4 - 031: The Fourth Piece

[K Man]

Romar -

The voice coughs a bit, a clear sign the dank dungeon air has gotten into lungs and caused sickness - this person has been down here a while.

"Romar Belamor?...the Romar Belamor?"

Apparently not that long...he knows of you. There is a length of silence before the voice continues.

"Why have you been brought down here...aren't you a hero or soemthing?"

There is a bit of movement and another rat squeak from somewhere.

"That doesn't matter so much I guess...another sign of Sturmguard's madness. He's so righteous...think's he can rule everything and control everyone without consequence...well he's wrong..."

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All but Romar -

King Sturmguard turns from the window to listen as Mordrock goes back to describing the seemingly impenetrable fortress of his former master.



"There are no cracks...no windows...no anything. We never know how 'The Master' see out of it, but Master always aware of everything outside of fortress."

"When 'The Master' enter, he simply vanish...not turn to gas or anything..."

Mordrock hangs his head low, sorrowful that he had to be the bearer of such news. It is the Kuo-Toan that speaks next, bringing his points forth in crude common tongue.



"It seem foolish to me to remain here and wait for Master to arrive...if you intend to slay him in his fortress...why wait for it to arrive?"

King Sturmguard nods.



"Quite right. Is it wise to gamble with the lives of our armies instead of taking the fight to 'The Master'?"

Again, the Kings look to you - who have offered to lead the attack and take it to 'The Master' - for answers and ideas.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

{I don't want to bog this down with so much debate, but this is a pretty substantial decision. When do you guys want to go? How do you want to get in? Etc etc...}

{If there's anything else I can answer, let me know.}

[VemuKhaham]

Romar sighs as he notices how his name is immediately recognized, even by those who have no eyes or ears outside the tiny dungeon rooms they occupy.

"Yes, Romar Belamor, that is my name. But I am no hero, not anymore, unless one may be called a hero and a murderer at the same time."

He looks to the wall, the one behind which the man must be, and continues:

"You seem to hold no love for King Sturmguard, yet I have yet to meet a second person to say so. The people cheer and boo, laugh and cry, kill and lay dead at a flick of his fingers. Not more than an hour ago, he stood by my side praising me to the heavens up high, yet now he has condemned me to the dungeons below. Still, I can hate him no more than I could hate my own father. Tell me, why does this King's righteousness frustrates you?"

[GeneralMHB]

Yuri listens to Mordrock's reply, with some degree of sorrow. How can one enter a stone structure? Magic must be the answer, but what spell?

He turns and addresses the group.

There are two courses of action we can take: Concentrate all our forces to secure the mobile fortress to take out 'The Master' or concentrate on our defenses. Both are not wise decisions. If we manage to secure the fortress, the rest of the army will converge and surround us. If we hold and defend, we will not have enough men to fight them back.

If we are to concentrate on 'The Master' and his fortress, the ogres need to be taken out to prevent the pillars from moving any further. Stop him right where he is. The Giant will be a major threat, but it is not indestructable.

If we succeed in destorying 'The Master' here and now, we have a chance at stopping this war for good. If we fail.... humanity is lost. I say we concentrate on taking the fortress and finding a way to break down the stone walls and the Giant. It is a gamble, but what choice do we have?

He hopes the others can think of a better solution than this.

[Fangor the Fierce]

Krysta turns to Yuri. "The clerics, the ones you brought from the Hidden City. They should have means of instantly transporting us into that fortress. The elves used it when they turned on us. Some magic allowed them to instantly transport the group to a location. Perhaps we can get the clerics to do that for us. If it is a viable magic that they could use."

Considering what Mordrock said about the stone, if only they could punch a hole into it..."Or, if they could somehow turn that stone aside, granting a passageway for us to enter. If it is stone, then is there not magic that can bend stone to its will?"

Turning to the Kuo-Toan, she nods. "Yes, we should strike before the city is under seige. If we can defeat the Master without the town having to fend for itself, then all the better. Many lives will be saved when we succeed."

OOC - Dammit!!! Where the hell are our magic users when we need them???

[Jevva]

Galdren's brow crinkles when he hears Krysta's words. "Can we really enter the fortress with magic like that? It just seems strange that the priests might be able teleport us into the fortress, because if they could, could they not teleport us anywhere in the world? Perhaps would could go to where the Master keeps his crystals, and steal them from him."

[Fangor the Fierce]

At the words of Galdren, Krysta immediately turns to check the map that she acquired from the elves. Were the crystals kept elsewhere, or were they inside this fortress?

[Japic]

{Even if we could get our hands on the shards, they'd be all but impossible to transport back here in time to do anything useful. We can get to them magically, but they need be moved via mundane means (or slow magical ones).}

Thinking hard over all that has been said Girud speaks to no one in particular.

"If we are to stop the fortress from moving, we should kill the giant. He is what moves it, even with the ogres gone he would still be a nasty foe, should the Master send him against the city. With him out of the way, the fortress is stuck."

Idly fingering the string of beads that hangs from his neck Alton nods once in concurance with Girud.

"The giant might prove a tough foe to destroy, but it should be possible, right?"

[K Man]

At the words of Galdren, Krysta immediately turns to check the map that she acquired from the elves. Were the crystals kept elsewhere, or were they inside this fortress?

- Looking at the map, the crystal shard...four of them, are but a few inches away from Ravenshead, and moving. They must be in the massive fortress of 'The Master'!

{I don't really want to go on just yet...have you guys come to a decision on how to attack? The Clerics are here, they do offer to transport you - but it would just be to the edge of the fortress NOT inside. They lack the power to invade 'The Masters' magic like that. They may be able to do something else, but they cannot just zap you inside. If they could see the fortress and focus on it for a while, they might be able to beat his defenses.}

Let me know what you want to do and any other questions I can answer to speed this up.

[GeneralMHB]

Yuri turns to his allies and makes a decision.

We must try to take the fortress. We can use the clerics to help weaken its walls with whatever powerful magic they may possess. Any seige weaponry will be direly needed to breach it's walls. This is where we make our stand.

He hopes all can come to an agreement soon, for their time is short....

[Japic]

{Girud is a man of action, so he's in for any plan. If we're going up aginst the big stone guy though, he'll want to get his hands on a maul or massive mace of some sort. Slashing weapons don't do well against some things; like stone.}

[K Man]

{Okey dokey...so the plan is to vein-ride/transport to the stone fortress, and then enter or deal with the stone giant at that time...right? Is everyone OK with this?}

- I'm sorry to bog this down again, especially for Romar who is prolly dying to move forward, but this could spell the end of the other party if they act hasty. I need consent. Garor? Galdren? Krysta and her companions? Let me know and I will go on tomorrow.

[Japic]

{As for Krysta, Fangor's off the boards for a few days, you might be able to catch him on IM through his phone. But my understanding is that he's net-less while in Chicago.}

Girud is good for it if the leader's have confidence and/or a good plan in mind.

I have admit that it seems a bit silly to just show up and expect the army around it to let us kill off a few guardians and stroll in.

Hey, mebbe this isn't such a good idea afterall. If we attack early the Master has all of his troops available to dispose of the threat. If they're engaged in the battle for the city, then they can't stop to worry about us few; right? Mebbe it would be best (for our success rate) if we delay till the army of his strongest and most foul are fighting, not waiting for a reason to fight; we don't have to worry about them IMO.

What does anyone else think about this..?

[Jevva]

Well, what we could do is vein-ride in, attack, and vein-ride away, which would probably make the Master pull back his army and stall the attack a bit. The problem with that, is that he would probably keep more troops near his fort to guard him, making it harder to attack him later. I guess it would probably be best to attack him a little after the battle's started.

[Fangor the Fierce]

Krysta is a little hesitant on vein-riding straight to the fortress and dealing with what's there, in hopes that the surrounding troops idly stand by and watch.

"If only the clerics have the ability to shape that towers walls into a tunnel to the interior..." she says, not very sure of their tactics. That would leave the tunnel open anyways, and the surrounding troops would be easily able to follow them and flank them."

"If the Master thought he was flanked, he might halt his attack on Ravenshead. If we vein ride to the pposite end of the army, and attack, and veinride to another part of the army, then the troops would think they were falling into a trap, being flanked themselves."

She turns to Sturmguard. "This battle will test our worthness to this war. It is now or never."

"Should we veinride to the fortress, our priority would be to stop the fortress first. With it stopped, we could then have time to think of another plan to enter the fortress and deal with the Master. These things are going through forest to get here, perhaps Allesia has some aid to halt the fortress or deal with that giant."

OOC - KMAN, Is there anything that Allesia could help with in stopping that fortress from continuing its path?

[Fangor the Fierce]

OOC - I am not sure at to how to proceed. Looks like either way, its going to be a tough.impossible battle. I can't see any other options.... She is ok with just going in, and dealing with what happens