On the prowl (Ithea)

[Anastasia]

"Good hunting," Adrian says, then smirks a bit. "Pounce away."

[Merc]

"You're supposed to say that to Misalea after I walk out of here," Ithea remarks as she makes her way out of the room.

[Anastasia]

Laughter follows Ithea out as...

What's next, kitty?

[Merc]

To magma!

[Anastasia]

Any changes to the party?

[Merc]

Nope

[Anastasia]

The four gather near Elrisa's Tower, waiting for Ithea. Once she arrives, Balyss says, "So what's our strategy here, boss?"

[Merc]

"Don't really have one. We basically just ward against things we know the valeoloth is likely to use and against the planar effects, then we just search for him, and when we find him, we capture or kill him. Hopefully the fact that we haven't moved against him in so long means his guard will be down and we find him easily and catch him by surprise. Otherwise, we don't know enough about the city or the valeoloth itself to plan more, I don't think?"

[Anastasia]

"We don't," Hanna confirms, "Unless you'd like to go information hunting first."

[Merc]

"I think I had enough information hunting five drinks ago."

[Anastasia]

"See?" Balyss comes over and throws an arm around Ithea's shoulder, "She learns!"

Simmer giggles at that, "That she does. Drinking water never goes well." She says it firmly, with a little nod at the end.

"Y-wait no, that's not it at all!" Balyss scowls back, but soon breaks into a smile.

"Ahem," Hanna coughs gently, "Shall we be going?"

[Merc]

Ithea nods. "Let's. Everyone do their own preparations? Getting something to eat, using Afina's new archway, etc, etc, etc?"

Not sure if Afina's new toy is up yet or not, I can edit if not.

[Anastasia]

It is.

Only question is who is going to do transportation?

[Merc]

Ithea will cast Gate once we're in place. Hanna and Balyss can handle the defensive buffs. And Simmer can just set things on even more fire in Magma.

[Anastasia]

Okay. Unless the spoiler block is needed right away, holding off on that until we're done, since it'll be a lengthy one.

With Ithea opening a portal, slipping through is easy. Into an ocean of orange-red, boiling your blood and charring your bones to ash. You cook alive, your last moment an agonized cr-ah!

You blink away the vision, standing in a field of black volcanic glass. The air is thick with gasses, difficult to breathe, but the protective magics on you help. Ahead is a vast ocean of magma as you stand in a gigantic cavern, huge waterfalls of lava miles away, pouring down into the ocean of magma. Perhaps a mile or so away is a huge island full of oversized buildings made of various volcanic stones.

"We're protected, but be careful if your protections get dispelled. Your lungs will shrivel up and die from the gasses here," Simmer warns, then takes a long sniff, "They don't bother me, so don't worry if something happens to my magic.