WHO: Thora, Kyo, Zuya, Gaius, Caseo, and Pius WHEN: Following this! WHERE: Vespera SUMMARY: The students are tasked with sorting out Vespera's phasma troubles. They find the monsters...and the masters, too. Prince Gaius is briefly kidnapped, but returns to camp safely enough. (Plus a note on group two at the end.) CW: Kidnapping! And some fighting.
Not long after arriving in Vespera, Zephyr placed the students into groups, assigning them different tasks. Zuya, Thora, Kyo, Gaius, Caseo, and Pius were asked to help some farmers on the outskirts of town, including securing a road from “phasmas” (a creature born out of magic made corporeal).
After scouting out the location, the group realized that the creature didn’t seem to be interested in coming out into the open. The students were faced with two choices: exploring a nearby cave, or the nearby forest. The farmers were not able to give any indication about what element the phasma had taken on, and so the group would have to find out on their own.
Zuya suggested deciding on a signal and splitting into groups to explore the areas, which was seconded by Pius and Kyo—though Kyo thought they should remain in earshot. Someone asked if there was a possibility of doing a communication spell, which Gaius—forgetting that they were out of range for the magitech network—suggested and was then embarrassed for forgetting. Pius and Kyo told him it was a good idea and a fair mistake.
After a short continued discussion, the students decided that they would make use of Kyo and Thora’s powers: using a streak of fire or lightning as a signal that the group had run into a phasma. Gaius and Zuya decided to go with Kyo; Caseo and Pius went with Thora. They decided to meet back at their starting point in one hour and added a timer to their magitech watches. Since it seems like it would be harder to find clues in an area like the forest, and because Caseo is better suited to tracking, Pius suggested that his team go that way, and Caseo agreed, so the teams decided that Thora’s team would go into the forest, and Kyo’s into the cave. Before they departed, Gaius handed Pius a potion. The two groups then went their separate ways.
IN THE CAVE…
As the trio entered the cave, they soon found themselves cloaked in darkness. Kyo started a fire that allowed them a good view of the cavern—which seemed to stretch deeper and deeper beyond them. Zuya suggested they begin looking for clues, and Gaius agreed with her cautious approach.
The three carefully looked around and found traces of a footstep, which looked to have been wiped away very intentionally, obscuring whether it was coming or going. There were no obvious traces of phasma. Gaius noted that he didn’t think the footprint could belong to a phasma, and Kyo agreed, pointing out how it had been wiped away. Zuya asked if they should look deeper in the cave, since their job was supposed to be to subdue phasma.
“Would we be better served standing by to help the other group?”
"Should we go back? But..." Gaius stared at the footprint and then at his companions.
"What do you think, Gaius? Should we be concerned? We were supposed to protect the villagers, the creature was just one part of it," Kyo said. "But on the other hand, we probably should be ready to help the other group who probably had better luck, like Zuya suggested."
"This could be nothing or one of the dangers, but you two are the warriors, so I trust your instincts."
"Let's venture in further, then, to double check. We have time before we are meant to reconvene,” Zuya said.
Kyo and Gaius agreed.
The deeper they went, the darker the cave grew, almost as if the shadows were trying to swallow Kyo's fire. But within its depths was an emptied flash left carelessly among the rocks. Kyo went over to investigate.
"Is it safe to pick that up?" Gaius was ever worried, but he was now looking deeper into the cave out of curiosity.
"I won't pick it up. Try to see what it is and if there are any hints of what could be in there,” Kyo replied.
Upon closer inspection, Kyo could see it was some sort of magic potion, and that a few drops of the potion remained inside.
But as the others were considering the phial, Gaius became too curious and anxious to notice he was moving further into the cave; suddenly, he seemed to disappear, swallowed by the shadows. Kyo panicked and then called out his name, but he got no response save the echo of his own voice.
Zuya turned to Kyo," We need to stay together. Side by side as we go in farther to locate Gaius."
Kyo nodded once, "Yes, let's go forward." He grew super serious, "Do you have rope? or some other way we can stick together and not get lost?"
Zuya had a sash, which they looped through their belts to hold them together. Kyo was clearly behaving more rashly than he thought, and so as they moved deeper into the cave, they failed to see that someone was observing them. They managed to stay together, calling Gaius’s name, and looking around carefully, but there was no sign of the missing prince.
Kyo and Zuya were both oblivious to the presence, and so, as they continued deeper into the shadows, Kyo's once large flame fell to a small flicker. Taking advantage of the situation, the figure aimed an attack at both of them. But just as the two were about to be struck down, they heard a faint whisper telling them to dodge. Zuya quickly shielded herself from the magic attack, and the attacker’s sword crashed against Kyo’s in a shower of sparks.
Their attacker was a tall person, clad in deep dark armor—ancient looking—and disguised by a full helmet. The person jumped back, pointing their sword at the students.
"Who are you and where's Gaius?" Kyo demanded as he held his sword in the low ready.
"...It's none of your business." The voice was deep and masculine.
Zuya swept her lance at the attacker. "Return our companion to us or face death."
"In the name of the Crown Prince of Guren! Please identify yourself and return our companion!"
But the man only shot a shadowy bolt of magic at Kyo. However, Zuya’s quick defense protects her friend. With the grace of trained warrior, the armored man parried Zuya’s strike.
"Leave if you want to live," he told them.
"Only with our companion," Zuya growled. "If you have detained him, stand aside."
"What makes you think you get a say?" the man laughed, shaking his head.
"We get a say because we stand here." Zuya brandished her lance menacingly.
"We get a say because he is our companion!" Kyo shouted. "Let him go and we shall part ways!"
"You barely know the boy and he's your trusty companion? How quaint. This is my answer!" The man struck at them with his long sword.
Kyo expertly dodged the man's attack, but Zuya was scratched.
"You tell lies," Kyo shot back and brought his sword down.
Zuya hissed in pain and regrouped, following Kyo's attack with an upward slash. She leapt over Kyo, lance held overhead as she brought it down on the mystery swordsman, eyes alight with a dragon's fury. Fire surrounded Kyo's body, encasing his sword—warforged by the sun. He swung up as Zuya jumped down.
"Guh...!" The man staggered, his shield flying off and his armor chipped. He didn't expect the assault, and so, his illusion wavered, the darkness of the cave retreating, and revealing an unconscious Gaius curled against a manmade wall.
Zuya was still on guard, looking for signs of the warrior. "Kyo, check on Gaius." Her eyes scanned back and forth, her back to Gaius and Kyo.
MEANWHILE, IN THE FOREST...
Caseo led the way into the trees. "Look for any odd elemental things that might hint at what we're looking for in the first place. Burn marks on trees, out of place puddles, that sort of thing."
Pius began to check the trees and bushes for any strange marks—using his height to check the taller places. Thora was looking around without any special care, but since she was shorter, she checked the lower halves of trees and the underbrush. Caseo began looking around to see what the animals of the forest were getting up to. Neither of them found anything out of place, but as the three moved deeper in the forest, they found themselves cast in shadow. Pius put a light spell on his sword, and Thora infused her gunblade with lightning to guide their way.
Caseo quickly noticed that the forest had become eerily quiet, and there were magically charged footsteps trailing from where they had just come from...and yet nothing they could see there.
"Oh. Well, this might be bad," said Caseo.
"No birds...?" Pius gulped and checked to make sure he still had the vial Gaius gave him.
"That. And I think we're being tracked by the phasma."
Thora looked around, holding her gunblade tighter, and said, "Why don't you show yourself, coward?"
They could hear a very low hiss, along with the rustle of tree leaves.
"And it's unhappy we figured it out,” Caseo added.
"Maybe...we should form a defensive triangle,” Pius suggested. “Do you think it's hiding, or......we can't see it?"
Caseo moved towards the direction of the sound, picking up some dirt and throwing it in the direction of the hissing. Thora stuck close to Pius (who was waiting in defensive position, ready to attack), firing off a lightning bolt without really being careful not to set any bushes on fire...which she did. One of the drier bushes immediately catching fire.
Caseo’s efforts were rewarded by the crackle of lightning as a pair of brilliant electric eyes stared back at him from inches away. Pius ran towards Caseo’s side, shouting for Thora to do the signal. She brandished her gunblade, about to attack again, but looks up at Pius’s suggestion.
Rolling her eyes, Thora said, “Fine, if that’s what you want…” She sent her lightning straight up into the air...but without a response.
The lightning lunged at the other two, revealing itself in a form much like a tiger.
Pius took a light-charged swing at the monster’s leg, but Caseo was struck in the stomach, becoming winded. As the beast’s lightning and Pius’s light magic hit each other, a bright flash filled the forest, blinding everyone.
Pius tried putting space between himself and the creature, temporarily blinded. Caseo attempted to crawl somewhere defensive, trying to get his bearings. But luckily, the beast was also blinded, and so it attacked the air wildly, but missed both Caseo and Pius. The excessive magic had thrown it off, buying them a few seconds.
"Can we...overload it with magic, do you think?" Pius wished that Gaius was there.
"It's worth a try. I don't have much magic to use for it. This guy is meant to heal and we don't want to heal this."
Pius looked to Thora, "Let's try hitting it at the same time?"
She nodded and loaded up an attack.
The beast recoiled, wounded by the overwhelm of magic and crying out. It once again attacked Caseo, but missed as Caseo crawl-dodged out of the way. In the background, the unattended fire began to spread. Caseo looked to the fire, but wasn’t sure how to stop it, cursing that he didn't bring a different magitech that could douse it or suffocate the oxygen. He looked around for something he could use to take it out—a large damp log, enough loose dirt, a stray bucket of water left behind by some careless people who came before them. He found plenty of dirt, though. He picked it up, throwing it onto the flames, and Thora, too, began piling dirt onto the fire, trying to course-correct her previous enthusiastic attack. Caseo, it turned out, was a master at dousing fires with dirt, however, and the flames died.
Meanwhile, Pius, still focused on the monster, attacked once more with a powerful stroke of light, and the creature was destroyed.
“That was crazy,” he panted.
“You two okay?” Caseo asked.
"Fine over here. Thora?"
Thora, sitting in the dirt and looking defeated with her face covered in dirt, shrugged. "Womp."
Caseo, determining that the others were fine, healed himself. "Do we want to go back or see if there are more?"
"Maybe we should find the others..." Pius said.
Thora got up then, looking slightly more hopeful that maybe she might swoop in and rescue somebody on the other team.
Caseo paused a moment to see if there were any obvious signs of something else, but when nothing presented itself, he turned and followed the rest.
Pius called “not it” for leader, though Thora was already marching on ahead, eager to redeem herself. She didn’t consider herself a leader, but she was already running off to the next thing.
"You sure you want to be in the back in case something tracks us again?" Caseo asked.
Pius grimaced and fell in between the other two, having no sense for sensing. Caseo took the back, to keep an eye on anything else trying to sneak up on them. They hurried towards the meeting point.
BACK AT THE CAVE...
When Caseo, Thora, and Pious arrived at the meeting spot, there was an obvious absence of their classmates. Caseo suggested that they should look for them, and Pius and Thora agreed—Thora already charging ahead.
Inside the cave, the man in the black armor had been staggered. He hadn’t expected the strength of their assault, and so his illusion had fallen, the darkness retreating to reveal Gaius unconscious against a manmade wall.
“Gaius” Kyo called out and ran toward him, putting himself between the armored man and Gaius. Gaius stirred, making a sound, but didn’t open his eyes.
Zuya was on guard, watching the warrior. “Kyo, stay by Gaius.” Her eyes moved back and forth in the changed area, her back to Gaius and Kyo, facing the warrior.
As the other three arrived on the scene, Caseo hurried to try to cross the distance to Gaius and heal him. Pius was super worried, because Gaius was down for the count (and that was his one job). Piecing together the scene, Thora dashed to her cousin Zuya’s side, standing guard and ready for whatever would happen next.
The stranger gripped his sword together, moving his other hand to form a spell. The shadows began to stir, forming a multitude of phasma. First one, then three, and the number kept rising.
"Light guide us..." Pius muttered, joining the two women. "Overwhelming them with magic worked before."
"There is no shame in a tactical retreat," the armored man said, his voice deep but distorted by magic.
"We need to rid the source of the phasma. Those with magic should attack them; the rest can go after the caster," suggested Zuya.
Pius nodded.
Kyo tilted his head to the side. Was this entirely a training exercise? He looked over at Zuya, "Yes, Let's tag team him again!" He turned to Caseo, "Get Gaius to safety!"
Caseo nodded and dashed to Gaius as fast as he could.
Ten phasma had formed around them.
Kyo called for them to retreat, hanging back to cover the group. Pius, definitely not willing to leave Gaius behind, offered to carry his prince out (also because he was the biggest guy there, so might as well use that draft horse muscle). The six managed to escape the cave with nothing more than scratches.
But who was that stranger, and what nefarious hijinks had he been planning…?
GM Note: The second group (Maeti, Titus, Badr, Gunnar, and Cinna) likewise ran into another armored person who clearly had control of phasma, too. This one was far more taunting and had a higher pitched voice. Happily, no princes were kidnapped, and there were no casualties, but no questions were answered either...