Kascha endures, slowly deteriorating as ideas and suggestions are passed around. The way it works out, Ithea and Surraruthru are the ones to go to Baleruk, to ask him about adding water to Kascha as a means of survival. On entering his lair, they find the prismatic dragon is studying a small painting, a courre floating nearby.
For Calleigh, at last. Baleruk agreed to look at her painting for more critique, the dragon giving it a long study as the other two enter.
Go haead, y'all, we'll start with that.
"Baleruk! A moment of your time, please!" Ithea calls out to the dragon as she approaches briskly. "There is a great need for your wisdom at this moment."
Calleigh expresses a very tiny courrish bit of frustration. Much like mercurial chaos, she brightens, waving. "HI ITHEA!"
Baleruk turns away, gazing at Ithea and Surraruthru. "What wisdom do you need?" he asks.
Surraruthru eyes the area and the new beings, cocking his head this way and that... After all, it's the first time he's met a prismatic dragon, and such a dragon must have a *great* lair and hoard... Some tips might be had.
However, Baleruk's question brings Surraruthru away from his curiosity, and he lets out a clicking growl. "Kascha. She's dying and we need to save her."
Baleruk stops cold, head slowly swinging to Surraruthru. His gaze fixes on the smaller dragon, stone cold silence following. Baleruk doesn't say anything for a good twenty seconds before he finally says, "Why are you dolled up LIKE A HUMANOID?!"
"Focus on Kascha's problem, please, Baleruk. She came into contact with goldenfire, similar perhaps to how Afina and Simmer absorbed fire into them. In her case, however, it's killing her. We've found out that Ysgard is a valid option to saving her, however some wondered if perhaps absorbing a water element into herself would save her without requiring her death," Ithea summarizes as she best understands the situation. Surraruthru can clarify if she got anything there wrong.
Surraruthru does his best to keep his cool in the face of the much, much, much, much larger dragon's apparent outrage.
"It's all I could bring with the devils chasing after me. Useful things that have kept me alive. Mobile hoard, sort of. Kascha first, though. Water elemental help with goldenfire? If so, where and how? Better for it to be temporary like Afina did with me?"
Baleruk's gaze stays on Surraruthru the entire time.
"Unlikely," Baleruk says, "Strength of body as well as spirit is required. It may work if she manages to incoporate it successfully, but in her state I DOUBT it would be succeed."
Calleigh deals with Baleruk's sudden yelling by tumbling lazily through the air. "Wheeee...wait. Who's dying!?"
"Kascha," Baleruk says, "Calleigh, they speak with wisdom and seek elemental power. Follow them," he commands. "NOW."
Calleigh salutes, knocking her hair askew. "Aye aye, Captain!"
Surraruthru stares back.
Calleigh zips up into Surraruthru's face, trailing mist and beaming. "Hi! You're a dragon! And you're pretty! I'm Calleigh!"
Surraruthru blinks at the intrusion.
"Hello, nice to meet you, I'm Surraruthru. Please move so I can continue to return Baleruk's stare, he seems quite intent on it. Also, I am not pretty. I am majestic."
Baleruk continues to stare, silent and haughty. When Surraruthru blinks, "Of course," the prismatic dragon snarks, "You even blink like a humanoid."
"Says the abomination against Asgorath's law."
Baleruk ROARS. The sound sends Surraruthru back in the air, buffeting all the party with sheer sound. His eyes narrow, face coming to a mere of Surraruthru. "What was that?" he asks quietly.
Surraruthru sniffs at the larger dragon and raises his snout at him, switching to Draconic.
"You heard me. I came here for help for Kascha and you had to mock my hoard. Sure, it's... unconventional, but it's kept little old me alive against the devils by myself on Lifasa until now. I'm not a great big dragon that can gouge mountains or carry castles. My whole glade was destroyed and this is all I have left from my family. You might not care about any of that, but it still earns you every bit of my comment."
"It is not UNCONVENTIONAL! IT IS SHAMEFUL!" Baleruk's tail slams down, coins flying all about. "WHERE IS YOUR PRIDE AS A DRAGON? A DRAGON TRIUMPHS THROUGH MIGHT OF CLAW AND SORCERY! WHAT MANNER OF CRAVEN BULLSHIT IS THIS TO WEAR YOUR HOARD LIKE A HUMANOID?! ARE YOU A DRAGON OR ARE YOU A MAN?! BECAUSE BY RENBUU'S RAINBOW COCK, I WILL FIND A WAY TO TRANSFORM YOU INTO A MAN!"
Then Baleruk takes a long breath, "Though," he continues, "I find your use of that extra dimensional bag interesting. Hoards are always vulnerable when you leave them."
Surraruthru snorts at the larger dragon.
"Shameful? Bah. I don't see you ending the invasion alone. If you could, you wouldn't be here. You're here for the same reason I am: because you need to be. I'm not a prismatic dragon. I'm not a Red or Gold. I'm a Faerie Dragon. You want to me to be more powerful? I can bring the nightmares of devils into phantasmal reality. I can turn them on each other. I can bring the Abyss directly to their minds and break them. And I can do it without ever having to move. I'll have my hoard, and it'll be a pile of hearts from the devils that dared take my grove from me."
Baleruk stares again at Surraruthru, "Approved." It's all he says, backing up and giving Surraruthru his personal space once more. "If you wish to help Kascha by adding water to her, you must fortify her as much as her condition allows."
"Do Devils even have hearts?" Calleigh ponders, lazily orbiting Surraruthru's head.
"If they do, it doesn't much matter. They certainly don't use them," Ithea says quietly, before giving a nod to Baleruk. "We'll let you know what results. First we'll see if she even wishes to attempt it or stick with Ysgard."
Ready to move along a little bit then, off to seeing Kascha and getting Simmer info?
sure
The three head over to check up on Kascha. They find her asleep, Hanna and Priest seeing to her. Moreover, Simmer's back, sitting at Kascha's bedside and watching those two work on her. The pyrodryad looks up as the trio comes over. "Hey, I'm back and I have word from the Cauldron."
Surraruthru takes to the air and hovers near Simmer, taking a moment to sniff at her and inspect her.
"Hm. Fire and dryad. Dryads in my grove didn't like fire. Interesting. Afina made me half-fire. It was warm. I quite enjoyed it."
Calleigh is clearly nearly aburst with questions on seeing Simmer, but manages to contain herself, saying nothing.
"We have word from Baleruk as well," Ithea responds with a nod. "According to him, she'd need to be fortified to be able to handle the addition of a water element. It could help, but the problem is her health may not be able to handle that as she is now either. Anything good on your end, Simmer?"
"Things happened and here I am," Simmer spreads her arms wide, "How's Kascha doing?"
Priest looks up from checking her. She lies in bed, wearing only plain undergarments to preserve her modesty. Her body is riddled with crack-like cuts, slowly oozing golden blood. "She's slowly fading away. You have a few days but not any longer before she perishes. Our working theory is that the goldenfire is wounding her spirit. Are you familiar with how powerful spirits cannot abide on the Prime Material, lest it become wounded? It seems much the same. No mortal or immortal is meant to endure goldenfire like this. She's breaking down under something far more than she is."
Hanna scowls, "Now I'm not as worried as Priest suggests we should be. Lathander wouldn't sentence an innocent ghaele to death like this. He's all about newborn life and he's treated Aurora well, and also has good relations with Seira. Which means there's a point to this, something that will come of it that's worthwhile."
"I hope so," Simmer says, "The gist of what was said was that they trust us to solve it. They're willing to try elemental infusion if we are, and if we want to try another option, we're welcome to. They are not going to be happy if she reappears in the Cauldron after dying again, though. Really unhappy."
"We can't just, y'know, take it out?" Calleigh asks.
"Well, the Ysgard option should still be open since I don't believe she'd go to the Cauldron then, due to how the resurrection effect works, right?" Ithea asks. "Elemental infusion seems risky, and I don't know enough about goldenfire to just try taking it out."
"We've tried," Hanna and Priest say at the exact same instant. They both pause and glance at each other, before Priest chuckles a little bit, "Pardon. Efforts to do so have failed short of direct divine intervention, and Hanna's request for intercession was not granted."
"Lady Gwynharwyf doesn't always answer miracles like that. Sometimes it's for her own reasons and other times it's because we're supposed to be able to stand on our own. We're to be strong, not always come running to her when we have a problem." Hanna looks over to Kascha, patting the ghaele's hand. "This does smack of some sort of test or that there's a good end to it."
"Like setting her on fire!" Simmer happily interjects, "I'll be glad to help with that, by the way."
"Ysgard should work! It works for mortals and immortals and everything in between!" Calleigh adds helpfully. "Oh yes fire!"
"Well...I forget who said it, but it came up that immolating her in a bonfire just before dawn would help, and it fits with her name and Lathander's theme. That just seemed..." Ithea winces here, but with a sigh continues. "Well, since other options aren't working, that's probably what will cause her the least suffering, so we might as well go with that. When is dawn next in Ysgard?"
"A few hours," Hanna says, "We've been keeping track."
"I'm in for the fire thing. Then she can play with us and I can ask the fire dryad QUESTIONS! I have so many!"
"Well, you can ask her while we wait for dawn, I suppose. Unless she thinks it'll distract her too much since she's probably a good source for starting a bonfire. We should wait here until it's closer to dawn, less chance of drawing the attention of someone in Ysgard wanting a fight and us missing the timing or something."
"Yes. Now'a bout time to prepare if that's the court you've chosen," Hanna says, "She should survive another day and night if you want more time to investigate other options, though."
"I think this is going to be the best chance. We need time to prepare the pyre for her, too."
"We could get darkwood for the pyre! Very symbolic!"
"You're the commanding officer here," Hanna looks to Ithea. "She hasn't woken up in the last several hours and she may not anytime soon. Your choice on if to do it, and if to ask her or not."
"She already said she trusts us, as has Cauldron. This makes the most sense, symbolically and matches the words Lathander gave them. Would have preferred to do it another way, but at least we have a fair idea that this will work. If she wakes up, we can confirm, but otherwise, we should just prepare and try to keep her as painless as possible until then," Ithea responds.
Okay then. If you're committed, then what's the plan here? Elaborate so I know what's up and this can flow smoothly.
A bunch of darkwood would not be difficult to acquire. I like the symbolism of converting something dark to light, and I think Lathander might too. What do you think?
Might be good. If we want to continue that line of thought, we should also consider taking the embers with us to start the fire. Or something holy/symbolic to start the fire.
Those are both ideas. What about you, Ithea?
I'm fine with the darkwood, and as for starting the fire, I say let Simmer do it. I'm sure she's got a strong fire spell that can make it quick so Kascha doesn't suffer from burnination for very long!
For the most part, just want to find some spot that has a nice view of the sun rising and not a lot of other people (send someone to scout for that? clear out an area if there are people at a good spot? get there close to sunrise to minimize chance of interference from anybody?), set up a darkwood pyre and rest Kascha there, have Simmer handy to set her and the pyre on fire once dawn is about to rise.
Okay, I'll leave this open until tomorrow morning. I'm too tired for another serious post, so any more planning or suggestions are open until then.
A scout (Mirajane) is sent ahead to find a suitable place on Ysgard. She looks around...
> roll 1d20+32 Mirajane
<Kobot> Kotono rolled 1d20+32 Mirajane --> [ 1d20=3 ]{35}
When she returns, she has a location. An isolated mountain, one of the tallest in that section of Ysgard. It towers over everything else by thousands of feet, the air incredibly thin and cold there. Ice rims everything and the night sky seems almost close enough to touch. The peak is rather large, sufficient space to small a small pyre to immolate Kascha on.
Like this, the group carries the still slumbering Kascha through a portal and to Ysgard. It's dark here, the deep darkness that menaces before the breaking of dawn.
Go ahead and set this up however y'all like. As all of you can fly, getting into the precise details of footing and such isn't needed, there's no danger of a slip or need for climb checks.
wouldnt the lack of air make fire difficult?
Feel free to point this out to Simmer.
You don't have faith in Simmer's burninating skills?
"I'll keep watch for any curious residents that might figure we're worth fighting. Don't imagine there's much else I can do here, sadly," Ithea comments as she take a position near a solid looking set of rocks to provide her ground or cover and from which she can overlook the area below and ahead of her. She leaves it to the others to figure out how to cover other directions and who can focus on Kascha's comfort/well-being.
Simmer comes along, laying Kascha down and placing the darkwood all about. She whistles merrily as she does so, seemingly unbothered by the thin air. "Little here, some kindling there, should add some right under her," she sing-songs. "Make sure everyone's a good ways back, would you?"
> roll 1d100 vs 70 because this is Ysgard and combat happens there
<Kobot> Kotono rolled 1d100 vs 70 because this is Ysgard and combat happens there --> [ 1d100=43 ]{43}
Nothing seems to be happening as dawn slowly approaches.
Chance for anyone to do anything in last minute prep or say anything.
Ithea just continues to keep watch, though she does whisper a "Good luck..." just as dawn aproaches enough that Simmer can begin.
"Good luck, Kascha. Seira's waiting for you."
Surraruthru lands next to Simmer, waiting for the fire to happen.
Has the temp. fire elemental thing from Afina expired yet?
Nah, it's Simmer, and I was asking myself from a physics standpoint. Magic yo. I got nothing to say.
Kascha is laid down on the darkwood as dawn approaches. Simmer watches the sky intently, and just as the very first hint of light begins, "Now! BURN!" Simmer chants as a massive burst of fire engulfs Kascha, the pyre bursting into flames. As you watch, the flames quickly begin to tint gold, as gold bars rather than flesh were burning.
Curious by the glints of gold, Ithea occasionally glances over towards Kascha, but for the most part continues to keep an eye over the edge. Still, she hopes it ends quickly...
Here's hoping we didn't fuck it up!
"Oooohh pretty!"
The fire burns, Kascha immolated as the first rays of dawn fall over the mountaintop. As they do, the pyre erupts upwards into golden flames, leaping high into the sky. They take the form of a great golden bird, a loud cry coming from it as the flames fade moments after.
"Owwww..." Kascha moans, sitting up slowly. Her sheet is gone, something she seems aware of after rubbing her head. "Ah!" Covering up and blushing red, she quickly ducks behind some rocks. "Ithea? Everyone? Why am I here and naked, and around all this burnt wood?"
Ithea sighs with relief. "Well, I'm gonna guess you're doing fine now."
Edited out the part asking Hanna/Priest since apparently they didn't come along.
One problem: Neither came with you. It's just Simmer right now.
Funny story, I had this entire plot worked out where you'd have to research ways to help Kascha. You'd visit the Cauldron, maybe check on a few sages and altogether work to get the hints to use Ysgard. Kascha's true name was a hint towards it as well. But then Iddy suggests Ysgard out of the blue and the idea gains traction. So points to Iddy for managing a plot skip by guessing correctly. Well done.
WOOP
"...Yay she's better!" Calleigh zips over to Simmer. "Hi!"
"You didn't react well to absorbing the goldenfire. Apparently you needed to burn it off, and the only way we could figure for you to do that safely, for a measure of the word, was to do so here in Ysgard. Simmer helped speed up the process," Ithea finally says. "...Also, this is Calleigh. She's new."
"Hi!" Calleigh is now upside-down, grinning cheerily at anyone who will look at her.
"Aaah..." Kascha hides, "Is is this a bad time to mention I think I got something out of it?" She peeks out from the rocks, head only.
Simmer cocks her head to the side, "Hi," she says, "Did you like that fire?"
"Oh yes, very pretty!" Calleigh says, cleanly ignoring the large, plain, fluffy blue blanket that materializes over Kascha. The blanket drops over her, covering her completely.
Major Creation
"Is what you got out of it something bad that's going to kill you anyway? Because if not, can't see it being a bad time to say that," Ithea replies with a raised eyebrow.
"Um...oh, thank you!" Kascha quickly bundles up in the blanket, "I rather take after Seira in my magic, I use much of the same magic as she does. But ah, she can take the form of a dragon...or maybe she's a dragon that takes the form of a...well, never mind that."
"I can show you a lot of fire," Simmer says, "Would you like to see sometime?"
"Kascha!"
Surraruthru flies over to Kascha and loops around her inspecting her before landing in front of her and staring her dead in the eye, completely serious.
"I forbid you from doing things like that ever again. I will go to Seira and have her scold you for making things difficult for me."
Surraruthru nods after saying this, making it apparent to all that he considers the matter closed.
"That said, please tell me you're alright! I had to deal with Baleruk to help with this and that was terrible! He had the audacity to insult my hoard! Speaking of, what did you get? Can you use it to start your own hoard? You really deserve to have a hoard after this."
Surraruthru stops at this and stares at Kascha expectantly.
I'm at a theater right now, so don't expect another post for a couple hours.
"Fire can be fun!"
"I'm okay, sorry!" Kascha quickly bows her head, "What I got was that my second form change. All eladrin have a secondary form and mine's different now. Um, do you all want to see?"
Meanwhile Simmer nods, "Fire IS fun. Period. Can you imagine how boring the world would be without fire? Unacceptable. I want to go set a forest on fire now, or maybe burn down an abandoned village."
Surraruthru eyes Simmer for a moment. "How.. Red dragon-y of you. But yes, show us!"
Surraruthru starts hoping back and forth in anticipation.
"Oh, red dragons are great aside from being arrogant, self serving bastards," Simmer says, "But they know how to liven up a boring party. Things not going well? Set everything on fire with your breath."
Kascha nods and bursts. Her body dissolves into flames, being replaced a moment later by a grand bird of flame. The bird is bigger than Hanna and with a massive wingspan. Kascha's voice comes from it, "It's a phoenix, I think. It's rather suiting after everything that happened."
Surraruthru studies the new Kascha.
"It's impressive. Maybe you can talk to Seira about becoming a dragon-phoenix?"
"That would be silly," Kascha retorts with a little laugh, her wings going out. Her wingspan is about 40ft, little embers of fire falling from her feathers. "I've read that eladrin can develop unique second forms, but I never would expect I'd use it. I so seldom transformed into my old one, it just never crossed my mind that often."
"Convinient that you can still speak in that form," Ithea notes before turning pensive. "Are you fully a phoenix like that? Like, the rebirth part when killed? And are your abilities available in either form? Or do you lose your normal magic in trade of a phoenix's abilities? What would those be as a matter of fact? Any ideas? Phoenixes rarely seem to show up outside of legends, I've certainly never seen one before."
Calleigh goes to answer Simmer, but is quite dazzled by Kascha's display!
"Well, I..." Kascha begins to explain.
I'm going to cut this one here. It's nearly done and I got sick last night, so I didn't finish the mechanical part of her new alternate form. Expect that over the weekend. As of now, the next part will be your assaults on Lixer and will come Sunday or Monday. This could be pushed up due to sickness, we'll see if I kick this off or not.