Mei's Tower
There's a chill wind in the air today, and dark clouds boiling over the sky. They blot out the sky most of the time. Leave streaks of dark blue shining through the darker clouds. Occasionally one might catch a glimpse of a star, but for the most part all there is, is darkness.
This is true on the ground too, where the lengthening shadows of the night have left the world muddy shades of color. There's no distinctiveness, and the farmer whose house you just past didn't even bother to answer the door. It's to late for strangers. All you got was a yell to go away.
Mei seems to blend in well with the shadows, minus his almost luminous white roses tattooed on his arms. He walks through the shadows easily, his black eyes taking in everything around you. Even though it's dark he doesn't seem to miss much. But he's quiet. The soft introduction of himself to Garak at the beginning his only words, and now he keeps touching the sword at his belt as though to ensure himself that its still there. He carries it like he knows how to use it.
Garak offers a nod, a casual "Garak." Garak's monocled gaze dips to take in the sword at Mei's belt, the tatoos, and then back to the sword as the latter touches it again. He stands a bit straighter and goes on in a somehow more official sounding tone, "Serriel be with you."
Halani has donned a coat of sorts over her robes, a concession to the rapidly cooling nights. Her hands remain bare, though she occasionally rubs them together, blowing into them, still more accustomed to warmer climes despite her near decade of time spent in Alexandria. She also doesn't seem eager to dispel the quiet of the journey very often. Aside from introductions and a quick explanation of the situation to Garak, she, too, doesn't say much. Unwilling to shake Mei out of his self-imposed silence, and unsure of what to talk about with Garak... though she does have a few choice words upon getting turned away at the farmstead. Mostly uttered in her islander dialect.
GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+38: (2)+38: 40 GAME: Halani rolls perception: (1)+24: 25 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Garak rolls perception: (19)+20: 39
Mei rolls his eyes at Garak's blessing, but doesn't say anything. Instead he keeps walking along until he notices something ahead. Something that stops him dead in his tracks. His breathing quickens slightly, and his hand falls to his blade. The weapon almost in his hand. He seems ready for a fight.
Garak wrinkles his brow. He gestures at something in the distance. Rather than correct any weakness, the lens he wears over his eye is enchanted to enhance already sharp vision. "There's something flying above that tower." He glances at Halani and Mei and then does a slight double take. He adjusts his own sword but doesn't draw it yet. "They may be guards. Keeping watch," he goes on. "If we fight them it could raise an alarm, before we even get inside."
"Tower?" Halani asks, then clears her throat. "Yeah. The tower." She flexes her fingers a few times, looking off in the direction she figures best approximating where Mei and Garak were looking. "Well. Stick to the shadows, then, yeah? Stay under cover?" She pauses, lets the seconds go by to allow for consideration, then offers an alternative, "Or go boldly, knocking and talking?"
The tattooed man seems a bit stimied for a moment, but he finally gets ahold of himself and blinks at the pair accompanying him. "If you two can stay undercover, I'm pretty good at getting into places unnoticed. But it's a risky move. The group that went to the last tower said there were some illusions near the base. So we might need to watch out for those as well as traps."
Garak blanches slightly. Stay undercover? A moment later he nods. "It can't hurt to try sneaking by them," he admits. "Although it's not my specialty. If they are guards, or even just flying for no particular reason, then perhaps some sort of distraction would help. To draw their attention away while we approach."
Halani spreads her fingers and turns her palms to the side, her shoulders rolling into a shrug. "This whole thing is risky, yeah? A better idea I'm all for, but I think letting ourselves be caught would be worse." She reaches up to loosen her coat up some, perhaps expecting to have to doff it quickly. "Maybe guards on the ground, too, with the traps, illusions. Yeah? Best way to find out is to go look. If you have an idea for distractions, have 'em ready for when we get there, yeah? Trust nothing? Touch everything?" She waggles her fingers.
GAME: Garak rolls stealth: (3)+12: 15 GAME: Garak rolls will: (2)+14: 16 GAME: Halani rolls stealth: (19)+24: 43 GAME: Halani rolls will: (18)+14: 32 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+26: (7)+26: 33 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+14: (13)+14: 27 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+7: (6)+7: 13
Mei makes an amused noise. "More like trust nothing, touch nothing." He nods though, slinking his way toward the tower to get a little closer. As previously noted, he's very good at staying unnoticed. And you'll manage to make your way all the way down to the edge of where the trees are no longer real. At this point, there's a line of illusionary trees, which might have fooled you if not for Halani and Mei both stopping at the same time.
Lowering his voice considerably Mei points to the flying figures now visible to you all above the trees. Small floating figures flying about. "From here on we will not have any cover save that of darkness which they can surely see through. Do either of you have a good idea for a distraction?"
Garak purses his lips in thought. "A pillar of fire? A few hundred feet away from us. " He squints
Halani grins. "That'd be eyecatchy, yeah," she says. "Better'n me using myself as bait, maybe.. though maybe that's a backup plan?"
Mei looks a little doubtful but finally nods. "Whatever you think will work best. Just keep the fire out of the trees." A forest fire would /not/ serve them.
Someone had heard tell of towers and fiends. Demons, devils, horned things. At this moment, all were the same, or near enough. Aya received directions, if somewhat late. Not that such was so much of a hinderance.
"Killing them all would make for a suitable distraction, would it not?" inquires a voice from the nearby shadows of the true trees. Aya lifts her eyes to the tower from her perch on the relatively low branch. "Even if it drew more, that would only mean more to slay. They cannot fly if the wings are removed..."
Garak nods at the idea of keeping the fire out of the trees and then after a brief start, nods again, this time at Aya's suggestion to kill the flying figures. Once he recognized who it is, he doesn't seem too surprised at the sudden appearance. "Well said." He reaches behind his tunic and produces a holy symbol. "Would anyone like to make preparations before we begin?"
Halani makes a sound.. a strangled, almost-cry, from being startled by Aya's sudden appearance. Next, she's reaching for Mei, and interposing herself between him and the new arrival before even registering who it is. Only when her brain actually catches up with her reaction does she relax. A little bit. "Dark skies," she mutters, cursing. "I thought.. yeah. Okay." A few deep breaths to regain her center, and then she's nodding, as if she didn't nearly just earn herself a sound thrashing by attacking the more accomplished pugilist. "Well. She's not wrong, yeah? I mean.. she might be.. but there's an appeal, yeah?" And Garak's approval seems to indicate.. a combination of the plans. So she cracks her knuckles, then nods. "Don't forget to keep an eye for stuff coming to investigate, yeah? Maybe stick to the tree line to make it harder for come-and-lookies to see us."
Aya drops from the branch to the ground. "I am prepared. If you would cause a distraction, do so and we will move. If not, we will move. If we're attacked, we will fight." Clear, concise, simple. Her eyes shift to Mei. "You will wait here?" A brow lifts. She presumes he was only the guide, and getting another leg broken is not on his agenda.
Mei draws his sword, pulling it out and holding it along his leg. At first because of Aya's arrival but... Then to be prepared for the arrival of anything that might not be so friendly. "Let us do this."
GAME: Garak casts Flame Strike. Caster Level: 14 DC: 20 GAME: Garak rolls 14d6: (49): 49 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+7: (17)+7: 24
Distraction AND destruction. Aya approves of the amalgamation of options and that they were not mutually-exclusive. As stated, she was prepared, and she moves across the open ground briskly. Very briskly. As the winged ones retreated, there is no need to be inconspicuous at the moment.
Garak raises his free hand, the other holding his holy symbol at chest height in front of himself. He murmurs under his breath and then brings the hand down sharply while bending at the elbow - effectively a fist pump. An instant later a massive column of swirling fire spirals into existence in the space above the tower, incinerating several of the flying figures. But only some. A flicker of ... annoyance? Disappointment? (only in himself, of course, never at Serriel's power). But it's gone in a moment and he follows after Aya as quickly as he is able.
Halani is all ready to be swarmed, not that she has any inkling of just how encompassing Garak's proposed divine retribution might turn out to be. She keeps enough presence of mind to shield her eyes when he calls upon his power, at least, so she's not too terribly blinded by the fire lighting up the sky.. and then disappointment visits her as well. Aya's inclination to fight the creatures was a little bit infectious, maybe... but then people are moving swiftly across the open ground. She blurts out a word, then rushes after, though only so fast as she needs to to trail after Mei.
Which puts Mei neatly in the middle as you guys reach the tower. You find a din inside. Your mind lit up with calls of warning from above you. /INTRUDERS, INTRUDERS, INTRUDERS!/ Comes the claxing call. You can hear it ringing in your mind in the din. The first floor is open but empty. Instead stairs lead down and up. Your choice as to which direction to go.
Aya's eyes narrow as they glance upwards, then down. "The winged are above. Up or down?" She only half-turns towards the others entered as she attempts to remain alert while awaiting their responses.
"Well....." Halani says, drawing it out a little bit to give her time to consider. "Down under is the usual prisons place, yeah? Unless you're a princess, then you're at the top." She puts her finger to her chin, tapping. "If we go up, can always escape by jumping, yeah? Kind of trapped it we go down." Another pause. "But if we're quick, maybe we can go down and get back up."
Garak thinks. He tries to remember his old spelunking days with the Arvek army. Unfortunately most of those teachings and practices have been disproved many times over the priest's years of adventuring. A few moments later he shrugs. Such is life of an Alexandrian. "We can descend at first and then if needed turn back and head in the other direction."
"Down it is then!" Mei motions Garak to lead the way and down the way you go. Until you reach a doorway in the middle of the staircase. There's more stairs leading down, but there's a room here off to the side. Down or? Wait... Is that a voice coming from the room inside? You can't quite make it out through the door however. Mei makes a motion with his hand pointing down and then points to the door and shrugs.
Prison and/or prisoners downward, and lack of blatant objections is enough consensus for Aya. "Down we-" Then there is note of the door, and possible ...voices? "Door, then down," she updates as she moves to the door and attempt to open it.
Halani quickly steps to the far side of the door, stair-downwards, waiting to see what Aya reveals with her bold strategy!
Garak draws his falchion and takes up a spot behind Aya, but far enough that she has room in case she has to leap back to avoid something unpleasant.
GAME: Aya rolls stealth+org+dark+1: aliased to stealth+4+2+1: (2)+25+4+2+1: 34 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+38: (2)+38: 40
The door opens nearly silently, and you see the room inside. There's a... monster is a light term for the huge beast that's inside the room. It takes up nearly all the space. It's red flesh and cloven hooves are hallmarks of the demon kind, and it turns toward the sound of the opening door. You have at this point one solace... That the demon can not /possibly/ fit through the doorway. Until you notice the whip coiled around its feet and realize that while it might not be able to chase you…
GAME: Aya rolls wisdom: (17)+6: 23 GAME: Halani rolls wisdom: (7)+7: 14
Halani's heart stops. Just for a second. But sometimes a second can seem to last for an eternity. She finds herself staring at the demon, and while absolute recognition might be beyond her grasp for the moment... it is a demon. And demons have plagued her nightmares ever since. But then her heart starts again. "Get back!" she demands, grasping Mei's shoulder and pulling him back from the door, a whirling motion that clears him from the demon's immediate sight, then bringing her arms up along with one leg, knee bent so that the flat of her foot is a parallel to her other leg.
No. It can't be... or can it?
Aya blinks. Once. While she's not an expert on the infernal, she feels it in her bones that he is known to her. A flash of rage flares up to scream at her mind as she sees more red that that filling the room.
And yet... it passes almost as quickly and her visage goes neutral and hard.
Rage. Sorrow. Neither of those are helpful to her, and she forces them back down. Rage is not helpful to her if she is the one drunken under it's sway that is.
"Oh, don't get up on my account. You must need your rest, to heal. I will return later..."
She then reverses her movement to pull the door closed.
GAME: Aya rolls strength: (12)+5: 17 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+12: (13)+12: 25
The door whines as something pulls on the other side of it and Aya struggles to hold it closed against the pull. "AYA! I CALL YOUR DEBT DUE!" The door crumbles in half, shatters into pieces as the demon lord on the other side rips it free. "TIME TO DIE DEAREST!" His eyes glow red like the rest of him.
GAME: Aya rolls will: (12)+17: 29 GAME: Garak casts Prayer/Quicken. Caster Level: 14 DC: 22 GAME: Garak casts Power Word Blind. Caster Level: 14 DC: 22 GAME: Garak rolls 1d20+14: (6)+14: 20
"Serriel's favor!" Garak barks, one hand releasing his weapon to reach instead for his holy symbol. The words somehow result in divine energy infusing the party, just as if he'd chanted a full spell. Even as he does this he raises his blade to point at the demon's eyes, uttering another word of Power. But this doesn't seem to have the desired effect. A quick flick of Garak's eyes takes in the room. "Back the way we came?" he focuses on the doorway. "He may not be able to follow us - at least not without bringing this tower down on himself."
"Back! Back up the stairs," Halani says, not quite shouting, but definitely above conversational level while she keeps her gaze fixed on Aya and the shadow warrior's foe.
Mei hesitates a moment, but nods suddenly to Halani's words and rushes back up the stairs to the landing that they had come from.
Half-surprised the tattooed man is actually listening to her, Halani follows, sidestepping her way back up after him without letting her eyes pull away from the fight now below. "Aya," she calls down to the other martial artist. "We gotta go!"
Right. There was that bit of debt. Back when someone somehow convinced Aya and others that freeing a bound demon would be helpful in their current situation.
It was probably the Silverguard.
By the power of that pact, despite Aya gritting teeth to fight it, she is unable to move. Not utterly frozen, but little more than strained wiggling. Even though the others are (wisely) moving, she manages a stuttered, encouraging "G-G-GO!"
GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+37: (8)+37: 45 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d10+12: (2)+12: 14
A hand comes through the doorway, slamming into Aya and further into the wall. The slam of flesh meeting wall makes a cracking sound at the force, and the thought that Aya is between one and the other... Is an unpleasant one.
GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+37: (2)+37: 39 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d10+12: (6)+12: 18 GAME: Garak rolls 1d20+19: (4)+19: 23
Garak tenses instinctively as the hand comes trough the door - but the target is Aya, not him. He backpedals and reaches for her shoulder, chanting in a soft voice. Casting spells in the midst of a melee takes a special kind of skill and he's rusty, and nothing but a painful blow results from his troubles.
Mei kneels on the floor, eyes tight and full of determination. He punches the floor. "We can't just leave her there!" He looks at Halani and holds his tattooed hands up. "Help me. If we can get through the floor we can get in behind him and... Maybe we can sneak up on him. Attack him from two sides. Please..." His eyes are haunted things. "I can't let more comrades die."
Halani hesitates. A fear.. yes, she can admit it's fear, threatens to seize her heart and just squeeeeeze. The voice was all too familiar. But she also remembers the pain Mei revealed, the terrifying thought of leaving people behind. And while she knows there's a good chance Aya can get away... what if she can't? What of the Serrielite who was recruited to help? She casts a quick glance back at the stairs, then at the door to the tower... "Ah blighted fields," she mutters, then goes all in with helping the dark skinned man with the impromptu tower modification.
It may be the jarring impact of her skull against the stone, but a thought strikes her. If HE is here, then perhaps someone else is, as well. A second bit of logic follows.
Fact 1:As Halani noted, princesses belong in towers.
Fact 2: Eclavdran is a monumental dick.
Thus, there is only one logical conclusion.
A puff of shadowstuff leaks from the demon's fingers as Aya relocates herself further down the stairs. "Check up!" she calls to the others as she darts lower into the dim. She can catch up. As well, if someone can actually leave the room, she has a mildly nagging suspicion of which way he might go.
GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+36: (10)+36: 46 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+39: (19)+39: 58
The demon snorts as Aya makes good her escape. "Look how quickly she leaves you behind to save her own skin." He murmurs almost gently to Garak, whipping his flaming whip out and catching the man round his neck and dragging him into the room with ease. "Left you to die didn't she? More's the pity. I'm in a /terrible/ mood. Lets make this /fun/."
GAME: Garak rolls 1d20+19: (11)+19: 30 GAME: Garak casts Freedom of Movement. Caster Level: 14 DC: 19 GAME: Garak casts Freedom of Movement. Caster Level: 14 DC: 19
Garak's eyes bulge. One hand reaches up and tug at the whip around his neck, the other trying to saw at with his sword, no matter how unwieldy it is with one hand. Then his hand drops to the symbol he wears. He croaks out the same words from before, but perhaps this time old instincts return and he manages the spell. One more tug and the whip is pulled free, dropped to the ground. "I'm--" Garak coughs a few times and then clears his throat before trying again. "I'm free!"
GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+23: (10)+23: 33
A small part of her mind is telling her this is madness. To grab Mei and flee. But the louder part realizes that she'd have to fight him every step of the way, and then Garak's, and perhaps Aya's, faces would join the Other in the nightmares. So once the pair have opened up a whole large enough to drop through, Halani looks at Mei and says, about to tell him to stay... but recognizes something, so shakes her head... and drops. She hits the floor in a roll, rising in the same, fluid motion.. as she does so, time almost seems to slow down for her. And the fear, not gone, is... put aside. For now. "Hey! Remember me, yeah? I'm baaaaaaaaaack."
Mei slips in just behind Halani, determined and with his sword at the ready. He waits for her cue and then steps in to stab with his sword. The weapon skitters off the demon's hide and... He pales significantly looking up and up at the creature he likely just ticked off.
GAME: Aya rolls perception: (20)+28: 48
Eclavdran is right about one thing: Aya did leave them as she darts down to vanish in the near-darkness. As to her reasons, she offers no counter-argument.
GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+36: (18)+36: 54 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+26: (16)+26: 42 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+20: (14)+20: 34 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d4+7: (2)+7: 9 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d6: (6): 6 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+33: (15)+33: 48
The demon turns with a wicked grin on Mei, smoke rising from its hooves and its teeth. "You're going to pay for that dearest." He lashes out with his whip but…
Halani was watching.. though she tried to get the demon's attention, it seems Mei's sword strike was much better at it than her tongue was. And when she sees that unholy glee light up in his eyes as he aims to return the dark man's attempt in kind, she moves, a rising arm slapping away the first strike from the demon's flaming whip. She's too slow to avoid the follow up snap and yells in pain as it scorches across her back.. but a roll gets her free from the third.
-TBC