<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;">Sorry to hear that Lerkur! <img alt=":neutral:" src="./images/smilies/icon_neutral.gif" title="Neutral"/> Hardware troubles are a pain. I wish you good luck fixing it.</div></div></div><br/><br/><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Auralia wrote:</cite>The humor goes right over Auralia's head, which she shakes in response to Soma's comment. "No, I am afraid that such powers are well beyond me. My abilities are more oriented towards staying alive against evil creatures such as the ones we shall be dealing with. I can extend some of this protection to those around me, though."</div></blockquote><br/>"No kidding." says Soma. "Last night that spider hit you with a thunderbolt--point blank range--and you didn't even flinch."<br/>"That'll be useful..." she adds. "The Soggies are known for tossing around painful magic."<br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Auralia wrote:</cite>She adds simply, "As far as offense, my blade is the extent of what I have to offer."</div></blockquote><br/>"But it's no slouch of a blade." comments Yuki, eying the gleaming celestial steel which lays ready at the angel's side, as uncovered as she.<br/><br/>She looks also to Sashi's well-used scythe. Between the two of them, the lop-eared warrior and the angel will be able to dish out a heaping quantity of slashing damage--provided they remain out of the foes' bellies long enough to do so.<br/><br/><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Chrrou wrote:</cite>We don't know how the Talismans came to be," Chrrou corrects, shaking his head. "And we do not wield such cataclysmic power as that," he admits in afterthought, "or I imagine we would already have opposed these enemies more ... directly.</div></blockquote><br/>"Hmph." says Yuki, vaguely disappointed though not surprised.<br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Chrrou wrote:</cite>"But when I am not personally raising hundred-ton monoliths or charming my many admiring and beautiful sylvan dancing-partners, then yes--I bolster my allies' strength, I call beasts to fight at my side, and I raise up the very earth to cut and ensnare. The Pact was not established in the Valley through peaceful persuasion."</div></blockquote><br/>"No, indeed<span style="font-style: italic">not.</span>More like imperial hegemony and police force..." she retorts darkly, speaking as one who has spent time in a Pact prison.<br/><br/><br/>Soma cuts in, not wanting to hear her cousin to derail the discussion with one of her political rants. "Oh! Calling beasts! Sounds like a good antidote for the fact that we're a bit...outnumbered, compared to the merc army the Soggies command. What kind of beasts can you call?"<br/>She recalls Chrrou's chirping from the previous night, and a thought pops into her head that causes her to giggle. "...little songbirds?"<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Mindrillia responding to Yuki's query wrote:</cite>"Well, you've seen some of my abilities already. I can create shelters, I can fly for a short time, and I can teleport about three people as far as eight-hundred feet."<br/><br/>"Also, I can do a bit of telepathy. I can make mindlinks, allowing us to communicate over distances without actually talking. I can also... manipulate people--</div></blockquote>Yuki and Soma's eyes both widen.<blockquote class="uncited"><div>--controlling their thoughts and actions, to an extent. It's how I've managed to rescue Vonerys and the others. I can't control large groups though, and I must concentrate on who I'm controlling, meaning I can't use my other powers."</div></blockquote><br/>"Telepathy..." says Soma.<br/><br/>"Manipulate people..." says Yuki.<br/><br/>The cousins look at each other.<br/><span style="font-size: 80%; line-height: 116%;">[Soma concentration 1d20(14)+12 = 26, pass; manifests <a class="postlink" href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/missive.htm">missive</a> at Yuki with no display]</span><br/><br/>"...indeed." says Soma, looking back to Mindy. "Telepathy...opens up many new angles of attack for us..."<br/>She returns once more to a state of deep thinking, mulling over what she has learned and sifting through half-formed schemes in her mind.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Yuki stares at Mindy. The telepath has now earned a spot alongside Auralia at the top of her "people to be paranoid about" list.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Minndrillia wrote:</cite>"You've used this suite before, right? This isn't anything unusual... right?"</div></blockquote><br/>"Nah, it happens." says Soma distractedly. "The portal stops existing when you lock it." She looks at Yuki.<br/><blockquote><div><cite>Sashi wrote:</cite>"who has the key?"</div></blockquote><br/>Yuki absently pats her mailed chest. "Er..."<br/>"It's in my cloak pocket. Do you really need it?"<br/><br/><span style="font-size: 80%; line-height: 116%;">(if Sashi answers yes:)</span>Yuki heads to her room. A minute later, she returns bearing the ornate golden key and tosses it to Sashi.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><blockquote><div><cite>Minndrillia wrote:</cite>"Umm, if you don't mind my asking, Miss Ananda, what are your abilities? From what you've said, you're a psion as well, correct?"</div></blockquote><br/>Some is presently reminiscing about a scheme she once used to con a village of gnomes out of their jewel cache, and wondering if it could be re-used here against the Sogluyem. She shelves this thought for the moment.<br/>"Oh, me?" she says.<br/><br/>"I am a composer, an artist." says Soma, waxing poetic. "A sculptor of flesh."<br/>"Most people see 'health' as the mere absence of disease and injury, and 'fitness' as merely a product of exercise and nutrition..."<br/>"Little do they appreciate--" she stares at an open palm, intimately aware of each bone, tendon and pulsing capillary within.<br/>"--the true beauty of the body's interior. The symphony of living alchemy that makes it all possible."<br/><br/><br/>Yuki rolls her eyes.<br/><br/><br/>"But<span style="font-style: italic">I</span>do." says Soma with a prideful grin. "And with practice, I've even learned to improve upon Nature's design. I can make my body stronger, faster, tougher...or even sculpt it into an entirely new shape."<br/>Thinking along the same lines as Mindy, Soma decides not to mention all of her powers. It's always wise to keep an ace in the hole.