"

[Breila]

"You want to test the cannon? Does that mean you have found out how to operate it?" Ouragana asks, her eyes round with amazement and admiration.
"As to where to test it, I guess Sierra and Terra certainly know an uninhabited island, perhaps even one with a steep cliff. That seems to be a good place to test it."

[JadedDM]

Jocelyn Blaine (The Seleya, Captain's Cabin)
"Not at all," Saren says. "Part of the job of a priest of Octhanus is to offer guidance to the flock, after all. But I'm happy to be of service even were that not so."

Ouragana Stormbride (Aboard the Bullring)
"I believe I know how to fire it. Or...I have some theories. But the only way to test them is to try them, and well...I'd rather not take the risks until we're somewhere safe and under the right conditions," Thaddeus explains. "I'll speak with the captain, see if she knows of a safe place to try it out. Hopefully one that is on the way to Draska."

Val Urgan (Ocean, 200 yards from shore)
Now that Mist is free, Val can focus on fighting off the sahuagin. She stabs at one with her trident, but it evades and then counterattacks with its spear, stabbing her in the shoulder. Another one gets her in the left arm.

Mist swims in, grabbing the first one that hit Val with her mouth. She crunches it between her teeth, eating the sahuagin up. The last two stab at Val, but the half-orc manages to evade them.

==========

Initiative
Val (1d10+5): 6+5 = 11
Mist (1d10+9): 5+9 = 14
Sahuagin 01 (N/A)
Sahuagin 02 (N/A)
Sahuagin 03 (1d10+6): 6+6 = 12
Sahuagin 04 (1d10+7): 9+7 = 16
Sahuagin 05 (1d10+7): 5+7 = 12
Sahuagin 06 (1d10+7): 10+7 = 17

Round 4!

Sahuagin 01 is stuck in a net.
Sahuagin 02 is stuck in a net.
Val stabs at Sahuagin 03 with the Trident of the Hunter (+2 hit/dmg) with great skill (+1 hit/+2 dmg) [TN 11] (1d20+3): 3+3 = 6, miss.
Sahuagin 03 stabs its spear at Val [TN 13] (1d20): 13, hit for (1d6): 3 damage.
Sahuagin 05 stabs its trident at Val [TN 13] (1d20): 15, hit for (1d6+1): 2+1 = 3 damage. Val is now seriously wounded.
Mist bites at Sahuagin 03 [TN 6] (1d20): 16, hit for (4d6): 15 damage. Sahuagin 03 is eaten.
Sahuagin 04 stabs its spear at Val [TN 13] (1d20): 6, miss.
Sahuagin 06 stabs its trident at Val [TN 13] (1d20): 9, miss.

Baeros and Drav (Ruined City, South)
"I see," the old woman says. "Well, if your friend requires therapy, that is a service offered by Octhanus. As for me, my name is Rumari." She shakes her head. "I do not know what what this 'Son of Crizza' believes, to be honest. I've never heard of him. There are some who believe that genasi are touched by the gods, even descended from them."

She looks around at the devastation. "Lost their minds? Perhaps. When people are frightened, they act out. These people were afraid for their futures, their lives, their families...when such fear takes over, it can lead to chaos."

Naras Stonebreaker (Ruined City, Market Square)
The Son of Crizza lowers his hands and the electricity cackling around them disperses. "Don't challenge my power if you don't want to be proven wrong, dwarf. And yes, a 89% chance you'd follow and arrive here, a 6% chance you'd follow and die on the way, a 3% chance you'd say nothing and ignore my warning and a 2% chance you'd flee the city and leave them to their fate. While you hard-headed Gontorians believe everything is fated, written in stone before time even began, we Crizzites know better. Everything is up in the air. It's all random chance. But through the power of calculating probabilities, it is possible to know the future and plan accordingly."

Naras moves closer to the slaad, and the genasi watches her. The beast looms over her, twice her size.

"Did you want to play with my new pet?" he asks her. "Is that why you followed me here?"

[HorizonsDream]

Jocelyn smiles slightly, then stands up. "Well, either way, I don't want to bother you anymore with all of this. I should probably ask what is going on around here though. I might be able to help."

[BishGada]

"People are always afraid of their future Rumari, well... At least this is a Rumor I've heard" Baeros says and winks. "Anyway, if you can't remove the eggs, what can you do against the Slaadi?" Baeros asks as they move along. From time to time he calls his dogs back then send them off with commands of search which Takit is very familiar with. "Search humans... And err dwarves, elves, hmmm... Search people in debris. Do not engage bad creatures, just warn us." he tells his dogs. "And Takit, make sure Hopper doesn't get into trouble."

===============
(OOC: I'll be able to post again only in two or three days. If you want to NPC me go ahead. Baeros will try to find survivors. He will use his tracking abilities combined with the dogs. He won't let hopper fight unless it is a single opponent already attacked by at least two friendly forces.
If it gets to regrouping he will back off from Jocelyn but still make sure she is always guarded.
Btw I think Hopper got older, something about three month now, right?)

[Chris1234]

“Your turn, ok, but that’s two different questions, but I can be flexible,” retorts Naras, slightly piqued at being called ‘predictable’. “No, I did not come here to play with your ‘pet’, although I would be pleased to see it dead, however uncharitable that might make me. I followed you here because you made it obvious that is what I had to do. My turn: so, apart from being able to see if I'd follow you here, exactly what, on this visit, did you come to Mond to do? And, my second question, what spells have you used to control this beast?”

[JadedDM]

Jocelyn Blaine (The Seleya, Captain's Cabin)
"For the last week, we've been doing what we can to help the people get back on their feet," Saren says. "Healing injuries, curing sickness, and removing slaadi eggs. We've also set up a perimeter around the harbor area and regularly send out patrols into the city to find survivors and sometimes fight whatever undead and slaadi remain there. Once the city is deemed safe again, we're hoping to start with rebuilding the city. But that will take a lot of time. Elisa has more of the details, she's spear-headed the whole thing, I'm mostly supervising the finances and distribution of manpower."

Baeros and Drav (Ruined City, South)
Rumari shakes her head. "I'm just a healer, really. I can heal those who are injured fighting and I have a few defensive spells, as well. I'm nowhere near powerful enough to banish them back to their plane like Friar Saren can."

(OOC: Hopper will be three months old in about a week. It's only been three weeks since Baeros adopted him.)

Naras Stonebreaker (Ruined City, Market Square)
"I came to find information," the Son of Crizza answers. "I have spies all over the place...even one among that group you traveled here with. To be honest, that's really how I knew you were going to come. We have a magical connection, so we can communicate across great distances. Sadly, not all of my spies have such a connection with me, so I have to go to them physically to find out what they have learned. As for this big fellow, it's a simple holding spell. Child's play for one such as me." He affectionately pets the frozen slaad on the head.

[Chris1234]

"Fair enough," replies Naras, checking the spear is ready to receive a charge, "so I guess that makes it your turn." She deliberately doesn't respond to the reference to a spy with in the ship's ranks.

She continues, “You’d asked me what my plan was here. And also whether I plan to take another run at you with my pointy stick, as you call it. I will honour that and answer you: my plan was to find out two things that I could only find out here. And, for the second answer, I only planned to run at you with the 'pointy thing' if both of those other things didn’t work out.”

Licking her lips, the dwarf asks, "so exactly what was the information that you found out from your spies here?"

[Breila]

"Yes, you speak with the Captain" Ouragana says to Thaddeus. "Meanwhile, I will look more closely at these runes that boost the spell power, and see if I can grasp the principle. It would just be too good to apply that to other spells, too."

[HorizonsDream]

"I'll check up with Elisa then, and see if she needs any help anywhere," Jocelyn says. "If not, then I guess I'll see out the rest of my group. Thanks, Saren. I'm grateful."

[Nuke]

Val moves to mount Mist as they attack together, retreating from the foe as they follow through. Grasping the dorsal fin as Iist swims by, Val settles into position and aims her Trident forward.

[spyguy1503]

Gallath glances at Naishe. "If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand." he mutters. "Why would a demon fight another?" "Naishe, if it is you, tell me something that only you would know."

[JadedDM]

Jocelyn Blaine (The Seleya, Captain's Cabin)
Saren nods and smiles. "I'm always happy to help. Feel free to stop by any time."

Stepping out of the cabin, Jocelyn sees that Ozap still stands guard and Brock remains waiting for her, examining the axe Baeros gave him. Baeros, however, is no longer present.

Ouragana Stormbride (Aboard the Bullring)
Thaddeus heads for the captain's cabin to speak with her. Ouragana remains behind and looks over the cannon further. She determines it may be possible to research a new spell (or spells) using the runes on the cannon as a template. She would need a proper lab to do so, as well as time and money (the latter something she now has quite a bit of).

Val Urgan (Ocean, 200 yards from shore)
Val stabs again, but the sahuagin parries with its own spear. Val then evades two attacks, but a third one catches her in the side, drawing more blood. Her wounds all sting like hell in the salt water and she feels herself growing weaker. Mist swoops in and eats another sahuagin and as she swims by, Val grabs hold of the orca and pulls herself up. She then readies her trident for a charge.

==========

Initiative
Val (1d10+5): 1+5 = 6
Mist (1d10+9): 7+9 = 16
Sahuagin 01 (N/A)
Sahuagin 02 (N/A)
Sahuagin 04 (1d10+7): 9+7 = 16
Sahuagin 05 (1d10+7): 9+7 = 16
Sahuagin 06 (1d10+7): 3+7 = 10

Round 6!

Sahuagin 01 is stuck in a net.
Sahuagin 02 is stuck in a net.
Val stabs at Sahuagin 04 with the Trident of the Hunter (+2 hit/dmg) with great skill (+1 hit/+2 dmg) [TN 11] (1d20+3): 2+3 = 6, miss.
Sahuagin 06 stabs its trident at Val [TN 13] (1d20): 3, miss.
Sahuagin 04 stabs its spear at Val [TN 13] (1d20): 7, miss.
Sahuagin 05 stabs its trident at Val [TN 13] (1d20): 15, hit for (1d6+1): 6+1 = 7 damage. Val is now critically wounded.
Mist bites at Sahuagin 04 [TN 6] (1d20): 6, hit for (4d6): 15 damage. Sahuagin 04 is eaten.
Val mounts Mist.

Gallath (Ruined City, South)
"Demons fight each other all of the time," Penta argues. "Ever hear of the Blood War?"

"We first met on the Bullring," Naishe says quickly. "You said you were heading here to research the local fauna. That night, a dragon skeleton flew over the ship and dropped a bunch of zombies and some kind of big, red frogman on the ship. I helped you fight, you and your falcon. After the battle, I was covered in zombie gore. I told you I needed a bath. Remember?"

Naras Stonebreaker (Ruined City, Market Square)
"Just the location of an important item, nothing more," the Son of Crizza replies. "A book; a very old one that will help further my plans to restore balance to the islands. Only with the elimination of all tyranny can the people truly be free. Sorry to say, that includes the tyranny of your church. Is that what you came here to learn?"