The End of Arcana - IC

[Kazyan]

{table=head]Player|Character
Dunkoro|Valiaa (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ao-T3AAincqCdGNPb3A0dC1SU3YxUlF5WEJDdFI0YVE&usp=sharing)
bcool999|Konduren (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=640632)
MikelaC1|Shiver (http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=72408)
Moonlitdreams|Apollo (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=638436)
Snowfire|Esulan (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=647275)
Lightning Fast|Gtzarith (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=637174)[/table]

Private Rooms never looked like much, this one being no exception. That is, after all, part of the point of a Private Room.

Given the directions of one Detective Spots, all six of you have just met up around an iron trapdoor. At the middle-low elevation of Dekatura, not far from the coastline, the trapdoor sticks square out of the ground, opened up to you. Packed earthen stairs descend a good twenty feet into the earth, to a more formal wooden door. A stout, smug, and probably rather rich human (though one couldn't tell affluence from his discreet attire) decides that the time is right, and make a quiet gesture towards the wooden door. He tries not to look intimidated by your exotic and imposing presences, but only partially succeeds. Absent from his expression, though, is curiosity. This man owned the place, the 'interested party' had footed the bill to rent it, and he is doing his job: provide service. Do. Not. Ask. That's the point.

Once everyone makes it inside (the door is fairly large, but still likely requires some maneuvering for Shiver to get through), you all see a group of seven unoccupied chairs, stationed in front of a palm-wood writing desk. Upon that desk is an open case of papers…sort of. The papers had diffused throughout the desk, moved around by the digging and shuffling of Detective Spots’s hands, his powerful and item-augmented mind juggling ideas and clues in a way that only he could. With a free claw, the anthropomorphic leopard scratches a bit of fur under his Headband of Intellect and attached Third Eye, while he moves around papers with his other paw. Smaller bits of paper are attached to each point of each claw, with tiny letters or bits of writing. He growls to himself, and then kicks up his bare feet on the desk. His tail flicks, closing the open case over part of the mess of papers.

“Welcome, welcome. Konduren! Since when have we last met? And Esulan, I love the outfit. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about.” His tail flicks two more times, and he shakes his head. He does an untrusting glare at Apollo--Spots had been hesitant to call a practitioner of Pact Magic, but it had been necessary, and a detective has to do their job. In fact, he’s still a bit hesitant overall. He’s in the same room as an illithid, an eladrin, a giant...a pure congregation of extreme minorities, excepting the one pure human, who basically didn't count because of the shapeshifting anyway.

“This is the biggest case I’ve ever taken…like I had a choice; people are banging down my door asking me to turn their prestidigitation spells back on. Ever noticed how things are starting to get dirty? I think that’s bothering people more than anything else. And I’ve been doing my job, searching for clues, but it’s not exactly easy when all the divinations are off.” He pinches a paper between opposable thumb-claw and finger, and tosses it back onto the desk. It wafts down. “I’ve called you because you all are the best that seem to function well enough under this spell. And it is a spell, I’ve figured out. Gotta pick out the real exotic citizens, at this point. Everyone’s either a diehard mage or not really up to snuff.” A sigh. Detective Spots uncrosses and crosses his feet. “It’s mostly speculation, but I have ideas. Motives, suggestions, getting into the caster’s head, that kind of thing. Because it’s difficult. Then there’s other searching, minutiae, looking at maps and the concentrations of—” At this point, he begins rifling through the papers again with both hands. “It’s weird, and that’s why I need you all. Go on, get to know each other. Where are those notes…”

Though you all have indeed just met up, you haven't much gotten to know one another before that.

[Snowfire]

Esulan smiles at the detective's comment to her. It wasn't as if her outfit had changed visually in longer than Spots had been alive, but compliments were rarely negative - except in very particular cases, but that was semantics. She'd picked up a bit of knowledge about the more...exotic of the menagerie that had been called here since their arrival in the city and she was quite intrigued to meet them. It was honestly quite refreshing to not have to worry about a devil or demon or something else of that type showing up as part of the group, what with their reliance on magic being on the whole about as pronounced as most of her own kind.

"Well since I've been introduced already, I might as well go first," she said, smiling wryly. "I'm Esulan, current Champion of the Eladrin Knights." She sketches a short bow. "It is good to meet you all."

In her mind, she felt Kismet observing the area around her through her senses, but she was used to that. The weapon might not like it, but being seemingly unarmed could be useful - at least that's what the tactical side of her brain said.

For those who are non chaotic-good, you're probably going to be feeling slightly uncomfortable around Esulan. How you play it is up to you - including ignoring it - but the best way I'd think to describe it would be a sort of itch, like your skin doesn't quite fit right.

This being a result of the area around her being moderately chaotic and good aligned.

[Moonlitdreams]

When Apollo enters the indicated private room, the room lights up. Literally. There are no shadows left. A golden glyph depicting a stylized sun glows on his brow, and the same sun hangs from a leather amulet around his neck, wrought from pure gold. The light glints off the shining jewelry he wears at his ears, neck and waist. A mask that covers his eyes and nose is pushed up onto the top of his head as he offers a smile to all the occupants of the room. His hair is spiked, a brilliant red, and his wings are gauzy green and tucked neatly over his back. He is otherwise human in appearance though... more or less.

Apollo beams back at the detective's glare, then turns and sweeps a low bow to the others before stepping back from Esulan to stand a bit off by himself.

"Well then!" he chirps. "Nice'ta meet ya, Esulan. Everyone else. You too, Spots." Another nod. "My name's Apollo, of the Sliversheens - fey family extraordinaire, and all that. I'm sure you've heard of them. Myself? I work the messenger service."

My other signs are suppressed for now, as I got good pacts. (in the OOC)

[MikelaC1]

SLISSHT

With some twisting and turning (and just a bit of swearing), the frost giantess makes her way into the room and looks dubiously at each of the empty chairs.
not a chance
maybe if I was half size
no way
would that even hold a Halfling?
is he kidding?
is that a twig collection?
not that one either
She chooses to remain standing. Shes gotten used to that in Dekatura.
When you look at her, Shiver is a frost giantess, and as such, she is almost 15 feet tall, and weighs well over 2000 pounds. She is very beautiful, even by human standards, which makes her almost incomparable by frost giant standards. She has the long blonde hair, blue eyes and white skin that is common to her race, but unlike most frost giant warriors, she disdains armour. She is carrying two giant longswords instead of greataxes more common to the frost giant race, and both of them, for she is a two weapon fighter, seem to have a black, rippling sheen to them, almost as if they were covered in oil. As well as the normal accoutrements of any wandering adventurer, she wears a great deal of jewelry, necklaces, rings, bracers, etc. they seem to be everywhere. A few of these pieces seem to have just a little bit more of a sparkle to them, marking them as magical, but the greatest majority are just mundane, although quite expensive.

She smiles at everyone present. The name is Slissht, but your tongue, it means Shiver. Either one is fine. So, who has the ale?

[Dunkoro]

Without any problem or hesitance at all, Valiaa takes her place. Immediately after, the chair itself {{It's wooden, right?}} turns a little bit "healthier" as if it wasn't chopped down for the best part of 20 years.

After hearing Spot's speech she presents herself:
I'm pleased to meet you all. I'm Valiaa. My way is the one of balance, balance in thought and in action, balance in ways of attack and ways of defense, balance between nature and magical forces.

[bcool999]

Konduren allows the others to proceed him when entering the trapdoor. City buildings always made him uncomfortable and basements were somehow worse. He followed them in an upon seeing the chairs he took in a breath so he could sigh. Doesn't Spots know me well enough to remember that the felling of trees merely to serve as a resting place disturbs me? Ah, but perhaps I am unfair, the proprietor was probably told to expect seven so seven chairs there are.

At the detective's familiar greeting Konduren nods in recognition of old ties, but says nothing while he inspects the others around him. Konduren felt the aura of Esulan spark his fey blood and attempt to erode his long obtained discipline, but it was a minor thing at most. Similarly he recognized the far distant kinship with Apollo that exists only between fey, even fey of different types and creed. Konduren frowned slightly at the overabundant material wealth that hung off of Shiver. Like chains that hold her spirit down from enlightenment... His interest spiked as he felt the dead wood in the chair, on which Valiaa sat, come back to life as an old oak would in spring. After a moment spent lost in thought, Konduren realized that he was the only one yet to introduce himself. Years in the wilderness does not prepare one for 'civilization.' Konduren reflected as he faced the group. "I am called Konduren. I am a traveler. I don't spend much time in cities so forgive me if my manners are not to your standards."

His voice was strong like stone, but not harsh or defensive. He was merely stating facts as a solid foundation on which to build upon or leave as others choose.

[Snowfire]

One of Esulan's eyebrows quirks upwards, first at the disappearance of shadows in the room, and then rises again further with a slightly resigned air as Apollo moves most of the way to the other side of the room from her. The golden haired woman sighs as if at herself, and then raises a hand to the clasp hanging at her neck. The green gemstone at its heart blazes with emerald light as she places her hand upon it, for a moment sending highlights rippling across the room, then fades as she grips the device tightly. The green and some of the white in the extremely visible aura around her fades, spinning inwards until it forms a shell that covers her body and no more.

"My apologies. I am somewhat unused to being in the company of those who are made uncomfortable by the presence of Arborea and who aren't trying to kill me."

She leans back, letting herself fall into a sitting posture upon the air, and eyes of a piercing blue reflect the light of Apollo's making as they look over the others in the room.

"Manners found in the wilds are sometimes far more honest than those of civilisation, Konduren," she replied with a chuckle. "So. Slissht," she pronounces the name as if the frost giant's tongue was her own, "Apollo, Valiaa, Konduren." She nodded to each member of the company in turn, before turning her gaze to the last member among them. Her instinctual reaction would be to reach for Kismet, but he didn't feel like most of his kind so she would give him the benefit of the doubt.

[MikelaC1]

SHIVER

Shiver seems happy at the proper pronounciation of her name. Likely because too many human tongues have a bad habit of adding an extra "i" near the end of it. Mostly the ones who had a few new bruises of some kind.

So you think its a spell? Doesnt that seem counter productive? Why would someone so powerful in the arcane devise a spell that shuts him off from his source of power?

Its perhaps a bit of surprising insight from a race known more for bashing than thinking.

[Dunkoro]

It may be that someone has been wronged by magic some time ago, or decided it is not fair or even unnatural for some to hold so much power while others are left to their pitiful lives. He might have achieved great magical power only in order to destroy magic. He might have also been somehow forced into doing that, I don't know of much forces that could push someone into such a deed, but there definitely are some.

[Kazyan]

“Mhmm, mhmm, good to get to know each other. Konduren, don't worry; we're not doing the city impression totally-not-politics-except-it-is thing. No one has anything to prove right now.” He looked up, blinked, and figured out what had been bothering Kondruren—looking at the chairs, then the now-living chair…detective intuition told him what was going on. “Ah, right. I asked about getting some seating and that there would be seven of us, mentioned stone or metal chairs, maybe a bench, but hey! Guess where you get those? The fabricate spell these days! So they give me wooden chairs and when I asked for a large one—” He flicked his tail at the chair that could support maybe half of Shiver, “And then there’s an extra because, I swear, incompetence.” He tapped his own chair. “I figure that everyone’s scrambling to hoard resources at this point and this guy has all the furniture or somesuch.”

Rummage, rummage, rummage through the papers.

“The speculation is nice, but that’s my job. Already taken care of.” Detective Spots finally finds the paper he was looking for, and holds it up with one hand/paw. “Either we’ve got a deific-level force, possibly acting through a proxy—coerced, willing, who knows—or some archmage. And that archmage would have to be thinking way, way ahead in life, definitely not a human or other short-lived race. One would be investing so much of their life into developing the spellcasting powers necessary to do this with no personal gain to show for it afterwards. So that fraction of their life has to be worth whatever goal they’re pursuing here. This, of course, assumes one is being rational, which is not guaranteed in the case of a sorcerer but assumable for for a book-diver.” Spots set the paper down on top of the case. “More likely to be a sorcerer’s doing, then. More demographics. However. I’ve got in my notes that, when the spell was complete, one would have to dispose of the focus. All that magic has to go somewhere; it's elementary spellcraft. I assume that the caster had the foresight to engineer a safehouse for the focus after casting the spell-killing spell--consider a bunch of long-lasting mobility and transportation spells, that sort of thing.” A grin from the detective.

“Where do you store something like that, though? The best place would be where it is highly unlikely to be disturbed, but where it’s surrounded by the most terrible defenses that prevent anyone from getting to it. That means a place that is mostly devoid of creatures, but is dangerous for anyone to go to. Which brings me to the Positive or Negative energy planes. Of course, there are a bunch of ways to defend against the negative energy plane—you can be sure some vampire magi are searching it as we speak—but there are far fewer for the Positive Energy plane. But you don’t want some energon wandering into the focus as it floats around, so you stash it somewhere.”

Spots smoothed out the paper, looking pleased with himself.

“Here’s another way to store something valuable and make sure it’s not disturbed: give it to a very old dragon. It gets buried in the hoard and is never seen again. But a dragon knows about spells…except for a few kinds I found out about in a library. More research.” He scratched the desk. “A place on the positive energy plane, guarded by a dragon that doesn’t do spells.”

Detective Spots flipped over the paper, revealing a circled, curde drawing with a lot of blue and indigo on it.

“It’s called the Bastion of Souls. Sometimes an incarnum dragon camps out there. I’m not saying that our focus absolutely has to be there, but it’s the first place to look.” He flipped the mass of papers on the desk, sending them flying everywhere.

“Maybe.”

Notes fluttered through the air.

“Probably.”

One landed on his face, and he removed it with slight annoyance.

“I don't know.

It’s a hunch.”

[Snowfire]

The Eladrin smiled slightly at Shiver's reaction to her correct pronunciation. She couldn't boast a knowledge of the giant's language though, not really. Part of her nature dealt with that. Not exactly a human tongue behind those lips, for all that it might look like one.

"When I got sent here, those who requested my sword couldn't tell me much in the way of specifics. They knew the place, but that's pretty easy in this plane, but they also told me that there is at least one archmage tangled up in this mess. No names, and you've already figured it out, but I thought you'd like to know." Esulan says in way of reply to the detective.

"And it is something to look into at least, which is more than we had when we began."

[Lightning Fast]

<<If I may interject...>> A strange voice echoes in the minds of all who are in the room. A creak accompanies a tall, odd-looking figure as he she it stands up from its wooden chair. It looks odd to say the least. It wears a fancy-looking officer's uniform with some sort of magical enchantment on it, a pair of metal boots, and the top-half of what looks like a knight's helmet on its head. That's just about where the normalcies stop. For starters, this figure stands at roughly nine feet tall, and though not as large as Shiver, it is every bit as imposing, with four four-foot long tentacles, and two more which span the entire length of his body. Each tentacle has a long, metal attachment which extends them by several feet. <<Perhaps whoever caused this wishes to keep magic for his or her personal gain only? It's doubtful someone would try to create a spell of this magnitude without some way to get around its effects, to be sure.>>

[Kazyan]

Detective Spots nods at Esulan. “I’m not entirely sure that the spell was cast in Dekatura proper, but if not, it was nearby. That trail is dead, though. We can’t exactly go scanning around with a ring of detecting magic. I’m sure the aura is still somewhere due to the magnitude of the spell...but no leads. The caster thought ahead.”

He ‘listens’ to Gtzarith. “Two special cases, if that is true.” Spots doesn’t seem bothered or even surprised by telepathy. “One is that the focus is hidden behind myriad spell-based safeguards, like prismatic spheres in a demiplane with all sorts of traps. A doom fortress, basically. If you happen to find one shooting disintegration rays at you, be my guest and take a look, but it one of those could be anywhere in the planes. The second case is similar to how a lich protects their phylactery if they’re powerful enough--they wear it around their neck and engrave the word ‘PHYLACTERY’ on it in gold, because what could anyone possibly do about it? The caster may have the focus with them at all times, and rely on the fact that they have an insurmountable advantage against any thieves, now. But then, we don’t learn much about where they could be, save for ‘not in Dekatura’, otherwise I would have found it already. Not to brag, but really, if it was here, it would be in my paws after two weeks on the case.”

Spots shrugs, and fiddles with his Amulet of Wordtwisting—he had always found it handy for stringing together complex sentence structures like this. “I still suggest checking the Bastion, first, if for no other reason than it being our only half-decent lead.”

[Snowfire]

"It certainly sounds like something better than hanging around here doing nothing and simply hoping." Esulan notes, looking around at the rest of the group. "Although I'll admit, a great deal of Lich's often run into the problem of assuming they're powerful enough for that second method. I've disabused a few of that notion on occasion actually, so if that's what we're looking at you might say I've got a bit of related experience.

"Unless anyone has any other ideas, I would think that getting to the Bastion as soon as possible is probably in our best interest. If there're clues there, I'm sure one of us'll find them."

[Lightning Fast]

<<It seems like a decent idea to me,>> Gtzarith "says", <<I'm sorry, I didn't properly introduce myself!>>

The tall ulitharid gets up and takes a bow, presenting himself to the group. <<Pleased to meet you all. I am Gtzarith: paladin and scholar.>>

[MikelaC1]

SLISSHT

The bastion sounds like as good a place as any to start
She looks around for a moment, but clearly does not find what she is looking for, and then looks back to the group.
By the way, I find it always helps for everyone to know what everyone else can do. I know at our power levels, everyone loves to keep secrets, but Ive always found that makes for more trouble than its worth.
Of course none of us have any real reason to trust one another...so I'll be the one who goes first. Im a warrior, pure and simple. Unlike most giants, I don't use a great axe, I use two long swords, and I use them simultaneously. I do have a few meager bard talents, but they aren't anything special

[Snowfire]

"I have little care for secrets, just about everything about me is already known by those with any real interest in planar politics." Esulan chuckles. "But in case people don't know," she stretches out one hand, fingers twisting as if around an invisible hilt. Light fountains into being in her grasp, growing from a mass within the Eladrin's cupped palm into something approximating a longsword before fading to reveal the material that had appeared behind the light.

The haft and hilt form first, and they're clearly ornate. Gold and blue, the latter forming something very close to gemstone filigree in an ancient variant of Celestial. From that hilt extends a well-crafted but rather plain blade of white steel, and as the light fades from it those around Esulan pick out more sapphire script worked into the flat of the weapon. It's rather hard to read however, the telltale shimmer of immensely powerful magical enhancements upon the weapon are extensive.

"This is Kismet," Esulan said, then as if to the blade. "Say hello dear."

Greetings to you. A voice spoke into the minds of all present. It was strong that voice, as rich and full as Gtzarith's.

"I fight with her, both close and from afar. I will admit freely that I am more skilled at close range, but I can supply quite effective suppression when needed." She pauses, head tilting slightly as if she's counting off things on mental fingers. "As a Knight, I possess an innate skill in the Sublime Way. I am not a master, but I am adept. I also have access to my own small form of magic, one unaffected by the spell set upon us, that I have honed to enhance my prowess and lethality upon the battlefield. A few of the Illuminations to which I have access are capable of aiding allies who fight with me, but for the most part I have fought alone since taking up the mantle of Champion.

"I am also somewhat incredibly hard to kill. That's been useful a time or two." She chuckles again, then adds, "Aaand I'm also a quasi-deity, but I can't imagine that any of you didn't know that."

[Lightning Fast]

Knowledge (The Planes about Esulan): [roll0]

Gtzarith scratched his "chin" with one of his shorter tentacles, then raised it in a eureka position the same way a human might a finger. <<I thought I recognized you from somewhere, Esulan. I am a paladin, plain and simple: one who is trained in the ancient illithid art of body-taming, has extensive knowledge of the various creatures of this world and beyond, and martial arts. Body-taming is a martial art which combines the use of man-made weapons, or in my case, kicks and punches, with powerful tentacle attacks. With these special attachments,>> Gtzarith made it a point to show off the strange, exotic weaponry which extended off her facial appendages, <<I've an effective range of about fifteen feet in any direction. Thankfully, my paladin healing abilities haven't been hampered by the change, so I'll be able to cure any of your injuries if you are not capable of doing so yourself.>>

Gtzarith paused, their tentacles absentmindedly intertwining and wriggling as he . <<I nearly forgot: I've also got these.>> A pair of massive, angelic wings burst out from behind Gtzarith's mundane, slightly worn cape. They were very large in span, and she had to partially retract them so as to avoid knocking anyone in the side of the head. <<Paladinhood's been good to me. I used to travel to various planes now and then with my psionic powers, but I'm afraid it's not possible anymore. It'll be nice if I get those back, even if the art of body-taming discourages their use.>>

Gtzarith paused. Their "voice" became considerably more grim and solemn in tone. <<Lastly... if we do come across a foe with a brain, and I am able to grapple said foe... well, I would suggest turning away of you are squeamish. It's not something I particularly enjoy doing in good company, but it's a very convenient and easy way to end a fight.>>

To Kismet
<<I hope I am not interrupting your thoughts, but it is fortunate to hear someone else who speaks the tongue of the mind.>>

[bcool999]

Konduren attempts to recall any lore he gathered during his travels about Incarnum dragons.

Knowledge(Arcana): [roll0]

While thinking, he hears the others describe their abilities. He decides he might as well let his companions know what he can bring to the table. "As you might be able to tell from looking at me, I am a user of Incarnum." Indeed it can be plainly seen that an outline of a Grey Render shadows Konduren's form not to mention the pelt of a Worg that melds with his legs or the glamor of a Displacer beast that makes light shy away from Konduren enough to make it slightly difficult to tell where exactly he stands. "I draw on the spirits of the wild to fuel my soulmelds which enhance and protect me. However, I am also a monk of the Elemental Way. My Discipline is such that I have no need for weapons other than my hands and feet, and the power of my Ki allows me to preform abilities that some would call magical." Konduren glances at Shiver before continuing. "I have also sworn an oath forsaking almost all material possessions save my simple clothes and a sling that I fashioned from a spare strap of leather. This has given me a purity of spirit which grants me strength." To illustrate this last point, Konduren lifts his legs from where he stood and crosses them as though he were meditating, yet he does not fall but merely hangs there in the air.

[Snowfire]

"Due to the nature of Incarnum Dragons, you will likely need to be the most careful of all of us if we are forced into conflict with one," Esulan remarked after a few moments of thought. "Essentia drain will hurt you far more than it will hurt the rest of us if it takes." She restrains the urge to smile at the look Konduren shoots Slissht. Celestial Champion whose arms and garb were probably worth more than your average plane of existence to a collecter, people didn't bat an eyelid. A few overstated jewels? Oh no, they must be restraining their ability to reach enlightenment. Quite beside that point that purity of spirit must be one of the most boring things in existence to try to attain whilst you were still alive. Save that for the afterlife.

Gtzarith
:Polite young thing, aren't you,: Kismet's voice replies. :And no doubt it will be of some use, although with Esulan's record probably less than I'd like. I swear, it's the same with every Champion in their first millennia...: The weapon's tone is acerbic, but more alike to that of an exasperated mother than anything else.

:Yes, yes, I know. I'm a young, rash, impetuous child who you don't even know why you chose,: Esulan adds onto the end of Kismet's words.

:You say that as if it's a good thing,: the blade replies wryly.

:Isn't it?:

[Lightning Fast]

<<Yes, and let's not forget their meld-shaping abilities.>> Gtzarith added, <<I believe they can also consume energy from soulmelds by biting those who use them.>>

Kismet and Esulan
<<I'm sure both of you must have immense wisdom with such a long lifetime of experiences. I must say, I am jealous that I will not have the time to see the sights that you will. I have not even reached my hundredth year, though, so I would imagine I've got another two hundred ahead of me. Or perhaps more. Like I said, paladinhood has been good to me.>>

[Dunkoro]

My skills? They're far too complex to describe in few simple words, but be sure I'm a quite capable combatant, while also retaining the ability to use some mystical abilities, that would normally be called "magic", like conjuring a transparent ball of AEther to fly us with, constraining opponents or dealing a great deal of damage to them. I can also transform into various entities, depending on a situation.

[Snowfire]

"Only if they're old enough of course," Esulan tacks the statement onto the end of Gtzarith's addition. "Then again, one expected to be able to hold an artifact of such power from those who would be sent after it probably will be that old. At least."

Gtzarith
There's a pause, a very quiet one, starting after Gtzarith mentions immense wisdom. It's not aggressive or oppressive though, more incredulous. It holds for all of five seconds after the Paladin stops speaking, then is broken by giggles from Esulan.

:I think you broke her,: she stage whispers, and Gtzarith catches then edge of what feels like a mental tap on shoulder directed at Kismet. :Quite honestly, I'm not really all that wise. I know things, a lot of things, but most of my knowledge is stories and legend. And most of it isn't even mine.: She pauses. :Kismet, you alright?:

:Quite. All things...considering that is,: the sword's voice is somewhat choked, as if holding back hysterical laughter. :Esulan does however, for once, speak truly of herself. Most of the knowledge she has access to is a result of our bonding, and from that access to my own memories. I can't remember all of it all the time, even an intelligence of my nature has limits, but I've seen a lot.:

The weapon's tone turns almost melancholy.

:Much of my past is unknown to even the most avid or elderly scholar. And whilst my Chosen learn much of it, I often feel that the world one day should too, that the sages among our order should share the records they have kept for so long,: she seems to shrug telepathically. :But tales for other times. If you are as much as you seem, Gtzarith, I doubt that your journey will end at your death. The Upper Planes have much need and use for those of your power. Paladinhood, I suspect, will lead to even greater things in time.:

[bcool999]

"True it would probably go after me first in which case I shall be a distraction while the rest of you focus on your attacks. Hopefully, this dragon is unaware of the object it guards or has been lied to about it's purpose. If that is so we may be able to reason with it and avoid violence." Konduren turns to Spots. "Do you know how we are to get to this Bastion? If it is indeed on the positive energy plane I know of an island chain that has an unusually strong connection to that plane. The fruits that grew there were quite delicious as I recall."

[Kazyan]

"Ahem, yes, about getting to the Bastion, I, er, don’t, actually know how to get there. It's the Positive Energy Plane, after all." Detective Spots gets up and starts collecting his notes again, which had been blown about even more by a brief gust of wind from Gtzarith's suprise wings. "I was hoping you six could figure something out. If you insist, you can sit around and twiddle your claws while I do even more research." He scrawls down some of the information you revealed about incarnum dragons, on one of the less-covered peices of paper. "Konduren has an idea, that island chain. Anyone else know anything that might be a clue? Don't worry about saying anything stupid; just about everything that might be relevant can be a clue. I should know."

[Snowfire]

"Fish!" Esulan says, as if it's obvious. She then deliberately waits a few seconds before continuing. "It's the reason this city can still feed itself. You have incredibly large and healthy fish for this plane, and it's thought that if you follow the current they source from you'd find the positive energy plane on the other side," she shrugs. "Planar breach maybe. They happen."

[MikelaC1]

SHIVER

Fish? Bah. Give me a good steak any time. And a tall cold ale. That's a real meal
Coming from a frozen land, its obvious why Shiver doesn't care for fish, the only water shes seen is frozen over.

[Lightning Fast]

<<I don't care much for fish. Or steak. Or ale, for that matter. You know, you'd think levels of positive energy that high would immolate all the fish.>> Gtzarith commented.

[Snowfire]

"Only if they went into it." Esulan says. If it's just leakage, and most don't go through - or can't - then it would explain it."

She looks over at Shiver and smiles slightly.

"You know, once this is all over, I'm taking you to a place on Arborea. And there you will try fish. And you will eat your words - after consuming the fish."

[Moonlitdreams]

Oh, was he too obvious? Oh well. He would have lived, but now it is gone anyway. Apollo shrugs in response to the apology.

"I have also trained among the monks of the Elemental Way." He nods to Konduren, though it is true that their training was of very different natures. He claps his hands and smiles around the group. "My skills are complex, but to put it simply, I fight with my fists and the mobility provided me by my body, aided, of course, by the many ancient entities whom I am able to contact for power."

He crosses his arms and starts to glow, unsuppressing his signs. His jaw grows in size, bulging as two long, sharply pointed tusks grow upward from it even as he still smiles. One side of his mouth becomes wider than the other, remaining slightly open. His movements stiffen, bags appearing under his eyes, which have glassed over into circular mirrors. He is surrounded by thin wisps of light blue fog, and the glyph on his brow glows all the brighter.

Then he shrugs. "Or I can hang back and harry the opponents. My powers are fairly flexible."

He tilts his head, listening to the conversation. "Why can't we like fish and steak? In any case though, I agree: it's worth checking into."

[Kazyan]

Spots shields his eyes. "Apollo, put that...stuff...away. Please." He retreats back to his chair. "Fish is good, but you start to get tired of it from living here, and...wait a minute. We're here on business," he reminds himself, then chuckles and flicks his tail around, still with his paws near his eyes. "You'll all need some form of protection from the plane--" Spots isn't familiar with how Elusan's planar bubble exactly works, "--and beyond that, a way to actually see where you're going. The Positive Energy Plane is supposed to be too bright to make out anything, but it's empty. If you can see through the light, you should be able to see the Bastion from hundreds of miles away after you find that breach--if it is a breach."

[MikelaC1]

SHIVER

Can you provide this protection? Or is that now our first objective?

[Snowfire]

"If those of you bothered by Arborea's presence can stand it for our time in the plane, I can proved protection to you all," Esulan states, squeezing her amulet again. "As to the light, I am unsure, but the bubble around myself might counteract its effects."

[Lightning Fast]

<<I'll manage,>> Gtzarith projected, <<I can detect creatures with my mind, but I can't function completely without sight...>>

[bcool999]

"I should be able to rely on my other senses to understand my surroundings, but I have no way to protect myself from the plane's affects." Hearing that Elusan could protect them from the plane's affects with her aura Konduren voices his concerns. "How far could such protection extend Elusan? I would prefer to not be drawn together as a single target with our vision possibly lessened."

Konduren has blindsense and temorsence 60ft. and blindsight 30ft. which is activated as a free action by closing his eyes.

[Kazyan]

"You all sound like you have this covered, which is what I hoped. If you couldn't figure it out, we would be in even more trouble, running around trying to find Rings of Positive Protection." Detective Spots clears his throat. "Now. Is everyone clear on what to do? Follow the fish or check the island chain. I hope they end up in the same place; it's not very likely that you'll find two Positive Energy Plane breaches around here. One is quite enough. I don't like overcomplication when chasing a lead." Spots packs up his metal case, and fiddles with his amulet again. "I'd ask you to launch a sending when you find something of interest over there, but...you know."

[MikelaC1]

SHIVER

How long and how far is it to the island chain? Seeing as wizards can no longer do that finger waggling transport trick.

[Dunkoro]

I could fly us there at a speed of 2.5 miles per hour, which is quite fast, but not really fast enough. In a minute I could get us almost 330 miles by jumping through AEther and somehow I think that's the optimal way of transport in that case.

[Snowfire]

"Hopping through the Aether sounds like our best option then, Valiaa. Assuming that you do not need to know where you are going at least." Esulan nods with a faint smile. Straight to the point, and with quite an impressive mix of powers if her words were to be believed. She might have to put in a few words in with certain friends in Elysium once this was all done. "I myself should be reasonably capable of fighting without my sight, however the planar bubble itself should act as a screen against such blindness if my memory serves me correctly." Turning to Konduren, she tapped her amulet again, extending the aura.

"That far, Konduren. Enough, I think, for us all." Another tap and the aura withdrew as she looked back to Valiaa. "And if you do need to know where you're going, I'm sure that I can help with that. I am...very fast."

Planar bubble is a 10' radius emanation.

[Lightning Fast]

Gtzarith glanced over at Shiver, sharing a look of concern. <<Shiver and I may be too large to comfortably fit in that with the rest of you,>> he commented, <<Is there a way to increase its size?>>

<<Actually, I think I shall purchase some magical rings to aid Shiver and I in our travels. From what I gather, we are melee fighters anyways, and will benefit greatly from greater range of mobility should we find ourselves facing conflict.>>

The friendly, tentacled monstrosity stepped out for a bit in search of magical rings, and returned shortly thereafter. He gave one to shiver, and with some reluctance, removed one of his own to replace it. Instantly, he felt the change, accompanied by a slight craving for cranial meat, but he was able to dismiss it for now. He would survive on normal foods, at least for a week or two, and he could always request the brains from livestock that would not likely be eaten anyways.

[MikelaC1]

SHIVER

Thank you, this will be an aid to me. I will repay you for it
At first glance, it might appear that Shiver doesn't have a spot to put the ring, seeing as all of her fingers are so adorned. But obviously, only one of them is magical, and she slips the ring on one finger on her left hand, not concerned with the fact she has now has two on that finger. It seems like Shiver is of the opinion that a woman can never have enough jewelry.

[Snowfire]

"Looks like we're ready to move." Esulan states. "Valiaa, if you would?"

[Moonlitdreams]

"I could use one as well, actually," Apollo interjects. "The extra mobility will be of definite use to me in battle, if nothing else."

He pauses in mid-step, shakes his head at himself, and presses his hands together in concentration once Spots has left.

OOC: Expelling Otiax, binding Ipos.

[bcool999]

"Farewell Spots, we shall return as soon as we are able. Good luck with your other cases." With his farewells done Konduren stops floating and waits for the teleport to happen.

[Kazyan]

"Good luck, everyone." Detective Spots nods. "Try not to die." He grins his feline grin and puts one paw on the doorknob to leave.

[Dunkoro]

Let us all have good luck with our endavours.

Afterwards, she uses a series of AEther Jumps, trying to land each one on a fairly safe terrain, even prolonging the way in order to get there safely and without any incidents.

[roll0]

{{OOC: Accepting counsel from other party members on that one (Help Another, unless it's not needed)}}

[Kazyan]

The AEther jumps run into a slight complication: the way isn't entirely land. Or even mostly land. Or even, say, more than 2% land. Dekatura has the unique complication of being in the middle of nowhere, so while there is indeed the occasional lush island or island chain on the way to the site of supposed positive energy breach, the great majority of the pathway involves porting over semi-indistinguishable tracts of open ocean.

It's a bit of a problem for Shiver, who is unable to fly, but she is more than strong enough to tread water for a while.

At some point, it becomes apparent that it's rather difficult to keep your direction steady. It's open ocean as far as the eye can see, with the only distractions being the wildlife of the occasional islands. However, the difficulty is no match for Valiaa's talents of traversing the wilds. It's not even close; even with detours, she always keeps the group on track.

I was going to make Valiaa make a Survival check for appropriate direction, but she has +53 to it. Epic, yanno.
At some point during the travel, you come across a lush island like any other. The trees are large and everything looks fine, but there is an aura of...despair, in the area. Something is wrong. Gtzarith can detect the presence of minds in the radius of their telepathy--a small selection of fey and animals. What must be a dryad inside of a tree, a collection of minds attached to flowers (probably hiding petals), and some miscellaneous flora that are strangely unmoving. Everyone is still, as if lethargic, and Gtzarith can detect the same dread.

The mindsight message is clear: depression roams free here.

Except for two other minds they can detect, currently hiding within the trees. They're two other fey, but mindsight suggests they're different. For one, their intelligence is vast compared to the other beings nearby. And they don't have that same miasma that taints the minds of other nearby creatures--they're downright ecstatic.

They abruptly--and alarmingly quickly--bolt out, approximately 100 feet away from the group that currently stands on the shore. From your collective experience, you can immediately tell they're incorporeal, from the way light catches--or fails to catch--on their vaguely elven bodies. Each has fire red, flawless skin covered in a golden tunic, wearing leggings with the lower halves torn away. Their hands are adorned with glittering gloves, which look corporeal. Their long hair is not quire fire-red, but closer to the color of blood, and their eyes are like glittering rubies. Barefoot and with long, spindly fingernails, they are a foreboding presence.

"Look. More food," one of them comments. This one carries what looks like a rusty iron orb in one hand, with scorings around it.

"Good. This island was almost dry." It grins a feral grin. This one carries a longspear.

They used their surprise rounds moving to you guys. Initiative!

Enemy 1: [roll0]
Enemy 2: [roll1]
Valiaa: [roll2]
Shiver: [roll3]
Apollo: [roll4]
Elusan: [roll5]
Gtzarith: [roll6]
Konduren: [roll7]

Place yourselves. (https://docs.google.com/a/kettering.edu/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Agy95KDwirRedGlmZTAzNjF2YUw2bWhTNks4V1Z0R mc&usp=sharing#gid=0) You should be somewhere around row 27. 1 has the orb, 2 has the longspear.

[Lightning Fast]

Gtzarith examined their foe carefully, attempting to recall what they had learned from those minds he'd consumed in years past. This took all of a few milliseconds, after which he immediately notified his team via telepathy. <<Joystealers. Fey. Stricken with incorpereality by ethergaunts, and usually found in urban centers. They feed off hope from their victims, leaving them nearly soulless, with a few shreds of their mind to cling on to. Most would easily fall to warriors as strong as us, but these look... different... more vibrant in colour...>>

The ulitharid then sent yet another telepathic message to the surrounding forest creatures with great speed: <<Fear not, friends: this nightmare of yours shall come to an end, for we shall destroy those responsible.>>

All allies within 90 feet of Gtzarith get:
+4 sacred bonus to AC

[Snowfire]

:Fey?: Esulan's own mental voice is cold. :Thank you, Gtzarith:

The rush of soon-to-be-battle slides over her mind, and she smiles wickedly at the fae before them. Joystealers. Hopestealers. No place for them here. Kismet flows into her hand, blazing with an inner light utterly opposed to all born of Faerie. Those of an incorporeal nature would gain no advantage against them. She sets herself, holding the longblade easily to guard against their foes, and then reaches up with her right hand. Light sparks and twists around it, patterns of ancient sign and sigil spinning around her hand to form a shining gauntlet of the same white steel as Kismet's blade. Bringing the arm down to point at the Joystealers, a low hum bursts from the sapphire encrusted glove, three shards of crystal light growing into being around it.

AC 85
Touch 43 Flat-Footed 75
Incorporeal attacks take a -10 penalty
Fort +32 Ref +35 Will +28
25% Fortification

Maneuvers Readied: [roll0] [roll1] [roll2]

1. Crusader's Strike
2. Elder Mountain Hammer
3. White Raven Hammer
4. Clarion Call
5. Covering Strike
6. Defensive Rebuke

+10 of Kismet's floating boni are going into Bane (Fey), Dread (Fey), Ghost Touch and Incorporeal Binding on the blade version.

The same boni on Kismet's ranged copy are going into Bane (Fey), Dread (Fey) and Force.

[bcool999]

"Greetings brothers" Konduren says in a tone that one would use in talking about a diseased branch of the family tree "Perhaps you would leave this island and never come back, and I would not be forced to destroy you yes?" While saying this Konduren looks relaxed, but any with a talent for gauging others can see the tightness in his muscles as he prepares to strike as swiftly as a jungle cat.

AC 58 (52 vs. incorporeal) (62 and 56 respectively within 90ft of Gtzarith)
Fort +31 Ref +26 Will +21
Konduren is currently Flying 15ft. above G27

[Moonlitdreams]

Apollo's golden eyes follow the other fey as they dart out quickly, too quickly. His jaw juts out, Chupoclop's sign showing as he readies himself for attack.

"Brothers," he says with a simple nod. "How are you this fine day? Stealing joy? Well that's lovely; perhaps we can return the favor to you." His eyes gleam at the irony of it all. "Unless you wished to surrender first, or flee? I do so hope that you will."


The four closest allies to Apollo are now immune to fatigue, exhaustion, ability damage and drain, energy drain, death spells, magical death effects, and negative energy effects (such as from inflict spells or chill touch). They are also immune to special attacks and abilities of undead that cause fear, disease, paralysis, or poison. All weapons you wield (as well as natural attacks) are considered to have the ghost touch weapon quality. You gain a +4 sacred bonus to AC against the attacks of undead. This lasts for 24 rounds.

Also, as long as you can see me you are immune to stunning (Banner of the Storm's Eye).


AC 56[60 within 90 ft of Gtzarith] (51 vs. incorporeal, [55 within 90 ft of Gtzarith])
Miss chances: 20% + 20% +20% (last not an illusion, so True Seeing doesn't see through it)
Fort +45 Ref +50 Will +49
Apollo is at E27, 15 feet above the water.

Maneuvers Readied:
Mind over Body
Sudden Leap
Leaping Flame
Moment of Alacrity
Diamond Defense
Emerald Razor
Greater Insightful Strike
Counter Charge
Feigned Opening
Time Stands Still
Girallon Windmill Flesh Rip
Dancing Mongoose

Stance: Pearl of Black Doubt
Activating: 1) His Permanent Emanation: Hand of the Sun - Hand of Torm, from Magic of Faerun*
They have to make a Fort Save (DC 33) or be stunned for 1 round if they are not of Apollo's religion and try to pass within 10 feet of him.
2) 60 ft aura, add +22 to all combat maneuvers of myself and my allies

[Dunkoro]

{{OOC: Seems I've forgotten to mention I'd keep an AEther Bubble up along with the AEther Jumping, in case there was nothing to jump onto, so that we'd end up hovering there anyway}}

I've dealt with dosens of your kind before and trust me, you don't want to share their fate. Leave now and you shall be spared.


AC: 50
Touch AC: 41

Valiaa is in B20.

She becomes invisible as a free action. (AEtherforge's capstone)

Current Stances:
Perennial Bloom (R) (Martial Lore instead of Attack Rolls) and Manifest Diversity (R) ([roll0]
Modes Chosen for Manifest Diversity: Slam, Slam, Slam

Maneuvers Readied:
Final Harvest
Primal Surge
Novel Advance
Cornucopia
Winds of Change

AEther Forgings in effect:
Multiplied Æther Flux: 50% miss chance, counteracted only by True Seeing, affecting all party members.
Æther Revelation: 120 ft. of Supersense (not negated by anything AFAIK)
Ætherial Advantage (+6) luck on all d20 rolls for allies, (-6) luck for enemies
(Was it included in Initiative Rolls?)

[MikelaC1]

The four closest allies to Apollo...All weapons you wield (as well as natural attacks) are considered to have the ghost touch weapon quality. You gain a +4 sacred bonus to AC against the attacks of undead. This lasts for 24 rounds.

Is Shiver one of those 4...and does this continue to apply no matter where she is, or does she have to stay within a certain range of Apollo?

[Snowfire]

Esulan looks to her fellows, speaking words of possible peace, and she hesitates. She doubts that their words will be heeded though, and these creatures have likely done horrible things to those of this isle. She shifted her stance, armoured right hand coming up as she moves her sword behind her. The three shards of light spin around her hand, weaving between her fingers, and her grin turns predatory.

The sapphires seemingly embroidered into the steel of her gauntlet flare with power, blue and gold light bursting forth from a few of them in an explosive rush of power. The gold extends to her weapons, magnifying the enchantment set upon them into a fiery golden splendor.

The blue swept up around her, shining peerless and without fear out across the waves, the beach before them and the isle beyond.

In this moment,
Unbreakable.

Her fingers flick out, stretching as light flickers across the gemwork, and she settles further into the stance. Pure and lethal light fountains into being around her hand, building around her palm into an unforgiving shell of harsh radiance.

To my enemies,
Obliteration.

A hurricane of lethal shards erupt from around her hand, flowering into being as they accelerate beyond the ability of the eye to track towards impact upon the fey before her. Two to each, stitching deadly lines in the air. These creatures did not know her. But they would learn. Oh yes.

Free action to fire off a Cartridge on Empowered Costume, triggering Cartridge Boost on Light's Blade and Unbreakable. For the next 14 rounds, Esulan gains the effects of Starmantle and the boni upon Kismet double to +32.

Swift action: Evoke Heavenly Grace. +8 Dex to Esulan and all allies within 15'.

Sword Kismet: +22 Feybane, Feydread, Incorporeal Binding
Ranged Kismet: +22 Feybane, Feydread, Force

Full attack, splitting down the middle between each Joystealer. Evoking Shattering Light on the first attack of each chain.

Joystealer 1:
[roll0] Damage: [roll1] + [roll2] + [roll3] vs evil and -2 AC until the end of Esulan's next round.
[roll4] Damage: [roll5] + [roll6] + [roll7] vs evil
[roll8] Damage: [roll9] + [roll10] + [roll11] vs evil
[roll12] Damage: [roll13] + [roll14] + [roll15] vs evil

AoE damage from Twinned Device: [roll16]

Joystealer 2:
[roll17] Damage: [roll18] + [roll19] + [roll20] vs evil and -2 AC until the end of Esulan's next round.
[roll21] Damage: [roll22] + [roll23] + [roll24] vs evil
[roll25] Damage: [roll26] + [roll27] + [roll28] vs evil
[roll29] Damage: [roll30] + [roll31] + [roll32] vs evil

AoE damage from Twinned Device: [roll33]

All damage ignores DR and doesn't care if you're incorporeal. DC 37 reflex for half vs the AoE damage.

[MikelaC1]

SLISSHT (SHIVER)

At a range of 100 feet, Slissht knows she cannot cover the distance to her enemies in one round, even if she charges. She does move forward a full normal move, drawing her weapons as she does so, readying herself for an attack.

Move action: Advance 40 feet

[Moonlitdreams]

Well, he was going to wait for a response, but these brothers would almost surely deny any chance to surrender anyway. Apollo sighs, tensing in readiness for battle, and he waits.

Delaying action until after Joystealer 1

OOC Response:
Is Shiver one of those 4...and does this continue to apply no matter where she is, or does she have to stay within a certain range of Apollo?
It applies no matter how far away you go, and the four closest appear to be Konduran, Shiver, Esulan and Gtzarith.

[Kazyan]

To the most trained, keen eye, the Joystealers would at last manage an inhumanly fast twitch before they were both cut through with deadly fragments of light, more potent than the coldest of black iron. Their wicked faces gasp for breath before they are bathed in radiance, the same bath drowning their corrupted life force, held under a sea of purity until their breaths stop.

Gtzarith and can notice their minds, from deep within the great glow evoked by Kismet and Elusan, wink out of existence.

The light finally fades as Shiver moves into position. A rattle againt the ground announces the dropoff of the longspear, landing horizontally. Nothing is left in the site of Elusan's light show, save for four gloves gently fluttering in the ocean breeze, rapidly wafting down to the sandy floor. The orb rests somewhere in the sand.

The miasma of the island begins to lift.

[Lightning Fast]

<<Well...>> Gtzarith projected, <<That was certainly potent, if nothing else.>>

The paladin then turned his attention to the minds who seemed as though a great burden had been lifted from their shoulders. <<I am the tentacled one. Please, do not be alarmed, for I can sense your presence. Yes, even you. We are friendly, I assure you, even if my appearance may indicate otherwise. The one who defeated the joystealers is called Esulan.>> Slowly, Gtzarith flies towards the forest, surveying the landscape below. <<If it's not too much trouble, my colleagues have a few things they'd like to ask some of you...>>

[Kazyan]

The island is relatively large, but the terrain is uniform: sparse forest.

While some of the inhabitants are now stirring and their ability to feel happiness is returning, the fey in the forest are still overwhelmingly mentally exhausted. The animals generally disperse as Gtzarith flies overhead, but the dryad stays within her tree. All of the petals either remain motionless or shift a little bit in an attempt to blend in even better with the bushes and general flora--all save for one, who musters the energy to emerge from the foliage, now clearly visible. Her colors have faded to steel gray; she may have been turqoise once. There are deep bags under her eyes and she appears deathly thin.

The petal flies towards the tops of the trees, moving slowly towards Gtzarith, stopping just outside the ulitharid's personal space. Without actually saying anyting, she hovers at chest level and looks up at his tentacled face, apparently waiting for something.

[Dunkoro]

To Esulan:
That was a truly remarkable show of power. I wonder whether it was to finish our foes quickly or to amaze us all by your combat capability. I think that you achieved both at once.

Valiaa then creates an AEther Bubble, taking with her whoever needs to and follows Gtzarith.

[MikelaC1]

SHIVER

The frost giantess managed one step towards their foes...before they were suddenly vapourized by the attacks of Esulan. She half turns back to look at her new adventuring partner.

Well, that was rather impressive. But next time, maybe leave a few for the rest of us, hmmm? I wouldnt want my blades to get rusty

[Lightning Fast]

Gtzarith looked down at the petal with pity. It was clear that she has been through a lot, her body dangerously thin and her eyes sagging from sadness or lack of sleep. Such a sight almost made him feel guilt for not having arrived sooner. He held out his palms as if offering her a place to rest. <<Hello, little one. You look hungry.>>

He directs his thoughts to the rest of his team: <<Do we have any food we can give them?>>

[Snowfire]

"Any who would do this," Esulan gestures at the island, "array themselves against the ideals that I embody. If my Light alone can bring them down from afar then so much the better," she shrugs. "I meant no offence to yourselves in the use of my power, but I will not give anything less then my all against such creatures as those things were."

Following Gtzarith into the sparse forest of the island, Esulan finds little but proof in the validity of her actions. On her way past the remnants of the Joybringers - or at least, the gear marking where they fell - she picks up the items that fell from them with careful hands, stowing them within one of the two small bags at her waist. Upon Gtzarith's request however, Esulan ***** her head at the Petal and speaks.

"Is there anything in particular you would like to eat, little one?" She asks, switching easily to the language of Faerie.

[Kazyan]

The petal glances towards Elusan, then back up at Gtzarith. Seizing a chance to rest, she floats over to stand on one of the ulitharid's outstretched palms, and lets herself lay down entirely, supported by the other. Normally, petals are not quite handheld for human-sized creatures, but Gtzarith isn't human-sized. Facing up, she maintains eye contact.

"What is she offering?" The petal asks in the usual tiny voice, not bothering to gesture towards Elusan.

At this point, some of the others are either slowly trying to sneak away or climbing out from the bushes towards their saviors. They're divided between curiosity and apprehension. The dryad peeks out to see what's going on, but otherwise does not stray from the tree.

[Lightning Fast]

<<I don't know, she's from Arborea, so something vegetarian?>> Gtzarith made the mental equivalent of a chuckle, <<Esulan? What's on the menu?>>

[MikelaC1]

SLISSHT

Shiver does her best to look non-threatening to the fey, but at 15 feet tall, and carrying two giant sized blades...its a losing effort

[Moonlitdreams]

Apollo blinks, then whistles low. "Well, I would've waited for their reply first, but that's me. Nice shots, though!" He flutters over to examine where the Joystealers had floated.

He at least, as fey, is hopefully not too threatening to the other fey on the island.

[bcool999]

Konduren blinks away the flash of light that marked the annihilation of the joystealers. "Well... I suppose that was as quick and painless a death as we could give them..." he says clearly impressed by Esulan's... 'enthusiasm'. Upon noticing the residents of this isle he moves amongst them offering small words of comfort and encouragement to lift their spirits. For good measure he taps into his well of inner power and releases some of it in a healing burst to try and restore what he can. The rest will heal with food and rest.

Healing burst with effects similar to a lesser restoration (cures fatigue, lessens exhaustion to fatigue, and dispels a magical effect reducing an ability score or restores [roll0] temporary ability damage to one score to all allies (in this case everyone) in a 30ft. burst. Also heals [roll1] hp)

[Kazyan]

None of the petals act the least bit afraid of Shiver, oddly enough. Apollo and Konduren are getting some attention--the former for being a fellow fey, and the latter for the healing. It appears to have some effect; it reaches all of the closeby fey, which causes them to collectively start muttering to each other and move around a bit more. It's a marginal improvement, but an improvement nonetheless, and they're listening to his encouragements. The dryad has, at this point, stepped out from her tree to approach the group and observe what's going on.

There's some Sylvan talk among the petals regarding if they should thank the saviors in song, but the consensus is that no one's in the mood to sing. Apparently, the sleep songs haven't really been working recently.

[MikelaC1]

SHIVER

Seeing as the Petals do not seem to be afraid of her, Shiver moves among them as well. Despite her size, she seems to move with a dancers grace, totally unexpected from a giant, as she sees what she can do to raise the spirits of the fey.

[Snowfire]

Esulan reaches into one of the satchels at her waist - not the one that has the Joystealer gear in it - and pulls out an elegantly fluted jug, coloured in shades of green and blue. She has her aura out, granting some peace to the fey around her with the reinforcement of their nature - Eladrin themselves being somewhat related to fey. She snaps her fingers, calling a surface of sleek white into being before her and placing the jug upon it, and then delves into her satchel again, this time pulling out about a score of what look like glasses - although the tint of colour to them is quite distinct in labeling them as not quite of the current plane of existence.

She sets the glasses on the 'table', and smiles gently at the Petal.

"This is Goodberry Wine, little one, from the forests of Arborea itself. It will sooth your spirit, and return vigor to your soul." She says, pouring a little of the rich red liquid into one of the glasses - appropriately sized for a Petal - and then delicately pushing it across the surface of the table towards her with a single finger. "If you wish something more nourishing to the body, then I am certain that I can find something more for you."

[MikelaC1]

SLISSHT

fish and wine. I need to show this girl some good solid meat and ale.

[Kazyan]

The active petal slowly gets up out of Gtzarith's hands and quickly descends towards Elusan. She lands in the sand with what would usually be a slightly rough landing, but the ground isn't cold iron, and she is unaffected despite current weakness. The petal rises back up to the 'table', stands upon it, and takes the fine glass. "Thank you. What brings you all here, of all places?" She responds in Sylvan, before smiling faintly and taking a drink of the wine.

For Shiver, it's a bit difficult to hear what the others are saying from way down there and with such tiny voices, but it sounds sort of like they're asking to see Shiver dance.

The dryad is paying more attention to the others in the party.

[Moonlitdreams]

After watching the others with the petal for awhile, Apollo drifts over toward the dryad and its tree.

He dips at the waist and produces a dark purple flower, seemingly from out of nowhere. He holds it out in offering. "Greetings, sister. Would you come out? It is safe now, I assure you."

[MikelaC1]

SHIVER

Shiver did have a bit of trouble hearing the petals, being more used to the sound of giant's voices, even humans were quiet by her standards, and the petals, even moreso. But, she sort of catches the word "dance", and with the threat out of the way for now, dancing seems like an okay idea. Besides, with Shiver, she has a special kind of dance thats an offense in and of itself.
She carefully takes hold of her blades and begins to weave them in an elaborate display. As the swords begin to move, so does her body, swaying with a grace you would not believe possible from a giant of her size. She gets into the dance more and more, moving from the spot with her blades now swirling in a dazzling display as they catch the light. Her movements seem effortless, her body seems to float despite its size, and she covers the field, her blonde hair streaming behind her. The swords seem to move with a life of their own, and you get the impression that if you were battling with her, you wouldnt be able to keep track of them. With a final flourish, Shiver comes to a stop, at the exact point that she started from, barely having broken a sweat to do her display.

[roll0] Peform:Dance

[Snowfire]

"We are searching for a way into one of the planes," Esulan replies comfortingly, in perfect Sylvan. "It is said that the fish in these seas grow to an unusual size, and the life of these islands themselves are also far more lively than would be expected. It is believed that the reason for that is a leakage or rift from the positive energy plane into this world." She crouches down, bringing herself to the eye level with the Petal. "Could you help us, little one?" She asks softly.

[Kazyan]

The dryad daintily takes the flower and holds it close to her chest. It takes a few seconds for her to say anything. "I thought we would be under those two until the end of our lives," she replies, in the expected Sylvan. "From where do you come, that you've made it here to rescue us?"

Shiver's performance is the sort of thing Solars are impressed by. It's a very difficult audience that's still recovering from the Joystealers, but the dance is so masterful that the petals are generally smiling, in awe, or faintly clapping. Even the most far-gone member of the crowd, who previously seemed only barely aware that a world existed outside of her misery, is watching half-interestedly. At the conclusion, they have subued talks among themselves about Shiver's art. One of them even starts moving around, trying to mimic the paritculars of the dance, without any weapons. (Currently lacking her fey confidence, she's terrible.)

The petal conversing with Elusan thinks for a moment, still sipping at the wine, before responding. "It's hard to remember anything from before them, but I do know about the islands you're looking for." She points out to the horizon. "It's not much farther than the horizon line. Just be careful. There are...iron rocs there, as in the bird. At least, that's what I think they are. They're territorial. And, please, no more 'little one'. I'm tall for my race."

[Dunkoro]

Thank you for your guidance and warning. Is there anything more we could do for you? If not, we'd better be on our way.

[Snowfire]

"It was an endearment only, with no offence meant," Esulan replies to the Petal. "But thank you for your wisdom and warning, we shall heed both." She carefully lowers the re-purposed barrier onto the ground, and then allows it to dissipate, leaving the glasses and wine.

"Keep these, as gift and memory," she says, inclining her head to the Petal. Then, reaching through Kismet, she calls to those not beside her.

:The islands are ahead. Make what you must, but be quick. It is in the interest of all that we are swift.:"

[bcool999]

Konduren had taken the brief rest from teleporting as a chance to meditate. He was worried that without magic the Petals would again fall under such depredations because their song was one of their greatest weapons. When he overhears the Petal talk about the Iron Rocs he tries to recall if he had ever encountered or heard of such creatures in his travels.

Knowledge(Nature): [roll0]
Knowledge(Arcana): [roll1]

[MikelaC1]

SHIVER

If she had the time, Shiver would stay and teach the petals her art, but there are more pressing things demanding her attention right now.

But as soon as I have the time, I promise to come back and show you some more, even give you a few lessons.

[Dunkoro]

Muk creates an AEther Bubble around everything, then uses a few Multiplied AEther Jumps to jump to their destination.

[Kazyan]

The inhabitands of the island wave goodbye to the group as they head off towards the horizon line.

There's an immense tract of open ocean between this island and the final destination, but after about half an hour, you see the tops of trees peaking in the distance. As you keep jumping closer, the tree keep growing, and it soon becomes apparent that these tree are absolutely huge. Easily hundreds of feet tall, they are sparsely distributed, but they're large enough that it's difficult to get line of sight to anything more than a few hundred feet into the semi-forest.

Once you arrive, nothing immediately accosts you. There's a fresh stream running into the ocean from deeper into the forest. Wildlife is abundant, small shrubs are everywhere, and in general, there's life. If this isn't the right place, then nothing is. But how to find the actual planar rift?

In the distance, deep within the semi-forest, you hear a booming, drawn-out squawk, with a sort of mechanical color to it--metal on metal. This is followed by a few faint whooshing noises.

Some things are rising above the treetops. It's hard to tell what they are from this distance, but the light of the sun reflects on their surfaces.

[bcool999]

Upon hearing and seeing the things heading toward them Konduren heads to the cover offered by the trees. Over his shoulder he says, "We may be able to avoid confrontation if we use the cover of the trees."

Hide: [roll0]

[Snowfire]

"Sounds like a plan." Esulan agrees, skimming into the shade of the trees.

Hide: [roll0]

[Dunkoro]

Valiaa becomes invisible and then comes down with the others.

[roll0]
In case they can see invisible creatures. (Already applying +20 for being invisible)

[MikelaC1]

SLISSHT

Its a pity there is no snow here, I'd show you all some real hiding in cover skills.

Shiver also seeks cover under the shade of the trees, its unusual to see a giant as nimble as her...but then, shes an unusual giant.

[roll0] hide

[Lightning Fast]

Gtzarith sighs. He's hardly the stealthy kind, but attempts to conceal himself anyways.

Hide: [roll0]

[Moonlitdreams]

"Oh, very well..." Apollo rolls his eyes and crouches down behind the trees. He becomes ethereal and waits, watching to see if the creatures will find them.

Hide: [roll0]
Using Chupoclops' Ethereal Watcher to move onto the Ethereal plane and then staying completely still.

[Kazyan]

The beings on the horizon flock in your direction, though this is likely incidental; there is no way they could have detected your arrival.

Those of you who decide to look up through the trees don't get to see what, exactly, the creatures are until they're right above you. Well before that, though, you can feel wind and hear titanic wingbeats--four pairs, apparently. One creature passes above the group, but the others are moving to its side. What you see is a colossal falcon-like bird of prey, but with its feathers replaced by feather-shaped metal panels. The light of the sun glints off their edges--if one could hear sharpness, their eardrums would be bleeding right now. It's hard to tell exactly where the center of mass is, as each creature is surrounded by a faint blue mist.

One of the four flies out to the water and hovers above it, wingbeats enhancing the waves against the shore. Two others observe it. The fourth looks down at the trees quizzically, and releases a bellowing squawk towards you. Then its two allies take a look.

They don't immediately do anything about this, but it's clear that they're aware of at least one of your presences.

[Snowfire]

:Gtzarith?: Esulan 'asks' the Paladin. :Can you tell if those birds would be intelligent enough to understand us?:

[Lightning Fast]

<<They are intelligent, yes, but I can only speak to them if they are capable of speech themselves, without telepathy...>> Gtzarith mused, <<Are we willing to risk detection to find out? If I speak telepathically, it will not reveal our position right away... after all, these birds aren't normally this large. I shudder to imagine how powerful they may be.>>

[MikelaC1]

SLISSHT

The bigger they are, the harder they fall?

When it comes to something like the local fauna, Slissht is not big on talking.

[MikelaC1]

SLISSHT

Tiring of the stalemate of inactivity, Shiver decides to provoke some sort of confrontation, for better or for worse. She steps out from the cover of the trees.

Yo there birds of metal, can you speak common or giantish?

[Kazyan]

The bird that had first detected the group caws again and flaps its wings hard. A single feather dislodges from a wing, whizzes over Shiver's head, and embeds itself in a tree. Behind a another tree, that now has a razor-thin hole through it where sap is starting to ooze from.

One doesn't need Common to express a warning shot.

[Lightning Fast]

<<We wish not to fight...>> Gtzarith projects, attempting to communicate with the birds. As a show of trust, he comes out of his hiding place and raises his hands above his head to show that he is unarmed. <<Do you understand me?>>

[Kazyan]

The birds all snap their heads to look towards Gtzarith. Their mental voices are loud and overlap one another when they respond, but the general consensus is something like <<OUR TERRITORY. OUT.>>

[MikelaC1]

SLISSHT

On the one hand, I see no reason to tarry here and leave as they request. On the other hand, I don't take kindly to being ordered around.

[bcool999]

Konduren waits in his hiding spot waiting to either flee or fight as his allies determine.

[Lightning Fast]

<<We do not wish to fight, merely to pass through,>> Gtzarith pleaded, <<There is a threat far greater than any of us could imagine which we aim to stop.>>

Diplomacy: [dice]1d20+37[/roll]

[Kazyan]

The birds all exchange glances. You're pretty sure all of the possible combinations between them occur.

<<GO AROUND THE ISLAND, THEN?>>

[MikelaC1]

SLISSHT

These birds are not our real target. As much as I dont like being ordered around by them, I think we should keep our eyes on our real objective, rather than bashing them up for the fun of doing so.

[Lightning Fast]

<<I concur,>> Gtzarith concurred, <<We shall do our best to stay out of your way, but we are in the midst of trying to find a portal to the positive energy plane. Are you familiar with such a thing? Perhaps a glowing light? If my team's assumptions are correct, it should be characterized by an abundance of oversized fish in and around the area. I don't suppose you've discovered any such phenomenon?

[Kazyan]

<<THERE IS A LIGHT OVER A LAKE.>>

One of them lands and takes a few waddling steps closer to the group. It still doesn't look particularly pleases that the group is in its territory, but at least its cooperating.

<<I CAN MOVE YOU TO THERE.>>

[Dunkoro]

That'd be very nice of you, thank you.

[bcool999]

Seeing that the threat of violence has past, or at least lessened, Konduren steps out from behind the tree he was hiding behind. "Are we flying there? If so please lead on."

[Moonlitdreams]

Apollo raises an eyebrow as the bird lands, and as there seems to be no immediate violence, he steps out of the Ethereal.

<<Yes, that would be very useful,>> he adds with his own telepathy.

[Kazyan]

One of the birds guides the party along their flight. Those the cannot (or do not wish to) fly on their own are allowed to ride on its back, where the razorfeathers are relatively flat and won't horribly mangle clothing and armor. Being such a large bird, the load is about as burdensome as wearing a hat.

The bird soars over the enormous, lush tree, making its way roughly along the path of a narrow river. The river eventually opens up into a lake, somewhere deeper into the island. The bird takes a left turn, directing the party towards a somewhat nearby clearing. Approaching the edges of the clearing, the trees are even taller and more colorful, but at the clearing treeline, it's easy to spot dripping sap and rotting, flowing pieces of wood where branches have exploded with life energy. From the center of the very broad clearing, hovering about a thousand feet over the ground, a bright, wide light shines. It is as if it's a miniature sun unique to this island, which allows plants to enthusiastically grow closer to--but the ones directly below it, this clearing, soon grow too close, soak up too much positive energy, and explode as any creature would. Sap cakes the ground of the clearing even as new trees are rising up from the organic debris.

The light overlooks the lake, far enough away to bask in, but not so far that the angle is not decidedly 'over' the lake.

<<IT'S HERE. NOW WHAT?>>

The bird doesn't land anywhere, instead keeping position about 1000 feet from the planar breach, waiting expectantly for the party to do whatever it is they want the big glowy light for.

<<I'M NOT TOUCHING IT.>>

[MikelaC1]

SLISSHT

So does anyone know what the best course of action should be? Apart from just leaping into the breach, and hoping that our protection magic holds up?

[bcool999]

"I think merely jumping would be bad. Best to fly down and enter slowly in case there is something to crash into on the other side. It will also give us a chance to test our magical protection. If you need it Shiver, I believe I can carry you down to the portal if Esulan stays close with her 'bubble'." Konduren turns to their guide and says, "Thank you for allowing us passage through your territory. I wish you plentiful hunting in the seasons to come."

The source of my flight doesn't specify a load limit so I am going to assume that if I am strong enough to lift Shiver (which I am just barely able to do) I can fly/do a controlled fall to the breach while carrying her.

[MikelaC1]

SLISSHT

Carry me down? If I didn't know better, I would suspect you of trying to cop a feel. She winks. Although maybe I would let you, I guess its a question of whether or not you feel lucky.

Shiver lets Konduren approach, her visage seems to change from stern and forbidding to lustful and eager, back and forth several times.

[Snowfire]

Esulan voices a chuckle at Slissht's antics, then launches herself into a dive towards the portal with a cry.

:I'll go check things out then,: she sends, the bubble of Arborea bursting from the amulet at her neck out all around her. She had kept it secure within on the way to the lake, not wishing to anger the almost certainly lawful aligned bird helping them. Now however, she needed it, and she embraced the soothing feeling of Arborean air around her like a long forgotten friend as she fell - clearly in control of herself - towards the planar breach.

[Kazyan]

The bubble of Arborea provides excellent protection from the Positive Energy plane, but it's still so bright in here that it's impossible to see what's going on beyond 15 feet.

A xag-ya beyond the edge of the Arborea bubble stares with its maybe-eyes, curious, as energons tend to be. After a few seconds, it truns around and retreats deeper into the Positive Energy Plane.

General flight rule: you can carry up to your light load when flying. I'll say you can do a controlled fall up when carrying up to your max load; it makes sense.

[Lightning Fast]

<<Thank you for your help, winged ones,>> Gtzarith said calmly.

Gtzarith scratched the back of his head with a shorter tentacle, taking care not to cut himself on its extension. Being an asexual being, she could never truly understand the mammalian fascination with such matters. Of course, the hormones illithids could not produce came from fresh brains, and it had been a long while since they had fed. "Lust" was not something the monstrosity was capable of, for better or for worse. The tentacled paladin silently thought back a mere few weeks to his time serving the illithids' cruel master. A brief memory of the first time he experienced human emotion, before he learned how to achieve true joy through spiritual enlightenment as opposed to the consumption of happy minds. Such information was powerful, but alas, his kinsmen lived in the dark, adhering strictly to the old ways.

<<... I believe Konduren is a monk, like myself.>> Was all he could muster in this state of deep though, a few whisps of <<I hope we do not have to do too much swimming. Until a few weeks ago, I lived underground, so I'm not very good at it.>>

[I]<<If I get nervous, please vacate the area; I may spray ink out of my mouth.>> He joked, before diving into the rift.

[bcool999]

Konduren ignores the looks Shiver gives him as he grasps her hands and, with an effort, manages to glide down to the breach and enters. He makes sure to enter the safety of Esulan's planar bubble before the effects of this place do to him what they did to the plants outside.

[Dunkoro]

Valiaa flies down in her AEther Bubble, trying to stay in range of Esulan's bubble.

[Kazyan]

Inside the bubble, you are protected from the Positive Energy Plane. It's still too bright to see much of anything beyond five feet into the light, and the plane being empty, there are scarce few signs of where the Bastion of Souls might be.

The xag-ya keeps going about its business, now only visible on Gtzarith's mindsight.

[bcool999]

Konduren closes his eyes to the brightness and feels about him with other senses.

Blindsight 30ft. Blindsense 60ft. and Tremorsense 60ft. (I am assuming we landed and there is ground beneath us?)

[Dunkoro]

Valiaa closes her eyes to overwhelming lightness and focuses on her ability to sense AEther to guide her.

Æther Revelation: 120 ft. of unnamed sense, can sense everything.
Blindsense and Blindsight 75 ft.

[Snowfire]

:Friend, could you aid us?: Esulan sends (again through Kismat) to the xag-ya just before it darts out of sight. She reaches into one of the bags at her waist, fumbling about a bit, and then withdraws what appear to be a pair of sunglasses. :We seek a place within this plane.:

Diplomacy: [roll0]

Altering some of the Shapesand in Esulan's Haversack into a pair of sunglasses. Because I can :smalltongue:

[Kazyan]

Konduren detects nothing, but Valiaa notices a tiny planar rip about 80 feet away, diagonally forwards and upwards.

The shape-shades dim the light so that Elusan can see 10 feet into the brightness instead of 5 feet, albeit without much detail.

The xag-ya swirls around in the glow of the positive energy. It trains its false eyes on Elusan, but does not reply to the telepathy.

There is no ground; the positive energy plane is made out of empty and bright.

Xag-ya do not have a language; telepathy will not be very useful if you want to deal with one.

[Lightning Fast]

<<I have difficulty seeing in this light...>> Gtzarith projected, his head buzzing slightly due to the sheer amount of positive energy surrounding him, <<Anyone else see what our best course of action might be?

Gtzarith hovered around a bit with his wings, attempting to discern a lifeform that was more capable of understanding his projected thoughts. <<Is there anyone who can understand me?>>

[Dunkoro]

I could possibly jump around a bit, but I have no way of knowing how far and away I would have to seek and even if I found what we're looking for, I propably couldn't have found you.

EDIT:
There is also this rip up there... I'll go check if there's anything significant to it.

Then she flies to location of the rip.

[Kazyan]

Gtzarith finds another energon inspecting a tiny pocket of water about 150 feet away from the group, but nothing else in the immediate vicinity has a language. The pocket seems to be a minor breach of the Elemental Plane of Water.

Valiaa doesn't find anything significant on the other side of the rip--looking through, there's just ocean as far she the eye can see. However, at this distance, Aether sense reveals two small planar breaches about 70 feet away--not rips, just "divots" in the nature of the plane. Investigating those would reveal yet more planar strangeness at the edges of aether sense. There seemed to be a pattern to the planar oddities nearby--they did not form a line or a two-dimensional plane, but a slight convex curve.

[Dunkoro]

After a quick jump to her allies Vallia describes her findings, requesting they go with her, so that she would not be exposed to planar effects for much longer.

[MikelaC1]

SLISSHT

Shiver is more than willing to go with Vallia, this being carried thing is boring, and leaves her at the whim of others. Anyone who knows Shiver's history knows this is not a situation she will tolerate for long.