The Summit Road Campaign Thread

At this point, the door opens, and Ishhareth enters, followed by two other men and a dromite. One of them is Diamond, one of the guides who assisted you on your monolith destruction mission. The other is a tall, mostly bald, man with a long braid at the back of his head. A symbol matching the one on Luunkashtai's forehead is present on his, and slung across his back is a weapon with a hooked blade. All three of them have serious faces, including the usually smiling Diamond. The dromite, however, is wiggling slightly, like she's having trouble keeping a serious face for the occasion. Ishhareth and Diamond both take a seat, while the third man leans against the wall, giving River a brief nod before turning his unsmiling attention on Ishhareth. The dromite sits cross-legged on a chair, then immediately switches to letting her legs swing free.

Third Man:

Dromite:

Diamond as a reminder:

River:

Ishhareth gives the six of you a nod. "I hope you had a good week of relaxation, because an emergency has come up. Three days ago, several of our elan agents received a psychic message. Diamond, Murephan, and a few of our other psychically active allies have spent the ensuing time examining it to make sure it's not a fake, trap, or otherwise a plot of the Inspired. As far as we've been able to tell, it's genuine. Diamond?"

Diamond nods and steps forward, setting a white crystal on the table. He taps it lightly, his arm tattoos glowing for a moment before the stone takes on a glow of the same shade. A soft female voice sounds in the room, weak and with threads of desperation.

Need help...can't keep her under control for long. Teysa...Naray...where are you? Dar Mirn...8925...please. Find me. Help me.

Taran steps away from River as the Trailblazer and his entourage enter, a slightly worried look given to Diamond.

His wide eyes and suspicions on the identity of the man with the hook staff are interrupted when he hears the message and his head whips to stare at Diamond, biting his lip to repress the question that immediately forms, so as not to interrupt the meeting.

Caelius looks to Taran,

"O-Oh, r-r-right," Taran blurts as his hands start moving. Mid way through he glances at Diamond again.

Hearing the message Vishal replies, "I'm going to guess out mission is to help her and whatever she is guarding must be very dangerous since help is here but...I have a lot of questions." Vishal then goes into his string of questions, "Who was that? What is she guarding? Who are those names she mentioned? And....location and number?" 

Caelius looks at Diamond and signs,

Ishhareth nods. "Murephan is our oldest expert on this kind of thing, so he'll be taking the briefing from here."

The bald man steps forward from his spot against the wall. "We analyzed the message, and we're pretty sure it came from a bound quori. The names back that up. They're both quori who were bound in elan that escaped Riedra. Diamond."

Diamond nods. "Naray is my quori. I'm an elan, left about twenty five years ago when she finally broke through the bonds long enough to get through to me."

"And Teysa's bonded to me," Murephan says flatly without any further explanation. "Diamond and I both consulted with our respective quori. What we learned, combined with the message, has given us the following impression. One, numbers are assigned to elan in Riedra once they go through the bonding process. Two, Dar Mirn is a port city relatively near the Adaran border. Three, the quori knew both Teysa and Naray's names specifically. Therefore, we're pretty sure that a quori broke through the bindings keeping them trapped within an elan. However, she wasn't able to get through to her host, so she took full control of the elan's body, then took a mission or posting that got her as close to the Adaran border as possible. Then she sent the message. Since then, she and her elan have probably been locked in a battle of wills for control of 8925's body."

The dromite wiggles again, but stills at a quelling look from Murephan, albeit with a roll of her eyes.

Ishhareth speaks. "We want you to find and extract her before the quori loses the battle. She may be being tracked by other quori if her escape has been discovered. Information about the current location and description of this 8925 is being arranged to be found and placed in a drop outside Dar Mirn, provided they are in the city. Get her into the Shroud as quickly as possible."

Taran nods along until Ishhareth speaks, then he blurts out "B-But, a-a-are you s-sure th-that w-w-we c-c-can, I-I m-m-mean I kn-know th-the o-thers can, and M-Miss A-Akuma i-is l-likely h-highly sk-skilled but... th-this seems l-like t-t-too important a m-mission to en-entrust to G-Guides as in-inexperienced as us..."

Vishal looks to Taran and says, "Taran....I don't think we're that inexperienced anymore. We've blown up a control crystal, rescued multiple guards and more right from under an inspired's nose, plus have been individually training. I think we're ready for this. And if the quori needs to be extracted well....that sounds like where Muerphan or perhaps Diamond come into play." 

Almost talking over Vishal, Druhdaar as well interrupts Taran with an irritated sigh:

" Lords of Adar and Above... stop that, now, will ye ? " he grunts, before taking a step forward to turn his bulk towards Diamond and Murephan:

" Dancer here has the right of it : the boy's talkin nonsense, he's plenty good enough, and so are the rest of us. And if we die you'll just send more of us anyways. Still doesn't tell me what exactly we'll be up against. Or indeed if y'all will tag along, like that one did last time... " he adds, pointing at Diamond. " Now, THAT is also something I'd like to know. "

Taran starts to protest, but with both Esteemed Vishal and Mister Druhdaar... he shrinks down and listens to the mission details.

"Thus far, you've gotten refugees out, ambushed a fully armed Riedran patrol, destroyed a monolith, and rescued four imprisoned guides, with no casualties, from a heavily secured Kintam. Just as important, none of the Inspired know your faces yet, except possibly Sulatesh, who is at Kintam Ulakhun, on the other side of Adar," Ishhareth says levelly to Taran. "You're perfect for this mission. Low profile enough that you can go undercover in a major city, skilled enough that you can pull this off. And if this does turn out to be a trick, get out of there. Don't try and deal a blow while you're in the area or anything like that. Go dark and get out."

Murephan snorts. "If you die on this mission, someone psychically experienced will go on a potential suicide mission to find this rebel and help her cause brain death in her host before they regain control and goes back to helping the Inspired," he says bluntly to Druhdaar. 

"But they don't think that'll happen, cause they picked you guys cause they thought you could actually do it," the dromite says cheerfully from her chair.

Murephan glares at her. "Kelki, I said you could come because it's good experience to sit in on group mission briefings, but I did not say you could interject."

"Yes, sir!" the dromite says with a cheerful grin and mock salute. "Shutting up until your next translation need, right now."

Murephan sighs and returns his attention to Druhdaar. "And to answer your second question, no, neither of us will be coming on this mission. I need to meet a contact in a few days near the Korrandar peak, and Kelki is coming along so she doesn't set anything important on fire." He gives the dromite a meaningful look, who just shrugs irreverently.

"And I can't go near Dar Mirn," Diamond says with a wry smile. "Back to the trailblazer's point of people being recognized by the Inspired."

“So how exactly are we to extract the spirit then?” Vishal asks before saying, “Is it is as simple as getting them to the Shroud? Am I expected to do something psychically to them?”

Taran bites his tongue, then asks a question, "I-I h-h-hope th-this d-d-doesn't c-come ac-across in-incorrectly, b-but if th-they are st-struggling o-over the b-body, th-then it w-w-would be s-s-safest to in-incapacitate th-the t-target... B-But t-t-ying an E-Elan up w-w-wouldn't st-stop their p-powers, w-w-would it? A-Are th-there, um, w-w-well, c-common we-weaknesses w-we could ex-exploit, f-for the j-journey back to A-Adar? I-I m-m-m-might be able to m-medically k-k-keep th-them comatose, b-but I d-d-don't re-really have the s-s-supplies, or kn-know if th-that would work..."

"Get the elan, preferably with the quori in control, across the border. Once they're within the Shroud, we have various methods to help the quori establish full control, or to bring the elan around. If you get there and 8925 is back in control, get out. If the vessel retakes control of the body on the trip, keep them unconscious as much as possible, and bound, gagged and blindfolded at all times," Ishhareth explains.

"Elan don't have special weaknesses," Murephan says flatly. "We're still mortal, still flesh and blood, just with the power of a quori spirit to draw on. The depth of that bond and how much power we can draw from it depends on how much time we spend cultivating and working with it. Keep her from moving or speaking, and she won't be able to use spells or attack you."

Taran nods, "O-O-Okay, th-that is s-s-safer, d-d-don't n-need to w-w-worry about adverse re-reactions or t-t-trying to f-f-find the c-c-correct substances."

River watches this all in silence, her request on the tip of her beak until she realises how serious this mission is. She doesn't respond to Murephan's nod, and even the cheery Dromite doesn't light up her mood at all, so she simply stands in the corner and listens.

"We are we specifically taking the elan too? Here, another keep, someplace else entirely within the Shroud? And are we leaving today?" Vishal asks next  

"I would recommend taking her to the Haztaratain Monastery. It's close to Dar Mirn, and they're experts at working with quori. You should leave as quickly as possible after making any preparations you feel you need."

Akuma, who had been silently listening and scanning the room, nods. With crossed arms her eyes focus on the various briefers in thought before her gaze breaks away and she looks at the others of the group, as prepared as she could be and allowing for any more questions or concerns.