[ We find Istvan, Tia, and Will standing on a small ledge not far from the tunnel that led them to Menzobarranzan, the drow city holding the majority of the Titan's Pick. About two hundred feet below is a guard station manned mostly by orcs, but with two drow present - a male in dark chainmail, and another in wizard's robes. There is also a goblin present - presumably, if the goblin dies, they'll know they're under attack. ] [ They are waiting for the signal to begin their branch of the diversion. The explosion will be unmistakeable, unless drow buildings normally blow up out of the blue. ] [ Session Start! ] * Tia packs Wuffiekins away into her pack and starts doing jumping jacks. One! Two! Three! ... * Istvan looks at the others. "Remember. Our job is just to- shh, Tia... just to be a distraction. Which means killing as many things as we can for as long as we can." [ Tia produces a great deal of noise in this manner. Sort of a THOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM. ] * Tia stops in mid-jumping-jack. "Oh. Sorry. Right. Kill things!" When the explosions happen, we run down and start attacking. Will, if you can do something about that wizard, that'd be great, but first priority is keeping us upright. Concentrate on yourself first, 'cause if you go down, we're screwed. * Tia grins at her axe. "You good with killing as many things as we can for as long as we can, Mr. Axe?" * WillS nods before looking towards the drows to see if they noticed Tia's jumping. * Istvan moves over to Will while Tia's talking with her axe, and whispers to him quickly. "And heal her before me, if there's a choice." * Tia grins broadly. "Mr. Axe and I are ready! How 'bout you guys?" * WillS nods again and whispers back. "Ok. I'll try to keep all of us alive." [ There's a loud explosion at the other end of the city, and a bit of a tall building crumbles to the street below. ] Oh! The signal! The signal! * Tia jumps up and down excitedly. * Istvan nods, and gives Tia a thumbs up... then notices the explosion. Whispering in Dwarven, he lights up his war pick... "That's our cue. Charge." ( Also, a yellow light with a black dracotaur in the middle shines on the canyon cieling. ) * Tia roars vigorously and charges! Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrge! * Tia swoops past Will and Istvan, grabbing both in powerful forepaws as she glides toward the city, waving her axe wildly and roaring viciously. [ Not one of the people at the guardpost fails to notice Tia incoming. Two of the orcs manage to nock arrows and let them fly, but in their surprise their aim is poor. ] [ Tia drops Will and Istvan (Will lands atop the goblin, killing it instantly) and lands with a mighty thud in the middle of the guards. The fight is on! ] [ Tia, go! ] * Tia belts out another threatening roar and attempts to tear into the nearest guard with her Mr. Axe! [ Tia splatters an orc, sending flaming giblets everywhere. There is much yelling from the orcs and cursing from the drow. Istvan, go! ] * Istvan wades into the orcs, trying to hack a path towards the drow. [ Tia makes three successful attacks against the orcs (One of them falls over at just the right moment, avoiding death through embarrasment ); the first two are a pair of quick kills in rapic succession, with Istvan passing his pick's head through the skull of one orc and the ribcage of another. The last attack in the first string is a messier kill, with Istvan bisecting an orc and almost getting his pick stuck permanently in the stone of the watchpost floor. ] [ He manages to pull it out with enough ease, however, to take advantage of his momentum in attacking additional opponents. ] [ Meanwhile, a siren begins to wail from various points of the city. ] [ Istvan makes another attack against an orc when the opportunity presents itself, but his target is tripped by the orc who had fallen as it tries to scramble off to the side of the platform, and so Istvan Misses. Tia, meanwhile, brings her axe down on a nearby orc with such power that the orc is not only splattered, but the platform snaps in two, falling open and spilling everyone on it twenty feet down. ] [ Tia lands, catlike, on all fours as everyone hits the ground; Will manages to land on his feet somehow, and Istvan manages to activate his boots as the fall starts and to push off of half the falling platform, and land on his feet, pick in hand and ready. ] [ The two drow land on their feet; the four remaining orcs all land badly, one at such an angle that it's neck snaps audibly. Will manages to land on the remains of the goblin, squishing it further. ] [ Will, go! ] * WillS wipes the sweat off his brows and mutters a quick thanks to Bahamut for surviving two falls unscathed. In an afterthought, he mutters a quick prayer for the dead goblin underneath him. Oh, he also manages to summon a pillar of flames centered on the wizard drow. (Technically, he's praying to Bahamut the entire time afterall.) (Hee.) [ Will's flamestrike fricasees one orc and causes the drow wizard to collapse on the verge of death. The drow in armor doesn't seem bothered by it, however. ] [ Surprise round ends; Tia, go! ] * Tia rages, throwing herself at the drow in armor in a whirlwind of axeblade and claw. [ Tia launches towards the drow, who lunges at her in turn, only to be torn to ribbons by her furious assault. In the end, Tia ends up just past her opponent, not quite sure where he went. This leave two orcs opposing you. ] * Tia bellows in fury! [ One of the orcs drops his weapons and throws his hands up, shouting something in Undercommon! The other hesitates for a second, then does the same. ] [ "", they cry. ] * Istvan finishes off the drow wizard, then turns to the orcs, scowling. He glances over at Will, then back at the orcs... *points away from the city* ["Run."] [ The orcs look at each other, then head pel-mel for a set of stairs not far off. ] * Tia points at the drow wizard. "Uh, hey, guys. What's that?" Will? [ Istvan, Will, and even Tia notice an odd device in the hand of the drow wizard. ] * Istvan keeps an eye out for reinforcements while Will takes a look. * WillS picks it up and takes a look! * WillS hrmms. "Looks like it's used to create some flashy firework where it's pointed. Probably a signal of some sort?" Like calling for reinforcements? Ooh! I like fireworks! Can we keep it? * WillS nods to Isty. "Sounds like a good guess to me!" * Istvan grins nastilly. "Let's call for some reinforcements, then." * Tia shakes the blood from Mr. Axe, then looks up and grins. You want me to call them over? Ready! We're supposed to be a distraction. Let's distract. * WillS points the wand upwards and starts up the fireworks display! * Tia admires the fireworks. [ Explosions of red fireworks pop and crackle mightily overhead. The sirens stop, and then start up again, louder and with a different tone. ] * Istvan smirks. "I think we got their attention." [ We find Istvan, Tia, and Will standing their ground against a horde of onrushing orcs sprinkled here and there with a minotaur! Looks like still more fighting. ] * Tia points into the crowd and gasps. "Ooh, it's a cowman!" The cowmen are really strong, Tia! Be careful! Oh, do I have to hit him? He's so cute! * Istvan blinks, and mutters. "Now she has me doing it..." *shakes head* "Yup!" Aw, okay. * Tia hesitates a bit. "Are you sure we can't be friends?" [ One of the minotaurs issues a bloodcurdling bellow full of rage and hatred. ] * Tia waves. "Hi, Mr. Cowman!" * WillS shakes his head. "He doesn't look too happy with us being here right now." * Istvan eyes the minotaurs. "We'll try to find you some friendlier min- er, cowmen afterwards, okay?" * Tia grins. "Okay!" * Istvan widens his stance a bit, sets his feet, and waits for the onrushing orcs'n such. [ Tia, go! ] * Tia bellows back at the minotaurs and brandishes Mr. Axe menacingly before meeting the horde and swinging into the mob. * Tia, in fact, makes straight for the minotaur she called cute. [ Tia and the minotaur collide head-on, roaring and laying into each other with their axes as they reach each other. It's quite a spectacular sound. ] [ Istvan, go! ] * Istvan runs into the mob, trying to keep the rifraff off Tia for the moment and thin them out enough that he can he can help Tia out without leaving Will exposed. * Istvan charges into the first orc, tearing out half its neck with one swing. He uses the momentum from that strike to pivot and drive the pick through another orc's chest. He quickly removes the pick as the orc falls, then proceeds to slaughter three more orcs in much the same manner. [ The mooks crowd around Istvan and Will, but keep clear of Tia and her dancing partner. Most of their attacks are unsuccessful, but one orc manages to get a decent cut in on Istvan. ] [ Another orc manages to damage Will despite the cleric's two-inch armor. ] [ Meanwhile, a drow cleric and wizard are approaching the scene from a ways off to the right. ] [ Will, go! ] * WillS mutters a quick prayer to Bahamut asking for a blessing on the party. (Recitation) [ Tia, go! ] * Tia bares her teeth in rage and belts out an earthshaking roar before tearing into the minotaur. "Meanie!" [ Tia rips into the minotaur, leaving deep gouges in it; it looks ready to fall any second now, but it keeps fighting! ] [ The minotaur in turn assaults Tia quite effectively, cutting her deep with his axe. The two of them fighting is quite a spectacle. ] [ Istvan, go! ] * Istvan winces as Tia gets torn up pretty badly, and redoubles his efforts to cut through the mooks to make a path for Will. "Heal her up, Will!" * Istvan drives his pick through the chest of one orc, pulls it out, smashes it down through the head of another, pivots, bisects a third orc with a monstrous horizontal swing, and manages to plow the point of the pick through the face of a fourth on the follow through. * Istvan then steps towards two orcs that were trying to engage Will and swings, driving his pick through the spine of one, pivoting, and then disemboweling another. [ The four remaining orcs give the lie to the idea that all orcs are stupid by running away! ] [ Will, go! ] * WillS quickly runs through the path Istvan cleared and ends up behind Tia. A powerful surge of healing energy rushes into Tia through her tail as he prays for Tia's health. [ White energy courses over Tia, and her wounds close to a large degree! ] [ Tia, go! ] * Tia barely seems to notice her wounds in her enraged state, but she rips into her opponent with renewed energy as Will's healing prayer seals up a majority of her wounds. [ Tia's axe grievously wounds the Minotaur, who looks on the brink of death, but raises it's axe... and then Tia cuts into its midsection with her claws, and it moans and crumples to the ground. ] [ Then there's a big explosion as the wizard that wandered up earlier lobs a fireball at you all; Tia avoids the brunt of it, but is hit full-on by the follow-up, which is a flame-strike summoned by the drowess cleric with an odd rod or wand in her hand. ] * Istvan gets charred pretty well. "... I hadta go and give that fire protection ring to Kenji, didn't I? Dammit." *coughs out a puff of smoke; turns to face the magic-users* * Tia flinches as the flames engulf her; the heat is a bit too much even for her fire-resistant dragon hide to withstand. * WillS yells loudly in pain. He doesn't like to get burned, not to mention getting burned twice. * Tia stands over the fallen minotaur and growls audibly in the general direction of the drow as she raises her axe. [ And so the fight continues! How long will it last? Who will triumph? Will Tia's go supaa-dracojin? Find out, on the next Canyonhome! ] [ We find Istvan, Tia, and Will facing down a drow wizard and cleric! It's Our Heroes turn, and the baddies are about 30 feet away! SidesessionStart! ] [ Tia, go! ] * Tia roars wrathfully and charges the drow cleric. * Tia swings Mr. Axe into the drow cleric's torso, a flaming nova exploding from the point of impact. [ The cleric screaches in pain and anger, turning it into a cry of retribution as she chants a spell. As she finishes, she slaps Tia across the face. "How -dare- you, you ugly lizard? Petro, get your worthless tail over here and kill them!" ] [ Istvan: ] * Istvan sees that Tia is handling the cleric, and so runs at the wizard, trying to bury his pick in its chest. [ The wizard flinches, but can't get out of the way of the quickly- descending pick. ] * Istvan closes the distance faster than the wizard expected of a big lumbering guy in heavy armor, and drives the point of his pick down through the wizard's clavicle and down into his torso. [ The wizard bleeds profusely from that wound, but finds it in himself to stagger backwards a step or two, just out of the reach of our hero's mighty pick as he chants a spell of his own. ] [ Istvan, however, proves once again to be more adroit than his lumbering form and heavy armor would indicate, as he steps to the side before the globe of force could encapsulate him. ] [ Will: ] * WillS takes a couple steps forward and mutters a prayer of healing to Bahamut. The symbol of Bahamut hanging off his neck gives off a bright flash of light as the spell finishes, flooding the area with healing energy. (Mass Cure Critical) [ Tia: ] * Tia winces a little as the cleric slaps her. "Ow! Who're you calling a lizard?" Angrily, she swings her axe in a massive arc toward the offending drow. * Tia moves as a whirlwind of axeblade and claw, tearing into the cleric with unbridled draconic fury and cleaving her body into a multitude of messy pieces. [ The cleric would cast Heal, but can't seem to find her arms to touch herself to designate herself as a target. Oh, and her lungs won't put forth the air for the speaking. Oh well. ] [ Istvan: ] * Istvan stares where the globe of force formed next to him, turns back to the wizard, gives him a 'You CAN'T be serious' look, then advances to put the poor schmuck out of his misery. [ The wizard gives Istvan a pained, 'can't blame a guy for tryin'' look, and awaits his fate. ] * Istvan tears horizontal chunks out of the wizard's upper chest and lower torso, then pretty much tears out his sternum, with a mighty overhand swing of his pick. [ The wizard, too, seems to be spending this round's action on being dead. Which leaves us on Will's turn. ] * WillS cheers as the poor evil wizard gets creamed. "Awesome! Is that all of them?" [ The two corpses don't reply, and as no other enemies pop up to say 'yes,' Will knows there are no more. Since, you know, drow would lie. It's in their evil contract. ] * Istvan looks around, still pretty pumped on adrenaline... "For now." *grins* "We should prolly go find some more." * Tia looks around, sees no enemies, then shakes the blood off her body like a dog. Now what? * Istvan points at the entrance to the drow city. "We distract s'more, I think. You both up to it?" * Tia nods vigorously. "Yup!" Will? * WillS nods. "I'm good. Any of you need me to bind up any wounds?" Could use a bit of healing before we head in, if you can spare the spells. * WillS grins and pulls out a wand from his backpack. "Don't need to worry about that!" * Tia shakes her head. "I'm okay for now." * WillS lightly taps Istvan and himself a couple times and the wand does it's job of healing the both of them. * Istvan rolls his neck. "Good as new. Thanks." [ Istvan and Will spot something stuck in between the toes of one of Tia's foreclaws. ] * WillS smiles and puts the wand back. "You're welcome! ... Hey, what's that?" *Points towards Tia's foreclaws* [ It looks like a stick, from where Will's standing. ] * Tia looks down at her toes. "Huh?" [ Tia's got a stick poking out between two of her toes! ] * Istvan looks down at Tia's toes. "It's a stick. In your toes." * WillS walks closer to take a better look. * Tia wiggles her toes, then reaches down and pulls the stick out from between them. "What's this doing there?" [ Upon closer inspection, it seems to be shaped like that stick Will was using to make people feel better. A wand. This one's rather bloody, though. Maybe it got stuck there when she was clawing up that cleric? ] A wand? Take a quick look at it, Will, then let's get moving. * WillS hrrms. "That looks a bit like the wand I just used on the two of us." * Tia hands the stick over to Will. "You want it?" * WillS takes the wand and cleans it off a bit with some rags. "Yeah. Thanks Tia!" [ The wand is clean! Wow! ] No problem. Uh...what does it do? * WillS examines the wand now that it's clean and gives off a yelp of surprise. "It's a Wand of the Heavens!" A what? Wand of the Heavens. I can use it to summon those pillar of flames I casted earlier. Nice. Lets you save your spells for healing. * Istvan grins. "We should go test it out." * WillS nods and sticks the wand in his belt where it's within easy reach. "Sounds good!" * Tia grins. "Okay!" * Istvan heads for the entrance to the city. "Tia, can you give us a roar? It'd be rude not to announce we're coming in." *smirks* Sure! * Tia breathes in deeply, then belts out a roar that would make her mist dragon ancestors proud! [ Bits of rock fall off of the cieling. ] [ As our Trio charges onwards into Tia's mighty roar, the words "To Be Continued..." appear in the lower right hand corner of the screen, and the picture freezes and fades to black. ] [ End sidesession ] [ We find Tia, Istvan, and Will standing in what may be a park by Drow standards; it's large, open, and consists of a floor of small, smooth rocks, with here and there smooth, well-crafted statues of Lolth and drow doing unspeakable things to other races, mostly surface elves. ] [ Around them are some ergonomic wodden benches, and beyond that are some fairly tall buildings; between the buildings are the dark, confining alleyways that serve as the main perpetuator of drow society. ] [ There is also a single wide street leading off to the west, towards the Temple of Lolth. ] [ Will has just finished patching up the two of you after the previous fight. He currently has his three wands out; cure light, cure critical, and heavens, and is thinking about how much more Alci will like him, now. ] [ He picks up the Wand of the Heavens to inspect it, when suddenly a shape blurrs past with a *whoosh* and a *CLANK*, and suddenly there is no Will there, just the Wand of the Heavens spinning in mid-air. ] [ Session Start! ] What the hell?! *looks around and up* * Tia is peering intently at the statues in the park and seems oblivious to whatever is going on. "Isty...what's that bad man doing to the other man?" * A second shape blurrs past with another mighty WHOOSH, and it becomes apparent what happened to Will. He's tumbling across the street, trailing streams of blood, having just been badly impaled and tossed bodily across the park by a pair of lance attacks. Bigger problems, Tia! Something flying just took out Will! * Tia snaps to attention and glances around wide-eyed. "W-what?" * Will tumbles to a stop quite some distance across the park, and lays there, unmoving. Will! Shit! Stay together, Tia! Coming! * High above, and fairly easy to see because of their glowing barding, are a pair of cave pterodactyls, presumably with a lancer astride. They're swooping down from the sky and moving fucking FAST! Set for charge as best you can! * Tia nods, fidgeting skittishly, axe in hand. "W-what are they?" * Istvan sets himself and watches for the things to swoop down, weapons at the ready. "Lancers on flying lizards! Get ready to smash 'em when they come down for a strike!" * The first of the two riders comes swooping down for another charge, both mount and rider practically silent. He wings across the ground, gliding at tremendous speed, lance extended for Istvan. * The rider slams by, taking Istvan's hit even through his raised shield, the sheer force of impact nearly ripping the pick from Istvan's hands. The force from the lance connecting is terriffic, denting badly even the incredibly strong magic reinforcing Istvan's armor. * Tia bunches her legs as if about to launch into the air after the rider who just attacked her, but she abruptly turns around and runs for the alleys. "Run, Isty! Run!" * Tia grabs Istvan by the back of his shirt and hauls him off with her as she makes for the alleys. [ Tia makes it into an alley with Istvan in haul. ] * Istvan presses himself against the walls of the alleyway once they get there. "Get against the walls, make yourself as small a target as you can! We'll move from alley to alley and try to find a position we can defend! * Tia looks terribly bewildered, but she follows suit. * High over the alleyway, the riders begin to circle, then the pterodactyls tilt sideways and both riders hurl their lances down like flaming bolts. The first slams into the ground next to Istvan's foot, but the other pierces Tia's flank right where hind leg meets body, tearing up important bits. * Tia wails. What do I do, Mr. Axe? What do I do? * Tia wheels around in confusion. * Tia turns to Istvan. "What do we do, Isty?" * Tia looks for a place to hide. * Istvan eyes the flying lancers. "They only had that one lance, so why would they throw it unless... shit. *looks around; sniffs* Stables nearby! Grab the lances and run for them! Maybe we can keep them from returning! * As Isty mentions grabbing the lances, they disappear. ... fuck! Just run for the stables! * Tia runs after Istvan toward the stables. * Istvan runruns. * Tia grabs Istvan as she passes him by and follows her nose toward the stables, running at a full gallop. [ Tia makes it into the stables and skids to a stop; there's only one pack lizard in there right now, and it gives Tia a funny look when she shows up. ] [ As it is, the stables have a ten-foot cieling and are twenty-nine feet deep. The area overhead is solid stone, and overhead is, presumably, a Drow inn. ] * Tia puts Istvan down and turns to face the door, breathing hard and keeping Mr. Axe at the ready. [ Just as they arrive, the lances slam down nearby, missing anthing important, but doing a small amount of damage to one of Tia's braids. ] * Shortly thereafter, the lances disappear. Stay a few feet back of the entrances, Tia! They'll have to land to get at us. * Tia nods quickly and takes a position by one of the doors. * Istvan quaffs a cure moderate potion as he waits for the lancers to land. "We can't take them out in the open. Our only shot is them coming in after us." * Tia nods. "Mr. Axe says to attack the flying lizard things." * As one, the two cavalrydrow drop down, the mounts hovering improbably just over the street. They take quick aim and launch their lances, but they don't seem to have the force they did last time. * Tia slashes furiously into one of the flying lizard mounts as it flies into pieces, then cuts air when she makes a swing for its rider. * Istvan springs out just as the thrown lance clips him in the leg, going nuts on the flying mount and killing it with his first three swipes before, as it falls to the ground, driving its head into the ground with a pick strike through its head. Oh, and it gets burned. * The mount drops in half a dozen pieces, but the rider catches the blow on his shield, which turns it aside easily, along with Tia's claw. * The drow, stripped of their mounts, toss aside their shields to catch the returning lances and tear into Tia and Istvan, jabbing repeatedly (and painfully). * Istvan tears through the first rider with two blows to the body, followed by a strike that goes down through his shoulder and liquifies his heart. He then yanks the pick out of the dead rider, pivots, and smashes the other rider twice. * Tia 's axe rips into the second rider twice, and as she misses the third swing, Tia takes a swipe at the drow with her foreclaws. * The rider takes one gauntleted hand off his lance and steps forward, slamming his open palm into Tia's chest, sending a lance of dark energy straight through her body and out the other side. It leaves no vibile wound, but there's no doubt that it did some serious internal damage. * Tia yelps loudly and staggers back a few steps, her hands clutching at her chest. * Istvan steps up to the rider and drives his pick into the drow's side. He drops. * Istvan leans against a wall, bleeding from multiple wounds. "... shit. Tia, drink the most powerful healing potion you have left, go grab Will, and come back. We're getting the fuck outta here." * Tia limps a few feet, winces, then reaches into her pack, pulls out a potion, and downs the contents quickly. Her torn up hide immediately heals to a less shredded state. Okay. I'll be back. * Tia runs off to where she left Will and gingerly picks up his body. "Poor, poor Will..." * Istvan nods, and commences with the looting. "Fucking fruity flying bastards..." * Tia carries Will back to Istvan, taking care not to jostle the wounded cleric too much. * That cleric's not wounded. 'e's DEAD. * Stone dead, dead as a doornail. * Pushin' up daisies. Isty.... He's not...dead, is he? * Istvan finishes with the looting, and eyes the gaping wound in Will's chest. "... for now. Shit. We'll revive him as soon as we get back." * Tia sniffles audibly and nods. "Poor Will..." Are you okay, Isty? No. We gotta get outta here now, though. Ain't got time to bleed. * Tia nods mournfully. "Where's everybody else? We gotta find them, don't we?" [ At Tia says that, the temple of Lolth's bulbous top splits open, and a circular disk of stone rises up out of it; even from here, you can see Seylin's wings and Patrick's grin. ] * Tia blinks a few times, then waves up at the two of them. "Sey! Pat! Down here!" ... fuck yeah. *keeps moving towards the exit, pulling Tia along* * Tia totters along after Istvan like an obedient child. * Tia glances at at her weapon and whispers, "Thanks, Mr. Axe." * Istvan runs along. Apparently, he *does* have some time left over to bleed. 'cause he's doing it rather well. Isty, you're bleeding an awful lot... I've still got some potions if you need 'em. * Tia blinks a few times. "Oh, good idea!" Abruptly, she takes hold of Istvan in the arm that's not holding onto Will. "Here--" Taking to the air, she heads for the temple. * Istvan is about to pull two potions from his pack when he's lifted in the air. He "ack!"s and winces as he wounds are stretched, but calms down when he figures out what Tia's up to. [ Tia reaches Seylin and Pat, and before long, Kardos arrives on the disk with Alci, Ana, and an unconcscious Kenji. Session (and arc) end! ]