The Summit Road Campaign Thread

"*coo* Nice to met you."

Taran had arrived at the tunnel entrance early in the morning, having prepared himself mentally for the day to come. For the need to talk to Mr. Druhdaar. He'd given Mr. Juhaan and Mr. Caelius two of the potions he had made, a potion of Psychic Resistance and a basic Healing potion each. He'd felt centered, ready. He'd even been able to pull out Juhaan's green beret again and had considered wearing the jacket Vishal had gotten him.

Then Esteemed Vishal had given him the armor (after Taran protested, lost the argument, and quickly handed Vishal a can of oil in exchange [Oil of Lesser Sharpness, but I figure Taran didn't get the chance to explain it to you yet])  and he'd seen the inscription. He'd recovered quickly, but he had sobbed for a few moments, muttering under his breath and clutching the leathers. Then he scurried off to change.

He caught back up to the group. Dressed only in the black leather armor, not wearing the hat, but he did still have the grass braid on his wrist. 

He couldn't talk to Mr. Druhdaar now, not while he was unsteady and Druhdaar looked so calm. Later... he-he'd tell him later.


After the Guides stepped out, Taran gave a bow. "M-My n-name is, um, T-Taran. Th-thank y-you f-for g-guiding us, Es-Esteemed Sirkashtai, Mr. D-Diamond. I-I, um, I-I h-have a f-few i-items an-and supplies, i-if w-we n-need to d-discuss st-strategies..."

"No titles," Sirkashtai says evenly to Taran. "We're all equals." She turns her attention to Caelius, River, Juhaan and Druhdaar, waiting for them to give their names.

Druhdaar takes a few steps ahead of the group, visibly uncomfortable with everyone's eyes on him and his new, cleaner attire. Nevertheless, he takes a formal, somewhat stiff bow as he announces, looking straight at both Sirkashtai, then Diamond:

" Novice Druhdaar Khar-Errendi. Errhm... Khralesh... Athar... "  the tall druid seems to hesitate, as if trying hard to recall the proper formal adress, "... Bakheyri ! (*) " Druhdaar finally says, completing his awkward salute with something between a sigh of frustration and one of his old familiar grunts.

He then takes his place back amongst the others, standing erect and looking straight ahead.

(*) Khralesh Athar Bakheyri : literally meaning 'Our Wills Await The Task', this formal salute is often used by the monks of Adar when addressing a superior. It shows the young novice's respect for teachers and willingness to let one's own will being guided and shaped by the coming lesson or practice. It's also been used as a military salute in recent years, especially during fighting drills or actual battles, at times where monks or their representatives were involved. 

Juhaan

"Thank you Taram for the potions. Nice style with the beret!" he says and turns to the new guides "Juhaan is the name, infiltration is the game. Depending on the day." he shrugs

Diamond grins at Juhaan. "Well, we may be in need of your skills for this mission, Juhaan." He winks before glancing back at River and Caelius.

At the mention of names, River's mouth opens and the sound of a running river is heard by all around them. She looks nervous and perhaps more wary than usual.

Caelius blinks, his attention clearly sporadic. He moves to the front of the group where he presents Diamond and Sirkastai with the first page of his wordbook.

It reads: "This book belongs to: Caelius Crystaljumper." Below that in smaller writing is "Excuse my silence, I can not hear nor speak. Please speak clearly but not too slow and I’ll be able to understand."

Caelius moves back to his position in the back of the group, clutching his book to his chest as if keeping it safe.

Diamond grins. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all, so if you'll follow us to our camp, we can get started on figuring out how to destroy a giant pillar of psionic crystal."

He and Sirkashtai lead you a short distance away, where a camouflaging mat of grass is pulled aside to reveal a cave that is clearly their current base. There's a small fire pit with a pile of cooking supplies beside it, a carefully organized pile of supplies in a corner, two one-man tents, and a swept clear area with several weapons beside it. A flattened stalagmite serves as a table, which currently is covered in maps and diagrams. Light appears to filter in through a series of small cracks in the ceiling. Diamond winks. "Welcome to our lavish temporary home. A lot better than most outposts in enemy territory, I have to say. The same cracks that let in light disperse the smoke so we can have a fire for things like food-and coffee. Coffee is essential. Have a seat and we can go over resources and figure out a plan for this thing." He pushes up his glasses and sits at the "table", one leg tucked under him.

Sirkashtai sits cross-legged next to him, watching you all with a peculiar, half-smile on her face.

"U-um," Taran starts, taking the opening of discusses resources as an order to share, "I-I was a-able to m-make s-some th-things. A-a few h-healing p-potions and psionic resistance potions th-that I d-distributed, um, well, a-a handful of f-flash p-pellets that can b-blind any g-guard that sees us, v-very briefly." As he talks he pulls each item out of his pack, lining them up on a clear section of flooring, "Th-the sticks w-were sm-smokestick's like I th-thought s-so he have those for c-clouds, um, I-I still have the a-alchemist fire and I m-made an-another Morning Star, a-as well as s-some sulfuric a-acid. I-I made s-some Oil of S-slipperiness, in case we are being pursued, and I b-bought a Horn of Silent A-alarm, f-for signaling. A-and I s-still have the Crawler m-mucus, t-to paralyze a g-guard or two." Taran bows at the two senior guides.

"I-I'm s-sorry I c-couldn't make m-more. I-I, um, w-well, I d-don't, th-the b-best w-way to s-say it is" Taran fidgets as he talks, "I, I d-didn't s-save enough b-bases, and, um, I-I c-couldn't a-ask f-for m-more f-funds a-after th-they'd given me s-so much, and, well, um, yeah..."

“Taran. You made so many wonderful things and I know we’re all going to get out of here thanks to you and your preparedness.” Vishal, having sat across from the two other guides, says, pride evident in his voice as he attempts to boost the young man’s confidence. Turning back to the guides he says, “We came up with a preliminary plan of splitting into two groups. One for distraction and one for destroying with either Caleius or myself doing the destruction. But we’d love to hear what you know about this place and the tower before we do anything.” 

Anyone who makes an Insight DC 15:

Diamond gives Taran a reassuring smile. "Trust me, all of this will be very useful." He nods at Vishal. "Yeah, we're happy to share what we've learned." He and Sirkashtai launch into an explanation of the monolith's arrangement and defenses, both of their faces turning serious.

"We have been here observing the monolith for approximately three months, beginning about halfway through its construction. It is built like a typical example of its kind, with the usual crystal pillar enclosed within a psionically reinforced steel shell. The shell is approximately a hundred and fifty feet in diameter, including the pillar, which is ten feet in diameter. Diamond disguised himself and was able to get in while it was being built and get a copy of the blueprints. There are eight openings in the shell, as is typical, spaced evenly around the steel shell."

"The monolith is pretty typical, like Sirkashtai said. They finished building it about a week and a half ago, the major guard contingent departed a few days ago. The ground is grassy floor right now, the monolith hasn't been active long enough to alter the life around it. There's still a small guard there, which was unforeseen but is likely because of the proximity to the Shanjueed and its Mabar manifest zone. The guard is composed of four stone soldiers, a medic with some psionic power-enough to close some wounds and handle poison a couple times, and three water soldiers-Riedran special forces. Those three move on a rotating schedule so that at any given time one of them is at the monolith sleeping while the other two are making rounds scouting the area within a half mile. The camp is inside the actual monolith, a collection of tents. They don't need a fire unless they're cooking, the monolith core provides plenty of heat naturally."

"Typically the stone soldiers rotate the watch each night, watching from the opening in the shell facing the Jungle. The medic sleeps through the night, and Diamond already covered the water soldier's rotation. According to him, the stone soldiers will be easy to bring down from a distance, even with the assistance of the medic, but the water soldiers will be the biggest issue. They'll be scouting around, and if they detect us, they can signal the other soldiers and give them time to prepare while also harrying us from a distance-using our own tactics against us. We have to either remain unseen by them or take them out before they can spot us-both of which will be a difficult proposition, as Diamond informs me they'll have been specially trained to operate in this environment."

"Water soldiers are trained to fit any niche they need to, and these ones probably have plenty of experience in wilderness terrain. They'll also know that their first priority in the case of a fight will be to get a signal off, even if it disadvantages them or gives away their position. The Unity comes first, after all." There's a little bitterness in Diamond's voice before he goes back to his businesslike tone. "So we need to restrain them if possible, or knock them out from far away before they get a chance to signal. I can probably take one out, but I'd like to save some psionic power for the monolith, and as backup in case we accidentally alert a patrol and need to get away. I'm a good distraction for a getaway-I've got defensive options, and I can really get the Inspired or Thousand Eyes wound up. Once we get into the monolith, we've got a few options to destroy it."

"We have three options. One, if we deal massive physical damage to it, it will explode immediately. I would not recommend being in the shell when it explodes. Two, if we overwhelm it with power-psionic, arcane, or otherwise-it will explode within a few seconds. You have to be in physical contact with the monolith to set it off. Finally, a psionic creature can bond with the monolith while in physical contact and try to set it to self-destruct in ten minutes. It's a difficult and dangerous process. If you fail, consequences can be anything from immediate explosion of the monolith to total failure and alerting the Dreaming Dark of your identity and location. Both Diamond and I are able and willing to attempt to bond with the monolith if we decide on that option."

Sirkashtai and Diamond have blueprints of the monolith, as well as a schedule of the scouting rotations for the next few days.

Taran notices, and withdraws, quietly storing the items in his new armor. Saying the mantra out loud might make things worse, but he tries to say it inside his head once or twice, to see if it helps.

He doesn't think it does.

Still, he listens and tries placing himself in any of the potential roles. Trying to figure out the best way to help the team. One thing is for certain though, Mister Diamond would not be staying behind alone. That was Taran's role, he was the most expendable, he'd take that risk if it came to it.

River stares and listens intently, seeming almost like a statue as they speak. Once they finish, she recites the entire briefing in their own voices.

Juhaan looks at the plans and hear them out with attention.

"Tricky." Juhaan says "The main issue, I think, will be the water soldiers with their patrols and ability to signal everyone. Since they are separated, we can take one at a time with a lure" he says changing his shiftweave to simple traveling tunic to a fine and formal attire female Inspired with glamorweave with an altsen pattern that simmers. "Or we could simply be a scout from another squadron" he says changing his clothes back to an Harmonious shield soldier. "Either way we remove one water soldier at a time, assuming we can track them" he says looking at Dhrudaar and the others. "We can even raise chaos in their midst, turning them one against the other with my skills" he says grinning "For the earth soldiers... straight up attack I say. Overwhelm them with offensive power, while we mute or keep the medic distracted. There's what, 8 of us vs 4 of them? It would also be nice if we could take out the third water soldier before he has a chance to wake up"

Diamond nods at Juhaan. "I agree, the water soldiers are the biggest threat. If they're able to get a warning off, the stone soldiers will be able to alert the Inspired, and we'll be working under a time limit to destroy the monolith before the quori can teleport a squad here." He grins at Juhaan. "And I can help with any misdirection, although I'd recommend the Harmonious Shield soldier over the Inspired-the Inspired always travel with a retinue. Straight up sneaking up on the water soldiers may be difficult though-these ones will be good in the wilderness. I would agree with the assessment for a simple attack against the stone soldiers."

"If we attacked at night, we could use the crawler mucus to paralyze a guard on watch," Sirkashtai suggests. "Time the start of our attack to coincide with when a water soldier first goes to bed, and that will give us eight hours before they learn anything is amiss, as long as we keep the two active water soldiers from sounding the alarm. If we paralyze the stone soldier on watch, we could kill most of them in their sleep and minimize the risk of anyone sounding the alarm during a fight."

Taran new he had been a nuisance to the elder guides, but since this seemed to involve him, he felt the need to speak up.

"I-I c-can g-give it t-to someone, al-along with m-my whalloping a-ammo, i-if s-someone else is a b-better shot." He'd say quietly, "I-if there i-is only o-one g-guard, th-that m-might be enough, o-or I c-could mix th-the B-asilisk B-breath, i-in c-case there were two ma'am" Taran would wince, "I-I-I'm s-sorry, "He'd say quickly, "I-I d-d-don't, I-I di-didn't... I-I... s-sorry."

He'd back away, heading over to the cooking pot, where he would start tidying up, keeping his hands busy. Just stay busy, until he had his orders.

Sirkashtai frowns. "Come back," she says firmly. "We all must be involved in making this plan, so that it has the best chance of success. If you are over there, you cannot participate in the conversation, and thus we may miss an application of one of your abilities or creations. For example: you have basilisk's breath? How much, and is it in the berry form, or have you prepared the juice?"

"I-I'm s-sorry," Taran would say with another small flinch. He just kept making things worse, no matter what he did. He would walk over, head down, and pull out the glass vial with five stone grey berries in it, floating in preservatives, and set it on the stalagmite table. "I-I o-only have e-enough for a s-single dose. I-I c-could pr-prepare it, b-but, I-I don't kn-know how w-well I c-could pr-prepare it."

Trailblazer Ranari would say that he should express his feelings, Esteemed Vishal is likely about to say something, and then it might get even more complicated.

"I-I'm s-sorry," Taran would say at his feet, "F-for m-making p-people, um, well, i-if I-I am th-that is, m-making p-people u-u-uncomfortable... I-I'm tr-trying to be better..."

Diamond gives Taran a reassuring smile. "Thank you for apologizing. Everyone misinterprets others, consider it behind us. And the basilisk's breath will be quite useful, I'd think."

DC 15 Perception (or if someone has a 15 PP):

 Taran: