Dungeon Master Forum

OOC - Lol...she didn't really start out that way. Not that I planned on having her happy to go round killing stuff, but her (and the Murafu in general) have been developing more and more (in my head, mainly) as the RPG has gone on, and this is how she's turned out. The Murafu are definitely something I like a lot, but unfortunately they are a bit hampered by their values on life whenever bad shit starts happening . She's only hard to play when combat like this happens - if the party had kept moving and not disturbed the dragon, they'd probably have been alright (until Wuffy came up with something else as his first attempt at a boss fight had failed ), and therefore Ameena sees them as the "aggressors" in this case, since the vine-dragon was just asleep till various people started poking around it and waking it up. She'd be horrified if she saw/found out about what Petal's been doing to its internal organs (especially the whole "drowning dry" thing), which may be one reason why she hasn't quite managed to notice it yet . Oh, that and the fact that she was sort of busy trying not to get squished .

I see the dice rolls went with you. Let's say the dice gods favoured you because Ameena wasn't rolling or something

Haynuus managed to dislodge himself from the vines, pulling himself up out of the pit. The Vines tried to come after him and Deephold, untangling more of their length from the pit walls and the dragon's corpse in the effort.

The vines then dances in strange, jerking motions, raising up together as if in celebration. And then, one by one, they all collapsed.

Only Petal, who could hear the otherwise silent screaming of the plantlife, knew what had happened. Finally the stake had been driven firmly in to the now blackening heart. It srhivelled to half its size, locking the stake inside it. The death scream of the plants took what seemed forever to fade, and after it's echo faded there was nothing but the bubbling of the wters behind her.

It seemed as if, finally, the twisted lands of Chaos would let them go.


I'll let you guys all catch a breath, react, and so on. You are out of combat, having managed to drown a dragon on dry land and now kill nature. What's the next trick?

Edit: And hey, if you guys had escaped, you'd have earned being unmolested. Probably. Maybe. Possibly. Perhaps. Sorta. Eh.

Haynuus was in great need of some TLC but insisted to himself that they must keep moving away from this place. "I'm... Hurt. In a bad way. But please don't use any of your magicks here Mister Deephold. We must move away from this accursed place to somewhere free from Chaos's grasp." He helped himself up, but with trouble. The dwarf himself looked as if he'd been in a battle, while Petal was most definately flusterd and appeared to be holding some kind of truffle on a spike. "No thanks" he waved his hand to her "I'm cutting down on fungus as it gives me gas." Next up he spied Ameena who looked almost as war wounded as he did. It was his circlet that suggested the appearance of the half-orc in such a bloodied state would be enough to scare normal people. "I'll have a wash after we get out of this place." and offered another pursing of lips and a wink to the dwarf... A VI potion would be very well received in the near future.

Petal flies over to the pit with the corpse of the dragon in it. She makes a circle motion with her hands in the direction of the corpse and bows her head while saying Inta'ta, nalinai charos. bari'ta Titania.

Spoiler

Basically, rest in peace. Literally 'of harmony reborn circle, kingdom of Titania.'

Then she turns to her companions and says 'Rest, we should." She looks at the beat-to-the-gates-of-Chaos Haynuus in concern.

"Haynuus, alright, you are?" she asks him. "A potion, I have. To drink it, you could."

Suddenly, it seems quiet. Quieter than it was with the plant-creature thrashing about, anyway. This penetrates Ameena's fearful state and, still ready to bolt at any moment, she very cautiously peers out from behind the rocks. From the looks of things, the creature is...dead? Ameena feels somewhat saddened - predators have as much right to be alive as any other creature, and it seems a shame that this one has been killed by the prey that unknowingly awoke it.
She remains where she is for now, though, not wanting to expose herself just yet. She looks over at her friends, some of whom seem more the worse for wear than others...

OOC - I'm not sure how far Ameena got but basically for now she is just a little head peeking round the corner of the rocks she hid behind...you know that way rats do when they know it's time to be put away and they'll leg it as soon as you get near them to pick them up .

"indeed could I drink It!" (only the orcs can happily capitalise the last letter in a sentence). "It'd stop me leaving an ungainly trail of blood everywhere we travel."

OOC - don't know how much HP Ameena has so he'll take it otherwise! Thanks!

"I think we should push on further away from the aura of chaos, however."

With Haynuus freed, Deephold sudden'y leap from foot to foot, as if worried over being tied to the ground. However, nothing nasty seemed to mesh with his foot. He noted Petal's movement over the dragon, and urged her to be careful, but the beast - and the flora around it - now seemed quite dead.

"Haynuus, here, balance on me. We'll see Larethian's grace heaped upon you before you know it." The dwarf seemed grave that Haynuus was so obviously traumatised by the vines around.

In the distance, unheeded for now, the butterfly reappeared, flaapping its wings and dancing in the air as if encouraging everyone to move onwards.

Petal coudl already feel it in her magical senses. There was a strange serenity to this place. Obviously the dragon creature had obviously been trapped by, and focused, much of the chaotic, twisted energy at the edge of this region. In destroying it, order had been restored early. There was still a taint to this landscape, but Petal did not feel they would need to travel far to find a santuary where they need to afraid of the air, the ground, and the life of the land.


I'll give you guys a chance to react to and engage with Ameena. Once Ameena has calmed down a litte, if you want to move onwards I'll move you guys on

OOC - Just so you know, Ameena is on 10/26hp - some of that damage was from the earlier grak-grak scuffle, the rest is crushing damage from the vines. Actually, I think only a small amount is from the vines - maybe 5hp or thereabouts. She does still have one Um-level healing potion left. Oh, and her knife is still in the pit.

Ooooh cute ratty head peeping around corner!

Now that the dwarf appeared to be helping Haynuus move, Petal turns her attention to Ameena, whose small glittering black eyes are wide with fear. The pixie holds her hand out and approaches her slowly the way she would a fawn or scared creature. She speaks softly in Sylvan, then says "Ameena, ok it is. The dragon, hurt you, it cannot. Safe we are, now."

The thought of balancing on a dwarf appealed to Haynuus's sense of humour for the briefest of moments but then realised that the dwarf wore a helmet. It might be a little uncomfortable to sit on. "Thanks but I'll just have to be a little more careful." Once more he felt vulnerable, barely able to see through a bloody haze. It was as if a goblin could come up to him and poke him with a stick, causing his ignominious downfall. He started moving with his arm on the dwarf's shoulder. "Soon we'll be free of this place, and then we can rest."

Looking up he sees Ameena partially obscured by a rock. "It's ok." He completely reiterated what Petal said, only the other way around which in his mind makes it more than okay to repeat to her. Hobbling over to her a little closer now he holds his arms out. "The monsters are gone or..." Thinking about it he makes a quick check to see if the vines start creeping up on them again, "are resting before their next meal. Come on, lets get away from this place and so Mister Deephold can help us all recover."

Ameena eyes Petal as the pixie comes closer. She slowly and tentatively starts to edge out from hiding, the fear in her blood having not yet fully run its course. When Haynuus ambles over (albeit somewhat awkwardly) and tries to offer his own reassurances in his somewhat louder and more...immediate voice, Ameena gives a slight jolt of surprise but manages not to dart back into hiding. Then the half-orc holds out his arms in her direction and it's as though it sets off an immediate trigger in her mind, bringing flashes of memory in which he's helped her in the past...or whenever it was.
She runs forward and leaps at him, huddling against him and shivering out the last of her fear. The pounding of his heart, suddenly so close to her ears, seems so loud and slow, like the footsteps of some huge great creature striding endlessly and purposefully across the land.
After several moments her various injuries decide to remind her of their existence, as does her current situation.
"The creature is...dead?" she asks nervously and in a quiet voice, lifting her head enough from her huddled state that she can be heard.

Ameena never ceases to surprise the half-orc, especially when she uses her claws to hold on to him. "Ohh.. Ahhh. I think Petal was messing about with the magic stones inside it, and it stopped attacking us." He offers a smile to Petal. Haynuus's sword would have been a fantastic Plan B, but magic and brains ruled over this particular problem. "Well done Petal!"

Petal blushes, her pale bluish-white skin getting a violet tinge on her face. She pulls her thick unkempt black hair over her face, the pixie equivelent of looking at the ground and scratching the dirt with a foot.

"Well...cause it to awake I did. To do something, I had to. For you all to get hurt, I could not let happen." she says quietly, uncomfortable for getting praise due to her stupidity at waking the creature.

"But, examine the creature, I would like to. Dead it is, and a key to the damage to this area, it may have." It is obvious she *really* wants to go look at the creature's corpse, but is waiting on the ok from the rest of the party due to her embarassment at getting them all in this predicament in the first place.

After a minitue, she runs her fingers through her hair and her face is revealed, her hair going back to its natural state of standing out from her head like a mane. "See you, a Singer I am being. What we do the part of, areas with the damage of magic being, to heal. If not we can, to examine, so stronger Singers, come they can to fix it." she continues.

Deephold nodded in agreement regardign the pixie's actions. "Indeed, that monster will not trouble anyone else again. We do not know that it did not simply lie in wait to track us once we passed." He looked concerned at Ameena's reaction to the attack, however Haynuus had it in hand and Deephold decided to keep his own council for now. Instead, he was more concerned with Petals comments. "Perhaps it would be wiser to leave, and not disturb this place. I am not sure the distruptions created by a High Lord can be healed by any other than a High Lord."

Awwwww. You guys! Anyway, carry on, let me know when you want to go or help Petal.

Raixel, if Petal does want to go back to the dragon's remains, you need to tell me what Petal is looking for - is it to heal as stated, or something else? Whatever general stuff you want to do, let me know roughly what actions she'll take, and roll me some rolls. Roll an additional roll no matter what, for no good reason

"Petal. I can't help much if you get trapped in there, but you must do what you think is best."

The grip of Ameena was deceptionally strong, but it was the circlet that offered the best solution to the situation. Slow your breathing down. It will relax her. Thus, he did indeed attempt to move now with a little caution with no sudden movements.

Petal nods at Haynuus. "Careful, I will be." Then she flies over to the pit and looks the area over with her magic senses before approaching closer. When she gets in close, she pokes around in the vines, using both her magic sight and her normal senses to examine the area, peering inside the dragon's ribcage and examining the vines closely. If anything appears odd, she takes a sample by carefully wrapping it in a piece of the parchment she is carrying, making sure it doesnt touch anything else. She also takes notes of what she has seen on another piece of parchment using the ink and quill, and about the dragon itself.

When she is done, she flies back to the party and says "Finished, I am. Go away from this place, we shall. To a Harmonizer, bring this I shall, when out of this place, we are. Help this area, they might be able to. Or if not, at least of it they will have knowledge."

As they walk, she examines the samples in the parchment she has taken, if there are any, every minuite at first, then if there is no major change about every 5. If there is a possiblty dangerous change in the composition or the sample appears to be melding with the parchment, she makes a note of the findings on her parchment and discards the sample.

1. Know arc 2.know relig 3. Percept (1d20+8=27, 1d20+8=15, 1d20+5=19)
EDIT: Forgot additional roll: 1d20=7 (If I wake that thing up again, im gonna be pissed)

Ok, so basically, she is just looking for anything out of the ordinary or what could be the cause of the magic area. Things she wants samples of are a bit of the dragon's internal organs if she can get it, a leaf or peice of the vines, and some of the soil of the surrounding area. She will take whatever she finds to a temple of Titania, where the clerics and sorcerers there believe it is their duty to keep Balance and Harmony. (ie stop chaos-taint). I rolled knowledge arc and religion. Arcana for the magic aspect (ie using her pixie sight or sensing the flows of mana to/from the dragon), religion for the Chaos/High Lord aspect, and Perception for just what she sees from searching (ie does she see a carved rune on one of the internal organs or nearby, treasure/magic items hidden nearby, the pit and its composition ect) Basically a search and spot.

OOC - Well, there's certainly a dropped ceremonial knife among the vines in the pit somewhere, I can tlel you that much .

BIC - Since Haynuus doesn't seem to be giving any sign that he doesn't like her closeness, Ameena remains where she is for now, taking what comfort she can while she can get it as she doesn't know when her next chance will be to get this near to someone. It is an unfortunate aspect of the travelling murafu that they often end up missing out on much of the physical contact they crave, simply because other species tend not to understand or want it. Naturally, she doesn't truly understand why, but simply is aware of it and accepts it.
She peers out at Petal as the pixie flies over toward the plant-creature. She feels sad that the creature is dead - had the party kept moving and left it alone, this might not have occurred. She hopes it didn't suffer much, and wonders whether it was actually comfortable being alive - for all she knows, it might have been horrible being trapped in a state of being somehow animal and plant at the same time - the two things have different types of life force, after all, so surely there must be some kind of problem with trying to merge the two together into one being?
When the party seems ready to move on, she somewhat reluctantly withdraws from Haynuus and continues in the direction they had been heading, a little awkwardly due to her various aches and pains. She hopes they're nearing the edge of this region of twisted magic so that she can consume her remaining healing potion. For the time being, though, she casts about with her senses in the usual fashion.

OOC - That last section of the post obviously only applies if the group decides to move on. The usual general Perception check = 13 (2+11)...seems I'm still somewhat in "bad roll" territory . I suppose Ameena is a bit distracted with her injuries and stuff, or something .

Deephold looks on in concern as Petal flies back to the pit to get a better feel for the area, and to take samples as needed. She can sense that the power of Chaos was not caused by the twisted creature, but certainly it had been dammed up here more than it should have. There was now the feeling of an odd hole in the surroundings, a deadness os mana that highlighted the subtle dicordant song of the edges of this tainted land. She feels that this is a possibly bad thing, but one that could be most useful. Just like a frayed edge of a cloth, this dead area could unravel the unnatural cohesion of the tainted land, allowing it to slowly bleed out further than it would have, infecting further. Not any time soon, but certainly if it went untreated. However, because it is free of the tainted magic, this could alos be the area the restoration of this land could start. If more powerful sorcerers, wizards and priests could strore the flow of natural mana to this spot, it could in turn be used to spread and out and repair the twisted land all the way back along the path Petal has travelled.

What this owuld of course mean for the swan-creatures if natural predators did not fear to walk here was a matter for higher minds to dwell upon.

Petal could still not figure out, even having walked the whole length of this place, what the original experiment of Chaos could have been to have twisted this land so. The dragon did not seem a natural feature of it, it merely seemed the most prominent victim of it. It was a sobering and terrifying thought to imagine that Petal or Deephold - or perhaps even Ameena or Haynuus - could have become some twisted form as the dragon had been. Petal had a sense that there did not have to be a true purpose or reason with Chaos, this land could have been twisted by him defeating or trying to defeat a foe, and them simply abandoning the magic on a whim, to let it fester and corrupt.

None of the surropundings seemed to have a meshed or twisted life or magic to them, but Petal dutifully took samples of each one. For the dragon's strange internals, they all seemed to have falled to the very bottom of the rib-cage deep inside, twisted. The heart has been as strong as diamond, even while resembling coal. Therefore, she settled for taking one of the shrivelled eyes, that had stayed in place in the face, and was easy to carry. It was like an onyx gem, though was matt and dull. She collected a sample of vine that had been part of the dragon's 'skin', and a part that had attacked Haynuu and Ameena. There was even a half-attacked piece of bone on the rib-cage from where her fireball had burst through. She took some of the blackened vine that had been caused by Haynuus's potion, and a tiny part of the rib blackened by her own spell. She could feel the residual connection they all had one with another, but none seemed to posessa life nor magic of their own now. None reacted to her plucking them away, nor as she travelled. Still, hoefully the reesidual connections she could sense would be of use to those she would show them to.

When Deephold saw that Petal was safe, and safely away, he knelt on one knee and briefly said a prayer over the pit. He patted his mace - now his only weapon - and then moved back to the group. Ameena had since disengaged from Haynuus, and without further ado the group carried on to be freed of this blasted place.

Deephold went back to helping Haynuus walk, despite Deephold's own limp from lack of boots. Petal kept looking to her samples, keen to ensurethey did not degenerate when leaving this place, nor come to horrible life unregarded.

Ameena went ahead, but was distracted by the green butterfly flapping around ahead, encouraging the group to keep going forwards to where Soorec was perhaps awaiting them, and perhaps unawares of the group's state.

The butterfyly did a few little circles and spins in greeting, subtly different from other times it had been seen, and them floated down to sit on Ameena as it had done before.

POOF

As if the butterfly had burst an Ameena-shaped balloon, Ameena just vanished with a rush of air leaving nothing. The butterfly floating in mid-air for a moment, and then it too disappeared in to nothingness. This time, though, there was a sound as it disappeared.

Everyone could generally identify the sound, but only Haynuus recognised what it was specifically.

It was the sound of fading laughter. To Haynuus, the fading laughter of the gnome mage Soorec.


DUN DUN DUN! Ameena's been kidnapped by horrible magics! How? Why? When? Where? What do the other two players and one NPC with no boots do?

Panic? Seems like a good idea to me!

Petal looks up from her samples as the magic flows in the area change drastically, in time to see Ameena disappear. Then, fading laughter of an obviously deranged being. Quickly, she opens her Third Eye havent really come up with a name for what she calls it when she uses her mana senses yet , hoping to catch a trace of the residual mana in the area before it fades. Know ARC (1d20+8=23)

Further posts will rely on what, if anything, she detects

"Soorec" the half-orc hissed. "OK. This is not good. We need to get back to Westian now as soon as possible, then return to his domain." And with that he spat on the floor.

Carefully he hobbled over to near the spot where Ameena had disappeared. Taking a good moment to check for anything interesting. (1d20+2=13) The best the half-orc could do, when detecting magic, is to sniff around with his nose.

He suspected that Ameena would be 'safe' for now, but the sooner that they got to her the better.

OOC - Did Petal pick up Ameena's (actually, it was Brighteyes/Soorec's) ceremonial knife? It might be worth noting down.

Raixel, remember I don't want the sorcerer to just stand their and know what's happening with magic. There was a physical touching component, or a decent time component, that is required. It's a good roll, but I will treat it more as knowledge and vague senses than knowing exactly what just happened. Obviously you could concentrate on the area for a while, but you aren't quite out of the chaos area yet. You almost are, but not quite.

Neither Ameena's nor Deephold's knife were lying on the top now. Both have most likely sunk to the bottom of the pit.

Just to remind you guys, as I think Ameena might have confused the issue a little, you were following Soorec apparently. Or at least still seem to be going in the direction his grak-grak wanted you to go. He doesn't have to be back in his room, and in fact isn't. You guys are currently two levels down from his room (if I recall correctly) and backtracking will take ages. Similarly, if you want to follow the possible route Westian too, you would have to backtrack through the Chaos area again, and back up the pit, and all the way back to where you met the grak-grak. Since it's been a while, I thought I'd better remind you about what direction you had actually chosen to go!


Teleportation magic was powerful, and usually the domain of powerful magics and spellcastings. Certainly, Chaos's dungeon managed it by channelling raw magics in this place and linking areas, sometimes with reciprocal magics. To just 'disappear' Ameena, there needed to be a pre-determined area to step on, or a physical component - the 'butterfly' in this case. Therefore, whatever Soorec had just done, it was not likely to be the reason they had travelled here. Certainly, Petal could detect no large magical disturbance where Ameena had been, which spoke of all the fixed magic for the teleportation being at another location, the butterfly just being the leash to pull Ameena to that place.

For whatever reason, it was unknown, but clearly it would be the place Soorec was. Most likely, still with the man Helm. And probably more if his loathesome grak-graks.

Haynuus could spot nothing unusual. The only thing that his circlet suggested was a question. How did Soorec know about the green butterfly - the butterfly was a gioft from the elementals, and could not have been his originally. The butterfly had been with them before the dragon awoke. Did that mean Soorec was close? He's either come to meet them, and foudn the butterfly, or the butterfly had found him in the time they had rested?


Sorry, rushing out the door now! Will let you all think on that.

OOC - Just to clarify, the knife Ameena was using belonged to That Nasty Elf Dude, not Soorec, and she left it in the pit wherever it dropped among the vines. So now she has no weapon apart from her natural ones, but as she has Improved Unarmed Strike she can do the same damage with those as she would with the knife, and doesn't attract an AoO because she is considered "armed" even when not. Oh, and as for the current direction of travel, Ameena had no real idea of where they were gonna end up heading in the current direction as she knows this place is so confusing and weird that they could really end up anywhere (due to stuff like teleporters and general weird layouts, etc), so it probably doesn't matter hugely that they were heading in a direction that didn't lead straight to Soorec's place, which is where she says the party need to go though I'm not sure she's explained why just yet.

I didnt want any major delails. Basically Petal was racking her brain for knowledge of what type of magics could be used to cause the effect. Sorry if i didnt make it clear enough

Petal looks at the other party members warily, as if thet might too disappear within a few seconds.

"Haynuus, look you did like know you did the being the laughter did make. Perhaps tell us, you should, what know you of this.?" she says.

"Brighteyes.... Ugh, Soorec is dangerous. He's dangerous because he has no empathy (sociopath). It means that he will hurt people without either considering nor understanding the consequences. A mage by design, but his inquisitive nature and indisposition has drawn him towards reanimating the undead... Now I've never seen a zombie with whiskers and a tail but Soorec's undead are different. They are a cacophony of the deceased, all different bits of people sewn up and reanimated together. Worse, as you have seen, they will take on your very own form. So if you see a rather charming gnome in this place, I warn you - do not trust him."

"He also asked us to assassinate That Nasty Elf Dude(tm) that... I'm not sure that you saw." He thought for a moment. Nope, it was enough.

Now Petal reminded him that he'd palmed (temporarily borrowed) a compass from the gnome. He had a look at it while pacing from foot to foot. It told him never to come back to this place. Ever.

"So, the formstealers, this Soorec are the work of?" The pixie stumbles over the odd name as she says it, pronouncing it like seor-rick. After thinking about this for a second, she frowns. "Of the once-dead to bring back, bad it is. Disrupts Balance. Stop him we must, especially if Ameena he would hurt." After all, Petal had grown quite fond of the little rat-person, and the thought of gentle Ameena being trapped by a horrid insane necromancer was enough to make the sorceress' blood boil.

"But, unfortunately, we know not where located he is. And also, rest we must. If injured we are, than no good we can do." She stops talking as Haynuus finishes his thought. "An elf of evil? The one who attacked us mentally was he?"

Thta's cool about the arcana check, misunderstood the narrative comments and the mechanical reason, sorry! Hopefully you got your roll's worth regarding physical anchors and leashes. Very DM2 mechnaics, really.

The compass in Haynuus's hands seemed to be pointing - so Haynuus intuited with a nudge from his circlet - north. That was not in and of itself useful, although it least it proved the compass he had stolen so long ago from under the gnome's sight was a good practical compass. What did help though, was that Haynuus didn't just have one set of memories, he had the faint echo of a second. And a circlet willing to help him make sense of them.

The compass gave Haynuus at least a basic sense of direction back. And the odd memories of a previous time here remind Haynuus that there was some form of 'secret' area way, way down from Soorec's original room, where he actually kept his biggets secret, and created his 'pets'. Was this where the grak-grak had been leading them to? Was this where Soorec was, awaiting them? Was this where Ameena had been taken?

It was a long shot, and Haynuus - even with odd pieced together memories and the circlet's help, could not guarantee he could co-ordinate to where Soorec's lair might be. Still, for the moment intuition told him the direction they travelled in might be the same as they needed to go. And while Peta lwas right they might not know where Soorec was, that did not mean Soorec was unaware of where they were now....

Deephold had been quietly praying, looking with aggitation at the two speaking. Deephold bristled at talk of resting, although could not argue with it being foolhardy to plough on if they were injured. Haynuus looked in a terrible state.

"We must get to the edge of this area, so our magics can heal Haynuus," said Deephold, dancing sub-consciously from foot to foot as Haynuus did. "Though I do not believe we should tarry long. Ameena is in terrible danger, and I will not allow another companion to come to harm. Especailly not Ameena, we rescued her from the villiany of the elf already. I will not have that effort be in vain!"


You guys can continue the discussion, or carry on following the river to the edge of the Chaos lands. There will be no real evidence that it has truly ended, more that Petal will find the discordanat song in her head reaches manageable levesl and then is barely audible.