Chapter 14: Under Siege
Amena screams, batting at the air as Brigit giggles.
Nine has been teaching your Circle the basics of mental manipulation. Up until now you have only been observing, you fully understand the suggestion spell and benefit little from the first hour of instruction.
Now however Nine is moving on to new spells, "Alright dears, the next spell I am going to show you is compulsion. Suggestion simply plants an idea in the target's mind but compulsion forces them to carry out an act. Concentration is key to this spell, you need to know exactly what you want the target to do to successfully influence them. Give your victim's mind any reason to doubt and they may break free. Now repeat after me-"
Another hour of instruction and you all have a good grasp of the compulsion spell. The four of you stand in silence contemplating the spell when without warning Brigit strikes herself full in the face, "Ouch! Which one of you did that!"
You all claim innocence but Amena has the guiltiest grin on her face. Seems she wanted a little revenge for Brigit's earlier suggestion.
Brigit's brow furrows as she tries to hit back but Amena is on guard. In fact she is paying so much attention to Brigit that she does not even notice Thaïs lean over until it is too late. Smack! Thaïs' hand darts out and strikes Amena in the face.
Thaïs gasps, "Amena I am so sorry!"
Brigit giggles and sticks out her tongue, "More than one way to skin a cat!"
As the two of them stare at one another, Brigit steps forward, swings her head forward and strikes Amena right on the forehead, "Oww!" both ladies groan.
They look at Thaïs who gives them her sweetest grin, "You two should not squabble."
Brigit looks back at Amena, "Ya know what Thaïs your right."
Amena smiles, "I agree one hundred percent."
They both concentrate on Thaïs as she begins to slap herself silly. Nine is silently watching from your desk with a large grin on her face. Seems she is getting a kick out of the show. While you will admit that it is slightly funny it would probably be a good idea to stop now. Still, there is something you want to try first...
Nine's magically theory was just what you needed to perfect your mass suggestion spell but you now believe that you could apply the same principle to a compulsion spell.
You concentrate on the three mages and in unison each extends their hands to their neighbours and they begin shaking hands. The three of them look back at you in complete shock, "I think you should all shake and call it a draw," you give them a smile, "Or I may be forced to show you who is in charge here."
"How are you doing that Derryth?" Thaïs manages to sputter out.
You give her a confident smirk, "Trick of the trade, stick around and I may show you some day."
"Bravo dear, you are an ambitious one!" if Nine could clap she probably would, seems they are all quite impressed with you, "Alright dears, I have one more spell to teach you. It is a sort of mind wipe that knocks your target out. It won't do permanent damage but it will hurt a lot so-"
"So no practicing on each other," you tell the group in your most commanding tone.
Pranks are all well and good but you don't want things to get out of hand.
Brigit grins, "Well, can we practice on you then?"
"No, but..." you reach into your pocket and pull out your Heaven Stones. They should block most of the energy from any attack while letting you all get some practice forming and handling the spell, "If Nine would be willing."
She sighs and dramatically rolls her eyes, "The things I do for my students. All right, load me up," she opens her mouth wide as you slip the stones in.
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You are in your usual seat, Thaïs to your right and Amena to your left with Nine under one arm. Ithapi, Brigit and the prisoners rest in the back while Tyrvard, Gareth and the dwarves guard the wagon. It has taken you a day and a half but you have finally arrived at your destination, the offices of the Smiths of Muirthemne. However, things are not as you expected they would be.
You had expected traps and guards. At the very least you had expected the Reds to attack again. Instead all you find are deserted guard posts, sprung traps and the occasional corpse. You pick up speed, worried about Serpent's safety as you push into the lower levels of the offices.
As you look around it is impossible not to notice the signs of battle. There are corpses everywhere, some human, some spider and some in between. Most are human and dressed in silver, black and red with one or two dressed in silver and black. A handful of the corpses are horribly mutated and dressed in silver, black and blue. One of the corpses is pined under the twisted body of a Blue. It has an ornate silver staff which you take. You check but it is not Christine, part of you is relieved as much as you dislike her. Wherever she is Serpent will be nearby so for his sake you hope they are both safe.
You put your hands on your hips and whistle, "What the hell happened here do you think?"
Bari gives a nearby corpse a little kick, "Looks like the tensions between the Orders finally boiled over, Reds against Blues."
"Looks like the Silver are here as well," Gareth gives the corpse dressed in silver and black a little poke with the end of his sword, "Fighting alongside the Reds it looks like."
"So what should we make of this?" you scratch the back of your head.
Gareth frowns, "If I were going to launch an attack on an entrenched foe I would try and lure out their forces first. Could be the Blues decided to attack when word got back that the Reds were weakened..."
"You think we were bait?" Thaïs asks, a mixture of curiosity and concern playing across her face.
Jori grunts, "No way to know really unless we run into a survivor of this battle.."
"What happened to these Blues?" you ask to no one in particular as you examine the odd mixture of man and spider before you, you drop into a squat to better examine it.
It is a bizarre mockery of a man, four limbs, a torso and a head but the proportions are all wrong and it is covered in thick hairs. What draws your attention however are the two oversized fangs sticking out of its mouth.
You order Ithapi to bring Biliku over, "Hey kid, have you ever seen anything like this before?"
The normal fear she feels for you is completely gone, replaced by the horror and revulsion she feels for the creature before you, "No my lady, I have never encountered anything like this before. The... the Blues were humans like us... not whatever this thing is..." she is beginning to turn a shade of green so you dismiss her.
"Well I don't see Serpent among the dead so we press on I guess," you pull yourself back up leaning on your new staff and climb back up on the wagon.
Your group marches on through the empty lower tunnels. Level after level filled with nothing but the dead. As you near the main floor of the building you can hear a great deal of noise coming from just above you, seems like you have finally found someone.
You leave the wagon and most of your group downstairs as you and Tyrvard creep up the loading ramp to the main floor. The scene that greets you is horrific, the Blues are crowded around the dead of both sides.
They are... eating them.
One of them sits nearby looking away from you. It has the basic shape of a man but something about the way it moves is all wrong. The limbs that stick out from under its blood stained robe are crudely formed and covered in thick hairs and it is holding something in its hands; a leg or an arm you can not quite tell. As you examine it, it throws its head back revealing a warped head and large pair of fangs, it screeches. Its piercing, inhuman wailing draws the attention of its fellows who also throw their heads back and scream, joining their voices together in a disturbing parody of a human choir.
By your estimate there are twenty of these things in small groups of two or three scattered around the room. The large, metal front door of the building has been flung wide open and you think you can hear more of the creatures moving around outside. There is one large group of eight clawing at a massive set of barred doors on the far side of the room and you can faintly hear crying and human voices on the other side. For a second you think you hear Serpent's voice but you are not sure, the voice is just too quiet and too far away. What you are sure of though is that any survivors and any answers are on the other side of those doors, first though you have to get past the Blues.
You return downstairs as your group gathers around.
You begin in a whisper, "There are about twenty of those things up there and survivors holed up in an adjoining room behind a large set of double doors."
Biliku speaks up from the back of the wagon, all fear gone from her as concern for her family and friends seizes control, "That would be the chapel where we keep the holy relics, if father is still alive he will be leading the defense from there."
You shoot a question her way, "Are there any other ways in?"
She is still a bit intimidated by you but she tries her best to be brave, "Not that I am aware of my lady. It is built like a vault, strong doors but only one way in and out."
You rub your temples, and chuckle as you stare at the ceiling "It is never easy is it?" you sigh and turn to the group, "Well everyone, any plans?"
1. You think there are survivors in the far room. If you could get to them you might even find Serpent if he is still alive. How do you want to go about it?
A) Spiderfolk Diplomacy - they seem like such reasonable people... errr, monster things...
B) Ranged and Inner Door -You will rely on ranged weapons and spells to thin out the enemy and use your fighters to cover you while you make for the barred inner door. You will not worry about saving ammo.
C) Ranged and Front Door -You will rely on ranged weapons and spells to thin out the enemy and use your fighters to cover you while you make for the front door to close and bar it. You will not worry about saving ammo.
D)Balanced and Inner Door -You will use your ranged weapons and spells but you will use them sparingly and rely more on close ranged fighting while you make for the barred inner door.
E) Balanced and Front Door - You will use your ranged weapons and spells but you will use them sparingly and rely more on close ranged fighting while you make for the front door to close and bar it.
F) Melee and Inner Door - You want to conserve ammo, you will focus on close ranged combat with ranged and magical support while you make for the barred inner door.
G) Melee and Front Door - You want to conserve ammo, you will focus on close ranged combat with ranged and magical support while you make for the front door to close and bar it.
H) You use suggestion/compulsion to lure some of the Blues downstairs, if they resist the spell you will then try and lure them down using Tyrvard as bait. This may draw them all in however if it fails.
I) You and Thaïs use compulsion to have the Blues close and bar the doors while the rest of your group attacks. You will have to maintain concentrate on your target but it would get the doors closed quickly.
J)You and Thaïs use compulsion to have the Blues close and bar the doors. Once barred you lure as many downstairs as possible using ranged fire and a satchel charge you attempt to kill as many as possible. You mop up any survivors and push back up the ramp in time to prevent any Blues still upstairs from unbarring the doors. The greatest weakness of this plan is that it will require speed and good timing but it minimizes combat time and resources expended.
K) "Mine the passage; have Thais and Derryth use compulsion to close the gates; have Tyrvard attract the attention of the enemy right after that; have Thais assist Derryth in using mass compulsion and/or suggestion to prompt everyone to engage Tyrvard, then retreat (protecting the mages as necessary); have Brigit and Amena attempt crowd control to maintain enemy's focus on Tyrvard and to have as many enemies in the blast radius as possible; finish off the survivors.
If the enemy attempts retreat, compel them to keep the gates barred until the cleanup crew catches up to them. Their morale should be low at this point, their wills weak and their thoughts jumbled, so our mages should have an easy time suggesting anything they want."
L) Freeform
2. Do you free and arm Biliku and Uttu, they are both still injured but you do have a couple bows that they could use to provide additional support.
A) Yes - at his point the more help the better.
B) No - they may turn on you