TIME'S CHAMPIONS: THE FINALE (STORY THREAD)

[beowuuf]

Westian opened himself up to his foe. It was apparently a move that surprised the mind at the receiveing end. The mind of the dark priest felt as if it were in a strange balancing act, and clearly the mind was in great tension. Westian had felt of the death of the mage Soorec throug hthe minds of the others. Clearly the dark elf was now controlling the grak-graks, and yet that was an effort. Westian could feel the barely suppressed rage and hunger for death those foul creatures reeked. There was fear in that, in dolo barely riding the wave of that and keeping the leash of such powerful and dangerous creatures. For some reason, Dolo was focused on keeping two of them absolutely calm and controlled in the room where he was. Why were those two important compared to the rest so close? And himself, there seemed to be an effort to keep himself controlled and outwardly calm.

And for some reason, there was fear in failing to do those last two things. What was happening in the central room?

At least with some small satisfaction, Westian could feel the rest of the fears of Dolo focused on the group coming close. Depsite his words and tones, he was terrified. Of their interference, of being able to defeat them. However, the satisfaction turned when Westian realised that Dolo was a cornered animal. One so used to dealing in the fears of others had a pathelogical hatred of his own. He was close to a breaking point, and so he was doing something he would nevre have done before.

Westian realised the fears attackign the group, the crushing fist of fear trying to create a crack, was Dolo's own. Dolo's darkest fears were being manifest, his strangest night terrors he could not explain were being unleashed upon the group. Dolo had managed to get inside everyone's mind. They had resisted and proved their own worth against their own fears. Now, he would try to tear them down with his own lapses, his own mental weaknesses. It was a risky gamble, and yet it was terrifyingly powerful. Could he drag them all down using the weight and depths of his fears? Impose them upon the group and illeviate them from himself? They certainly had given him the ability - after all, they had been focused on him and fighting their fear of what he could do to them.

Worse yet, Westian could already feel his mind reluctant to break the link with the surroundings, and with Dolo himself.


Yup, you are being cordially invited in to Dolo's own subconscious. Expect hijinks to ensue sooner rather than later. OB, pushing your spooky connection powers and rolling a middling will save means you are going to find it hard to win initiative ever again. Westian's mind will always have a slight delay in focusing on the immediiacy of his own situation. Worse, whatever happens to Dolo, expect some psychic or physical backlash on yourself. Plus side? Might be easier to figure out how to beat Dolo knowing the twist in his attack strategy compared to previous attempts.


Meanwhile outside of Westian's head, Ameena heard everyone else agree in one way or another that they were seeing the same thing. Deephold agreed that this was most likely an illusion aswell, already murmering prayers against the falseness of those who followed Lilith and Lolth. Ameena definitely felt out of it, while the world seemed real, and not like the illusions Ameena had faced before, nothing told her that this was anything other than illusion. In Helm's mind, though, she felt the echoes of something strange. Helm was recalling nightmares where no matter how many times he felt things were real and terrifying, and then woke up, it seemed he woke up once more in a dream. This recurrsive idea, of hiding unreality in unreality, seemed to be causing a panic in the man. He was trying to think strong, good thoughts, and stood closer to the murafu trusting her, but already the seeds of doubt were in his mind. Would they be breaking an illusion just to be in another illsion. Was anything he had seen previous even real?

Haynuus had drawn his weapon, but help back to look to the rest, rather than move forwards. Surely all these priestly illusions the fanatics were better equipped to handle. Instead Haynuus stayed back to keep an eye on the rest of the group. Unfortunately, they all seemed to be just as focused on keeping an eye on each other, especially given the announcement that everything was most likely an illusion. Unfortunately, that really gave Haynuus nothing concrete to focus on. It was quite late that he realised the darkness was coming back again. Or rather, the far huge walls also seemed to be receeding. Were they getting smaller still? Then it became obvious that actually, the walls had simply gone. The group were now on a much narrower walkway. Left and right were bottomless falls. Had the priest led them further up the walkway than they thought? Could they actually fall away, or was this another trick?

Everyone began to feel lighter. That their bodies were so insignificant and small and weak that they could blow apart or blow away.

Petal is perhaps the last to feel the effects, though they are distracting and disconcerting when she does finally feel them. Before then, she had tried to focus on the surroundings. Usually, an illusion can be disrupted by touch. There are phantasms that can be created that hook in to a person's imagination, and can inflict harm. However, something feels wrong about the spider in front of them. The whole place feels wrong, she knows the magic to reduce somehting in size would be that of a High Lord, or would only be done upon one person at a time. To shrink a whole group without a flicker of mana being detected by Petal was ridiculous. It had to be an illusion, the web of the dark priest.

And yet, something was wrong with the spider in front of them...

The spider moved swiftly forwards to the front rank of the group, facing off against deephold, Aurek and Westian. While Aurek and Deephold shifted yet tried to keep composure, Westian was still locked in to his own thoughts. There was a swift strike out of the spider, and suddenly Wetian was knocked the the ground. A bloodstain poured from his side.


And Westian loses 13hp. Sorry OB! And yeah, you have a huge spider in front of you being menacing. Raixel, Petal's arcana roll will carry forwards in this encounter, for some other thigns I might reveal or other questions you might like to ask. Anyway, that;s probably enough for the moment!

[Ameena]

Feeling the thoughts and fears emanating from Helm, and though not really sure why but intending to do something about it anyway, Ameena gets closer to him, standing upright and attempting to scramble up onto him, to get her muzzle close to one of his ears.
"It's not real." she says. "But I'm real. I'm here, and I'm not leaving. I think that spider is him. I think that's what he's making himself look like, to try and scare us. I think if that spider tries to hurt us it won't really be our bodies but our minds he's attacking. Just think - this isn't real but everything outside it is. There is still a real world out there - where do you think we came from? You can't get trapped in a dream because you're not asleep. It's just our eyes that have gone strange, with strange things being put in front of them and so they're trying to tell our minds it's real. But it isn't - I didn't feel the place getting bigger, or us getting smaller. I know I don't understand magic much, but I'm sure I would feel something. And I don't think he's got enough magic to shrink all of us, anyway. See, it's what he's trying to do - make you think bad things. If he tries to hurt you, I'll get in the way. He doesn't understand people helping each other. That would confuse him, I think."
She looks around as the scene seems to change, the group now appearing to be on a high ledge. Is this supposed to scare her? Murafu, like the rats they so closely resemble, are excellent climbers. What fear does height hold?
Then the spider reaches the group and lashes out at Westian. Were she in a group of fellow murafu at this point, one of them under attack from a predator Ameena knows that they would try to distract the creature, drive it off, show it there's no meal to be had here. A whole cluster of murafu can cause a predator several times larger than them to flee and have to find food elsewhere.
This thought in mind, she pulls out her knife and leaps across from Helm, lashing out at the tip of the nearest of the spider's many legs.

OOC - Ameena lunges at the nearest bit of spider it's possible to reach - she's not going for the kill, more the "sod off you bastard or I'll poke you even harder". Attack roll = 15 (6+9). Assuming no combat advantage as I'm not flanking or anything, so I won't roll Sneak Attack or anything.

[oh_brother]

Westian barely noticed the blood seeping into his robes, merely staring blankly at it. The others all seemed to have been ignoring the spider, maybe that was what saved them. Or maybe it was a representation of Dolo’s consciousness, and the closeness of their minds enabled the dark priest to inflict real wounds.

Whatever the truth Westian attempted to ignore the creature, instead focusing on Dolo. He imagined in as much detail as he could the grak-graks running wild in the chamber. Why do you want them calm? he whispered. Are you pretending that Soorec is still alive? What would happen if the others knew you had killed the gnome? Westian focused on these thoughts, trying to distract the mind of the priest as much as possible, in the hope he would slip up either here or is his physical body.

Ok, risky ignoring the spider I know, but wanted to hit out at the root of the problem. Also, when I say Dolo in the text that is just because it easier, Westian is not thinking of his name.

[beowuuf]

So noted regarding Dolo. Luckily Ameena attacked the spider, so even if it's real, she's pulling agro. Not that's it's real, right?

Glad you took the rrisk though, because Westian's guess at what's going on...yeah, looking forward to the next update!

[ian_scho]

Haynuus's preconception of what was going on just exploded. Witnessing Westian being struck down by the spider spurred him into action, and into his more natural state - Haynuus was a fighter and supposed to be protecting his master. The idea of this thing being an illusion was not completely cast out of his mind, however.

He motioned to Uumack to follow behind and stepped out inbetween the spider and his charge. Ameena was there already. It was watching her diminuitive figure attack this huge creature that made him remember an old orcish saying. Even a tall fortress can be scaled by throwing many corpses at it's feet. "Quick Uumack, grab a leg! Everyone, if this trick is to be broken we can all work together on it."

With that he insanely sheathed his sword and jumped at a furry leg. It's hair was not like an animals that he knew as this was much thicker and harder, but despite that the thickness of the leg was just perfect for wrapping your arms around and screaming like an insane bezerker. "To the floor!"

Grapple check (1d20+4=16, 1d20=4, 1d20=7) No time for me to work out the rules for now so have some numbers Maybe could use the last one for a diplomacy check or summat.

[beowuuf]

For Westian, ignoring the pain was scarily easy...would his consciousness just one day disperse in to the surroundings, letting the tiny pin point of his body go? Still, for now he was still a consciousness, and he focused all of it against the dark priest. He sent mocking, testing images and pushed at the very heart of one of Dolo's fears.

There were no words, instead there was an ear shattering howl of ice and wind and noise as if a giant beast just below them, under the path of light, had awoken and bellowed its hatred of the world. Westian's mind would only later point out that no one else had reacted, nor had anything moved his clothing. That, definitely, was some mental manifestation of anger for Westian's mind alone.

In Westian's mind's eye, he imagined a crack opening up in the wall that was Dolo's mind. Every word Westian had said the elf knew for certain was truly terrifying to Dolo. The howl in Westian's ears was a manifestation of the less primal and utmost conscious fears in the dark elf. Dolo had opened up his mind to try and deluge the party in his own subconscious, but Westian had taken that wave and pushed it back at Dolo by realising every fear Dolo had. Dolo had killed Soorec, an act that obviously he felt terrified in sharing. Westian had proved that not only were the party not being delayed, if Westian could strike directly back to Dolo's mind, but that the party apparently knew exactly what to reveal to destroy the dark priest in front of the blackskulls.

And then, in the pit of Westian's soul, he felt an agony that was not just physical, one he could not try to block out...

Back in the real world, Ameena had darted forwwards to protect her friend, stabbing down at the 'spider' leg. Whatever her expectations might have been, her blow sunk in to the leg as if it were real, although it felt as if the leg were tough, and her small knife barely intruded. The spider turned from Westian, and legs started flailing at Ameena.

However, that distraction allowed Haynuus and Uumack behind to barrel in to the creature, Haynuus grabbing limbs with more enthusiasm than skill, but luckily taking the creature by surprise. Uumack simply dropped his club and aimed for the head to blind the creature, wrapping his arms very effectively around it. Guree fired off a shot, but scared of hitting anyone it went wide.

It took a moment to realise that the spider was screaming. Another moment before the spider's facade fell away to reveal the face of Dolo. Not the Dolo as he had tried to manifest to Ameena and Haynuus in captivity, the strong paladin, but the one the group had seen under it, the one Westian had first encountered. A broken, sunken faced elf wearing the pain of his form and the empotiness of his existence on every etched feature. It took a longer moment to realise that the walls and floor, and even the illumination, had restored itself back to the previous levels.

The reason for the delay in realisation was that the form of Dolo that Ameena had stabbed, that Haynuus and Uumack were clinging on to, did not stay that way for long. The face rippled and melted and Ameena's face - except with larger teeth and burning red eyes under black fur - tried to snap at her altered reflection. And then the face became Haynuus, a mocking and angry face instead of the resigned and kindly face the half-orc wore. For a moment the face melted in to the face of Petal, gain red eyes and the start of a horned helm, an echo of the thing all had seen before.

And then there was the face of a grak-grak, fearyres in flux, barely controlled. And then, the thing opened its mouth and screamed again. It screamed in agony, and none of the party had ever seen it do such a thing, even in death. Certainly it seemed as if the things could not feel pain. It screamed again, Westian's face melting to Dolo's face all to easily, as if all that was required wasa trick of the light and a flicker of shadows. And then the grak-grak's face was sen again. It opened its mouth and screamed, and two giant manibles erupted with a spray of black ichor. Its empty eye cockets sounded as if in terror, and every time they blinked obscenely, two more empty sockets were visible coming from the folds of its face. Until eight holes blinked out of sequence on its head, one 'eye always on one of the party tryign to assault it. The was a screech next from the strange mouth, and areas of its flesh were torn open, limbs bisected carelessly. Its body fro mthe neck down was torn apart, yet hung together.

Once more, a spider was seen, this one grotesque and all too real. Haynuus, Uumack and Ameena could feel a chill in the air, and the air steamed as each breathed out, a lair of frostforming on the broken grak-grak.

The rear of the party had not been able to move forwards yet to see what was happening. Helm had moved forwards with surprise at his own actions to pull Ameena back, but had been frozen in terror at the sight before them. Westian, Deephold and Aurek had oddly not moved to attack. Westian was standing straight, still lost in some world despite his flowing wound. Deephold and Aurek were doubled over in some odd pain.

"What is it?" asked Aurek.

"Lolth," said Deephold, simply. "The demon queen...is...trying to manifest..."

Westian, locked in his psychic link with Dolo, could hear the words coming from some distance yet knew it was true. Dolo's fears had finally come back upon him, and the demon queen's disgust was a physical blow to those opposed to her. And clearly, she was going to use the dark priest's final weakness to claim him and put his flesh and connections to a better use. As a conduit for herself. AS a way to bring an avatar in to the heart of the Grey Lord's domain.

And we'll leave it there. So yeah, Westian has managed to turn all that fear back on Dolo, which seems to have broken the priest's mind. And yes, if that seems like a little too easy a victory, then I'm sure you'll agree that a demon deciding to try and take on an avatar directly is probably not a good thing. Westian is locked in a psychic battle with what's left of Dolo's brain now. Can he use that connection for some good, or break the connection to aid the party? Can the rest of the party do something physical, magical and spiritual combined ot stop bad stuff from happening before it happens?

Who knows! Fun to find out!

Edit: Gah! Why didn't this post? I'm an idiot! Sorry Thought I'd hit sumbit!

[Ameena]

OOC - Demon? She's a goddess - she's only known as the "Demon Queen". Ohhh shit...hrmm but still, this is just the body of a grak-grak we've got here, right? Because Dolo's is upstairs in the main room. Healing potions, anyone? Oh wait, but it's not really in anyone's form yet is it...okay, Larethian-followers, go-go-gadget Holy Magic Vs Evil Deity!

BIC - Ameena stares at the shifting form in front of her. It appears that the "spider" is in fact a grak-grak, yet something seems to have gone wrong - it can't seem to decide on a shape. The person controlling it must be losing that control. A good thing, perhaps? Surely the group can manage to defeat one single grak-grak? But what is making it do this? Has a certain someone become distracted, somehow? Has a member of the group managed to do something magical to affect the grak-grak in this way? Ameena's pretty sure it wasn't her paltry knife attack which caused this. Deephold's comment only causes more confusion.
She backs away a little from the figure, now unsure of what to do. Should she strike at it again? Not sure how to react physically, she instead does so verbally.
"What's happening?" she asks the group at large, though keeping her gaze fixed on the predatory creature in front of her. "Is that a grak-grak? Can we stop it? What's a Lolth? What's a deemun-kween? A big spider-creature? Is he trying to turn it into a real big spider-creature to try and hurt us? But it's still a grak-grak...isn't it?"

[beowuuf]

DM world. Names are the same, but some things are altered. Lilith and Lolth are the two aspects of Lolth on the D&D world, all the goddess stuff is shifted to Lilith. At least, that's how I was pitching it. never really needed to get in to it! You up for D&D later?

[Ameena]

OOC - I dunno about Lilith but I know Lolth is the spider-goddess known as the "Demon Queen" and is primarily the deity worshipped by the Drow, some of whom are half-spider-looking things called, I think, "Driders"...think a centaur but instead of human/horse it's Drow/spider. But yeah...I hadn't thought of that - as this is a crossover I suppose she doesn't have to be a goddess in the DM world. That's a relief then . And yeah, we can do some DnD later if you're about . I've been trying to think of some ideas for what can happen next...I think I have a vague idea as to what will happen in the next session. I need to try and make some time for thinking about DnD stuff in between stuff like Mouse Guard and all the other games I have on the go atm .

[oh_brother]

The shock of Dolo's demise startled Westian's mind. He slowly brought his now weakened senses back to the real world, localised in the point of space and time where his body lay.

The rapid changes of form reminded him of something. Grak-graks. That awful sound was enough to stir him to his senses, as he watched the faces flick from one form to the other. Deephold's mention of the demon queen - repeated by Ameena - caused pure terror to flow through him.

He screamed and held forth his staff, as if he could ward away a queen of demons. But, she needed an avatar. No matter her power, if her physical forms were disrupted maybe she would not be able to manifest in this world. Bleeding, emotionally and physically exhausted and drenched in sweat he summoned what was left of his strength. If he could not repel Lolth maybe he could repel the body she was taking.

"By Larethian, by all that is good and holy, you shall find no refuge among the living". He feebly held his staff in front of his body - his frail, bloody form in direct contrast with his strong words.

Turning on grak-grak (assuming it is a grak-grak!) was 15 + 14 + 6 (0-level effects) = 35. I think I can use all 6 0-level effects in one go? In the roll on IC I said "as many as I can, up to a max of +6".

[beowuuf]

Dolo's not dead...yet... though his mind is clearly taken a beating.


Westian tried to pull free, but felt a tug and realised he was still locked. Dolo was not quite dead, though the elf's mind could well be wrecked by so much amplified fear washing back. He had half a mind back in what was happening - including the ache of his wounds and the terror of the situation - and half still feelign what Dolo was feeling, and even seeing what Dolo was seeing. A room where sudden't the other grak-grak had broken their duplicitous calm, and were too crying out and splitting apart to the shock and fury of the high command in the room.

Westian prayed to Larethian, and was answered by a pure feeling of calm and purpose. Dolo and Westian were like twisted mirror images of each other, both elves currently wounded in body and feelign the spiritual pain of Lolth's attempt to intrude here. However, while Dolo kept finding the weakness of spirit inside himself, Westian found a core of strength he had not previously needed to find until recently. No matter how feebly his body reacted, his spirit said otherwise.

Deephold's hand wrapped around Westian's wrist, holding the staff up higher. Aurek had come to Westian's other side, pressing one hand in to Westian's wound while the paladin used his other hand nad body to hold Westian up to full height.

"By Larethian Corelloon's grace!" yelled Deephold.

The grak-grak moaned and toppled backwards, and more Trolins poured forwards on the Trolin King's orders to pile on to the creature and pin it down successfully, Haynuus on the bottom of the pile.

Aurek had said nothing himself, althoguh clearly his internal thoughts had been the same as Deephold's/ However, he had turned the power invoked back upon Westian, Larethian's grace healing Westian's wound as if it had never been. Westian also realised his mind had been pulled bakc, but his companions, to the present. For now,of course.


Very nice roll there OB. Boosting it from 29 to 35 is not only acceptable, but encounter tipping. So that's cool. Ok, grak-grak neutralised by Haynuus, Uumack, and a few more Trolins. Westian's recovered the hit points lost earlier due to Aurek's 'Lay on Hands' ability.

I'll leave OB to answer Ameena's questions, and Deepholsd can fill in the rest I am sure. Tactically, the way is temporarily clear (maybe) to get to the top of the path of light. Althoguh Haynuus and some of the Trolins will be staying behind. Will you charge up, or move in amore circumspect manner? OOC, anything you know the others possess you want to use or try now too, or will you wait?

[Ameena]

OOC - Westy's only a half-elf, isn't he? I've sure I've seen him referred to as a plain "elf" at least twice recently...

[beowuuf]

yeah, he's a half elf, sue me for highlighting his elven side when facing a 'pure' elf :p

[oh_brother]

The boost of strength given to him by Aurek was timely and welcome, and allowed him to stand up straighter.

The words Ameena had asked moments earlier only now reached his consciousness, and he turned around slowly to face her. "Lolth is a demon, an evil creature" he said, keeping things as simple as possible since he knew the murafu did not dwell on theological matters. "A very powerful demon creature, who will kill us all without hesitation just because we do not worship her. I think that was a grak-grak, but she used its form to try to enter the world. Maybe she has taken over all the grak-graks," he finished, his mind still flicking to images of the others out of control in the leaders' meeting room.

He slowly looked back at the pile of creatures on the ground. "We need to move now" he stated simply. "And we cannot leave that thing behind us."

Ok, so how do we kill grak-graks? Just beat them to death so long as they don't have someone's form? And drink Vi potions if they do? Can we finish this guy off?

[beowuuf]

There's enough PCs being piloted as NPCs and NPC Trolins to finish off the grak-grak if you guys want to push forweards.


"As Westian said, on all counts," remarked Deephold, the dwarf's forehead red as if he had been sweating. "If I understand it, the dark priest has taken over the undead of the gnome. And Lolth could use his link as her own. Who knows what dire evil that gnome created that may give the demon queen purchase."

"'eep 'ovin'," came a muffled voice, perhaps it was Haynuus's buried under the pile of Trolins. The Trolin King himself came forwards, to the unease of Helm, Petal and Falkor.

"Let my Trolins kill this thing and catch us. We need to move!" The King looked terrified at what he had seen, but clearly his way of dealing with it was to pretend not to be and push on. It probably helped that - once more - Westian had proved his power. The other remaining Trolins behind their King showed similar fear but determination. At the very least, the determination to move forwards quickly before more disgusting foes showed up, or more illusions occurred.

"I will destroy the thing," said Aurek to Deephold and Westian, unsheathing his sword.

So there you go, I assume Haynuus won't mind staying behind with Aurek and a few Trolisn to (eventually) auto-kill the pinned grak-grak. Or at leats give the appearance that's what will happen. If you don'#t trust your DM, then you indeed beat it to death when it's in its normal form. Thoguh it is a powerful form. VI potions seems to be minorly poisoning if you can administer them to wounds. And who knows what tweaks having Lolths power inside will give. And the very least, there's some odd coldness thing happening.

Personalyl, I'd run forwards, but the choice is yours and Ameena's

[Ameena]

Ameena listesns to Westian's words. She still doesn't fully understand, but she gets enough to realise that some kind of Very Horrible Scary Creature has tried to take over the grak-graks, a creature probably worse than just about anything she's met so far down here.
And as for the other matter...
"Split up?" she asks, confusedly. "Now? With so much danger around? Why?"

[oh_brother]

"We should move before anyone else is sent to stop us. Also these paths have not been pleasant, I vote we get out of them as soon as possible" Westian answered.

"Also I felt the other grak-graks out of control, that distraction might be enough to cause them to drop their defences. We should at least scout forward and see what we are facing. The others will catch up."

[beowuuf]

The Trolin King gave an aggressive call of assent that all the rest of ther party scowled at, however Deephold and the others could only agree. Thigns could not be allowed to carry on, and they needed to ensure that the way forwards was safe.

" 'eep 'oin', " came the reassuring urgence from the bottom of the pile, as Aurek already moved to try and find a gap to see the fallen foe.

Helm came forwards ot Ameena cautiously. "We...we could be useful, checking up ahead," said the thief. Ameena could feel his fear, but could also feel his earnest wish to be useful and scout.


Will let Ameena post her actions/reactions, but assuming Westian and co at least move forwards, so will try to post a follow up update to show what's happened up ahead at the end of the path of light tomorrow morning before work.

[Ameena]

Ameena listens to the words of those around her. They are making sense, she thinks, and after all, since there seems no further threat here once the grak-grak (or whatever it now is) is dealt with, there'd be nothing to stop the others catching up, provided the rest of the group didn't get too far ahead...
She looks up at Helm. She doesn't understand entirely why she can still sense his feelings, considering they're no longer on that strange "Path of Truth", but supposes the effect is lingering for her as it is for Westian, just in a different way. This additional perspective means she can realise more fully his desires and that perhaps if he can help it might make him feel less scared.
"Yes, we can do that." she says. "We can go up ahead, together, and see what's to see."

[beowuuf]

The group moved forwards, leaving the others to their grisly task, climbing swiftly. It was a steep gradient to climb, but only deephold seemed to be feeling the shortness of his legs and the weight of his armour. Westian had kept up a good fitness regeme, and everyone else was in peak condition.

Red faced, Deephold allowed Ameena and Helm to move forwards with Westian when they arrived at the edge of ther path of light. Despite the normal light they were seeing for having solved this problem, the group could see the harsh light spilling out in to the circular area beyond. Perhaps that might mask their presence? After all, the harsh light was not creating any long shadows of those standing right behind it, speaking of its strange nature.

In the illuminated area beyond, Westian had expected to see the normal blackskull soldiers - those without the stranger faces on their armour - patrolling. Instead the large area was mostly deserted. A large circular hall was revealed, with a huge pit in the centre. That pit had a single walkway current;y visible, directly across form the path of light. And the path led to a large round wall that was the enclosure of the central meeting area. an area that contained the high command right now.

The reason for the lack of patrol was easy to hear - the howls of the grak-graks in real pain could be heard from the right, as could some human yells and sword blows. The guards the group had to worry over were temporarily diverted.

However, the chain formation of the blackskulls still held, and one soldier still stood on the far right of sight. Ameena, Helm and Westian could recognise the figure, perhaps Ameena a little quicker and Helm quickest of all. The figure was the soldier Brohur. The bully that had been intimidated by Haynuus and had followed Sergeant Arbrut, the more successful bully. For the moment he was standing looking to the right, but his manner was nervous, and clearly he might notice the group moving.


And if you want more than that, you might wanna roll perception. And even roll stealth if you want to move further out.

Anyway, a single 'guard' blocking your way from moving across, but obviously a huge group of people aren't subtle. Do you charge ahead and leave a rearguard? You might find that an idea...if only you had Trolins with you for that purpose. Although leaving them behind you would mean they can act as meatshield inside. Or you have Falkor's ghiosts, who can be used inside the leader or as guards.

[Ameena]

OOC - Did Brohur not get frazzed in that fight waaay back when Falkor threw that combat-initiating fireball? Or was it Arbrut that got ganked? Actually I recall someone being mean to the poor ill Rock Monster so maybe that was Brohur, though I don't recall what happened to him after that...the only other soldier I can remember meeting after that whole encounter with Drommel and the others was Darc, and that was after the whole business with the cute ickly baby Giant Spider .

BIC - Ameena looks around as they enter the room at the top of the ramp (OOC - Can we get a map? Or at least some rough diagram?) and notices the soldier on guard. She remembers him, and remembers his unpleasant nature. She is aware that if he notices the group, he'll most likely call attention to them by alerting other soldiers. She wonders what can be done to make sure that he doesn't notice them. Maybe she can sneak up behind him and...do something? She looks over hte area carefully, trying to decide whether such a thing might be possible.

OOC - Perception = 14 (3+11). Bleh. Hrmm, won't roll Stealth just yet if it's not necessary, as we're not moving right now. But maybe some kind of diagram of the area would be good, to show exactly the positions of these people relative to each other, and where the room is that we're trying to get to, and so on. I don't quite recall hwo Brohur acted toward Ameena in the past - was he like Drommel, seeing her as some kind of slightly-more-intelligent oversized rat, or did he properly acknowledge her sentience and intelligence and seem aware that she was just as mentally agile as those around her?

[beowuuf]

Arbrut got ganked, Brohur was the bully that followed him, and that you ran in to - along with the 'proper' elite blackskulls - at the door. It was Brohur that was indeed mean to the rock monster. He was with the other soldiers, you disappeared, and presumeably he was one of the men that took Helm backto Soorec before carrying on here. Falkor saw a little of this.

[oh_brother]

Westian looked back at the two arcane magic users. He walked away from Ameena and Helm, and spoke in a low voice.

"Petal, Falkor" he whispered. "Could you make some of us invisible for a short period of time? Enough to, say, get over to the other side and encourage the blackskull to enter the pit? Or indeed just use your magic to pull him into the pit? The noise in the other room might mean that they don't notice any shout he makes."

"We only have a small window of opportunity, it is now or never. We have no time to run this by the rest of the group and decide a course of action by committee. I need your help now, can you do this?" He looked earnestly into their eyes, searching for agreement.

As you might imagine Westian is keen to get this done soon because (i) time is short - no idea how long the distraction will last and (ii) he is worried that there will be objections about throwing someone to their death (I am looking at you Ameena! Or rather, your character, also Ameena.).

[beowuuf]

Oh, to answer the further Ameena questions, Brohur did show he assumed Ameena was intelligent, but only because he was so paranoid about everything that he was accusing her of lying about her and Helm being alone. And I believe it was indirectly mentioned by the soldier Darke a few times that Brohur would like nothing more than to take some Arbrut revenge out on the two of you. So yeah, not a pleasant guy, not one happy to see Ameena again. As for the map, will do it probably for Sunday. Need to do house stuff tonight as going out alot of tomorrow.


Petal and Falkor both came fo4rwards, to the suspicin of the Trolin King. It was lonely not having Uumack , Aurek and Haynuus right there to act as deterents, although it appeared Westian had once more earned some intimidation points himself. Guree had apparently chosen to follow the group and not remain behind, and she asked a question of the King that distracted him. It also distracted Deephold, luckily.


I want to leave this hanging for the weekend, hoping money or Raixel or both might co-incidentally come back and be able to answer for their characters. An interesting moral question, nice to see externally enforced sympathy has not lost Westian his edge


Both mages had the power - for a limited time - of invisibility, although neither could grant it beyond their own smallsphere. They would need to accompany whoever was the target. And invisibility did not reduce sound, of course. AS to the abilities of pushing and pulling, Falkor could magae both, while the more manoeuverable Petal was only able to pull thigns towards her. Such was the fate of the sorcerer, they did not study magic and therefore could onyl; invoke the priest and wizard spells that they had a natural talent for.


I think Petal has had her own verion of pacifism, and has maybe lost a little edge since the cavern. And Falkor obviously has had his experiences in the ethereal plane that might make him a little less pragmatic than he was before. Perhaps. I love the plan as a GM, but will give the weekend to allow some player reaction before forcing a move forwards Ameena, I'll resolve your side of the perception, and also make the map, on Sunday too. It will just be a rough sketchfor now, I'm keen to keep the distances and stuff narrative instead of locked down, or else we started getting bogged down in unfun mechanical stuff. I want to leave that aspect wholly in he last room!

[Ameena]

OOC - Oh yeah, I didn't want anything too specific. Just something really vague and rough showing the approximate locations of stuff in relation to other stuff .

[beowuuf]

Apolgies to Raixel in advance, I'm not sure the pragmatic/pacifist ratio of her character after mini-Chaos's departure, so the below might be off for her character. I just like needling Westian about killing people, even though he's acting against the end of the world

Petal seemed conflicted. She might not be the pacifist that Ameena was, however her mental chemistry had changed sicne the aspect of Chaos had been removed from her. The blackskull soldier was an obstacle, but was it Chaos-like to treat an unarmed enemy as if that was all that they were? Petal's abilities were only able to detect true goodness in people, not necessarily tell a truly evil human from one merely making their way in the world as bets they could.

"I can make us invisible from sight, but pull I a man to his death? I know not, Trolin-like, it seems."

Falkor indicated that there was another way, though he did not say explicitly to Westain that it amounted to the same. Falkor could go in to the ethereal plane and find the small army of ghosts. Perhaps one or two of them had powers enoguh to take hold of and pull the soldier Brohur in to the pit. Without a further word,Falkor donned his cloak and disappeared.


Ok, so of course there's issue of whether that will work. AS Petal has said, she can cloak Westian in invisibility if he wishes to try somethign directly himself, or at the very least get to the other side. There's also about to be somethign else to consider....


Meanwhile, Ameena and Helm were standing trying to decide what could be done. The trouble was that the hall was dimly lit to where Brohur was, and Ameena was, of course, closer tothe ground. What could she do? She did not wish to do anything violent to the soldier, and what else could she do? She could not wrestle him.

Sudden'y, strange mental flashes came to her mind. Of her stabbing the soldier, or putting her hand over his mouth and wrestlign with him,or simpyl rushing passed the soldier and gettign the man to give chase. It took a moment to realise that her hand had been human - it was Helm's thoughts.

"Wait here!" he said to Ameena, and she realised even as he started moving that the idiot was still feeling insecure, and that he saw this as his chance to help the others - risking his life. Ameena had even told him, 'a friend is for life, life is for friends.' Apparently, he had taken it to heart, but was still acting recklessly before fear crippled him in to inaction.


And there we go. So Falkor might be about to do somethign with ghosts, but Westian can't be sure it would work, and Ameena knows nothign about it. Westian could get Petal to make him invisible if it would help anything.

Meanwhile, you guys have Helm about to do...something... even he is not sure what. Should Ameena stop him and risk drawing attention to you all, should she rush forward and think of a quick plan to someone stop the soldier to Helm isn't harmed?

Give me reactiosn, ideas, rolls, and feel free to curse NPCs in the OOC thread :p

Edit: Oh, and Ameena, remember you have the weird magnetic stones with you. Not sure what use they can be exactly, but you keep seeming to forget they exit at tyimes liek this when you are lookign for anythign you can do against people!

[Ameena]

OOC - Yeah, I do remember about the stones...and the wand, and the black cloth, and the knife...but as you say, I'm not sure what use they can be. Ameena certainly isn't - as far as she's concerned, they're just a bunch of weird grey stones all joined together like they're stuck or something. She ahs no idea how they could be useful adn no-one else has ever suggested a use for them - presumably they have a use, or Dolo wouldn't have been keeping them in his Chest of Funky Stuff, but she has no idea what that use might be, nor whether such a use would be pleasant - after all, Dolo isn't exactly a friendly, non-violent person himself and if these things are magical, she doesn't want to accidentally trigger something really nasty that she has no control over, nor any idea how it works.

BIC - "Wait!" squeaks Ameena, but quietly, so as not to possibly attract attention from the distant guard. She had considered the action herself, of possibly running forward and attracting attention, but as she runs on four legs she would be somewhat faster than the lumbering humans on their two. She'd be faster, more agile, more able to avoid capture and to lead the human away from sight. She tries to leap toward Helm, to latch onto him and climb up toward his head to speak to him more closely, persuade him to stop. She tries to concentrate on his thoughts and feelings, urgently attempting to send some kind of sense back at him down the strange connection, get him to see her thoughts on things.
This isn't the way! I can run faster. I'll be better at this. It's good to act for your friends. If you end up dying for your friends, it's alright if they live. But dying is the last thing you'll ever do. If it happens, you should try to make sure there was no other way. If it doesn't work, if your friends are still in the same danger afterwards, you didn't achieve anything by doing it. We need to wait. Think some more. I know you want to help, but there are other ways. If someone is going to distract him, it should be me. Please think about this. I don't want to see you get hurt. I don't want to see you die.
Her thoughts growing increasingly frantic, Ameena rapidly thinks at Helm, as hard as she can, trying to tell him all this at the speed of thought, hoping the connection goes both ways and that he can feel what she feels, know what she knows right at this moment.

OOC - Any rolls needed for trying to scale Helm or for trying to "transmit" to him?

[oh_brother]

Westian moved forward to where he had stood before, seeing Helm and Ameena rush off.

"They will get seen!" Westian whispered, his eyes wide with shock. He looked back at Petal. "I don't really know what Falkor has got planned, but we really need to be able to get over there if Ameena and Helm are seen. I doubt either of them could take out a blackskull. Get ready, if any trouble starts turn us invisible so we can even the odds."

So Westian is going to see what happens, but if Ameena and/or Helm are spotted he will run forward, hopefully invisible (but even if he is not he will still go).

[beowuuf]

@Ameena: Actually, during the brief 'everyone's mind was expanded' Ameena did learn exactly what the stones were, although basically at the time I just said it confirmed what you've previously explicitly been told about them. I'll quote it on the OOC thread.


Helm tries to silently wave Ameena off as the murafu ran forwards. Ameena's head swam with the effort of thinking things, and Helm did not seem to act as if he had hear her in any way. He shook his head a little, and he did stop, allowing Ameena to get close. However, he didn't look to her, instead still looking worridly at Brohur and putting his lips to his mouth. Ameena felt that Helm might not be able to move again - his reckless courage, now he was out in the open and about to be discovered had started to desert him. Of course, that would equally apply to moving backwards too.


No rolls for transmitting, the link doesn't quite go backwards klike that, but it's a nice idea so I had him feel the edges of that and pause. More you might want to roll bluff to actually communicate with him, and also roll stealth for being closer to Brohur now. And most importantly, a plan on whatcha gunna do with an evil bullying blackskull so close, and a cowardly thief having second thoughts right beside you


Westian couldn't tell what the two were goign to do, Helm had darted forwards, and then Ameena had managed ot catch up with him, pausing the thief. Of course, that meant they were now out on their own with Brohur ready to turn at any moment!

Petal nodded regarding the invisibility, already casting it, knowing that time might be of the essence. However, the pixie seemed to wait for Westian's lead. While the two could see each other inside Petals strange evocation - Westian could see nothign with his eyes, but he realised to Petal it was as if she had woven a cloak of magic from the air and drapped it over the area. However, Westian realised that if the Trolin King and Deephold turned around from their discussions, they would see nothing of any of the group now!


Ok, holding pattern it is - though I think Ameena will act ahead of you as a player, so hopefully I can interject and you'll have somethign to react to one way or the other tomorrow!

[Ameena]

OOC - Hrmm, well I'm not sure what use the little stones could be - I presume from teh description that they're not very big, maybe like small pebbles? What can we do? Throw them at Brohur and make them stick to his armour? I don't see what use that would be if all they are is literally just small magnetic stones. Oh also...what was the intended wording of Helm putting his "lips to his mouth"? I'm pretty sure one of those words was supposed to be something else, but I haven't figured out what quite yet .

BIC - Ameena tries again to climb up Helm, now that he's stopped, so that she can speak softly into his ear. She continues to try and show him her feelings through the strange connection they seem to share, unsure of whether or not the bond works as well for him as it does for her.
"We need to be quiet!" she whispers into his ear. "He's got that big armour. I think he's stronger than you so it you tried to grab him he might push you down that big hole in the floor, or something. Maybe we can distract him and make him run off in the other direction, away from us but without looking around. Is there anything we can use?"

OOC - Stealth roll = 17 (2+15), I'm so glad I have such a large bonus there :O. And Bluff = oops...3 (1+2). Yeah, botched that one . Nice rolls I'm having tonight, eh? Is it also possible for me to try a Sense Motive to stack that with the psychich connection and tell even closer what Helm is thinking and/or likely to say or do next? I'll roll anyway, just on the off chance / So Sense Motive = 28 (17+11). That's better!