To challenge destiny (Afina)

[Ebiris]

Is it really a child or is it an imp in disguise? Or an evil child!

Luckily pixies are equipped to deal with such dilemmas. "Hello, are you alright?" she calls to the child, flying down that way while using her seldom used by Elysium-boosted power to detect evil!

She can't detect good anymore as a tradeoff, which just seems odd to her.

Detect evil SLA is a thing.

[Anastasia]

You detect no evil.

Make a Diplo check here, impressions matter.

[Ebiris]

[18:58] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+22 I've been training for this!
[18:58] <Serith> Ebiris roll for Serith < 26 > [d20=4]

[Anastasia]

The child peeks out and whimpers audibly. It's a boy and he starts to run, "No!"

[Ebiris]

Clearly my training for how to handle the intricacies of sylvan politics was insufficient for not terrifying human infants.

"I won't hurt you!" she calls but doesn't pursue the child as she lands and looks around before describing her surroundings to Tepen via telepathy so that someone can hopefully teleport here to take her back to Aurora.

[Anastasia]

You're a scaaaaaary pixie. Adorable but scary.

As you wait around, Sage Vul'lath appears. He looks around and sneers, waving hand in front of his face. "Ah, ruin and country villages. A feast for the nose to reject. Afina?"

[Ebiris]

"Good to see you, Vul'lath," Afina flutters over and reaches out to take his hand.

If that human infant runs over and hugs Vul'lath after being terrified away by her she doesn't know what she'll do. But she's not sticking around, there's no devils nearby so that boy's prognosis is better than can be said for a lot of people in the cities they're fighting over. "Now, take me back to Aurora if you please."

[Anastasia]

> roll 1d20+4 rolling a Charisma check after that, I feel obligated
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 21 > [d20=17]

No such mind blowing thing happens and you stand in front of Aurora, "Coming in," Sage Vul'lath asks.

[Ebiris]

"Yes, better for me to get re-acquainted with our strategic situation," she agrees. "I'm not at peak effectiveness for combat right now anyway." She has a look out over the city below, not Elons Rapid she notes. Probably Liber, based on the expansive harbour. She'll learn more inside, so she enters Aurora and makes for the command centre.

[Anastasia]

Here you find Tepen and Elena, along with a few pitchers of cold water and some snacks laid out. Simple food to grab and eat quickly. "Good to see you back, Afina," Tepen greets you. "Can you tell me with happened in more detail?"

[Ebiris]

"Yes, apologies for the abruptness but Sendings require conciseness," Afina says, helping herself to a snack. "The centre of the fortress held a magical apparatus that was catalyst for a transmutation bomb of some sorts. It was bleeding magic into the rock beneath the city which I believe would detonate after a critical point was reached. There was also a very tricky trap that would have it react to a powerful dispel by opening an enormous portal to Nessus instead. The entire thing was being fed power from something above the cavern, and we could only slow its progress. After failing to contact you to request our forces purge the area, I tried dimension dooring to the surface to deal with it personally," she explains, taking a bite out of her apple and swallowing before going on. "Instead I found myself in a large chamber with various devils lurking on the edge of my darkvision. Taelfagn was there as well, and I clapped and said he'd waited a long time to meet me. That the fated hour had arrived for my crusade to end and that only hell awaited me."

She shakes her head, "I didn't trade barbs or fight, I just went very fast and dispelled the dimensional wardings around me then plane shifted to the plane of Water."

[Anastasia]

"That was wise. In your state..." Tepen lets it go. "Elons Rapids is secure and Liber is falling fast. We've had less resistance than in Elons Rapids, no sign of Dougalf, either."

[Ebiris]

"A futile act of defiance there would have gone unremarked and forgotten," she agrees with Tepen. "I did the best I could, and I hope it left him feeling frustrated." She has another bite of her apple. "Any word from our allies on the state of things elsewhere across Benfal?"

[Anastasia]

"Yes. I've just gotten word that the battle against Semyaza may be soon." Tepen says, "We'll know when it happens since it may well be apocalyptic. By all reports, things are going as well as could be hoped."

[Ebiris]

"Since my magic will be unreliable for the next while I'll assist here and defend Aurora if any attacks come our way. That's me caught up anyway," she says, finishing her apple and tossing the core into a wastebin before she studies the battlemap of Liber as it's updated via constant scrying on their forces.