Arklytte July 26, 2022 The GuildMaster: Nothing to See Here Turning to Yukito, he gave the swordsman a smile that was all teeth. "While, yes, we would prefer that you not engage in wholesale slaughter of the inhabitants, the destruction of the Beholder is the top...Hells, really it's the ONLY priority. It those floating terrors gain a solid foothold, then start pushing out as an organized group, they'll wreak untold havoc. So...do what you can to avoid can to avoid unnecessary killing of the locals. While there's every possibility that some of them may be controlled, due to the mutations they underwent to survive proximity to the nullmetal meteor, the inhabitants of Oculus have become quite resistant to magic. They're not immune, by any means, but I'd say that, if you hit them with half a dozen spells, only three or four are going to bite, on average. Add that to their native toughness, size, and strength, they're formidable foes." Hardblade snorted. "As always, my cousin has a gift for understatement." She gave the man a mocking grin before turning back to her Hunters. "I once saw a pissed off Clops shepherd, defending those those sheep of theirs...you know the ones, about the size of draft horses? Yeah, a pack of dire wolves were trying to bring some of them down. The shepherd...who was, for a Clops, basically in his late teens...he snatched one of those fuzzy bastards right out of the air, mid leap, and tore it in half. No windup, no warning, just grabbed it by the head and back legs, split it two, and use both ends to beat the rest off til a couple of their rangers...those are the only real 'warriors' among the Clan, by the way...a couple of their Rangers arrived and drove off the rest of the pack." She swept the six with her gaze, and the woman's eyes were steel hard. "So, yeah, you run up against any of them that have been controlled...put em down gently if you can, but if you cant, you dont hesitate! Your job is to stop the Beholders! Not save the Clops. Got it?" Cryoleptus, still standing behind her, looked somewhat pained at Hardblade's blunt words...but he didn't contradict them. Turning back to Yukito, Hardblade smirked. "As for the island...not much to tell, really. The Clan keeps it fairly peaceful. Not many things are willing to take on over a thousand pissed off Cyclops. It has it's share of predators, both mundane and magical, but nothing that should pose a serious thread to Hunters of your calibre. On the whole, it's no different than any of a hundred other places you've all been to before. Prettier than most, since the Clan lives a fairly simple life, farming and herding, so no big cities to muck up the place. And, as I said, there's only about a two, two and a half thousand Clops on the island, so they're pretty spread out. Mostly they live in little collections of houses, scattered all around. The biggest village on the island only has about two or three hundred residents. It's the one nearest the lake, in case you're wondering. Of course, it's also rather near that new mountain that sprouted up." she finished sourly. After a moment of quiet contemplation, Hardblade's gaze snapped back down to Yukito. "As for lack of prep time...well, that's why you make the big coin, boy." She grinned at the rest. "We'll be sending a cache of supplies with you. Food, drink, medical supplies, a few other odds and ends. Everything the quartermaster can throw together in the next few hours. But ultimately, it's on your backs. It's not as though you're helpless newbs, after all." Giving him one last smile, Hardblade gestured towards Devlin, then jerked her head towards Cryoleptus. "There are communication devices being worked on as we speak. Several Academy artificers are putting the finishing touches on them, and they'll be ready before you depart. As for extraction...well, as I stated, you'll be on your own for at least a week, probably a bit longer. As part of the ritual, I'll be syncing a gem with my own spell core, and it will be sent through with the six of you. In simple terms, it will reflect the state of my core, and when I have reached a state wherein I'll be able to open another portal, the stone will let you know. At that point, any of the six of you will be able to call for a portal. However, before you do, there are several important considerations to consider." He raised his hand, holding up his index finger. "One, once you initiate the call, it will take a full hour before the portal will form. That's how long the ritual will take to complete." He raised his middle finger. "Two. The signal, once sent, will tie your end of the portal to the physical location of the gem, which, once activated, will hover in midair at the spot it was activated, and will not move from that spot. So, you will either need to make sure your end is clear, or you will have to defend it for the entire hour." Raising his ring finger, he continued. "Three. Once the portal is opened, it will remain open only five minutes. And we cant shut it down once it's opened. So, as I said, make sure the landing zone is secure." Finally, he raised his thumb. "And Four. Once we perform the ritual, I and the other mages will, again, be drained. It's highly probable that it will take us even longer to recover after the second portal. So, unless the mission is totally blown, I strongly recommend that you dont send the signal until you've completed your objective." Finishing his list, the mage lowered his hand. "We'll do everything we can to get you out safely, once the job's done. This isn't a suicide mission." He grimaced. "But it is extremely dangerous. That's why we came to the Guild. Hunting monsters is what you do. If you weren't the best, you wouldn't be here." The Guildmaster barked a laugh. "Damn straight!" She emphasized her opinion by thumping her hand on the desk and gave the other six a wolfish grin, this one full of pride in both them, and the Guild as a whole. Turning her attention to Cal, Hardblade nodded in response to his question. Her voice, when she addressed him was...not gentle, necessarily, but not as harsh as he'd seemingly come to expect it might be. "Aye, the Armada, at least a significant portion of it, has already been recalled. Some of the ships are already coming into their respective ports and starting to resupply. Soldiers are being moved about, along with supplies, weapons, the whole lot. It's already started to affect logistics in several other places, and it's only been about a day. The longer this goes on, the worse it will get." Cryoleptus nodded sharply. "That's why the Empress put, for all intents and purposes, the services of every mage the Academy could spare under my direct control for the duration. And emptied a rather large portion of the royal treasury into this one's hands to boot." He grinned, jerking a thumb at his cousin. For her part, Hardblade grinned right back, positively beaming with satisfaction. Cryoleptus simply rolled his eyes and then turned his attention to Niyel, cocking his head to the side as the man asked his questions. "The three beholders that attacked the ship appeared to be standard representatives of their kind. The Julius' lookout estimated them to be about three to four yards across, they flew...fortunately for the Julius, rather slowly...and they fired various eyebeams. At least one disintegration ray was fired...it cut the foremast in half. A couple of the crew had their minds taken over, and they attacked their fellows, and a few other of their known powers were encountered." He paused a moment, clearly gathering his thoughts, and Hardblade took over the narrative. "Luckily, none of the three got close enough to the wheeldeck use that magic eating eye of theirs, otherwise we'd never have known what was happening til the bastards were floating into the capital harbor. The Julius had a weather mage on board...standard practice on all Guild merchant frigates...and she was able to whip up a fog that hid the ship long enough for her to get a proper tailwind in place." She shook her head. "And even then it was close. With one mast half gone, several of the sails damaged, and multiple holes in the hull, it was only through sheer guts and skill that they got away." Sitting back, she appeared to be contemplating 'what could have been', so it was left to her royal cousin to respond to the rest of the Hunter's questions. "Other than their increased resistance to magic, there's nothing particularly unusual about the Clan Cyclops. It's not like they've been especially studied...they only allow visitors to land in a single location on the island, a small trade post that the Guild set up on their second landing, indicated by the red dot on the relief map, in case you're curious. And since they're trading partners, not hostiles, it's not like we're going to capture and experiment on them just to see how they contrast with their less pleasant cousins." He gave the assassin a bit of a hard look, considering some of the implications of his questions. Hardblade came out of her musings at the sound of Cryoleptus' tone. Appearing to mentally rewind the conversation, she stared hard at Niyel. "Pelias' Tits, boy! What do you think this is, an Anthropology symposium at the Academy? This all happened over a millennia ago, and we only know because of some stories handed down by their shamans and headmen. Like we said, spells have a harder time biting on them, other than that, they're normal as a One Eye can be." She stared hard at the assassin, even as she finished responding to his barrage of questions. "The Clops are the only residents of the island, other than the wildlife. And, unless you consider a hundred or so rangers 'defenses', they dont have any of those either. They're farmers, and shepherds, not bloody aristocrats." She rolled her eyes, seemingly exasperated. Partly, it might be due to the fact that, so far as any of the six were aware, this was the most words the Captain had spoken, all together, in...well...ever. That, and it was clear that, despite her hard won reputation for equanimity, the current situation was causing her a fair bit of stress. Waving impatiently to Cryoleptus, Hardblade fell silent, allowing her cousin to finish. "Ah, the mountain. Yes, as far as we can tell, it's brand new. There are only three ships that make regular runs to Oculus. The last was about two months ago, just at the end of the shearing season. The Julius was returning to bring back the trade goods that the Clan had bartered for, as well as to pick up a small load of nullmetal. The mountain had sprung up in the interim." The man gestured to the map. "The Captain of the Julius didn't get a good look at it before they attack, but he's been to the island multiple times, so he knows what it's silhouette looks like, and the mountain is definitely new. He estimated that it was at least a couple of thousand feet high, and a few miles around. In the brief glimpse he had, he said that it appeared to be a single mountain, rising in a cone somewhat like a volcano. Beyond that," he shrugged, "he and his people were a bit too busy fighting to stay alive to make out fine details." Hardblade, who appeared to have gotten her irritation under control, or at least, set it aside for now, swept the six with her gaze. "Unless you have any other questions, consider yourselves dismissed until an hour and a half before dawn. We have preparations to be dealing with too, and we have to visit the Imperial palace to give her Majesty a report." A sour look flickered across her face, followed by an amused one on the face of her cousin. Growling softly, the Guildmaster pretended to ignore Cryoleptus and gave the gathered Hunters a hard look, waiting for them to either respond, or leave. OOC Stuff Again, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Despite the fact that Hardblade is both preoccupied, and seems a fair bit irritated, I want to be sure to answer any questions you have before we kick off the adventure for true. I'll be putting up separate threads to detail any additional gear you get, as well as list out all the info on Nullmetal. I'll also be adding a separate thread for the maps. In the meantime, I'm going to leave all that here as well, so I dont lose track of it in the meantime. 🙂 ************* Some housekeeping. Your Guild Cloaks I mentioned. You all have one, in whatever color/style you wish. They are, as noted, weather and waterproof, and are designed to keep your comfortable no matter the temperature. They are considered to have the Endure Elements spell active on them at all times, however, this is considered an EX, rather than SU ability and is not affected by Dispel/Counter/AMF/etc. NullSteel Weapons Your Nullsteel weapons work as follows: On a successful hit, the weapon disrupts any active spell it comes in contact with. This functions in all ways as the Counterspell feat, except that it cannot, itself, be Countered, nor can it be modified by any Counterspell feats the wielder may have. This function has an MSB of 0 for purposes of the Counterspell roll. This is considered an Alchemical function and is considered an EX ability, rather than an SU one. By suffusing the weapon with 1 SP, the Counterspell effect increases it's MSB to that of the wielder. There are no other changes to the base ability. BY suffusing the weapon with 2 SP (total), the Counterspell effect is increased to be equal to the Improved Counterspell feat, with the following caveats: Striking someone with a weapon dispels 1 magical effect per 5 character levels of the wielder. A direct attack with a melee weapon cannot do a Counter Burst as described in the Feat. It is a single target effect only. When used on a Flashbang/Formulae, the direct target of the splash weapon is subject to a Counter/Dispel attempt at full MSB, as described above. Adjacent targets in the AOE are Dispelled at MSB-5. For every additional 5' away from the point of origin, the MSB is reduced a further -5 until reaching 0. This means that the max radius of an AOE Dispel is 15' at the players current level. This counts as using a Material Imposition. This Counter/Dispel effect will not work in conjunction with any magical ability/formulae/device. The inherent anti-magical qualities nullify any 'attached' magic. Against incoming Ray/Touch magical attacks, the wielder of a melee weapon/shield made from NullMetal may attempt to swat the incoming spell aside. This requires an attack roll that must exceed the incoming attack roll. Countering an incoming spell in this fashion is an Immediate Action. By expending Martial Focus, the wielder reduces this action to an AOO. If the wielder of a NullMetal melee weapon has talents that allow them to deflect/reflect/disrupt incoming spellcasting, the weapons work as normal, but provide a circumstance bonus of +5 to the attempt. NullMetal is, in all other ways, identical to Adamantine (Hardness, HP, ability to bypass DR, etc) All of the gifted NullMetal weapons are Masterwork items and gain the appropriate Enhancement Bonus. Yes, this includes the Alchemical ones, which, yes, is silly from a 'realism' standpoint. Just roll with it. The NullMetal weapons can be used in conjunction with your Enhanced Armaments Oath Boons, despite the boon being considered an SU ability. And be sure to keep your arms and legs inside the rollercoaster at all times. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maps
Arklytte July 26, 2022 The GuildMaster: Nothing to See Here Turning to Yukito, he gave the swordsman a smile that was all teeth. "While, yes, we would prefer that you not engage in wholesale slaughter of the inhabitants, the destruction of the Beholder is the top...Hells, really it's the ONLY priority. It those floating terrors gain a solid foothold, then start pushing out as an organized group, they'll wreak untold havoc. So...do what you can to avoid can to avoid unnecessary killing of the locals. While there's every possibility that some of them may be controlled, due to the mutations they underwent to survive proximity to the nullmetal meteor, the inhabitants of Oculus have become quite resistant to magic. They're not immune, by any means, but I'd say that, if you hit them with half a dozen spells, only three or four are going to bite, on average. Add that to their native toughness, size, and strength, they're formidable foes." Hardblade snorted. "As always, my cousin has a gift for understatement." She gave the man a mocking grin before turning back to her Hunters. "I once saw a pissed off Clops shepherd, defending those those sheep of theirs...you know the ones, about the size of draft horses? Yeah, a pack of dire wolves were trying to bring some of them down. The shepherd...who was, for a Clops, basically in his late teens...he snatched one of those fuzzy bastards right out of the air, mid leap, and tore it in half. No windup, no warning, just grabbed it by the head and back legs, split it two, and use both ends to beat the rest off til a couple of their rangers...those are the only real 'warriors' among the Clan, by the way...a couple of their Rangers arrived and drove off the rest of the pack." She swept the six with her gaze, and the woman's eyes were steel hard. "So, yeah, you run up against any of them that have been controlled...put em down gently if you can, but if you cant, you dont hesitate! Your job is to stop the Beholders! Not save the Clops. Got it?" Cryoleptus, still standing behind her, looked somewhat pained at Hardblade's blunt words...but he didn't contradict them. Turning back to Yukito, Hardblade smirked. "As for the island...not much to tell, really. The Clan keeps it fairly peaceful. Not many things are willing to take on over a thousand pissed off Cyclops. It has it's share of predators, both mundane and magical, but nothing that should pose a serious thread to Hunters of your calibre. On the whole, it's no different than any of a hundred other places you've all been to before. Prettier than most, since the Clan lives a fairly simple life, farming and herding, so no big cities to muck up the place. And, as I said, there's only about a two, two and a half thousand Clops on the island, so they're pretty spread out. Mostly they live in little collections of houses, scattered all around. The biggest village on the island only has about two or three hundred residents. It's the one nearest the lake, in case you're wondering. Of course, it's also rather near that new mountain that sprouted up." she finished sourly. After a moment of quiet contemplation, Hardblade's gaze snapped back down to Yukito. "As for lack of prep time...well, that's why you make the big coin, boy." She grinned at the rest. "We'll be sending a cache of supplies with you. Food, drink, medical supplies, a few other odds and ends. Everything the quartermaster can throw together in the next few hours. But ultimately, it's on your backs. It's not as though you're helpless newbs, after all." Giving him one last smile, Hardblade gestured towards Devlin, then jerked her head towards Cryoleptus. "There are communication devices being worked on as we speak. Several Academy artificers are putting the finishing touches on them, and they'll be ready before you depart. As for extraction...well, as I stated, you'll be on your own for at least a week, probably a bit longer. As part of the ritual, I'll be syncing a gem with my own spell core, and it will be sent through with the six of you. In simple terms, it will reflect the state of my core, and when I have reached a state wherein I'll be able to open another portal, the stone will let you know. At that point, any of the six of you will be able to call for a portal. However, before you do, there are several important considerations to consider." He raised his hand, holding up his index finger. "One, once you initiate the call, it will take a full hour before the portal will form. That's how long the ritual will take to complete." He raised his middle finger. "Two. The signal, once sent, will tie your end of the portal to the physical location of the gem, which, once activated, will hover in midair at the spot it was activated, and will not move from that spot. So, you will either need to make sure your end is clear, or you will have to defend it for the entire hour." Raising his ring finger, he continued. "Three. Once the portal is opened, it will remain open only five minutes. And we cant shut it down once it's opened. So, as I said, make sure the landing zone is secure." Finally, he raised his thumb. "And Four. Once we perform the ritual, I and the other mages will, again, be drained. It's highly probable that it will take us even longer to recover after the second portal. So, unless the mission is totally blown, I strongly recommend that you dont send the signal until you've completed your objective." Finishing his list, the mage lowered his hand. "We'll do everything we can to get you out safely, once the job's done. This isn't a suicide mission." He grimaced. "But it is extremely dangerous. That's why we came to the Guild. Hunting monsters is what you do. If you weren't the best, you wouldn't be here." The Guildmaster barked a laugh. "Damn straight!" She emphasized her opinion by thumping her hand on the desk and gave the other six a wolfish grin, this one full of pride in both them, and the Guild as a whole. Turning her attention to Cal, Hardblade nodded in response to his question. Her voice, when she addressed him was...not gentle, necessarily, but not as harsh as he'd seemingly come to expect it might be. "Aye, the Armada, at least a significant portion of it, has already been recalled. Some of the ships are already coming into their respective ports and starting to resupply. Soldiers are being moved about, along with supplies, weapons, the whole lot. It's already started to affect logistics in several other places, and it's only been about a day. The longer this goes on, the worse it will get." Cryoleptus nodded sharply. "That's why the Empress put, for all intents and purposes, the services of every mage the Academy could spare under my direct control for the duration. And emptied a rather large portion of the royal treasury into this one's hands to boot." He grinned, jerking a thumb at his cousin. For her part, Hardblade grinned right back, positively beaming with satisfaction. Cryoleptus simply rolled his eyes and then turned his attention to Niyel, cocking his head to the side as the man asked his questions. "The three beholders that attacked the ship appeared to be standard representatives of their kind. The Julius' lookout estimated them to be about three to four yards across, they flew...fortunately for the Julius, rather slowly...and they fired various eyebeams. At least one disintegration ray was fired...it cut the foremast in half. A couple of the crew had their minds taken over, and they attacked their fellows, and a few other of their known powers were encountered." He paused a moment, clearly gathering his thoughts, and Hardblade took over the narrative. "Luckily, none of the three got close enough to the wheeldeck use that magic eating eye of theirs, otherwise we'd never have known what was happening til the bastards were floating into the capital harbor. The Julius had a weather mage on board...standard practice on all Guild merchant frigates...and she was able to whip up a fog that hid the ship long enough for her to get a proper tailwind in place." She shook her head. "And even then it was close. With one mast half gone, several of the sails damaged, and multiple holes in the hull, it was only through sheer guts and skill that they got away." Sitting back, she appeared to be contemplating 'what could have been', so it was left to her royal cousin to respond to the rest of the Hunter's questions. "Other than their increased resistance to magic, there's nothing particularly unusual about the Clan Cyclops. It's not like they've been especially studied...they only allow visitors to land in a single location on the island, a small trade post that the Guild set up on their second landing, indicated by the red dot on the relief map, in case you're curious. And since they're trading partners, not hostiles, it's not like we're going to capture and experiment on them just to see how they contrast with their less pleasant cousins." He gave the assassin a bit of a hard look, considering some of the implications of his questions. Hardblade came out of her musings at the sound of Cryoleptus' tone. Appearing to mentally rewind the conversation, she stared hard at Niyel. "Pelias' Tits, boy! What do you think this is, an Anthropology symposium at the Academy? This all happened over a millennia ago, and we only know because of some stories handed down by their shamans and headmen. Like we said, spells have a harder time biting on them, other than that, they're normal as a One Eye can be." She stared hard at the assassin, even as she finished responding to his barrage of questions. "The Clops are the only residents of the island, other than the wildlife. And, unless you consider a hundred or so rangers 'defenses', they dont have any of those either. They're farmers, and shepherds, not bloody aristocrats." She rolled her eyes, seemingly exasperated. Partly, it might be due to the fact that, so far as any of the six were aware, this was the most words the Captain had spoken, all together, in...well...ever. That, and it was clear that, despite her hard won reputation for equanimity, the current situation was causing her a fair bit of stress. Waving impatiently to Cryoleptus, Hardblade fell silent, allowing her cousin to finish. "Ah, the mountain. Yes, as far as we can tell, it's brand new. There are only three ships that make regular runs to Oculus. The last was about two months ago, just at the end of the shearing season. The Julius was returning to bring back the trade goods that the Clan had bartered for, as well as to pick up a small load of nullmetal. The mountain had sprung up in the interim." The man gestured to the map. "The Captain of the Julius didn't get a good look at it before they attack, but he's been to the island multiple times, so he knows what it's silhouette looks like, and the mountain is definitely new. He estimated that it was at least a couple of thousand feet high, and a few miles around. In the brief glimpse he had, he said that it appeared to be a single mountain, rising in a cone somewhat like a volcano. Beyond that," he shrugged, "he and his people were a bit too busy fighting to stay alive to make out fine details." Hardblade, who appeared to have gotten her irritation under control, or at least, set it aside for now, swept the six with her gaze. "Unless you have any other questions, consider yourselves dismissed until an hour and a half before dawn. We have preparations to be dealing with too, and we have to visit the Imperial palace to give her Majesty a report." A sour look flickered across her face, followed by an amused one on the face of her cousin. Growling softly, the Guildmaster pretended to ignore Cryoleptus and gave the gathered Hunters a hard look, waiting for them to either respond, or leave. OOC Stuff Again, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Despite the fact that Hardblade is both preoccupied, and seems a fair bit irritated, I want to be sure to answer any questions you have before we kick off the adventure for true. I'll be putting up separate threads to detail any additional gear you get, as well as list out all the info on Nullmetal. I'll also be adding a separate thread for the maps. In the meantime, I'm going to leave all that here as well, so I dont lose track of it in the meantime. 🙂 ************* Some housekeeping. Your Guild Cloaks I mentioned. You all have one, in whatever color/style you wish. They are, as noted, weather and waterproof, and are designed to keep your comfortable no matter the temperature. They are considered to have the Endure Elements spell active on them at all times, however, this is considered an EX, rather than SU ability and is not affected by Dispel/Counter/AMF/etc. NullSteel Weapons Your Nullsteel weapons work as follows: On a successful hit, the weapon disrupts any active spell it comes in contact with. This functions in all ways as the Counterspell feat, except that it cannot, itself, be Countered, nor can it be modified by any Counterspell feats the wielder may have. This function has an MSB of 0 for purposes of the Counterspell roll. This is considered an Alchemical function and is considered an EX ability, rather than an SU one. By suffusing the weapon with 1 SP, the Counterspell effect increases it's MSB to that of the wielder. There are no other changes to the base ability. BY suffusing the weapon with 2 SP (total), the Counterspell effect is increased to be equal to the Improved Counterspell feat, with the following caveats: Striking someone with a weapon dispels 1 magical effect per 5 character levels of the wielder. A direct attack with a melee weapon cannot do a Counter Burst as described in the Feat. It is a single target effect only. When used on a Flashbang/Formulae, the direct target of the splash weapon is subject to a Counter/Dispel attempt at full MSB, as described above. Adjacent targets in the AOE are Dispelled at MSB-5. For every additional 5' away from the point of origin, the MSB is reduced a further -5 until reaching 0. This means that the max radius of an AOE Dispel is 15' at the players current level. This counts as using a Material Imposition. This Counter/Dispel effect will not work in conjunction with any magical ability/formulae/device. The inherent anti-magical qualities nullify any 'attached' magic. Against incoming Ray/Touch magical attacks, the wielder of a melee weapon/shield made from NullMetal may attempt to swat the incoming spell aside. This requires an attack roll that must exceed the incoming attack roll. Countering an incoming spell in this fashion is an Immediate Action. By expending Martial Focus, the wielder reduces this action to an AOO. If the wielder of a NullMetal melee weapon has talents that allow them to deflect/reflect/disrupt incoming spellcasting, the weapons work as normal, but provide a circumstance bonus of +5 to the attempt. NullMetal is, in all other ways, identical to Adamantine (Hardness, HP, ability to bypass DR, etc) All of the gifted NullMetal weapons are Masterwork items and gain the appropriate Enhancement Bonus. Yes, this includes the Alchemical ones, which, yes, is silly from a 'realism' standpoint. Just roll with it. The NullMetal weapons can be used in conjunction with your Enhanced Armaments Oath Boons, despite the boon being considered an SU ability. And be sure to keep your arms and legs inside the rollercoaster at all times. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maps
Arklytte July 26, 2022 The GuildMaster: Nothing to See Here Turning to Yukito, he gave the swordsman a smile that was all teeth. "While, yes, we would prefer that you not engage in wholesale slaughter of the inhabitants, the destruction of the Beholder is the top...Hells, really it's the ONLY priority. It those floating terrors gain a solid foothold, then start pushing out as an organized group, they'll wreak untold havoc. So...do what you can to avoid can to avoid unnecessary killing of the locals. While there's every possibility that some of them may be controlled, due to the mutations they underwent to survive proximity to the nullmetal meteor, the inhabitants of Oculus have become quite resistant to magic. They're not immune, by any means, but I'd say that, if you hit them with half a dozen spells, only three or four are going to bite, on average. Add that to their native toughness, size, and strength, they're formidable foes." Hardblade snorted. "As always, my cousin has a gift for understatement." She gave the man a mocking grin before turning back to her Hunters. "I once saw a pissed off Clops shepherd, defending those those sheep of theirs...you know the ones, about the size of draft horses? Yeah, a pack of dire wolves were trying to bring some of them down. The shepherd...who was, for a Clops, basically in his late teens...he snatched one of those fuzzy bastards right out of the air, mid leap, and tore it in half. No windup, no warning, just grabbed it by the head and back legs, split it two, and use both ends to beat the rest off til a couple of their rangers...those are the only real 'warriors' among the Clan, by the way...a couple of their Rangers arrived and drove off the rest of the pack." She swept the six with her gaze, and the woman's eyes were steel hard. "So, yeah, you run up against any of them that have been controlled...put em down gently if you can, but if you cant, you dont hesitate! Your job is to stop the Beholders! Not save the Clops. Got it?" Cryoleptus, still standing behind her, looked somewhat pained at Hardblade's blunt words...but he didn't contradict them. Turning back to Yukito, Hardblade smirked. "As for the island...not much to tell, really. The Clan keeps it fairly peaceful. Not many things are willing to take on over a thousand pissed off Cyclops. It has it's share of predators, both mundane and magical, but nothing that should pose a serious thread to Hunters of your calibre. On the whole, it's no different than any of a hundred other places you've all been to before. Prettier than most, since the Clan lives a fairly simple life, farming and herding, so no big cities to muck up the place. And, as I said, there's only about a two, two and a half thousand Clops on the island, so they're pretty spread out. Mostly they live in little collections of houses, scattered all around. The biggest village on the island only has about two or three hundred residents. It's the one nearest the lake, in case you're wondering. Of course, it's also rather near that new mountain that sprouted up." she finished sourly. After a moment of quiet contemplation, Hardblade's gaze snapped back down to Yukito. "As for lack of prep time...well, that's why you make the big coin, boy." She grinned at the rest. "We'll be sending a cache of supplies with you. Food, drink, medical supplies, a few other odds and ends. Everything the quartermaster can throw together in the next few hours. But ultimately, it's on your backs. It's not as though you're helpless newbs, after all." Giving him one last smile, Hardblade gestured towards Devlin, then jerked her head towards Cryoleptus. "There are communication devices being worked on as we speak. Several Academy artificers are putting the finishing touches on them, and they'll be ready before you depart. As for extraction...well, as I stated, you'll be on your own for at least a week, probably a bit longer. As part of the ritual, I'll be syncing a gem with my own spell core, and it will be sent through with the six of you. In simple terms, it will reflect the state of my core, and when I have reached a state wherein I'll be able to open another portal, the stone will let you know. At that point, any of the six of you will be able to call for a portal. However, before you do, there are several important considerations to consider." He raised his hand, holding up his index finger. "One, once you initiate the call, it will take a full hour before the portal will form. That's how long the ritual will take to complete." He raised his middle finger. "Two. The signal, once sent, will tie your end of the portal to the physical location of the gem, which, once activated, will hover in midair at the spot it was activated, and will not move from that spot. So, you will either need to make sure your end is clear, or you will have to defend it for the entire hour." Raising his ring finger, he continued. "Three. Once the portal is opened, it will remain open only five minutes. And we cant shut it down once it's opened. So, as I said, make sure the landing zone is secure." Finally, he raised his thumb. "And Four. Once we perform the ritual, I and the other mages will, again, be drained. It's highly probable that it will take us even longer to recover after the second portal. So, unless the mission is totally blown, I strongly recommend that you dont send the signal until you've completed your objective." Finishing his list, the mage lowered his hand. "We'll do everything we can to get you out safely, once the job's done. This isn't a suicide mission." He grimaced. "But it is extremely dangerous. That's why we came to the Guild. Hunting monsters is what you do. If you weren't the best, you wouldn't be here." The Guildmaster barked a laugh. "Damn straight!" She emphasized her opinion by thumping her hand on the desk and gave the other six a wolfish grin, this one full of pride in both them, and the Guild as a whole. Turning her attention to Cal, Hardblade nodded in response to his question. Her voice, when she addressed him was...not gentle, necessarily, but not as harsh as he'd seemingly come to expect it might be. "Aye, the Armada, at least a significant portion of it, has already been recalled. Some of the ships are already coming into their respective ports and starting to resupply. Soldiers are being moved about, along with supplies, weapons, the whole lot. It's already started to affect logistics in several other places, and it's only been about a day. The longer this goes on, the worse it will get." Cryoleptus nodded sharply. "That's why the Empress put, for all intents and purposes, the services of every mage the Academy could spare under my direct control for the duration. And emptied a rather large portion of the royal treasury into this one's hands to boot." He grinned, jerking a thumb at his cousin. For her part, Hardblade grinned right back, positively beaming with satisfaction. Cryoleptus simply rolled his eyes and then turned his attention to Niyel, cocking his head to the side as the man asked his questions. "The three beholders that attacked the ship appeared to be standard representatives of their kind. The Julius' lookout estimated them to be about three to four yards across, they flew...fortunately for the Julius, rather slowly...and they fired various eyebeams. At least one disintegration ray was fired...it cut the foremast in half. A couple of the crew had their minds taken over, and they attacked their fellows, and a few other of their known powers were encountered." He paused a moment, clearly gathering his thoughts, and Hardblade took over the narrative. "Luckily, none of the three got close enough to the wheeldeck use that magic eating eye of theirs, otherwise we'd never have known what was happening til the bastards were floating into the capital harbor. The Julius had a weather mage on board...standard practice on all Guild merchant frigates...and she was able to whip up a fog that hid the ship long enough for her to get a proper tailwind in place." She shook her head. "And even then it was close. With one mast half gone, several of the sails damaged, and multiple holes in the hull, it was only through sheer guts and skill that they got away." Sitting back, she appeared to be contemplating 'what could have been', so it was left to her royal cousin to respond to the rest of the Hunter's questions. "Other than their increased resistance to magic, there's nothing particularly unusual about the Clan Cyclops. It's not like they've been especially studied...they only allow visitors to land in a single location on the island, a small trade post that the Guild set up on their second landing, indicated by the red dot on the relief map, in case you're curious. And since they're trading partners, not hostiles, it's not like we're going to capture and experiment on them just to see how they contrast with their less pleasant cousins." He gave the assassin a bit of a hard look, considering some of the implications of his questions. Hardblade came out of her musings at the sound of Cryoleptus' tone. Appearing to mentally rewind the conversation, she stared hard at Niyel. "Pelias' Tits, boy! What do you think this is, an Anthropology symposium at the Academy? This all happened over a millennia ago, and we only know because of some stories handed down by their shamans and headmen. Like we said, spells have a harder time biting on them, other than that, they're normal as a One Eye can be." She stared hard at the assassin, even as she finished responding to his barrage of questions. "The Clops are the only residents of the island, other than the wildlife. And, unless you consider a hundred or so rangers 'defenses', they dont have any of those either. They're farmers, and shepherds, not bloody aristocrats." She rolled her eyes, seemingly exasperated. Partly, it might be due to the fact that, so far as any of the six were aware, this was the most words the Captain had spoken, all together, in...well...ever. That, and it was clear that, despite her hard won reputation for equanimity, the current situation was causing her a fair bit of stress. Waving impatiently to Cryoleptus, Hardblade fell silent, allowing her cousin to finish. "Ah, the mountain. Yes, as far as we can tell, it's brand new. There are only three ships that make regular runs to Oculus. The last was about two months ago, just at the end of the shearing season. The Julius was returning to bring back the trade goods that the Clan had bartered for, as well as to pick up a small load of nullmetal. The mountain had sprung up in the interim." The man gestured to the map. "The Captain of the Julius didn't get a good look at it before they attack, but he's been to the island multiple times, so he knows what it's silhouette looks like, and the mountain is definitely new. He estimated that it was at least a couple of thousand feet high, and a few miles around. In the brief glimpse he had, he said that it appeared to be a single mountain, rising in a cone somewhat like a volcano. Beyond that," he shrugged, "he and his people were a bit too busy fighting to stay alive to make out fine details." Hardblade, who appeared to have gotten her irritation under control, or at least, set it aside for now, swept the six with her gaze. "Unless you have any other questions, consider yourselves dismissed until an hour and a half before dawn. We have preparations to be dealing with too, and we have to visit the Imperial palace to give her Majesty a report." A sour look flickered across her face, followed by an amused one on the face of her cousin. Growling softly, the Guildmaster pretended to ignore Cryoleptus and gave the gathered Hunters a hard look, waiting for them to either respond, or leave. OOC Stuff Again, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Despite the fact that Hardblade is both preoccupied, and seems a fair bit irritated, I want to be sure to answer any questions you have before we kick off the adventure for true. I'll be putting up separate threads to detail any additional gear you get, as well as list out all the info on Nullmetal. I'll also be adding a separate thread for the maps. In the meantime, I'm going to leave all that here as well, so I dont lose track of it in the meantime. 🙂 ************* Some housekeeping. Your Guild Cloaks I mentioned. You all have one, in whatever color/style you wish. They are, as noted, weather and waterproof, and are designed to keep your comfortable no matter the temperature. They are considered to have the Endure Elements spell active on them at all times, however, this is considered an EX, rather than SU ability and is not affected by Dispel/Counter/AMF/etc. NullSteel Weapons Your Nullsteel weapons work as follows: On a successful hit, the weapon disrupts any active spell it comes in contact with. This functions in all ways as the Counterspell feat, except that it cannot, itself, be Countered, nor can it be modified by any Counterspell feats the wielder may have. This function has an MSB of 0 for purposes of the Counterspell roll. This is considered an Alchemical function and is considered an EX ability, rather than an SU one. By suffusing the weapon with 1 SP, the Counterspell effect increases it's MSB to that of the wielder. There are no other changes to the base ability. BY suffusing the weapon with 2 SP (total), the Counterspell effect is increased to be equal to the Improved Counterspell feat, with the following caveats: Striking someone with a weapon dispels 1 magical effect per 5 character levels of the wielder. A direct attack with a melee weapon cannot do a Counter Burst as described in the Feat. It is a single target effect only. When used on a Flashbang/Formulae, the direct target of the splash weapon is subject to a Counter/Dispel attempt at full MSB, as described above. Adjacent targets in the AOE are Dispelled at MSB-5. For every additional 5' away from the point of origin, the MSB is reduced a further -5 until reaching 0. This means that the max radius of an AOE Dispel is 15' at the players current level. This counts as using a Material Imposition. This Counter/Dispel effect will not work in conjunction with any magical ability/formulae/device. The inherent anti-magical qualities nullify any 'attached' magic. Against incoming Ray/Touch magical attacks, the wielder of a melee weapon/shield made from NullMetal may attempt to swat the incoming spell aside. This requires an attack roll that must exceed the incoming attack roll. Countering an incoming spell in this fashion is an Immediate Action. By expending Martial Focus, the wielder reduces this action to an AOO. If the wielder of a NullMetal melee weapon has talents that allow them to deflect/reflect/disrupt incoming spellcasting, the weapons work as normal, but provide a circumstance bonus of +5 to the attempt. NullMetal is, in all other ways, identical to Adamantine (Hardness, HP, ability to bypass DR, etc) All of the gifted NullMetal weapons are Masterwork items and gain the appropriate Enhancement Bonus. Yes, this includes the Alchemical ones, which, yes, is silly from a 'realism' standpoint. Just roll with it. The NullMetal weapons can be used in conjunction with your Enhanced Armaments Oath Boons, despite the boon being considered an SU ability. And be sure to keep your arms and legs inside the rollercoaster at all times. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maps
Arklytte July 26, 2022 The GuildMaster: Nothing to See Here Hardblade and Cryoleptus waited quietly for the Hunters to ruminate. The GuildMaster was well known for her general terseness, and the noble wizard seemed to be cut from the same cloth. Finally, at after several of the Hunters had made queries, Cryoleptus cleared his throat. Turning to Yukito, he gave the swordsman a smile that was all teeth. "While, yes, we would prefer that you not engage in wholesale slaughter of the inhabitants, the destruction of the Beholder is the top...Hells, really it's the ONLY priority. It those floating terrors gain a solid foothold, then start pushing out as an organized group, they'll wreak untold havoc. So...do what you can to avoid can to avoid unnecessary killing of the locals. While there's every possibility that some of them may be controlled, due to the mutations they underwent to survive proximity to the nullmetal meteor, the inhabitants of Oculus have become quite resistant to magic. They're not immune, by any means, but I'd say that, if you hit them with half a dozen spells, only three or four are going to bite, on average. Add that to their native toughness, size, and strength, they're formidable foes." Hardblade snorted. "As always, my cousin has a gift for understatement." She gave the man a mocking grin before turning back to her Hunters. "I once saw a pissed off Clops shepherd, defending those those sheep of theirs...you know the ones, about the size of draft horses? Yeah, a pack of dire wolves were trying to bring some of them down. The shepherd...who was, for a Clops, basically in his late teens...he snatched one of those fuzzy bastards right out of the air, mid leap, and tore it in half. No windup, no warning, just grabbed it by the head and back legs, split it two, and use both ends to beat the rest off til a couple of their rangers...those are the only real 'warriors' among the Clan, by the way...a couple of their Rangers arrived and drove off the rest of the pack." She swept the six with her gaze, and the woman's eyes were steel hard. "So, yeah, you run up against any of them that have been controlled...put em down gently if you can, but if you cant, you dont hesitate! Your job is to stop the Beholders! Not save the Clops. Got it?" Cryoleptus, still standing behind her, looked somewhat pained at Hardblade's blunt words...but he didn't contradict them. Turning back to Yukito, Hardblade smirked. "As for the island...not much to tell, really. The Clan keeps it fairly peaceful. Not many things are willing to take on over a thousand pissed off Cyclops. It has it's share of predators, both mundane and magical, but nothing that should pose a serious thread to Hunters of your calibre. On the whole, it's no different than any of a hundred other places you've all been to before. Prettier than most, since the Clan lives a fairly simple life, farming and herding, so no big cities to muck up the place. And, as I said, there's only about a two, two and a half thousand Clops on the island, so they're pretty spread out. Mostly they live in little collections of houses, scattered all around. The biggest village on the island only has about two or three hundred residents. It's the one nearest the lake, in case you're wondering. Of course, it's also rather near that new mountain that sprouted up." she finished sourly. After a moment of quiet contemplation, Hardblade's gaze snapped back down to Yukito. "As for lack of prep time...well, that's why you make the big coin, boy." She grinned at the rest. "We'll be sending a cache of supplies with you. Food, drink, medical supplies, a few other odds and ends. Everything the quartermaster can throw together in the next few hours. But ultimately, it's on your backs. It's not as though you're helpless newbs, after all." Giving him one last smile, Hardblade gestured towards Devlin, then jerked her head towards Cryoleptus. "There are communication devices being worked on as we speak. Several Academy artificers are putting the finishing touches on them, and they'll be ready before you depart. As for extraction...well, as I stated, you'll be on your own for at least a week, probably a bit longer. As part of the ritual, I'll be syncing a gem with my own spell core, and it will be sent through with the six of you. In simple terms, it will reflect the state of my core, and when I have reached a state wherein I'll be able to open another portal, the stone will let you know. At that point, any of the six of you will be able to call for a portal. However, before you do, there are several important considerations to consider." He raised his hand, holding up his index finger. "One, once you initiate the call, it will take a full hour before the portal will form. That's how long the ritual will take to complete." He raised his middle finger. "Two. The signal, once sent, will tie your end of the portal to the physical location of the gem, which, once activated, will hover in midair at the spot it was activated, and will not move from that spot. So, you will either need to make sure your end is clear, or you will have to defend it for the entire hour." Raising his ring finger, he continued. "Three. Once the portal is opened, it will remain open only five minutes. And we cant shut it down once it's opened. So, as I said, make sure the landing zone is secure." Finally, he raised his thumb. "And Four. Once we perform the ritual, I and the other mages will, again, be drained. It's highly probable that it will take us even longer to recover after the second portal. So, unless the mission is totally blown, I strongly recommend that you dont send the signal until you've completed your objective." Finishing his list, the mage lowered his hand. "We'll do everything we can to get you out safely, once the job's done. This isn't a suicide mission." He grimaced. "But it is extremely dangerous. That's why we came to the Guild. Hunting monsters is what you do. If you weren't the best, you wouldn't be here." The Guildmaster barked a laugh. "Damn straight!" She emphasized her opinion by thumping her hand on the desk and gave the other six a wolfish grin, this one full of pride in both them, and the Guild as a whole. Turning her attention to Cal, Hardblade nodded in response to his question. Her voice, when she addressed him was...not gentle, necessarily, but not as harsh as he'd seemingly come to expect it might be. "Aye, the Armada, at least a significant portion of it, has already been recalled. Some of the ships are already coming into their respective ports and starting to resupply. Soldiers are being moved about, along with supplies, weapons, the whole lot. It's already started to affect logistics in several other places, and it's only been about a day. The longer this goes on, the worse it will get." Cryoleptus nodded sharply. "That's why the Empress put, for all intents and purposes, the services of every mage the Academy could spare under my direct control for the duration. And emptied a rather large portion of the royal treasury into this one's hands to boot." He grinned, jerking a thumb at his cousin. For her part, Hardblade grinned right back, positively beaming with satisfaction. Cryoleptus simply rolled his eyes and then turned his attention to Niyel, cocking his head to the side as the man asked his questions. "The three beholders that attacked the ship appeared to be standard representatives of their kind. The Julius' lookout estimated them to be about three to four yards across, they flew...fortunately for the Julius, rather slowly...and they fired various eyebeams. At least one disintegration ray was fired...it cut the foremast in half. A couple of the crew had their minds taken over, and they attacked their fellows, and a few other of their known powers were encountered." He paused a moment, clearly gathering his thoughts, and Hardblade took over the narrative. "Luckily, none of the three got close enough to the wheeldeck use that magic eating eye of theirs, otherwise we'd never have known what was happening til the bastards were floating into the capital harbor. The Julius had a weather mage on board...standard practice on all Guild merchant frigates...and she was able to whip up a fog that hid the ship long enough for her to get a proper tailwind in place." She shook her head. "And even then it was close. With one mast half gone, several of the sails damaged, and multiple holes in the hull, it was only through sheer guts and skill that they got away." Sitting back, she appeared to be contemplating 'what could have been', so it was left to her royal cousin to respond to the rest of the Hunter's questions. "Other than their increased resistance to magic, there's nothing particularly unusual about the Clan Cyclops. It's not like they've been especially studied...they only allow visitors to land in a single location on the island, a small trade post that the Guild set up on their second landing, indicated by the red dot on the relief map, in case you're curious. And since they're trading partners, not hostiles, it's not like we're going to capture and experiment on them just to see how they contrast with their less pleasant cousins." He gave the assassin a bit of a hard look, considering some of the implications of his questions. Hardblade came out of her musings at the sound of Cryoleptus' tone. Appearing to mentally rewind the conversation, she stared hard at Niyel. "Pelias' Tits, boy! What do you think this is, an Anthropology symposium at the Academy? This all happened over a millennia ago, and we only know because of some stories handed down by their shamans and headmen. Like we said, spells have a harder time biting on them, other than that, they're normal as a One Eye can be." She stared hard at the assassin, even as she finished responding to his barrage of questions. "The Clops are the only residents of the island, other than the wildlife. And, unless you consider a hundred or so rangers 'defenses', they dont have any of those either. They're farmers, and shepherds, not bloody aristocrats." She rolled her eyes, seemingly exasperated. Partly, it might be due to the fact that, so far as any of the six were aware, this was the most words the Captain had spoken, all together, in...well...ever. That, and it was clear that, despite her hard won reputation for equanimity, the current situation was causing her a fair bit of stress. Waving impatiently to Cryoleptus, Hardblade fell silent, allowing her cousin to finish. "Ah, the mountain. Yes, as far as we can tell, it's brand new. There are only three ships that make regular runs to Oculus. The last was about two months ago, just at the end of the shearing season. The Julius was returning to bring back the trade goods that the Clan had bartered for, as well as to pick up a small load of nullmetal. The mountain had sprung up in the interim." The man gestured to the map. "The Captain of the Julius didn't get a good look at it before they attack, but he's been to the island multiple times, so he knows what it's silhouette looks like, and the mountain is definitely new. He estimated that it was at least a couple of thousand feet high, and a few miles around. In the brief glimpse he had, he said that it appeared to be a single mountain, rising in a cone somewhat like a volcano. Beyond that," he shrugged, "he and his people were a bit too busy fighting to stay alive to make out fine details." Hardblade, who appeared to have gotten her irritation under control, or at least, set it aside for now, swept the six with her gaze. "Unless you have any other questions, consider yourselves dismissed until an hour and a half before dawn. We have preparations to be dealing with too, and we have to visit the Imperial palace to give her Majesty a report." A sour look flickered across her face, followed by an amused one on the face of her cousin. Growling softly, the Guildmaster pretended to ignore Cryoleptus and gave the gathered Hunters a hard look, waiting for them to either respond, or leave. OOC Stuff Again, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Despite the fact that Hardblade is both preoccupied, and seems a fair bit irritated, I want to be sure to answer any questions you have before we kick off the adventure for true. I'll be putting up separate threads to detail any additional gear you get, as well as list out all the info on Nullmetal. I'll also be adding a separate thread for the maps. In the meantime, I'm going to leave all that here as well, so I dont lose track of it in the meantime. 🙂 ************* Some housekeeping. Your Guild Cloaks I mentioned. You all have one, in whatever color/style you wish. They are, as noted, weather and waterproof, and are designed to keep your comfortable no matter the temperature. They are considered to have the Endure Elements spell active on them at all times, however, this is considered an EX, rather than SU ability and is not affected by Dispel/Counter/AMF/etc. NullSteel Weapons Your Nullsteel weapons work as follows: On a successful hit, the weapon disrupts any active spell it comes in contact with. This functions in all ways as the Counterspell feat, except that it cannot, itself, be Countered, nor can it be modified by any Counterspell feats the wielder may have. This function has an MSB of 0 for purposes of the Counterspell roll. This is considered an Alchemical function and is considered an EX ability, rather than an SU one. By suffusing the weapon with 1 SP, the Counterspell effect increases it's MSB to that of the wielder. There are no other changes to the base ability. BY suffusing the weapon with 2 SP (total), the Counterspell effect is increased to be equal to the Improved Counterspell feat, with the following caveats: Striking someone with a weapon dispels 1 magical effect per 5 character levels of the wielder. A direct attack with a melee weapon cannot do a Counter Burst as described in the Feat. It is a single target effect only. When used on a Flashbang/Formulae, the direct target of the splash weapon is subject to a Counter/Dispel attempt at full MSB, as described above. Adjacent targets in the AOE are Dispelled at MSB-5. For every additional 5' away from the point of origin, the MSB is reduced a further -5 until reaching 0. This means that the max radius of an AOE Dispel is 15' at the players current level. This counts as using a Material Imposition. This Counter/Dispel effect will not work in conjunction with any magical ability/formulae/device. The inherent anti-magical qualities nullify any 'attached' magic. Against incoming Ray/Touch magical attacks, the wielder of a melee weapon/shield made from NullMetal may attempt to swat the incoming spell aside. This requires an attack roll that must exceed the incoming attack roll. Countering an incoming spell in this fashion is an Immediate Action. By expending Martial Focus, the wielder reduces this action to an AOO. If the wielder of a NullMetal melee weapon has talents that allow them to deflect/reflect/disrupt incoming spellcasting, the weapons work as normal, but provide a circumstance bonus of +5 to the attempt. NullMetal is, in all other ways, identical to Adamantine (Hardness, HP, ability to bypass DR, etc) All of the gifted NullMetal weapons are Masterwork items and gain the appropriate Enhancement Bonus. Yes, this includes the Alchemical ones, which, yes, is silly from a 'realism' standpoint. Just roll with it. The NullMetal weapons can be used in conjunction with your Enhanced Armaments Oath Boons, despite the boon being considered an SU ability. And be sure to keep your arms and legs inside the rollercoaster at all times. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maps
Arklytte July 26, 2022 The GuildMaster: Nothing to See Here Hardblade and Cryoleptus waited quietly for the Hunters to ruminate. The GuildMaster was well known for her general terseness, and the noble wizard seemed to be cut from the same cloth. Finally, at after several of the Hunters had made queries, Cryoleptus cleared his throat. Turning to Yukito, he gave the swordsman a smile that was all teeth. "While, yes, we would prefer that you not engage in wholesale slaughter of the inhabitants, the destruction of the Beholder is the top...Hells, really it's the ONLY priority. It those floating terrors gain a solid foothold, then start pushing out as an organized group, they'll wreak untold havoc. So...do what you can to avoid can to avoid unnecessary killing of the locals. While there's every possibility that some of them may be controlled, due to the mutations they underwent to survive proximity to the nullmetal meteor, the inhabitants of Oculus have become quite resistant to magic. They're not immune, by any means, but I'd say that, if you hit them with half a dozen spells, only three or four are going to bite, on average. Add that to their native toughness, size, and strength, they're formidable foes." Hardblade snorted. "As always, my cousin has a gift for understatement." She gave the man a mocking grin before turning back to her Hunters. "I once saw a pissed off Clops shepherd, defending those those sheep of theirs...you know the ones, about the size of draft horses? Yeah, a pack of dire wolves were trying to bring some of them down. The shepherd...who was, for a Clops, basically in his late teens...he snatched one of those fuzzy bastards right out of the air, mid leap, and tore it in half. No windup, no warning, just grabbed it by the head and back legs, split it two, and use both ends to beat the rest off til a couple of their rangers...those are the only real 'warriors' among the Clan, by the way...a couple of their Rangers arrived and drove off the rest of the pack." She swept the six with her gaze, and the woman's eyes were steel hard. "So, yeah, you run up against any of them that have been controlled...put em down gently if you can, but if you cant, you dont hesitate! Your job is to stop the Beholders! Not save the Clops. Got it?" Cryoleptus, still standing behind her, looked somewhat pained at Hardblade's blunt words...but he didn't contradict them. Turning back to Yukito, Hardblade smirked. "As for the island...not much to tell, really. The Clan keeps it fairly peaceful. Not many things are willing to take on over a thousand pissed off Cyclops. It has it's share of predators, both mundane and magical, but nothing that should pose a serious thread to Hunters of your calibre. On the whole, it's no different than any of a hundred other places you've all been to before. Prettier than most, since the Clan lives a fairly simple life, farming and herding, so no big cities to muck up the place. And, as I said, there's only about a two, two and a half thousand Clops on the island, so they're pretty spread out. Mostly they live in little collections of houses, scattered all around. The biggest village on the island only has about two or three hundred residents. It's the one nearest the lake, in case you're wondering. Of course, it's also rather near that new mountain that sprouted up." she finished sourly. After a moment of quiet contemplation, Hardblade's gaze snapped back down to Yukito. "As for lack of prep time...well, that's why you make the big coin, boy." She grinned at the rest. "We'll be sending a cache of supplies with you. Food, drink, medical supplies, a few other odds and ends. Everything the quartermaster can throw together in the next few hours. But ultimately, it's on your backs. It's not as though you're helpless newbs, after all." Giving him one last smile, Hardblade gestured towards Devlin, then jerked her head towards Cryoleptus. "There are communication devices being worked on as we speak. Several Academy artificers are putting the finishing touches on them, and they'll be ready before you depart. As for extraction...well, as I stated, you'll be on your own for at least a week, probably a bit longer. As part of the ritual, I'll be syncing a gem with my own spell core, and it will be sent through with the six of you. In simple terms, it will reflect the state of my core, and when I have reached a state wherein I'll be able to open another portal, the stone will let you know. At that point, any of the six of you will be able to call for a portal. However, before you do, there are several important considerations to consider." He raised his hand, holding up his index finger. "One, once you initiate the call, it will take a full hour before the portal will form. That's how long the ritual will take to complete." He raised his middle finger. "Two. The signal, once sent, will tie your end of the portal to the physical location of the gem, which, once activated, will hover in midair at the spot it was activated, and will not move from that spot. So, you will either need to make sure your end is clear, or you will have to defend it for the entire hour." Raising his ring finger, he continued. "Three. Once the portal is opened, it will remain open only five minutes. And we cant shut it down once it's opened. So, as I said, make sure the landing zone is secure." Finally, he raised his thumb. "And Four. Once we perform the ritual, I and the other mages will, again, be drained. It's highly probable that it will take us even longer to recover after the second portal. So, unless the mission is totally blown, I strongly recommend that you dont send the signal until you've completed your objective." Finishing his list, the mage lowered his hand. "We'll do everything we can to get you out safely, once the job's done. This isn't a suicide mission." He grimaced. "But it is extremely dangerous. That's why we came to the Guild. Hunting monsters is what you do. If you weren't the best, you wouldn't be here." The Guildmaster barked a laugh. "Damn straight!" She emphasized her opinion by thumping her hand on the desk and gave the other six a wolfish grin, this one full of pride in both them, and the Guild as a whole. Turning her attention to Cal, Hardblade nodded in response to his question. Her voice, when she addressed him was...not gentle, necessarily, but not as harsh as he'd seemingly come to expect it might be. "Aye, the Armada, at least a significant portion of it, has already been recalled. Some of the ships are already coming into their respective ports and starting to resupply. Soldiers are being moved about, along with supplies, weapons, the whole lot. It's already started to affect logistics in several other places, and it's only been about a day. The longer this goes on, the worse it will get." Cryoleptus nodded sharply. "That's why the Empress put, for all intents and purposes, the services of every mage the Academy could spare under my direct control for the duration. And emptied a rather large portion of the royal treasury into this one's hands to boot." He grinned, jerking a thumb at his cousin. For her part, Hardblade grinned right back, positively beaming with satisfaction. Cryoleptus simply rolled his eyes and then turned his attention to Niyel, cocking his head to the side as the man asked his questions. "The three beholders that attacked the ship appeared to be standard representatives of their kind. The Julius' lookout estimated them to be about three to four yards across, they flew...fortunately for the Julius, rather slowly...and they fired various eyebeams. At least one disintegration ray was fired...it cut the foremast in half. A couple of the crew had their minds taken over, and they attacked their fellows, and a few other of their known powers were encountered." He paused a moment, clearly gathering his thoughts, and Hardblade took over the narrative. "Luckily, none of the three got close enough to the wheeldeck use that magic eating eye of theirs, otherwise we'd never have known what was happening til the bastards were floating into the capital harbor. The Julius had a weather mage on board...standard practice on all Guild merchant frigates...and she was able to whip up a fog that hid the ship long enough for her to get a proper tailwind in place." She shook her head. "And even then it was close. With one mast half gone, several of the sails damaged, and multiple holes in the hull, it was only through sheer guts and skill that they got away." Sitting back, she appeared to be contemplating 'what could have been', so it was left to her royal cousin to respond to the rest of the Hunter's questions. "Other than their increased resistance to magic, there's nothing particularly unusual about the Clan Cyclops. It's not like they've been especially studied...they only allow visitors to land in a single location on the island, a small trade post that the Guild set up on their second landing, indicated by the red dot on the relief map, in case you're curious. And since they're trading partners, not hostiles, it's not like we're going to capture and experiment on them just to see how they contrast with their less pleasant cousins." He gave the assassin a bit of a hard look, considering some of the implications of his questions. Hardblade came out of her musings at the sound of Cryoleptus' tone. Appearing to mentally rewind the conversation, she stared hard at Niyel. "Pelias' Tits, boy! What do you think this is, an Anthropology symposium at the Academy? This all happened over a millennia ago, and we only know because of some stories handed down by their shamans and headmen. Like we said, spells have a harder time biting on them, other than that, they're normal as a One Eye can be." She stared hard at the assassin, even as she finished responding to his barrage of questions. "The Clops are the only residents of the island, other than the wildlife. And, unless you consider a hundred or so rangers 'defenses', they dont have any of those either. They're farmers, and shepherds, not bloody aristocrats." She rolled her eyes, seemingly exasperated. Partly, it might be due to the fact that, so far as any of the six were aware, this was the most words the Captain had spoken, all together, in...well...ever. That, and it was clear that, despite her hard won reputation for equanimity, the current situation was causing her a fair bit of stress. Waving impatiently to Cryoleptus, Hardblade fell silent, allowing her cousin to finish. "Ah, the mountain. Yes, as far as we can tell, it's brand new. There are only three ships that make regular runs to Oculus. The last was about two months ago, just at the end of the shearing season. The Julius was returning to bring back the trade goods that the Clan had bartered for, as well as to pick up a small load of nullmetal. The mountain had sprung up in the interim." The man gestured to the map. "The Captain of the Julius didn't get a good look at it before they attack, but he's been to the island multiple times, so he knows what it's silhouette looks like, and the mountain is definitely new. He estimated that it was at least a couple of thousand feet high, and a few miles around. In the brief glimpse he had, he said that it appeared to be a single mountain, rising in a cone somewhat like a volcano. Beyond that," he shrugged, "he and his people were a bit too busy fighting to stay alive to make out fine details." Hardblade, who appeared to have gotten her irritation under control, or at least, set it aside for now, swept the six with her gaze. "Unless you have any other questions, consider yourselves dismissed until an hour and a half before dawn. We have preparations to be dealing with too, and we have to visit the Imperial palace to give her Majesty a report." A sour look flickered across her face, followed by an amused one on the face of her cousin. Growling softly, the Guildmaster pretended to ignore Cryoleptus and gave the gathered Hunters a hard look, waiting for them to either respond, or leave. OOC Stuff Again, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Despite the fact that Hardblade is both preoccupied, and seems a fair bit irritated, I want to be sure to answer any questions you have before we kick off the adventure for true. I'll be putting up separate threads to detail any additional gear you get, as well as list out all the info on Nullmetal. I'll also be adding a separate thread for the maps. In the meantime, I'm going to leave all that here as well, so I dont lose track of it in the meantime. 🙂 ************* Some housekeeping. Your Guild Cloaks I mentioned. You all have one, in whatever color/style you wish. They are, as noted, weather and waterproof, and are designed to keep your comfortable no matter the temperature. They are considered to have the Endure Elements spell active on them at all times, however, this is considered an EX, rather than SU ability and is not affected by Dispel/Counter/AMF/etc. NullSteel Weapons Your Nullsteel weapons work as follows: On a successful hit, the weapon disrupts any active spell it comes in contact with. This functions in all ways as the Counterspell feat, except that it cannot, itself, be Countered, nor can it be modified by any Counterspell feats the wielder may have. This function has an MSB of 0 for purposes of the Counterspell roll. This is considered an Alchemical function and is considered an EX ability, rather than an SU one. By suffusing the weapon with 1 SP, the Counterspell effect increases it's MSB to that of the wielder. There are no other changes to the base ability. BY suffusing the weapon with 2 SP (total), the Counterspell effect is increased to be equal to the Improved Counterspell feat, with the following caveats: Striking someone with a weapon dispels 1 magical effect per 5 character levels of the wielder. A direct attack with a melee weapon cannot do a Counter Burst as described in the Feat. It is a single target effect only. When used on a Flashbang/Formulae, the direct target of the splash weapon is subject to a Counter/Dispel attempt at full MSB, as described above. Adjacent targets in the AOE are Dispelled at MSB-5. For every additional 5' away from the point of origin, the MSB is reduced a further -5 until reaching 0. This means that the max radius of an AOE Dispel is 15' at the players current level. This counts as using a Material Imposition. This Counter/Dispel effect will not work in conjunction with any magical ability/formulae/device. The inherent anti-magical qualities nullify any 'attached' magic. Against incoming Ray/Touch magical attacks, the wielder of a melee weapon/shield made from NullMetal may attempt to swat the incoming spell aside. This requires an attack roll that must exceed the incoming attack roll. Countering an incoming spell in this fashion is an Immediate Action. By expending Martial Focus, the wielder reduces this action to an AOO. If the wielder of a NullMetal melee weapon has talents that allow them to deflect/reflect/disrupt incoming spellcasting, the weapons work as normal, but provide a circumstance bonus of +5 to the attempt. NullMetal is, in all other ways, identical to Adamantine (Hardness, HP, ability to bypass DR, etc) All of the gifted NullMetal weapons are Masterwork items and gain the appropriate Enhancement Bonus. Yes, this includes the Alchemical ones, which, yes, is silly from a 'realism' standpoint. Just roll with it. The NullMetal weapons can be used in conjunction with your Enhanced Armaments Oath Boons, despite the boon being considered an SU ability. And be sure to keep your arms and legs inside the rollercoaster at all times. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maps
