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Battle of the Golden MacGuffin
Topic Started: Aug 26 2017, 09:04 PM (1,938 Views)
Larsland
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Some dwarven miners have discovered one of the most powerful relics of the Gods buried deep inside the mantle of the Earth - the Golden MacGuffin. The MacGuffin's power is simply that everyone wants to hold it. Only the most powerful of Gods are immune to this magic - everyone will want it, until it is destroyed, but of course nobody wants to destroy it. It was created by the evil sorceress Rose White over a millennium ago, but banished by her rival, a witch named Red Poppy, to the depths of the Earth. Now its magic has returned to the world, and all the world's armies are making for the mine as fast as possible. Knowing this, the dwarves have placed the MacGuffin on a big alter outside the mine, ready to be claimed by the first ones who come past.

In this RP, you will control one of the nations of Fantasy Pluviostan. To participate, just start posting. Make sure to include a brief description of your nation and how it attempts to retrieve the MacGuffin in your post. Also, include notes on the terrain and local people just in case the MacGuffin winds up in your lands.

Allowed: basic magic (creating fireballs and the like), general fantasy monsters (dragons, goblins), cool castles, impressive empires and masses of men. Disallowed: OP magic (spells that teleport the MacGuffin right to you, impenetrable barriers etc), OP monsters (literally summoning Gods to fight for you - although a God might grant a character some minor blessing), and generally playing unfair (give everyone a chance to get at the MacGuffin). For roleplay purposes, the winner of conflicts will be adjudicated by a simple die roll if there is any dispute (but players are encouraged to be humble concede defeat if they can see the other side would probably win).

Edit: Feel free to join in and have fun! :)
Edited by Larsland, Aug 26 2017, 09:04 PM.
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Area-569 the Second
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OOC: Alright, pushing myself through this, but I better write while my house still has electricity and before I go to 'Murica.

IC:

From a makeshift observation tower make of wood and skulls (Mostly wood), Krust observed the camp, his own fortress. The work on the wall finished relatively soon. Unsurprising; The orc definition of a wall was nothing else than a big pile of stone surrounded by a palisade of wood.
Looking to the east, Krust saw the only entrance; Completely unfortified, besides a massive number of orcs constantly leaving and entering. The fortress truly was a city; And a fortress yet again; In the orcish language, there was no difference between the two.
As such, any invader was to wonder, how could this sorry excuse of a fortress possibly resist any attack?

"... Blood?" Krust himself had wondered before in his tent, as a group of orcish shamans, mostly elder women, answered this question for him, "How is some blood gonna help us, eh?"
"It's blood, aye" An elderly woman, yet young by comparison with the rest, answered while holding in her hand a bucket filled with a red, slightly brown-ish substance, "Drow blood, I believe, though there may be some elven on it too"

"You zee, m'keng," Another elder said, "For the eyes of the beholder, this is just the blood of zome butchered young elf, dark or bright, but to the soul..."
Krust raised is hand, demanding silence. He understood.


"The runes..." He whispered. The elder nodded. A soft breeze entered his tent and the bones of his enemies, hanging from the tent's supports, jingled.
"Aye, the runes" The previously mentioned woman said.

To be more specific, it was the runes of Kreghmora that they refered to. An ancient orcish spell forged not with knowledge but with fury; To invoke it, a few symbols of tribal meaning were to be painted in the walls with blood.

"Dwarves are bad with magic," A hoodied figure said, "So their blood was no good. Elves are not... Ideal, but they are good enough"

The effect was complex. Once painted, the runes "protected" everything and everyone inside the fortress. If anyone casted a spell with hostile intent against anyone or anything inside the area of protection, they would be subject to the spells attack: They would feel the orc's fury; Feel the hopelesness and horror of the victims of their raids; The regret of their makers; They would feel each and every orc to be alive, in their dark glory, a hellish cocktail of orcish history, a true weapon of psychological warfare, much unlike what one would expect of the orc's weaponry.

"Good!" Krust nodded, turning towards a chest before opening and taking a medallion from it, "Take this!" He said, turning back to the shamans and giving them the object, "It's the sign of my authority. Use it to tell the orcs to paint the runes and give the rites. You have my blessing to protect this fortress"
Nodding, the shamans followed their king's orders.



Watching through an eagle's eyes, the drow mages observed the camp fortifications.

"Yep," Jenel smiled, ending her meditation and releasing the bird from her spell, "As bloody idiotic as you would expect from the orcs"
The Dominion's army was camping near a lake. A few miles away lied the orcish camp, yet not many orcs ventured this far away.

The mages' tent was tainted with the deep smell of incense, and odd trinkets lied around the room. Imhrys couldn't wait to get a report and get out of that place.

"Well?" He impatientely said, "What's going on in the orcish camp?"
"Not much," A mage added, "It's not a camp anymore, it's a horde. But... It appears that instead of moving like you would expect from a horde, they're trying to fortify their position with palisades and mounds of stones. It'll be an impossible battle, but an easy siege"
"We don't have siege weapons" Imhrys noted, raising an eyebrow.
"No," Jenel said, "But the dwarves do, and we have spells"

"Then we should let the dwarves act first," He conceded with a sigh, "And then, after the orcs try to push them away as they normally do, we come in and burn them away. Is that correct?"
"Yep" Jenel simply added.
"Very well then!" He was about to turn and leave, but then he realized, and asked, "Weren't you bringing an elf with you, Jenel?"
"Oh, yeah, Gawain" She shrugged, "I think I pushed him with magic out of the mountain. Doubt he survived"
Imhrys simply grunted, and finally left that wretched place.
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Larsland
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Meanwhile, another army was gathering just beyond the drow camp. At sunset, slowly, the drow could observe movement just to the south of their camp among the trees.

Out from among the ferns stepped hundreds and hundreds of human children, and among them, dozens of fairies. Some were carrying oversized adult weapons (and struggling to weild them) but most were armed with knives, stones, large sticks or basic slingshots. They carried large golden banners with "CC" printed on them in red lettering, and a few had small trumpets or drums.

To the front of the army, two half-orc children pulled a small rocking horse with a young boy sitting on it. In one hand the boy had a small knife, while on his other shoulder rested a tiny fairy. When the boy had been pulled to the front on his rocking horse, and half-orcs went back and joined rank with the other children.

"We are the Children's Crusade!" cheered the boy at the front in a high-pitched voice "We are on a holy quest to capture the MacGuffin and bring it back to the fairy king for safekeeping, who has promised to reward us greatly and not to betray us. So far we have defeated trolls, sand-worms and our parents to get here, and we will not be stopped in our enterprise!

"Unfortunately we are lost and without food, so ... if anyone is alive in this fortress, come out now and let's work something out. If you're able to give us directions to the MacGuffin and some snacks for our journey, we'd be really grateful. Long live the children's crusade!"
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Area-569 the Second
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The soldiers who rested near the place where the CC made it's presence known came out of their tents to see the spectacle. Some snickered at the rather strange situation; Most gave them some bread out of pity and gave them some directions to return to the nearest city, without many hopes of the children actually finding their way back.

After hearing all the conmotion, Imhrys and the other two leaders faced the army from above a hill.

"They're as good as dead" Dantras muttered.
"Agreed," Imhrys nodded, "But that doesn't mean we can't try"
"Yeah, no, it means exactly that" Jenel added.

Sighing, Imhrys raised his voice.
"The orc fortress is a few miles away, to the north!" He exclaimed, pointing at the north accordingly, "But their forces are not to be faced by children! I suggest, for your safety, that you find a road and head to a dwarven city. As for the supplies; We ourselves are preparing to fight against the orcs and we have an army to feed. I apologize, but we have nothing to offer"
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Oriflamme
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The mage and the sorceress ventured back to the Silverstream, to meet with Coldwind's staff and revise the plan. En route they were talking about their arcane arts as well as their sorrowful existences outside of their research.

"...so that's how it is?"
"Yes. Blood may hold the secret of immortality. Blood may also be the secret of immortality. I only know that it feeds all organs via blood vessels and that it ─ and some other substance ─ that it connects all organs into something working and it is centered on heart. Way too much to learn for me, I fear, way too much to learn."

"Never thought necromancy would be that fruitful in your hands."
"Medicine, Marline. It's medicine, not necromancy. Necromancy is just a method of experiments and not a single one. Magic is just a tool to employ in learning the most subtle aspects of life. In this case there is nothing 'light' and 'dark' ─ only the cold-blooded, sometimes immoral science."

They approached the gates of the Silverstream.

"Welp, I've also learned something with it. There appears to be a powerful signal system that causes... no, that allows us to move our limbs and feel touches and pain. Dead don't feel neither touches nor pain because this system might be damaged from decomposure. It might center around our brain ─ but I didn't learn that much. You can't really study while you have to save your life."
"So true, so true. Finally we don't have to save our lives."

"Yes, finally we can research in peace and let the history judge our foes."

As the gates opened, they went on a road, bridge to their left, plain ground to their right, sun shining, a bit muted by clouds.

"For the future is ours now, Archibald."

"But what should we focus on?" The mage asked. "Research or fight? I see you haven't changed a bit: still the same 'tear everyone apart' altitude."
"If we pass away someone must carry on our knowledge. As much as I'd love just to fight everyone to the bitter end, perhaps it's better if we focus on research and on establishing a school of thought of ours. Its legacy ─ our legacy ─ will prove that we are right."

The mage answered nothing, only nodded and then went forward on a trodden path down the river, and the sorceress followed him.

"So where are we going?"
"The Silverstream Camp. You saw some of my legions; now you will see the rest."

They ventured into the camp, then went to the hut. Firewind could see much the same as Coldwind did earlier that day.

As they entered the hut, officers saluted to them.

"Lord Coldwind!" Luzhoniy reported. "Dirigibles have returned to their base. The attack plan is ready."
"Good." Coldwind nodded. "Allow me to introduce our new so-to-say ally before we start. Marline Firewind, the mage, just as me." He turned to the sorceress and introduced his officers. "Arno Ironfoot, Fred Stahlhelm, Eric Luzhoniy and Tiorin Goldman."
"We studied at the same academy and we were both exiled and we both eventually got here." Firewind continued. "Now we have decided to forget the old fiend and join our efforts to take MacGuffin. Fire aspect is my love."

"Oh, a fire mage?" Ironfoot asked. "Lord Coldwind may be a good motivator and a great mage but sometimes we need fire, not cold."
"You won't be denied of the full power of fire." The sorceress smiled.
"Please, take your seats, sorcerers." Stahlhelm offered them two seats. "The Staff has already prepared the attack plan."

He proceeded to the map and started.

"The artifact is housed in the orc camp. It is protected by wall and houses a large horde. However they were not observed to have any artillery pieces or tanks although previous encounters with other hordes have shown they can use the captured and remastered equipment. Furthermore, a drow army of about four thousands is approximately to the east of the camp. Our force is split with two squares to the north-west of the camp, in the Ironstream, and three squares to the south-east, here, at the Silverstream.

"Study of the terrain around have shown us a promising position on the high barren hill here." He pointed on the circle at some distance to the camp. "If we poition our cannons there, they may get the orc camp. We can't really fight orcs and drows in melee combat but we can shoot them from afar if we fortify the hill. The Staff has decided to capitalize on our strength in artillery and position of our forces.

"The plan itself goes as follows." Stahlhelm started to show the smooth movements acodring to the plan. "Silverstream Army departs, captures the hill, fortifies it and places cannons there. While Ironstream Army gets to the positions, forces on the hill bombard the camp with fire and explosives to lure the orcs into attack. As they depart, Ironstream Army strikes from the other side, takes the artifact and after that it is over. We assume that orcs will not get on the hill but if they do, Ironstream Army may attack the from the rear."

"It was decided that Goldman will command the Ironstream Army, Ironfoot will command Ironstream tanks, Luzhoniy will command over Silverstream Army and I will command the Silverstream artillery.

"If the drow army attacks the camp, Ironstream Army will hold it so that they will not get the artifact. If the drow army attacks the hill, they will miss the artifact and expose themselves to the possible flanking attack from the Ironstream Army. Our artillery is more than capable to beat anything conceivable.

"If there are any objections, we must discuss them before we start." He finished and sat.

Coldwind frowned. He didn't like the idea of using two armies separately. If anything, he would prefer to attack with all five squares (405 men each) at once and seize MacGuffin. But it wasn't he who voiced objections. It was Firewind.

"Why so complex and passive? We should revise the plan! I drop a fireball from above, it burns the camp and its inhabitants, we take MacGuffin and attack drows with everything we have."
"Lady Firewind, your arrival was unexpected and we couldn't count on you while planning." Ironfoot swiftly replied. "We can adjust our plans, however..."
"...yes, how about we combine the plans? You will be of great help on the hill." Stahlhelm added. "What do you think, Lord Coldwind?"

The mage sighed.

"I don't like that we split our forces so frivolously. But whatever, we can't really fight them on standstill anyways. I approve the plan and I'll go with the Silverstream Army. Goldman, I trust you will do everything without my assistance."
"You may count on me, my lord."

"Then we may depart at evening!" Stahlhelm concluded. "By late morining or mid-day we should be at the hill and by evening we should have everything prepared."
"Yes. The meeting is over." The mage said plainly. "Depart wihtout me, I will catch up with you later on."

Everyone left the hut, except for Coldwind and Firewind.

The sorceress just sat down and opened a book in plain brown leather cover. The mage fell on a rough bed and closed his eyes to take a rest after all the movements, finding no use in remaining awake. After ten minutes or so, the sorceress closed the book and lied beside, also finding no use in remaining awake and quite tired herself.

The Silverstream Army departed mid-evening. Coldwind and Firewind followed them two hours later, about the midnight.
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Larsland
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"Children's Crusade High Council, assemble!" called out the boy at the front.
Immediately, five children rushed forward and made a small huddle around his rocking horse.
"Ohmygosh they're elves!"
"This is so cool!"
"But they only gave us some morsels of bread? What gives? Most of us are still hungry."
"Maybe there's not enough food here for everyone."
"Is elvish food yuck?"
"Wait a moment - did they say the McGuffin was held by orcs?"
"Maybe they're just goblins or something."
"I'm pretty sure an elf can tell the difference between an orc and a goblin."
"Well, I think elvish food would have to be better than whatever orcs eat."
"Do you think their sensitive elvish ears can hear us right now?"
"They did say the camp is only a few miles away. I think we can go a few miles for some food."
"Yeah, no use taking losses if we still need to assault another fortress."
"Wait a moment - so if these elves want the McGuffin too, does that mean we'll need to fight them too?"
"Why aren't they attacking immediately? Is there something they're not telling us?"
"My head hurts almost as much as my stomach - once we get some food I think it will be clearer."
"I miss mommy. She always cooked the best food."
"Well, I vote that we keep going."
"I vote that we stay and raid the elves for food."
"I vote we go back to town and restock."
"Which do you think will be better fortified? The orc camp, this place, or the town?"
"Got to be the orcs, right? I mean, otherwise the elves would attack."
"Wait, don't dwarves live in super-cool fortified mines? I heard that somewhere once."
"Maybe it's best that we ask a fairy."
All the children turned to the fairy on the lead boy's shoulder. "I want the MacGuffin and I want it NOW!" cried the fairy.
"Ok, the fairy has spoken. I vote we go."
"Wait, hold on ... did that fairy just say SHE wants the MacGuffin? I thought we kids would take the MacGuffin and the fairies would just hold on to it for a little bit."
"Urgh, you're such an adult" replied the fairy, disgusted "Stop thinking so much. Just imagine all the sweets and toys the fairy king has promised ... not to mention his other special promise to you personally, Maggie. Now stop asking annoying questions, stop being a naughty girl, and go fetch the MacGuffin."
"Yeah, stop being an adult, Maggie!"
"You know what we do to kids who have too many birthdays, don't you Maggie?"
Maggie rolled her eyes. "Fine, we'll keep going then" she huffed.

The councilors turned the boy with the rocking horse around so he could address the crowd of children behind them. Then, the councilors went to stand with the others among the crowd.
"By a majority decision, this council is in agreement. The Children's Crusade marches on to kill some orcs tonight. Long live the children's crusade!"
"Long live the children's crusade" chanted back many thousands of mostly-hungry children as they marched onwards.

=============================

Meanwhile, at dusk, Oldleaves the Brown reached the orc camp with his army of ents.
"You ents attack the fortress from the west" strategised Olivia "We'll go around and infiltrate the camp secretly. The assassins are good at sneaking around and stealing things."
"You don't need to tell us to attack" replied Oldleaves "We are more than happy to kill those who killed our friends."

With that, Olivia and the assassins jumped down from the trees and disappeared into the shadows, while Oldleaves led the charge of ents.
"Take apart their walls!" commanded Oldleaves "Bombard their city!"
And so the massive trees charged, aiming to pick up the rocks the orcs had used to build the wall and throw them back at the orcs.
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Area-569 the Second
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"Trees," Krust grunted, shaking his head, from atop the observation tower, "Those fools are attacking us with trees"

Sighing, he raised his voice for the orcs to hear;
"Light 'em up, boys!" He shouted, pointing at the firepits and then at the trees, "If we can chop up their friends, we can easily chop up them!"

This said, he quickly ran down the stairs, and then to the shamans' hut.
Opening the door with some hurry, he bursted into the room.
"Shamans!" He called for their attention, "What spell can you cast 'pon our enemies?"
The elder raised their heads, showing off their thoughtful faces.
"To stop the trees?" A male asked, "Not much. To delay them, however, there are some familiars we could invoke"
"Great!" The king said, turning his back on them, "Do so!" He said, raising his hand, before running into the battle.

Following the king's orders, the orcs in the western side of the camp took branches, logs, torches and even a few oil-soaked weapons, setting them on fire before attacking the massive ents. And as they did so, a murder of crows approached the battle, harassing the trees and picking on their leaves and branches, as termites in their backs landed on the trees and began biting them.
For better or for worse, the king himself joined the battle, taking out his axe, now set on fire through the use of oils, and swinging it at the trees.

However, most orcs on the camp didn't join the battle, as they were unaware of it. Such was the size of the city; What on the west was a battle, on the east it looked like the boys carrying a pile of logs.
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Larsland
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As the orcs unleashed a variety of weapons on the ents, the elves crept around until they were just far enough from the battle scene. Like ninjas, they crept stealthily through the bushes, each one moving more nimbly than a cat. Then, with all the silence of the universe, one of the mages crept up a tree, cast a flight spell, and leapt until she was over the orc camp in complete darkness. The others silently made for the walls, and began to climb, keeping as low a profile as an elf possibly could.

Meanwhile, the ents noticed the commotion among the orc ranks, as they continued throwing rocks. As the orcs lit up torches, the ents - many of whom had lived through hundreds of forest fires, including the recent one - would simply stamp on the fiery armaments with their wet root-like feet to snuff them out, aiming to squish any orcs who dared to come close enough in the process. If the orc was too high up to be stomped on with their feet, the ents could use their long arm-like branches to pick the orcs up and toss them to the ground - several of the older ents, like Oldleaves, had dozens of long branches like this. When an ent did catch fire, which was quite rare, they would call out with a strange groan, like the creaking of a hardwood floor. At this sound, the nearby ents would administer their own kind of first aid, grabbing the affected limbs with their leafy hands to deny the fire oxygen.

The crows had somewhat more success, at least in surrounding the trees and dropping termites on them. A few of the ents began flailing about wildly as though it were a very windy day, and at least one ent had trouble seeing, as instead of giving "first aid" to a nearby ent-on-fire, he initially fell on top of him. The termites did little immediate damage, but they certainly succeeded in creating some annoyance as the ents continued to bombard the camp with rocks and stomp on any orcs they could.
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Area-569 the Second
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OOC: More or less, how many ents are there?
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Larsland
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OOC: Several dozen. Maybe 40-50ish.
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Oriflamme
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High above the camp flown a bird-like clot of flaming matter. It appeared on a considerable height from the south-east, made a circle, raced in its descent to the north-west, returned with ascending from the north-east, made another circle and dissipated in its descent to the south-west. All in two or three minutes.

Coldwind and Firewind were both riding alongside the main force, mounted on Coldwind's bear, Reginald. Firewind kept her eyes closed, but she wasn't sleeping. Earlier she was the one who casted that bird-like clot. That was an interesting spell used maybe not that often by general magi public and a thing relatively close to what was generally called "dark" magic ─ the Bird of Hellfire.

"Think it will actually replace us our observation force of zeppelins?" Coldwind asked upon seeing the rapid ascension of the magic bird.
"Why not?" Firewind replied plainly. "I can see through its eyes and I'll tell you what I see."
"Go, do it. The camp must be to the north-west of here."

"Uh... we might got a problem, Archie." She said upon seeing the orc camp.
"What is it? Are they still on their place?" Coldwind was already going to check out what he failed to take into account.
"Yeah." The sorceress replied. "And ents attacking them... can't see how many, though."

"Find Goldman's army!" The mage ordered briskly. "They must have gotten in their camping place by now."

After about forty seconds, the sorceress responded "Hah! Found them! They have arrived!"
"Sure, they don't have to march that far!" Luzhoniy grumbled.
"Silence!" The mage ordered. "Return and check them orcs out."

"Yes, ents are attacking the orcs." Firewind said with her teeth clenched. "They are for the artifact too! Curse them..."
"Eric!" Coldwind immediately addressed Luzhoniy. "We go ahead. Try to catch with us as soon as you can."
"Yes, my lord. We'll try."

Reginald sped up and disappeared in the darkness with his mounts. Luzhoniy saw then the bright light tearing the darkness and ascending, heading to the hill.

"Could've taken us with them." He grumbled again, then turned back. "Keep going, men! Mages are fine without us until they call for our help. Then we must be right there to make everything fine." And the column went ahead as it did before.

The light, also bird-like, landed on the hill, dissipating in the descent. What failed to dissipate, exploded upon its impact and Coldwind, Firewind and Reginald all ended up lying on the top of the hill. Surprisingly, nothing had ended up ablaze.

"Was it really that... necessary?" Coldwind asked, regaining his composure and standing up.
"Perhaps it wasn't." Firewind replied, also regaining her composure. But she ended up sitting on the barren dirt, breathing heavily.
The bear just roared stiffly and went on to sleep like a log, for he was carrying them all with a magic unknown and not yet felt by him until then. The beast was surely quite overwhelmed.

The mage took his spyglass and watched the situation. The five-hour march was done in just thirty seconds and the battlefield was wide open to him.

"I'll start the fire." The sorceress said dryly. "Just gotta stand up first."
"Who said ever you should use this spell?" The mage reprimanded her. "Didn't you just wanted to burn the hell out of those trees? I know you hate them but was this catapulting worth of you wasting so much strength?!"
"You know nothing of how I hate them." Her voice broke to be deeper and harsher than usual. "I'd gladly have all of them burned out ─ and I WILL have them ablaze! Just give me a minute and I'll... I'll show them their worth against my fire!"

Skeptically glancing on her drinking something from her flask, Coldwind kept watching,
Edited by Oriflamme, Jan 4 2018, 03:41 PM.
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