<span style="font-weight: bold">&lt;&lt;KAELEN &amp; LARYNN&gt;&gt;</span><br/><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">Six of the vanara ordered ambrosia before Larynn's business was interrupted by the Nabasu. A few minutes searching will turn up their payments in and around the stall... which should be just about enough to repair what the demons broke.</div></div></div><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Larynn wrote:</cite>"Unless anyone here has some more physical injuries, the most I can do is offer a refund for any ambrosia that was ruined in the fight."</div></blockquote><br/>"Nothing but a few bumps and scrapes," Padma says. "We'll be fine, as long as we can find a healer before the day's out. As for the coin, best save it 'til we're in the clear... if we make it through this, that is." The elder's brow furrows as he looks across the square, watching the mists swirl, then part...<br/><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">&lt;&lt;EVERYONE&gt;&gt;</span><br/><br/>The first combatant to leave the mist is a terrifying sight to behold: a towering man-shaped monstrosity, big and broad as a troll, with thorny hide the color of old blood. Bright orange flames wreathe its body, shedding sparks with every beat of its ragged-edged wings. Its oversized fists clutch weapons every bit as monstrous as their wielder: in its left, a writhing mass of tendrils sheathed in the demon's fiery aura; in its right, a jagged blade that looks as if someone froze a thunderbolt into gleaming metal. He turns to the glowing cloud, and bellows a wordless challenge.<br/><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;"><div class="inline-attachment">
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<dt><a href="./download/file.php?id=78165&amp;mode=view"><img alt="Demon General.jpg" src="./download/file.php?id=78165&amp;t=1" title="Demon General.jpg (133.86 KiB) Viewed 724 times"/></a></dt>
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</div><br/>Knowledge (planes) DC 30 to identify this archdemon...</div></div></div><br/>The response is not long in coming. Seconds later, a streak of silver erupts from the mists, meeting the demon's waiting blade. The streak rebounds away with a metallic reverb, and hovers several yards away, its light dimming to reveal the second warrior from the portal: a golden-haired woman of statuesque proportion, slightly smaller than her opponent but no less imposing. Her body is wrapped in silk robes and furs, and two gleaming star-shaped daggers rest easily in her hands. Her milky white skin sheds a silver light, mingling with the orange glow of the demons' flames to bathe the entire square in a flickering twilit glow.<br/><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;"><div class="inline-attachment">
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<dt><a href="./download/file.php?id=78166&amp;mode=view"><img alt="Celestial General.jpeg" src="./download/file.php?id=78166&amp;t=1" title="Celestial General.jpeg (160.54 KiB) Viewed 724 times"/></a></dt>
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</div><br/>... only DC 29 to identify this celestial. <span style="font-style: italic">Much</span> easier.</div></div></div><br/>Across the square, the sounds of battle cease, replaced by an eerie and reverent silence. Citizens peer from inside shredded tents or behind battered stalls, hesitant to come further but unwilling to miss the spectacle. Guards cease to battle their demonic foes, lowering or even casting down their arms in mid-swing to turn and stare in spellbound awe. Even the demons themselves fall abruptly silent, their ferocity and hunger momentarily forgotten as they join their mortal foes staring in transfixion at the immortal combatants. No other sight or sound stirs the portal square, save for the duelists' blades as they dance across the night sky.<br/><br/>Higher and higher the two generals soar, a pair of rising stars ringing with the clash of Empyrean and Abyssal steel. Their movements are hard to follow thanks to both combatants' otherworldly speed, but it's clear that this will be a close battle; neither side is willing to yield a foot of ground to the other, nor able to claim and inch. Yet, despite their best efforts, both combatants must have taken serious wounds by now; it's only a matter of time before one of them succumbs to injury or fatigue, leaving the other to deliver the finishing blow... but which will it be?<br/><br/>Moments later, the onlookers have their answer. The demon's blade sweeps across his opponent's torso, leaving a crimson gash and earning a shocked cry from the celestial as she clutches her wounded belly. She darts back, but the demon's lash is faster, enveloping her in a tangle of blazing strands for the demon to drag in like a fisherman's net. Grinning, the demon casts his sword aside in a crack of thunder, and yawns wide, revealing a wicked maw of sharklike teeth... but the celestial is less wounded than she appeared. One hand wriggles free of her bonds, and plunges the foremost blade of her dagger into the demon's stomach past the hilt with a desperation-driven blow. The demon roars, echoed by a defiant cry from the celestial, as the entwined pair vanish in a blinding burst of heavenly fire...<br/><br/>By the time the watching crowd has recovered, the battle is over. The two generals are gone, vanished into the aether- and with them, inexplicably, the entire invasion force. Of the countless hordes that ravaged the city center only a minute before, only the dead and dying remain. (Excepting the 'lucky' tieflings batter senseless by a certain Watch duo...) The mist have vanished just as quickly, and the dais is visible again, and milling with priests - a good deal fewer than before, one might note - bringing the lazily spinning portal ring to a final halt.<br/><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">&lt;&lt;KAELEN &amp; LARYNN&gt;&gt;</span><br/><br/>"Maruti's grace," Padma mumbles. He leans heavily on his cane, holding his eyes shut as he waits for them to re-adjust to the darkness. "What a thing... lads, everyone alright?" A chorus of acknowledgments echoes back from the troop, and Padma nods in satisfaction before turning to Larynn.<br/><br/>"Thank you again for your help, Miss Rynn," he says. "And don't worry about the gold- we've got money to spare, and I reckon you'll need it for the repairs." The elder gives Larynn's battered storefront a casual tap with his cane, and winces as several pots and pans topple over, making what's left of the stall's structure groan. "Though I'm afraid you'll have to do some digging to find it in this mess..."<br/><br/>Padma turns to address his students, but he doesn't get much further than opening his mouth before a second groan interrupts him- only this time, it's not the stall. In fact, it sounds... feminine?<br/><br/>It's not hard to follow the sound to its source behind Larynn's stall: her cart, or what's left of it. It looks as if a second Nabasu, or something just as large, battered the front open and spilled most of her unused cooking supplies onto the ground.<br/><br/>Underneath the pots and pans, Larynn can make out a blonde haired woman, covered in spilt flour and the shredded remains of a silk gown. Her left hand clutches the hilt of what might have been an exotic blade of some sort, while her right guards a recently cauterized slash across her bare abdomen. She shifts slightly at the sound of approach, and her eyelids flutter but don't open- yet.<br/><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">&lt;&lt;ALYSSA, CELAIRE&lt; DAGNYR, MINA, &amp; VANIKA&gt;&gt;</span><br/><br/>A hundred voices give a truncated startled cry as the Watch officers return to their senses and instinctively ready their arms, only to find that the battle has left without them. Uncertain how to proceed, the crowds of blue clad soldiers search the square in bewilderment, murmuring amongst themselves as they wait for a signal, a command, a surprise attack...<span style="font-style: italic">something</span>to makes sense of what in the world just happens. It's almost a relief when a gruff female voice barks from the middle of one of the crowds:<br/><br/>"Well, what are you all waiting for? Everyone back to work! First Squad cleanup, Second Squad patrol, Third Squad..."<br/><br/>For Alyssa and Dagnyr, at least, it shouldn't be hard to guess the owner of that particular voice- only  one person in Prometa could shrug off an<span style="font-style: italic">invasion</span>that quickly. Sure enough, Sergeant Ananda marches into view only a second later, elbowing her way out of a stunned crowd of officers. The square echoes with shouts of 'Yessir!' as the officers salute their commander and hurry off to their assigned duties, giving the Sergeant a wide berth whenever possible. It's hard to tell underneath her armor, but the Sergeant looks a bit wider herself- not that it's slowing her one bit as she strides in their direction.<br/><br/>In the opposite direction, the clomp of bootsoles echoes up Mercy Lane from the south as what could only be the staff of the Old Prometa Watchhouse marches toward the square in smart formation. The reinforcements have arrived at last... what perfect timing. Now would be a very good time for Angel and Vanika to follow the demons out, if they can find a way...<br/><br/><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">&lt;&lt;REWARDS&gt;&gt;</span><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">All players gain 2,400 XP (new total: 73,400 XP)<br/><br/>Celaire gains 500 VP, and the Parous Jelly nutrion. (And half a pound of belly fat)<br/>Kaelen gains 1025 VP, and the Exceptional Physique (Strength) nutrion.<br/>Vanika gains 500 VP and the Crushing Grip nutrion.<br/><br/>(Other treasures and GP will arrive later...)</div></div></div><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">&lt;&lt;STATUS SCROLL&gt;&gt;</span><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">Alyssa HP: 70/70 (100%) [AC: 25 (+2 armor, +1 deflection, +4 Dex, +1 dodge, +7 Int), CMD: 30 (32 vs. grapple)]<br/>"Angel" HP: 67/67 (49%)* [AC: 23 (+7 armor, +1 deflection, +3 Dex, +2 natural), CMD: 29 (31 vs. grapple]<br/>Dagnyr HP: 86/86 (100%) [AC: 21 (+9 armor, +1 Dex, +1 natural), CMD: 25 (27 vs. grapple)]<br/>Kaelen HP: 58/69 (84%) [AC: 24 (+6 armor, +1 deflection, +6 Dex, +1 natural), CMD: 25 (27 vs. grapple)] [invisible, 1 negative level]<br/>Larynn HP: 100% [AC: 23 (10 + 6 Armor + 2 Dex + 2 Natural + 3 Deflection), CMD: 22]<br/>Mina HP: 84/88 (95%) [AC: 20 (+3 Dex, +3 dodge, +4 Wis), CMD: 32 (34 vs. grapple)]<br/>Vanika HP: 52/84 (62%)* [AC: 25 (+2 Dex, +14 natural, -1 size), CMD: 30 (32 vs. grapple)]</div></div></div>