4 - 030: The Fourth Piece

[K Man]

Romar -

Your words fall on cold stone walls and the dank moss of your cell. They echo mockingly, returning to your ears high-pitched and distorted...like a child's whining. You fear that no one is listening - not even the mouse...wherever he may be.

Dejected, you find a portion of the stone wall least covered in moss and slump against it, your manacles chinking together loudly. Barely audible above your own screaming heartbeat and anger is a whisper, coming from outside your cell door.

"...Hello?"

Perking your head up, you pause, only for a moment to wonder if you truly heard the voice or if your mind is already beginning to warp in here. Then, it comes again.

"...Can you hear me?"

A voice! Distinctly male, the voice sounds muffled as though its coming through the small holes and cracks in the mortar that it can find. It must be from the cell next to you, someone sharing the same fate as you.

You scoot a little closer to the wall to hear the words better and when you do, they come clear as day.

"Who are you?"

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All But Romar -

King Sturmguard, King Grandil and the Kuo-Toan all listen intently to your statements. When Addressed about the shards, each leader has something to say.



"We have uncovered much in the last five years, though I loathe to admit we could not dedicate as much energy as we wanted to..."

"We spent most of it looking for you..."

The King smirks.

"The shards are old, possibly before man took his first steps on this plane from the gods hands. Also, the shards are not of this plane originally. Near as our sages can divine, they believe the shards to come from a plane where chaos and powerful magic reign."

"It is the only way to explain their bizarre magic."

"The plane of the shards origination still eludes us unfortunately, but we can gather it was a plane of chaos."

The Kuo-Toan adds his comments.



"We too have learned this much. The shard we carry grants the powers of healing...it is how we have come this far inland in our campaign and not fallen yet."

"If it truly is as powerful as you speak of, and this 'Master' seeks the shards, we will have it brought into the castle immediately."

Sturmguard nods in approval, motioning to the ever-encroaching dust cloud.



"Indeed, we will place it with the remainder of the shards we have found and protect them in the center of the Castle. 'The Master' will be hard-pressed to reach them..."

"As for the fortress that bears down upon us now, we cannot know for I am sure we are the first mortals to have seen it..."



"Not the first..."

Every set of eyes in the room, from the most powerful in the nation to the unknown advisors, turns to the small Goblin who speaks now. Mordrock shrinks into his seat and only at the urging of Krysta and Adelia - the women he's infatuated with - does he speak. [Knowledge, 'Masters Troops' Check, Mordrock]



"The Master comes with his fortress because he thinks this is the final stand of man..."

"His fortress is unbreakable..." Mordrock struggles with the words, his common-tongue becoming better with each passing day. "No, impenetration?"

"It cannot be gotten into."

"It is stone, several lengths of me thick on all sides including bottom. It sits atop of stone pillars that roll and crush everything beneath."

"It moves because a giant pushes it, almost as tall as the fortress."

Mordrock goes on to explain the 'monster' that pushes the fortress - a huge being of stone that is miles high and weighs enough to shake the very ground when it walks. It is also big enough to single-handedly push the fortress by itself. Your head fills with an idea of what Mordrock speaks of.






"When the Fortress rolls over the pillars and new ones must be placed in front, a team of undead ogres move them from the back to the front while the colossus pushes..."

Mordrock swallows a large lump in his throat, the terror of witnessing such a moving monstrosity clearly vivid in his mind.

"The Master can remain in fortress forever and we not know how he get in...only that he does with magic."

"We always joke, in Goblin army, that to break into fortress and look for treasure we need colossus to punch hole in fortress..."

Mordorck shrinks back into his chair, the eyes of the Kings burning with despair. Clearly the words of the small Goblin weigh heavy on everyone present.

A colossus pushing an immense stone block on pillars?! Surrounded by undead ogres that move the pillars when needed? It sounds like suicide to even approach such a thing, let alone launch an assault on it...

Sturmguard remains speechless, wondering what to say here. He turns his gaze back to the dustcloud on the horizon and sighs heavily.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

[VemuKhaham]

"Who am I??" Romar answers, startled by the sudden sound of a voice. First, he is silent for a while, doubting if he should speak with people imprisoned in the deepest dungeons of Ravenshead. But then again, apparently not all those locked behind bars were wrong...

In the same kind of whispering he replies: "My name is Romar, but who are you and what do you want from me?"

[GeneralMHB]

Yuri listens to the goblin's explaination of the fortress. It does seem impenetrable, but not indestructable. There must be some way for him to get out of that hole. Even he himself can turn into a gaseous vapor and leak out of a cell.

Yuri then speeks up and asks Mordrock.

Is there a way for gas or air to get into the stone fortress? Certain undead have been known to change their form to that of a gaseous form and seep in. How many can the stone fortress accomidate?

[Fangor the Fierce]

Krysta turns to the others, with a glint of some hope. "That would mean there were four ways to deal with this threat and stop it."

She then begins her ideas, rolling through them one by one. "Obviously, getting in and dealing with the Master is the most obvious. Secondly, that thing that is pushing the fortress, should it be dealt with, would then stop the Master's movement as well. Lastly, and possibly the easiest to stall for time, are the undead ogres. They are the ones responsible for moving the pillars to continue the carts path onward. If they were taken out, or even the pillars destroyed, then the Master would ahve to stop and rethink his approach."

Each idea seemed like a pricely idea. Until Yuri speaks up, of course. "Yes, if we could somehow alter ourselves into a gaseous form, we could head out to the fortress, enter, and then deal with the Master from inside. Mordrock, is the whole fortress solid, including its top? Are there ANY cracks or windows that the Master would use to peer out from?"

[Japic]

Listening to the council Girud's mind is filled with vivid images of the problems to come. He imagines a huge fortress of black stone pushed by a man of stone, at the base of the fortress hundreds of undead ogres manipulate giant columns of stone, the rollers on which the Master will literally crush all opposition before him.

To the suggestions of his companions most seem plausible, but he finds taking out the giant that pushes the fortress a little out of teh question. How could one destroy a man of stone?

The most plausible seemed to be sneaking in as gas, or perhaps, mebbe just perhaps Mordrock had hit on something with his talk of what the giant could do to the fortress. But that would certainly ruin the element of surprise. For now he and Alton hold their tongues, listening to those who make plans. They were soldiers that followed orders. If the leaders couldn't figure out how to do this, then no ordinary soldier could.

[BluSpecs]

Garor in somewhat dumbfounded and can't seem to wrap his head around a solution he hopes that the others can come up with something....