Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

[Tassadar]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

Spoiler

Naltaibur: HP = 45, PP = 53, EP = 21/49, Status = Fine, Telepathy to 10 different people, +21 Resistance (38) from Arcane Armor, Dominating a Juggernaut, Weakened

NPC Stats
Mavra: HP = 63, PP = 54, EP = 42/79, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Father Uldric: HP = 53, PP = 38, EP = 61, Status = Fine, +40 Body from Annabeth (Level 4 Body spell)

Rolls

Spoiler

Casting (Naltaibur) : Success.
Attack: Miss.

Mavra cuts one of ye gemini with her brainz, X = 8.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 4 + 5 + 1 = 10 * 8 = 80 damage.

Annabeth pays her 2 EP upkeep and also casts Bone Grinder for another 6 EP.
Casting: Success.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 4 + 4 + 7 + 2 = 17 * 4 = 68 damage.

Ye rest of the squad picks up the crossbows and runs inside except for Uldric.

Ye juggernauts punch and nom each other!
Attack (Good juggernaut) : Hit.
Damage: 11 + 4 + 37 - 12 = 40 damage, so ye evil juggernaut has taken a total of 112 damage.

Attack (Bad juggernaut) : Hit.
Damage: 8 + 10 + 37 - 12 = 43 damage, totaling to 78 damage on Naltaibur's juggernaut.

Weakened as she was, Naltaibur still managed to cast her desired spell, concentrating and forming the patterns that would unravel the structure of the bones of the alien-turned woman that she targeted. Unfortunately, there was something that she hadn't accounted for in her accounting of the magic that had been worked upon her; the dark magic's effect upon her aim. Naltaibur's spell went wide, impacting pointlessly against a nearby wall, and the two women raised their hands and grinned at Naltaibur, once more targeting her and her juggernaut.

Fortunately, one of them was decapitated where she stood well before her magic could be completed courtesy of Mavra, and the other crumbled to the ground in a boneless heap after Annabeth successfully cast and hit with the very spell that Naltaibur had opted to use. The second most definitely hadn't begun to crumble before the spell had hit her, however, which didn't fit with the behavior of Subject Gemini at all.

Nonetheless, with the two gemini women dead, that left only the two juggernauts, who were even then wrestling about and causing a helluva racket with their roaring and their thunderous footsteps. The canine monstrosity lunged and clamped its jaws onto the shoulder of Naltaibur's juggernaut and began to gnaw and shake, ripping off chunks of flesh and staining its front in a darker grey, but the beast that the mutated elf controlled was giving as good as it got, holding the other beast and hammering its fist into the belly of its opposite. Her comrades, taking her orders quickly, gathered up their dropped gear and the panicked civilians and darted into a nearby tavern. All save Uldric disappeared inside, waiting for Naltaibur and watching the two juggernauts fight it out.

 

[GargantuaBlarg]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

Naltaibur wasn't quite sure how she managed to spin her spell off slightly to the left, but when she saw her deconstructive command smash harmlessly into the wood of a nearby building, she felt the spectre of doom loom over her again - the Triumvirate was already turning their attention to her - they would leech away what remained of her energies, and when she fell, her hold on the giant's mind would dissolve, and she and the rest of those under her care - who'd willingly thrown themselves from the safety of Doraleous' own house or the security of Fort Dragonsbane and a patrol they knew - would all meet their fates at the hands of these brutal invaders. She regretted not having the focus to keep her mind from pondering the origins of the powers of these creatures who were about to strike her down...

...Until one's head flew off, and the other more-or-less melted. Mavra and Annabeth, to her rescue! With that threat excised, the group retreated into one of the buildings nearby - little help against the behemoths, though they might be preserved if they didn't notice them head in - not impossible, given their preoccupation with murdering each other - and helpful the smaller invaders they might have overlooked, like the lizards. Her two saviors fleeing to safety made Naltaibur somewhat nervous, though - they might not be able to save her from her own failure a second time. Father Uldric's calm presence and proven skill was some comfort - but his abilities seemed to lay in fighting the enemy toe-to-toe - not a good prospect for any warrior with these monsters as their opponents.

Warily, she enunciated a spell as she touched key points on her body, trying to undo the fouling of her soul inflicted upon her by the recently-passed Triumvirate, while watching to see how the fight progressed. She would then attempt to siphon energy away from the canine-giant, if it still stood - and when one fell, she would try to siphon away the remainders of it's energy as well.

Spoiler

Healing Weakness, then draining badnaught. Then watching the fight and draining the winner so it can't rape me.

L4 Body - Greater Restoration (Utility) [Removes any negative status effects from the target.]

L3 Arcane - Energy Leech (Bolt) [Deals damage to a targets EP instead of its HP, but also deals damage as a spell one level lower. The caster regains an amount of EP equal to half of the damage dealt by this spell.]

Mind: 34
Resistance: 38 - 10?
Base Casting: 24 + 10 (focus) - 10 (Weakened)

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

Spoiler

Naltaibur: HP = 45, PP = 53, EP = 27/49, Status = Fine, Telepathy to 10 different people, +21 Resistance (38) from Arcane Armor

NPC Stats
Mavra: HP = 63, PP = 54, EP = 42/79, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Father Uldric: HP = 53, PP = 38, EP = 61, Status = Fine

Rolls

Spoiler

Naltaibur heals her Weakness! (Hopefully in only one cast)
Casting: Success!

Round 1:
Ye juggernauts punch and nom each other some more!
Attack (Good juggernaut) : Hit.
Damage: 10 + 2 + 37 - 12 = 37 damage, so ye evil juggernaut has taken a total of 149 damage.

Attack (Bad juggernaut) : Hit.
Damage: 5 + 5 + 37 - 12 = 35 damage, totaling to 113 damage on Naltaibur's juggernaut.

Round 2:
Ye juggernauts punch and nom each other some more!
Attack (Good juggernaut) : Hit.
Damage: 12 + 6 + 37 - 12 = 43 damage, so ye evil juggernaut has taken a total of 192 damage.

Attack (Bad juggernaut) : Hit.
Damage: 3 + 4 + 37 - 12 = 32 damage, totaling to 145 damage on Naltaibur's juggernaut.

Round 3:
Ye juggernauts punch and nom each other some more!
Attack (Good juggernaut) : Hit.
Damage: 12 + 12 + 37 - 12 = 49 damage, killing the evil juggernaut.

The good juggernaut wins! Then Naltaibur Energy Leech's him to death ;_;
Casting: Success.
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 2 + 2 + 4 + 2 = 10 * 2 = 20 EP damage, regaining Naltaibur a net total of 6 EP after the cost of the spell itself. Including the gain she had from ye evil juggernaut, that puts her at 27 EP.

Naltaibur gains 8 exp!

Removing the harm caused by the spell cast on her by the fallen group of turned was fairly trivial even with its magics disrupting her concentration, and after that she restored the energy that she'd used to heal herself by draining it from the juggernaut that she wasn't controlling. In the meantime, the two grey behemoths continued to wrestle, the canine one apparently unaware of her siphoning of its spirit as it tore at the juggernaut that Naltaibur controlled. Teeth gnashed and tore flesh, exposing thick grey bone, but her monster simply continued to pound into the creatures chest until its abdomen looked more like jelly than meat. Chunks of flesh began to slide off from the powerful blows, but even as their cries weakened the two battling titans continued to trash at one another.

They jostled into a building and took down the front of it, but neither seemed bothered as rubble rained down on top of them. Then, with a mighty wrench, the creature that Naltaibur was dominating grasped its opponent and hurled it into the building. The beast recovered and sunk its fangs into her monster's thigh, but a single pummeling fist broke that hold, and then her creature put both hands into the other monster's mouth. With a single rending motion, the other creature's jaws were torn apart, literally ripping the canine juggernaut in half in the process. Hurling the two pieces aside and letting out a thunderous roar, the creature then turned back to Naltaibur and gave her a look almost akin to a child seeking praise... At which point the elven doctor unleashed a spell onto it that tore off another chunk of its already damaged spirit. The beast dropped to the ground, whimpering pathetically for a moment before going still.

"We should go inside," Father Uldric said quietly, as he had watched the brutal exchange alongside Naltaibur. "That probably drew a lot of attention, and we don't want to have to fight any more of them right now."

 

[GargantuaBlarg]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

In spite of herself, Naltaibur couldn't help but feel a little queasy at the brutal struggle playing out in front of her. Even if she spent the majority of her free time mutilating dead critters - and even live ones, rarely - and had tended to major injuries like these two beasts were inflicting upon each other before, watching them be inflicted firsthand was really something else. Her's was simply smashing the other's flesh until it tore from it's bones, for god's sake - and he was doing so while muscle and tissue had been scraped clear-off of his bones, too... Naltaibur wondered just how extensively it's mind had been conditioned, to ignore the pain from such a wound...

With one last, brutal tear, her giant tore the other in half, and turned to her... with the focus of combat gone, she knew it's anger would start to rage against her mental command, and it was only a matter of time until it broke free...

She lobbed her readied spell, hoping to put it down before it could do so. However, at the very instant she loosed it... she wasn't sure how, if it was some sort of expression on it's featureless face, or it's body language, or some sort of subconscious notion vibrating to her will's hold on it's mind... but it almost seemed as if it wanted to see if it had pleased her - wanted her to tell it 'good boy'. As her magic made contact, ripping away at it's core until there was barely anything there, she felt confusion and betrayal in it's mind, until she felt it's consciousness fade.

Dammit, she thought. Even if it was a monster, and had murdered and raped her beloved Therion into it's brutalized state... she knew she shouldn't have, but she felt bad for it. They had not shown Therion any mercy... lord knew, they would not have shown mercy on them, had they been victorious... but nevertheless, she immediately regretted her actions. Surely, it would not have turned some kind of behavioral 180, if she had simply 'shown it compassion', but...

The doctor shook her head. She was wasting time. Uldric had just mentioned that that racket would likely have attracted attention to them, and he was right. The night elf chastised herself - if she were going to preserve the lives of those in her care, she would need to harden her heart to the enemy, wouldn't she...?

Uldric said something about getting back inside... but Naltaibur refused. "The point of that fight was to free those women they were ravishing," she said aloud. "We must remove them from the streets as well - if the invaders return, they'll only be taken once more."

['Is everyone alright?'] she asked. ['Kormac? Mavra? Gloria? Aluwin?']

Once they replied, she told them that she stiill required their assistance - they would have to herd the victims off the streets into shelter, if not hustle them away from the site and continuing towards Avenshire. Those monsters had poured from the clinic, so it might not be worth searching... but at the same time, if they could quickly salvage a wagon from it - perhaps one they used to take their wares to clinics or to the market? - they might be able to move the women a little quicker... but, most likely, it would be a waste of time. She asked Jenkins how far it would be to Avenshire yet, and - hopefully, if they did not panic and refuse her - all too possible after what a fiasco that battle had ended up becoming - she and the group would proceed to gather up the captives and either hide, if they heard anything moving in, or quickly proceeded on their way if it seemed safe (ugh, such a phrase rang immensely of ill-omen, in the night elf's mind). With no minds to dominate, Naltaibur littered either end of the roads they were on with spellmines, keyed to release their energies upon an invader's approach, and once again enhanced her already-keen night elf hearing, to better hear the approach of enemies.

When she thought no one looking, Naltaibur rested her hand on her comatose giant's head, regretting having knocked it insensate. No good could come of wounding such a creature's heart with betrayal... not to mention, her group's flight from this site would have gone all the more smoother and more secure had they it's presence.

Though she dearly wanted to take one of the strange not-Gemini with them, she knew that time was of the essence, and she could not stop to figure out how best to bring along a body with her. The best solution was for her to quickly examine one, and see if it held anything strange she might examine later... if it did, she would check the others to see if they had similar organs or other artefacts, and if they were easily removed, she would hastily take them.

Spoiler

Cast ye Eavesdrop (L1 Body spell)
Eavesdrop (Utility) [Allows the character to hear in detail any sound originating within 200 feet of their position. Does not augment the character’s Perception stat.]

and also some flash mines and fireball traps on each different approach in the alley. I'm hoping they don't take too long so I can leave a present and still bugger out, but Imma cast as best I can while we organize our concerted fucking-off-outta-there.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

Spoiler

Naltaibur: HP = 45, PP = 53, EP = 25/49, Status = Fine, Telepathy to 10 different people, +21 Resistance (38) from Arcane Armor, Eavesdrop, 3 Flash Mines, 1 Flaming Mine

NPC Stats
Mavra: HP = 63, PP = 54, EP = 42/79, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Father Uldric: HP = 53, PP = 38, EP = 61, Status = Fine

The rest of Naltaibur's group held hardened expressions as she spoke her intentions aloud, but each of them nodded in turn. Everyone reported that they were alright, and a cursory examination would show no injuries since Mavra had healed Kormac. The soldier looked shaken and was shooting odd looks in the demon's direction, but he gave a nod when asked to proceed outside and help carry the invader's victims. The others did much the same, and they were back out of cover once more mere moments after hiding inside of the side building.

The dozen women that had been in the clutches of the invaders only moments ago were all unconscious and coated in a mix of slime and cum. None of them seemed to have suffered any severe injuries, at least not that Naltaibur could see, but they had a slight problem. There were twelve of them, and only eleven in their group. Gloria and Margarette were too weak to carry one of the captives any great distance, and have to haul so many bodies any great distance would leave the lot of them exhausted. Each of the five soldiers could carry one, as could Uldric, and Mavra offered to carry one as well, but with one between the two civilian women and one for Naltaibur, that still left three that they wouldn't be able to bring with them at all.

There was, thankfully, no movement in the streets... Not yet at least, but they found no useable vehicles that might allow them to easily transport the unconscious women. The carts around them were all too badly broken to be fixed without tools, and they likely wouldn't have had the time to make repairs anyway. They could try to move the women into one of the neighboring buildings, but the only one large enough to hold all of them was the infirmary that might still have enemies in it. They could send someone in to clear it out, but such would be dangerous and time consuming, and would leave whoever was left outside vulnerable in case more of the invaders showed up. Still, her mental link would at least keep them in constant communication, and that would at least serve to mitigate the danger to both parties if Naltaibur opted to split them. Her mines and the added perception offered by her enhanced hearing made only served to increase that security, though the former wouldn't stop another major attack like the one they had just narrowly survived.

Her examination of the dead gemini, on the other hand, turned up immediate fruit. Looking over the corpse of the woman that Mavra had bisected, Naltaibur couldn't identify anything unusual about the body's internal structure, but she did find something odd embedded inside of her. The woman seemed to have a small stone embedded inside of her, bright red until the elven doctor removed it and cleaned some of it off only to realize that it was grey beneath the blood. The object resembled a darkheart for all intents and purposes, an object made of corrupting magics that would form within those that mutated too quickly, but it was grey rather than red, and the magics contained within seemed more ordered than the wild energies present within the more familiar darkheart.

Examining the other creatures, Naltaibur would find that each of the grabbers and each of the gemini had one as well, in addition to the skins offered by the hunters. As she acquired her bounty of the objects for later study, Naltaibur would see Aluwin closing on the downed juggernaut that she'd dominated, drawing a sword and moving to decapitate the beast while it slept after he realized that it was still alive. The doctor could try to stop him if she wanted, but she would have to act quickly.

(Naltaibur gains 17 greyhearts if she lets Aluwin finish off the juggernaut, 16 otherwise. She also gets 3 chameleon skins.)

 

[GargantuaBlarg]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

As much as she wished to preserve the tremendous creature - and once again, regretted knocking it out - she allowed Aluwin to finish it. She had no real way of disabling it for later recovery, and - especially considering the amount of punishment the creature and it's dog-like counterpart had taken - she wasn't even sure if attempting to hobble it would be successful. Instead, she asked no one in particular for forgiveness - forgiveness for betraying the monster, even if it had only been her ally because she held it's mind - and forgiveness for wishing to show mercy on the reavers of her city. Asking the man to spare one of those giants was unlikely to please anyone in the group, either... Aluwin already had demonstrated enough displeasure with the idea of sharing mental communication with her demon lover, after all, and she wasn't even hostile.


Dammit. Naltaibur hadn't counted on having to transport the women, expecting them to have stayed conscious. Just another miscalculation to add to the plethora she had made in this run-in... Worse yet, they simply didn't have the capacity to take them. Even if they could each take one (which they couldn't; Gloria and Margaret wouldn't have managed), it would still leave one left behind - and it would both slow them down and exert them, leaving them dangerously vulnerable to another encounter with the alien menace. ["How much further do we have left?"] she asked. ["Time? Distance?"]

Though the wagons in the street were all broken, that did not mean they couldn't be used. All they needed was one working pair of wheels - a board or two broken off a house, or scavenged from another broken wagon, or just taken from the debris that assuredly littered the street could provide them with makeshift shafts to pull the thing with - it shouldn't take too, long, hopefully. And if that didn't work... perhaps they could fashion some sort of sleds, from wagon-beds or doors, to transport them on. ...If nothing else, they could drag them into the houses nearby. She would have to split them up, but given that they had not cleared the clinic yet, she didn't want to attempt to hide them there. Once they'd sought rest and safety, and perhaps garnered proper rescue tools - or determined the lack of such - at Avenshire, they could return to bring them to safety. Finding a chunk of charcoal, or her own note-taking pen if she had to (the line was far too fine to be ideal for her purposes here) she wrote "SURVIVORS AT AVENSHIRE & DRAGONSBANE FORTRESSES; HEAD THERE" on the walls of the buildings on the street outside, as well as in the buildings she left them if she did have to leave them... and hoped the invaders couldn't read. If they awoke, they would at least have a bearing, a sliver of hope and safety to head toward.

If she did manage to get a viable method of transportation working, she would also remember to grab some quilts, sheets, blankets... anything, from the buildings, to pile onto her cargo of victims, to pile upon them and keep them at least somewhat protected from the cold.


Searching the dead aliens, Naltaibur discovered strange stones in each of the invaders - a grey thing, much like the manifested energies that seemed to form in mutants, a substance she'd handled before - but more... 'ordered'. Controlled, unlike the chaotic energy of mystical taint as she knew it. It reminded the doctor of magic, as she knew it - enforcing patterns onto the wild whims of magical power, to have it do your whim... She would have to study this later. Taking the sack tied at her belt (or patting at said belt for a few minutes before remembering she'd handed it over to Gloria to hold), she took out a few sturdy metal vials, and started dropping them in - she most certainly hadn't brought enough to put each one in it's own vial, but she didn't want them tainting the other objects in her bag. She put one from each different 'species' into it's own vial, and then crammed the rest into one, or as close to one as she could manage, preserving the rest for other sorts of samples she might have the opportunity to take.


Naltaibur was too afraid of the danger of an ambush to really search the clinic... but at the same time, was unwilling to at least take a cursory look at it. Cautiously, she approached it with the rest of her group - herself and one of the men in front, Naltaibur with her falchion out. When they got to the door, approaching it from one side, Naltaibur stopped, and listened, from around the corner, using her enhanced hearing to try to identify any presence inside. If any strange sounds were detected, they would attempt to bar the door by placing a board or other such debris through the handles, if that was possible. She would then write 'LIKELY INFESTATION' on the wall. Leaving, before anything bad came to find them, would be her next move, if nothing strange happened...

Spoiler

Oh god I can't remember if I had Gloria carry my handcuffs/contraceptive injection/tools

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

Spoiler

Naltaibur: HP = 45, PP = 53, EP = 25/49, Status = Fine, Telepathy to 10 different people, +21 Resistance (38) from Arcane Armor, Eavesdrop, 3 Flash Mines, 1 Flaming Mine

NPC Stats
Mavra: HP = 0/63, PP = 54, EP = 42/79, Status = Unconscious, Pregnant
Father Uldric: HP = 0/53, PP = 38, EP = 61, Status = Unconscious

Rolls

Spoiler

I'm pretty sure that you had Gloria carry those, yes.

Perception: Failure.
Attacks: Automatic Hit.
Damage: 1 + 11 + 23 = 35 * 2 = 70 damage per hit minus assorted armors.

Mavra, Uldric, Jenkins, Aluwin, and Gloria are all down.

There was some disagreement among the party about how far they were from their destination, but after a moment of mental argument the group decided that they were about a mile from the fort yet, which translated to another half an hour at minimum... Assuming that they didn't run into any other creatures along the way. There was some discussion about the route they could take, Aluwin and the others wanting to simply stick to the primary avenues while Jenkins and Kormack wanted to take the narrower side streets where there might be less resistance. Though the majority of the native Theronians disliked the idea of going the more circuitous route, Naltaibur's opinion was respected enough among her group that her opinion could offer a significant shifting force in the argument in their direction after they'd dealt with the survivors.

The search for the parts needed to make a useable wagon to cart all of the survivors they'd rescued was a desperate one, as every extra moment spent there added to the risk of further discovery at the hands of the aliens, but eventually they struck proverbial gold. Caden spotted a wagon a ways down the street, crashed but possibly salvageable. A few (painfully loud) minutes with axes later and they had most of a cart freed, at which point it dropped suddenly with a resounding crash. They managed to drag it back to the infirmary by the front axle, though it took two men to carry the thing and they had to do so by the cold steel of its axle while in a pose that looked incredibly uncomfortable. Gathering blankets to keep the unconscious women as comfortable as they could was an easy enough task, one that Mavra, Gloria, and Margaret were quick to accomplish while the men loaded the wagon. It would take the strength of three men to haul the thing at any given time, and even watching them lift it was exhausting, but they were ready to move after that.

After that had been taken care of, the juggernaut had been executed, and her assorted new specimens had been placed in their proper holding places, Naltaibur had only the infirmary itself to examine. As she listened for any presences inside, she heard only silence from the abandoned building even with her enhanced hearing. Unfortunately, she also didn't hear the approach of the group of creatures that suddenly appeared around them. As she was finishing her examination of the building's exterior and perhaps determining whether or not the place was worth further investigation, Naltaibur heard a series of cries come from her companions as chaos erupted around them. Mavra, Jenkins, and Gloria suddenly dropped silently to the ground, their bodies flopping limply to the ground as the alien lizardmen appeared behind them. Uldric and Aluwin fell at the same time, but unlike the other three their descents were not silent.

Agonized gurgles came from both men as their throats were torn apart by the alien's claws, scarlet eruptions painting the frosted ground red with their life's blood as they fell. Five of the aliens surrounded them, and Naltaibur's remaining allies scrambled to react as fully half of their fighting strength suddenly went down, two of them fatally unless they got help immediately.

 

[GargantuaBlarg]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

Jury-rigging a sled to transport their was harder and far less effective than Naltaibur had thought it was going to be. Somehow, her little group made it back to the clinic unmolested...

But their streak of good fortune ran out there. They readied the cart and approached the clinic... but before they could get much further in investigating the structure, she felt the mental link to her ward, Gloria, and her lover, Mavra, simply flash with pain, before fading into the dark. Jenkins, too, fell once more... but unlike his last, almost disastrous experience at the hands of these monsters, he did not seem to be in imminent mortal peril.

The same could not be said of Uldric and Aluwin, however - their reptilian assailants slashing their gizzards to ribbons, a grisly and lethal end unless she remedied it quickly. ['Form up and concentrate on defense!'] she commanded over their mental link, before reciting aloud the incantation that would turn her into a beacon of corporeal rightness. Though she turned herself into a sink of sorts to draw upon as much of the ambient magic as she could, power spilled forth from her core to saturate the air around her with the patterns of wholeness every well and healthy body shared, and the energy for any unwhole, unwell body to take and use, and build itself back to it's rightful form once more.

Spoiler

Regenerative Aura, L5 Body Healing spell
BC 36 vs Difficulty 40

Full Defensive Fighting for the rest of the group (except Anna maybe, she can do whatever), since herp lizzerds in range of healing spell

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

Spoiler

Naltaibur: HP = 19/45, PP = 53, EP = 17/49, Status = Badly Injured, Telepathy to 10 different people, +21 Resistance (38) from Arcane Armor, Eavesdrop, 3 Flash Mines, 1 Flaming Mine

NPC Stats
Mavra: HP = 27/63, PP = 54, EP = 42/79, Status = Injured, Pregnant
Father Uldric: HP = 53, PP = 38, EP = 61, Status = Fine

Rolls

Spoiler

Casting: You roll a 10 and succeed.
Healing: 8 + 4 + 2 = 14 * 6 = 84 HP restored to Naltaibur and all around her.

The wounded get up, but otherwise don't get to do anything on their turn.

Annabeth gives Kormack a body buff using Strength.
Casting: Success.
Buff: 7 + 1 = 8 * 4 = +32 Body.

Kormack attacks yon Hunter that tried to murder Uldric using shield and sword with 20 points of defensive fighting.
Attacks: both hit.
Damage (Sword) : 3 + 6 + 33 - 8 = 34 damage.
Damage (Shield) : 3 + 3 + 4 + 21 - 8 = 23 damage.
One hunter is down!

Caden and Jax also attack with 20 points of defensive fighting.
Attacks: Both miss.

Margaret hides in the corner.

The hunters, of which their are four remaining, aim their attacks at Naltaibur, Annabeth, Mavra, and Kormack.
Attacks: All except Kormack are hit.
Damage: 11 + 2 + 23 - 0 = 26 damage on Naltaibur. Armor at 18/30 TP.
Damage: 1 + 8 + 23 - 7 = 25 damage on Annabeth. Robes shredded.
Damage: 3 + 10 + 23 = 36 damage.

Pain Resistant now grants +5 AV, so I gave you the added damage. Also, Kormack was the one that almost died, not Jenkins.

Calming her allies in the face of the ambush proved much harder than it did last time, but as Naltaibur's hastily cast magic washed over them the soldiers rallied to her command, stepping up to fight while the others recovered from their miraculously healed wounds. Annabeth quickly cast a spell that Naltaibur was able to identify immediately as a strength enhancer, but she targeted Kormack rather than herself with it even as the man stepped up to ward the hunters away from the rest of them.

The man, his physical prowess nearly doubled by the spell that had been cast on him, Kormack stepped up and smashed his shield into the hunter that had nearly killed Uldric with bone crunching force. A sweep of his sword followed, and it nearly took the alien's head clean from its shoulders. Not sparing the dead monster a second glance as it toppled over, the enhanced warrior turned and engaged the one that had attacked Jenkins, preventing it from harming the man as he got back to his feet. Jax and Caden, not so enhanced, were not nearly as much of a threat to the aliens, who ducked under their swings and shattered the formation that they had attempted to make. The psychic network once more lit up with panic and pain as the aliens entered their midst, but Naltaibur quickly had her own problems to worry about as one of the creatures went straight for her.

Claws raked against her abdomen, tearing her flesh and shredding her protective outfit, staining it red with her blood. Thankfully the damage wasn't enough to reveal the warped flesh beneath... Or at least, not any parts that weren't torn asunder by the creature's claws. Annabeth and the newly revived Mavra took similar claws along their bodies, the other healer even having her robes torn to the point that her breasts spilled out, but at the moment no one seemed to notice the display of nude woman in favor of the monsters that were attempting to kill them. Thankfully, the lizardmen didn't seem to be nearly as deadly when their victims were aware of them, but they were still scattered and laced among their ranks, creating confusion even among the mentally linked group.

Kormack had distracted one, holding it back from attacking Jenkins, and its claws raked uselessly against his shield. Margaret was dragging the still dazed Gloria away from the battle, her eyes wide with terror that filtered over their psychic link, but she was at least out of the way of the engaged group. Uldric, Mavra, Aluwin, and Jenkins were all up again and would be able to rejoin the battle in mere moments, no doubt turning the tide in their favor, but for the moment Naltaibur was isolated and alone, cut off from the group by the monster attempting to claw her clothes off.

 

[GargantuaBlarg]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

"Ngyaagkh-!" gasped Naltaibur as she felt claws tear trenches through her flesh. With inculcated mental effort, she pushed the pain into another fragment of her mind and ignored it as best she could - if she allowed herself to be distracted now, she would surely falter, and then what would happen to those who had placed their trust into her? What would happen to Mavra?

Letting the world grow muffled once again, Naltaibur stabbed her mental fingernails into the lizardman that had just tore her open. Once her mind's hold on it felt secure, she pointed first at the monster that was trying to rip apart who she held dear, and then at Mavra herself. "Get that away from her!" she half-shouted, reinforcing her commands through her new-born link, to make sure it did not confuse her targets.

["Caden, cover Annabeth! They got their dirty strike in, but we're all standing! Do not panic - the upper hand is ours now!"]

Spoiler

Dominate dat hunter attacking me, then make him bodycheck the hunter attacking Mavra. Also deploy anti-panic devices. Have Caden protect yon Anna also waugh.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

Spoiler

Naltaibur: HP = 19/45, PP = 53, EP = 17/49, Status = Badly Injured, Telepathy to 10 different people, +21 Resistance (38) from Arcane Armor, Eavesdrop, 3 Flash Mines, 1 Flaming Mine, Dominating a Hunter

NPC Stats
Mavra: HP = 27/63, PP = 54, EP = 42/79, Status = Injured, Pregnant
Father Uldric: HP = 53, PP = 38, EP = 61, Status = Fine

Rolls

Spoiler

Naltaibur Dominates a Hunter!
Resistance: Naltaibur wins!

Her hunter attacks the one that just attacked Mavra!
Attack: Hit.
Damage: 12 + 3 + 23 - 8 = 30 damage.

Annabeth heals herself.
Casting: Success.
Healing: 6 + 6 + 8 + 2 = 22 * 2 = 44 HP restored.

Kormack attacks the hunter that tried to attack him.
Attacks: both hit.
Damage (Sword) : 2 + 4 + 33 - 8 = 31 damage.
Damage (Shield) : 5 + 3 + 4 + 21 - 8 = 25 damage.
Another hunter is down!

Caden, Aluwin, and Jax all go all out to take out the one that attacked Annabeth.
Attacks: 6 hits.
Damage: Noooot even gonna bother.

Margaret hides in the corner, and is joined by Gloria.

Uldric finishes off the hunter that got attacked by the dominated hunter.

Naltaibur gains 4 exp for repelling the ambush!

Naltaibur's calm response to being clawed at seemed to give strength to her allies, and despite her own fears the doctor felt her mind wrap around the hunter's, dominating it completely. The alien beast spun and rushed the one moving in to finish off Mavra, claws raking against leathery hide and causing the other beast to turn and face the one she controlled. Annabeth backed away, casting a spell that sealed the wounds she'd taken and causing the flow of blood into her robes to ease. The hunter that had attacked her moved to follow, jagged teeth showing as it grinned eagerly... And then Caden, Aluwin, and Jax piled on the monster, smashing at it with their shields and slicing with their swords.

Kormack, empowered as he was by Annabeth's spell, countered the strikes that he'd taken on his shield by snapping the heavy wood and iron forward, knocking out a number of the alien's sharp teeth, before sweeping its throat with his sword. The monster dropped, and that left only one among them... One that Uldric and Jenkins moved to eliminate. The priest reached it first, and then the last of their foes had its skull caved in by the warrior's hammer, dropping it to the ground. That left them panting in recovery, with Gloria and Margaret against the wall of a nearby building while the warriors immediately set about searching for more threats and the women able to fight began to recover. None were yet in sight, not yet. Annabeth and the others were already healed despite the brush with death that some had suffered, and a cursory inspection would reveal that Mavra's wounds weren't serious. With the immediate threat ended, Naltaibur's allies, including the two city guardsmen now, all looked to her for orders.

 

[GargantuaBlarg]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

With their attackers now dead, Naltaibur ran the scenario through her head.

She wasn't sure if there were more invaders here to get them presently, but she knew that, after that last fight, they were likely coming to investigate, if they weren't already. She knew that she was in no shape to weather another attack like that. She knew that this half-wagon would be a severe burden on them, if she chose to take it. She knew that if she failed to defend her entourage, Father Uldric and the other men would likely be killed, and Mavra and the others violated horrifically - if not turned, like Gloria had almost been. She knew that if she left the victims here, in this place about to be swarmed by monsters, they were likely to be found, and invalidate her effort and the continuation of the faux-pas that had been her picking of a fight here. She did not know if she had the luxury of time to pack them all into houses and leave before more invaders came.

["We're leaving. Get them loaded and pick up the cart."]

She started to seal up her wounds, using the ambient power to conserve what little energy she had left, stopping her bleeding before moving close to the injured demoness and tending to her injuries as well, splitting the healing between the two of them. When the women were loaded and ready, Naltaibur helped to lift the ungainly burden, returning to her healing once they had it up, and ordered them to double-time it down the street towards their destination, trying to remember a route that would take them far enough away from clinic that the invaders she presumed to be homing in to the battleground's location hopefully wouldn't be able to locate them. Her lizardman was sent out like the last one had been, to survey the route ahead and watch for enemies, warning them before their panting and beleaguered footsteps alerted them.

She tried to see if either Gloria or Margaret could help even a little with shouldering the wagon's load - if they could aid them with the burden in any significant amount, she asked them to do so - though not to exhaustion, as their panting would give away their location and tiring themselves out would leave the group unable to progress as quickly. She also bid Annabeth to bolster one of the soldiers shouldering the wagon - likely Kormac, as his enhanced strength would have merely needed to be dissipated to a level that would have been sustainable on ambient energies - and keep her eye out for hostiles with her augmented vision.

She traveled on the main street simply to get some distance from the clinic, before turning onto a sidestreet, where she tried to find another few set of houses she could have her group rest in before continuing at a less exhausting pace - loading the women inside as well, and setting a pair of flash mines near the entrance, away from the building or the wagon, lest they burn and damage either if they went off. Her plan was to cross over to another main artery that wasn't connected to their hotzone.

Doubts ate at her resolve - would she make it there safely, or had she allowed her idealism to ruin her? I'm sorry, Doraleous, but I'm afraid I might not be able to make it there, even with all my help... she thought, wondering if he could even hear her, or if her thoughts were truly her own, and her own only - even if her abilities right now meant that her thoughts were mixed with some a dozen others. If I prove too weak... please, if you can, help us there... and if I fail even then, please protect my charges...

Spoiler

L1 Healing for everyone while we walk. By which I apparently mean me and Mavra! Also, have Anna do a minor (i.e. upkeepless) perception buff again and watch out for those fucking cocksucker lizards. Alsoalso a minor (i.e. upkeepless) body buff to help yon poor fuckers carry the piece of shit that I thought was a good idea. <_>

Also

You must be registered to see the links

My vision is augmented also.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

Spoiler

Naltaibur: HP = 45, PP = 53, EP = 17/49, Status = Fine, Telepathy to 10 different people, +21 Resistance (38) from Arcane Armor, Dominating a Hunter, +24 Perception from Annabeth

NPC Stats
Mavra: HP = 63, PP = 54, EP = 42/79, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Father Uldric: HP = 53, PP = 38, EP = 61, Status = Fine
Annabeth (Wizard Template) : HP = 35, PP = 50, EP = 49/55, Status = Fine, +24 Perception on Self, +24 Body on Kormack, +24 Perception from Annabeth

Miserable as things might seem, Naltaibur's allies snapped to her orders instantly. Annabeth cast spells to enhance her own vision in order to better keep a look out, and then on Kormack so that he'd be able to carry the wagon more effectively. She gave Naltaibur a spell to enhance her senses as well, but only after she had healed both her own wounds and those of Mavra, who replied with a wan but grateful smile and a light squeeze of the hand with which Naltaibur touched her. Gloria, Margaret, Uldric, and the soldiers all helped load the unconscious women they'd rescued from the infirmary - albeit at great emotional cost on their part - and then they were off. Kormack, his strength enhanced by Annabeth's magic and the occasional minor healing spell to keep his strength up, shouldered most of the weight, but Margaret and Gloria did what they could while everyone else kept watch around them, relying on sight due to the noise created by the half wagon in motion despite how unreliable it was in locating the alien reptiles.

Thankfully, they encountered no further opposition along the way, and after a short while Naltaibur took her group and their new refugees down a side street to rest. They went into an abandoned building, a small apartment building that seemed fairly secure, into which Naltaibur led her companions and carried their assorted refugees. Carrying around so many naked women was starting to become mildly exhausting on the men, given that they were stumbling around without being able to look at anything, and all of them were fairly frayed of nerve as it was. The lobby in which they'd clustered was empty, and mostly devoid of windows that might give away their position to any creatures lurking outside. A quick sweep allowed her to declare it clear, after which they settled in to rest, all very tired in more ways that one... But most of all, her. Maintaining the telepathic network was leaving her with an ever-mounting headache, and the constant expenditure of her energies was more or less guaranteeing that it'd last for the better part of tomorrow. Her prayers to Doraleous went unanswered unless she wanted to take to superstitions and count the momentary rise in the wind outside as a sign of the god's reply.

Unfortunately, while she might have the option to rest while they were here if she let all of her spells down, Naltaibur had a few concerns to oversee first. Mavra was starting to make eyes at her, and her demon lover's belly was now noticeably swollen, almost certainly her handiwork. She wasn't the only one to notice either, as Uldric and Caden were both looking between her and Naltaibur with a frown, an act that was followed by an unusually cold stare from Annabeth. Nobody was currently wounded, at least not in any serious manner, but the captives they'd rescued hadn't woken up yet, and that many patients was a guaranteed drain on her energy and sanity at one point or another. She was also beginning to hear things.... Noises, from the floor below them, though she wasn't sure if they were actually real or not. The doors on the first floor were all locked except for one leading into a small, empty closet, and no one had yet gone up to explore the three floors sitting above them or any of the apartments within. Being the group's elected leader, she was left with the ability to delegate tasks to her comrades, but someone at least should remain by the door. The rest she could divide up however she chose.

 

[GargantuaBlarg]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

Naltaibur dug a thumb into her tightened muscles of her shoulders, rolling it around to try and relieve some of the ache in her skull. It never seemed to work, but she always did it anyway... much like the other remedy of pinching the flesh of her hand, between index and thumb, which she did next. While very unpleasant, it was still tolerable... she would be fine. She'd have to be fine.

Once everyone was inside and they'd determined the building's ground floor was safe, Naltaibur ensorcelled the street outside with a spell that would let her know if someone passed, sending a silent alert to her mind directly. She placed another on the door to the apartment building, and then drew a glowing blue rune on the floor of the lobby, a sigil that started to absorb the ambient energies and started to turn it into a small measure of lightning - not nearly as potent as Doraleous' conjured, or what rained from the sky when it stormed, but hopefully enough to neuter an attack on their little group. The sign's glow faded once she finished with it, becoming nearly impossible to see.

With that, she sent her brainwashed hunter up the stairs, to check if they held any dangers for them as well - making sure to instructing it to stay camouflaged, and do so quietly and carefully - while she dealt with the situation with her wards.

Uldric and Caden seemed to be looking disapprovingly at her and Mavra - and her growing child - which was... unfortunate, but not something she thought she should concern herself too much with, and, as much as she'd love to indulge Mavra's desires right now, she couldn't - not in a place as unsafe as this. She couldn't even return her gaze... though she did send a thought of affection to the demoness.

The look she was getting from Anna, however...

Naltaibur guessed she was angry at her for aiding Mavra instead of her when the choice came. That, and the long, dragged out fight she'd subjected them to. So...

Naltaibur bowed her head to Annabeth in an apology for a moment, before bringing it up again to speak - out loud, instead of mind-to-mind. "I apologize for not helping you when that fiend clawed you, Annabeth. I saw you'd not fallen yet, and with the rest of the men nearby, I thought it more prudent to take care of the the other." She then turned to the rest of the room, bowing an apology again. "To the rest of you, I'm sorry I subjected you to that as well. Perhaps I was too confident on our recent successes against the monsters, but I couldn't allow them to do as they willed to these women - especially not when we had a chance against them." She motioned to the unconscious girls they'd rescued. "Which we did. It was bad - nearly disastrous, a few times - but with the valor and quickness of action from each and every one of us, we are all still alive and well, ten more Crolians have been freed from the monstrous clutches of the invaders - and those who would prey on us - our predators - are all dead." She said sharply. "I felt those strange women casting magic on me. Three mages, two of their behemoths, some eight of their vicious lizard-men, and a tremendous mob of those tentacled... things. So many of them even managed to ambush us - and we killed all of them." She clenched her fist. "Therion will not be theirs. Doraleous has already struck down their sky-behemoth - he has spoken, and we will do his will."

"Annabeth, your healing kept us all safe. I knew I could rely on you to keep the fighting men on their feet when I could not do so myself, and your strengthening magic - both of eye and arm - let us take those snakes even when they hid like cowards. Uldric, your calmness and strength was a pillar for us all."

She inhaled, and turned to each man as she named them. "Aluwin, Jax, Caden, Kormac, Jenkins. I knew I could rely on all of you to shield us whenever it was needed, and to fight whenever they made it past my spells. That none of you broke in the face of such odds shows the mettle you are made of." She turned to the two women, incapable of fighting, in the group. "Gloria, Margaret - that you, too, have not panicked and fled when we faced such monstrous dangers is a testament to your bravery."

"And Mavra," she said, turning to her demoness. "Your quickness and your spells protected me from danger many times, and brought Kormac back from the brink of death. You're an asset to us all. Thank you." ["and I hope you'll let me thank you again, when we've made it to Avenshire, and have a little privacy,"] she thought to the demoness.

"At the same time... it is very apparent that we are uncapable of bringing these captives to the fortress by ourselves. This place seems safe enough... the lizard will sweep the upper floors, and hopefully he will confirm my hopes, allowing us to to leave them here, and bring back a proper wagon and a larger complement of fighting men back to pick them up. For now... take five."

To Annabeth, she sent a message: ["On that note... can you... hear anything?"] When the healer inevitably looked at her to see what she meant, she made a small nod downwards, toward the floor - her beak acting as a sort of pointer. She hoped the human's enhanced perceptions would help her ascertain what she thought she was hearing... the figments she thought she heard were sewing doubts in her mind, and she hated doubts. Naltaibur herself bent down afterwards, to press her long night-elven ears against the floor.

Spoiler

Cast Alarm on the door (trigger: anyone but my group - including humies, in case someone comes by we can press-gangImean offer respite and safety) and 1 on the road outside (same trigger); 1 Shock trap in the lobby (trigger: Them Greys except for my hunter). Get all Squanto and put my ear to the floor.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

Spoiler

Naltaibur: HP = 45, PP = 53, EP = 15/49, Status = Fine, Telepathy to 10 different people, +21 Resistance (38) from Arcane Armor, Dominating a Hunter, +24 Perception from Annabeth
Lightning Bolt Trap in the lobby, Alarm traps in the street outside and in the doorway.

NPC Stats
Mavra: HP = 63, PP = 54, EP = 42/79, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Father Uldric: HP = 53, PP = 38, EP = 61, Status = Fine
Annabeth (Wizard Template) : HP = 35, PP = 50, EP = 49/55, Status = Fine, +24 Perception on Self, +24 Body on Kormack, +24 Perception from Annabeth

Sending her hunter upstairs after laying what traps she could over the entrance into the building, Naltaibur had the apartment building as safe as it could be in such short notice in short order, leaving herself time to speak. Annabeth had looked away just before Naltaibur started addressing her, but she looked back when the concealed doctor began to speak. When she turned to the room at large and addressed them as a whole, Naltaibur found that she had every eye in the room on her, and she possessed the full attention of the group as she delivered her apology for the near-disasters that had resulted from her overconfidence. They listened, their faces impassive, but through the mental link Naltaibur could feel their emotions stirring, and she came to understand quickly that they weren't angry, at least not at her.

Addressing each in turn, Naltaibur received a nod from Annabeth and smile from Uldric. The soldiers each straightened as their names were called, and Aluwin gave her a solemn tilt of his head while Kormak and Jenkins glanced at one another before doing the same. Gloria and Margaret both looked slightly ashamed, as they had indeed panicked earlier, but then offered Naltaibur a pair of wan smiles in thanks for her words. Finally, when she turned to her demon, Mavra gave Naltaibur a constrained smile, but across the mental link she replied; ['You would have done no less if given the chance.... But don't worry, I'm sure I'll figure out a way for you to thank me properly by the time we get a moment to breath~'] The others all glanced at Mavra, and though Annabeth still didn't seem to like it despite that her frown was now more contemplative than disapproving, nobody opted to complain outwardly at the demon's presence.

Regardless, all in all her speech to her group had been a fairly rousing success where morale was concerned, and Naltaibur noticed a spring in everybody's step as they set about making the unconscious women as comfortable as they could in the cramped room in which they'd taken refuge. Nobody raised any objections to the idea of leaving the women they'd rescued behind. Naltaibur's hunter still hadn't spotted anything living, alien or otherwise, but it had passed a number of locked doors that it hadn't opted to open under the pretense of remaining stealthy. The alien hadn't heard anything through the doorway, but that didn't mean that the apartments that it passed were uninhabited.

['Yes, but I'm not sure what,'] Annabeth replied to Naltaibur's mental query, and when she bent down to press her head against the ground the Star Priestess did the same. The sounds from below repeated themselves, and after a moment of listening Naltaibur realized what she was hearing. Movement, and.... "Voices!" Annabeth exclaimed suddenly, "There are voices coming from down there!"

 

[GargantuaBlarg]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

['I look forward to it,'] went Naltaibur's mental reply. Rrgh... she wanted to at least hold the demoness for a little while, but she also didn't want to deal with their group's anxiety if she indulged herself in a little public display of affection... she would simply have to make up for it once she had the chance.

The group looked to be in better spirits after her speech - good, of course, and it made the doctor a little happier to know she'd managed to at least keep them motivated, even if she'd not been the best leader for the team.

Upon the realization that they were voices, Naltaibur breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't sure how they might've gotten down there, but that it wasn't skittering or anything like that meant that it wasn't invaders, at least. Or, well... it probably wasn't invaders. They never spoke, save for when that monstrosity had spoken through Subject Gemini, and that was really only to deliver an ultimatum - not to hold a conversation like she thought this sounded like. Hmm...

["Anna, can you use that Hearing spell to make out what's being said? You can let the spell on my perceptions fade - this is more important, for now. I'll listen in to what you hear - is that alright?"]

She would have her lizard continue sweeping the upstairs - she didn't want there to be any nasty surprises left in here, though she didn't think there would be any. Given that this was an apartment, she thought the voices might be the lucky few of the tenants here that had managed to hide in the basement, like she'd done. Hopefully they would be able to take in their unconscious women for them, and keep them safe until they returned. ...Of course, she couldn't rule out the possibility that they were hostile, too... perhaps thieves, or deserters...

Spoiler

Listen through Anna, have Anna use Eavesdrop (dropping my Perception buff), have Lizard keep doing it's thing, all sneaky and carefully and shit.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

Spoiler

Naltaibur: HP = 45, PP = 53, EP = 15/49, Status = Fine, Telepathy to 10 different people, +21 Resistance (38) from Arcane Armor, Dominating a Hunter
Lightning Bolt Trap in the lobby, Alarm traps in the street outside and in the doorway.

NPC Stats
Mavra: HP = 63, PP = 54, EP = 42/79, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Father Uldric: HP = 53, PP = 38, EP = 61, Status = Fine
Annabeth (Wizard Template) : HP = 35, PP = 50, EP = 49/55, Status = Fine, +24 Perception on Self, +24 Body on Kormack, Eavesdrop

Mavra gave a soft smile and looked away from Naltaibur, making it look as if she were smirking at something else to all the others, who hadn’t been privy to their more intimate mental communication. Annabeth was still glaring at between the demon and the masked doctor suspiciously, but said nothing of whatever she was thinking at the moment.

That time came when the other healer was privately asked to cast a spell similar to the one Naltaibur had used earlier in an attempt to detect any approaching enemies. Nodding, the mage quickly dropped her spell on Naltaibur and replaced it with another, once more pressing her ear to the ground after giving a quiet request for everyone else to fall silent. [‘How long have you known the demon?’] she asked silently, across the private link to Naltaibur so that the others wouldn’t overhear. Outwardly, she began to recite a paraphrased version of what she heard aloud; “They’re…. They’re talking. People…. Or at least they sound like people. They’re talking about us…. They think we’re those monsters, searching for them. They’ve…. They’ve got mines at the door, magical ones, set to go off if anyone tries to open the way to the basement!”

In the meantime, Naltaibur’s controlled hunter silently pushed open a door upstairs, and started exploring a ransacked apartment on the top floor. There was overturned and broken furniture everywhere, as well as a great deal of broken glass…. And blood. The source of it was found a few moments later, in the form of a decapitated woman lying naked in a pool of carmine red, fresh enough that it was still damp in places but old enough that it had started to smell. Her head was simply gone, and the fair skin and lack of features made it impossible to identify her race with any real accuracy, but she was alone, oddly hairless, and fairly young.

 

[GargantuaBlarg]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

['Her name is Mavra, if you would, Annabeth,'] Naltaibur replied, a bit snippishly. ['Only since yesterday, some time around dusk. I was weakened after pulling Gloria away from some once-Therionians, and she ensured I was not wounded after I fainted.']

Hmmm... Naltaibur thought to herself. She could dispel the ensorcelled door and it's traps, but that would require her to tap into her rapidly dwindling mystical reserves. Best wait until the lizard had completed it's survey of the upstairs before attempting the door, if they were going to tackle it at all. If they had enspelled the door, though, then that meant there was a mage down there... surely, whoever it was, would be an asset to them as they made their way to Avenshire... though, it would be understandable if they were reluctant to leave the others they had bunkered down in here with. Even if they didn't go with them, they would still be an asset in keeping this place - and her rescuees - secure.

['Understood. Everyone, stay away from the doors on this floor - they have it trapped with a spell like the ones I've been using,'] she repeated to the group. She wasn't sure why - Anna had already said it out loud, after all, but she might as well be extra cautious. ['Could you perhaps listen a little while longer, and see if you can determine how many there are down there, and perhaps what manner of folks they sound like? I'm sure average citizens would sound scared as they spoke, for example, while soldiers might sound confident, and if they intended to ambush us, they might sound a little... bloodthirsty. After that, please allow yourself to relax and refocus your energies - we unfortunately still have much ahead of us.']

She contemplated perhaps rapping or stomping on the floor some pattern they might know... a short little Therionian tune, perhaps, or a song. If they had a mage, perhaps she could stomp a piece of music from the Academy to them, in hopes that they might too be a graduate from the school, and had the faculties to recognize it in a... fairly more primitive instrumentation? Or if there were soldiers down there, she could get Kormac and Aluwin's men to help her stamp out something... a march, perhaps? Before she resorted to making so much noise, though, she wanted the lizard to finish it's sweep. They might have laid an alarm trap, instead of hearing their stamping and laying down so-many people, after all... they might not have the enhanced hearing she and Annabeth enjoyed, after all.

The sight from her conscripted invader gave her a moment's pause. The invaders didn't kill women... so she wasn't sure what had happened to this woman. Had the Gemini or those strange women she'd seen earlier been this devoid of hair? It was a bit difficult to remember... she bid her scout look closer - was it slimy, as Gemini were? Had that strange trio of witches from earlier been slimy...?

Most likely she had been an alien when she died, though Naltaibur couldn't figure out what could have decapitated her so, and yet left no evidence of what had once been on her shoulders. She bid the reptile take a close look around the body for brain matter... and, eventually, she bid it bring the corpse back - along with a sheet a (relatively) clean sheet to her before sending it back to finish it's search. The night elf wanted the body without having to travel up there herself, and whatever had slain it might slay her lizard as well...

If it had been the wizard underneath the floor here, she didn't immediately recognize what manner of spell they might have used - any manner of spellcraft could blast it's head apart, and if it was spellcraft, why the caster had aimed for her head, in such close quarters where they might have been panicked and unable to achieve such precision.

She checked on Dolly as the lizard came back down, and when it was near, bid it to leave it some few steps from the stairs down, and complete it's check of the top stairs. When that was done, she announced to the group the discovery, and told them she would hop up the stairs to examine the cadaver, and requested on of the men keep watch on her with a crossbow, while another watched him from down in the lobby. She then had the lizard come back down and guard her as she examined it a few steps up the stairs, having recovered her sack of medical tools to do so. She first weaved the spell that she had formulated on her own, which highlighted abnormalities in the body - and then examined it's wounds. It also should have told her how long this thing should have been sitting there... Large cuts, bruising, punctures or lacerations that might have been from weapons, burns from magical fire or electricity, arcane residue from spells, the tissue damage from frostbite, which might well have occurred from exposure through the damaged building's structure, but which might've been different in some areas due to damage from spells of cold... perhaps inexplicable tissue damage that wasn't from a weapon, like the damage her spells might have caused?

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jIBK7UxRTqE#t=353s

Also, apply some Diagnose on dat cadaver.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

Spoiler

Naltaibur: HP = 45, PP = 53, EP = 15/49, Status = Fine, Telepathy to 10 different people, +21 Resistance (38) from Arcane Armor, Dominating a Hunter
Lightning Bolt Trap in the lobby, Alarm traps in the street outside and in the doorway.

NPC Stats
Mavra: HP = 63, PP = 54, EP = 42/79, Status = Fine, Pregnant
Father Uldric: HP = 53, PP = 38, EP = 61, Status = Fine
Annabeth (Wizard Template) : HP = 35, PP = 50, EP = 49/55, Status = Fine, +24 Perception on Self, +24 Body on Kormack, Eavesdrop

Naltaibur's response to Annabeth's disrespect to Mavra caused the healer to scowl darkly, but she offered a quick mental acknowledgement following the doctor's answer and then replied; ['How long were you unconscious around her? Have you been alone with her since then?'] Her group nodded solemnly at the command to stay away from the doors, having overheard the mention of the mines, and she noted that the soldiers had all started carefully examining the doors on their floor. Annabeth, despite her continued misgivings about Mavra, nodded at her request to keep listening and mentally replied; ['Alright, but I'm not promising that I'll be able to figure out what they are!']

Her controlled reptile did as Naltaibur instructed it to, but looking through its eyes was difficult and didn't show whether the woman was slimy or not. It didn't find any chunks of brain matter of bone lying about, at least not as far as she could see, but it did find several chunks of a pus-like organic jelly that was all but completely unidentifiable. She distinctly recalled that the trio from earlier had been coated in the same slime that she'd seen coating Subject Gemini, but they'd all had hair of one form or another that'd been plastered to their bodies by the slime that they emitted.

After that, the lizard searched the rest of the apartment in which it had found the body only to find it empty of anything else living. There were a wide variety of alchemical compounds, many of which Naltaibur recognized based on their labeling, but nothing alive to worry about. That had been the last place in the building to check, so the creature quickly carried the body downstairs and then stood about, waiting. Dolly gave a little squeak and wiggled her wings when taken out to be examined, and then looked up at Naltaibur with red eyes expectantly.

Whenever she was finished with Dolly, Naltaibur issued her requests to the soldiers, and after a brief amount of internal bickering it was decided that Caden and Jenkins would be the ones to watch over her, the Theronian guardsman being the immediate guard while Caden watched him from the hallway. With them and her hunter in place, it was likely that Naltaibur would be as guarded as she could get from the corpse that she was going to examine. The body itself seemed fairly fresh to her own eyes, just as it had to the hunter, and unlike the creature Naltaibur was able to identify the presence of trace amounts of the slime that the aliens secreted on the woman's skin.

Her spell illuminated the oddities, and it combined with her training and experience showed a number of interesting things about this particular corpse. Firstly the bloody stump that was the woman's neck wasn't jagged due to the effects of any blade or claw, at least not any that she'd ever seen. The entirety of it glowed green when exposed to her spell, signalling that they'd been burned by some sort of chemical. There were no burns, no signs of other magical effects having been worked upon her except for a great deal of corruption within her body, suggesting that she'd been forcibly corrupted by something, and no other fresh injuries beside a few scrapes on her back. The body had a number of burns on its hands and arms, but they were old wounds that had long healed.

 

[GargantuaBlarg]

Re: Dr. Love, Dr. Death (GargantuaBlarg)

['I am unsure.'] Naltaibur responded plainly. ['I blacked out on their doorstep, and awakened inside Uldric's chapel some time later, where Father Uldric had given her a room to cloister herself in.'] The doctor's reply to the Star God's disciple came markedly late, as her mind raced to construct an answer. She didn't want to admit the changes wrought on her body... which seemed to be where this conversation was heading. She'd even implied Mavra had been isolated before Naltaibur had met her, hadn't she? Damn it!

['Yes,'] she thought to the healer. ['I spent the night with her in her room. It was terrible - she shared her room with two turned Therionians, that never stopped thrashing against their restraints, with only a book to keep her occupied. She others were - still are - afraid of her; I don't think she could have stepped out for a breath of air or to stretch her legs even if she wanted to. She had wounds, as well, which I took some time to heal - a service I extended to the rest of Uldric, his men, and the wounded taking cover with him. It seemed so lonely... suffice to say, I could relate, so I shared my company with her until dawn.'] She didn't say the child was hers, or anything like that...

But... that might've not been what she was trying to get at. Did she think herself dominated by her Mavra, like Naltaibur dominated the invaders to do her bidding? It was true, in a way... the demoness captivated her, with her deliciously perfect body... surely, Naltaibur would go to great lengths for her - far more so than was likely appropriate, given the length of time they'd known each other - but she wasn't fairly sure she hadn't been ensorcelled, nor had she been lied to. And why would Mavra leave the safety of the church, if that had been the case? Even her practical imprisonment would have been preferable to the terrors these monsters would inflict on them were they given the chance, surely. It was a preposterous thought.

['Alright, just do your best. Try to see if you can overhear any names, as well,'] Naltaibur replied when Anna bent low to listen to the others as she'd asked. Any information could be useful... names, especially so. ['Be careful, the rest of you - it seems safe now, but be careful not to touch any of those doors, and don't wander off alone, just in case.']


While the lizard wrapped up for her upstairs, she stroked her little mouse's back with a finger. She was so glad she hadn't been harmed, or dropped, or anything like that during all of the trouble they'd run into.

The lizard found a very strange goo when she bid it to search the apartment it had found the corpse in more carefully... but nothing indicating that the corpse's head had been destroyed via normal trauma, such as a mace blow. The apartment appeared to belong to an alchemist, judging by the many different mixtures the apartment contained. It might have been that the corpse belonged to an attacker, not the apartment's original owner... Perhaps the mage hiding from them in the apartment's basement lived there?

When the lizard arrived with the cadaver, Naltaibur put the mutant mouse back down in her bag. "Be good, Dolly. Don't chew through the bag, or poop on your food too much," she whispered to her little creature, giving her one last stroke before tying up the bag's top again and handing it back to Gloria.

She thanked Caden and Jenkins for watching her. "I just want eyes on me in case some invader eluded my lizard and ambushes me while I'm working. There probably isn't anything to worry about. Feel free to relax - just stay alert, okay?"


Hmm... this creature did seem to be secreting the slime found on creatures turned by the invaders. It was very slight, though - Naltaibur dismissed that as the slime simply evaporating, the body failing to replace it due to... well, being dead. The corpse had been dead long enough for that to have happened, she was fairly sure.

Chemical burns marked the remnants of her neck and throat. Naltaibur was even more sure she'd been killed by that flat's tenant, now. The cadaver lacked any other forms of injury... how quickly had whatever acid had been flung on her killed her? It sounded like an absolutely horrific way to meet one's end... she definitely didn't want to get into a fight with the mage, now...

The woman was also corrupted. Corruption - the magical warping of a mundane creature's form - seemed to happen most often via.... 'intimate' contact with a creature already sufficiently warped. Hmm... the most obvious cause was that she'd been caught and viciously raped by the invaders. Naltaibur checked the corpse's vagina, checking for signs of recent heavy use or trauma. The minor scrapes on her back... she wasn't sure. Those tiny tentacle creatures seemed to favor lifting women into the air, didn't they? They'd been doing that when her group happened upon them at the clinic, hadn't they? It could very well be the remnants of her rapist's roughness, if her back had been on a rough surface, like cobblestone or flooring, when she was 'taken'. Naltaibur wasn't sure what to make of the burns on her arms, though... it was easy to see they were old ones, not relevant to her more recent trauma, but... could they have been from acids, like her fatal wound was? Not nearly as strong acid, of course, but still - it might be evidence that she had been the inhabiting alchemist. The evidence pointing to her being turned and attacking whoever lived there was stronger to her, but still...

Hmm. The simplest way to determine if she was turned or not would have been for Naltaibur to search her for one of those darkheart-like stones she'd extracted from the invaders they'd fought last. Hmm... greyhearts, perhaps? She set about doing so, pulling out her surgical tools to try and cut to where the thing might have been located.

Once she'd found it - or was relatively sure she wasn't going to find it - Naltaibur pulled out one of the metal vials she'd packed when she left her laboratory, and gave it to the lizard, bidding him to return upstairs and scoop up a sample of that pus-like slime that had been on the floor, and then to search through the documents and drawers of the domicile, to try and find out the tenant's name. She would probably have to supervise it while it did that... so she retreated back to the relative safety of her allies downstairs.

While downstairs, she also examined one of the victims they'd rescued, picking up the lightest and smallest and taking her to somewhere she could check the woman slightly more privately, casting her diagnostic spell on her checking her vagina for damage, to compare with the cadaver.

Spoiler

Would knowing a guy's name let me telepathize at him? >.>

Does corruption ever happen outside of dickings or inhabiting-a-different-plane, also? That probably would affect Nal's understanding of it. >.>