[ We find Our Heroes materializing inside the common room of the Flying Couches home. It is just as they left it, but something seems... off. ] [ Session Start! ] * Tia blinks a few times. * Istvan shakes his head. "S'handy, but teleportation just feels wrong." An unpleasant sensation. * Alcinoe materializes in! She still smells awful, and her hair and clothes are a mess. She stretches. "Yeah, was just thinkin' that." Whoa! That was cool! * Seylin seems slightly distracted as she looks around. Actually, she's seemed a bit out of it all morning. "Hmm." * Patrick rolls his shoulder and grins as he glances around. Uh. * Alcinoe blinks, then shakes her head. "Ah'm gonna go get changed." * Alcinoe goes upstairs to do that. * HKenji stifles a yawn. Everybody get cleaned up. And then meet back here. * Tia wags her tail. "It's great to be home! Ooh! I've gotta go try out my new drums!" Taking care of the treasure can wait for later. Okay. * Patrick snerks and heads off to the washing area. * Tia nods. "Okay, Kenji! I get the bathroom first!" She runs off up the stairs in a hurry. * Seylin drops her pack in the middle of the common room and starts upstairs, then seems to realize what she's done and heads back for it. * Seylin *then* goes upstairs. * Will shrugs and goes to his room to clean up. * Istvan nods, and heads back to his room, idly talking to himself as he goes down the hall. "Gotta remember to put in an order for some of the rarer materials I'm gonna need..." * Patrick 's arm finds it's way around Seylin's shoulders as he helps Seylin find her way. * Alcinoe comes crashing down the stairs, making a tremendous amount of noise, as she's still in her armor. She rushes right by you guys, shoving Will out of the way to get to the door, which she throws open. * Seylin turns to look at her as she rushes past. "Alcinoe?" (Will went up, Alci went down, Alci shoved Will out of her way while running down the stairs.) * Tia suddenly yells very loudly from upstairs. Alcinoe, what's wrong. Red Lightnin's on fire! * Will yelps and barely maintains his balance. "What the?" * Alcinoe runs out of the building, probably for her old house. You'll have to clean up later, everybody out! * Tia comes crashing down the stairs after Alci, barely keeping her footing in her hurry. * Seylin gasps. "What?" Fire! Fiiiire! Tia, where's your bottle? Where's your water bottle? * Seylin shakes herself out of her stupor. "Tia, get the pitcher of flowing water!" * Tia fumbles around in her bag and shoves the decanter at Kenji. "H- here!" * HKenji takes the water and runs out the open door. "Everybody, come with me!" * Seylin rushes for the door. "Let's go!" * Patrick curses and heads outside. [ Once outside, you see that it's not just Red Lightning house. The entire campus is burning, except for the Flying Couches house. Every here and there is a corpse, and off in the distance you can see Felgolos' skinned body lying in one of the fountains. ] * Istvan charges back outta his room, war pick in his hands. "Holy fuck! The entire damn campus is on fire!" * Tia runs out the door after Kenji. * Seylin just... stops. No... NO! * HKenji skids to a stop, in awe at the sheer destruction. * Will gasps. "Oh no..." This isn't real! We... we came back wrong! Max! Take us back! Please! * Tia sniffs loudly, then bursts into tears. * Patrick takes in the scene. "So, they're gonna play that way, huh." Will, cast a fire protection spell on me! There's gotta be people trapped in those buildings! * HKenji removes a ring from his finger and holds it out to Istvan. Here. Use this. * Istvan slips it on, and goes charging into Red Lightning House, as it's the closest. * Will starts casting, but stops as he sees Kenji handing over his ring. Tia! * Tia stops bawling momentarily and blinks at Kenji. Take your bottle here, and turn it on the highest, and point it at the fires until they go out, okay? The Headmistress! We have to find... we have to... * Tia nods silently, takes the bottle from Kenji, and goes off to do just that. * Seylin buries her face in her hands and begins sobbing. * Alcinoe looks around blankly for one moment before she keeps running for the Red Lightning house. "Is anyone in there! Anyone!" Alcinoe, don't forget to protect yourself! I'll be at Pensword! * HKenji dashes off to see if any bards need they pansy asses rescued. * Alcinoe nods at Kenji's words, waving her hand and yelling a prayer for fire protection before charging right into Red Lightning. * Patrick mutters a short phrase in Elven and, using his wings to take flight, flies upwards. He takes out his medallion of contact and forms a mental bond with Alcinoe. "Alcinoe, you're my contact here, I'm going to check out the woods." Wait Kenji. You're not fire protected. *casts a prayer of fire protection really fast on Kenji* * Patrick heads off to the forested areas. * Seylin looks up. "I'm going to go find the Headmistress!" * Tia concentrates on putting out fires. Luckily, she seems unfazed by the flames. * Will continues praying for fire protection, adding Seylin and himself to the list. * Max finally comes back to his senses, blinking at the flames. "H-- how?" * Seylin takes off towards the administration building once she's been fire-protected. * Max blinks. "...too late. No way to contact them now..." He flies up to try to get a better view; he's really got no clue what to do right now. * HKenji comes running back from Pensword at full tilt, skidding to a stop beneath Max. Did anybody survive, Kenji? Nobody in Pensword. * Max flips upside down and looks 'up' at Kenji, his glasses for once falling -into- place over his panic-stricken, glowing blue eyes. "...who could have done this? How?" I don't know. We'll find out. * Seylin comes streaking back. "Drow! It's drow! They're setting the buildings on fire!" ...lead the way, Seylin! Yes. Do. * Will shakes his head slowly. "Everybody dead... *looks up sharply* Drow??" * Seylin takes off again in the direction she saw them! * HKenji takes off in a sprint after Seylin, easily keeping up. * Max flips back over and jets off, following Seylin. His new staves have joined his Staff of Power in his arms. * Tia continues to work on the fires. * Will runs after Kenji too, but lags a bit behind as he's obviously much slower. [ Tia is making progress on the fires. Meanwhile, Seylin and whoever's following her catch up to one of the drow, who is just about to light up the Holy Sword house. ] * HKenji reaches back over his shoulder, pulling his bow out of his pack while still at a dead run, strings it without slowing down, then skids to a stop and without even taking aim, lets fly with arrow after arrow. [ Kenji pincushions the drow, who drops a flaming rag on something that isn't soaked in kerosene. ] * Seylin heads for where she saw the other drow. * Max takes a moment before trying to shout over the dinn, and instead casts a spell. Suddenly, he, Will, Kenji, and Seylin hear him complete ~[--thic Bond]~. * Seylin picks up on it quickly. ~I saw three so far! Let's get the other two!~ ~Yes, let's.~ ~And somebody put out the fire that the first one had!~ * Will nods and runs over to stamp it out. ~I've got it.~ ~If we can take one alive, we might be able to find some useful information, too.~ * Max hefts one of his new staves for emphasis. [ By now, Tia seems to have extinguished Red Lightning house. ] * Tia takes her decanter and gallops off in the direction of the next closest building on fire. * Max follows Seylin to the next drow she saw. [ Kenji and the gang find another drow arsonist, still in the process of dumping something flammable on Nightwing Hall. ] * Max pulls out his staff of charming and activates it's most powerful ability at the drow. "[Charm Monster!]" [ The drow stops for a moment, then continues to dump kerosene on the hall. It's hard to know at this point if the spell took effect or not. ] * Max drops down next to him. "Please stop that!" [ The drow shrugs and stop pouring kerosene on the building. ] Thanks! *to the others* ~I've got this one; go stop the others.~ You want something to drink? *pulls out a pouch from his cloak and offers it to the guy* [ says the drow, and he drinks whatever is in the pouch. ] ~Seylin, scout from above, let me know where the drow are.~ So, um, why all the fires? *the pouch contained the nice, nutritious drink that a Travelling Cloak produces a few of per day* ~Should I try to charm others, or just handle this one and leave the others for your execution?~ * Seylin takes to the air to find the other drow. * Will watches curiously at Max and the charmed drow while he waits for Sey to find the other drows. * Max sits down on his Book, near his new friend, and waits for him to finish drinking and answer. ~Found the third one! To the south at Stonehammer House!~ * HKenji darts off, leaping over obstacles like they're not even there. * Seylin stays in the air, scouting for more. * Max waits with his 'friend'. They can call him with the Bond if they need him. * Will clanks after Kenji, running as fast as he can. [ Tia has by now extinguished the fires of Pensword Hall. ] * Tia again picks up her decanter and heads to the next fire! [ The drow finishes drinking. "" he offers. "" ] Oh. Who told you to do that? [ "" ] * Max grits his teeth for a moment before forcing a smile. "When'd she do that? I just saw her the other day, and she didn't say anything about it." [ "" ] ~Kenji, you are a fool.~ ~If you cannot be civil, remain silent.~ Sheesh. You'd think she'd mention something like that. How goes the army business? [ ] Oh, that's it? So, you a part of that, or this some seperate deal? * Max is just sitting on his book, being conversational. ^_^ [ ] * Max nods. "I can see that. More a special ops type, or what? How's she get to give your group orders?" [ He shrugs philosophically. ] Ugh. That's gotta suck. [ And then he starts bitching about his life. ] * Max listens, commiseratingly. [ Meanwhile, Kenji and those following him and Seylin have found another drow arsonmaster! ] * HKenji goes all Patrick on his ass and staples him to the house he was about to burn down. [ The drow dies, and the canister of kerosene spills onto the floor. Nobody should smoke there for a few hours, now. ] * Seylin takes to the air again and goes to see if she can find any more drow besides those three. [ Seylin finds no more drow in the business of burning down buildings. ] ~I don't see any more drow.~ ~Go find Patrick, then, he should be in the air.~ ~Right.~ * Seylin flies off in the direction of the woods. ~Then we'd probably best help Tia put out the rest of these fires. Oh, and would someone warn those -not- in our little telepathic hub that the drow with me is our friend for the next couple of weeks?~ ~IF they attack him, the spell will probably break.~ ~Ok. I'll run back to tell them about what we've done here.~ * Will runs back to where Tia and the others are to tell them about the drows. ~I'll tell Patrick when I find him!~ * Max sighs mentally. ~I wish I'd memorized a Wish today. These fires could have been out by now.~ ~Thanks!~ * Max just continues his conversation with the drow, sharing some food as well, while he waits for the others to call him to do something. [ Time passes, and handfulls of survivors begin to gather near the remains of the Red Lightning house. ] [ After checking the campus, Our Heros find that any member of the staff that was still on campus is dead, now, including the Headmistress. ] * Max has taken his friend into a Magnificent Mansion set up near the Flying Couches house, to keep him safe from any...recriminations (however justified) that the survivors may desire to make. Will, can you bring back the dead? If so, you should perhaps start with other high-ranking clerics, to maximize the rate at which their lives can be restored. ... * Will nods, then shakes his head. "I'll need a whole day to prepare." * Max refuses to look at the more gruesome dead bodies, preferring to look at the survivors, and the party members. ~Seylin, have you found Patrick or Alcinoe yet?~ ~Patrick and I are on our way back. Where should we meet you?~ * Tia returns after dousing the fires. ~Red Lightning. And ask Patrick where Alcinoe is.~ Hi Tia. *waves with false cheer* We're meeting over at the Red Lightning house. Come on. *floats off that way* * Tia waves half-heartedly Okay. * Tia trails off after Max. * Alcinoe is by the Red Lightning house, setting an unconscious, slightly burned wizard on the ground. Around her are, yes, survivors, some in better shape than others. She's breathing heavily but unharmed herself. * Istvan is there as well, setting down a presumably unconcious wizard himself. "How the hell did this happen?" ~Max, have you found anything out from your pet?~ I'm checking with Max. He has a captive. * Alcinoe nods to Kenji. * Max floats up to them. "Sherincal happened." * HKenji pales. * Max does not even look at Kenji. * Alcinoe looks up at Max. She blinks once, almost as though she doesn't comprehend what he just said. What? * Tia 's face darkens when she hears Sherincal's name pronounced. She ordered this attack. May even have been here personally, to take out the staff. Those like Alek couldn't have managed that on their own, but he did not say she was here; that is my own speculation. * Patrick returns with Seylin in tow. "She was here personally." One of the survivors mentioned 'A huge fucking bitch with wings'. Sounds like our lady. * Max nods to Patrick. Indeed. * Alcinoe looks at Max, then Patrick, then Istvan, then back to Max. * Max sighs, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Who is the most powerful cleric in the staff? I fear I didn't keep up on that, myself. That would be the best person to bring back first, to hasten reparations as much as possible." The faster we can rebuild and ressurect, the swifter we slap her in the face with her own ineffectiveness. * Alcinoe blinks again, then looks at Kenji. * Istvan takes off the ring of fire protection, and tosses it at Kenji's feet. I have Jadel organizing the druids and rangers to find survivors and work on damage control. A good number of adventurers were out when this happened, so we still have a good chance to kick her ass. Of course we do. She is no match for a prepared group. We proved that ourselves, not too many days ago. * Tia has fallen asleep in a heap on the ground. * Alcinoe winces as she sees the ring land, then turns and studies the skinned dragon for a moment, before walking in the opposite direction of the school fountain. * HKenji stoops and plucks the ring carefully off the ground, then says softly, "You should treat your equipment with more care." * Max watches Alcinoe go, and rubs at his eyes a bit before not following. I can...tomorrow.. after some study, attempt to undo a large portion of the physical damage. ... I'm gonna go round up some able-bodied folks and get patrols going before I say something I really won't regret. That is wise, Istvan. We need to make sure they don't come back to finish the job. * Istvan shoots Kenji a hard stare, then goes to work trying to find healthy bodies to form a patrol group. * Patrick hmphfs. "They're toying around." Max. * Max turns, looking at Kenji for the first time since rejoining the group. His voice is carefully neutral. "Yes, Kenji?" Do what you can, but don't waste resources needlessly. The campus can be rebuilt by hand, and better this time. * Will is staring sadly at the destruction around him. There's not much for him to say. We must also prepare to seek the third fragment. The sooner we have the entire altar, the sooner this will be over. I will do what I can. It won't be enough to fix this completely. Fortunately, we have the resources to undo the deaths. The altar... yes, I will need to study the ones we already have. PErhaps they can be used to shore up the weaknesses in defense this attack exploited, and created. * Seylin sits down heavily, puts her arms across her knees, and puts her head down. She may be crying, or trying to rest, or something, but the general impression she's giving is that she does not want to be disturbed right now. We also need to find a way to anticipate teleportation. The biggest reason this happened is the school was caught off-guard. * Max glances at Seylin, and looks to Patrick, once again not even glancing at Kenji. "You're right. I will see if the altar pieces can be used to power a dimensional lock. Preferably one that can be gotten through by friendlies, but that's of secondary concern." * Istvan mills among the crowd of survivors. "Anyone here who's up to helping out with patrols, come with me. We gotta make sure there's no second wave and no stragglers." Once we've started preparations, I have a request to make of you, as well. * Max does not look at Kenji, but his silence invites him to continue. Time enough for that later. There are more important things. * Patrick smirks. "I'm going to look for Tebryn. Watch yourselves." If there is nothing further, I'm going to talk to Alcinoe. *floats off in the direction Alci went* Max, don't. Let Alcinoe be, for now. * Patrick heads off and does his searching person thingy. * Max ignores Kenji. * HKenji shakes his head sadly. [ And so they recouperated their losses and prepared for campaigns ahead. Session End. ]