"A slaad? How dare you! You travel with one right now! Look at it, its face is all wrong!" Ser Mary shouts, still held aloft. She is interrupted by an arrow striking her arm, as Aradurk lets loose. She grimaces, "No! You are making a mistake, let me go!"

“Someone hit her with a gem,” Killian says, again just to her immediate companions. 

Rycider sighs. She gets out her Gem of Revealing and lobs it at the floating Ser Mary

To hit: 20

Seeing Rycider throw a gem at 'Ser Mary', Gruun puts his away and readies his Greataxe in his hands watching what happens to 'Ser Mary'

Rycider's throw is perfect. Her gem of revealing smacks the floating Ser Mary across the face. Blood dripping from the scratch it created, the paladin cackles. Her face becomes blackened and scaled, elongating into a toadlike snout as she completes her transformation into a death slaad. The creature's arms stretch further than its dangling feet, which become webbed and massive. "Come now, you're taking all of my fun!" it shouts.

Hox throws his dagger at the revealed slaad.

(Just rolling damage since assassinate kicks in.) 26

OOC: The slaad is basically powerless here, so there's no need to go through every round of combat. Is everybody else attacking as well? I'll advance through combat unless someone wants to do something different.

Killian will keep an eye out for any of the Slaad’s companions while, yes, turning it into a pincushion. She suggests to Rycider that she ventriloquate (?) some Ser Mary-isms while we do so, assuming the Slaadi communicate telepathically with each other and this one could be reporting.

Before the bestie is killed Ricky will have Killian turn away from the Slaad in order to address her companions. Ricky will then throw her voice having it sound like Killian/Ser Mary says;

We need to get out of the city. Make for the East (or whatever direction we are heading) gate!

Performance: 21

Gruun will get to hacking once it is in range. If it somehow breaks the levitate he'll grapple it and pin it down for his companions to finish off

The slaad laughs and taunts while the party's ranged members launch arrow after arrow into its flesh. "You think you can fool Doramor with that cheap illusion? He will find her, and he will kill her, and love will come. Ser Mary the bravest!"

The creature never enters Gruun's range. Once it mutters those words, the city is rocked once more as it explodes, still held aloft by Wes. The blast knocks the top off of nearby buildings, and fills the street with rubble, but for the first time, the explosion comes with no craters, and no casualties.

________________________________

The rest of the search is uneventful. The streets have fallen silent, and it seems that Luskan has found a reprieve from its bombings; but when night falls and you return to Bohmar Brineboots' Apothecary, you find the dwarf sitting sullenly in a chair, one eye much blacker than it was when you left. Ser Mary is nowhere to be found.

He holds a piece of parchment out toward you, though his gaze is still at the ground. "From Ritska," he mutters. "She found it at one o' the bombings in the afternoon."

Killian gratefully sheds all the trappings of Ser Mary, wiping the makeup off unceremoniously. She takes her original equipment back and then turns to see what the party has made of Bohmar's parchment from Ritska.

Hox awaits another to read it as he cannot.

Tanakir groans when he sees Bohmar and the lack of Ser Mary, "I don't suppose she told you where she planned to go? Although, with the destination that she has in mind, she probably has many paths open to her. We need to find her as soon as we can, we cannot let her face Doramor alone."

Tanakir then takes the piece of paper, reading it aloud for the group if it is in a script he can read or passing it to another if he cannot understand it. 

Gruun laughs heartly at the circumstance. "It is no use trying to keep a warrior out of the war. Let us find her quickly so that she does not fight alone." In an attempt to cheer up Bohmar he pats him on the shoulder.

For Barty:

"Bah. She was more for tellin' me her fist than her plans. But ye aren't gonna find her with no sleep. I got some cots in the back ye can use if yer plannin' to stay here," Bohmar grumbles as Gruun consoles him.

Tanakir reads the parchment aloud:

Dear Morons,

You're cavorting through the city with Ser Mary, the Bravest, so I assume you, like her, are cowards. That's the best idea, being a coward. You'll live to see the Mother, to see true love. Denorian's fate is out of anyone's hands, he's gone to war with his meager weapons and left you all to myself. He'll never stop the Descent. But I have one last personal matter before the world ends.

Slaadi are creatures of chaos. Even with Ygorl's blessing, I had to harvest their brain gems. They made such wonderful sounds! I wonder what sounds Ser Mary, the Bravest, will make. I've collected these gems into a hivemind which allows me to control the slaadi.

Here's the deal. I want revenge on Ser Mary, the Bravest. She left my mom to die. She LIED. And I was just off helping Denorian collect Staffs of the Magi like a moron. Like you. Be a good coward, and trade me Ser Mary, the Bravest, for the hivemind. You can do what you want with it, I don't care. I will have no need of the slaadi once I kill Ser Mary, the Bravest. You can even turn them on me afterwards and tell everyone Ser Mary, the Bravest, died in the battle. Or destroy the hivemind, that will kill most of the slaadi and scatter the rest. Pretend to be a big hero - that's how it's done, just ask Ser Mary, the Bravest. Meet me at the pier tomorrow.

Hugs and kisses,

Doramor Grimshackle

 

 

"A star rushes past, to crash upon the shore,

But the first of many, many more"

Killian turns to Bohmar. “Did Ser Mary see this?”

Gods says Rycider quietly after hearing the contents of the note. She sits heavily in a chair.

What now?

(OOC: Hi y’all)

Wes ponders the note.  “Well if she did see it, she sure as hell plans on being there at the dock tomorrow.  I don’t think we have to go looking for her.  Just to be ready for two traps to occur.  We should rest early and try to get to the pier as early as possible.”  Wes walk over to his Petunia, that he left behind to keep an eye on Ser Mary “what happened?” He asks telepathically

(Welcome back, Woogles!)

Tanakir plants his quarterstaff in the ground, standing tall despite his fatigue.

"Assuming Ser Mary saw this note, and she most definitely did, she will be attempting to trade herself for the Hivemind tomorrow, or simply be looking to challenge Doramor for her honor. Perhaps she still feels the burden of Doramor's parents' deaths, or perhaps she considers their debts settled after Doramor's recent string of atrocities. Either way, we must be prepared to save her and claim the hivemind that Doramor speaks of, no matter the cost.

Doramor will most likely attempt to hold the hivemind hostage and threaten to scatter his Slaadi across the globe to sow uncontrollable chaos if we attempt to attack him. He may not even be present himself, and only view us through magical scrying as a Slaad impersonates him. He is clearly trying to tempt us—and her—into some rash action, and I believe he has already succeeded with Ser Mary.

But then there is the other matter: that of the Descent, Denorian, the Mother, and Love. I do not truly know what that event is, but I have heard it referenced enough that I know it is not something we would wish to pass. If we can capture Denorian, we may be able to question him, but I doubt he will make it easy to take him, and it is even less likely that we take him alive.

If only we had a way to get the drop on Doramor, or at the very least know what sort of traps he is laying."