Post by TheUdjat on Sept 30, 2009 16:06:02 GMT -5
SEA GREEN
The creatures listen to Ella and to Natsumi, and there is a wave of ambient noise from the surrounding trees—whispering leaves where there is no wind, phantom creaking of ancient woods, splashing of nonexistent puddles and the pitter-patter that rain might make on wide leaves.
Abruptly, it stops. “The people will help these ones!” the harsh voice says excitedly.
“Conditionally,” the soft one interrupts. “The Speakers must be destroyed. Of this there is no doubt. But the Callers must not be harmed by missteps.”
“Must not…”
“The people know the island,” the deep voice concurs. “The people will give whatever aid is possible. But if the Speakers discover resistance, the Callers will pay the price. So the Speakers have said.”
With these words spoken, figures finally move into view, all around the clearing. At first they are tricky to make out in the thick jungle, but the wash of contrasting colors ultimately gives them away. Their skin is adorned with dull scales that reflect no light, each one possessing a different range of colors—blues and purples for one, simple brown and black for another, light green and yellow, deep bloody crimson, cold blue flecked with white. There are clearly ‘breeds’ of the creatures, which resemble the lizardmen Scaland is reputed to have, their bodies bipedal and humanoid, but definitely of a reptilian nature. Most have tails, and some have other appendages—wings, extra tails, extra arms, even two heads in one case. They wear little for clothing except in the event of armor or decorative jewelry, those ranging from natural bone and wood to carefully worked metal and gems. They are a thoroughly diverse set of creatures.
There are… quite a few of them. Perhaps fifty in the immediate vicinity.
Three of them stand out from the others. One is shorter, perhaps the dimensions of a dwarf, but even wider if this is possible—like a walking boulder. His coloring is stony grey with veins of black and red worked through the scales. The scales almost hide the armor fashioned from rock itself that he wears. Around each wrist and ankle he wears a bracelet of some sort, gems glinting on them—polished, but seemingly very old and worn.
The second sports wings and crouches in a low tree, thin and slender as a snake, his coloring pale blue in varying shades. This lizardman carries a well-fashioned bow and a leather hip quiver full of arrows, and has disproportionately large eyes, blinking and looking around at everything.
The last is somewhere between the two, of trim but not thin build, his scales mottled red, orange, and dull black. He wears little in the way of armor, but is adorned with several reddish gems and blackened metal bands. In one hand he bears a scimitar, and the other a mace—no, a thick torch, though it isn’t lit at this time. Yellow eyes seem set in a perpetual scowl.
These must be the speakers.
A deep voice resonates through the air, and although no mouth in the company moves, an intuition tells the companions that this is the short and stout one speaking. “The people will listen. Tell. How are the Speakers to be destroyed?”
“The people know of no relic,” the perched one says in the soft voice from earlier. “But if such is here, the people urge these five to take the thing away. The Speakers will take nothing more!”
[What’s the plan, folks?]
(Character Status)
Ella – 67/77 HP; DR 3/- (4 blocked), Lifedrinking 12 (Lance)
Sean – 47/47 HP; Hide from Undead
Gro-bug – 79/100 HP, DR 1/-
Henrick – 73/78 HP
Natsumi – 51/52 HP, Freedom of Movement
Antyca – No damage [Absent]
Squeeks – No damage
DARK RED
Gildas-
“Of course, of course,” Fairchild agrees. “I know trustworthy men who can be given the task. These Deathspeakers don’t have that much influence.” Asked about Henrick, the Dean sighs heavily and shakes his head. “I don’t know the particulars of Henrick’s case, but he always seemed a good man, a captain of the guard. Now the Council has declared him and others he associated with traitors to be hunted down. It seems strange to me, but it isn’t my business, and he isn’t around with these others in any event.”
“Go on. Find your fellows, and I will deal with Aurost and the guard. The Temple of St. Cuthbert—tonight.” He swallows hard, taking a deep breath to compose himself. He knows what a failure to convince Aurost could mean: his life.
The Dean rises to guide Gildas and Lockheart to the door, adopting his usual fatigued and docile expression. As the door opens, he speaks. “Yes, yes, we can speak later about this matter. I’ll contact you if something turns up, but I’m simply too busy right now, and I can’t just have legions crawling over the campus. Maybe during the holidays.” He waves a dismissive hand to emphasize the ruse, and then looks around the lobby wearily.
The Deathspeakers are there, standing even as Gildas and the others retreat. Aurost gives the Tertian contingent a cold stare and a blank expression, then turns his head to amiably regard the Dean. “Fairchild,” he says soothingly. “You are available to talk again?”
As the Tertians walk away, the conversation continues. “Aurost, can a man not even take a break to eat his repast?”
“I apologize. This matter is dear to us, however, as you know. Time should not be squandered.”
“If I starve, the university will be no easier to access. Patience.” The dean pauses. “I’ll have the secretary place a food order for me, and then we can speak. Is that acceptable?”
And so the conversation goes on. Aurost’s tone and demeanor doesn’t seem to suggest that he suspects anything beyond the obvious has happened—the Tertians have been dismissed. Hopefully the Deathspeaker has truly bought the lie—and the careful trap that the Dean will soon lay.
But for now, the trio moves out of the administration building. [Continued below.]
Lenny-
Having found the curator—and the Deathspeakers—Lenny drafts up a note to deliver to the gnome when he has left their presence, entrusting it to Hallen while he hides watching nearby. The dwarf seems hesitant based on Lenny’s warning, but goes ahead to do it nonetheless.
As the Deathspeakers and the gnome part ways, the former heading into the administration building, Hallen moves up to the curator. They have a brief exchange, and then the curator moves off in the direction of his own building, looking at the message curiously.
In a few steps, his curiosity breaks and he opens the little slip of paper. As he reads, the curator’s expression alternates between focused, annoyed, interested, and mildly perplexed. When he looks up, finished, and Lenny appears, he jumps at first, tensed for the possibility of a fight.
When Lenny explains himself, the man calms down—slightly. He does not appear thrilled to see the Halfling. “Now you’re serious about bargaining? Hmph.” He frowns, thoughtful all the same. “My offer is the same as before. Bring me the artifact and I will enchant weapons for you in the same manner, and give you whatever help to search the grounds you like. That’s it, take it or leave it. I’ll be in my lab.”
He takes a few steps away, then pauses to look over his shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear about your hometown, but I guess you don’t know much about Gnomish history, do you? We barely have a culture left, let alone a home. Where was Tertia when our tunnels were getting overrun, hmm?” He snorts. “But I don’t hold it against you. Foreign affairs are… foreign.” He shrugs, then walks off again, short legs making impressive time. [Continued below.]
Tyrano-
[Tork has had to take a leave from us, so Norven is gone. Since he may be back, Norven’s exit here is nebulous, but I’ve decided to finish the fight to speed things up here.
Also, I figured out the extra +4 was from Favored enemy. Duh. Somebody should’ve told me earlier!]
The battle continues, dead against the living. Tyrano proves better able to defend himself, keeping hit rarely, while Norven continues to be largely at an impasse against his massive opponent. The undead ogre can’t touch Norven, but Norven’s blows do little to penetrate its thick hide. However, Tyrano soon whittles away his skeletal foes, enough so that the last scholar calls up two more, lesser skeletons with swords who shamble forward to do battle with Tyrano, then turns to run behind his fellows.
The warrior is left to deal with the remaining skeleton and these new ones, but he dispatches them in due course—not fast enough to catch the fleeing Deathspeaker, but enough to not get killed by them. He turns his attention then to Norven’s situation, still wielding bone and sword, and after an initial fumbling strike, lays into the zombie with such tenacity that he cleaves the thing into pieces of lifeless flesh.
(Combat Actions)
The street is finally quiet, not even the fleeing footsteps echoing through the air. The undead bodies lie motionless, and then suddenly glimmer like some translucent slime and evaporate in the night, as if they never existed in the first place. They summoned beings go back to wherever it is they came from, leaving only their rotten stench behind.
Trying to figure out what to do, Norven immediately suggests that Tyrano find the others and tend to his injuries, but is not ready to give up on the robed Deathspeakers. He takes to the streets after them, promising to leave word with the Temple of St. Cuthbert if he can find anything out. It seems dangerous, but with his injuries and the dire nature of the situation, Wystfalrun is in no place to argue.
He heads back to the university to locate his companions. [See below.]
Gildas, Lenny, Tyrano-
[Sorry guys. Running three different sections was taxing me, so I sped this reunion up a bit.]
It takes a bit of time to find his way back to the university, but with some logic and calculation, Wystfalrun finds his way to the floating campus once again. He is forced to go through the same song-and-dance to get onto the grounds, and again manages to conceal the bone from view. This time, however, with his wounds showing—albeit he has done his best to tend them on the way—Tyrano is ushered quickly onto the grounds and towards the administration building, where a few healers are retained on staff.
At about the same time, Gildas and Lockheart emerge from the very building Tyrano is being ushered towards, shock registering on the cleric’s face as the ranger comes into view. “By the Cudgel! What’s happened?”
Quietly, out of immediate view of the others, Lenny and Hallen are making their way back from the brief meeting with the curator. They can easily see Tyrano’s injured form and Gildas with Lockheart nearby. Norven is not with the group, nor is Wanderer, though the latter stayed off campus last time to protect the Skullsplitter, so perhaps this is not surprising.
[Please, please reunite.]
(Character Status)
Gildas – 69/69 HP
Lenny – 61/61 HP
Wystfalrun – 18/62 HP, DR 3/-
Norven – 51/71 HP, leaving game
Lockheart – No damage
Wanderer – 90/90 HP
Scholar 1 – 4 damage, escaped
Scholar 2 – 12 damage, escaped
Scholar 3 – Escaped
Skeleton 1 – 40 damage, destroyed
Skeleton 2 – 44 damage, destroyed
Skeleton 3 – 35 damage, destroyed
Skeleton 4 – 19 damage, destroyed
Skeleton 5 – 22 damage, destroyed
Zombie Ogre – 68 damage, destroyed
The creatures listen to Ella and to Natsumi, and there is a wave of ambient noise from the surrounding trees—whispering leaves where there is no wind, phantom creaking of ancient woods, splashing of nonexistent puddles and the pitter-patter that rain might make on wide leaves.
Abruptly, it stops. “The people will help these ones!” the harsh voice says excitedly.
“Conditionally,” the soft one interrupts. “The Speakers must be destroyed. Of this there is no doubt. But the Callers must not be harmed by missteps.”
“Must not…”
“The people know the island,” the deep voice concurs. “The people will give whatever aid is possible. But if the Speakers discover resistance, the Callers will pay the price. So the Speakers have said.”
With these words spoken, figures finally move into view, all around the clearing. At first they are tricky to make out in the thick jungle, but the wash of contrasting colors ultimately gives them away. Their skin is adorned with dull scales that reflect no light, each one possessing a different range of colors—blues and purples for one, simple brown and black for another, light green and yellow, deep bloody crimson, cold blue flecked with white. There are clearly ‘breeds’ of the creatures, which resemble the lizardmen Scaland is reputed to have, their bodies bipedal and humanoid, but definitely of a reptilian nature. Most have tails, and some have other appendages—wings, extra tails, extra arms, even two heads in one case. They wear little for clothing except in the event of armor or decorative jewelry, those ranging from natural bone and wood to carefully worked metal and gems. They are a thoroughly diverse set of creatures.
There are… quite a few of them. Perhaps fifty in the immediate vicinity.
Three of them stand out from the others. One is shorter, perhaps the dimensions of a dwarf, but even wider if this is possible—like a walking boulder. His coloring is stony grey with veins of black and red worked through the scales. The scales almost hide the armor fashioned from rock itself that he wears. Around each wrist and ankle he wears a bracelet of some sort, gems glinting on them—polished, but seemingly very old and worn.
The second sports wings and crouches in a low tree, thin and slender as a snake, his coloring pale blue in varying shades. This lizardman carries a well-fashioned bow and a leather hip quiver full of arrows, and has disproportionately large eyes, blinking and looking around at everything.
The last is somewhere between the two, of trim but not thin build, his scales mottled red, orange, and dull black. He wears little in the way of armor, but is adorned with several reddish gems and blackened metal bands. In one hand he bears a scimitar, and the other a mace—no, a thick torch, though it isn’t lit at this time. Yellow eyes seem set in a perpetual scowl.
These must be the speakers.
A deep voice resonates through the air, and although no mouth in the company moves, an intuition tells the companions that this is the short and stout one speaking. “The people will listen. Tell. How are the Speakers to be destroyed?”
“The people know of no relic,” the perched one says in the soft voice from earlier. “But if such is here, the people urge these five to take the thing away. The Speakers will take nothing more!”
[What’s the plan, folks?]
(Character Status)
Ella – 67/77 HP; DR 3/- (4 blocked), Lifedrinking 12 (Lance)
Sean – 47/47 HP; Hide from Undead
Gro-bug – 79/100 HP, DR 1/-
Henrick – 73/78 HP
Natsumi – 51/52 HP, Freedom of Movement
Antyca – No damage [Absent]
Squeeks – No damage
DARK RED
Gildas-
“Of course, of course,” Fairchild agrees. “I know trustworthy men who can be given the task. These Deathspeakers don’t have that much influence.” Asked about Henrick, the Dean sighs heavily and shakes his head. “I don’t know the particulars of Henrick’s case, but he always seemed a good man, a captain of the guard. Now the Council has declared him and others he associated with traitors to be hunted down. It seems strange to me, but it isn’t my business, and he isn’t around with these others in any event.”
“Go on. Find your fellows, and I will deal with Aurost and the guard. The Temple of St. Cuthbert—tonight.” He swallows hard, taking a deep breath to compose himself. He knows what a failure to convince Aurost could mean: his life.
The Dean rises to guide Gildas and Lockheart to the door, adopting his usual fatigued and docile expression. As the door opens, he speaks. “Yes, yes, we can speak later about this matter. I’ll contact you if something turns up, but I’m simply too busy right now, and I can’t just have legions crawling over the campus. Maybe during the holidays.” He waves a dismissive hand to emphasize the ruse, and then looks around the lobby wearily.
The Deathspeakers are there, standing even as Gildas and the others retreat. Aurost gives the Tertian contingent a cold stare and a blank expression, then turns his head to amiably regard the Dean. “Fairchild,” he says soothingly. “You are available to talk again?”
As the Tertians walk away, the conversation continues. “Aurost, can a man not even take a break to eat his repast?”
“I apologize. This matter is dear to us, however, as you know. Time should not be squandered.”
“If I starve, the university will be no easier to access. Patience.” The dean pauses. “I’ll have the secretary place a food order for me, and then we can speak. Is that acceptable?”
And so the conversation goes on. Aurost’s tone and demeanor doesn’t seem to suggest that he suspects anything beyond the obvious has happened—the Tertians have been dismissed. Hopefully the Deathspeaker has truly bought the lie—and the careful trap that the Dean will soon lay.
But for now, the trio moves out of the administration building. [Continued below.]
Lenny-
Having found the curator—and the Deathspeakers—Lenny drafts up a note to deliver to the gnome when he has left their presence, entrusting it to Hallen while he hides watching nearby. The dwarf seems hesitant based on Lenny’s warning, but goes ahead to do it nonetheless.
As the Deathspeakers and the gnome part ways, the former heading into the administration building, Hallen moves up to the curator. They have a brief exchange, and then the curator moves off in the direction of his own building, looking at the message curiously.
In a few steps, his curiosity breaks and he opens the little slip of paper. As he reads, the curator’s expression alternates between focused, annoyed, interested, and mildly perplexed. When he looks up, finished, and Lenny appears, he jumps at first, tensed for the possibility of a fight.
When Lenny explains himself, the man calms down—slightly. He does not appear thrilled to see the Halfling. “Now you’re serious about bargaining? Hmph.” He frowns, thoughtful all the same. “My offer is the same as before. Bring me the artifact and I will enchant weapons for you in the same manner, and give you whatever help to search the grounds you like. That’s it, take it or leave it. I’ll be in my lab.”
He takes a few steps away, then pauses to look over his shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear about your hometown, but I guess you don’t know much about Gnomish history, do you? We barely have a culture left, let alone a home. Where was Tertia when our tunnels were getting overrun, hmm?” He snorts. “But I don’t hold it against you. Foreign affairs are… foreign.” He shrugs, then walks off again, short legs making impressive time. [Continued below.]
Tyrano-
[Tork has had to take a leave from us, so Norven is gone. Since he may be back, Norven’s exit here is nebulous, but I’ve decided to finish the fight to speed things up here.
Also, I figured out the extra +4 was from Favored enemy. Duh. Somebody should’ve told me earlier!]
The battle continues, dead against the living. Tyrano proves better able to defend himself, keeping hit rarely, while Norven continues to be largely at an impasse against his massive opponent. The undead ogre can’t touch Norven, but Norven’s blows do little to penetrate its thick hide. However, Tyrano soon whittles away his skeletal foes, enough so that the last scholar calls up two more, lesser skeletons with swords who shamble forward to do battle with Tyrano, then turns to run behind his fellows.
The warrior is left to deal with the remaining skeleton and these new ones, but he dispatches them in due course—not fast enough to catch the fleeing Deathspeaker, but enough to not get killed by them. He turns his attention then to Norven’s situation, still wielding bone and sword, and after an initial fumbling strike, lays into the zombie with such tenacity that he cleaves the thing into pieces of lifeless flesh.
(Combat Actions)
- Tyrano attacks skeletons @ +12/+7/+11/+6/+1: 17, 23, 13, 20, 20; all hits. Damage rolls (including DR for the sword): 8, 15, 11, 8, 8. Skeleton 2 takes 23 and is destroyed, Skeleton 3 takes the other 27.
- Norven flurries on the Zombie: 12, 13, 10: no hits.
- Scholars 1 and 2 flee and are effectively gone. The last one casts another spell, summoning a couple more undead, then rushes off to join his buddies.
- Ogre Zombie attacks Norven again: 21, miss.
- Big skeleton and two new skeletons attack Tyrano (AC 19): 18, 13, 16, Threat (does not confirm): one hit. 6 damage; 3 after DR.
- Tyrano continues attacking: 31, 21, 18, 11, 7; three hits. Damage rolls: 8, 11, 8. First hit destroys Skeleton 3, next two destroy Skeleton 4.
- Norven flurries on the Ogre: 21, 20, 21; all hit. Damage: all resolve to 0 after Dr. Rough.
- Scholars continue fleeing.
- Zombie attacks Norven: 11, huge miss.
- Last skeleton attacks Tyrano: 15, miss.
- Tyrano sacks the last skeleton: 32, 9, 23. He’s dead (again) at two hits for a combined 22 damage.
- Norven does a lot of missing.
- So does the zombie.
- Tyrano meanders over to finish things off: Nat. 1. Spectacular. He passes his dex check.
- Norven flurries: 24, 13, 23; two hits. Damage after DR: 7, 4; 11 total.
- Zombie attacks Norven: 23, miss.
- Tyrano does his own kind of flurry: 19, 27, 27, 8, 20; four hits. Damage: 18, 16, 7, 7; 48 total. Zombie is crushed beneath his boot heel.
- Combat ended.
The street is finally quiet, not even the fleeing footsteps echoing through the air. The undead bodies lie motionless, and then suddenly glimmer like some translucent slime and evaporate in the night, as if they never existed in the first place. They summoned beings go back to wherever it is they came from, leaving only their rotten stench behind.
Trying to figure out what to do, Norven immediately suggests that Tyrano find the others and tend to his injuries, but is not ready to give up on the robed Deathspeakers. He takes to the streets after them, promising to leave word with the Temple of St. Cuthbert if he can find anything out. It seems dangerous, but with his injuries and the dire nature of the situation, Wystfalrun is in no place to argue.
He heads back to the university to locate his companions. [See below.]
Gildas, Lenny, Tyrano-
[Sorry guys. Running three different sections was taxing me, so I sped this reunion up a bit.]
It takes a bit of time to find his way back to the university, but with some logic and calculation, Wystfalrun finds his way to the floating campus once again. He is forced to go through the same song-and-dance to get onto the grounds, and again manages to conceal the bone from view. This time, however, with his wounds showing—albeit he has done his best to tend them on the way—Tyrano is ushered quickly onto the grounds and towards the administration building, where a few healers are retained on staff.
At about the same time, Gildas and Lockheart emerge from the very building Tyrano is being ushered towards, shock registering on the cleric’s face as the ranger comes into view. “By the Cudgel! What’s happened?”
Quietly, out of immediate view of the others, Lenny and Hallen are making their way back from the brief meeting with the curator. They can easily see Tyrano’s injured form and Gildas with Lockheart nearby. Norven is not with the group, nor is Wanderer, though the latter stayed off campus last time to protect the Skullsplitter, so perhaps this is not surprising.
[Please, please reunite.]
(Character Status)
Gildas – 69/69 HP
Lenny – 61/61 HP
Wystfalrun – 18/62 HP, DR 3/-
Norven – 51/71 HP, leaving game
Lockheart – No damage
Wanderer – 90/90 HP
Scholar 1 – 4 damage, escaped
Scholar 2 – 12 damage, escaped
Scholar 3 – Escaped
