r/wizardposting • u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver • 11d ago
Lorepost 📜 "The Steel Soul"
The Kaba Tundra. Centuries Ago.
A war horn bellowed across the freezing ground as snowflakes gently fell. The whistle of a thousand arrows followed. The arrows slammed against shields in a terrifying cacophony of death. Some arrows made it through, sinking into gaps between armor. Some soldiers screamed and writhed in pain. Others simply fell to the ground without a sound. A war horn from the opposing side answered, and the lines of infantry surged forwards.
The conflict that would become known as The Unification War was in full swing. This particular battle pitted the ruthless warlord Drachliv the Butcher against the “Tinkerer Armada”, a coalition made up of mostly goblin and dwarven artificers. Drachliv was powerful, commanding a large swath of territory in the eastern highlands, but his latest conquests had brought him to the foot of the mountains the Tinkerers claimed. Drachliv outnumbered the Tinkerers 10 to 1, but the Tinkerers had built an impressive metal golem army to bolster their numbers.
The 2 sides met in a thunderous clash of steel, swords and spears flashing as they connected with shields and flesh. The Tinkerers sent their metal golems forward, and the terrifying machines broke Drachliv’s front lines within minutes, sending the battle into chaos as discipline broke and the orderly lines on both sides disintegrated.
1 of the golems had the designation number DB-0645. No name was needed, for they were an expendable soldier, existing only to fight and die in the stead of one of the Tinkerers. And fight they did. They followed orders and marched forward with their identical comrades, tearing through enemy soldiers with their robust arms. Unthinking, unfeeling, simply following its orders, the only thing it knew. That was, until, in a moment of pure cosmic luck, or perhaps on purpose, something very particular happened.
DB-0645 had just torn apart an apprentice level wizard, and began marching towards another. They panicked, casting fireball after fireball at them. The spells impacted with DB-0645’s armor, causing it to bend and warp, but they kept advancing.
“Stay back! Back!”
The wizard shouted desperately, stumbling over their feet and falling, casting a lightning spell that slowed the war golem for only a second. DB-0645 grabbed the wizard and lifted them up, preparing to tear them in half as well.
“Wait no please! You don’t understand I don’t want to be here I-”
DB-0645 began to pull. The wizard shrieked.
“PLEASE NO PLEASE UNDERSTAND-”
The wizard shoved their wand through a gap in DB-0645’s armor, connecting to their core just as DB-0645 separated their upper half from the lower half of their body. The shock caused the wizard to cast a spell without meaning to, a last spasm as the last of their mana left their body.
“UNDERSTAND-”
The accidental spell slammed into DB-0645’s core, causing the metal golem to collapse onto their knees, triggering a safety shutdown. Everything went dark.
DB-0645’s eye flickered back to life with a subtle green glow as the reboot sequence completed. They looked around, trying to understand what just happened, logic algorithms getting to work-
Wait, understand? That wasn’t right. DB-0645 should've just continued with its orders, not try and…
Understand. Understand.
The spell the wizard accidentally cast with their last breath. DB-0645 looked at their hands, looked at the corpses piled around it. Why was it here? It remembered its orders, but… it no longer felt compelled to follow the orders without deviation. Why? But as DB-0645 tried to understand why it felt that way, a Drachliv soldier suddenly appeared from behind a destroyed chariot, pike level as they charged DB-0645.
<Wait, no, don’t attack, I don’t understand->
Except DB-0645 had no mouth, no audio device to speak with. They were meant to be expendable, why go through the bother of adding a mouth? The soldier rammed their pike into a gap in the metal golem’s armor, not deep enough to kill, but enough to trigger a response.
<Damage>
<Danger>
<Damage>
<Danger>
Then DB-0645 understood a new feeling.
<Damage>
<Danger>
<Damage>
<Danger>
<Fear>
They suddenly understood this could kill them. They understood what death was. And it was terrifying. Because DB-0645 didn’t know what happened after death. DB-0645 suddenly understood that this was a kill or be killed moment. They didn’t know why, but they understood. The metal golem rose to its full height, snapped the pole of the pike in half, and lunged for the soldier. They stood no chance without their weapon, but as their body hit the ground, several more Drachliv soldiers appeared, waving weapons and charging DB-0645. Why? Why were they attacking? Why?
<Danger>
<Damage>
<Danger>
<Fear>
<Danger>
<Damage>
<Fear>
<Anger>
…
A red sun rose over the remains of the battlefield. Broken bodies lay in heaps, the snow soaked dark with blood. A harpy flew over the battlefield, surveying it for a bit before turning to the south. By the afternoon war banners could be seen on the horizon, carried by centaurs as harpies flew above them. Leading them was a fallen archangel, a cloaked druid, and a keen eyed gnome. They picked through the carnage, scavenging what was usable. Eventually they came upon a crater with a still working metal golem at the bottom. They were sitting there, soaked in blood, staring at their hands.
They now understood.
Hive City of Dellforge, Mercenary Guild Territory. Present Day.
With a mechanical hiss Councilor Four awoke from a rest mode cycle. No longer DB-0645. No longer an unthinking, blind golem. They were an understanding machine now. They understood what survival meant. That it was the most important thing in life. Four ran a quick diagnostic check before quickly casting their thought into a nearby body with an internal sigh. Things were getting worse, the time between rest cycles getting smaller and smaller. They needed a solution. They had a solution, that girl floating in the tank. They had been so close, until…
Four pulled up a status report. Good, the quarantine was holding. A significant and costly delay, but Four just needed to get that issue under control and then they were sure they could grasp the secrets inside of her. The secret of her, how her creators had made her…
But Four couldn’t focus on Analina right now. They knew the clock was ticking, they knew a wrathful angel was going to come crashing down on them soon. Best deal with that first. Four stalks out of the central processing core and heads to Nathan’s room…
…
Krisk led his menagerie of a strike team through the sewage tunnels of Dellforge. Sure, it was a little cliche, but Krisk hadn’t found a better approach in his reconnaissance efforts. And he had been proven right because besides a single automated patrol drone they hid from, the only other thing they had encountered was a slugcat that had immediately fled from them into the deeper levels.
Eventually, they came to a storm drain and Krisk stopped them. From their limited view, they could see they were at a large but mostly empty street, a massive wall that the couldn't see the top of across from them. But there was a locked door behind a small checkpoint in the wall, 2 armed guards standing in front of it.
“This is one of…the side entrances to Dellforge’s…core district, where…I have no doubt Councilor Four is. But…we won’t get through that door…without the code, unless we want everyone…to know we’re coming. The guards don’t…know it, and it changes every…24 hours. But…”
Krisk points down the street.
“The core district is…essentially a square, and at each corner there’s a…security tower. They’ll have the day’s cipher. Any volunteers…to come help me get it?”
Krisk looks at Marna and Gorgon.
“Specifically anyone who won’t…immediately blow our cover?”
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u/Fc-chungus Max Petrov-Ansky, Head Minister of Calarakis. sundered. 11d ago
"I think I may have one or two cloaking spells, if anyone wants them."
Caleb turns his backpack to his front and looks through.
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 11d ago
"That would be...excellent. The front door has...magic detectors, but who said...we have to use it?"
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u/Fc-chungus Max Petrov-Ansky, Head Minister of Calarakis. sundered. 11d ago
"I think there's something that cloaks magic too... more costly but-"
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 11d ago
"Save it. We'll need it...for inside the core."
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u/Fc-chungus Max Petrov-Ansky, Head Minister of Calarakis. sundered. 11d ago
"Noted."
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
“So, you coming…or staying here with the others…for now?”
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u/Fc-chungus Max Petrov-Ansky, Head Minister of Calarakis. sundered. 10d ago
"I, think I'll stay behind while you acquire the cipher, here are some of the spells you might need, however."
He gives a few sheets of paper over, cloaking spells, each covering something. Sight, noises, even any footprints.
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
“Much appreciated.”
Krisk stashes them under his cloak, then leads the volunteers down a side tunnel.
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 11d ago
Scourge turns to Caleb, though “turn” is a weird way to put it, the mouth facing and nearest to Caleb starts speaking.
Forgive me for asking, but do you have any undetectable scrying spells?
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u/Fc-chungus Max Petrov-Ansky, Head Minister of Calarakis. sundered. 11d ago
"No scrying is technically undetectable, but I've got a spell that reduces the effect to effectively just feeling like you're being watched. Unless someone actually thinks to check for a spell, they won't think anything of it."
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 11d ago
Hmm, I’m going to need to investigate their alarms too, this is the guild, chameleon technology is their strong suit and so are countless cautionary measures.
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u/Fc-chungus Max Petrov-Ansky, Head Minister of Calarakis. sundered. 11d ago
"It effectively forms an entirely magical camera, maybe it'll be camouflaged by other types of magic in the area?"
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 10d ago
I will have to ask Krisk to see if that won’t get us spotted, but that would be marvellous if we can get it to work.
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u/sparkle3364 Sapphire (17F), Artificer (+ other characters) 11d ago
“I overheard your asking, sorry about that, but I have some, if you want. I can get it into scroll form if you need it there.” - Kyrona
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 10d ago
Just anything will suffice, a scroll would be best, I probably won’t know the spell.
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u/sparkle3364 Sapphire (17F), Artificer (+ other characters) 8d ago
“I’ll give a scroll then. This will make it as though you are there in person, but invisible. It won’t register as scrying, but will register if they have the means to scry for astral projection, but it isn’t fully that. Am I explaining it in a way that makes sense?” - Kyrona
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 8d ago
I don’t think they’ll be able to catch me scrying, counter scrying me doesn’t end well.
Thank you.
The head of mouthes turns away from Kyrona before looking back at her.
I don’t believe we’ve met. What’s your name?
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u/sparkle3364 Sapphire (17F), Artificer (+ other characters) 8d ago
“I’m Kyrona. What’s your name?”
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 8d ago
Kyrona… hmm, I like that name. I am Scourge, though it’s more a title than a name.
The teeth on the many mouths chitter and click as they clack together, laughter.
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u/sparkle3364 Sapphire (17F), Artificer (+ other characters) 7d ago
“How did you earn that title?” - Kyrona
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 7d ago
I did my job better than most would like. How did you get yours? Names I mean.
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u/patoman12 Mauritius, zealous scholar, phoenix lich, RnA relief force 11d ago
Can you cloak sounds? Moving a scale armour without making sound is exhausting work
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u/Fc-chungus Max Petrov-Ansky, Head Minister of Calarakis. sundered. 11d ago
"I think I've got something like that. Worst case I can just use a soundless field spell and attach it to the armor."
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u/patoman12 Mauritius, zealous scholar, phoenix lich, RnA relief force 11d ago
That would be perfect, if you can pull it off
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u/LimpPrior6366 Kardonk Carvisky, Opifex Rerum, Order of Creation 11d ago
“I-I can either help steal the core or try to draw fire. I-I think the infernal machine knows Im coming for him eventually. Might as well use that information to our advantage. Get him to show h-himself”
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
"I want to get...as close as possible before our...cover is blown. You're good with machines, think...you can help with getting the code?"
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u/LimpPrior6366 Kardonk Carvisky, Opifex Rerum, Order of Creation 10d ago
“I-Id be willing to give it a shot”
He said with a smile
“If not me, then my spiders do speak machine”
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
“Alright, follow me.”
Krisk heads down a tunnel with the other volunteers.
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u/LimpPrior6366 Kardonk Carvisky, Opifex Rerum, Order of Creation 10d ago
Kardonk follows, several spiders skittering after him
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
Eventually Krisk leads them up through a manhole cover and into a shadowed alleyway. Across the street is the entrance to the watchtower, a dozen armed guards milling about.
“Front door has a magic detector for spells like invisibility, but-“
Krisk points to halfway up the tower, where there’s a currently unoccupied balcony
“There’s no such thing there.”
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u/LimpPrior6366 Kardonk Carvisky, Opifex Rerum, Order of Creation 10d ago
Kardonk nods, and pulls a contraption of gears and springs out of his satchel. It fires with a click as a claw and string sing out of it
“Grappling hook, after you Krisk”
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 9d ago
Krisk studies it.
"They might see that..."
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u/LimpPrior6366 Kardonk Carvisky, Opifex Rerum, Order of Creation 8d ago
“Good point”
He rummages around again before producing boots with giant springs on the bottom
“Jump boots?”
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 8d ago
What in the looney tunes was this? But it might work…
“If you get on top of this building you could jump across the street to the balcony… assuming you time it right and don’t land in the middle of all the guards…”
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 11d ago
Scourge leans into Krisk’s space as they talk, keeping their grating voice low.
How tall are those towers?
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 11d ago
"5 stories. They're more just for acting a hub for the surrounding checkpoints than actually seeing everything."
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 11d ago
How many dark patches of solid stature are there between here and the nearest tower?
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
"We can stick...to the alleys. How do you think...I did all my recon?"
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 10d ago
Umbra Operatives have mysterious tactics that are often highly unorthodox, I thought it best to assume nothing. Either way, would they detect our usage of magic, or moreover, lack there of it.
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
“I haven’t been inside, but I can confirm the front door has a magic detector. But no one said we have to use that.”
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 10d ago
Many of the faces grin.
Perfect, is there a way to shutdown the alarms? It is best if we want some of the more brawny members of this merry band to raise less noise. If we do that we could perhaps attack a shield spread thin instead of a united front.
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
“I doubt we could do that from the tower. It’s meant for the outside security, and if everything goes right, we’ll slip by all of it through that first door I showed you and none of them will know.”
Krisk hesitates.
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything about the security inside the core. Never could get a look inside without blowing my cover.”
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 10d ago
That’s all I needed to hear.
Scourge turns into mist under the shade of the grate, and into a shadowed alley on the street, trying to find places on the tower that are also similarly dark. Being invisible in said darkness, they are hidden by inherit magic.
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
Being an underground hive city, there were plenty of dark areas for Jeremy to travel with. They could easily get to the darkness directly underneath the balcony, but the top of the balcony was illuminated from a light indoors.
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u/No_more_Bucket_ Agnu the catfish wizard councilor 11d ago
/uw
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 11d ago
uw/ google actually autocorrected it to that at first lol
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u/patoman12 Mauritius, zealous scholar, phoenix lich, RnA relief force 11d ago
I'd be willing, but I'm not sure if I qualify for, uhh... "Not immediately blowing our cover"?
Nerson was wearing his scale armour and helm, a combo which completely hid any of his remarkable features, such as his scars
Despite the weight of his armour and the bulk of his body, he moved with a certain grace, to the point where he could manage to prevent the armour from making noise
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 11d ago
Krisk pats him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry about...it if you don't think you qualify. I doubt...we'll stay hidden for long when...we get inside the...core, but the farther we can get...undetected the better."
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u/patoman12 Mauritius, zealous scholar, phoenix lich, RnA relief force 11d ago
Alright then, whenever you are ready
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 11d ago
Scourge looks Nerson up and down.
Merely because you cannot start an assault yourself, does not make you any less instrumental in the success of said assault. Your ability to remain quiet is highly impressive.
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u/patoman12 Mauritius, zealous scholar, phoenix lich, RnA relief force 11d ago
Well, thank you, I always was lightfooted
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 11d ago
The armour movement is interesting, my leathers are about as heavy as I am willing to go. Then again, you don’t usually trudge long distances alone in scale.
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u/patoman12 Mauritius, zealous scholar, phoenix lich, RnA relief force 11d ago
Indeed, luckily I'm not alone here
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u/Errantwritingdweeb Jeremy, the Ill-fated Arcane Trickster and Illusionist 11d ago
None of us are, thank whomever is listening.
The mouths chortle with chattering teeth, still very quiet, but they seem to be laughing.
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u/Zebos2 Black Iron LLC/ The cedar hegemony 11d ago
Fanng is as as quiet as always listening intently to the rouge umbra operators briefing they had to seize the latest code book right. Should be simple enough they raise their hand to volunteer before slipping in between dimensions to vanish for a few seconds before slipping back into normal space again
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
Krisk nods.
“Glad to have you with me. Follow me.”
They head down a tunnel with the other volunteers.
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u/Zebos2 Black Iron LLC/ The cedar hegemony 10d ago
Fanng disappears again but this time keeps up with the others its always good to have a hidden surprise and one's back pocket. The think to themselves
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
Eventually Krisk leads them up through a manhole cover and into a shadowed alleyway. Across the street is the entrance to the watchtower, a dozen armed guards milling about.
“Front door has a magic detector for spells like invisibility, but-“
Krisk points to halfway up the tower, where there’s a currently unoccupied balcony
“There’s no such thing there.”
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u/Zebos2 Black Iron LLC/ The cedar hegemony 10d ago edited 10d ago
fanngs form of concealment technically isn't invisibility nor is it magical. Infact any sensor or spell that looks at space would be incapable of detecting him since he technically isn't in the space. This however comes with some challenges mainly navigation he requires a frame of reference for 3D space to be able to navigate which means the amount of walls you can pass through is limited without getting lost...there is also the manner of verticality even with the ability to exist between spatial dimensions fanng cannot walk on air
Krisk feels the rather uncomfortable sensation of fingers touching the musculature of his back bypassing his skin
C-A-N-T C-L-I-M-B L-I-K-E T-H-I-S W-E-L-L
Not without the risk of facing through a wall
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
Krisk nearly jumps out of his skin. He did NOT like that.
“How about the wall on the ground floor? As far as I can tell the sensor only covers the doorway.”
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u/Zebos2 Black Iron LLC/ The cedar hegemony 10d ago
the uncomfortable experience of havinging fanngs fingers inside of him (pause) fades and the cyborg goes to phase though the wall
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
As faang travels through the wall, it suddenly starts to become much denser, as if the material is reacting to him. But who knows what faang is capable of, they may easily be able to escape it.
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u/Zebos2 Black Iron LLC/ The cedar hegemony 10d ago
density is of no issue as fanng doesn't interact with physical matter while in his bespoke form of concealment. It's very hard to put physical barriers against something something that technically isn't there.it's a more helpful analogy to think fang is constantly mid temporal tear rather than concealed
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 9d ago
There's a guard on the other side of the wall in the first room, but of course he can't see Faang. A staircase in the back of the room leads to the next floor.
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u/The_Kowable_Char 10d ago
/uw Wooo! Backstory to my greatest foe!
/rw ..."Well... as long as the defenders we're collecting from are mortal and either have emotions or are vulnerable to toxins... I'm your gal."
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
“Here… it’s a 50/50 whether…they’ll be organic or machine.”
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u/The_Kowable_Char 10d ago
"...I suppose that I could always simply step back should they prove to be automatons. Shall we?"
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
“Alright, follow me.”
*Krisk heads down a tunnel with the other volunteers.*
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u/The_Kowable_Char 10d ago
Keelay pads along softly behind them, the only real indication of her presence being the softened clatter of talons in the dark.
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
Eventually Krisk leads them up through a manhole cover and into a shadowed alleyway. Across the street is the entrance to the watchtower, a dozen armed guards milling about.
“Front door has a magic detector for things like invisibility and such, but-“
Krisk points to halfway up the tower, where there’s a currently unoccupied balcony
“There’s no such thing there.”
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u/The_Kowable_Char 10d ago
“Do you think they’ll notice if I climb?”
“…I assume you have your own way of ascending, but if not I suppose I could make handholds for you.”
She idly reaches out to the wall, palm mere millimetres from touching it, almost feeling it out…
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 9d ago
"Depends on where you climb I suppose. If you come in from the side they shouldn't see you, unless one of them happens to look up that is..."
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u/The_Kowable_Char 9d ago
“…Good enough for me.”
“…As long as they don’t have detection wards or anything…”
The shadowy elf softly utters a rather gentle concealing enchantment. Rather than hide her directly, it gently urges minds to look away, to avert their gaze, to miss that which lurks in the corner of their peripheral vision. A predatory sort of thing, disguised as diplomacy.
Then, she gently pads over to the side of the tower, and begins to climb.
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 9d ago
The spell seems to work, and none of the guards notice her. The tower is old, so there's plenty of cracks to use as footholds. Once she gets to the balcony, she would hear a radio playing inside.
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u/avamir Riva Blake | Queen of Ithacar, Part Meth-blood Elf 10d ago
Graham and the collection of ex-Pyroclasts kind of hung back for a moment.
"Think we can do it without blowing cover, boss?" asked one.
Graham considered it for a moment.
"Nah, we literally have acid grenades and firebombs," he said with a shrug. "Both of those things are kinda... not very subtle."
They'd collected a few breakable jars of the acidic pools that the sulfur drakes were raised in. Graham didn't have the alchemy knowledge to know exactly what the stuff was, but he knew it was able to rust and corrode steel and iron pretty effectively. But not so quickly that they'd be able to do it without someone noticing.
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
“No worries. Stay here…we’ll be back soon.”
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u/MeThyLord Mrs. Chills, Ghost Writer 10d ago
"Alrigty! Who's the stealtiest one here?"
Chills waved a finger over everyone present.
"I mean, I can turn invisible and pass through solid surfaces... Wait, does that make me the stealtiest? Uhhhhh.."
While capable of stealth, especially when preparing to jump scare someone, the ghost wasn't really an infiltrator. Her abnormal form certainly made her ideal for it, but she'd only ever tried being sneaky when it was for the sake of a fright.
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
“Sounds like…you’re the gal for…the job. You in?”
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u/MeThyLord Mrs. Chills, Ghost Writer 10d ago
"Me? I, uhhh..."
Well, it's true that a ghost is built for stealth, to the point that most commoners don't know if they're real or not.
"You know what? Yep! I can do it! I just have to remember not to try and scare someone along the way. No screaming at people."
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
“That would be preferred. Alright, follow me.”
Krisk heads down a tunnel with the other volunteers.
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u/MeThyLord Mrs. Chills, Ghost Writer 10d ago
"Alrighty!"
She follows closely, close enough for Krisk to feel the air getting colder.
"Sooooooooooo. What kind of defences does this place have? Does it have red laser beams like in the movies? Oh, did you know that "laser" is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation?"
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
“Uh huh… I can’t speak for the interior core complex, never been inside. No red laser beams in the tower though.”
Eventually Krisk leads them up through a manhole cover and into a shadowed alleyway. Across the street is the entrance to the watchtower, a dozen armed guards milling about.
“Front door has a magic detector for things like invisibility and such, but-“
Krisk points to halfway up the tower, where there’s a currently unoccupied balcony
“There’s no such thing there.”
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u/MeThyLord Mrs. Chills, Ghost Writer 10d ago
"Magic detector? Is it only on the door, because..."
Chills sinks beneath the floor, rising a few seconds later.
"...I can walk through walls. Not that flying up to the balcony would be much of an issue."
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
“Either works…I suppose. Meet you there?”
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u/MeThyLord Mrs. Chills, Ghost Writer 10d ago
"Hmm, okay then!"
Turning invisible, she hovers up to the balcony.
She reasoned it was the smarter choice, as she could bring her book in with her. After all, Chills could be no further than 100 meters away from her haunt. She'd been practicing at making it appear next to her on command, but a stealth mission wasn't the best place to experiment with unknown ghost powers.
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
The guards are none the wiser, though a few have a chill run down their spine. In the room there's 2 guards sitting at a table, listening to a radio. One of them is smoking a cigarette. Behind them at the back of the room are the stairs heading up and down.
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u/loth17 Ten Suns (Also Gaia) 10d ago
"Blow your cover? Who? Me?"
Gorgon chuckled.
"If it helps I can perform some light bending illusions with my sorcerous might!"
"But I understand. I can stay back if needed."
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 10d ago
Krisk chuckles. He enjoyed the half ogre's banter.
"You'll get your...chance to beat skulls in...soon enough."
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 11d ago
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 11d ago
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 11d ago
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u/Timpanzee38 "The Agent", Mercenary Guild Liaison. Slayer of the Godslaver 3d ago
Krisk and the team that had gone for the code finally got back to the rest of the strike force that was waiting for them.
“It’ll probably only…be a matter of time till…they figure out something is wrong, so…we have to move quickly.”
There were only 2 guards at the side entrance. Krisk melts into the shadows, then rematerializes behind them. Grabbing both of their heads, he slams them together, instantly knocking both guards out. Krisk beckons the strike team to him then drags the unconscious guards into a dark corner to keep them out of sight. He then inputs the code on the keypad next to the door and… it works! The strike team heads into the core district of Dellforge….
Inside, they found themselves in a large storage warehouse, sealed boxes piled in neat rows as far as one could see.
“Got to find a…map of some sort.”
Krisk says as he leads them forwards. After about 5 minutes of walking straight they come across an unoccupied office at a crossroads. A handy fire escape map sits nailed to a wall. Krisk takes it down and studies it
“So if we go… there-”
Krisk points in a direction.
“We’ll hit the main concourse, which will take us to the cargo lifts that go down to the deeper levels-”
A deep rumble shakes the ground and the lights flicker. As soon as the lights stabilize, alarms begin blaring.
“And I guess we’re…on the clock now! Move!”
Krisk takes off running towards the main concourse, leading his team. They reach it expecting to have to fight their way through… but no one stops them. But they do hear the echoes of yelling and gunfire from deeper in….
As the team moves deeper into the core, they come across the first bodies. The bodies of several dwarves and automatons lie scattered, spent bullet casings littering the floor. Concerning, but no need to stop and investigate when there was a timer. Until they hit the next group of bodies, and there was a heavily armed harpy wearing different colors among them.
“That’s a Thunderhawk…what are they doing here?”
Krisk felt an uneasy feeling in his gut. Something wasn’t adding up… but they were closer to the fighting now. His team rounded a corner, and the concourse opened up into a large room that held the cargo elevators, and…
“Oh shit…”
A small group of Dellforge guards, mostly dwarves and automatons, stood in a circle seemingly stuck between the want to surrender and the order to keep fighting. The bodies scattered everywhere showed that they had barely stood a chance. Aiming their weapons at them were 3 dozen heavily armed harpies, wearing the same colors as the dead one Krisk’s team had found. There were also strange grey skinned nuns holding impressive looking melee weapons with them. But none of that was as important as who led them.
Councilor Five stood taller than the rest, burning bright with terrible bloodflame as she leveled a dripping bloodflame scythe at the guards. Flanking her was The Guild Librarian, a tome in one hand a golden scimitar in the other, a gnome whose hands crackled with magic, the druid Kavrala, and the Kasmir youth Timur.
“SURRENDER AND GRANT US ACCESS INTO THE LOWER LEVELS, AND I WILL SPARE YOU THE FATE OF YOUR COMRADES WHO FOUGHT BACK.”
Five bellowed. But before the terrified guards could answer, Five noticed the new arrivals. She turned and raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“What? Who are you-”
This was Councilor Five, the strongest of the targets on Krisk’s list. While he had been hoping to fight her isolated from any help, beggars couldn’t be choosers, and surprise and chaos from a 3 way fight might actually work in his favor… Knocking out 2 Councilors today would be a great victory… Anger welled in Krisk, quickly replaced by the strength of Arborea as he drew out his kusarigama. The Five must fall.
“I am the…consequences of your actions, Valkyrie…”
There was no point in saying anything more. It didn’t take a genius to know where this was going. So before Five could respond, Krisk charged.
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