026.6 "Unfortunately, we met under some bad circumstances."

[Corwin]

[22:10] <Ithea> "Welcome to Aurora, Muirfinn. Sorry you didn't get here under better circumstances, I'd give you a quick tour of the place. As it is, probably want to let the others know what happened first, then see if anything can be done for poor Tom," Ithea says to the tortle as she follows after Sylvie, planning to look for Afina and anybody else she can find near the pixie.
[22:10] * Ithea heals her wounds somewhat as she goes inside.
[22:11] <Afina> Afina is seen shortly dragging a comatose barbed devil on a floating disc from the summoning annex towards the portal so she can deposit it in the dungeon.
[22:11] * Muirfinn follows long, looking about as he carries Tom. "This is wonderful! So much room! So many people! It's so good to see so many peoples cooperating for a greater good."
[22:13] <Ithea> "There's Afina, Muirfinn. Come on," Ithea says as she leads Muirfinn towards the pixie. "Afina!" she calls out as she gets closer.
[22:15] * Afina stops, the disc and its ugly passenger stopping with her as she turns towards Ithea, wings fluttering behind her. Her eyes are immediately drawn to the furry corpse Ithea is carrying and she spares a moment to hope it's the catfolk traitor. Rather than making a potentially damaging assumption if it's not someone they all want dead, she merely settles for looking inquisitive.
[22:17] <Ithea> ooc: Muirfinn is carrying the corpse, I'm carrying loot!
[22:18] * Ithea scowls at Afina's prisoner before turning to speak to Afina. "Afina, this is Muirfinn of the tortle tribe from Lifasa. They wanted to join us," she says, still scowling even though she's saying what should be good news. "Unfortunately, we met under some bad circumstances."
[22:20] <Muirfinn> "Yes, it is unfortunate that we were ambushed by devils, and a solar! And some undead monstrosity! We lost poor Tom here, and unfortunately your inquisitive friend Kascha as well."
[22:20] <Ithea> "I'd gone searching for more of my kinsmen, trying to get information about Apasa, that catfolk traitor. While we were hunting for information..." Ithea pauses and nods grimly as Muirfinn fills the blanks.
[22:20] <Afina> The fairy perks up upon hearing of fellow Lifasans, though she takes care not to get too carried away in light of these bad circumstances... oh. "They killed Kascha?" she asks, a scowl rapidly darkening her delicate features.
[22:21] * Muirfinn shakes his head. "Merely sent her back to her home plane."
[22:21] <Ithea> "Yes. Solar got away as well. Same shit as that paeliryon. Burnt someone then fled."
[22:21] <Ithea> "...Fallen solar," Ithea adds, figuring it important to clarify, given the occassional problems with celestials they also face.
[22:23] <Afina> "I'm sure that comforted her greatly," Afina replies, unamused at the turtle's correction. "We'll have to tell the elementals, and then approach Seira. Poor woman..." she looks down and shakes her head morosely, thinking of how bad things have gone for Kascha ever since she volunteered to join their Crusade.
[22:25] * Muirfinn looks somewhat surprised at that, he'd thought it would be good news. "Ah, my apologies. You have potentially lost a friend, and I am being callous. If you must speak with elementals, perhaps I can be of assistance. I have an affinity with some."
[22:27] <Ithea> "I'll go talk to them as well, it was my fault she died, I asked her to come with us and didn't go prepared enough for trouble," Ithea says as well. "I'll drop this crap we took from the devils in the armory first though. I wanted to let you know what happened at least before I did anything else."
[22:31] <Afina> "Thank you, Muirfinn, we are glad to have anyone join our Crusade, but these elementals are also members of the Crusade, not strangers we have to parley with. It would be better if they heard of Kascha's death from those known to them... distasteful as it is, we have to establish who's in charge of that contingent, now, at least until Seira makes her will known," Afina explains, not
[22:31] <Afina> looking forward to it. "Tell me about the battle while I put this in the dungeon?" she asks, starting back towards the portal again.
[22:33] * Ithea pauses, having thought to leave, but nods, accompanying Afina. "Well, as I mentioned earlier, I was looking for information about Apasa when we met Tom and Muirfinn. I'd taken Kascha and Sylvie with me, and we were asking around, finally found someone who knew him when we were surrounded by a fallen solar, a death knight and four orthons."
[22:35] <Afina> "You think one of the other Catfolk tipped the devils off?"
[22:36] <Muirfinn> "Yes, it was quite sudden. We defended ourselves as well as we could, but their unholy fire killed poor Tom and Kascha. That young woman, Sylvie I believe, unleashed some sort of power on them while they broke Ithea's spear. I blasted them with holy fire where I could, but they were initially resistant to it." Muirfinn says.
[22:36] <Ithea> "I don't know. Apasa might have spies left in case someone asked about him, they did attack almost right after we found a lead, it could have been that goddamn paeliryon, or even that ice devil in the bar upon hearing mention of Aurora. I don't know," Ithea says with a shake of her head.
[22:36] <Ithea> "...and yeah, the fuckers broke my glaive," Ithea says with a grimace.
[22:38] <Afina> "Fire doesn't work on devils. Lightning's better," Afina suggests to Muirfinn as an aside while listening to Ithea. "It definitely sounds like it. You revealed yourselves around a devil and didn't kill it?" Hearing that the glaive she made for Ithea was wrecked makes her shake her head, but one thing must come at a time.
[22:39] <Ithea> "I thought about it, but Sylvie and Kascha implied it'd bring more trouble down on us since it was just sitting there. I at least tried to keep it from learning anything of import and dragged the conversation out of the bar, but he'd have heard mention of Aurora when Muirfinn introduced himself," Ithea says.
[22:40] <Muirfinn> "Indeed, my apologies. It may well be my fault."
[22:41] <Ithea> "I doubt it, I merely mentioned it as a possibility, Muirfinn. Most of the fault lies with me for not preparing for ambush. Afina here has been ambushed before, and I apparently never learned from her encounters."
[22:41] <Ithea> "They on the other hand..."
[22:42] * Ithea grimaces and looks down at the ground in shame.
[22:42] <Afina> "It was probably that devil, then, but I wouldn't discount the possibility of spies amidst the catfolk," Afina mutters, dropping the barbed devil off in its cell and sealing it for now. "Still, it's a long way from that single mercenary that attacked Crystal and I in Ysgard. They must have put a lot of weight on the report... Earth being more hospitable to devils than Ysgard might be
[22:42] <Afina> part of it as well? We'll have to be extremely careful making excursions like that in the future."
[22:44] * Ithea nods, still downcast. "I still wish to head back and see if I can't reach Mirr before some devil gets to him, assuming they even know about him. But we weren't in the best of position to continue straight out of that encounter, so we ended up returning here."
[22:44] <Ithea> "If this Mirr has answers about Apasa..."
[22:48] <Afina> "What's past is past. We're better off looking to the devils," Afina gestures at the cells full of disgruntled baatezu lining them, "To tell us about the traitors current whereabouts and situation. Still, it wouldn't hurt to plan a counter-ambush of our own. Lets talk to Jaela about that later after we sort things out with Seira's forces."
[22:50] * Ithea nods. "Muirfinn, do any of these names mean anything to you? Harkin, Velasca, Quinn, Mala, Ettan, Silvber, Yian, Willah? I won't ask about Apasa for obvious reasons."
[22:52] <Muirfinn> "Mmmm...perhaps. Where are they from again? Lifasa?"
[22:52] <Ithea> "Yes. All nine were traitors," Ithea says simply.
[22:53] <Muirfinn> "Well, perhaps I can help then. Our tribe was rather isolated, but we may have come across them at one point. One of them was a nymph?"
[22:55] <Muirfinn> roll 1d20+29
[22:55] * Hatbot --> "Muirfinn rolls 1d20+29 and gets 35." [1d20=6]
[22:56] <Ithea> "Willah," Ithea confirms.
[23:02] * Muirfinn thinks for a moment, then shakes his head. "I'm sorry, I haven't heard of her. As I said, we were isolated."
[23:03] * Ithea nods. "It was worth a shot. You been having better luck with your prisoners, Afina?"

[Corwin]

[20:14] <Afina> "As far as broadening our knowledge of the invasion, lots. But I haven't found any that took part in the attack on the Throne, yet. As far as dealings with the traitors go, I don't expect much until I can summon pit fiends," Afina explains readily.
[20:18] * Ithea nods. "A pity we can't deal with them early on, but oh well."
[20:19] * Muirfinn nods. "These people hurt you dearly, it sounds like. If you don't mind me asking, what happened? I've heard the term 'Traitor' bandied about by you and Ithea and a few references to Lifasa, but I don't quite understand what happened."
[20:20] <Afina> "Have you ever wondered how millions of devils were able to invade Lifasa at a stroke?" Afina asks, "When normally summoning a single devil is a somewhat time-taking task for a decently skilled spellcaster?"
[20:21] <Ithea> "They hurt everyone in Lifasa, not just us, Muirfinn."
[20:26] <Muirfinn> "After we halted our wandering, it had occurred to us that it should have been impossible. We puzzled on it for a while, but in the end assumed that it was some sort of devilish trick of the planes that we couldn't figure out. Were these traitors involved?" Muirfinn asks.
[20:28] <Afina> "The mechanics remain unknown, but they opened the gates," Afina confirms, starting back out of the dungeon now to take care of matters with Seira's contingent of elementals.
[20:28] <Kotono> As the party talks, Sylvie approaches. Coming within earshot, "All the treasure's stored," she says, "Oh, Afina."
[20:30] * Muirfinn shakes his head. "I don't understand why anyone would want to do such a thing. Such an act of damning evil would leave a terrible mark on the soul."
[20:30] <Afina> "Sylvie," Afina nods back, connecting the dots. "You were there with Ithea and Kascha?"
[20:34] <Kotono> Sylvie nods once, "Yeah. I'll need to teach Kascha how to dodge when she gets back," Sylvie remarks, shaking her head with a momentarily open and uncomfortably pained grimace. "I mentioned it to Ithea, but I think I may be done with 21. I think the Child was what it wanted me for." Here she pauses, "When you and the commanders have time, I'd like to talk to all of you about it. If one
[20:34] <Kotono> of you wants to hold 21..."
[20:35] <Afina> "27 suggested the same," Afina agrees, "But if you can hold on a little bit longer, we need to address the elementals that came here with Kascha. It would be a disgrace to their presence to brush off her death even if she does return, and the chain of command has to be adjusted in the interim anyway."
[20:37] <Ithea> "Well, we have her things for when she returns, she'll probably be glad to know that at least."
[20:38] <Ithea> "Well, that and that nobody else died after her," Ithea says with a grimace. "Her last words were expressing concern for us."
[20:38] <Muirfinn> "What is 21?" Muirfinn asks.
[20:39] <Kotono> "I don't want to," Sylvie admits freely, "But I can. I think that once you've held 21 for a little while, the worst of the danger is passed. Word of advice - get someone mentally strong and pure. I'd recommend a celestial or a saint."
[20:39] <Ithea> "The book Sylvie blasted the devils and solar with," Ithea answers.
[20:39] <Muirfinn> "Ah. Some sort of powerful artifact then? Why not simply lock it up here in the fortress?"
[20:40] <Afina> "Jaela?" Afina asks Sylvie as she starts to the business of rounding up the Cauldron's contingent.
[20:41] <Kotono> "Possibly." Sylvie chews on her lips a moment. In a lower voice, stepping close to Afina, "Someone who isn't attached to a vampire, maybe. I don't trust Annalise. She lies - a lot."
[20:42] <Ithea> "Morniel, perhaps? He is a diplomat and celestial," Ithea suggests.
[20:42] * Muirfinn blinks at the mention of a vampire, but says nothing.
[20:42] * Afina nods, knowing exactly where Sylvie's coming from. "Her mother, on the other hand...?"
[20:47] <Kotono> "Haven't really met her," Sylvie says, "If she's a typical celestial it should be fine. Morniel as well to that. Preferably someone who can battle well, too. 21 can be a weapon against evil."
[20:48] <Afina> "That definitely fits Hanna. I'll introduce you to her after this," Afina nods.
[20:48] <Ithea> "Hanna's probably the better choice then. She's definitely a fighter, though I honestly wouldn't know how good or bad Morniel is at combat."
[20:51] <Kotono> "As long as it's someone I feel can hold it. I'll not dump this off on someone who can't."