*000000*

[X] Try to personally contribute to solving her problem. You know a fair bit about item crafting, even if you haven't practiced it much yet. That won't get rid of all the materials costs, but it'll help.

((()))

"I'll see what I can do to help," you say, "I've studied magic item creation, and I might be good enough to help. It'd still be pretty expensive though."

"Thank you," Melissa says with a somewhat relieved smile, "I don't know how I can return the favor, but I'll try."

"You can start by helping me push Taylor back from being a workaholic," Emma says, "Find her some good fiction books, because that's the one reliable way to get her to relax a little. I want to get her to socialize for fun more too, but we all have to choose our battles."

"We can't all be extroverts," Melissa says calmly, "Either way, I do mean to pay you back for all you've done for me, Taylor."

"Thanks," you say awkwardly, trying to find a reasonable subject change, but your mind going completely blank.

Fortunately, Emma steps up metaphorically and asks Melissa what she's doing for school, since she can't openly attend with her skin the way it is. Apparently she's aiming for a GED too.

((()))

The next morning, as you return to the Embassy grounds, something feels off.

Frowning slightly, you survey the area. There's some construction equipment, and the little flags and string lines that surveyors use to mark a construction area, as well as where the water and sewage lines are.

...You can't see it, but something is off.

Taking a moment to subtly manifest Force Screen, you take another look around the area, now rather than looking for things out of place, looking for possible or probable hiding places where-

There!

Blam-CRUNCH.

Wings of Cover fades almost as quickly as it had appeared, but the defensive Force spell lasted more than long enough that the sniper's bullet was mashed to a complete pulp against its immovable surface.

This shit again.[X] Duck into the extra-dimensional mansion. Get help (and witnesses), then

-[X] Go offensive, you saw where the sniper is nesting in the treeline.

((()))

One of the beautiful things about the Magnificent Mansion, is that access is under Actigall's control. Diving through the doorway means that you're entirely outside of the enemy's ability to pursue until such time as he changes his mind, or they bring some powerful magic of their own.

"Sniper!" you shout as soon as you're in, "Some jackass took a shot at me with a rifle again, and he was definitely laying in wait!"

It's early enough that the Izzet are still asleep, but a bustle of motion shows that at least some people are responding promptly, and it's less than a minute before Elmira and Feather come to the atrium, the latter clad in full-plate.

"Did you see any other enemies?" Feather asks, her eyes sharp, her voice all business.

"No," you say, shaking your head, "I didn't stick around after managing to deflect the first hit. Is Elias in?"

"He already went into town," Feather says grimly, "Use your Correspondence power to alert him to what's happening, then cast any other combat buffs you had. It's going to be up to you and me to get a better idea what the situation is in whole."

You take a moment to compose an efficient mental message to Elias, and then send it off.

I'm meeting with local military commanders right now, Elias replies, I will have aid there as swiftly as possible.

"Elias is getting military support ASAP," you tell Feather, "He's meeting with a general or something."

"Providential," Feather says, "Finish buffing up, and let's head out."

"Do you want the short or long-term invisibility?" you ask Feather.

"Short for now," Feather says, "I know that spell as well, we can lean on Improved Invisibility if things get ugly."

You both cast the spell, Feather carefully keeping in contact with you as she does, then you finish up with a casting of Haste.

"We go out," Feather says quietly, "Then I'll get on your shoulders, and you fly us to where you saw the sniper. Don't worry if I jump or fall off; I have Feather Fall and Fly."

"Right," you say with a nod, before stepping back out onto the embassy grounds.

Under the effects of Haste, the handful of seconds it takes Feather to clamber on board seem to stretch out painfully, but there's no additional sniper fire, no hurled grenades or parahuman powers.

A moment later, you hurl yourself into the air, flap your wings, and-

A burst of gunfire sweeps across the clearing.

"Your wingbeat moved the grass," Feather hisses.

You nod, and flap harder, gaining some altitude as you head towards the sniper nest. You didn't see where the burst of automatic fire came from, though sound made it clear it's somewhere Easterly in general.

It takes less than a minute to reach the treeline where the sniper was, and even knowing where the shot came from, you have to get damned close before you manage to pick the sniper out. He's in the middle-branches of a poplar tree, in a ghillie suit that's plastered with leaves, his rifle painted to look like a tree branch.

There's also another man one branch over from him, and when the wind of your wings causes the leaves to shake violently, he pulls out a pistol and starts looking around for targets.

Both of them are completely covered, head to toe, including goggles over their eyes. They could be Elves from Ravnica for all that you can see of their features.

Maintaining flight speed, and avoiding them figuring out your location, means that you sweep past in just a couple of seconds, Feather nudging for you to gain altitude again. As you do, you see more men in heavy camouflage moving up on where the entrance to the mansion is, all of them heavily armed, some of them carrying equipment as well.

"Are they likely to have anything that can force its way into the mansion?" Feather asks quietly.

"...It's possible," you say, "There's a lot of really weird powers, and Tinkertech can do all kinds of things. I don't know enough to be sure."

"Elmira can fight a little," Feather says quietly, "But if the wizards haven't had time to prepare their spells yet, they could be fatally vulnerable. We have to act, if just to delay them. Do you want to focus our efforts, or split up?"[x] Focus efforts.

((()))

"Let's stick together," you say quietly.

"Alright then," Feather says, "Snipers first, then the group at the door."

You nod, and bank back around towards the sniper pair. Showing some semblance of sense, they're in the process of climbing down out of the tree, but they don't have enough time.

"I'll take the lower one," Feather says, before you feel her leap off of you.

Deciding you don't feel like trying to fight inside of a tree, instead you manifest an Astral Construct, and drop it on the sniper.

(1d10+15=34. Hits with Slam. 1d10+12 vs 1d20+2, succeeds with Improved Grab.)

A Griffin that looks to be made out of marshmallow slams into the bastard, wrapping its wings around him and dragging him to the ground.

That should deal with him.

Acting indirectly allowed you to keep your invisibility effect up, but Feather revealed herself, and a moment after she slams into the ground, her sword impaling the spotter, gunfire starts hammering into her armor.

Winging back around, you start casting Improved Invisibility, and time a fly-by so that you can lay your claws on her shoulders as you complete the spell. She disappears from normal eyes, and seizes onto your claws as you fly upwards again, pulling her out of the line of fire.

"You're bleeding," you say, as the smell of blood stays with you even after flying away from the corpses-in-process.

"It'll regenerate in a few seconds," Feather says dismissively, "Don't worry about it."

You didn't know she could regenerate. But then, the one time you saw something dangerous enough to make her bleed, it was specifically capable of preventing that.

"At least four firing positions in the trees," Feather continues, "Did you catch more?"

"No," you say, "Them, or the breaching team?"

"Breaching team," Feather says, "Same attack plan as last time."

"On it," you say with a nod, picking up speed a little as you soar back across the field, "Stay in front or to the left of my Construct."

She taps your claw twice in agreement; tactics to avoid friendly fire while using Invisibility are basic, but need to be adhered to tightly.

"Now," she says tightly, and you release her twenty feet short and forty feet up from the breaching team, then immediately begin manifesting another Astral Construct.

This time, the higher-level spell means that Feather is not revealed as her sword starts shedding blood amongst the enemy, and-

-Where has the enemy gone?

There's a bunch of civilians milling down below, but the breaching team seems to have disappeared.

What do?

[] Go after the firing positions of the riflemen.

[] Duck back into the Mansion.

[] Speak openly with Feather in spite of invisibility.[X] Go after the firing positions of the riflemen.

AN: Ya'll are lucky the meta-gaming vote didn't win. You would not have liked how that turned out.

((()))

One of the downsides of both being invisible, is that it's very difficult to coordinate with Feather, so you can't really do much but trust her to take care of herself when you break off and head towards the enemy gunmen.

While you could keep deploying Astral Constructs, you decide that you want to draw out the missing enemy breaching team, and with your layered defensive magics, you should be reasonably hardened against gunfire. You can always use Wings of Cover again if they pull out anything crazy.

Swooping low to get a good cross-angle, you take a deep breath, then spew acid down towards the bushes you've seen muzzle-flares from.

(5d6=27 acid damage, DC 21 Reflex save for half. 3d20= 21, 41, 31. Two twenties is a bit much…)

Three men in camouflage roll out of the bushes, one of them shouting in pain, the other two already tracking your flight pattern. One of them fires a rifle, the other a grenade launcher.

(Rifle 1d20+11=38. Crit Confirmation=43. What's with all these 20s? Crit Immunity negates Crit. 3d6+2-5(DR5/magic)=5 damage. Grenade Launcher 1d20+11=16.)

You veer left to avoid the grenade, but the gunman is apparently a marksman, aiming for your head, and managing to get a bullet into your open mouth. It tears through your gumline and bounces off of one of your fangs, leaving you bleeding, but accomplishing little else.

Bastard.

x] Improved Invisibility. Fight completely unfairly, at least as long as it lasts.

AN: I have corrected the error where I forgot Taylor now has crit immunity in the prior update.

((()))

You cast Improved Invisibility, giving yourself a solid minute of crippling the enemy's ability to hit back.

Then you swoop down to express your displeasure towards the rifleman personally.

(Pounce for full round attack. 1 Bite, 2 Claws, 2 Wing Buffets, 1 Tail Slap. 6d20+various=24, 21, 18, 26, 35. All hit flat-footed opponent. Damage, 2d6+11=19, 1d8+4=12, 1d8+4=11, 1d6+4=6, 1d6+4=8, 1d8+11=13. Total 69 damage.)

Slamming down on him claws-first, you smash him into the ground, bite deep into his neck, then leap back up into the air, making sure to smash your wings and tail down on what's left of him as you soar upwards, to make sure there's no chance of survival.

The jackass with the grenade launcher has shouldered his weapon, and is trying to work a set of goggles over his face; you don't know if it's thermal or night vision or what, but you don't want to take a chance on it revealing you.

(Pounce, full-round attack yields a low of 23, all hit again. Damage totals to 63.)

A few moments of bloody fury later, and he'll have a hard time using that grenade launcher without his bloody head.

You turn to look over the battle again and-

Those aren't civilians!

You order your second Astral Construct, which had been just sitting around uselessly, to attack the breaching team, and leap up into the air again, just as a fusillade of rifle fire sweeps across your position. Most of it misses or deflects off your layered defensive buffs, but one heavier round tears a bloody hole into your tail.

(10 attacks, 1 hits. 3D10+8=26-5, 21 damage.)

There are a lot more of the bastards out there than you'd spotted earlier. You're not sure if they called in reinforcements, or had some deliberately holding back. Either way, only about half the ones you can see have goggles or fancy sights on their guns, and from what you can see, they're having a hard time tracking you as you make a sharp vertical climb.

Directing your first Astral Construct, which has finished off the first sniper team, on to the nearest group of enemies is an obvious move, even if it won't last all that much longer, but past that-

The breaching group disappears.

Not suddenly makes you think they're not enemies, they disappear-

They're with one of the other fireteams.

The enemy has a teleporter. Those are rare enough that this attack is a very big deal.

X] Withdraw to where you think Feather is, try to joint plan.

((()))

You bank around to where the breaching team was, shifting to a glide as you close, so as to avoid visible ground effect.

"Feather?" you call quietly as you approach, trying to project your voice loudly enough to be heard in the immediate area, but no further.

Given you're trying to do so over the sound of rifle-fire and a handful of bullets ricocheting off of your layered defensive magics, you suppose it isn't really surprising you get no response. You can't see any trace of Feather's movement either.

Lacking better options, you head towards the group of riflemen who seems to be the most accurate, and manifest another Astral Construct on top of them. The first's duration has elapsed, and the second was actually damaged enough to dissipate, but they seem pretty effective at smashing the enemy up, as well as drawing fire away from you.

The nearest enemy attended to, you gain some altitude and turn towards the breaching team, decreasing amounts of rifle fire skimming off of your defenses.

The breaching team teleports again, along with the group of riflemen they'd linked up with. A quick look around the battlefield shows they haven't turned up anywhere else, and a few moments later, three individuals join the firing group you just dropped an Astral Construct on, before that group disappears as well.

It looks like they're fleeing.

[X] Throw down some constructs and restrain as many as we can so we can figure out who's behind this.

((()))

Sweeping over the battlefield, you manifest two more constructs optimized for grappling, and watch as the teleporter steadily evacuates more and more of the mercenaries; part of you is surprised when they even move to take the bodies of the dead with them.

One of your constructs manages to pin a man, but dissipates into ectoplasm before the teleporter arrives to pull that group out. Of the two new ones you summoned, the first is shot to pieces by point-blank automatic fire when it tries to pin one man down, and his allies decide guns are a better option than trying to wrestle a marshmallow jellyfish.

The last one though, you decide to intervene semi-directly, and do a fly-by of the area just as the teleporter shows up, and spew acid across the enemy. Pained screams sound, and the teleporter leaves, the last captured hostile still in the hands of your Astral Construct.

That should discourage them from trying again.

"Bookwyrm," you hear Feather shout, "Gain some altitude and keep a lookout invisibly. I'll handle the prisoner."

Seeing no reason to disagree, you spiral upwards, and cast regular Invisibility as you move up, the better duration of the less flexible spell more suited to simply keeping watch.

Fortunately, the next group of armed humans you see arrive in military helicopters that say 'USA' on the side, and with a great deal less hostility.

((()))

The fight took less than three minutes. Post-battle medical checks and de-briefs take almost three hours.

It's almost mind-numbingly dull, but you've worked around the Boros enough to understand how important forensics and intelligence gathering are. It doesn't make it less dull, but it does help you sit through it all; that Feather is more or less running the show, and it's all conducted inside of the extra-dimensional embassy, helps.

When you get back outside, you are rather substantially impressed with how much firepower has been rolled out to secure the grounds. You aren't the most familiar with military vehicles, but you do know enough to recognize the difference between tanks and APCs; there are three of both present, along with another armored vehicle with tank treads and missiles on top.

Dozens of soldiers are setting up sand-bags around machine gun nests to protect the embassy entrance, and dozens more are aggressively clearing the underbrush of every forest within sight, probably to make it impossible for snipers to find easy cover. They haven't gone as far as cutting down trees, but that probably isn't practical given there's trees within line of sight for miles around, including on the far side of the river.

"Miss Bookwyrm," a stern voice says a few moments after you step out, and you turn to see a woman in full combat kit standing nearby, a bunch more soldiers behind her, "I'm Lieutenant Harper. Me and my boys have been assigned as your close protection detail for the time being. One of the choppers has been assigned to us if you want to go out for a flight."

You're somewhat caught off-guard; you sort of had this kind of treatment from the Boros, but for whatever reason, getting escorted by a group of heavily-armed soldiers just doesn't seem quite the same.

Respond how?

[] Simple thanks.

[] "My best security is probably in going unnoticed if I'm out and about."

[] "What are your capabilities?"

[] Write-in.

((()))

AN: I'd intended to get to the interrogation results before the end of the update, but realized the response here was important enough it should have some player input