The End of Days, Chapter One: Decimation Men (OPEN!)

[Slave Xaccheus]

There is to be no mercy. There is to be no quarter. There is to be no hesitation. There is only to be one thing: total annihilation.

Recently, a floating mountain appeared in the sky, emerging from a rift that led to another cosmology. As is the custom in these dark times, the mountain was soon investigated, followed by an immediate attack on its single structure: A fortified city, built onto and into the complex.

The defenses of the fortress were more powerful than the normal troops had expected, with siege engines mounted onto numerous rising cliffs and a fleet of flying warships.

The secret to the ships has been cracked; now the objective is clear. You and your allies will attack the city head-on from the mountain itself, provided with covering fire from your flying ship, the Hammerlock.

You have been provided with collapsible hang gliders, capable of opening completely in a single round, six Blast Disks, and a bag of holding (type IV) loaded to its limit with jugs of Oil and barrels of Gunpowder.

Starting on your ship, you will be expected to alight upon one of the embattled cliffs without destroying its siege engines, disable five siege engines with the one on your cliff to allow safe cover-fire from your ship, and finally glide into the city, battling your way into the core of the mountain. There, you will unload the bag of holding and all of its contents, set the Blast Disks into place with the timers set for ten rounds, and exit through an escape route below your area. Your Hang Gliders should provide you with enough air-time to be escorted away from the area by the Hammerlock.

Primary Objective: Neutralize the mountain.
Secondary Objectives: Ensure covering fire, seize the cliff, and eliminate three of the mountain's flying ships.
Final objective: Escape from the Mountain within the ten rounds.  

[Slave Xaccheus]

Welcome Adventurers. I trust you've read the entrance to this whole James Bond scenario. Now, you're probably wondering what the lay-out of the Hammerlock is, aren't you?

Put simply, the Hammerlock is a magic, flying, armored war-ship. The classification is Ironclad, a design made by dwarves. Everything on the ship is heavily armored, and there are eight ballistas total on the ship that are mounted on firing castles, as well as a prow built for ramming an opponent.

As for the magic part, the Ironclad is equipped with a Cloud Keel, letting you fly at a clumsy speed of 40 feet. The ballistas are enhanced with the Starburst quality, which deals slashing and piercing damage to anything within a 20 foot radius of the bolt's impact zone. Even the ship itself has a magic enchantment: The eldritch exhaust. This bad baby can expel some mean acidic fog from the back of the ship.

Now, we get to your soon-to-be-destroyed target.

The mountain is about as big around as the average metropolis, with eight catapult placements all around, most of which are mounted on a rotating platform, giving them a 180-degree arc of fire. Your targeted siege engine is on the peak of the mountain, with a clear line of sight to the other weapons. This weapon is another Ballista, but this one's analogous to a huge repeating crossbow rather than a normal one. There are three Human Elite Archers ready to let loose a volley as soon as you're in range.

Finally, there's the city on the mountain. This is about the size of a standard city (it's built along and into the sloping mountain, as well as on the cliffs) on the outside, with a few passageways that go into the mountain. There's ten guards patrolling the entire area, aboveground and subterranean. The heart of the mountain, the place you need to plant your mother-of-all-bombs, is about 100 feet in. After you plant that, there's a secret passageway that goes straight out.

Best of luck to you. There's three flying Launches coming at you, all of them with four very angry warriors.


 

[Yurro]

Standing on the deck of this weird flying contraption compared to those of his own world, Igneel can't help but feel like his 'assistance' is going to be wasted on such trivial matters as this. Under the disguise of Flyer Saurian (Humanoid Pterodactyl [Serpent Kingdom Web Enhancement]) courtesy of his magic (Humanoid Shape Invocation), he has tried to keep his true identity a secret.

Hhhiiiissss.... Whats the point of wielding such great powers that my Mistress Takhisis has bestowed upon me, if they are just going to be used to decimate some pile of rock with ants crawling upon its surface? he hisses in Nerakese, a language he's learned long ago no body understands (especially since it's his home-world's, homeland language). Looking to the rest of the 'Party' as they were called, despite them being a majority of 'Mammals' (with the exception of a worshiper of that pathetic god they call Bahamut). A bunch of misfits, that are barely worth the dirt on a Landshark's back.

Switching to Common, a despicably inelegant and unrefined language so that the others could understand him. Shall we get this job underway? I've grown bored of flying on this 'Overgrown Bathing Tub', and wish to stretch my own wings. I have an idea of what my plans are, but just so I don't blow you to smithereens how do you all plan on getting over there? Looking over to the Bag of Holding filled to the brim of 'small explosives' in the eyes of Igneel. Mentally making calculations, Igneel starts clarifying his plans to himself, which hopefully will lead to both ends of his goals. -Taking over a new plot of land for his mistress, or -Gaining new minions to help him do so later.  

[Felix Jude Virgo]

The half-elf looked to Igneel with a bit of worry about overkill. "My plan would be taking a glider and seeing if i can get on top of the fortress and rappel down to attach the explosives. But i worry that'd be suicidal."

He was right. Something was starting to break down and anything would be suicidal now. However, he wanted his companion wolf, Alexia, to stay behind for this mission. There was no way this canine's claws would be useful in disabling siege engines. He mouthed to himself in a degenerated form of elven - "Why did I get the wonderful opportunity of getting into this mess?"  

[Ariel Yardena Davidson]

Felix Jude Virgo

The half-elf looked to Igneel with a bit of worry about overkill. "My plan would be taking a glider and seeing if i can get on top of the fortress and rappel down to attach the explosives. But i worry that'd be suicidal."

He was right. Something was starting to break down and anything would be suicidal now. However, he wanted his companion wolf, Alexia, to stay behind for this mission. There was no way this canine's claws would be useful in disabling siege engines. He mouthed to himself in a degenerated form of elven - "Why did I get the wonderful opportunity of getting into this mess?"

sorry, i posted on the wrong account. ><  

[Yurro]

Giving what passes as a smirk or a grin with his current face, complete with a Pterodactyl-like beak, Igneel thought this 'half-breed's' idea was considerably suicidal. Continuing with Common, much to his disgust Igneel lets the pitiful mammal in on his plan. Why don't you let the one with a natural Fly speed, and free Invisibility take care of getting to that top one first? I'm sure that I have a 'spell' or two that I have in storage that could take care of a guard or two.... Not like I care what happens to you all, I might even take care of this all by myself...  

[Slave Xaccheus]

((I'm thinking it'd be best if we waited for everyone to post before we got on with this. That way, we don't leave anyone behind.))  

[Yurro]

((I figured, just was acting as the character giving his plan. I wasn't going to head out to battle as of yet anyways.))  

[Slave Xaccheus]

((Oh you guys are allowed to talk, for sure.))  

[jennibert]

Misery spends a long time looking at the flying fortress, distress in her dark eyes. "I don't like this," she finally mutters. "It could be those people have committed no crime but having their city wander into the wrong place."

"But we don't have a choice," rings Halen's deep bass beside her, and she shrugs.

"I understand the necessity. It doesn't mean I have to like it." Misery turns to her other teammates, her tone becoming louder and taking on a very military briskness.

"You are probably correct in that simply flying over there would be suicidal. It would be much less so if we had two teams--divide and conquer. One team can go directly to the central seige engine, while the other can take on those approaching airships. That will keep the heat off of the team headed for the seige engine and give us an additional platform for attacking the remaining engines--and for our eventual escape.

"Halen and I are next to useless at ranged combat, but I'd still rather be part of the team that takes on the airships, as I also hesitate to trust my weight, let alone Halen's"--she smiles up at his massive armored form--"to those little hang gliders for much distance. The two of us will be much better off going in short stages.

"I'm certainly not going to insist on my own plan if someone else has a better one, but if you do, we'll want to discuss it quickly. Those guys don't look too friendly," she concludes, nodding at the approaching airships. She clasps her hands behind her back, standing at something just short of attention. Behind her, Halen's imposing form mirrors her stance.  

[Disciple of Sakura]

"Truly, this floating fortress is a marvel of engineering, both magical and mundane." Delan adjusted his glasses, his dark clothes blowing in the wind as the airship ploughed through the skies. "To simply blow it out of the sky... such a shame. Perhaps, if given enough time to study it, the technology could be used for..." Delan cuts off when he realizes that someone else was actually talking.

"Heh. I'm not exactly a deft hand at ranged combat, but I can fly on my own power - won't be needing a hang glider unless there's an antimagic zone in there, and if there is, we'll be pretty well screwed either way. I like the idea of a two-prong assault and I'd be more than willing to participate in either attack team, if it calls for it. I can head over there and work on eliminating the weapon crews or deal with those charming archers as needed." Languidly, Delan draws Subtle Knife, his short sword, and twirls it in his hands in a dazzling display of skill.  

[Anatarei Crimsonthrone]

{At the start of the day, Oulviina would have created her Eldritch Weave. In addition to herself, it includes the following characters: Misery Mulligan, Halen Callegan, Delan Stormcrow, Sabine the Griffon, Gavrial the Pegasus, Jude Phillips, Matthias Garlodin, Rage, and Igneel. Any spell I cast that can affect them into the Eldritch Weave will affect them all so long as they're within range (and ranges are increased, so touch range spells have a range of Close.}

Patting Rage on his silver shoulder, Oulviina surveys the area. The airship they were upon was nowhere near as impressive as those of house Lyrandar in her own world, but they were at least not dependent upon Lyrandar's Dragon Mark, which was something of a plus. "This is going to take some effort and energy, but we can definitely accomplish it if we coordinate our movements as well as possible. It's never a good idea to go rushing off on your own - that gets soldiers killed in wartime. Rage doesn't present much of a threat at range, but once he gets up close, he'll make up for it. I'd like to provide some bolstering to the unit before we depart, especially if we'll be dividing up into two teams. Rage, Gavrial, Sabine, and I work best together. What sort of benefit would you suggest we use, Misery? I could attempt to bolster everyone's physical abilities, though it wouldn't work if they had something to already do so, like Rage has for strength. I could increase our might, health, and force of personality - that would help some of our spellcasters a bit, and it's a more potent augmentation."  

[Yurro]

*sigh* If it weren't for my physical body being so weak, I'd be able to carry more then my share of hapless minions to conquer this 'marvel of engineering'. Igneel mutters under his breath. Looking up to the taller companions, on account that his current form is smaller then his original body he takes out what looks to be a Portable Hole. So far we have two persons with flight capabilities, one naturally and another magically. I guess I could carry the heavier persons in my Portable Hole. I plan on heading to the 'Center' siege engine and try to charm the biggest and baddest guy there to aid me in a fight if I have to.

Clearing his throat as to wash out a bad taste without using water he continues Course that would mean that those that come with me will have to either hang their heads and arms out of the Hole to be supplied with air and keep their Bags, along with mine, from slipping into the Hole. That and my Hole is a whole 50ft deep, thanks to it being of better make and model then the normal.

Grinning at how everybody was comparing what they were good with and such things, Igneel couldn't help but chime in his part. I myself have limited melee skills, have a limited number of 'spells', but unlimited usage of those 'spells'. I specialize in a special art of Breath Weapons, including fire breath of a Red dragon, frost of a White dragon, slow gas of a Copper dragon, and thundering breath of a dragon beyond those of my mortal realm. Those wishing to come with me might want to have me cast the protection spell on them, so that they don't risk getting hit by my Breath. Taking his own short sword, Takhisis's Fang as he called it, and picks under his seemingly tiny claws.

Upon hearing Ouliviina's list of specialties, especially the ability of increasing certain abilities, Igneel perks his head a bit.You can increase certain abilities as long as I don't already have some way of increasing it? I'm currently wearing objects that increase my agility, health, and force of personality. But my physical strength could use a boost if I'm to carry people and my Hole. Already even this Bag alone is a pain to carry, which is heavier then what I would consider a light package. Speed could help if it helps my flying speed.  

[Disciple of Sakura]

"I rather dislike the idea of people stuffed into portable holes. Highly unpredictable devices, those. I just don't trust them, especially with the worlds collapsing in on themselves." Delan eyes Sabine and Gavrial. "If I might make a suggestion? Increasing the strength of the flying beasts would, in turn, increase their carrying capacity. Perhaps they would be able to serve as steeds for more troops at that point? I would expect, with a quick calculation and estimation of weight (because one never asks the weight of a lady...), that they could each bear the metal men (one made of metal and the other garbed in it, of course...) and one of the lady soldiers. Would that be adequate?"  

[Anatarei Crimsonthrone]

{Edit: Forgot that Expeditious Retreat can't be cast on others. I cut it from my last post.}
"Alternatively, I could transport the majority of us directly there, but it would leave the rest behind to figure out their own path... I think Delan's idea of increasing the carrying capabilities of Sabine and Gavrial would benefit us very much, and it never hurts to make our soldiers stronger and hardier."
{DM: How much time do we have to prep? I'm wondering what Oulviina could potentially do to buff the party before the archers are within firing range.}