Of Being a Guild Master

[Chained Birds]

5 years ago, 6 adventures put down their weapons and magic to create a wondrous guild. This guild was given the name Donec Six.
While killing and looting still fills each Guild Master with the memories of their prior experiences, they have found themselve's without anything to do. Every grand venture and terrifying journey seems fulfilled with nothing leading to anything greater. Making a place to gather similar individuals and apprenticing them for their own adventures, seemed like a fine idea and making a vast quantity of wealth in the process became more than a simple bonus.
But all is not well in Donec Six. For the past several years, a portal leading to an evil world or plane has been looming in the Guild's basement; sealed away by the most powerful wards and seals the 6 masters could conceivably find. Though this strange portal's purpose and what powers hide behind it, remains ever present in each Master's mind.

Regardless, today is just like any other day. Nothing is predicted to happen, no great evil has revealed themselves to anything, or world destroying god has been resurrected, no pissed off wizard with a desire to fuse a crocodile with a hawk, nothing at all.

OOC:
Everyone should post what your character is doing at the moment. I would like your actions to be performed within the Guild or the town around the Guild.

[Ithandor]

In the guild's practice hall, Alex - stripped to waist and covered in a sheen of sweat from exertion - holds a wooden practice sword in front of him. His voice, however, is steady, and betrays no shortness of breath.

Try again. This time, hold your guard higher, and step into the blows when you move to parry. Deflecting the blade won't do much good if you lose your footing in the process.

A young guildmember steps forward from the group, and the afternoon's sparring continues.

[PowerGamer]

Having finished talking business with the Smiths, Duneswalker - in comfortable but not trashy, loose clothing - makes his way to the practice hall. Passing through the main hall he cheerfully greats all who approach him before moving on. A few other members run over and ask to spar.


Individually or as a group?

The group laughs and arrives at the hall. Dunes grabs his combat gloves* and a practice sword*. He turns around and shouts to Alex,


Once I finish with this warm up, would you like some help?

**The gloves softens Dunes punches and the sword is a strong wooden short sword

[Ithandor]

Alex's eyes flicker over toward Duneswalker, and he smiles as the two students circling him edge closer, hoping to catch him distracted.

I'd welcome it!

[ben-zayb]

Latoa was just finishing his usual cooling-down routine after his daily 15-kilometer (~9mi.) jog. The cold sweat that covered his entire body helped in stabilizing his body temperature. He began fumbling his haversack, and without much effort to look for it, pulled out a clean and dry towel.

After taking a shower and drying himself afterwards, he headed for the guildhall. While he remained silent during the entire travel, he greeted everyone politely with a telepathic Good morning, fella.

[Jangoose]

Tabitha, fully clothed, and decidedly not sweating stalks regally around the practice hall, chuckling idly at the exertion of her fellow guild masters. While it does not appear so by her relaxed appearance, she is very carefully surveying the hall, particularly the actions of 9 different youths, each engaged in their own activities. Though it has yet to be discovered (this time at least), this is part of an elaborate training exercise she runs twice a year for the more capable students she teaches.

One of these, a girl with shoulder length brown hair brushes past, mumbling a quick, "excuse me ma'am." Once the girl has passed, Tabitha covertly turns and reads the piece of paper which was slipped into her hand.

It reads simply,

Player: Marco
Call: Arcia impersonating Darrenson
Reason: distinctive sword grip while sparring
Play: 4 points

Tabitha grinns ever so slightly. That Marco was a clever one. It was very risky for him to bet all of his points on the accusation, but he had always been the best fighter of the group, and if anyone was going to spot and recognize the differences in the others' combat styles it was going to be him. That said, he was still only in second, behind the actual Darrenson, who coincidentally was playing Marco's twin sister Marissa...

Sweeping out of the room, Tabitha pauses in an alcove to concentrate for a moment, summoning a black raven, perched lightly, on her shoulder, before handing it a pair of miniscule tokens, one red and one black, each inscribed with the number 4. Peering through two pairs of eyes at once is reportedly slightly disconcerting, but at this point, Tabitha was sufficiently used to the experience that she only took the opportunity to check her face through the raven's eyes, adjusting her nose and cheekbones slightly, and, just for kicks, giving herself a bit more of a tan, before turning the ravens head, and sending it flapping off down the hallways to inform Marco and Arcia to the changes of their score.

[Chained Birds]

Tabitha
While skulking around, she noticed a peculiar bandaged bespectacled man wearing baggy, loose robes smoking from a long, thin pipe. He carries a large case in his right hand as his left arm seems missing; hard to tell though as it could be within his robes. She has never seen this man before but notes he is observing the sparing.

The young guild members put up a decent fight using all their training and skills. One of them almost lands a blow on Duneswalker after performing a flanking maneuver with his buddy. Though the mighty Guild Master simply shifts his weight and tosses the two flankers into one another.
Alex admires the young members' tenacity, but swiftly disarms the swordsmen with a few swift blows. The only person to get close to landing a blow against him, was a girl who almost got him with a skillful feint with one sword and trying to stab him with another.

[Ithandor]

Leaping backwards from the low thrust at his gut, Alex rolls deftly to his feet.

Good, Sandra! A lesson for us all. Misdirection and distraction in combat are key skills - learn to use them, and Alex says, smiling ruefully at Sandra recognise them.

To punctuate his speech, Alex offhandedly casts Flare a couple of feet to the side of the students, too far away to be anything other than surprising.

I think that's enough sparring for me for today. Alex bows to his partners. If anyone needs me, I'll be catching up on my reading in my chambers. See you later Dunes!

He notices Tabitha as he leaves, and gives her a slightly mocking, regal nod - before smiling widely and giving her a more casual salute as he passes.

[Chained Birds]

Alex
Upon leaving the training area, he notices a strange man smoking from a thin pipe. The unfamiliar character is very bandaged up, with only 3/4th of his face visible; his right eye is as bandaged as the rest of his body.

He gives Alex a smile, before walking into the training area.

Duneswalker is putting away the practice weapons, when he hears a hoarse voice coming from the entrance to the training area.

"You must be Master Duneswalker."

The half-giant turns around to see a very damaged looking man in heavy robes. The man's whole body appears to be wrapped in bandages except for 3/4th of his face. He carries a case in his right arm, while his left arm is either hidden within his robes, or none existent. Besides the wrappings around his face, covering his forehead and right eye, he wears spectacles and has a deep red eye.
The bandaged man sets down the large case he's been carrying and reaches into his robes. He draws out a piece of paper and looks at it for a bit, before speaking again,

"Yes, you must be him. I'm sorry for my rudeness of not going through due process in order to hire your services, but I'm a man who have very little time for such things. People call me Pharaoh, and you may call me the same if you like, and, as stated, I'd like to purchase yours and your companion's services.
Will you hear my petition?"

[PowerGamer]

Still trying to figure out how this man got into the guild house and the irony of his name to his appearance replies.

Yes I am Duneswalker. You may call me Dunes though. I will hear you out Pharaoh, but in order to officially decide on taking thi kob of yours, I will need to call for a meeting of the six.

Turns away from Pharaoh and shouts.

I need five volunteers to run to their respective Master and inform them that I am calling a meeting, we have a contractor.

Sends of five members and turns back to Pharaoh,

If you would care to follow me. You may tell me about this job on the way.

Hope I'm not railroading or anything. This is my first post by post. If I start doing something wrong then please let me know asap.

[Chained Birds]

The bandaged man nods and awaits the retrieval of the other members.

The 5 others receive word from their respected young guild members and will attend the meeting at their leisure.

[ben-zayb]

Latoa was casually (and half-nakedly, if you will) strolling down the guild hall when a big hulking figure suddenly crashed onto him from the stairs on his left side. The collision threw him a good 15ft onto the air, while the aggressor stumbled clumsily hit the floor soon after. As Latoa glided his way (his wings unfurls itself in these situations) back to the floorboard, he looked at the brute and recognized him as one of the newer recruits.

Oh, he's the one referred to as Ko-en. One of the more impetuous and hasty recruits, I dare say.

The scene caused quite a ruckus, and soon enough a crowd seems to be gathering around the two. The newer recruits who have never seen much of Latoa before, got the impression, based on his appearance, that he's not the type of person you mess with. Understanding this common assumption, Latoa decided to break the tension and spoke to Ko-en in a lighthearted manner.

"Ow!! What's that for buddy? Yer in a hurry again, aren't ya?" asked Latoa, his accompanying laughter as true as the slight pain in his left arm. After Ko-en frighteningly and apologetically explained the situation, Latoa nodded and sent the former back to his training, telling everybody else to relax--that it was just an accident--and that it was a "No biggie."
Latoa then gave him some parting words before finally leaving for Dunes, delivered of course in private, so as not to shame him any further.

Ko-en: Oh, and Ko-en... I advise against running like that again, especially inside the guild hall. Not everyone here is as strong as Good ol' Dunes, ya know?
OOC: Just to clarify, the last paragraph above will be the convention I'll use when Latoa is talking mentally.

[Ithandor]

A knock on the door caused Alex to put down his book, carefully inserting a bookmark between the pages.

Enter!

"Master Emerson, Master Duneswalker has called a meeting - he is with a potential contractor in the practice hall"

Thank you for letting me know, I'll be there presently.

Perfect, Alex thought to himself. If I had had to read any more about the adjunctive properties of various kinds of exotic animal excrement on transmutation spells, I think I'd have to put myself out of my own misery.

[Jangoose]

Tabitha, upon seeing the strange man wandering the corridors, does what any sane person would do, and quickly scans him for any suspicious magical auras (Detect Magic), before following discretely.

Once it appears that the man has come to propose a contract, she heads to the conference room to wait for the others to arrive.

[Chained Birds]

The meeting starts with the absence of 2 masters. It would appear that they are currently out on assignment, but messages have been sent to them to return to Donec Six as soon as possible.
As the 4 masters gets situated in the Guild Master's quarters, the bandaged man begins to speak.
"I'll introduce myself again, the name's Pharaoh, and I've got some troubling news.
It would appear that my alchemist mentor's old colleague revealed some startling information that I just so happened to hear. The man claimed he made a bundle selling a large building with an exposed portal in it to a bunch of 'suckers.' The man's current name is Edward Horus, but he went by another name; Shoru Wardde."
The name is immediately recognized by everyone at the table as the contractor who sold them the guild house. Pharaoh continues,
"*Cough* It was also revealed in their conversation that the portal was to open 5 years later as per a contract he made with the denizens on the other side. And sadly the day of the portal's openning is fast approaching.
I ask if you would assist me in destroying this portal before it opens. If the man spoke truthfully, it will open 3 months from now, but it might open sooner rather than later."

Tabitha
The man's bandages have a faint aura of Conjuration (Healing) coming off them, While the ones on his hands give off an moderate aura of Transmutation. You feel that something magical might be in his case, but can't tell.

[ben-zayb]

Latoa was the first to speak after the old man. He first tried to address the absence of the two other masters, and spoke lazily.

"'sup with those two again, anyway? 'tisnt like missions these days take long to accomplish, know what I mean?"

He continued, "moving on, I've a few questions Mis'r Pharaoh. First of all, are ya sure that we're Wardde's only clients? Because I feel none of us masters fit that description... well maybe me, but that's 'side the point. Second, what kind of denizens are we talking about? I mean it sounds troublesome, but how troublesome is it exactly?"

OOC:
Sense Motive for his previous statements (do I have to constantly make a check from here onwards?): Taking 10 for a total of 26.

[Ithandor]

Alex nodded along with Latoa's question and, leaning forward, hands on knees and fingers interlaced under his chin, added one of his own:

"And, assuming this to be true sir, what is involved in destroying this portal? It must be no mean feat, given that it has been easier so far to bury under a guildhouse than deal with it."

[Chained Birds]

The man cracks his neck and answers Latoa's questions first.

"I never said you guys were his clients, I simply described a group of hardened adventures who were tricked by an old man of benign nature. I'm still trying to find the place where the portal can be. Don't tell me you all were deceived by that man?
And the denizens I speak of... I do not comprehend them."

He then turns to Alex,

"The process will be difficult, but it pretty much all comes down to fighting through a very dangerous area to get to a guy who will send us to another guy, who will probably help us out. I'll tell you the specifics if you accept my plea."

The man coughs into his hand. There seems to be blood on his hand. His expression seems unchanged upon seeing the blood, and continues to listen and answer each master's questions as best as he can.

Latoa
He can tell the man is not a liar.

OOC: No need to make any other checks unless you want to try rolling for a better result.

[PowerGamer]

Only listening until this point. Dunes seems like he has a question too.

So, say there is this portal here, and we take your contract, are you willing to come with us on the journey? Secondly, how many other places have you checked out. Lastly, How long ago wasit that you first heard out the portal?

[Chained Birds]

His eye lights up at Dune's questions,

"I'm not the most well man and would probably die from my own condition before being of use to you all."

Latoa
You sense that he is lying about how useful he would be in combat.

"And concerning how long I've known about this portal... Well."
He scratches his head,
"I've known about this portal for about 4 years give or take a year, but then some conflict occurred and I was bedridden til just a few months ago. And I'm 63% certain that the portal is within a 1 mile radius from this point, and by coincidence I happened to stumble across a bard who sung about you guys. Mostly about you all being swindled."

[Ithandor]

Convenient timing all round, it would seem, Alex thinks to himself. Aloud, he continues:

Hmmm. So this man, Shoru Wardde, or whatever his real name might be. He made an agreement with these 'denizens' to open this portal in 5 years' time, and then left the portal in the hands of strangers. Why? I'm curious to know what he had to gain from this course of action, unless he planned to return at a later time."

[Cardea]

Ishbala Cul

The mornings were his favorite, as he spent time alone far away from everything. His Deity afford him mobility, and he saw to it to use it whenever possible. I had found several places, far from the Guild Hall, to meditate on the splendor of Him, to renew the energies inside. Today he looked out onto a lake, its waters only disturbed by a few ducks, and a fish that attempted to eat them. He stood up, and grabbed the plain metal disc around his neck, and spoke: "Aliquam."


_/_/_/

A flat circle of dull white drew itself in the main room of the Guild Hall, and once complete, produced Ishbala Cul, wearing his robes of office, and a calm look on his face. He briefly apologized to the young guild member he almost shunted through with his spell, and made his unhurried way over to Latoa and the rest. "My apologies for my late interruption, everyone. I see we have a client?"

Casting Teleport.
Edit: Now to prepare my other spells...

[Chained Birds]

Pharaoh bows with the arrival of the 5th guild member and continues to answer questions,

" I believe he was initially planning to hold out within the area to make sure the portal opened properly, but then he saw a group of adventurers looking to buy a large building and couldn't resist the possibilities of lining his pockets with more gold. From what my master has told me about that man, he is greedy to a fault."

Ishbala is informed by the Master sitting next to him about their potential client and the dangers of the ambiguous familiar portal.

[ben-zayb]

Latoa nodded politely to Ishbala upon his arrival, before turning again at Pharaoh.

"Hmm," Latoa pondered out loud, "Do ya think it's prudent to send some strangers blindly on a mission that they've barely an idea 'bout? I understand that ya may've health issues, yeah, but I also believe that we're better off with ya as our guide. 'sides, I've a gut feeling that your much more capable than what ya're making us believe."

[Chained Birds]

"I don't mind being a guide, I'm simply a pacifist."

Latoa
Your BS meter about him being a pacifist is going crazy.

"So, how about it? How does 10k sound per person; 5k at the start and the other half once completed?"

[PowerGamer]

Dunes pipes in again,

So just to get things straight. The contract is for us to fight our way to one person, who will send us to a second, who can help with the portal and we need to finish in 3 months or the portal opens. The price is 10k, 5k before and 5k after? ... How exactly does all this affect you good sir?

[Chained Birds]

"Master Duneswalker, can't I simply say that the portal would cause nothing but harm and I'm simply trying to get rid of it? Or do you want me to elaborate on why a gapping hellish portal would negatively effect these lands-"

He coughs some more before continuing,

"I'd like to keep my personal reasons personal if that's okay? What say you? Will you accept my offer?"

[ben-zayb]

Latoa was observing Pharaoh intimately as he speaks. And for someone who had done innumerable interrogations before, Latoa could easily see right through the man's deceit. The peculiar twitching of the facial muscles, the obvious mannerisms, the superficially distracting gestures--Latoa have been in situations like these time and again.

What bothered him is the fact that the man is merely lying about himself. The story of a hellish portal seems to be truth. He doesn't want some forces of evil invading his home, yet the one who knows about it is someone whom he couldn't trust. He decided to keep his opinions for himself, but the lying has to be addressed. He tapped in his fellow masters' minds and spoke, counting on their knowledge and trust on his field of expertise.

Dunes/Ishbala/Tabitha/Alex: Ya know what guys? I don't completely trust this fellow. He's definitely no pacifist, and he's perfectly capable of defending himself, ifn't assaulting the aggressor themselves. His tale about the portal is true, however.

[Cardea]

Ishbala Cul

"Look, Mister... Pharaoh. Hear me out. What you're asking of us is very important, I am sure, and requires immediate attention. But one problem comes to mind. To open a portal to another realm requires very heavy magic, and the only people who belong to this guild who could handle such a task are the Masters of it: Us. But we are retired. We rule this guild, and we have let the younger members of the guild run its contracts. You have either come here, knowing this, and decided to ask us to come out of retirement, or have come here out of having no one else to turn to." Ishbala says, leaning forward. "I believe that it is safe to assume to ask for 15k per person, and you give us more information about what precisely we are dealing with. I am not one for accepting tasks without knowing the full measure of what it requires of me or what it entails. Surely, one such as you would understand."

Diplomacy: [roll0]

[Chained Birds]

"Sure. If more gold was the problem, then 7.5k now and 7.5k later is not too big of a deal for saving the world.
If this is acceptable, then I hope we can start with the journey as soon as possible. I'll let you 'heroes' decide in private and be back to hear your response tomorrow."

Pharaoh picks up his case and begins walking out the door. As soon as he leaves the room, even Latoa's mind's eye cannot detect him anymore (Because he walked out of his field of vision :smalltongue:).

[PowerGamer]

Wait a moment before breaking the silence...
Well that was interesting. I don't know about the rest of you but I do kind of miss adventuring. Even though this contractor seems weird, I am willing to go. We should also tell him that the portal is in this building as well.

[Ithandor]

As Pharaoh passes out the door, Alex runs his thumb along the lining of one of his pockets, quietly breathing a command word as he does. Navi, his hawk familiar, emerges, and Alex instructs her to see if she can follow Pharaoh at a distance and report back upon his destination.

That done, he addresses his fellow Guild Masters:

"I agree with you Latoa. I don't trust him. That said, if there's a chance this portal will open, then we must do what we can to stop that from happening."


Changing some of my spell selections before tomorrow.

[Jangoose]

Tabitha sits through the meeting silently. Once the man leaves, she summons her raven to accompany the hawk in scouting out their mysterious contractor. Another pair of eyes and ears in the sky are always useful... especially when those senses are tied directly to their master's...

Turning back to the group, she remarks dryly
yes, well, when was the last time a year went by without some terrible plot to end the world? I'm sure someone else will take care of it. We are after all 'retired' adventurers. we can't just... just go...
...
...oh all right, if you insist we can all come out of retirement and go traipsing about some godforsaken portal, but let it be known that I am entirely too old for these blasted adventures and if I miss my play friday night, someone is going to hang.)(and/or pay for my ticket)

OOC
Sorry for post lag, I have been dealing with catching up on a bunch of email since coming back from winter break.

also, just in case it wasn't obvious, I am currently binding Malphas, one of who's abilities is to summon a raven and/or dove at will. I can both see and hear through the bird's eyes/ears respectively, and control it directly at any distance

[Chained Birds]

Tabitha & Alex
Your birds of prey return back to you a few minutes after setting off to track the man. They apparently saw him drink some vial outside the Guild and then proceeded to run east faster than either of them could every hope to keep up. They appologize sincerely for their failure as they lost sight of him in but a few seconds.

[ben-zayb]

"I agree with you Latoa. I don't trust him. That said, if there's a chance this portal will open, then we must do what we can to stop that from happening."

Latoa pondered his fellow master's words (Alex) for a moment, and replied.

"Was thinking of the exact same thing, Alex. For one, what are his motives? He constantly lies about himself, almost as if he doesn't want to involve himself in the actual mission. What's he planning to do while we, the guild masters, are out there? But then, there's the portal. We NEED to stop that thing from opening, that I know. I'm wondering if Pharaoh actually already knows the location of THAT portal. Don't you?"

[Ithandor]

"I think he knows at lot more than he lets on... which isn't much, at that. We'll have to keep a close eye on him. It also might be prudent to increase defenses around the portal if we're all planning to absent for an unknown length of time."

[Chained Birds]

Latoa
You sense a familiar presence in the room with a very familiar thought process. You also note that there is one more chair in the room than there should be. As if something came into the room and was confused by the heavy conversation that was going on, so decided to "mimic" a chair.

Everyone in the room can note something odd about the Meeting area, in that there is an extra chair in the room that no one brought in.

[PowerGamer]

Staring at the chair...

Is it me or does that chair seem... I don't know. Odd?

Dunes slides back his chair, stands up, walks over to the chair, grabs the back of it and lifts it off the ground.

OCC
This is Pi's replacement I assume.

[Chained Birds]

"Hi Master Dune! *Nom*"

The chair morphs into a little dark-skinned kid in wooden clothing and pieces of wooden armor. The child bites Duneswalker's finger drawing a small bit of blood. Both the voice, action and appearance are that of Ajar the mimic who usually guards as the second basement door. It is almost unheard of for Ajar to appear outside of the basement.

Dunes
Take 1 point of damage. (This bite bypasses any DR you might have at the time)

OOC:
Ya, I better get on that. Was pondering whether I should ask one of the people from the recruitment thread to join up, or make a new thread. Might be best to make a new thread.

[Cardea]

Ishbala Cul

Out of reflex, Ishbala's armor came forth from storage and wrapped itself around its master. The image of Ishbala, now replaced by a creature of the same stature, only guarded by steel warped with draconic features. He removes the helmet, and stares at Ajar with judgement. "Ajar. May I ask what it is you are doing here?"

[Chained Birds]

"Master Ish looks all shiny today..."

He pauses as he stares blankly at Ishbala for a few seconds,

"Why is Ajar here again?
...
Oh Ya! Because mister wizard man said for Ajar to come up here. Mister (tasty) wizard man was not acting like himself when he passed by Ajar and looked at the shiny circle-that-should-never-be-touched.
Ajar was going to tell you guys sooner, but your faces were all serious and I didn't want to be rude or make you all angry."

He gives everyone a big toothy smile chuckling all the while. Ajar was never the smartest creature in the world, and most of what he says and does can be somewhat childish.

[ben-zayb]

Latoa laughed out loud after seeing Dunes being bitten by the mimic. He listened as Ajar explained itself as to why the he/it is here. After the mimic finished speaking, Latoa replied.

"Hey, big boy, how ya doin? Not bad for lunch, huh?", he said as he looked at Dunes and laughed some more. After that, his face suddenly changed to a more serious expression. Not entirely terrifying and humorless, but anyone can tell that when he looks like that, he means business.

"By tasty wizard, you are referring to the poor sap Chuck, correct? Ya know, ya'r supposed to guard our stuff down there. 'Sides, ya'r only to take orders from us Guild Masters. Certainly no orders from Chucky, even if he's one of our most trusted member."

[Chained Birds]

"Ajar know, but mister wizard man was very serious."

Ajar seems a bit scared of something that he can't hope to understand (Which really can be anything).

"Ajar brought key with him though."

Ajar spits out the black key used to open the door to the basement.

[Ithandor]

Alex looks troubled by the turn of events. He turns to Ajar, addressing him kindly:

"Ajar, did Chuck taste unusual today?"

Alex then draws his wickedly-edged falchion from his back-mounted scabard, and traces the somatic gesture of a spell in the air with his free hand.

Casting See Invisibility

"Friends, I propose a change of venue, to the Portal chamber. Immediately."

[Chained Birds]

"He tasted tasty as tasty wizard man usually tastes."

Alex
Currently he sees noting of interest in the room, unless the other PCs got anything their hiding with invisibility. This more of an FWI sort of thing though.

[DrK]

Belarius

THe wizard dismounts the horse handing over the reins to one of the groomsmen. "Take good care of him, its been a long ride".

He strides towards the Guild House, cloaks swirling about him and staff casually in hand. Opening the door he is surprised to see the rest of the Guild masters assebled in the main room. "Well met fellow guild leaders. What is amiss?".

Pulling up a seat and helping himself to a drink of wine from the behind the bar he turns to the others. "Sorry for being tardy, the summoning went a little arwry and the nymph had to be talked down from turning me into a tree. What have I missed?"

[Chained Birds]

Belarius
He is brought up to speed by one of the masters.

[ben-zayb]

Latoa agreed at his fellow guild master's proposal. "I agree. It's been a long time since I last went there actually, but this recent turn of event got my mind pumping with curiousity."

[DrK]

Belarius
Very well let us descend. the conjurer mutters.Hopefully the portal will remain closed until after our meeting He adds in a light hearted tone.

[Chained Birds]

The other guild members seem quite ignorant of today's revelations and proceedings as none of them take notice of all 6 Guild Masters approaching the Black Door. Duneswalker, taking the key from Ajar, opens the door with slight hesitation. The door makes many a terrifying noise of gears and electricity before clicking and opening automatically in a violent motion.
There is very little illumination in the room, but enough to mimic torch light. Down the staircase is the vacant doorway where Ajar once resided, opening up into a large room (100ft long, 60ft wide, but only 15ft high). This room was once supposed to be a lounge area for the young members before the constructors uncovered the blatantly obvious black portal at the end of the room.
Though this room would usually be vacant, you all attempt to hear the angered ravings of Chuck, but are rewarded with a different angered ramblings.

"Dang It All! Now I'll Never Get My Revenge! You just had to take a rest!"

Close to the Portal stands a grey-skinned man in western garb berating a six legged horse black horse. He seems to not notice the six of you quite yet.

Oh, and Chuck is nowhere in sight.

[DrK]

Belarius

Coughing gently the wizard waves a casual handGood morning. May we be of assistance? You appear to gave stumbled into our most secret room..

The words are tinged with politeness even as he readies a spell to turn the creature into salt.


Know planes or arcana [roll0]
Ready an action to cast flesh to salt should it attack.

[Chained Birds]

The grey man turns to the wizards with an annoyed look.

"What the ****! Who the **** are you?!"

He begins to scan the rest of the Masters and notices how decked-out everyone is. He raises a slim eyebrow with a mild chuckle,

"Oh, so you much be under His employment too. Why else would I have been summoned to this place with a bunch of adventurers with weapons at the ready? Well, you're not going to take me ali- well, I guess that doesn't have much say anymore, now does it!"

The man jumps unto his horse (Belarius identified the horse as a Sleipnir but not much else about it) and takes out two small weapons with both hands. He aims one of them up in the air and a sudden *BANG* sound resounds from it.
Out of the Corner of the room (Just out of reach of Letoa's Mind Sight), 5 Black Dogs appear that seem to blend in with the shadowy illumination of the Basement.

Belarius
Belarius casts his spell, but feels his it might not work and must put his all into the spell.

OOC: The grey man has spell resistance so make a caster level check against him.

[Chained Birds]

Whether Belarius's spell resolves or not, the grey man aims one of his weapon at Duneswalker, as he seems like the most threatening figure. He aims for a few seconds before there is a loud *Bang*.
- Attack: [roll0] vs Duneswalker's Touch AC
- Damage: [roll1] + [roll2]
- Crit Confirm (19-20): Auto Confirm
- Crit Damage: [roll3]

Rolled a 1, he misses. :smallannoyed:

Initiative goes to:

Belarius, Alex, Latoa, Tabitha, and Ishbala may now take their actions.

Sadly Duneswalker must wait til after Monster 2 Takes its Actions before he can perform an action.

[ben-zayb]

Alright, Latoa reacts first...


Free: I'll call out the man and tell him that my guildmates and I aren't here to fight, that this place is just our territory, and this might just be a little misunderstanding.
Diplomacy(if needed/appropriate):[roll0]

Standard: Cast Control Light (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/controlLight.htm#) (to illuminate the area 100%, since Latoa thinks the dogs are trying to get sneaky with the shadows) for a total area of 39 10-ft. cubes highlighted in the map as follows:

{TABLE=head]
-|_A|_B|_C|_D|_E|_F|_G|_H|_I|_J|_K|_L
01| | | | |p|p |p |p | | | |
02| | | | | | | | | | | |
03| | | | | | | | | | | |
04|* |* |* |* |*g |*h |* |* |* |* |* |*d
05|* |* |* |* |*h |*h |* |* |* |* |* |*
06|*d |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |*
07|* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |*
08|* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |*d |* |*
09|* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |*d
10|*d |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |*
11|* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |*
12|* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |*
13|* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |*
14|* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |*
15|* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |* |*
16|* |* |* |* | | | | | |* |* |
17|* |* |* |* |d | | | | |* |* |
18| | | |a |b | | | | | | |
19| | | |t | | | | |l | |i |
20| | | | | | | | | | | |
[/TABLE]

Free:Knowledge check to know information about the dogs (whichever applies)
Arcana:[roll1]
Planes:[roll2]
If Latoa realized that these dogs don't actually benefit from the shadowy illumination, he will try (if the power allows it) to instantaneously decrease the illumination to total darkness when one of the dogs tried to move towards them, then turn it back again to 100% illumination when one of his fellow masters tried to make an action.



Illumination will help as Latoa has identified the dogs as Shadow Mastiffs who benefit from shadowy illumination. And your diplomacy was not enough to change his mind about you guys not being enemies. It would appear that people had claimed such things before to him, only to stab him in the back when he wasn't looking.

[DrK]

Belarius

"Thank you for the light," the wizard murmurs as with a casual flcimof his hand he summons fortha writhing mass of pale blue tencatcles, each covered in massive grasping suckers that reach out towards the horse, the man 3 of the dogs to suffocate and crush them...


Cast Evards Black tentacles centred in J6, catching i think the man and his horse and 3 of the dogs with its 20ft spread.

Man touch [roll0] Grapple [roll1]
Horse touch [roll2] Grapple [roll3]
dog L4 touch [roll4] Grapple [roll5]
dog L9 touch [roll6] Grapple [roll7]
dog J8 touch [roll8] Grapple [roll9]

[Chained Birds]

Two of the Dogs (L4 and J8) as well as the Sleipnir (Horse) resist the grappling tendrils of icky blackness. Unfortunately for the grey man and his other shadowy companion (Dog L9), they are grappled by the mighty tentacles; though the grey man seems to be smirking about something.

[Ithandor]

Alex steps up, becoming a blur of speed as he moves to attack the nearest dog unhindered by Belarius' spell:

Free: Cast Haste - everyone's in range I think.

Free: Assign my Dodge bonus to the Gray Man.

Free: Knowledges (I've equal ranks in Planes, Arcana, Nature, Religion, Dungeoneering and Local):
Dogs [roll0]
Gray man [roll1]
Horse [roll2]

Move: Move to B11 (70ft base movement with Haste)

Standard: Initiate Emerald Razor, Power Attacking for 7:

To hit (vs Touch AC): [roll3], plus whatever Knowledge Devotion's bonus is (minimum +2)
-Forgot, subtract 7 for PA, so 22+KD

[Ithandor]

Damage, screwed up dice roll last time:

[roll0], + [roll1] acid.

Also: If I'm the target of a spell or attack from the Gray Man on his next go that would be affected by it, I'll cast Greater Mirror Image. Likewise, if a Will save is required I'll (always preferentially) use Moment of Perfect Mind.

[Jangoose]

Tabitha eyes their opponent suspiciously.

if the gray man has any seemingly protective magical auras (via detect magic)
Tabitha tears out from behind her companions, hair wild, eyes glowing softly, fixed on the grey man at the other end of the hall,

Now now, play fair [/cackling]

Reaching out with her hand, Tabitha draws at the air, as if siphoning some intangible force from her opponent


(vicious dispelling on gray man, I roll a dispel check against 11+each effect's caster's level)
(e.g if the spell were cast by a 6th level caster, it would be DC 17)
Rolls (against each effect, in this order)
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
any spell dispelled deals 1 point of damage to the gray man per spell level



She calls out to the man,

You come into our home, violate our sanctum, displaying admittedly decent subtlety. And yet, you seem to forget that you have decided to upset 6 highly capable guildmasters on their own territory. You may be smug now, but you might want to look behind you... your forgetfulness may be something of a developing trend

bluff for distraction/catching gray man off guard
[roll6]

If he turns around, Eldritch Blast, vs touch AC
[roll7]
[roll8]

Otherwise, ready an action to destroy one of the objects in his hand using Baleful Utterance if he attempts to use it.

[Jangoose]

grah, my rolls didn't work :(
To reiterate
If (he seems to have protective spell effects on him, (Voracious dispelling vs 11+ each effect's caster's level)){
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
}

Else{
Bluff
[roll6]
If (He turns){
Eldritch Blast (v Touch AC)
[roll7]
[roll8]
}
Else{
Ready an action to Baleful Utterance against the objects in his hands if he uses them
}
}

[Chained Birds]

Alex
Can't put anything by Alex who identifies the grey man as a Pale Stranger. Mysterious undead who retains their humanity even after death. They are usually single minded in their goals to take vengeance out on the one(s) who killed them or led them to their death. They have a natural luck and are proficient in strange new weaponry known as firearms (which is still in the development stages in this world).
The Sleipnir is by far the most dangerous creature here, and it is quite curious as to why it would be under the servitude of the Pale Stranger. The horse-like creature is able to project a cone of prismatic energy a couple of times per day so be wary.
The Shadow Mastiffs are the weakest and are further weakened by the lack of shadowy illumination. They normally function under a powerful shadowy concealment and use tactics similar to wolves.

Add your bonuses for Undead (Pale Stranger), Magical Beast (Sleipnir), and Outsider (Shadow Mastiffs).

Alex cuts into one of the Shadow Mastiffs and causes it a grievous injury, but it remains determined to continue fighting. Tabitha's attempt to feint the grey man falls short as he barks a curse in her general direction; before being pelted by a dispelling blast and regular eldritch blast.

[Cardea]

Ishbala


Ishbala calmly creates a circle with his thumbs and forefingers, filling with a soft light. It disappears, as Ishbala's gauntlets take on a grey glow. "You step in our home, and assault us. You have but a moment to dismount, before I remove your legs."

Diplomacy: [roll0]
Edit: Oh, the spell: Divine Favor. +3 Luck Bonus to Attack and Damage rolls with my gauntlets.

[Chained Birds]

"Can't quite hear you over the lies and deceit you're spewing. You probably murdered the owners of this place in order to create such an abomination of a room."

As he spews out his defiant words, the dogs begin their assault. Dog (let's call him 5) and Dog (let's call him 3), are still grappled and can only bark in anger. Dog 1, hit by Alex, Attempts to Bite, Trip, and Slash at him with a serrated tail. The 2 remaining dogs (Dogs 2 and 4) charge towards Alex in retribution for their damaged companion, evading the grasping tentacles to the north.

Dog 1
Bite
- Attack: [roll0]
- Damage: [roll1]
- Crit Attack: [roll2]
- Crit Damage: [roll3]
- Trip if Bite Hits: [roll4] vs Touch AC
- Strength Check: [roll5]
Tail Slap
- Attack: [roll6]
- Damage: [roll7]
- Crit Attack: [roll8]
- Crit Damage: [roll9]
Dog 2
Bite
- Attack: [roll10]
- Damage: [roll11]
- Crit Attack: [roll12]
- Crit Damage: [roll13]
- Trip if Bite Hits: [roll14] vs Touch AC
- Strength Check: [roll15]
Dog 4
Bite
- Attack: [roll16]
- Damage: [roll17]
- Crit Attack: [roll18]
- Crit Damage: [roll19]
- Trip if Bite Hits: [roll20] vs Touch AC
- Strength Check: [roll21]

Duneswalker has Initiative!

[Ithandor]

Dogs 1 & 2 both miss, AC 24 with Haste.

Dog 4 hits my AC. It has a 40% miss chance due to Blurred Alacrity from my casting of Haste, so 40 or less misses:

[roll0]

If it hits, opposed Trip (16 hits Touch AC):

[roll1] (+8 from Heart of Earth)



Alex dodges the first mastiff, and the second, but the third manages to catch him on the leg, knocking him off balance and to the ground.

[PowerGamer]

Dunes closes his eyes for a momment to concentrate. He opens them suddenly and glares at the grey man

You dare to enter our guild, and then attempt attack me!! You will pay dearly for this you fool!!!

As Dunes speaks, he starts to grow in size.


Concentration: [roll0] (move action to psi focus)
Casts Expansion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/expansion.htm) on self (standard action).

[Chained Birds]

The Sleipnir takes a step away from the tentacles as it trots towards the group. Stopping, it lets out a sigh and gives a very apologetic look, as it uses its breath weapon that Alex may or may not have eluded to it having one.
Breath Weapon vs Latoa/Belarius/Tabitha DC 22 half or negate (depending)
Latoa: [roll0], [roll1]
- Fort: [roll2]
- Ref: [roll3]
- Will: [roll4]
Latoa is fine!

Belarius: [roll5], [roll6]
- Fort: [roll7]
- Ref: [roll8]
- Will: [roll9]
Um... Is Belarius immune to Poison? If not, he sorta dies instantly from Prismatic Green's Initial Poison effect...

Tabitha: [roll10], [roll11]
- Fort: [roll12]
- Ref: [roll13]
- Will: [roll14]
Tabitha takes 10 fire damage.


"Spewing More Nonsense! Just stop your lies and admit you work for the Demon Lord already!"

The Grey Man, actually doing very well being grappled, aims one of his small weapons at Latoa for no other reason than that he can't get a good shot at anyone else.

Attack: [roll15] vs Touch AC
Damage: [roll16] + [roll17]
Crit Attack (19-20): Auto Confirm
Crit Damage: [roll18]

Back to everyone except Duneswalker Again (hopefully the prismatic stuff wasn't too severe).

[Chained Birds]

OOC: Forgot to include Dunes in all the Prismatic fun!

Breath Weapon vs Duneswalker DC 22 half or negate (depending)
[roll0], [roll1]
- Fort: [roll2]
- Ref: [roll3]
- Will: [roll4]

...Um Dunes takes 80 points of electric damage...

[Cardea]

Ishbala


"If I had a coin for each time I am wrongly accused of being of a different faith, this armor would be gold." Ishbala says calmly, forming a circle with his hand as he walks towards Duneswalker's unconscious body, tapping him in the back of the head. A golden glow escapes the circle, stitching together the wounds on his allies body. He removes the helmet from his person, revealing his very human head. "Grey One, stand down, and we can forgive this transgression. I am Ishbala Cul, divine servant of the Creator, and not some servant of fiendish swill."

Spontaneous Converting Freedom of Movement to Cure Critical Wounds.
Cure Critical Wounds on Duneswalker: [roll0]
Diplomacy: [roll1]

[Chained Birds]

"Your words are as twisted as your soul, you show no proof to contradict my claims, and proof can easily be falsified. If you are what you claim, then aid me in destroying these Fiendish Creatures! Or prove to me without a shadow of a doubt that your group is not sided with the demons... and these disgusting Black Tentacles didn't help your case neither!"

He seems a bit more reasonable now, but only slightly.

[Cardea]

Ishbala


"Let me get this straight. You intrude on our home, you assault us in our home, you nearly slaughter one of our own, and now you demand that we aid you? You are a guest, and I was raised to be polite to my guests. But until you show at least me the same courtesy that I am showing you, namely that I am still channeling positive energy to heal my comrade, which you would know that those of the lower planes cannot do, rather than doing my best impersonation of someone who is tearing you in half, you will get no aid of ours. We have that right under Io's great plan."

Diplomacy: [roll0]
This guy is just getting annoying as hell, now.

[Chained Birds]

"Guest This and Guest That! How am I ****ing considered a guest when I was forcefully removed from my journey and sent here to the awaiting arms of a bunch of decked out individuals. Life and Unlife has taught me to trust in my instincts, and so far their telling me you lot are nothing but bad news."

The grey man stops for a second and chuckles,

"How about this, what if I call off my dogs and you call off yours?"

[Cardea]

Ishbala


"One minute ago me and my own were upstairs, being warned that there was an intruder in our basement. I believe whatever it is you are hunting is having his fun by warping you across the Planes." Ishbala says, forming another circle of light, and infusing it into Dunewalker's body. "Call off your dogs, you dismount, I will have my allies stand down, and we can reason this out. Is that fair enough, Grey Wanderer?"

Freedom of Movement to Cure Critical Wounds.
CCW: [roll0]
Diplomacy: [roll1]

[Chained Birds]

"Fine, I'll play your game for now."

The grey man uses his free hand to snap his fingers 4 times. The Shadow Dogs seem to respond to this by slowly backing away from their targets. The grappled dogs continue their struggle to break free from the tentacles, but show no aggression towards the party.

With the Dogs backing away, the Horse gives a sigh of relief as it too takes a few steps away from the group; bowing its head apologetically.

"I've called them off. Now it's your move."

OOC: If no one engages in any aggressive actions towards the grey man or his companions, the battle will end. Ishbala has successfully diffused the situation for now.

[Cardea]

Ishbala


Ishbala turns to the other Guild Masters. "It is fine for now, we have all made mistakes today. Lay down your arms, and we can greet our guest proper." He helps Duneswalker get up, doing his best to heave the mountain of a person up.

[ben-zayb]

After the supposedly ended altercation, Latoa lets his emotions out. He tried to remain as calm as possible, but everyone can feel the silent rage in his words.
"What the hell, man? I already said we're not here to hurt ya, didn't I? Then ya come down hitting me with that exploding tool of yours, and then smoking old Belarius!"

He then continued to speak, but more calmly than before.
"Alright. To be fair, Belarius DID made the first sign of aggression. But that was because he thought ya'r deliberately trespassing. And some of us prefer actions over words, y'know? What's your story anyway? How'd ya get here? Don't mind me, 'm just gonna cure myself."

Body Adjustment: [roll0] (heals both Latoa and his psicrystal, which is hiding behind his wings)
note: damage from before was also shared, so ~9 damage each
edit: woot! also, the usual take 10 sensing the stranger's motives (26 total)

[PowerGamer]

Dunes, painfully, lumbers to his feet. He stares angrily at the grey man for a moment before sheathing his sword. Dunes then closes his eyes for a moment to calm and focus. The rest of his wounds seem to go away.


Body Adjustment: [roll1] (spending 7 power points to augment for 2 extra d12s)

Not dispelling Expansion (duration, 9 minutes)
OOC
I edited some text, that's why the red message is there.

[Ithandor]

Alex pulls himself to his feet, dusting himself off. He eyes the dogs warily, but lowers his sword.

"So, Stranger", putting peculiar emphasis on the second word, "why are you here? You sought our aid in destroying Fiendish creatures - I believe our goals are the same. All that differs, perhaps, is the information each side already possesses."

[Chained Birds]

Hesitantly, the grey man places his weapons back in his holsters and draws a small wand. He then approaches his injured dogs and begins tapping them on the forehead, healing their wounds. After he finishes, he turns to the party.

"Okay, so why did you lot drag me here? Is this some sort of demon summoning gone wrong or something? I am a very busy man and have many a vengeance to carry out, so out with it."

He stands before the group (15ft away at all times for some reason) with arms cross and an obviously irritated expression.

[Ithandor]

"We didn't summon you... at least, certainly not intentionally. We were, however, approached by a man calling himself Pharaoh who was very much interested in this portal. He intimated that it is due to open again in the coming weeks, and that we would need to take action to stop this from happening." Alex sighs, "He wasn't particularly forthcoming with information - if you could shed any light on this situation, we'd be most obliged."

[Chained Birds]

He eyes Alex for a bit before responding,

"What Portal? You mean that thing over there?"

He points behind him to the obviously large sealed portal,

"That ain't no regular portal I tell ya. Gave me chills just knowing it was behind me the whole time. But I have no idea what it is nor who this Pharaoh guy is. But if he knows a little about this thing, then he probably knows everything about it too."

The grey man looks around for a second, and with a puzzled expression asks,

"Now how the **** do I get out of here?!"

[Cardea]

Ishbala


"Someone show him upstairs. It appears he has murdered one of our own." Ishbala says. He moves towards Belarius, shoving anyone out of his way, hiding his anger. He forms a circle with his hands, a great light pouring forth from it. It travels to Belarius, granting his fallen ally temporary life. When his Belarius' eyes open, he speaks: "It appears you have died, Belarius. I have told you time and time again to be more careful about yourself; even Duneswalker fell. You are alive for the next ten minutes, at which point I shall try and bring you back fully. The Grey Wanderer is done assaulting us, as we are to him."

Casting Revenance. Belarius is alive for ten minutes. When ten minutes are up, I immediately cast Revivify.

[DrK]

Belarius opens his eyes slowly as the pain and burning in his veins slowly fades. Looking into to the face of the clerc he heaves himself slowly to his feet. "Thank you once again my friend. I've lost count of the number of times your smiling countenance has awakened me".

The smile fading as he sees the grey man still there, his hand clenching around his staff. "What is this vile creature still doing here. It breaks into our sanctumn and attacks us without warning..."


It struck first, I'd readied my action.

[Cardea]

Ishbala


"I haven't. Thirty-eight. My favorite was the time when you were drowned, and it took me a minute to find you, through a combination of temporal manipulation, which made it a week for me. I still miss that trinket." Ishbala reminisces. "Calm yourself. He is not so much as vile, as manipulated to be in our Hall."

[Ithandor]

"Once again you display both your custom wisdom and preparedness Ishbala" Alex says, bowing slightly in respect. He continues, addressing Belarius, visibly glad to have him back on his feet. "It has become clear that neither side here wants to see this portal opened. It seems our visitor was summoned by a third party, for some reason. Which leads to a good question: how in the Hells did whoever is behind this summon through a dimensional lock??"

Spellcraft to answer this question: [roll0]
Knowledge(arcana or planes) for same: [roll1]

[Chained Birds]

Alex
While he is uncertain about the specifics of getting through a dimensional lock without some sort of dispelling, he can determine that there are 2 ways of getting into this room. One is through the black door, which given the size of the horse would be improbable; or the Inactive Portal. Actually, upon further inspection of the portal, he finds that is has been used quite recently, and even finds a bizarre note on it which reads:


"Portal Works. I Quit!
- Signed, Chuck Vladislav

P.S: I prepared Explosive Runes Today."

[roll0] Force Damage

While investigating the area to determine how the grey man could have entered this area with his entourage, Alex finds a note attached to the portal and reads it out of curiosity. The note then explodes in his face.

[Ithandor]

Coughing, Alex winces as he touches a wound on his forehead from the explosion.

"Well, that's just charming"

Turning to his fellow guildmasters:

"Well, there's nothing left of that note, but it read: 'Portal Works. I Quit!', signed by Chuck. Oh, and an Explosive Runes spell for good measure. It seems the portal was activated recently. If anyone's got a Cure wand handy, I could use a charge or two."

[ben-zayb]

Latoa sighed in relief as his fellow master Ishbala once again revived Belarius.

"Good to've ya back in shape Master Belarius! Wouldn't be appropriate to call ourselves 'Donec Six' without ya 'round", he jokingly remarked. He knows that this isn't exactly the time to be making stupid jokes, especially poorly trite ones like that, but that's just the type of person he is.

Besides, they probably expected that one from a mile away.

He then became alarmed after hearing of an explosion near the portal. Realizing that Alex was nonetheless still in shape, and due to the lack of the requested wand itself, Latoa just then replied to the former about the situation.

"Anyway, what bothers me is that the portal can somehow send random people inside our home. Not to mention that this place is supposedly secure from all sorts of teleportation. Looks like there is, indeed, some great power at work here."

[DrK]

Belarius leans heavily on the walking staff, still watching the greyman with thinly veiled hostility. "If you wish to converse please send your horse and your dogs to the back of the room. The beast in particular is not welcome hear."

To the others he wanders back to the rest of them. "An intriguing note. I wished I had been able to meet this strange Pharoh fellow. Where shall we go now?

Hopefully not through there! He jokes pointing at the portal.

[Chained Birds]

"Hey, Spirit is a great stead. She never does anything bad unless I tell her to. She actually feels sorry for killing you and almost killing the big guy over there."

He snaps his fingers 5 times, and the dogs and horse lineup horizontally behind him; with the Sleipnir in the center. The animals lie down and seem to converse with one another with motions of their heads and animal noises.

"So, the exit's that way?"

He points towards the stairway behind the group.

[PowerGamer]

Dunes decides it's his turn to make a joke,

There is a second exit. I can tell you where it is but not where it goes. It's right behind you.

He then points at the portal.

[Chained Birds]

"Hmm, really? So you don't know where that portal leads. How interesting."

The grey man rubs his chin as he leers gleefully to his side.

"Hey, I'll make you guys a deal. I'll tell you where that portal summoned me from and in exchange, I'd like to meet this Pharaoh person."

[DrK]

Belariius smiles a grim smile, a hanf sroking a wisp of beard as he does so. "While I hate to agree with this interloper and my murderer. I too would like to meet this Pharoh fellow"

[ben-zayb]

Seeing the opportunity to closely watch two strangers that he both distrusts, Latoa volunteered himself in accompanying the grey man and 'old man Belarius' once they found out where he went.

"Sure thing, Master Belarius. I've just been wondering what happened to that lying rhymes-with-custard who left a while ago. Masters Tabitha and Alex, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought I saw your pocket monsters tailing Pharaoh a while ago."

He then alternately looked at Tabitha and Alex, waiting for any sort of answer.

[Ithandor]

"Navi attempted to follow him, but unfortunately lost him just after he left the guild hall. I believe he said he would be returning tomorrow, though."

[Chained Birds]

After a few more minutes of discussion, the consensus of the group is to keep an eye on the grey man and his entourage. The grey man will be staying in a local inn a few yards from the Guild while under surveillance from an Arcane Eye, while a bit of Reduce Animal on the horse was all that was necessary to get her out of the basement (Thanks to one of the druid members). The animals are currently being housed in a cell within the guild to keep them safe and away from the younger guild members. Wouldn't want anyone losing any fingers to those Shadow Dogs.
The Masters agreed to allow the grey man to meet Pharaoh in exchange for any information he might have on the portal and where he was teleported from.

Info
"Okay, now you'd better keep you promise or else I'll let my little friends go wild all over the place. If you catch my drift?
Anyways, I was originally traversing the Shadow Plane pursuing the man who killed me long ago. After allying myself with some of the natives of that land, I was shown a gateway into a Realm in-between Realms. Now I'm not the smartest hombre to twirl a pistol, but I could immediately tell this gateway was bad news, but I couldn't help shrug off the fact that that man's presence was beyond that gate.
After a bit of coin flipping, I stepped into the odd Realm and ended up in a bizarre place where I was immediately attacked. The monsters within were insane and kept talking about what parts of my body they wanted to absorb and what memories they'd want to memorize. Bunch of Freaks!
After a few weeks of fighting, I was finally getting close to that man's place of residence when all of a sudden, I was transported to this foul smelling basement and ambushed by you lot."

The day passes uneventfully. Morning comes and goes just as uneventful, and the grey man can be found waiting around the entrance to the Guild.

OOC
There are still 2 more hours before Pharaoh shows up, so everyone may use their time as they see fit. Also, 1700exp for everyone!

[PowerGamer]

Dunes decides he needs to go for a walk through town for he might not see it again for a while. As she walks outside he sees the grey man and offers him an invitation to join him on his walk.

If he joins me-
We will start with akward small talk and then hopefully I can get some info about his past.
If he doesn't join me-
I'll walk around town being friendly to all who acknowledge me.

[Ithandor]

Alex spends the morning waiting for Pharaoh by sifting through his book collection, to see if he can find any reference to this "Realm between Realms".

[DrK]

Belarius sits in the main guildhall drinking a cool glass of wine before the others arrive. Staff propped up beside him and his spellbook on the table he is the picture of a man taking his ease before the clash of multiple realms spilling together....

As the others arrive he'll wave to seats and glass laid out, "Some wine before our strange visitor arrives?"

[ben-zayb]

Latoa welcomed the new day with his usual early morning ritual.


Latoa was just finishing his usual cooling-down routine after his daily 15-kilometer (~9mi.) jog. The cold sweat that covered his entire body helped in stabilizing his body temperature. He began fumbling his haversack, and without much effort to look for it, pulled out a clean and dry towel.

After taking a shower and drying himself afterwards, he headed for the guildhall. While he remained silent during the entire travel, he greeted everyone politely with a telepathic Good morning, fellas.

Once he arrives at the hall, he'll take his old friend's offer and help himself with a few sips of wine. He relaxingly slouched at one of the tables, and spoke to his fellow master.

"Yesterday was a surprisingly unusual day, huh--what with all that portal through the abyss stuff. The rest of the guild seemed unaware of that though, including news of Chuck's weird behavior", said Latoa as he takes another sip from the glass, emptying it in the process.

[Cardea]

Ishbala


In, out. In, out. The world filled his senses, and he expelled them out in turn; and endless cycle of inner sensation that only he could know of: A blessing of Io, one of many, and very small. The lake before him was calm, He reached out with one of his clawed, armored hands and poked the lake. He watched the ripple spread out, as the rest of Io's divine embrace entered his veins. His mind. His soul. "Aliquam," He spoke under his breath, and found himself teleported before the Guild Hall.

[Jangoose]

Tabitha returns to her study from the meeting with the gray man, collapsing heavily into the large armchair by the fire. Though several new notes have appeared on her desk since she was last here, she ignores them for now. The game will have to wait.

Taking a few minutes to relax and mentally prepare herself for the day, Tabitha stands, pulling a piece of chalk from the folds of her dress. Kneeling on the warm stone before the fire, she begins to draw...

Bowing her head to the grim elven figure standing before her over its seal, Tabitha waits, tense as always, on her fate for the day.

Rolls

Binding Malphas, the Turnfeather
check vs DC 15
[roll0]


Her task done, Tabitha rises, sweeping the chalk and dust from her dress before going to join the others waiting for Pharaoh.

Overhead, her summoned raven floats on the breeze, searching the horizon for signs of the Pharoah's arrival.

[Chained Birds]

After 1-2 hours, the man known as Pharaoh is spotted walking down the path that leads to the Forest towards the Guild. Not much has changed about his appearance as he still carries his large case in his only visible hand with a long pipe off to the side of his mouth.
As he approaches the Guild, Anyone who is outside the Guild will notice the grey man immediately advance towards Pharaoh and grab him by the collar. They seem to have a whispered conversation for a few seconds before the grey man releases Pharaoh from his grasp. Pharaoh continues his walk towards the Guild with the grey man somewhat distraught and motionless behind him.
As Pharaoh notices the Guild master he sees,

"Hmm, not how I expected to start out my day. Though it is nice to see that you six have fully accepted my plea, at least according to what that Pale Stranger told me."

[DrK]

Belarius, still with staff in hand and wineglass in the other looks at the stranger. "I am Belarius, we did not meet. Perhaps you could offer a fuller explanation of where, what and how you would expect us to be?".

He looks about again, his voice taking a more serious tone. "And I for one would like an explanation of where the Grey man came from. I did not enjoy another actual death experience." He nods again to Ithaldor a brief thanks again for the revival the day before. He would hopefully not have to rely on the divine power of his fellow master again.

[Chained Birds]

"I see, so you are the sixth master. It's a pleasure to meet you."

He bows to Belarius before continuing,

"I have created a map detailing where a former friend of mine still resides. He is not the master of seals we seek, though he knows of the true location of this person. I would travel there alone and not trouble anyone, but my frailty would cause my untimely death without resolving anything. That is where you six come in.
As former adventurers, I expect you all to have a feeling of how dangerous this mission will be, after facing a neutral party like that Pale Stranger over there. An oppositional force will probably be unreasonable and will attempt to kill everyone of us to ensure the activation of that portal.
Though I hope we eventually find that portal by the time we encounter the master of seals."

Pharaoh blows a smoke ring over his head.

"So, up for another final adventure to save the world?"

[DrK]

Belarius looks slightly suspiciously at the man. "We have already experienced some untimely death.

You speak of oppositional parties and those who want to open the portal? Who would they be?"

Looking to the others he considers that for a while more. "It matters a great deal, as it is important to know one's enemy before committing to battle. Preparation breeds victory.""

Servants bringing more wine distract him from a second before he clears a space on the table. "Let us see this map. Best we run through it with you before you depart. There is nothing worse than a legendless map when you are knee deep in some wandering monster."

[Chained Birds]

He hands over the map to Belarius. Belarius opens the folded paper to find not a map, but a crudely written message saying "Follow Me" with an arrow pointing directly at Pharaoh.

"Please, like I would be able to draw a map with one arm. You think too much of me. Sadly, I'll have to play guide and show you all to that friend's location. It is somewhat a guarded secret and writing it down on paper would only endanger the poor fellow.
Now concerning the abnormal enemies we might face, they are most likely going to be former residents of the realm the portal is connected to. They are all mad in some form or another, and causing more of their kind to enter this word is somewhat a programed ideal. Some can be quite honorable and benevolent, but with the portal's current state, even these creatures will attack any of us if they know what we are up to. So I wouldn't be telling everyone about what you're doing unless you truly need to."

[PowerGamer]

Upon seeing what was written on the "map," Dunes lets out a hardy laugh. He gets a few stares and becomes silent again. He has been listening intently but doesn't feel the need to comment yet.

[Ithandor]

Alex levels a considered gaze at Pharaoh for a moment. He nods slightly to himself, and snaps out of it.

"Well, Pharaoh, I'm glad you're coming with us, at least. I say we get going - the portal won't seal itself," Alex pauses for a moment, before muttering "Though I wish the same could be said about its opening."

[DrK]

Belarius looks at the old man before nodding. "Very well then. Please, if we are all ready show us the way."

[Chained Birds]

Pharaoh gives Belarius a raised eyebrow,

"Why does everyone think I'm old, I'm only 27...Anyways, I guess we'll be off then."

The bandaged man starts walking off towards the forest from whence he came looking back on an occasion to see if everyone is following. He seems a bit jittery as he spays his large case back and forth in large swings.
The journey is not long before they arrive at an entrance to Seagull's Cave. A familiar place to the Guild Masters as it has been used many times to train the younger members in low-light and darkness fighting. Pharaoh leads the group into the cave after setting up a purple colored lantern on his case.
The bizarre purple glow illuminates the cave in a way the Masters have never seen before. The cave almost looks alive with energy until a white light can be seen coming up towards the group.
A flash of white transforms the walls, the ceiling, and even the ground into a pure white featureless area.

"This is the Variant. It is a powerful mode of transport that needs absolute darkness for it to work and absolute silence. Though it was impossible to find such a place around the Guild area, I improvised with this here lantern. It's sort of like a cheating device, though it is very tricky to use without it blowing up in your face."

He begins chuckling; his voice echoing throughout the nothingness.

[Jangoose]

Tabitha follows along, her raven floating overhead. As the man fiddles with the purple lantern, Tabitha focuses her gaze on the strange device, sensing for its magical aura, not wanting to be caught off guard by an unadvertised effect.

[ben-zayb]

Latoa followed the rest of his fellow masters, and then carefully observed the purple lantern as it suddenly illuminated the whole cave. He instinctively tried covering his eyes with one hand, and wondered as the entirety of the place is turned pure white.

[PowerGamer]

Dunes follows everyone into the cave, he sees the man pull out a lantern. Dunes is curious but decides it is best to wait and observe. He's a little surprised when everything turns pure white.

[Chained Birds]

After what feels like hours, color eventually starts to slowly come into in white world around the group. Formations start to pop into place, and after a short amount of time and walking, everyone is in a whole different place.
Unlike the dark, bland caverns of Seagull's Cave, the world around the group is that of a meadow with various insect sounds and small animals darting through the shallow grass. The sky is very blue, with hardly a cloud to block the sun positioned directly above the group.
Pharaoh stops for a second and turns around,

"I believe we should take a rest so I can get my bearings straight. That tunnel always gives me something of an existential crisis."

The man sits down and prepares his pipe with some more herbs, lighting the stuff with a tindertwig and smoking away.

"It won't be long before we get to my friend's place; about 10 more minutes give or take. I'd suggest you prepare yourselves for immediate combat, as there are always a bunch of monsters around his home, and in it too."

[Ithandor]

Alex draws his sword, and releases Navi to soar high into the sky. Looking around he asks Pharaoh:

"Where are we?"


In case it's relevant: Knowledge(arcana) about the mode of travel [roll0]

[Chained Birds]

Alex
He believes they are somewhere Fey-ish; though the landscape and fauna aren't uncommon enough for him to be certain.

"We are in a land that has no defined name or even time. It was created by a creator who embodied Chaos and wanted to create a world that reflected that, though his creation was flawed in his eyes. Everything in this area is both common and uncommon, dark and light, life and death; but it is hard to note these sort of things from simply resting in this mundane field."

Pharaoh blows a smoke ring out. When the ring gets to a certain altitude, it turns into a miniature tornado that scurries off into the sky.

[DrK]

Belarius watched the strange light that seemed to enable the strange planar travel with professional curiosity before listening to Pharoh. "What manner of beasts lurk beside his house then? It does rather help to inform the the choice of spells..."

"Never the less... mobility and many, many me's for conversation cannot but help"


He'll wait till they are about 2-3 minutes away and then cast Fly and Mirror Image with [roll0] images

Would anyone like Enlarge Person or Heroics cast on them?

[Jangoose]

Tabitha concentrates for a moment, focusing her mind, before tracing her hands through the air, weaving together a semisolid broomstick of softly pulsing light. Mounting the broom, she takes to the air, remaining near to her companions at first, though she veers up and off as they approach the house. Further down, her raven soars, searching the path ahead for incoming danger.


Cast fell flight (fly, 60, good)

Spot
[roll0]
(my spot checks through the raven's eyes use its skill bonus, though checks to interpret the significance rely on mine (spellcraft, know, w/e))

[PowerGamer]

Dunes does some stretches to limber himself up. He then concentrates to ready a power.

Concentration [roll0]
Round before combat- Manifests 'Strength of My Enemy' (9 round duration)

@DrK- I would love an enlarge person if you don't mind.

Belarius, if you don't mind, an enlarge person would be much appreciated before the battle.

[Chained Birds]

Tabitha
What the bird spies is not so much a house, but a massive cave that seems to poke up out of the ground from nowhere. It seems like the only structure in the area besides maybe a few large trees that could be hollowed out to make a house or something similar.

"If I recall, as it's been a while since I've visited him with my master, there are plenty of undead creatures running about. The man we're here to see was a great necromancer who loved experimenting on willing test subjects to grant them both a form of immortality that undead 'enjoy' and some recognizable enhancements to their body and mind. Though I here most of these experiments failed resulting in abhorrent creatures who seek nothing but Chaos and destruction. The remnants of these creatures can be found around the entrance and further in.
One thing we'll not have to worry about are traps, as he was never the sort to lock his doors with pit falls or pendulum blades."

The man stands up and taps the ashes of the burnt herbs from his pipe against the bottom of his shoe.

"I think that is a good enough rest. Let's head out, unless there are anymore preparations you'd like to complete."

I'll assume all buffs are made relative to the distance from the cave. 1hour/10minutes per level will be made here; 1minute per level will be made a 2 minutes from the cave; and anything less will be made as soon as you all reach the entrance. Is that cool with everyone?

[Ithandor]

Withdrawing a small rod from his backpack, Alex traces an arcane rune in the air, and recalls Navi into her Familiar Pocket.

"I'm ready, anyway."


Casting See Invisibility with Extend MM rod.

Also, DrK, I could use Enlarge Person and Heroics (for Combat Reflexes) if noone else has any use for them!

[DrK]

Belarius nods as the party get a little closer before he cloaks himself in magic.Multiple versions of himself all appearing as he begins to levitate a few inches above the ground. Finally he reaches out to touch the large warrior, "Here you go, I'll hide behind you" the half dozen wizards all mutter as the half-giant swells up to twice his size...


Wait till 2 minutes then cast the spells and enlarge Dune

[Chained Birds]

As the group arrives at the entrance, they marvel at the immense size of the cave with the ceiling about a couple 100ft above them. The gaping maw of the cave is reminiscent of a colossal creature rising up out of the ground and attempting to eat the land around it. There doesn't appear to be anything out of the norm for now, but the cave seems to get progressively smaller as the group moves in; and is also get progressively darker.
After a few seconds of walking, an haunting sound can be heard coming from above. The ceiling is a bit lower now (only around 150ft high) but it is difficult to tell where the sound is coming from due to the darkness and general distance between the group and the ceiling.

[ben-zayb]

Ya heard that creepy sound, guys? Seems to be coming from up there, said Latoa telepathically to his company as he pointed out to the blind darkness from above.

Let's see if this'll help, he thought to himself.


Latoa will try to manifest Control Light to form a pillar of light using the 39 10-ft. Cubes limit, trying to illuminate the area (100% increase) from where he thought he heard the noise.

EDIT: OOC: I just noticed that Latoa's entry at the OOC table is labeled as Dragonborn Human, which should actually be Dragonborn Grey Elf (hence why usually a lot of his guildies, especially the new recruits, mistake him for a drow)

[Chained Birds]

The pillar of light brightens the dark ceiling above, revealing a brood of shadowy creatures escaping from the light's sudden appearance. In the center of the shambling swarm or dark creatures, a larger one swoops down and stands out of the area of the light, though it does stand in the masters' pass.
The creature is about 10ft tall and hardly visible if it weren't for the now excessive light within the usually darkened cave. It looks to be garbed in some form of religious robes, exemplified by a silver religious symbol around its neck.
The creature speaks to the group in a very gruff and ancient voice,

"Thou art creatures of faith? What say you!?"

[DrK]

The wizards hovering above the ground looks up in mild surprise. We are creatures of mixed faith. What manner of beast are you?

[Chained Birds]

The shadowy character looks up at the wizard.

"Which Faith? If thine ideals mesh with mine own, you shall be given passage with out hostility."

[Ithandor]

Alex considers the shadowy figure carefully before speaking.


To identify the creature and it's associated religion - Knowledge(religion) [roll0]

[Chained Birds]

Alex
Alex determines the (un)holy symbol and robes are that of Tiamat's Clergy and worship.

[Ithandor]

Alex, somewhat surprised, says affably:

"Huh, I did not expect to run into a scion of Tiamat here. Mind you, I'm still not quite sure where *here* is, precisely, so there is that. In any case, I usually defer on matters of faith to my wiser brethren", nodding in Ishbala's direction.


Bluff check for feigned affability - Alex knows the tenets of Tiamat and that noone in the party is likely to share a similar faith

Bluff [roll0]

[PowerGamer]

Dunes blinks a little as the cave brightens. He ignores the one standing before them and look around for potential threats from the others on the ceiling.

1.Saving Strength of My Enemy until the round before combat starts.
2. Spot Check (looking to count the badies in the area- [roll0]

[Chained Birds]

Duneswalker
Dunes counts about 57 shadows within the cave. How many of those are actually threatening creatures, it's hard to say though the bright light does appear to be playing tricks on him.

"Tiamat, no. Bahamut, yes. I serve only the Platinum One!"

[DrK]

Belarius smiles and offers a small bow. "Then we shall get on famously. We also serve the Platinum one and his allies amongst the more noble parts of the pantheon."

He waves a hand around the cave "Is there any risk to us in the cave here? We are looking for a man who knows about portals."

[Chained Birds]

"You seek the Heretic!? Speakith thin reasons, or else I might wet mine blades with your souls!"

[ben-zayb]

"I believe this man knows what our reasons are for being here", said Latoa as he shifted his gaze to Pharaoh.

"Hey, Mis'r Pharaoh guy, why don't ya explain our situation?", he added further, ignoring Pharaoh's interactions with the shadowy figures and trying to get his attention.

[Chained Birds]

Pharaoh walks up and looks at Latoa, then at the shadow, then at Latoa again. He gets close to Latoa and whispers something to him.

"I have no idea who this guy is. He seems like one of those experiments I spoke of earlier, and I'm not the best speaker. I might make everything worse considering I sometimes rub people the wrong way."

[ben-zayb]

"Really, huh?" said Latoa as he looks at Pharaoh skeptically.

Taking 10 again to sense Pharaoh's motive.

He turns his attention back at the shadow. "To be completely honest, even we barely know why we're here. This guy..." he stopped briefly to point at Pharaoh... "asked us to help him, and we just kinda went along. So... for the record... if we're trespassing or anything, it's HIS fault, alright?"

He does have a habit of pointing things out (literally)

[Chained Birds]

Latoa
There is some truth to Pharaoh admitting he might cause more trouble for them by talking to this person he doesn't know, though Pharaoh does seem like a person who might have few aces in the hole to avoid creatures like the Shadow in front of them.
As an intelligent and wise person, Latoa believes that a more diplomatic Guild Master might be able to avoid a battle versus this creature.

The Shadow (It's an Advanced Shadow, just FWI for characters with +10 on Knowledge [Religion] or above) seems insulted by Latoa's honest reply. The creature lifts his hand in the air and shouts a single word in Aklo,

"Grrez'Ob!"
Translation for those than understand Aklo: Sword of Despair.

A few of the Shadows scattered around the area rush towards his hand. Their bodies twist and compress into each other forming into a long, blurring stick-like item. The creature swings the weapon, as though slashing a body, and the excess energies from the countless Shadow bodies splatters against the ground like black blood. The weapon takes the shape of a grand violet longsword with black runes appearing to hold it together.

"Doth thou take me for a Foul! No naive would seek entrance to this domain without purpose! Answer my queries or I shall show you no quarter!"

[ben-zayb]

Seeing the Shadowy creature's response, Latoa realized that this creature isn't very fond of honest-to-goodness, no-nonsense approach.

Curses! Looks like there'll be no more diplomacy between me and this creature... Perhaps Ishbala could do better....

Every Guild Master: So, seems like I really pushed this guy's button the wrong way. Ishbala, ye're good at defusing situations like this, yeah. Would ya mind lending me a hand?

[DrK]

Belarius stands by, ready for what seems like the incoming violence from the large shadowy creature. Glad he had so many of his images gathered close around him.

"I do not think I can talk it down my friend. I suggest we prepare for the worst" Belarius whispers to Latoa as he begins to consider which of his arsenal is best suited to battling the vast shadow sword.

[PowerGamer]

Dunes thinks that a battle is almost unavoidable. He decides that upon the moment battle is to start he will cast the power he has prepared. He doesn't like the way this creature is responding anymore.

[Jangoose]

Tabitha, sensing the encounter descending into dangerous territory swoops to the front of the group. Dipping the front end of her broom and lowering her head in a sort of improvised flying curtsy, she raises her hand, palm up, to the shadowy one, speaking hurriedly, but with feeling

Honored sentinel, forgive my companions. We come in peace for the sake of our mission. A terrible evil may be unleashed should we not complete it, and for that we require the temporary assistance of this 'heretic' of whom you speak. Surely you, a powerful vassal of the silver one, would understand?


Diplomacy
[roll0]

[Chained Birds]

The Shadow character seems to calm done but still has no desire to sheath his sword.

"The Heretic's knowledge is vast as it is infested with chaos. Thin goals seem righteous, but doth thou understand what dangers lie ahead."

Some of the Masters look back at Pharaoh to see if he has any answers, but he just shakes his head and shrugs.

[Ithandor]

"Do you have a name, guardian?" Alex asks, his gaze drawn every-so-often to the runed weapon of shadow-stuff in the creature's grasp.

"Truth be told, we really don't know what dangers lie ahead. All we have managed to surmise so far is that unless we take action, the portal we have kept sealed and guarded for the last five years will open. If you could assist us, or enlighten us about the dangers we must face, you could help us save many lives."

[Chained Birds]

The creature seems to grow silent and its expression blank.

"...Portal... Speakith of the portal I know of? That which will bring upon the world a Chaos most foul?"

[Ithandor]

Alex nods. "Yes, we seek to stop a portal opening. We believe it leads to some sort of 'Realm between Realms'. You know of it?"

[Chained Birds]

The Shadow creature floats up and away from the group onto one of the many 20-50ft high stone platforms within the area. The creature lifts up his sword and stabs it into the ground.

"...Chaos! Each and Everyone of You! Thou seeks to destroy our Hope! Begone Foul Creatures!"

Pharaoh slips past everyone and appears to be waiting off to the side.

"Even the nice ones can turn. I guess this guy is one of the residents of that realm. Would explain his crazy behavior and unique powers.
Well you guys are seasoned adventurers, you all know what to do."

Pharaoh says, back in his little corner away from the ensuing fight.

As Pharaoh finishes his statement, the circling Shadows dive into the ground around the area. After a few seconds, decrepit creatures rise up from the areas where the Shadows fell, moaning and shambling towards the Masters. The zombified creatures appear humanoid, but have a black halo surrounding their heads and a deep dark aura around their claw-like hands.

Map (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ai-v3H17UnxsdHpOeHF6NUhsQ094NEFTZmdsUlB2WXc#gid=0)
Choose where you'd like to be placed. You're limited to the tan area represented on the bottom area. This is also the light from the Control Light power from earlier.
Also, roll your initiatives in the OOC and we'll see what happens! :smallbiggrin:

[Cardea]

Well crap. Sorry for dropping the ball on this.

Ishbala


"We are the masters of the Donec Six, each of us a veteran of our own prowess, each of us aged in battle and peace. Our feet have treaded miles to gather the power we have, and it is by our hands that we have kept it from both onslaught and decay, both internally when may have found ourselves in our quiet times of doubt, and externally when both our Guild and ourselves have been challenged by those who wish to claim our power or prowess." Ishbala begins, forming a circle with both of his hands in front of his throat. Ishbala begins again, his voice deeper, taking on an aspect of power known to himself and to his God. It is rhythmic. "Know that the one who speaks to you is Ishbala Cul, Cleric of Io, the Ninefold Dragon, the Concordant Dragon, the Great Eternal Wheel, Swallower of Shades, Lord of the Gods and Creator of Dragonkind. Neither I, nor my companions, care to fight more than we have to this day, for we go to banish a great Chaos. A great Evil. A great madness, which seeks to take away that which is good in this life. We seek passage through this realm, to go and risk our lives, risk our power and our control, so that others may come after us, to live as they wish, to die as they wish, and perhaps to fight another evil that comes after this one.

"But know this. We mean no harm unto you, Servant of Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, the King of the Good Dragons, the Lord of the North Wind and the Wyrmking. Should you aid us, you will find yourself among new friends. Should you let us pass, you shall find a burden removed from your mind. But should we fight, and it shall be no small thing should we do, for our power is mighty and grand, as is fitting of those who serve the Dragon Gods, it would only further give this Chaos, this Evil, this Madness, a chance to lash out.

"This is our true goal. We ask passage. It is yours to give, and I hope you shall."

Casting Voice of the Dragon. Gives me +10 to Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate for the next 100 minutes. I can also use one Suggestion during this duration.
Diplomacy: [roll0]

[Chained Birds]

The shadowy creature tilts its head in a very disturbing fashion as it looks at Ishbala.

"Why doth though speak in tongues? Your words mean nothing... as nothingness is all... Calamity is a must... Where are we?"

The creature shows no signs of backing down and seems not to understand common anymore, but clearly speaks it. It is almost as though the creature has gone insane!

Initiative Order
Alex: 25
Shadow: 19
Belarious: 16
Tabitha: [roll0]
Latoa: 12
Ishbala:(used turn making a Diplomacy Check) [roll1]
Dunes: 9
Zombie: 3

Knowledges
Key Knowledge: Religion
- Zombies are creature brought back to life through the use of negative energy or necromancy. They are far weaker and less durable than their living counterparts, but have several immunities that can make them very valuable in the right hands.
- The Shadow Lord is too difficult to understand. He appears as a Greater Shadow with ghostly armor and an unholy weapon in his hands. The monster is probably very dangerous and might imitate the abilities of a Shadow.
Alex is up first!

[Ithandor]

Ishbala's moving words falling on the ears of madness, Alex reacts first, incanting the words now so familiar to him. He becomes a blur of motion springing forward and striking out at one of the zombies, before rolling back into Dunes' reach.


Free: Cast Haste - affecting everyone, including Pharaoh and my familiar.

Free: Assign Dodge bonus to Shadow Lord

Move and Standard: Spring Attack move to L15, strike Zombie in L14, move to L19.

Attack, Power Attack for 4: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] + [roll2] + [roll3] (acid)

Conditional: If I'm targetted by an attack, I'll use Greater Mirror Image.

[Chained Birds]

Zombie 1 crumble to the ground. A shadow pops out of the corpse and flies away from the battle.

The Shadow Lord continue his line of nonsensical thinking and appears to take no actions.

Belarious, Tabitha, Latoa, and Dunes are up next. The four may attack in any order (to save time).

[PowerGamer]

Dunes blade glows for a moment, he then moves valiantly to attack the zombies as they approach the party.
Free: Strength of My Enemy now active (9 rounds) for each hit, Dunes drains 1 STR and gains 1 STR.
Movement: Dunes move to M15
Attack: Zombie 3
Attack roll- Power attack (-5) [roll0]
Damage roll- Power attack (+10) [roll1]
----- If hits +1 STR Dunes and -1 STR Zombie 3, if kills Zombies 3
Cleave into Zombie 2
Attack roll- Power attack (-5) [roll2]
Damage roll- Power attack (+10) [roll3]

That there my friends is what you call a CRITICAL HIT!!!

[Chained Birds]

Zombies 2 and 3 are cleaved in twain at the might of of Dune's blows. One of theme is atomized by the violent swing against its body.

The 2 Shadows residing in the zombie bodies fly off to nowhere.

[ben-zayb]

After seeing Alex and Dunes initiate combat, Latoa followed suit. He mentally called out to his psicrystal and channeled to it his mental powers.
Buddy, take care of the light for me, will ya?

Then, he once again tapped into his mental reserve, harnessing his psychic energy to tear some of the zombies out of the known space-time continuum.

Swift Action: Manifesting Solicit Psycrystal for Control Light's concentration. -5PP

Standard Action: Manifesting Time Hop (ML11; DC 21 Will Save) augmented x3 against Zombies 12,13,15, and 16 (my Spot check is a killer, if required). Failure to save sends them forward 11 rounds from now. -11PP

Overchannel Damage: [roll0] divided between me and my psicrystal
SR/PR Check (if needed):
Z12: [roll1]; Z13: [roll2]; Z15: [roll3]; Z16: [roll4]

edit: Total PP spent: 16 PP
edit2: escape clause every round: DC15 Wisdom Check (dunno how that works with zombies though). And Time Hop isn't mind-affecting too, just to be clear.

[Chained Birds]

Will Saves (DC 21)
12: [roll0]
13: [roll1]
15: [roll2]
16: [roll3]

Zombies 13 and 16 disappear into another dimension. They will return back in 1-11rds from now. Latoa is surprised by the zombie's resistance.

[DrK]

THe multiple wizards float and flutter above the ground raising to some 20ft above the air. Seeing the zombies are well catered for he motions with his wand a small orb of fire streaks from his staff towards the shadow lord...



Use wand of lesser fire orb
ranged touch [roll0]
miss chance (01-50 misses)-incorporeal [roll1]
Spell resistance [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

[Chained Birds]

The Shadow Creature tilts its body bizarrely to the side, dodging the ball of fire with hardly a thought.

[Chained Birds]

Tabitha launches an Eldritch Blast at the Shadow Lord and moves slightly to the right.
Tabitha vs Shadow Lord (Touch AC)
- Attack: [roll0]
- Damage: [roll1]
- Crit Attack (20): [roll2]
- Crit Damage: [roll3]
The Shadow Lord's body tilts to the other side in response to the ball of eldritch energy flying towards him, and dodges the attack with relative ease.

The Zombies shamble around and approach the party, some lunging at the nearest target.
Zombie 12 (Provokes AoO) vs Dunes
- Attack: [roll4]
- Damage: [roll5] + [roll6] Strength Drain
- Crit Attack (20): [roll7]
- Crit Damage: [roll8] + [roll9] Strength Drain

Zombie 11 (Provokes AoO) vs Dunes
- Attack: [roll10]
- Damage: [roll11] + [roll12] Strength Drain
- Crit Attack (20): [roll13]
- Crit Damage: [roll14] + [roll15] Strength Drain

Zombie 15 vs Latoa
- Attack: [roll16]
- Damage: [roll17] + [roll18] Strength Drain
- Crit Attack (20): [roll19]
- Crit Damage: [roll20] + [roll21] Strength Drain

The members also note that the Zombies around Pharaoh seem to sniff around Pharaoh's area, but are unable to find him. Some of the more perceptive members would note a small vial on the ground labeled "Hide from Undead" (DC 25 Spot).

Alex is finally up...

[Ithandor]

Spot Check: [roll0]


Alex moves to within striking distance of the two nearest zombies, and lashes out in a smooth, circular arc. As he does, he splits in a multitude of copies.


Move: Move to J18

Standard: Initiate Steel Wind, Power Attacking for 4

Zombie 15:
Hit: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2] + [roll3] + [roll4](acid)

Zombie 17:
Hit: [roll5]
Damage: [roll6] + [roll7] + [roll8](acid)

Swift: Cast Greater Mirror Image [roll9]

[Chained Birds]

The two zombies next to Latoa (and below Tabitha), go down with bursting Shadows erupting from the lifeless corpses.

The Shadow Lord stops moving erratically and tilts his head towards Dunes. A deep red gleam from his eyes appears as he lifts the large shadowy sword above his head in a vertical striking pose. Several of the wandering Shadows that ran aimlessly away from their bodies of rotten flesh culminate around the sword, swirling around it like a maelstrom of negative energy.
With a powerful strike towards Dune's direction, the sword elongates and strikes at Dune's soul. The Shadow Lord then spins around and strikes again with a less accurate, but equally dangerous secondary strike.
Shadow Lord vs Dunes (Touch AC)
- Attack: [roll0]
- Damage: [roll1] nonlethal + [roll2] Negative Energy damage + [roll3] Strength Damage
- Crit Attack (19-20): [roll4]
- Crit Damage: [roll5] nonlethal + [roll6] Strength Drain

Shadow Lord vs Dunes (Touch AC)
- Attack: [roll7]
- Damage: [roll8] nonlethal + [roll9] Negative Energy damage + [roll10] Strength Damage
- Crit Attack (19-20): [roll11]
- Crit Damage: [roll12] nonlethal + [roll13] Strength Drain

The energy then releases, with the Shadows completely gone.

Everyone else if up! (And sorry Dunes, you were the only character within range)

[DrK]

THe wizards flitting in the air looks down at the shadow lord and floats another 10ft or so higher up before zapping the powerful creature with another blast of fire as he considers his options, inwardly cursing for his lack of availablilty of force effects...


Another charge of the fire wand
[roll0] incorporeal [roll1] 1-50 misses
Damage [roll2] Fire, SR [roll3] if needed

[Chained Birds]

The Shadow Lord creates a large hole in its chest to avoid the Fire attack from the wand. He seems to bark out words incoherently before babbling nonsensically.

[ben-zayb]

After barely dodging the zombie's attack, Latoa considers breaking his pacifistic ways once more. He thought that negotiations, after all, is impossible with this mindless agents of darkness.

He then channeled his mental energies into his lungs, feeling it swirl and radiate as the excess air inside is transformed into a powerful psionic force.
Swift Action: Manifest Gemstone Breath (http://www.scribd.com/doc/44463039/62/GEMSTONE-BREATH), augmented by 2 (30ft. cone 4d6 sonic damage plus shakenyeah zombies)
-9PP

"So. It has come to this", Latoa said, with powerful sonic energy reverberating through his voice. He then moved closer to the zombies, and fired a massive salvo of pure sonic energy.
Move Action: to L17.
Standard Action: Breath Weapon with point of origin at the intersection of K16, K17, L16, and L17.
30ft cone should reach Zombies 14, 12, 11 and 10.
[roll0] damage, DC 22 Reflex Save for half.
In the off-chance that they aren't immune, DC 22 Will save or be shaken (fear effect)

[PowerGamer]

Dunes easily blocks the zombies attacks and even finds an opening to retaliate.
AOO- Zombie 11 (before all that strength damage)
Attack- [roll0]
Damage- [roll1]
A moment later, Dunes sees the Shadow Lords blade but isn't able to move quite fast enough to dodge it. He feels himself weaken greatly, but he still has the power to fight. As he swings his mighty sword Dunes calls out,
A restoration spell would be much apreciated!
Strength drained to 15 (have 3 temp points)
Attack 1- Zombie 12
Attack- [roll2]
Damage- [roll3] + 1 strength damage
---incase that misses---
Attack 2- Zombie 12
Attack- [roll4]
Damage- [roll5] + 1 strength damage

[Chained Birds]

Zombie 11 crumbs to the ground, while Zombie 12 still seems fairly stable though highly weakened.