This post has the following content warnings:
She was napping in the woods on a Nexus of energy. Nobody bothering her. No urgent responsibilities. Trying not to let her ever-present angst get too big.
Weiss Faron knows she is troubled. Perhaps even depressed. A hero complex, or something like that.
The long details of her inner turmoil and angst could fill quite some pages, but now is perhaps not quite the time.
and the hippogriff-rider whose life was saved!
She freezes on entering. "Are you... Weiss?"
"Ooh, oh, you're back up! How did the coin priests treat ya? I am, and I don't actually know your name."
Weiss' response seems to put her at ease.
"It took three channels, but they honored their duties. You have my thanks for rescuing me. Afterwards, well, bedside manner costs extra, but you won't hear me complaining."
"Caron Chantsmo. Formerly of the Sable Company."
"The elf is Tisharue, the wizard is Vavana, and the guard is Oriana," Sabina supplies.
"Rixpar the house drake is to thank too. You might not have gotten that far without him."
Her voice changes to serious mode. "And I'm Weiss Faron. We're after a necromancer."
Sabina shifts into delivering the briefing.
"There are signs of activity in Potter's Ward where the poor of the city are laid to rest. Footprints, noises, corpses going missing or being purchased for delivery there. The district is riddled with tunnels and tombs, and the Pharasmins can do little more than contain the undead when they spill out. With all the new dead from the recent unrest, they are in no position to pre-empt the threat. We are."
"Our suspected necromancer is a human, with long brown hair and a goatee. He has been buying dead bodies, having them left by the headless statue of a sword-wielding gargoyle. Pick up the trail from there."
A gesture indicates that is Caron's job.
"Track him down and bring him in, dead or alive. That is your mission."
Oriana exchanges a look with Tisharue. "I take it we're the front line? With this new armor my thinking's I'll leave my shield behind, two-hand my sword to chop through zombies better."
"As for the necromancer? My plan was to prepare a few Acid Arrows for the tougher undead and to disrupt his casting, and a Touch of Idiocy for capture or close combat."
She looks at Weiss, tilting her scroll-case.
"But with a headband-wearing ally, perhaps you have other ideas?"
Oh no she's being questioned. But the headband helps. A lot.
She splays her hands. "I'm strange. Think of me like a sorceress. Illusions, including unusual uses thereof - I could replicate Glitterdust as a basic example, fire - which only burns what I want, and being also a big 'ol fox-" Handy illusion of her fighting form! "I prefer to fight like that for, y'know, speed and power and toughness. Magic-damage claw strikes. I'm not so much on the investigating side of things but I do have canid-quality smell like that, much to my regret at times, and I can track and react to movement well. What circle are we expecting this guy to be? Because I might want to hop right past all the fodder and smack him. I do not have a Merciful amulet of mighty fists, alas. If anyone has a line on where to buy one I'd appreciate it."
"Ordinary foxes do fine with burrows, I don't see why a human-size fox would struggle with human-scale tunnels? Scent would be helpful, in any case." She glances away out the window, with a look of regret.
But Glitterdust is Conjuration, not Illusion, any Acadamae graduate could tell you that Right, think of her like a sorceress. At least magic claws mean Vavana won't be stuck as the only one who can damage any incorporeal undead.
"If he's collecting bodies to animate, a fourth-circle wizard. Possibly a third-circle cleric, but if he can heal he'd have other routes for corpse-collecting."
The hippogriff was in much worse shape, but mood.
"Yaaay. Interestingly unpleasant smells... I can handle most tunnels a human could. Worst case, I shift back- I try not to do it too often, changing is what takes magic, not being in either form. I can set up - what I call party chat. Linked illusions on everyone that carry what is said clearly to everyone else's ears. I can muffle sound for us too, probably with a trigger everyone can use to override it. I can also invisible everyone but that's much harder to keep up for long. And that's about all from me as far as prep and planning goes, everyone else here probably knows necromancers and Korvosa better."
"Oh!" She remembers suddenly, slightly embarrassed. "Share language is going to wear off in... I think probably around four or five hours, I got it during the riot last night."
"That 'party chat' sounds useful. As for my spells, I can prepare a couple. Gravity Bow so my bolts land harder and Deadeye's Lore to track our quarry better?"
...what kind of not-a-sorceress is she. She can't possibly be casting a variant Baleful Polymorph on herself to change back and forth, can she? Maybe she's a werefox, a spell that lets her control the shift instead of needing the moon would make more sense. Or a druid of the fey that gets illusions instead of plant and animal spells?
"Relying on Share Language could be trouble if it's dispelled. Do you know any Varisian, Vudrani, Shoanti, or Elven?"
"I do not, and I haven't had much time to study but that does seem prudent."
She can say things in Taldane and then Notal, how about, and record her doing so into a loop attached to one of her ears for later reactivation and periodic review.
"Meet outside the Pharasmin cathedral gate at the morning bell?" Oriana suggests. "Track the bastard down quick and we can be in the Shoreline Drinkhall by noon, how about it?"
"Wh- Oh I thought we were going now. Okay, that works."
More opportunity to find a spot to recharge in.
View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
