"Laetitia, you bring up a valid point. We have an AC to Marcus, we have a map, why not just appear next to him? We had considered that in advance. It is conceivable that doing so could leave us all trapped within. Consider if it is an infernal aura inside, which is a very strong likelihood, it could be a huge risk to try and move in and out with magical means. This mission Andru and I had been planning has several objectives. First and foremost for Andru was recovery of the artifacts, the second was a personal mission for me, but not one I was going to undertake unless the situation called for it. You see, this island is my childhood home." Apollodorus pauses after this personal revelation.
Apollodorus has a cross look on his face for a moment, then relaxes, and provides even more details. "What they aren't expecting is for Marcus to be making his way through the caves to meet us, I hope. I had cast a Creo Imaginem effect on him making it appear he was badly burned over a portion of his body. Marcus was in some ways my bait to my own trap for the vampires. An extremely risky move on my part, but Marcus was more than willing, indeed almost eager, to accept the risk. That horn sounding told me much. It told me that Marcus is certainly still alive and not yet turned. Because Sardon, Marcus' familiar, was not to fire on the horn player if he detected Marcus was dead, or had been dead. Sardon's instructions were to awaken Marcus after any warning was sounded or he saw us making our way into the caves. The plan... the contingency, was that if Marcus were taken into the lair, we would awaken him once reinforcements were brought in. Sardon has awakened him by this point, and he will begin making his way towards us. Andru is coordinating resources from Valnastium to secure the local population from vampire thralls and/or vampires hidden within the villages." What shouldn't be lost on any of the magi is that this is a grand machination, something that has been planned for decades.
"Now, I've given all the magi more than enough information. We must not tarry or Marcus will certainly be lost to us." Looking at Alexei, "Let's go."
Korvin nods " Lets get moving. If we see a group in front of us, I could cast various spells that effect groups before you go in Alexei. Just give the word as I will trust your military judgement."
Alexei nods as plans are made and more is revealed, but it still looked like attacking from the front was likely the way to go. Which suited him fine, 'the castle taken by the gate is tenfold more glorious as the castle taken by treachery' his pater would say.
"When we see the cave entrance we should detect all we can, and as before, silence any so that we may delay an alarm. Once you have cast the long range spells I, and anyone else that chooses will transport into their midst and lay into them. Since these minions are likely men, they probably don't have much in the way of protection from magic. Casting forcelessly while I am among them should still work and keep me safe. Apollodorus, their minions and these creatures, are they resistant to magic?"
Once it's apparent to Deykin that they're about to enter the cavern structure (one way or the other), he loosens his sword in the scabbard. He's more than a little nervous, as this will be his first battle and it is against (as he understands) unholy abominations in the warped form of man. He bows his head and says a prayer, then crosses himself. When he's done, he draws his sword and looks around at the others. "For God and covenant, my friends," he says in French, hoping that he doesn't sound as nervous as he feels.
Alexei looks at the man and offers a sincere smile. "Men, any that wish to join me in prayer." he holds out his hands to grasp any that join him, Brionne the first to take his hand. When the circle is made he begins to pray in Latin, first the Our Father, then the Hail Mary and finally a brief soldier's prayer that he makes in French:
"Lord we humbly beg You to take the rod and the sword from our hands, but if Thou wills it, we shall wield them with all our heart and strength against any that give Thee offense.
The Blood of Christ washes away our sins. Amen."
He crosses himself afterwards and nods to all present. He is ready.
Claude begins to grumble as they move forward (said in a mumble, in french, that will be audible to other nearby grogs) "Frontal assault! We should be flanking them. Those magi know their letters but not much about combat tactics. Just not something I would do."
Count me in, says Isen.
I do not fear any infernal aura when attacking or defending. Only when fleeing. And I have no intention to leave my sodales in these caves. And I like it, as only us magi will risk our lives. It would not be honorable to bring mundanes into this
"I agree with Claude. We have the capability to avoid the majority of their forces and extract our own relatively safely and swiftly. We are magi, not cannon fodder."
Alexei is taken aback, had she not heard what Apollodorus had said? "Beg your pardon m'lady, I heard your suggestion and felt it was fine until Apollodorus pointed out we would likely be stranded in a Regio. He has had more scouting and intelligence about this place than you or I have. I am not insisting we go through the front cave, it seems to me that it is the only rational way. Unless I mis heard Apollodorus?"
((Nope, never saw JL's post. My app goes directly to the first unread post when I open a thread, and it skipped his and went straight to qc's Retconning.))
"Note that I did not speak of teleporting ourselves within; were that my suggestion I would wholeheartedly agree with your objections, Apollodorus. With all due respect, however, your objections apply only to teleporting within-- a straw man argument. I spoke of using Terram to burrow through the caves and forge our own path through the caves, bypassing the majority of their traps. A decent touch with Finesse--" she gestures at Viscaria, "--and we could have a perfectly carved stone staircase directly to Marcus from above. Why is this not feasible?"
Also someone please roll an Intrigue+Perception check for me? Laetitia would like to figure out, when Apollodorus says "we need to rescue Marcus" does he really mean "I want to satisfy a personal vendetta and am willing to sacrifice all your lives to get it."
Alexei is considering the alternative to Laetitia's plan, it had some merits.
"Can it be done? And quickly? Moving and shaping so much earth must surely be difficult, but if it can be done it would likely catch them by surprise. But would tunneling allow us to cross the Regio, if there is one? Teleporting us in might trap us in a regio, but tunneling might not let us access it at all and not find our targets. If these concerns can be satisfied or others...yes, this might be an alternative to the front cave."
"I am unsure when regiones came into question. One cannot teleport into a regio, any more than one can teleport out. I would not have been able to divine Marcus' location were he in a regio; it is not possible, regardless of penetration."
"Well, even if we go through the front door, I should still be able to carve out a shorter route than what we see here, and possibly block off some other avenues of attack as well."
Korvin explains, in french, what was just discussed to the grogs. Claude nods and is later heard to mumble. " At least one smart one in the bunch to listen to the veterans. Now I would like to see them summon a fire breathing dragon to clean out that as we go in. That is what I would do."
Brione mumbles back. " Aye. And shoot lighting out of it's arsehole too."
"Are you daft?" responds Claude "It would be shooting that lightning right at us." " Some people have no grasp of tactics."
Getting to a spot above Marcus' cave entrance will require some serious attempts at mountaineering. It might be doable, but there's a risk. Going through the front entrance and blocking off side passages along your route is probably the simplest way to meet your objective. Keep in mind that Marcus was reawakened, and they have a plan to meet in the middle. Of course, rarely does a plan survive the first contact with the enemy. Also, keep in mind that if you do go in the front you face the weaker enemies first.
A couple of blasts from Sardon should make that initial task significantly easier. Sardon, in case you haven't figured it out is a fire drake. Marcus has augmented his normal flaming capability over the years. Claude will see his wish partially granted.
Retconning.))