Moving Statues

Scribe Notes: Session - Autumn 813

GM: Craig Harper
Night: Mondays; Short campaign at Craig's.
Level: Highish
House Rules: Opposed rolling combat system play test.

The Party

• Lath (party leader): Human female air-mage, with a penchant for destroying drow armies; quite intimidating in a red dress; also Merchant, Philosopher; sneaky when required. Will be accompanied Ernie & Oscar, air elementals, providing air-support.
• Silverfoam (Party MilSci & scribe): glowing Navigator, Troubador, Mechanician, Military Scientists, & many other useful things; is also a Namer. Will be accompanied by the even brighter Gullinbursti, mostly present for diversionary and signalling purposes.
• Isil Eth: the most enlightened of the party; mind-mage; female elf very slim, 6'4, wilful, well-endowed (with estates and offices — important for logistical reasons, as below).
• Tari: Statuesque elf (ie, tall female earth-mage good with Strength of stone), CAN caste on boat & (with warning) with flying. Accompanied by Falcon (sees thru its eyes); Wyvern in a spare pocket; swim thru rock; merge with trees.
• Michael (the adventurer): see self-description below; Solar mage, fighter, Spy &/or Thief &/or Hit-man ... as the occasion requires.
• Boabdil: Human Ranger from Arabie; Spy. Not long with the guild, but already has a reputation for being good with a bow and for sneaking up on the enemy.
• Nis: Shadow-mage; non-descript human male. Woke up in a temple, nakedish; Discovered & adopted by the Guild

The Adventure

!! For security reasons, Other than sketches of enemy positions & the like, the following scribe notes were only committed to paper AFTER the mission was over.

Lath put the party together because the Drow probably want herself, Silverfoam, & Isil Eth exceptionally dead, so was determined to make it harder for them, or give them an even better reason (and maybe a few more targets). Lath would also like to situate several 20-ton statues at selected venues across Alusia. For this Lath is "insulting" all members of the Party except IE & SF with 30,000 silver pennies.

The party introduced themselves.
Michael : I'm just a simple entity making his way in the universe, Solar mage, fighter, Urban wrangler; a human in the latest fashion.
Elf [stage-whisper to the other elves]: Obviously they have serious design flaws, but I didn't realise a new model was now available.

Isil Eth: "I have MANY friends ... I have a spell for that".
Tari: "Mass charm?"
Isil Eth: "Compel, actually".
[a little later] Nis: "No, no, no! I'm not looking into your eyes. Don't hypnotise me"
IE (with fake sincerity): "I wouldn't!" [Gestures languidly, indicating "Refer to the previous conversation"]

Since SF hadn't finished building his aircraft (Sssh! It's almost a secret), most of the travelling was to be by more mundane means. Because it was important for calculating the maximum speed when cruising(overland at least), the various titles & offices of the party-members and correct marshalling of the pennants was decided before embarking — Elvish magic being somewhat Baroque to the uninitiated. We left Seagate, sailing to Lath's island & thence to Adjepbar.

Tari: "Vila's manor is somewhere near here, isn't it?"
Lath: "Actually it's mine — he's just squatting".

Everyone was subjected to Vila's ritual to deny Drow astrology readings, also scrying. [A sad drollery at this point indicates the scribe's irritation at the valuable shipbuilding time recently squandered on Ranking That Spell to 20 instead].

After Vila's Unlocatability Ritual, there was some experimentation with Locate, and then distinctively locatable tokens were issued.
Confused party-member: "But I though the ritual ensured we couldn't be located?"
Michael [bluntly]: "That's for when the magic goes off, so that we can find your ..."
SF [quickly commandeering the conversation, for Morale reasons]: Or you can drop it when scouting or flying, to mark a particularly interesting place or person.

After a quick check to ensure that Vila hadn't automatically deducted gratuities at source, we returned to the Baronies, then cruised north to Walontaun to coordinate with the Western Kingdom's Command centre. The WK plan was to take a pass in Aladar in 3 days, once we had first "softened up" the ground near Phlanders Town. Although the General was confident there are only "a few thousand" enemy in that particular area, he warned that "Beyond the mountains there are Drow commanding orcs, ogres, humans, spider-people, and undead. Be careful: there's a lot of enemy forces down there. I believe Lath you're already well known to them.

The password for friendly troupes was "Praise the Sabulite" & the counter-response is "He shall make heroes of us all".

We drifted a few miles away to discuss our spying & fighting options and revise pre-planned manoeuvres before getting too close to the enemy. Also to make sure everyone knew the password & response. Hypnotism may have been threatened. There was some confusion over discussion of Guerrilla tactics ...
Michael: "What! Are you planning to take giant apes into combat?"
Isil Eth (to the other elves): "Please! Haven't we already had enough local problems with these monkeys".

Before reaching enemy territory, we put magic on, especially Flying on Michael & Boabdil whom the air elements were to drop behind enemy lines.
Lath (to her elementals): ... "then drop those 2 party members behind enemy lines, away from the enemy troops. Drop them only a foot or two."
Tari: "Better tell the elementals how small 1 foot actually is."
Good point! They knew a foot is three hands; unfortunately elementals have very, very big hands. To be safe Lath also puts Feather fall on our spies.

There was a broad demilitarised zone in between the enemy lines. As well as our group, there were other bands of flyers: the Western Kingdom forces mostly on shadow-wings. However the enemy fliers typically were squads led by 40-foot winged serpents each leading about 20 sets of wings (just the wings: as in "engage the invisiblity device"); bad baddies. Neither side's fliers are engaging in aerial combats instead fliers tested enemy defences — mostly enemy fliers testing friendly defences.

Phlander's village itself seemed deserted. There were two MAJOR camps 3 & 5 miles away; but lots of small groups were swarming on the ground (mostly human, orc, or a few larger "somethings"). Indeed most of the ground was covered with beings (some of it still is, in parts). They hadn't thrown up obvious defensive fortifications or taken static defensive positions, probably because they were 20 miles behind the lines. Clearly the Kingdom's scouts had seriously underestimated the enemy by at least a factor of five.

The WK's "line" was a sparse string of forts, each guarding a pass leading North through the hills. Each fort was under light siege (primarily token forces stopping the defenders sallying out and to catch any scouts the WK defenders might otherwise have dispatched).

We decided to test the resolve of a siege company. Well that was the intention, but it's just like peanuts: so hard to stop after cracking just one.

Michael cast his Weapon spells: Almost 2 hours duration; +25 to hit; +11 damage [SF: "I don't shock anyone, but might I also have a weapons spell?"]. At the Rounton Pass fort, Lath uses her magic to Speak on the Wind warning the defenders that violent weather was due momentarily and that we were sending a briefing group to advise them further.

Boabdil & Michael approached the fort and hailed for the sally port to be opened. Unfortunately they weren't heard over the roaring wind because the guards were cowering from the weather. Our scouts rushed to the gates ... if only for the partial shelter from the other hailing. The defenders opened up once Lath's voice intimidated them.

The Scouts flew back to the battle-ready ship. The besiegers were a bunch of orcs & humans stationed as a "show of force" to keep the defenders insider their forts. There was no sign any horseman. All the party were aboard, most in a counter-spell, but Isil Eth in "the trees" (a more flattering upper-mast position for her than "crows' nest") over an area of Enhanced Enchantment on damage, and the vessel rounded the fort at about 8 knots: faster than the ordinary infantry could run, but not too fast that party-members couldn't safely jump off.

Lath: "We're attacking in a goddam PURPLE barge"
Elf: "Actually it's more a pucey lavender"

Isil Eth damaged a lot of them (34 targets) with a bespoke variant of Telekinetic Rage; Lath, likewise enhanced, disposed of some other besiegers with Whirlwind Vortices. Michael leapt, plummeting off the mauving vessel (perhaps too fastidious to been seen on an insufficiently heliotrope transport) and violetly, I mean violently, struck [3-1] for 36 pts an enemy that wasn't stunned but swung back [4-2] for 21 pts. Tari threw half a scimitar at the same besieger & it went down. Boabdil's bow [3-1] struck another for 25. Throughout the combat, Nis used SF's wand to amuse the enemy with high ranks of Bolt of Fire, not always damaging but still daunting.

The enemy swarmed towards us, until IE Raged again. Michael [3-1] soundly struck another for 27 points: it broke & fled. Boabdil [1-0] shot another lightly (15 pt). To strategically conceal the fact she could cast Earth magic from a moving ship, Tari deployed Dragonflames, enhanced, killing about 16, leaving 16 more smouldering. It was all over after one more pair of "broadsides" (if you'll forgive the familiar expression): Isil Eth recast (17 dead, 17 out of fatigue); Lath's WV was 91 pts, resist for half. We quickly checked the command position for items of interest.

Later that night

Since defence spells were still in effect, we proceeded at higher-than-normal speed to the next besieging company. For more versatility, all party-members had counter-mind spells on so that Isil Eth could cast ordinary TKR, this time with enhanced range, which would be more efficient, especially when she had a triple effect (-20 on resist) with double range. Being under counter-Namer protection, the elementals were obliged to stay well out of range of Isil Eth, flanking the ship at a distance; but since they were Windstorming, that suited us if not the enemy. Fortunately, Isil Eth is highly illuminating, visible for hundreds of yards so the Elementals know where we are.
Michael: "Four hundred yards, maybe the sun really does shine out of her ..."

Lath (to elementals): "And stay well clear of Isil Eth's rage, about 180 or 200 yards".
Michael: "Or is that her ego?"
Isil Eth: "The edges of my ego are FAR further than 180 yards".

After a couple of rinse & repeats, we slowed down and circled the hillock, DA-ing for Loot at this force's command hillock.
Michael: Everything appears to be paste.
SF: You mean not real gems?
Michael: No I mean it's all covered in goo — most of its formerly living, Isil Eth.

At our third (or was it fourth?) position, we encounter a camp of humans, shivering in bivouwacks trying to huddle under trees & bushes. The usual suspects scouts, Boabdil & Michael, were sent out as human emissaries, but the enemy were speaking something like Arkenrossi; so when the scouts find a blasted officer, or rather the corpse of one in very singed Erelhaine armour, they appropriated it.
Michael: "We leg off with the body and my image can stay there to cope with the enemy".
There was only a half-hearted hue or cry from the bedraggled human soldiers (just a platoon or two).

Lath: "We should go down below and change into armour".
Elf: "We ARE wearing our armour".
Lath: "Shit, I'm underdressed".

We cruised back slowly, and Isil Eth commanded the body back to life. The resurrected captain, Lian San-Su, was Arkenrossi and he chatted most politely with Silverfoam, which is the inbred Arkenrossi response to any elf-like figure dressed in blood-red lacquered Erelhaine lamellar armour, speaking courltly Erelhaine, even when the officer is glowing. We learnt from San-Su that Lord Dredrodge intended to be in Phlanders in the next day or so. San-Su had been ordered to move up to the Phlanders area: there's going to be a big push in the next day or two. San-Su also planned to settle down in the Phlanders area as part of the Drow's Veteran plan.

Tari: "What's in Phlanders?"
Michael: "It's a little place that's NEVER been visited by the guild, so it's probably idyllic".

The party next decided to scout North & East of Phlander between it & Pherizon. The ship was parked near a copse; two pairs of flyers sent out. In particular, M&B went out to find a lone sentry. Michael was invisible, so the scout was quickly sapped; M then put an "intestinal comensual" in him, enabling M to see thru his eyes. ("You say we elves are unethical ..."). To frighten the scout into fleeing to safety (i.e., his camp), Michael made himself appear faceless in a winged helmet, and bestrode the reviving the human, bellowing "I, avatar of Thing-o-some, have come to slay you all." Whereupon, the guy leapt and ran North — oops one of *our* scouts it seems. Michael just heard a whistle at the range of hearing; and mentioned it on the Mindspeech. Boabdil saw some large dogs casting around for a scent: he threw the powdered aniseed, to cover his scent & flew to the ship ... unfortunately the running dogs were freakishly fast, managing to keep up. IE Teleported back to the ship; SF windwalked. Michael sapped & rescued the friendly spy from his predicament, explaining the situation & they both came back to the ship, apparently.

There were 2 packs, each of 8 monstrous dogs: Alarmingly LARGE monstrous dogs, in armour, carry weapons, and whistles.
MilSci: "We need to know what those freaks can do, so let's pretend to flee from them".
Anonymous: "That doesn't take much pretending, actually".
Travelling just slow enough for them to maybe catch us -- barely 35 mph -- we (apparently) almost fell for their sheep-dog strategy, getting close enough to DA a few: GTN Dog-warrior; about 50 combined EN&FT; no additional magical abilities (didn't really need any). One of the Dog-warriors had been hit by Boabdil arrow, and it fell behind; after a safe distance, an elemental was dispatched to retrieve it. Generally they stayed out of bow range. Two Double-range enhanced range TKRs and most are killed.

A New day dawns

There was a brief re-evaluation. Since Boabdil & Isil Eth had good vision even at night, they flew off on a scouting mission over the enemy while some of the opposition were still unaware we were in the area; they initially Windwalked & had a private Mindspeech. IE was glowing but insubstantial, like a fast moving omen in the sky. She concentrated on looking for distinguishing emblems of the forces or, more likely, the Nobles; Bobadil used his spy skill to estimate troop numbers. From the large number and position of war engines, in addition to the foot forces, they estimated that the enemies big push is only a day or two away & that it would be messy. When the Windwalking spells wore out, they were several miles beyond the enemy & switched to ordinary Flying. Isil Eth thrust her observations directly into Boabdil's mind ("She can do that?!") and started flying South to act as a Diversion, especially since dawn was approaching, so that Boabdil could go North and report this crucial intelligence to the High Command who were obviously lacking it.

Meanwhile back on the ship, that friendly spy Michael rescued (after terrifying & exposing him) wanted to report back to his command ASAP. Although we'd lashed down the provisions and counterspelled the party, including Gullinbursti, we'd forgotten the spy was down below until something struck the ship's hull from the inside almost exactly when the second TKR went off. He was given wings and flew back to his unit. I hope he got back safely: night-time landing is dangerous and he had been very unlucky so far that night. We sent the ship directly to the Rounton Pass fort, with a note, and we gaseously transported to Lath's statue in Walontaun with possessions (including the pennants): to report and, more importantly sleep. We informed Blitzkrieg of the revised enemy figures.

Lath required watermages with Waters of vision, to see how the enemy were coping with her weather assault — and they were doing better than expected. She also needed alchemical assistance to stay awake. It appeared that their mages, like sneaky naming fairies, could ameliorate some of the aspects over the few square miles of the main force. So, while the rest of the party went to bed before dawn, Lath concentrated on one aspect at a time: wind guage, precipitation, temperature, lightning; switching to ensure that some excess got through.

Eventually, glowing Isil Eth was intercepted by fliers: winged snakes and humanoids that were gradually catching up to her as she flew south and then east. She intended more broken-wing ruses to lure them into spell-range, but when the orcs started preparing their bows at 1000' she counter-prepared, then Teleported above and behind them, letting loose with TKR-like magic that blasted half of the humanoids out of the skies, and a rider, but none of the winged serpents. Before they could close or counter-attack, she Teleported again, 10 miles to the north, and spotting Boabdil in the pre-dawn, merely another 9 miles away, with her not-in-the-least-beady eagle-like eyes.

Boabdil had also been spotted by one of the second-line forts that didn't realise they were supposed to be friendly. He was attacked by spinning spear-like projectiles that were not only. Although he evaded well, the projectiles were near misses; moreover near enough was good enough, as they shattered into many shards after just missing; and he was being injured. She Teleported near him (not too close & on the lea side), healed him with an Empathy, then teleported down to the gunners at the fort, announced she was Princess Isil Eth, here at General Blitzkrieg's request; so was the friendly flier returning with vital information that they were shooting at, so please stop. Which they did, naturally. On Mindspeech, Bobadil was called down. The forts had standing instructions to fire on all fliers. Isil Eth arranged for signals that friendly forces could use in the next few days to safely fly nearby; and She & Boaddil were given advice on where not to stray when returning with their information.

They returned to Walontaun over an hour later, to delivery their alarming estimates. Meanwhile the drug-fuelled Lath had come up with several plans. The district where lay the enemy was cold, so waterlogged that rain was running over the ground. There was extensive surface flooding, and previous snow and hail had turned to muddy slush. Most tents and inanimate supplies had blown away. The suggestion of icing over the Ffenargh (again!) and using snow and wind-sweeping it to build an Icewall to help flood the area was impractical.

The best plan decided on was to change the artificially fair weather North & East of the enemy as far as the Dragonspine Mountains to steady rain as well as what was falling near the enemy. The catchment closes to the Enemy was to be left unfettered to ensure the Lowland region retained its surface flooding. The main Aquilan and Bowcourt rivers feeding the Ffennargh were both to be dammed, primarily by earth magics. Then the dams would be burst and the waters would wash down on the enemy like a flash flood miles across. Indeed the volume of water would be so extensive it would bounce off the surrounding high land.

When the rest of the party woke up refreshed, their specialised knowledge helped clean up some of the details.

The battle of Fort Montcrief

In Walontaun, the powerful, possibly damp Blitzkrieg waded through the courtyard & demanded that the rain stops. Talk about a wet blanket. Then a flunky came, saying something is happening at the enemy camp. The Waters of vision showed a large dome over their camp (some sort of force wall?); another reported that Fort Montcrief was under attack from a large numbers of humanoids.

Fort Montcrief, the eastern-most stronghold of the line, held Commander Titus & about 200 men, would be a crucial point for the invaders to hold. At the back is an unscalable rock-face, with a disk-launcher at its top. On the cruise down, Lath catnaps until it is time for pre-battle spell-casting. Some suggestions were made including using Lath's special knife which cuts a hole between 2 places. But, after scrying the position, we adapted the ship so that we could "park" it beside the wall at the same height as the defenders so that they can retreat aboard, with a Spell-wall amidships on the port side to negate much of the incoming enemy magic.

Lath: "I'll use Noxious Vapours to knock out the enemy. Don't worry, you've all got Vapour Breathing".
Tari: "Ahh! I've been out with air mages before. Are you SURE it's still running?"
Lath: "It lasts for ... er, some hours". [Pauses & counts on fingers] "Oh. I'll recast it then".

Lath: "Humans at the front. If anyone goes down, one of the pointy-ears can Empathy them back".
Tari: "I'm an ELF & I don't do empathy".
Lath: "Why not? The other two can".
Silverfoam: "That's true, although we do have to learn it; empathy is NOT intrinsic to most elves".

Rushing to the fort, we saw the ground was flooded, the defenders & attackers on the broad walls in combat and several enemy siege engines arriving over the water (presumably by Mage Current). Ten seconds before arriving Silverfoam casts a Dispel Magic and we decide to stop in front of the main gate rather than inside the fort as originally intended. Incidentally, we saw large Spiders-with-human-heads and dextrous forearms are scaling up the unscalable rock-face, so Lath dispatched her elementals to attack them.

Pulse-1: preparing as we arrived, we took the initiative. Tari did 44-damage Dragonflames, mostly on the enemy. Isil Eth's Wrath did 37 pts magical damage (resist for half), on 5 enemy targets: 1 dead. Lath cast Noxious vapours (on enemy & friendly forces). Michael leapt off, doing 40 endurance from behind to an attacker who thoroughly deserved it.

The enemy responded with a large burning ball arcing over their troops [Actually is was probably in flight before we arrived — I knew we'd arrive in the thick of things]. The ball hit the ship and disassembled into the inferno zombies, which causes Isil Eth's aura to flare doing 22 pts of damage, resist for half and enraging the zombies to attack; bestowing a further +11 WP on all friendly people. Lath Announces to everyone in the battle field "I will offer 20,000 silvers to anyone who kills him." Given that Michael was glowing brightly (almost 0.1 IsilEths) it was clear whom she meant.

Pulse-2: Lath stab/stabbed [5-1,4-0] with two sabres (45+55) on a single foe; Michael missed [1-1] but his opponent also missed and his friend swung at Michael so very badly [0-4] that Michael killed him on the repost, just from the damage; Tari hit & popped a zombie; Nis hit a slow zombie with a dagger 3 times [3-0, 2-0, 1-0] and it fell apart; Princess Aura did another 22 (R-for-half), and cast (both succeeding & backfiring). While the remaining enemy & friendlies melee on the wall and Spiders & elemental struggle on high, a few goblins propelled themselves onto the ship at about 50mph, each with a large "Bladder of Flying" under an arm ["They've weaponised bagpipes!"]. they were variously carrying large red or green bladders. A grenado landed on the ship, which the Princess didn't want to go off, so it didn't. The ship was also boarded by attackers retreating off the wall, two attacking Isil Eth — one missing & one seriously flailing, to which Isil Eth reposted for 22. Lath moved up. The Ship/Boording quickly drifted closed. An enemy moved up, wacking Tari for 17. Amidst the violence, unengaged Silverfoam prepared.

Pulse-3: Nis stabbed a goblin [1-1], then fumbled (1 FT self-damage); the goblin evaded & ran toward its mate, so Tari went all wolven, intercepting it & push it back with a single paw. Michael attacked a singed orc from behind for 39 (less armour), which ran away after Michael said "boo". Lath dropped the agility of several orcs by 17 (thanks to friendly sprites) and laid in with lots of vicious blows 1@3, 2@4 & 3@5 (doing about 100 pts to each). It is possible her scimitars were poisoned. Isil Eth stepped sideways & multi-striked; 1 goblin ran & leapt onto the wolfen and smacked its bag onto the other one. More on both sides fall asleep from the Vapours. SF cast Shipstrength on the ship/siege towers for no effect (as suspected, but we'll come back to that).

Pulse-4: Tari pushed a goblin off the ship and leaps on the wall. Michael hit it [3-0] for 19pts EN & it was down. SF cast a Conterspell [water-gen] to knock out the Mage-current under front-centre ship & takes out the current moving all the ships. Isil Eths's semi-circular Telekinetic Wrath knocked many attackers off the wall & off some of the stationary ships [36 pts R-for-half]. Lath's hits were 1,2 (misses) ; 5[-1] = 52 on endurance; 1 (miss), and 3[-0] for 38 to EN. And then the poison had run out. IE did the same again, but double damage this time [72 r-half].

Meanwhile, the elementals are very ill & are retreating.
Lath: "The elementals say it was a Wroth of Storm".
Isil Eth: "What is a Wrath of storm?" BR> Lath: "It's a mind thing; so YOU go up and deal with it".

ON HIGH: So Isil Eth Teleported up and tried to cast a spell inside the defensive slit that the Arachnoids had scuttled into; In return, She was attacked and grappled in close by the enemy air-elemental that was aiding the spiders to defeat Lath's elementals, which closed on her. IE went insubstantial, but the elemental still restrained her; so the Princess transferred sufficient WP to her PS that she might out-strength the elemental, slipping its grasp & attempting to trigger. Successfully, since that space was attacked by an exploding Disc fired by the spiders from the Redoubt, which somewhat damaged their own air elemental.

DOWN BELOW: SF failed to Counterspell the ship first go, but succeeded on the second, and thengot the next one too. That musty dust Tari breathed in? Spores, which caused her internal pain, so she concentrated on healing herself. Then he dispelled siege-engine/ships were amalgamated into several sturdy ramming pontoons, crossed braced, and several short masts mdash; so considerate of the enemy to provide so much material. Couldn't put it on fire, but did propel it on a Rank-20 Magewind back toward the formerly following vessels, which, coincidentally, were retreating (presumably the water mage had healed himself by that stage).

Storming the heights

Isil Eth Teleported back down and (after a quick heal) Empathied both Elementals, who were still moaning about their boo-boos; SF Empathied Tari, who had mushrooms sprouting from her skin in a fashion avante-garde even for an elf.

Clever thinking: Tari advises the army to blockade the fort's internal entrance to the mountaintop Redoubt.

The party reassembled to take on the Redoubt. Lath did Eddy on everyone, except the elementals (for technical reasons); The plan was for the party to Windwalk to the peak (Rank-1 speed at 30 seconds). IE & Michael went first (SF casts Banishment); then Tari & SF. Unfortunately the enemy elemental came towards Isil Eth who Teleported away (not relying on Windwalk to protect her from an air elemental, especially that one). So it went for Michael, who dived into it with a hidden bone dagger, poisoned ("Because I'm a bastard") with some of Tari's elemental earth, but didn't strike [1-1]; and resisted its Whirlwind Vortex.

Pulse 4. Michael had initiative and struck [4-2]: 22 pts & elemental earth that did seem to be doing damage, the spell on the dagger worked but didn't quite. It took 2 swings at Michael, one getting through; Isil Eth Teleported next to the entity and did 30 pts damage because of proximity (either because it was a Republican or an Unnatural, possibly both); She tried to dodge & and received 22 pts of damage Herself. SF's cast Dispel so that he could interact with the enemy. Surprisingly, Tari could be seen by Silverfoam & Lath; and SF seen by Lath & Tari -- presumably part of the mountain-top defences? A threshhold that Tari & SF were above and Lath below.

Pulse 5. Isil Eth 22 pts damage through violence & 30 through Aura; Michael missed [3-3]; the powerful elemental hitting back [3-2] 32 pts fatigue on Michael; plus Black Lightning 20pts on both party-members; Isil Eth doing a bonus hit it [3-1] for 28 more pts. Tari went Walking Unseen. SF Counterspelled the wind walking on him & raised WP. And Lath released 30 stones into the storm about the elemental: three bags of magical sling-stones (each reducing PS by d10) — and the intensity of the storm reduced noticeably. IE switched WP to PS so that She & Michael out-strengthed the elemental !! A spinning disk hit Tari [2-1]for 58pts less armour (yes, she WAS still wind-walking-unseen), so she recovered from stun.

Pulse 6. Michael stabbed [2-1] for 14 damage +poison; the Princess did 24+30pt Aura. Elemental missed Michael maximally [0-5]; but burst of Lightning 24pts; Isil Eth's 2nd hit did 39pts END. Silverfoam's Banishment counterspell worked, but it resisted (01!). Lath moved in and melêé it [3-1], [3-1] doing 34&39 fat. Neither party-member in close was struck by any of the stones. Tari prepared healing potion, understandably. Pulse 7. M did [2-1] 12pts damage, plus poison; Isil Eth did [4-1] 28 End+30 from Aura, but missed her 2nd strike [3-3]; the puny Elemental missed twice, but its Rending winds did 11 pts & Black Lighting did 21. Lath savaged it twice. SF did a banishing Counterspell, Resist-at-minus-20, which it did (04!). Tari healed herself.

Pulse-8. Michael [4-1] did 18 END; Isi Eth [2-1] did 20pts +30 Aura. Lath [2-1; 2-2] did only 19, but it was banished or killed. Tari reached the peak along with the friendly elementals and saw steel flash out of the web-covered bunker towards IE, who dodged [2-1] but received 24 pts, less armour, as it exploded. IE picked up dozen-plus minds in range.

Soon after, the rest of us had flown up to the biunker and Isil Eth cast a Rank 20 Light on an item and tossed it through the webs across the bunker entrance. The remaining humans inside were terrified; probably from the 12 Sentient spiders. The party was on or about the Wall of Stone that Tari had cast above the bunker, since we planned to Tunnel down into the redoubt.

Four sentient spiders (GTN: Spiders of the Crypt) spilled out of the bunker to attack us. Michael's Funnel of Sunlight does 74 pts damage (resist half); but only one of was also dazzled (-33 off PC rolls etc).

Michael "I didn't think Web would work on them".

The Elementals remembered the plan to Protect Tari while she was on the wall/ledge. One did a [5-0;5-0] surprising 34 points twice; the other doing merely [3-0;5-0] 31&40. Silverfoam whimmed to one, charging with a non-pole weapon [3-0] doing 34 END damage, and it fell over the edge; Isil's spell did 52 (R-for-half) to the rest and they cavorted for 5 seconds. Tari's Tunneling succeeded and she was temporarily blinded by the Rank-20 Light.

Silverfoam flew down, tossing a portable bonfire randomly into the bunker; IsilEth dropped the light down to 25%, revealing the bonfire burning merrily on the missile launcher, then cast a 156 pt damage spell (R-for half), wiping out Fatigue [only!] on two of the remaining spiders; one of which Michael attacked [3-0, since the target didn't resist & failed WP] Lath attacked and

... more to be added later.

Incidental quotes

Tari: Why don't we just put up in the best inn in Baretskyne?
Michael: There are no Inns in Baretskyne. And if there were, they'd only serve spirits.

Buffs & optional Boosts

ARMOUR

STRENGTH OF STONE

Water and Wind Proofing (SF)

Water Breathing (SF), allows the target to breathe and see equally well under water as on land; completely negates created Fog, etc.

Counter on request — e.g., Rank 16 ctr mind