Void strike (Jaela)

[Anastasia]

The group of nine gathers in the Graceful Blow's tower garden, a small picnic laid out for everyone. The ladies of the Graceful Blow set it up then head upstairs, leaving the party be. Mirima's standing over it all, while Adrian kicks back. Hanna and Mirajane follow Jaela, while Vivantha and Moonlight are in quiet conversation. Mei kneels and waits, eyes closed in what is probably silent prayer.

"AHEM." Adrian clears his throat, "So has anyone here been to Vacuum before? Anyone?"

Vacuum (9) - Jaela, Adrian, Hanna, Mirajane, Candy, Vivantha, Moonlight, Mei, Mirima - Posted for reference.

Okay, this one needs to start with an OOC discussion. This is 1 PC and 8 NPCs. That's simply an unmanageable load for me, so you're going to need to run some of them in combat. I'm going to claim Adrian and Canderella. I know the first one well and he's fairly simple to run, while Canderella's in a new build for the first time and I'd like to r un her for the sake of playtesting. Choose some you'll run in combat. I'd like you to grab 4, though if you want more, that's fine too.

Alternately, with only one PC in this thread, if another PC wants to run an NPC here full time, say so and we'll talk about it.

[Nephrite]

I can probably handle Vivantha since she's pretty similar in build to Moore, just more offensive.

[Corwin]

I could run Hanna and Mirajane in combat if you'd like me to.

[Ebiris]

I could run Mirima. She's a lot like Afina in her style.

[Anastasia]

Okay. It looks like this now:

Jaela: Hanna and Mirajane.
Moore: Vivantha.
Afina: Mirima.

Me: Adrian, Canderella, Moonlight, Mei. That's manageable, though if another PC wants to grab one they're welcome to it.

Feel free to respond to Adrian IC, Jaela.

[Corwin]

"I'd be surprised if anyone has," Jaela tells Adrian with a grin. "From the way I hear it, there's nothing there. Unless Candy has something to share?" she muses, eyeing the resident succubus in contemplation.

[Anastasia]

"I've been to Vacuum, yes." Canderella says, "Not for long, because it's really hostile to life. There's no air, so if you need to breathe, you'll suffocate. There's no water, so you'll die of thirst if you need to drink. It's viciously cold, though it's more an absence of any heat than purposeful cold. Plus the vacuum constantly tears at you, ripping you apart and boiling your blood in your veins. Now typical planar protection spells are sufficient to stop all that, though they tend to erode far faster than they should. It's unpredictable, so redundancy is crucial to survival."

Pausing for just one moment to snatch a pear slice and nibble on it. "What's worse is that the vacuum destroys objects as well. Planar protection magic is effective for your own possessions, but as the spells wear down fast, sometimes they'll be affected before the magic collapses. It reminds me of stories about Thanatos, the realm of Orcus. Aaah..." Canderella smiles and sighs, "Good times, good times."

Adrian crosses his arms, "I'm not worried about myself, but the rest of you will be relying on magic that expires. So the big question - can the undead survive safely there? Will Lixer's outpost be warded?"

"They can," Canderella agrees, "It's a fairly hospitable place for them. Will they?" She hmmms slowly, "Depends if he has any devil servants there that need the protection. I doubt he does."

"But otherwise, it's a void?" Mirima asks, "It sounds boring. I've had enough of boring in my life to last to the end."

"Oh yeah, it's bad." Moonlight speaks up, "So we'll need to go in strong and not give our magic enough time to decay, plus reserves in case our magic collapses or dispels. Say, you've fought Lixer's forces before, do they dispel magic often?"

[Corwin]

"Actually, the only persistent dispelling I've seen is from Salandariel," Jaela tells Moonlight, shaking her head in amusement. "Okay, so most effective protection spells are daylong. How soon can we expect them to start breaking down on their own?" She glances over at Mirajane. "Could you tell when they're about to, before they start to erode our gear?"

Looking at Canderella next, she asks, "Undead might be fine with the conditions, but their gear surely won't be. Even phylacteries, if there's a lich present. Do you know if they use anything to protect their things?"

[Anastasia]

"Tough to say," Mirajane says, "I get the impression it's not static."

"They probably do, but I don't know it. I didn't visit that long." Canderella explains.

[Corwin]

"So nothing that conveniently erodes more quickly than other substances, and we could bring with us? That's a shame."

Jaela shrugs. "We'll have to make do, then. The usual recourse of bringing backups in scroll or other item form sounds like it would be a bad idea, so we need redundancies for protections and means of retreat. I can provide those. Who else?"

[Anastasia]

"Harder things last longer by being tougher," Canderella points out. "But it can take out strong things quickly or unevenly. It's vexing."

"I'm safe, I know how to get by," Adrian says, rubbing his chin.

"Lots of protections. I can cast them several times if I prepare and so can Mirajane. If you pitch in as well, three people having them prepared shoudl be enough." Hanna says. "We shouldn't be there that long."

[Corwin]

"We'll also want to get Tepen to put us in telepathic contact for the duration," Jaela says, moving on to the next topic. "And one of us in contact with Aurora and the other teams, across the planes. Mirajane, I want that to be you. Any objections?" She glances over at Mei, asking, "Any problems being part of the link so long as you don't think anything our way?"

[Anastasia]

Mei nods shortly.

"That's fine, mother," Mirajane says.

Okay, so assuming no additions, run down your plan for me so I can have a copy for reference.

[Corwin]

"We have enough capable people along that I want to play it safe to start with," Jaela tells the group. "The attack will be spearheaded by me and Adrian. Mirajane will be in close proximity, to either make use of Twin Gambit or support. Mirima will skirmish and harass the enemies. Mom, you're in reserve, which means the 'making sure no one dies' duty, be it through healing or braining the enemies with an axe if they get a good combination attack going on some unlucky soul. Vivantha and Mei, stick with how you usually fight. Candy, I want you to crush their magic, then them when it crumbles." Her gaze wanders across the group as she speaks, before finally landing on Moonlight. "Since we never got a chance to see each other fight before and there's no time to do it properly, I want you initially in reserve as well. Stand ready and interrupt any of their mages who are about to mess us up. Since you won't be tied down in melee you'd have the best chance of putting a stop to that bullshit."

Jaela looks at Mirajane again, adding, "If Mirajane sounds off a warning act upon it, all of you, don't daydream." She pauses long enough to make sure it has sunk in before asking, "Are we good on the various utility magics we might need? So that we don't need to spend valuable time breaking down doors, to think of one example? If not, we need to grab a few of the relevant spells in scroll forms. Candy, Mirima and I could use them if the need appears. Finally, we have a large enough strike force that we could split in two groups if it is advantageous. Adrian, you and Mom will form the core of the second group in such a case, so think of who would work best for the approach you like to take in assaults and let me know. We'll sort it out before we head out."

She nods to herself. "That seems to cover the actual action plan. Any ideas for learning more about our target within a short time frame, or shall we go in blindly? And any questions, suggestions, reservations and the like? Now's the time to air it all."

[Anastasia]

Go ahead and list the spells you want memorized so I can get to that, Jaela.