Re: Thread F - Crossfire

[Marceline Mori]

Marcy sighs loudly and leans her head forward, her dyed hair masking her eyes.
"I'm not eager at the idea of heading towards a powerful Lich with nothing but a rag-tag group of Viking tigers. I don't want to get put into a situation where I might die for people who'd gut me if we met under any other circumstance."

Marcy reaches up and rubs her eyes in frustration.
"I have half a mind to leave. Find some way to turn back around and head to sunny safe Alexandria."

She Flips her hair back, looking up at Luc through twin red orbs. Her frustration at him is the surface, and it's cracking as she stares at her friend. "Damnit Luc. You've been there for me when I needed you, often times when I did something stupid like this. And... I..."

Finally the surface breaks, betraying the frustration for what it really is. Fear.
"I'll be there for you Luc. I'm just afraid, because I do know about Liches."

[Author]

After a pause, Kai speaks "How do you know it's a Lich?"

[Luc Weiyn]

Luc doesn't immediately respond to Marcy, staring at her with something of a saddened frown. He hated seeing her like that, especially when it was him roping her further into this spiel. He's about to respond to Marcy, but the closest he manages to a thank-you is a remorseful smile before Kai cuts him off.
"Ah... yes, well. If you want the orange tiger's exact phrasing, she said there was a shadow that was taking their dead and bringing them back. When I explained what a necromancer was, she mentioned a 'beast of emptiness, one without a spirit.' Or something to that effect, their speech was a little... simplified."

[Marceline Mori]

Marcy cups her chin in one hand while leaning her elbow on the other. The fear hasn't left her yet, but she's doing a good job of just continuing on.
"Lich is a good way to interpret that. Though, they are not really beasts, and it depends on how metaphorical they were when remaking about the shadow. Did she use a lot of metaphors in speech?"

[Luc Weiyn]

"Oh, plenty."
Luc nods as he draws the word out to punctuate his point, then murmurs something about nostalgia under his breath.

[Marceline Mori]

Marcy rubs her temple with her left thumb and forefinger.
"Fuck. That's the problem with powerful undead. We could be dealing with a Lich, maybe a powerful Shade, if we run with the beast angle could be a Draco-Lich or a Ravener, OR something that I've never even heard of before. Hell, it could even be a Vampire. And all of these things have specific vastly different means of putting them to rest. If we go in planning for one thing and find something different it then we expect... We can't assume anything."

[Luc Weiyn]

Luc glances over at the mist-obscured boat with a frown, then shrugs.
"Well, we could always go over there and ask more questions, I was in a bit of a rush figuring out the details."

[Author]

"See! We don't know what it is, where's your sense of discovery?" There's an extent to which Kai is faking some of his enthusiasm. "Thoughts Aurora?"

[Aurora the Dragon]

"Saving people from a powerful undead entity is what any adventurous hero would do. I'm all for it!"

[Marceline Mori]

"Well... The plan then? Are we doing this?" Her sullen tone hasn't left, but Marcy voices no more complaints.

[Author]

"Any more ideas on what it could be first, Aurora?"
[Acedemics]

[Author]

[29]
A Lich sounded plausible, but not like the most likely thing. It was a fair logical leap from lack of soul to Lich, Still, If she felt some beast without spirit, she had to feel it's will somehow and, while displaced, a Lich is still (typically) a normal soul. A creature with a hollow spirit... It WAS possible it was merely a magical effect she felt and confused for a monster, which could be engineered by an incredibly powerful Lich - way out of their league. It could also be some kind of Demon, shadows were often associated with abyssal magic, (though how literal the "shadow" was was still in question). However, raising the dead wasn't normally a demonic thing - they typically just consumed souls, not enslaved them, OR puppeted bodies - though higher up demons were known to do all manner of things (except be nice). So, nothing known for sure.

[Aurora the Dragon]

Aurora thinks for a second, an expression of deep thought appearing on her draconic face. After a couple seconds of thinking, she sighs. "I have plenty of ideas for what it might be. It could be a lich, or some kind of magical beast, or even a demon. Without getting closer and examining evidence for myself, I can't really say anything with certainty. I will say this though. From the description, a demon sounds more plausible than a lich, though an incredibly powerful lich could do what has been described."

[Author]

"A demon that's raising the dead?" Troy winces.

Then a small portion of the steam cloud parts, and a Wolven officer glides out on shimmering wings of white light and approaches the party with his hand up, signaling for peace. Kalia tenses, still perched at the ship's rail, but Kai puts his hand on her shoulder.

"Well well," Troy mutters, "not every patrol ship carries a Paladin..."

[Marceline Mori]

"Huh." Marcy looks down in shock at the wolven gliding across the waters. "...Wasn't expecting that."

[Author]

The Wolven glides up near the party and looks at Luc. "My name is Elias Keld of Astoria - Who are you, why and how is it that you have persuaded the tigerfolk to retreat?"

[Luc Weiyn]

"Oh, well that's lucky," Luc murmers pleasantly to himself as the wolven approaches. Even if it was only for advice, maybe a paladin could shed some light on the monster situation. Once addressed, Luc speaks up.

"Well, ah- hello there, the name's Luc," he starts off with a quick wave of his hand, speaking with a fairly casual tone given the circumstances. "Hoo, where to start... well, as to the why, we happened to be passing by when we came across your skirmish. To make a long story short, I saw the fight and thought 'Hey. That's a lot of unnecessary fighting and death for all involved parties,' and decided it was better if that was ended sooner than later. Their leader also has... an interesting friend that I wanted to meet, and he's the only reason they didn't skewer me on the spot, but- regardless, not important right now." He waves his hand dismissively at 'regardless.' Granted, it was plenty important to him, but there were more important things to discuss, and the tigerfolk wouldn't wait around forever.

"Anyway. I wanted the full story before we did anything. As it turns out, they've been driven out of their home by... uh, something. They had no idea by what exactly, they're an isolated lot. We were trying to piece together whether it was some sort of lich, or demon, or..." Luc gives off a confused shrug. "I dunno. It raises the dead and is missing its soul, and we're not even sure about that second bit. I thought it was a lich at the time, so I told them a bit of what necromancy was, and that they'd get themselves killed if they tried to invade your territory territory. The good news is, well, hey-" he gestures towards the mist with his hand.

"It worked. Um, sort of. I convinced them that they might be able to take their home back, and they agreed to stop fighting you for now. But the ah, the catch is that they aren't going to turn back unless they have the proper help..." He scratches the back of his neck, then adopts a relatively cheerier tone as he claps his hands together. "So! That's the current situation. And, ah- I'm sorry, where are my manners? Nice to meet you... Elias, was it?"

[Author]

Elias raises an eyebrow as Luc speaks - Partly out of interest and partly in reaction to Luc's mannerisms. "Yes, my name is Elias Keld, Grand Enforcer of King Henrich VI of Astoria." He wore half-plate armor dyed a royal red with gold trim and a longsword at his waist. "I have been sent by my King and gods to investigate the tundra lands on account of, most likely, what you have described. As this is not strictly a Wolven matter, I have no reason to refuse foreign assistance - I had not thought I would be so lucky as to happen across one who could communicate with the Tigerfolk."

[Marceline Mori]

Paladin. Paladins have been a problem before,hedonist half-vamps are not high on their list of approved things.
Marcy keeps mostly to herself during the conversation, trying to not stand out much among the crowd gather on the docks. She doesn't make any obvious movements towards the back row, movement attracts attention, instead keeping her eyes out to across the water. Her hands rest across the her guitar nonchalantly. Her ears are still tuned to the discussion however, paying attention to what happens with interest.

[Luc Weiyn]

"Ah! Well, that makes things easier, glad we're on the same page then." Luc heaves a sigh of relief. This was one lucky stroke after another, was he actually going to unite the wolven and tigerfolk against a looming threat? The amount he's been able to turn around so quickly feels too good to be true.
"Right then. So, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you'd like to talk to them with me as a translator, yes?"

[Author]

Elias nods. "But tell me, how is it you have managed to gain their trust?"

[Luc Weiyn]

"Oh, well, you could say we keep similar company."
Elbow bent, Luc loosely holds up an arm to his side with the palm turned upwards. As he does, all the water soaked in his fur and clothing begins to shift, where it moves and coalesces into a ball of liquid floating just above his palm. His tone grows decidedly neutral, losing some of its conversationalist tone.
"Spirits, I mean. Both their leader and I are bound to spirits, though Loire here is attuned to water. I asked if we could talk peacefully, and she found me interesting enough not to skewer me the moment I popped my head above the waves."
In quiet honesty, Luc was likely just as surprised of the tigress as she was of him. He had never met another shaman before, and he hadn't thought much of it in the past that there might be others like him.

[Author]

He raises an eyebrow.
"Kami," Troy says, "Their village leaders are attuned to Fire spirits - part of why there were able to survive in the tundra." Troy clasps his hand over his chest as he speaks, and Elias notices the Emblem on his glove.

"A Cleric of Asterion," he says, "An honorable god. How do you know so much of the Tigerfolk? Few even know what a Kami is."

"I have many intellectual pursuits."

Elias nods, and his eyes turn back to Luc. "This has been an unprecedented string of luck. I think it will be difficult to convince them to let us step onto their land, however."

[Author]

Kai leans over and whispers to Cedric, who is perched upon the rails "Could you tell Roger to not bring the Archers up here?"

[Marceline Mori]

Marcy, getting bored of the Wolven paladin, takes a look around and wonders where Charles got off to.

[Sponsored content]