>>25993236
Can we use Goralin's improved senses to see if he can pick out anyone on the peaks? I'm not sure how exactly his new power works and what its limits are.

>>25993494

Goralin's Clarity does indeed grant him incredible senses, so he can assure you that there is nobody waiting in the peaks themselves besides the wildlife you'd expect. There's not even any of those bothersome tribals hanging about. They don't seem to like hanging around the treacherous mountains. The fact that some of them are still patrolled by hostile Stone daemons probably helps. Goralin can also tell you that the skies are currently clear of any marauding daemons, so Razag isn't anywhere close.

On the other hand, this also means that if there's anyone here, they're going to be inside the caverns beneath the peaks. There's no one in the entrances, but past that Goralin can't say. His sense are keen, but he can't see through walls.

>wat do?

>>25993679
Maybe we should send Isrameth to scout the caves a little and report back within a certain time limit. Goralin might be able to direct him to the most potentially dangerous ones.

>>25993746

You send Isrameth into the caverns to scout things out. About half an hour later he returns with a few cuts and scrapes, but nothing especially serious. "There's a pair of daemons in there having a fight," he says, "the daemons of the peaks, I'd guess. They're both Stoneshapers, and barely even noticed my entrance, though there was enough collateral damage to dissuade me from lurking."

>wat do?

>>25993972
"Figures, Goralin let's go have a word with them and see if they know where the others are."

Then let's make the journey to go meet them.

>>25994045

You head into the caverns with Goralin and Isrameth behind. It's not surprising Tethys and Wayart are lagging a day or two behind you, since they spent a day or two going in the wrong direction. In any case, once inside the caverns Goralin's keen senses soon pick up on the sounds of battle, and he guides you to the chamber where the two of them do battle. Stalagtites hang down from above in a mostly natural cavern, strewn with rubble as various pillars and rock formations have been shattered, regrown, and shattered again whilst the two of them do battle. Both large, bulky humanoids, one of white stone shot through with black veins, the other the reverse. By the look of things, the black one has Fortitude, the white Potence, and both have Stoneshaping. They fling debris at one another, thunderous blows from the one are deflected harmlessly off of the other's stony hide with a great cracking noise.

>wat do?

>>25994405
"Some things never change with those two, want to break things up Goralin? I'd rather not break any more bones trying to play peacekeeper."

Then we'll just observe and greet where necessary.

>>25994405
If they're Stone they're not our headache. Goralin can raise his own kids.

>>25994491
>>25994469

"Enough," Goralin says, and the two turn and look towards him.

"Goralin," the white one begins, "he refuses to stay on his side of the border!"

"He's undermining my concept, literally!" the black one starts, "it's a direct attack on my source of power!"

"Liar! I was just expanding a few caverns!" the white one responds. An actual heated argument amongst Stone daemons. Now you've seen everything.

"Enough!" Goralin shouts. "I do not have time to sort you two out. We are at war."

"Stone does not let such passing things as wars interfere with our ways, our traditions," the black daemon insists.

"Stone does not fight the wars," Goralin says, "the Volcanic House does."

"But in the last war-" the white daemon begins, at which point Goralin actually cuts him off.

"We lost," Goralin says. "Another word about this from either of you and I shall personally see the both of you stuck in an oubliette as soon as we find Anomaly, or any other noble willing to do me a favor. Understood?" The two are wordless. "Good. Razag pursues us. We need tunnels to take us south and east, to Margell, so that we can free our allies in the region. Where is Sierra?"

"Here," says Sierra. She was one of the first daemons you encountered after being released from your oubliette, a humanoid creature of dirt and gravel.

"Good," Goralin says, "lead her to whatever cavern extends closest to our destination and then start making tunnels. We want as few breaks to the surface as possible. Sierra, you're in charge. If she reports the slightest lack of cooperation from either of you, I shall be most displeased. Get going."

The three of them begin heading off into the tunnels to get working, leaving the three of you in the main cavern. Goralin sighs. "In all the Court of Stone, there are only two unreliable daemons. And of course I get stuck with both of them."

>wat do?

>>25994696
We'll camp out and keep an eye on the area just outside the entrances to see if Tethys and Wayart are coming. When we get a chance, we should also ask Sierra if she's managed to find any more of our vassals' Oubliettes and if Beskir came by here within the last week or two.

>>25994696
Does the current cave have multiple entrances? If so how many? We should not stay somewhere we can't run away from.

>>25994861

Yes. This cavern is basically a hub within one of the two peaks. It leads off to all kinds of other peaks.

>>25994851

Sierra has had little luck in finding new daemon allies since last she left. All she did manage to find was a Sky daemon, who she pulverized immediately upon release. Two days later Beskir caught up to her and informed her of the ceasefire. Oops.

File: 1373748554088.png-(216 KB, 1553x872, Trickster Daemon Quest Ma(...).png)

216 KB PNG

Have I not posted the new map? I haven't. Someone cleaned up all the jpeg artifacts on my map. On the one hand I was kind of looking forward to just how Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff the thing would look by the time I added in Golgoth, but this looks much better.

>>25994942
So yeah lets just keep watch on the grounds just outside the cave entraces we might expect our allies to come to. Also check in with Sierra periodically to figure out how the tunneling effort is going.

>>25994851

I guess we're going with this.

It's about three days later that Tethys and Wayart arrive. They'd been traveling slow to avoid detection, but so far as they can tell Razag went running off in the wrong direction and they haven't seen him since. Of course, that was over a week ago.

Regardless, Sierra and the twins have tunneled a fair way through the mountains. You should be able to make decent time underground for the next day or so, but after that you'll either have to travel at a painfully slow rate while building new tunnels or else head to the surface between tunneling sessions. The occasional natural cavern system can give you a few free tunnels, but still, you'll be moving much slower. Razag is unlikely to track you down here no matter how much time you give him, but Dominion has a lot of plans in motion, and they'll be moving them forward while you crawl towards Margell. They might put guards on the oubliettes, scatter some of the Tulivinen tribes, seize Margellian kingdoms, plus if some of the other daemons in your army use less foolproof means of hiding their tracks, Razag might fall upon them. The faster you can put yourself on an even playing field with him, the better, and that's not going to happen under here.

>wat do?

Rolled 38

>>25995334
Kill everyone in sight.

>>25995564

No.

>>25995334
Sorry for the delay

We'll travel exclusively underground for maybe the first third of the journey, then take the surface compromises when possible. If we can keep Razag off of our trail for long enough at the beginning its likely he won't even be able to find it by the time we surface for the rest of the journey.

>>25996065

You travel the first third or so of the journey underground at an agonizingly slow rate. You cover maybe four miles a day, occasionally getting lucky enough to add another half mile or so from natural caverns. For weeks you tunnel through the gloom, the only light your own fiery aura.

When you finally breach the surface, you've left the Golgothan Kaerndal fortress behind, hopefully far enough so that you won't run into any of their patrols. It's well into autumn, although here that mostly just means the rainy season is coming to an end.

There are all manner of unruly tribes between you and Margell, to say nothing of how close you'll be passing Evermere Keep in Destos, which is controlled by Golgoth.

>how do you plan to proceed?

>>25996289
We'll try to skirt the border of Tulivinen and Destos as closely as possible and give Evermere a wide berth. Eazag could have sent a Daemon to patrol around the pass hoping we'd go through. We won't need to though hopefully, and sticking to the mountains should keep the tribals out of sight.

>>25996348

You can head along the mountains up until Evermere, but you can't both skirt the border and give Evermere a wide berth because Evermere is built on the border for the specific reason of protecting it. They'll have regular patrols throughout the nearby mountains and wilds. You'll have to strike pretty deep into the forest to get around them.

That said, Wayart and Goralin would both recommend doing so. Being spotted by random tribals means word will leak back to Golgoth that you were in the area eventually, yes, but being spotted by people who actually work for Golgoth means Razag will know within days. Plus he'll know where you're headed.

Also, I forgot to ask earlier. Do you plan on bringing Beskir with you to Margell, or keep him unsealing oubliettes in the Tulivinen mountains? For that matter, when the twins and Sierra finish with their tunneling job, are you going to bring them along or send them back?

>>25996554
Everyone's coming with us. We can't risk Razag intercepting them on th way back and possibly interrogating them. The four of them can get to work on Oubliette duty in Margell. As for skirting, follow Goralin's advice and take his way.

>>25996601

All nine of you head through the mountains. You continue your journey almost undisturbed, despite the twins constantly glaring at one another, until you begin nearing Evermere. "Patrol," Goralin says, focusing his eyes into the distance. Looking closely, you can see them too, tiny specks moving across the next mountain over. "They won't have spotted us at this distance. We need to move inland now."

Your group heads back into the thick forests, tangled roots and vines slowing your progress. Wayart steps nimbly through the foliage, but the rest of you are slow-going. "Wait," Goralin says about a day into the journey through the woods, then "tribals." He points. You'll have to take his word for it, you can't see a thing. "Camouflage," Goralin says, "I don't think they've seen us yet. We might be able to go around."

"Or we might not," Tethys says, "if they have spotted us, killing them could buy us another day or two before Razag learns we're here. Or longer! The bodies may never be found at all."

>wat do?

>>25996823
Again follow Goralin's advice. Have Wayart direct the best way to camoflague us.

>>25996927

You head around the tribals and towards Margell again. All told, it's been nearly two months since you fought with Koril. You've seen little action since. Hopefully by now Razag will have stopped chasing after every shadow and half-witnessed report and he'll wait for real news to do anything. You head up into the mountains again, in the direction of the vast fortress city of Menteraki.

This place was the smallest of villages when last you were out and about. Civilization was much younger then. Things grow so quickly in just a few centuries, especially with daemons pushing things along. You can hear the mortals even at a distance, on the other side of the mountain. The pounding of feet. Another Golgothan legion marching into Margell. It would seem they are expanding their borders, but then, when are they not?

You're following a ridge, Wayart going on ahead to scout for enemies. He's practically a ghost in the mountains and forests alike. You hear the brief sounds of a struggle up ahead, and then Wayart comes running around the ridge. "What happened?" you ask.

"Golgothan patrol, killed them," he says, "you should see this." Rounding the ridge, Wayart points, but there's no need. The valley below is blocked by the massive walls of Menteraki, its enormous gate holding closed all those who would enter by the main roads. That's nothing noteworthy, you'd planned on using mountain paths anyway, forging your own if need be.

What comes as more of a surprise is what fills the valley. Golgothan legions blanket the area, something like ten thousand soldiers with mangonels, ballistae, and siege towers. The valley surges like a human wave as Golgothan troops pour through a breach in the great Menteraki wall.

>wat do?

Rolled 44

>>25995693
Okay, I realized that without a rolling mechanic it was almost certain that this "quest" would be a circlejerk. I just wanted to test to make sure I was correct which I am.

>>25997799

Give my regards to Bizarro World, I guess.

And I need to go now, so I guess we'll continue sputtering along tomorrow.

Rolled 92

>>25997912
If by "bizzaro world" you mean reality, then sure.