Walking to Rosewater

[Ebiris]

And now that she doesn't have to use stealth, Alicia starts actively purifying the air around her while looking to see where specifically the poison is coming from.

Dance of the unicorn SLA, negates poisons within 170 foot radius.

[Anastasia]

Poisons are purged, the air clean once more. It's coming from the way you came, probably ultimately from somewhere on the surface.

[Ebiris]

That's some extremely fast distribution especially through closed doors. Well, they're going to backtrack anyway, nothing served by spending time and effort fighting the wall-golems here, though if the watch-eyes in the hallway ahead cause trouble they'll get bashed up.

[Anastasia]

You rush back. The watch-eyes do nothing to stop you as you race back to the intersections. No signs of resistance beyond the poison, at least not yet.

[Ebiris]

Once they leave this long tunnel they'll be in an area that - at least when they last came through, was fairly well trafficked. So Alicia pauses with a foot on the ground before the end of it, tremorsense updating her as to what's ahead for them as well as what she can sense and hear further afield in terms of response being organised.

[Anastasia]

The ground above has more and more feet on it - dozens by the moment. Human sized things by and large, invading in swiftly. They're surrounding the inn and brother, as well as the other exit points.

[Ebiris]

What about down here with them?

[Anastasia]

Nothing. All the activity seems aboveground.

[Ebiris]

'They've evacuated everyone from down here...'

Again Alicia is surprised and dismayed at how smooth it all is. No demons left behind and afflicted by poison, slowed down by poor organisation or distraction. If they could teleport it would be one thing, but without that option it speaks of a truly impressive level of precision.

It does give them free run to go around destroying everything in sight, but she can't take that sort of time while those above are digging in and preparing a killing ground for them.

From what she can hear and perceive via tremorsense, where are the orders coming from up above? Who's putting things into motion and directing people to their positions?

[Anastasia]

Voices from above. Just curt directions and little else.

Admittedly with telepathy something else is probably in play.

"So smooth," Antenora says, "This isn't like demons at all."

[Ebiris]

Can I take 10 for 65 on profession (general) to get an idea of where the orders are originating from based on the flow of movement? I'm planning on bursting up from below and taking out the commanders.

[Anastasia]

You could, sure. Give me an K:P check as well for some context about demonic tactics.

[Ebiris]

take 10 for 65 too.

[Anastasia]

They're coming away from the exits, somewhere above them. Tremorsense isn't that helpful pinpointing it. The thing is...this really doesn't match demon tactics. It's too thoughtful, too tactical on that level. You'd expect a screaming horde of demons and fury, not surgical precision and accuracy.

That being said, you can pinpoint where they should be within about 20ft or so.

[Ebiris]

Blasting through doors with silver fire and shortening space with space compression so they can move faster than can easily be reacted to, Alicia leads the others to a spot in the underground complex underneath where she thinks the commands are originating and within 70 feet of the surface!