Event: Day 343 [open]

[bastionpc]

Who: everyone, and some NPCs
Open: Open
When: Day 343
Where: The bastion, the lagoon, and the ura camp
What: the pieces are starting to fall together
Format: action
Warnings: none

See individual threads within the post for scene starters.

Comments

Roathus Lagoon

[bastionpc]

[Hey, remember this place?

Well, the monsters seem to have been cleared out, either from the last time everyone went through or from whoever happens to be there this time.

There is also a note attached to a tree. It is readable even at a distance. In English, it says "Go to the dry land in the center of the lagoon."

Do you follow those directions?]

[four_quarts]

[Well, Ghaleon will do so if prompted to by someone else. English isn't exactly one of the languages he got around to learning in his time here, so... Have at it, people who can?]

[notachickenhawk]

[Tobias, fortunately, can read English, and he reads out the instructions to everyone in their party that's not a captive. Thankfully, he can do so at a distance, and he then flutters off to morph into his Anklegator form.]

[It'll take a few minutes, so the others are free to do what they want until he's done. He's practiced this morph, but it's still strange... and he still doesn't like water.]

[amphibian]

...So...we should...get going...

[It like a question when she says it, though, because she's got maybe half a clue what she's doing at best here.]

[bastionpc]

[And get moving you can!

By the way, did you bring Grey, Red, both, or neither? The response the party gets depends entirely on that fact.]

[four_quarts]

Well then, off we go. Time to meet your friends, Grey.

[Because of course Grey was brought along. Why head into a negotiation without a bargaining chip?]

[notachickenhawk]

<Be careful, you guys. This smells like it's an ambush. ... Not literally smells, but you know what I mean.>

[As he finishes morphing, he sinks into the water. Sounds are muffled like this, but if he stays still he shouldn't look too suspicious. Anklegators aren't that out of place here, after all.]

[bastionpc]

[Grey is still freaked out about morphing powers, but he knows to keep his trap shut.

Also, at the meeting point there is not someone immediately visible, but there are at least a dozen people hiding in the area, for people who can sense that kind of thing. Once everyone arrives, a young-sounding voice speaks out.]

I told you to bring them here! Them. As in, both of them.

Not Here

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob has provided each member of this team with the following potions:
Regenerate Health x1
Resist Fire x1
Resist Frost x1
Resist Poison x1
Resist Shock x1
Restore & Fortify Health x3
Waterbreathing x1

Additionally, anyone with healing abilities has been given a Fortify Restoration potion, and anyone with a bladed weapon has been given a Damage Stamina poison (makes someone tired), a Paralysis poison (locks their muscles in place for a few seconds), and a Slow poison (drastically slows their movements for several seconds) if they were okay with the idea of using them. All of these poisons must be spread on a weapon, and will then take effect on the next creature cut by them.]

The Ura Camp

[bastionpc]

[Coming here is certainly an option, though the Ura NPCs are certainly not expecting guests. What do you do?]

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin's been worried about the Ura ever since they received that warning. Now, on the day of the meeting... well, it's time to go check on them. At the very least, the opposition will have to have divided their forces if they wanted to pose a threat in the Lagoon. Fewer people to set fires is always a good thing in his head.]

[But he's not letting his guard down. They've definitely got people out there who know how to use weapons and set traps. If he were a betting man, he'd guess that they were going to use fire arrows, but there are plenty of options out there. ESPECIALLY given the likelihood that a Mancer may be with them. They'd discovered that the Mancers were looking into Petroleum in the past. That's a great tool for making sure fires burn...]

[Whether or not anyone's coming with him, Colin's marching out to the Ura territory. He's wearing his armor underneath a set of arid environmental camo that he'd gotten Hikaru to make a few days prior. He's got a satchel loaded with fire-fighting chemicals, goober reloads, and a healthy amount of water and some food.]

[And you'd better believe he's watching his scanners like a hawk. If there's people anywhere near him, he wants to know it. If there's explosives or volatile chemicals anywhere near, he wants to know it. If there's TRACE CONDUCTIVE METALS nearby, he wants to know it... He's not taking for granted the possibility that the Ura are being watched, nor is he being lazy about keeping his eyes open for anything out of the ordinary.]

[For now, he's heading to where the Ura usually meet them. He's not going to drop in on their camp without attempting to go through proper channels first...]

[amnesiadragon]

[The empty streets... the sight of Ershin on the ground... Ryu's not eager to see another village devastated because someone wanted to draw out captives. He's silent, which isn't unusual for him, but his normally cheerful look has been replaced with a very serious one. He's tense, though not enough to keep him from moving quickly, and his hand has been positioned near his sword the entire time.]

[He doesn't have any armor on, but he doesn't need it. He can take a lot, and he can always transform if he has to. Colin's in the lead, but Ryu's keeping himself alert. He's been ambushed by monsters before, and if there's anyone who wants to ambush them he has a few skills that he can use to fight back, after all.]

[superdrowningskills]

[Alucard trails slightly behind Colin, armed as he always is on the Skyway. Unlike usual, he's not moving with the confidence of an unchallenged predator in his own territory. No, today he's on full alert, cautiously looking about and testing the air for any smells that might be out of the ordinary.

Perhaps the Ura weren't his people, but they are allies, and Alucard takes care of his allies. There would be no dead to mourn today. Not if he could help it.]

[bastionpc]

[There are no disturbances on the way to the Ura camp. People have traveled this path enough times by now that the monsters just straight-up avoid it.

At the camp, though, everyone seems surprised to see the group. They had not been expecting a sudden arrival.

One of the Ura who had gone to the Bastion for a bit is the one who approaches the group.]

Hey, is something wrong?

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin looks at the Ura that comes to greet them, and he frowns.]

You could say that. We need to see Zed, and whatever guards you have need to be put on alert. Your camp has been threatened by the people who ambushed everyone last time.

It's very likely that we're being watched right now.

But please don't run, because if we are being watched, I don't want to alert them that we're here to immediately raise the alarm. I'll gladly tell Zed everything we know, but for now... Yeah, there's trouble.

[For as cautious as Alucard's being, Colin's demeanor is different. Colin isn't on the defensive, nor is he giving the body language of someone being threatened. He knows EXACTLY what he's doing, and he's definitely the top predator on this food chain... Alucard is ready to fight. Colin? Is ready to annihilate.]

Ryu, please keep your eyes open, I expect trouble. Alucard... If there's anything out of place that I don't catch, I want to know about it.

[amnesiadragon]

[Ryu nods, and heads to see if he can find anything that looks out of place around the edges of the camp. Colin can handle himself, and Alucard has much better senses than he does. Still, he doesn't like it. He doesn't know much about the camp, but hopefully he'll be able to spot something.]

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob has been mostly silent for this whole trip, but he's certainly cutting an interesting figure; he's wearing cargo shorts and red high-top skateboard shoes as usual, but his chest is bare (and starting to tan) save for his rabbit skull necklace and the strap of the worn leather satchel that is his bag of holding. A rather intimidating-looking warhorn is hanging from his belt and he's carrying a two-handed axe instead of his normal sword. All that is likely to be noticed last though, since he's wearing a dark brown wolf pelt over his head and looking through its glowing red-orange eyes while its forepaws rest on his chest and the bulk of the pelt hangs down his back like a cape. The ugly scars on his cheek and shoulder are still visible, peeking out from under the pelt. As he told the group when they left, the pelt is both a magical environmental suit and can let him see from a distant vantage point without needing to go there himself, though the latter is subject to the 3 uses/day rule.

Now that they've arrived Rob takes the green-and-black Pokéball from his belt and releases the reason he's here at all: a small shiny Squirtle, its shell still not fully hard, who he holds in one arm. He flips the wolf pelt's head off of his to let his face be seen by both the Squirtle and the Ura, the pelt remaining on his back despite the fact that there is no longer any way at all that it could possibly not be falling off. He and the Squirtle both look around as they wait, although neither of them are going to be as good as the others at spotting anything, not helped by the Squirtle being young and everything here being new to it, and Rob keeping part of his attention on his new charge and stroking its head with the thumb of the arm that's holding it.]

Not Here

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob has provided each member of this team with the following potions:
Regenerate Health x1
Resist Fire x1
Resist Frost x1
Resist Poison x1
Resist Shock x1
Restore & Fortify Health x3
plus multiple potions of Fortify Sneak and Invisibility

Additionally, anyone with healing abilities has been given a Fortify Restoration potion, and anyone with a bladed weapon has been given a Damage Stamina poison (makes someone tired), a Paralysis poison (locks their muscles in place for a few seconds), and a Slow poison (drastically slows their movements for several seconds) if they were okay with the idea of using them. All of these poisons must be spread on a weapon, and will then take effect on the next creature cut by them.

Since Rob is with this group and has a bag of holding, he has an extra supply of various potions and poisons on him which he will hand out as needed, most notably Restore Health and Fortify Carry Weight (lets you carry more for a few minutes), the latter of which he will hand out to anyone working on setting up defenses.]

At the Bastion part 1: Zahi

[bastionpc]

[A few hours after everyone going to the lagoon or the camp has left, Zahi can be found in the distillery, nursing a black eye. He's got a damp cloth on it right now, but ice would probably be better.

Talk to him? Help him out?]

Re: At the Bastion part 1: Zahi

[scary_music]

Whoa... Zahi-chan? It's looks like somebody went to town on your face!!

... um, Ibuki has the healing thing if you want???

[dontyoujustwish]

[Anya was already here, because imbibing a little alcohol before they're attacked and potentially killed seems like a good idea.]

It's only a black eye, he'll live.

[So compassionate. She's not even speaking to Zahi directly, that's how much she doesn't care about his injury.]

[bastionpc]

[Zahi just chuckles and waves off Ibuki.]

Nah, save it, I'll be fine. If things go south today, someone else might end up needing that healing.

Nate doesn't hit that hard anyway, I barely even felt it.

[scary_music]

Okay. Ibuki will let you play the tough guy act this time but...

Why did Nate-chan smack you???

[dontyoujustwish]

He does have a history of getting into fistfights with Ura, and situations like this tend to foster infighting anyway.

[bastionpc]

True, true! I never thought he'd pick a fight with me, though.

It was over the silliest thing, too. I was just askin' him abut the amulets, and if he can fine-tune the translating on them. See, I figured this whole 'first son' thing is just a name problem, with the name being translated literally, and if he tinkered with the translating it would fix that and we would hear this schemer's name.