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And here is the map of the ongoing siege. Your guys are the blue.

File: 1373911127854.png-(216 KB, 1553x872, Trickster Daemon Quest Ma(...).png)

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And here is the world map.

>THIS QUEST IS NEWBIE FRIENDLY
>NOW READ ALL THIS BULLSHIT
Thats not very newbie friendly.

>>26029882

Well, we're certainly friendly to newbies. I'm doing my best to make it as easy as possible to get into this quest. It might not be working very well, but at this point I'm stuck with the setting I've got, and it's unusual and requires some explanation.

And do keep in mind the second two pastes are entirely optional. You seriously do not have to read them at any point to be part of the quest.

>>26029784
Well, we're in a rough situation because most everyone is low on energy right now. What we can do is put Sierra and Beskir on watch while the rest of us relax and try to restore our energy for a few hours. Report to us if anything majorly concerning is spotted with that apparition's movements or tactics, and direct Isrameth and Wayart here if they see them.

Arrange a meeting with the mortal leader of the fortress before we rest and ask him about the layout of the defenses. What sort of tunnels or passages does this fortress have, and how much food is in here for the mortals to survive off of?

The simple fact of the matter is barring the enemy daemon's intervention if he allows our group to rest he is making a grave error, as just a couple of fireballs and maybe a Holocaust from Tethys could wipe out the besieging forces here. So we'll see where that brings.

>>26030234
Well, grave isn't the right word for it. He'd be essentially letting us just blow up the rest of his mortals though, which would definitely make any plans he may have that much more annoying to accomplish.

The ultimate goal should be killing him, if possible.

>>26030234
>>26030273

A minor noble, second son of a Baron, is in charge of running the defense of this fortress, having no land to inherit from his father. "We have enough food to last for months," he says, "through winter and well into spring."

The enemy daemon haunts the city for a time, then turns to the other fortress. He swoops down to the fortress walls, picking off defenders, slipping straight through the walls. When the Golgothans move forward hours later to take the fortress, there's barely anyone to resist. No one opposes them as they push their ladders up against the walls and open the gate from within.

Your team if feeling ready for round two, though. No one's fully rested, but no one's exhausted either.

>wat do?

>>26030552
Focus on smaller, less difficult area's to attack and allow the men to regain their energy before planning on making a greater attack on the enemy

>>26030619

Well, you're besieged. Basically you either make a sortie or sit on the walls and wait for them to try and dash themselves against your walls. And hope they don't bring their ghost daemon that can pass straight through walls and is immune to attacks from everyone here except for two of your allies who have Hellfire. There aren't really smaller attacks to make, it's kind of all or nothing.

>>26030552
That only answered half of my question. Are there any tunnels or passages that lead away from the fortress underground? As in anything we or an enemy could use to travel to and from the city proper?

I have a potential plan, but it relies on us being able to leave the fortress undetected.

>>26030651
Are there any other men at hand?

>>26030651
I know it's probably risky, but I'd rather fight the ghost daemon away from walls and such, where it could just hide from us (can it actually go into the ground? Then we'd be royally fucked!). The problem are, of course, the waves of ordinary soldiers.

>>26030658

Oh, right. No, there are not any tunnels or escape routes, besides those leading out onto the walls. That said, there's very few besieging forces on the west side, so you could probably slip through there undetected.

>>26030737

You've got about five hundred soldiers in the fortress against about two and a half thousand outside. You've also got yourself, a pyromancer fire daemon; Goralin, a stone daemon who's very strong, very tough, and also capable of spitting out fireballs; Tethys and Beskir, your subordinates who can both shoot firebolts and have Hellfire, making them the only ones who can harm the enemy ghost daemon; and Sierra, who can reshape stone, has a couple of illusions, and can detect magic.

Somewhere out in the city you might have a few more magic allies, if the enemy forces (particularly their ghost daemon) hasn't picked them off already.

>>26030998
Do Tethy or Beskir have Fortitude? If so, they could maybe go out there with Goralin (who sounds like he shouldn't have a problem with mortal weaponry) and decimate some human soldiers. Actually Goralin would do the decimating and his companion would try to stay out of harms way, however possible (Stoneshape a small plateau?) just in case of a ghostly attack. The other Hellfire-Daemon could stay with us and protect the fortress.

>>26030998
Were gonna have a group meeting.

"Fellow Daemons, we find ourselves in a most unpleasant situation. The enemy before is most certainly a Common Daemon, if not a Peer. Thus, is it absolutely vital we defeat him. Tethys and Beskir are our only options as striking him down, and it will likely take a coordinated effort from the both of them to stand a proper chance."

"There's a possibility of sneaking a few of our number out the west side of the fortress, and being able to cut back into the city to confront him. Tethys, if there's a way we can get you into position to drop a Hellfire Holocaust on this foe without unduly destroying our own allies, I would prefer that to cripple our foe. If anyone has any idea how we might rig an ambush for this enemy, say so."

Let's test the waters and see what clever stuff our allies can drum up. If none of them can think of anything I might have an idea myself.

>>26030939

Your Necromancer Isrameth has gone missing, so you can't ask him what the limits of ghost form are. You haven't seen the ghost daemon go underground yet, however.

>>26031138

Tethys does, Beskir does not.

Goralin is a stone daemon but he can't actually shape stone, he's just made of the stuff. Sierra's the only Stoneshaper you have with you right now.

Goralin is extremely resistant to mortal weaponry, but he can be killed by mortal weapons eventually.

>>26031200

"We'd need to know what that daemon was looking for down in the city," Goralin says, "it's not made a habit of coming down to ground level without a reason."

"Stray daemons is my guess," Sierra says, "when it was in the city earlier...I think it was hunting Isrameth and Wayart."

"If not stray daemons, then stray soldiers," Beskir says.

"I can take a small group of mortals with me," Tethys says, "the terrain to the west is rough but a small group should be able to traverse it in good time, even if they are mortals. If the ghost even gets close, I can hit it with the Holocaust."

"But if you're in the city, you'll be vulnerable to ambush," Goralin says, "it can pass through walls, after all."

"I think it's worth the risk," Tethys responds.

>wat do?

>>26031333
Don't we have the black Twin with us still? I thought it was the white one that got run off the wall.

>>26031408

The black one went missing during the retreat to the fortress.

I think I may have forgotten to mention, that was kind of between threads. But yeah, he's missing. May or may not be alive. If you can retake the city, you'll be able to search for him (and the white twin, and Isrameth, and Wayart) and see what shape they're in.

>>26031461
"Tethys, could you take a small group of mortals along with Sierra and Beskir with you? Sierra can help spot our foe and hopefully misdirect him with illusions if necessary. Beskir can provide fire support if you come into contact with him, and help finish him off if you do catch him. You have an enchanted blade, so make sure to behead him if you succeed. Don't burn the body though, I want to identify the Daemon personally since I haven't gotten a clear look at it."

"Goralin and I can handle the defense of the fortress just fine. I have my armor, and Goralin has his own defenses against both spiritual and physical blows should our enemy attack here. That, and we both have enchanted weapons to bring to bear against it."

Let's gauge the reaction to that and see what the consensus seems to be.

>>26031704
We have an armor? Care to elaborate? I was kinda fixed on OP's picture, not really thinking about equiptment.

>>26031851
We have armor and a bladestaff we threw together from looting a defeated Blood Guard Sect that we ambushed a while back (Before FDQ came to here). Both are enchanted, so the armor gives a decent amount of protection and the weapon can carve through most Daemons' Fortitude and mundane materials easily.

That may have changed, but its what I know.

>>26031851

Your armor is sort of a patchwork of enchanted stuff that was roughly appropriately sized, strapped on haphazardly. It's not nearly as good as proper fitted plate would be, but it's enchanted, so that's something.

>>26031704

"I can see the ghost if he shows himself," Sierra says, "but I can't see through walls."

"Even if the ghost gets one free hit, he won't survive the follow-up," Tethys says.

"Neither will I," Sierra responds.

"About 'don't burn the body,'" Beskir says, "considering the plan is to kill it with fire, I don't think we can make any promises."

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>>26031851
Speaking of OP's picture I believe pic related was what was originally chosen for Tallorn's physical appearance.

>>26031960
"Head out then, and burn it to ash if you must, but at least try to gather some intel on that thing. Don't put yourself at risk to do it though, dead with intel is no more useful than living with none."

>>26031983

I tried to find that one, but couldn't. Neat.

I'm pretty sure the idea was that Tallorn had the stature of the OP pic but was all on fire and shit like this new one.

>>26031960
"I know you can't Sierra, but I believe the best chance we have at luring him out is for your group to have better eyes on the field looking for it to begin with. We want to ambush it, and hopefully not the other way around. And I understand about the burning corpse issue, it's merely a hopeful thing."

I'm pretty settled on this at least.

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>>26031983
You sure that's not just uh... The Pit lord from Heroes of Might and Magic 6.

>>26032103
It is.

>>26032069
The fact that we're made of obsidian and fire instead of flesh turned out to be important (We can't use Mend on ourselves) so I thought I'd post it for reference's sake.

>>26032103
It basically is. The image came from here:

http://rawwad.deviantart.com/art/Inferno-Pit-Fiend-201544067

We pulled it from google image search during char gen; didn't know it was from Might & Magic at the time.

>>26032103

Congratulations, you've discovered our secret! That dedicated concept art team we told you about was a lie! We are actually using Google Images to find things! Truly you are the most clever detective to ever detect things.

>>26032077

"Tallorn," Goralin says, "do I understand correctly that your intention is to send my subordinate on a suicide mission, wherein she will either be killed by an enemy she cannot fight back against or incinerated by our own side's Holocaust, for the most fleeting of tactical gains?"

>>26032250
Do we NEED Sierra's daemonsight to find the ghost? We have Piercing Gaze ourselves; how does that work?

>>26032315

The ghost is not at all invisible. It is translucent, which makes it kind of hard to see in poor visibility conditions, like night time, but it's entirely visible.

>>26032462
Then lets not send her. If Tethys and Beskir are confident in their ability to destroy this Daemon with an ambush, then we'll let them. Goralin and ourselves can stand on guard duty and keep watch on the city in the background to see if anything's going on.

>>26032462
I'd say, those not resistant to flames should stay (excluding mortals, because. Well, mortals will be fucked regardless).

>>26032462
Why don't we go out ourselves? Turn on Radience so we have a good light light source and use our Piercing Gaze to see through walls (Piercing Gaze is x-ray vision right?). We might not be able to see it clearly beyond walls but we stand a better chance of survival than Sierra. We have an enchanted weapon and fireproof so the holocaust shouldn't be a problem as long as Tethys keeps his Hellfire turned off when he uses it. Obviously he'll need it to strike the ghost daemon but we'll just book it out of there with Celerity when the time is right; he can stick to hellfire bolts until then.

Plus, since the ghost daemon doesn't know we don't have hellfire personally, and we're nine foot of burning obsidian with an enchanted weapon, he'd have to be supremely stupid to go soaring through a wall into melee range with us. It should at the very least force it to try different tactics on us, if not make it run away altogether.

>>26032605

Piercing Gaze isn't x-ray vision, it just lets you see in the dark. Basically, it tells things like Blinding Darkness to fuck off, and also gives you nightvision.

>>26032638
Could you post the definition of Hellfire please? I thought it was only for burning ghosts 'n shit, so I dont see why we'd be affected. But I'm quite sure I just dont remember the correct definition of it.

>>26032638
Oh. The description in the other thread says that it lets you see through mundane obstacles, which sounded like "walls? What walls?" but nightvision is equally effective since it can't hide in the dark. If we turn on Piercing Gaze, would the ghost daemon be able to tell it's active (like is there a visual cue like glowing eyes or something)? If not, even better.

>>26032669
It burns the soul of the target. You're fucked unless you have Impervious Soul, which is a Fortitude skill. Even then it isn't immunity from such a vastly destructive ability.

>>26032686
Alright, thanks. I'm currently looking up the definition of our powers. If we could get the ghost to look into our eyes, would that make it vulnerable to our Majesty talents? What with us being Extraordinarily Persuasive and whatnot.

>>26032730
Suggestion could work on it, but if it's a Peer it will have a better than not chance of resisting it. We could outright disable it completely with a proper Suggestion, barring resistance. It would certainly help keeping it pinned down until we could get out of the Nuke Zone for Tethys to obliterate it at point blank range.

>>26032730
If it's a Common or less, it will work. If it's a peer it might work. If it's higher than that, panic.

>>26032669

Hellfire is fire that burns the soul itself. Anything that isn't shielded from either fire attacks (with Fireproof), magic attacks (with stuff like Arcana or Resilient Soul), or just all damage ever (like having Wolverine healing powers because of Fleshshaping) is going to be affected.

>>26032673

Your eyes glow when you have Piercing Gaze turned on, proportionate to how much you're seeing through. To see through Blinding Darkness you need to have eyes glowing like a wizard, but for regular nightvision it's barely noticeable.

>>26032730

If it's a common daemon, it'll be vulnerable automatically. If it's a peer, you'll have to get lucky. The big problem is making eye contact long enough to get a Suggestion out.

>>26032730
Extraordinarily Persuasive means that majesty powers can effect enemy daemons. This doesn't necessarily mean it will work; higher-ranked daemons will have a chance of resisting the effect and we don't know the rank of this ghost. It's probably common, but a powerful one, which means a suggestion is not likely to be guaranteed. We should still try it if we get the opportunity. If we can land a suggestion we can order it to do absolutely nothing for a minute then pound on it with hellfire bolts and our enchanted weapon.

>>26032789
Alright, fair enough. How would we go about a Suggestion then (not the phrasing, the situation): Would you, as the GM, tell us in a way ("[...]it's glowing eyes gaze into your's, as it rips the helpless soldiers apart[...]") or would we have to tell you that we wish to roll for a chance to get a suggestion out?

>>26032852

You'd say that you're trying to get eye contact with the thing, and depending on things like how much Celerity each side has, how good each side is in terms of mundane combat and agility, and whether or not one side or the other has powers or mundane skills that can make use of terrain and stuff, I'll figure out some odds and roll for it. Unless the odds favor one side or the other very strongly, in which case it just works or it just fails.

>>26032954
Alright, curiosity is satisfied for now. Let's actually get on with this.

>>26032990
Agreed, are you (Assuming you're the same anon as I'm referencing) still of the opinion that we should accompany the war party in Sierra's stead?

>>26033023
Not the same anon, but of the same opinion.

We agreed on heading out personally then with Beskir and Tethys? Maybe some dialogue to go with the decision:

"If you're against sending your subordinate Goralin, then I will not demand it of her or you, but we need a set of eyes on the field to identify our enemy. I will accompany Tethys and Beskir personally with my Piercing Gaze, and hope our foe comes within striking distance of my blade."

>>26033023
Seems to be about four of us here not counting the GM. I was >>26033069 and >>26032605, if that's any help.

Same as >>26033056
Sorry, I gotta get going, but I'll try to check in later.
Not a lot of people in this thread, but be assured GM, your work is much appreciated. Keep up the good work.

>>26033104
Alright, I'm of the same opinion then to go ourselves with Beskir and Tethys. So then I back >>26033069

>>26032990
>>26033023
>>26033056
>>26033069

You slip across the wall on the western side of the fortress, using the cover of darkness to avoid the Golgothan scouts and patrols, and work your way around back into the city. Golgothan patrols stalk the streets as well, but they are fairly few in number and easy to avoid. The townspeople have gathered together into a few guardhouses or other improvised strongholds, where they do their best to hide from the battle until one side or the other claims victory (it makes little difference to them who they're paying taxes to), and these are easily avoided.

You spot the ghost before it spots you. It lurks high up in the night sky near the western fortress, planning an attack, perhaps, or waiting for some opportunity to strike.

>now what?

>>26033144
We'll need to bait it down somehow. If we brought some mortals with us we could send them out into into somewhere the ghost can see them and wait for it to swoop down. When it does, we'll try to engage it with a "Do absolutely nothing for a minute" suggestion, and give Tethys and Beskir orders to open fire on it as soon as we've done so whether or not the attempt succeeds.

If we don't have mortals nearby though we'll need some other way of baiting it down.

>>26033219
I was thinking along the same lines. Letting a group of our soldiers being seen staking out the area could bait the ghost down. It's a gambit that he won't just send mortals to deal with them though.

It would certainly give us the perfect setup for a Holocaust, if you want to try it. We just have to give Tethys enough room to work with.

>>26033347
We could try baiting it out ourselves; march out into an open but otherwise empty area and take a shot at it, letting it realise we don't have Hellfire and hoping we can Suggest it into immobility before signalling Tethys to go full Germany on him.

>>26033425

This is if we don't have any mortals to send out as bait, mind. I'd rather try that first.

>>26033219
>>26033347

You send the half-dozen or so mortal soldiers ahead into what you hope is a reasonably obvious position to the ghost above, but less so to the patrols down below: Atop an inn's rooftop, hiding behind a balcony's railing that's been piled up with furniture, presumably by the inn's owner before he evacuated entirely (or maybe he's still hiding in a cellar somewhere; regardless the building itself is deserted).

From this distance, you can't tell where the ghost is looking exactly, but it drifts down towards the city a few moments later. When next you see it, it's barely visible. Your eyes pierce the darkness of night to see the top half of its head sticking out of the ground as it flits from a building adjacent to the inn to within the inn itself, passing, of course, straight through the wall. The soldiers up top are unaware, and so too are your daemon allies.

>wat do?

>>26033529
Wait, did we not tell Beskir and Tethys our plan, or have they just not yet noticed that the ghost has arrived?

>>26033567

They haven't spotted the ghost. They know about the plan.

>>26033621
Ah okay. Where is everyone relative to the ghost?

>>26033648

You and your daemon buddies are all hiding down the street, about eighty feet away. The ghost is within range of Tethys' Holocaust, but barely. Your mortal allies are like ten feet above the ghost and are probably all going to die.

>>26033669
Hmm. Perhaps we tell Tethys to move in a bit closer, get clear of the blast zone (if we're not already) and wait for the mortals to start, well, dying, then activate his holocaust. Soon as it's safe for us we'll charge in with Beskir and make damn sure that the thing is dead. Wait for another anon to confirm.

>>26033784
If it's feasible to do this within the time it'll take that ghost to kill those mortals, then sure.

>>26033849
>>26033784

You and Beskir begin sneaking away as best you can, being ~8 feet tall broad-shouldered monsters, while Tethys waits for you to clear the distance.

A few seconds later the mortals begin shrieking in terror as the ghost comes up through the floor, ripping them to pieces. They hack and slash futilely, weapons passing straight through, and then there's the sudden silence that comes in the split second before the massive detonation of the Holocaust. A huge chunk of the town is immediately burned away, and your ghostly foe floats away from the attack, his incorporeal form still burning. You and Beskir throw out a pair of firebolts towards him, but with a sudden burst of speed, he flits out of the way of them both and away from the city entirely. As the range increases, his erratic flying pattern becomes more and more difficult to keep up with, and before long he passes out of range entirely.

That said, he appears to be wounded badly. Clearly he has some Celerity, but depending on exactly what powers he has, he may not be able to stay ahead of you indefinitely. You might be able to chase him down and finish him off, but it'll take a long while. The battle for Menteraki may be decided one way or the other by the time you get back, especially if there are other enemy daemons nearby.

>wat do?

>>26034142
We might be able to since we have Marathon Runner, but nobody else will be able to keep pace with us. Let's see if we can tail him while telling Beskir to take Tethys back to the fortress and to hold the line until we return.

If he's badly wounded he has to stop running eventually, and that opens the door for us to cut him down with our enchanted weapon. Even if he can phase into the ground he can't stay there indefinitely when his power is low...hopefully.

>>26034225
And if he stays in the air?

>>26034329
Can't stay floating forever, that power has to drain energy. And if he somehow can after he runs out of energy to remain incorporeal, we fireball him or Suggest he come down and stand still.

>>26034415
One important thing I forgot to add is no matter what your rank is you still have to obey the rules of equal energy available to any other Daemon. If he's badly wounded, that means he's most likely at Bad condition or worse. We're (I think) just above Sore right now, so we're in a good position to hunt him down.

>>26034453
I don't agree. We have no idea what other capabilities this daemon has, chasing after it alone is just asking to get killed. Even if it's wounded, it could very well have powers we don't know about that will screw us over completely. Considering its available mortal resources, it could also easily be luring us into a trap- It has had time to set one up. Our priority here is to break the siege and get the fuck out before Razag can hear about it.

>>26034521
Agreed; this whole battle is just an attack of opportunity to us. We want to do as much damage as possible then get the hell out of here. The ghost daemon has fucked off and wont' be coming back in a hurry we'd do much better applying our talents as a force multiplier to the Gigan troops now. If we take care of the Golgothan forces while he's fleeing he won't have much reason to come back. Let's make our way back to Goralin; wiping out any small patrols on the way if it's feasible.

>>26034640
Agreed, we should be combat capable enough that we don't need to waste fireballs on small patrols.

>>26034663
We also have Dragon Breath now; it has a ten meter range and a comparatively low cost. If I recall, it tastes ten full minutes of usage to tire us out from full. A few second burst can ignite a cluster of guards for an almost negligible cost.

Incidentally, how tiring is Burning Hands?

>>26034748

You can use Burning Hands indefinitely. Your hands are just like lava whenever you want them to be. As a general rule it is slightly more useful than a sword.

>>26034795
Which is less useful than the reach and ease of cutting than our weapon provides, but still something worth noting right?

>>26034795
Cool. We'll hit up some smaller patrols on the way then. We might consider going and looking for our lost allies though; the other stone guy from the twin peaks and Isrameth. Isrameth especially; if he can zombify the enemies dead - even slowly - it's just more free resources to keep throwing at Golgoth. If the Gigans have a problem with it just shrug and say they're not really in a position to argue about it.

>>26034910
Does nobody else have an opinion on this idea?

>>26034910

Right. You begin heading through the town, mopping up the occasional patrol. Between yourself, Tethys, and Beskir, you're more than capable of wiping out a dozen-odd Golgothans at a time without using anything other than passive Talents.

"Tallorn!" you hear a voice from one of the buildings. Isrameth emerges from a building half-ruined by a boulder lobbed over the wall during the siege. A half-dozen Golgothan zombies stagger behind him.

"Isrameth, what happened? Where's Wayart and the twins?" you ask.

"Dead," Isrameth says, "or Wayart is anyways. Probably the others as well. We couldn't fight back, but I at least could blind the thing and get away. It sent its soldiers to find me. I made them a persuasive offer to change sides," he gestures towards his zombie minions.

"No sign of the twins?" you ask.

"None," Isrameth says, "but unless they have some way of fighting or evading that ghost, they're probably gone as well. He was hunting me and Wayart through the city."

>wat do?

>>26035155
"Glad to see you're still around at least, we managed to cripple it with a Holocaust. Got away though, but it won't be coming back soon. Let's go plow through the remaining forces now that they don't have a Daemon to babysit them."

>>26035155
"Damn. Wayart was one of our best, and without the twins Sierra is our only stoneshaper. We managed to chase off the ghost though, if only temporarily. We hit it hard, but it floated off still alive. Where did you last see the twins? If they're not already dead we might be able to find them."

>>26035155
No... No! Not Wayart! Why did it have to be Wayart?

RIP Wayart

>>26035269
>>26035279

"The black one on the wall I haven't seen since the gate was breached. The white one, I caught a glimpse of while the Golgothans were still seizing the city, but he was running in the opposite direction and I was hiding from that ghost. I chose not to reveal myself for fear of alerting it to the presence of both of us."

>>26035450
Do we have a current area map?

Holy shit it is time for me to go like right now. I thought it was like thirty minutes earlier than it was. Okay, I need to leave now we will continue tomorrow.