RQG 213 - Be Prepared

## Content Warnings

Undead & skeletons, Body horror, Hivemind. Discussions of: physical violence, self-sacrifice. Mentions of: fire, death, heights, religion, small spaces, falling, knives, blood. SFX: distorted voices & static, fire, wind, distant explosions, low throbbing drone, occasional beeping

## Summary

Join Alex, Helen, Bryn, Lydia, and Ben as they reach the rooftops of London.
This week Zolf approves of a parting quote, Cel can create a diversion, Hamid offers to go instead, and Azu summons an old friend.

## Synopsis

**(Quick note: the party enters initiative about 2/3rds of the way through the episode, but as it’s for tracking reasons instead of battle reasons, the initiative segment is captured in the main synopsis instead of in the separate Combat section)**

The party remains in Westminster Abbey, ready to go off to Big Ben for the final battle. They begin heading up toward the roof, led by Chaucer - the plan, as has been decided, will be that they leap off of the roof of the Abbey and fly toward Big Ben to make it, largely unnoticed if everything goes well, to the tower, where they can install the failsafe and save the world. The walk up is long; they go through a number of stairways and double doors, but with Geoff leading them, the creatures largely leave them alone. He pauses before one set of double doors and apologizes for how the creatures may come off as they continue to proceed. As they go through the doors, they run into the similar ice guardians that they encountered previously, and the noises around them begin to grow a bit more creepy as the dead creatures shuffle around them. They still don’t bother any of the party, but they proceed with caution. Once they reach the stairway at the end of the hall, Chaucer pauses again and tells them that his control will lessen slightly as they continue going up. He is directing the creatures away from the path that the party will be taking, but they must continue to follow that strict path instead of wandering around if they don’t want the creatures to detect them or attack. They agree, and Chaucer wishes them luck and gives them a parting message from a Harrison Campbell novel, which Zolf and Azu immediately recognize, giving him a thumbs up.

As they head up the stairs and almost make it to ground level of the Abbey, the strange noises and overall general creepiness starts to fade and become more distant, Cel starts to hear a commotion beyond the creepy noises, although they can’t discern where exactly it’s coming from. They inform the rest of the party, saying it sounds like a battle is going on outside. With that in mind, the party continues, and Hamid, who’s been there before, realizes that they’re in one of the choirister hallways and takes the lead as they keep carefully moving through the routes. While they walk, they all begin to notice ambient sounds that are recognizable as foliage being disturbed - creaking wood, specifically. When they look through to the main area of the Abbey, they notice that there’s a massive plant taking up most of the space. There are large pea pods on the walls surrounding the plant and hanging from the ceiling, and loads of blue veined people (mostly humans) asleep within the pods. As they watch, a tendril reaches out and removes one pod before setting another one in its space.

They continue to make their way to the roof, and the sound begins to become recognizable as distant magical warfare (explosions, lightning crackling, etc.). Hamid finds the stairway to the roof and leads the rest of the party up there carefully, pausing before the door to the roof.

[Out of character note: Before opening the door, the party takes some time to prepare. Hamid casts Heroism on Skraak, Cel downs an alchemical allocation of Dragon’s Breath and also Become Monster, Zolf casts Protection of Energy (Communal) which provides a shared pool of 120 temporary HP and everyone apart from Hamid (who has fire resistance) gets 20 mins of 120 extra HP vs. fire (Hamid gets 10).]

Skraak is the first to open the door to the roof, moving very carefully. He doesn’t seem to notice anything, and turns to the rest of them to let them know that he thinks it’s okay. They decide to get a quick lay of the land before making any final decisions vis a vis invisibility. Skraak seems unsettled, but the rest of them follow him out onto the rooftop. The fighting sounds get louder, but comes from one side specifically, and as the party looks, they notice a decent amount of flying adversaries battling it out. They’re able to make out some squizzards fighting, and as they look down they see an entire horde of blue veined humans walking en masse toward the fighting. Skraak starts moving toward Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben), gesturing for them to look down. As they do, they notice that there’s a massive plant sprawling across the entirety of Parliament and Big Ben. Only the top of the tower is visible atop the plant. Crisscrossing blue plant matter spreads across the ground as well, and there are numerous blue veined people wandering around the space instead of following the horde to the fighting. They seem to be broken up into a few groups - some look completely taken by the virus and are doing a lot of manual labor and such, while another group (which doesn’t have any visible signs of blue veins) seems to be more of the commanding sort. There is a single, unrecognizable figure walking out of the Abbey that heads toward the ‘commanding’ group. Beyond that, there are some flying humanoids around, but it’s more like patrols and less like actual amassed forces. It’s difficult to see the top of the tower in detail from their location, but there’s no sign of Guivres anywhere nearby (however, Guivres can shapeshift into a humanoid, so that isn’t necessarily a sign that they are missing from action).

They evaluate the path toward the tower; they should be able to fly the entirety of the way, barring any sudden surprises. Before they can set off, Wilde pulls them aside and mentions that they need a backup plan if they get close and realize that they need a fallback location. Zolf says that he and Azu need to just get Babbage to the tower, and Cel offers to distract whatever they run into on the way, as needed. Hamid suggests Chaucer’s mausoleum as a meeting location, and Zolf agrees, but says that if they get separated they will most likely either meet after the fighting is over or not again. He checks with Babbage, who tells them that they need to be pretty close to the device itself in order to have it run successfully. Cel and Hamid decide that they’ll remain in the air while Zolf and Azu stay on the roof to guard Babbage.

As they discuss, Skraak speaks up, saying that it makes sense for them to go first alone, and then if there’s anything around that can see past the invisibility, they’ll see him and then the rest of the party will know. No one is particularly happy with this plan, but agree to it, and Hamid begins casting spells, starting with Message, and then casts Fly on Skraak and Wilde. He then casts Invisibility on each member of the group apart from Cel (including Topaz, who will be carrying Azu and Zolf).

**[Note: Here, the party enters initiative]**

Hamid, as the last move before the plan gets in motion, casts Haste, which speeds up all of the members of the party. Zolf and Azu both clamber on to Topaz as they all prepare for battle. Cel downs a few more alchemical potions (Barkskin and Caustic Blood) as well.

Skraak speeds off of the roof, moving as fast as they can toward the tower, and the party waits for him to report back. Azu casts Iron Skin on Topaz, and Zolf casts Shield Other on Topaz. Skraak continues to speed toward Big Ben, and Hamid hears them say “something is on the tower” and, as they get out of message range, Guivres unfolds herself from the top of Big Ben, focusing directly on Skraak.

## Dice rolls & mechanics

Everyone makes a perception check as they head up the stairs: Azu gets 29, Zolf gets 28, Skraak gets 19, Hamid gets 25, Cel gets 36

Everyone makes a perception check as they see the plant: Azu gets 14, Zolf gets 17, Skraak gets 28, Hamid gets 26, Cel gets 28

Skraak makes a perception check upon opening the door: 16

Everyone makes a perception check on the roof: Azu gets 25, Zolf gets 29, Skraak gets 26, Hamid gets 29, Cel gets 18

Initiative rolls: Azu gets 20, Zolf gets 24, Skraak gets 24, Hamid gets 9, Cel gets 10 (Wilde rolled lower than 9 but the amount is not said)