RAIXEL'S SUPER SECRET INTRODUCTION GAME

[raixel]

S'ok, i know how parents can interrupt DnD momentum. I remember a time, bout 20 years ago. Lil' me, my bro and a few friends are running an "epic" (to a 10 year old) quest... From upstairs: "Raixel, get your brother and friends and come eat dinner!" "But moooommmm! They are just about to face the dracolich and his army of ghoul cultists!" "No buts, dinner!" 10 years ago. We are at my house, playin and drinkin beer. My parents show up for a visit un announced(we all lived in the same town at the time, i grew up 150 mi east of here). "Damn, why did it have to be right when the evil priest was gonna sacrifice the druid..." 2 hours ago, I was working on the backstory of Petal to prepare it for posting when I meet the main group. The phone rings. Its my dad... And so it goes

Petal grabs Growlgra's arm has he steps forward towards the worm immediately after him and Wuuf drink their potions. She knows how the mana of the ROS potions spurs those who drink them to action, even when said action is rash at the time.
"No, don't fight them, there isnt enough time! Go across the pits, quickly! I dont think they are intelligent enough to time the run properly." she tells him in a worried voice. "You too, Wuuf. Go after Growlgra. I have a plan to keep them from following us. If only we had a rope, this would be so much easier. I'm not gonna be able to help because im gonna try and keep 'em distracted. So dont fall, please."

As the bikas take off across the pits, Petal swoops around in front of the worms, trying to distract them from spitting their digusting acid at her companions. Full DEF and dodge on the closest Once the bikas are across she flies to the two closest levers and flips them, hoping it will turn off the blinking pits.

"Go for the corridor, quickly! I'm right behind you!" she yells to her companions as she flips the levers, planning on catching up with them as they flee into the corridor away from the grotesque creatures.

[beowuuf]

Lol, if only paralyse worked in the real world! Just for as long as important game moments lasted anyway.

Wuuf seems surprised, but is not about to argue as the acid is still sizzling in her fur. Growlgra takes one last look backwards and then moves forwards uncertainly, holding the large sword close to his chest. However,it appeared he was reluctant to run through the wall despite seeing it was illusionary. The pit opened up when he was close to the edge and he fell, waving his arms madly in mid-air.

However, he had already thrown the sword through the wall to safety, and with amazing speed brought on from panic the bika managed to grab on to the edge of the pit. He pulled himself up, just barely managing it before the pit slammed shut again. Grolwgra howled as the edges of the pit caught his foot though, briefly connecting with his ankle and heel painfully.

Wuuf had already been moving forwards though. She, too, seemed hesitant - more because of the worms attckign and her own wound. Wuuf just made it to other side, and was slow to react to Growlgra's predicament. She attempted to pull him up fast, but was not quick enough to stop his foot being crushed.

"I am fine!" yelped Grolwgra, but he was already limping. (And took 9 damage there )

Most of this - for the moment - Petal was not aware of. Growlgra's limp was not visible as the two bika disappeared int othe illusionary wall. However, more importantly Petal was too distracted by the worms attacking her.

She moved around in mockery of them, but they were fast when actually focsed on something. They moved to flank her, and caught her in a crossfire. The pixie avoided one of the projectiles, but the second one hit her fully in the back. It was, as Wuuf had indicated with her reaction, an extremely painful thing to have happen. (And 9 hit points damage there too. It seems to be the number for damage this encounter! Luckily, no secondary burning damage, despite the narrative reference to it before with Wuuf).

The worms roared while the half-bodies pulling out of them flapped around trying to grasp the pixie. The half-formed snouts drolled, and the maws underneath had meaty tears in them with messy spikes of bone that could be teeth. They missed and howled at the proximity to Petal.


No levers I'm afraid, it was push buttons to activate the blinking pits. However, Petal will be able to tell the worms - despite their land speed - are just too bulky and oddly moving to make it across the pits. If Petal can fool the worms to getting close, she might be able to pull them down, but they are bulky. Might be better to run! The two bika are in the illusionary wall right now. They will both make a move next round across to the flase pit then make the run towards the other side of the blinking pit.

Oh, and if Petal wants to move more than a five foot step, she'll need an acrobatics check to avoid the AoO. Stupid flanking critters

[raixel]

Petal ducks as a glob of acid flies by, only to feel a burning pain right below her wing-joints as an unseen glob gets shot by the opposing monster. She screams as the acid eats into her. Fortunately, her dress made of moonsilk, a resiliant iridescent fabric that comes from weaving the long stamens of the moonflower together appears to have absorbed some of the acid and keeps it from continuing to burn. She retreats from combat, timing her movements to the grotesque flailing of the creatures so they cant hit her. Where is she? Acrobatics (1d20+4=20) She flies over to the bikas hidden in the pillar and makes a snap decsion.

She reaches out to the air around her, and the mana responds joyfully to her touch. Again, the teachings of her mentor, Alorthin, come to mind. In her minds eye, she sees the crotchety ancient pixie instructing her in the ways of the Song. "Now, young sorcen," he begins in his querelous old voice. "You will always find OH will respond to your touch quickly without much coaxing. This is because, as pixies, we are creatures of air and all of us have a little bit of the song of OH within. Now, YA is opposite OH. You will find that although you will someday be powerful enough that YA will respond easily..."

"But for now, I have a lot of trouble singing YA," Petal interjects brightly.

Alorthin nods, "Just so, my student," he replies. "Still, how many times have I told you not to interrupt your elders? That is most unbecoming for a young sorcen."

Petal nods meekly, properly chastised. "I'm sorry, High Sorcerer Alorthen," she replies, using her mentor's formal title instead of just calling him Teacher or Master like she usually did. The old pixie was one of the strongest pixie sorcerers to have ever lived. But he did demand certain forms of politeness and respect due to his age and station, things Petal usually forgot.

"See to it that you don't do it again," he told her. "Someday, you will be very strong. As strong as me, perhaps. But until then, you are just a sorcen, and my student, and you must not interrupt me. Now, where was I... Ah, yes. The dwarves however, stocky beings that live under the earth, all have a little bit of YA mana within them..."

The rest of the lesson fades into the mists of memory as Petal focuses on casting the rest of her spell. She reaches out and touches both Growlgra and Wuuf, tracing an EW rune on each of their chests. All three beings take on a soft silver shimmer as the mana react to Petal's will. She then sings for the mana of SAR to come cloak them in its darkness, hiding them from the disgusting beasts. "ONOHEWSAR" she sings softly. Burn a 0lev spell effect to affect 2 people at 3rd lev
The rune of SAR appears on the foreheads of the three companions and what appears to be black cloaks made of pure night drapes around each individual's shoulders. Petal pulls the cloak's hood up over her head, and vanishes from sight.

"Pull the hood of the cloak up over your head to activate the spell. To deactivate it, remove the hood. But be warned, it cannot be reactivated. Growlgra, you go first. Once you are across, toss a pebble so we know. Now, lets hurry. This spell wont last long!" the pixie instructs her companions

[beowuuf]

I'm assuming Petal is around the floor infront of the first blinking pit. Invisibility grants an extra person for every two levels of the spell, so I'll say OH plus a 0-level effect gives you three. I didn't say how long the group has to be touching, I like the narrative justification of the invisibility, so for now I'll say the group can split up after being touched. The pits are occupying ten feet spaces. In Dm one 'group' might go at a time, in this case both can go at once with you behind them, its just its harder to concentrate on helping one if they stumble when you need to split your focus.


Petal moves upwards and then spins away, confusing the two worms and ensuring they cannot attack her as she flies to find her friends. She finds them safe and well in the illusionary wall. Growlgra is hopping on his leg, using the oversized sword as a momentary crutch. He is busy telling Wuuf that he is fine to move, he knows the timing of the pits now and can simply leap hop across the last part with ease. Two gobs of acid fly into the illusionary wall, their trajectopry showing them as wild shots from the straining forms of the worms, the sad trapped at the edges of the pits by their distorted forms.

Wuuf and Grolwgra are surprised when Petal rushes forward, casting her spell. Wuuf tries to complain that Grolwgra is not ready, but Growlgra waves the comment away and pushes past Wuuf before either of the companions can stop him.

Unbeknownst to Petal Wuuf is caught wrong footed, but manages to move fast enough to get across the pit in time. However, Growlgra stumbles again as his foot locks painfully. Even as Wuuf quickly gathering a rock, Grolwgra once more feels the ground give up beneath him. Wuuf makes her signal, a stone skipping beside Petal. However, both Petal and Wuuf realise that only one stone had been thrown.

The world holds its breath, for there is no indication of the fate of Growlgra...


And a cliffhanger to leave off on. One of the worms actually scored a natural 20, but both rolled a miss due to concealment and invisibility, so that was good! Not so good was poor Grolwgra. I wasn't actually levying any penalties for his leg against him, but invisible castle decided to hate... and hate pretty hard...

I'll leave you to decide what Petal does. The invisibility spell will wear off for everyone at the end of Petal's next turn. Petal technically won't know if Wuuf or Grolwgra threw the stone, or if Growlgra even actually moved forwards, unless she calls out. And the worms still have a good shot with their spit at the area, even if they won't physically follow.

Anyway, a little bit of a downer for our favourite NPC... let's see what happens next...

[beowuuf]

Wow, now I feel bad that after a busy period, you will come back to this to find the downbeat cliffhanger!

[raixel]

Hey. I'm having mad internet issues. For some reason I can only stay connected for a few secs at a time, then it goes into something that says 'limited access' in my internet connection icons. It appears to be still connected, even though the browser hangs on "Looking for server..." I have no idea wtf. Anyway, it appears to have stopped doing it for now. Hopefully it wont do it again.

Petal screams "GROWLGRA!", hoping against hope there is a response. If no answer is immediately forthcoming, she will dive down the pit to look for him. If he is somehow hanging on, she will do her best to time pulling him back up. DEX (1d20+4=24) STR (1d20=9)

"Oh, Titania, please please let him be alright..." she mutters as she flies over. She feels terrible. He agreed to come with her. He didn't deserve this. She is haunted by visions of his broken form lying at the bottom of the chute. Perhaps, having been able to fly and hover easily for over 50 years, she mis-judged how hard it would be for the land-bounds to run the pits. If he fell, if he was dead, she could never forgive herself. And Wuuf, Wuuf would never forgive her. Probably it would ruin the fragile truce they built up, leaving them at the mercy of Chaos' insane whims.

She strains her ears, praying to hear "This one is alright," in Growlgra's odd Bika speech come floating from somewhere nearby.
Anywhere...

[beowuuf]

Urg...that sucks!

There was no immediate response from Grolwgra, although an indistinct noise from Wuuf's direcftion showed she understood too well what had just happened. There was a response from the worms, and two more gobs of acid flew perfectly towards Petal's general direction. Luckily, the Petal was already on the move, and the two gobs flew where she had been, not where she was now.

A strange sickness built up as Petal decended. Was it because of Grolwgra? She felt ill trying to push back the black depths of the pits with her illumination, and the thought of Growlgra being broken at the base of the pit was something her mind slipped away from.

Underneath, was a sight that was a relief, and yet terrifying. Grolwgra was hovering in mid-air, because his leg had been caught.

"Haha! Now I have somethign to stop you cheating!" said mini-Chaos, effortlessly hovering over the pit and holding Grolwgra's leg with his spiky glove. The sight of the tiny figure holding the larger dog would have ben comical if the fact Grolwgra were captured by Chaos not terrifying. "Now, finally, perhaps you wil play the game properly! Haha!"

There was a zap sound, and Chaos disappeared with Grolwgra. A snarl of anger from above showed that Chaos had apparently materialised there. There was then another zap. Chaos was on the move upstairs, to where the pillar was.

Petal perhaps now did not have to worry Wuuf and Petal's combined efforts. However, Grolwgra was now captured by Chaos - was that a worse distraction than the in fighting?

[raixel]

Oh crap. As if life ain't short enough...

Petal flies back up the pit to where Wuuf waits. She pauses, not knowing how to tell the bika what happened to Growlgra.

She stares into Wuuf's worried eyes and opens her mouth, praying the words come out. "He's alive..." she begins. As the look on Wuuf's face begins to turn to happiness, she finishes the sentence. "But Chaos has captured him. I think the little rat took Growlgra up by the pillar. We must save him!"

Petal quickly flies over to the stairs up, away from the disgusting worms. "Lets get out of here, then heal ourselves and regain mana. We won't do Growlgra any good hanging around, or rushing in all beat up to try and save him. We would probably end up prisoners ourselves," she says as she flies towards the stairs. The pixie shivers as she says this. Images of her father and brother being captured by Chaos float through her head, her overwrought mind tormenting her with images of her family and Growlgra being tortured. She again sees the pile of corpses in the center of the village in her mind's eye. The eyes of the slain villagers stare at her accusingly, telling her it's all her fault.

She uses her mental training to banish the horrid images back to the depths of her subconcious. She clenches her fists "I will save him!" she whispers resolutely. "Chaos will pay for his crimes!"

[beowuuf]

All good things have to come to an end sometime. You need to confront Chaos so you can go on to great thigns with the group Hey, money's back too btw - so if you have any free time at all for other threads, you can check his out again. He's about to try and outwit a wizard eye.


"I saw him!" confirms Wuuf, moving away from the pits as Petal comes out. However, although Wuuf moves fast enough, Petal is not swift enough to move out of the way of the worms. They cannot move forward, and instead vent their ire by firing more acid gobs quickly at pixie before she can move into the obscurity and protection out of the room. Both gobs slam into the pixie, missing vital areas but still burning a leg and arm painfully.


Ouch, two high rolls, two medium damage rolls - 12 hit points taken in total Sorry!


Wuuf pulls on the pixie to get her out of danger, and the two then rush out of the room, Petal safe in the knowledge that the worms will not follow. For a moment the two catch their breath, Wuuf looking towards the stairwell with concern.

However, as Petal spoke, Wuuf turned to look at Petal with a strange look in her eye. Even as Petal pushed down the terrible feelings, and found strange ones trying to stir in their place like disturbing silt at the bottom of a river, Wuuf stood straighter and straighter. Petal caught a sight, in her mind's eye, of a black bird flapping in the air, leaving the symbol of RA. It was a momentary thought, but it shook her so she did not spot Wuuf's strange mood until Wuuf spoke out.

"Coward!" hissed Wuuf, contempt dripping in her voice. "I was almost fooled, but you still quiver behind your magic! You left Growlgra to die once while you called your magic to yourself, and you will do it again! You pushed him across that pit because you are blinded by your magical ways, and you pulled him to follow you without caring! You let him drop to his death! He was only saved by that perversion of Chaos you led to us, and now he is probably dead! No, you might sit meditaing without conscience, but I will not leave others to die! Not again!"

Wuuf was already moving away swiftly. "No wonder your kin and friends died!" she snapped hurtfully invoking the very memories and guilt that Petal had tried to bury a moment before.

With that, the bika was gone up the stairs, leaving a devistating silence in her wake.


Ouch! Wuuf is evil! And yes, Wuuf does seem to know a little bit more than she actually should in that last comment.... odd that...

Anyway, Wuuf's evil views of Petal do not reflect the DM's personal opinions of Petal's actions nor lack of actions Though I will of course give the reminder that once you join the main game, resting to regenerate mana after each part of a long encounter will be difficult without generating some consequences. The narrative must go on! In your own intro thread of course, I can tailor the situation much better

Anyway, up to you if Petal rests and goes up, or chases after Wuuf now. It won't be a quick few minutes, it will be a 10 - 20 minute break to restore all Petal's health then replenish that mana (closer to 10 if she just regenerates mana). So really, you are chosing having minimum resources but possibly catching Chaos on the hop, with Wuuf as an ally, versus going with full resources but with Wuuf's fate bleakly uncertain, and Chaos definitely expecting you and getting impatient. Basically, the same choice as the worm really!

Go with Petal's character, and your own preference for the Final Confrontation! Dun dun DUN!

[raixel]

Yeah, I know I wont be able to rest in the main group as much. However, it is also a GROUP, so there will be more players. Also, I'm hoping I will be finding more items than just a dress and dagger. Thats why i'm resting. Without the mana, I'm pretty much toast at this point because I have nothing else and am basically alone.

Petal ignores the angry bika, and instead focuses on restoring herself. She figures that whatever is affecting Wuuf, it might be better to not have her around while the pixie is weakened.
"I have to save Growlgra," she thinks to herself. After resting for a bit, she carefully makes her way up the stairs, keeping hidden as best she can. Move Silent/Hide(xtra+4) (1d20+4=11) Im leaving it to you to decide how much she gets back.She doesnt know what she'll find at the top, but she presses forward to meet her destiny.

[beowuuf]

Aww, Petal has fantastic hit points, a great dexterity bonus (so associated skills), the ability to fly and therefore move faster than most around her and float over damgers, and most importantly an imaginative player to come with crazy schemes or ourtrageous bluffs. Magic's pretty much an afterthought. As are items! And hey, you have me. I'll make sure Petal's not wiped out. Not without it being spectacular, anyway.

Still, poor Wuuf - Petal got the spare dagger Growlgra would have given Wuuf, and Petal also managed to end up with Wuuf's flask. Wuuf doens't even have a dress at this point. I'm sure Wuuf will be fine though... of course...

Up to you where you want the rest to end up at - full mana, then full health and reduced spells (We can roll it out), or full mana and health. I'm going to assume the last one unless you say otherwise.


Petal's light slowly fades as she tries to meditate and allow her resources to be regained. It is a tough process in the situation, however she manages it, feeling refreshed and as confident as the situation allows. The reduction of the light was strange, Petal's light spell should have lasted longer than that.

Sensing the air revealed the truth - there was some artificial blanked, a quiver of the emptiness of DES in the air. Still, the artificial darkness shows that Chaos still sows the seeds of his own doom. It made it easier for Petal to hug to shadows herself, though in the strange stillness even her wings sounded too loud.

As it turned out, the loudness of her wings was not the problem. As Petal came to the top to carefully look around, she saw a disturbing sight. In the middle distance was a furry body lying still. There was a darker patch on the top.

"Ah, there you are..." said the voice of Chaos. Not the high pitched, squeaky voice that Petal had been tormented with previously, but the confident and deep mocking tones she recalled from that day looking to the mountain.

"OH. IR. RA," continued the voice of Chaos. Where Petal invoked the runes of magic with love and respect, Chaos span them lasciviously, tone twisting to contempt at the end.

The light level returned to normal, bringing the disturbing sight. The furry body lying on the ground was not Grolwgra, but it was definitely a body. With the return of the light, smell and Petal's internal senses returned in full. Petal gagged on the scent of scorched fur. Wuuf's body was not moving, but her fur and the smell made the pixie doubt the bika was alive.

Standing to the left and right of the area were four demons spread out. Three had twisted arms flapping around, and all showed their teeth in amusement at the sight of Petal. One's arms were filled with a furry body. This body struggled in the powerful tentacles. "Petal! Run! Do not let this one cause more death of heart-friends!" yelled Grolwgra. The demon tightened its grip like a python, and Grolwgra wuffled in pain. At least he was still alive.

There were mis-matched pillars around the wide open area Petal had found herself in. Wuuf had probably rushed forwards instead of use them to her advantage. Petal could not quite see the pillar she knew was close, but she did not need to. With the light back, Petal could hear that mismatched shriek of runes in torment. They seemed to be almost audible now. Ven twisting and poisoning the pure suin of RA. And a voice of nature crying out as if trying to be freed of its prison.

Still, the pillar was just a distraction for the moment. Standing infront of Petal, between the twisted pillars holding up the roof, and the corbum pillar, was the source of the light. It was a tall, imposing figure. He had radiated evil and menace when he had revealing himself in the outdoors as Petal had looked upon Mount Anaias once. Now, in his own lair, the darkness swirling around to cloak him, Lord Chaos was a sight to be reckoned with.

No more was Lord Chaos a figure of mirth, he was tall, his helm flowed around his head to highlight his drawn, mocking features, and the flames on his cloak gave off real heat, even at this distance. The High Lord's expressions still flitted as the mini-Chaos's had. He still seemed to move between maniacle laughter at Petal's discomfort, then weary sadness at catching her, and then anger at being challenged. And at something else.

"Imposter! Release me at once! I command it!" said a familiar voice, that of mini-Chaos. He was being held at arm's length upside down, his robe half around his head, showing jet black armour beneath. He slowly twisted back and forward, squirming and screaming while the real Lord Chaos looked onwards.

"I am so glad you could join us, pixie," said Lord Chaos, laughter breaking out of his mouth, swelling as the inhuman vocal chords of the demons joined in. Mini-Chaos and Grolwgra's creis were drowned out.

Then with an angry snarl, he silenced his own and everyone else's calls. There was a tense moment. "Any last words before your death, little thing?" asked Chaos at lenngth, with genuine curiosity. "Will you bow to my majesty now and die in peace, or will you waste your life against the Lord of All as all your kind seem to do." Chaos chuckled good naturedly, as if sharing a private joke with a friend. The laughter grew cruel and arrogant too soon though.


Well, there we go. You've got an audience with Chaos and four demons

Things in your favour. a) Chaos, like all truly evil villains, will happily spend ages being arrogant and stuff. You can either try and engage him in speech, or you can slowly do things. Even casting a passive spell like fireshield or invisibility will not instantly trigger reprisal (just to let you know). b) Apparentrly mini-Chaos isn't Chaos. And Growlgra is still alive. Whether Wuuf is alive or not I'll leave to your imagination, but Petal would not suspect Wuuf would be. c) The pillars around will still be part of the trap thing Wuuf was trying to activate previously. And Petal does have two iron keys and an gold key. d) Not sure, you figure it out

Anyway, Chaos is actually radiating an aura of fear (unsurprisingly) so I'll need a will save to avoid being shaken. Also, roll me a preception roll, it might help you to spot helpful things around.

This is it! Chaos is within Petal's sights, the real one, and the pillar is close. What will Petal do? What will you do? What will Chaos do in response?

I'M TERRIFIED TO FIND OUT!

Oh, and map to follow...

[beowuuf]

All squares are 10 feet, so really the circles are more in line with how far they threaten than how large they really are.

[raixel]

Oh boy, here comes the hurricane.

Petal is filled with a mix of terror and rage at the sight of the real Chaos. She wants to jump on him and rip that helm off his head and flee at the same time. Images of the slain villagers float in front of her eyes, tormenting her with their dead stares and mocking voices. She tries to shove the memories away but this close to Chaos, the cause of all her torment, she doesn't seem to be able to. Will against shaken (1d20+4=6). Trying to hold it together, she looks around the room, focusing on the twisted pillar. Percept (1d20+4=23). Would there be a way to undo it?

She listens carefully to its song. One thing Alorthin taught her was that wizards cant hear mana the way she could. They practice their magic by rote learning, forcing the mana into the shapes of the runes instead of asking the way a sorcerer does. Therefore, there should be a weak point Chaos doesn't know about. Could she find it? She needed a distraction. One that doesn't involve her turning into a charred crisp. She would not beg, or plead. She didn't think there was any way she would survive this, but if she at least took Chaos' evil plans with her, her soul could rest peacefully.

She summons her best engaging face and turns to Chaos. She bows and says "So we meet, Lord Chaos. Before we finish this, permit me one question. Who is that?" She motions to mini-Chaos, praying that the real Chaos would start talking long enough for her to think of a way out of this predicament.

Ok, so I guess the plan is to try and undo the magic on the pillar, even if it means retributive strike time. The question is how to do this. I'm gonna wait for the results of the perception before I act. Also, you will see there's a reason why I wanted full mana...

[beowuuf]

Yeah, Petal's gunna be shaken. -2 to all rolls Good perception roll, even with the -2 though!


Lord Chaos looks to the increasingly more pitiful imitation of Chaos within his grasp, and laughs long and loud. However, no matter where the laughter stared being directed, it seems the end recipiet is Petal herself.

"You do not know, you never know," laughs the High Lord, lifting the figure up and then dropping it, only to catch it as it screams by the leg again a moment before the figure would hit the ground. mini-Chaos's helm falls off, and a sooty, drawn face is revealed. The red eyes still burn, and the features are in sharp relief, but the figure still resembles the Grey Lord's features, just as the real Chaos's must do. "It does not know either, not really," continues Chaos, laughing hard.

"This is not faaaaaaaaaaair!" wails the mini-Chaos, "leave me alooone! I command it!" There is a sniffle, and further stuggling. "Please?" he finally says sadly. The real Chaos looks with eyes that crease in concern, and then with a dismissive gesture Lord Chaos throws the imposter across the room. The demon holding Grolwgra is forced to move a step sideways to avoid the spinning caracature.

In the odd confusion, Petal at least has time to look around, and settle her inner mind. The keyholes mentioned before Petal can see around the place. There seems to be one close to the demon with GRolwgra - that once already has a simple looking iron key broken off inside it. There are two others diagnoally across from each other that do not seem to have been activated.

Petal does not know what it is supposed to do - but once again, Chaos's love of tricks and puzzles always leads to his allowing people the chance to defeat him. It was how the original champions were allowed to recover the Firestaff. Arrogance and his twisted nature might well spell his downfall again.

Concentrating on the central corbum pillar, and fighting through the wrongness of that, Petal felt something. The runes were too wrong when pushed together, the effect should have dissipated. There was an element of anchoring to the screams, anchoring to the corbum pillar itself. For the runes to be bound to the pillar, there would need to be a physical bond. A simple as engraving the runes on the pillar, as complex as an object with the rune engraved bonded to the pillar. Either way, something that could be attacked or broken if she could get close. Whether destroying only one rune would be enough, or whether the magic relied on all four runes - one no doube on each side of the squared off pillar - would remain to be seen.

Also, Petal swore, very faintly, she just heard a small 'zap' in the distance where the mini-Chaos had fallen.


So there you go. You might suspect a 'wrath of god' style element in the pillar/key arrangements you could use, if you can figure it out. Or you might want to tie up with mini-Chaos. Or you might just want to go for a fast, swift strike against the pillar and the runes and pray.

Will be interested to see why you want the mana. Will also be interested to see if I'll be able to keep you off balance too :p

[beowuuf]

[raixel]

K, before I post, some questions. I assume the fuzzy blot is Chaos? Petal is most likely standing somewhere near the stairs? and would there be any way to contact mini-chaos and/or Growlgra, even if it means burning a spell? Can Petal tell what the 'wrong runes' are? Like I know one is RA, but what i was getting at w/the previous post is to tell what the other runes are. I'm formulating my idea, but I need to know the answer to these questions before I try anything. Also, as I went out drinking tonight, and I remember once at the climatic battle of a campaign a friend was running (we were all drunk at the last session) I decided to have my char crush the magic egg holding the seed of the elder god (the artifact the campaign was based around) which basically set off armageddon and turned everyone within 100 square miles undead. I think im gonna hold off postin till tomorrow.

[beowuuf]

The message effect is still available as a 0-level effect, where you cna sub-vocalise a sentence or two, and they can respond once. You need to be in line of sight, which Grolwgra is, but mini-Chaos is not. You are correct about the positions.

I've given you as much info and hints about the wrong runes as Petal will be able to get without going closer. Read the sentence again and you can easily figure out at least one more. And I've already hinted IR nor OH are not ones way back when Petal was downstairs (hence the 'not the correct runes' if the pillar is floating).

Luckily, you have no armageddon devices in hand right now (that you know of), however I'd agree - don't drink and game. Well, not all the time. The important life or death decisions will still be around later

[raixel]

Ok, here goes my first move. The message spell effects is the same as the one in the PHB? I'm pouring over the rune list in the dm handbook, trying to decode whats on the damn pillar, and what to do about it. I really wish I could get ahold of mini-chaos. Oh well. Part of me is like 'just go for it' cuz I know i'm not gonna survive anyway. But I would like Growlgra to survive. He has turned from just an NPC plot device in the backstory to one of my favorite chars. Him and mini-chaos. Grrr, I suppose Chaos isnt gonna be as easy to f with as the little one. Damn. He just seems *evil*. Crazy, but evil. Question: Is there a tiny LIbrasulus runnin around out there too? Heh.
Hey, you should email me your snailmail address sometime. I'll send you some DM themed street art I made, like screamers and mini-chaos, all because of this adventure.

Petal focuses her energy on the currents of mana flowing through the room. She calls the mana of OH, and it whispers around her, even in this dark place.
"Growlgra, this is your heart-friend. Stay strong. This one will do what it can to get us out of here, but there is a chance we go to the Plains Beyond. Know then that this one always considered the bika a true heart-friend. When this one make a distraction the bika must flee. Do not worry about this one, for it goes to make its destiny. If there is anything the bika can tell me about this dark room to help us, please speak quietly. The mana will carry your words." she whispers into the stream of mana, while secretly pointing at Growlgra. With her second sight, she can see the OH energy flit across the room and to Growlgra, carrying what may be the last words she ever speaks to her friend.

Taking a deep breath, she turns to Chaos and takes a slow "step" she is actually hovering toward the closest pillars. "Ive gotta keep him talking, keep him focused on me. If I can only get him to let me look at a pillar I might be able to unlock this mystery. He is a wizard, and I dont think theres any way he can know what I can see," she thinks to herself.

"My Lord, I admit, there is not much one such as myself can do against one such as you. So before you do whatever you have planned for me, may I examine your amazing handiwork? I am a magical practitioner myself and as well you know that even on pain of death, knowledge must gained." she says respectfully, bowing low to the ground.

[beowuuf]

Heh, it's not whether you survive, it's how you end up not surviving that's obviously the important thing. Does Petal fail and need rescued, or will Petal succeed in an important task, and also set up the seeds for her own release...

Glad you like mini-Chaos still, and I've done right by Grolwgra. As you may spot, I've been hoping to set up something with mini-Chaos, and if you actually like him as a character then it's a bit more meaningful


There is a long pause after Petal gives Growlgra the message. Perhaps 'Grolwgra' is a fake, or does not know how to reply. However, then there is a laboured reply. "There is...a twinkling pillar deeper in the room.... I think a golden key-hole...and behinnd this one... is a flickering door." There is another pause, but before Petal moves off, she oddly hears Grolwgra's voice again. "Goodbye...heart-friend."

Petal does not have time for more messages, because the demons - especially the one holding Grolwgra and realising Grolwgra is saying something under his breath - start shuffling impatiently. Lord Chaos spots this, and is infected by their impatience.

He appears glad when Petal speaks with such respect, waving an imperious hand, even though his eyes twinkle as if he does not believe a word of it. He starts to chuckle as Petal keeps talking, and by the end of her speech, he cannot help himself.

[]"My handiwork?" he asks, and then bursts into genuine uncontrolled laughter. The demons begin too, uncertainly at first, and then laugh with gusto, mocking and terrible. Lord Chaos doubles up, and then all of a sudden snaps upright. A fireball as big as a demon's head is thrown to the furthest demon on Petal's right, smashing into the thing's surprised chest and making it stagger back a few steps. "STOP LAUGHING!" Chaos demands, and then turns back to Petal. There is a mock bow, barely a compression of his trunk. "Of course, you must examine my handiwork, and see its greatness before you die." He chuckles again, the soft sound carrying aroudn the room.

Petal is allowed to drift forwards, senses already stretchign forward as she navigates from pillar to pillar.


I assume Petal will come closer if allowed? If not, I can redo the above and what's below.


The demon closest shuffles, but takes a step backwards as she approaches. Lord Chaos seems all eagerness as Petal comes closer. The burned demon is already fallen back, and does not seem eager to come forward again. It reminds Petal of something, but she is too distracted to figure it out right away.


Roll me a will save!


As Petal nears the pillar, twin sensations assault her. Standing in Chaos's aura makes her more and more fearful. He is, after all, a HIgh Lord. Everyone calls the Grey Lord a wizard, but isn't it arrogance to assume that he is just that? Lord Chaos can twist the very fabric of reality to create dungeons on a whim. Surely he can see the true nature of the universe if he can pervert it so? Still, even if Chaos can understand the universe as she can, Chaos has revealed his arrogance already. It is unlikely he would think she could see things he could.

The second thing assaulting Petal as she gets near the pillar, distracting her from her fear of Chaos, is the screaming form the pillar. As she gets closer, it is louder and louder, almost a physical force driving her away. However, as she gets nearer, she spots something odd about the noise. (I'm letting your previous perception roll ride here) It isn't actually coming form the pillar, nor the runes themselves. Yes, the runes are wrong, she can feel they aren't a natural assembly that means anything in nature. However, it is not them nor the corcum that is creatign the noise. It is something places right beside. Like a warning, or a distraction. It is a separate thing, as if something does not want her concentrating on the pillar.

Close too, Petal can see the veins of corbumite streaming top and bottom, and the little obscene lump of corbum in the centre that has been revealed, a simple small nugget that nevertheless could spell the doom of the universe. And above it, seems to be a simple plague with the RA rune engraved. Petal can even see on the side a second plague, and just makes out the VI rune. The rune is wrong, for there is nothing to do with life and flow and healing and water in the pillar, nor the magic around the pillar. VI is bound to the pillar for no reason nor purpose. With two runes, she can ffeel what the other two are - the poisonous VEN in opposition to RA. It poisons the other runes, but there seems to be no reason to it. And with those three extracated, there is only the final one in opposition of VI - EW. Once more, there seems to be no reason to it.

And yet, somehow, those four runes bound to the pillar seem to be keeping it afloat, holding it aloft. They make bno sense as binding runes, they make no sense attacked the the pillar at all, and yet they are the key. And it would seem to be a simple matter to remove them. They could be at best pulled free, at worst smashed. It seems only the noise and Chaos are protecting the pillar. Once more, Chaos is secure in his arrogance.

Just for fun, roll me a second will save

"What do you think of it?" asks Chaos as he seems Petal coming close, and able to see the corbum pillar.

However, Petal's instant reaction is interrupted as there are small explosions in Chaos's face.

"Imposter! Usurper! I alone rule here! Mine! Mine! Mine!" the high pitched voice of Chaos comes out of the darkness, and then so too does Chaos. He 'zaps' closer on a teleportation spell, and then continues firing his small flaring fireballs in Chaos's face. They seem to do no damage, but Chaos still falls back a step to the left in surprise as mini-Chaos keeps firing.

The demon holding Grolwgra then cries out as Grolwgra bites the thing's relaxed arm hard. Grolwgra falls awkwardly to the floor, and recovers quickly enough to move away from Petal to distract the demons.


And that's where we get to. If you didn't want to get that close to Chaos, I can re-write. Otherwise, you have a demon close that is a damaged and back from your position, and a distracted Lord Chaos near. The other demon on the right will be able to react, but is obviosuly still beside the first pillar. The two demons on the left will ahve turned to look and even chase afetr Growlgra.

What's your next move going to be? The results of the will sves might alter your actions a little, so I guess we'll have to see what comes of those too. Anyway, good luck!

[raixel]

Whoa, Did Growlgra just die!? Ok, what i'm planning here may or may not be possible. I'm going to write it narratively as I dont even know the mechs for what im trying to pull off. If it isnt possible, let me know and i'll retcon something else. But I dont want to spoil the suprise

WILL (1d20+4=10) I HATE IC I HATE HATE HATE! I think once we get to the main game I will switch to my real dice, as much as I like the ease of online rolling. I'm gonna google search online d20 roller or somethin.
2nd = WILL (1d20+4=15) Thats the first roll ive gotten between 10-16 in a long time. And its still only an 11

Petal wings a quick message to mini-Chaos on the twisted currents flying around the room. "Lets join together, my lord, and we shall take back what's rightfully yours!"

Petal focuses her mind on the task before her. Whispering a quick prayer that even if her soul should be ripped apart in the vortex of energy she is about to create., at least the filth and contamination in this room will be forever wiped out, she begins to draw in mana.

All of it, as much as she can.

The influx of the broken energies tears her body. It seems her flesh is being ripped apart, and it probably is. She can't stop now as the amount of energy she has taken in, if released unformed, would destroy her.

First, she focuses on the rune of SAR to blot out the harsh and broken light of RA. Then she adds the pure fire of FUL to burn away the tainted water of VI. The cleansing power of VI to wash away the poison of VEN. And for EW, the mana of DES, destroying this creation of filth. For if something is too far gone to be saved, the void is preferable to disbalance.

"SARFULVIDES" she screams, burning every single ounce of mana in her body to cast the spell, and perhaps even more. The elements she has put together don't go together naturally and the strain on her body and soul is ripping her apart. But in this room of twisted pain, where the mana has already been forced into unnatural configurations, she feels that it is the only thing that will set it right.

The explosive spell impacts the pillar, sending out a keening wail that shreds sanity. Petal hangs screaming in the vortex of energy she has created. She knows she wont survive the casting of such a spell. But as long as Growlgra gets out safely in the confusion, she can rest easy. Mini-Chaos too. She has grown rather fond of the little squirt. She hopes he finds some semblance of peace someday.

"Father, mother...I am coming..." she whispers, her voice lost in the manastorm of her own making.

(evilgrin). So there it is. I duno whats gonna happen, or even if you'll allow it, but it was way too good a narrative oppertunity to pass up. It fits with what we've decided is the "final outcome" so she can join the main party too. I've deliberately left details and mechanics vague, so you can add them in as you see fit (the actual look/effect of the spell, the first rune (power) ect. Hope you like it...

[beowuuf]

Grolwgra ran off, so his fate was up in the air right then...

As for if what you just wrote is possible... well, it both isn't and is. Join me for my counter (possibly) surprise....


Before light extinquishes her vision, she sees the furred body of Grolgra disappear into the darkness, although twin streaks of fiery red rush after him. Then the surprised look of the miniature Chaos as he turns to look at her.

And then she loses all connection with the world, as the light becomes so bright. The last thing she sees is the small point of darkness that is the real Chaos. The last thing she sees before the light becomes painfully bright is his look of anger, the same one he always has. And then, at the last moment, she hears his laughter.

She had done this before...

Blackness.

"No, you promised!" says a petulant voice.

Light

Slowly light comes to the darkness, a little pinprick that finally forms into the glowing white hot pillar of corbum again. Petal doens't need to shade her eyes, because the brightness does not dazzle her, nor infact illuminate anything of the nothingness of her surroundings. It was hard to see the runes on the pillar anymore, but thankfully the distracting blaring noise was now gone. The four runes were still attached to the pillar, singing a slightly discordant but not unpleasant tune now.

"You promised! You said we'd take everything back, then you went and made it all go away!" The high pitched petulant voice was behind Petal. Turning around, mini-Chao's cloak was barely smouldering, and he had a crushed look on his soot stained face. Brimstone tears were marking his cheeks. "I can't make anything of this!" he wailed. His helmet was long since gone, but Petal could imagine it wobbling on his head anyway.

And then the darkness behind the miniature Chaos took form, and the real Chaos strode forwards, picking up the small version of himself with ease. One taloned glove wrapped around the miniature's shoulders, the other around the minaiature's mouth.

"You always do this," said Lord Chaos, crowing with glee. "You always do the thing you could never do in real life. Destroy the pillar's supports so others could succeed in destroying Chaos. Let Grolwgra go free. Haha! You are trapped here forever, a perfect prisoner in your own mind trying to undo your mistakes. Such a joy to watch, each and every time."

Lord Chaos shook the struggling prize in his hand, much to the muffled anger of mini-Chaos. "You know what this is? What this thing truly is? It is your memory of Lord Chaos. And how you have tried to humanise him, make him weaker and smaller in your mind. Harmless. You don't want him to be as terrifying as he truly is. You don't want to think of the terror you allowed to destroy the land. You don't want to know that, even now, he looks in upon you as you hang on his wall, trapped in a mirror while the world burns and freezes upon his mighty whim."

Lord Chaos - or whatever it is - laughs maniacally while the mini-Chaos struggles ineffectually. "And as you may guess, that makes me Lord Chaos's power - the magics binding you here forever. I don't think you have ever bridged the gap between one dream of your death and the next before." Lord Chaos's power shakes the small figure again, and the small figure cries and screams as much as the straining arms allow. "Perhaps you have truly started to accept your prison for what it is - a fitting punishment. Perhaps you are starting to accept Chaos, for you know he is alive and well. Perhaps this is the beginning of you seeking his favour." Again the laugh. "For now you have left yourself this precious moment of awareness which which to make a real, informed choice. A choice you know you will fail at. How masochistic."

Lord Chaos nods to the pillar. "There is the pillar. Go on, destroy the runes that bind it." Then Lord Chaos's power shakes the small Chaos for what could be the last time. "However, this time, your 'friend' does not escape. You know I will snap his neck before you can act, either way, and end this little interlude. So what will it be? Are you the hero you always choose to be, saving everyone? Or will you prove, even now, that you cannot do what must be done. Even for an illusionary creature, even for an aspect of Lord Chaos himself - do you have the courage to turn your back on it? Or will you prove, just as you did in life, that you have not the stomach nor courage to be great. Will you once more die needlessly and for nothing?"

Petal struggles to take it all in, but not because of the concepts Lord Chaos is spouting. It is because she recalls odd little things from the dungeon. The little burned notes all around. Fragments of messages about the pillar, and about the runes. Except now, she realises it was a trick of the mind to think they were from Lord Chaos. For they were in her own handwriting.

She was leaving herself a message.

Even as she was locked in the memories of her death, trapped in some prison of death for Lord Chaos's amusement, she had apparently left herself a message. Who knopws how many times she had to relive these memories for it to take hold, for her to shape her prison. Still not enough for the memories not to be fragmented, 'burned'. Still, she had left herself a clue. A clue to a way out? Yes, she felt it - the pillar was a message to her from herlsef. Or at least the runes were. 'Lord Chaos', or rather his power keeping her here, had tried to disguise it. Even now, it was seeking to force her to destroy the message instead of read it properly.

She had won! All Lord Chaos's power could now do was force her to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by giving her a false choice, a false choice to destroy the message or waste time saving a figment.

And yet... she had only won this opening by empathising with something so foul as the memory of Chaos apparently. Petal could feel it, this place was only open because of her final thoughts on the diminuative High Lord. The power of Lord Chaos could easily snap mini-Chaos's neck at any time and end this chance. She had to move fast. Was it wrong, given the circumstances, to turn her back on something helpless? Was there really any reason to attempt to save the miniature Chaos?

Petal couldn't recall her life outside of this strange nightmare. Had she been forced to do this before? Sacrifice someone like Grolwgra for the greater good? Was Lord Chaos's power trying to trick her through guilt to not see the message? Or was this who she was. Would she be betraying herself by allowing someone to die - even loathsome and imaginary. Would she lose a part of herself in this mirror finding a way out? Was that too great a price to pay?

Lord Chaos's power apparently laughed at her indecision. However, it obviously thought it had won regardless. She knew the power was not aware of her knowledge of the pillar's real meaning. However, did that matter?

What should she do?


And there we have it! Wow, didn't think we'd hit the end so soon! However, your post was brilliant, so I just hope where this has led to is a decent pay- off for you. I did warn you I might do a 'trapped in the mirror memories' thing, and it was the easiest way to a) retcon any mechanical stuff, b) explore and shape petal's backstory while being able to have you still choose most of it at the end, and c) give you a real chance to have Petal save herself.

Anyway, for a discussion on what it all was going to / does mean for Petal, her backstory, etc, join me from tomorrow onwards in talking it all through and figuring out where she goes on from there.

But that's after your next post. Next post, all you need is a simple choice really, no clever plans, etc - which I hope is a cool character choice for Petal that you can then explore. Is petal the sort of person who will do what needs to be done - or has she at least been forced to become that person? Or is she the sort of person who - even if they are imaginary and evil friends - can't leave a friend to their fate without maing a gesture of sacrifice?

No right answer here, I'm excited to see which you go with, and your/Petal's thinking in making it

Good luck - see you on the flip side for some fun discussions (I hope).

[raixel]

Ok, Your post blew me away. I thought my post rocked and was outta the blue (although I did hint in OOC a few posts back I was gonna ret-strike.) but yours was better.
Petal looks at the pillar, trying to devine its meaning in the few seconds she has to act. The pieces are all in place, she just needs to fit them together now. Destroying the pillar or telling Chaos to free the little one isnt the right answer. She thinks she knows the right answer, but she cant be wrong now.
WILL (1d20+4=19)
She turns and looks directly in the High Lord's burning eyes. She isn't afraid anymore, the pain is gone.

"I pity you, truly." she tells the black-cloaked figure quietly. "My mind is not such a terrible place to be. Is yours?"

I want more info on the pillar before I actually act. I rolled will instead of percep cuz it seemed more appropriate.

[beowuuf]

Your post did rock, and was out of the blue. My post was a ticking tiime bomb snuck into your story from the start. Ok, just to restore some faith in me - the idea was there from the start. The conversation and concept crystalised as I wrote some of it


As Petal tries to concentrate on the pillar, odd images come ot her mind. RAm the sun, a blinding light. She was struck down by something as white hot as the sun.... then fell away fro mthe sun, into darkness. Poisoned by worms, wanting to heal but anable to. Wings so damaged she was like a normal creature...

No, stupid. Lord Chaos's power is trying to cloud her mind with false associations, everything around her is a lie. Everything except four simple symbols that are trying ot lead her out of this place. RA. VEN. VI. EW. They weren't concepts, they seemed solid. They were words. Association to words. Snuck into Lord Chaos's world, because they were so simple, because Lord Chaos would not realise her own ability to perceive as a sorcerer.


That's as straight as I can be with it. So is the pillar your answer then? What do you think the message is?

[raixel]

I just wanted to check and make sure it was the same pillar. Great. I don't honestly know what to do. *pout*. Well, in these cases, I always do what I think Petal would do. Well, I suppose Petal would do whatever I made her do, but you know what I mean

Petal still stands, staring into the figment's red eyes. The runes on the pillar echo through her mind RA VEN VI EW.
She hears the voice of old Master Alorthin saying "Light energy, poison, water, shape. Goodness, damage, life, beasts."
The pixie thinks about this for a second. "RA as an energy binding to keep a good being trapped, poison to cause pain, water to keep me alive, and EW to give it form." she mutters to herself. She looks up at Lord chaos and says it, louder this time. "RA as a binding, VEN to cause pain, VI to keep life, and EW to give it all shape."
She smirks at the High Lord. "The pillar isnt the key. You are. The pillar is just the focus, but there has to be energy, otherwise the runes are just meaningless drawnings. And you are the energy."

She steps towards him, unafraid. "You can't do anything here," she snarls at Chaos as she walks towards him. "Let the little one go. You can't harm him. I protect him. You can't harm me, either. I know your tricks. You are nothing but a figment of my mind, and MY MIND WILL NOT TURN AGAINST ME ANYMORE!"

She summons her own energy, willing it to be like the mana she always felt in the outside world. "ONDESEW" she screams, while pointing her finger at Chaos.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

[beowuuf]

Lord Chao's power laughs, long and deeply and loudly. "I am not inside your mind, foolish pixie," it says. The head expands obscenely, and the fiery cloak of Chaos whips out and around. "YOU ARE TRAPPED INSIDE ME! DOOMED FOREVER!"

The spell does not even fire as she invokes it, and no mana flows. She feels cut off, except for the small sliver of something attaching her to the pillar. However, Lord Chaos's power sweeps around her, true black darkness in this realm of nothingness. The pillar is snuffed out, her connection to it and its oddly moving song are just gone.

She was wrong, very wrong. It is she who cannot do anything here, not unless this dark energy allows it. She has no connection to the world. Not anymore. She can feel it, the pillar was some small pathway she had found to whatever was beyond, and she had lost the small chance to access it in the calm before the next storm. She has just doomed herself to stand against the darkness and protect the small Chaos.

It feels so strange to have the obscenely twisted face above the small crying face. Mini-Chaos's eyes have at least dried up, and he looks at Petal with quetioning. Then the laughter reaches fever pitch, and the two hands that grasp the mini-Chaos pull apart violently, snapping the small figure's neck.

"DOOMED FOREVER!" crows Lord Chaos's power, as the blackness now starts to encroach on Petal, and she can already feel the pull of this 'world', sucking her inside herself to drag her back down to that collection of four faux choice at the Junction of the Ways. Four tiny Petals waving around implements of the four paths, not knowing the truth...


Awww, what a sad place to end this, but you made the choice. So anyway, how this works is-


Howewver, the blackness can't seem to wrap itself fully around her. The area between mini-Chaos and Petal seems a sacred space that the darkness cannot intrude upon. And despite the blackness's arm motions, mini-Chaos still seems in perfect health. "You never liked me before," he says, sniffing. His eyes are not crying, and the surphur streaks have faded. Infact, his eyes don't seem burning red anymore, and his harsh face has softened. The robes are not black, he does not wear armour beneath.

Slowly, Petal realises she is not looking at Chaos at all, she is looking at a a reflection of herself. Either she has gotten smaller, or the other figure has got taller. She can actually see the reflection of the glass, and the palne around it. She puts her hand up to it, and her reflection does the same. It sniffs only once, and says "You said you'd protect me." It's not accusatory, it is a statement filled wiht wonder. And then the reflection beyond becomes perfect.

She stands for a moment, looking at herself. While she is in a maelstrom of blackness tearing at her wings and tugging on her form, the figure beyond the mirror seems to be standing somewhere ordinary. There is the hint of stonework in the background.

She looks up at the darkness, and seems the twisted face of Chaos in the air around her, now filling her whole vision, and obscene sky. She looks back at the mirror once more. Just like the optical illusion where looking at the frame of a cube, and twisting the back so it is the front, Petal tries something. Concentrating hard on her own form, she tries to darken the surrounding stonework in her mind. The flip is so easy...

For a moment she is looking at herself, and this time the reflection seems correct, the image is inverted subtly. Her reflection is hewr reflection. The reflection fades and becomes smaller, as if swallowed by the darkness. However, it is now swallowed at all, for she simply moves backwards.

There is the brief vision of Lord Chaos's twisted face filling the mirror. She can see small tendrils of blackness try to escape the mirror to pull her back again. However, she is too far away, and it has no power outside in the real world. She takes another small step backwards, and feels solid stone at her back.

Petal sighs in relief, and then her mind goes black as she faints fro mthe effort of it all...


And there we go. Petal has freed herself from the mirror! I'll give you a little bit of a breather to take it all in, and then we can move on getting you to the party!

As an explanation, the readjusted pillar was indeed Petal's message to herself. The four runes were actually forming to words - "Raven view." Petal had found a small path from knowing the feel of Chaos's mind from being trapped in it, to the Grey Lord's mind outside, and with his absense, now to Fulcrum's mind which shared that link. So yeah, if you had played the senario 'properly', then Petal could have freed her mind enough to reach out to Fulcrum, and steer the bird around to find rescue from outside. Shame really, that would have been fun having you post as Fulcrum non-verbally getting the party to follow him, while Petal would probably be calling them all idiots.

Anyway, the hidden prize was always goign to be that the mini-Chaos was actually the link to Petal's own body, also lost in limbo in the mirror. Lord Chaos's power disguised that link as the last thing Petal would ever want to interact with - Lord Chaos I had planned to try and make mini-Chaos at least sympathetic later (after seeing large Chaos) so that you guys might become allies. I hadn't expected you to like him fro mthe start, and Petal to form an alliance right away! Worked out rather well, don't you think

Obviously, since all the 'dream' is from Petal's own life and hopes and fears, you are free to fill in Petal's backstory how you want. Obviously this lttle introduction is a good way to have emotional beats, etc to the backstroy. Did Petal ever really meet Wuuf and have those conversations, or was Wuuf just a representation of Petal's own guilt or fears, or was Wuuf directly an agent of Chaos'sd power designed to discourage her.

Did Grolwgra get captured and die in the real world, or did he escape while Petal saved herself?

Did Petal, in the real backstory, actually destroy the binds of the pillar (probably normal runes to do with OH and IR and SAR) that let it fall downwards?

Did anyone actually get blasted in the pit room and fall down into the starting CSB room? Was it Petal herself, succeeding but then being surrounded by worms and dying?


Hopefully alot of interesting hooks you can assimilate into your own narrative. Hopefully you can assimilate the ending into what it means to Petal. Had she always rejected the pillar to save Grolwgra or someone else, and thus while never beating Chaos directly, saving those selflessly who would beat Chaos? Had she succeeded in destroying the pillar at the cost of a captive friend?

Did Grolwgra/Wuuf actually get eaten by the giant worm, and hence the weird twisted worm imagery on Chaos's level, or had she rescued them as she recalled this time, but that fear was manifesting in the strange worms' forms?


Anyway, I think we'll pick Petal's story back up on MOnday if that's ok. In the meantime, you have a few days to ask me any question you want about what's happened, and what's goign to happen. And of course, gimme comments on likes and dislikes abotu the narrative.

We can hammer out the backstory, and I think we need to revisit the sorcerer and I need to firm up the spells now. THose can be holiday weekend jobs though


Anyway, congratulations!

[raixel]

Ok, wow. That was a mindblowing game. Seriously. And I usually don't like to play/run solos much. Maybe cuz it was PbP it helped or something. I really really liked it. A lot.

Commentary (its stream of conciousness so bear with me):

Ravenview. Really really cool concept. I never woulda figured that out at all in the slightest. From the players perspective, if there had been a say stain on the wall in the shape of a black bird somewhere or something, i might have stumbled on it. Probably not though. As it was, there was no way I was gonna figure it out. I'm way too abstract i think. I wish my roomie had stumbled into my room in that last bit, cuz i know he'd look right at it and say 'why does it say ravenview?' But still, rockin concept.

Mini Chaos. Love him! I'm gonna miss him a lot. Hopefully he might show up again.

Chaos. REALLY well written. Exactly like I always imagined him to be.

Backstory. I think I'm gonna leave it mostly the same, with some tweaks. I built up so much of Petal revolving around her village being destroyed as what drives her, looking for her dad and brother ect. But what really happened between the time she and Growlgra set off on their journey and she gets trapped?? Heh, I guess we'll have to hash that out.

Petal's worldview. I consider Petal a selfless character. Shes CG, and she views her power as given to her to help those less fortunate. Things like Chaos are just a perversion of the right to choose ones own path as long as it doesnt harm anyone, and that is everything Petal stands against.
She would, I think, always choose to save the individual right in front of her who was being threatened even if by not doing so she could save others. But the number 1 thing that drives her is revenge, and finding out about her family. Very chaotic that way.(her mom died of natural (or accidental) causes when she was very young, but it was an accepted thing, not like her bro and dad vanishing)

Growlgra. I hope hes ok! We really brought him to life. He was just supposed to be a minor npc in the backstory only notable for his odd speech. But hes one of my favorite NPCs in the games ive done recently. I wouldnt mind seeing more of him

Wuuf. I knew something was up w/her!

Thats all i can think of right now. i'll post more later

[beowuuf]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. The main game will be much saner,but hopefully balanced by gettign to play with cool people.

Remember the sooty message? RA... then a black bird flying away? The idea of words from runes is zyx and Conflux. He had the Vigor spell (VI GOR), and vice versa I think alot of people couldn't work out what the view spell was (it sdaid VI EW, just with no spaces!)

Rushing out the door now, but we've got the end of the week to make sense of everything. Glad you enjoyed it all! I won't feel bad if I kill off Petal the first main post now

[raixel]

Bleh, now i remember the stain . I thought it meant that Wuuf was evil and led her party to their deaths. Yeah, I played a little conflux. It blew my mind and hurt mty head at the same time. Zyx sure is an amazing designer. Ok, so now I wanna talk sorcerors. How do you feel the class (and or Petal's pixie abilities) worked out? I like it. They are kinda druidic at least the pixie ones I made, but I think that fits with the focus on the balance. I feel that we really made them come to life as a seperate class than just something that has the abilities of the priest/wizard.

Spells I liked or found useful were:

Pull - Probably the most useful spell out there. It is very versitile. This one I dont think needs any changes. It has a nice balance.
Str aura, DESEW, Fireball, Wall seethru - All well balanced.
Invis - I liked that you allowed the narrative with the cloak to have to keep us from touching. Having to keep the players touching might deplete the usefulness severly. But it might also lead to some interesting RP.

If its ok, I want to switch out push for lightning bolt. I didnt really find push useful.

Also perhaps switch Petals fly speed to 40 ft (good) instead of 60ft (good). Just a thought

[beowuuf]

You are so untrusting about Wuuf. I left it open that perhaps Wuuf had died there, or that Petal had perhaps been the one to fall, or Growlgra, or Wuuf's companions, or Petal imagined Wuuf or her companions had fallen there, or perhaps those who solved CSB had fallen there and looked dead... up to you You won the right to have me hands off! Each death would have contracted your in between CSB story a little, aswell as a few external things you will see.

Oh, yes, that's a point, now you see why I was a little blase about death. It wasn't a hard and fast end - certainly there would have been losses though, each time Petal woke back up elsewhere. A 'good' ending may have been harder to win, certainly if Petal was dreaming about failing and companion death I would have started enforcing that as being a real element to the external story, etc.

So yes, winning without a single death (until the very end) was a good thing! Chose your own narrative, at the very least

Back to the pit, that area is the logical place that someone would fall and basically wake up starting CSB though. So I liked to leave it open but hint.


And yes, Conflux (and zyx) are scary in their brilliance. It's been create to see it evolve and see new ideas keep being added to Conflux, even now. Got back int oit recently, had mysave messed up, away to have it repaired and might get back to playing it again!


I have no real issue with Petal abilities - don't know why you keep trying to nerf the fly ability, I don't have a problem with it. Thanks for the offer though After all, you can still only move aroudn the battlefield as far as AoOs let you, and when you are with the group (just like the pit room) the ability to move ahead very fast just means those you leave behind can get clobbered... or you get clobbered without support, I guess Not done that to Ameena yet, but it was always possible with her swifter movement rate!


The sorcerer itself - still hard to get away from thinking it's just better than the mage class. For dropping a couple of useful spells, and some useless spells, you get back more than you lost in cool or ok priest spells. Better health too (this is a little exacerbated by comparing low health Falkor to high health Petal). I think the loss of the single mage feat isn't much of an issue, especially not with the 0-level upgrades (which were designed to power up under powered spells, really).

Not sure what to do, the original severe reduction was severe, a lower reduction makes the sorcerer no different to a cleric /mage dual class (and the sorcerer deserves better than that). I think the cleric still seems an ok alternative because of the armour, turning, and , but the mage looks a little anaemic. I don't want to boost the mage feats, etc And perhaps you just use the spells you have well enough that it doens't look like a reduction. SInce Falkor still has limited access to the higher mage spells, it's hard to tell still. Certainly though, on your own Petal didn't seem to break much sweat (differen rules, different stats and other abilities, but still...) while Falkor looks one bad roll away from death each time (good thing he lucked his dex check on the wand drop recently)!

We'll see. I think keep it as is, except for removing the 0-level tuning ability. See what happens when you and Falkor (and Westian) fight side by side. Hopefully everything balances well and you guys all fill a niche. If it looks a little off, then nothing wrong with discussing it then instead. Won't touch the knowledge checks using charisma for for 0-level effects. Irritaingly, I had a good idea for a cool 1st level power for being a native sorcerer and I've forgotten it. I think it had to do with the perception side. The real world will be a little duller for Petal in this regard (objects speak, but not so explicitly, not right away, not from so far away, and certainly not so on the nose about what they do). I think narratively, you need to be very in tune with your surroundings, or undistracted, to feel out an area. Nothing wrong with keepign the whispers and mana combinations as the explaination for Petal's normal perception rolls though. I will keep that side alive. Just things will definitely whisper quietly, instead of shout out loud Certainly, I want to give the sorcer a nice native ability that keeps in line with the feel.


As for how the spells work, they work ok I think. Invisibility requires you to touch initially, but I don't see the harm - for such a short lived spell - to let you split up a little. At worse, I might impoase a range limit if it becomes too powerful. Npte I'm not just nerfing it for you players, but narratively there's no reason for your opponents not to use these spells too. So I want to make sure your enemeies use them without me killing you lot That's why petrify's been so hard. Haven't played Dm Nexus, so not sure how nasty the spell is supposed to be. But it sounds liek a quick and dirty turn to stone spell. Greta for your guys against foes, maybe a little bad for me if I want a Big BAd to be able to get in a word edgewise, but already if I had the spell too powerful I could have killed Haynuus dead with no ressurection possible!

Oh, and obviously, as a sorcerer Petal's magic can manifest a little bit different to others. Again, I think in the real world the narrative might need toned down a touch. However, instead of obvious cloaks, I think the rest of the party can think they see cloaks being put over their heads for the invisibility effect, while in her mind's eye Petal sees that as clear as day. It can be up to you if they really exist (in which case maybe those magically inclined like Falkor can see them and wonder at them) or if they are Petal's own interpretation of the power she can see.


I have no probelm with you switching out Push for lightning bolt, hadn't realised you hadn't done it!

Looking to your character sheet, note that at the end you kept Wuuf's flask. And you still have Grolwgra's pig-sticker (up to you if it really is Grolwgra's). You can keep the scroll, but it won't be what it was in the mirror. And add a lump of charcoal. I think, too, the keys can stay.

That was the idea - anything Petal got would be ret-conned into being in her mind because she actually had them. ANd death and losing the items meant either they weren't real, or she lost the connection to them, so they wouldn't be pulled free. I will leave it up to you if Petal did used to have a vorpal lade, and has now lost it as her mind wasn't able to pull it free!


Right, that's enough waffle for now.

tl:dr: sorcerer losed the 0-level tuning, gains some undisclosed 1st level ability, but otherwise stays the same. Conflux/zyx rocks. Spells seem ok. Petal can have lightning bolt. Petal gets some more inventory items. Flying stays as is. The narraitve sorcerer elements will stay, but will be a little more muted and 'whispering' than in this game. Still a little concerns with the spell balance of mage and sorcerer, but need to see them in action, probably ok. Certainly want to keep the feel of the sorcerer as you've played it, it definitely doesn't feel like a priest.mage dual class right now.

[beowuuf]

Awww, you've dropped out for a few days!

Want to get Petal back into the real world action soon, like the middle of this week.