4 - 068: The Fourth Piece (Le Morte D'Mordrock)

[K Man]

Romar, Irris and Tineniel -

Romar continues to whisper in Telena's ear, trying to get her to listen to reason. Her stood an encampment of refugees practically waiting to be slaughtered. Parley was the only hope...

"Telena, whatever we do here, this is beyond our power to resist against. The elves give us a clear chance to safe the lives of many men, women and children. Ravenshead will find a shard elsewhere, we can't protect it here in the open desert against an army of well-trained elven warriors and mages twice the size of ours! Even if we flee, we will be traced. It is still a long way to the sea. Tineniel's plan is suicide; to parley was the first sensible thing he has done! Now grab this opportunity before it is gone."

Meanwhile, Tineniel shouts back across the blackened dunes to the leader that has given the ultimatuum.

"The wagon is our only source of sustenance and survival. Would you leave us stranded here, in the desert, with no means of survival? Your army is strong, we see that now. Why not travel with us to the water's edge, where we know we will be safe. Then you can have the wagon."

Telena looks back and forth, shaking her head at the chaos. She was losing control and it was apparent in the frustrated furls of her face. She waves a hand and motions for the guards to move back. She nods to both Romar and Tineniel.



"I don't want any more of my men to die. Let's center this fight around the damn wagon."

She raises her voice so that it might carry across the dunes.

"WE WANT NO MORE BATTLE! CEASE FIRE AND WE WILL GIVE YOU THE WAGON! GIVE US A MOMENT TO GATHER ENOUGH WATER FOR SURVIVAL!"

The voice is returned from the dunes with authority.



"There is water enough for all about two thousand yards due South from here. Leave the wagon now or we shall fire again!"

Telena looks around. So far she had been fed information and it was keeping her alive.



"Everyone else leave. Romar, Tineniel...what are we going to do?"

[Tineniel, the riders will be here at the end of next round. It will take one round to affix the mounts in their harnesses.]

[Also, I'd like a bit more explanation of how this whole Rope Trick thing is working. You know the shard cannot be moved by spells, and this includes across extra-dimensional spaces.]



{Initiative: Romar, Telena and Tineniel, Prince Irinys, Irris, The Elven Warriors, The Guard, The Citizens}

Map;

.......................................................................w.
.........................................................................
...C.C.C...G...........................................................w.
...E.o.C................................................................w
.......C...G............................................................w.
........................................................................w
.......................................................................w.
...............................o........................................w
.......................R...............................................w.
.......................T................................................w
.G........GG..........................................................w.
..G......G..............................................................w
.................[].x..................................................P.
.................[].xx......L..o.......................................w.
..G.....G......G.........................................................
..G......G.............................................................w.
........G......G........................................................w
...........o...........................................................w.
*......................................................................w
.......................................................................w.
........................................................................w
.......................................................................w.
.....o...................................................................
.......................................................................w.

[/pre]

...LEGEND...
o = Campfire
.... = Sand
[]
[] = Cart with Shard in it
G = Guard
* = Citizen of the Dune Palace
E = Erid
T = Telena
C = Nameless Council Member
R = Romar
I = Irris
L = Tineniel
w = Elven Warrior
P = Prince Irinys
x = Dead Guard

{Realistically, there are hundreds more citizens and guards, but an equal number of Elves to match. Let's focus on this portion of the battle for now.}

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Those in the Fortress -

'The Master', or Semur as you have come to remember him in life continues to leer from the safety of his wicked throne, behind his walls of impenetrable energy and powerful magic. His voice rattles emptily from beneath the massive helmet as he goes on to describe how feeble you are.



"When I began this war human, my army was one quarter of the known lands. Through triumph and victory I have grown it to be what it is now...unstoppable!"

"I have never had a single leader assassinated by ANY agent...that is why I call you cowards. Sneaking into my home, intent on killing me."

"But I can not be killed! You are an afterthought to my legend, a small obstacle in my path to glory..."

He goes on, but your mind delves elsewhere. You have come too far and gotten too close to him to let it all end now.

Remembering the stone floor as the pillar pushed you up into this room fills you with doubt. It looked to be a least several feet thick. To break through would take immense force...that which you do not have now thanks to this trap.

[Search/Spot Checks] Looking around, this is truly deigned to house a body forever until it dies and starves of nothing. There are no secret levers, no switches to turn it off. No way to retract the pillar, at least not from in here...

As your eyes drift of elsewhere, you notice a small block by 'The Masters' throne jiggling slowly. The undead master seems to be oblivious to it, caught in his own dialogue of self-greatness, but you can't help but watch with curiosity. Slowly it jiggles back and forth, pulsating slightly as it's pushed from behind. It wriggles free and is gently lowered to the ground by a pair of frimy green hands.

MORDOCK!

You almost have to slap your mouth shut from yelling it as you see the grubby Goblin squeeze out of the hole no bigger than Girud's thigh. He wriggles free and pokes his head out, grinning that stupid grin of his. You can almost hear his voice now;

"Mordrock always find a way!"

The Goblin-rogue looks about and instantly shrinks back when he realizes he's but a few inches from the throne of the undead master that had control of his life for so many years. He then looks out to you quizzically, wondering why you've not begun the attack--you came here to kill right?

It takes him a bit to put it together, but he gets it eventually. You're trapped--came all this way and got yourself stuck. Mordrock winks and slithers out of the hole, looking around. There's a release, there's always a release. [Search Check, Mordrock] He motions to the left arm of the throne, indicating he's found a switch of some kind.

He intends to pull it as 'The Master continues his tirade.



"...and that is why you will fail human. That is why your whole race is doomed to be the ashes left behind in this war! Your kind has no ingenuity to it, no real purpose other than to eat, drink and die!"

Mordrock moves slowly towards the throne arm, reaching his grimy hands outward towards one of the spines in the chair. 'The Master' still has not spotted him, too convinced of his own superiority...



"You're here for one thing. You whole existence can be summed into a single word...death. To die is the pinnacle of your pathetic lives...!"

Mordrock, in one swift move, reaches up and yanks on the nearest spine in the armrest. There is an audible 'click' heard echoing through this whole grand chamber.

'The Master' freezes in mid-speech. His skull rotates to affix eye-sockets on the small Goblin that is the source of the interruption.



"...YOU!!!"

In true Mordrock fashion, he retorts with sticking his pink tongue out and wiggling it around.



"They here to kill you, and I here to help!"

Before the small Goblin can say anything else, 'The Master' utters a single word. [Power Word, Kill] It hurts your ears to hear it, even from this far away distance, and you can see it pains Mordrock. The wry smile quickly twists into one of pain. His ears begin to leak blood and his eyes begin to rupture. His skin literally pulls itself apart and leaps clearly off the muscles beneath. Even the muscles wrinke and dry, turning a sickly grey color before crumbling to ash...

Within seconds, Mordrock is gone. Nothing more than a withered husk of bone and ash...

It takes even less time for you to realize something...the walls are down!

{Initiative: Galdren, Krysta, Yuri and Alton, 'The Master', Girud, Garor, Adelia. }

Map;

                 
  ______________   ______________
 |              \±/M§            |
 |                               |
 |                               |
 |                               |
 |                               |
 |                               |
 |                               |
 |                               |
 |                               |
 |              GRO              |
 |              K0A              |
 |               YT              |
 |                               |
 |                               |
 |                               |
 |                               |
 |                               |
 |                               |
 |                               |
 |                               |
 |_______________________________|
                 

[/pre]
<<<Legend>>>

± = Unholy Throne
§ = The Body of Mordrock

M = 'THE MASTER'
G = Girud
O = Garor
R = Galdren
K = Krysta
Y = Yuri
T = Alton
A = Adelia


____________________________________________________________________________________________

{You guys should have seen the table-top group when Mordrock died. I revealed it later, that it was his destiny the whole time, but still, some of the girl gamers got very attached to them.

Besides, it's meant to hype you up for the big battle!}

[Wizard]

(Err...it's being moved under my own power. Is it that it can't go across the "window" formed by the trick? The shard itself isn't being altered or moved supernaturally...just the space around it.

Just to clarify, here was the gist of our idea: Rope trick, shard into the trick, move the wagon, presto, the shard's not in the wagon.

Waiting for clarification on this before I post.)

[Jevva]

Galdren feels the magic flow again through his armor, making it lighter almost immediately. Determined not to let Mordrock die in vain, he draws his katana with both hands and rushes the Master, shouting "Your evil reign ends here, scum! The world will be free of you!"

Charge
+15, Flaming Katana of Ooze Bane 1d10 +7 +1d6 (2 handed grip), 19-20 x2
AC: 18

[Japic]

{If I'm not already power word dead'ed I'll open the can.}

Watching Mordrock die is tough, he had been with them through thick and thin, longer even than the ones they first met on that fateful day in Ravenshead. The Master was going to pay dearly for this one.

{I only hope there's room to stand over there when my turn comes... as it stands only three (mebbe 4?) fighters can base this a-hole with that throne and the walls.}

Girud lets out a mighty yell and charges across the space, intent on doing great harm to the master. Charge if possible, double move to base if not.

{If Charge: +17 to hit, 2d6+12 dmg, Crit 19-20x2. Extra 2d6 damage to chaotic creatures, bypasses lawful creature's damage reduction}

---

{Its a shame Alton doesn't go first, 'cause I'd fireball arrow the area potentially causing d'rocks beads of fireball to go off too...}

With the walls down Alton wastes no time in delivering is own brand of jsutice to the situation. He'd been training for years to kill undead in this things employ, now the time was come to finish the Master himself. Alton would not waste that opportunity.

Full move NE, fire a standard arrow.

{AC 21; Saves f/r/w 5/10/5}

{Assuming Master is 'undead': +11 to hit, d4+3 + 2d6, no crits to undead}

[VemuKhaham]

Romar gives it a moment of thought before answering. Yes, things were as he would've wanted them. Actually, he was excited by the current change of events. Having heard Telena surrender the shard, and having learned that Irinys has considered the survival of these innocent people before ambushing gives him all the more reason to call this fight to an end. It appeared the elves had not let his trust down as bad as it had seemed at first. He looked down upon the fallen men, their bodies burned and lifeless, and he could only conclude that their lives had been an acceptable price to pay - something he could never have done a year ago. In silence, he congratulated Irinys on his success and on the way he had handled the whole event.

But even as he did so, he sighed notably before answering Telena's request for advice. He stopped whispering, and now spoke plainly:

"As I said, this shard is already lost. King Sturmguard knew it would be a long shot; he will understand we could not fight this fight. Besides, better to hand over the shard to these despicable "alies" than to servants of the Master. At least we know the shard will be used to battle the Master. That should suffice, even if it means the destruction of Ravenshead, yet another great city. When we cannot save some now, than we should aim to save others on the long term.

Telena, I hate to say so, but you have done right to surrender the shard. Now we ought to make our way to the water supply he mentions. From there on, the Council should decide on whether they wish to continue the journey to the coast, or return to the Dune Palace."

To put a deed behind his words, Romar sheaths both his swords.

[K Man]

Most people have yet to reply to this game, so maybe we'll wait until after the holidays to fully get back to it. I'll keep checking back and update when possible, but no worries for those that can't make it.

Anyways, to address;

(Err...it's being moved under my own power. Is it that it can't go across the "window" formed by the trick? The shard itself isn't being altered or moved supernaturally...just the space around it.

Just to clarify, here was the gist of our idea: Rope trick, shard into the trick, move the wagon, presto, the shard's not in the wagon.

Waiting for clarification on this before I post.)

When I designed these shards for the pen and paper version, I tried to put forethought into preventing PCs at later levels from just pushing these things around. I wanted the movement of the shards to be hard, not just getting them. For this reason, I basically house-ruled that the shards could not be affected by magic. This includes altered or destroyed by magic, moved by magic or even touching magic. So, if a shard touches a levitating disk or similar effect, the disk is cancelled. Think of it like a nullification rod of sorts. For example, the pen and paper group tried moving them across planes (Making ethereal and moving etc)...the result was the same. The instant the magic tried to affect or physically touch the shard, it was either nullified or just didn't work.

I know it seems cheeseball, but look at it from a DM perspective. If you could locate these shards with magic and move them with the same, why adventure?

Now, before it come up. Karn's temple and the shard down there. Technically affected by magic to a different plane right? The answer to that--which MENSA would be proud of--is sort of. The temple was pulled into hell, but it's essence was left on the prime. So the temple sort of existed in two places at once...and so did the shard. It was never moved from the prime.

Before you go along that route, that took the power of a demon-king, so unless you can mimick that with a Prestidigitation, I suggest you let that train of thought depart the station.

These things are artifacts, which is really a way for me to just sort of make up unqiue rules for them...and this is one of them. I would say the Rope Trick doesn't work....though I will surely grant extra XP for the effort.

[VemuKhaham]

so, holidays are over (at least for me ), and I noticed Kman even updated some of the other games, and I'm just curious when things'll be getting back to business here as well. I mean: The Master's finally showing his ugly face - things right now are just too darn exciting to leave it like this for too long.

[Fangor the Fierce]

Krysta's view comes to a screeching halt, as the life of Mordrock is slain right before her. In a flash, views of him fly through her mind, racing at an alarming speed. The cage, where they first met, the bread he offered, the pranks, then the proof of his worth, as he battled beside her, regardless of his own life. And now his own sacrifice to them, so that they could come and do what they had planned. His death would not go in vain.... Not This Time...

Krysta's view becoms a single point of focus, on the life of Mordrock. Then it narrows even further, to the simple necklace that he carried. She knew the power it held, and now, it would be the weapon it was meant to be. She doesn't notice the warrior charging, as her world has changed in a split second. Lives were at stake, not just the ones inside of this tower, but those of Ravenshead, and those that would prosper after this war had ended. No, they would have their chance, even if she had to die as well....

She grabs her bow, in an alarming speed, nocking an arrow and aiming. It was a simple arrow, with no magical properties. The bow had it's own magic, but that was not what she was intending its use to be for. Aiming, she takes a deep breath, blinks, focuses, and whispers to herself, "For Mordrock!"

+2 Mighty Comp Longbow of Shock
+13 to hit the necklace of Mordrock
1d8+2 +1d6 Elec dmg
x3
100'
Piercing

DC is probably low, as it is an inannimate object, but small/tiny as well. Either way, Necklace:

Nacklace of Fireballs, 3 pearls left (Your call KMAN, as I was never told what power they were.) She wants to make sure this damn Master goes down quick!!!