IC - Episode 2: Air and Fire (everyone else)

[Mister_Sinister]

Opening Theme: Ultimatus, by GPKism

Not waiting for the rest to recover, Noxatra utters a brief prayer to Shar at the stroke of midnight, and proceeds rapidly towards Allaria. While she waited, recovered and prayed, she could hear the loud jackboots of the infernal army moving toward Allaria. Not tens, not hundreds, but thousands of devils marched towards the city, and a great racket of construction came from it even before Noxatra left to wander towards it. The storm showed no signs of abating, and the portal beam cut into the sky just as it had before. The headache from its presence, although softened significantly, was still present - clearly an irreparable side effect.

As Noxatra rode towards the city on her shadow-steed, she began to see what all the noise had been about. The walls of Allaria were being raised to almost twice their height, built in infernal black stone, and towers were being doubled in number. Thousands of slaves, both infernal and human, were working hard to put up these fortifications, and gigantic war engines were being carted into place both through the gates and on the walls. Giant cauldrons of boiling tar, great arcane ballistae with phasic ammunition, rapid-firing cannon which launched projectiles made of hellfire and acid, and even stranger contraptions of war than Noxatra's mind could not explain. A strong stench of brimstone and ash hung in the air around the city, and despite the strong sea winds that bore the storm, it was barely dampened.

Allaria must have been a beautiful city once, but its fine towers and beautiful spires were either burnt ruins, or being rapidly rebuilt into grotesque mockeries of architecture, filled with black spikes, covered in blades and chains, and generally appearing more like places of torture than culture. The walls were buttressed with powerful stone obelisks, with glowing runes carved into them that hurt Noxatra's eyes. Every so often, large patrols of devils, some with kobolds alongside, walked or ran past her, but none seemed to care. All eyes were to the sky - and even during this night, the blackness of the sky-ships of the Edge of Sanity stood out, a blacker-than-blackness that looked like a bizarre constellation gone wrong.

As Noxatra approached the city, she saw that the gates of Allaria had been reinforces significantly, with spikes, runes of bale energies and death, and a lot of additional steel, dyed a strange green by infernal magics. Nearly a whole legion of bearded devils stood in front of it, but upon seeing Noxatra, they parted, leaving her access to the gates. Although locked, Noxatra knew that but a word would open them.

Welcome to Episode 2! As Nox chose to race on ahead, Veldor and the bears can chill for a moment while Nox does some work of her own. I assume she was riding her procession here.

[Sohala]

First draft didn't sound right. Hope I didn't go too much out of line with the second one.

From the center of her skeletons, Noxatra pointed to the nearest devil, and saying in an even tone, "I want that gate opened, immediately." She gave him an intense stare with her black eyes.

With a glance, the bearded devil she had addressed, suddenly noticed a lack of comrades around him. He paled a little and quickly shouted up to the gate guards to grant entry.

The group moved forward in silence, the skeletons' bones creaking as they went. She scanned the city as they moved forward, looking for older stone work. It was little use though, with all the smoke and ash from the working going on, visibility was rather poor. Noxatra called a halt to her group as they passed a lone bearded devil. "You there, come here." Her skeletons parted enough to admit the devil. Once the devil was close enough, she whispered to him, "I have need of information of the city. Are you willing to assist me?" The devil can see a multicolored glint coming from her hand.

[Mister_Sinister]

The bearded devil immediately stands to attention and gives Noxatra a salute.

"Yes ma'am! What information do you seek?"

[Sohala]

Don't ask me why I thought I needed to bribe a lawful outsider...

Somewhat a taken back at the discipline presented by the devil, Noxatra thinks to herself, "This guy knows how to train minions." Then addressing the at attention devil, “During the patrols of the city, what is the oldest building that has been come across? Are there any churches? Have you found any underground passages, a sewer, catacombs or such? Finally, where is the command building?”

[Mister_Sinister]

The oldest building discovered dates back approximately 1000 years, and it is the Central Spire. There's a lot of construction work going on there, ma'am, so I wouldn't recommend you getting close. There were multiple churches ma'am, but since all worship other than that of Belial or Asmodeus is now illegal in this Age, they have been torn down and their materials used to reinforce the city. As far as underground passages, sewers, catacombs or anything similar ma'am, I simply don't have an answer for you. The command building is three kliks ahead, housed in what used to be the prison building. Just keep walking along this street here, and you'll hit it after two left turns. There will be someone there that can direct you.

The devil recites this in precise, military-style cant, standing to attention the entire time. Noxatra's retinue of skeletons does not seem to bother him one bit.

[Sohala]

Noxatra ponders what to do next, and notices the devil still standing there, "Your assistance has been most helpful, but that will be all." waving her hand dismissively. "This spire is worth a look, best to check on the actives though."

With a word her skeletons move forward again, this time toward the command building.

[Mister_Sinister]

As Noxatra follows the directions given to her, she cannot help but notice that there seem to be no non-devils out in the streets. Although she passes by several houses, they all appear to be empty, and those that are not have their doors tightly locked and their windows barred. Even shops and other businesses appear to have stopped doing anything, and the streets are eerily quiet apart from the marching of infernal jackboots and the constant noise of construction.

As she turns the last corner, she sees the building mentioned by the devil. It would be impossible to miss, as even before the modifications inflicted on it by the devils, it would have been an imposing stone structure, standing four floors upward. The devils, however, have turned it into a veritable fortress, with parapets, buttresses, new doors and windows made of some infernal black iron, regular patrols, both on the roof and on the ground, and most importantly, a large clear area around it, which had been dug into a moat, filled with what appeared to be lava. If that were not deterrence enough, the entire compound, moat and all, was encircled by a fence which looked as if it were made of lightning. The only means of access to the compound, consisting of but a single drawbridge which appeared to simply rise or submerge out of the lava, was guarded by a huge gate, and two uniformed bearded devils stood to attention beside it, gazing directly ahead.

As Noxatra watched another platoon of bearded devils march towards the fortress, she could not help but notice that there appeared to be beings swimming in the lava. She could not make out much more than their shapes, but they appeared to be vaguely reptillian in nature. They were also enormous - she had no doubt that one of these creatures could mount several people with ease.

As she approached the gates, the devils immediately hefted their weapons to readiness, and a loud voice came from within the gates, resonating straight into Noxatra's bones.

State your business and leave!

[Sohala]

Noxatra was quite impressed with the sight of the fortifications, “They might actually hold this place.” Her admiration quickly turned to annoyance at the bluntness of the voice, but keeping a level head she replied, “I am Noxatra and I seeking authorization to explore the Central Spire. I also wish to obtain any information you have on the spire and a detailed map of the city, including the locations of the demolished churches.”

[Mister_Sinister]

You have authorisation. The information you seek is above your station, but we will send what you can be told. Now get out of here!

Suddenly, Noxatra feels a flood of information hit her mind. It wavers at the edge of her vision, a mixture of maps, hazards, traps and orders, all jumbled together, but in a surprisingly orderly picture. After Noxatra wanders off, clutching her head, it takes her at least ten to fifteen minutes to piece together all the information that had just been beamed directly into her mind into something coherent and useful.

To make this easier, ask me any questions you want via PM or spoilerblock, and I'll answer them inasfar as you have been made aware. Actually giving you all this info in one go is gonna be pretty darn tough, considering what you asked for.

[Sohala]

Information is a sort of currency for Noxatra; she is vague to give away as little as possible, but to gain as much as she can.

Lets see…specified stuff…

Original purpose of spire.
Purposes of spire since then.
What the spire is built out of.
Magic effects around/in/below the spire.
Guardians around/in/below the spire.
Traps around/in/below the spire.
Layout around/in/below the spire.
Depth the spire goes.
Underground passage around/in/below the spire.

Go with that for now. I assume you will give anything direly important to me if it should have been in the information, and allow me more points of information as we go along?

Still reeling from the flood information, Noxatra heads to the nearest demolished church, to allow her brain to process the details better.

[Mister_Sinister]

This information is true insofar as the devils have given it.

Original purpose of the spire: It was a navigational aid for the sky-ships of the ancient race that used to use this location as a military base.

Spire since then: The devils couldn't care less. It's gonna be a weapon platform.

What the spire is built of: Some sort of magical stone.

Other spire-related stuff: Nobody's been inside the spire for centuries, so that's anyone's guess. The devils have build considerable defences around it, and stationed a lot of troops, but don't go into specifics.

[Sohala]

I am going to burn a few hours having Noxatra explore the churches and then head to the spire. How long do you want the churches to take?
 
Anyways taking 10 for all Perception checks involving the churches, giving 30.

[Mister_Sinister]

Since it's evening, this might take longer, due to a lack of available light. Also, remember that all of these churches are basically ruins, with most of the valuable or useful building materials and furnishings taken from them. If you wanna search them, I'll say it takes you until midnight, and wandering over to the spire takes a further half-hour. If you still wanna search them, post as much, and I'll write you a montage.

[Sohala]

I left at midnight, so we can figure dawn if you want, that would catch everyone up.

She will be mainly looking for catacombs, being churches she figures at least one would have some, hidden compartments, valubles and lore if she happens to see any.

Figure in a Sending spell to the others (to be written with outcome).

[Mister_Sinister]

Sure - that actually works in my favour.

Noxatra and her minions spend the night searching through the ruins of every church demolished by the devils in their quest to make their faith supreme in the city of Allaria. While Noxatra had little success, one small chapel located far from any major streets, that she searched in the last order, as the sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, did yield something: a small trap door, buried under a large stone slab, that appeared to be significantly older than the remaining wreckage around it. It was securely padlocked, and the lock itself had an incredibly complex design - so much so that Noxatra could not figure out how it worked. The material of the lock and the trap door appeared to be some kind of highly dense metal, and Noxatra suspected that it was adamantine, but couldn't be sure.

I'm gonna have them rejoin you, and while I'm hacking out the thread, you can post what you want your sending to contain.

[Sohala]

Assuming it is not to complex to smash. The Sending is delayed for now.

Noxatra fiddled with the lock for a moment before giving up with the delicate approach. She withdrew her guisarme, raised it above her head and then swung it down, splitting the lock in two. Moving back, she directed two of her skeletons to open the hatch.

[Mister_Sinister]

Unless your guisarme is made of adamantine or something of similar hardness, I think you breaking the lock or the trapdoor is unlikely.

Edit: I'm an idiot. Obdurium. Ignore this.

[Sohala]

Harder, Obdurium.

[Mister_Sinister]

As the trap door is pulled open, a massive rush of toxic gas floods the immediate area. The gas is a blue-grey colour, and forms a thick film on everything it touches. Noxatra cannot help but inhale some of it, and it burns as it goes down her throat.

DC 24 Fort save vs. the poison, please.

[Sohala]

Knew I forgot something (backing up). 
1d20+13=22