Party Chat, 31st of Kuthona post ogre boss fight

As the group finishes looting the last ogre on the level and Miro identifies the magic items, Vrinn calls everyone together, a fresh wound still seeping blood over his forehead and running down his cheek, over his eye yet leaving the orb unblemished as though Calistria herself stayed the Lamia's blade from sinking straight through his skull any further. "Right, afore ye start rippin' me a new one, let me just say that I know it didn't go right. I dun know what came over me. I wasn't meself, well, I knew what I was doin', but I couldn't quite control meself as much as I wanted to. But that aside, we need t' press forward" he states, a solemn seriousness in his eyes as he looks to each member. "There's another Lamia Matriarch out there, an' th' longer we take to hunt her down, the stronger she'll become, fortifyin' herself and lickin' her wounds. Plus she'll be able t' rally th' remainin' ogres into a fightin' force, we've lost th' element of surprise." he states, rubbing his hand over his chin, feeling the stubble growing out. "Plus it's prob'ly only a matter o' time afore the ogres outside realize that Doomwing's dragon ain't real, an' then we'll have lost that in our favour as well. So no, we need t' heal up as best we can now and continue our assault. Aye, without the boss ogre that might give us some breathin' room, but we still need t' keep in mind that we're in enemy territory with a whole keep still full o' ogres." The wounded half-elf holds up his hand to quell the verbal assault he knows is coming "Th' ones downstairs 'ave sure t' heard us fightin' up here. But that don't mean we rush in blind either. Miro, we need t' save yer spells, so unless we want t' save th' potions we just got, I should take some an' close up some o' these wounds so I can at least help Synovia up th' front in th' corridors, unless ye think ye can make her bigger and I shoot from behind with me bow an' let Ever stand, float, aside Synovia..." "Stupidhead. You shoulda died" comes the disembodied voice of Vrinn's shadowy companion from another room, her head floating through a wall to poke her tongue out at him before disappearing again "Aye, thank ye for that. Anyways, where was I..." he trails off, his train of thought broken

Chuffy floats over to Vrinn, the magnificent beard preceding him. "Hey, what if like. We all stood at the top of the stairs and only deal with one ogre at a time. They're dumb right? Couldn't we just wait for them up here?" Chuffy shrugs.

I was thinking of maybe an ambush of some sort.

Miro looks about the ruined floor and shudders under the watchful gaze of the giant horned horses on the wall.  "I do not intend to barat you Vrinn.  But as we continue it is clear to me that the magic we will face will only grow in powa.  As such I find it very difficult to remain appart from you all my companions.  It is nothing aginst any of you but I just don't think your skill sets are prepared for the magics our enemies often seem to employ.  I have been working on my skills at stealth and subterfuge... I would rather not part from you all again if it can be helped.  Specifically you Vrinn... it seems the reaper has your number so to speak."

Chuffy cocks his tiny head at Miro. "If you're so concerned with people leaving your side, why did you send me off to follow Vrinn?" He floats up and down agitatedly. "We just can't be alone, ja? Is ok if someone is with us? If I had been in the room with Vrinn, then the snake bitch wouldn't have been able to trick him into boinking her? Or at least I could bomb her. Bombs solve lots of problems. Miro, you are mighty and powerful and amazing, but why must we always stay by your side? That's so restrictive. I thought Vrinn and I were meant to scout together." Turning on Vrinn. "Hey, this is for you too husband. Next time, we go together. The others keep saying you can't be trusted with females. Ja, you have fancy shadow powers, but I am tiny and invisible. I'm sure you can think of a way to sneak me in next time."

Miro looks to Chuffy and bobs up and down in the air himself.  This new form of arguing was entertaining.... the higher his passion for his current thought the higher he would float.  "It is not just that Chuffie... You were not prepared for the blows that brought Vrinn low.  What are you to do in that circumstance again?  You yourself have said your abilities are tailored to you and you alone... Further what would happen if it had been you squished by that ogre and Not vrinn... what could Vrinn have done?  I admit I do not know a good answer... maybe potions, but even then you and I stay busy enough how will we find time to keep enough potions on them?  I don't know what to do... but too often what happened is a problem and I have no intention of dragging another commrad to Sandpoints Graveyard."  He says as his head lightly hits the roof of the hall.

Chuffy frowns and crosses his little arms over his chest. "That's why I said I should have been in the original room to begin with. So I could bomb the snake bitch. Then Vrinn wouldn't have been taken upstairs and squished. I thought we had agreed that Vrinn and I would go and scout together. But then, as soon as we encounter a door, he hops through without the rest of us." He huffs a bit before squeaking out an additional reprisal. "I would much rather our tactical leader be thinking more with his head," Chuffy taps Vrinn's temple a few times, "instead of with his naughty bits." Chuffy floats down part way, before thinking better of touching Vrinn's crotch. He floats back up to eye level as he hugs himself, remember his close encounter with a certain someone else's naughty bits.

"Chuffy has a point, we knew there was a possibility of a Lamnia here. We should not have left Vrinn so long by himself." Turning to Vrinn "You and I are both prone to fall under the effects of the mind, but Miro it is not practical for you to go into danger. If it were me, I would try to take out the one who could heal my enemies first. I would suggest we lure the Lamnia to a ambush. Some place that we could use the rangers range from above, Vrinn and Chuffy"s stealth and my and Gulo's sword and gun to advantage. Miro you could open the pits under any reinforcements".

Tossing glares back and forth between Miro and Chuffy, his eyes narrowing towards them both "Look. Miro, there's no way I can be by your side at all times. It's not feasible. Chuffy's right, we do things in pairs. An' Chuffy, there was no way I could see to sneak you into th' room without her knowing you were there. She would have seen th' door open an' close, and seen everyone else waiting outside. Either way what's done is done, we need t' move on and decide what we're going to do now." Looking to Synovia, he shakes his head "I don't think we have th' luxury t' wait for them t' come t' us. As it is we're lucky that th' ones downstairs didn't come up behind us while we were fightin' th' others. Miro an' I were both poorly positioned for an attack from behind while you were fightin' up th' front. Asides, there are at least three ways t' get t' us on this floor, an' we can't defend them all. Aye, we could barricade ourselves in a room here, but then that gives them all th' time an' power to formulate a strategy of their own, an' I don't fancy bein' trapped in a room without an escape. No, we need t' press th' advantage an' continue th' assault." he says with conviction in his voice believing it to be the only option available to them. "An' like I said earlier, It's only a matter o' time afore they realise it ain't a real dragon. When that happens, there'll be more o' the bastards pressin' us. Somethin' we don't want. An' how are we goin' t' lure Lucretia into an ambush if we don't know where she is? No, we need t' keep moving and take them on in smaller, managable numbers instead o' all at once"

Chuffy pats the air with miniscule palms. "Ok, ok. Planning. So, when snake bitch disappeared, she used a spell called dimension door. It's like a short range teleport, but requires less power to access. However, I think that is a higher powered spell than either I or Miro can accomplish currently. Which means she's more powerful than any one of us. So we definitely need to be traveling in pairs at least. More importantly, we don't know how her slithery snake bitch mind works. She could be copying me and being invisible and flying around. Or she could be rallying the stupid ogres outside. We don't know what she's doing, where she's doing it, or what her plan is. What should we do?" Chuffy looks at Vrinn. He floats in the air, stock still, waiting for Vrinn to impart some kind of plan of action moving forward.

Synovia nods, "What about the other passage in the tunnel? The one with the bridge. If we fight whatever is left here, then head to the other passage. they will expect us to come out of this building not anywhere else."

With the new information from Chuffy, Vrinn scratches his chin again as he thinks "Hmmm, either way whatever she's doin', we can't wait for her t' do it. If she's invisible, we need t' travel in a group. If she's rallyin' th' ogres, we need t' break their formation before they can regroup. I don't know how many ogres exactly are still in th' fort, but there is what, one more floor below us? So we take them out, an' if Lucretia ain't among them, we start cimblin' to th' top floors, in case she's secluded herself up there." Listening to Synovia, he nods along "Aye, she could know how t' get past th' trap, so she might be holed up in there. Either way we still want t' clear out th' fort first so we don't have anyone at our backs"

Chuffy adopts the same position as Vrinn, scratching his chin. Occasionally glancing over at him to make sure the posture is accurate, Chuffy nods a few times. "Ja. We kill the ogres. Hopefully we kill the snake bitch too. But what if we don't? What if we clear the fort of ogres and the Black Arrows reestablish themselves here only to be devastated by magic from Lucretia on her return? Is it safe for them to remain here?"

Shaking his head, he pinches the bridge of his nose with exasperation at Chuffy's mimicry "That's somethin' we'll have t' decide when we get t' it. Discussin' that now without even knowin' if it'll be an issue would be a waste o' time"

Chuffy grins at Vrinn's irritation. "Ok, so it seems our plan currently is to kill all the ogres and the snake bitch if we can find her. Do we have a way we can maybe... refine that? We're running low on spells, you're injured, and we don't know how many ogres are left. Or the layout of this place." Chuffy leans back, lying down horizontally in midair. "Oh Grosilge, we're so dead."