Mora's Home
All focus seems shifted now from haphazard ideas toward two things: the contents of the chest which Achilles dug up, and Selunine's vision.

As the book was passed around, it became clear that the strange writing on it was something that nobody could understand. It had the basis of many different languages, but it seemed to have its own style which was entirely foreign to everyone.

Trillion stepped forward to detect magic on the two items, the book and the pendant. The two items are magical, with minor auras of illusion and transmutation. The box however, is also magical, with a strong aura of conjuration.

When the book is presented to Mora's parents, they seem puzzled. Her father addresses you, "You found that on our property? I aint never seen it before. I can't even read the cover of it. Is it some kinda storybook or something? Still, seems like an interesting find. You go ahead and keep it. It's nothing of ours."

However, when the talk of Melios' breath began, a cackle is heard from behind you. Out of nothing appears two women, one a fully developed adult, the other a little girl. They stand roughly 50 feet away from you. The two have similar features, both being thin and tanned, with vibrant green hair. Over their right eyes, they each have a tattoo of what seems to be a massive tooth. The older one is covered with many more tattoos on her arms, hands and feet, but the little girl is untouched by in save the tooth.

The older one looks at your group, a sneer on her face. "Melios' breath eh? It seems like you don't know what you're meddling with. A quick word of advice; give us the girl, and forget everything that you know. It'll all be over soon." She gives the little girl beside her a tap on the shoulder. The little one takes off in the opposite direction, towards Badon, running at full speed.

The tattooed woman points at Ninian. "Like I said, give her to me, and this will be so much easier. I don't want to have to have things get ugly, and I somehow feel you don't either. Ninian, come over here. Linus misses you. He wants to see you again."

Ninian shakes her head vigorously. "No... no... she's attacking my mind... not Linus... no..."

Mora puts Ninian behind her and moves forward with the intensity of a mother protecting her young. Her hand goes instictively to her sword and she draws it in a single clean motion. She hopes the others might be able to help Ninian with magics.

There is something about the woman and it rankles Mora in a way that had never happened to her before.

Feeling the need to get his point across, Achilles doesn't really care about CHILLUN' NOW DOES HE?

Having a good idea he slips on the amulet from the chest before entering the fight, losing Hand of Glory and Ring of Water Walking. He then says strongly "I AM THE LAW".

activating his Ring of Chameleon power he can hide quit nicely in WIDE OPEN SPACES.

Achilles always happy to use his favorite toy, a tan bag. Whips out a ball and throws it towards the child running towards badon. Hoping he gets the right animal, such as a tiger or bear, he tells it pin down child.

With his staff, Achilles decides to beat down the tattooed woman. And keep beating her with his stick. (No i mean he is going to beat her with his staff, that's the plan he has.)

If somehow his plans works once he is done he will restrain the two with his masterwork manacles and all his rope and chains. holding them in the air with the block and tackle already hanging in a tree.

-----------------------Short version------------------------
1)Achilles takes of hand of glory with ring of water walking attached to it off

2)Put on strange amulet found on box.

3) Pulls out staff

4)Abundant step 15 feet in front of little girl

5) Bag of tricks used in direction of little girl

6) First attack I'll make will be on the little one, knocking her out. not lethal

7) Moving on to the older woman. Quilvering palm on her first chance i get, lethal. Then a ki strike.

Restrain the child as much as possible. (Load in van and go)

Selunine glanced over to the mocking laughter behind her. As her eyes fell on the tattooed woman and child they narrowed. They were an odd pair and their appearance out of nothing harkened magic. The fey quickly studied the area around the two searching for any residues of a magical matrix.

The older woman looks at the group, a sneer on her face. "Melios' breath eh? It seems like you don't know what you're meddling with. A quick word of advice; give us the girl, and forget everything that you know. It'll all be over soon." She gives the little girl beside her a tap on the shoulder. The little one takes off in the opposite direction, towards Badon, running at full speed.

The tattooed woman points at Ninian. "Like I said, give her to me, and this will be so much easier. I don't want to have to have things get ugly, and I somehow feel you don't either. Ninian, come over here. Linus misses you. He wants to see you again."

Ninian shakes her head vigorously. "No... no... she's attacking my mind... not Linus... no..."
Selunine eyes narrow to slits at the strange woman's bravado. This woman may have some skill in the art of compulsion, but it was as natural to her people as breathing. The enchantress focuses her gaze on the tattooed woman and her violet eyes begin to glow brightly. As she chants and gestures her voice begins to echo trying to reverberate inside the woman's mind.

(OOC: Casts Dominate Person on the tattooed adult woman.)

Trillion whirled at the first crackle of laugther. She spotted the two figured emerging from teh woods surrounding Mora's parent's farm.

Reciting the ancient words of her chosen the spell she cast fireball (11d6) targeted not exactly on the woman herself, in case she might resist such a spell, but rather to a spot not far from her so she would be caught in the area of effect.

This harridan wanted the girl with Mora, Trillion ws equally adamant that the woman would not get her

OOC:Initiatives: Selunine: 8 ( 5+3 )
Morasennarion: 25 ( 20+5 )
Trillion: 22 ( 16+6 )
Achilles: 23 ( 19+4 )
Ninian: 4

Sonia: 14
Nino: 6
______________________________

Morasennarion whirls around as the women emerge, and immediately moves to take up a defensive stance in front of Ninian. Drawing her blade as she goes, she prepares herself for the worst, readying herself to defend against anything which may come toward Ninian with the intention of harming her.

Achilles decided to take a more offensive approach. He quickly fumbles with his two amulets, replacing his normal one with the new amulet found in the ancient chest. He then takes out his quarterstaff, and takes what appears to be one step. However, the step that he takes seems to tear him through reality, and he reappears in front of the little girl, staff in hands. However, the supernatural powers that coursed through him caused a brief moment of fatigue, and he was unable to attack the girl yet. But he was ready.

Trillion also had decided to take an offensive approach to this assault. Calling forth magical energies from her celestial blood, and feeling the pulsing energies of magic go through her, she shaped them to her own will, compacting the magic to form a tiny bead of glowing orange. Then, gesturing slightly off center of the woman, and the bead leapt from her hands, flying across the distance to precisely where Trillion had directed it, and then exploding into a brilliant ball of orange fire, engulfing the woman. When the fire cleared, however, the woman stands there, in an impossible position with her knees bent at a 90 degree angle, her lying straight out, but not touching the ground. When she rises back up, she doesn't even appear to have been singed by the blast.

(Reflex save: 30 - evasion negates damage)

The woman then laughs. "You dare defy me, simpletons? Very well... you shall die like everyone else has before you!" With that, the woman begins moving her hands in intricate patterns, the movements of a witch. There is a faint metallic clinking underneath her cloak, but it does not seem to be impeding her spellcasting in any way. "You know, some say our world will end in fire... some say it will end in Ice." She finishes moving her hands, and a blue bead appears on her hands. "Guess which I say?"

The ball streaks from her hand, exploding in a brilliant blue light. The light engulfs Trillion, Morasennarion, and Selunine, but doesn't quite reach Ninian. The area within the light is frigid, and the cold seems to eat at your skin.

(Damage: 56, reflex half. Reflex saves:
Selunine: 28 ( 20+8 )
Morasennarion: 25 ( 16+9 )
Trillion: 32 ( 18+14 )

All take half damage)

The three of you are able to throw your hands up, cover yourself with cloaks, or look away in time to shield your vulnerable spots from the biting cold. You look back and see the witch cackling with glee.

Selunine cooly stares at the witch, as her eyes begin to glow violet. Her eyes lips began muttering, and then the words became louder. These words, filled with ancient magics of her people called out to the witch, demanding her to submit to them, and stop harming them, and putting the girl in danger.

(Will Save: 17)

And with the power behind Selunine's words, the witch's cackling stops. The witch stands there dumbly, staring off into space, awaiting the orders of her new master.

When Achilles appears in front of her, the little girl lets out a small yelp, but doesn't stop her advance. Instead, she leaps forward at the man, but then curls inward, and rolls through his legs. She gets back up on her feet, but as Achilles turn to face her, he notices that the girls shadow had separated from her body... and was now standing face to face with him. A cool sensation goes through Achilles, and he looks down to see one of the shadow's wispy tendrils touching him, seeming to draw his life energy out from him. When the shadow let go, Achilles' muscles felt weaker, but only just. He could still fight.

(Nino's tumble check: 39)

(Shadow's touch attack: 19
Damage: 3 Strength Damage.)

Ninian stopped shaking her head, as the magical bombardment stopped. When she looked up to see the woman standing there dumbly, she let out a hiss, but did nothing more. Her eyes, however, seemed to emit a faint light.

________________________________________

Round one of combat done. Here is a rough (very rough) interpretation of where everyone is.


.................................................S........
..................................................
..K........OA.................W...........M......N
..................................................
................................................T........
..................................................

K = Nino (Kid)
O = Nino's Shadow
W = Sonia (Witch)

A = Achilles
S = Selunine
M = Morasennarion
T = Trillion
N = Ninian

Any questions, I'll be in the Q&A thread.

As the last words of her enchantment left her lips Selunine felt the magical weave close in around the woman, enthralling her to her will. The witch stared at her with vacant glazed eyes. Brushing off the chill of the woman's spell Selunine reached out across the newly formed telepathic bond and caressed the woman's mind, she felt it bend to her will. She would be able to glean much from the woman, but for now another adversary was still at hand.

You will remain here my pet, and will do nothing save to defend my life. Her silvery telepathic voice echoed in the witch's mind, and the woman remained still.

Turning her attention from the thrall she addressed her companions, "I hold the witch, but the child still runs free. Take the little one out my friends."

Without hesitation Selunine's hands flash and gesture agilely as she intones the words to a new spell. With the violet light in her eyes never dimming she focuses the matrix around the running child.

(OOC: Casts hold person on Nino - the kid)

Trillion aborts her spell that she readied to cast against the tattooed woman instead she flies up and after the fleeing girl. Trillion is much faster in the air than the girl on the ground.

Mora moves forward, advancing on the woman with her sword at ready. "Ninian, stay behind me or any of the others."

There is something about this woman she does not like, and to threaten Ninian and her family had raised her ire to the flaming point.

OOC:Initiatives: Selunine: 8 ( 5+3 )
Morasennarion: 25 ( 20+5 )
Trillion: 22 ( 16+6 )
Achilles: 23 ( 19+4 )
Ninian: 4

Sonia: 14
Nino: 6

___________________________________________________

Morasennarion advances toward the woman, cautiously holding her weapon forward, ready for anything that might come unexpectedly. She does not trust that the woman is subdued, and is ready to fight to protect her new friend Ninian.

Achilles stands dumbstruck, partly frozen from shock of the shadow separating from its owner, and partly hoping the shadow would leave him alone.

Trillion jumps into the air and takes off toward the girl. Her wings spread majestically, almost resembling the an angel. The wind whipped through her hair as she took off toward the girl, closing the distance with all haste, hoping she could catch the girl before she made it to the trees.

The tattooed woman bows to Selunine, and speaks "Yes master. I shall defend you. You shall have nothing to worry about." With that, she walks toward Selunine, a determined walk to arrive, without delay.

Selunine, satisfied with her work on the tattooed woman, turned her attention to the child. With intricate movements of her hands, she throws magic into the air to go and bind the child.

(DC = 20 (10 + 2(Spell Level) + 7(Int Mod) + 1 (Fey Heritage)

Nino's save: 21)

Selunine watches the quasi real bonds go flying after the girl. They smoothly slip around the girls limbs, and begin to harden, attempting to hold her in place. However, the girl's eyes widen, then close, and Selunine sees the bonds shatter into tiny pieces, and fall to the ground, the girl unaffected.

Nino could feel the bonds forming on her, and decided that something else was necessary. She moved at a slower pace, moving her hands in intricate patterns, and focusing very hard on her hands. Suddenly, a copy appears beside her, moving in the same way. The two split apart, hoping to cause a bit of confusion.

Nino's shadow, seeing Achilles frozen in place, decides to move away, and move closer to Nino, though when she splits, he remains in the middle, not giving away which is which.

Ninian says, "Mora, I will stay back here, away from harm. But don't put yourself in too much danger. You are my second true friend in this world."

.................................................S........
K..................................W..............
...O........A..........................M...........N
K.................................................
........................T..............................
..................................................

Selunine hissed in vexation as the child broke free of her bonds. The fey's as narrow as she watched the child create a copy of herself. Several nasty spells came to mind and readied herself to unleash a storm of arcane fury on the little chit.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Mora advancing on the enthralled witch. Selunine flung out a hand at the woman, "Stay your blade Mora. I hold the witch's mind, she is of no threat now. The running child is yet free, we must stop her."

The enchantress focused her gaze on the child and her double. Her violet eyes still glowing with magic narrowed as she pulled greater power to her. She chanted and gestured, and a thin layer of frost seemed to glisten on her fingers. With a final cry she threw her hands upward and open to the skies. A great cacophony exploded above the child and great icy shards rained down upon her.

(OOC: Casts Ice Storm centered on the child)

Mora gives a quick look to Ninian and then heads for the girl in an all out run. Her heart in pounding as she spares a quick glance at her parents to make sure they are all right.

Achilles plans to stil lbring out one of his Furry friends from a bag, but before he uses his bag of tricks he decides to throw an Alchemist fire at Nino and her clone and shadow. After that he goes into for the attack. Once all is said and done, if it's finished this round he plans to talk with his party about using Quivering palm on the tatooed woman anyways.

Trillion flys ahead towards the fleeing tattooed girl. her powerful wings help her to close the distance to the running girl. She catches sight of the shadow confronting Achilles.She casts invisibility on herself as she does, but believes Achilles can handle the shadow himself.

Unfortunately she does not know about what the other are planning to do. She figured since she was faster that anyone on foot she was best to handle the situation, (Ah, well).

OOC:Initiatives: Selunine: 8 ( 5+3 )
Morasennarion: 25 ( 20+5 )
Trillion: 22 ( 16+6 )
Achilles: 23 ( 19+4 )
Ninian: 4

Sonia: 14
Nino: 6

___________________________________________________

Morasennarion heeds Ninian's words, and bolts toward the little girl who continues to escape. However, there is a great distance between the two, and the girl does not show any signs of slowing down. Regardless, Mora's tenacity and perseverance keep her going, and she continues to run toward the child. Glancing over her shoulder, she sees her parents hiding behind the furniture on the veranda of their house. They were perfectly unharmed, and safe, with no obvious threats to them.

Achilles takes a step back from the shadow, now coming back to his former senses. Shaking his head and steadying himself, he reaches up to his bandolier and grabs a flask of red and orange liquid, and throws it with all his might.

(OoC: Attack Roll: 20 (15 + 5))

The flask of liquid sails through the air, and lands directly on the location where he had aimed it, which made it the exact location which Nino was running through as it landed. The flames burst up and engulf her briefly, leaving a few scorch marks on her, but it does not impede her progress. Achilles then pulls another flask from his bandolier, and tosses it at the shadow in front of him.

(OoC: Attack Roll: 17 (7 + 10))

Achilles tosses yet another flask true, as it sails directly toward the shadow. However, Achilles had forgotten about the Shadow's incorporeality, and the flask sailed right through, causing no harm to anyone.

Trillion invokes the magic that has been invested in her by her celestial blood, and shimmers out of vision as she does so. As she flew, not disturbing the ground with her feet, or with her wingbeats, she was almost entirely undetectable. She pushed herself with all haste toward the little girl, as she was getting too close to the tree line for comfort. These forests were thick, and should she escape... Trillion didn't want to think about that. She just hoped that when she caught the girl, she would pick the right one.

Sonia simply stands there, awaiting a command from Selunine as to what she should do.

However, Selunine has other plans than directing Sonia. Her eyes glowing violet with Fey magic, she begins to weave a vortex of intricate magics the lands from where she hailed were in no means harsh, but the magics that ran through the place often cause weather shifts, and mages had learned to harness the strange power of the cold in order to use it against their enemies. And Selunine was doing just that. Drawing on the moisture in the air, she compacted the water to make raindrops, then chilled them to the core to make icy projectiles. With her final words, the Ice Storm flew toward Nino and her copy, landing between the two and causing havoc:

(OoC: Damage 15 (9 Bludgeoning (2 + 6 + 1) + 6 Cold (3 + 3))

Nino felt the hurt of the ice as it pelted down on her, and she began to slip and slide unsure of her footing now that there was ice to deal with, if only a little. Looking to her left, her copy was gone - the ice had simply gone straight through it, causing it to disappear. Looking back, she saw her shadow still fighting with the strange man, who must've been the one to throw that liquid fire. Well, she wouldn't be caught off guard by that again. The forest was close now... if she had been able to run full speed, she would've been able to get there... but there were other means to moving such distances. Stumbling through the hail but eventually clearing the storm, she takes out a small ball that had been given to her before the mission. It was labeled "Panic." Well, as good a time as any, and she threw the ball down, disappearing out of view, then re appearing just inside the tree line. With a small giggle, and a little wave, she disappears from view, almost fading into the black of the shadows.

(OoC: Spot Check for Trillion: 16 (13 + 3)
Spot Check for Mora: 26 (6 + 20))

Ninian hissed as she recognized the woman who had approached them. Her eyes flared with an Emerald fire, as she said "So it was YOU! Linus hasn't gotten any new whores for him to use for his own work! He's still kept YOU!" As Ninian talks, glimpses of razor sharp teeth can be seen. The two must have had some past together.

.F.......................................................S..
.F....................M.................................W..
.F..............O..A.....................................N
.F.......................................................
.F..........T...............................................
.F........................................................