DM themed play-by-post D&D game : STORY THREAD

[Ameena]

Ameena listens to Westian as he explains something about the beliefs of other species regarding their dead. She is a little confused at his calling the bandage-wrapped thing a "mummy", since she is certain that she's heard human children use such a word to describe their...what do they call them...female parent. The name doesn't exactly sound threatening. Then again, neither would "human" if she know nothing about them.
She looks up at Westian and twitches her whiskers, shrugging slightly.
"I think I'll just have to get used to the fact that other races bury dead bodies in stone." she says. "A lot of things other species do seem strange to me, and to any other murafu. But I suppose some of what we do would seem strange too. Like the way we sleep. I nearly got thrown out of a window the first time I tried that with a human. So other species wrap cloth around their dead and lock them inside stone rooms, and then other people find the body and cast magic on it to make it walk around and hurt people. It seems strange to me, but it happens, so I'll just accept it."

[oh_brother]

Haynuus's display of agility with the falchion caught his eye, and he realised that he had missed his earlier question in the rush to examine the altar. “They look too small for Ameena and Falkor, maybe we can take one each. Any preference? I must say that the tiara does suit you.”

Turning back to Ameena he continued “When you put it like that it would probably seem strange to anyone. Many human societies have elaborate tombs and monuments, whereas most elven ones simply bury their dead outdoors to complete the cycle of nature. I suppose by heritage I am somewhere between those two groupings, but culturally I am closer to the elven world-view. In particular the view of the elven High Lord Corellon Larethian. There are so many different races, and even so many differences between individual societies of a particular race, that anyone who travels will be constantly surprised. Not that I have travelled very far myself, but I have read of many other cultures and customs. A poor substitute for travel, but the best one available. Although Murafu were a race I read very little about, I can barely remember it. Are you native to this region? Do your people have cities? If so they must be very distant or very well hidden, since I have not heard of any.”

[beowuuf]

The scroll that Westian had picked up seemed to be, from a brief preoccupied glance, some form of letter or more likely journal page. It had a date set into it at the top, and the . The date caused Westian some concern, he felt a moment's confusion tryign to work out how long ago that might be. Two weeks? Why did he think a month ago, that sounded wrong.

The scroll declared the date of Tura 6, Karna's eve. Karna was a female High Lord whose purview was time. Rites of passage and even fertility had been attributed to her by various nations and races, but always the passage of the seasons, years and even lifetimes seemed to be the ultimate genesis of such interpretations. Tura 6 was almost a week into the first spring month. All gave Karna her day, the final day of that first week as a gift to show thanks for that which had been removed from the land, and in expectation of that which was to come.

It was a time when the world refreshed itself after hiding over spring. Children could become adults in traditional rites of passage or more mundane apprenticeships. Blushing brides could marry their betrothed. Sadly, wars paused over the winter frosts usually had in their ceasefire agreements a resolution to begin talks on the first day of spring. Usually, such agreements were made already thinking to have called the first attack the day after Karna's day.

It was odd that such a scroll had been left here, it did not seem to be left in tribute. Perhaps the writer had been unexpectedly called away, or perhaps the writer had simply felt so at home as to leave it lying until he continued it another time.


Of the alcove, Westian knew that many altars in various cultures had been dedicated to the essence of life - VI - but few were actually created that harnessed it. Indeed, such altars could be used to petition the world to enact great feats. Re-uniting the soul back into a body temporarily traumatised, a body that would be restored so the two aspects could again live in peace together. Diseases and curses could also be stricken from a person with the correct invocations.

The research Westian had done - whether incidental or on purpose was his own council - had revealed that such artifacts usually required many clerics and priests working in unison to invoke the magics of them. Certainly, only those thought worthy in the combined minds of all undertaking the task could usually find solace or new life. That the stories of the war on Chaos told of the altars in Mount Anaias simply working for those who had used them seemed a fairy tale. However, the altars had been devices of Lord Chaos, and who questions the powers of a High Lord. Certainly, the altar might well just 'work' for the group now, although Westian's readings had seemed to imply that without a High Lord's implicit consent or without the altar being directly given to a mortal, such altars were too powerful to be used by mortals reliably.

Worse, Westian discovered that of course Vi was but one element, and hence did not contain the full building blocks of life that the combined elements afforded. A body set to be restored could only restore itself using - well, itself. Certainly, the person would not be in the full fitness they would have enjoyed before death. Still, was a weak heart or reduced musculature not a small price to pay for such a gift as renewed life?

Mechanically, you would equate this to a constitution reduction.


As Westian had mused, and the group had spoke, Falkor had finished lighting the second torch from his slowly dying first, and placed the second torch into the sconce. He checked for any signs of trouble, but the flaming torch in his face or threatening to fall back down made it difficult as the sconce was reasonably highly set.

He managed to set the torches, and listened and looked for a moving wall, falling floor, or opening of a door.

Instead what happened was the previously dying torch's light seemed to be pulled towards the brighter torch, the weaker torch flaring to match the newer. The twin pools of light met, stretching as they did out to the Vi altar.

Where one could assume symmetry would have the two intensities of the torchlight to meet, even though the light of the tewo couldn't really stretch to brighten the area around the altar, there was a twinkle. The twinkle grew and grew, and it seemed as if something was being ignited. However, the light was too pure to be merely answering torchlight. With a silent explosion a new pool of white light bathed the Vi altar and those standing close. In the very centre of the altar, twinkling in its own radiant glow, was a gold key. Both Westian and Falkor recognised the symbol on the shank - it was the symbol of RA.


And there we go, another fiendish puzzle reduced to nothing by evil players. I guess Ameena can try out her lock picking skills, Haynuus his strength, or whatever wacky door passing strategies would have come up another day.

Ok, so update done. People can react as they wish, however no one can 'leave' the room in their post. They can certainly post their intention to leave, and get close to the door if they desire

Oh, and can everyone except Ameena roll me a perception check, please?

right, so react tomorrow and wonder on the scroll (text below). After that little hint, the story blasts forwards with a bit more plot in tomorrow's evening update!

[beowuuf]

6 Tula, Karna's eve

I fear my thoughts turn to the past
to escape my future. Understandable
given Veyla's condition. She wishes to
visit relatives while she is able. She
understands I need to stay here as
the Grey Lord asked, but I wish she
had not. I fear my thoughts at this time.
This chapel is peaceful, but such peace
lets my thoughts wander...
My heart wishes to put an old pain
aside to deal fully with a bright new
future.

[Ameena]

While Falkor is fiddling around with the torches, Ameena answers Westian's questions.
"Murafu are in many places." she says. "We live wherever we can. we don't have cities...those are the big places, aren't they? With many buildings and people. We live in smaller groups. I have heard them called "tribes" by some people. I suppose thirty or so might be fairly large, as tribe size goes. But the numbers are always changing - those of us who choose to travel will move around, staying in one place for a while and then moving on when they feel like it. We live among trees, hills, wamr places, cold places...wherever we can find food and places to hide. We don't mind. We're usually away from other species, like yours. They tend to be...well, I mean, I know not all are like that, but...they seem often to be aggressive. Often they don't like us. We know of past occasions when groups of humans, or others, have found murafu and tried to kill them or chase them away. But we just live our lives. If others find us, we don't mind. If they try to hurt us, we leave and find somewhere else to live. I lived far from any places with such species...I heard about them as I was growing, and found them once I started travelling."
She is then distracted by the growing light from the torches, and looks around to see the altar glowing white. When the glow fades, there is a shining golden object in its place which Ameena recognises as what she knows to be called a "kee", which people use to lock things away. Or unlock them.


OOC - Out of curiosity, why not me for the Perception check? Ha, I rolled a shit number anwyay (9 plus whatever bonuses...) so I suppose that's alright then .

[ian_scho]

Haynuus slips off his ring and gently takes Westian's hand, looks into his eyes and says:

"With this 'ere ring I thee wed..."

With that show, he turned back to Ameena. "The Murrr..." Damn, he'd heard Westian say the race's name and had forgotten it again "...furahh arrree... are turning to be an interesting people. Perhaps when we get out, you could show me where you live, how you live, your people sound almost nomadic. You build no houses, dens or warrens?"

OOC - Just push Haynuus back out of the door when you're ready... I'm sure danger awaits.

[Ameena]

Ameena's whiskers give a twitch of amusement.
"Murafu." she says. "We are the Murafu. And, well, sometimes we build places to live. It depends what's there. If it's very cold, we might have to dig holes, if the earth is soft enough. We don't really build the structures like your other races do. Never like that. Not so big. We try not to destroy too much of what's already there in order to fit ourselves in. If we did that, we'd have nothing to live on. There are murafu all over the place, wherever we find somewhere comfortable, really. But your races don't tend to notice us so much, because they never seem to look. But we don't mind. If someone wants to talk to us, we'll talk. We like that sort of thing. Other races seem to like...well, they seem to like hurting each other. We never understand that. If you hurt each other, who will help you when you need it?"

[ian_scho]

Suddenly Haynuus had doubts. Unneasy thoughts about the VI alter and it's side effects. Alright, it could give life where before you had none. That was great and whoopie-doo. But what if...

You were decapitated. His colleagues would have to be mighty sure to place his bits into the recess at exactly the same time or he could find that his screaming head would wake up and not be attached to his twitching body. Worrying, worrying.

A hand or foot could easily get misplace in the melee, and do these guys know the difference between a half-orc arm and that of a goblin? The carnage of war always scattered spare coins and limbs and you never knew whose was whose. People often fought over the spoils of war, it'd be a shame to wake up to a leg 5 centimetres shorter than the other, with an arthritic foot. Haynuus cast a glance at the halfling. They always thought that they held this aura of invincibility around them and he'd hate to wake up with two short furry arms. He was confident that they wouldn't get the Murlafhoo mixed up with him unless they had an orc's sence of humour. Then there was the half-e.... Ugh he felt ill.

And then there was the fly that was buzzing around the place. What if it flew into the device when they popped his warm half-orc carcass onto the altar? Would he become a half-orc-half-human-half-fly thing? He'd like to know.

[oh_brother]

"Yes, I do!" said Westian as he took the ring from Haynuus. It was a bit big for his fingers, but it fitted nicely on his thumb. Happy with his new ornamentation he answered Ameena’s question. “If only everyone felt the same way. Unfortunately some people have no qualms about hurting others, and that means that sometimes good people have to take up arms, regardless of how it makes them feel. If you cannot prevent violence with dialogue, then as a last resort it may be necessary to fight back. Not just to defend ourselves, but more importantly to save from harm those innocents who are unable to protect themselves. So at times where force is needed to protect life, then I believe it should be done by those who are able. I will agree though that there are times people who claim to be good exercise force where it could be avoided, or for motives other than those I just mentioned. If your race avoids that then I am sure that although I have no real knowledge of your people, the good High Lords will hold you all in high esteem.”

Seeing the key appear he peered forward “At the risk of stating the obvious that key has the RA symbol, the same as on the door outside. Well done Falkor, it would seem that we can proceed if we so wish. As for this” – he indicated towards the scroll – “it appears to be the inner thoughts of someone who served the Grey Lord. I meet his apprentice once – Theron was his name I think – it might be his. It seems he was deeply upset by the illness of someone named “Veyla”... but it does not have any information obviously relevant for us. Would anyone like to read it?”

[ian_scho]

Haynuus's eyebrows raised in horror at Westian's question. If it was possable for the half-orc to shrink out of view he would do it.

Reading... Not his strong point.

[money]

Falkor turned to Westian, "I'll read it in a moment, but could you grab the key?" with this falkor turned back to the torch and wrestled it from the sconce, turned towards the door and started his move towards the exit/entrance...

OOC: Perception check (1d20=18)

[Ameena]

Ameena listens to the conversation, noting the names Westian mentions.
"Oh, so the Grey Lord did exist, then..." she comments. "I've heard things mentioned...someone called the Grey Lord did something, some kind of experiment, only it went wrong and created someone called Lord Chaos, who wanted to destroy the world, I think. Or maybe just turn it...chaotic, so nothing made sense. But he failed, because some people went inside a mountain and stopped him. Maybe they killed him. I'm not sure. That's about as much as seems to always come up when we hear this story. We hear about what happens in the world, but the information is rarely learned by a murafu who is there to see it - we normally travel about and learn things from other species, then pass on the news to other murafu."
She tilts her head to one side, considering, then shrugs. What happened in the past may or may not be relevant to their current situation. There are a lot of strange names floating about, and besides, there is information nearby that she doesn't yet possess.
"What does the message say?" she asks Westian. "Can you speak it to us?"


OOC - Obviously you don't have to retype the whole scroll for us OB - you can just say that Westian reads the scroll out loud or something .

[beowuuf]

As everyone discussed religion, Falkor had got on with the important business of checking the sconces. With the key now revealed, Falkor once again focused on what was important.

After all their troubles, it seemed a minor action to take the torch, ensure the key was secured, and go back to the door to open the way onwards...

Meanwhile, in the back of Ameena's mind the odd susurration had been slowly building. The interesting talk with her companions had been distracting. However, now the odd sing song voice became the distraction again.

"-not his.
He carries the ill."

A female voice intoned the words, though there were no females present save Ameena herself.

"I showed him the way.
I showed him my skill.
The fault was not his.
He carries the ill."

"I showed him the way.
I showed him my skill.
The fault was not his.
He carries the ill."

Haynuus's face perhaps indicated to the rest that he too heard what was disturbing Ameena. Westian, still in full flow, missed the words.

Falkor paused for a moment too. He too could hear the words clearly too now.

Poor paranoid Ameena. That's why you didn't have to roll perception earlier, you were already starting to hear this words earlier Since you re-rolled, I'll let the 9 represent you being distracted by cool discussion with your peeps, and so you still have the 25 from earlier .

"I showed him the way.
I showed him my skill.
The fault was not his.
He carries the -"

There was a pause.

"You can hear me?"

Another pause.

"Do not leave. Stop."

Falkor was close to the door. Even before he could decide to stop or carry on, the matter was taken out of his hands. The doors slammed shut violently. In his hands, the torch was blasted with a chilling wind, and the flame flickered and died.

For a moment the afterimages of the light were in the eyes of the three not gifted with darksight as Haynuus was.

However, they were left in darkness but a moment when a glow began infront of the door.

"Beeeeewaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare!" implored a female voice that even Westian could hear this time. He could hear it because it screamed, an ear piercing shriek that chilled all to their souls.


Ok oh_brother, except for the above 'beware' you won't hear the ghost's words for the moment. However, it will exempt you from the will save I am asking everyone else to make. Roll a d20 peoples! If you fail it, you will take 1hp non-lethal 'damage' from some odd, deep drain in your soul!


The glow at the door intensified, and the shape became the figure of a woman. Westian could not quite make out the features, though the rest could. She seemed like a young women, perhaps even of this region. She wore a plain gown on white that glowed. Her face was pale, and her hair black, streaming. She floated as if buffeted on a wind.

She looked with human yet dark-pupiled eyes at each of the group in turn. The three who could now hear her felt a chill. Perhaps Westian felt a chill too, given his profession.

"Born to one mother, raised by one father
Shared one simple life.
Water parts us, the grey waste parts us
United in our strife.

His body a sham, his promises lies
Spirit in name, his will cannot die
He tugs at our strands, he cradles our fate
Two who are one, we must separate."

She said the words as if distracted, and after glancing behind her back to the close door one last time, she looked to the group. "Shhhhh," she said, putting her fingers to her lips, "He comes."


And there we have it people. Who you gunna call? Or will you just fireball the crap out of the spook instead?

Westian, if you want to focus on the spirit, and hear what she says, you will need to make a will save. You'll get a +1 bonus on it ontop of your normal bonus for your clerical level. You won't take damage for failing the will save, this is an active attempt to perceive reality if you like


Otherwise, you guys have some weirdness to deal with here. Geez, will no one let you get through that RA keyed door?

Update tomorrow!

[Ameena]

Whether or not Westian will read the scroll out, Ameena doesn't yet find out. The strange voice, which up till now she's remained vaguely aware of, suddenly grows much louder, speaking a strange rhyme. Speaking...to them? And about what? Someone who had done something wrong?
"Who are you?" she asks the figure, nervousness whispering at her but her matural curiosity speaking much, much louder.


OOC - Woot, haha, natural 20 on the Will-save roll. I'm guessing I passed .

[money]

Falkor stood in awe at the ghostly image, he had been all too happy to attack or challenge monsters in the flesh (or bandages) but this was different and he did no feel comfortably attacking or challenging something so magical... Almost dropping the torch he took several steps back, looked at Ammena and the spirit and waited for a response.. whatever that would be!

OOC: Will save roll (1d20=16) Hope that's good enough!

[ian_scho]

Whhooooooo, a ghost. Haynuus's first ever apparition. He'd lucked out when the inhuman screaming started as he had his finger in his ear trying to work out what he was looking at, suffering only minor inconvenience in his other wax-filled ear. He had heard of stories of the ethereal and while not immediately disregarding these accounts, he'd put them down to being unlikely... He was utterly wrong.

What he did have clear however that the falchion he was wielding was utterly useless, along with anything else he possessed. It was up to the cleric to sort out this unholy mess (ho ho!). He did have a gut feeling that despite the pain inflicted by the ghost to the party, it's source came from it's own suffering and not meant to harm others. The half-orc had sufficient presence of mind to work out that what material thing was one the other side of the door will be of greater danger to them all.

[oh_brother]

As Westian was talking he realised that people had stopped paying him attention, a most inconsiderate act. Turning around to see what could be more interesting than him he saw nothing but an empty room. But judging from the looks on his comrades faces he could tell something was wrong - Haynuus looked even more shocked than when he had been offered the scroll to read. Just as he was about to ask what had happened he jumped in surprise at a high-pitched scream. The doors slammed, the lights went out and a voice screamed "Beeeeewaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare!" - well he had guessed that much already.

As the figure began to take form Westian gazed at it transfixed. It seemed to be speaking, but it was inaudible. Looking ever more closely to try to figure out what he was dealing with he said ,in as strong a voice as he could muster, "What is it that you want, spirit?".

[ian_scho]

"What? You can't hear this thing?" Haynuus hissed to Westian. "You clerics have a white-washed soul not to be terrified from this one." Indeed, the half-elf cleric seemed quite at ease while the rest of the champions were clutching their heads in pain. He treated the entity with almost disdain.

"She said a rhyme (tell you later) and then said HE is coming! Other side of the door..." he pointed.

[beowuuf]

The spirit drifted. Her head slowly turned at Ameena's question.

"I showed him the way.
I showed him my skill.
The fault was not his.
He carries the ill."

Both Ameena and Falkor felt it right away. The spirit was not actually speaking, they could just...feel...the shape of the rhyme in their head. Like jumbled thoughts that were given an outlet. It was not like the spirit was projecting it there, though. it was almost as if they had asked the question to themselves and then had retrieved the answer from the spirit - as if she were an open book. The shiver they felt showed that this might have been damgerous, but somehow by sensing her early their minds had managed to adapt to this odd communication, protecting itself well.

That last bit was just flavour text by the way, you guys should be in danger from questioning the spirit if you hadn't aced your will saves, the high perception before just let you understand her well or poorly. I'm hoping Haynuus will blow his will save so I can torture someone at least

Anyway, Falkor and Ameena, you can 'interrogate the spirit without danger to yourself. Ameena, because of your good perception earlier you may well gain more empathetic knowledge if you bias your interrogation that way. Falkor, given your profession you should get clearer interrogation for actual facts.

Haynuus, still need the will save to know how your interraction with the spirit will affect you, but your previous good perception roll at least means you understand perfectly anything the other two draw out of her. If your will save is as good as a DC20, then you can interrogate her safely too. Otherwise.... be careful what you wish for


Westian had to concentrate to percieve the spirit''s features or talking at all. Perhaps it was his training - ironically the person best suited by profession and temperment to talk ot the spirit was also the person who had instinctively realised the danger of such communication, and his mind had snapped shut.

However, under his control his mind was allowing him to at least acknowledge the spirit's form, and feel the edges of the answers the others felt clearly. Perhaps it was Haynuus's words, Westian could understand the nursery rhymne delivery. That instantly triggered memories in his mind of training on spirits.

Some spirits remained tied to the material plane because of their own will. Trapped by unfinished business or an unwillingness to move on, they were tortured by their own desires. Those could very well communicate wil the living, their own will keeping their minds and personalities sharp and clear.

However, there were other spirits. Ones who would have happily moved on, except those on the material plane would not let them go. Those spirits became what Westian could percieve, ones who rarely communicated directly with the living, acting more as repositories for their own previous life instead.

Sometimes it was necromancers who pulled these spirits back, pulling ghosts as servants and guardians. Those spirits would lose what had made them what they once were, existing as nothing but rage and frustration unless one dug deep.

The fact that this spirit could apparently communicate who it used to be, even in a round about way, showed it was the second type. Whoever kept it tied to this plane had cared about whom it used to be.

Some spirits manifest by re-enacting their own death or a facet of their own life, trapped by the memories of those who lost them. Others simply wondered lost, no desires drawing them to look upon the plane, simply lost in their own existence and revealing themselves occasionally by accident on their drifting travels.

The nursery rhyme was odd. Usually the tragic ghosts of children not let go exhibited that aspect. An odd interface with the grown up world and the world of fantasy they found themselves in, their drifting thoughts were usually communicated so in the minds of those who probed the child's thoughts.

It was certainly unusual that the young woman who stood here expressed herself so. Perhaps she had existed for so long her mind had devolved. Perhaps her mind had always been less developed.

"What is it you want, spirit?" asked Westian, bending his will to her. And it was as he thought - there was no answering understanding nor words back to him, and he was sure he would have caught them if she had made them.

""She said a rhyme (tell you later) and then said HE is coming! Other side of the door..." explained Haynuus, pointing.

The spirit reacted to this, and all could feel that whatever disinterest had temporarily affected the spirit was gone.

"He comes!" she said again, and Westian could make out those words. And everyone else felt the difference, the words were being addressed to them. There was fear attached to those words. "He sleeps and He comes!" she said again.


Dun dun dun!

Ok, so there you go. Westian can ask quetsions, certainly - hopefully he can intelligently ask the better questions that would illicit passive information. Meanwhile, it will be the rest of you who will understand it best if it is not direct speech.

Anyway, she sounds like she'sscared of something, so you might want to load up some quetsions here or in the OOC thread fast, before HE - whoever he is - comes

I assume update tomorrow, given Ameena's schedule and so forth. Good luck!

[oh_brother]

Stepping forward with his hands open and upturned as a sign of peace Westian tried to empathise with the spirit. "What is it that you fear? Share your fears with us, we will help. Show us what he has done." Never having encountered such a creature before he was not sure how to proceed, but hoped that he could get a feel for what had happened. Or better yet observe a re-enactment of the poor ghosts untimely demise. It was the best way he could think of to get information about whoever "He" was.

[ian_scho]

Haynuus thought it better to leave this one to the cleric and the mage.

Go go guys!

[money]

Falkor was still in awe of the spirit - he had heard tales of such things but assumed they were just fictional charactors to make the stories more interesting, to actually see one caused a chill to travel down his spine... Just then he heard Westian speak... Now he had began to like his comrades, but the idea of the spirit enacting anything onto us, as had been done to the spirit was not something Falkor would have wished for... with this he turned to the spirit and whispered "He means for you to TELL US...." he smiled politely at Westian as to not cause any friction, then returned his focus to the spirit "Tell us what he has done".

[Ameena]

Ameena nods as the others speak to the woman-shape, and wonders herself what kind of creature this is. Is it a creature? But then, what else would it be? And does it even matter?
"Who is he?" she asks. "Is he the same he that's coming now?"

[beowuuf]

There is an oppressive moment where everyone felt a great pressure in their chests, as if a fist was reaching inside. Luckily, Falkor's quick correction to 'tell us' seemed to correct everyone's minds and whatever horrific mages were about to be implanted were quickly diverted. The spirit said nothing directly, but in their heads they could hear her thoughts. Still, Ameena felt it an uncomfortable pressure as if her heart were being squeezed for a moment, and Haynuus thought it tickled.

Thanks to Ameena's words, they felt the words change almost immediately, as if the rhymn tumbling from her thoughts were trying to explain both questions.

"Born of two mothers, raised by two father
Each chose a different life.
One for chaos, one for order,
United in their strife.

One saw through lies, regained his shell
One held to power, his body fell
One tugs on strands, one fights his fate
One who are two, they must separate."

Westian does not feel the pressure his words invoked, nor hear more than echoes of the rhyme. Instead his attention has been distracted, as he realises that while the others read her thoughts, the spirit is infact trying to say something. Worse yet, Westian feels something else... fighting against the goodness of this room, Westian can feel an external pressure pushing against that feeling. It feels like the source of evil earlier that had left him shaking.

So there we go, more confusing nonesense! Good instinct Falkor, while certainly getting shown anything by the ghost would not be damaging with all your good rolls, it would certainly not be pleasant and might not be as helpful as words. Then again, words are confusing and tricksy. Nicely spotted Ameena, the ghost's confusion of speech certainly seemed to have hidden two separate 'he's being talked about.

OB, a perception check if you wish to figure out what the ghost is directly saying, or you can instead ignore it and ask another question.

Ian, since Haynuus's wisdom gives him more empathy than expected, and his temperament is more robust, you could probably ask a more 'show me' based question and not have your character traumatised

Anyway, if Westian's feelings didn't hint enough, you probably have one more set of questions before something nasty comes... just in time for the weekend, too!

[Ameena]

Ameena flinches a little at the strange constricting feeling she feels around her heart, and hopes it's only a kind of side-effect of the woman-shape as she talks to them. She puts a few things together in her head, based on things she's heard during her past travels, and asks another question.
"Are you talking about...about people I've heard about...Lord Chaos? And the other one...the Grey Lord? Didn't he do something...he created Lord Chaos by accident from something else and then disappeared? Does one of them live in this place?"
She pauses, then quickly adds another question.
"And are you saying you had something to do with it?"
She isn't accusatory in her tone, merely curious, wanting to find out as much as she can from this person who, at least for now, doesn't seem particularly hostile.

[ian_scho]

Haynuus stuck BOTH fingers in his ears and did the math on the rhyme.

Two mothers and two fathers.... Well that's at least two or more children by his reckoning. Ameena was right though, this Grey Lord chap had a lot to answer.
Choosing a different life could mean going down the path's of good or evil, but also it could mean becoming a mage and a peasant, or even drinking water and mead.
The chaos and order thing was clear, although some goblin dude once told him that there was order through chaos.
Coming together in troubled times... Hmmm, sounds like WAR.

Yes it was all getting clearer now, the fogs of doubt and ignorance were clearing and... Ah bugger he'd forgotten the second half of the rhyme.

He turned to Ameena, "Pssst. Stick your ear on the door and tell me if you hear anything will you?"

In the meanwhile Haynuus thought that with a ghost in the room and a horrible beastie outside... Climbing into the VI alcove and hiding was a pretty neat idea.

[money]

This was complex, Falkors understanding of the message had seemed clear, well - rightly or wrongly Falkor had assumed this was indeed about the grey lord and lord Chaos - what confused him was "One who are two, they must separate." How can anything be "one who are two" at the same time? how can they seperate? Of course he understood that everyone has different personalities and that choices we all make are driven through the strength and judgement of the individual to choose the wisest route.. but for someone to split into two was not something he could accept. Worse still, if everything good went to one and everything bad to the other this would indeed cause some problems...

Just as this hit him he of course realised he was thinking the impossible while looking at the impossible... still, this ghost was real, no argument there...

Falkor left the talking to the others, he wasn't keen on asking too many questions and confusing the spirit.

[oh_brother]

The spirit was trying to speak, but try as he might Westian could not make out the words. The form of the creature was still too vague for him to be able to pick out that sort of information.

And a more pressing thought was entering his head anyway as he sensed the return of the evil presence. “Whatever we avoided upstairs by the doors…I think it has found us again. It is getting closer!” Realising that he could not understand the spirit, but that apparently the others could, he decided the best course of action was to ask a question and hope someone else heard the answer. “Spirit, how can we avoid this thing you fear? Is there any escape? Or is there a way to fight it?”

Even though he suspected that it would be futile he held his shield up and readied his club to prepare for whatever might enter.

[beowuuf]

The questions from Ameena seem to generate another sing-sing rhyme that all but Westian heard clearly, although Westian could again feel the edges of it through concentrating.

"One for order, one for chaos
One still serves, one now succeeds
In the middle, balance must be broken
Good's constraint lets evil lead."

Ameena almost felt that the 'in the middle' sounded wrong, and that it should be 'one in the middle.' Was it too big a leap to assume that the 'one' was the spirit herself? That seemed correct. Somehow, it felt as if this spirit felt itself the cause of some harm.

Falkor and Haynuus's individual musing kept them silent, although both could feel they were dancing on the edge of some truth in the direction of their thoughts. It was as if the spirit's knowledge was on the edge of their thoughts, if only they could access it.

Falkor felt irked by the impossible nature of 'two who are one'. Surely that was important, such an impossible thing could not be natural nor could anything good come from it. Every instinct of magic told him so.

Westian could swear the spirit was saying 'find' to him, but her face was indistinct, and worse yet each time she said 'find' the rest of the sentence seemed different. Was his perception of her so poor?

He directed a clear question instead. And once again, the spirit stopped passively responding in her sing-song speech, and looked directly at the cleric and then the party.

"Shh!" she said, bringing her finger to her lips. "We cannot win while he sleeps, the game does not work that way. He comes, He does not play well. I must go and hide now, stay here and count! You'll be safe if you count!

Westian could swear he heard a different inflection between the two pronouns, which seemed to indicate two separate 'he's were being mentioned. And while Westian would not swear to it, but the spirit seemed to be of a young woman, surely not many years younger than himself. And yet the childish speech even he could hear sounded strange.

And also, Westian realised the truth the spirit was perhaps trying to communicate. Although the evil felt closer, and pressed on the calm this room generated in Westian, the evil did not seem to penetrate the calm. Unlike their previous encounter with this evil, Westian did not feel shaken to his core.

"I must hide! Beware! Hide your eyes and count! she said desperately, and turned in a spin.

The room became dark as the spirit fled through the door, her glow and form disappearing even before she slipped through the material of the door.

The party were left in darkness and silence.

All except Haynuus, who could see the images of his companions huddled here in the dark.

And Westian, who could not see but could still feel the pressure of evil... closer.... closer... closer...

"Beware!"

It was a final ghostly comment, faint yet ringing in each one of the champion's heads.


And there we go. Your ghostly companion has fled. So, do you stay here in darkness? Do you stay but do things like Haynuus's suggested listening at the door, or perhaps strike a torch again?

Or will anyone be brave/foolish enough to go out?


This will either be a quick update if you all want to pause (I'll do a second update in that case even if you only say in the OOC post) or ... well, that would be telling.

Let me know, next firm update pitched for Tuesday!

[Ameena]

With the speed she uses when being chased by something unpleasant (that is, over the course of maybe one and a half seconds or so, if that), Ameena thinks over what the floating woman-shape has said. She seems to fear something...someone who is coming. Somehow, Ameena thinks that maybe the woman-shape can be trusted. It's difficult to tell, since the figure had no scent to pick up on. Maybe she wasn't real. maybe she was some kind of illusion being projected from somewhere else - that's something Ameena's seen used before. It's one of the types of magic she knows some murafu find very useful, usually to distract predators. Or maybe this was something else, something she's never seen before. Well, she decides, it doesn't really matter.
Ameena considers the obvious fear the woman-shape has of...well, of whomever's coming now. Hide your eyes, the woman-shape said. Hide your eyes and count, and you'll be safe. That was what she said, wasn't it? Well then, since Ameena has decided that the woman-shape is probably telling the truth and can be trusted, she may as well trust her in this.
These thoughts having passed through Ameena's head at what to her feels a rather slow speed, but is in fact incredibly fast, within a mere few seconds of the woman-shape disappearing, she feels her way over to a wall, crouches beside it, closes her eyes and puts her forepaws over them, and quietly starts slowly muttering numbers to herself.
"One...two...three...four..."