The Three-Edged Sword: OOC Thread

[Veldanya Venalla]

Sorry for the delay, and the rather long post but felt it was time to finally get you all into the thick of it so to speak.  Basically everyone is finding themselves expelled from the Aisgeim roughly 10-15 feet above the ground or so (given this is Epic BB and whatnot, im figuring everyone has some method to pull off a "super hero landing" to get to the fun hehe).  Speaking of fun, you all are surrounded by scores of Shaiton troops.  Heavily armored, wielding an array of basically your standard melee weapons/shields.  The aim is to reach the front of the fort around 25-30 feet away.  Feel free to god mod cleaving your way through the enemy forces presently.  The Seraph forces are still a little distance behind, Gulgrim of course you can have your Orks land wherever for obvious reasons lol.

[Veldanya Venalla]

Alrighty, well post is up but before that I should probably explain a bit about the rather significant delay.  My apologies but Im currently facing two big issues in my life, largely centered around employment and where I will be living for at least the next year.  This has naturally led to a rather significant and unexpected amount of stress and anxiety and has seriously hampered my motivation to do much of anything.  That said, I have been wanting to get this story told for quite a long time now and I'll be damned if I let it turn into a debacle.  I appreciate ya'll hopefully sticking with it and I will certainly be striving to remain within the rules so that we can get said story told in a timely fashion.

Now...that being said, on to OOC for the new post.  Due to the extensive delay I certainly did not want to end the post with Jharm waiting to ensure everyone is following before proceeding, frankly seems like a lot of un-necessary posts then lol.  Thus, while no one is "forced" to follow behind him, as the post indicates he is basically operating on the assumption that there is no reason the others would tarry behind for more then a moment or two.  For those with "companions" (Soul Reaver, Gulgrim, Kitharsis), it is up to you if your friends remain outside, follow you inside (and you utilize them in the coming battle) or whatever.  In regards to this battle, this will be an actual "standard" battle like we generally do   Standing before you is clearly one of the Shaiton generals who seems to be prepared and awaiting whatever you might be about to throw at them.  Everyone can easily sense the significant power within him, radiating of the same power felt from the rest of the Shaiton but much stronger and more potent.  No other signs of power (beyond that radiating from the crystal) can be felt anywhere in the room nor the hallways between the gate and the entrance to the room you are in.

[Soul Reaver]

The Daemon forces have been left behind to guard the gate against the Shaitan forces.  They'll continue being on the offensive while the Shaitan forces remain disorganized, but if they manage to rally and start trying to overwhelm the daemons they'll retreat and fight near the keep entrance where their smaller numbers aren't so much of a disadvantage (and where the Shaitan can be funneled into a nice compact space for Fire Daemon/Shadowlord magic shenanigans).

Soul Reaver hasn't attacked yet, he's taking this opportunity to cast one of his longer spells.  Don't let that stop the rest of you though.

[Shadow Chorus]

Yeah, Gulgrim's not the kind of Ork to let an opportunity for a free shot pass him by, apologies if Jharm wanted the honorable first blow.

[Veldanya Venalla]

Any sort of cursory check/scan/etc of the figures from the portals would indicate they are not some sort of illusion or mirror imagery but seemingly the exact same figure that was standing before them a few moment prior, with only a slightly reduced level of power.

[Kitharsis]

When in doubt, bring more swords than your opponent.

[Soul Reaver]

It's been a long time since it's been used, so as a reminder: the Spear of the Apocalypse is a projectile similar to Soul Reaver's Sphere of Annihilation.  However, whereas the Sphere of Annihilation explodes into a huge sphere that tends to vaporize anything within it, the Spear of Apocalypse is more restrained, its energy remaining focused largely on and immediately around anything the Spear actually strikes (which makes it slightly easier, faster, and less draining to cast - but it's still a very high-level offensive spell).

It'll travel in a straight line and cause massive damage to anything that it hits without stopping.  Soul Reaver judges, by the size of the crystal, that it'll either explode it into a million tiny bits or, if its structure isn't exploded by the extreme pressure/temperature differentials of the impact, will obliterate near half of its mass in a nice tunnel-shaped hole through the middle.

[Fallen Templar]

When in doubt, bring more swords than your opponent.

When experiencing an unfortunate shortage of swords, improvise.

[Veldanya Venalla]

Alrighty, well done all.  First crystal down.  Lots of stuff happened so here is kind of a list of what may or may not be sensed.  The wave of darkness spreading over each of you seems to do little more then radiate a sense of anger, violence, an almost need to attack, kill, or destroy something but then the sensation just as quickly fades.  Those attentive enough and whatnot can both visually see the slight glow/aura around Veldanya as well as a small spike in her powers before they seem to normalize.  When the booming voice sounds all can sense significant power radiating from the general direction they are headed.  At this point the Aisgeim is on the ground and can be boarded.  Those with critters summoned, feel free to deal with them how you want and interact with each other and such as you want.  Once all are on board the Aisgeim the story will advance and battle will ensue once more.

[Kitharsis]

Is it safe to assume that this base has been secured? Or will it need to be defended as we leave?

[Veldanya Venalla]

Yes, didnt really note it but it would be clear that with close reinforcements cut off, the Shaiton are pulling back.  Then one the Seraphs construct their own crystal and open portals their forces will start arriving to that point.

[Veldanya Venalla]

As this is kind of the interim point/in between battles im kinda planning/intending to (if warranted) respond to posts "individually" as I just did to Soul Reavers.  Of course this will be expanded should more then 1 person post close together.  Basically this is the period where, should characters be so inclined, can banter a little with Jharm, Veldanya, each other.  Going to kind of treat it as "once each person has posted we might move on".  Soul has posted (course feel free to respond further if you want, may or may not get another response before "move on post") so once the other 3 post (or time limits are hit) I will move forward.  Given that 1/4 members are likely not overly interested in chitchat my plan isnt for the downtime to feel like its a significant amount of time (Gulgrim...feel free to prove me wrong here lol, but me thinks the Warboss cares more about more krumpin then figuring out weird shenanigans or whatnot :-p ).

[Veldanya Venalla]

Alrighty, some more combat for ya'll.  Attacks against the Shaiton troops are "god-mod allowed" but attacks directed at the two Siege golems are "no god-mod" (also attacks against the doors would be "no god mod" as well should anyone target them).  Anyone doing any sort of cursory type scan of the golems would detect a significant amount of magic from them, their forms clearly being reinforced heavily.

[Veldanya Venalla]

Alrighty, sorry about that, meant to get up a post earlier but kept forgetting =/.  Good news though, I have moved into a place of my own in RL so most of my issues have largely been resolved.

Now as to the story lol.  Both golems are still standing, Gulgrims clearly taking damage from the barrage but its still going, and the other one not being attacked up until Vee landed on it.  The gas is basically akin to a nerve agent, seemingly affecting any non-Shaiton it touches.  Environmentally sealed suits and such would protect against it.  Not sure how Gulgrims suit is, Phaerys you would be safe since your suit is noted as "a self-contained environment that allows the Ataran within to interact with the myriad worlds beyond its native habitat." thus as long as it remains in tact/sealed it wont be able to affect him. 

[Soul Reaver]

Soul Reaver has cast a powerful Druidic spell that manipulates his environment to create a series of 'natural' disasters in the vicinity for a time.  He can control and direct these only to a limited extent, but they won't harm his allies.  At the moment it's manifesting as gale-force winds and lightning strikes - other effects may be forthcoming.

[Veldanya Venalla]

Alrighty, you steam rolled over the golems and have gained access to the fort.  I however did not want to basically god-mod how any of you would react to two darkness waves hitting your character so elected to stop the post where I did.  The wave is basically the same as the one prior but basically doubled (getting hit by one wave and then the second a moment later).  As with the previous wave, it causes significant boosts to emotions of rage, anger, violence, etc.  Should you desire to have your character overcome, you can god-mod attacks against Seraphs or Shaiton forces (except Jharm of course) but any potential attack against other Companions would naturally not be god-mod allowed (if you choose to go that route lets keep it within reason lol...not looking for a PvP battle here :-p ).

[Veldanya Venalla]

The purple cloud is more disabling then deadly.  Will cause any who suffer from it to struggle to breathe, think, move...basically making it harder to do anything.  The orbs are basically the same as Jharms but darkness instead of light.  At present, there is no way to distinguish which of the 3 Nethalikas are real/fake

[Soul Reaver]

Blightwing's spell is a potent daemonic attack spell with the potential to do a good amount of damage, but it's nothing like a Sphere of Annihilation or the like.  It would probably break through mid-range shields or defenses but powerful ones would block it.

Soul Reaver's Shockwave spell is very damaging to the environment and his foes and has a wide horizontal reach.  It won't hurt his allies - it'll like of just 'fizzle' around them if they end up in its path - but it could blast apart the stuff they're standing on (eg, the throne that Vee is currently perched on, if the Nethalika's aren't blocking the wave).

The Daemonspawn's defense against the orbs quite straightforwardly consist of them making sure they get hit instead of Soul Reaver by blocking them and tanking any of the damage they might inflict.  Their shields aren't magical, but Daemonspawn are very resilient.

[Veldanya Venalla]

Alrighty, so ya got 4 golems now on the field, basically same as the previous fight they were in.  The large crystal is still present (though damaged) with a fresh group of smaller crystals shielding it.  Nethalika is clearly charging up an attack and is obviously shielded.

[Soul Reaver]

Apologies for the late reply!

A lot of stuff happened in my post, so let me try to break it down:
- Daemonspawn (fat man-sized Daemons) are regenerating right now
- Blightwing (flying Daemon Prince) is trying to shatter the 5 smaller crystals one by one
- The Steelheart (big metal-covered Daemon with a mace) is attacking a golem
- Several Cruelbeasts (roughly man-sized muscly Daemons) are attacking golems with maces/hammers
- The rest of the Cruelbeasts are closing in on Nethalika's flanks
- The Fire Daemon (huge winged red devil type thing) has breathed fire on Nethalika
- Soul Reaver is charging straight at Nethalika, psychically asking her what exactly she meant by saying she was planning to 'protect' this plane (he'd chat more leisurely but she's charging up a spell)