Joat

Uh, mister GM? I did ask a question that is vital to progression.

“You should know by now we have no intention of leaving you,” Malchoir says. He charges into the most clustered group of enemies and swings his sword at them. The hit will probably be strong enough to cleave clean through any enemy it strikes *OOC: Up to the GM, for he would know better than I how agile the enemies are.*, provided they are unarmored (and possibly even if they are, depending on the armor strength). The blob, meanwhile, stays with Lightning, Luna, and Celestia to guard them. *OOC: Incredible strength + huge sword = happy fun times.*

*OOC: Well, at least this time the delay was justified by work I had to do.* Malchoir raises his sword to a fighting stance. One of the cards floating around him is cut in half and disappears. A 6’ tall green blob appears next to him. *OOC: Because one blob apparently is not enough.*

“The hits just keep on coming, don’t they?” Malchoir sighs.

“One thing we can do beforehand, though, is try to predict in advance what sort of traps could be set. I know it will be nothing efficient, mind. He isn’t that sort of villain.”

*OOC: Gah. Sowwy for the delay.* “Yes, but the alternative is not saving them,” Malchoir says.

“Admittedly, though, I have heard of teleportation spells that do take vague descriptors like ‘Wherever X person is’ or something. But ya gotta be careful about teleporting to place you don’t know, even if you can.”

Malchoir assists in moving rocks, doing remarkably better at it than one would think. Then again, considering how easily he wields such a large sword, maybe that is not so surprising.

IPA (Interdimensional Protection Agency). Also, I shall accept this, oh GM, but in the future, please do not create a long-time archnemesis for my characters without discussing it with me first. I mean, I am fine with the IPA having opposition, but by having it be existing opposition, you did kinda puppeteer the IPA’s backstory in some small way and this change could require some quick-thinking to include in the concept of the IPA. That said, before I canr post Starshift’s reaction, I must know Chaotix’s general tendencies. How exclusively do they focus on chaos? If they focus on chaos for the sake of chaos (in other words, an extreme chaotic neutral in D&D terms), then the IPA and Chaotix probably do not LIKE each-other and do sometimes clash, but would probably not have specific animosity for each-other. In other words, if one is not actively in the way of the other’s goals, they leave each-other alone. This would be because the IPA is good, but not always lawful. Yes, they have a structure in some ways, but they also have members like Twippy (a cartoon dog who focuses a fair bit on being silly while on duty) and Silka (whose key defining feature is having a chaotic mind that rapidly flits between realities that may or may not even exist, leaving her thought processes rather non-sequitor at times). That is not even getting to some of the universes they deal with (such as, say, Twippy’s). So, if Chaotix is chaotic, but not evil, there may also be times when they have worked together. For example, if the dimension in question is being controlled by an evil government, Chaotix and the IPA would be working together to deal with the problem. The point at which there becomes real animosity is if the organization is generally evil and seeks to create chaos for the sake of suffering. Also, I must know what the nature of the dimensional barrier is. As a plot device, it probably isn’t even strictly necessary to keep the rest of the IPA out (the IPA sending backup or the like is rare, mostly because the IPA has a lot of faith in the power of an individual operative or duo thereof to turn the tide of a dimension’s struggle despite overwhelming odds - even if it seems like the IPA operative is about to be killed, last-minute victories happen quite often - but also because many of the operatives have lives outside of the IPA and thus all operatives should not be active all the time). However, if the device is to be used, I must know what the effect specifically is because I control the IPA. So, kinda important.

“Quick question before we go. Do you have a destination in mind?”

“If it is a game, there should be rules or a starting point. ‘Start with anywhere and anything in the world’ doesn’t seem like him.”

Starshift re-casts the unicorn spell from earlier and glows once more. With her enhanced senses, she tries to discern what the beings are saying.

Malchoir grabs the note, mentally noting that if Twippy were here, he’d probably pretend it were a shopping list and list of groceries before reading what it actually says. Sometimes, the guy doesn’t know when not to be funny… Malchoir starts reading the note aloud.

Starshift makes an internal risk-vs.-reward assessment: - The chances of there being clues in here are actually low, despite the sorrowsworn here being an uncommon occurrence. - However, low is still better odds than they can expect most of the time. - There could be enough to overwhelm them. - Then again, that could be true anywhere and also there could be none left in here at all. - They may have a better group better equipped to handle this later on, so coming back later could be safer. - Time is of the essence, though. Weighing those factors, she decides not to advise a retreat. Clues will not fall onto a silver platter. Danger of a horrible death is a part of the job description and she must act accordingly. “Alright, so we know two main things that will work on them: teleportation and flanking. Unfortunately…” She sighs. “I am talented at neither.” Starshift is beginning to regret choosing to learn Featherlight before learning that Acid Breath spell. Then again, would that work on these things either?

Starshift stops glowing as she ends the spell. “Yeah, who knows if it might have a way back. But even if it did work with no strings attached, if there is one here, there may or may not be more. So, we still need to be careful.” She pauses. “Then again, when the dimension is apparently slowly tearing itself apart, you hardly need a specific reason to be careful.”

Starshift casts a unicorn spell and starts softly glowing light green. This should help her until her sight returns. She is in a combat stance, but she doesn’t hear much movement right now. It seems to have died down, which makes sense, considering the angry screeching she heard. Maybe the sorrowsworn was destroyed? A quite concerning issue, though, is whether the blindness is temporary or permanent. Knowing what she does about this kind of magic, probably temporary. It is still worrying, though.

“Perhaps either hidden behind another rock or something or in plain sight and we’re just silly for not noticing them.”

“Unless there’s something about the power level of the regular rebels that I don’t know about, like they all can make weapons disappear and stuff, three was actually not a bad situation. Not as good as one, but still.”

“How many are there? Because if it’s a pretty small group, attacking the rebels a tiny group at a time seems actually pretty strategically advantageous. Certainly more than what will usually fall in our laps. But if it’s a large group, yeah, better lie low and wait for a better situation.”

Starshift is not being targeted and is not the ideal person to strike from behind next (that would be Breech, who is actually more skilled at striking in close quarters), so she takes this moment of opportunity to quickly examine her surroundings to see if there are any objects or terrain features that they can use to their advantage.

Starshift leaps out of the way of the attack, barely missing being hit. “It may not have hit you,” Starshift thinks, “but it sure seems to have distracted you from the others.”

Starshift leaps behind the sorrowsworn (not necessarily right behind, but somewhere behind) and prepares a Ghost Flare. She does not fire, though, until the same time that another ally attacks. She reasons that this sorrowsworn may have difficultly blocking two attacks at once. That said, if this does not work, the only other option that she can think of left (both physical and magical attacks being completely useless) is to flee. One key lesson in the IPA is recognizing when a fight is unwinnable. Actually… upon thinking of the instability in the area, there would be one more option…

Malchoir hides… somewhere. *OOC: Not enough description to know exactly where the available hiding spots would be. So, I guess it is… somewhere.*

--POST DELETED (sorry, the post order will take some getting used to)--

“That said,” Malchoir says, “Underground where?”