*000000*

"Dakar," Miss Sharp begins, pulling up a picture of a large city viewed from the air, "Is on the westernmost point of Africa, and used to be the capital of Senegal. More importantly right now, it is one of very few places in sub-saharan Africa that has resisted Moord Nag's march of conquest across the continent, and has had a stable government for the last eight years."

The image switches to showing a fit middle-aged African man wearing a military uniform, with four more men escorting him, two of whom are clearly parahumans.

"This is Catay Madibou, the King of Dakar," Miss Sharp continues, "He is believed to be a Thinker, given his almost-certainly superhuman ability to ferret out those disloyal to him, and he is the reason for Dakar's political stability.

"He seized control of Dakar after six years of Parahuman Warlordism thoroughly shredded the Republic of Senegal, and unlike his contemporaries, refused to try to expand control past the peninsula which the city is built on. He has instituted a military aristocracy, where personal heroism in battle, demonstrated proficiency at command, or being a parahuman can gain one the rank of Knight, and further service can elevate one to higher ranks.

"As a muslim, he has also folded several of the minor warlords into his realm by marrying their sisters or daughters; he has seven wives, and his eldest son and two of his daughters are old enough that he is looking for more marriage alliances."

"If he rose to power eight years ago," you ask, "Those eldest children must be from before then?"

"They are," Miss Sharp says with a nod, "His first wife, and by all reports his favorite, has been married to him for more than twenty years, and is known to run his household, while he runs the city-kingdom at large. Notably, he has made overtures to US Embassy staff about arranging a marriage to one of his daughters, though the motivation for this is not entirely clear, and somewhat disconcerting to those approached.

"He has dozens of parahumans under his command, a standing military of thirty thousand, and all adult men in the city are required to sign up for the militia. He keeps the city as an open port of trade, and stable launching point for others wishing to engage in operations in Africa. He encourages those who arrive to act against Moord Nag, and has openly stated that he will happily either adopt in or marry in anyone who can deliver her head.

"There is some speculation that if Moord Nag is removed, he will try to expand his holdings, but he has not given clear indication regarding this one way or another. In two instances in the past, he has given his blessing to expeditionary groups who tried to establish colony or satellite city-states further down the African coast, but Moord Nag crushed both. We didn't have well-established intelligence assets at the time of the first, but the second is believed to in part be him maneuvering a potential political threat to either fail fatally, or succeed where he was no longer a threat.

"One of the key aspects of the stability of Madibou's reign, is his firm policy of 'The King's Peace.' Bloodshed in the streets is strictly forbidden, and violence in the streets can result in serious punishment. He takes a more hands-off approach to violence behind closed doors, so long as it doesn't spill out into the streets, especially among foreigners, and is known to treat it as to some degree being a cost of setting his realm up as the middle-man/gateway into western Africa.

"We don't have the time to brief you on every known member of the military aristocracy, but we can warn you of this general theme: the non-parahuman 'nobles' are more dangerous than the parahumans, because competence is the only way they rise to that rank, and they usually have parahumans under their command. Try not to start a fight in the public, and if you do get into one, don't directly fight back against the local authorities when they show up."

"Do they have any known ability to interdict teleporters?" Feather asks.

"No," Miss Sharp says, "They have no parahumans whose ability apply directly, and the three Tinkers known to work for Mabidou have demonstrated no ability to teleport or stop such. They do have an ability to detect teleportation, so it's recommended you arrive outside of the city and enter through conventional means."

"Would it be possible for us to teleport in through the US Embassy and move from there?" Feather asks.

"It's possible," Miss Sharp says, "But you'd need to wait hours or days for the request to work through the system."

"We don't have time for that," Feather says, shaking her head, "We need to move by the end of the hour."

"I expected as much," Miss Sharp says, bringing forward a set of folders, and passing them out to Feather, Elmira, and yourself, "These have briefs on each of the known parahumans, and their better non-parahuman officer-nobles. Please try not to get yourselves killed?"

"Hopefully violence will be restricted to a single Hold Person spell," Feather says, "But we can't count on that; thank you for helping us prepare for the worst."

"We're going with a simple and straightforward plan," Feather explains as she and Elmira go over a stock of combat potions, "We teleport in outside of Dakar's waters, already under an invisibility spell, and you fly us into the city.

"If we're detected and challenged by the local authorities on approach, we use communication magic to communicate with them, and attempt to get permission to proceed with our mission regardless. In the more likely event that we are not detected, we'll continue the flight in, until we reach this building:"

Actigall uses a Silent Image cantrip to show a large concrete structure, doubtless gleaned from the memories of the captured mercenary.

"Note the large mosque next to it," Actigall says, "As well as the large courtyard and vehicle garage. We expec there to be a number of combat vehicles in there, similar in purpose, if somewhat more primitive, than what the Americans have sent to protect our embassy here."

"We have two overall objectives in Dakar," Feather continues, "The first we will move on is capture or destruction of the mercenary unit. This is both punitive and to try to deny other enemies useful intelligence on how we fight. The intention is to conduct the entire battle behind closed doors, and preferably while invisible.

"Ideally, they don't know we also have teleportation capabilities, but we certainly can't count on that, so they may already be expecting our arrival. Either way, unless they show much more lethal capabilities than demonstrated thus far, we should have little difficulty taking them out.

"The second objective, and one we have reasonable but not certain expectation will be found at the mercenary base, is capturing the middle-man who hired them. It's very likely that the mercenaries are engaging in negotiations to either justify their failure, or demand payout in spite of their failure, or at least our captive thinks so. The middle-man looks like this:"

Actigall creates another image, this of a man who has mixed African/Middle Eastern ethnicity, and is almost startlingly nondescript; well-trimmed beard, short professional hair, and a customer-service smile on his face. Put him in a suit instead of the casual clothes he's wearing, and he could fit in at any office in America, except in certain neighborhoods of Brockton Bay.

"We need to get him alive if we can," Feather continues, "That will be my responsibility. I'll not break Invisibility until I reach him, or finish a swift search of the base.

"Bookwyrm, your job will be to set several of your minions on the mercenaries to draw out a forcible response, which Guildmage Dupixent and Elmira will pick out particularly troublesome foes to take out with their own magic. Once you've deployed your minions, I need you to keep an eye on the perimeter to make sure nobody escapes before I can determine if our middle-man is present."

Elmira passes you three potions; one of Cure Critical Wounds, one of Haste, and one you've never seen before, of Dimension Door.

"This one's pre-set to teleport you straight upwards," Elmira explains, "It's your emergency getaway, if you're out of spells, silenced, or similar."

"Any questions before we set out?" Feather asks.

[] Write-in.

((()))

Dupixent teleports you in on-target, within distant sight of Dakar, and the disjunction breaks your wing cadence, forcing you to dive briefly to recover. You'd intended to come in low over the ocean anyways; Invisibility is not tweaked to defeat radar, so low-altitude insertion is the only reasonable option.

You're under the effects of an Enlarge Monster spell, making you large enough to comfortably carry the other three members of this mission while you fly, and you even out into a good cruising speed towards the city.

It's strange, having three people on your back. You've used size-change magic before, including every time you shift between human and Dragon form, but you've never carried three people with you at once before. Fortunately, none of them get squirmy, and stay hunkered down against your scales, not messing with your balance or aerodynamic profile.

At your cruising speed, it doesn't take too long to start making out distinct parts of the city skyline, and you dip even lower over the water, almost brushing the surface with your wings. The seas are fairly calm, and there's recreational sailing boats in the green zone; once you're close enough, any radar return your wings give should be disguised among that clutter.

"I can see some of the towers of the Ouakam district skyline," you whisper, "Distance to target?"

"Six kilometers," Dupixent whispers back, still concentrating on his tracking spell, "That tracks for East side of the district, as we were told."

Using blood from one of the injured escapees makes tracking very easy, and you arranged a simple tapping-code on your back to use with Dupixent once you're over the city proper, and silence become necessary.

You have no difficulty avoiding the sailboats as you close in with the shore, and you ease off on your flying speed. At this size, your wings displace no small amount of air with each beat, and you want to give as little sign of your passing as possible.

Not that you actually have to worry too much about such things as you get closer; there's tons of civilians on the beach, and even more on the streets inland; it looks like some sort of market day, though for all you know this is just normal foot traffic in this city.

You blow a few sunhats off as you pass over the beach itself, but there's no signs of alarm or pursuit as you head further inland, and soon you're flying over rooftops. Even those have a fair number of people out on them, but nowhere near the crowds on the streets below.

The building mercenary headquarters, and the mosque next to it is in the eastern reaches of the district, and your keen eyes make it out with little difficulty.

Unfortunately, there's a pair of manned machine gun nests on top of the building, and some sort of pseudo-tank with a pair of cannon on it in front of the building. You see infrared goggles on at least two of the mercenaries, though it doesn't look like they've spotted you yet.

What do?

[] Land ASAP. They'll definitely notice a flying Dragon that's only visible to the goggles, they may not notice another four people in the crowded streets until it's too late.

[] Pick up the pace, hit them as fast as possible.

[] Teleport out.

[X] Land ASAP. They'll definitely notice a flying Dragon that's only visible to the goggles, they may not notice another four people in the crowded streets until it's too late.

((()))

Swooping downward sharply, you come to a stiff landing on the nearest open rooftop, swiftly coming to a complete halt to avoid stirring up too much dust.

"What happened?" Feather asks tersely.

"There are manned heavy guns and vehicles at the mercenary compound," you reply, "They have thermal goggles, and there's no way they'd normally use those on a hot day like this. They have to be looking for invisible hostiles."

"Probably," Feather says, "Hold still while we dismount."

Feather and Elmira just jump off, but it takes Dupixent a few moments to clamber down. They're each careful to keep a hand pressed against one of your legs once they've touched down, to avoid accidents while you're all invisibile.

"Dupixent, do you have Overland Flight prepared?" Feather asks.

"Yes," he replies, "Part of my standard distribution."

"Cast it now," Feather says, not waiting for him to finish before she continues, "Bookwyrm, back to human form; we'll go in among the crowd, up to the wall, then-"

The access door for the roof you're on opens, and a woman in black robes steps out with a basket of laundry.

"Scatter!" Feather hisses, and you lose the feel of different hands on your legs.

The laundry-woman immediately turns to face where Feather was speaking from, looking more curious than alarmed. You start shifting forms, not wanting to blast her around the downdraft from your wings, then swiftly back away from her curious search once you've finished, and jump off the side of the building.

Unfortunately, the crowd is so packed in on the street below, that you can't find anywhere to land. If you could get onto the ground, it's semi-feasible to blend in even while invisible; after all in a crowd that thick, who knows which person just jostled them?

Instead, you skim in just over the top of the crowd, hoping a human shaped heat signature won't stand out against the other humans in the crowd. You head directly to the nearest of the compound walls, reasoning that you're still supposed to open the engagement, so you should hurry up and get there first.

There are no signs of alarm by the time you reach the wall, so you cautiously inch up to just short of touching it, then float slowly up until your head is just poking over the top, and quickly survey the inside of the courtyard.

Two heavy vehicles, each with two heavy guns mounted in a turret.

Two groups of mercenary in the shade of somewhat thorny trees, five men to each group, three with assault rifles, one with a machine gun, one with a bazooka.

The two machine gun nests on the roof, each with three people in them, a gunner, a loader, and a man with goggles.

People visibly rushing back and forth through the windows. These people know that they're in trouble, and are trying to do something about that fact.

Since Feather hasn't magically contacted you with further information, you're still acting on the 'large and loud' plan with you starting things out.

How long to wait for the others to get into position?

[] Just go now.

[] One minute.

[] A few minutes.

[] Until you get some kind of signal.

What enemies to target first?

[] Infantry on the ground.

[] Infantry in the machine gun nests.

[] The heavy vehicles.

Any specific abilities or flavor for the Astral Constructs summoned?

[] GM's discretion.

[] Write-in what you want.

((()))

AN: I think this is going to be the first fight… maybe at all where Taylor actually starts with the initiative.

[X] One minute.

[X] GM's discretion.

((()))

You decide to wait one minute before starting your attack, hoping that the others will be in position by then, and spend the time deciding what to target with your somewhat personalized take on the Astral Construct power.

The most obvious candidates are the two pseudo-tanks, but given the enemy base is on alert, they're almost certainly manned, and your power won't work on them if that's the case.

The next most obvious would be one of the trees the infantry are sheltering under, at least a couple of them aren't even being touched, and they're big and in useful positions.

Then you notice that one of them has left his machine gun leaned up against the tree next to him. It's hooked in the crook between trunk and a large branch, easily within immediate arm's reach, but he isn't touching it, and that means that by the arcane minutiae of magic, it's not protected from others supernaturally forcing their will upon it.

You check your watch, counting down the time, and then manifest your first ever Astral Dragon.

Ectoplasm manifests around within, and throughout the gun, drawing shouts of alarm as over the course of a handful of seconds, the soldiers resting in the shade there rapidly scrambling away, then opening fire on it.

The bullets deflect harmlessly off of its magically-hardened hide, and it roars at them in return.

Specifically, it roars with the machine gun it was formed from, bullets spewing from its throat, sending half the mercenaries scrambling for cover.

Then the two armored vehicles open up, the big guns in their turrets sounding like thunder so close up.

(2x1d20+14=22, 31. 1 hit. 5D12+4=41 damage. DR 11 reduces to 30.)

Your construct scrambles out of the way of most of the fire, but one of the shots manages to punch a hole in its flank. Fortunately, there's nothing inside but more ectoplasm, though enough physical damage will still destroy the coherence of the psionic field animating it.

One of the two machine gun nests on the rough opens up as well, though the other seems distracted by something for the moment, and they aren't much more effective than the riflemen anyways.

(1d10+10=29. 3D10+2=18 damage. DR 11 reduces to 7.)

You decide to manifest a regular Astral Construct as a gorilla, and have it wrestle with one of the gun turrets. It seizes hold of one of the gun barrels, and starts trying to wrench it off; it doesn't manage to do so, but it does manage to redirect both of the armored vehicles to attacking it, instead of your Dragon.

Chaos in general has been raised in the yard, bullets spewing all around as your Dragon chases after the infantry, the machine gun nests try to take out your Dragon, and the enemy generally seems to be on the urge of panic.

To help things along, you manifest another Astral Construct on top of the roof, this time trying for something a bit more humanoid. Rather than the terrifying slash-killer you'd been trying for, it comes out more like a lumpy pseudo-human.

After a few seconds, the blood splatters across it make it pretty imposing anyways.

Unfortunately, the mercenaries aren't exactly ready to give up, and the second armored vehicle is still hammering away at your Astral Dragon.

(1d20+14=27. 5D12+4=36 damage. -11 DR = 23 net damage.)

Elmira abruptly appears next to it, touching one of the gun barrels, which instantly rusts away to nothing.

A fireball detonates at the second machine gun nest.

Three windows on the building are smashed open from the inside, men with larger, bulkier guns starting to fire out of them.

One of them has some kind of rocket launcher, and is levelling it at your Astral Dragon.

What do?

[] Astral Construct inside the broken window.

[] Energy Bolt at the rocket launcher. (will dispel your invisibility.)

[] Your constructs can soak the damage, start focusing on the perimeter, keep your target from escaping.

[] Write-in.

((()))

AN: Initiative and superior capabilities can make things lopsided.

[X] Your constructs can soak the damage, start focusing on the perimeter, keep your target from escaping.

((()))

Reasonably confident of the success your Constructs have had thus far, and aware that they're ultimately expendable, you float up into the open air, and shift back to your Dragon form, continuing to rise in altitude as you watch the perimeter for signs of an attempted escape.

It's not particularly hard; there's only three entrances into the compound, and the main entrance is pretty thoroughly clogged up by the battle in the courtyard. Fireballs, more rust magic, gunfire and raw brute force are making a bloody mess of the place, and it seems like almost everyone inside the compound buildings are focused on it.

It's pretty distracting for you as well, but you keep your eyes roving between the vehicle exit built into the back of their large garage, and the secondary gate on the far side of the compound as well.

A sound like an eggshell cracking and spilling yolk everywhere marks the destruction of your Astral Dragon, but by the time they managed to wear it down with sheer weight of fire, both of the armored vehicles have been crippled, and all the infantry in the courtyard are dead.

You direct your monkey towards one of the windows where enemy fire is coming from, but something unexpected comes before it can enter.

"I've captured their leader," Feather's voice whispers in your ear, "Stop the attack."

A moment later, shouting in a language you're not familiar with starts up inside of the building, and in just a few seconds, all the violence comes to a stop.

((()))

Two minutes later, you're sitting (still invisible) on top of the wall, while Elmira keeps watch on dozens of prisoners sitting in the courtyard, hands on their heads. Feather is speaking with three of the prisoners, one of whom is wearing a red beret, and two others who bear signs of recently having been stabbed and then healed.

The enemy's willingness to surrender may have something to do with one of those two being pretty obviously the son of the man in the red beret.

At the main gate, Dupixent is using a casting of Tongues to explain to the local security forces that everything in here is perfectly under control, and no, there will not be violence spilling out into the streets and causing bloodshed there.

One look at the surrendered mercenaries is enough to convince the patrol leader that's the case, but he and the six men he brought with him stick around anyways, probably to make sure their superiors know immediately if the situation changes.

You're still watching the perimeter, looking for signs of trouble, but it's fairly clear the mercenaries know they picked a fight they can't win, and hoping for mercy from all of you is the best they can expect.

The next five minutes are still tense. Blood and bodies from the attack are still strewn about the courtyard, and it's clear that some of the younger mercenaries aren't using to seen peoples inside smeared all over concrete outsides.

Tough luck for them; they shouldn't have taken money to try to kill you.

Once Feather's finished whatever discussion she wanted with their leaders, she forces the three of them to sit down with the rest of the men, and crosses the courtyard to talk with Elmira and Dupixent; you hop over to land on the wall next to them, and extend your neck down to join the conversation.

"I've gotten the three most likely addresses for the middle man we're after out of them," Feather says quietly, "As well as names and descriptions of other associates. I want to move on them ASAP, but before we roll out, I wanted to check if any of you had questions or thoughts."

"Destroy their weapons," Dupixent says immediately.

"Seize their treasury," Elmira says, "Tribute is the burden of those who start a war, and then lose it."

"Bookwyrm?" Feather asks, turning towards your general direction, "You're the only one they actually injured in the attack on the embassy. What do you have to say?"

What say?

[] You just want the middle-man.

[] You want the head of the one who actually managed to injure you, if he isn't already dead.

[] Why are we leaving any enemies alive?

[] Write-in.

((()))

AN: I had intended things to be somewhat lopsided in favor of magic users over parahumans, but invisibility has made it much more lopsided than I'd originally intended. You can expect future enemies to either be idiots trivial to defeat, or competent enough to have better preparations.

I will also note, again, that I tend to write enemies as not being suicidally dedicated to killing PCs. If they can get out alive, they'll try.

[x] Divination prepwork. Take items/samples to make any repeat or follow-up trivial - cover it as evidence collection. Be prepared to see who comes to review what happened at this location, too.

[X] You just want the middle-man.

((()))

For lack of a better means of accomplishing your purpose without revealing yourself, you manifest another Astral Construct, and set it to gathering either a hair or a blood sample from each of the mercenaries, depending on whether or not they're injured. The mercenaries are, unsurprisingly, unnerved by a marshmallow-monkey policing them for bits of their bodies, but that's not exactly your problem.

"If any of you attempt an attack on us again," Dupixent tells them bluntly, "We will know."

You wouldn't have bothered explaining it to the idiots, but if he wants to spend his time that way, that's up to him.

"I just want the middle-man," you tell Feather, "We need to get at whoever ordered this attack, and stop them from doing so again."

"Priorities," Feather observes wryly, before returning to speak with the mercenary leader for a few more moments.

Dupixent, meanwhile, heads into their primary structure to leave a little present in their armory.

Once they both finish, you cast Invisibility on everyone again, using up the last of your second-level spell slots, and head on to your next objective.

((()))

After the fortified compound the mercenaries were holed up in, the apartment block your ultimate target is in seems almost painfully mundane. The architectural style is a little different, but going by size and function, it could have fit right in in some of the more run-down neighborhoods of Brockton Bay.

As you get closer, the amount of laundry hanging on balcony rails, as well as children playing on the balconies and just behind glass doors, makes it clear to you that what would have been inhabited by singles or maybe couples without children in America, instead has a lot of families present, and with a lot more children than you're used to seeing float around.

It also means there's a much higher risk of collateral damage than at the mercenary compound.

"Penthouse suite," Feather calls, "Top floor, center balcony. Be aggressive, but remember, we need him alive. Bookwyrm, neither of the others have any experience with apprehending a perpetrator, so you're my second when I go to secure him."

...Given you've only trained with the Boros in such things a handful of times, and aside from that just observed, you're not exactly booming with confidence on this.

Backwinging, you decelerate as gently as you can, before touching down on the penthouse balcony, which is noticeably larger than the other balconies.

Clang.

...you missed the fishing wire strung across the length of the balcony, yanking a metal potted plant off of a deck table.

Through the glass door into the balcony, you see a man's head turn sharply about at the sound.

It's your target.

His eyes widen as the Ravnicans dismount, and he grabs an amulet around his neck; a moment later, he disappears.

It's harder to tell with an item executing the spell than a proper casting, but you still recognize Conjuration (Teleportation) effects when you see them.

"Dimension door!" Feather snaps, "He could be anywhere within a quarter mile, Dupixent, track it, Bookwyrm, look over the rooftops, Elmira, we're searching the apartment!"

Feather smashes in through the glass door, eyes already blazing with an Arcane Sight spell, and you turn your attention backwards, looking out to see if he tried to flee to some other rooftop.

…

…

…

…

There's a lot of movement out there, but even your eyes, the eyes of an airborne predator, don't see him. Even with a Hat of Disguise or similar, it would have taken him time to disguise himself, time he didn't have before you were on watch ag-

Something tickles your ears.

You lean out over the edge of the balcony, arching your long neck down and around to stare beneath, into the apartment directly below.

...It's empty.

The only empty apartment you've seen in this entire building.

It's been empty long enough that you can see a coating of dust on the floor.

What do?

[] Intrude on the empty apartment.

[] Watch the empty apartment.

[] This probably is unrelated.

[] Write-in.

((()))

AN: Remember, Invisibility does not protect sound from enemy ears, so if Taylor tries to

 alert the Ravnicans, that will be very audible.

[X] Form an Astral Construct in the apartment to search.

-[X] If nothing comes of searching the apartment, fly around 30ft above the crowds (allowing for power lines, structures, ect) and see if we can pick anything up with the Detect Magic. -[X] Cast Detect Magic.

((()))

After considering for a few moments, you decide your best way of exerting yourself through the glass without alerting potential hostiles, is by manifesting an Astral Construct within. You've been wearing through your psychic stamina steadily, but you're not quite critically low yet, so one more marshmallow-thingy it is…

The construct coalesces on the floor just inside of the glass door; you've made this one into, well, you tried for 'Tiger,' but it came out more like 'big cat with a cobra hood,' but you guess that'll do.

For several more moments, nothing happens, and you consider looking elsewhere.

Then slooowly, a head pokes out through one of the doorways further into the apartment, one mostly covered by a turban and a pair of sunglasses.

Not covered enough though; you mentally order your Construct to lunge forward and pin him down.

"Mafi!" he yelps.

Thump.

Your cobra-cat pins him to the floor; he thrashes around for a moment, before abruptly disappearing.

He used the amulet to Dimension Door again.

For a moment, frustration rises in you, but then you hear a ruckus in the next room of the apartment, and realize he panic-teleported to the same place as before; you mentally direct your Astral Construct into the next room to pin him again.

"Mafi Muhkt!" he shouts.

Thump.

You twist around and drop down to the lower balcony, a difficult prospect with how large you are compared to the spaces involved; in your haste you actually fail to get a grip on the lower balcony railing, bouncing off the side of the apartment block, and need to catch yourself on your wings. You quickly circle back around, where you see the target squirming around in your construct's grip, raising his head just high enough to stare out the window, staring right through your still-invisible form.

Then he teleports again!

Dammit!

Wheeling about swiftly, you look for possible destinations he could have gone to; Dimension Door only has so much range, and if he's not going somewhere he's carefully familiarized himself with, he'd have to go somewhere he can see…

There.

"Feather!" you shout as you bank past the penthouse apartment, "I might have a trace on him!"

Feather comes running out of the apartment, arms raised and hands open in a silent request to pick her up, and you do so, grabbing one arm with each claw, before starting a long, shallow dive towards the street where he appeared.

"He teleported twice more to get away from me," you say.

"Wondrous Items of Dimension Door usually have three, five, or unlimited charges," Feather says, "So he's either out, almost out, or backed by a much more powerful group than I would have thought."

As you watch, your target's outfit changes, the turban shifting from white to yellow, the robe he's wearing shifting to a simple white tunic.

"Yellow turban," you say, "White tunic. Looks like he has a Hat of Disguise. I'll want that for my friend if we get it."

"Sure," Feather says, "Shift grip, I need to cast Invisibility again. This'll be my last for the day."

You shift your grip so that Feather's hands are free for the somatic spell components, and a few seconds later, you're bearing down on him, the both of you invisible once more.

"Let me handle the capture," Feather says, "I'm much better at non-lethal. Watch what he watches, in case he manages to teleport out again."

"Aye," you rumble, trying to keep your voice lower as you descend towards the crowd of pedestrians on the street.

You remain silent, trying to glide as much as possible to avoid wingbeats drawing attention, the noise of the crowd rising as you rapidly close the remaining distance.

"Drop on my mark," Feather half-whispers.

You squeeze very slightly harder twice to indicate you hear her.

"Mark."

You release her, then pull up sharply.

A moment later, an invisible weight slams into your target, Feather's invisibility spell failing an instant later as she bears him to the ground.

Someone in the crowd screams, and a clear space around the two of them rapidly forms.

You notice a cell phone go skittering out of your target's hand as he smashes into the pavement.

It's active.

A moment later, a half-dozen Devils tear their way into reality around Feather.

One of them looks very familiar.

What do?

[] MAXIMUM AGGRESS.

[] NOPE OUT.

[] SEIZE TARGET.

[] Write-in, two words only.

((()))

AN: Taylor is having some FEELINGS right about now.

Also, I have somehow managed to get sick, again, and got in a couple commissions within days of deciding 'I have enough time to try to pick up a third Quest for a little while.' Sorry about how much slower updates have gotten, I'm still going to try for every other day, but twice a week is probably more reasonable for the forseeable future.

[x] SEIZE TARGET.

AN: Had this written yesterday, somehow forgot to actually post it.

((()))

Many, many things happen, all very quickly.

But you're here on a mission.

And Feather is strong enough to take care of herself.

She jumps clear of the target, towards the largest of the devils.

You land on top of the target, seizing him in your foreclaws.

He thrashes uselessly.

Blades and claws hack at your wings; your layered defensive magics shrug them off.

You hurl yourself back into the air, rapidly pulling for altitude.

Two of the devils take to the air to try to chase after you; they immediately fall far behind, not even half as fast on the wing as you.

Banking over, you vector back towards the apartment building, Dupixent and Elmira can help you properly secure the prisoner, maybe sling a few spells if the devils keep chasing you.

((()))

"A Cornugon," Feather said, looking over the forces arrayed against her, "A Gelugon, and an Erinyes. If you were going to be so foolish as to act openly on this world, you should have come in more strength."

"You are confident," the Horned Devil said, "For one facing us alone."

"I have fought your kindred before," Feather laughed, consciously not paying any visible attention to the civilians evacuating the immediate area, "Let me guess, you got stuck with first-responder duty, and the Pit Fiends were all busy?"

The Ice Devil started sniffing at her warily, while the Erinyes tried to move to flank her; Feather ignored it for the moment.

"You think your pet Dragon will best my brother and come to save you?" the Horned Devil asked, tilting its head as it began to spin its spiked chain about.

"I don't think," Feather replied with a smile, her eyes starting to glow, "That it will need to."

"Celestial!" the Ice Devil shrieked lunging backwards.

Feather's seal was released, and a blinding flash washed over the street.

The Horned Devil blinked.

When its eyes opened again, a blindingly bright nine foot figure was swinging a sword into its neck.

((()))

As you fly, the larger of the devils hurls lightning at you once, twice, a third time.

Each time, they skitter harmlessly off of your spell-resistant scales, and as the separation between you increases, it start cursing at you in some dark tongue you've never heard before.

Dupixent and Elmira are on the balcony as you approach the apartment block, both working their way through spells; you wish you could cast or manifest while flying at full speed, but it takes too much concentration.

Elmira signals for you to drop the target in front of her just as you arrive, and you do so, veering up over the top of the building, then wheeling around in midair to face the approaching devils once more.

Dupixent finishes casting his spell, and the smaller of the devils disappears without a trace. You've never seen the effect before, but what you manage to catch of the spell structure suggests something like a reversed plane shift forced on the target.

Which leaves the larger devil facing the three of you alone, or for the moment, two of you, as Elmira is using some sort of plant-based spell to bind the target in place.

Your neck itches as you look at the monster.

Part of you wants to flee in terror.

Part of you wants to sink your fangs into it, and rend it limb from limb.

Whatever you do, you can't leave it to act freely.

Whatever you do, it's clear this winged devil can't be allowed to rampage.

One of the Psychic Powers you've been developing, but haven't used yet, might be suitable; you manifest a mass of ectoplasm, and hurl it at the flying devil.

It keeps flying right at you, deftly shifting its flight path just enough to avoid the Ectoplasmic Cocoon, and lashes out with the bladed chain it's carrying.

(1d20+16=28, Reflex save passed. 1D20+27=47. Hits Taylor's AC. 2D6+15=21 damage. 1D20+14=34, Taylor saves vs stun effect.)

The chain tears a bloody gash into your shoulder, the pain almost wrecking your combat focus, but you snarl and force yourself to bull through, breathing toxic gas at the devil, trying to corrode its strength.

(1d20+16=31. Saves against breath weapon, half damage=2 strength.)

The devil shivers slightly, but undeterred, bears in towards you, whipping its chain in a frenetic spin.

(1d20+24/19/14=38, 31, 24. One hit. 2D6+15=26 damage. 1D20+14=23. Save vs stun effect failed, 1d4=2 rounds of stun. Oh wait, she's immune to stunning.)

Twisting about, you manage to partially dodge and let your psychic defenses fully deflect the first two swipes of its chain, but the third clocks you around the head.

...This isn't the first time a devil like this struck you about the head.

…

...That makes you angry.

You rear up, preparing to go claw-to-claw with the fiend-

-Arcane magic flashes in front of your eyes, feathers fly.

...

...

...You are no longer quite so angry with the parrot squawking and tumbling through the air in front of you, trying to regain its equilibrium.

You glance back to stare at Elmira for a moment; you'd heard about Baleful Polymorph, but this is absolutely the first time that you've actually seen it in action.

"Kill it," She says harshly, "It still has the mind of a devil, and we do not want to chance it escaping and reverting."

You turn back about, lunging forward and crushing it between your jaws before it can regain its senses and attempt to escape.

(1d20+21=31, bite attack hits. 2D6+11=19. Very dead parrot.)

Resisting the urge to focus on grinding that bit of gristle between your teeth, you instead turn your attention back towards where Feather was engaging with the rest of the fiend squad, and flap hard to join back up with her.

She isn't hard to spot; large amounts of the city street have been completely cleared of pedestrians, and flaming swords are clashing, a few of the small merchant's stalls already lit on fire.

You have only seen Feather go all-out once before, and as it was then, it's somewhat terrifying to behold.

Standing ten feet tall, enormous wings arcing from her back shifting to help her move about the battlefield. Her sword is taller than you are in human form, and she's fighting the brother of the devil Elmira just helped you defeat.

Of the other devils she had faced, there is no sign; given such beings sublimate back to their native plane when defeated on the Material Plane, this suggests Feather cut them down, and swiftly. If Feather can win against four-on-one odds, you joining in should just help her clean up.

Someone else reaches the fight before you do.

A crack opens in the road directly beneath Feather, spewing fire up at her. A leap and a flap of her wings allows her to avoid the worst of it, but she's still forced to disengage from the chain-wielding devil she had been wearing down.

A bloody red hand thrusts up from out of the pavement, forcing the crack wider, as an enormous devil emerges, fitting almost every stereotype of such creatures you've seen in historical and modern pop art. Enormous, horned, red skin, goat-like legs, with a malicious grin on its face.

"Pit Fiend!" Feather shouts sharply, hurling herself up into the sky, "We can't fight it in the city, retreat!"

You cast Haste, expending your second-to-last third level spell slot for the day, making sure to include her in the effect, before turning and flying back towards the apartment building, once again as fast as you can. The two devils take to the air after you, but are far and away slower; you just hope Elmira and Dupixent will have the target secured for easy transport by the time you get back there.

Twitch.

You heel over, dodging purely on instinct from an attack you-

A gap in reality has opened in midair directly behind you, unlike any arcane effect you've ever seen on Ravnica; beyond is an expanse of night sky.

A fighter jet is rocketing through it, directly towards you.

For a split second, you wonder why it is silent.

Then you realize it is moving faster than sound.

You try desperately to roll yourself just a little further to the side in the scarce second you have to react.

The jet's nose inerrantly follows your movement precisely, and you realize you see traces of divination magic from the cockpit.

The canopy explodes.

The pilot's seat rockets up, a second hole in the air opening just in time for them to slide through it.

The jet spears you through the back.

Your world explodes in fire.

((()))

AN: Unfortunately, Bookwyrm Quest is going on indefinite hiatus.

There's a number of reasons for this, but the leading reasons are:

1. What I have had in mind for this quest, and the directions the players have voted in, have consistently clashed. This isn't necessarily due to wrongdoing on either part, but I can't take my narrative vision for the quest somewhere if the players aren't interested, and that's been a constant struggle for a hundred or more updates at this point.

This is somewhat exacerbated by different parts of the player base clearly having very different ideas for what way they want things to go.

2. There's been a consistent failure to get the players invested in any of the quest's more original characters, and since the decision to largely be outside of Brockton Bay has rolled out, there's not much space for the canon characters either, meaning that after 280 updates, Taylor and Feather are the only vaguely-developed characters in the quest.

I am sympathetic with the desire to have a story that's not entirely BB-centric, but if the players are voting for moving away from BB, and there's very little interest in original characters not from the BB area, this was kind of an inevitable result.

3. What was a genuine mistake on my part, was trying to run this too much like Brucequest. Given that had been my primary project for seven years when I started this, that isn't surprising, but by the time I realized I needed to handle the update-by-update decision posing and balancing much differently, things had already gotten somewhat out of control.

I may pick this back up at some point, but if I do, it will almost certainly be because my subscribers/commissioners vote for it, and there will be substantially reworking of how I run it.