For the first few hours, the trip is uneventful, but then Fray spots a group of about 5 riders, picking their way carefully through difficult terrain--it looks like they're doing their best to mask their movements, but of course there's not as good at hiding themselves from observers in the air.
Scott
Fray will fly a little closer so he can describe the riders in basic detail, keeping himself at long range. Noting their heading he then loops back to Gregorius. Assuming he arrived OK - he flutters down as best he can at speed and says, "I've found them. Five riders at least several miles away, moving cautiously to cover their passing. " and will give them a more accurate direction.
They're dressed and equipped to the Amazons the magi tangled with earlier--it's obviously them.
Scott
"Gregorius I think we strike - capture one or two."
Gregorius nods.
"Capture one or two, preferably the leader, and kill the rest - we don't want to give them the opportunity to warn the rest of their band. Once we've got them, we're probably going to want to move swiftly against the main force, before they realise their scouts have been attacked."
"Is there a good location for an ambush available? My initial thought is that you transform one or two of them into sheep, and Wishbone burns the rest. Does your spell leave the sheep with a human mind to interrogate, though, or can you cancel it?"
"Those transformed take on the mental attributes of the beasts, however it's duration is a shortlived diameter. My intent was to either extend the spell again to the sunset with another cast, or kill the sheep. Suggest we start with a transformation of many of them, and prioritise dispatching those unaffected, or those you choose if the group is all gathered."
"I am no expert in ambush, however I think they would not suspect a raven to be overly dangerous and likely then it will be too late for them once I cast. Failing that, the ground can be made to swallow them, and the survivors killed by a beast form."
OOC: The Sheep transformation spell is T:Group, normally cast at R:Touch/D:Diameter - however Fray can extend that to Voice or Sun with FFM. He will first cast at R: Voice in the opener.
Gregorius frowns slightly. "Raven should work for you, certainly. And if all is as it seems you should be able to take on half a dozen mundanes without issue. Are you able to guide the rest of us to somewhere out of sight but not too far away, though? Partially for ease of further action afterwards, but also in case of any surprises."
So is that what we're going to do?
Scott
"the Amazons are roughly (describes heading and distance), near some out cropping that they were using for cover. I'll head back to them now and keep distant so we don't miss them and give you time to start toward them. It should be easy enough to stay distant from them while you travel", replies Fray, then he stammers as he thinks ...
.." if you have the trust for it, well, I could perhaps invoke flight for yourself and the grogs en-mass so we can all travel quickly there. It will take a short time, but would work well enough. Shall we?"
Ooc: I'm guessing the heading and direction, assuming its not too difficult to give a ballpark to Gregorius to use to travel.
The flight-travel option is available using T:Circle instead of T: Individual for the clothing transformation spell that Fray knows, to first create raven cloaks for the group in the circle. And then cast a T:Circle version of the Cloak of the Black Feathers.
[OOC: Does that work? You can only change one parameter with FFM, and Cloak of Black Feathers is Personal Range. It would also Warp, I think.]
Fray gives Gregorius a detailed account of the directions, and ads, "I will return to watch them now, and alert you should you appear to get close - to guide you close. Then I'll initiate an attack".
OOC: Yep you're right.
Fray will do just that - head out to find them again, make sure he can see what they are up to, and then check on the progress of his companions. Assuming that all goes well he will land far off from the Amazons where he can watch them unobtrusively.
Gregorius will follow Fray's instructions closely, then stand ready for the signs of Fray's attack.
To make a short story even shorter (unless you really want the details of a very lopsided combat filled in), the magi make short work of the Amazon warriors, killing two and capturing the remaining three, including what appears to be their leader. What questions do you want to ask of her?
Scott
Remembering the last interrogation, we needed to use magic to speak to them. Fray says to the leader in latin first, "you will survive if you cooperate. Where are your leaders?"
For now, Gregorius will quietly cast Thoughts Within Babble and then stand where he can hear the prisoners. At this stage he doesn't intend to make it clear that he can understand their language, being interested in what they say if they don't think their native tongue can be understood.
[OOC: Casting quietly and with subtle gestures for a -7 penalty. In 6 + Me 10 + Sta 1 - penalty 7 + die 7 =17 vs spell level 25, so cast with fatigue.
As you might have guessed, she doesn't know where the leaders are. Expecting Hermetic opposition, the Amazons have arranged an elaborate set of meetings and codes, the upshot of which is that one of her people is supposed to pick up a coded message at a particular place and time, and can drop her own messages at a number of appointed locations, with different locations for different points in time.
Scott
OOC: I'm assuming we have the survivors aside and have searched the dead for anything of interest. Fray would certainly take the time to make sure the survivor(s) are subdued and cannot leave. Whats the setup of where we are, and how close? Trying to picture it.
Out of earshot of the prisoners, Gregorius will comment to Fray "That they were expecting Hermetic opposition is useful confirmation, if nothing else. I'll see what I can get from them on the locations and messages. Are you able to turn them into anything unfortunate for a Moon?"
He'll go and cast a series of Posing the Silent Question spells on the prisoners to get the details of their messaging system. He's particularly interested in messages for "everything's fine", and how long a message has to not turn up in to be a warning in and of itself.
Responding quietly, Fray replies, "transformation into a beast or stone no, however changing their gender for a few weeks might place a snag on them, and perhaps making them appear different. Both are reasonably simple."