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Message: <blockquote data-quote="haiiro" data-source="post: 1686209" data-attributes="member: 1891">Dockside Battle (Session 2)This is the first post from our second session, which was called "Dockside Battle" (the first one was entitled "Tuggle's Follies").Rooftop LurkersSince Thissiken had told them that the only other drakesmith who spent much time with Algaer was one Martooth Battlebrow, the Follies decided to make his shop their first stop. They were only a stone's throw from his place, so they entered the alley alongside Thissiken's in single file, headed for the next street over. Cupric, however, went the opposite direction -- intending to seek out a music district and obtain an instrument for himself. He had arranged to meet the rest of the Follies at midday at their second stop, the Copper Cup.Emerging from the alleyway, Tal caught a glimpse of movement on the ramparted building adjacent to Martooth's ramshackle shop -- a brief flash of blue on the rooftop. As soon as Tal had whispered this news to the other Follies, they spread out across the street.Narrowing her eyes, De'lea tried to detect evil on the rooftop, and found two faint auras. She communicated this to the party in a slightly louder voice than Tal, and in response Tuggle aimed a recent occupant at the same area. He learned the name and race of one of the beings on the roof -- Ursuro Mull, a tindali -- and informed the Follies that something up there wasn't human.At this point, Vicktor had circled around behind Martooth's shop -- which sat askance to the road, jutting out from the ragged line of shops to either side of it. Finding the junction of Martooth's side wall and that of the adjacent shop to be very convenient, he began climbing up towards the ramparts. On the street, Tal had approached the door of the shop closest to Martooth's (the small metal sign over it read "Tarayn's") and knocked on it sharply, while Artemis had begun swiftly climbing the front of that same building. Jaehn, Tuggle and De'lea were all hanging back, waiting to react to what transpired above.What happened next depended on the observer's viewpoint.Artemis crested the ramparts and surveyed the scene: he took in a figure in faded blue robes with leather wrappings on his feet, hastening to the back of the rooftop. In the same heartbeat, he heard a faint sizzle off to his left, and a thin blue ray emerged from the shadowed corner, striking him in the shoulder.This beam's effect was dramatic: Artemis went through several minutes of becoming very frightened in just under a second, broke out into a cold sweat and prepared to flee in a blind panic.Seeing this from his vantage point on the street, Jaehn finished up a summoning spell -- and brought a celestial giant bee into existence on the roof, directly in front of Artemis. For Artemis, this didn't improve the situation -- now sheened in sweat, he let go of the rampart and began his drop into the street.On the roof, observed by none of the Follies, the enormous bee flourished its glowing Stinger of Judgment and launched itself at the fleeing blue-robed figure. Without turning around, he nimbly sidestepped the bee's attempt to smite him and simultaneously drew a dagger from under his robes. Those below could hear only the rumbling buzz of the giant bee.Down in the street, De'lea readied her bow and prepared to fire at the first hostile creature that showed itself on the roof above. Out of everyone's sight, Vicktor finished his brief ascent -- and came face-to-stinger with the bee. In his peripheral vision, he spotted a small floating object -- about the size of a grapefruit, with several stalks or tendrils protruding from it -- near the front of the rooftop.Zipping through the air, this tiny creature let loose with a thin blue ray from one of its stalks, and this ray struck the bee. The bee's buzz went up several notches in volume, and it did an about face and headed straight for Vicktor. Vicktor leaped onto the roof and grappled the bee in one smooth motion, catching it around the base of one frantic wing and pinning it to his body, and roared, "I have the foul beast!"Having landed safely in a drift of sand, Artemis had now fled at top speed down the nearest alley, disappearing from view almost before any of the Follies had noticed his passage. Seemingly unperturbed, Tal knocked again at the door of Tarayn's shop -- and when he received no response, tried the handle and found it open. He stepped into the shop's cool and quiet interior, taking in the blockhole, bell and shelves jam-packed with alchemical peculiarities, as well as two doors on the back wall. As one of the doors was barely thigh-high on him, Tal knocked on the larger door -- and heard glass break on the other side.</blockquote>

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