Coming Unstuck IC

[Toliudar]

Link to the OOC thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268279)

From the original recruitment thread:
For years, you have made the many worlds of the universe your oyster. Perhaps you have ruled a kingdom for a time, or recovered ancient secrets from undersea tombs. You have fought back goblin hordes, or played chess with pit fiends. You are, in short, bada**.

None of that has prepared you for the stories that are now circulating.

Planar gates becoming unstuck – depositing people in new places, or (as far as is known) nowhere at all.
A river in one world abruptly began flowing into the desert of another world, for a period of several hours, leaving an entire community of bargefolk very confused.
All portals to and from Sigil stopped working for a period of 2 hours. No explanation was forthcoming.
An astral fortress of the Githyanki materialized on Mechanus, leading to a spectacular amount of bloodshed before order was restored.
Flights of ancient dragons engaged in spectacular combat two thousand feet above the city of Calimport, the casualties destroying entire city blocks where they fell.

Divinations, appeals for divine guidance and the like have gone entirely unanswered. Indeed, several gods have stopped granting spells entirely, fueling even more speculation.

You have recently had business in the City of Brass, a magnificent edifice floating at the edge of an ocean of lava in the plane of fire. Perhaps you were thinking about staying to do some sightseeing. Perhaps you were rushing back for a pressing personal business matter. Regardless, the stories now flooding the marketplaces and squares are giving you pause.

[Toliudar]

Drumin
This is not at all how you’d expected the evening to proceed.

You’d just returned from your reconnaissance of the jewelry store that was reputed to have the only refined Flame Sapphire in the city, back to the room that you’d found. In fact, you’d barely had time to do the customary double-sweep for traps or signs of intrusion when there was a heavy knock on the door. Three measured thumps, which in your experience usually meant someone with a sense of authority. Occasionally, Authorities. No friend had ever come calling with three heavy thumps on your door. Not that you had that many friends.

Just as you were about to slip away, the door jamb cracked and the door opened, revealing an efreeti officer whose uniform was just a little too prim, whose medals and insignia shone a little too much for it simply to be good grooming. This was, clearly, an asre. He was flanked by three burly salamanders holding matcatchers, and he smiled in a way that suggested that he was an asre who enjoyed being an asre.

”Drumin Hargedh, I am here to ask you accompany us to Ashworth Station, to discuss allegations relating to a conspiracy to commit theft.”

That wasn’t good. Conspiracy and allegations were the kind of words the coppers used to get out of having to actually prove anything. On every plane, they seemed to be words that presaged a major screwing.

Drumin knew the room, and he thought that he had a reasonable chance to either slip away from or take down this uniformed arse and his flunkies. But then what?

Arid
The room was, well, not cool exactly. Cool, here in the City of Brass, was both rare and expensive. But as a kind of fainter glow settled in the sky, it was at least less stifling, and meditation came a bit easier.
There was a knock. This was unexpected. The rent had been paid and duly notarized. She knew almost no one here. On the other side of the door was a sour faced efreet, cringing and fidgety. He’d be a foot shorter than her if he wasn’t drifting in midair. Behind him was a trio of thuggish salamanders holding polearms with strange inward-curving barbed pincers.

”Good evening. Do I have the immense pleasure of addressing a Miss Arid? Of course I do. This is just a formality. Nodding will be fine if that’s all that you can manage, dirter. Now, it seems that there’s been a complaint lodged by another dirter. Something about a broken nose, irreparable damage to prestige and reputation. Not really my department. My understanding is that there are two options for you. You can either come with me, give a statement, go through the formality of a costly and elaborate trial that, let’s face, no one will really care about because it only involves two dirters whining at each other. That’s your, um, what’s the word? Right! Your right. Or you can come to me and discuss alternate means of restitution.

The efreet drifts backward out of the doorway, and the salamanders crowd forward. He has taken her measure, clearly and seen the massive sword set carefully at her feet. The salamanders have less perspective, and are apparently spoiling for what they no doubt perceive to be a three-on-one pileup. This trip seemed like a worse and worse idea by the day.

Grye
It had been a frustrating, if occasionally profitable day, for the Basha. The docks had been inordinately active, although primarily with amobilization of support vessels bound for relocation up to the Navy Yards and then who knew where. Who indeed? It seemed likely that there were at least several people who knew where, but it was a secret kept hidden even from skilled and high-ranking officials who paid damned fine coin for this kind of information. It was exceedingly frustrating. Of course, with all of the recent rumours of strangeness on other planes, it could be just about anything.

Just as Grye’s work day was winding down, however, an unexpected visitor gave some hope of casting a glimmer of light on this conundrum. Andarzbad Tehcred, priest, permanent resident in the Charcoal Palace, and advisor to Sultan Marrake al-Sidan al-Hariq ben Lazan, may his reign continue until the flames grow cold. Tehcred was a relatively young priest for his rank, feisty and as strong as he was reputed to be voracious. It was said that he called a devil to his service each month, and ate the hearts of the ones he did not like. Or the ones that he did like. Reports conflicted.

The Andarzbad smiled and looked around Grye’s office, nodding approvingly, and pausing to examine a particularly lovely bit of celestial armour that Grye had picked up in exchange for services some six months ago.

”Basha Grye, a situation has arisen that will require the Sultan, reluctantly, to deprive the Gate from your wise and even-handed leadership. A certain situation has arisen which will require one combining your loyalty and specific talents, and will require the supervision of a team of dirters. If all goes well, we’ll have you back at your duties in two days. I believe that Vali Hassan would be your selection as assistant in the interim?”

Grye’s skilled eye picks up the fact that Tehcred was angling for something, probing Grye, but also picked up something new. Something he hadn’t seen in the four previous occasions in which he’d met the Andarzbad. He sensed fear.

[The Great Skenardo]

Basha Grye

Basha rises from his cushion at his low desk at the sight of the Vizier. He smiles easily, and sets down his spectacles to move forward and receive his guest.
With all outward charm, Basha Grye speaks, his voice exuding affection and reverence.
"Why, I am honored by your presence, your Exalted Reverence; it has been far too long since you have graced my humble office."
He allows a pause to float by as the priest admires the celestial armor.
"Ah, your Exalted Reverence has an eye for true art, I see. It belonged to an archon before being granted to a mortal paladin. She came in search, I think, of a lover of hers that had been sold to the markets."
Grye fingers his silken sash as he tells the story, his one eye gazing thoughtfully in reminiscence for a moment. He comes to and claps his hands in the queer knock-elbowed way of Rakshasi, and then spreads them in a gesture of welcome.
"But come. Will you sit? Will you take some refreshment? What may I do to assist you in any way?"
Basha Grye nearly bites his tongue as his visitor announces that the Sultan himself has issued special orders. "He, Forever Inferno!" echoes Grye, automatically.
"I hear and obey, your Exalted Reverence."
Basha Grye clears his throat with a somewhat affected growl.
"I dare not detain your Exalted Reverence, but if you will condescend to take some refreshment, you may tell all you wish to tell in what poor comfort I have to offer."
The stream of obsequy and courtesy gives one time to think, which Basha Grye thought was perhaps why the eloquent scraping style was so much in vogue these days in the court. It certainly gave one to think, seeing Heartsfeast himself looking nervous. Basha Grye privately had no doubt that the "two-day assignment" meant either that Grye himself was to be scapegoated for some terrible political blunder, or given up as a pawn in one of the sultan's grand games.
Clapping his hands once more, Basha summons a couple of veiled attendants to serve the fieriest liquor and the choicest morsels he could appropriate to his guest.
He carefully steers around the question of a replacement. It wouldn't do to blithely confirm a recommendation; what if that were the trap? Because there was a Trap.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid
As the Efreeti is speaking, Arid sighs. This was her own stupid fault. Think quickly now! "I will come with you," she says before he finishes and retreats while she stands up straight and flexes her shoulder and chest muscles. "Peacefully and calmly if you tell your men to step back." She focuses on her inner self, ready to adress it if necessary. "Let's not make this more complicated than it already is, I am sure we both do not want that. You have my word."

Should the Salamanders advance and grab her, Arid will oppose. She won't fight them but hopes to make the point clear that she won't be dragged about while staring at the Efreeti, waiting for him to call his men back. Then she will join him.

[Chambers]

Drumin

Why do guards always knock the same? Drumin thinks as he lays on the bed. "Hello to you too. Don't worry, come right in." He says and glances at the very impolite polearms before looking over His Highness the Genie. Don't like the look of those.

"So. Are you asking me as in you'd be tickled pink if I came with you but would understand if I had prior engagements and couldn't make it or asking me simply to be polite and I don't really have a choice? Because those aren't used in polite society where I'm from." He says and nods to the mancatchers.

He rises slowly and sits on the edge of the bed, his hands in plain sight on his thighs. "As much as I'd like to believe you're here just as a public service...I don't have that kind of luck." He says and stands up just as slow, keeping one eye on the polearms. "Now I didn't hear you say I was bound by law, so as long as I'm merely joining you to the station there's no law that says I can't bring my belongings with me, right?" He tentatively reaches towards his pack and maul lying against the bed, ready to leave them be if the guards start towards him those uncomfortable looking implements.

Sense Motive (Assess Opponent) on each of them. It's opposed by Bluff. Complete Adventurer pgs 102/103 for reference.

Officer [roll0]
Salamander [roll1]
Salamander [roll2]
Salamander [roll3]

[Toliudar]

Basha Grye

While Tehcred clearly was impatient to be gone, he fell smoothly into the banter of hospitality. He settled gingerly into a guest chair in front of Grye's desk. He had delicately picked up the armour for closer examination as Grye spoke, and his claws scraped almost inaudibly along the smooth metal surfaces as he turned it over and over. It became clear that focusing on the artifact was a way to avoid too much contact otherwise.

"The Basha does this poor priest too much honour with your hospitality. Ah, this is the Cordine brandy, isn't it? It is a gracious thing to keep a stock set by for us, since I can't imagine that you have built up a tolerance, let alone a pleasure, in such fare. Ah, and these candied meats are delicious. You have clearly developed an excellent eye for such things in your long and loyal service here. Indeed, it is often remarked how singular and "

There were the usual hints of insult, innuendo and promise in these carefully chosen words, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary, as far as Grye could tell. The mephit slaves seemed oblivious to the possible tensions in the air, and went about their serving duties with the precision that Grye had drilled into them. In one case, literally. At one point in the ongoing small talk, Vali Hassan had appeared in the door with the usual end-of-day report, but immediately cleared out when he saw that Grye had important company.

After several minutes of superficial conversation about the state of the Magma Gate and the potential for a major upgrade to the harbour facility in the medium term, Tehcred set down the silvery armour and nodded to Grye.

[Toliudar]

Arid

With a smirk that would make a less enlightened person want to push his nose out through the back of his skull, the efreet clears his throat and gestures for the salamanders to step back. With a mocking bow, the efreeti holds a clawed hand to a gleaming breastplate - a breastplate, Arid now notes, that is indeed emblazoned with the triangles-in-circle pattern that seems to represent the city.

Heading down into the street, one of the salamanders steps out in front, helping to clear a path through the many humanoids, elementals, mephits and the odd efreet rushing about. The other two salamanders follow close behind, and the snide efreet stays close beside her. There's a tension in the air, a buzz of low voices, but Arid has her own problems to focus on. She realizes that the efreet has been alternately barking orders to the salamanders in the language of fire, and murmuring to her.

"...that a trial can be an extraordinary expense, often a prohibitive one, especially if one takes the entirely wise precaution of hiring local counsel more conversant with both the legal structures in place here, which tend to be a bit more evolved than the rudimentary 'off with her head' stuff that you're probably more familiar with on dirter worlds. But I have been authorized to offer you a one-time opportunity. These unpleasantnesses can all be swept away, and that rather impertinent litigant along with them, An exchange of goodwill, call it, a gesture of clemency offered under the auspices of Mistress al-Hyan herself. All you have to do, in reciprocal goodwill, is assist with a rather sensitive and private matter that we can discuss, erm, elsewhere."

The efreet nods off to his left as they continue walking, gesturing towards the massive black palace that looms over the rest of the city.

[Toliudar]

Drumin

At Drumin's words, the Efreet harrumphs something at the salamanders, who break out into a collection of snorts and guffaws. The efreet turns with a sneer back to the dwarf.

"Polite society? Huh huh. It's so cute that you think that you actually have that where you came from. Whatever rock-hole that was."

There is a moment of tension from the salamanders as Drumin reaches down for his maul, but the Efreeti forestalls any action in their part with a raised hand.

"Yeah, sure. Bring your stuff along. Who knows? It might come in handy. Now, then."

There is a glimmer of actual courtesy in the efreet's gestures as he gets the six underway. He even tacks an insignia of the city onto the broken door - a not so subtle indication that the premises were under the nominal protection of the city government. It was unlikely to do more than discourage opportunists, but it was more than Drumin had seen most coppers do.

As the group headed out into the street, the salamanders kept their mancatchers vertical, but all kept glancing at him with a mix of nervousness and suspicion. The efreeti copper fell into a kind of half-step, half-float next to Drumin.

"You know, charges like these can drag on for some time. Exhausting our valuable resources and yours. Sometimes, the system provides for opportunities for, shall we say, short cuts? You got a choice, dirter. I can take you on to the station now for questioning. Or you can come with me to offer a whatchamacallit, an ameliorating service."

Drumin gets the very clear sense that the efreet was finding this part of the conversation extremely distasteful, and was hoping that Drumin would decline to offer the service.

Sense Motive results: all four are either easy or pushover opponents.

[The Great Skenardo]

Basha Grye

Nodding inwardly as a mental timer ticks over, Basha Grye begins the hostly rumblings which will culminate in his guest being at liberty according to protocol. It did not do to annoy Heartsfeast with too many cloying delays.
After a pause and as things wrap up, Basha Grye again loops a thumb in his sash, and smiles warmly.
"Your Exalted Reverence has admired that armor. With your kind condescension, I will order it brought to your palace. It is a trifle; a mere token of my appreciation for your visit, and of my eagerness to do whatever the Sultan -He, Forever Inferno!- wills of me."
A pause, artistically chosen for oratory purpose, then,
"I need not trouble Your Exalted Reverence with details in this matter, but as you are well-loved by the Lord of the Lava Lake -He, Forever Inferno!-, perhaps you will do me the small favor of telling me His wishes. These dirters now; they are selected, yes? What shall I make them do?"
Inwardly, Basha Grye fumes that it is necessary to make a gift of that armor; it was recently acquired, and had great intrinsic value. As a petulant collector, he hated to lose any piece that was once his. Faced with a guest such as Tehcred, however, it was a necessary and almost reflexive sacrifice.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid follows the lead and takes care that it is obvious to her warders that she has no intention at all to pull off any funny stuff. At times she turns her head and nods at the Efreeti to let him know she is listening and understands what he is trying to convey. In the meanwhile, her brain is racing: I don't want to be a prisoner. I don't want to go through some long trial. I don't want to be used as a pawn by these people. It dawns on her that any way around, she will end up doing something she does not want to do. Let's wait and see what this mistress al-Something has in store.

[Chambers]

Drumin

"Charges? I thought we were just going to talk." Drumin says as they walk down the street. The odors of the city are powerful but he'd smelled their weakness before stepping out into the crowds. Pushovers. Couldn't catch me if you tried. Still, no sense in being hasty... "I wasn't aware that such as yourself required any services from one such as me, though I'm of course eager to be a good visitor to your fair city. Now - which of my many services might you be interested in?" He says and takes a meaningful look around.

"I don't suppose you'd be wanting help with what's below. Don't know much about mining on a bed of fire. Maybe you lost something and need a keen dwarven nose to sniff it out? I'm quite good at finding lost things, if that's what you need doin."

[Toliudar]

Drumin

The efreet's bluster develops a chink for just a moment under Drumin's questions.

"One of the many talents of the efreet is making use of the les- the other races, for all have their own particular gifts. We could devise ways to dig through heatsoft rock, but why bother, when there are thoqqua who do it so cheerfully. So it is with your dwarven nose, and the rest of you as well."

The entourage turns towards the grand grey castle on the bluff, but do not take any of the three obvious paths up the fortified mound. Instead, they take a side street that leads into a small warehouse, still covered with ash from the last sifting of the foul stuff two days ago. Drumin's keen eye notes that, as they pass towards the warehouse, their footprints in the ash vanish.

Inside there is a small room, nondescript stone and iron fixtures. Two of the salamanders pass through the back wall without hesitation, and the efreet encourages Drumin to do the same. Beyond, the area is dark. Not just dark, but dark. Even sound seems incredibly muffled, and the fire-folk trudging around Drumin could be, for all he knew, twenty paces away. Still, a gentle poke in the small of his back suggests that walking was still the desired course of action, and walk he does.

The path turns left, right, left, two more rights, a gentle slope down, and then a brief stop while something whirred above him. More walking, and they eventually emerged into a fairly large, windowless room. Five other doors - four iron and one brass - dotted the walls. The ceiling was domed, about 25' high at the peak, and illuminated with a red-tinged light that seemed to come from the entire dome. In the centre of the room, a large table was littered with sketches, parchment and the sheets of copper that were often used for official documents here.

The most remarkable thing about the room was the temperature. It was cool, cold by efreeti standards, with enough humidity to seem clammy in contrast to the standing-next-to-a-blast-furnace aridity of the City.

At one end of the room, a female efreet dressed entirely in flowing dark silks spoke softly and urgently with the two smallest efreet Drumin had seen on this trip - each was barely taller than him, and dressed in clothes appropriate for a stroll by the lake, not a lake of fire. She glanced up at Drumin and nodded, either at him or at the efreeti officer next to him, and gestured to the far side of the room. As Drumin's accompaniment were taking him over there, another of the door opened, and a massive woman - either a huge human or a short giant - came in, flanked by a similar entourage. Again, the woman in black silks nodded, and that group headed towards a collection of chairs, divans, cushions and plinths that suggested that the area was designed to facilitate conversation by people with a variety of sizes and shapes.

Drumin's 'guide' gestured towards the cluster of furniture - had he pointed specifically towards a halfling-scaled footstool? - and grunted.

[Toliudar]

Arid

The entourage falls into a tense silence, and they turn towards the grand grey castle on the bluff. However, they do not take any of the three obvious paths up the fortified mound. Instead, they take a side street that leads into a small warehouse, still covered with ash from the last sifting of the foul stuff two days ago. Arid notes that even as her footsteps rouse tiny clouds of ash in the disused road, her footprints and those of her guards vanish in a moment.

Inside the storehouse there is a small room, nondescript stone and iron fixtures. Two of the salamanders pass through the back wall without hesitation, and the efreet encourages Arid to do the same. Beyond, the area is dark. Not just dark, but dark. Arid's training had built up her awareness of her surroundings to a remarkable degree, but none of that helped here. Even sound seems incredibly muffled, and the fire-folk trudging around Arid could be, for all she knew, twenty paces away. Still, a gentle poke in the small of her back suggests that walking was still the desired course of action, and walk she does.

The path turns gently left, sharply right, up a stairwell, and through at least four more left turns before she feels a cool breeze on her cheeks. More walking, and they eventually emerged into a fairly large, windowless room. Five other doors - four iron and one brass - dotted the walls. The ceiling was domed, about 25' high at the peak, and illuminated with a red-tinged light that seemed to come from the entire dome. In the centre of the room, a large table was littered with sketches, parchment and the sheets of copper that were often used for official documents here.

The most remarkable thing about the room was the temperature. It was cool, cold by efreeti standards, with enough humidity to seem clammy in contrast to the standing-next-to-a-blast-furnace aridity of the City.

At one end of the room, a female efreet dressed entirely in flowing dark silks spoke softly and urgently with the two smallest efreet Arid had ever seen. Each was barely five feet tall, and dressed in clothes appropriate for a stroll by a mountain lake, not a lake of fire. She glanced over at Arid, smiled in a way that suggested that Arid would not find whatever it was funny. and nodded. Arid's guards guided her towards the far side of the room, where a bombastic-looking efreet and some more salamanders were already standing around a dwarf. Nearby, there was a collection of chairs, divans, cushions and plinths that suggested that the area was designed to facilitate conversation by people with a variety of sizes and shapes.

The efreeti who had brought her here smiled obsequiously and gestured towards a vast overstuffed armchair.

"You see? Nothing but the best, My Lady. Please have a seat and the Mistress will be with you shortly."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Upon entering the room, Arid blinks and looks around the room with a hint of amuzement on her face. All these creatures in different sizes and shapes doing what they do, miraculous when you think about it. When the Efreet tells her to seat herself she nods at him and produces an almost soundless "Thank you", she does not want to disturb whatever people are doing here. Especially the lady looks important.

The dwarf, how odd that may sound, forms a 'familiar sight' to the giant and she smiles her friendliest smile at him in passing on her way to the chairs and finds herself one that fits her stature.

[Toliudar]

Basha Grye

After the standard three protestations that he couldn't possibly, Tehcred does indeed accept the gift of the armour, and then rises.

"I believe that your task with the dirters will be as it always is, to keep their scattered brains on task and make sure that if anyone is to die for the greater glory of the Sultan, it is them and not you. While nothing would give me greater pleasure or honour than to continue our conversation, I'm afraid that matters of some urgency await. If the Basha would do me the immense courtesy..."

Rising, the priest extends a hand to Grye. As soon as it is taken, the two undergo a sudden and discombobulating relocation, appearing at a small shrine in a darkened room. Grye noted that the flames eternally erupting from the bowl of the shrine were lower than usual for something of that design. Was that a note of sadness in Tehcred's face? Fear? In a place of his holiness and power? Odd.

Tehcred swept him out the door and into a wide corridor. The architecture and ubiquity of the sultan's emblems marked this as some previously unseen coil of the bowels of the Charcoal Palace. As the two walk, Tehcred taps on one of a dozen rings, and speaks softly in the flametongue.

"Tehcred here. I have Grye. He is of course eager to serve but has not been briefed. Do you want to address him first, or should I bring him right in?"

A female voice, harried and muttering, responds immediately.

"No time. Bring him right in. The others for the third team will be here any second. Tell him to come in a dirter disguise. I'll, uh, send a pair of guards to make it look good."

Tehcred clenches his fist and turns to Grye, not slacking the pace of his walking a bit as they wind their way deeper, descending a flight of steps.

"To earn the dirters' trust, you'll be presented as one of them. You're joining a pair who have no special loyalty, but who are here on charges that are inflated for effect. The effect being a temporary loyalty and sense of duty.

"The woman is Arid, a potent user of healing magic and a formidable sword-woman. The man is Drumin, rumoured to be some kind of master thief. Both are considered expendable. You will be presented as another who has run afoul of the Sultan's law and who is here to make amends. We go now to meet the Exalted Mistress Al-Hyan who I assure you speaks with the full weight of the Sultan in this matter. She is more completely briefed in the matter than I."

There is a sharp turn to the left, and a pair of efreeti guards are pulling out their swords and apologetically motioning to clap hands on Basha Grye. With a nod, Tehcred changes his own appearance to seem to be nothing more than a sergeant of the guard. Tehcred pauses to wait for the rakshasa to work his change magic, and then the four open a door and burst out into the office of Mistress Al-Hyan.

(see the others' entries for a physical description of the room).


A third of the iron doors opens, and two efreeti soldiers enter, leading a half-elf man and another stuffed-shirt efreeti officer. With an arched eyebrow, the woman in black silks again gestures for them to make their way over to the benches, couches and chairs, and turns back to conferring with her two small colleagues.

Everybody

Okay, all together now! For any of you who look different than your description posted OOC, here's a great chance to establish how you look to others. If anyone has any fancy sense-things in play, list em so that I can take that into consideration. And we can all now post in any sequence desired.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

An elf! Even though the appearance of this man made things look a little bit more conspicuous, it in a sense comforted Arid knowing that she was not the only 'outsider' here.

Arid shifted in her seat and nodded at the elf, again with a friendly smile. Her smile is accompanied by an open, calm, friendly and in a sense fearless set of dark eyes. To kill some time, but also because she is not very sure how to behave in this social setting, she fidgets a bit as if trying to remove a stain from her simple monk's garment. As the muscles on her bare upper arms roll during this, you can't help but notice they are as big as, if not bigger than a newborn elf, or dwarf, baby. Even for a person that large, that's pretty big, not to mention she is a woman!

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Escorted into the room by two grim sergeants is a short, fierce-looking man whose features have a trace of an elven cast about them. His unruly black hair is gathered by a silken band behind his ears, one of which is clipped and ragged, like an alley cat's.
On that side of the face, not only the ear has seen rough treatment; scar tissue criss-crosses the left side of his thin, rugged face, and a black eyepatch emblazoned with a crimson eye gazes blankly straight ahead.
In manner and garb, he seems to be a seasoned warrior: fine, silvery mithril armor and a red-lined black cape cloak his compact frame, complementing a silvery shield slung across his back. At his hip are two swords: one curved, and the other golden and radiant, speaking of angelic favor.

Grye's calculating eye lingers first upon the efreeti woman at the center of the room, and then strays with puzzled interest towards his two fellow captives. His one brown eye squints in concentration, as if doing some tricky mental math.

Grye, like all half-elves, has low light vision.

[Chambers]

Drumin

I knew I was right! No volcano would have a room this cool. Drumin nods in return to the half-giant and walks over to the toadstool and straight past it, leaning against the cool stone wall. He chortles and sets the head of his heavy maul down on the floor, keeping one hand resting on the handle. "Looks like I'm not the only one here to discuss allegations." He looks over at the half-giant woman and sniffs. "Let me guess...you're here for being stronger than a dirter is allowed to be." He says and turns to regard the half-elf, inhaling deeply. "And you've run into someone that wants to collect on that other eye. The names Drumin Hargedh. I'm here purely on a case of mistaken identity. That fellow over there thinks I'm sort of criminal!" Drumin says and laughs a little too loud at his own joke.

Sense Motive (Assess Opponent) on the half-giant and half-elf.

Arid [roll0]
Basha [roll1]

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye smiles a strange smile, his head on one side, as the boisterous dwarf makes his guesses. In an amused, silky tone, he offers
"Master Dwarf- if we're complying with etiquette here like good little dirters, I think we should let our gracious hostess speak first, don't you? We are all here, after all, at her pleasure."

[Chambers]

Drumin

"Just Dru will be fine, thank ye." Drumin says and frowns at the half-elf. Trying to win favors by toadying up to the genies won't work for anyone not a genie, friend. "If our ladyship wishes to speak, by all means, please do." He says and turns towards the silk clad effreti and offers her a short bow. "But if they'nt want us to talk then they would've said so. Very... punctilious about certain things, our hosts are."

[Toliudar]

The efreeti guards around the three seem to consider their task done. There is a small gesture to the four salamanders holding pincered pole-arms that they are to wait here, and the other efreet leave - all by the brass door, which clicks behind them. The woman in black silks glances up at the banter from across the room, and it seems likely that she is in fact hearing the words, even at this distance, but she puts her head down again and continues her conversation with the other two efreet.

Drumin

You believe that the giant woman is a fair fight for you, and the half-elf is a dire threat. Also, you feel a certain pressure on the back of your head that usually means someone is trying to crack it with some kind of head-magic.

Arid

You feel a strange pushing sensation on the top of your head. Most recently, you felt the same thing when you fought against a mind flayer that tried to gain access to your thoughts. Then it tried to gain access to your mind in a more direct manner, and you had to strangle it, but that's another story.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

The giant speaks up now. It is quite amazing how a voice this deep can sound feminine. "I punched a man that deserved it in the face, Drumin." She agrees with the elf when he says that it would be impolite to speak up, but as the dwarf is ignoring the protocol she imagined fitting here it strikes her how ludicrous what she just said sounds. "That is hardly any ground to hold a woman against her will, though." She pauses a moment while she seems to be thinking. "They must have a good reason for simply not asking me to do whatever they want me to do."

"We'll learn soon, though. Oh, and Arid." Again a pause "My name...Arid. Pleased to meet."

DM:
I am not sure, am I 'allowed' to act on having a sense that someone is trying to probe my mind?

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye's lips actually move as he sounds out Arid's words.
hardly any ground to hold-
But then he shakes his head, and smiles.
"Well! I can see we're not all of us veterans of this scorching city." He settles down on a divan, his wrist never straying far from the silvery hilt of his blade.
"I'm Grye, sometimes called 'Catseye.' I haven't done anything illegal in this city, and believe you me, I take care to know about the laws of the place I'm in. But, well..." he spreads his hands with a flick of the wrist. "There's Law, and then there's the law. You know what I'm getting at," He nods companionably at Drumin.
"In any case, if you hang out enough with efreeti and their kind, Arid, you'll find that this is a pretty common device. Probably they're doing it this way because what they want is dangerous, or possibly someplace cold!"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid shrugs. "If you say so." Her gaze rests a moment on Greye's blades. You notice that she has an affinity with and interest for blades by the way she looks at them, but also by the huge curved crystal weapon she carries herself. "In my world a kind question goes a long way." She sighs. "That's how I ended up here anyway." She notices that having this small talk provides a comforting distraction of the situation she is in and decides to carry on: "So, what about you guys?" she adresses both the elf and the dwarf, "you live here, or are just passing through?"

[Chambers]

Drumin

Wonder what happened to the other guy... Drumin scrunches up his nose and turns slightly away from the half-elf to sympathize with Arid but glances back at Grye with a raised eyebrow. "So what you're saying is that they've constructed their laws in such a way as to provide themselves opportunities to bypass their laws when they deem it necessary? Sounds unneedfully complicated, and a bit hypocritical to boot..." Drumin says and raises his voice near the end, now looking at the effreti at the desk. "...especially when they've got no compunction about trying to dip into the heads of those that they've strong-armed into cooperating." He leans a bit off the wall and taps the handle of his maul. "I don't mind playing along with your little charade, but my thoughts are my own. Try digging around in there again and you'll be digging yourself out o' that wall behind you." Drumin says and fixes her with a glare that seems to be more than just blustering intimidation.

First round of study.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye smiles widely again, in response to Drumin's observations
"Not at all, not at all. Sometimes the scales need a thumb on them in order to read true. Then it simply comes down to whose thumb is the heaviest, doesn't it?" His manner is somewhat cynical, but despite his easy speech, there is a tension in his manner that speaks to a constant alertness.
"Ah? Oh, the mind-scanning. Again, fairly standard procedure, I'm afraid!" He taps his eyepatch in a knowing way and nods towards Arid. "If you're a dirter around here, you have to protect your thoughts, or make sure you watch not only what you say... but also what you think." Grye shrugs. "It's something you learn. I've been stuck here a while, you see."

He catches Arid staring at the swords. "These? You have the look of a connoisseur about you. Here, try the weight of this one." Drawing the glowing blade, he hops nimbly up from his seat and carries it over. Smiling, he proffers the Sun Blade (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm#sunBlade) to the giantess.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

"Where I come from, people just get a new scale when it is not working." She ponders. "But it is hard to notice it is broken with so many people willing to 'repair' it with their thumbs." She decides to let the matter rest, hoping not to agitate the dwarf further. A brawl at this point might very well be the worst option available.

Arid accepts the blade from Grye and balances it, first on her hand, then on her finger. "Very nice, it is as light as a dagger!" She grasps it firmly to get a feel for the swing of the blade: "I prefer some weight to get some extra power behind blows, but I can see this being a very nice sword to wield." She hands it back to Grye. "Looks special too. You must be proud to own it."

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye smiles in a roguish sort of way as Arid returns the sword. He sheathes it and pats the pommel affectionately.
"Brute force is all very well for those who have the build for it. But a needle is as good as a broadsword if you know exactly where to stick it." He flops down on the divan again and sighs.
"But as for me, I don't really like the fighting. Nothing wrong with getting your elbows gory from time to time, but I'd always much rather avoid a fight."
He jiggles his leg, nervously, then raises his voice a little.
"That's... not going to be a problem going forward, is it? I happen to know that us being in the room we're in right now... means that we're a hair's breadth from summary execution. And dirters being dirters, and efreet being efreet... that means that if one of you -how shall I say- acts out during this interview, then all three of us would probably be sent fluttering down to the lava lake on kites made from our own blackened skin."
Grye licks his lips, then continues. "So, ah- there isn't going to be any face punching, yes? And perhaps the hammer will not swing throughout this interview? I don't fancy paying the price of your aggression myself. It would be..." he searches for the word, then "...unfair. Don't you think?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid listens to what Grye has to say. Somewhat annoyed by the implication that she would be stupid enough to start a fight under these circumstances, she replies short and bluntly: "I am a lady, and a priestess. I never punch unprovoked."

[Toliudar]

The woman in black silks breaks off conversation with her colleagues smoothly and strides over to the table. She gestures for dwarf, giant and elf to join her at the central table, where she scoops up a large brass-bound book. Flipping to a marked page, she lays it out on the table in front of whichever of the three choose to join her at the table. The other efreet in the room move respectfully forward, remaining a couple of steps back from the edge of the table itself.

The open spread of the book has a few words arcing across the top in the language of fire.For those who read/speak Ignan: "Darksteel Mine 4. Lumit Zjari."The rest of the spread is an overview of a roughly circular shape - perhaps an island, or a mountain - showing a series of small structures on three separate areas.

The woman looks down at the three. Well, more or less horizontally at Arid, but conceptually, she certainly seems to be looking down. Her voice, when she finally speaks, though, is smooth and languid.

"Madam and gentlemen, I apologize for the rather rough and uninformative way in which you have been brought here. In a much more ideal situation, we would of course have prepared delicacies appropriate to each of your particular palates. Please forgive my lack of preparedness in this regard. And Master Drumin, I assure you that if the contents of your brain were of such interest to me, your head would be dissected on this table by now.

"My colleagues have informed me that you are at least guardedly open to arranging for an alternative resolution to any debt to this society which may or may not be owed. Whether that debt is or is not owed is not my concern, and if you wish to open that particular box, I'm afraid that our time here will come to an end and your time in the entirely just and fair if not particularly time sensitive courts of the Sultan, may his reign extend another thousand millenia, will be just beginning."

While it was certain that she would have needed to inhale during that speech, there is no indication that she, in fact, did. Her tone shifts now, from a more formal address to a brisker, more candid form.

"The task that we are requesting your assistance with is relatively straightforward. This -"

She glances down at the picture on the book.

"- is a mining outpost some seventy miles from here, as distances are reckoned. One of dozens of igneous and semi-volcanic outcroppings in the Lake of Fire. Crew of one hundred eighty, give or take a few thoqqua. Ten hours ago, just after a routine pickup of number two grade ore, a barge reported that the entire outpost was engulfed in a blue-white light, and that the lake in the vicinity began to harden.

"Six hours ago, a team of the Sultan's finest warriors, including a devout and respected priest, arrived to investigate. They reported an opaque blue field surrounding the outpost, and noted that the lake was at the time extinguished and hardened to cold stone at a distance of some three hundred feet around the field, with the effect growing slowly but visibly. The priest prepared the warriors to protect them from the cold, and seven of the warriors formed a first strike team to enter the field. All, upon contact with the blue, dropped dead, frozen where they lay.

"The bodies were retrieved, and five hours ago, it was determined by one of the Sultan's magical advisors that the field would kill any creature native to a flame-world. Which is, in the popular parlance, where you come in."

She extends a delicate talon to tap on the copper page of the book, and looks at each of you.

"I'd like you three clever people to go in and get rid of that field. "

Sense Motive 23+
She's not lying, but neither is she telling the whole story. Surprise, surprise.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid approaches the table and listens to what the lady has to say. Fighting against a phenomenon that randomly kills creatures seems like a good cause, even if those creatures have a disturbed moral compass. Somewhat relieved that this mission might be justifiable in the end, she looks the lady in the eyes and asks: "Excuse me, I am not unwilling to help, but I do have some questions. Is that all right, and will you try to answer them, or will you dismiss my thoughts on the account of your status and me being a, ehm....dirter?" She straightens her back. "I appreciate you have us cornered on all kinds of legal grounds. But it appears to me you need us as hard as, or perhaps even harder than we need you."

She produces a smile. "I think us being informed serves you as much as it does us."

[Toliudar]

The woman in black silk smiles and arches an eyebrow.

"Well, I may of course dismiss your questions, as you say, and may not be able to give my reasons for doing so, but not on the basis of your origins. Ask away."

[Chambers]

Drumin

If it wasn't her then who else? Drumin glances around the room and sniffs once as he approaches the table. Nobody here but us. "I've no mind to cause undue harm, only return what's given to me." He says to Gyre and then looks at the map. For those paying close attention something resembling terror passes through his eyes as he realizes it's a mine they're going to investigate but he coughs and he refocuses on the effreti. "For someone that obviously prides themselves on following the law, it doesn't seem to bother you much that someone just tried to reach into one of your prisoners heads. Well...maybe not prisoner. Guest? Detainee?" He waves his hand. "If it wasn't you as you said, you're not concerned that maybe one of your guards is poking around where he doesn't belong, maybe going against your orders? And if not them, then maybe someone else is spyin' on us down here in your secret little basement. Don't that give you pause?"

"And if we do manage to fix this thing what do we get in return?" Drumin props his maul against the table and crosses his arms. "Also, if you'd like to finish telling the rest of the story I'm all ears. Such as why you didn't just call up one of your servants not from a hot world and send them in. Or maybe you did do that. Maybe it's not just fire breathers but all planars. Couldn't help but notice that we three are the only three in this room from the prime."

Sense Motive to pick up what the effreti is layin down. [roll0]

[Toliudar]

The woman in black silk is unruffled by Drumin's series of questions. The first issue she dismisses with a wave.

"There are five ordinances related to the forced intrusion into a visitor's mind. None of them considered major offenses. Frankly, given what I am dealing with today, a little illicit peeking into your head is the least of my worries."

She seems to take his final questions a good deal more seriously.

"I believe that the Sultan, may the great warmth always smile upon his face, has many servants. He also has many tasks for those servants. If you decide not to help, another will be found.

"And as for your reward...If you bring down the field long enough for us to reclaim the outpost, you will each receive a hundred ingots of gold. If you also return with full information about the forces and motives behind the attack, you will also receive that most precious of gifts, a trio of wishes granted."

The other efreet and salamanders in the room react slightly to the offer.

All
An ingot is a local unit of gold equivalent to 100gp. So the offer is 10,000gp for bringing the field down.

Grye
You know that there are very specific guidelines laid out in the Sultan's law regarding the granting of wishes. We'll say, for instance, that over the course of a century of loyal, inventive and invaluable service, you've managed to earn four.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye smiles blandly, although inwardly he curses. Would any dirter be so story-stricken to believe that the genie lords of lava handed out wishes like candied fire beetles? It was a touch too generous a reward to offer, and to him it escalated sharply the notion that it was a suicide mission. However...
Silently, he casts his mind back to an earlier interview. Fear? Hmm. Sadness? A powerful priest? Heartsfeast.
...Ah.
Grye nods sagely to himself, and does a little quick hierarchical thinking. There remained one minor detail of curiosity to be filled in on that point, but no doubt that information would come through the usual channels in time.
...No. It didn't seem like that development really imperiled his position nor afforded much in the way of opportunity.
Shaking his head, he recalls himself to more contemporary concerns.
"...I see."
Blinking once, slowly, he looks at the half-giant and the dwarf.
"Well. I cannot see that I can afford to refuse this task. I shall undertake it in good faith."
In truth, his own mind was racing, running through a mental catalogue of planar destinations, contemplating cold places, and the beings that dwell there.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid ignores Grye's swift acceptance of the offer. "So, uhm, I am pretty sure that the people available to your supreme leader are very competent. Therefore it seems to me that they must have uncovered more information." She looks down at the map. For example, where does this field come from. In a physical sense, but also who might be behind this? Additionally, what killed the fine men that were sent in? A magical petrification effect with a frost component? Death magic with a frost component? Or just pure cold, magical or mundane? Is it really cold there? Have you flame people encountered this problem before, in the past, on a different plane?" While still not unwilling to help out, it appears Arid is digging in and is determined on getting more info.

DM
I wish to sense motive on the reaction by the salamanders when she mentions the reward: [roll0] . Crap, no, that is NOT my first reward-wish :smalltongue:

Also, she says the Sultan has many more servants that can replace us. I am wondering whether she is bluffing there [roll1] : Are there really that many competent folks without distinct planar heritage available?

Also, here is a sense motive against her reply to my questions in this post: Is she willing to lift the curtain and tell us what she knows, or not? [roll2]

[Chambers]

Drumin

Right. Obviously lying. No self-respecting lawbearer would ignore a chance to catch someone. Drumin nods at Gryes agreement. He's probably figured it out too. No sense wasting breath arguing with those that don't have it. "I'm in." Drumin says. "When do we leave?"

[Toliudar]

Arid

The salamanders are slightly agog at the proposed reward.

The woman in black silks believes everything she has said to be true. She does not seem inclined to further elaborate.

The efreeti woman in black looks over at Arid, her head tilting slightly as she considered the big woman. When she responds, it is with a slightly slower pace.

"Cold has been used on us many times in the past. This is new to me. And as for the rest: that would be what I want to pay you to find out."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Seeing her new companions give in so swiftly and the lady being stubborn points Arid to the pointlessness of this situation. She steps a bit back from the table and sighs: "All right. Let's have a look then."

[Toliudar]

The woman in black silk seems about to pull something out of her robe, but pauses and looks back at Arid.

"I shouldn't assume, and so will be explicit. You will need to accept this task in order for us to take you to this place. For reasons that I'm sure you can understand, news of anything that diminishes the sense of calm and order that we strive for here will be tightly controlled. There will be no, ah, sight seeing, I think is the parlance?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid nods. "Yes, all right. I accept and will mind nothing except my own business, being this assignment."

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye smiles again, and nods in an approving way at Drumin's quick grasp of the situation.
I do like to see someone who recognizes the inevitable and doesn't thrash about in the face of it.
For his own part, Basha half-listens to the morsels of information Arid cajoles from the lady in black silks, sifting through what he knows himself of the mining operations. Was the location significant? Possibly. Probably not. Although with the rumors that caught his ears these days, a 'planar accident' would be a good cover for any number of operations. Hmm.

[Toliudar]

The woman in black silk nods at Arid's words, apparently satisfied. She completes the motion of pulling something out of her robes - a thing that turns out to be a colourful three-sided pyramid, about the size of a halfling's fist. Each side was a different colour - red, blue, green, yellow - with copper and silver filigree in geometric patterns worked along the edges. She regards it for a moment, then tosses it onto the table in easy reach of any of Drumin, Grye and Arid.

"Excellent. I believe that we have an understanding."

She taps once on one of a dozen gold rings adorning her left hand and smiles.

"And now you will get to meet one of those non-flameborn servants that Master Drumin is so, so interested in. She will transport the three of you to a barge keeping watch on the blue field - from a suitable distance, of course. The captain is Abhad Hajra. He will be able to provide you with any recent changes to the situation, and, should there be someone unfriendly to us and unwilling to leave when you ask them nicely -"

She glances down at Dru for a moment with a lopsided smile.

"- Captain Hajra's crew will be on hand to encourage them to do so. You are of course more than welcome to assist in this task, should it come to that. Oh, and that bauble?"

She gestures slightly to the pyramid on the table. A red-skinned elf woman, wearing a loose-fitting white robe, a wide belt with many dangling fetishes and pouches, and with white hair bound up in a complicated bun, slips into the room via the brass door. She moves silently up to the left of the woman in black silks.

"That's your way back here. Press the blue and red faces at the same time to be brought to this office. Of course, you can always swim back if that works better for you. Or if you get separated, I suppose."

The elf woman clears her throat and speaks in the flametongue. Her voice is barely a whisper, and she speaks with a strange lilt and upward soaring inflection.

For those who speak Ignan:
"Forgive me, Mistress. We have been trying the divining again, reaching into the both the white and the red, but we haven't had any luck, either with the field or the stone. Gawluk is completely spent, and may not awaken again for several days. I hope that with time and perhaps a more direct intrusion-"

The woman in black silk lays a hand around the old elf's shoulders, almost cupping them in her hand. The elf immediately falls silent. The efreeti woman strokes the elf's chin with a strange tenderness, and speaks to her in the human tongue.

"Peace, Nahraditelny. It is time for another assignment. You will give these three protection against the cold, and then transport them to the quarterdeck of the Burungha, where Captain Hajra will accept responsibility for them. Then you will come back here, and we will see what we can do for Gawluk. The Sultan, may he smile upon us for a million days, is not infinite in his patience. Do you understand."

The elf seems to be about to offer a retort of some kind, but then simply nods, quivering. She turns to take in each of Drumin, Grye and Arid. She reaches without looking into a pouch at her right hip, and pulls out a bit of white powder. She tosses it into the air and says a few words in the harsh language of magic. The powder seems to speed itself to the three, and some back to the elf woman as well, where it lands with the lightness of a breeze on skin and is gone. The elf woman walks around the table towards the three, holding out a hand so thin and delicate that it looks like strands of rubies. She whispers again, this time in the man-tongue.

"We go now?"

The spell was a mass Resist Energy (Cold). You all now have cold resistance 30.

Sorry for the delay in moving this forward.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid listens to the lady and offers a friendly smile to the elf when she comes in. Politeness urges her to say 'thank you' to the lady in silk, but then she remembers there is nothing to thank for. When the elf provides her with protection from the cold, she thanks her and when the elf asks her question, Arid speaks up: "Shall I keep this?" she points at the small pyramid. "Or would one of you prefer to hold it?"

If nobody minds, she will put the pyramid in her personal hygiene pouch, otherwise she will ignore it. "Sure, let's go." As she starts walking away, she says to the lady in silk: "Bye, see you soon."

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye nods at the elf, and then completely forgets her existence for the time being. Instead, he considers the pyramid thoughtfully.
At length, he says "You may hold it, yes." With a rather florid bow, he excuses himself from the company of the lady with the black veils, then silently turns towards the elf.
Here, clearly, is a treasured and valued servant. Due some respect, therefore... Grye's gaze flickers as he mulls over protocol in this situation, but then with a shrug he offers a calloused hand to her outstretched hand, clearly presuming the others will follow suit.
"Yes, We go."

[Chambers]

Drumin

And also there to keep us under your thumb. Better keep both eyes open Captain. Drumin nods to the red elf and glances briefly over her looking for a slaves token. Another of her dirters. Poor lass. Wonder if she started out her 'service' in a room like this? Drumin hefts his maul over his shoulder and moves towards the three. "Ready to get this over with, that's for sure." He says and turns towards the genie. "Folk like you..." He shakes his head as if in argument with himself. "There's probably a law against dirters criticizing folk like you, but no dwarf who refused service to you would be shamed. Think on that, if you care to." He says and shifts his gaze slightly past her as if she were no longer there.

He turns back towards Nahraditelny and nods. "Lady, if you please."

Anyone who knows something about Dwarf Lore would recognize what he said as an unforgivable insult to her honor.

[Toliudar]

The four form a loose circle, with Drumin standing opposite the elf-woman. Her already strained voice reaches for the syllables of movement, and in a blink, they are abruptly outside, lit from below as they stand on the black-iron deck of a ship on the eternal lake of fire.

Well, perhaps not so eternal. Looking out over the bow of the ship, there is a patch of dull grey ahead, knobbly and flecked with white, like volcanic rock. The patch is perhaps a mile in diameter, and at its heart there is indeed a dark shape, nearly purplish now in the dimmer light of night and with the flames of the lake more distant. The blue field curves inward a bit at the bottom, and stretches up hundreds of feet. There is a steady coursing of hot air towards the blue. It would be quite lovely and serene, if not for the fact that, left unchecked, it might well extinguish an entire plane of existence.

Oh, the ship! Yes, under less extraordinary circumstances, suddenly appearing aboard a ship full of efreeti warriors, a kind of mammoth catamaran perched atop a sea of flames, would be the highlight of many days. The ship was clearly designed for killing, although what there was to kill out on a seemingly endless ocean of flames was...perhaps not a good thing to think about right now. Ballistae, a catapult and a dozen strange tubes bristled from the decks and sides of the ship, and more than two dozen efreet, two with twice that number of elementals, salamanders and squalling mephits, laboured to keep the ship steady in the roiling flame-sea.

And the heat! It was so hot in the City of Brass, it was easy to forget that it was in fact a whole lot colder than just about everywhere else on the plane of fire. The air that whipped around all of them was hot, so hot, and seemed perpetually to swirl with bits of hot ember and ash.

A massive efreet, a man whose left arm and leg were noticably smaller and darker in skin town, clung to the deck and barked a series of instructions in the flametongue. Just as a pair of salamanders began lunging towards Arid and Grye to grab them, he bawled what was clearly an order for them to stop.

Lurching across the rolling deck, he nodded once, briefly to the old elf woman. He leans forward and they banter quickly in the flametongue. She places a hand on his right forearm to steady herself, and - unusually, from the experiences all three of you have had in the City of Brass - he does nothing either to remove her hand or break it.

Ignan:
"This is no place for you, Nah. Must be bad for Jasmine to risk sending you here."

"It is very bad. We have had no luck in divining the source of the field. These three might survive entry, and have been charged with bringing down the field so that you can retake the outpost."

"Hah! Your Mistress grows wild-eyed in her optimism. Tell her that the freezing of the Lake has slowed, but that the winds are picking up. At this rate, the city's going to start cooling down in a week or two."

"A great many promises that were never intended to be kept will come due if the Lake freezes over, Abhad."

"Well, count on mine, regardless. Now get out of here."

The elf nods. She turns to stare at the blue sphere for a moment, then repeats the magic that had brought them here. A slight pop of air, barely audible amongst the raucous voices and rushing wind. The big efreeti, clearly the Captain despite wearing no insignia beyond a basic military uniform, turned to the giant, half-elf and dwarf. He did not seem particularly cheered by what he saw.

"So. You're the experts in turning off ultra-cold balls of whateverthehellsthatis. Good. Can you get over there on your own, or do you need me to load you into the catapult?"

The air here is a lot cooler than on most of the plane, thanks the the proximity to the sphere. If you're not already immune/resistant, take [roll0] fire damage this round.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye smiles as he fills his lungs with the familiar tang of boiling rock and ash.
"Ah~ the great outdoors!" He spreads his hands wide and turns in a slow circle, a wide grin on his angular face. He doesn't seem to fear the salamanders in the least, and if anything, he seems more at home on this ship in the lava sea than in the cool chamber they had just been in.
The hellish wind ruffles his shaggy black hair and whips his cloak about his body, the color of his eyepatch bleached by the crimson lava light.
By habit gravitating towards the most important person in any given room, Grye sketches a courtly bow to the captain.
"Captain," he says, "Thank you for your kind permission to be aboard. I expect one is the upper limit on the number of mayfly dirter names you can be bothered to remember, so I am Grye." He pauses for effect, and then turns to face the glowing blue sphere of energy. A smile twists his lips at the mention of a catapult, but he says,
"I think we can manage. But by your leave Captain, before we disembark, tell us what you have seen." He waves a hand vaguely in the direction of the blue light.
"Nothing moving in it? Just solid light?"

[Toliudar]

The ship pitched slightly to the left as another chunk of lava nearby morphs into not-lava.

"Grye. Got it. I keep hoping something will pop its head outa there, because I got a fierce urge to rip something apart. We tried lobbing some lumps of lava in there, but they just vanished inside without a ripple. Bloody thing is still freezing up the lake, a few feet a minute, and there's a steady wind blowing in there."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Despite her racial comfort with hot environments and her supernatural adaptation to rough environments, the heat still burns Arid's skin. She focuses a moment to become fire resistant. She is tired of being friendly to these rather unfriendly creatures, so she nods at the captain and listens to his conversation with Grye. "I guess we can fly there, aye," she adds dryly.

My adapt body power and fire resistant racial trait are not enough to save me here, so I manifest Extended Energy adaptation, specified. For ease, I have subtracted 20 PP from my total, so this resistance is active 24/7 for as long as we dwell here. And took 2 damage (energy adaptation halves all environmental damage).

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye considers the blue field for a little while longer, fingering the red sash at his waist as he does. He says,
"Captain; can you provide for me some steel or iron object weighing about five pounds? A large rivet, perhaps, or a piece of grapeshot. I think it may be useful."
Hardly pausing, he half-turns to aim his good eye at his new companions.
"And unless my esteemed colleagues can think of any other pressing need...?"

[Toliudar]

The captain arches an eyebrow at Grye, but takes a moment before he responds. Turning to one of the salamanders on the main deck, he motions it closer. The captain gestures for it to hand off to Grye a mace it has dangling from its belt. The salamander seems about to complain about this, but a low, gutteral sound from Abhad silences him. The mace is worn and simple, little more than a chunk of pig-iron lashed to an iron rod, and weighs about 10 pounds.

"Now get over there and get that damned thing turned off."

The mace weighs 8 pounds, if you care about such things.

The ship is currently about 200 feet from the edge of the lake 'ice'. It's hard to know how solid the rock surface is. It's perhaps five hundred feet further between the edge of the solid rock and the beginning of the field, and that distance is, give or take 10 feet, the same on all visible sides.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid is slowly growing a bit annoyed with the people she is helping out here. She nods at Grye and says: "I believe there is a pressing need for us to move on." She closes her eyes a short moment as she focuses, after which she lifts off, ready to go.

Manifesting extended Fly and adressing my base meditation centre for a +6 to my physical attributes.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye smiles, amused.
"Well spoken." lifting his cloak, Grye conceals himself for a moment, and then casually, tosses the portable hole down on a part of the deck. Rummaging about, he lifts a roll of elegant embroidered cloth: A heavy rug?
With a grunt of satisfaction, he refolds the portable hole, puts it away, and then settles down upon the carpet in a very languid manner. The marvelous flying carpet bears him aloft. He glances over its side.
"Friend dwarf?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

"That thing is not going to catch fire, huh?" She points at the rug and remembers an unlucky accident with an expensive rug, a candle and a small boy she is very fond of.

[Chambers]

Drumin

Drumin wraps a heavy scarf around his neck and mouth to keep the ash and embers out as soon as they arrive on deck. "Typical! They can't handle a chill so they ward us against cold but give no thought to the fact that we're sitting on a lake of fire." Drumin says through the scarf and swats at the embers that land on him, even though they don't burn his clothes. "Catapult?" He says and edges away to the railing. "That doesn't look safe for a dwarf." He eyes the flying carpet with suspicion.

"Thanks but no thanks. I don't intend to rely on genie magic any more than I have to. I've my own way." He says and levitates a few feet off the deck. "Keep the sails hot Captain...or whatever this ship does, we'll be back before you know it."

As noted in the OOC, Drumin has Resist Fire 30 from his Ring of Major Universal Energy Resistance and is flying via his Ring of Telekinesis.

Sense Motive (Assess Opponent) vs Abhad Hajra [roll0]

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye folds his arms, the magic carpet starting to ferry him towards the blue field.
"Credit where due," he comments, "Both of you restrained yourselves and kept a civil tongue in your heads. One never knows what to expect from newcomers to the City. I've seen firebrand champions ride in waving their standards high and expecting the laws of the Sultan -He, Forever Inferno- to simply flow around them. They are soon disabused."
He steers the carpet in a wider circle around the blue orb.
"Come. Let us fetch on the far side of the sphere for now, and we can have a proper chat like the Comrades we must be for the time being. We can gain some measure of privacy there, at least."
If the others assent, Grye brings the carpet to a hovering halt some distance from the sphere on the side opposite the waiting ship.
"Now... Escape plans; what have we got?" He looks expectantly from face to face with his one brown eye.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

" I, ehm..." Arid is a bit surprised by the sudden change of subject. "I suppose no Astral caravans pass here." She ponders a moment. "We can fight and flee, but I don't know how to get away from this plane. I figured we would solve this problem here, get a reward and then buy access to a portal back home." She looks at the elf quizzically. No?

Then a thought crosses her mind: "Oh! Don't go near the cold without a little protective spell I prepared. It wards against death magic. Doesn't last very long, but it might be a life-saver."

[Chambers]

Drumin

"Shush! Cut it!" Drumin whispers to Grye when they've reached the other side. He floats closer to the others and surreptitiously points down to the fire lake with his boot. "Don't you know that genies can scry through any flame?" He says quietly and nods towards the cold stone. "We can talk in there."

He glances at Arid and nods in agreement. "A wise idea. If you can spare the warding I'd be much obliged."

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye smiles widely, and spreads his hands.
"You mistake me! My word, once given, is ironclad. I fully intend to get to the bottom of this problem. My meaning was this; once we enter this... event, there's no guarantee that exiting will be as easy. So if any of you have a means of extraplanar travel...? No? Alas. In any case," he half-leans over the edge of the carpet to gaze at the solid blue light.
"I have no intention of going in blind. A moment, if you please."
Grye makes a loop of two fingers and gazes through it at the phenomenon, gesturing with the other hand and speaking a short series of syllables.

Casting Analyze Portal (http://dndtools.eu/spells/planar-handbook--79/analyze-portal--2174/). No guarantee this thing counts as a portal, but worth a shot.

[Toliudar]

Grye

There are, as far as you can tell, no portals within range of your sensing.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye shrugs.
"Mm. I can't tell where it's going, but the good news is that it's perfectly safe for us to enter at least, since we're not salamanders nor efreeti... but we can only go single-file."
The half-elf pauses, scratching his pointed chin. "At least, that's how it seems. At any rate, I can't guarantee it would be safe for us to go en masse. It would help me understand the portal a bit if I could see someone crossing the horizon at both points. So what I suggest is that the lady here enters first, I second, and then our cautious dwarven friend lastly. Magic, you know." Grye waggles his fingers, suggestively.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid nods. "If that is the case." She starts gesturing and mumbling and moves towards Grye first. "Hold still, this is for your protection." Then she repeats the procedure on Dru and herself. The whole group protected from lethal magic, she stares at the strange zone they have been sent to explore. "I guess every story needs a hero and a lady..."

The heroic giantess starts moving towards the portal.

OoC/All
Everybody has a 15 minute Death ward.

[Chambers]

Drumin

"Right behind you." Drumin says and floats into line behind Grye. Perhaps its the slow flight of his ring or trepidation on his part but there's a slight lag when Drumin crosses over, a moment of hesitation long enough to make sure that Arid and Grye are safely through.

He's going to wait a second before crossing to see what happens to Arid and Grye (disrupting Grye's plan, unfortunately).

[Toliudar]

Because there is at least the possibility for immediate hostile action, I'm giving only a few seconds of experience, and freezing the action just after Arid and Grye enter the field. Roll initiative, and post about a round's worth of actions.

Arid and Grye:
Passing through the blue field feels a bit like having a cool mist sprayed on your face, combined with the experience of pushing through a window made of jello. Not that you've ever been so undignified as to walk through a window made of jello. As you pass through, you notice that the field behind you is red, opaque, and completely unmarked by your passage.

Before you is a rough landscape formed by more of the freshly-hardened sea of lava. Scattered on the ground about 100' in front of you are several boulders. There is a noticeable hot breeze coming from behind you, and the air inside is significantly cooler than it was outside the field. About a hundred feet in front of you, a mist begins to take shape, and it gets thicker quickly, rendering everything beyond about 150' in front of you completely unseen. Somewhere in the distance, there is a banging sound, repeated three times.

About fifty feet in front of you and a bit to your left, a quartet of humanoid figures are pulling a large machine that looks a bit like a ballista made out of ice and crystal. Two of the figures are small pixie-like figures, bluish white with shiny skin and crystalline wings. One is about the same size as Grye, slender and clad in a shimmering white overall, to all appearances human. And the fourth is massive, about the size of a frost giant, but with rough features and, to all appearances, entirely carved out of glacial ice.

As Arid and Grye move through the field, all four look up. One of the small ones offers up a monosyllable. The collection of consonants and vowel sounds might translate into fifty different things on the different worlds of the multiverse, but in the current context, the intention is clearly expletive.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Arid and the rest of the universe excluding Drumin

Grye does some quick thinking, his one eye flitting from being to being.
Lifting a hand in greeting, a smile suffuses his angular face as he focuses his gaze on the seemingly human person and calls out.
"Thank the Gods, someone to talk to! And what a relief to be out of that furnace at last. Can you please tell me; what are you doing, and how can we help?"

Diplomacy (as full round action) to head off hostilities.
[roll0]

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Grye is trying the diplomatic approach, which is something Arid can appreciate. She decides to hover next to him and leave her weapon undrawn. She waves and let's the half-elf do the talking and searches focus in order to be prepared for what may come.

Arid uses concentration to hide the displays of the powers she manifests:

Offensive precognition (15pp augmented) linked to force screen (total 16 pp), +4 shield to AC and a +6 to attacks starting the next round.

[Toliudar]

Grye's words echo across the rocky waste. The four figures stare at the two figures for a moment, clearly not understanding his mellifluous words. They briefly confer in quiet tones.

One of the small pixie-ish creatures settles on the crystal mechanism and strikes the side, producing a loud, clear bell-like tone. The other one flies up to the height of Arid and Grye, ending about 20' away from the pair. It hesitantly offers a series of sharp, musical syllables that mean nothing to either Grye or Arid. Meanwhile, the big creature pulls the mechanism about 10' farther towards the edge of the field, and the human-looking one waves their arms in a way that might either be a primitive greeting - or a warning.

And then a dwarf pops through the field behind Arid.

Arid's action goes off without a hitch. Chambers can now read the spoiler of my previous post.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye taps his chin, thinking.
"mm. Of course. Planar. I expect they must be speaking Aquan, and one needs rather a lot more saliva in one's mouth than I usually have to manage it. Still-"
He takes a moment to wave a wand a speak a few syllables, and then approaches the human with an apologetic air and an outstretched hand, hoping to touch the figure by the shoulder.

Cast Comprehend Languages.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid decides to maintain the 'casual' attitude, but she is definitely more tense. When she notices Dru coming through the barrier she nudges, makes a calming motion with her hands and speaks: "Hang on, the elf is negotiating. No hostility yet, but be prepared. Try to smile." Arid smiles.

[Chambers]

Drumin

No screams. Drumin floats through barrier and descends down towards the hardened surface. No trade tongue either, apparently. I'll take solid magma over a lake of fire any day. He shakes his head at the strange creatures around the ballista and smiles, waving back to the human. "Bgohj vuh genie doh gjuhb. Bdoh zuh dgohv?*" He says in dwarven accented Terran, his voice nearly a full register deeper. As the frost pixie flies closer to Grye and Arid he sniffs surreptitiously, trying to catch their scent.

*I seek escape from the genies. Can you help?

Sense Motive (Assess Opponent) on the just dubbed frost pixie.
[roll0]

[Toliudar]

Grye's approach makes both of the little ice-creatures bristle and issue shrill warning sounds, but the human figure does not shrink back from his touch. As Grye approaches, he can see that the person's skin is slightly glossy, and there is a hard, sculpted quality to a sweep of dark hair. To Grye's magically-augmented hearing, the person's voice is smooth, with a strange up-sweeping inflection.

"I suppose this is where you lie and tell us you aren't here to murder us all."

The pixie that approached Arid listens carefully to Drumin's words, but shows no sign of understanding. It claps its hands together, and shimmering icicles extend from its forefingers. One of the exagerrated fingers, waggles at Arid and Dru.

The other ice-sprite drifts over the humanoid's shoulder, clearly unhappy with Grye's proximity. The big ice-creature sets down the device, which Grye can now see has a double prong emerging from a mass of delicately multi-hued crystals, on a silvery metal sled.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye pauses now, finding himself confronted with the prospect of one-way communication.
"Hmm. Well, I can understand you now. But can you understand me...?"
In rapid succession he runs through a selection of languages, looking for the light of comprehension in the creature's eyes.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Albeit with growing confusion, Arid smiles.

[Chambers]

Drumin

"What'd he say?" Drumin asks Grye. The mallet head of his maul thumps against the weird stone as he takes it off his shoulder and rests it on the ground. "Arid, you know what they're saying?"

Keeping one eye on the ballista dragging giant he bends down and takes a knee, pulling out a slim dagger from his boot and poking at the stone. "What is this stuff?" he asks to himself. "Hey!" He shouts at the frost pixie and human as he stands and replaces the dagger. "What is this stuff?"

Poking it with his adamantine dagger and making a What is this stuff? check. (Knowledge Nature) [roll0]

Toli

To be clear, Drumin isn't demonstrating any sort of hostility with his shouting. More like dwarf like curiosity overriding his recent knowledge that they don't speak common.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid shrugs. "I don't know. I am not much of a linguist, really."

[Toliudar]

As Dru shifts his maul around and pokes at the ground with his dagger, the ice-pixie swoops down to interpose itself between him and the device that the big one had been hauling. It The waggled finger that accompanies its chittering voice is clearly either a warning or a threat. The pixie smells of faintly of ozone and pine trees. The rock is some kind of volcanic material, grainy with bubbles of other and less obvious materials suspended in it.

Grye runs through his repertoire of languages without so much as a flicker of comprehension from the humanoid, but they then raise a hand to stop his further attempts. There is a brief exchange of words between the human and the nearby ice-pixie.

"You cannot speak our language, but seem to react to what I am saying. Awkward. We can arrange to listen in on your surface thoughts. will you permit this?"

[Chambers]

Drumin

"Easy fella." Dru says to the frost pixie and shakes his head. He glances up at the human and back at the pixie and he smiles. "Hey, if you can't understand us, at least you can watch." He says and taps the hilt of his maul a few times, thinking over something.

He waves his arms to get everyones attention and then sits on the ground, his hands together, thumbs twiddling, and begins whistling a tune. He then pounds hard on the ground three times and stands up into the air, floating five feet above it with his arms crossed and staring down disdainfully at his maul. He gibbers something that sounds like a child imitating the tongue of the genies and then floats back down to sit on the ground, his hands held up in exasperation.

Floating back up he holds out his arms at his maul as if holding a spear and swishes it about, gibbering in the same fake Ignan. Back down on the ground he sighs and stands up, holding his arms out in from of him as if they were bound and takes a few plodding steps, pretending to stumble and rubbing the small of his back as if he were poked.

He walks in a small circle and then sits next to his maul again, then points to Arid and then to a spot on his right and then to Grye and to a spot on his left. He floats up again and crosses his arms, then points at his maul and at the spaces next to it, gibbering and then waves his arm in a circle and shivers.

Floating back down to the ground he sits and shakes his head and crosses his arms, then flying back up he holds his imaginary spear and pokes it a few times. Back on the ground he holds his hands up in resignation and stands up and nods his head towards the spaces on either side of him.

He turns back towards the pixie and raises an eyebrow. "Do you ken, little one?" He holds his arms in front again as if they were bound and nods towards the pixie, wiggling his hands as if they were struggling to be free.

[Toliudar]

The four figures, particularly the ice-pixie-creature closest to Dru, watch closely, fascinated by his pantomime. There is a brief rumble of conversation between the two small creatures.

Grye

"Ah! He's saying he wants to surrender, and is worried that we will bind them and poke them mercilessly until they freeze to death."

"Don't be stupid. He is saying that they are escaped slaves, who have come her seeking sanctuary from the firelanders."

"Escaped slaves? Have you seen the quality of the equipment that they are wearing? Your brains are melting."

"Oh, but it's so much MORE likely that they've come all this way to plunk down their massive hammers and give up at the sight of your magnificent face? Pfah!"

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye considers the creature's suggestion, furrowing his brow in thought.
Too far to the market to get such a device. Can't transfer the comprehension. Minions mostly useless so far. Hm.
Grye turns his head, and speak to Arid.
"Lady Giantess. You, I think, are our best ambassador of goodwill here. While I think we all appreciate Drumin's energetic efforts at communication, our host here has an idea about how we can streamline things. I gather that this creature has the ability to do a very crude kind of telepathy that involves listening in on surface thoughts." He waves a hand in the general direction of the human.
"My thoughts, alas, cannot be read. I was subject to very powerful magical rituals and some elective surgery long ago to forestall any magical attempts to control me."
Grye taps his eyepatch, and sketches an apologetic bow. Straightening, the rugged half-elf smiles, blandly.
"I would ask Drumin, but I rather think that of the three of us, he is the one who thinks more... impulsively. So. In the name of ending this game of charades, would you be willing to let these things of ice and cold listen to my words as heard through your ears?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid ponders a moment. Her mind is her most valuable en powerful possession, but she decides it is for a good cause. "All right, just give me a moment." She focuses her mind, trying to shield memories and emotions personally dear to her and to partition her subconscious thinking in a place deep and far away. She then kneels to look and smile the tiny creature in the eyes.


Autohypnosis: [roll0]

[Toliudar]

Arid:
Can you give me a sense of what you're allowing to show in terms of your thoughts? Assume that there is a 'surface narrative' that's easier to read. I'll make my own assumptions about what might appear below that, if that's ever relevant, but if you can tell me what you're trying to reveal, that will make it easier down the road.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

DM:
Complex question, I must admit I have had not much experience in partitioning my thoughts when conversing with a thought reader :smallsmile:. How does that work?

I will tell you what I want to shield away: My private life, deeper emotions, motivations, people I love, the powers I have, etc.

Second, I want to supress 'noise', to facilitate communitication. Noise being thoughts like 'Man, I need to pee' and 'Did Drumin just fart?'.

Otherwise, I would like to start with a 'personal opening statement/sentiment', out of politeness and perhaps making me look less scary (I can imagine the little critters don't like big strong people). Further I will just channel Grye's words directly. Listening carefully and repeating them.

My opening statement/thought/sentiment would be:
I greet you, my friend. I have no intent to harm you.

Can you work with this?

[Toliudar]

Auto:
For the sake of simplicity, as long as I have some basic sense of how Arid feels about a situation, I can guess what some of her underlying thoughts might be. If you wish to provide any specifics about what she's 'actually' thinking, that can only enrich the experience.

In terms of the thoughts that she's choosing to present, phrase them as you like, and make them as linear or impressionistic as you like. Perhaps think of it as Twitter like - 140 characters or a single still picture is about the right amount of information.

[Toliudar]

As one of the pixies continue to observe Dru, the other moves to intercept Arid as she approaches. A bit of pantomime and pointing at heads conveys her intent, however. The flying ice-creature flits to one side to allow her to approach. There is no outward sign of anything happening, but Arid does feel a strange tickle on the top of her head, as if it were just starting to rain. This continues for several seconds, then fades.

There is much glancing among the four creatures. The humanish one nods and turns back to Grye.

Grye
"Yes, we seem to be reading the big one. Now can you explain why we shouldn't just cast you back out into the flames?"

Arid
I'm assuming that Arid has communicated a basic greeting, but haven't gone any further at this point.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Not interested in providing context to Arid directly, Grye begins talking in a full flow of speech, something of a wry smile on his face.
"Because if you weren't at least curious, you wouldn't have gone to all this trouble to be able to understand us! That's a start a least. Furthermore, depending on what exactly you're trying to achieve, we might be able to help you. You're not wrong in supposing that the efreeti would quite like it if we tried to kill you, or stop whatever you're doing... but from where I stand, I see no reason to do so." Never one to waste a polished speech carefully, composed, he glances at the giant icy creature once more, "Nor does it look very practical. Although If this is an invasion, it doesn't seem like a very large force you've fielded."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid looks the little creature in the eyes and focuses on relaying Grye's message.

DM:

Because we think you are curious. Not malevolent. And maybe we can help you. A short pause. The Efreet want us to kill, or stop, you but we see no reason to. Again a pause. Are you an invasion, what's going on?

When she is done, she looks up at Grye: "Try to be a bit more to the point...this is not easy!" She shares this sentiment with the pixy.

[Toliudar]

The pixie returns Arid's gaze, its own angular features a strange mix of anger and fear. The humanish one speaks after a moment.

Grye
"We would welcome your help, with gratitude and such meagre reward we can manage. Go out and drive back the firelanders who throw rocks at us."

Drumin
You hear a faint cracking sound and a low rumble from somewhere within the fog.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye looks a little surprised. "Just like that? You treat us, I may say, with as much of a cavalier attitude as the Efreeti do. Rather than our greed, I think you'd have more luck appealing to our sense of justice! Anything you could say which puts you on the side of right, let us say? Anything that justifies spending so much magical effort just to push the boundaries between the planes?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

DM:
Cavalier? ... She forces herself to focus. You surprise us. You treat us just like the Efreet did. Pause. We are motivated by justice, not greed. Another pause. Explain what you do here and why, and if the cause is just, we might help you.

[Toliudar]

Whatever Arid thinks sets off a flurry of glances. One of the ice-pixie figures utters a short phrase. The human raises a hand and speaks at length.

Grye
The 'pixie': "What crap!"

the 'human': "You work for the efreet. Why should we trust you with the kind of information you are requesting?"

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye smiles, and shrugs his shoulders.
"Because. We are not Efreet. Efreet only have such servants as they can buy or chain. I spent a little time in the slave trading pens myself, you see." He brushes his eyepatch with two slender fingers, grimly.
"I understand that in your position, you must be slow to trust. If you wish to get on with your work, then perhaps you could kindly direct us to your superior, and we can stop trespassing on your time. It probably isn't your job to entertain strangers, after all."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

DM:
Because we are not Efreet. They have slaves. He used to be slave. Pause. We understand you find it hard to trust us. Pause, while Arid decides to add: The Efreet are not our friends. Pause. Do you have a superior we can speak to? Then we can stop disturbing you.

[Toliudar]

More glancing and gesturing among the two ice-pixies and the humanoid. The humanoid eventually nods. There is an intermittent and regular crunching sound now coming from the fog - perhaps of something large and heavy grinding against something large and heavy.

Grye
"We do not understand. You are not loyal to the efreet, but they sent you in here? You are not a slave, but were one? Surely, then, you understand our fear. Perhaps if you could make them stop, we could leave."

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye answers almost immediately.
"Because we're easily sacrificed, Probably."
Then he blinks, in a moment of incomprehension, quickly hidden.
"Mm. Make the efreet stop doing what? Firing shots into this sphere?"
A pause.
"Where are we, exactly? And what is that sphere? For that matter, who are you?"

[Chambers]

Drumin

"Invasion? Efreeti justice?" Drumin says, trying to follow along at the back end of a three way conversation. "Wait, you were a slave for the genies?" Drumin asks and then turns towards the mist where the grinding noises are coming from. "What's that noise?" he says to the frost pixie, again forgetting that they don't share a language. "Sacrificed!? Hold on, buddy." Drumin says and floats over to his two companion then turns towards the human. He glances at Grye's hand on the humans shoulder and confidently follows suit. "Look, I don't know what you all have been talking about, but let me make this clear, as far as I see it." He glances over his shoulder at Arid and nods, then turns back towards the man.

"We've been captured by the genies and told to find out what's going on here and stop it or they'll kill us. I don't give a goddamn what you're doing or why - I just want to get away from the genies. Can you help us?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

DM:
Because we are easily sacrificed. Pause. You want us to stop the Efreet throwing rocks at this sphere? Pause. Where are we, exactly? What is that sphere? Who are you?

[Toliudar]

The crunching sounds continue, and seem to be getting a bit louder. One of the 'pixies' turns to glance into the fog, but says nothing. The human seems puzzled by something. After a moment of contemplation, he speaks.

Grye
"I am called Talan. We are of the Itelmen, what you people call the level of cold? Plane of cold? As for where we are - it is a lake of fire, a place of unimaginable pain and suffering. Surely you saw this when you arrived? The sphere is how we survive here.

"Stop shooting things into here, yes that would be a good start. If they are willing to do that, perhaps they will be willing to speak of other things. Let us start there. Go now, and return if there is word that they are willing to speak of peace."

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye gives that some thought, fingering the sash at his waist.
"Hm. My name is Grye. Well met."
The rugged half-elf fixes the ice-being with a very keen look.
"We now know who you are, where you are from and where you are now. but answer me this;"
He pauses to let Arid catch up.
"Why are you here? And how did you get there?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

DM:

His name is Grye, he is pleased to meet you. Pause. We understand who you are and where you are from, but what wish to understand is this. Pause. Why are you here, and how did you get here?

[Toliudar]

There is more glancing around among the four of them. A large dark shape is now barely visible in the fog. The humanish one purses their lips, shakes their head, and finally speaks.

Grye
"Please understand that if we told you those things, we would expose ourselves to great risk. This we cannot do, certainly without some proof of good faith. We want to believe you. Return when you have sign of a cease-fire from the firefolk."

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye subsides into silence, fingering the sash about his waist. Then he gives a slight nod.
"If we can get the efreet to stop firing into the sphere, then you must stop the sphere from expanding. They will not agree to anything while more of their precious lake freezes beneath them. Agreed?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

DM:
If you want the Efreet to stop firing, you have to stop expanding. Pause. They will not agree when more of their fire lake freezes. Pause. Okay?

[Chambers]

Drumin

"Well? What did he say? Can he help us?" Dru asks Arid while trying to follow along with the disjointed conversation. "What's that coming out of the mist?" He says and floats back down to the ground, both hands nervously grasping the maul resting on his shoulder.

Toli - does this place count as Natural Terrain for the purposes of Camouflage & HiPS?

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

"I don't know what he says," Arid confesses. "I am just conveying Grye's words."

[Toliudar]

The human looks up at the big ice-creature, who offers a kind of slow-motion shrug. He glances back at the mist.

Grye

"I'm sorry, but we have no way to control the growth. I wish that I did. It would be best if you went now."

It grows noticably colder, and a quartet of additional ice-pixies dart out of the fog. One zooms towards Grye, but is waved off by the pixie closest to him. A second later, there are a pair of very loud footsteps, and then a third as a very large, vaguely humanoid crystalline figure steps out of the mist. The figure faceless and expressionless, looking similar to the one that was already present, but is nearly thirty feet tall, and there is a kind of ongoing electric sparking taking place where fingers would be. The figure reaches up briefly, then its arms descend slowly to its sides.


Chambers:
Good question. I have trouble picturing anything on this plane as 'natural terrain', but the rough ground and weird lighting would certainly offer nooks and shadows. I'll say yes to camouflage and HiPS.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye lets the silence stretch for a long moment. Then he gives a curt nod and turns to walk away. His expression shows annoyance, and he gestures impatiently to the others to follow as he begins to walk off into the mist.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

DM:
Hum, I guess we are leaving? Pause Was nice meeting you. Fare well.

Arid smiles at the little creatures and waves goodbye before she follows Grye. When she catches up, she asks: "Well? And?"

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye takes a moment to verify that the pixie is at least 20 yards from them.
Then, he growls in irritation, eyes gazing at the ground.
"What kind of backwater elementals can't even speak the trade tongue! To have to relay my words through~" The half-elf sighs, subsiding.
After a moment of thought, he waves a hand imperiously and casts a brief spell to mask their speech from prying ears.
"Grave news. The creature would have us believe that they cannot halt the sphere's expansion. More likely, the person we talked to is too menial to have any control over the incursion." Grye pauses, as if following through some thought, but then shakes his head and continues,
"We must find who they take orders from. I don't know that killing them will serve any purpose at the moment... Although it would probably be valuable to get hold of one of those large devices. Did you mark those? I don't suppose you had a chance to get a close look at them, did you, Drumin?"

[Chambers]

Drumin

Casting a glance over his shoulder at the shapes in the mist as he catches up with Grye and Arid, Drumin shakes his head. "No, wasn't close enough. But I can be." Looking around at the strange flashes he nods and says "If'n that bell doesn't ring again when we pass through I'll hang back and check it out. No one'll be the wiser, trust me."

Following them through the bubble as before, hesitating to see if the alarm type sound happens again. If it does then he'll step through. If it doesn't then he'll use HiPS at the last moment to make it look like he stepped through and then creep down to explore inside the fog.

Knowing of his own capability to sense creatures without seeing them, he'll stay at least 40ft away from all of the creatures in the sphere while searching it and float just a touch above the ground, so he's not in contact with it.

Hide [roll0]
Move Silently [roll1]

[Toliudar]

I'll just wait for verification from the others that they are in fact leaving, and perhaps a sense of what they're doing once they go out, and then I'll process Drumin's actions.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye thinks about that, gazing at the dwarf thoughtfully.
"Hmm. Very well. Go and look. Meet outside the sphere in ten minutes precisely."

Grye plans on using Mislead to make it appear as though the group goes through the blue light, but actually flying on his carpet some ways above while he waits for Drumin's news.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid follows Grye.

[Toliudar]

Grye works his magic, and two versions of him - an invisible one standing on a real flying carpet, and an illusory one that approaches the red wall - diverge. Arid step into the red of the sphere, and again there is almost no direct sensation of passage, except that the air around her shifts immediately from cold to hot. There is still a noticeable breeze into the sphere. Because she entered the sphere on the side opposite where the ship of the efreeti are, they are alone on an expanse of hardened volcanic rock. Grye does his best to have the illusionary version of himself vanish through the wall smoothly and in the same manner as Arid.

Drumin hesitates at the edge of the field. He does not hear a bell or other audible sign of the departure of his colleagues, but he does note that the individual shapes create a brief disturbance in the field of the sphere as the body passes through it. He thinks that, by ducking down and to the left, he can move out of direct view of the cold-landers. Whether they'd notice that he hasn't passed through the field yet is harder to gauge. The smaller of the two ice-men is once again taking hold of the ballista-like device, and the larger one is turning to go back into the fog, but the pixie who was closest to Drumin is still nearby and keeping an eye on him.

Knowledge (nature) DC 20:
Wind currents usually move from cold to hot, not the other way around.

[Toliudar]

Grye

The cold-folk seem to be unaware of your presence. The four that who you first saw return to the task of pulling the device. After bringing it out to within about 20' of the sphere, the human taps a few of the crystals, and the entire device briefly glows blue.

The four pixies that accompanied the very large ice crystal creature converge briefly to confer.

"Sweep right and left?"

"Might as well."

Two peel off and head out at startling speed to Grye's left, moving within about 20' of the field - one close to the ground, the other about 40' up. The other pair follow a similar pattern to the other side. Within a few seconds, all four are lost to Grye's sight. The humanish one and one of the pixies at the device speak softly - softly enough that, at this distance, even Grye has to strain to hear.

"Think they're telling the truth?"

"Who knows? Everything's all mucked up. At least they're a sign of hope. A sign of something other than more death and death."

"Or they're a fake-out, and there's an assault on the other side right now."

"Yeah. Or that."

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye amuses himself for the time being watching the creatures work at the ballista-creation, observing keenly their manipulations of the crystals as he tries to divine their purpose. He listens with half an ear to the speech of the other creatures. While it provides more grist to his mill, it didn't bypass the aggravating problem of not being able to communicate with them directly.
[roll0]

Still. Probably not benefit to killing them at this moment. For now, things were calm, and in the presence of their human master the ridiculous ice fairies were at least inclined to listen before attacking. Under the cover of invisibility, Grye flies further into the dome, trying to gauge its interior size, and to observe what he may.

[Toliudar]

Grye

Grye's eclectic knowledge of such things suggests that either this device is not a weapon, or else would be a very fragile one. There are a lot of delicate-looking protruberances.

As he reaches the mist, he finds the air thicker and colder than expected. The carpet grinds to a halt barely a few feet in, and Grye suspects that the carpet would have stalled and fallen if the mist itself wasn't supporting it.

Glancing back at the foursome still monitoring or working on the device, Grye thinks that he saw one of the pixies look up in his direction.

[roll0]

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye sniffs in an annoyed fashion. Blowed if he was going to walk.
He makes a discreet exit from the sphere and circles around through the searing heat to where his current allies wait uncertainly. Dismissing the invisibility, the half-elf reclines somewhat on his flying carpet and addresses them.
"Well. That was odd. I assume by your look that you haven't seen the like of the invaders before, yes?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid has a mildly annoyed look on her face. "I don't know who you think you are, or who you think I am, but let me make clear I prefer to operate in this team on a basis of equality." She points at the sphere and starts rambling the way only an upset woman can: "Why am I the one to enter that sphere first? Why is Drumin the one to inspect the funny machines? How come these guys can read my mind, but not yours? What the hell were you talking about with these guys? Where on earth did you just disappear to?" She straightens her back and towers over the half-elf. "I am not some kind of muscled servant to push around, and I believe neither is Drumin. Instead of asking us questions, isn't it up to you to inform us on what you have learned?"

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye listens to Arid's rant with pointed chin resting on palm, his brown eyes evaluating her keenly. After a moment's pause, he speaks.
"Frankly, I'm surprised! The last thing in the world I intend is for you to feel diminished in any way. Clearly, you are a young lady quite capable in martial skill, and of course Drumin here is an expert in his own field. But from our first meeting, I had taken you both to be rather lacking in... diplomacy." Grye peers up at the angry giantess towering over him, but then transfers his gaze to the blue sphere hovering amidst the roiling lava seas.
"I don't know that I expected gratitude for stepping in to forestall a fight and inventing a means of communication with these invaders, but I did expect a little more understanding, and-I will be brutal- a little more trust." Fingering the sash at his waist, he continues.
"I have tried to provide you with a clear explanation every time I impose upon you to do something. For example, I sadly did not learn very much by watching others enter or leave the sphere, and thus I had no results to share. Drumin I took to be a very good spy, after a fashion, and to be possessed of a sharp and observant eye." Grye waves a hand, languidly, looking up at the giantess. "I could go on, but I trust you glean my point. Circumstances in that sphere did not favor me halting the discussion to relate to you both what was happening, point-by-point. I rather think that everyone's patience was already tried by the patchwork method we were reduced to speaking through."
Sitting upright, Grye holds up a forestalling hand.
"Now- there's no need to apologize; I understand. When it comes to pitched battle or Drumin's field, I will of course be at your beck and call in every way, you have my assurance of that." Planting palms on his knees, his manner becomes bright and brisk.
"Now that we are probably away from prying ears, I would, of course, be happy to answer any of your questions to the best of my poor ability. What would you like to know?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid feels that she fundamentally disagrees with what Grye says, but the way he puts it he seems to have a point. Not willing to yield her point yet, she answers: "Well, you just conversed with the targets of our mission. What did they say? What's up? Are we at odds right now with them, did you make any progress?"

[Chambers]

Drumin

Damn wavering energy field. How can they not even speak the trade tongue? Drumin listens half-heatedly to Arid rant and Grye explain. Fat chance of getting the genies to let go of part of their fire lake...one of them might get the sniffles. Drumin smiles at some private joke and nods as if agreeing with both his companions.

"Right. That was almost completely a waste of time. I didn't get a good look at that ballista-machine. Probably some kind of icicle thrower, maybe. Hey, you don't really think the captain will agree to stop attacking the sphere do you? I mean, he might agree to a pretend truce, and then send us back in, but you really think some genie is going to keep his word to a frost pixie?" Drumin says and shakes his head, answering his own question.

"Listen...." He says and then pauses as he takes a look around and sniffs once. "We're away from the genies, and I don't feel any particular geas on me to actually go through with it and do what they want. Either of you planeswalkers? I say we hightail it out of here and get while the gettings good."

Looking around for a scrying device. Depending on which rules you prefer to use a result higher than 20 (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/spot.htm) would let someone be aware of an invisible thing (but not see it) or a DC 20 Intelligence check (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm#scrying) would let a creature notice a scrying sensor.

Spot [roll0]
Int [roll1]

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Smiling easily, Grye nods. "Ah-ha. Well, Drumin has put his finger squarely on everything in the neighborhood of the crux of the matter. I tried to glean what information I could from the cold ones while opening up the possibility of negotiation. I must say that they gave very little away, which I can only attribute to the imperfect way in which we were forced to converse." he lapses into silence, thinking. "There are many things they said which do not make much sense. You will have gathered that I asked them to stop expanding the sphere. Their response was to say that 'I wish I could,' and 'perhaps if you could make them stop, we could leave.' "
Tapping his fingers, he muses, "But in any case, the team we talked to has not the power to control the sphere's expansion. This means that they have a superior who is ordering them to deploy these devices -which I must assume are linked somehow to expanding the sphere-, and there must be some dissatisfaction within their ranks. I rather think they're fighting a war on two fronts at the moment. I don't know what's going on in their home plane, but..." He shakes his head. "it is an invasion, whatever the impetus."

He glares at Drumin though, and raises his voice. "It would be most incorrect and unthinkable for us to break our words and even speak aloud thoughts of casting away the goodwill that the agents of the Grand Sultan himself have extended to us by not having us slowly killed for daring to break the serenity and peace of his Iron Laws. It is Especially improper to discuss such a thing while standing mere miles from the Volcano Throne itself. I hope I am making myself clear."

After a moment, he continues in a much more normal voice. "But with your hammer of cynicism, you have gotten to the pearl of the matter very quickly. I don't think the captain of the good ship will take kindly to our suggestion that he cease fire, lest he appear to be less than wholly keen on executing his duty. I daresay I could persuade him, but I must say I am not hopeful of negotiation with the frost folk.

[Chambers]

Drumin

The dwarf throws his arms up in exasperation with much huffing and guffawing at Grye's obedience, but he gives Grye a large wink and a smile. "How foolish of me! How dumbheaded and selfish of me to think of what I desire...when, when faced with the grandness of his excellence..." He says and trails off. Right. He gets it. They could be watching right now. "So. What about you, Red?" he turns to Arid. "Care to speak with the Captain?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

"This is weird, huh?" She ponders a moment. "How do you reckon it looks on the ice pixie home plane right now? If they believe they are being attacked, could it be that they are experiencing a warm sphere with a boat full of fire folks on it? I know that sounds unreal, but why would they feel under attack when from our perspective they are attacking the genies?" She then turns to Drumin. "I don't know whether speaking to the genies has any point to it. Given the circumstances under which I am here, they have not shown any concern with justice, honesty or honor."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

"Grye, think you can convince the Efreet to stop firing for, say, a day? Would that give us a better position to talk to the pixies and figure out what is going on? I'd say that if the Efreet want this to stop they will agree. If they don't agree, that shows they just want to destroy ice folk, huh?""

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
The half-elf smiles, blandly.
"It's possible we'll make politicians out of you two yet. But I rather think the efreeti are blameless in this. If this were some retaliatory attack, they would have the appropriate disproportionate response already prepared. No doubt they know more than they are saying, but I do wonder if they know very much more. For all my travels, I know next to nothing about the elemental demiplane of cold that these creatures hail from, and to my knowledge there has never been any history of conflict between the City of Brass and whatever hierarchy may exist there. I think it is far more likely that this is the fallout of one of these unusual shifts in the planes which have been occurring of late. Surely you've heard rumors?" He drums his fingers lightly on his knee.
"For all its domineering veneer, you should understand that the interests of the City of Brass are mostly mercantile. It is the nature of the efreet to get others to bring them things, as opposed to conquering. For example, they got us by simply dredging the gutters of their city and finding a few resourceful dirters."
Adjusting his armor, Grye sits up.
"But let us be practical, hmm? Our instructions are loosely to either halt the expansion of the sphere or to end the invasion itself. In exchange for this, we will receive our freedom and probably will not be roasted over hot coals. Tell me, would you be much against waging bloody battle against those frostfolk? Poor warrior that I am, I merely ask out of professional interest."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

"As long as it is not obvious these frost folk have commited a crime, I am strongly opposed to slaying them. My freedom is important, but I'd rather hack my way through these Efreet and their snakekin servants to obtain it than slay innocent creatures. There has to be an other way out."

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye lifts his eyebrows.
"Oh? Invasion of another plane and displacement of its natural residents isn't a crime to you? Imagine, if you will, a circumstance in which a widening circle of necromantic death appeared some miles outside of a thriving metropolis on the prime material. Anyone who enters the sphere simply dies, and there is no sign that the sphere will stop expanding. Resourceful travelers are impressed by a desperate king to find the cause and stop it before it reaches his city."
Grye pauses.
"I suppose your prejudice is natural enough, but before you cast accusations that the efreet care nothing for justice, I suggest you take a moment to examine how true your own scales read. I further suggest to you that whatever their motive, the frostfolk expanding that sphere are only as innocent as soldiers can ever be."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

"No need for the condescending tone." Arid points at the sphere and in the general direction of the Efreet. "You just suggested, as did I, that this situation may very well be the result of some planar anomaly. In that case they are victims just as much as the Efreet." She puts her hands on her chest. "I prefer to clear that up before resorting to violence."

"Also, I resent what you imply concerning my moral compass. Not because of the true or false of it, but because you have known me for what? 20 minutes? 30? Talk about prejudice! If you would take a moment to listen to what I have to say instead of to yourself, you would learn that I actually refuse to judge as swift as you want to do here."

[Chambers]

Drumin

"And that King's got soldiers of his own, just as the genies do. They sent them in first, remember? We're the expendables sent in afterwards so they don't lose any more, and don't forget it. I'm not about to start killin the frost folk because they're keeping q secret from the genies. And if it is an invasion, 'tis no matter of mine. I'll not fight anothers battle for them. That's my last word on it."

Drumin crosses his arms. "We've done as requested. Let's go tell the captain what we've learned and be done with it."

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye taps his fingers.
"A thousand apologies if I have made you angry. I shall try and be more mindful of your sensitivities."
He waves a hand, dismissively. "But this is all by the way. I might possibly impress upon the captain to cease fire for some span of time, but it would be hard going. And what would be the result? The sphere will still expand, and the captain would get more and more anxious. I think I can imagine pretty well what the official response to our tremulous suggestion of treaty would be, and I think the result would more more literal bayonets at our back as we were marched into the sphere once more, instead of implied bayonets. I think the situation would have to be fairly desperate before-" Grye pauses, thinking.
"Mmm. No. But that is a thought for later on, perhaps. In any case, we have two or three rough courses ahead of us. Either we brief the efreet on our progress -such as it is- and count on a reasonable response, or we enter the sphere once more and try and resolve the matter on that side."
he sighs. "It's a very short leap from 'expendible asset' to 'scapegoat.'"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

"Well, you have been talking inside and you will be talking. Do you see any perspective to go back in and resume the conversation?"

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye shrugs. "Without a way of making my words heard just as I put them, I'm hamstrung in negotiations. I might Possibly pretend to carry back a response from the efreet, but even then, what would that gain us? Those we talked to have no power to stop the sphere (which is what the efreet care about), and they know already how little sway we have with the Volcano Throne."
He drums his fingers once the carpet once more, thinking.
"Hmm. I can use fairly advanced illusions. I could simply masquerade as an efreet dignitary... That might possibly gain us an audience with someone in command. But again, what would that serve?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

"Let's try to do the straightforward and transparant thing first and try to reason with the Efreet. We can resort to trickery later, if we cannot avoid it."

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
the Reasonable and transparent thing... reason with Efreet Grye mouths the words to himself, and indulges in an inward sigh as he shakes his head.
"You win. We shall speak to the Efreet. I do so only with infinite reluctance, you understand, but since you insist -after being so very reasonable and compliant before- how can I refuse? I will speak to the efreet on our behalf, as you request, if you will allow me the latitude I need to preserve our hides. I will most likely need to... Embellish. Our return will need to be presented in a very particular way to keep it from looking like a failure. The efreet do not like failure." Grye taps his eyepatch, meaningfully.

[Chambers]

Drumin

"Embellish away." Drumin says and waves his hand in the general direction of the ship. "Long as you don't get us sent back in there with execution orders, should be fine. I mean, he's a genie. It's almost our responsibility as 'dirt gutter trash' to lie to him. Probably won't be happy until he thinks he's been clever enough to ignore whatever lies we tell to save our hides..." Drumin says and stops in mid-float, his eyes widening.

"Of course! He will completely be expecting us to lie! If he tell him the truth first he'll never believe it." Drumin smiles, proud of myself for bring two steps ahead of the Efreet. "Here, Grye, let me handle it. You're good with bring friendly but it takes real skill to pass one off on the genies, especially one that's expecting it. It's got to be believable, see? Can't just go in with some outlandish tale...then he'll think we've really got something to hide."

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
The half-elf's face is an exquisite study in deadpan.
"I take your kind compliment for what it is worth, master dwarf, but the last time I had occasion to see you at your social finest, you threatened to smash a very senior efreet official with a hammer. I privately think some quiet reckoning for that awaits you in the future. You may take that as a bit of 'friendly' advice, if you like. I must stress that as a dirter of no antecedence, your life carries very little value. If the efreet think you are holding something back that they really want to know, they will simply extract the truth from your quivering brain, cast your drooling husk into the Lake of Fire, and then dredge the gutters of the City again for someone else of mighty thews who is a bit more malleable."
Grye's eye takes on a certain fierce glint. "We are in no position to take up truculence with our erstwhile masters. Any hand we overplay will be taken from us, probably with a red-hot cleaver." He turns his head appealingly to Arid. "Since it is your wish that we speak to the efreet -and I am slave to your desires in this- it is quite naturally your choice; which of us would you rather have present our case before the genies: Drumin's bluff gambit, or myself telling the truth artfully presented?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

"Let us be honest and straightforward. If the Efreet have the least intention to solve this, they will work with us. Tell them we established contact and that a small gesture of willingness to solve this conflict would help us getting a negotiation position. Also, ask whether they have any means to help us communicate."

[Chambers]

Drumin

"Reckoning? Oh, there'll be a reckoning, all right. Payment due for damn near enslaving me, trying to read my mind, and sending me out to do their killin' for them!" Drumin shouts. "A hammer to the head would be just recompense for what they've done." He narrows his eyes at Grye. "You're mighty quick to come to the defense of one who's falsely imprisoned you, down right fawning at their knees to thank them for this glorious opportunity."

He shakes his head. "How you view the genies is your choice, as it is my own, but I'll thank you not to try and sugar-coat what they've done or who they are. They're slave masters, evil and greedy to the core and no fancy words or high speech can change that." He spits into the fire below. "Maybe it's better you do speak to the captain; you and the genies seem to get right along."

[The Great Skenardo]

Gyre
Grye shrugs.
"It may be that I've just gotten used to it. I've been stuck in the city for a while now. I keep to my principles," he taps the hilt of the glowing blade at his sash, "But compromise is how you survive. I think the outrage over the treatment you've suffered at the hands of the efreet comes easier to you because -unless I miss my guess- you've never felt the lash or the red-hot chains, or had a barbed spike scour the inside of your eye-socket over the course of an afternoon." The half-elf's tone is friendly and conversational enough, but the smile that touches his lips is twisted.
"You needn't lecture me on the cruelty of the genies, friend dwarf; I know better than most how harsh their displeasure can be. If I seem an apologetic, then it is only because I'm trying to impart to you how privileged our treatment has been, relatively speaking, and how much worse it could be if, for example, we insult the wrong people or get uppity notions about hitting senior efreet with hammers!"
Subsiding a little, Grye continues. "I'm simply not the warrior you are; words are all I have. The efreet are more powerful than I am, I cannot escape, and I cannot afford to die in a literal blaze of glory for the sake of honour. So I have adapted."
Grye claps his hands upon his knees, and nods in the direction of the ship. "Now. Unless there are other concerns anyone would like to voice?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid listens to Grye's story. Poor man. "I will get you out of here", she says as she heads towards the ship.

[Chambers]

Drumin

"Who said anything about honor?" The dwarf sniffs and tilts his head back slightly. "There you go assumin'. I've spent my time in unpleasant places. Six years. Solitary." He shakes his head and glances towards Arid. "Stlarn. Let's get this over with."

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye nods and then steers his carpet towards the ship. After a moment, he snaps his fingers and then tosses the pig-iron mace taken from the salamander back into the sphere before resuming his route.

[Toliudar]

As the three soar over the blue sphere, the hot wind drifting into it seems to be gathering slightly in intensity. The mace that Grye drops in disappears through the field without causing so much as a ripple.

As they fly towards the efreeti ship, Drumin's keen eyes pick out another pair of ships approaching, but still some miles off. The Burungha is lined up broadside to the sphere, catapult and ballistae loaded and at the ready. As the three approach, a slightly uncertain cheer goes up among the efreeti soldiers gathered on the deck. Dozens of broad-shouldered fire spirits, ready to tear into the interlopers who are turning their beloved lake of fire into a grey waste.

Even before the carpet lands, Captain Hajra is lifting a sword in salute and shouting. He seems to have lost his previous skepticism, and is smiling broadly at their return.

"Well done! So you've found a way to bring down that dammable blue marble?"

So sorry, guys. Mental block. I'll do my best not to let this happen again.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye

before rounding the corner into view of the ship, Grye will take a moment to cast glibness upon himself, anticipating the need to tell a few whoppers in the near future.

Grye smiles broadly, hopping down from his carpet with all the pomp of a victorious general.
"Thank you Captain. The sphere has not stopped, but it can be stopped. It is possibly the worst irony, but the brave salvos you have been making in execution of your duty are causing the sphere to expand! Each stone and ball fired into the sphere only spurs on the invaders. So!"
With a clap of his hands, the half-elf continues
"Make ready the other ships, let the other captains know that until the magics powering the sphere can be fully disabled, cannon fire only fuels its growth. But when the cold sphere drops-" Grye gestures dramatically, "Glory and great service to He of Unquenchable Fire!"
He pauses just in case there was any applause or cheering, then continues in a more confidential voice, addressing the captain directly.
"We'll be heading back inside momentarily, Captain. but we need to get a message to the Mistress. It is possible that she's watching already of course, but one doesn't like to presume. I imagine comrade Nahraditelny has already left? This is no fit place for her," Grye adds, sympathetically.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid lets Grye do the talking of course. She does her best to strike a physically impressive pose, but makes sure to smile a friendly smile to those Efreeti she has eye cntact with.

[Toliudar]

The grizzled efreeti captain takes in Grye's report, seeming to swallow hook, line, sinker and a good third of the fishing rod. On Grye's recommendation to alert the other ships, he nods and gestures for the half-elf to pause in his report. Hajra turns to a nearby sailor.

"Alhazred! Fly over to the Halak Tuz and then the Islak. Report that there has been successful penetration of the sphere, but that there should be no artillery use before they consult with us. Go!"

Nodding solemnly, the efreeti launches himself into the air and flaps madly towards the approaching ships. The captain turns back to the three outworlders to hear the rest of the report. He rumbles a low meditative sound.

"Yes, Nahraditelny is gone again. While of course I am replete with admiration and respect for your, um -"

Hajra seems to be ransacking his mental storehouses for the appropriate term for the relationship between the woman in black silks and the trio before him. Eventually he gives up.

"We are in quite different sections of service. If she's monitoring us, I wouldn't know, and I most certainly wouldn't ask. Few people seek conversation with the Master of Secrets. And no, I don't really know how to reach her."

If need be, you DO have the teleport stone. :smallwink:

[Chambers]

Drumin

Keep him talking elf. Drumin floats just above the deck, his arms crossed and maul slung over his shoulder. Wonder what spell he cast on the way. Not a fighter...right. Drumin glares at the genies and only half-listens to the Captain's answer. Hrast. Hrast the genies, hrast this fire lake, hrast the dome, and hrast you, Captain Hrastyourself.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye nods confidently.
"Yes, of course. If nothing else, announcing the fact to the open air has probably had the intended effect. Hopefully she will watch a little longer Now-"
Grye sets his jaw, theatrically,
"We had better get back to work. Good day, Captain. We'll contact you again soon."

Grye unfurls his carpet with a flourish and hops nimbly aboard, gesturing for his companions to follow him back towards the sphere.

once more retreating to the far side of the sphere from the growing armada, Grye halts the carpet and turns to face the giantess and the dwarf.
"So?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

"Well, we made them stop firing. For now. That gives us a good base for further talking, right? We do need a better way to communicate, though..." Arid shrugs and looks puzzled as she has no ability whatsoever to do anything at all that is even remotely related to language barriers.

[Chambers]

Drumin

"Right. There's got to be someone in the sphere that understands the trade tongue. Otherwise...well, this whole 'mission' will be a bust." Drumin says and sighs. "Look, why didn't you ask Captain gruffn'huff for some kind of translator? If the genies are so cosmopolitan as you say surely they've developed methods to speak with peoples that don't share the same language."

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
The half-elf smiles, grimly.
"Because Captain "huff and puff" has very little latitude in that direction. If anything, we should appeal to the efreet with whom we talked earlier. That would probably produce results, but it would annoy her. hm."

Grye uses his knowledge of the arcane to try and determine if the teleport object that Arid carries is two-way.

[Toliudar]

The move back to the sphere, and away from the slowly building Armada of Fire, is uneventful by the standards of the day.

Basha:
From your studies of such devices, they tend to be simple and one-way affairs, keyed to a fixed destination or individual.

[Chambers]

Drumin

"Hells! If it'll ruffle the feathers in her cap I'll pay for the wind." Dru says with a grin. "Call the abbess. 'Less you want to go for round two of 'speak on my shoulder'." He says and then narrows his eyes. "Actually, I think I'd like to understand what they're sayin' as well. As I'm sure you would to." He says and nods to Arid.

For those without their own copy of the Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (http://books.google.com/books?id=4HoSAAAAIAAJ&dq=dictionary+of+the+vulgar+tongue+abbess&source=gbs_navlinks_s) (thieves cant), abbess means "mistress of a brothel".

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye nods.
"Mm. I concede the wisdom of it. I hope our patron is patient, and that she doesn't have another try at reading your colorful brain, master dwarf."
He holds out a hand, hesitating briefly before doing so.
"The device, Arid?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid nods at the Dwarf and then at the Elf. "There you go," she says as she hands the device to Grye.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye nods brief thanks, and then with a flicker of effort,
Uses the Magic Device.

[Toliudar]

There is no wrench of dislocation. There is no sense of movement. Abruptly, the three of them are in a warmer, darker and decidedly more claustrophobic space. Specifically, they are floating just inches above the floor, adjacent to the large table in the room where they first met the woman in black silks.

She is not currently in the room, although a remarkably small and weaselly-looking efreeti woman is sitting at her desk, writing furiously. A pair of muscle-bound and bored-looking salamanders stand by two of the many doors in the room. As soon as Grye, Arid and Drumin appear, one of the salamanders makes a low rattling sound, filling the same social niche as a cleared throat, and all three look up. The woman at the desk holds a silver ring up to her lips and murmurs something, then smiles and rises.

"Ah. You must be the ones they sent over to the blue thing in the lake. Please make yourselves comfortable. The Mistress will want to hear your report in person. Can I send for refreshments for you?"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Uncomfortable being back in the rooms of her captivators, Arid eyes around the room. As the lady adresses her, she smiles: "Not for me, thank you kindly," and finds herself a seat.

[Chambers]

Drumin

Dru makes a show of thumping his maul on the floor and leaning against the handle, one bushy eyebrow raised at the salamanders in the room. "Refreshments? Aye! I'd like a deep brew, one with hints of honey and berry. Maybe a rack of rothe ribs." He says and then waves one hand. "Or a half rack."

He snaps his fingers and rolls his eyes. "Ah, 'course you wouldn't have that." He says and scratches at his beard. "Hmm. Well, I've always found freedom to be most refreshing, so I'll have that instead."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid grins as the Dwarf speaks. She could never be that forward, but it does look like it'd be fun to do every now and then.

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye does not roll his eyes. He does not sigh, wrinkle his nose, nor wince as Dru speaks. However, there is a certain vacancy to his expression, and his light smile becomes a trifle glassy for a brief moment.
Instead of making trenchant remarks, Grye steps lightly to a pile of cushions and unslings his bright mithral shield from his back before settling himself down.
He smiles, tolerantly, and comments.
"My thanks to your mistress. I will take it as a kindness from her if you will send for a little wine."

[Toliudar]

The efreeti woman seems unfazed by Drumin's comments, and in fact an eyebrow raises slightly.

"Deep brew with honey and berry notes, and wine.

"My deepest apologies. I suspect that we won't have time to prepare the rothe. As I recall, they require slow roasting, and are best after a lengthy marinade. Perhaps they will be ready in time for a victory celebration, once the invaders have been crushed.

Please excuse me. I will see to your drinks."

The woman touches her fingertips together briefly, nodding at each of the three recruits, and slips away through the door behind the desk. Barely a heartbeat later, another of the doors opens, and the woman in black silks enters, carrying a small white ball with a blue gem affixed. The effect is rather like an eye. She carries it delicately, but once she is in the room, she goes to the desk, positions the eye over it, and crushes it effortlessly in her hand. The ball creates a cloud of smoke that briefly envelopes the desk. The woman in black silks inhales some of the smoke and closes her eyes, nodding twice.

Opening her eyes, she looks over at the three visitors. She strides over with a broad smile.

"Well, you certainly are fast. Congratulations! I take it that Tasneem is seeing to your comforts? Yes? Excellent. So, tell me. What did you have to do to eliminate the sphere?"

[The Great Skenardo]

Grye
Grye rises from his seat and executes a practiced, courtly bow.
"Dread Lady," he begins, "We are pleased to report that we have made great progress in determining how the sphere shall be stopped. We have discovered an advance team of the invaders- they are giants and faeries of the cold places. They use magical machinery and constructs to advance the sphere, and destroying these might well halt temporarily the expansion of the sphere.
Of course we might have slain them. but since theirs is a desperate invasion, I opened the possibility of parley."
His voice is carefully neutral as he continues, "I have not yet succeeded in locating their leadership. If they can be located and contacted before there are definite hostilities, then it is just possible a treaty might be reached in the usual way."
He shrugs.
"In any case, we beg to impose further upon your generosity- these invaders speak a language I do not know. It is clear some magical solution is required."

[Chambers]

Drumin

Dru guffaws as the genie takes their order. Probably just wish it right up, not a real brew... When she returns with the regent and inhales it he frowns. That's not natural. Hmm. He taps the hilt of his warhammer. "Nay, 'tis there now. Still growing, most likely." He says with a smile.

"Well, you seemed to be able to talk with them for a while with the hand on shoulder bit. But it would be nice if we all could hear what everyone is saying."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Arid

Arid listens and frowns. When Grye and Dru are done talking she adds: "It occured to me that these creatures are as mystified as you are. This situation can be resolved without bloodshed, I am sure." She gives a nod to Drumin. "It would be more than helpful if we all could be made to comprehend their language." She turns her gaze to the Efreet. "Should it be that conflict can not be averted, I can assure you that my abilities function best when I am fully aware of motives and context."