A home in Mind

[Lochar]

Emails had went out, telling you all that Jake had a new game to start up. He was uprooting your current characters from the somewhat just started game to do this one.

That was interesting, as Jake had a reputation for always finishing a previous campaign.

The man's home was a modest little ranch style house only a mile or so from the local game store, and Jake himself worked as a freelance writer and artist, so his games always had the best props and effects.

When you knock on the door to his home, the door opens quickly and Jake ushers you in. The parlor, where Jake runs his games normally, had had a modification. The large rounded table had apparently been painted or something, for there in the center and stretching out to each chair was a sihedron and it's points, each point painted a different color.

The DM screen was already set at Jake's normal spot and he waved his hand to you to get setup as another knock was at the door and he moved back through the house to answer.

[shugyosha]

Justin

Like usual he was the first to arrive. He didn't like to others to wait on him as he maneuvered his chair to his spot. His seat was the one with the easiest access meaning that he got to face Jake and his GM screen.

Rolling up to his spot Justin pulls out his purple Seagrim Royal Crown bag of dice. Then pulls out another bag. "Jake, my mom thought you'd like this, they are some apples she got from the neighbor's tree."

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron arrived next with his small bag that held all of his books, dice, characters, and even the cans of beer that would usually last him only the one game session. He had decided a while ago to call it his own bag of holding.

He pulled up the chair and sat down in between Justin and Jake close to the door, that way in case something went wrong with the alcohol he was always right by the door. Luckily its never come to that so far.

"Hey Justin, how's things been?" Aaron asked as he gathered things from his bag and got set up.

[flagisthief]

Scott knocks twice and doesn't enter the room until he is spotted. He slips in without a word and stands in a corner, pulling out his semi-opaque blue and white spotted dice with black numbers. "Today feels like an Esper day, I'll bring Izzet next time." He says quietly in reference to his Magic the Gathering theme colored dice. He waits patiently for everyone else to sit before taking his own.

[Lochar]

Jake takes the bag of apples with a nod. "Tell her I said thanks then."

[Comissar]

Though normally punctual, Dale arrived several minutes late. Swinging his bag off of his back, he greeted everyone with "Hey, sorry I'm late. I was trying to persuade Erica to join, but she said that she wouldn't be able to make the sessions anymore, something about 'prior commitments'.""

Taking the seat the other side of Justin, he began rifling through his bag, digging out his dice and character sheet. As he placed them on the table he noticed the new design.

"That looks cool," he gave Jake a questioning look, "Take you long to do?"

[Lochar]

"You're not the last one." Jake notes to Dale. "Kyle is running late as well, it appears. And it didn't take too long. It was more difficult to get the material than the time it took to shape it."

Jake raps it with his fingers, the sound of metal echoes instead of wood.

[Carson6412]

Kyle walks into the room, still in his lifeguard uniform, and with slightly damp hair.

"Hey! I am so sorry I'm late!" He sets down his satchel in the last remaining seat. "The pool was crazy today! Some woman came about thirty minuets before the pool closed. Her kid had on one of those sets of floaties and you know how the pool doesn't allow floaties into the water, right?" He pauses for a second to pull out his notes and dice. "So I walk up to her to let her know that her kid can not wear that into the water, and she freaks out on me! Spent like, twenty minuets with her yelling at me about that." Kyle sighs lightly and flops down into the chair. "Long story short, the kid ends up jumping into the deep end, I pulled him out, and then spent another hour trying to get the mother to sign the incident release forms." He shakes his head in astonishment, "People, ya know?."

[shugyosha]

Justin


Jake takes the bag of apples with a nod. "Tell her I said thanks then."

"Actually I think it's your mother who said to mine that you're eating too much junk food," he explained then pulled out a bag of pork-rinds. "No where do you think she got that idea..."



"Hey Justin, how's things been?" Aaron asked as he gathered things from his bag and got set up.

"Still no walking," he said in his dark sense of humor. "Things at training are going well, i guess," he added.


"Long story short, the kid ends up jumping into the deep end, I pulled him out, and then spent another hour trying to get the mother to sign the incident release forms." He shakes his head in astonishment, "People, ya know?."

"Yeah, can't stand 'em. But what ya goin' ta do? Can live with 'em can't commit mass murder and get away with it..."

[Lochar]

"Yeah, yeah." Jake shakes his head before sitting at the screen. "Pass me your sheets for a minute, I need to double check them.

Collecting the sheets, Jake looks them over before penning something in the corner of each of them, passing them back out. When you look at them, there is a unique to each sheet symbol that nobody recognizes. Though, for a moment you almost think you might.

"Now, to begin. The five of you have been gathered, having been offered to listen to a request of an old wizard, and powerful rewards if you take up the quest he says he will offer you. The wizard lives in a small tower outside of the town of Ithros in the Land of the Linnorm Kings. The trip to get there was not onerous, indeed you might almost have thought your path was cleared before you as the most you had to deal with was a few bandits."

Reaching the home of the wizard, you are led to a small study, wherein thousands of books line shelves that don't seem to be large enough to hold them all."

Jake pauses. "Yes Dale, Fudbiddle recognizes some sort of variant on a bag of holding for the shelves."

"An old man in robes of silver sits a table in the center of the study. He pours over a book in front of him, and you all notice in the table a sihedron is carved and colored." Jake grins and taps his own table.

"Kyle, Aaron. Both your characters would recognize the sihedron as the holy symbol of the goddess Lisalla from before Earthfall. Lissalla is the goddess of runes from the Thassillon empire."

Jake then continues. "The old man smiles at you all. 'Welcome, welcome' he says. 'Before I begin my story, you are all here of your own free wills? Any of you who wish to leave may before I begin my story. For once I begin, I will expect you to at least listen to my whole story.' "

Jake looks at you all expectantly, a small grin tugging at his own lips.

[Comissar]

Dale takes his sheet back, raising an eyebrow at the scrawled symbol in the corner but not making any comment. Putting it to one side, he turned his attention to Jake's description of the setting. The description of the shelves in particular piqued his interest.

"That's pretty cool," he mused to himself, "not something I'd have thought of."

As Jake finished his description, Dale was the first to speak up. "Ok, Fudbiddle looks around the room while the wizard's talking, just kind of getting an idea of what this guy does. She's not paying complete attention to what he's saying, but does hear the last part about the story. She turns her attention back to the wizard and says 'I am here of my own accord and I, for one, am interested to hear your tale.'"

Pausing to consider anything else Fudbiddle might say, Dale asked "Does Fudbiddle recognise any of the books on the shelves?"

[Lochar]

"Fudbiddle recognizes several treatises on planar creatures, both celestial and daemonic." Jake notes, apparently from memory as he has yet to refer to the small stack of sheets behind his DM screen, before rolling a d20. "In fact, you recognize the opening runes on a rolled parchment as it being a scroll of Gate. He's probably some sort of Conjurer."

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron opened his first can of beer and drinks a little while Jake looks over his sheet. When jake hands Aaron back his sheet, he takes note of the symbol and keeps it fresh in his head for later reference.

"Volten takes note of the table and the sihedron. 'I am here of my own free will' Volten says to the old man. He then sits on the floor cross-legged and speaks to the old man again after hearing him talk about a story, 'I will listen to this story. It may help us to better understand the history of our world, where we are now, and what the future may hold.' " Aaron then stops for a moment and drinks a little bit more from his beer.

Bold blue will end up being Volten's speech.

[Carson6412]

Kyle looks down at the symbol then back up at Jake, and suppresses a laugh. ~This is why I come to Jake's games. He just gets into the story~

"Py walks up near to Volten and drops to one knee, resting his arms on his other. 'I am willing' Py says in a very even voice. He nods to the wizard, 'You have my full attention'

[shugyosha]

Justin

He sits back and listen to the story unwind, then smiles, "Faylen saunters into the room his head darts at as he looks around the room." The familiar sound of bouncing plastic leads Justin to say...

[roll0]

"Four plus eight; that's twelve for perception." He collects his die and continues to describe his character's action. "He says to the old man, 'Wizard, I am here of my own accord,' and sits at the table if there is a chair. 'Tell us your tale'"

[Lochar]

Jake nods. "There are plenty of chairs at the table. And you don't notice anything special about the study, not being well versed in magic yourself."

[flagisthief]

Scott pulls up his legs onto the chair and sits in a hunched position and rolls a die without even checking his sheet. Scott watches the others closely before speaking in his quiet voice, rising whenever he speaks for his character."Xal will take his usual place near the back of the party with his usual overconfident sneer. He glances around the room, seeing if there are any unprotected valuables he might palm.Free will is an Illusion. People always choose the perceived path of greatest pleasure." He offered a sly smile and almost whispered: "Scott Adams."

[Lochar]

"Remember those words." Jake smiles. " 'Ten thousand years ago, the calamity know as Earthfall destroyed much of the known world.' The old wizard says. 'But before that, a mighty empire ruled much of Avistan. The Thassilon empire. You might know of their runelords, wizards of such staggering might that they had powers unknown even to the time now.' "

Jake taps the table. "One runelord for each of the seven sins. But did you know, that the runelords during Earthfall were not all the same runelords as when they first started ruling? Should another wizard gain more favor with Lissala and managed to depose the current Runelord, they could take his place. Krune was very good about that. He created a new version of the spell 'Trap the Soul' in which the body was still separate from the trapped soul. Then forcibly Astral Projected the previous Runelord of Sloth into another realm. Should the prior Runelord die, it would shatter his body and soul back in Golarion."

Something seems to freeze each of you to your seats, unable to move, Justin even unable to reach the controls of his chair.

Jake smiles at you all, standing. "I know you all joked around about creating your own demi-planes with faster times. Do you know how that works? The more magic in a plane, the faster time flows. Here, for example, in the Earth plane, magic is almost nil. Over ten thousand years could pass on a normal magic plane and here, barely two decades. Did you know, I was adopted?"

A wave of his hand, and you all find your heads free but the rest of your bodies still motionless.

[flagisthief]

Scott shakes his head at Jake, "Its just my luck to find the only dm this side of the rockies thats crazy, unless you mean what you say." His face seems to light up as he tries to break free of the bonds. "Is it true?" He sounds almost excited.

[shugyosha]

Justin

Fear and anger seethed through his body. It was happening all over again. He had just began accepting his predicament but now this. Once able to speak Justin starts a continuous stream of cursing and threats, deaf to any response.


Someone want to slap him quiet?

[Comissar]

Dale looked around in alarm, his mind racing for an explanation. Drugged food? He hadn't eaten anything since getting here, same for drinks. Something in the air? Didn't explain why Jake could move. Magic? That simply couldn't be possible... Could it?

Trying to keep calm, Dale spoke in a level voice "Jake, come on man, what've you done to us?"

I think "Slapping him quiet" might not work so well when only our heads can move :smalltongue:

[Lochar]

Jake nods to Scott before stepping around to Justin. "You know, half the reason for this entire thing is your legs. I don't have access to healing spells and creatures called in implode from lack of magic. So I'm going to have to put you where you can be healed."

He grins at the others. "Of course, it is only half my reasoning. Would you like to hear the rest of it?"

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron was getting a little bit pissed, not just because this wasn't like jake at all. No, it was also because he couldn't move his arms at all to grab his beer. "What the hell Jake? This isn't like you at all! Aaron paid no mind to Justin at the moment only because he had no way to slap him.

[Lochar]

"Normally Aaron, you'd be right. This isn't anything like you've ever seen me do. But Krune is dead, and no other Runelord has taken his place. The bindings on my soul have weakened, and given me much of my magic back."

Jake grins at them all. "Now, remember you did agree to hear the old wizard's tale. Of your own free will." He sits back down at the table. "I am going to do the same thing to you all that was done to me, except I am going to project your souls into Golarion, using your character sheets there as the focus. You will, in essence, become your character. You will need to find my body and release me from here, or find your own way back. Either way, upon your return here all the magics and power you gain there will reflect back here."

"I suspect that the Dragon-Tooth Spear, the artifact of the Runelord of Sloth, knows where my body is. Though it is currently in the hands of the Decimverate of the Pathfinder Society."

[flagisthief]

Scott seems off in his own world, thinking of all the possibilities. "You can make us dissapear, leave this world behind and never have to deal with the people in it again? Where would we go, how would we get there?" Scott starts spouting off questions, his mind flying through different ideas. "What are you waiting for, send us from here, give me Xal's body and hell, it all comes down to: 'Mr. Corleone never asks a second favor once he's refused the first, understood?'."

[Comissar]

Dale listens in disbelief to Jake's tale, and in surprise to Scott's eager acceptance of it. "You've both lost it... Look, enough messing around, Jake you've had your fun, very amusing, now let us go. Scott, stop and think, why are you so eager to be someone else? For that matter, what makes you think this is even something that can happen? There's no such thing as magic!"

Dale had gradually been getting louder throughout his speech, the stress of suddenly being paralysed, and his friends apparent insanity, pushing him to his limits.

[flagisthief]

Scott smiled a sad smile, shaking his head as he listens to Dale. "A man names Lau Tzu once said that life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes and resisting them only causes sorrow, if Jake can send us to a better place than this hell-hole called America, I'm all for it, isn't that the point of Pathfinder, getting away from your life for a few hours? I've been locked in a house for most of my life, this is freedom."

[shugyosha]

Justice

He was out of breath, his tirade over, Justin is able to comprehend what is being said to him. "You can heal my legs..." he asks with a mixture of skepticism and hope.

He shock his head, whether or not Jake was for real, Justin thought it was best to at least pay his game, "So what do we have to do there?"

[Lochar]

Jake looked Justin over. "As I said, somewhere there is my actual body, locked away somewhere. Find it and end the spell holding my soul here. Once you do, I will return there. I can then either summon your bodies completely into Golarion if you wish to stay, or send your souls back to your bodies here, with whatever power you've managed to accumulate."

He motions to the character sheets. "I would give you more power if I could, but the spell will fail if I manipulate your souls beyond a certain point. You'll have to grow into the power those sheets can come to represent."

[blackwind1kaze]

Being somewhat confused and skeptical as Dale was, Aaron just couldn't believe it himself. "... All this talk about power and how we can either choose to stay there or come back here with that power, it just doesn't make any sense and i've been apart of Jake's campaign's for awhile" Aaron stated while talking as if Jake wasn't truly there and this was some prank by some stranger.

[shugyosha]

Justin

"No, I mean how do we break the spell," the clarifies, "It's not like any of us actually knows magic. And also, where do we begin looking for your body?"

[Lochar]

Jake shakes his head at Justin. "I had thought I taught you better than that, to pay attention to your quest givers. Where I send you, there will not be a DM adjudicating CR based off of your level or remind you of what was said. The Dragon-Tooth Spear, the artifact of the Runelord of Sloth. It is intelligent and should know what Krune did with my body. It is currently in the hands of the Decimverate of the Pathfinder Society."

"And two of you will know magic. And all of you will be touched by it. Now I think it is time to at least give you proof more than just holding your bodies still. And begin the ritual."

Jake mutters words in a language none of you recognize, the weight of something pressing against all of you.

For a moment, the air above the sihedron marked table seems to warp and bend, before breaking open. A whisper of cool air escapes from the crack in the air and you all feel as if wherever that was, it was a better place than this cruel earth.

And then the crack twists upon itself and a form breaks free, the crack sealing behind it. Leaving a man with pointed ears and silver-white hair the color of a lightning strike. He carries a bow and a scimitar is at his side. He looks upon you all before his eyes fall on Jake.

The bowstring is barely pulled back to fire before the man falls to the table, gritting his teeth in pain.

"As I said, called creatures simply cannot survive on a plane with such limited magic." Jake watches as the elvish looking man seems to break down on the table, his limbs, body, and even equipment falling apart into a silvery sheen of liquid. The liquid flows down the markings of the table, puddling and eddying in various spots, most filling small indention in front of each person.

Jake continues on, not even phased. "It is not like an Azata would deign to help me otherwise, you saw how he immediately acted to attack me upon seeing me."

[Comissar]

Dale sat stunned as the creature was called up, and subsequently was destroyed, in front of him. Unable to think of anything that could have caused it, he was left with two conclusions. Either he was dreaming or magic was real. Given he could recall the entire day up to this point, it seemed that this was proof of magic.

"I... What... How is this possible?"

No, that wasn't the right question. If they were going to be cast into a world as dangerous as that of Pathfinder, there was a far more pressing issue.

"What... What happens if we die?"

[flagisthief]

"Son of a-" Scott paused open mouthed, staring at the elf. "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron wasn't sure if he was actually drunk now or just not drunk enough, either way he wanted his beer if he was going to have to sit and watch this Magic show.

[Carson6412]

Kyle stared transfixed at Jake. From the moment he realized he was bounded, his mind could not comprehend what was going on. ~This is it. I've finally snapped~ Once the creature spawned and died, it snapped Kyle into focus.

"You say that if we release you, you will bring us back? What will stop what happened to that .... thing... from happening to us? If we gain power, will we collapse just as him?"

[Lochar]

"Your bodies are going nowhere, and you are all accustomed to this plane. Your souls will be the only thing to come back, strengthened. But your bodies are of this world." Jake answers Kyle. "And Dale? The same thing that happens when anyone dies. You die. I'd suggest you focus on either staying alive or developing the magics to resurrect someone."

[Carson6412]

Kyle's mind begins to catch up to the situation and he starts to calm down and focus. With a deep breath, he stares intently at Jake. "Why? ... Why us?"

Kyle looks around the room, "I can not speak for anyone else here, but I am not a fighter or soldier. There is a reason I chose to be a lifeguard as compared to joining the army. Why chose me or any of us? What makes you think we will even be able to free you?"

[flagisthief]

"Questions can be asked all day, but there are no answers that might satisfy your curiosity." Scott scoffed at Kyle, frowning at all of the questions. "Its all a game isn't it, what would you do if this was presented to a character of yours, the only difference is that you have no back up character, everything seems quite simple."

[Comissar]

Dale gave Scott a shocked look. "Did you not hear the same things I did? This won't be a game, we'll be risking our lives."

One thought was nagging at him as he was talking, though. He looked over at Justin in his wheelchair. Sighing, he continued "I'll agree to it, only so we can help Justin though."

[Lochar]

"Ah, but you've already agreed. A grand tale, with yourselves as the starring roles. Granted, a little more hands off than I usually tell them." Jake's face has almost a jester's grin on it.

"A quest, a quest. To find the body of the deposed Runelord Imari and break the enchantments binding his soul from it. Your reward for completing this quest is a way home, to stop the evil wizard from taking control of the world you left behind."

Jake's grin morphs devious as he stares at Dale. "It is too bad your sister couldn't make it here with us, Dale. She shall, however, be my first conquest here should you not make it back."

And then Jake's voice seems to double, taking on an overtone of darkness. "Goddess Lissala, sleeping goddess of Runes, dream of the makings of a spell of bridging."

Jake opens his hand to Justin. "Envy. Desire of that which you do not have. Take what you desire." The sihedron in the table literally lifts, floating. It spins until the light green point is aimed directly at the man. "Become that which everyone else wishes to be."

He points to the empty seat. "Lust. Entrapment of mind and body. The lust for power is what lead to this." The sihedron lights up and spins, a point burning away until it is a deep red. "Mind and body stand empty, awaiting the soul."

The next motion of Jake's hand goes to Dale. "Pride. It goes before the fall, but without Pride no sees who we are. Or who we want them to see." A coppery point on the sihedron then faces the magically held man.

"Wrath." Aaron is the next as the silver point stops on him. "Raw destruction. Destruction of the way between worlds. Destruction of the peace of mind."

Scott sees a pale point stop on him and for half a moment Jake's face actually has almost a laughing grin on it before he speaks. "Gluttony. The desire for life. The desire to live once more without fetters."

Kyle realizes he is last, but which of the two points of the floating sihedron is to stop on him? "Greed." The black metal point. "The transformation of self into something new. The empowerment of the flesh physical."

But the sihedron continues on, the final point stopping on Jake himself. "Sloth. The commanding of others to do thine bidding. To create anew."

The silvery liquid on the sihedron seems to bubble for a moment, seemingly near the point of explosion.

"Lissala bless those who embark on this journey." Jake then pronounces an unintelligible word, though Dale almost understands it. The character sheets still on the table glow and the silver liquid leaps through the air from the five points, striking the sheets and then the five people.


Everything goes gray. You can sense the others around you and even the magics that have seeped into your soul. Alterations, tweaks, and new life seems to fill you for a moment. And then gray goes to white, so bright that you're not certain that even if you had eyelids to close would it help.


And then you find yourself standing in a study. The shelves are long empty and dust so thick it is almost dirt surrounds you, not even stirred by your appearance. Though first movement throws up a fair bit.

The table you stand around has four other people standing there as well. Inscribed into the table is the sihedron, though this one neither floats nor glows.

[shugyosha]

Justin

"Wait wait wait..." she stuttered. It was nice to hear the concerns of his friends but they thought this might actually be real. If it was things still didn't make sense. There were still too many questions, "How will we know what Decimverate looks like or that matter what the Dragon-Tooth Spear looks like. Also if our character sheets are your focus and we will have item of our characters then why not write Dragon-Tooth Spear on one sheet, or at the very least +5 vorpal sword." But his words are too late as the spell is cast.

[Comissar]

Dale felt a mixture of anger and fear surge through him at Jake's throw away comment about his sister. Before he could respond, though, the transformation began. The beam struck him and, as Jake spoke, he felt sudden confidence. They would succeed without difficulty, they would return triumphant. Jake would not be able to touch Erica.

As quickly as the feeling arrived, it passed. It was rapidly replaced by the even stranger feeling of being molded into something new. Instinctive knowledge about the very essence of magic forced its way into his head, his very blood thrummed with magical energy. Through this glimpse of impossible things, Dale now knew with certainty that he could manipulate reality itself with the same ease as breathing. This too faded and, although he could still feel raw magic at his call, only scant memories remained of the potential he knew he could reach.

By degrees, he became aware of the floor beneath his feet again. His vision cleared to reveal an enormous room, occupied by four towering people. He recognised the Sihedron patterned table, but this too was at least twice as large as the one he'd just left behind. When a strand of purple hair fell across his eyes, Dale finally understood what had happened.

"I don't..." His hand flew up to his throat, "My voice!"

The higher pitch to his voice reminded him of something which had, since Jake's unexpected display of magic, remained forgotten. Taking a step back in surprise, Dale looked down at his, or, more accurately, her new body.

"Holy... I'm a girl!"

[shugyosha]

Justin

Once the spell is completed, Justin finds himself in a different room. He snaps his head around to see everything and immediately falls to the ground. It takes him a second to realize what had happened. "I was standing," he whispers. He checks his legs and pats them. Stands and looks at them as he hops up and down. Looking at everyone he says, "They work... They Work! THEY WORK!"

[flagisthief]

"Two things, one, that was amazing, two, why the hell am I gluttony." Scott looks down at himself, noticing that he seems to have the least changes, a little more hight and a slightly deeper voice, but he is mostly unchanged. He licks his teeth and smiles, this is a new world to him, who knows what could happen."I think my canines are longer. All right, who is who." Scott gives off much more confidence than before, standing with the smug gait he thinks Xal would have.

[Carson6412]

Kyle is shocked back into his silent stupor, as the magic labels him. "Greed?" he manages to whisper before a blinding flash drops the world into darkness.

The first to come back were the feelings: Despair, hope, anger, happiness.. All soon followed by snippets of memories: Lost in darkness, a caring dwarf, the weight of the greatsword, and the church. And underlying it all was the warmth of an inhuman energy. But soon, thoughts and memories gave way to physical feelings. The first and foremost noticeable one was weight.

The world snaps back into focus. Kyle raises his heavy arms up to his face. ~Cold... my hands are.. cold.. hard and heavy... It's almost as if I'm ...~ Kyle finally opens his eyes and looks down at his body. ~Wearing a full set of armor...~ And in fact he was, a very grey suit of armor, but armor none the less. He glances around to see a grey man, lying on the ground, a small grey gnome, looking shocked, and two more grey men off to the side, looking very, very grey. Kyle's gaze lowers back to his raised hands and, in a voice slightly deeper and much, much calmer then he is used to, mutters a few words, "Well.. That was .. Interesting..."

He looks up to the dhampir, "I'm Kyle.. or at least.. I was Kyle." He pauses for a moment to examine Scott, "Only one person chose the vampire character. So... Scott right?"

[flagisthief]

"That's me." Scott offers a smile, holding his arms wide. "I wonder what all we actually got to keep from our sheets." Scott drops to the ground and pulls his pack, rooting through it, examining his equipmen

[Lochar]

Scott finds that he does not have a pack and recalls that he had left only three items on his character sheet. Apparently the magic had been quite specific. Patting around on his clothes he does find secreted around several dozen platinum coins, a few small gems, and a small pouch of gold. The remainder of his cash he hadn't spent.

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron had been trying to break free as the ritual/spell went on and it wasn't until he was in his new body that he could finally move. "Damn it!", was the only thing Aaron said in a slightly deeper voice as he pounded his right hand on the table once. He then calmly stood back up and sighed trying to let the anger bypass through him.

[shugyosha]

Justin



"Holy... I'm a girl!"

"And a hot girl at that," Justin says, "also you're short, really short."

Justin looks at his hand, his skin is darker than he remembered. The ground was farther away as well. Those looking at him will see a tall man with Mongolian features but with blue eyes. Realizing what really has happened he gazes at this companions. He points to the gnome beauty, "Dale", turning to the one rummaging through his backpack, "Scott", then to the person dressed in full plate, "Kyle", finally looks at the fuming Suli, "that leave Aaron."

Justin takes a look at the room they are in seeing what he can glean from his surroundings.


[roll0] perception


"Well at least we don't have a bald midget telling us what to do in cryptic verse," he mutters to himself.

[Comissar]

Dale turned bright red at Justin's comment, almost immediately shifting her posture to be far more defensive. Her arms brought across her body and head bowed slightly.

"Please... Please don't say that..."

[flagisthief]

"We've all role played a gal at some point." Scott offers, not certain why everyone is reacting to that. "I figure if you're unlucky, you will be a real pain in a few weeks, but otherwise, who cares?" Scott seems to be enjoying not being himself, finally crawling out of the shell he had been hiding in every other time they all had gotten together for a game.

[Comissar]

Dale visibly paled at the casual reference to what could come in a few weeks. Maintaining her defensive posture, she replied in a shaky voice "This... This isn't role play, Scott. It's way more real than you seem to appreciate..."

With an effort, Dale managed to push herself into a more neutral pose. Her discomfort with her newfound body was not helped by the way everyone else towered above her. "We should get started, I want to get back as quickly as possible."

[Lochar]

Justin takes a look at the room they are in seeing what he can glean from his surroundings.


[roll0] perception



Not much, unfortunately. The study is closed up with the only door leading out closed. The bookshelves appear to be empty and as you move around looking, an inordinate amount of dust is kicked up for a moment, obscuring your vision.

[flagisthief]

Scott froze at Dale's words before offering a sly half-smile. "We certainly have no cause to hang around here." He finds the arm warmers folded into his belt and put them on, his clothes changing to a simple traveller's outfit in neutral tones. "I could get used to this." He made a soft clicking sound and gestures for Dale to lead the way. "Just follow the yellow brick road Dorothy."

[shugyosha]

Justin

Justin moves to the door and says, "Marching order guys. We don't put the squishy sorceress out front. Scott, you first. I'm going to guess we're in someone's home but just in case Jake decided to put us someplace with lots of danger... well you know the drill."

[Comissar]

Dale grimaced at Scott's joke, any retort was halted by Justin's instructions to leave.

"Wouldn't it be a good idea to have a look around here first?" She swept her arm around the room for emphasis, "The shelves and the table make me think it's the room Jake described, might be something worth finding here."

Only now did she really pay attention to the state the room was in. The thick grime that lay everywhere would really hamper their search. "Of course it'd be a lot easier if all this mess were cleaned up..."

As she said this, she felt a slight surge of power. To her surprise, the floor directly in front of her began to clear itself of dust. Finding that she could direct the cleaning if she focused, she started clearing the room of dust. A weak smile formed on her face.

"At least there are some perks..."

Ok, Dale's casting Prestidigitation to start cleaning the room, hopefully making it easier to find anything important

[Lochar]

Within a few minutes, Dale's newfound magic has the room sparkling like Fantasia. With the dirt, dust, and grime cleaned from the room it almost looks like a different place.

Though the bookshelves are still empty and the scrollcases missing scrolls, this room seems to still extrude an aura of latent magic. Befitting what might have actually been the study of a powerful wizard.

[flagisthief]

Scott shrugged and helped turn over the room, looking for anything not directly obvious. "Whatever you say Dale." He offered, avoiding the rolling piles of dust.

[roll0] just in case there is anything out there.

[blackwind1kaze]

Once the dust had been cleared and Aaron's mind settled, he helped search for anything out of the ordinary as well.

[roll0]

[shugyosha]

Justin

Watching them do what he already did makes him shrug and decides to help Aaron.


Aid other action
[roll0] perception
if 10 or higher Aaron gains a +6


As he helps he realizes, "Damn, we don't have Erica, that means we don't have range support except for my bow."

[Comissar]

Once she'd finished clearing the room, Dale helped the others search for anything of value. As she did so, she commented "I'm glad she's not here, I wouldn't want her in danger. She'll be safer back home."

Remembering Jake's ominous words, she whispered "I hope."

[Roll]1D20+4 Perception for searching

[Lochar]

The room cleaned and everyone poking around now does turn up something interesting.

The bookshelves, just as described, do see to be an odd type of dimensional space, capable of holding vastly more tomes than it should. Aaron's hand actually appears to go deep into the side of one of the shelves, past the elbow and then almost to the shoulder as he spends a moment fishing around to find anything.

And find something he does. His hand catches onto something in the vague shape of a book. Pulling it back, he pulls out a leatherbound tome, probably a full two feet tall. Inscribed on the front of the book is a single open eye, and it has a latch locking it closed.

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron moves the Tome and sets it on the table but doesn't unlatch it as he asks, "So, who wants to be Harry Potter and unlatch it?"

[flagisthief]

"Now that is interesting." Scott places his hands on the table, looking at the book closely. He walks around it and places his hand gently on the tome, close to the eye. "Lets see what happens." He moves to the latch but removes his hand. "If you want to stand back, now is the time, because I get the feeling I'm playing the role of Pandora, not Mr. Potter."

[shugyosha]

Justin

"Why don't you check for magic and Scott can check if traps before you open it?" says Justin appealing to their sense of caution.

[Comissar]

Dale stood silent for a few moments before realising with a jolt that she was the one who could detect magic. "Oh, yes, let me have a look then?"

Taking a closer look at the book, she reached inside herself and touched the reservoir of arcane energy bound within her. Reaching a hand out, she attempted to channel that energy.

"I... Think this is how I do it."

Finding an outlet, she felt the spell cast. The floor beneath the book lit up as the Light spell took effect.

"Ah, um, that's not the right one."

Dale looked a little embarrassed before closing her eyes and focusing again. This time she was certain she knew what to do, she just had to feel her way through the spell and...

"There..."

She opened her eyes again, now glowing faintly with a ghostly green glow.

First casting Light on the floor beneath the book, then casting Detect Magic, focusing on the book itself.

[flagisthief]

"Yes, lets do this correctly. Excellent, more light to be able to see it properly." Scott focusses again on the book, this time actually looking for detail, rather than its appearance. He nodded to Dale before turning it over, so that they could both examine it together. "Everything seems the same, although I feel as though my senses are heightened, maybe something to do with connecting with our characters."

[Carson6412]

Kyle looks up to Ms. Dale. Not much had changed but her shadows. He looks to Scott and chuckles, "Well not all of our senses have heightened." To the rest of the group, "Checking for magic is a good idea, I'll see if I can get any thing from the rest of the room."

Kyle closes his eyes and holds out his hand. The inhuman warmth responds to his mental probing, giving memories and images of previous magical use: something cool and wet, rejuvenation, a hot and quick strike.. Kyle focuses until he finds the essence of identification itself. He releases the energy with an exhale and opens his eyes.

Casting detect magic on the walls and the rest of the contents of the study.

[Lochar]

The book appears old, very old. The leather is still supple but appears to a different leather than is used back home. Tinged a slight red, you realize the number of creatures that could have been used to make this leather is probably endless outside of your experience.

The single eye has some depth to it, little groves to give it more depth. The latch appears to be gold, or something similar. Not a sihedron metal, at least.

To Dale's eyes, the book glows like a second sun. Deep purples mix with blinding greens, sliding alongside light absorbing silver-white.


Kyle sees the same thing from the book and has to studiously ignore it to view the rest of the room. The door out does not have any magic, nor do the walls. The shelves have a lighter purple hue of magic on them, likely the effect that makes them act as a dimensional pocket.

[Comissar]

Dale stood enraptured by the kaleidoscopic colour display dancing around the book. The more she watched, the more it seemed to resolve itself. Realising that the others might want to know what she could see, she said "It's definitely magical. I kinda wish you guys could see what I can see right now."

[roll0] Knowledge Arcana to determine school of the aura. Let me know if I need to make more checks

[Carson6412]

As the magic kicks in, Kyle is nearly blinded a second time by the glow of the book. He raises a hand to block the book out of his vision and focuses on the rest of the room to little success. He stops at the glowing shelves and examines them closely, ~Interesting, this magic allows me to still see the color of magic~ As he begins to examine the shelves, he calls out to Dale, "I can't make out anything about the book, it is too blinding for me. Do you know anything of use about it or it's magics?"

[Comissar]

Dale shrugged, "I have no idea. I don't know what's what for magic. I guess that's something I'll learn with time?"

She looked up at Kyle, seeing a similar spell playing around her friends eyes. "Found anything in the room?"

[Lochar]

Dale notes that the color of the magic coming from the shelves has one color in common with the book, though not as bright and powerful.

A shadow passes over the single window high in the study, darkening the room for a moment before the daylight returns.

Mainly because I forgot to mention the window in the room did that last line show up.

[flagisthief]

"Next thing you know Kyle, you'll be mentioning the Hogfather and Hogwatch. How powerful is it anyway, we don't all have the same abilities you know." Scott taps the book again, feeling the texture of the book. Knowing Jake, its probably made out of dragon hide or something. He thought to himself.

[Carson6412]

Kyle looks back at the shelf then back to the book. "Well.... I've figured out that these shelves, you know the magical ones that hold more space then they should? Well, I have figured out that they are magic.... and glowing.. I really should have put some points into spellcraft." Kyle brings his hands up to his face and sighs, "Does anyone else know anything at all about about magic?" As Scott mentions the Hogfather and Hogwatch, Kyle just looks at him blankly, clearly not getting the reference.

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron took notice of the shadow passing by the window for a moment. "Um, guys... i'm pretty sure i just saw a shadow from outside the window. I think that's our cue to take the book and leave."

Taking 10 on Perception would have resulted in 18 while T20 would be 28, whichever means he succeeded is the one he did XD

[Lochar]

Something fairly large passed overhead over the sun. Whether cloud or something more, Aaron would have to look up and out the window.

[flagisthief]

"The Color of Magic is a movie that takes place on the diskworld, the Hogfather is another movie that also takes place on the diskworld, which has several books revolving around that plane of existence. We probably should leave here in any case, a library without books is not what I would call a natural occurrence." Scott lifted the book from the table, looking at the door. "Shall I?" He offered, crossing the room and standing before the door.

[shugyosha]

Justin


"It's definitely magical. I kinda wish you guys could see what I can see right now."


Words fumble out of his mouth as he tries hold back his old crass Marine ways, "Yeah ditto Dale...".


"We probably should leave here in any case, a library without books is not what I would call a natural occurrence." Scott lifted the book from the table, looking at the door. "Shall I?" He offered, crossing the room and standing before the door.

"No, we take it. There were no other books here, most likely they overlooked this one. And right now we need all the information we can get. Until we know it's dangerous or unvaluable we keep it."

[Carson6412]

Kyle looks over to Justin slightly confused, "Unless I misunderstood Scott, he was suggesting to take the book and leave." He looks to Scott for conformation, "Right? But... Before we go," Kyle gestures to Aaron, "You said you saw something? Perhaps we should check it out before we leave. I would rather not get blindsided as we walked out the door, if something were outside. "

[Comissar]

As engrossed as she was watching the play of magic on the shelf, Dale hadn't really been listening to the others. Jake had mentioned they were like bags of holding... What were those again? Conjuration? She looked back to the book again. They definitely shared that colour, the book was way stronger though...

"Well, I think there's some strong conjuration magic on that book, amongst others. It matches the shelves, anyway."

The rest of the conversation began to register in her mind, "You saw something?" Dale looked straight up, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever caused the shadow, "Are you sure it wasn't just a cloud or something?"

[flagisthief]

Yes, take the book. Someone climb up to that window and look outside and I'll open the door just enough to look and we'll find out what is out there. Scott offered the book to Dale. Here, you hold onto it for the moment. Who took acrobatics other that me?

[blackwind1kaze]

"That would be me" Aaron said in response to Scott's question about acrobatics. Aaron studied the wall for a moment before finally running up the little bit needed to see what lay outside the window and what the shadow might have been.

Acrobatics T20, Perception T20

[Comissar]

Dale took the book off of Scott, the weight of it catching her by surprise. The book shouldn't be this heavy, even given its size. She had to hold it with both arms to keep from dropping it, propping the book up against her knee as well. Her new height was clearly going to take a lot of getting used to.

"Ok, got it"

The interplay of colours held so close to her was pretty distracting. Dale tried to ignore it by watching the attempts to reach the window.

Fun fact, Dale is only 3"5' as a Gnome, the book is easily over half that size

[flagisthief]

"Excellent." Scott slowly checked the door, making sure that it wasn't trapped in some way before he opened it slowly, peering through the small crack he was making.

[roll0] and scott gave the book to Dale to shut her up.:smallwink: She can't do much with a book almost the same size as her.

[Carson6412]

Kyle looks over to Dayle and shakes his head. "Here, it looks like you are having a ... bit of trouble with that. If you'd rather, I'll toss it in with the other books I carry in my pack."

[Lochar]

I'm looking it up this time, but even if you take 10 or 20, please let me know what your total is. Also, take 20 is only for times when you can accept also getting a 1 on a roll.

Aaron clambers up one of the bookshelves to get to the window. Outside he can see a mountainous region. There isn't much vegetation, but he does see the occasional green tree. Looking up, the sky has a handful of puffy white clouds, and in the distance a bird of some type wings it's way east. No sign of any creature large enough to have caused a shadow, perhaps it was only one of the clouds.


Believing there are no traps on the study door, Scott opens the door just enough to see through. The study is apparently at the end of a hallway, with a door opposite it. Color bleeds out as his eyes shift to darkvision, the hallway having no light. It goes down another twenty or thirty feet before opening up to another room of some type.

It strikes Scott somehow familiar, before he realizes that it's the same layout of Jake's home, if the study was the game parlor.

[Comissar]

Smiling sheepishly, Dale hefted the book up and held it out to Kyle.

"Thanks, it wasn't the easiest thing to hold."

[blackwind1kaze]

While maintaining his place on the window, Aaron looks at the bird a little trying to see if he knew it at all but nothing comes to mind. "Hmm... Weird..." Aaron says as he slides down the wall and lands firmly on the ground. "Well, whatever it was is gone now. It might have been just a cloud but with how real this is, i'm still not so sure." Aaron then moves over to the doorway and looks out. His eyes adjusting to what he could manage to see from the light from the study spilling through to only a little bit of the hallway.

Got it, and Aaron has Low-Light Vision, just an FYI

[flagisthief]

"Darkvision is awesome. This building looks just like Jakes home, same layout I mean, I can see a hallway and another door." He opens the door further and steps into the hall. "I'll be back in a moment, rogue duties."

[roll0] Fast stealth so I can move normally.

[Lochar]

Assuming the door is opened more than a crack to let some actual light into the hallway, it is an empty hallway. The door opposite the study is wooden. Down the hallway is a larger room, also looking empty from here.

If it is a parallel to Jake's actual home, the room should be what passes for the living room and beyond that the foyer.

[Lochar]

Kyle:
Are you holding the book or putting it in your bag?

[flagisthief]

Scott opens the next door and peeks through.

[Lochar]

The room appears to have been a bedroom. The rough wooden frame of a bed sits in one corner, a pile of unidentifyable mush underneath it. A chamberpot sits in the opposite corner.

A pictureframe window several panes of glass missing lets light into the room and giving a good view outside the building you find yourselves in. The mountainous region outside rises high into the air.

[flagisthief]

Lets see whats outside. Scott moves to the window and looks out, leaning just enough to see while avoid being spotted if anyone is out there.

[Lochar]

Outside the ground is rocky and only has sparse vegetation. The occasional tree breaks up the view but beyond that not much of anything is visible in the distance, at least not from this side of the building.

[flagisthief]

Scott looks down to see what floor they are on and then up, to see what the weather is like. He pauses for another minute before returning to the others. "Unless you plan on taking a nap or using the chamber pot, there isn't much over there, we could climb through the window though, not much is outside."

[Lochar]

The room is ground floor. The window is hinged to open, though it appears a bit rusty. You could likely force it open and exit the house that way if you wanted. As seen from the study, the weather is fairly clear but with some clouds overhead.

[shugyosha]

Justin

"Wait," says Justin, "This place is secure on the inside but there is no door so we have to go out the window?"

Justin draws his great sword and heads out the door. He is surprised to find that the layout is identical to Jake's house on Earth. He checks the bathroom, wondering what the fantasy equivalent would be. Then heads to the living room for a quick look and then to the foyer. He checks the windows before heading to the door.


Perception checks
1d20+8 bathroom
1d20+8 living room
1d20+8 foyer
1d20+8 windows

[Carson6412]

As Scott leaves to search the rooms, Kyle takes the book and begins to look it over a bit. But once Justin drew his sword, he knew it was time for action. Kyle turns to get a better reach into his backpack, opens a side pouch, and starts to place the book all the way into the... ~Wait... d-did that eye just frown?~ Kyle pulls the book back out of the bag and calls to Dale, "Dale! This thing just moved!"

[Comissar]

Dale gave Kyle an exasperated look, "I don't know anything more about books that move on their own than you do. Maybe it's possessed or something, I don't know."

She sighed, putting a hand to her brow as she tried to think of other ways to scan the book. Something related to classes maybe? That could work...

"Hey, weren't you playing a Paladin?" She asked, letting her arm fall back down to her side, "If it's dangerous, it's probably evil. If it's not evil, I say we work it out later."

[Lochar]

Justin

He checks the bathroom, wondering what the fantasy equivalent would be. Then heads to the living room for a quick look and then to the foyer. He checks the windows before heading to the door.


Perception checks
[roll0] bathroom
[roll1] living room
[roll2] foyer
[roll3] windows


Sadly, the bathroom appears to have been nothing more than a wardrobe in this home, with dowels for hanging clothes from. The living room and foyer are empty, and the door to the outside is a stout wooden one, much heavier than the doors into the rooms have been.

The windows are all cracked with time, some missing panes. Of interest is the fact that even without something blocking birds and other creatures from getting in, no one has seen any signs of birdnests, rodents, or anything else.

[flagisthief]

"Didn't Jake say that time flows different here, I'd guess this building hasn't been occupied in a long time." Scott slowly drew his rapier and checked the blade. "Nice, shall we be going then."

[Carson6412]

"Right, I can do that. I was just .. surprised that I was holding a living book." Kyle gives a small head shake, "Alright, show me your secrets." Kyle holds his hand over the face of the book and focuses the same type of energy he used to see magic, but this time he uses the worst of humanity as his focus.

Using the paladin's detect evil ability on the book.

[blackwind1kaze]

"Right, I can do that. I was just .. surprised that I was holding a living book." Kyle gives a small head shake, "Alright, show me your secrets." Kyle holds his hand over the face of the book and focuses the same type of energy he used to see magic, but this time he uses the worst of humanity as his focus.

Using the paladin's detect evil ability on the book.

"Hey Kyle, don't forget to say 'Klatu Verata Nicktu' " Aaron chimes in real quick guessing at what he's actually trying to do.

[Lochar]

Pulling the book back out of his bag and casting his spell, Kyle senses nothing out of the ordinary about the book.

The eye, however, is much more animated now. And Kyle is treated to the sight of a book rolling it's eye at him.

[shugyosha]

Justin

Justin returns back to the others. Seeing that they were still investigating the book he calls for the none caster, "Scott, Aaron, could you guys come with me?"

Leading them to the foyer he explains this concerns, "Its obvious that no one's been here in a while, but look at those windows they're cracked and missing pieces but there isn't any sign that a bird or a mouse might have made it in here. I think this place might be protected by illusions or wards, which mean this might be a good base of operations. However, we may need to check if we can get back in.

So I'm thinking that I might try the door and see if I can get back in. If I can't get back open the door after a count of 10."

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron followed and then once he heard what Justin had to say, he nodded in agreement but said, "Should we make sure you can hear a knock on the door too?" Aaron was just curious cause if it was indeed a one-way door, they probably wouldn't hear a knock.

[flagisthief]

"After you leave, try the door, and if we don't hear anything after twenty seconds, then we'll open it and look outside." Scott offered after hearing both of their thoughts. "It could be that there is a nearby cave with some kind of animal that keeps away the smaller ones, but then we'd have to get rid of that."

[Carson6412]

"Well, it's not evil, but it just..." Kyle stares at the book for a moment. "Can you understand me? Blink once for yes, twice for no."

[shugyosha]

Justin

He nods to his friends then opens the door and steps out if it looks safe.

[Lochar]

The eye opens and closes once, then again.


I'll deal with the guys at the door whenever someone actually goes outside.

[Carson6412]

Kyle slowly turns to Dale, "Alright, I just got sassed by a book. I officially have no idea what's going on anymore." He faces the book again, "Well, it is too bad this thing can not understand me. I was just about to ask it if it would like to go back into the bag or not, but I guess we'll never know." Kyle shrugs and very very slowly starts bringing it towards the bag.

[shugyosha]

I'll deal with the guys at the door whenever someone actually goes outside.


Justin

He nods to his friends then opens the door and steps out if it looks safe.

Justin

Once out side he looks for any danger keeping the door open. If he doesn't see anything he'll close the door.


[roll0]

[Lochar]

Hah. I had my reply window open too long, apparently.

The outside of the house has a stone pathway that leads a few dozen feet away, up to two waist height stone pillars that probably at one point held a gate and fence, but the pillars are all that remains. A low, squat tree is nearby, green leaves adorning it.

Quite a ways away, at least several miles, a few other buildings are visible. There appears to be no danger so Justin closes the door.

For a long moment Justin waits to see if something happens, but nothing does. Eventually he opens the door back to the house.

[shugyosha]

Justin

He knocks on the door before entering, "Well, that was anti-climatic. It looks like just a house. There are other buildings about a mile away. I'm guessing that is where we start our quest once the others have checked the book out."

Justin starts to walk back to the parlor. "So what's the verdict on the book? Can you guys open it?"

[Comissar]

Dale grinned as Kyle argued with the book, the sight of it was just absurd. She glanced over as Justin rejoined them and commented "I don't know about opening it, but Kyle seems to have found a new friend."

Stretching her arms out to keep them from getting stiff, she continued "I think we're ready to move, though. The book's not evil, so it's probably safe. We can always stop to read it wherever we end up for the night"

[Carson6412]

Kyle glares at Dale's blatant misuse of the word friend, but he he lets it slide. "Yeah, we are ready to go... Wait, hold on." Kyle looks at the book, looks to Justin and Dale, and back to the book. "I'm not sure that we should just take this," Kyle says, looking very unsure of what he is about to say. "I mean, this is a sentient being.. I think. And if it is and it is living here...." He pauses and looks questioningly at the book, "Hey Book, do you mind tagging along?"

[Lochar]

The eye on the book does nothing in response to Kyle's question.

[flagisthief]

"Have you any idea how annoying being trapped in a house for countless years is? We'll bring it along, here, let me see it, I have an idea." Scott holds out a hand, returning his rapier to the sheath.

[Comissar]

Dale looks at Justin and Scott enquiringly, "What did you find out there, anyway? Any idea where we're going to go?"

[shugyosha]

Justin

"There's a few buildings a mile away but everything looks surprisingly normal. When we get outside you might want to check with your detect magic," he answers.

"You know, we are in a secure place and not in a rush. Scott can check for traps and if there isn't any then open the book. He can pick the lock right?"

[Comissar]

Dale crossed her arms uncomfortably in front of her, rubbing her left arm with her right slightly. As she spoke, she shook her head slightly at Justin's remark about not being in a rush, "I don't want to stay like this any longer than I have to... We can always take a look at the book when we stop for the night, we should make the most of the day though."

She sighed, walking out to take a look at the rest of the building, "There might be something else worth taking a look at around here, though. I'll give the house a quick once over, we should probably head down to the town when I'm done. This place is a bit creepy."

Ok, gonna scan the rest of the house with detect magic to make sure we don't miss anything that might be important. Recasting it if it runs out before the search is complete.

[shugyosha]

Justin

"So you'd rather open the book in an inn where our privacy might be in question and in a populated area so if anything bad might happen it happens to them here, than say in a secluded house were we are fairly sure no one else is around and most likely no one knows about us," he says then sighs.

"We have one vote for and one vote against; anyone else wants to chime in?"

[Comissar]

Dale turned back at the doorway, halting in her path to search the house, "It's not an evil book, Justin, it's not going to call daemons down on us," her tone was one of frustration as she spoke, she raised both arms and gestured around them at the empty house, "And who's going to care about what we're reading? Until this moment we didn't even exist in this world. Nobody care's about who we are, or where we came from. Our only way out of all of this is to do what Jake told us to, and the sooner we do that, the better."

[shugyosha]

Justin

"I never said evil," he sighed again, "You heard Jake. He's some powerful wizard who someone got rid of. Meaning there are people who don't want him to return and people who do. So we already have enemies that we don't know. I don't want some noise person who looks at us and tells we aren't from around here poking their head and informing the whatever faction is out there. You also know that time here goes quicker than back home which means taking the time to be careful cost us relatively nothing. If this book gives us more clues to what we are supposed to do here then soon we know the better. And some that is neutral is equally dangerous as something that is evil. Plus we really don't know how evil is defined here. Until we know that, a Paladin's detect evil has limited value."

[Comissar]

Dale looks as though she's about to say a retort, but instead just gives Justin a pained look before leaving to search the house.

Unless interrupted, Dale will now search the house for anything magical, using perception of 14 (taking 10) if needed

[flagisthief]

"Why would we open it at an inn when we can open it in this house? As far as we know, there is nothing in this building." Scott offered, watching Dale leave. "There is a bed in the other room, and assuming we do actually keep watch and the like, we can take advantage of it."

[Carson6412]

Kyle sighs in disappointment as the eye does nothing, "I guess I was just over analyzing it then." He hands the book to Scott and agrees with the non-Dale side of the group, "I want to get back as fast as possible, but knowing this world, I'd also rather comeback alive. Scott, I think we're safe here so check to see if the lock is booby-trapped and if not, open it."

[Lochar]

Dale looks as though she's about to say a retort, but instead just gives Justin a pained look before leaving to search the house.

Unless interrupted, Dale will now search the house for anything magical, using perception of 14 (taking 10) if needed

The rest of the house only takes a few minutes to search through. In the kitchen, a pantry radiates a fair bit of magic of the purple hued variety.


Kyle sighs in disappointment as the eye does nothing, "I guess I was just over analyzing it then." He hands the book to Scott and agrees with the non-Dale side of the group, "I want to get back as fast as possible, but knowing this world, I'd also rather comeback alive. Scott, I think we're safe here so check to see if the lock is booby-trapped and if not, open it."

The book is latched, but not locked.

[flagisthief]

"Most excellent." He says, quickly unlatching the book and opening it.

[Comissar]

"Pantry of holding?"

Not seeing any reason why a pantry would be dangerous, Dale tested her theory by reaching inside of it, curious to both see if it behaved in the same way as the shelves and see if there was anything of use inside.

[Lochar]

"Most excellent." He says, quickly unlatching the book and opening it.

The inside cover of the book seems less like leather and more like flesh, especially as at touch it seems to quiver.

The first page of the book is empty but for a moment, before words write themselves. Who is the master?


"Pantry of holding?"

Not seeing any reason why a pantry would be dangerous, Dale tested her theory by reaching inside of it, curious to both see if it behaved in the same way as the shelves and see if there was anything of use inside.

Upon opening the pantry and reaching in, a shimmer fills it before simple breads and cheese appears, with small clay jugs next to it. Enough food and water to feed the group easily. Still under the spell of detect magic, the purple energies fade to almost nothing.

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron finally walks back into the room with the group and the book "so, what's new? oh i see you opened the book finally." Aaron moves over and peeks at the inside. "Who's the Master? What, like Doctor Who?"

[Lochar]

The page of the book turns on its own, more writing appearing on the next page.

Incorrect. Who is the master, invaders? Answer or face the wrath of the Runelord.

[Comissar]

Dale watched with interest as the food and drink appeared. The disappearance of the aura also caught her attention.

"Huh... Not what I was expecting, pretty neat though. I wonder if it re-fills?"

Trying out her theory, Dale emptied out the pantry, putting the contents on the floor next to her, before closing and re-opening it.

[Lochar]

Dale watched with interest as the food and drink appeared. The disappearance of the aura also caught his attention.

"Huh... Not what I was expecting, pretty neat though. I wonder if it re-fills?"

Trying out her theory, Dale emptied out the pantry, putting the contents on the floor next to her, before closing and re-opening it.

Sadly, nothing happens. Perhaps the magic isn't strong enough now for another conjuration.

[Comissar]

Dale waits for a few minutes to see if the pantry would re-fill. When it didn't, she shrugged and picked up one of the pieces of bread. Not feeling ready to rejoin the others, she sat down and made a simple meal of cheese and bread. As she ate, she watched the pantry curiously, it seemed odd that it would only produce the food once.

[Carson6412]

Kyle takes out the inkpen, ink, and a few sheets of paper out of his bag. " I wonder if it responds to writing like Tom Riddle?" Kyle dips the pen into the ink and writes a few practice words on a sheet of rice paper. After he gets used to using the pen, he turns to the group and asks, "If no one objects, I am going to try writing in it.
If no one stops him, Kyle will write, in beautiful calligraphy, "I am Kyle Summer. Our group has no current leader, what do you mean by master?

[shugyosha]

Justin

Hearing the question he says, "This is Jake's old place and he's the Runelord of Sloth. It's probably his book."

[Carson6412]

Before writing anything, Kyle turns to Justin, "Right, but there was a Runelord after him as well.. Krune I believe? So we could assume that Master means Runelord and that it is asking for the name of not the previous Runelord, but the one before him... Kyle holds the pen above the pages, "But I guess it would make sense for Jake to send us to his book... Shall I write his name then? What was it? Imari?"

[flagisthief]

"Would you guys quit screwing around?" Scott asks, exasperated. "It responded before without you writing in it, so put that silly thing down. Book, I assume you are talking about one of the Runelords, well, we were sent here by the Runelord of Sloth, or at least the former one, now if you have a problem with that, I will be perfectly content shutting you and placing you back in the crevice you came from, is that understood?" Scott turned away from the others and sat against the wall, setting the book on the floor, still open. "Please think before you act. What is Dale doing?"

[Lochar]

The book writes in itself once more. Imari is the master. Why is the master the previous Runelord? Explain.

The page then flips.

You opened me, child of Gluttony. You cannot close me so easily.

[shugyosha]

Justin

"Imari sent us," explained Justin as he talked into the book. "Uh... Glutton there miss-spoke, I think he assumed when Imari's sole was trapped another Runelord of Sloth would be chosen. We need help in finding the Dragon-Tooth Staff, will you help us?"

[Lochar]

The book flips back to the first page, the previous writing gone before new words appear.

I will assume you are mentally deficient and are referring to the Dragon-Toothed Spear that is the right of the Runelord of Sloth.

I am bound to the master's interests, but none of you appear strong enough to retrieve the Spear from one who deposed a Runelord. I am a book of spell knowledge, not martial ability.

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron getting a little pissed now, forcibly grabbed the book looking straight at it and asked in a threatening tone, "Look, can you get us to the damn spear or can't you?"

[roll0]

[Lochar]

You are your namesake, Child of Wrath. I can discover it's location. I merely doubt your ability to retrieve it. I question why master would send weak servants. Perhaps I will make you tell me.


Ego battle. I need a Will save from Aaron.

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron could sense the book was trying to get the better of him but if he could, he would not allow it.

[roll0]

[Lochar]

The words on the book took on an almost amused tilt. Perhaps master did not err in you. Set me down and I will scry for the Spear as you so eloquently request.

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron moved over to the table with the book. He then calmly set it down on the table even though inside, he still wanted to rip the book a new one. "There, now scry", Aaron says with a bit more calmed version of what he used to threaten the book with.

[Lochar]

My my, you could almost be a scion and not just a child. The words appear on a new page, still amused.

And then the book seems to flip much deeper into itself, going nearly a third of the way into the book. Strange glyphs appear on the page before fading out, only to be replaced by new ones. These new glyphs seem to shimmer for a moment, before the book pages flip back to the beginning once more.
Interesting. Exactly how long has it been since last I was opened? An entire new sea. In that sea is an island and on that island a tower. High in the tower the Dragon-Toothed Spear resides. Do you care that I had to overcome a powerful aura of hiding to find it?

[flagisthief]

"We will just have to get more powerful before we reach our destination, yes, it will be difficult, but we owe him that much. It has probably been close to the ten thousand years that Jake mentioned before." Scott, sighs and looks back at the others. Seeing as how this book seems to be the most intelligent thing here, would you guys chose you words carefully, also Aaron, you look like an idiot, yelling at a book.

[shugyosha]

Justin

"Looks like someone made their intimidate roll," mumbles Justin.

"Book do you have a name? Can you tell us what the Dragon-Tooth Staff looks like? And what obstacles might we encounter protecting it?"

[Lochar]

Justin

"Looks like someone made their intimidate roll," mumbles Justin.

"Book do you have a name? Can you tell us what the Dragon-Tooth Staff looks like? And what obstacles might we encounter protecting it?"

Roll?

I have no name. The book then flips through it's pages, stopping before an image of a longspear, carved with many runes and topped with the shaped tooth of a dragon. It holds there for a moment before flipping back to another page. I know nothing of this new sea, much less the island or tower. It is only by design of my masters magic that I am able to see the location of his Spear.

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron managed to hear what Justin said and asked, "You jealous bro?"

[Carson6412]

As Book writes to the group, Kyle strokes his bead thoughtfully, ~Man, I almost forgot that I had this!~ He sighs in distaste as he hears mention of the sea. "Great, first time I pick a heavier suit of armor and we go over an ocean, Kyle mutters. "Anyways, we have a heading, but we still don't know any local information. As the book does not know anything about that, apparently, we probably should head over to the houses that Justin saw. I feel as though we have picked this house clean and if we don't get a move-on soon, it'll be too late to make it to the buildings."

[shugyosha]

Justin

"Jealous? Not really," he says without inflection. "Yeah, we should go, now that we know what we have. We can ask it more questions later."

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron nods and says "i'll go get Dale, i think he was last in the kitchen." Aaron then leaves the room and heads to the kitchen. When he reaches the kitchen, he takes notice that Dale is sitting and eating bread and cheese. Aaron then yells at dale, "What the hell man? Here we are in the room checking out the book and you're sitting eating damn bread and cheese?!"

[Carson6412]

"Well, for now I think I shall carry the book. I mean, I have a waterproof bag that I'm carrying another book in so it makes sense. Plus, I'll probably be able to handle the extra weight better then the rest of you," Kyle says as he reaches over to pick up the book. "Sorry about this book, but we are going to need your help to help your master. So in you go."

[Comissar]

Dale's peace and quiet was interrupted by Aaron coming in and yelling at her. She glared up at him as he ranted. When he had finished, she stood silently and put some of the food into her backpack. Throwing it over her shoulder, she picked up the food she had been eating and, without a word, walked past Aaron and out of the room. Working on the assumption that the rest would still be in the room they arrived in, given that they were still working on the book, she headed back to the sihedron table.

Seeing the book being packed away, she asked "Are we done here?"

[flagisthief]

Scott sighed at them all and walked past, making his way to the entry hall and then, outside. He looked around before focusing on the closest building and making his way there.

[Comissar]

"I'll take that as a 'yes' then..."

Following closely after Scott, Dale found herself almost having to jog to keep up. She stopped once outside the house, taking in the surrounding scenery. She had to admit, even though she didn't want to be here, it looked pleasant.

[flagisthief]

Scott slowed down just a tad when Dale caught up and placed a hand on her shoulder, finally appreciating how much shorter Dale is as a gnome. "It isn't all bad Dale, we are in one hell of an interesting place. What did you decide for your character's name again, just in case we run into someone from this world, Scott and Dale might be odd names for inhumans."

[shugyosha]

Justin

"All our names will be unusual here, I think," he says as he walks with the others. "We'll need to get horses soon or at least one for Kyle."

[Comissar]

Dale glanced up at Scott, giving him a weak smile as thanks for his reassurances. "I think they said a similar thing about Jurassic Park," She joked, half-heartedly, "look how that ended up."

Name... What was the character's name again... Dale groaned and buried her head in her hands. "It was 'Fudbiddle'. If we ever get out of here, please remind me to not play Gnomes again, especially not with names like that."

[flagisthief]

Scott looked up for a moment obviously trying to remember something. "'Let's get something straight, John, this is not a weekend excursion, this is a serious investigation of the stability of the island. Your investors, whom I represent, are deeply concerned. And 48 hours from now, if they're not convinced, I'm not convinced. I'll shut you down, John.' Jurassic Park, thats a good one, has a few good quotes that can fit into our situation quite nicely." Scott offered a short laugh, looking back down at Dale. "Fudbiddle, Dale, that is beautiful, I can't believe I couldn't remember it. Let's meet some other gnomes before we call you that in public. Come, we have houses to explore and T-Rex's to slay!"

[Comissar]

Dale smiled, more genuinely this time, the chance of seeing live dinosaurs exciting her. "I'd be willing to run the risk for a pet dinosaur."

She turned her attention to Justin, "Yeah, horses would be good. I've got no idea how to ride them, can't be that hard though, right?"

[Carson6412]

Kyle is beginning to look winded from keeping up with the group while dragging along the armor, "Yeah, we are going to need at least one horse if we want to keep up with this pace. Although Dale? You won't have to worry about riding any horses." He turns to her and laughs, "But you might want to think about getting yourself a nice little pony."

[Comissar]

Dale's face flushed red and she brought her arms across her body again, "I... Yeah, I guess it would be a pony..."

[flagisthief]

Scott smiled, stretching lightly. "Maybe a riding dog. Dale, you must relax a little more, yes, you are small, yes you are in a female body, but you won't get anywhere thinking like that. Lift your damn chin and live the life you chose." He glared down at Dale. "This world is a gift, who gives a damn about the specifics."

[Comissar]

Dale takes a few moments before she responds to Scott. "Let's... Let's just get going, the building's are some distance away, we don't really want to get caught out here at night."

She starts to walk towards the distant settlement, leaving the others to catch up to her.

[flagisthief]

I suppose tact is not my strong suit. Scott smiled to himself as they walked. "The average walking speed is around three miles an hour, and being that the buildings are within our line of sight, I highly doubt it'll be nightfall by the time we get there."

[Lochar]

Being that you're not sure if the sun is past or before the zenith on this world, after a little while of walking you find that it is past.

Passing beyond the old gate, anyone who thinks to turn around finds only the gate markers left and no house in site.

The sun is either somewhat before or after the zenith, you're not sure which.

[shugyosha]

Justin


I suppose tact is not my strong suit. Scott smiled to himself as they walked. "The average walking speed is around three miles an hour, and being that the buildings are within our line of sight, I highly doubt it'll be nightfall by the time we get there."

"Probably slower for someone in full plate," he turns around and exclaims, "Awww, cr@p! The enchantments weren't on the house, it was on the gate." Quickly he runs back and crosses the gate testing if the house will reappear.

[Lochar]

The house does not reappear, regardless of who goes through the gates. The two stone gate pillars do detect as conjuration magic.


And unless you can hit spellcraft 28 or better, don't bother rolling for it. :P

[Comissar]

Dale looked back at Justin's cry of surprise. Seeing the absent house and, perhaps more impressively, the cascading magic around the pillars, she soon echoed his shock with her own exclamation of surprise.

"It's just gone?!" Searching for an explanation, her attention was quickly drawn to the incandescent pillars, "I... Guess it's a one way portal? I don't know if there's a way to break back through, though. I just... Don't know enough about this place."

[Carson6412]

Kyle spins around trying to see though the darkness that clouds his vision, "Wait, what's gone? The gate? The buildings!?" He draws out his greatsword and strains to keep watch on everything around them, "Weapons out, people! I don't like the sound of this."

Perception check to spot any immediate danger.
[roll0]

[shugyosha]

Justin

"Kyle, ease up. The house disappeared once we passed the gate markers and does look like it's gone to return," explained Justin as we returned to his armor clad friend. "It's going to take us some time to get to those buildings, let's go."

[Carson6412]

Kyle lets out a great sigh, as he puts away his weapon, "Oh.. Well then.." He looks around at the group, rather embarrassed. "Let's... Let's get going then."

[Comissar]

"Yeah..." Dale watched the pillars for a few more seconds, hoping to see how they worked, before shaking her head and turning away, "Let's go."

Though she was eager to be moving, the house had felt like the last connection to her home. The thought of it now being beyond her reach... Dale lowered her head and pressed on towards the settlement, just about managing to keep pace with her heavily armoured friends.

[Lochar]

The sun dips lower towards the mountains as you all walk, a sign that the day is moving on. In this region, evening probably comes a little earlier than normal when the sun is completely shrouded by the mountains. The ground is rocky and broken up, but tough grasses hang on here and there.

Still, you'd figure you have an hour or two before it starts to get dark by the time you make it to the buildings. The buildings actually turn out to be maybe two dozen small buildings spread out before you. They appear to be built out of stone and slate roofed, and you can see beyond the buildings a small rise in the earth where a few people are doing some sort of work, hauling something into the ground.

Against all thoughts of how the game usually works, there aren't any children running around playing, nor does someone immediately notice the group and approach.

[Carson6412]

Kyle has one of his companions point out when the are nearing the town. As they draw near, but are still out of earshot, he draws a few symbols into the air to cast Enhanced Diplomacy. Once they walk into the village square, Kyle approaches the nearest adult.

"Hello there!" Kyle says drawing the man's attention. "This is a lovely little village you have here! Might it have any sort of inn, or place that us travelers could rest the night?"

[flagisthief]

Scott folded his arms behind himself, enjoying his new dexterity. "Maybe I should have put ranks into perform, I'd love to learn an instrument.

[Comissar]

Uncertain of what to do with herself, Dale walked up to where the locals were working around the ground. Interested to see what they were doing, she simply watched from a distance, ensuring that her friends were still within sight at the same time.

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron had followed the group but said nothing. He wasn't even surprised when the house vanished. As they approached the town he stayed off to the side as he examined his hands and gloves. One second the gloves were on fire, the next they turned cold with a light blue color to them. soon they turned to a dark green as it looked like they were holding acid, and then finally they turned back to their normal leather color but sparked with a little bit of electricity that jumped and connected through his fingers and hands. "Hmm... Interesting..." Aaron thought to himself, it soon dissipated though.

Purely for RPing, i am not activating any of my Assaults yet. I only get 4/Day

[shugyosha]

Justin

The stalwart man walks with Dale with a confidence his friends hadn't seen in him. As they reach the people he simply says. "Hello."

[Lochar]

Kyle has one of his companions point out when the are nearing the town. As they draw near, but are still out of earshot, he draws a few symbols into the air to cast Enhanced Diplomacy. Once they walk into the village square, Kyle approaches the nearest adult.

"Hello there!" Kyle says drawing the man's attention. "This is a lovely little village you have here! Might it have any sort of inn, or place that us travelers could rest the night?"

As you all get closer, you realize they are mostly moving dry goods into what appears to be an underground cave, though occasionally someone takes something out and sets it aside. Bracing around the entrance makes it look either man-made, or at least man-improved.

Upon your call, they stop and look up at you before one breaks away. He looks you all over for a moment. "We don't normally get many folks around here except the merchants looking to buy material. Jobe runs the tavern, he's got a spare room he rents out to the merchants."

He then looks you all over again. "What brings you out this way? You ain't got a wagon, so ain't likely you're merchants looking to buy slate or anything else out of the quarry."

[Comissar]

Dale looked up at the villager, offering a small smile by way of greeting. "We're just traveler's, only passing through," right now, all she wanted was to get to the inn, the town history lesson did not matter at all, "Could you point us to the tavern please?"

[Carson6412]

Kyle looks to Dale with a bit of surprise before continuing, "Yes, as my friend here said, we are just passing though and need a place to rest for the night. Although, if you could also point us to a place to buy a few supplies as well, it would be much appreciated."

[flagisthief]

We've come from quite far and have not seen anyone for quite a while. Scott offered, standing behind Dale.

[shugyosha]

Justin

Justin stands by and let's his friends answers. Next time, he thinks, they will have a cover story prepared.

[Lochar]

Fools rush in where...

The man gives the heavily armored Kyle a look over, shaking his head bemusedly. "Travelers, eh? Ya know, I weren't born yesterday. But as long as you ain't dragging nothing through here..." He points away from the cave entrance. "Second building that way. Jobe's probably getting a meal together for the miners when they get back."

[flagisthief]

Scott offered a bow of his head and started for thd building described. [/COLOR]Not to worry, we haven't been up to anything interesting and noone chases us, we just desire lodging and a few supplies."[/color]

[Carson6412]

Kyle looks at Scott and raises an eyebrow at his words. He turns back to the man, shaking his head, "Well, there's a blunt one is every group." He lets out a small laugh and continues, "Anyways, thanks again for your help." Kyle turns to follow Scott to the inn.

[shugyosha]

Justin

He just put his hand ti his face as the others answered. "Thanks for you help," he mumbled as he walked off to the tavern.

[Lochar]

The building spoken of is a good bit larger than the other buildings around it. No sign or other markings show it to be a tavern, though the door is open and a few voices can be heard within.

Entering, the first room is a large open area, with a few tables breaking up the floorspace. Only one table has anyone at it, two human men and a dwarven man sit, talking with mugs in front of them.

On the far end of the room is a small bar jutting out from the wall and a human man stands there. He notices you almost immediately and motions to sit anywhere, an intrigued look on his face.

The three at the table catch a look at you as well, their conversation dying off for a moment as they take you in before returning to their conversation.

[flagisthief]

Good afternoon friend, we require board for the night and it was suggested that you have one. Scott gave a short bow of his head and continued. You may call me Xal if it pleases you might i request your name?

[Comissar]

Still feeling a little unsettled at the size of the buildings, Dale followed her friends into the tavern. She was about to ask for a room when Scott started speaking. It was all she could do to not cover her face in embarrassment as she listened. Seriously, who even speaks like that?

"Sorry about him," Dale gestured vaguely at Scott "'Xal' here can be a bit dramatic sometimes. We were told you had some spare rooms available?"

[shugyosha]

Justin

He continued his silent vigil over his friends. Watching how the others reacted to them.

[Lochar]

Scott's manner of speech draws strange looks from the three at the table, but the man at the bar just sighs a bit, even when Dale tries to explain it away.

"Jobe. And I got two rooms. Merchant that comes through here every few months usually takes one and puts his men in the other." He looks the lot of you over. "They're small, but you'd probably all fit. You got coin or you a new merchant and looking to trade for your room?" He addresses Dale with the question.

[Comissar]

Dale nods, patting her belt to locate her coin purse. "We'll pay with coin, one room for my associates and a second for myself," as she said that, she glanced at her friends briefly, "I'm assuming, of course, that your rooms are large enough to accommodate that arrangement?"

Finding her purse, she unhooked it from her belt and double checked how much she had. Should be enough...

[Lochar]

Jobe looks the four men over. "Be a bit tight, but they should." He holds out a hand to Dale. "Two gold a room. Meals are two silver a person. My wife's got a couple lamb roasting. I got Xal, the rest of you have names?"

[Comissar]

Dale counted out four gold and two silver coins, passing them over to Jobe. "Deal, I'll pay for the rooms and my food, they can pay for their own meals."

As she returned her coin purse to her belt, Dale tried to work out what name to call herself, doubting that 'Dale' would be appropriate here. 'Fudbiddle' was simply ridiculous. "You can call me Fud if you like," Coin purse now secure, she looked back up at Jobe, "Would you mind pointing me to my room? I'd like to unpack."

[shugyosha]

Justin

"Hi, I'm Justin," he says as way of introduction. "I was wondering where I might buy a map?"

[Carson6412]

"Name's Kyle," he says giving the man a small two-finger wave from the side of his head. He walks over, digging two silver out of his belt. He hands it to Jobe, "Nice to meet your acquaintance. Now does this meal include a drink perhaps? It's mighty dusty on the road."

[blackwind1kaze]

Torn between using his real name and the name on his character sheet that he made, Aaron opened his mouth and allowed a name to come out. "Auron" Aaron said, he mentally did a facepalm to himself as he mixed up the names. "Pleasure to meet you." He then reached into his robes and pulled out his pouch and pulled out two silver pieces handing it to the man.

[Lochar]

"Name's Kyle," he says giving the man a small two-finger wave from the side of his head. He walks over, digging two silver out of his belt. He hands it to Jobe, "Nice to meet your acquaintance. Now does this meal include a drink perhaps? It's mighty dusty on the road."

"Yeah, it includes a mug of beer."


Justin

"Hi, I'm Justin," he says as way of introduction. "I was wondering where I might buy a map?"

"Dunno. Ain't never needed one myself, seeing as I got a fair sense of direction. Y'all lost then?" Jobe looks at you all.

[Comissar]

Dale shakes her head, "I wouldn't say we were lost," that'd imply knowing where you were meant to be after all... "We're just new to this area, need to make sure the maps we have are current."

Making a show of hefting her bag on her shoulder, she continued "Where did you say the rooms were again?"

Bluff check for the maps bit if you want it - [roll0]

[Lochar]

Jobe points to a opening near the bar. "Left through there, down the hall. Right goes to the kitchen. Don't bother my wife or she'll burn your portion of supper."

[flagisthief]

"But of course." Scott matched, the others, finding the coins quickly by virtue of already examining where they were. "Thank you my good man, we shall not bother you or anyone else I expect." Scott ignored the looks and sighs from his party and follows Jobe's directions to the rooms.

[Lochar]

The two rooms are similar in appearance, not overly large but with two single person beds each. A window opens up out to the back of the tavern letting in natural light, dim as the day begins it's end. The mostly used stub of a candle is in one room while the second room's candle holder is completely empty.

The five of you could crowd into one bedroom, but it'd be a fairly tight squeeze.

The rooms are about eight or nine feet by the same. No connecting door between rooms.

[Comissar]

Dale gave Jobe a smile, "I'll be sure to avoid disturbing her."

Following the landlord's instructions, she headed past the bar and to the left, ignoring the sounds of cooking coming from her right. Ignoring the first room, she went to the one furthest from the entrance to the corridor. She stared for a few moments at the handle, again feeling the irritation of seeing it above her eye level. Reaching up, she pushed the door, leaning her weight against it to help open it.

Before entering her room, she looked up and gave Scott a smile, "I've got a few things I want to check before I eat, don't worry about waiting for me."

Not waiting for a reply, she stepped inside, shutting the door again behind her, once again using her weight to help close it.

Once inside, she looked around. A pair of vast beds, standing as high as her shoulders, filled most of the room. The ceiling soared above, probably reaching to be three times her height. Wordlessly, Dale took off her backpack, letting it fall to the floor beside her.

"I can't do this..."

Slowly, back against the door, Dale slid to the floor. She pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging her arms around her legs as she did so. Silent tears began to roll down her cheeks as she lowered her head.

[shugyosha]

Justin

"Yeah, we're new around here," he says as the others check the rooms. "So what is this town called."


[roll0] knowledge local
once he knows where he is, what information does he know about the area: who rules, where the major cities, people of importance, etc

[Lochar]

Jobe pauses for a long moment, looking at Justin. "Ithros. You all are lost, ain't you? Looking for maps, don't know the only town you're in when it's the only town in a four day walk. Where'd you get lost from, boy?"


The name of the town, the same one Jake gave you all before he sent you here, seems to prod at knowledge you didn't know you had.

A tiny town of no more than a couple hundred souls, mining the Kodar mountains. Very, very far north and you're probably lucky it's summer months because otherwise you'd be stuck in deep snow.

Ithros is somewhat on the edge of the border of the Land of the Linnorm Kings and Varisia and doesn't appear to be ruled over by a Linnorm King, though there may be one nearby but you don't know.

[shugyosha]

Justin

He smiles; "Well, that's hard to say really. My friends will tell you I've been lost ever since they met me," Justin says trying to buy sometime to collect his thoughts. "We're chasing some old legend of the Runelords. Know anything about that?"

[Lochar]

"Only the old stories. Though I heard a few months ago last time the merchants came through. Apparently one of 'em about woke up and the Pathfinder Society put 'em back down. Krune, I think's what he said."

Jobe spits into something behind the bar. "If that was true, they did everyone a favor. Don't need no mad wizard kings from 'fore Earthfall going about."

[Carson6412]

"Yeah, I think having one of them back is the last thing this world need," Kyle says dryly. "And Ithros you say? Right, I shoulda figured that out. Well, tomorrow we shall be leaving to the sea. Do you know any good paths to get though the mountains?"

[shugyosha]

Justin

He tries to recall lore about history of the Runelords.


[roll0] knowledge History

[Lochar]

"The road to the quarry leads deeper into the mountains, then to the fingers. Probly thirty miles or so. That's where the merchants usually take the stuff we sell 'em." Jobe pauses. "Unless you're looking to go overland to get to the Steaming Sea? That'd be a few weeks at least, by foot."

[Carson6412]

Kyle strokes his beard thoughtfully at the information," Hmm... We'll probably be heading though the mountains then. Going over would take way too long." Kyle sets his hands down on the bar, "Welp, thank you for your help. Let me know when the meal is ready. Oh and do you mind if I get that mug now?" After he gets his mug, Kyle pushes himself up from the bar and walks over to an empty table and drops down into a chair.

[Lochar]

"Sure."

Jobe takes Kyle's coin before filling a rather large mug from a tapped barrel, handing it back to him.

As Kyle sits to wait, a number of additional people start trickling into the tavern. They give interested looks to the newcomers, but get drinks themselves or just sit. A younger girl comes out of the back door and begins moving through the small crowd, apparently getting orders.

[blackwind1kaze]

Having given Jobe his two silver pieces for the meal and drink, Aaron moves and sits with Kyle at the table. Aaron surveys the people walking in and sitting down but doesn't say anything yet even though he glances toward Kyle's direction.

[flagisthief]

Scott sits on the floor in the room given to them, contemplating on the days events, the fact that they could never go home finally dawning on him. "I do wonder if we will go home when this is all said and done."

[Carson6412]

Kyle takes a swig of his beer and gives a slight grimace. He tastes his mouth a few times and slowly sets down the mug. "You know, I enjoy a good beer as much as the next guy, but uh..." he looks at the mug and back to Aaron before continuing. "Anyways, I think we need to take that mountain path and try to get the nearest harbor. Even, if its the wrong ocean, it'll probably be faster to travel by boat then by foot, I .. think." He lets out a sigh and continues. "But,.. I don't know. What are your thoughts?"

[blackwind1kaze]

Aaron nodded in agreement. "We need to travel that way. While yes, I agree it might not be the right way, it is the safest. Traveling by boat is one thing but remember; if our experience over the years of training has taught us anything, then on foot is the deadliest as there are always wandering enemies somewhere." Aaron said while looking at the mug now sitting on the table wondering when he'd be getting his next as well as many other things.

[shugyosha]

Justin

Sitting down with his friends, he listen to what they say then adds, "We need to find the Pathfinder Society. What does any of you guys know about them and Krune?"

[Lochar]

As you all continue to discuss your business, the young woman approaches with several plates, serving fairly generous portions of lamb. Drinks are refilled once additional coin is given to her.

[flagisthief]

Scott waits for a few minutes before returning to the others, tracking down Kyle. "I was thinking about some light reading, would you mind?." He paused for a moment before turning back to the bartender. "Who might sell some gear, I need new rope."

[Comissar]

Unsteadily, Dale pushed herself up to her feet, picking her bag up as she did so. Without much enthusiasm she took it over to the nearest bed, laying it on the covers while she had a look inside. All she found were a few glass bottles filled with a red liquid, presumably potions, the food from the pantry earlier and what looked like a wand. That really was everything then.

Dale looked back at the door. Would they be missing her yet? She sealed her bag again, leaving it on the bed. Feeling very aware of the tears staining her cheeks, she drew forth a bit of energy. An odd tingle crossed her face, cleaning away the tear stains.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself again, she left her room, making sure to close the door behind her. By the time she got back to the main room, she had a smile on her face. The others were already seated, their meals on the table before them. It didn't look like any of the chairs were tall enough for her, though. Catching the attention of one of the waitresses on the way over, she asked "Hey, sorry to bother you, but would you mind bringing a taller chair over for that table?"

Upon receiving the confirmation, she walked over to join her friends. "How's the food, then?"

[shugyosha]

Justin

He hated repeating himself. "So none of you know anything about Krune? But we know he has the spear and he's part of the Pathfinder Society. Best to find out more about them as it seems they will be an active obstacle to us rather than rushing in and guessing which island we are looking for."

[blackwind1kaze]

Justin

He hated repeating himself. "So none of you know anything about Krune? But we know he has the spear and he's part of the Pathfinder Society. Best to find out more about them as it seems they will be an active obstacle to us rather than rushing in and guessing which island we are looking for."

Aaron kept his voice a little low as he looked at Justin after getting his meal and drink for the first time, "Hey, here's an idea, why don't you ask some of the people at the other tables about the history of the world. Maybe the most they'll do is look at you like you have a third eye. Best guess would be faking amnesia but this isn't that other place, so I wouldn't know how well that'd work here." Aaron then drinks some of the beer for the first time but didn't find it completely bad as he said in a normal voice, "A little robust, but I can live with it." he then started eating some of his lamb.

[Comissar]

Dale gave Aaron a long look as he talked, finally commenting "I thought we weren't drawing attention to ourselves... Just... Let me do the talking from now on, ok?" considering Jake's question, she continued "I thought Krune died, isn't that why we're here in the first place? That said, Pathfinder Society seems as good a place as any to start. Would they try and stop us, though? Jobe said they were against Krune."

[shugyosha]

Justin

"I'm just saying that the Pathfinder Society put down Krune; Krune had the staff; ergo the Pathfinder Society won't want another rune lord around and they might have the staff or know something about it."

[Comissar]

Dale shrugged, "Either way, makes sense to find the society first, we can talk a bit more about it when there's less people around if you like."

Content to leave the matter at that for the time being, she started to eat her food. The portion seemed absurdly large, it didn't seem likely that she could finish it.

[shugyosha]

Justin

He continues his meal and when he is finished he tells the group, "I'm going to... uhm... read the book. Make sure I'm not disturbed."

[Carson6412]

Kyle reaches into the bag for the book and watches as Scott questions the bartender about something. He nods to Dale as he/she walks into the room. Taking a few bites of the food, he listens to his companions talk.

He turns to Aaron, "I believe it would be a bad idea to just ask people common knowledge questions. We'd be very out of place. I think the best idea would be to track down some sort of library. We could find all the information we needed without raising too many questions."

To Justin, "I was going to give it to Scott, but I guess he will meet you in the room if he wants to see it." Kyle hands the book over to him. "Try and see if you can get the book to give you a direction. Seas are very big so if we know which way, we'll at least be able to pinpoint which sea it probably is."

[Lochar]

Scott waits for a few minutes before returning to the others, tracking down Kyle. "I was thinking about some light reading, would you mind?." He paused for a moment before turning back to the bartender. "Who might sell some gear, I need new rope."

Apparently I missed this question. Thanks for pointing it out, Carson.

"Miner's probably got some extra rope if you want to buy it. We ain't big enough to have a sundries." Jobe shrugs.

[Comissar]

Dale shrugged as Justin and Scott get ready to leave the table."If you need my help with the, uh, reading, just come and get me."

She scratched her head, they'd have to come up with a better metaphor for that. After all, who needs help with reading?

"We'll hold the fort out here."

[flagisthief]

Yes, you don't have to remind me of how many languages you speak. I'll let you know if I need a translator. Scott set a hand on Dales shoulder before leaving. Come now, we have a tome to decipher. Scott led the way for justin and sat comfortably on the floor.

[blackwind1kaze]

He turns to Aaron, "I believe it would be a bad idea to just ask people common knowledge questions. We'd be very out of place. I think the best idea would be to track down some sort of library. We could find all the information we needed without raising too many questions."

Aaron looks at him while eating, once he finished his bite he stated, "That's what I was basically trying to say, but yeah, a library is easier."

[shugyosha]

Justine

He takes the book and goes into their room. Once the door is shut he goes to the bed and opens the book. "Hello book, I am Justin, what should I call you?"

[Lochar]

As Justin addresses the book, he feels it weigh heavily upon him.

I am a Book of Spell Knowledge.


You get hit with one negative level for not matching the book's alignment, so long as you're the one dealing with the book.

[Comissar]

Dale watched her two friends head back to their room. Not really feeling like joining Kyle and Aaron's conversation, she idly looked around the bar while she ate, being sure to not lock eyes with anyone as she did so. After all, the place seemed to be filling up fast, and it never hurt to know who was around you.

[Carson6412]

"But I doubt a small town such as this holds a vast library system to it. We may want to head to the nearest big city to get our bearings and such before we try and head straight for the staff." He says to Aaron.

[shugyosha]

Justin

The unease he felt didn't go unnoticed but he had things to do, recon. "Okay book, can you tell me how far and what direction the island the spear is on is from us?" he asked.

After the answer he continues with another question, "It looks like there may be someone who took over the position of Runelord of Sloth, can you tell me what powers the Dragon Tooth Spear has, and how does one beat a Runelord so that we can retrieve the spear to it rightful owner."

[Lochar]

No

I am dedicated to my master.

Roll a Will save for Ego dominance.

[blackwind1kaze]

"But I doubt a small town such as this holds a vast library system to it. We may want to head to the nearest big city to get our bearings and such before we try and head straight for the staff." He says to Aaron.

Aaron nods in agreement but says, "My brain's a little fried at the moment, which way is it to the nearest city that might actually have a good library or at least decent?

[Lochar]

You know, if I answer your question the way you've worded your post, you've been having your entire conversation in front of Jobe. Do you really want me to react that way?

Justin, you feel a certain lassitude as the book continues to write itself, flipping to a new page.

You will explain why the master sent you and where you come from.

[shugyosha]

Justin

"To reclaim the Dragon Tooth Spear and return it to him, thus bringing him back to this world," he says mindlessly