Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 45, P = 55, EP = 40

"Yes, if you could get it to sit still for long enough. They take a few seconds to activate, and then a few more for the magic to take affect, and even they, they don't work if the thing they're attached to is moving around too much. Still, if you found a sleeping demon, or one that wouldn't be thrashing around too much, it would work."

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

"Anything else I should know about this? Someplace I could expect to find Stalkers in particular, or any other demons you're interested in? Or something I just haven't thought about?"

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 45, P = 55, EP = 40

"Stalkers are all over the place, it shouldn't be too hard to find. The demons seem to have a small base being run out of one of the houses nearby, so you might want to start there. There are quite a few of them there usually, so I would advise caution. The house is two streets inward, and then one street over to the North, which is a left turn. It's two houses down from the end, with tacky blue paint."

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

"I'll be careful, but I'd like to get started shortly, unless there was something else I should know."

(Question of curiosity: is there a meaningful somatic or verbal component to spells in this universe? I'm guessing at least some sort of gesture is needed, since you can't cast a spell while in a submission hold...)

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 45, P = 55, EP = 40

(It depends on the person, and on their teacher. Magic in DG is less structured than in, say, D&D. Everyone can do pretty much the same things, but how they do it is completely up to them. In other words: it's up to the player to pick what exactly their character has to do to cast a spell. So, they aren't required, but that's one way of doing it. Spells do require some kind of gesture though, even if it is only used to determine where it goes.)

"No, that should be all. Here, here are the devices you'll need. Good luck, youngster;" the old wizard replies, and pulls a trio of small buttons from out of a pocket in his robes. Each of them has a small rune on it, as well as a pin for stabbing into whatever it was she wanted to teleport. "All you need to do is stick them, the pin will do the rest. No complex activation code or whatnot. Just don't jab yourself with any of them!" He continues, laughing lightly as he finishes.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Ashley carefully stows the pins with her other supplies.

"Thanks. I'll be careful, and I'll return sometime in the early evening, just so you don't mistake me for a thief."

She moves to leave the room, and the house.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 45, P = 55, EP = 40

(Ashley gets 3x Teleport Pins.)

The old wizard only nods, and turns back to his lab as Ashley leaves. She proceeds outside, the area around the house remaining just as it had been before. The sun was at its apex, suggesting that morning was over, and that it was now the early afternoon.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

(Time spent in house: 48 days OR a couple hours, max. )

Now, where did he say those stalkers were... 'The house is two streets inward, and then one street over to the North, which is a left turn. It's two houses down from the end, with tacky blue paint.' I should start there.

But if there really are a bunch of demons there I should probably have a plan...

Ashley walks away from the house until she can no longer feel the runes sucking up the ambient magic, and recalls the stalker she had killed previously.

Its skin changed colors very quickly, making it nearly invisible. But nothing can become invisible just by changing color, no matter how well it does so. At the very least there would be a demon-shaped patch of the landscape that was closer then the rest, and unless the demon knew where I was it wouldn't be able to match the background perfectly from all angles. Someone alert and with good vision ought to be able to spot them. Not to mention they can hardly be perfectly silent...

Ashley squints at the houses in the direction she intends to travel, and tries to make out details that are beyond the limits of her vision. She then runs a hand across her eyes and can suddenly make them out. She concentrates and just for a moment thinks she can hear the old mage walking in his second-floor room. Satisfied, she walks towards the demon house, intending to stop before she actually gets in sight of it to assess the situation more fully, and keeping her eyes and ears open for signs of stalkers, not neglecting to watch the roofs.

(Lesser buff, level 2 Body spell (trans))

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 45, P = 55, EP = 38/40, +11 Perception

It isn't long before Ashley feels the air return to normal, the amount of magic in the air becoming normal once more. In fact, only one street in, she found that her spells would work just as they normally would, and she proceeded to cast her spell, intent on increasing her perception.

Casting: Automatic Success.

She immediately senses the spell take effect. Ashleys vision, hearing, smell, and even touch and taste become more powerful, hopefully giving her an edge against the apparently stealth focused demons that she was in pursuit of. Her magical senses, her natural ability to identify magical auras and the like, also became more sensitive, so much so that she could feel the gentle flow of magic toward the old wizards house.

Perception: Failure.

Nothing moving catches her eye as she travels toward the house allegedly containing the group of stalkers, though she does hear slight sounds of movement from farther off than usual. Still, the young mage remains unmolested as she approaches, and surveys the house. When the wizard had called the houses paint job tacky, he hadn't been kidding, as the entire property was painted in a very gaudy bright blue color. She didn't see any movement through any of the windows, all of which were intact, and the door was closed. She did hear slight sounds of movement from within, however, suggesting that the house was occupied. Though, she couldn't tell exactly what might be inside.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

The thought of tackling an entire house full of demons doesn't appeal to me. Well, unless I can get them all standing in one room so one spell would do for all of them. Better to try to draw them out. Better still for them to come out on their own.

Ashley circles around the house at a distance, keeping her eyes open for any sign of demons either coming out of the house itself, or in the surrounding houses. She also paused from time to time to try to feel any minute change in the magical environment that might indicate magical concealment.

(keep maintaining buff)

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 45, P = 55, EP = 37/40, +11 Perception

Perception: Success.

Ashley barely moved a foot before she spotted movement within the house. It had only been a faint sight, but it had most certainly been movement, and she was fairly sure that it had been one of the demons that she was after.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Ashley sighed. The place doesn't seem to be *teaming* with demons, and I don't see any outside. And for some reason I feel like knocking down a building and sticking around long enough to find a body in the wreckage would be more dangerous then just going in.

She approaches the nearest entrance to the building and tried to peer inside.

(keep maintaining buff)

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 45, P = 55, EP = 36/40, +11 Perception

Ashley creeps up to the building cautiously, ready in case any of the demons she was after tried to ambush her. She peeks her head in through the door, searching for hidden demons. Which makes it all the more surprising that she finds herself face to face with one charging right for her. Ashley pulls herself back, the words of a spell on her lips, before stopping to watch as the disembodied head and headless corpse of a stalker fly past her out the door of the large building.

Looking past it, she recognizes the daemon she'd met earlier standing within the house, the freshly decapitated corpse of another demon lying on the floor a few feet away form him. It seems that she hadn't gotten here first.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Ashley lets her spell turn into a muttered curse and steps into the hallway, letting her enhanced senses lapse in the shock. She puts one foot down hard to draw the daemon's attention.

"Daemon! Are you going to show up *every* time I find demons?"

I suppose I didn't really need to kill the stalkers myself, but going through the trouble of sneaking up to a place and finding someone else already attacking is still annoying.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 45, P = 55, EP = 40

"No. Just every time in which we happen to be at the same place at the same time. Besides, the wizard doesn't care who killed them, only that he has his corpse;" The daemon replies, as he turns toward her. He sheaths his sword, and squares up toward her, apparently content that the place was safe enough.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

"I thought you didn't habitually listen to thoughts? And why *are* you here if you're not following me? Were there really so many demons to be worth your time?"

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 45, P = 55, EP = 40

"Not yours. That wizard needs careful watching though. Let's just say, he's not nearly as pleasant usually as he seemed to be when you first met him. And he's done a few things that make anything you've seen in here seem pleasant by comparison. I'm here because I was in the area, and I detected a gathering of demons. Twenty-seven, including nine casters."

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Not nearly as nice as when he was threatening to blow me up? Huh.

"Well that's certainly plausible. Where are the rest, then, upstairs?"

"And you think the old man is worse then the demons?"

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 45, P = 55, EP = 40

"Worse? That depends on how you define worse. If you mean is he more dangerous, I'd say yes and no. He won't attack you on sight like the demons, but if you manage to anger him, he'll likely kill you without a second thought, and probably trap your soul too. If you mean is he worse in a moral sense, well, the demons don't perceive that they have any choice besides to rape and pillage and murder. Misguided, but certainly the lesser evil than a man who chose to do such things despite having other options."

"The rest of the demons corpses are scattered about the house, but the wizards were all upstairs in the room with the black door."

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Everyone makes bad choices. Maybe he's darker than most, but it's not really free will if everyone makes the same choices all the time.

"Ah, thank you. As for the old man, I meant worse in the sense of 'more dangerous to be around', but it never hurts to know the other as well. I'll be careful."

Ashley thinks for a moment about the situation. A large gathering of demons suddenly dropping off the map...

"Before you go, should I expect demons to come investigate? Or are there any still living very nearby?"