From tbutler@birch.net Thu Aug 30 20:13:41 2001
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 08:57:45 -0500
From: Travis Butler <tbutler@birch.net>
To: Chris Bremner <chrisb@thekeep.org>, Philip J. Moyer <pmoyer@jurai.net>
Subject: [Amber/UnS] Caravan Raiders


John says, "OOC Okay, let's rumble."

Jacqueline asks, "?"

Beowulf OOCly nods.

Jacqueline says, "Oh"

Lian . o O ( OOC: Let's kick some priest butt. )

Beowulf says, "OOC IIRC When we left off, we were waiting to ambush an
incoming caravan to hitch a ride inside the temple, assuming we didn't
find out anything abort-worthy about their security procedures with
incoming shipments. :)"

John says, "OOC Yep."

Lian says, "Hm ... maybe we'll be lucky and the next caravan will have a
minor mage who would have noticed magical scans on previous runs ..."

Beowulf nods thoughtfully.

Lian grins. "Luck is not a random function, Bey ... wanna try?"

Beowulf blinks. "Try?"

Beowulf says, "As in doing a little probability jiggering to have one
show up?" He grins.

Lian says, "I always knew you were a bright boy."

Beowulf asks, "Again... most other places, I'd say it'd be fun." He
looks around at Leng. "Here, though... you suppose that's a major enough
change that our High Outsider Priests would notice?"

Lian hms. "Not really ... probability manipulation is by its nature a
fairly subtle thing."

Kuonji Ukyou falls asleep.

Beowulf asks, "It's worth a try, I suppose." He turns to Touga. "Though
I'm sure the expert would do an even better job; want to give it a try?"

Touga smiles.  "Of course."

He begins pacing back and forth.

Soon, another caravan comes into sight.  They're making good time; about
the same size as the last one.  However, this one is fully loaded with
goods.

Lian asks, "Same procedure as last time?"

Beowulf nods. "Do a quick scan to make sure nothing's up beyond what we
twiddled for, then make with the boulders." He grins.

Lian does a quick lens-assisted scan.

Lian arches an eyebrow and points at one of the wagons. "I get Outsider
sign from that one ... "

Beowulf hmms. "Very strong? May just be our priest."

Lian says, "It's a strong aura, yes ... and not from any items either.
One or more creatures, likely."

Beowulf smiles crookedly. "Lovely. Probably controlled by our priest...
let's make that target one on our hit parade, yes?"

Beowulf asks, "Can we tell anything more about it from this distance?"

Lian murmurs, "I'm looking, I'm looking ... "

Beowulf nods in apology.

Lian hms, then points. "Those two have enough magic potential to be
mages ... magic weapons on the guards like last time."

Beowulf asks, "OOC Those two? They by the wagon, or two of the guards?"

Each of them is riding with a drover at the front of a wagon.  One is on
the wagon with the creatures under the tarp.

Beowulf asks, "Any more detail on the creatures?"

Lian shakes her head. "Not unless I use a spell to peek into the wagon."

Beowulf nods. "Right."

Beowulf asks, "We'll just have to hope we can handle 'em, then...
Probably first target for knock-out will be the two sorcerors, then
probably open up full-force on the creatures. Unless someone has a
better suggestion?"

Lian says, "Not without knowing what is under that tarp. I could look,
but they might notice."

Touga says, "I have some artillery magic I will dump on the creatures."

Lily says, "I could turn into a fly and try getting in closer to take a
look under the tarp.  Hardly anyone notices insects."

Lian hms. "If you think you'll be safe enough ... it would certainly
help if we knew what to expect."

Beowulf smiles at Lily. "If you don't think you'll get eaten, go for
it."

Beowulf says, "I trust your opinion on your skills." He smiles.

Mitsune says, "Go for it, sis."

Lily turns into a fly and zips towards the caravan.

Beowulf watches a little nervously, hoping she estimated her skills
correctly.

You wait a while, and then she returns.  "About two dozen of these
creatures, about the size of huskies.  Pale white skin, quadripedal, but
with human like forearms.  They had heavily sloped foreheads and pointed
ears, with no eyes, just tendrils where their eyes would be.  And very
sharp, pointy teeth."

Beowulf hmmms.

Shizumaru has disconnected.

Lian hmms.

Beowulf says, "Moon-beasts, looks like. Nasty in combat, but no special
resistance or vulnerability to anything that I can remember."

Lian nods. "Sounds like them, yeah ... "

Beowulf says, "They could be stronger than many of us are, so we need to
try and keep them at a distance."

Lian says, "One of the mages might have a control device ... so if we
take them down, one should immediately check. However, using those might
be ... dangerous due to Outsider taint."

Mitsune cracks her knuckles.  "Not as strong as me, I bet, but I get
what you mean."

Beowulf nods. "I don't think we should bother, Lian; we can probably
take them, though I'm not 100% sure."

Lian says, "Just in case, Bey ..."

Lian says, "If things go really bad, it's still an alternative."

Beowulf asks, "I'll probably start by trying to hit the priests with
knockout capsules, then open up on the beasts with explosive capsules;
anyone here short on distance weapons, who isn't going to be lobbing
blast-o destruction at them?"

Lian says, "I've got my whip ... it can get long enough."

Naru says, 'I

Naru says, "I've got my crossbow."

Thoric says, "Me too."

Beowulf asks, "Mitsune, Makoto?"

Mitsune says, "I'll be flinging spells to start off with."

Makoto says, "I'm armed."

Beowulf nods. "Good enough. Anyone else have any last-minute questions
or suggestions?"

Everyone seems to be ready.

Beowulf nods. "Let's do it, then."

You set up an ambush and wait for the caravan.  Your mages prepare their
protective magics.  And then the caravan rides into your ambush zone. 
Boulders roll down.  The caravan master starts shouting orders.  The
mages begin casting spells.

Beowulf uses knockout capsules on the mages.

Lian sends her whip against the mages for a double whammy.

The poor mages get whammied before they can cast any spells.  Touga
dumps a fireball on the wagon with the creatures, who erupt out of it,
burning and howling in rage.  Mitsune dumps a hail of pimpslaps on the
guards, and Thoric does the same.  Drovers and guards go flying
everywhere. Naru shoots down the Caravan master.

Beowulf opens up on the creatures with exploding paintballs, switching
to the monomolecular whip when they get within range for that.

the creatures prove to be quite good climbers, even when burning, as
they start to climb the side of the gulley.

Lian switches targets to the nearest convenient ones, which is probably
the moon-beasts.

Beowulf exclaims, "Try to save/knock out as many of the caravan people
as you can, so we have a crew to take us in!"

Mitsune, Lily, Thoric, and Touga all cast Shoving Hand spells for
self-defense as the creatures climb.

The burning wagon crackles merrily.

the horses pulling it begin to panic and try to run from it...too bad
they're leashed to it.

Beowulf tries to pick off the beasts that get closest to the psyche
folks. "Someone try to put out the wagon!"

Beowulf exclaims, "Aeris, see if you can!"

Clouds slowly begin to gather.  Your mages dump fire and lightning on
the beasts, while Naru and Beowulf and Makoto shell them.  Some of the
creatures fall back into the gulley, knocked out or dead.

A boom tube opens over the canyon and water pours down.

Eighteen of the creatures now charge towards you all.

Lian casts a ghost form, then continues defensive whipping.

Lily dumps a freezing mist on the creatures.  Thoric and Touga dump more
lightning on them.  Mitsune calls up a boxing fist, then casts Flaming
Fists of Fury on herself.

Naru and Makoto draw their swords and move to cover the magi.

Beowulf switches to the monomolec whip when the beasts get within range,
and starts slashing at them, going after the ones closest to the magi
first.

Beowulf asks, "OOC Unless that'd get in the way of Naru and Makoto?"

Shizumaru has connected.

John says, "OOC There's enough magi, you all need to cover them :)"

Beowulf says, "OOC Righto. :)"

The creatures prove wise around to start circling your flanks as they
come up.  Thoric draws Frostrazor as they close in, and joins you in
covering Touga and Mitsune and Lily.

Gradually, you all give ground before the onslaught, hacking away at the
beasts, which howl and gibber.

Finally, after various minor injuries, and you all becoming coated with
moonbeast blood, the last of the creatures perish.

Lian says, "I hate days like this one. At least it's not as bad as the
Tharkold assault."

Thoric shudders.  "That was very not fun."

Beowulf grins wryly. "Uh-huh. Though at least we've got our objective."

Naru pats Thoric on the shoulder.  "Compared to the Melnibonean war,
that was nothing."

Beowulf asks, "OOC What's the aftermath look like?"

Lian grins. "Any combat you don't finish buried hip-deep in dead enemies
or dead isn't too bad, Thoric."

The moonbeasts are dead.  You don't know what's going on down in the
gulley, but it's still raining into the gulley from Vector.

Then the rain stops.

Beowulf holds standard whip at the ready while he goes up to the edge of
the gully.

Lian becomes tangible again and puts her whip away, then heads over to
the mages. "Touga, want to help?"

Lots of unconscious people everywhere.  A few of them are dead, having
ended up in ghe now formed stream face down and drowned.  Some others
are saved by the deluge of water stopping.  The caravan is a sodden
mess.

Touga nods to Lian.  "I'll take that one, you can have the other."

Beowulf shakes his head ruefully. "What a mess." He goes down to start
securing the prisoners and cleaning up.

Lian glances at Bey, "Looks like our caravan was attacked by brigands,
hm?" She kneels by 'her' mage and prepares to go through his mind.

Beowulf asks, "Yup. Good thing they were driven off, even if the
moon-beasts... could they have naturally run off, or will we have to
come up with a plausible-enough fight for all of them to be killed?"

Touga says, "I suspect if they'd escaped, they would have just killed
everyone."

He continues, "We might wish to prepare some plausible corpses for
whatever they had to fight."

Beowulf grimaces. "Right, then."

Lian says, "We've got enough raw material here to work with." She eyes
her mage, "And some more in a few, most likely."

Beowulf says, "Right. It'll probably be more convincing if you can read
their minds for plausible threats."

Lian hms as she looks through the mage's mind. "Okay, we don't have to
hurry or anything ... they're not expected for two more days."

Beowulf nods. "Right. Hopefully that'll be soon enough."

Naru says, "Given how messed up it is, that's a good thing."

Lian says, "Incoming caravans -are- scanned by the priests ..."

Lily begins going around with Mitsune and Thoric, using freshening up
magic to clean the wagons up.

Lian says, "Oops. Looks like we killed most of the intended sacrifices
for some big rite ... too bad."

Beowulf asks, "The beasts?"

Lian says, "Yup."

Beowulf says, "Well, I can't find it in my heart to be sorry." He grins
a little. "The delay will be helpful, though it'll be a little harder to
explain it when we get there."

Beowulf asks, "What kind of scanning?"

Lian says, "A moment ... I'm trying to find more details on the rite
..."

Touga says, "Basically, they use some items that detect magic, as far as
this mage knows."

Beowulf blinks. "That's all?"

He continues, "If they detect anything else, they've never told him
about it."

Lian hms. "My guy here thinks that's only for a prelim scan ... with a
more thorough examination once the goods are in storage."

Beowulf hmmms. "Well. What do we have that could be detected that way,
and would it likely be unnoticed if it were stored in the bag?"

Beowulf asks, "How quickly would that be?"

Touga says, "Anything with Pattern energies or especially strong magical
energies probably should go in the bag."

Lian says, "Our previous victim told us that everything delivered went
directly into storage, Bey."

Beowulf grins wryly. "Well, there goes most of *my* gear." He hmms. "How
about the Aeris manifestations?"

Touga says, "Anything construct related needs to be hidden too."

Beowulf asks, "True, but how soon after that are they examined? Enough
of a window for us to sneak out?"

Lian asks, "No idea. Hm ... looks like the rite's a big one. Another
group's supposed to bring cats, and one a ... whale?"

Lian blinks.

Beowulf says, "A... whale." He blinks.

Touga says, "Well, they'll never run out of lantern oil."

Lian rolls her eyes. "Bad Touga. No biscuit."

Lian says, "Looks like the ritual's started already ... that'd explain
the chanting monks our previous information source mentioned."

Beowulf nods. "What's it supposed to do?"

Lian says, "He doesn't know ... he's just the guy who's supposed to get
them three dozen moon-beasts."

Beowulf says, "Huh. Oh, well."

Lian says, "I can hazard a guess, though ... summoning rite, Bey. A big
one. And with the flawed Jewel, they might be able to bring in one of
the big Outsiders ... and for more than just a quick visit."

Beowulf nods. "That sounds about right to me. Definitely time to break
this thing up."

Lian says, "Yup."

Beowulf hmmms. "Did he know anything else useful?"

Lian asks, "Not really. He's more merchant than mage ... however, if
you'd like to know current moon-beast prices for Leng's major cities?"

Beowulf grins. "Somehow, I doubt that information will be very useful to
us in our future careers."

Lian hehs. "Do we need him alive, or can I finish him?"

Beowulf looks at Mitsune and Makoto. "Time for the tricksters to speak,
I think. How good a shot do we have at getting in this way, and who are
we going to need for our best chance?"

Touga says, "Probably be easiest if we have as many of them alive as
possible."

Lian asks, "You want to reprogram them?"

Beowulf nods. "My thought too."

He nods.

Lian nods and rises, then walks over to Touga and his mage.

Mitsune says, "Hmm.  We might want to actually put most of us in the
bag.  Lily and I could shapeshift to look like we fit in here, and then
pull evryone out once we have the chance or need you."

Beowulf nods. "That's the other thought I had in mind, instead of hiding
in the boxes. Main disadvantage would be that it'd take longer for us to
get out of the bag one at a time."

Mitsune says, "I think the decreased risk of detection is worth it,
though."

Lian concentrates, and a small figure of stone takes shape at her feet.
It walks over to Touga's mage and pulls at something on his hand.

Beowulf nods. "Right. And I think we can trust Miss Glib Answers -- " He
winks at Mitsune -- "to find a good spot to pull us out."

Mitsune grins.  "Exactly."

Lian asks, "How do you plan to explain the missing Moon-beasts?"

Mitsune grins.

Beowulf asks, "Were you able to get any stories of travel hazards from
our little programmed magi?"

Mitsune goes over to the dead Moonbeasts and starts making more
Moonbeasts out of their blood.

Mitsune says, "This is going to take a while."

Beowulf raises an eyebrow at Mitsune. "I wondered if that's what you had
in mind. So long as they have the proper Outsider taint, and don't taint
*you*..."

Beowulf asks, "How long? Would it go faster in the bag?"

Mitsune says, "Scraping up their blood could take forever.  If we have
two days, I have plenty of time."

Lian chuckles. "We have time ... " She taps her wristband. "Vec, one
golem plus ring to boom up. Put the ring into the vault, and make a
non-magical copy of it. Send the copy back."

Beowulf hmms at Lian?

Lian points at the small golem at her feet holding a ring. "Moon-beast
control ring, Outsider-tainted."

Lian says, "I'm going to try and reproduce something that feels close
enough to that icky outsider taint without actually being it."

Beowulf says, "Um, right. Good luck."

Mitsune hums happily as she goes about her work.

The ring and golem vanish with a relatively quiet BOOM, and soon after a
duplicate of the ring is boomed in. Lian finds a quiet place and starts
working.

Kuonji Ukyou wakes up.

Beowulf starts thinking of possible plans for when they get in.

Your magi run abuot, cleaning up the caravan, reprogramming the
caraveners, and generally preparing things.

This takes the rest of the evening.

Beowulf asks, "Got our story prepared? Hopefully there's something
sufficiently nasty in Leng that could explain the attack and the beasts
getting munched?"

John says, "OOC And we'll cut here, as I will want to be to bed by
midn8ight, and this is the last good stopping point before you go in."

John says, "OOC Although if youw ant to make more plans, we can do that
tonight unitl it's time for me to go."

Beowulf says, "OOC Ack! Well, righto. :)"

John says, "OOC we'll continue tomorrow whenever Travis and I both get
online after KUGAR."

Lian will be here.

Beowulf will be here as well.

John says, "Excellente."

Spellvis has left.

Akemi has disconnected.

Travis Butler
tbutler@birch.net

...Cats are the proof of a higher purpose to the universe.