The Summit Road Campaign Thread

Taran walks up and hugs her tight, "N-N-No, y-y-you ar-aren't us-useless." Taran says, "Y-You kn-know m-more th-than I d-d-do, y-y-you ar-are st-stronger th-than me. An-And wh-when w-w-we f-f-find th-them, y-y-you w-w-will w-w-win, b-b-because y-you are st-stronger th-than th-they th-thought, an-and they w-will un-underestimate you."

Taran tightens his hug, "D-Don't un-underestimate y-yourself, Kaori."

She continues to tremble, cooing softly. "They can ... magic ... only a few ... times ... per day..." She looks around. "Some get ... Special power ... Better weapon ... Turn invisible ... Perfect ... Disguises ..." She looks at the ground again. "They are ... strong ... I am ... still ... weak."

Taran shakes his head, "Y-Y-You st-stood in-in front of the Qu-Quori, un-unafraid. Th-Their s-s-superior, th-the o-one they a-are af-afraid of. Y-You c-can d-d-do th-this."

Shen watches and listens to the exchanges. "Okay, so you think they're drawing power straight from Dal Quor? Do they need any special equipment for that, something we might find while searching their room?"

"I-I had ... Sword ... Magic connection." Kaori meekly says in Taran's voice.

“Yes. And I would assume they have to use some medium to do so. It would be like Taran drawing on power from it, could he be taught to do so yes but he’s not a Kalashtar. He can’t use a quori as the medium and he’d need something else.” Vishal replies 

"Could you sense something like that with a detect spell?" Shen asks curiously. "We could cast it while searching the rooms."

"Pact ... Weapon ... Book of ... Spells ... Magic ... Pet" Kaori lists of quietly, looking at the floor. "Possible ... Medium."

"Th-Th-The w-w-weapon, l-l-like you h-h-had K-K-Kaori," Taran says stepping back, "C-Could it ch-change s-s-size? Th-That w-w-would ex-explain the m-m-mulitple t-types of w-w-wounds."

"Could be ... Any ... w-w-weapon ... Ch-Change ... At will."

Taran gives a smile to Kaori, "Th-Then th-that is pr-probably it, an-and y-you helped us n-narrow it d-down." Taran looks over at Shen, "I-I-If I-I c-c-could m-m-make it an-any weapon, I-I'd k-k-keep it on me, a-as a small bl-blade, n-not l-leave it in my r-r-room, b-b-but c-c-could y-you d-detect it on th-them?"

"They can ... Dismiss ... Don't need it ... On th-them." Kaori flinches slightly.

"And I don't do magic, I can't sense stuff," Shen explains. "I can do a couple psychic augmentations to my attacks and that's just about it. A little self-healing too. Still, that's good to know. If they can summon their weapon, keeping them from doing that could give us an advantage in confronting them. The more we know, the better."

"I can detect magic in case it's not a weapon that they have. Also....starting tomorrow I could also locate a specific object, like...the murder weapon." Vishal supplies

Taran sighs, shuffling in the new information, "S-So th-they w-w-woulnd't h-have it un-unless th-they needed it."

A moment later he lets out a dark chuckle, "M-M-Magic, w-w-weapons th-that appear out of th-thin a-air, I-I'm al-almost j-jealous. Fa-" Taran cuts himself off, shuddering. "I-I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-s-s-sorry, f-f-f-f-f-f-focus, g-g-g-g-got t-to focus... Oh..."

Taran's eyes widen, "St-stupid, st-stupid, stupid. W-We n-need t-t-to t-talk to Kh-Khova. Sh-She's a t-t-target, N-Nirdaya kn-knew wh-which w-w-way w-we tr-traveled. Th-This is th-their d-d-disciple, an-and K-Khova kn-knows th-them." Taran turns to Shen, body trembling with the need to run, "Wh-Where d-d-did she g-g-get t-taken for psy-psychic help?"

Caelius frowns,

"Before we go forward....what exactly has everyone else discovered besides that there is a weapon similar to Kaori's." Vishal asks 

Taran's eyes flick to Mister Caelius's hands, "R-R-Right," He says pacing in place, "I-I-I-I d-d-don't th-think it is a p-p-person. N-Not on-only b-b-because of the st-strange f-f-footprints y-you and A-Akuma found M-Mister Caelius, b-b-but wh-when it w-w-was f-f-fighting the th-third v-v-victim it gr-grew q-q-quite large. L-Larger th-than I th-think a Ch-Changeling c-c-could, an-and tr-transforming l-l-like th-that in a f-f-fight w-w-would imply i-it n-needed to b-b-be in it's n-n-natural f-f-form."

"B-B-Better t-t-to as-assume th-that th-the shapechanging is-is a result of it's n-nature, l-leaving th-the we-weapon and th-the ev-evidence of t-t-teleportation it-it exhibited b-being fr-from the m-magical c-c-contract. W-W-We w-w-were g-g-going t-to int-interview the p-pilgrims and pr-prospectives, tr-try and fl-flush th-them out, s-s-searching th-their r-r-rooms t-t-to s-see if there is ev-evidence. B-B-But, if N-Nirdaya is th-their s-s-superior, th-then Khova m-might h-have a l-l-lead on wh-what i-it is, m-maybe g-g-give us a t-t-tell or s-s-some k-kind of s-s-symbol i-it would have.

Shen nods. "She's probably in a meditation chamber or recovering from the routine. Follow me."

The elan leads you through the monastery until you arrive at a small room that's essentially a break room. Khova is sitting in a chair at a small table with a kalashtar with white hair braided on top of her head. The pair are eating from a plate of snacks in companionable silence, and Khova looks tired, but relieved.

As they are walking Vishal replies, "They're not teleporting. At least not consistently. It's impossible to teleport into the Shroud because it blocks inter-planar travel. And while within the shroud you can technically teleport but it doesn't work all the time. So the teleportation isn't a reliable thing. And...if Khova doesn't want to I can just as easily be the bait."