Amethyst Hunter/9-9-06
Wherin Lookshy Becomes Part of The Wyld
Initially upon their arrival in the Wyld, nobody had the slightest idea what was going on.
All that people could tell was that they weren't in Kansas anymore, which probably meant Wyld. Lookshy quickly started to evacuate people to "safehouses" on the highest portion of the city, but being not prepared for such a sudden, massive foray into the Wyld, they lacked the particular talismans to protect all of the evacuation sites. The group assisted in the evacuation of forces, and it was during this time that Fuu and Sarin came upon Trish.
Their sector was proving truly unruly, and Trish promised to help them clear out the people if one of them were to buy a cone of "Level Ground" flavored ice cream for a mere 5 gold. Fuu agreed out of desperation since the mobs were literally killing each other and the soldiers trying to intervene, so Trish used her powers to scare the people into fleeing towards their evacuation points. Being in the Deep Wyld had only made Trish's magics more powerful, and the ice cream that she selected and was able to sell for such a low price carried a tremendous geas with it: no sorceries higher than Terrestrial could be cast by anybody in the area.
At this time that Janice attempted to save the city by using a Solar Circle spell to hide the city from those with hostile intentions, but the spell exploded in his face because of the geas. War councils were held, and any forces that had been brought by dignitaries were to be loaned to the city for its defense since they feared a heavy assault.
Fakir, with time, was able to recognize the territory as that of Basarov, an extremely powerful noble who had ridden with the Balorian crusade as a general. He also was able to glean that time did not proceed in the same way that it did in creation, so if they were stuck in the effect for a single day, then they would have to survive for 2 days in this portion of the Wyld. Trish had earlier mentioned that this predicament was something caused by one of their friends, so with a little investigation on their part, the group figured out that Janice had eaten the ice cream causing this. Keeping Janice's guilt secret, they informed Lookshy that this had been the cause of Trish, and seeing as they seemed more knowledgeable about this, they were sent to apprehend her. When they attempted to take her, she promised to unleash more horrors unto the city unless she be allowed to escape, but she was willing to answer questions since that could not harm her.
Her magic ice cream was basically a gift of Pure Chaos and magiks given to her by Thief of Words, the legendary Fae, and she had crafted it into an ice cream cart to match her desires and affinities. The cart typically gave its power by way of the cost, drawing on the possessive nature of humans, and the power of s/he who bought the ice cream, but since they were in the Deep Wyld, she could much more freely access the powers herself. When she left, she agreed to take any willing parties with her from the group there, and none of the players agreed to do so. However, Gamesh (a Solar warrior-king from a new nation in the Hundred Kingdoms) agreed to go with her, but in the last second stabbed her with his weapon and leapt out of the effect radius for the transport magic. Nobody is certian whether Trish died or not.
Not too long thereafter did the attack begin on the city. The trees surrounding them had grown larger than the walls of the city, and a sudden gust of wind sent their leaves flying into the sky where they turned into shards of steel and plummeted to the ground, slaying many men in the city. Hobgoblins and other such beasts attacked the gates with little success, but eventually the ground itself moved in a wave and struck down each city gate, one after another. The forces fought to hold off the hobgoblin ranks and were generally successful, but some penetration into the city had occured.
Prior to the fight, Lookshy had begun organizing Champion Squads to deal with any powerful individuals (ie Fae nobles) that entered the fray. Bagu, Fuu, Omen Dog, Xu Shu Yun, Gamesh, and Fakir made up the squad for their gate with Sarin and Vayani waiting to support them with sorceries should they be needed. Janice fought with the rank-and-file soldiers against the hobgoblins. Omen Dog was the first to enter battle, choosing a giant Fae monster and narrowly defeating him in combat.
Then three Fae, nobles clearly, walked in through their gate, and Bagu, Fuu, and Fakir went to contest them. The nobles seemed to be more looking for fun and glory in the battle than slaughter, so they divvied up who would fight whom based on their rank and perceived glory from the victory (the head guy had to rock-paper-scissors with one of his lessers to see whether he would fight Fakir or Bagu since he couldn't decide). In the end, Bagu took on the leader, Khiren, and was given much difficulty prior to subduing him; Khiren withdrew from the fight due to his wounds, transformed himself into a sword, and promised to be Bagu's mortal enemy should he find the sword amidst a field of others while his other weapons continually struck at him. Bagu was lucky as usual and snagged him on the second turn. He is even now wielding the Fae-klave, and it talks to him when it feels like it.
Fakir engaged in shaping combat with his and defeated his opponent by transforming him into a statue. Fuu was attacked mentally by his opponent, a female Raksha, who nearly persuaded him to come with her in order to achieve all that he wanted. He ended up using his suit to fly at her at top speed, stab her with an iron dagger, and then crash into the nearby wall. This attack was followed up with a Flying Guillotine from Vayani and an iron arrow from Omen Dog.
Also, just prior to these battles, the trees surrounding the city had fallen onto the walls, damaging them in parts and forming bridges over them. Because of this, Lookshy moved its forces back when the chance was granted, basically abandoning the lowest portion of the city to the Fae.
During the night, Cu Chulainn arrived, transported on short notice by gods. Apparently Cairhien had been attacked by a few 2nd Circle Demons with their hosts of Firsts, and Cu Chulainn and the Sidereal in the city defeated them with assistance from the Essence weaponry. Cu Chulainn had brought with him a number of personal Wyld talismans, but by this point, Bagu, Fuu, and Gamesh had undergone mutation. Both Bagu and Gamesh lucked into Tough, but Fuu was much less fortunate and became Hideous, literally having genitalia sprouting from his disfigured face.
After inquiring to Dayshield (one of the spirits of Great Forks that was present) about Cu Chulainn's spear, it was discovered that the weapon basically slowly killed the bearer, illustrated by Cu Chulainn's bloody vomit not long thereafter. Dayshield had no idea how much longer he had left to live, but the time frame could be anywhere from 3 years (the shortest time it had been borne) and 50 years (the longest). Cu Chulainn has had it for 4. Of course, the weapon had been used during the Primordial War to slay one of the old gods, so it was a weapon of extreme power.
The attack resumed that night with hobgoblins once again futilely attacking the second gates, and the battle proceeded in much the same way until a behemoth forged from trees rose out in the distance, extended its roots into the city and tore down the outer wall before moving to do the same with the inner.
Gamesh declared the beast to be his opponent, stood on the ramparts of the wall, gathered swirling torrents of Essence in an orihalcum spiral sword, and directed the Essence towards the creature, slaying it in a single shot. Depleted fully, Gamesh passed out for a few hours. Some damage had been wrought upon the walls and gates, so the defenses were once again breached, but the forces managed to hold off. Two more behemoths appeared on the outskirts of the city; one a giant spider made of crystal and steel, the other basically a gigantic baby that vomitted out toxic, acidic bile. Cu Chulainn rushed to slay the baby, and upon its death, it exploded in a burst of its fluids, and its acid rained down on the city, inevitably wreaking more havoc on the hobgoblins than the mortals, causing the hobgoblins on that side to be routed. The acid also greatly weaked the structural integrity of the spider behemoth, allowing the slower Xu Shu Yun to defeat it with relative ease.
With the attacks on their side having ceased, Bagu, Fuu, and Omen Dog went to the lower portions of the city to hunt hobgoblins; Cu Chulainn went as well, but he went solo. They slaughtered a few groups of hobgoblins (several in failed ambush attempts by the beasts) and even knocked off a few lesser Fae before deciding to not venture any deeper. On their return, they came across Cu Chulainn, pin-cushioned with spears, surrounded by 7 Raksha, 6 Cataphractoi and Basarov in God-Monster mode. Cu Chulainn was entering a berserker rage when Bagu flew by at high speeds and snatched him away, invariably saving his life. Omen Dog's scan ability showed that Basarov possessed 8 Essence. The battle generally abated once more, and the wounded were tended to. The defenses of the second level were greatly damaged, so preparations for a mid-battle retreat to the third level were made.
During this time, Basarov's tree behemoth rose again in the noble's form and offered the city an ultimatum: surrender and 1/3 of them would live and be transported back to Creation; 1/3 would be slaughtered and fed to the hobgoblins, and 1/3 would be kept as slaves for the Fae nobles. Kozue and Co. went along with the Lookshy diplomats to speak with Basarov, and she managed to alter the terms favorably: 1/2 could escape while 1/4 would die and 1/4 would be enslaved, and they would have 8 hours to arrange this rather than the 3 initially offered. An 8-hour cessation would leave them with an approximate 4 hours needed to defend the city before the magiks of Trish unwove themselves, and they deemed it a necessary plan in order to survive.
But Basarov was smart, and he demanded either the deal to be sealed by an Eclipse or that collateral be left, that collateral being people. None of the Eclipses present were willing to suffer 5+ critical botches, so collateral became the only option. Two Dragon-bloods offered themselves, but Basarov demanded that another of their type would be needed in order to meet his expectations, so Fuu offered himself. Viewing the Solar as greater collateral, Basarov agreed to take him and the first DB to volunteer.
He is giving them their 8 hours to comply with the deal, and so that gives the group 8 hours to formulate a plan to rescue Fuu and the DB.
