>>24437950
Okay, not the best of situations but we can sure as hell run. Cue the Benny Hill music!

Let's make like a tree and fuck off outside the temple and leg it towards the residential district, making sure if we see any archers to veer the hell away from them. Hopefully we can run around the houses and dwellings there and temporarily lose our pursuers.

Also if we're even capable, wait a couple minutes before dropping the delusion on that blood guard. It might be draining energy but that's one blood guard not coordinating to chase us.

>>24438102
Why not run towards the ocean? Westercoast is a port, right? Also we're in a city. If we put on a convincing act as an innocent child, soldiers may be reluctant to attack us.

Hope you're feeling better OP.

>>24438261
Golgoth hasn't exactly proven themselves to be leaders in the Human Ethics department, TM has said they understand how children can be just as dangerous as adults so they might not question the order to hunt down a kid. Especially when they were sent here to hunt down cursed kids.

Still, its something to consider I suppose. Might be too open in the port, archer bait.

You do the obvious thing and bolt. The one blood guard who isn't otherwise occupied makes a swing at you, but you slide under the blade and burst out of the doors. A pair of blood guards see you emerge and immediately draw swords and sprint towards you, but you're a hair faster and they're unable to get close enough to use them. Seeing the blood guards chasing after you, the Golgothan soldiers scattered about the square rouse themselves and begin chasing after you as well. One of them dives and manages to tackle you by the legs, but you're far stronger than he was expecting. A well-placed kick to the face and one hand comes off of you to grasp at his bloodied nose, and you wrench yourself free, sprinting towards...

Well, someplace other than here.

>where to?

>>24438354
Well, seeing as the soldiers in fact do have no problem hunting us down as I suspected, I still say we head for the residential area with all the civilian houses and try to lose them in the streets, moving on before they try hemming us in.

>>24438469
No. Not aceptable. We went into that temple to get those daemons attention, now we have it, we're using it. As long as acid blob is following us, we're getting this the way we want it, and what we want is it dead. So let's lead it to the ocean, perhaps taking a few detours to make sure our talents are back when we get there, and we're going to kill that bastard. That being risky just adds to the fun

>>24438507
Eh fair enough, let's give that plan a try. Residential district to tie them up for a bit then springing the "surprise my powers are back bitch" when they have us cornered at the docks?

>>24438538
Yes. And this time I want to throw everything at that pus daemon to make sure it damn well follows us into the ocean and DIES. Because fuck I am getting sick of that thing.

>>24438538

You begin running towards the residential area, hoping you can hole up there until your powers return. The acid pus following close behind gobbles up the soldier who'd tackled you, dissolving him to nothing in seconds and remaining about a dozen feet behind you. The other soldiers decide grabbing you is not a winning strategy.

The square has dozens of tiny little alleyways and side entrances leading into it, but the Golgothan soldiers have been preparing to make their last stand here for a while and have the place locked down inside of the time it takes you to get halfway across the square.

But there's still buildings, so you just hope the fence to one of the mansions instead. A few of the local guards draw shortswords and swipe at you, but you duck and dive between them, and they go running for cover when a few arrows begin to come down in the area. The Golgothans are firing on you. Someone must've explained to them that you're more important than some guttersnipe violating the sanctity of the temple.

Fortunately the manor has windows which are easy to jump into and walls which are made of stone and thus arrowproof. Once inside you head up the stairs, past a bewildered serving maid, out a window, and then haul yourself onto the roof, from which you jump across the street and onto a neighboring building outside the square.

The less agile Golgothans are forced to head out of the regular exits from the square, but the acid pus gives no fucks and chews straight through the walls of the manor, splattering slightly as it follows you out onto the streets.

You make it to the residential district, but with this acid blob dogging your heels hiding isn't really in the question. It just chews through everything, load bearing walls included, bringing one building crumbling down as it chases you through the entrance room, through one of the apartments, and out a back window.

The port isn't far, what's the plan once you get there?

>>24438936
How long has it been chasing us? Try dodging around through any unloaded supplies (Maybe there's some barrels of fresh water kept around) and weaving until our powers return. Also keep an eye out for which docks are long and not sturdy looking.

>>24438936
1) Pray that use of our powers return before we get there
2) Delusion pus daemon with "if you don't kill me this time, you will have to suffer my meddling forever" the moment they become available. Hopefully this will ensure that it will follow us all the way to the port, despite the obvious danger. Engage shadow form if soldiers become a threat again.
3) Get into ocean. Pus daemon will most likely stop, respond with "Why are you stopping? You've caught me." And the following delusions: "The ocean will only make you stronger. If you go in, there is no chance I will escape you"
4) That is a total of three delusions on a single target, because I goddamn want this bastard dead.
5) The bastard dies. Preferably painfully.

>>24439136
All of this sounds fine imo, the only thing is can we override its will for self preservation with three delusions? Lets hope the water is your friend one does.

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>>24439179
Well if you have a fourth that will help, that's cool. We should be able to maintain that for a few seconds I think.

>>24439240
Doubt it, three is the max we can pull off before frying ourself.

Also major love for the Megas gif. Rock on.

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>>24439291
Forgot to attach my image, D'oh.

>>24439291
>frying ourself

Acceptable to me, but okay. As for its self-preservation, I am not only trying to override it, but also presenting the idea that there's something worse (suffer my meddling forever).

Oh, and you're making me feel bad now because I didn't even know the source of the gif, I just love the humor of it.

>>24439136

You lead the pus blob on a merry chase through the residential district for a few more minutes while your powers return. It continues chewing through everything that gets in its way with reckless abandon. The soldiers arrive and occasionally fire a few arrows, but now that you're in the twisting streets and not in an open square, they have little chance of hitting you. None of them even tries to get within melee range when you've got that pus monster on your heels.

>Delusions

"If you don't kill me now, you'll have to suffer my meddling forever," you say to the pus blob as you veer towards the dock, moving into shadow form as you do so. No point in taking chances, there's plenty of dock workers there and some of them might decide to be a hero.

>More Delusions

You race out beneath the piers and onto the ocean. The creature, predictably, pulls up just short of the shoreline, bubbling angrily in your general direction. "Why are you stopping?" you ask, "you've caught me!" It doesn't seem to have any immediate reaction.

>ALL THE DELUSIONS

"The ocean will make you stronger. If you go in, there's no chance I'll escape you," you say. You struggle to maintain all three delusions at once, but it works. The creature hesitates only a few seconds, before oozing into the ocean. The water burns it with a screeching sound like a boiling kettle and it retreats, hesitating at the shore for a few seconds later. The effort of maintaining three delusions is seriously beginning to wear on you when the creature finally ploughs into the ocean full steam ahead, the water boiling and screeching as it does so. After a few seconds, it appears to have dissipated completely, but you can still feel its mind there. It's a daemon and can never actually die, but it'll be years before it can manage to pull itself back together on the shore. You lift the delusions, but the effort of maintaining them has gotten to you. Your breath is ragged.

You feel bad.

>now what?

>>24439425
Rectify that right now. Search "Megas XLR - No Smashing?" on youtube and behold the glory that is excellent humor in animation.

>>24439478
Yes! This is a huge victory as far as I'm concerned. There is very little time left for more fun here, so it's not so bad that we're spent. One thing I'd definitely like to check is if this thing can maintain any control over its "minions" or if they can even continue to walk after this.

But first, did Eye-van follow us here as well?

>>24439617
Wait wait wait, before we do anything try to scoop up a bit of this thing and see if it can be quickened. This is probably our only chance to try, but any power is good power.

Also yeah, lets skedaddle to the catacombs and check on the minions beyond the grate.

>>24439617

The eye daemon gave up on chasing you way back in the square. Unlike the pus blob he can't just barrel straight through any obstacle that gets in his way, and he's not worth all that much more than a Golgothan soldier or three to begin with (if he had some laser eye powers, he would've used them on you by now).

Popping back over to the catacombs reveals that the army of pus monsters is still lurching about, though. Most minions have ontological inertia independent of their creators (like Olberek's wolves). Particularly since you can never permanently get rid of a daemon to begin with.

>>24439678

It's dissolved into the ocean. All you get for your trouble is kind of thirsty. Salt water. Blech.

>>24439708
Oh well. They did seem surprisingly docile earlier, which might have been from being partially controlled by the blob. Hopefully, he can't do that with his body destroyed.

Could try blinding some of them again to see if that will agitate them, start some infighting. But let's do so from behind the safety of the grates, on the side leading away from Westercoast, after checking there aren't any loose monsters behind us. You know, in case Eye-van predicted this move.

>>24439809
>Eye-van

My sides. Also see if they can be influenced by delusions with something like "Everything around you is an enemy".

>>24439578
Oh wow, that actually was hilarious. Gotta wonder why I never knew about this.

>>24439809

You position yourself safely and then try blinding the creatures, but once again all it really makes them do is stumble around in confusion. The delusion doesn't seem to be effective either. These things are probably non-sentient, too incapable of understanding the nuance of language for a delusion to work on them.

>>24440115
That's fine, then. I'll just hope that these things can't be controlled by either enemy daemon, and don't have a standing order along the lines of "kill all dorriki" or similar. I was hoping to be rid of them easily so we could use the tunnels for the attack, but if we have to take the walls, that's not completely impossible either. At the very least, we've removed the pus daemon, who could have easily stopped the progress of our army in certain locations.

For now, it's time we took a well deserved rest in the safest location we can find outside of Westercoast, then go meet our army.

Also, the tunnel entrances on this side should be somewhat small, right? Easily destroyed/caved in, if not by soldiers then by Girdin?

>>24440183
Yeah, we need to sleep with how exhausted we are. Also we need to give a FULL report to Jens about the fruits of our scouting. He may not be quite happy that we didn't get much done, but one spirit dead might lift his spirits (pun intended).

Also make sure to tell him to practice discretion when deciding if he wants to tell everyone else about the army of zombies under the city.

>>24440299
Why only Jens, anon? As much as we'd like him to, he is not exclusively in charge of this army.

Also another question to TM, do we know about these anti magic wards if they're expended when triggered or just remain for a time duration?

>>24440237

Yes. They look less like the rest of the catacombs and more like something the Golgothans (probably aided by the acid pus daemon) built themselves in the last month or so. Girdin could probably collapse them just by jumping down on top of them a couple of times.

>>24440514

They're expended when triggered, but they're also only about 4 feet across. That temple was probably covered in a few dozen of them, and only one has been used up.

>>24440514
Because hes the most sane of all the leaders, and we already told him we'd be scouting the enemy base and reporting what we're up against to him since he's the most competent mortal strategist here.

>>24440572
Did we? I don't remember that, but if we said so I suppose we should.

>>24440559
Well I was kind of expecting an assault on the temple again to be a no-go, I was more curious with regard to encountering these in the rest of the city. I want Mari killing the elite soldiers, but if she triggers one, it'd be nice if we can protect her with hidden party and blinds.

>>24440689
Also I think I should mention the enemy's primary defense against rampaging blood golems that have been blinded is now moot. Worth noting.

>>24440717
It is worth noting, and if I didn't expect Ivan (I'm shortening the name since I don't really need to repeat the joke) to be working hard to stop us from summoning a THIRD blood golem on his ass, I'd recommend we went off to find some blood guards right now.

Letting our mortals know that blood golem summoned means it's a good idea to retreat from the area it's in should be an understandable and effective message.

>>24440799
He's probably going to tell every single blood guard to sit on a decently sized circle of those wards to prevent that sort of dickery. It would be hilarious to summon a third but we don't have the fuel to keep all that blinding and running around up for long.

>>24440834
Nor do we have the time to keep that up for long, we might risk our dudes deciding to rush blindly at the enemy walls without our valuable guidance.

>>24440878
Hey anon I'm going to be gone for an hour so you'll be solo till I return. I have faith in you though, your daring ooze killer plan worked surprisingly well. Be back later.

>>24441063
Alright, but if Dorrik is a smoking crater when you get back, don't blame me!

You return to the Dorriki army. It's getting towards late afternoon when you arrive, which means they're only a few hours out from the city, but they've decided to call an early halt. They don't want to be within easy range of an enemy sortie while weary from the march, so they'll make camp for now, march at dawn, and arrive at the city mostly rested by mid-morning.

Jens is happy to have the report, but less happy to hear what he's up against. "Over a thousand Golgothans," he mutters, "with local support. The men of Westercoast City are soft and the women don't fight at all. But still, that's half a thousand more to worry about. Plus a thousand of these zombies lurking in the catacombs? We're outnumbered...Three to one and then some. The Golgothans alone have a numerical advantage and they're as good in a fight as we are. This would be a stiff battle even before the walls..." Jens strokes the short and graying beard on his chin, considering. "If we could get into those tunnels, we wouldn't have to storm the walls, but they're full of zombies. If we collapse the tunnels that'll take a third of the enemy's force out of the battle, but we'll have to deal with the walls. That stone behemoth can probably punch through the walls eventually, but our army will either have to wait out of catapult range, giving the enemy time to station troops at the chokepoint, or take a pounding from the walls while he works at it. Either way we'll be fighting at a disadvantage, and outnumbered."

"And that's to say nothing of what happened while you were gone. Vierre was killed by some spirit magic when we attacked the refugee train. Gurgled up blood and keeled over. The entire army is worried that it might happen again. Not sure why it hasn't already."

>wat do?

>>24441236

What do you mean "when he gets back?" Dorrik is practically a smoking crater already.

>>24441324
Only HALF of Dorrik! And at that, I prefer to say that half of Dorrik is NOT a smoking crater.

>>24441284
I do so love children. Would've been nice if Mari could've waited until after Westercoast, but what can you do...

"If it hasn't happened again, it's possible she simply managed to anger some minor spirit somehow, whether words or deed. I wouldn't worry.

"As for the battle, you are outnumbered in number of bodies, yes. In the spiritual world, we hold the numbers. That will have to even the odds. On that topic, I should like to take some time to coordinate said efforts. I will return to you."

Then we need to get Olberek and Girdin together, ask about any cards they may have not played yet, if any. The battle will probably be heavily reliant on Girdin. There's the gate, which he should be able to break with relative ease, and there's the weak spot near one of the catapults (we remember which one, I hope), but I don't know how much difficulty he will have with that one. Perhaps he might have an idea himself.
As for Olberek, if he can do anything aside from sending his wolves into battle, we need to know, especially if it's something that might trigger these anti-magic wards. Not a very dignified job, but this one is going to be tight.
They should also be informed of the possibility of encountering these wards, as well some of the soldiers having weapons that we suspect to be able to harm even Girdin.

>>24441876
After meeting with Olberek and Girdin, I'd also think we need to talk to Mari, but one thing at a time.

Oh, and are we fully rested back up again? I might come up with new ideas we could pull during the coming night, though it'd have to be something worth the risk of triggering a ward with no support nearby...

>>24441981

Not quite. You are back up from bad to sore, but you've only had a few hours to rest since booking it from Westercoast. You should be fine by the day of the attack, though.

>>24441876

Girdin remains basically invincible to anything other than magic and bunker buster missiles (not that he knows about bunker buster missiles, but you know what I mean). Unfortunately, if the Golgothans do have even a small number of soldiers with enchanted swords, he might not be able to steamroll everything like he typically does.

Olberek is limited to speaking with and commanding plants and animals. He can also transform a creature into a dire creature, making ents out of trees or turning badgers into dire badgers or whatever. That said, it's exhausting and he can only do it once or twice a day. He's been using the power to try and increase the numbers of his dire wolf pack, but so far he's only bumped it from about 50 to about 60. He prefers using it on living creatures because in the long run they'll make a ton more of themselves without any guidance from him whatsoever. A pair of walking trees might be useful in the immediate future, though. He agrees to summon up whatever pair of dire creatures you think would be best (local wildlife permitting, at least, he can't make dire tyrannosaurs without a tyrannosaur to work with), but you can tell he's kind of humoring you. With only one daemon on the other side, and a fairly utility-oriented one at that, Olberek is fairly convinced that the battle is already won.

Though unfortunately none of that will trigger any anti-magic wards. At the same time, once transformed, these creatures aren't magic. Dire wolves can totally charge into the temple and rip shit up and the wards won't trigger.

>now what?

>>24442437
That's a very useful utility. The wolves might be key to killing Ivan, seeing as he doesn't seem to have any direct combat powers. Just anti-spirit powers.

Oh I'm back btw anon, good work on the report. What creatures should we make dire? Do creatures like snakes or spiders get more potent venom when made Dire TM?

>>24442437
We won't tell Olberek what to do regarding his own talents; he knows them better than we do and he can make more wolves if he thinks it's best.

The question is what to do with GIRDIN SMASH; tunnels or walls? Walls gets us inside and out of catapult range, tunnels keeps a huge chunk of enemy forces out of the fight. I'm more leaning towards smashing the tunnels since we were expecting to have to deal with the walls to begin with, and fitting an entire army up a tunnel that's going to just shit out pus zombies is not going to be easy; especially with catapults launching on our army.

And, we'll need to do something during the battle more than just fire off "traitor" delusions to swing the fight in Dorrik's favour. The numbers are pretty heavily against us and we did very little in the city other than let basically everyone know we were there.

>>24442437
Ents sound like they'd be big and strong, that's pretty useful, but also like they'd have a glaring weakness against fire. If so, that's bad because Golgothan officers should be able to figure that out easily.

If he made a dire version of a flying animal, some kind of bird or perhaps a bat, how strong would it be? Could it kill a man? If so, they could be useful for harassing archers on the walls, or perhaps the catapult crews. The number of archers on the walls could be an issue, but at least a fast flyer should be able to avoid fire for a while, drawing it away from the soldiers. Which is nice.

>>24442690

Venom becomes proportionately more potent when a creature is made dire. Since venom is typically made to kill things of at least the same size as the creature itself, this means anything poisonous will usually be lethally so once made dire if it wasn't already.

>>24442699

Is there any particular reason you don't want Girdin to smash the tunnels and THEN the gate?

>>24442699
Olberek gave us permission to, you'd best believe I intend to meddle in his business.

Girdin should be able to handle both. It'd most likely be in our best interest to hold the army back for a while to give him time to do his work, but he can do both no doubt.

As for ourselves, we need to be careful about our actions during the battle, since anyplace could be a mine. If we trigger one in the middle of our own army, they MIGHT not kill us, but seeing as they don't know who we are, they also might. If we trigger one near Golgothan forces, we probably die right there.

>>24442870
If we notice blood guards being unwilling to move from the spot they are standing on no matter what, we need to stay the fuck away from them. As I mentioned before he's probably planned for anti-blood golem rampage shenanigans.

>>24442911
There are several other obvious targets for us. The catapults, the war room... The question is just how many of these he can make, and how quickly. We probably don't know at all, but I'd expect any of these to have a high chance of being warded now.

>>24442820
I was actually thinking in terms of what to prioritise, weighing up how much we'd likely suffer from the catapult/archery volleys while girdin smashes tunnels vs how many zombies would get out if he went for the gate first. That said. >>24442870 makes a fine point about just getting the army to hang back.

The reason I say let Olberek do whatever is mostly because whatever pair of dire animals he summons is unlikely to have any significance, so I figured we could just pay him some lip service and go worry about more important things.

>>24442969
Eh, Olberek's opinion of us is probably quite settled and has been for god knows how long. And I kinda have a good feeling about flyers, if they move fast they'd be difficult to hit and could do some disrupting to wall defenders.

>>24443086
Yeah I like the idea of dire eagles or hawks. They could prove quite useful. I asked TM about if alligators existed here, and he said they didn't so that idea is shot. Bears likewise aren't super aggressive here so they'd be a downgrade from wolves.

I think someone asked if dire birds would be strong enough to kill a dude, and the answer is yes. Even the smallest hawk would have like a four-foot wingspan after being dire'd and one of them versus just one guy would probably end poorly. That said, they probably wouldn't fare too well themselves against massed enemies unless you can find like a one of those really huge varieties of eagle (which don't live around here) or some other ridiculously huge bird.

>>24443310
My hope for them is that they could attack in quick swoops and keep going fast so they won't be easy targets for archers. If they can be enough of a threat to force a group of archers to respond to them, and not get themselves killed right away, they're contributing massively.

Alternatively, they could possibly bite/cut ropes on the catapults and disable at least one of them each for as long as it takes to fix them..

>>24443454
I floated the idea of Dire Golden Eagles to the skype group, and it was said that it'd be possible. Let's go with that because Golden Eagles are fucking huge birds to begin with.

>>24443540
Yes, this.

>>24443540
I don't know shit about birds, so I'm not gonna object to this. Should we use them on archers or catapults? Or something entirely else?

>>24443611
buzz the walls, aim for catapult operators and commanders (there's a could of lieutenants on the walls I think). Point 'em elsewhere if need be.

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>>24443611
Probably on the archers because I dunno if they can actually sever ropes in Dire form even. If TM would confirm otherwise the catapults then.

Oh and here's your golden eagle.

>>24443540

Alright. Olberek sends the word out. He, as a spirit of the woods, has a wonderful gift for the first pair of golden eagles to come to him. He also offers a lesser gift to whatever other bird or beast brings them to him. He tells you this is what he's saying, but he's really just squawking to birds so you have no idea yourself. In any case, it doesn't take long for the eagles to find their way to Olberek, whereupon he waves his staff, their feathers ripple, their bones extend and their muscles bulge, and with a mighty roar they emerge with a wingspan of ten feet and talons like swords. They're still hollow-boned and fragile as fuck for their size, but still. Ten-foot wingspan.

>now what?

>>24443727
talk to our minion.

>>24443717
Oh god what. Shouldn't there be some kind of natural law against birds being able to do that?

>>24443765

What about?

>>24443765
For lack of better strategic ideas, I agree. We should warn her against using her fleshshaping while in Westercoast. Either because there's wards and we don't know what will happen if she accidentally triggers one, or because the asshole who sent out the murder parties to find the "cursed child" is in the city and she does not want to catch his eye.

>>24443916
But we do want her to use her abilities, don't we? She'd be able to easily squat those elite soldiers who otherwise would probably be worth at least a few regular soldiers. There's a risk involved, but do we really want to shut down all magic at our disposal?

>>24443793
>I haven't even told him about coconut crabs or camel spiders yet.

>>24443960
As long as she uses her powers outside of the range of wards she'll probably be fine. Just tell her NOT to use her powers on Ivan unless we explicitly tell her to.

>>24443976
You shut your filthy mouth. We're supposed to be breaking fictional minds in OPs universe, not each other.

>>24444009
But nobody knows where the wards are/will be. We can guess, but we don't know.

>>24443882
"Mari, spill it. What happened while I was gone?"

We know she killed Vierre, be pressing if we have to. And mention the stuff everyone's been talking about with the wards and upcoming battle plans.

>>24444011
Hey if they were native Dire Camel Spiders would've totally been on the table. Can you imagine the fear aura they would generate?

>>24444067
Huh, that never even occurred to me. All the more reason to warn her off recklessly using her power though.

>>24444067
No need to beat around the bush with her to try to get her to admit it. Just "pull" her aside, ask her to focused on the guys dressed in red until they're safely removed from the premises.

>>24444227

"Fight with the refugees and their escort," Mari says, "I wanted to stop it, but it...Didn't work. Most of the refugees are dead now. At least we got some of the Golgothans, too."

>>24444675
"...go on. It's important that I get the details Mari, did anyone make a connection?"

>>24444675
"Stopping the fight with a little intimidation? Honestly, can't blame you for trying, done the same thing many times. Know what I learned? That you can almost never stop a fight once it's started, even with magic.

I hope you're a good actor, it wouldn't be good if anyone suspected you."

>>24444887
This. Gets the point across.

>>24444887
Thirding.

>>24444887

"No one said anything," she says, glancing over her shoulder, "anyway, the whole army was there, it could've been practically anyone, right? I'm not even in the Estercoast camp anymore."

>>24445174
"Very well. Be careful, I have slain one of the spirits the enemy has been relying on. There is still one around who can place anti magic wards, as I learned rather...painfully. You'll recognize him if you see him. Huge eye, black leathery skin."

Take a moment to explain to her what we know about anti magic wards and the likely places we expect him to have placed them. Also warn her its likely he might've warded a large portion of the city with the regular detection wards.

Then its off to meet with Girdin and fill him in.

>>24445174
"Nobody suspects you, but be careful all the same. Especially now; tomorrow we march to Estercoast. They know we're coming, they know I'm with you, and they have a spirit of their own running backup with some other horrible things besides."

No need to tell Mari we fucked up but I don't think it's feasible to pretend we're completely in control.

"I'll be dealing with those with tree-hugger and rocks-for-brains. I know you can keep yourself safe, but try not to wade too deep into the battle regardless. You might need to retreat at any time. And one last thing; don't use your power unless you need to. That's very important; if your life isn't in immediate danger, stick to the bow. The leader behind the search for the "cursed child" is up there in Westercoast, and we can't risk anyone, especially him, spotting you using your power. And trust me, he's got a good eye."

>>24445573
>>24445468

So there's a significant difference in how much information you're giving out between these two, so let's roll to see which one we go with. d100, highest wins.

Rolled 88

>>24445573

>>24445573

"Nobody suspects you, but be careful all the same," you say.

"I know," Mari responds, "I'll be careful."

"It's more important now than ever," you say, "tomorrow we march on Westercoast. They know we're coming, they know I'm with you, and they have a spirit of their own running backup with some other horrible things besides. I'll be dealing with those with tree-hugger and rocks-for-brains. I know you can keep yourself safe, but try not to wade too deep into the battle regardless. You might need to retreat at any time. And one last thing; don't use your power unless you need to. That's very important; if your life isn't in immediate danger, stick to the bow. The leader behind the search for the "cursed child" is up there in Westercoast, and we can't risk anyone, especially him, spotting you using your power. And trust me, he's got a good eye."

"Alright," Mari says, "I usually stay towards the back anyways. I'm not exactly big enough for the front lines yet." She pauses a moment, and then asks "what happens after this? We can go get Leson after Westercoast falls, right?"

>wat do?

>>24446262
"Of course we can. It just wasn't a good idea to bring him here. No doubt you can see why, now. after that, the Dorriki will probably go home. The war will won for them, after all, so we'll be heading the heart of Golgoth alone. It'll be dangerous, and there will be a lot more daemons - spirits - on that road. We'll have to teach you how to manage your talent properly just to stay alive - of course, assuming you want to come at all. After this battle Dorrik will be relatively peaceful, I'm sure one of the villages would look after you and your brother. A war like this is enough excitement to last some people a lifetime. Could be nice to live quietly, even for me. I'm stuck heading to Golgoth though, there are some things going on there I can't sit down and ignore. Things that would get most mortals killed, if they could understand it at all. But if you want a slice of that rotten apple pie? You're welcome to take a bite."

>>24446829
I can live with this response.

>>24446829

"Alright," Mari says, "I mean, I don't know where we could bring him where it would be safe or...What we could do to make sure they treated him right while we were gone. Golgoth is so far away and they've conquered so many other places...It'll probably be at least a year before I see him again. I just want him to know that I'm coming back. That I haven't abandoned him."

>now what?

>>24447415
"There's nothing wrong with feeling a bond with your family. Especially considering he's all you have left. I will try one way or another to guarantee his safety. Perhaps having a chat with Olberek if possible. Now then, stay strong. I'm counting on you to be ready should I need you. You've never disappointed me yet."

After that pep talk, lets wander off to finally meet with Girdin and go over the majority of what we all discussed with him. Asking his opinion of being able to climb and clear the battlements, warning him of multiple rune sworders, and generally filling him in on what transpired.

>>24447538
And obviously double-check he's okay with it. We know we've asked him a pretty big favour.

>>24447538

"I'll be fine," Mari says, as much to herself as to you.

When you find Girdin he is, of course, staring into space, thinking unspoken thoughts. You've never once managed to sneak up on that guy, either. So far as you know he doesn't have any actual Clarity powers, but he's perceptive as fuck and you can't use Unnoticed when moving (yet). As usual, he tilts his head ever so slightly in your direction to acknowledge your approach and listens silently as you fill him in. And, as usual, he does not respond for about ten minutes.

"I can fight an army of any size...of normal soldiers," he says finally, "no matter if it take me hours, days, or years...there is no number of swords and arrows that could stop me...no armor that could slow me down...But," he closes his eyes a minute in what you think is particular concentration, "these enchanted weapons...Have pierced my hide once...And may do so again...Imprison the zombies...Eliminate the enchanted soldiers...And the battle is already won...What we need is a way to bring all of them...To one place, for the slaughter...Perhaps your Dementation could arrange something?"

>wat do?

>>24447978
"I can delusion their commanders with the most sound battle plan to be ordering all soldiers to the breach, perhaps. It depends on how thorough this Eye daemon is with his warding, and how easily we can circumvent them."

Tell him we'll work on a way to make sure he only has to fight those armored soldiers 1v1, and potentially not at all. He seemed capable of taking some damage while outright killing that one before.

After that, I suppose we grab our rest and get ourselves in the zone for the battle ahead.

>>24448231
Agreeing, mostly to show that there's more than one player still lurking.

>>24448231

Alright, this is probably a good place to call it, then. Our population is running slim.

Thursday is D&D, so Friday is when we will have our epic climax. Also, Dungeon Keeper Quest is starting on Friday, that seems like it might be cool.

See you guys tomorrow for the battle for Westercoast.

>>24448659

Looking forward to it. Thanks for the run today, TM.