TIME'S CHAMPIONS: THE FINALE (STORY THREAD)

[beowuuf]

Assume Falkor suggests it. I'm not IC playing his characters at you :p

[raixel]

Beo:

Spoiler

As Ive said before, Petal is very against raising someone from the dead, as it goes against her beliefs, *especially* if the soul needs to be coaxed back(basicaly what she thinks the the party is doing now). So she will not help, unless she is 100% sure that the soul has unfinished business here and its time was cut short due to Disbalance. I feel kind of bad as a player doing this, and I hope theres no hard feelings, but it really is what I think she'd do.

Petal realizes her friends are still trying to raise the thief. Not only that, it seems they are discussing going to the Place of All and actually try to convince him to come back. She sighs and whispers a sylvan prayer asking the Balance to forgive her friends' transgressions.

She watches her friends, not interfering, but it is obvious she is unhappy with the situation. When Westian asks her to help, a look of sorrow crosses her face.

"Sorry I am, friend of mine. Help you, I cannot. The vow made I did, when a sorcerer I became, break I cannot. Against balance it is, to back to this dark place bring a soul. To interfere with what is beig done, I will not. But help, also I can not. To risk losing my power, it would be to do so. If knew I did, that the souls Cycle was cut short, if unfinsihed business it had in this realm, help I could. Because Balance-restoring that would be. But if know I not, I am sorry, but nothing I can do." she says sadly.

[beowuuf]

Not at all, I guessed that might well still be the case, and that's why I suggested we could take a moment to have the characters who cared to argue for Helm with Petal. And of course, she can still refuse.

[Ameena]

OOC - I wasn't planning on assuming anything, just pointing out that if Falkor mentions that it's possible for Ameena to come and see Helm with him, there's no way she's gonna be saying no unless it'd be dangerous in some way to Falkor .

BIC - Ameena looks up at Petal, confused.
"But...it is wrong when things die down here." she says. "The Blackskull people can take souls and put them into their armour, which I suppose makes them stronger in some way. And there's...that person...who can make dead people come back with Darkstones inside them. And Falkor said Helm still wants to come back. When people die, the Murafu normally just accept it, because death happens to everyone and when you die your spirit leaves your body and disappears forever to...well, to wherever it is spirits go. But down here it's different - spirits don't just disappear, otherwise I'd be dead, and...and Westian would be dead, and so would the rest of us who have already died. But we're all back here because this place is just...too strange, it's not like the rest of the world. Death is a strange thing here - it's not just...death. It's more like an interruption in life but where you might end up getting stuck somewhere horrible for a very long time. We all have things to do - we came into this underground place because there were weird things happening...well, I came because I thought it looked interesting, but then found out about the weird things happening. And if we don't stop them from happening, the world will be all destroyed. And Helm is one of us. So he's part of this too - I don't think he'd want the world destroyed. And he's my friend. I know he's not properly dead - Falkor said so, and I've died myself and I wasn't properly dead. Helm just got...hit by a grak-grak and he died, without being able to stop it. There must be things he wanted to do. Like get out of here. Anyway, I think if he didn't want to come back, then he wouldn't, so it wouldn't matter what we did. But I hope he does. I'm sure he does."

[ian_scho]

Haynuus picked his nose pensively. "These VI altars don't exist above ground, do they? I mean that they only exist here in this dungeon? If so then there's a reason why the Grey Dude put them here. They are to counter the effect of... Something."

"I agree with you Petal about maintaining the balance, but I'm not going to judge what that each person can and cannot do. I can only tell you that it doesn't feel wrong."

[ian_scho]

You have to understand that Haynuus was a firm believer of excarnation and so popping a corspe on top of a slab of stone didn't seem too wierd at all. The orcs in his particular tribe would take their dead to an excarnation site and then ask the children of the deceased to chop up the corpse into little pieces so that the carrion could go about their work and prayers would ensue. It was a truly mind opening experience to the young and drove home the message quite dramatically that their father or mother was now in another place. It also helped bring forward the more homicidal children who would later be selected for more sharp-edged work. It was the circle of life, their shaman told them but sometimes Haynuus took things a little too far and dismembered his enemies while they were still screaming, whoever.

The whole VI altar thing appered to be mere condensation of the magic droplets of nature to Haynuus.

[beowuuf]

I don't think I've mentioned how cool your little insights in to orcish life are Ian, so I'll mention it again - they are usually interesting or hilarious, or both I'll miss those just as much as Haynuus himself in the new game!

@money/raixel: Apologies for steering your character directly to move the plot!


Despite her companions' words, Petal again has to reiterate her beliefs. She will not stop her companions from their attempt, for by the way they spoke if he truly had unfinished business and the balance wished it, then the man would be restored. However, she would not attempt to force the matter, if the matter required force. Petal moved back closer to the Trolins, to watch out for any trechery whist her companions were distracted. Deephold was apparenrly very dissapointed with her own reasons, althoguh there was a tinge of something - perhaps guilt - at his own motivations to bring Helm back. He seemed to be a little shaken.

Meanwhile Falkor explained the basics of the cloak to Ameena when it became clear the pixie would not be stepping up to help. Funnily for both of them it actually wrung a bell of odd recollection. Except in their alternate memories, it was Ameena who possessed the cloak, and Falkor who ended up being required to share it to try and work out how it worked. Two people could usually not invoke the magic in such a way, but Falkor's smallness, combined with Ameena's even smaller frame, seemed to be able to do the trick.

Of course, the oddness of the memories and the warnings regarding the alternate line meant these memories were not dwelt upon, and they seemed to fade in a haze of white. Still, even with the warnign of the memories, it was still a very strange sensation for Ameena. She had already - if her memories were real - visited the ethereal plane that Petal was wary of them distrurbing. However, that had been as a spirit, not as a physical entity. Immediately Ameena's body felt strange, it took a moment to realise that there was nothing pulling upon her. Gravity was not restraining her, and she could just float away. Similarly, her sense of smell seemed to vanish. It was like going blind, in a way. Falkor was the only real thing, Falkor and the cloak - now all the more pungent for the lack of competing scents around/ The surroundigns were just as gloomy and grey, at certain points, with a hint that there was a familiarity to her surroundings. As if they were a shoadowy representation of the place she had just come. Looking to the odd shape that was probably the altar back on the material plane. She could even see the shadowy shape of what could be Helm's body. Sitting on the altar, looking lost and not apparently looking at anything in particular, was Helm.

"Hurry, there is little time!" came a female voice behind them. It took a moment to realise the gloom of this place was perhaps not as gloomy as it could have been. The young woman that had been following the group around all this time was present too. Mentally, it seemed, not just physically - she seemed to be far more engaged, somehow. Falkor did not appear to be surprised at this. Nor surprised that there were eight spirits around in a circle, as if marking off the bundaries of the room - standing guard at walls as well as the doors. "The priest is distracted, but angry - he tries to come here when he can. We can only hold him off for so long. There are too many ways to appear through the ether."

And I will leave it there for you, Ameena.


Deephold and Westian were meanwhile trying to work out the altar, with Aurek looking on. With Falkor engaged, neither of them had particularly . LB, sicne Aurek helped use the Altar last time in Soorec's room (I thought maybe you had steered that, I think it was one of the last thigns you did before your last absence) so feel free to jump in and decide how to help here. Knowledge, prayer, looking for physical stuff, etc. Westian tried to look across

That left Haynuus to take point in the speaking with the Trolins, with Westian only able to spare the occasional glance of concern over to the Trolins and towards Petal.

The King seems to weigh what was said regarding Helm. He looked a little wary, but then decided that a human constantly dying was perhaps better than his Trolins dying. "I have Trolins who can open door, magic doors, take apart traps without smashing selves in skull, and trolins who can stop bleeding when their skulls smashed in because they not supposed to be standing by trap smashers." The Trolin tapped his finger. "If your human can do all that in one body, might be useful. But then you lose lots when he dies. What if he does again? Do we have to come back ehre again?"

The King then moved to the subject of the plan. "Not follow your priest againt their priest! Just following his plan, because it same as my plans, I know." The Trolin King then had a sneaky look on his face, as he then asked. "Of course, not sure if Karda and Pullack realise all details. Your priest deliberately vaue to stop them being scared. You tell then the details?"

Haynuus realised that, as good as Westian was, he tended to be very much for the long winded speeches that inspired, but a little less forthcoming for details. And, of course, Westian was busy just now. Should Haynuus try to be like the Trolin king and sneakily move the conversation along, or should Haynuus take some weight from Westian's shoulders by starting to take it upon himself some of ther tacical and military decisions. After all, Haynuus had the circlet and two lifetimes of knowledge, or something like that. And in some ways, Haynuus was trying to move away from fighting. In another, this was a chance to ensure the Trolins would do no sneaky harm. WHo knows, perhaps he could sneakily nudging their path until they ended up ready to help dig up some farming fields. He'd need to make sure the implements were chained to the ground, of course.

There we go, lets see how Haynuus handles the diplomacy duties while Westian is 'distratced' (just when OB is away in RL, what a co-incidence!

[ian_scho]

"Euughh" starts Haynuus, then he corrects himself "of course. The human is well suited to travelling through the cycle of life and death. Indeed, I even had to search for his severed head once." he lied. "Tricksy trap door that was." He returns to the question. "We can come back here later with lots of bodies. Lets see if they can get the human back completely sane this time before we try putting our dead brothers or sisters on there." He gave the king a knowing wink. To be honest it was a fantastic opportunity to test the altar out before they start putting any stinky trolin bodies on there.

He whispered to the king "These people will not be long in their magicking so we should wait. And it will be useful to know if we can bring back any of your warriors from the dead, although it will mean that you would still have to pay them... The dead don't ask for their wages do they?"

He mentally screamed to his circlet for help! in any suggestion as to what Westian's plan might be. Haynuus's first idea consisted of going around the dungeon with clubs hitting people until someone told them how to stop this mess. Westian would possess a far more intelligent approach that didn't consist in getting covered in someone else's blood. "Your plan..." he began "...is the same as Westian's plan..." and added "...so that would be a good plan..." he sniffed "...but only if you are sure that your own people follow your plan." and he pointed with his thumb to a few random trolins. "You are in charge not only because you are clever... But because you also don't tell everyone your plan!" It was a revelation. Of course! Avoid being thought of as an idiot by not having to ask what the plan was because nobody would tell you anyway. What a relief.

"When we next move it is best if I go with the cleric and the rest out at the front then no? Less nasty surprises for you and your boyz... Err, people. Does that sound like a good plan?"

[Ameena]

Ameena looks around with interest at the strange, shadowy world she now finds herself in. The sudden loss of her sense of smell is incredibly strange, and makes her feel somewhat uneasy, it being one of her more dominant senses. But her sight is working. She sees the spirit which speaks to them - it appears to be in the shape of a human woman, and seems familiar to her jumbled memories but she can't completely remember the details at the moment. Besides, a much greater distraction is sitting close by.
"Helm!" she calls out joyfully. "Helm, I found you again! I'm sorry about before - I mean, I didn't mean to leave you, but I went through the door and there was all this darkness, and...and...well, it was the end of the world and there were bad things there because I think I ended up somewhere I wasn't supposed to. And it messed with my head and I forgot things. I forgot you! And then I remembered, eventually, and Iw anted to find you again. And then I did, sort of, but there were those grak-graks, and...and...I didn't get a chance to talk to you. Please go back in your body and wake up again so we can talk properly and...and...and then we can stop the world from being destroyed and get out of this horrible place and go back to the daylight and find good things again, like food and people to curl up with. Please don't stay here like this - you're dead and the Blackskull people might take your spirit and put it in their armour, or...someone else...might find you and do other horrible things to you. Please come back!"
Ameena desperately wants to go over to him, but if her sense of smell isn't working here, she supposes her sense of touch might not be either. And Helm is dead, and she isn't, and if he's a spirit and she isn't, maybe that means she can't touch him anyway, which is what she wants to do. And maybe trying to move about here isn't such a good idea anyway - she keeps close against Falkor, in case she should accidentally float away and end up getting stuck in this strange world of grey and white mistiness.

OOC - In the event of a Diplomacy roll being needed for the whole "omg please come back to life" persuasion (if he even needs persuading)...26 (17+9).

[raixel]

Hey guys sorry. I had mass internet issues (big surprise there, eh? I have the cheapest and most unreliable broadband service in the city.) and just spent 3 days on the phone with idiot "tech support" from india who are obviously reading troubleshooting tips outta a binder. It's up for now, but its still unstable.

Petal feels bad. But it wasnt worth risking her power over. And in some ways what her friends are asking her to do feels like betraying the memory of her dead village. And even though she has come to trust her companions like family, she didnt know the human they were asking her to put her beliefs on the line for.

"Sorry I am, but help I cannot." she says regretfully.

As her companions deal with the altar, Petal looks around, watching the trolins carefully as they speak to Haynuus. Thhe king was up to something, she was sure of it. But what could it be? She watches him and his trolins for any hint of what the creatures are planning
1d20+1=8, 1d20+5=10

[beowuuf]

The Trolin King's eyes grew wide regarding the possibility of ressurection. He probably did know of the mystical VI altars, but had probably just assumed Trolins could not use them. Or perhaps the Grey Lord had explicit forbidden the Trolisn from exploring the places that happened to have those. He looked ot the altar, and then around the room, and then ordered aroudn soem of Pullack's men. "Secure the room! No one follows behind us! WE can come back here to restore dead! Those we have to kill, and those of us who die. If you are worthy! Priest not ressurect you if you not do your part!" He looked to his two leaders as he said that. Some of the Trolins moved to the closest bookcase to the way they had just come, and pushed it down so it blocked the eastern exit to the room with a slam. All the disruption and Haynuus's previous words seemed to have distracted from the plan conversation, which had apparently finished on an agreeable note. The air rlementals stirred as the case was smashed. Clearly, as much as they hated airflow being reduced, they also liked the chaos of the books flying apart as the bookcase smashed. They danced with some of the floating pages, bouncing them between each other. The Trolins backed off nervously, then pretended to each other they had done no such thing.

Petal watched, trying to work out what the King's trechery might be. Unfortunately, though their methods were thuggish, at the moment the sneakiness of the Kign had faded once he had allowed some of his Trolins to move ahead. She had no hooks to tell what the next part of any plan might be. Yeah, sorry Raixel, no external indications of any trechery. You'll need to act on your own suspicions!

Uumack used the confusion to come forwards to Haynuus. Guree a little behind him. With Petal's suspicious eyes upon them, they kept their voices low and spoke in passable orcish. "Good to see you survived. Goga not fight worthy. You fight worthy, as does your priest. Fight with honour and bravery." Obviously, Uumack had spotted Westian had entered the fray at the end of the battle, and been just behind Haynuus earlier. Uumack, unlike his king, did not look sneaky, just embarrassed. However, he asked the same question. "Not tell king, if it not concern of King. Or if not trust King - he not always act in best interests of all Trolins alone. But...what is the plan?"

Haynuus's petitions to his circlet had not really yelded many results. Still, he was a fighter, and war was simple. Plans usualyl collapsed, and the weight of many kings' knowledge seemed to indicate simple, direct intentions were the best. He needed to know the direction of the main leaders. They should probably just charge right for it, using the Trolins as rear guards. After all, kill - no, knock unconscious - the leaders (very, very hard) and the men would all run around wavign their arms in panic, or bow down to the group. That's how it worked with many orc tribes. So he had heard, anyway.



In the ethereal plane, Ameena triesd to speak to Helm. The spirit did not seem to be listening at first. It looked as if he was trying to stand up everysooften, and then sadly sad down as if he was weighed down heavily. When Ameena started speaking about forgetting but then remembering again, and the world being filled wiht bad things,. Helm seemed to nod, as if somehow Ameena's words were in his own head. He looked upwards at the mention of sunlight and seemed to sigh. Ameena started speaking of death, and the Blackskulls, he looked around, as if realising something was wrong, as if realising the words were coming from outside of his mind.

He turned around as saw Falkor in the cloak first. "You?" he actually said out loud, his voice sounding distant and hollow. He managed to get off the altar, and started walking over as if not sure. He then happened to look downwards, and squinted. "Ameena?" he looked more. "Ameena? No! I knew the blackskull soldiers had killed you! I knew it!" he rushed over, thoguh stopped close. His form waws a little more distinct than before, his focus a little better. "I thoguht you'd forgotten me! And then the blackskull soldiers claptured me. Then I saw you captured by the gnome, and I realised you hadn't fogotten me, you'd remembered about me after all." Helm looked confused. "The gnome killed you?" he asked, shaking his head as if from an odd memory. The gnome did something. You were dead, and the gnome did something." He said it with more confusion, and then sadness. "You're dead. You tried to come back for me, but you were killed. You'll be leaving me, trapped here. Like before, you'll move off in the dark and I'll be left stumbing around. Exceprt there's no string anymore. I'll be trapped in the darkness, waiting to die. I don't feel like I can escape from here. Something's holding me back."


As you can tell, dead people can be a little confused. He's heard what you said, and it's all filtered through, but the filter is obviously very...weird. So some thigns are comign to hm in weird ways

[Ameena]

Ameena listens to Helm, but jumps up, standing as upright as she can and reaching up to him, but at the same time staying close to Falkor.
"No! Nononono...I didn't want to leave you behind - I'm not dead. I was. I think I've died a couple of times. But I came back. We're trying to get you to come back too - Falkor's got this magic cloak and he's using it so we can both be here. We're both alive, but...we're sort of...well, I don't know. Here-but-not-here. We're not dead, but you are. We've put your body on one of those Water-altar things...you ned to go back into it. This is...this is the spirit-place. You're a spirit - you've left your body for now becuase your body's dead, but if we wake up your body with the Water magic, you can go back into it and be properly alive again. Please go back - I'll be waiting for you there. I'll be with you. I'll stay with you - being alone is...is the worst thing, for a murafu. I know you're not a murafu, but I won't leave you alone. Whatever happens, now, I'll stay with you the whole time, if you want me to. Just...you have to come back. You're my friend. Friends trust each other - so trust me, and go back into your body when...when the magic tells you to, or whatever it is that happens. And then you'll be alive, and I'll jump on top of you and be very happy to see you back. You know what it's like - my kind. We get happy about seeing friends again. And I've not had much chance to be happy down here. So I really want you to come back. Out of all the people I've met in this place, you're the one I've known the longest, because we met before I'd even heard about this place. And then we can get out of it, I hope. And go back to the sun and the wind and...and the Elements as they should be."

[ian_scho]

Our half-orc thought that he had put his foot in it once more. The reaction of the king seemed a little exaggerated as no one would be walking out of the dungeon with a huge stone altar under their arm... It isn't going anywhere. Although thinking about it maybe he could try it on a screamer slice later and see what happens. A cheaper form of industrialised screamer production! "Calm down, Westian will help you both in war and times of sorrow."

After he heard what Uumack told him ...he not always act in best interests of all Trolins alone... he decided that it would be wise not to divulge too much information to the king. Perhaps Uumack was a closer ally that he realised. "Plan?" he moved over and whispered. "I shall follow our priest to finish this conflict, and see an end to the evil that we see here. How the trolins enter to free us of this dark magic will be important. We should..." he paused a second to cogitate over what the circlet had said to him "...Take off the head of this evil army. If we can use the trolin scouts, or our own" he gestures towards the corpse and Ameena "we could stop most of what is wrong here. I don't know where their main camp is, though. Do you?"

Haynuus perks up to the king. "Hey. What happened to those trolins you sent down the corridor? We've not heard from them have we? I hope that their minds haven't been erased and are now trying to break down the prison door..." he trailed off.

[raixel]

God what I wouldnt give for Sssil's speaking-stone right now...Is Haynuus speaking orcish to Uumack? I'm gonna assume so, i'll edit if needed(If I can stay online today, the problem is *supposed* to be fixed).

Petal listens to the gutteral speech of the Trolins, however she cannot piece together any of the words. Haynuus, however, seems to understand, and whispers something back in the same language. To the pixie's ears, the language sounds like a cross between grunting boars and dog snarls. She wants to know what they are saying, but decides to trust her orcish friend to alert her if needed, although her curiosity is burning.

Not really knowing what to do, she flies to the entrance of the room and peers out, keeping an eye out for anything suwspicious. (such as trolins where they shouldnt be.)

Perception (1d20+5=21)

[money]

Falkor listened, Ameena seemd to be doing her best to rebuild the trust and friendship with Helm - but he was clearly confused and saddenned by the ordeal.

"Helm, You are not trapped in this pleace - you can come back to the material world and continue your quest. The road ahead on either side is going to be difficult as we have a lot of battles ahead of us. I want you to be by our side and rid this place of the evil priest and Gholst. I know you are afraid I was too - and Ameena and Westian. For whatever reasons though our paths continue to cross in many ways. If you wish to return to your former body you must move towards the Alter and rejoin with your body."

Falkor pointed over to the Alter - It wasn't clear to see but if Helm wanted to return and moved towards his body he was sure the energy would bind.

Next he turned to the spirit...

"Thankyou for bringing him here and keeping him safe and well. We are almost ready for the final battle. As always, if you need my help give me a sign and be prepared. Before i leave - your name... what is your name?"

[beowuuf]

"Come back? To being dead?" asked Helm, sounding uncertain and confused. He rubbed his chest. "I...I remmeber feeling like I was dying. I was choking. Something was in my chest, in my throat, hard to breath..." he then shook his head. "Then I woke up, and I was with the blackskull soldiers and you were gone. Everyone was terrified, althogu hthey tried to hide it. There was a cold blackness that was at the way out. The big bullying soldier said that it was obvious nothing could come through, that we should leave. And the proper leader agreeed." Helm looked around again. "The gnome! The mage is a gnome! They took me to his room, he was talking ot a powerful soldier in glowing blue armour! Captain Drommal was there too with two prisoners. They took me and left the man. I think he was a knight. And they all took me down. The gnome had horrific guyards. They...wait...weren't you there? They help you. But I don'#t remember that. I was alone with the soldiers, as we went down and down. Something was ahppening. A meeting. A big meeting. The gnome seemed surprised the man in blue was speaking to him, and said he'd take the blue armoured soldier to ...they said Theron."

Helm was shaking his head to clear it, obviously several memories coming to him at once. "Am I still in the room? is this a trick?> I keep...I keep remembering things. My dying strangely. But I was not dead. And ...no, you were dead. A creature killed you. We were surrounded, and you were dead in their arms."

Helm pulled back from Falkor and Ameena, seemingly panicked as his fuzzy mind tried to put together all the disperate pieces of memory and experience. While Ameena was trying to be reassuring, clearly, all the speaking of spirit worlds was confusing him, he still thought he was alive, and this was a trick.

Falkor's mention of the altar did turn Helm's attention to the thing he had been sitting on as a spirit. He peered at it, as if he could see through the plane to its proper form. "Slab...there was a slab in the gnome's room. This isn't real, I need to concentrate on the altar. This isn't real!"

Helm turned back with a scared look at Ameena and Falkor, although clearly some of Ameena's words were registereing. "I don't want to be trapped here! Maybe you can be brought back, if I can find the real you," he said, some focus coming to his confused face. "I don't want to be lost and alone in this place. Water magic. I need to find water magic in the gnomes possessions, while he is gone! I can find you...bring you back... I...I don't remember coming back to the gnome's room. No, this place is the trick, it's just making me forget coming back. I'll get back to the real elements, bring the real you back too to see them!"


Lol, so there you go, mixed results in a way, he's confused and not believing. However, he's focused on the altar and gettng back to reality, which is really wnat you want him to do. And focused on ressurection too. Obviously, up to you how you try to help keep him focused on that - go back to the material plane and try to speak to him fro mthe other side to convince him to come back, or speak to him more here and build on what you said already.


Falkor quickly turned his attention to the female spirit,who looked concerned towards the altar and the two, then back to the other spirits to gauge how everything was going with repulsing Dolo.

"I am glad to help those who wish to return, who are allowed to. His time is not passed. Mine is. He wishes to help his friend, despite how afraid he is. And I hope all of you can free this place from the evil that afflicts it. And free my brother from his burdens. All of them."

The girl gave a small bow, very focused unlike her previous exhibitions. Clearly, she knew what was happening, as the group were closer to accomplishing it.

"My name is Karnadee. I was Theron's sister."


I think this is a revelation to the rest of you (maybe?) but Westian had pieces that together already (or OB had, or a combination of both).


Haynuus carried on trying to balance the exuberance of the King while actually trying to figure out what was going on. Petal hovered quietly trying to spot what was really going on. Petal overheard Haynuus's part of the conversation, and realised the unusually brave Trolin that hovered close to Westian and Haynuus at times had obviously asked something about a plan, as Haynuus spoke regarding it. Perhaps matching Haynuus's words, the Trolin replied in common.

"Yes. Blackskulls have no honour. Seem to need leaders too, keep running away from Trolins. Behead their leaders, win." Uumack was getsuring with reasonably discrete turns in the air to Haynuus. "Your priest see map. Knows where large place where leaders are most likely to be. Close to here. But dark priest beyond that. We attack leaders now, not get to dark priests lair, unless he with leaders now."


At Haynuus's loud comment to the King, the King looked around. "Scouts need to find rest, and then fight way through to leaders! More likely we not see them again!" Karda looked angry that his King had apparently written off his warriors. And, of course, reduced Karda's group almost by half, making him faer less valuable than Pullack's group in terms of numbers.

Meanwhile, the King looked concerned. "Minds erased?" he looked angrily around. "Did you send knight off, then, or him corrupted?" King shrugged. "We close door behind him, him know. I assume you trying to trick us, as always, and lock him out as he leave. You mean he might be going to help dark priest?"

Petal realised what the King was speaking about. In a way. Sir Farel and Ardur were not, now, in the room with the group, even though Sir Farel had been fighting with them earlier. It sounded, by the way the King spoke, that he was assumign the group were tricking him by having Farel leave. Was this a trick by the king,or was something else happening?


Ok, so Ameena guessed it, and raixel rolled a good perception, so yeah, Sir Farel and Ardur have left. And the Trolins are sealign that door. Falkor's a little busy or else he might be able to shed some light on it, and otherwise Westian's a little distracted. Do you let him go? Try to get the Trolins to lift the barracades to go after him? Assume the worst of the dark priest (or the Trolins)?


Anyway, getting back in to it, hopefully the update makes sense to all! See you all tomorrow!

[Ameena]

Ameena listens to the words of Helm's spirit and tries to piece together their meaning. So...he thinks she's not real, but that the altar is, and that she's dead, which is why she can't be real. But if he's dead, surely he must therefore think that the spirit he's taking to is of her own dead form? But it's like...it's like he doesn't realise he's dead. She tries to say what she can to persuade him just to come back to life...
"The gnome's dead." she says. "Soorec. He...well, I'd better explain that later. We're somewhere else now. Yes, the grak-graks did nearly kill me - those were the creatures who followed Soorec around. The undead things. But...I don't think I quite died. It hurt, a lot. But...I wasn't woken by being placed on one of those stone shelf things this time - someone used one of those healing potions and I woke up. I suppose I must have very-nearly-but-not-quite-died. But you did. You're a spirit. So am I, but I'm still attached to my body - Falkor's got this magic clock which means I can come here and talk to you. You need to get back to your body."
She gestures to the altar.
"You're right to focus on this." she says. "You need to. I don't know exactly what you need to do to get back into your body, but it's there and I suppose the Water magic will do the rest. I...don't know how much longer I can stay here talking to you, in this spirit-place, but when I leave, I'll be back in the...in the living world, back in my body. Well, I think I still am in my body, but I just can't feel it at the moment - I don't know how the magic works. But I'll be waiting for you. Go to the altar. Go to your body. I'll be waiting for ou to wake up, and then we can talk, and touch, and you won't be alone because I'll be there, with everyone else. And I won't leave you. You don't belong in this place. Not yet. Go back. Go home...to your body, to life, and carry on living until you die properly. Which will hopefully be a long time away yet. Longer than me, I'm sure - we don't live as long as you do. But...you have to go back to your body first. I think you have to want to go back. So maybe if you go and...I don't know, try to climb back into your body again, and want to be there, then you'll wake up and be alive again."

[ian_scho]

Haynuus scratched his chin in Uumack's direction. "Hmmm, I did hear mention that there was a meeting going on between their leaders. An evil gnome did mention it. Not sure how we could turn it to our advant..." It was then he realisde that the knight and his gnave was missing.

"What? Why did you close the door on them? We must get Sir Farel and Ardur back! Alone they can not survive long here against the black skulls but together we could use their help!" He begged the king. He didn't understand why he closed the door on them, perhaps to improve his chances of survival should Haynuus and his party turn against him? "We can do with more armoured warriors like Sir Farel. I will take full resposibility of his actions and furthermore we can ensure that he is as far away from you and your kin as possible." He looked desperately between the king, Uumack and Karda.

[raixel]

Are the trolins/Haynuus speaking Orcish still? Im running 9on the assumption of 'yes'. Let me know otherwise.

Petal listens to the gutteral speech of the trolins. Even though that one (she would not dignify the creatures by referring to one by a name) appeared t be speaking common, its heavy accent gives her trouble understanding it. She tries to piece together as many words as she can from the inflection and body language. As she glances around, she realizes that two of the humans are missing. The young one, who she briefly spoke to, and the older one that seemed to be some kind of mentor to the younger. Where did they go?

She didnt know much about humans, beyond the few human traders that visited her village and the human bartender that ran the ground-inn. There were also a few human woods-walkers that stopped by. But those, except for their stockiness and hairy faces, might as well just have been elves. From the general perception of her people, she knew humans were short-lived, and acted so much like the scatterbug that her people's name for the race was based off of. Consuming, breeding, dying, all in the span of time it took a pixie to become an adult. Generations of humans could pass by in her lifetime. She reflects that a pixies Third Quarter, the 75 years that marks young adulthood, was old age to a human. The thought is astonishing. But she realizes the bigger concern was where these two ai'di'atil

Spoiler

Literally: people like insects

had gone.

Then Haynuus gets angry. Peicing together what happened, it appeared that the ai'di'atili left through a *something* that the trolins were now...Covering? Making it stone? She doesnt understand, but it seems that the trolins somehow blocked the humans from joining the group. While she really doesnt care about the individual humans, she realizes that two heavily armored warriors would come in handy, especially if the trolins turned on the party, as she was expecting them too.

"Haynuus, saying they are, that blocked the humans they did?" she asks her friend, to make sure that she understands. "If did they, then why? Back we must go, to get them. To be locked in this hellish place, wish I would not, upon my enemy that I hate."

She glares around at the stupid brutish trolins, as if daring them to stop her from going to help the humans.

[beowuuf]

Uumack is explicitly speaking common, under the assumption Haynuus spoke common. Anyway, gunna steer Westian for a little bit, since he has some information regarding Farel's departure.


Westian heard the commotion regarding Sir Farel, and briefly came across. Understanding what was going on, he seemed embarrassed and reluctant, but said, "I told Sir Farel if he wished, he could leave with Ardur. And that it might be best for him in some ways. I had hoped he would stay nonethless, given the danger." Westian seemed reluctant to comment further on the reasons, and also seemed disappointed. He returned to the altar to help Deephold and Aurek.

The Trolin King moved across to see what all the fuss was about. It was also apparent that he was a little dismissive of the knight. "Bah, knight run back to your evil water for safety. WE in danger from blackskulls and other things! We heard fighting already! This room need to be secure! Lots of tunnels behind us, anything could be there! You not think, you just want to run back to your water to hide while we fight and die for you. Then you send water to kill us all anyway, pretend we kill things."

Pullack and his men fell back to the door to keep the barrier as everyone was looking to it. The fact that the raised voices were agitating the air elementals from their boredom and making them happy and playful was probably not helping. "We need keep altar safe!" said the King. "And watch backs! Lots of tunnels ahead still, attacks come from all sides. You want blackskulls to attack fromehere too?" He could not see the issue.


Obviously while I've steered Westian, OB, I'm not going to have auto-run Westian mitigate the reputation damage for Farel walking off with Ardur back to the caverns (if that's what he's done). You'll need to do that yourself, or take that hit with the Trolins!

The rest of you, you have to decide if you want to go after Farel or not. As I indicated through Westian, it was a possibility that Farel would want to protect Ardur and get him out of there, the discussion occurred earlier in Falkor/Westian's thread. Obviously Ardur being left with no one watching out for him except the Trolins worried him a little!

It would be easy enough to ask the air elementals to blow apart the blockage from the door, but the King does raise a good point. As you strike out forwards, you will leave more paths behind you for enemies to come at you. And a Vi altar is a terribly useful thing Then again, I could be doing evil thigns to some poor NPCs who might need to rush bacxk to the room. Or might have a change of heart. Or Farel might be planning to come back. Whooooo knows


Meanwhile in the ethereal plane, Helm still seemed confused. He looked to the altar, as if not quite seeing his body was there, and yet probably growing aware of it. "We're not dead but we are?" he shook his head, but was obviously now sfocused on the altar, trying to work out. "Gnome dead? You're alive? We...can we escape?"

He shook his head to clear the confusion again. "Don't think about dying! You should...you should be living for the moment. I..." Helm's mind and spirit obviously could not process what he was goign through well, but sub-consciously he seemed to be understanding. His mind might be confused, but his focus seemed to be very clearly perceiving the altar, and quite probably his body too.


Ok, I thnk you've done all you need to do here, Ameena. Obviously Helm will recall what was said here - perhaps as if a dream, but will remember it - when he's ressurected, and be betetr placed in some ways to answer it all Anyway, next update I'll shift you guys back to the material plane, and Westian and co can work their mojo. Obviously, we'll need to see what sort of disruptions are occurring in the room from the rest of the group too! Will give money the rest of the day to add anythign for Falkor first. Then he can activate his magical clock, apparently. I suppose the typo from you could have been worse :p

[Ameena]

OOC - Sure, that's fine - I'd figured we weren't gonna get much longer in the spiritual plane anyway, what with the risk of Dolo showing up, hence why I had Ameena say she might have to disappear soon in my last post. Lol, I didn't notice that typo at all. Umm yeah...he has a magical clock, it changes time so your body thinks you're dead and lets your spirit out for a few minutes so it can speak to other spirits without physical stuff getting in the way . Ameena would only reiterate what she's already said, given more time - she's not dead but she'll have to disappear soon, and Helm needs to focus on the thing on the altar and then he'll wake up and she'll be there to jump on him and welcome him back .

[ian_scho]

Haynuus nodded with agreement to Westian's words. "Good, but it's a shame that they've gone."

Returning his thoughts to the king, he was definately a suspicious type, but perhaps there was something else that he was missing (OOC - oh for an idea check). "The strength with the trolins is that they move. They may all find us if we stay here. We should decapitate them first, before they throw all of their twisted human soldiers at us." and with that he motioned to cutting his neck. The visual stuff was important if you weighed mearly 300 lbs, wore a trolin crown and had little imagination.

[beowuuf]

Would be happier with at least one more player weighing in! Will then move the Helm stuff onwards after that,ready to move on most likely, unless something goes wrong!

Edit: Will most likely post an update tomorow evening no matter what.

[raixel]

Petal really doesnt have much to say, but I'll come up with something

Petal turns to Westian and says "Ale'thari mi itila, halitha ne thara. Ghali-te likthara metil-en, baliith lokatha ren-ta alor thaliir, nokatha renath-iin ka? Altiir kaloth, thara ehlon, than Coronil al-then loghalio ne-thera. Aliena, lalii hareli ne-thera nothi salil. Olonth-mi."

Spoiler

I dont trust them. How long before one of us conveniently goes missing and they make it so we cant get back? They want the power of the altar, the king will stop at nothing to claim it. We should break this "Alliance", nothing good can come of it. Watch.

As an experiment, Petal moves closer to the altar to examine it. Watching the trolin's reactions carefully she announces to the group "Destroy this altar, we shall. Tainted of Chaos this thing is, exist it should not."

[money]

"Theron's sister?!" Falkor exclaimed.... he was quite surprised but having he on their side could only be a good thing. "What has happened to your Brother? Theron.." Falkor knew that they had to return to the material plane - but he hoped for this last response before leaving. Meanwhile Ammena seemed to have said enough and Helm was hovering over his body. Falkor wasn't sure that he would return but for now, there was little he could do to add to the situation.

OOC: Apologies, another manic week and not looking like showing any signs of getting better this week!

[beowuuf]

Theron's sister seemed a far more complete person, this deep in the dungeon, and now this focused on the world. Apparently, the connections to the world and the drawing of events were allowing her mind a clarift they did not have before. "He has made a pact with Gholst, for fear that Gholst will harm me. Theron could destroy Gholst if he choses, if Gholst were free of him, but will not let me go. And so he fears Gholst, free, could destroy me. And so he traps Gholst, and Gholst traps him. Theron reins in Gholsts as much as he can, awaiting the Grey Lord I think or a weakness in Gholst, whilst Gholst uses Theron's fear to gain control. Yet Gholst can only walk alone when Theron sleeps, can only act in short bursts or as Theron allows. And so the Cult are weakened, Gholst's own men fraying as they try to work for the good of the cult or to gain control of the cult." Karnadee points in the direction the group will ultimately head. "even now, Gholst - through Theron - meets with his leaders. Your actions have brought them all together in fear. Act wisely. I shall help as I can, but I do not know what I can do to aid you all more than I try. This is not my realm anymore. It is draining to my being to touch these planes as heavily as I do to speak to you..."

As if in tesimony to that fact, Theron's sister sags a little, wafting for a moment before lifting her head up. "The dark spirit that still has life, and that allies with Gholst - Dolo the dark elf - he comes. He is distracted, but he comes. Leave this place! You have done all you can, you leave yourself vulnerable staying longer!"


I'm going to assume you come back to the material plane money, especially if you are busy! If you do have one last quick question, you can field it. Otherwise you and Ameena are probably better served back in the room!



Westian seemed shocked at Petal's comments, but also a little uncoomfortable. He tried to explain that the Trolisn had been leaving in an uneasy peace with the blackskulls, and that it was Westian's own intervention that had secured them to strike at the blackskulls to allow the group to move against this evil. That there was no possible harm that giving up the altar could be, since - bitterly spoken - WEstian and the rest were having difficulty enough anythign to happen, let alone the Trolins trying it. That them thinking they had something to mitigate the compromises already made might be an idea.

Of course, Westian was distracted trying to speak to Deephold and Aurek regaridng prayers and knowledge to raise Helm. It almost seemed as if they might give up, except clearly Ameena had been invested, and Deephold too had a feverish need to not lose the thief, for whatever personal reason that clouded his otherwise considered judgement. Taht left Westian too slow to try and stop Petal from moving as she starting declaring the altar be destroyed.

"KNEW IT I DID!" yelled the Trolin King at the words. He instantly moved towards the other door out, the one unblocked. "First you turn the elements against us, then you have your knight spy run to tell lies. Now when we find something of use, you will destroy it only after you yourself use it! We are not fools!" The King then pinted to Pullack. "Except you! Your people spoke up for them. You are a fool, and this is your fault! We leave to join with real Trolisn and fight the blackskulls," and the king made a face, clearly disgusted with the reduced manner that would need to be done under. "You stop them from destroying anything! Put bodies in front of them! Not be tricked to attack them! They want that so elementals kill us all! Let them kill you if you need to!" Then the King made a caluculated face. "Let them have elementals tear them apart! Hah!" Then he looked suspicious at Petal and the rest again. "And if they not ripped apart, it prove they lying. If they don't die, then you can kill them all! I expect the altar to be here for us when we come back, victorious!"

And wit hthat, the king p[ulled his Trolins through the other exit. Karda loked surprised, but clearly the fact Pullack was being blamed for this latest betrayal of the group meant he was happy to draw his remaining men out of the place. That left Pullack's group looking confused from the blocked door. Shoudl they do to the altar? Uumack and Guree moved forwards, Guree seemed ready to simply shoot anyone that tried to make a move against Haynuus or Westian, while Uumack was actively trying ot speak to the King and Pullack - the King to not abandon the others, and to Pullack to tell him not to interfere. Pointing out that Haynuus's words were still sound, and that the more people joined, the more they could cut the head off the blackskulls when the time came.


It was to this disturbance that Falkor and Ameena rematerialised.

And, it was to this disturbance, just as the clerics and paladin were almost dispairing, that Helm lifted his body from the altar after a magical explosion. The air elementals all danced aropund him instantly amazed, which in turn meant he He instantly went in to a chocking fit of coughing. However, he was very, very clearly alive.


Ok, so just to make it clear: King, his bodygaurds, Karda, and his four men are at the door leading deeper in to blackskull lands, moving away, and saying they are going to join their fellows fighting the blackskulls elsewhere. Pullack and most of his men are by the other blocked door, looking surprised, having been ordered to throw their bodies in front of the altar in its defense without attacking the party. Uumack and Guree are standing near Haynuus, and between Pullackand the king, trying to get everyone to come back / not aggreevate the situation.

I just want to make it clear no Trolisn are attacking, nor are going to attack, anyone. Just so if you attack firstm you know in your heart of hearts you are all distrustful murderers

Anyway, depending on how it all goes though, you've basically lost the Trolins now as accompaniment without more bargaining. The king etc will leave almost instantly unless you make a damn good case, while Pullack, etc won't leave the room unless Uumack and others can persuade him to stiull come along (which might be possibly, after all he's an ambitious Trolin leader). Uumack and Guree would be the only Trolins with you in that case.

Obviously, Haynuus's comments are a building block to work on, just at the moment the King sees the value of allying them away from a group that keeps slighting him and apparently working behind his back. Untrustworthy people also have the least amount of trust in others. Who knew!

[Ameena]

OOC - Personally I don't really know which troll is which - it's all a jumble of names (apart from the King) since Ameena wasn't with the characters who got to know the individuals. But since Ameena hasn't had any chance to get to know any of them, that's alright - they can just be a random bunch of blue people with clubs and stuff . Still, as something more important is still in the works, I think the troll problem ranks secondary right now .

BIC - As the physical world seems to fade back into view around her, Ameena sees a somewhat disorganised mess of people running around, mainly troll-creatures. Something seems to have happened, but for now she can't see that they seem to be under attack or anything. Which is good, considering the noise coming from the nearby altar.
Not being one to forget her own words, Ameena leaps over to the altar, scrambles onto it as quickly as possible, and practically throws herself at Helm, trying not to hit him too hard to make him cough more but at the same time trying more or less to sit on him and huddle up as close to him as she can, revelling in the smell of life that now comes off him once more. She wriggles her nose over to the vicinity of one of his ears, whiskers going madly all over the place.
"You're back!" she says, joyfully. "I'm so glad it worked! And look - I told you I'd be here waiting! Here I am, and now we're both alive and it's all real and...and I'm so glad, and I'm so sorry if it seemed like I left you before, but I didn't mean to, and there was this...things are going wrong. There was...magic...bad magic...I ended up...somewhere else. But now I've found you again and you're alive and we're back together again and now hopefully we can stay together till we're out of this place and the world is safe, and...and...and everything else..."
This all comes out with a bit of a rush, Ameena feeling a happiness she realises she's hardly felt at all since she's been down here in this strange place.

[beowuuf]

Uumack is with U, Guree is a girlie with U, and Pullack and Karda are...eh, they're just mean Triolins Since Pullack and Uumack sound similar, you know they are related (as in they are part of the same group, not real relations)

[Ameena]

OOC - Guree is female? Lol I didn't even know that...oh well, I suppose it doesn't matter in the long run - they're all just a bunch of blue guys (and girls, apparently ) stomping around either helping us or not helping us and generally being bad-tempered and suspicious and stuff .

[beowuuf]

Pretty much!