TIME'S CHAMPIONS: THE FINALE (STORY THREAD)

[Ameena]

OOC - Ah yeah I forgot about the thing with Falkor...then again, since her head's been so messed up lately, Ameena probably has as well .

[ian_scho]

OOC - Ack. Too tired to pull something intriguing out of the fire on this one :O

Haynuus thought he heard thunder, or was it a trolin crying?

He had hated them for what they did to his friends to what seemed like many years ago. They were butchered and broken by those wretched trolins, while Haynuus was lost and wildly screaming through the caverns. Even now he possessed a fear and a loathing for them. Yet here they were, together fighting against chaos. He glances over to the king. So he was the template for chaos's creations? Did he understand that correctly? He would have hated himself if he were the king. He shuffled, for he could not wholly move comfortably, and moved closer to the king with his bleeding hand in front of him. "You..." he rasped, remembering to breath once more "... must do what's best for your people now. Too much has passed for you to veer away from this final battle. Your kind will remember your for always but will it be for the good or the bad things that you did?" The disjointed memories of what the king felt and did swept over him once more. He reeled back, not wanting to face him. "Just remember that a king has to sacrifice much to gain strength for his peoples.... And I forgive you. If it matters."

[beowuuf]

Westian knew the ins and outs of the path now, could feel its secrets seeping into his consciousness with each passing second. The light was good, the disparate points of view, but those needed to be backed up by mental points of view. He recounted them in his mind, trying to erect the walls that had once been in place between the infinity of creation and the finite reality that was his own mind.

In a way Westian could appreciate the elegant solution of the 'trap'. As a learning tool, only those wise or powerful could come here, or would have the wisdom already to mean no ill regarding the soul gem that resided in the centre. Any looking to sneak in to gain its power, and its connection to the dungeon, would instead find themselves at the mercy of the balance they sought to break. Confronted with the expanse of reality that they were blinded to in selfishness, blinded when confrtoned with more sights than their inquisitive nature might thirst for, or of course locked inside their own minds, their plans turned inwards. Those path of truth was particularly brutal, for whose plans could hold up to the infinite? Who with ill intent could face those they travelled with when exposed?

Westian tried to pull free with his pronouncements on each of his companions. However, even as he erected his own mental shields and passed through the test, he could feel that the gambit which had freed them all wasnot without a price. He was still, very intimately, connected. Very connected. Intentions he had once guessed at he knew. Things hidden sang to him. It was similar to how Petal said she perceived magic, when she was able to listen. Except, of course, the flow of magic around was not a vast void in his mind ready to pull him in to, a void to fall without end.

Ok OB, so you are free, but the cost - if you can call it that - is that the effect is still ongoing in your mind. You are able to ignore it and shut it off, but you can 'read' the surroundings and minds around you. Of course, anything more than the lowest letting it affect you, and you risk going mad. Since you aren't playing Westian passed this game, I can throw this sort of otherwise game breaking ability at you. Although I imagine that for any wrap up - assumign Westian lives - you can figure out how this will affect his progression. Will he use it or try to mitigate and remove it? Will it corrupt him or make him more honest?

Anyway, mechanically you can ask for more on asituation etc as we go on. Push to hard, and I might ask for a will save for you to resist getting temporarily drawn in or paralysed. I won'ty actively do anything nastier than a round's worth of delay though. Though as a 'do or die' you can actively push hard enough that Westian will go insane. It might be worth it to know exactly the weakness or strength of something you face beyond! Who knows...


Ameena tried to ennumerate her feelings regarding Helm, as the mind of Westian seemed to indicate. However, the murafu did not belieeve in lying, nor in things being anything other than they were. It was harder to split truth and her perceptions as being anything other than the same. Instead thew world seemed to split between what she was loyal and focused on above anything els,e and the rest of the world - as exciting and real as it was.

Her single focus and the light revealing Helm properly seemed to help dispell the effect of the path, but something was wrong. She could still feel every thoguht and emotion of Helm. The magic of the path had not quite disipated, and her focus left her bound to him. A friend is for life. Life is for friends.

Ok, so Ameena you are pulled free, however you are also not. Ameena had focused on Helm, and so she still has - one way, as you will find - a connection to Helm. She';s not lost in his mind or anything (oly because he succeeded in separating). The mechanical upshot of this will be very simply any effects or injuries that happen to Helm will also happen to Ameena, in some form or another. The pain of a blow to him will slow her down just as much, status effects will have equivalent non-physical effects on Ameena, etc. Sicne the process isn't really two way, it will require a strong effort for Ameena to be able to offer her strength or resiliance to Helm in return if needed. It might only be a charisma check, ot might be a will check, it will depend upon the circumstance.


Haynuus knew who the trolins were, standing before him. Yet he had terrible memories - his own memories - of who the Trolins had been in the past, bruite that had murdered those he had considered friends at the time. And he had his ability to act beyond those memories, even act beyond knowing who these complex creatures were. Reason was not just a passive tool of the mind to fill in the blanks on the way to ultimate truth, reason was a tool to create new truth of what could be. The King quivered at Haynuus's finger pointing at him. Anger and resentment flashed upon the King's face, however it was a tear streaked face. The King could not fully comprehend everything Haynuus had just said. However, the King also drew himself up. For surely, no normal Trolin could comprehend the strangeness, no normal Trolin would be on this path. Althoughclearly lacking, the King drew himself upwards, as if ignoring the truth of himself as it was revealed and clinging on to the words. 'Your kind will remember you for always...' Clearly, the King was goign to act as no Trolin nor King had done so before.

"Sacrifice? Yes!" The King drew his club against the pounding in his head, breaking the spell. "Trolins live or die this day not matter! As long as all know Trolins fought where no other would! Free world from evil! We keep power, as people know we better than them, than they ever think of us!" The King looked ot those Trolins still standing. "We live for power, get it, then live in fear when it taken. No more! Words in others heads never taken! We can live or die today, but no one take away tales of us if we succeed! No one!" The King laughed. "That why heroes names always known. That real power. Do things when other cowering in fear or hiding or looking to own lives and power."

The Trolin King was addressing only half the men he came in with. Karda's anger had been known to all earlier (just not shared, it was getting too cluttered already) but whether it was self-loathing or hatred for others was not certain. It was not as selfish as Pullak's lust for power, but it was in the end more deadly. He and those Trolins around him had been locked in the shared thoughts of hatred Karda had spawned, falling upon each other's blades. The King had apparently lost a guard to it too, whether protecting his king or lost to the madness was unclear.

Only two of Karda's men remained, oddly hollow shells who clung to the King's words, yet whose eyes seemed to indicate they had seen too much of the world aroudn them to be truly sane. Pullak's men seemed to be better, although only five of them remained. They seemed to have managed to pull free of the madness, though clearly distaste on their faces showed how they had managed to fight the all consuming empathy that this path had threatened them with. And clearly pride was instilled in them from their King. To be known to be better than any other was, indeed, worth their lives. Afetr all, Pullack's men lived on the edges of the Trolin society hunting and scouting in the dangerous areas for a reason, facing even the swift deaths.

Uumack had looked ot Haynuus strangely, clearly torn by seeing Haynuus's true nature, both the greatest heights of his heroism and yet the dark depths of his past and self doubt and hatred. Uumack fell to one knee before Haynuus. "I be your bodyguard, as you his," said Uumack, pointed to Westian briefly. He then looked to his king. "And I will follow you, as the half-orc will fight with you."

Guree, it seemed, was less forgiving of the revelations regarding Haynuus, pulling back. "I follow the King, he inspire me," she said. She looked to Haynuus. "You have honour,. I will fight beside you." However, clearly the thoughts she had on how Haynuus was perhaps did not insire the loyalty that she had possessed before.

"No, no, no, NO!" came a voice, from Pullak. "This madness. You want us all to die, so you not know your shame, your real thoughts!" Pullak squared up to the King, but before the three remaining bodyguards nor the other Trolins could react, Uumack had alreayd moved forwards and caved in Pullak's mind. "Animal," said Uumack. "We know your thoguhts now." It was the second leader Uumack had struck down for dishonour. His dark look to the King perhaps spoke volumes.


Haynuus, you are actually free of any influences except the general one I'm goign to reveal to you all that the whole group has...probably tomorrow. Otherwise, you've managed to survive this one in tact. Well, except for all the revealations to the group, and any feeligns that pulls up. You've lost face with Guree, but kept the loyalty of Uumack (perhaps nudged it a little from Westian, although technically Westian had kinda managed to steal your mojo anyway!). And apparently the King is actually going to be a loyal ally. So that's not too bad.


Deephold seemed to go through the same mental exercises as Westian, although in Deephold's case he was actually able to successfully pull free, of course, having not throw himself far down the path of truth as Westian had. Deephold looked to Westian. "I still meant what I said before." Sadly, Westian could feel that Deephold's faith in Westian had been shaken. However, clearly Deephold was also flexing a faith that had been tempered for many years thatwhat appeared true, or what was true at once time, was not a truth that would always be. Lord Chaos has sundered the world, and yet he had been defeated.

"You are better and stronger than the man that led us here," said Deephold to Helm of the mage Fex that had betrayed Deephold. Helm was still breathing heavily, clearly in emotional and physical shock, looking with a sort of fear at Ameena perhaps understanding the selflessness of the friendship offered, and yet still not able to believe it was real in his heart - sadly that pathological distrust or anyone valuing him, despite all revealation to the contrary , being the thing that apparently brought him back from the brink. Helm merely nodded.

"You would not be standing here otherwise." Deephold then bent down to Ameena. "And you have shown time and again you are stronger in body and spirit than your words of yourself."

Deephold then moved to the Trolins, though he ignored them to look to Haynuus. "And you are more worthy to wear that armour and wield that weapon than many who have done so in my order. And I do not disparige the good and brave men who have done so when I say that." Deephold then looked to the King alone, drawing his own mace. "And I will fight on your side. If you do seek to end the Blackskulls reign here, with a pure heart."

"Bah! What is purer than to end blackskulls no matter if life lost!" said the Trolin King. Deephold did not have much of an answer for that, realising that was still a divide between the fundamental outlooks, but one that necessity and understanding had bridged well enough.


And I'll leave it there, because clearly there is Petal, Falkor and Aurek at least to comment on. The air elementals never made it this far, and the green butterfly...well, that's for another time.

Anyway, essentially you are free of the Path of Truth and ready to move on, althoguh I need to know what Raixel will do to know how good or bad, and light or deep, the consequences to her charatcer will be.

And I've got a final little sting in the talke -mostly beneficial - that I will reveal once I wrap up this. However, feel free to react for the moment and start your plans for moving onwards.

[raixel]

The truth blacks everything out, pounding at her senses as she tries to force the all encompassing absolute nature of everything into a resonable state a mortal mind could understand. But as the pixie does this, again the all-ecompassing Truth points out the falsehood in trying to force it into a different form. The pain of layering "lies" on the Truth burns Petal's mind.

A small being appears in front of the pixie. It is about the same height as the blue skinned sorceress, abut dressed in a heavy black cloak. Flames rise from its body, to wreath the too-large horned helm perched on its shoulders. Red eyes stare out from the helm, glaring at the pixie accusingly.

"You lied." the figure says to Petal, in an insane whisper. "Now, let the Truth be kno-"

"GO AWAY!" the sorceress screams, interrupting the figure's mad ramblings.

1d20+6=13 AAnother Will save. Dont know if that was enough to pull her out.

[Ameena]

Ameena shakes her head, blinking several times as the utterly bizarre sensation of shared knowledge seems to finally fade from her mind. She looks somewhat dazedly up at Deephold as the dwarf addresses her, giving a whisker-twitch as acknowledgement of his words. Then she heaves herself upright and goes to reach over for one of Helm's legs (the only part of him she can reach from here).
"Are you alright?" she asks, with concern. "I'm still here. I said I would be. How can I help you to not be so scared?"

[oh_brother]

Westian sagged forward slightly and breathed an involuntary sigh when he felt himself returning to his own, separate, identity. The effect was unusual – while he was relieved to be free of that blazing truth, he came away with an appreciation of how closed and isolated individuals really are. He hoped that would pass in time, and the boundaries of existence would seem more of a shelter and less of a prison. Still, something of the experience still lurked in his consciousness, and he aggressively blocked it out.

Much had been revealed while they were in the place that had no darkness – more than should be shared between people. All he could think of was to focus on something else, and hope the others followed suit. “I do not know how much time we spent here, but we need to move forward. Our mission has not changed.” He gripped his staff and stared into the distance, not meeting anyone’s gaze.

[ian_scho]

Haynuus exhaled a long sigh. He was tired, yet happy in the knowledge that the king was their ally, and that he'd never believe it that he would be fighting alongside trolins. "Thank you Uumack. You may be my bodyguard for as long as there is evil here. But after they are defeated you will have deserved freedom. For you and your kind." He placed his hand on the heavily muscled blue shoulder. It was a very orcish trait to try to obtain wealth, lands and fame but getting powerful warriors that you could trust in... That was something no orcish chief had an answer for. Haynuus's orcish family would be proud of him.

He returned his gaze to his own master. To Haynuus Westian had not changed in his opinion. The high ideals of his order, and particularly those upheld by Deephold, were lost on the half-orc. He had just assumed that the half-elf was someone to get things done. "Ready when you are sir." he lied.

He cast a glance over the trolin corpses and realised that he was not ready at all. He wasn't sure that if he survived physically from the ordeal that he would survive mentally. He had been fighting the undead fiends and monster for so long that he shivered for a second thinking about the humans and other intelligent beings that would fall under his sword. He would play his part, he told Westian that he would. He would help bring about balance once more. But he just couldn't foresee a happy outcome for himself whatever happened. It was then he realised that he had one thing that was different from before. He now possessed the circlet, he passed it's loop slowly across the palm of his hand. Perhaps... Perhaps this could help him gain his own mental balance? And with that, he returned it to his head.

[beowuuf]

Luckily the Trolins were already pulling free from the odd shared mental state of the path of truth. However all the rest of the group had the mental echo of Petal's own mental battle For a moment they knew of the existence of the second, shadowy figure. However, as soon as it was given form - the miniature horned figure wreathed in flames, that made Ameena's leg twitch, that was when Petal broek free of the connection.

Even as the walls of truth came crashing down, there was one lie she did tell herself, and a perception she automatically placed on to the world. She could love something unloveable, and refuse to accept something that was herself. Before truth had been somethign different, but Petal's own internal reluctance to face a difficult choice now m ade a new truth. The figure stood, blinking in Petal's mind's eye for a moment. It was exactly as it had been in her mirror, and so in a way different from how it had presented itself in the real world. She knew it was only a projectiopn now, but she also knew that this fifure was now real. The gestalt in her mind now existed. The small black cord she could perceive in her mind attacheed to her foot, snapped. The figure blinked burning red eyes again, and then slowly faded from sight. But not, as Petal realised now, from relaity. She had sworn the dfigure would not die, and she had been correct. However, what would this mean, when it was able to free itself fro mthe mirror Petal had been trapped in?

Petal could also feel the ache inside herself. Abilities and power and connectionto the world that she had possessed before were now gone, lost permenantly. Still, at least the too large connection from the Path of Truth was gone.


There we go. In some ways, you kinda get what you want despite your bad rolls The little guy is a real character now, separate from Petal. However, I had been going to allow a decision one way from Petal to draw limitless magical ability (limitless as in no spell slot usage, not power) for the final battle from her connection to her old self. With it severed, Petal will be as normal for the final confrontation, the 'reduced' form of the LO master as she is stated right now!


Deephold and the rest looked to Petal. "What, what was that thing?" asked Deephold. The group had perhaps divined more of the truth than Petal, that she had been bound by some form of energy of Chaos, pulling at her from the place she had escaped. And now it was snapped, and she was truly free. Westian perhaps knew the greater truth,

Spoiler

that Petal had gained that freedom by managing to subvert Lord Chaos's mirror in an unexpected way, by finding empathy for the twisted form her body had been hidden by. However, the price of such freedom had been an odd gestalt of Lord Chaos's power and Petal's own given a strange form, one that had still haunted her in the real world as it had mocked her in her entrapment. A form that now seemed to have been separated from Petal. However, did that mean the estrange entity still existed, somehow?

Westian's own determination was to pull away from such pulls to knowing thigns he should not. Still, his staightforward call to arms was answered by the Trolins at least, an emphatic cheer to move onwards. Deephold, too, still seemed uncertain from the revelations but clearly new that showing any hesitation or lack of solidarity could be calamitous at this time. Instead he once more offered his mace and nodded with agreement.

Helm seemed uncertain, but Ameena knew that he would carry onwards, depsite all his misgivings, because going back would be worse. And, deep down, he did not want to leave Ameena alone to be harmed. Nor did he want to let Deephold down. Still, Helm seemed to have no confidence, espite his words. "I'm not scared," he lied, giving a pale smile. "I just still don't trust him. Not afetr what Fex did" Helm pointed to Falkor. However, it was clear that Helm was just as irrationally worried over the halfling. That Helm had felt - just as the rest had - Falkor's true nature, and knew the halfling was a true companion. To distract himself fro mthat, Helm again offered to carry Ameena, nervously lookign to the group ready to move onwards.

The butterfly that had been on Falkor's shoulder had gone, apparently as soon as the group had entered this place. None had really managed to connect to what it was, other than Falkor's own small surmising of the creature. The air elementals, too, had apparently departed. Whether they would come back was uncertain, or even if they could come back. That meant that whatever was happening back along the corridors with the other Trolisn and blackskulls, or even what was happening back in the cavern with the crack - the crack they had seen enlarge and reduce - would remain a mystery for now.


Uumack settled in to place with Haynuus, not answering how long he planned to guard Haynuus. Haynuus turned the circlet around as he felt his sad thoughts regarding the upcoming confrontation. Putting on the circlet, there was a brief shock of the whole panorama of truth once more. The circlet itself, it seemed, possessed enough of a presence to also be joined by the path's effect. Afetr all, the circlet seemed to possess memories and personalities echoing kings down the age. It was already connected to truth. However, it seemed that as soon as it could whisper to Haynuus what it knew - from a certain point of view - and once it was able to only perceive from Haynuus's percepctive, it was also able to disconnect from the effect of the path. Words whispered to Haynuus, telling or a secret that few of the historical tales could ever, truly know. Yes, sometimes the hero had to die where other would not have risked their lives. Sometimes the hero had to do terrible things that other would not do. Yet sometimes, the hero was allowed to simply be a hero for living with his previous actions, finding a simple life and simple happiness as long as he agreed to live with the things others did not have to. In the history of the circlet, there was hope that Haynuus might live to see this through. And have the strength of character to live with what must be done. Or even, by the words of the whispering circlet and by the actions of his friends, find ways to not be forced in to a war of attrition to save the day.


As the group all focused on the path forwards, could see the way onwards, there was still a lingering strangeness. Westian felt it the worst, and felt it for everything. Ameena felt it in far greater terms for Helm alone. However, all the group could feel the little whisper of each other in the back of their minds, a lingering effect of the magic of this place.


Ok, gunna leave it there just so the weekened people can maybe have one last 'huh' at the Petal bit, or anything else. Either way, will then move us on with a second update for actually carrying on down the path. Part of that will also be the fact that any item you guys might be carrying, after your brief mind expansion, won't be a mystery to you anymore. So if you can flag what you carry, just incase I miss something.

Anyway, the residual mechanical effect of the path of truth will be you guys will have an intuition of knowing where each other is, and how they are faring. Just the main group + Deephold/Helm and Uumack, not the other Trolins (including Guree). So you can go a little meta when planning any strategy in the final battle, knowing if someone is in trouble, or knowing the position of each other if you are split up and co-ordinating anything. The downside of this will be that if anyone falls down dead or dying, everyone else will feel the last blow as a set of non-lethal damage they will take. Just to remind you guys, non-lethal damage can knock you unconcious if its total equals your remainign hit points (we record it separately). However, it is removed at the same rate as normal hit point restoration.

[Ameena]

OOC - As a reminder, the "weird stuff" (ie magic-related, stuff she wouldn't normally understand) in Ameena's inventory is the Soulstone fragment, the weird ball thingy that shows you what you want, or something (which had a fish in it when Ameena looked, though I can't recall why, and Petal's Wuuf-looking friend, Growler I think his name was, when Petal looked), yet another ceremonial knife from Dolo's chest (has shown nothing magic so far but listing it here just in case...it hasn't really been used yet anyway), the magnetic stones, the square of black cloth, and the thin black rod which I think Falkor worked out was a wand used to levitate items or something. The only other magic-related item Ameena has is one healing potion (she gave one to Helm), but of course she already knows how they work .

BIC - Ameena flinches closer against Helm when she sees the strange apparition appear before Petal. Normally she would just be oddly curious about such a thing, but the twinge that runs through her right foreleg tells her that this figure, though appearing somewhat different to the one she's already met, is nevertheless somehow the same. Does that mean the Dark One is already here? Does that mean the world has alredy ended? But they haven't pur the Soul Stone together yet - isn't that what needs to be done in order to make the Grey One come back before something bad happens and he turns into the Dark One?
It's all too much for Ameena to work out, and she gladly accepts Helm's offer to carry her once again - now that is something she does understand.
"It's alright to be scared." she says to him quietly. "It's letting the fear get on top of you and making you do things you wouldn't nomally do, that's what's bad. Because then you might do something you feel horrible about later, if you don't die first. If you just concentrate on one thing, like trying to help a friend, you can push the fear to one side for a little while, and try to make things better, somehow."

[raixel]

Pwetal seemed in pain, clutching her arms around herself and hovering slowly in mid aid.

"The power of mine, lost I did." she says quietly. "My mana, gone, part of it is. I had to. I lied to him, told him I wouldn't hurt him..." she continues muttering, completely at a loss and ignoring the curious and somewhat apprehensive looks of her friends.

Deepholds question snaps her out of her sadness, for just a second she looks up at him.

"What was that?" she asks him back. "Perhaps, say you should, who." Her lips twist into a smile taht looks like a grimace. "Know you who that was, priest." she tells Deephold, although not unkindly. "But, also, that was a part of me. In the mirror, I was. A decision I made, from the true High Lord i saved the little one. My own "life" was the cost, but in doing so, freed from the mirror I was."

She looks around at her friends, then, expecting to see harsh glares and distrust.

"Know you all who was that." she tells them in a louder voice, as she looks each being in the face, except the trolins. "A small part of Him inside me, it was. Now, gone, think I do, He is from me. Free, the little one is. His own self, not a part of me or the High Lord anymore. Think I do, the part of me that is now in Him, affect Him it has, as affected me He has."

She sotps then, and looks sad, closing her eyes and feeling truly alone for the first time, not having the little being's energy in her mind. She sits like this for a second, then looks at her companions again, and her gaze becomes slightly hard.

"If leave you want me to, do so I will. For touched by Him, have I been and carry his mana with me I have, and still do. Go I will, away from you. But know this. From the dark elf's mental attacks, save us all He did, in times when otherwise held in thrall by the priest we would be."

The pixie stops speaking then and waits for the reactions of her companions.

[Ameena]

Ameena listens to Petal's words, somewhat confused by the whole situation since magical-related matters like this go far beyond what her species knows.
"You had...the Dark One Inside you, somehow?" she asks. "But I thought he...wasn't around, yet. I mean, I saw the Grey One turn into him the...the other time. Except that...hasn't happened. Has it? So he can't be around, because he's not...um...around yet. Or is there another Dark One, who's not as bad as the er...other one? Because I'm pretty sure that one destroyed the world. Um...I mean, he hasn't destroyed the world, but he might do if um...if something goes wrong."
She gives her head a little shake, no less confused than she was a moment ago. From her vantage point in Helm's arms, she casts an inquiring glance around at everyone else, figuring that they probably have more of an idea than she does as to what's going on here, and what it all means.

[ian_scho]

Haynuus also continues the confusion. "Surely you would be as twisted as the mummy or the vegetative dragon that we fought, if you were in contact with HIM? Yet you are now separated, and seem to be of your own free will - and free from madness." He pondered over Petal's last statement, about them having been protected from Dolo. "You should come with us, and see an end to this madness as well. Perhaps you can tip the balance in our favour when fighting against the evil that has overtaken this place." He understood that Petal had drawn power from the demon that had possessed her, but was unsure whether she possessed the free will to fight for her own freedom.

"How do you... Feel?"

[raixel]

Petal shakes her head at Ameena. and takes a deep breath as she collects her thouhts and tries to explain things to her companions

"No, murafu friend. From when the Disbalanced One rose before, it was. No I not how long trapped I sat in the mirror-prison of the Disbalanced One. Years, perhaps it was" Petal says, not stating Chaos' name out of respect for the murafu's beliefs, but using an old pixie term for him instead.

The pixie closes her eyes as she remembers, trying to explain to her friends as best as she can. "As understand the best I can, a shade of the true Disbalanced One was the being you saw, supposed to be keeping trapped in the mirror it was, but not sentient, think I do it was supposed to be. Know I did not that in a mirror I was trapped. Instead, in reality I thought I was, but instead a looping existence I was forced to relive, over and over, of my way to Him I fought, and then die I did. But know I did not this, that a loop it was." The pixie stops and opens her eyes, nodding at Haynuus before continuing.

"Yes, twisted I should be, but somehow, I know not how, the energy that kept me in the prison trapped, became the shade of Him that see you did. A mind of its own it had, and a part of me also inside it, it was, as combined some of my mana He did with the engery that the shade did become, to trapped there keep me. Tormented me in the horrid looping reality, the sha1de did. But helped it...he...did also. Eventually, instead of fighting him, talked to him I dd. To teach him I tried, such things as friendship and caring. In the many conversations, one I did promise him, that to be his friend I would and not leave him. For afraid of the true High LOrd he was. Finally, when fought my way to the Disbalanced One I did, a choice the true HIgh Lord gave me. Holding the little one He was, the choice, it was to die I could, or to die the little one could. A promise I made to the little one, to abandon or leave him I would not. So, I chose my own life to lose, as a promise a sorcerer cannot break. Freed me doing this somehow did. And part of my mind the lttle one was, being the engery that trapped me in the prison it was. But changed he was, from being a part of me. A pure copy of the Disbalanced One he was no longer, but also had absorbed some of me. But because he was in me, not cmpletely free I was. But to remove him from me, destry him it would. And that i could not do. Grateful I am, that the one found a way to be free, for the Disbalanced one he is not, and to go back to HIm, terrible it would be."

She looks at Haynuus again. "I feel...alone in my head. My power, diminished it is, because to free him, I had to cut free the part of him that was me, to keep him from getting sucked back into the Disbalanced One." The pixie gets a resolved look in her eyes and clenches a fist. "But yes, ready to fight I am, and this madness we will stop! If hvae me ou will, then fight with you, I will, to the breath that is ast "

She stops talking at looks in everyones face, hoping she no longer sees as much distrust in her friends' face.

[ian_scho]

Haynuus did not understand the magic, but understood the the force of will the little pixie had at wishing to resolve the task at hand. It amused him that the Petal too had a whisper in her mind, offering guidance perhaps or more probably taunting her. The silence she now felt was something he could relate to, but was not something he was looking for now. HE was the one in need of a second opinion, and Petal was now free of that.

"A punch in the face you can give. To those who harm to the world wish to bring." he replied with a smile on his face. Perhaps those little fists will become key to the coming fight.

[Ameena]

Ameena twitches her whiskers as she tries to work all this out. Finally, she asks...
"A mirror...isn't that some kind of...shiny thing that you look at and can see yourself? Like...still water that you can carry around with you, only it isn't water, and it shatters if you drop it? How can you be inside that? I'm sorry - I don't understand any of this. When murafu use magic, it's a lot simpler. The world is so much less complicated, for us. I don't know what any of this...strange magic...has to do with you, what kind of effect it really has. Murafu look at things a different way - there is something we all need to do, and you're all friends of mine, so we should all work together to do what needs to be done. And then, hopefully, we can get back out to the rest of the world and feel the light and warmth of the Bright Eye once more."

[beowuuf]

Helm is clearly shaken by the talk of Lord Chaos, and Ameena can sense he is already convincing himself he did not see the flash of the miniature dark lord that the others very briefly saw. Still, Ameena could also feel her simple words regarding how to combat his fears were taken to heart. His eyes had misted up slightly, and he had only niodded, but there was a resolve not previously present in his mind. He had made many mistakes, and Ameena's words had spoken exactly to those feelings he had after acting on his initial fears.

Nicely played there. You've given Helm some backbone. Ready to rush in to dangerous situations so Ameena takes damage all the faster. Woohoo!


Deephold looks to the three speakers, his concern and confusion falling as Petal expresses herself better regarding what was seen. To Ameena, he tries to explain, Westian spotting the tone of the lecturer the cleric has long know. "A mirror is as you suggest. There was a superstition in many cultures that a mirror - by possessing a copy of your image, was somehow stealing a part of your soul. Sadly, in the hadns of powerfulLords of magic - and a High Lord - such a thing is true. I will not confuse you by explaining the sympathetic magic, however our recent experience might let you realise the power of perception and the ability for use to be bound by our own minds by powerful magic. The mirror can be used to access a persons very essense, or worse as Lord Chaos once did bind the souls of the champions who feel against him. At least,the ones who impressed him."

Deephold turned to Petal. "The Grey Lord freed all the champions from the Hall of Champions when he regained power. I understand, now, that there must have been a different place. A place where he hid those whom he perhaps feared." Westian could hear the change in tone, from Deephold the scholar that Westian knew to the Deephold the battle cleric that Westian was only now becoming aware of. "Noble pixie, that you had the strength of will and compassion to save an 'innocenent', even one that you had every reason to hate given its form. I am glad to know despite your frustrations and anger, that you still have that in you. I will fight with you as I have fought with you before. I would not mourn your lost powers, for you still possess you greatest strangths." Deephold then paused. "What you describe, I believe, is called a gestalt. It sometimes forms between powerfulmagic items and their wielders, or during powerful joining of minds. It is an entity whose sum is greater than the parts, a truly separate being from the disperate consciousnesses that form it. However, there is a danger. Even if some of your compassion has bled in to it, it soudns as if it is still Chaos's whims and wills given your powers over magic. I fear you may need to confront it nontheless. Or perhaps the Grey Lord may be able to intervene." The last was said in what Westiasn realised was without conviction. It seeemed Deephold did not truly believe the Grey Lord always acted for the best, his ideas of balance allowing great evils to occur and exist. And there was also the uncertainty of the group coming out of this alive.

Luckiy the Trolin king interrupted such conversations that could not end well between the cleric's strong intellectual beliefs and Petal's own emotional attachments and beliefs. "You call me names and Chaos spawn when you had Chaos in you!" he said aggressively. However, Uumack had clearly been speaking earnestly to the King, given Haynuus's support of the pixie. The Trolin King therefore did not mmake any more aggressive moves nor statements. "I fight near you, as long as you not lie nor try to take away tale of my Trolins. You stay out of my way, and do your part in fight, and I have no more problem. You got rid of evil? Then I be bigger creature and trust you."

So saying, the Trolin turned his back and gestured for the Trolins to begin moving. It was perfect timing for Westian to take up the wave of it and gesture with his staff for all to follow him.

[beowuuf]

Technically this is just for Westian to know, but of course I assume he will share it, and so it's really info for all of your guys to work out your plan. IC or OOC this as much as you want, it would be good to have a working plan in a few days. I'll try to look through all the character sheets and past items I have dropped and give you guys an OOC list of what you have at your disposal,, as well as remind you who everyone is who is still with you in one way or another.

Westian could feel the outline of the place, as irritating as that was. He had tried to block it out, but it was already a memory, as he can joined wiht the puzzle of this place. And the magic of the puzzle itself connected the three paths, and the thing the paths protected.

It was best to imagine the structure of the Grey Lord's meeting room - and the place where the Soul Gem had once resided - like a spool for sewing. The path of truth actually formed a ring around the base of the structure, and technically led nowhere except back to the start. Solving any of the paths allowed one to use all three, and the group could carry on walking all the way around to join the path of light or path of reason.

The main part of the structure itself was in fact a lng hollow shaft. It led up to the top of the 'spool', where an equivalent ring was formed. That ring was the antichamber of the meetign area. At the top of the floating shaft, like a small floating island, was the actual meeting area where the soul gem pedistal and other structures stood. There were four spokes that led to this area. And the island itself was in fact help up by thick diagonal spars inside the central shaft.

The path of truth at the bottom actually had three opening on it, openings that led to the shaft. It seemed an infinite drop downwards, however the walls themselves were rocky enough that any such as Ameena gifted in climbing could potentially climb. And Petal could fly up the shaft if she wished. And Falkor, or anyone who could use the cloak or dwelt i nthe ethereal planes, could of course simply move with ease up this blind spot.

The path of light was a direct path that cut from the start of the bottom of the spool to the inneredge of the top of the spool. It lead directly to one of the four spokes to the inner island. However, Westian knew that even with the puzzle solved, there was a danger. for some reason Dolo's essense was residing along that path. Why he chose to lie in wait there was unclear, but he was there, and any who attempted that path were sure to face him. The path of reason curled all aroudn the outside of the shaft, moving from the bottom of the spool to the top of the spool in a spiral. This path seemed to be the one the soldiers, too, had used, for Westian knew there were creatures - the grak grak - apparently stalking the corridor, and guarding it.

On the top of the spool, in the anti-chamber, were the normal blackskull soldiers patrolling. And Westian coudl even feel - vaguely for now - that the Blackskull leaders were in the central meeting room. He could feel that there were other soldiers in there too, but the four main foes - dark priest, the exotic third in command who now acted as second, and was allied with Solo, the orcish fake-Gholst who was the real second in command, and had temporarily opposed Gholsts plans, and finally the combined form of Theron and Gholst - overrode his odd memories and senses.

And then, a face flashed before him. A face it took a moment to place, and was a sad surprise when it did. It was the face of Passin, the soldier the group had captured and attempt to turn fro mthe dark path of the blackskulls. He had apparently returned to his masters. And for some reason, Westian could feel the that the focus of the meeting was currently upon that man.


So to OB, yeah, I was gunna bring back Passin in one form or another, given you specifically asked for him, I knew I could actually go with one of the plans that would most pay off his character and previous actions, without you guys going 'huh? Who was he again?'

To the rest of you - yeah, I might need to do some form of map to make it clear what I mean, but that's the basics. Imagine the spool for some thread, stand it up, imagine you're at the bottom, at there's a winding path, a central blankness, and a quick path to get you to the top. And imagien the top is divided in to the actual top part, and then there's a second little part in the dead centre you actually wanna get to.

All clear? Yeah, ok, I'll generate a map at some point :p

[raixel]

Petal smiles at Ameena when the murafu speaks of friendship. "Just so, murafu friend, just so." She is about to explain the concept of Chaos' mirrors to the murafu, but Deephld beats her to it, so as he explains she turns to Haynuus, smiling at the orc--man's copying of her accent.

"Ahh, good, learned you have in the order of words to speak that is correct!" she tells him, teasingly. "Understand I do not, how know what the sentence is about, speakers of Common do, when backwards it is!"

Deephold turns back to her and talks to her of the little Chaos, and she nods. "Yes, possible it is that overtake him, the Disbalanced One's nature will, now that free from my influence he is." The pixie shrugs. "But, a chance it is we must take, for if given the chance to find Balance he is, then let him we should. Just because of his form and creation to kill him, not a good thing it would be. If in peace he goes, then let him, I say. And, yes, perhaps see him again I will, someday. If in Disbalance he walks, then deal with that, I will. But to condemn just because of his nature, I will not." She looks at the trolins as she says this last sentence, realization dwaning on her face. A realization that quickly disappears to be replaced by irritation at the trolin king's words, especially when he speaks of being the "bigger creature".

But she ignores him, as one would ignore an insignificant insect, instead turning to her friends and nodding.

"thank you I do, for understanding."

[oh_brother]

As Haynuus started to adopt the speech patterns of the pixie Westian briefly wondered if the circlet was starting to break down. Or if he was now being fed ideas by sylvan kings. Either way Petal laughed, and so it helped to break some of the tension that had been building.

“You did well to escape one of his mirrors, and to overcome an aspect of the Dark Lord. For that alone I would be happy to have you by our side for the coming confrontation” he smiled. As Deephold explained the mechanisms of the mirrors and the concept of gesalt Westian would occasionally nod sagely, his arms folded in front of his chest as if he was fully aware of the mechanisms.

The vague residue of their time in the Path of Truth was not fading as Westian expected it would. Instead his mind was reaching out, seeing outlines that were beyond his sight. As the others chatted away he became quiet, focused on what he could perceive around them. When the conversation died down he began to speak.

“Does anyone else feel different after that ordeal? I feel as though I still have some slight connection to Truth, though I am unsure how long that will last. It could just be an echo of what has gone before.”

Ok, so Assume Westian will describe the general outline of the area as explained by Beo. He will not mention people climbing/flying separately, since it would not really occur to him to split up the group without a good reason.

[ian_scho]

With Westian's speech Haynuus raised an eyebrow as it began... Then there were two eyebrows raised as he claimed to have an 'after effect' from their ordeal on the path. Finally he had his mouth full open as he listened to Westian's detailed description of what was before them and the beings that were about the structure. He didn't want to say it here but he thought that if he continued to hear the mind of others then he would surely perish in a crumpled pile of insanity.

He raises a finger and suggests. "Perhaps we should approach the path that Do... The twisted elf is inhabiting. Not for want of revenge or a just cleansing but there could probably be less blood shed that route." He pauses for a second and wonders if the trolins were better against dark warriors than against Dolo's tricks. "Maybe the trolins that have passed the previous test are more resilient to the mind-magicks of that dark priest."

More discreetly now he asks the pixie and the dwarf "Petal & Deephold... Could you... Assay these potions for me?" and hence pulls out an earth coloured potion, a red potion, a yellow potion, a green potion all originally from Soorec. "I picked them up a while ago and wonder if they would be any good in the final fight."
OOC - I just realised that Ameena wasn't the only one who had obtained trinkets from over a year of phpBB travelling!

[Ameena]

Ameena listens with interest as Westian describes what's to come.
"You know all that?" she says, fascinated. "Maybe we'd better try and find out as much as we can in case it...wears off, or something. So it's a big tall tower, sort of thing? So do you think we can climb it? I suppose Petal could fly up it. I think I'd rather not go near...you know...if we can help it. If he doesn't know we're here then maybe we won't have to worry about him because it means he won't come looking for us. Maybe we should go on around to the bottom of this...tower thing...and have a look around. Maybe there's a way up from there."

[ian_scho]

"The soldiers may see us the other route though." Haynuus pointed out while picking his nose. He then got a mental prod from his circlet to stop 'digging' while talking to other people. "I'm just concerned that if Westian is still linked to those people around him he may feel a certain amount of suffering if one of us gets disembowled..."

[raixel]

Petal nods to Westian, but doesnt add anything further, having already discussed why she feels different. But when Westian starts descibing the layout of the area, her eyes grow wide. "Know you this becuase on the path of Truth happened something did to change you?" she asks him.

"Still you should be, and look you over I will." The pixie flies over to him and examines his using her second sight, lookin for any changes to his mana or how his mana links to the flow of the Life Stream. The name I came up with for what Petal sees generally around her all the time when she uses her sight "Wish I do that Master Alorthin was here. Even though have more raw strength I do, wiser and more studied he is." Petal mutters to herself. She casts her mind back to anything she has studied that might be of use here.

After she is done, she sees Haynuus pull out the potions. "Yes, some glass vials dound I did, near the evil gnome they were. An idea i have. Everyones tems we should take out, and stock we should all take of everything we have. Surprising it can be, what may be useful, or perhaps find you will something tucked away in a pocket that forgotten it had been." she tells everyone/

K, so tahts basically an IC way of saying lrets all look at our chr sheets and ID anything that we dont know what it is,.

Know arc(or religion)/ Petal's magic sight (1d20+8=19, 1d20+8=18)

[ian_scho]

Haynuus happily shares what he has with the others, but at the bottom of his rucksack, perhaps not so accidentally forgotten was a canvass sheet holding his treasured screamer spawn. He adds a piece of fantastic fruit (heals 2d6 hit points and also 1d3 ability points) as the only other useful item that he has been carrying.

[raixel]

Petal rummages through her satchel.

"Not much I have, as to escape the Disbalanced one with my life, I was lucky. But find these I did. Think I do that belonged to the gnome they did." So saying, she places three empty flasks near Haynuus' items. "Useful they may be, for a potion to make."

"And also, found I did this, shortly after escaping. Looked at it close, I have not. Perhaps some mana it has."

The pixie takes a signet ring much too large for her out of her bag and tosses it with the other items.

[beowuuf]

The Trolin King looks to Haynuus's comment. "Yes, dark priest not see us feebleminded anyway. Now he never touch our minds! We come through puzzle of god, when I know they cheat. They have Grey Lord's other mage with them!" The King nods, happy.

Deephold is busy looking to Westian to start with, appraising the cleric. Clearly from the time their minds were joined, Deephold knew what Westian had attempted, and why he might still be more connected. "Do you feel...yourself, still?" asked the dwarf with concern. While Deephold was cearly worried for Westian - of course, the dwarf now knew how easily Westian shifted and hi his true feelings - Deephold perhaps also understood the risk Westian had taken. The dwarf seemed concerned for Westian, rather than of him. "I will watch for your actions, if you worry for your mind," he said quietly.

Petal too takes an interest in Westian, after speaking with Deephold regarding her own feelings on the entity she may have freed. She looks to Westian to see if anything has changed. Of course, it takes a moment to realise that while he seemes different, it is not necenssarily because of him. Petal, too, was explosed - in a less consenting way - to the effect of the path of truth. For the moment, she can feel the odd ripples and connections that link her to those around her, barely perceptible and unusable the connections ot the area. Westian seems to have these tendrils in a more uniform distribution all around, and Ameena seems to have them too, wrapped around Helm. How long these will last for - if they are permenant, or just while in this area - Petal is unsure. They seem so delicate, they don't feel as if they would last, but she also knows the true power of mana and its flow is deceptive. And, of cours,e it could well be Petal herself that is forming them in her mind, for all she knows of the magics of High Lords.

Deephold and Petal are then drawn to the items Haynuus profers. While they are so distracted, Helm nods at Ameena's comments regarding looking around, althoguh clearly there is still some hesitation to commit to an action. "We can't really climb, but maybe we can...attach ropes? In case we fall at the top?" The thief looks a little embarrassed at the thought, but there is some logic - after all, clearly there is the possibility of being tossed down in to the void of this place if any fighting occurs higher.

Falkor of course is able to note that there are spirits - perhaps onces that can, once more, aid them passed the paths. They might be willing and able to fight the grak-graks or the dark priest, althoguh it is most likely they would wish to strike at the blackskull soldiers themselves, the recogniseable symbol of Lord Chaos, the one who struck them all down in life.

The group all start taking out their items as Haynuus's investigations draw them in. Previous they had identified Ameena's, althoguh as they looked at them there was a slight shudder as a memory that was not a memory settled in to each person, some stronger than others, that they could recall exactly what each did. The thin black wand Ameena had indeed could project the push effect of magic, yet for example Petal remembered - rather than felt - that it had three charges.

Westian, did you lose the black onyx pommelled sword? I know you took on the staff earlier, but did you drop the sword for it?

Haynuus did not even need Deephold and Petal to confirm, and they did not truly need to access their own knowledge and powers to do it, but they knew the potions Haynuus carried around. He possessed a powerful, concentrated Stengeth potion (+9 to strength or 22 strength, whichever lowest, for 10 rounds, bonus cannot be higher than remaining duration (so +5 bonus for 5 rounds remaining, for example) and a powerful serum of raw mana (you can cast one extra 4th level spell and one 0-level effect extra. Non-mages can attempt a 0-level effect that they can rationalise narratively, using a roll against a base knowldge skill with a +4 bonus). The green potion was an anti-venom, capable of curing most poisons. The earth potion, as Haynuus had previous suspected, was a false item, one that would drain the energy of whoever drank it (6d6 hit points non-lethal damage from directly drinking it all, up to 3d6 if you can throw it and make the target absorb it.) Haynuus, too, had a small unremarkable compass of Brighteye's, as well as the one he had found before. Brighteye's compass infact pointed in the direction of the grak-grak that the diminutive mage had thought about, a way to locate those unconcsious or trapped.

Falkor had a few items. His cloak's power to travel through the ether had become known, and the core group reliased that it was Theron's own cloak - somehow connected to the ghostly girl tsome of them had seen before. It was activated by invoking the name of Librasulus, an odd choice, and it had a scant few minutes of travel left to it. Falkor also had a scroll that could unleash a powerful version of a poison cloud on the unsuspecting, and also had two wands that had caused the inital trouble with Soorec when Falkor did not wish the small mage to have them back. One still possessed a charge of the ability to petrify an opponent, a grizzly fate if allowed to fully happen. The other possessed the ability to cast either darkness, or a dark fireball at a foe. (Both are the equivalent of a 4th level effect, the poison cloud is level 9)

Westian's own staff possessed the ability to heal the wielder (2 x (spell slots given up -1) hit points restored in one go.), but could also be used to invoke fear or reason in natural and unnatural creatures (allows an intimidate check to 'turn' animals, or +1 on humanoid foes, including undead. This is a tweak from when Westian last used it.)

All the other items had odd sentimental or intellectual cues to their origins, however aside from the globe that clearly was the Grey Lord's own devicefor augmenting his true sight skills, with a built in protection against use by others of making them see only their strongest desires in strange ways, there seemed ot be nothing else they could easily use in this situation. Fro example, Petal realises the signet ring is simple a strange triffle from a human lord, one enamoured with puzzles. The signet actually opens if pressed and twisted a certain way for what could be poison or rare extracts, yet currently holds nothing. Was there any use for such a bauble?

Yeah, Filius shout out there. So sue me

Anyway, that's kinda where it's at. Empty flasks are a good thing to get together now. You might want to decide what potions you'd like to consume right now - do weaker guys need ot be given stamina potions, or skill potions? And do you need to start marshalling healing potions and distributing them?

[Ameena]

OOC - Can I assume, therefore, that Ameena's empty flask is refilled? Will it be an Um-level (2d6) healing potion like the previous one? She still has one Um-level potion on her. Did the black cloth, magnetic stones, and ceremonial knife not have anything particularly special about them, then? If there's anyone who can use any of this stuff better than Ameena (for example, someone like Petal might find the wand more useful...?), you can assume she'll let you take it if you give her a halfway-decent reason (not hard ). I'll just need to amend on my character sheet any relevant changes . I'm thinking we're gonna have one hell of a confrontation coming up once we get up there - sounds like we've got Dolo, Garax, Dargat, and Gholst/Theron to worry about, plus poor ol' Passin stuck up there too, whatever's happening to him, whichever side he's ended up on. Regarding IC contributions, there isn't much more Ameena can really offer for now since all this stuff is pretty much sailing waaaay over her head, all this time-travel stuff (she still doesn't understand that) and various magic-users doing weird shit all over the place, and stuff. She'll just stay snuggled up to Helm for as long as he's willing to keep hold of her, and then stay close after that unless he actually says he wants her not to .

[beowuuf]

No, there's just nothing to add from what was assessed before entering the path. Remember there were some good assessment rolls for your items. All I added was a charge state to the wand really.

Edit: And yeah, there's a reason this thread was titled 'finale' There were ways to increase everyone's power, or decrease the power/presence of the evil guys. Some of those opportunities have slipped by, but of course it's not liek you don't have a decent set of tools. And a good knowledge of a lot of what's going on in the background.

Really, it's up to you lot to figure out how you want to approach all this. I reckon you want to be thinking about the end goal here. Is it distraction while someone finds the last soul gem piece and figures out how to combine it all? Is that a mistake? Can you do anything regarding the splits in the blackskulls, or has that ship sailed with Soorec's death? Can you manage to take out people one at a time somehow? Are there clever ways to use what you have at your disposal? Is there an out of the box way to go about this? What exactly is the end result you think you need? Lots of fun stuff to think about and debate, that is for sure!

[Ameena]

OOC - Well basically, I reckon it's a matter of dealing with Gholst in some way so that he can't kill Theron like he did before (or rather, will would have already has done in two weeks, or something), and putting the Soulstone together. Then the Grey Lord can just sort everything out . Okay so that still means we have to get past Dolo, and Garax, and Dargat, and any Blackskulls who are out there...and I imagine those remaining grak-graks are possibly still under Dolo's control or surely they'd be chewing through the walls right now in their berserk state .

[ian_scho]

OOC - a non 'tactics' post for now. I need to work! Will try to post again tonight.

Haynuus offers his serum of raw mana (you can cast one extra 4th level spell and one 0-level effect extra. Non-mages can attempt a 0-level effect that they can rationalise narratively, using a roll against a base knowldge skill with a +4 bonus) to Petal. It was a symbolic gift of trust and friendship. Plus, he'd seen some rather angry fireballs come from her way recently and would like to see a little more!

He also possessed an earth potion that would magically drain those that came in contact with it (6d6 hit points non-lethal damage from directly drinking it all, up to 3d6 if you can throw it and make the target absorb it.) and brought both Helm and Ameena together about it. "Perhaps you could both find some better use for it. Apply it on your weapons or shove it down the throat of Do... You-know-who." He was always amazed by in his mind the sheer deviousness of these rogues. Maybe they could apply their intellect and use it to good effect.

Finally he realised that he possessed an empty flask, and put that in the pool of items.

OOC - He possesses a 'spare' TH sword as well, just realised.