Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

Casting: 14 + 16 = 30 vs 16 = Success.

Ashley spells rips the lid of the crate off, and finds the box filled with wooden boxes of ammunition. There was quite a bit of it in there, though it was all Badarian shells rather than the smaller bullets that her revolver used. Still, she could likely sell it or perhaps find a box with weapons in it somewhere in here.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Ashley considered her needs. She was pretty good on ammo for the moment, and this wouldn't work for her anyway. Money was a little low, but not so low she had to really worry about it, not with the food and shelter she had prepared outside town. There could be weapons as well, but she was only really familiar with her pistol and magic.

Instead, she decided to mark the location mentally as a possible site for future salvage. Right now she wanted information, and then to get out of town for the night. That in mind, she moved to leave the building and find a new one.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

Heading back out of the warehouse and into the street, Ashley glances around and spots another of the clawed demons. It hadn't seen her yet, and was moving away from her toward where the house she'd cleared out was.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Was that the same beast I saw before I met Mathias? Perhaps not, but if it is... well, better safe then sorry. Ashley makes up her mind to kill the thing, thinking that it may be following her. To that end her first instinct is to summon the winds in an attempt to shove the thing into a wall. Even while she does that, she raises her pistol in case the thing comes at her.

(Level 3 storm spell, gust.)

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 32/36

Casting: 3 + 16 + 10 + 8 = 37 vs 22 = Success.
Mind vs Body: 13 + 32 + 3 = 48 vs 5 + 20 = 25 == Ashley wins.
Damage: 4 + 2 + 8 = 14 x 2 = 28 damage.

Ashleys spell lifts the unaware demon off the ground and hammers it into the wall of a nearby building. It gets shakily back to its feat and looks around for the source of whatever had thrown it against the wall.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Ashley raises her pistol in both hands and fires a carefully aimed shot, intending to finish the thing off before it finds her and starts running.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 32/36

To-hit: 3 + 20 + 3 = 26 vs 20 = hit.
Damage: 2 hp left = death. (Lazy)

Ashleys shot slams into its shoulder, the guns report unnaturally loud in the unusual stillness. The creature collapses, tries to regain its feet fro a second, and then finally collapses, never to rise again.

(Gain 2 exp.)

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Well, that demon wasn't so tough.

Ashley pauses to replace the bullet in its chamber before she moves to the thing's corpse, wanting a closer look.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

After reloading, Ashleys inspection of the corpse reveals that it is pretty much just like the creature she'd encountered in the house. All smooth black skin, with long claws on its front feet. It didn't wear any clothes, and didn't seem to have anything valuable on it.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

I'm sure their "friends and family" can tell them apart, but I certainly can't. So I still don't know if it was following me or just a coincidence... damn.

With a glance around to make sure no more demons had been drawn to the sound of her gunshot, Ashley makes her way to the nearest building other then the one she's just explored, hoping this one might tell her something important or yield something really useful.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

Ashley spots another three demons heading toward from the direction of the docks, one a gray skinned humanoid and two insectlike monsters with many tentacles.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Ashley quickly considers the tactical situation. Are they looking for me? They may have heard the gunshot and come to investigate. But somehow I don't think demons are quite organized enough to send out a search party to investigate a gunshot. Besides, Mathias made way more noise and also proved himself a powerful mage as well, so if anything like that was likely to happen I would have seen some evidence. Unless these just happened to be nearby and curious... She quickly weighs the benefits of killing them against the risks, and decides to...

(What are they heading towards? me? And are they aware of me?)

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

The creature in front, the gray skinned demon, seems to be casting its eyes around, searching for something, though it seemed to only be looking near itself. They were still a good distance away, and Ashley could hide behind a nearby low stone wall if she chose, either to wait to ambush or to just let the demons go past her. The demons were 70 feet away from her at the moment, slowly coming toward her position and unaware of her presence.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Ashley considered running or hiding, but decided that there was a good chance the demons were looking for her. She'd never been good at hiding and didn't like running.

She habitually checked that her pistol was loaded and assumed a traditional spellcasting pose, one hand raised in front of her to gesture at her target. In her sudden burst of concentration, as she drew in energy and felt out her target, she allowed her control to slip and in the back of her mind noticed a fine mist forming around her body, as had so often happened before she'd learned to control her magic. If she let it build, she knew that it would eventually form miniature storm clouds that reflected her mood. Not a great thing to have, in places that hated and feared magic, and still embarrassing where magic was tolerated or even encouraged. But with what she was about to do, a little mist wasn't going to make much difference.

She gathered the winds and focused them, concentrating heat and cold to make more. She felt the wind roaring through the clouds above her, and knew worse was on the way. She felt the wind flowing around the demons, and saw them more clearly then with her eyes. Then all at once she snapped the winds into place, and felt the breath draw out of all 3 demons as the magic began to take hold, and the simultaneous strain on her own mind as it channeled the magic required to hold it in place...

(I want to see Air Drown. (level 5 storm))

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 28/36

Casting: 4 + 16 + 10 + 8 + 3 = 41 vs 40 == Success.
Damage: 8 + 4 + 11 = 23 x 3 = 69 damage.

Ashley barely held her concentration well enough to manage this most powerful of spells, but she smiled in satisfaction as it went off successfully. The gray skinned leader has not only its breath, but its lungs torn from its mouth, an eruption of blood and gore being pulled into the air by her magic, while the other two creatures are seemingly partially crushed flat by her spell. All three demons collapse, dead.

(Gain 4 exp.)

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

(haha, worth it. Almost disappointed I didn't get to use the full combo... but then again 3 demons that could stand 2 turns of ~90 damage air drown would be pretty freaking terrifying.)

Ashley grinned at the feel of the power running through her as the magic took effect, but it turned sour at the gore. Maybe I went a little overboard on that one. Just a little.

Still, these demons had probably been looking for her, and on the off chance that this meant they were more important then the wandering mostly-animals she'd seen so far, she decided to have a closer look at the bodies.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

The two insectlike creatures had nothing to distinguish themselves beyond their completely alien appearance, their forms so alien to Ashley that she could only call them insectlike because they had six legs and nothing else came to mind. She did note that the gray skinned demons skin was now changing colors to resemble the dirt it now lay upon, and she could probably take a sample of it if she chose.

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Her natural curiosity temporarily overwhelming her desire to leave the scene quickly and then empty her stomach, Ashley whips out her pocketknife and takes a sample of the odd skin.

Stepping away from the gory and dessicated corpse, Ashley looks at the sky. When she'd drawn in the energy needed to kill these demons, she thought she'd felt something not altogether pleasant. Which was odd, because she liked most storms. She also remembered allowing the mists to return, and was pleased to find she'd suppressed them without even thinking about it.

(And I'm off for the night. Before I start again I'll probably write something brief describing a time when accidentally exposing herself as a magic user ended poorly, for her bio.)

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Spoiler

Ashleys Status: HP = 41, P = 47, EP = 36

(Okie dokie. Goodnight! And gained 1x Stalker Skin.)

Pocketing the skin and turning away, Ashley suddenly realized what was making her uneasy. Because of the powerful use of magic that had been going on in the area, Matthias spell and her own working of magic, the area had been temporarily drained of magic. Casting was still possible, but it would cost her more of her own energies to do even the simplest of spells.

(The area around the docks warehouses is now a low magic area. All spells have an effective +1 to their spell level for the purposes of determining casting energy costs ONLY.)

 

[thetwo]

Re: Thunder in the Distance (thetwo)

Ashley decided that she'd had enough excitement for one day, especially considering how it was harder to do magic around here now, and started back for the house outside town at a brisk walk.