Fate of Two Worlds IC

[meemaas]

You have each gathered to this tavern because of a unique talent you discovered while living your life. A trick that is supposed to be impossible. Magic. The domain of story and legends, and yet, here it is, right within your grasp. You sought out others to understand this impossible gift, and in doing so, found yourselves here, with each other. The four of you arrive and seat yourselves at the expected table, waiting to see who chooses to break the ice.

[carnivoroustofu]

Garon coughs awkwardly to break the silence. The lightly tanned young man with a mop of brown hair that seems a bit thin for his age is usually not one to stumble on his words but today's occasion was a bit different.

Taking a swig from the tankard before him, he begins "So we're all here today because we have some ... Quirky talents. Has anyone experienced any... Say, unusual side effects after using their powers?"

[Man on Fire]

Neji, seeing how they finally started, gets her legs out of the table, puts her hat down and sits properly, isntead of making the chair balance on two legs. She adjusts her cloak a bit and looks at bron-haired human with her yellow eyes on amused, cat face.
"Nope. No. Niet. Naa." She says wth humorous tone. "And by the way, it would be nice to introduce ourselves first. I'm Neji. Neji Abroshtor. Pronounce "neh-jee". Try calling me "Nyaa" and I'll shoot off your manhood." She says, with playfull, kinda mysterious look, with no real threat or malice in her voice.

[carnivoroustofu]

Garon places his tankard back down perfectly onto the ring of condensation it had left on the table and makes a quick mental note: Possible instability with long term use ? Must monitor personal mental state. "Ah yes of course. My name is Garon, Garon Lamon."

[oyzar]

A gnome is sitting on one of the chairs. He has an extra prop to be able to see at level with the others. His purple hair is literally glittering as he seems so full of excitement that he is almost jumping on his chain. "Nathas Varam here. It's a pleasure to meet you all. Neji, Garon." he smiles widely as he surveys the others. "This is great. Magic really is the stuff of legend, so exciting." he shakes his head. "As for sideeffects, well accomplishing things I couldn't do before is more a direct result than a sideeffect, but I enjoy it. Were you thinking of anything specific?"

The gnome is wearing no armor, but rather some loose clothes that makes it seem easy to move around. He does have a bunch of different weapons strapped on him though.

[Anyr]

The final group member finally spoke. Until now, she'd just been surveying the others in silence.

"Dreiya Sullivan. No side effects so far."

And that, it seemed, was that. Obviously a woman of few words. Her appearance was similarly understated. She looked like an ordinary villager who'd accidentally sat down at the wrong table.

[meemaas]

As the four of you get to talking to each other, you feel a strange and yet welcoming presence in the air. As it appears, you turn in time to see a body flying past you. Looking to see the source, you see four monsters, creatures you have yet to see outside of books. Three of them are small slightly airborne creatures with leathery wings and brown skin. The last, in the back, which appeared to be responsible for the thrown human, is larger than any humanoid you have seen before and yet appears to be made of ice. They are all roughly 30 foot away from you.

Initiative
Nathas 19
Monster 4 17
Garon 16
Monster 3 15
Neji 11
Monster 1 11
Monster 2 11
Dreiya 9

Players may post their actions in any order, and i will organize them properly.

[oyzar]

During the talk Nathas was quite eager to share how the magic made him have a much brighter hope for the future. With it, he would be able to do deeds just like the heroes out of legend. He is barely able to contain his excitement, he is actually flashing bits of color and light here and there just for fun, effects provoked by his magic. The 3'5" gnome leaps out of his chair and storms towards the monsters while shouting "Monsters!". In one hand he whips out a chain with three knifeblades at the end and starts slowly spinning it. His other hand starts whiping back and forth while he utters "Sendoji la belele, conzumi nef tata." His hand turns towards the monsters, palm out as a vivid spray of color shower the flying beasts, blues, yellows, reds, purples and greens.


Move action move towards the creatures, draw his Flying Talon.
Standard Action Color Spray as many of the monsters as possible (in the tight quarters I imagine he can hit at least the three flying ones, not sure about the last one). DC 19 Will
8 HD or less: The creature is unconscious, blinded, and stunned for 2d4 rounds, then blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, and then stunned for 1 round. (Only living creatures are knocked unconscious.)

9 or 10 HD: The creature is blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, then stunned for 1 round.

11 or more HD: The creature is stunned for 1 round.
He will also start his Coat of Many Stars (4 hours remaining today, which will last for at least an hour at a time) Edit: Can't do two standard Actions.
Status:
HP: 45
AC: 14, though will probably use dodging panache for +6 AC on the first attack.

[Anyr]

Dreiya was just as slow to attack as she had been to talk. While everyone else rushed to strike one another, she leisurely drew her bow. Her eyes flickered between the various enemies, in search of the most injured one. She fired but a single arrow.



Dreiya activates Perfect Strike, and fires an arrow at the most injured monster.

Attack {Includes Deadly Aim and Point Blank Shot}: [roll0]/[roll1]; Damage: [roll2]

Edit: Forgot the damage bonus from Point Blank Shot. The damage should be 12, instead of 11.

[Man on Fire]

"Nice to meet you all." Neji says, looking at other threee, especially at Nathas. She was interested when he's going to ask about her very gnomish name, always willing to brag about her family. But then somebody flew over her head. And then monsters showed up. And, while she hasn't had time to, others could easily notice, that her white fur suddenly became completely black.
Uh-oh. Trouble." She sais, picking up her firearms. She moves toward the flying creatures, to get in the range and then shots two nearest her.

Drawing weapons as a free action.
Move action towards flying creatures.
Once she is in range, she shots two of the flying creatures.
twf attack vs touch AC
[roll0] dmg [roll1]
[roll2] dmg [roll3]

[carnivoroustofu]

"Well... There's the matter of... What the-" Garon stops abruptly as the remainder of his hair sheds off his head onto the table and floor. Not that anyone else noticed as a body was flung to towards them. Ducking under the table to get the rest of his hair before it got trampled by the inevitable stampede, Garon grabs his bow and turns to the monsters, "DID YOU DO THIS?! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"

Body of the night stance, stealth under the table [roll0]. And grabbing his bow and quiver.

[meemaas]

The four of you leap into action as others in the tavern start to run. As quickly as it started, Nathas launches his cone of color, a power that feels almost natural to him as it envelops the three flying creatures with its light. The three of them all collapse, crashing to the ground as though immobilized by the shock. The creature in the back that was out of range of the spell charges through his companions, as though they didn't matter, lunging its body into the first responder, however, with surprising agility, Nathas launches out with his weapon, causing the creature to fall head over heels at his feet like a rag doll. Garon slides under the table, hiding from sight of creatures, preparing himself for a sneaky strike, while both Neji and Dreiya launch attacks at the collapsed creatures, not a single shot missing between the two of them.

Monsters 1,2, and 3 are all unconscious for [roll0] rounds, blinded for [roll1] rounds, and stunned for an extra round beyond that.

Attack roll [roll2] (Assuming Nathas activates his panache ability in response to this)
Damage [roll3] + [roll4]

Monster 4 is presently prone.

[Anyr]

Two more arrows sang from Dreiya's bow: This time at the only creature still conscious. With the enemy so heavily outnumbered, she saw no need to push herself.


Arrow 1: [roll0]; Crit confirm: [roll1]; Damage: [roll2]
Arrow 2: [roll3]; Crit confirm: [roll4]; Damage: [roll5]

[Man on Fire]

Neji doesn't waste time and shots the last still standing creature with both guns. Whatever Nathas did, she hopes it'll keep the other creatures occupied enough for her to reaload after that.

full round action to shoot that last opponent with both guns.
[roll0] dmg [roll1]
[roll2] dmg [roll3]

[oyzar]

Nathas swings his bladed chain at the creature's feet as it charges towards him. Upon successfully felling the creature he twirls the weapon in an arc over his head bringing the blades to stab into the flesh of the creature. "Don't worry about the flying things, they are out for a while. Help me finish off this one." He takes a step back, he can't quite strike at the creature if it stands up, but he can fell it again if it moves closer.


Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]
Critical Confirm [roll2]
Critical Damage Damage [roll3]

AoO:
Trip [roll4]
5 foot step away from the creature after attacking so he ends up 15 feet away.

Status:
AC: 14
HP: 45/45
Level 1 spells used: 1/8

[carnivoroustofu]

Garon steadies his aim after a quick exhalation and lets loose a single arrow at the fallen monster, his potential outburst quelled only temporarily by the almost instinctive habit of being quiet when he was being sneaky.

attack [roll0]
bow damage [roll1]
body of the night bonus [roll2]
deadly strike [roll3]
total damage: 18
sneaking after sniping [roll4] (+15, -20 from sneaking after sniping)

[meemaas]

After striking out at the weakened creature, Nathas steps away, lashing out his weapon at the creature as soon as it stands up and closes in on him. With an impressive sweep, he knocks it back off its feet, almost making it regret having gotten up in the first place. As the other three launch out their projectiles at the creature, it is clear that it has taken far too much punishment, the creatures body shattering into chunks of ice.

As the party prepares to take care of the helpless creatures, a man steps into the door, clapping his hands slowly as he immediately draws some degree of attention from the party. Another one comes running in behind him and bolts into the back room while the first comes to speak to you.

"Well, if this wasn't a surprise. Usually when they attack they manage to kill a fair number of people before their portal fades away. And to find so many magic capable people in one place?" He tilts his head towards the people who didn't show their magic. "Yes, yes, i can see it in your eyes. And your movements. The magic enhances them beyond that of an ordinary human. Maybe you felt it."

[Anyr]

Dreiya shrugged.

"Not really. I've always moved this way. Who are you?"

She carefully studied the newcomer. Her bow hung conspicuously at one side, ready for use.

[Man on Fire]

"I am as graceful as ever." Neji starts reloading her guns. "I'm also fastest gun o nthis side of nearest river, my smile can kill and my snowwhite fur is..." And then she catches a glimpse of her in the mirror. "What! The! @#$%?! She yells loudly, for the first time noticing her fur is now completely black.

[oyzar]

Nathas summons a set of bright disks around himself, glittering like stars. He takes a wary step toward the man, bladed chain slowly waving at the ready. "Are you the cause of all this?" His normal smile is replaced by a grim expression as he studies the man.

[meemaas]

"I guess i should introduce myself, shouldn't i? I go by Carlos. Carlos Invidia. I am part of a group called the Defenders. We track down potential magical crossings and try to limit the damage when they come." He glances towards Nathas to answer his question next. "I didn't cause this. We had our estimate for this crossing off by about a block and rushed as fast as we could. For that, I must thank you for taking care of it in our place." He finally focuses on Neji. "Magic shows itself in each person differently, and many times has an effect on the humans body just as much as their abilities. For example, my eyes are normally green." He points at his clearly blue eyes as he finishes that sentence.

As Carlos is talking, the other guy who arrived with him comes out of the back room. "Bad news boss. The portal isn't due to close for another few minutes. We could have another crossing any moment. I'm trying to break it apart as we speak."

[carnivoroustofu]

Garon had been busy gathering up his hair and trying to stick it back on his head with no avail as Carlos introduced their circumstances. "Forget the portal ! What about my hair! Hey Carlos, how do you fix this ?! Wait - Will blowing up that portal thing stop this?" Garon holds up bunches of hair and tries to spread them as evenly as he can on his head before letting go gingerly ... and the hair stays on, albeit unnaturally so, as though it was held in place by an invisible force.

Prestidigitation 1lb force

[oyzar]

Nathas smiles as Carlos explains himself. "The defenders you say? That sounds awesome." He rushes towards where the man came from. "As for more creatures crossing, I guess we should deal with them as well then." His blades chain is spinning excitedly as he moves forward. The little gnome is thirsty to do good deeds.

[Anyr]

Dreiya considered the man's words. Based on the limited information available, she was inclined to believe him. These 'Defenders' sounded like just the sort of people she wanted to meet. The sooner she helped them close these portals, the sooner things would get back to normal.

"Fair enough. Need a hand?"

[meemaas]

Carlos moves towards the back door as he talks, waving for the others to follow him. "Your hair is reacting to the magic. Our world has no magic, but people are still born with a heritage from the time when magic did exist. By being exposed to it, your body is attempting to return to its roots. If you want to avoid this, i suggest you forget you ever met me and stay away from magic of any kind." He goes through the door, and waits for the others to follow, pointing at the flickering portal against the wall in the taverns kitchen. "The spells needed to break apart a portal aren't exactly simple. But if you'd like to help us, I do have a request i'd like to ask of you." He turns back to the party and bows his head softly. "There's been an increase in crossings lately, but Lorn and I are stretched fairly thin and we haven't had the chance to stop even half of the local crossings. Could I possibly ask you four, if you are willing, to venture through the portal and see if you can't prevent a crossing or two from inside the magic world?" He raises his head and looks each of you in the eye while waiting on an answer.

[oyzar]

Nathas looks a bit shocked at the question. So many new things happening at all once. Still, he is pleased to be included in the action, so he maintains a half-smile a barrage of questions shoots out as he feels that they have bad time. "So you want us to just jump into a portal and see if we can find things to fight? That sounds a bit weird to me. Is there no other way? Won't we be locked on the other side? What can we expect to find on the other side and how do we know what to look for?"


Sense Motive [roll0]

[carnivoroustofu]

"Are you ****ing me right now? Who's creating these portals! I'll cross it if I get to shoot the scumbag in the face with these!" Garon waves a hand full of arrows with his best menacing look. "Besides, it couldn't possibly get worse than it already is."

[Anyr]

Good questions from Nathas. Dreiya had nothing to add.

[meemaas]

"Monsters. You'd expect to find monsters on the other side. I don't know much about the magic world, I've only been in once myself. I understand if you don't want to, you've got no reason to do so. But every little bit of help means something to us. I don't know if they are plotting something, and we can't contact the boss until he chooses to grace our world with his presence again, so we're lost as to the reasoning. If you are willing though, Lorn can link your minds with his. Its a unique magic of his. It doesn't work without a portal, but the link doesn't break away from one, allowing you to know instantly when he is in contact with magic again. That is how we can lead you back out." Carlos moves to the portal, and starts to cast magic into it, working on it the same as Lorn had been. "As for who is making these portals. Its mostly the monsters doing it. I don't know that they have any manner of government in their world."

[oyzar]

Who was he kidding? He was going to do this no matter what they answered. This was the chance he had been waiting for, to prove that he was a hero. The reasonable thing to do might be to show caution and figure out the best way to do this. It would be much more stylish to dash in and save the world though. They might get the answers they needed underway anyway. thoughts racing through his mind ended with him saying. "Sure, I'm in. That spell does sound like a good idea though." He then takes a step closer to Carlos and the portal.

[Man on Fire]

Neji keeps quiet for now, seemingly focused on reloading her guns. In reality she is listening to every word. And more. She is using a power she feels in herself for a little trick. She tries to listen to thoughts of Carlos. She feels like going on an adventure anyway, but wants to be sure he's not hiding anything crucial.

Using Mind Reader Bloodline Ability

Just so you know, I want at least refunds for what I'll use up in this battle. Bullets are expensive, understand? She says, but has rascal smirk on her face. Adventures, oh how does she love them.

[Anyr]

Dreiya pondered; Then nodded.

"All right. We'll scout, halt the enemy, then return."

[carnivoroustofu]

Hm... Monster Slayer Garon.. That has a nice ring to it. I could go legit this time and reap the fame openly instead of the sneaky thief business and I'll get to shoot the bugger who made my hair fall out. I know a good wig maker, I could make this work... After a quick internal debate, Garon replies with a sudden burst of enthusiasm "Very well ! Lead us on, for the safety of the realm, kingdom, people and.. something!"

[meemaas]

Lorn looks at each of you in turn, and you feel a strange connection with him as he does. When he is done, he smiles. "Can you hear me?" As you hear the voice, you notice that his mouth never moved, and it takes a second for you to realize that you actually heard it in your head. He nods at you and gestures for the portal, confident that the connection has been made.

Carlos turns to you, still working his magic. "Good luck in there. You're gonna need it."

As the four of you enter the portal, you find yourself in what appears to be an abandoned city. You turn to check the portal and find it falling apart on your side just as soon as you guys had arrived. With the last bits of the portal, you hear one last voice in your heads. "Be warned. From what i've heard, the magic world does not follow the same rules as ours. Be prepared for anything."

Now that the portal is gone, you can no longer hear either Carlos or Lorn. However, you feel heavily energized, as though the magic in the air is in itself giving you strength. Looking around yourself, the buildings are surprisingly taller than the ones you're used to from your world. Its almost as if the materials and methods in their construction were impressively more advanced than your own society. Which come to think of it, they probably were, since they had magic. Many of the buildings are still perfectly intact, but the doors and windows appear to have rotted away or been broken down, and a heavy layer of sand covers everything that doesn't move on its own.

Your attempt to read Carlos's mind failed. It appears he made his saving throw.

[carnivoroustofu]

Garon stashes the remaining hair into his backpack, refills his quiver and sprays down whatever bloodstains are in the room quickly before dashing to join the others into the portal. He is in such a hurry, he does not notice that his skin taken on a barely perceptible darker hue as he steps through the portal.

Garon surveys the alien landscape before him and finds it wanting. "Wow, what a poorly maintained place. No wonder the monsters want to live at our place."

[Anyr]

Dreiya was already moving to search the area. A ruined city, hmm? That was fine. She'd seen those before. Dreiya slowly walked down the street, examining every building and intersection.

[oyzar]

Nathas is literally shining as he walks around in an armor of starts, though his hair is glittering as well, but that is just a cosmetic effect. "Let's get too this, we should find and stop any such monsters trying to cross. Seeing this civilization here, I do wonder if there are more civil inhabitants as well and not just monsters. Maybe some things we can even talk to? Let's not spread up though, we don't want to be caught facing those monsters alone. Anyone got any good suggestions for direction?" He straps on his buckler and keeps his chain ready as he hurries to follow Dreiya to examine the city. As he goes he sporadically stops to detect magic at the buildings and the surrounding area.



Perception [roll0]
Aura for Detect magic:[roll1]

[meemaas]

As Dreiya and Nathas head down the path, Nathas looks over the closest building and attempts to survey the amount of magic. As his eyes light up to allow him to see it though, he finds himself blinded by the strength of the magic. Once his magic disperses, he instead looks in a more mundane manner, and notices footprints in the sand for just one creature, about the same size as the ice creature would leave. Its hard to notice at a glance, however, and took careful examination to notice with the level of sand currently covering the ground.

[Man on Fire]

"I think if they just wanted to move, they could settle down somewhere nice. You know, without attacking people." Neji picks up her guns, preffering to rely on them for now on. "I say lets go to biggers, tallest, most narrow building. Scum usually gather in largest places." She suggests, bringing up some of her adventuring experience.

[carnivoroustofu]

"Sounds fine by me! I don't suppose something might sneak past us into the portal while we're gone, would it?"

[Anyr]

"Look behind you, Garon. There is no portal."

Dreiya would let Nathas take point when following the footprints; Well, assuming he pointed them out. If not, she'd continue walking down the street.

[oyzar]

Nathas does indeed point out the footprints. "Looks like someone or something has passed here not long ago. Lets see if we can see where they lead, I rather like that better than finding some random building, but I wouldn't want to split up. If more of you are in favor of Neji's idea we'll go with that. Are anyone good at tracking? I just found this, but I am not a tracker."

[carnivoroustofu]

Garon turns around and realises that the portal has closed behind them. "Oh. Excellent ! Let us proceed with the tracking! Afterall, how hard could it be to follow tracks on sand?"

survival [roll0]

[meemaas]

The path the tracks lead brings you back to where you first arrived, implying that the creature that left them was the attacker. Instead you turn around and follow them back the direction it came from, leading through the city towards what appears to be the center. You find it hard to tell since the sun, while visible, appears to be shifting on its own in random directions.

As you follow the tracks, you notice a shadow within one of the buildings.

[carnivoroustofu]

Garon coughs and remarks "Anyone remember the time we went on an adventure and we TOTALLY didn't notice someone hiding up in the high ground, say like that building over there?"

Bluff- Hidden Message DC15 [roll0]

[oyzar]

Nathas looks around worried. "There are someone hiding in a building? Well, it might be as good lead as any. Lead the way Garon."

Spend a move action to look around to try to figure out what Garon is talking about, Perception: [roll0]
Still no clue.

[meemaas]

A creature sticks its head out of an upper window. It carries the appearance of what appears to be a cross between a goblin and a bull, sitting clearly taller than goblins, but with noticable tusks and horns upon his head. He growls and yells out in a foreign language at you. When recognizing that you don't understand his words, he speaks in a very garbled version of common. "Mortals. You die here!!!" As he does, you notice a few creatures coming from different directions around you, responding to the yelling.

The creature then leaps out of the window, brandishing a poorly made broadsword as he points it at you.



Monster [roll0]
Dreiya [roll1]
Nathas [roll2]
Neji [roll3]
Garon [roll4]

Garon
Monster
Neji
Nathas
Dreiya

Players may post in any order.

You four are still grouped up, and he is about 45 feet away from you as a group. The others will arrive in two to three rounds, based on character estimate, and will be added to the initiative order when they arrive.

[Man on Fire]

"Oh my, look how scared I am of you! You're so big! So scary! So greasy!" Nejii yells as she cast spell to make ground under the monster slippery.


Cats grease

[Anyr]

Dreiya didn't bother to shoot the screaming creature. Her new allies would surely dispatch it with ease. Instead, she took some shots at the reinforcements that were rushing towards her.

Dreiya spends a point of ki; And fires three arrows at the closest reinforcing creature (unless it dies from the first shot, of course).
Arrow 1: [roll0]; Crit confirm: [roll1]; Damage: [roll2]
Arrow 2: [roll3]; Crit confirm: [roll4]; Damage: [roll5]
Arrow 3: [roll6]; Crit confirm: [roll7]; Damage: [roll8]

[carnivoroustofu]

The unprovoked assault by the beast-goblin annoys Garon instantly. Nevermind that there was a magical creature he had never seen threatening a painful death. He was the supposed to be the one yelling bloody murder here. "That's my line, you damned hair thief! You're going to feel this one." he yelled as he made distance between them as he nocked an arrow.

move action 30' in the direction away from the beast
swift action body of the night, +4 atk and 1d6 dmg
Standard action sting of the asp +1d6 dmg and 2 strength damage (DC16 Fort half), with additional 2 strength damage in next round on failed save

Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]
BotN bonus [roll2]
Deadly strike [roll3] (flatfooted if yet to act in first round of combat right?)
SotA [roll4]
total 10 dmg and 2 strength damage (DC16 Fort half), with additional 2 strength damage in next round on failed save

[oyzar]

Assuming the creature will be attacking the closest target, Garon.
Seeing the creature be covered in grease Nathas decided to charge at the monster. "We are not the ones to die here today." Swining his chain with fancy knives at the ends the little gnome runs across the battlefield. Like a ball of light, due to the armor, he comes up and lashes up at the creature.


Charge, though can only move 40 feet, but 10 foot range means he can hit even 45 foot away (likely the creature will be prone next to Garon though).
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
AC:17 (23 with Dodging Panache, which he will use against the first attack to try to hit him)
If the creature falls from grease and later tries to stand up, it will provoke an AoO:
Attack: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]
If the creature is not prone, but he does receive a second attack from a second source (the movement will likely negate a second attempt from the first source), he'll use the AoO roll above for Opportune Riposte and Parry instead.

[meemaas]

Garon fires his first shot with a resounding yell, the arrow piercing the creature in the chest and clearly staggering it for a moment, causing a portion of its innate power to be released. After the recoil however, the creature lurches towards Nathas, nimbly avoiding the sweep the hero attempted to knock him off his feet. It swings downwards at the man with his weapon, and with a quick strike, manages to cut him. However, in response to that, Neji hurls her spell, which, in catching him by surprise causes him to slide off his feet. Nathas takes advantage of its weakness to strike it down, cutting into it with extreme ease.

Finally, Dreiya ignores the creature and fires a few arrows towards the reinforcements. The first one strikes true, causing that target to collapse, while the other two whistle harmlessly past the next closest target.


Garon Save [roll0]

Monster Save [roll1]

Move + Attack (Assumed AoO roll used/failed)

Attack roll [roll2]
Damage [roll3]
Will save DC 13 or shaked for [roll4] rounds

Monster Save [roll5]

Nathas Save [roll6]

Players may attempt an int check to see if they can recognize the creatures power. Nobody has the appropriate knowledge

[Anyr]

Hmm, perhaps this creature wasn't such a pushover. Abandoning the (apparently weak) reinforcements, Dreiya spun around and took a few steps towards the raging beast. Once she had a good line on it, she joined her allies in their combined assault.

Dreiya moves forward until she's 30ft from the main enemy; Then fires three arrows at it. Perfect Strike used for first attack.
Arrow 1: [roll0] / [roll1]; Damage: [roll2]
Arrow 2: [roll3]; Crit confirm: [roll4]; Damage: [roll5]
Arrow 3: [roll6]; Crit confirm: [roll7]; Damage: [roll8]

[oyzar]

Nathas steps, skips and jumps backward, one step at a time. Still, so far he hasn't been very succesful, getting hit pretty hard and being unable to land any blows himself. If the creatures tries to get at him again he tries to spin his chain around the legs of the creature to make it fall. What the heck are you doing Nathas. You know you can't beat a brutish creature like this straight up. I should use my magic! After trying to dodge another swing from the creature he again steps further back to put some distance between them and calls forth a spray of colors to shower over any and all enemies in front of him.


Int check to identify the effect: [roll0]
Will save if needed: [roll1] (to avoid being shaken maybe)

Assuming I am allowed to hit and 5 foot step backwards last time he'll get an AoO if the creature tries to move up (should be 15 feet away)
Trip [roll2]

5 foot step further back then cast color spray (DC 19 Will) on the creature (and any others if they are nearby by now). If he can get another creature in range by not stepping further back he will do so.
8 HD or less: The creature is unconscious, blinded, and stunned for 2d4 rounds, then blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, and then stunned for 1 round. (Only living creatures are knocked unconscious.)

9 or 10 HD: The creature is blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, then stunned for 1 round.

11 or more HD: The creature is stunned for 1 round.
Armor Check Penalty: [roll3](1 is a fail)

Again he will use dodging panache on the first attack against him.
AC: 19 (25 with dodging panache)
HP: 37/45

[carnivoroustofu]

Garon scampers away from the monster as it approaches in an attempt to keep a distance between them whenever possible. Giving his chin a quick scratch with the feathered end of his arrow before nocking it, he wonders if children's stories about weird monsters and tales were based on what they saw now as he prepares to fire off the next arrow absentmindedly. Hm.. Tough critter. Let's try this one.

move action: repositioning to get a clear shot on the monster, preferably up to 60' away
attack: [roll0]
arrow damage: [roll1]
deadly strike damage: [roll2]
total 5 damage

[Man on Fire]

Neji picks up her guns and shoots at the nearest opponent with both of them.
"Taste the finest product of Abroshtor craft, you primitive, slime-eating orc bastards!" She yells in excitement, clearly enjoying her usuall stick of kicking buts and taking names.


Full round action to fire at the nearest opponent from both guns
[roll0] dmg [roll1]
[roll2] dmg [roll3]
Add whatever range penalties apply. If opponent is in first range, it goes against touch AC.

[meemaas]

Garon launches his attack at the creature, his arrow striking true upon the collapsed enemy. The creature struggles to its feet and focuses its energy, unleashing a bolt of its own power into Nathas, as it stumbles a bit. Neji goes to strike it down with her dual guns, but finds herself unable to bring herself to pull the triggers, locked in place with an unusual and inexplicable fear of it. Thankfully for her, Nathas lets out his bright spray of colors, and the creature, struggling to stand as it was, collapses once more to the ground, this time unable to move at all. Taking advantage of its now disability, Dreiya launches her attacks, which thanks to the beating it had taken, cause it to start bleeding heavily.

As the party turns their focus to the others moving in, the two creatures, now recognizable as almost the same as Orcs, although something is clearly off about them. The first one lunges forward At Dreiya, bringing his axe down on her in rage.

The Mongrelfolk is down for the count. The remaining reinforcements are now in the initiative order.

Nathas needs to roll a DC 13 will save of be shaken.

Orc Attack roll [roll0]
Damage [roll1]


Orc 1
Garon
Monster
Neji
Orc 2
Nathas
Dreiya

[carnivoroustofu]

"Oi oi look out for the weird orcs over there!" Garon yells as one of them takes a swing at Dreiya. He lines up another shot on the orc in the distance and focuses hard as he held his breath. For a split second the world seemed to slow down and the orc was full of openings. You're not going to like this one. Unless you like the taste of arrows.

Standard action Dimensional strike (enemy is flatfooted to this attack only)

Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]
Deadly strike [roll2]
BotN [roll3]
total 9 dmg

[oyzar]

If any of the orcs flies at Nathas he wil again try to trip them with his chain.

Trip: [roll0]

Nathas says "Foul beasts, why are you attacking us when we did nothing to provoke you?

Nathas moves around the battlefield trying to fit both orcs within the blast of his magic. As he does so he unclasps the buckler he is wearing and let it drop to the ground. A now somewhat familiar spray of colors gushes from Nathas' hands at the Orcs. It is still a brilliant display of a huge variety of colors. Despite lasting only an instant one get the feeling that you can look at it for days and continue finding new neuances to it.

Move around so he can hit both orcs with color spray.
Cast color spray (DC 19 Will) on both orcs
8 HD or less: The creature is unconscious, blinded, and stunned for 2d4 rounds, then blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, and then stunned for 1 round. (Only living creatures are knocked unconscious.)

9 or 10 HD: The creature is blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, then stunned for 1 round.

11 or more HD: The creature is stunned for 1 round.





Nathas drops his chain and draws out his slender small sword and charges at the closest standing/alive orc.

Charge: [roll1]
Damage [roll2]
Crit confirm: [roll3] (Crit on 18-20)
Crit Damage: [roll4]

[Man on Fire]

Neji is suprised by the sudden surge of fear, which paralyses her out of nowhere. She tries it again, hoping this effect won't repeat itself.

Again, shot from two guns at the orcs. If both are in the same range, one at one orc, another at the other. If not, both at the closest one.
[roll0] dmg [roll1]
[roll2] dmg [roll3]

[meemaas]

As the first orc strikes into Dreiya, Garon launches his attack, his arrows piercing clean into the creatures neck and causing it to collapse. As the Orc begins to fall, Neji launches her attacks towards the next one, her bullets unerringly striking it down as the first one had.

As the dust clears from the struggle, the party emerges victorious, nothing else in sight approaching. A quick search of the creatures finds just their weapons and a curious stone that the strange mongrel of a monster had pocketed.

Your spoils of war include two battleaxes and a broadsword, along with a magical stone, you each may attempt a DC 16 spellcraft check to see if you can identify it.

And no, you did not need to cast your color spray Nathas.

[Man on Fire]

"Yay! Taste that!" Neji jumps around, celebrating the victory, when she suddenly notices a stone left by one of the creatures. "Uuuu, shiny!" She picks it up. "What could you be, pretty little thing?"

[roll0]

[meemaas]

As you study the stone, you find yourself unable to identify what it itself is. As you are just about to give up, you hear a voice in your head, informing you the contents of the stone to be an ability named vigor, which is designed to strengthen your defenses upon activation.

DC 22 UMD check to activate this power stone of Vigor, which grants you 10 temporary HP. One time use.

[oyzar]

Nathas seems to shiver then shake. He goes over to the Mongrelfolk and finishes it off, slitting it's throat before wiping the blade off on the creature.. "Whoa, that was scary." He then touches his wound lightly. "So, do any of you got any healing? I am not badly hurt, but you never know how bad the next fight might turn out. Given that these guys did attack us on sight." He sighs. "So, is that stone any useful Neji?" He looks over to examine it as well. "Hmm, Neji sounds kinda like a gnomish name. Is that usual among cats?"

[roll0]

[Man on Fire]

"You can have it. It makes you healthier, but only temporairly. And it works only once." She handles the stone to Nathas.
"No. I mean, I don't know. It's just I was raised by gnomish family. Maybe you heard of famous gunsmith of Abroshtor family? That's my pa, he raised me like his own since I was a litte kitten!" Neji smiles, when Nathas asks about her family. She loves bragging about them, especially her dad. "He taught me everything I know about guns."

[Anyr]

"Do we have a medic? I got scraped a little back there."

Dreiya indicated a large bloody gash that ran down her side. For all the emphasis she gave it, the wound might as well have been a skinned knee. Still, it did prompt her to finally use her own magic for something: Conjuring an invisible suit of armour to guard her against further 'scrapes'. And when nobody volunteered themselves as a medic, Dreiya followed it up with another incantation. The orcish wound began to rapidly close up and disappear. It'd be completely gone within a minute.

[carnivoroustofu]

"Well I could stem the bleeding.." started Garon just as Dreiya began her incantation "... or you could do that." Garon moves to inspect the corpses for retrievable arrows and finds that none are salvageable. "Damn it I knew that deal was way too cheap, these arrows are fragile as twigs." he whined as he refilled his quiver and coated a few arrowheads with a splash of poison from a small flask.

"Hm.. I wonder if they were expecting us or something like that."

Poison is just fluff for some of the maneuvers

[meemaas]

The party starts off into the building the mongrelfolk came from. A quick search of the building finds it to be a pretty run-down place. Shuffling up into the second floor, the party takes their time looking through the furniture free rooms, until they find what appears to be a map that seems to have been left behind. Whats interesting about this map, however, is that it does not appear to be of the town you're currently in.

[Anyr]

Dreiya studied the map for a few moments, before handing it off to the next party member along. Cartography wasn't her strong suit.

"Does anyone recognise this place? Is it in our world or this one?"

[Man on Fire]

"All the tons look the same to me but what the heck." Neji picks up the map, studies it for a moment and then gives to next person.

Dunno if local or geography, doesn't matter because it's still the same modifier, so [roll0]

[carnivoroustofu]

Garon reapplies the force haphazardly holding his hair in place as he studied the map. "Eh... doesn't look like it's here, if that helps." His eyes light up as a thought occurs to him. "Do you think it might lead to treasure?"

[meemaas]

A close study of the map doesn't connect it to any locale you know from your world. Studying the map makes out what appears to be a small sparsely populated village with a castle up on a hill. Nothing in particular stands out on it though.

[carnivoroustofu]

"Hm.. looks like some civilization of some sort. Monster city huh, who would have thought.. I wonder if it's nearby." Garon looks out of the window from the building's vantage point, trying to match any topography he sees with the map's depictions.

perception [roll0]
survival if needed ? [roll1]

[PChubby]

*They sound normal enough, not brutish like the races I've seen in this odd place. Probably still on edge from the fight. Best announce yourself.*


"Hello?" The stranger's raspy voice rises from the bottom of the stairs. "My name's Harlan. Harlan Grimsley ... And this is my traveling companion Kal'gar. We mean no harm ... saw the fight from afar 'an I'm guessing you folks aren't from around here. Funny that, neither am I."

A burly, bearded man with a friendly smile stands at the base of the stairs holding his empty hands up, a mountain lion stands by his side.

[Man on Fire]

"Hey, look, another adventurer." Neji aves friendly a the man. But her other hand stays close to the gun. They try something funny, she goes for the lion.

[Anyr]

Dreiya's reaction was more blatant. She made no attempt to hide her bow's readiness to fire at the newcomer. She addressed him (as always) very bluntly.

"Who are you? How did you get here?"

[carnivoroustofu]

"Huh, there's someone else here too? Can you read maps? You're just in time if you can." Garon wonders aloud as he waves the map overhead.

[Man on Fire]

"And by "who" she means more than your name." Neji adds.

[PChubby]

"I'm afraid I'm not much for maps .... More than my name? We could be here a long time." The man says with a hearty laugh. He pauses for a moment before realizing his sense humor has done little to sooth tensions.

"Not much for humor I see. Well I'll be quick with my tale then. I am a son of freedom from the Arthfell foothills in Andoran. I'm a woodsman by trade and now find myself here, in this strange place." The man twirls his hands in a circle as he pauses. "Kal and I were fighting some of these vermin as they came through a portal when a group calling themselves the Defenders came to our aid. Their leader, an elf named Alendor, said he could see the magic of the land in me and asked me to join him and his men in preventing further tears into this world. We all stepped through the portal together but they were nowhere to be found after passing through. Kal and I had just holed-up in one of the abandoned buildings when we heard your scuffle."

[meemaas]

After a few minutes of talking, the party agree to follow the path that the orcs had taken to join in their previous battle. The rest allow Harlan to lead, a motion of safety to themselves, and for more combative reasons. As they make their way down the path, they come across the dead body of the orc that had been shot down before the others joined, and a quick search of it finds it with nothing but its weapon to loot. Leaving the body behind, they follow the tracks the orcs left on their path, and find them to be fairly fresh, stopping at a decrepit building with its door half on its hinges.

[carnivoroustofu]

"The creatures' lair! I wonder how many more await us in there." remarks Garon as he stops at the entrance and readies his bow. He listens closely in an attempt to hear any activity within.

perception [roll0]

[Anyr]

Dreiya hung back with her own bow at the ready.

"Watch yourselves. Their powers are strange."

[Man on Fire]

"Right." Neji nods, checking if her guns are properly loaded with two bullets each. "You know what they say. Better carry a shield, thamn come back on a shield." She casts a spell on her body.

Casting Shield on herself.

[PChubby]

"Agreed, some protection might be in order."

Harlan says with a whisper. With a few gestures and quiet words his skin briefly takes on a rough tree-like appearance before returning to normal. He then turns his attention to the building along with the others. With a nod towards the door, the woodsman makes a low clicking sound at Kal. The cat crouches low and slowly moves towards the door, sniffing the air as he goes.

Harlan:
Barkskin: +2na 40min
Perception: [roll0]

Kal'gar
Stealth: [roll1]
Perception: [roll2] + scent 30ft

[meemaas]

Try as you might, you hear nothing of note inside. Neither does the large cat smell anything. After a moment of waiting, you realize why. The door swings open quietly with the slight wind, revealing that the building is effectively empty. It has a few beds, but nothing else. The creatures appear, at least from the entrance, to have been using it as a makeshift camp and nothing more.

[carnivoroustofu]

"Huh. A bedroom. Not quite what I was expecting. Think they left anything behind?" says Garon as he strides in and starts poking around with the debris in the room.

perception [roll0]

[meemaas]

A quick search finds some spoiled half eaten food and a few odd poorly crafted daggers. As you give up going through the stuff, you take a quick look around out the backdoor, and find muddy tracks leading into the building from what now appears to be the edge of town.

[Anyr]

Dreiya looked down critically at the tracks. These creatures were embarrassingly easy to trace.

"Sloppy. Do they have no predators?"

[carnivoroustofu]

"Muddy tracks.. I wonder if they crossed a river or something." Garon mutters as he pulls out the map and looks for any water bodies marked out on it.

[Man on Fire]

"Better question, do we follow them?" Neji asks.

[meemaas]

Garon's look over the map shows only a single body of water in that area, a moat surrounding the castle on the hill, at least, if you're looking at the map correctly.

So, are we following the tracks?

[meemaas]

After an unspoken consensus, the party begins after the tracks, following them on their way out of town. Interestingly enough, as you look out across the edge of town, all you see is desert as far as the eye can see. But, the tracks stop suddenly, with the last one cut in half, as though something is blocking it. A close inspection shows that the area where it stops is shimmering, as though its just an image, and touching it your hands pass right through.

After a moment of worrying, you give in to your curiousity and step through, and find yourself in a completely different locale. Instead of a desert town, you now find yourself in a raining wet village, overlooked by a large castle up a hill. Instead of it being empty and lifeless, like the previous one, this one is bustling with activity, by a large number of creatures of all kinds.

[Anyr]

Even Dreiya was taken aback by this turn of events; Though not for long. The fisher wasted only a few seconds on useless amazement. Soon enough, she was calmly examining the new locale for points of interest. The creatures in particular got a lot of attention. What did they look like? What was their demeanour? Did they seem likely to become hostile?

[carnivoroustofu]

"Woah.. How the hells does that work ? What's real anymore ?" Garon steps repeatedly through the illusion, picking up sand and earth on either side and sifting them through his hands.

[Man on Fire]

"Hey, look, the locals. Maybe these ones are friendly? Lets go and ask." Neji puts her guns out, still being capable of reaching them in a need. She goes to approach nearest villager, looking as fiendly and non-threatening as possible.
"Hello! Could you help us? Me and my friends are lost, we could use some help. What's the name of this town?" She asks, trying to pull of a face of happy, if a bit lost girl.


Diplomacy [roll0]
If necessary, Bluff [roll1]

[meemaas]

The creatures looked more like the mongrel-like creature you fought before, a veritable mixbreed of various forms of monsters that you once knew from stories of the past. They seem, at least to start, to be acting much like villagers would in your world, handling their day to day lives and associating with each other as neighbors.

The first person Neji stops, an elderly, possibly female, form of what appears to be the child of a woodland faun, an elf, and a gnoll, all rolled into one, looks up at her and frowns a bit. It responds in a foreign language, and after a moment, realizing you don't understand it, switches to common, albeit in a broken form. "You...Mortals? Lord Ten ~garbled~ kill Mortals. You...hide. Home is safe..." After struggling to speak to you, the creature gestures over to a hut, hoping you catch its message.

[carnivoroustofu]

Surprised by the apparent friendliness of the strange old creature, Garon drops the soil and sand he was holding and walks over, visually inspecting her with excruciating detail as he walked circles around her. After a moment, he asks, "Hey old bag, you're not planning to sell us out to your leader, are you ?"

sense motive [roll0]

[Man on Fire]

"Hey, don't be rude!" Neji kicks Garon ligtly "Sorry for him, he's one of those, you know, "rebeliouuus loner" types. Rude as hell, but completelly harmless."


[roll0] Diplomacy
[roll1] Bluff if required

[Anyr]

While Dreiya's team-mates were arguing, she was making her way over to the hut.

"Thank you."

[meemaas]

The creature refuses to answer, possibly because she can't understand, and just ushers the rest of the party inside after Dreiya. Once everyone is inside, she pulls the door closed and runs off quickly, mumbling to herself in her strange language. Before you have time to consider leaving however, she returns, with another one that looks like her. This one clears his throat and starts speaking in a few languages you don't understand before starting in common, which, based on the looks on your faces, he understands you recognize. "You are mortals? What brings you here to our world? You know the Lord would have us kill you for even being here, right?"

[Man on Fire]

"Nooope, never heard of him." Neji shakes her head, trying to still appear as jus innocent, non-theatening catgirl. "Who is he? Sounds like a pretty bad guy. Were the big brutes who attacked us earlier working for him?"

[meemaas]

"I don't know anything about any brutes. I just know that you need to get out of here before someone finds you. He hates all mortals for the Split, and would kill you on sight if he even knew you had set foot here. Why are you here?"

[Anyr]

"Our world was attacked. Enemies swarm out of portals. We were sent to investigate."

[carnivoroustofu]

"Dreiya's making a great point here. Maybe if you all would stop with all the holes between here and there, we wouldn't have to come here in the first place! Sooo why is the Lord dude so mad over banana split?" comments Garon as he makes himself at home in the most comfortable chair.

[meemaas]

"The Split? The time when your kind separated us from your world and banished us to this wasteland? Most of our kind despise you for it."

[carnivoroustofu]

"Whoa, hold it right there old ... lady.. thing. I'm pretty sure that ain't in no history book I've heard back home. How long ago was this?"

[Man on Fire]

"First time I've heard of that Split thing too. I don't think this is common knowledge in our world, you know?"

[meemaas]

"It doesn't matter. Our kind, all our kinds, every creature banished to this land, even, is raised from youth with stories of it. Stories of the bright lush world we used to share, and stories of the monsters that removed us. Our Lord is one of the oldest. They say he was there when it happened. That your kind doesn't know about it..." He pauses for a second, trying to think about the words he needed.

[carnivoroustofu]

"What's wrong with your place anyway? Doesn't seem that bad, plenty of estate for the taking if you wanted to move in. A bit sandy though but so is the beach. I don't know what they tell you but it ain't no utopia on our end you know."

[Man on Fire]

"What he said. Our world isn't really that good place. I mean, wars, diseases, robberies, murder, despots, corruption, povertry, famine, greedy bastards sneaking into your family business... We have all kind of nasty stuff." Neji starts counting on her fingers. "I mean, I'm a hired gun, right? I like my job and all, but I'm not stupid enough to call world where people like me can get a well-paid job bright and lush." She pauses to let her words sink in. "Besides, portals open between the worlds and all your Lord do is send some jerks who try to kill everyone they see. If you guys really want to go back, why not sent diplomat or ambassadors? I mean yeah, those guys who banished you were probably monsters... but they're long dead. I think."


Diplomacy [roll0]

[Anyr]

"Hatred should not be allowed to cross so many generations. Ancestors quarrel, and their descendants pay the price."

For a moment, Dreiya's stoic expression flickered. Was that a trace of regret?

[meemaas]

"Our kind cannot exist in your world. And many of us cannot even leave our own home block. This place here? It always rains. Always. 200 cycles i've lived here, and never have i seen the light of day."

[Man on Fire]

"if you cannot live in our orld then why do some nasty, unpleasant guys come out of the portals and attack people? We've been sent hete precisely to find out what the heck is the deal with that."

[meemaas]

"I don't know anything about people attacking your world through portals."

[Anyr]

"Nonetheless, they exist. Portals open, and enemies emerge."

Dreiya disliked having to repeat herself. Maybe they needed to phrase their questions differently.

"Who has the power to do such a thing?"

[meemaas]

"I do not know. I don't know anything about portals. Maybe our Lord has that kind of power."

[carnivoroustofu]

"Hm... hold on a second here. Does this remind you of any place you know?" Garon digs the map out of his backpack and holds it up for mongrel creature to examine.

[meemaas]

The creature points at the town on the map. "That is here. You have a map of this block."

[Man on Fire]

"Looks to me liek we have to go talk to this Lord guy."

[Anyr]

Okay, that was enough talking. The line had to be drawn somewhere. Dreiya bowed her head politely to the creature who'd so freely taught her about this world.

"Thank you for your help. We should go, before we bring misfortune to you."

Dreiya may have been stoic, but she wasn't callous. It was becoming increasingly obvious that, by sheltering the party, these creatures were risking their lives. Dreiya wanted to minimise that risk as much as possible.

[carnivoroustofu]

"Just one last thing, where can we find this Lord of yours? The castle here maybe?" asks Garon as he points to the map. "Should we wait for nightfall or something? Supposedly we aren't topping the popularity charts here and us strutting around town in the day might end in some kind of riot."

[meemaas]

"Our lord lives in the castle, exactly as you thought. If you're serious about doing this. Just do not get into a fight with him." The mongrel man leads the party towards the back of his house, opening a backdoor and pointing out. "This should be the safest way to leave the house. Keep low and try not to be seen. If someone reports you you could have enemies on your tail faster than you can breathe"

Outside the door, you can see makeshift fences surrounding the back area of each house, with enough room to hide behind. Looking down one end, you can see it tapers off quickly and opens back up into the area you entered from, while the other direction seems to stop after about a dozen houses, at the foot of the hill.

[Man on Fire]

"Thank you very much for everything.". Neji bows her head, maybe a little bit too theatrically. "If there was a way we could show our grattitude..."

[meemaas]

The mongrel man gestures out the door. "Just don't tell anyone we helped you. I'd rather not my head on a pike"

[carnivoroustofu]

"Fair enough then, let's go!" Garon leaves quickly before the mongrel man can change his mind about compensation.

[Man on Fire]

"Good-Bye!" Neji bids their hosts farewell and heads out with rest of the party.

[Anyr]

Dreiya followed her teammates. She took the creatures' advice, and ducked low as she moved between the houses.

[meemaas]

The three of you sneak out of the house and keep moving, heads low to keep from being spotted. As you move towards the castle though, you hear a few twigs snapping. A quick glance shows that Neji misstepped and managed to crack a few sticks. As you move on, keeping quiet, the more perceptive of you can hear voices speaking in a foreign language. As you move, you recognize that the voices are coming closer.

What would you like to do?

[Anyr]

Dreiya looked around for possible hiding places. Was there an alcove? A gap in the barriers? Something to climb above or below? If there turned out to be no such refuge, she'd reluctantly ready her bow for the inevitable encounter. It was too much to hope that every inhabitant of this area would be friendly.

[meemaas]

A quick survey of your surroundings finds you the best hiding place would be over the fence between it and the nearby hut.

Make another stealth check please, if you wish to use this hiding place.

[Man on Fire]

Hey, it's not her fault. She was born to be eye-catching, mysterious and ravishing, not stealthy.
She is dumfounded when she sees her commrades trying to hide, before realizing they probably heard something. So she quickly tries to follow them and hide somewhere.
[roll0]Stealth

[meemaas]

The party tries to hide in the safe spot Dreiya picked out between the fence, but, as it seems bad things do run in threes, both Neji and Dreiya fumble and knock over one of the fences boards, letting it fall to the ground as if to alert the enemy as to who was there. Three strange creatures come to investigate, and upon seeing you, scream out. Not in anger or surprise, but in what appears to be genuine fear. Almost as quickly as they came, they run, screaming out foreign words as they go.

[Man on Fire]

"Don't know about you but I think we can kiss stealth goodbye." Neji says, trying to use her leg to delicatly move fence board she knocked down away from her. "But hey, now we can be eye-catching, mysterious and ravishing. Far away from here. We should run, like, right now" She suggests and if party agrees, starts running i nthe direction they were originally going.

[carnivoroustofu]

"Good call, let's make a break for it then!" agrees Garon as he tightens the straps on his backpack and gets ready to make a sprint.

[Anyr]

Dreiya followed. Was there ever any doubt?

[meemaas]

The three of you bolt down the path, and as you near the end, you hear voices yelling in that strange language. Looking behind you as you run, you see a few armed creatures coming around the path, running after you. Before they get halfway there though, they stop, staring in your direction as though shocked. Looking ahead of you all you see is the path up to the castle, no other creatures in sight, but the creatures stay where they are, as if afraid to come any closer.

[Man on Fire]

"What are we waiting for? Lets go!" Neji urges her commrades to go faster. She doesn't see a point thinking why their pursuers stopped. If anything attacks them, she always has her gun, after all.

[carnivoroustofu]

"Alright, a daring raid of the castle in plain view it is then!" adds Garon as he runs alongside Neji.

[Anyr]

Dreiya alone slowed down. She remembered the invisible wall which they'd crossed earlier. In this place, the entire terrain could change in a single step. She wanted to be able to stop dead at a moment's notice.

[meemaas]

The party continues up the path going up towards the castle, with Dreiya trailing behind the others. They make their way up, keeping their eyes out for threats from either direction, and finally stop a couple hundred yards from the castle. The three of them each duck behind a tree and take a moment to survey the area, recognizing at least what appears to be a dozen guards and only one entrance.

A close examination of the Castle sends chills down your spine. Made of what appears to be blackened bricks, the castle towers over the hilltop, with four major towers at each corner. Surrounding the castle is a moat, and while you can't see anything clearly, you can hear the water moving as though something large is traversing it. The only way across it appears to be the drawbridge, which has four guards posted, each dressed in Full Plate armor with their helmets closed, the armor fashioned in a style that in your day and age would be considered hundreds of years old. There are also four more patrolling the edges of the moat. The final four you see are patrolling the ramparts. All the others are dressed in the same manner as the drawbridge guards, but seem to be carrying larger weapons and crossbows in addition to the swords that the drawbridge guards have. Despite all the guards, there is no sign that they are on alert, signifying that they either are not expecting you, or else are not afraid.

[Man on Fire]

"Well, that's clearly too much for us. Do you guys have any plan?" Neji asks her commrades. "Just please, not one of those where I distract the guards by being sexy, they never work and make me look like a total idiot."

[carnivoroustofu]

Garon stops scratching out an overly complicated strategy schematic in the dirt when Neji mentions her refusal to use seduction and erases it with a few quick sweeps of his hand. "Er... so new plan then. If you're feeling it we could hang out for a bit and watch their routine? Security tends to be the laxest when the change of guard happens. Unless they freak out when they hear we're here.."

[Anyr]

"We don't have much time. Some already know that we're here. More will learn soon enough."

[carnivoroustofu]

"Hm... do we want it flashy or sneaky though? I've read about this in books. We could start a fire to grab their attention but the town might go toast. Or... sneak into supply carts? Ambush returning guards before they can inform them that we're here and disguise ourselves? We can't speak the language though.."

[Man on Fire]

"If we find one lone guard I might try to use magic to mind control him a bit." Neji suggests."I've never done that but it won't hurt to try."

[carnivoroustofu]

Garon scratches his chin and adjusts the pinned hair on his head before suggesting "Righty, let's try luring one of them over then. I got this, I used to do this kind of thing back home." Garon reaches out from behind the tree with one hand and starts rubbing the bark, somehow changing the bark's colour as he did. "Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple .. purple ... grey ?" Garon mutters absentmindedly as he tries to remember the colours of the rainbow.

Prestidigitation!

[meemaas]

One of the guards takes notice of the change in the distance after some time. He speaks to his companion at the front of the bridge. After a moment, they wave for another on the opposite side of the bridge, and two of them start off to investigate the changing colors.

[Man on Fire]

When one of the guards, Neji tries to appear in other's line of sight and have their eyes meet. And in that moment she gives her commands.
"I am your friend. You trust me with all your heart. Call other guards off and lead the other guy here. Don't worry, you know I only want the best for you, right?"

Stealth to not get other guards' attention, [roll0]
If needed, Bluff [roll1]
If opposed CHA checks needed , then CHA: [roll2]
Tell me if I need to roll anything else. Mind you I'm writing from somebody else's computer, chances are I might miss it.

[meemaas]

The guards eyes narrowed at Neji, suspicious, but not completely threatening. He speaks to his comrade in their foreign tongue before turning to address you in a heavily accented variation of common. "Mortals are no friends of mine. Tell me what you are doing here." The guard makes no motion of going after his weapon, as though willing to give Neji the benefit of the doubt despite all else.

That sense motive check had a negative chance of succeeding.

[Man on Fire]

Seeing how their gambit failed and recongizing how much in a pinch she found herself in, Neji decides to act fas and blunt.
"We are here to offer our services to the Lord." She lies.


[roll0] bluff check

[meemaas]

The guard smiles awkwardly and looks at his companion. After a second, he waves the party on. "Well, if thats the case, then come with us. We'll get you an audience right away." Him and his companion start off towards the castle, waving away their companion guards with a strange motion.

[Man on Fire]

Neji stares at the guard for a moment, completely taken away by the fact her bluff actually worked. She turns to her commrades with confused look, but then tries to put a face again and follow the guards. Of course she makes sure to have her guns at hand, just in case.

[meemaas]

The guard leads the party (possibly just Neji) into the castle, each time warning off the other guards off of the party until they make it into what appears to be a waiting room. "My Lord will be with you in a few minutes" He then leaves, leaving the party alone to prepare for the meeting, or possible slaughter.

[Anyr]

Dreiya reluctantly followed. This wasn't the approach she'd have chosen. Hopefully the gunslinger girl had some hidden plan up her sleeve; Or else they were likely about to die.

[meemaas]

The guards lead you into the castle, which is decorated quite strangely. Rather than the usual suits of armor and paintings you expect to find in a castle, you find images drawn straight onto the wall and stone statues in many different poses. The guard leads you fast into what appears to be a dining room, and then excuses himself to get their lord. The other one stands guard outside the door leaving the two of you alone together.

You have a small amount of time to make a plan if you so feel like it. Or otherwise talk between the two of you. If you guys just want to wait, let me know in the OOC and i'll skip ahead.

[meemaas]

After a few minutes of waiting, which pass fairly peacefully, the guards enter once more, and following behind them is what can only be described as a monster. He steps into the room and stands straight, standing at least 8 foot tall, with three pairs of arms, two of them crossed as the last ones sit inside pockets of what appear to be the fanciest clothing you may ever have seen, clearly tailor made for the gentleman. He has a face similar to a human, but with a third eye, and appears to be bald, with what appear to be magical tattoos upon his skull. The creature, which you can easily assume is the Lord, looks the both of you up and down for a moment before speaking. Or at least, you think its speaking, being that you only hear its voice inside your heads. "My soldiers say you mortals wish to serve me. I find it foolish to comprehend, but I shall hear you out. State your case as to why I should trust you to serve under me."

[Man on Fire]

Neji has been acting nervously until now, walking round the circles. She was like a long-tailed cat in a room full of armchairs.
Her bluff was thought on the spot and she didn't imagine it work so well, but here they are. She had no plan, and if she makes a single mistake, their heads are gonna roll. She made sure at least one window is open, just so she could jump, would they run out of options.
Once the lost arrived, she stood bravely, pulling all her charm in being eye-cathing, mysterious, ravishing, confident, knowing what she wants and whatever else she needs to look like Lord's equal.
"Your majesty." She makes overly dramatic bow. "We might be mortals, but we all had inhereit magical power by the blood of our ancestors. We entered your world by an accident, no, jugdment of fate, that make us stumble upon a portal and an organisation that tries to close them, whenever they appear.. You need to know that our world had the audicity to erase trace of all records and memories of crimes commited against this world and your people, our ancestors included. When we learned about these hideous crimes, we were shocked, no, horrified of it. And ashamed of our connections to the organisation. We offer you a possibility of destroying that organisation, from the inside, leading your enemies right into your trap. It is, we believe, a small token as the start of reparations our world oves yours. We are not as other mortals, matter of honor is extremely important for us ad we're ready to do everything to clean the blood of your people and our ancestors spill by others of our kind. We ask, no, beg you, to make us tools of your righteous vengeance!"


Activating bloodline Abbility Silver Tounge right before speaking (+5 Bluff)
Bluff rolls [roll0]
If needed, Diplomacy [roll1]

[meemaas]

The lord waves at his guards. "Leave us. I assure you I will be perfectly safe." As soon as the guards have left, the Lord moves in closer to Neji. "So those homebodies that hid you told you the story, did they? Well they don't know the entire story." Whether or not you react to that statement, he continues on, waving a chair over to him to seat himself. ""The Split, as it has been called. Was caused by a single foolish human. He believed that he could stop conflict by removing our power from the world, and so destroyed a God and removed it. He thought poorly, for all of us who were dependent on that power just to exist were separated from the world proper and sealed in this place but He believed he could stop those such as me, known once upon a time as Demon Lords, from ruling all races under our foot. And to an extent, he succeeded. But the worlds yearn to be one, and I seek to return it. Knowing all this, do you still wish to ally yourself with me? For it is not for the sake of killing His followers that I would wish your services." As he speaks, you notice that he highly emphasizes the word His, even hearing a slight snarl coming with it.

[Anyr]

Dreiya had serious, serious reservations about this plan. But unfortunately, it was far too late to back out now; And she didn't fancy her chances in combat with this 'Lord'. So in the absence of an alternative that wouldn't get them both killed, she nodded along with whatever Neji said. Hopefully this girl was a better liar than Dreiya herself.

[Man on Fire]

"With all due respect my Lord." Neji starts, carefully picking words and putting an additional bit of effort in sounding respectful if a bit concerned. "A person who would go as far as we did wouldn't back down just because of such reveal." She leaves out that's mostly because in this situation saying no would get them killed. "Besides, we have families and loved ones." She makes a bit devious smile. "It would be foolish to refuse soon to be ruler of the world."


Activating Silver TOunge again
[roll0] Bluff
[roll1] Diplomacy if needed

[meemaas]

The Demon Lord turned his gaze on Dreiya, sizing her up for a moment before turning to the catgirl again. "I may be one of the most powerful, but I would be foolish to believe that I would be the ruler of all. There are many much more powerful than myself." He turns to the door, and looks intently at it for a moment before continuing. "Before I can trust you to serve as my agents in your world, I must demand a test of your loyalty." He turns back and keeps his gaze intent on Neji. "If you are to earn my trust, then I want you to lure...HIM...here. Call in your head for Ortega. He will hear you and should be able to respond soon. I know he isn't far."

[Man on Fire]

"Yes, my Lord" Neji nods, and tries to call this whole Ortega. For now she has to go with the flow, she'll see where it's going to take her.

[meemaas]

As Neji puts out her call, she hears a response in kind. "Stay safe my child, I shall be there shortly." As soon as the mental response ends, the Lord gives you an eerie smile, as if to say he heard it.

After about a minute of silence, the Lord begins to speak to you once more. "You have done well my new tools. There is but one more task I have left for you before Ortega arrives. He pauses, and suddenly you both start to fear for your lives. "I want you to DIE!" With that last word, a massive burst of wind erupts, launching the both of you off your feet and out the window, breaking it as you fly over the moat, crashing into the ground with only your reflexes to save you. As soon as you come to your senses, you see the Lord floating out the window, and hear his voice as if he were yelling to the various guards you see out and around you. "A promotion will go to the soldier who brings me their heads before Ortega arrives!"

Reflex save DC 19 or take [roll0] damage from the fall.

If you want to try to resist the bull rush, you're welcome to, but I REALLY wouldn't recommend that one.

[Anyr]

At times like this Dreiya wished she were more assertive. She really should have spoke up earlier about this plan: Long before they reached the 'get thrown out of a window' phase. Ah well, no sense worrying about that now. Dreiya winced as hit the ground at a painfully great velocity. Wasting no time, she got straight onto her feet, and motioned to the girl who'd led them into this trap.

"Run!"

She then did just that. While fleeing for her life, she tried to contact Ortega again.

[Don't come. It's a trap. Don't come. It's a trap...]

[Man on Fire]

Whait, somebody actually answered? She wasn't prepared for that, but okay, maybe they'll be able to take the Lord with this Ortega guy...And then Neji is ejected from the room and into the air. Falling down she survives only thanks to her instinct and natural grace.
"Good thing cats always fall on all fours." She tries to pass a joke, but in current situation it fails horribly.
"You're a meanie." She yells towards the Lord. "You cannot lure us into false sense of security and then stab in the back! I was supposed to do this to you!" Neji in frustration launches spay of golden dust at the nearest group of guards and then gives her best to try to catch up to Dreya.
"Mister Ortega, don't come! It's a trap! I'm sorry, I wanted to trick this Lord guy and it got out of hand I'm not as smart as I thought, don't come!" She thinks in panic.

Casting Glitterdust at the nearest group of guards.

[meemaas]

[roll0]
[roll1]

A voice responds to the both of you as you call out to him. "Worry not, my children, with your warning, I will be safe. Just keep alive a little while longer." As you two run, you see that the guards are chasing you in turn, but that the Lord is remaining where he is, simply spectating instead. One of the closest guards is blinded by the spray of dust, while the other one follows after you, leaving his companion behind.

[Man on Fire]

"When a girl is running away from you, it means no!" Neji yells at the following guard and throws another spell in, covering the area in grease, making chasing them much harder to as many gaurds as she can catch withhin the range.
Then she continues running. This started becoming a habit of hers, ever since they got to this world.


Casting Grease, then keep running

[Anyr]

Dreiya kept running. There was little more to be done.

[meemaas]

Reflex save [roll0]

The two keep running, and continue on, making distance between them and the heavily armored guards until they reach a breakpoint, the cliffs edge. Turning around, they see the remaining guards still approaching, albeit slowly, when they hear a voice in their heads once more. "Jump, my children, and be freed."

[Man on Fire]

"Oka..Wait, what?" Neji stares in the sky above her, as if the voice was mocking her. After a moment of silence she sighs with resignation and turns to her commrades.
"Sorry I've got you into this. I thought it's going to be fun. I'm so stupid." She says to them, with regret in her voice.
She puts her weapons back in the holders, steps a bit foward and look at the approaching guards.
"When you go back to your lord, give him this message!" She yells at them, showing her middle finger to the guards. Then turns towards the edge. Takes a deep breath. Runs towards it. And jumps!

[meemaas]

"WHAT!!! You hear the Lord yell in your heads as you both jump off the cliff. Behind you you hear what sounds like open flames crashing behind you, and then watch as the ground comes hurtling towards you. As you get closer to the ground, however, you see a large winged...monster of some kind come shooting at you from the ground, with one arm, he grabs Neji around the waist, and the other he grabs Dreiya, slowing his ascent as he hovers with the two of you in hold.

"Thank you for trusting me. I was hoping to have a portal ready, but it may be a minute or two still." He drops carefully to the ground, letting both Neji and Dreiya onto their feet, and points upwards as you see the Lord descending towards you, a feeling that can only be described as pure unadulterated rage emanating from him as he approaches.

"You always have to mess my plans up, don't you Ortega? Can't even fall into a trap properly. But you made the mistake of saving these ants. Thanks to them, I still have the chance to kill you!!" As he finishes his sentence, two of his arms shoot out, and a trio of fiendish looking Gorillas come into being surrounding the heroes. Another pair of arms lashes out, and a number of meteors launch out from them, flying towards Ortega at the same time. "All of you, die!!!!"

As the meteors fly towards Ortega, he waves his hand, throwing magic of his own to knock each of them out of the path, and calls back at Tenma. "Tenma, didn't we use to at least have the common decency to be friendly once upon a time? Where was that?" As soon as he finishes his sentence, you hear him again in your head. "Keep yourselves alive. My fellow Defenders are working on the portal for your escape. I'll protect you from the worst he has to offer."

Looking around, you see a pair of humans hiding underneath a rock with some kind of magical barrier protecting them as they do some unusual gestures. Unsure of what they are doing, you prepare yourselves for the Gorillas, who are too close to outrun already. Two of them move in on Neji, while the last one leaps onto Dreiya with a sudden attack.

Attacks on Neji
Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Attack 2 [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

Attack on Dreiya [roll4]
Damage [roll5]

The Gorillas aren't in flanking position for Neji, they are closer to each other than that. The two of you are about ten feet away from each other, and the gorillas attacking Neji are on the opposite side of the pair than the one attacking Dreiya. Good luck.

[Man on Fire]

"What?" Neji says when she hears Lord in her head. Who made her mind an open door?!
"What?!" She yells when Ortega reveals himself to be rather large, imposing monster. Now that she clearly wasn't expecting. There wasn't anything about that in old stories for children her parents read her.
And then she gets punched by a Gorilla.
"Oh no you didn't!" She yells angirly and conjures portion of the same golden dust she used on guards to spray Gorillas with it. Risky maneuver so close, but she's been taking risk and making dumb choices whole day, why stop now?

[Anyr]

Dreiya was undaunted by the Gorilla's proximity. She loosed a volley of arrows at the creature, without even bothering to step back.


Arrow 1: [roll0]; Crit confirm: [roll1]; Damage: [roll2]
Arrow 2: [roll3]; Crit confirm: [roll4]; Damage: [roll5]
Arrow 3: [roll6]; Crit confirm: [roll7]; Damage: [roll8]

[meemaas]

The Gorillas attacking Neji try to disturb her casting, but find themselves unable to look away as the dust blinds them perfectly. Meanwhile on the other side, Dreiya, with her expert bow skills, manages to pop two arrows into hers, causing it to collapse before it could even strike her a second time. The remaining two gorillas launch another wave of attacks on Neji, striking blindly in an attempt to take her down.

Full attacks Gorilla 1
Attack 1 [roll0] [roll1] 50 or lower is a miss
Damage [roll2]

Attack 2 [roll3] [roll4] 50 or lower is a miss
Damage [roll5]

Gorilla 2
Attack 1 [roll6] [roll7] 50 or lower is a miss
Damage [roll8]

Attack 2 [roll9] [roll10] 50 or lower is a miss
Damage [roll11]



Meanwhile, above you, you can see with your peripheral vision the two flying spellcasters launch another volley of spells at each other, with Ortega being able to swat away one of Tenma's attacks, but the other one hitting him dead on. As he flies out of the explosion from the strike, you can see the Demon Lord attempt to summon more enemies for you to fight, but Ortega seems to expect this one and counters it before he can finish the spell

It is your turn. 9 more rounds minimum.

[Man on Fire]

"Now you'll see how nice it's when somebody hits you, not on you!" Neji picks up her guns and shoots twice the Gorilla who hit her before.

Both guns, 1 attack each at the same Gorilla
Gun 1: [roll0] dmg [roll1]
Gun 2: [roll2] dmg [roll3]

[Anyr]

Ah, blinding dust. That would make things easier. Even so, Dreiya didn't see the need to use magic for such a tactic. There were plenty of comfortably mundane ways to blind someone. With a mental shrug, she loosed two more arrows at the most injured remaining foe.


Attack 1: [roll0]; Crit confirm: [roll1]; Damage: [roll2]
Attack 1: [roll3]; Crit confirm: [roll4]; Damage: [roll5]

[meemaas]

The party both launch attacks at the same Gorilla, leaving the remaining one to launch its attacks at Neji, one of them actually managing to connect.

Meanwhile, above you, you see another flurry of spells launched at each other, but this time Ortega isn't able to stop all of it, taking a powerful blow to the body. In the recoil, he finds himself unable to stop another summon, and Tenma is able to create a tougher looking Gorilla, who leaps at Dreiya attempting to chomp down into her shoulder.

In the corner of your eye, you can see what looks like a portal exactly the same as the one you originally came in through forming where the humans were hiding behind the barrier. It looks fragmented, but there's no mistaking that is what that is.

Gorilla vs. Neji
Attack 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Attack 2 [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

Dire Gorilla vs. Dreiya
Bite [roll4]
Damage [roll5]

[Man on Fire]

"Here's our chance!" Neji screams to Dreiya, once she sees the portal. "And you guys..slide off!" She casts another of her favorite spells at the Gorillas. And no matter if it succeds or not, she then runs to the portal.


Castign grease to cover ground all the gorillas are on. Concentration [roll0]

[Anyr]

Dreiya glanced sidelong at the odd portal. She didn't like the look of it.

"Looks unstable. Still forming?"

While pondering this issue, she absent-mindedly fired a few arrows at/into the gorilla in front of her.

Dreiya uses Perfect Strike on the first attack.

Attack 1: [roll0]; Perfect Strike reroll/Crit confirm: [roll1]; Damage: [roll2]
Attack 2: [roll3]; Crit confirm: [roll4]; Damage: [roll5]
Attack 3: [roll6]; Crit confirm: [roll7]; Damage: [roll8]

[meemaas]

Neji bursts off running, launching a pile of grease at the Gorilla beating on Dreiya, but despite her supernatural abilities, the Gorilla remains standing, as though unphased. It goes to strike out at Dreiya, but before it can, she sticks three arrows into it, causing it to collapse and fade away like the others. The remaining Gorilla seems to be having trouble finding its target, and wanders off in the wrong direction, swinging blindly at thin air. Above the two of you, the two spellcasters continue their duel, but Tenma seems to have lost interest in you, or his spells are getting countered.

As Neji reaches the area where the portal is, she can see the portal is starting to become stable, and after a moment, Dreiya follows. Once the two of them are there, the two behind the barrier drop it, and wave the two into the portal. As soon as Neji and Dreiya get in, Ortega shoots off into it, pulling the remaining folks in with him, and everyone comes crashing into a dark cave. Through the portal you can see the Demon Lord flying after him, but Ortega grabs hold of the portal and pulls at it, shattering it instantly.

Now that the excitement has passed, you get a look around the cave. It feels like you're deep underground, the only path that appears to lead out is a single ladder to a hole in the ceiling. There appear to be about a half dozen cots strewn around the ground, that seem to have not been in use in months, along with a weapons rack carrying two dozen different melee weapons of one form or another. There also seems to be a staircase further down, which while carved out of the stone, seems to have been done fairly precisely.

Now you take the chance to take a look at your saviors. Ortega's monstrous form recedes, and he turns into a fairly elderly man who stands a good foot taller than the tallest humans you've ever met. He has a large grey beard and is wearing nondescript rags for clothes. The other two are both also humans, much younger than Ortega is, one male, one female, the female carries a longsword strapped to her back while the male has a staff, their clothes are in as bad of a condition as Ortega's are.

Ortega leads everyone over to the cots and sits down on one, allowing the others to follow. He smiles at both of you and starts to talk. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me. We might as well get those out of the way first."

[Man on Fire]

"Um, I just wanted to make one thing clear." Neji starts talking, in suprisingly sheepish tone for her. "I've only tried to get you into the trap so i can shoot this Demon Lord guy in the back when he is preoccupied by you and I have nothing against you and I'm sorry I got everyone in trouble and I'm stupid and I'm sorry and I'll never do that again, please don't kill me, pretty please..." She starts talking so quickly she runs out of her breath. "I need glass of water. And some sleep. Like a week."

[meemaas]

Ortega places his hand on Neji's head softly, smiling. "No worries, we'll talk after you sleep." He excuses himself, and after a little while, everyone else gets comfortable and lays down, falling asleep quickly. It seems like the others were just as burnt out as you were, since they fell asleep first.

You wake up some several hours later, by your reckoning, not that you really have anything to reckon by, what with the lack of outside light to tell time by. Before your eyes even open, you smell a variety of different cooked foods. After a little while, Ortega steps up from below and smiles at you, inviting you down to eat. Sitting at a table that appears to have been carved centuries ago, you find yourselves chowing down on a delicious meal in mostly silence.

When the five of you finish, Ortega addresses Neji with a smile. "I was able to pinpoint your location. I knew where you were when you called for me. I don't believe for a second that you had any intention of trying to get me killed. You trusted me when i asked you to jump, and you fought tooth and nail to protect my defenders." Ortega pointed to the man and woman that had made the portal. "Plus, I know Tenma. Every one of his servants are bound inextricably to him. You have too much personality to be one of them." He takes a nice big drink from his drink. "Now, we have a lot to talk about. Is there anything in particular you would like to ask me?"

[Man on Fire]

It was really nice, waking up to smell of so many wonderful dishes, as Neji's cat sese of smell let her recognize already toasts, eggs, scrablem, fried and hard boiled, warm milk, probably for milk soup, cheese, bacon, ham, grapes, fresh bread, pancakes and at this point Neji was already getting dressed and hurrying to eat all of that. In a way all of that, dark place yet with warm atmosphere and all that breakfeast, it made her feel just like home, undergroud with Ma and Pa. She even tried to mind her table manners as if mother was about to scold her for not doing so. When Ortega assures her he isn't mad at her, she cannot help but put a shy smile.
"What a relief. Oh, and thank you for saving our lives. And for the compliment, I've very proud of my personality. My last ex used to say he preffers my breasts over my personality, but he was a prick, that's why I broke up with hi...Oh, you don't want to listen about that. So, yeah, right, the question...Could you tell us your version of that tale people keep talking about, about world splitting into two?"

[meemaas]

Ortega turns towards the woman he had brought with him and smiles at her. "Helen, could you be a dear and refill our drinks? You know this story, and i'm sure our visitors would rather not get thirsty while I talk." He then turns back towards Neji and Dreiya and clears his throat. "Several centuries ago, magic was a commonplace thing in our world, unlike it is now. Magic users and magical creatures weren't just common, they made up the majority of the population in one way or another. But magic is a tool like any other, and there were many who sought to use it to Evil ends. I participated in many conflicts in that time to protect our world from them. The final conflict was the turning point though."

The lady, Helen, as you now know her, comes back and fills your drinks, and Ortega takes a drink before continuing. "The Demon Lord you met yesterday was once human you know. He delved deep into dark magic learning to take the powers of other creatures, and sought to take the power of a sleeping god as his own. But it wasn't just any god he chose, he chose the God from which Magic itself radiated from. We managed to stop him, but our companion decided to make a risky decision. He wished to eliminate magic from the world itself. To stop villains from using it against others, he sacrificed himself to destroy that God completely." Ortega sighs and looks down at his drink for a second, before regaining his composure.

"None of us had any idea what the price would be. Magic cannot be destroyed, and the incident split the very fabric of the world apart. On one side, remained our world, the world itself unchanged except for the magic being gone. On the other was pulled all those who were truly reliant on the magic. The excess magic was used in forming the blocks, as you saw, in which each hides a different locale, many of which were formed by the most powerful creatures that ended up residing there. All the creatures that exist on that other side are dependent on the existence of magic just to support their own existence." He takes a deep drink of his drink, and then waits for any questions you might have.

[Man on Fire]

"Isn't there any way to, you know, reverse that?" Neji asks. "Get the worlds back into one piece? Make new God? Anything?"

[meemaas]

"If there is a way, I don't know it, and neither do they. The Demon Lords know of a way to open a bridge between our worlds from which their magic can flow out and allow them to survive, but unfortunately, I cannot allow them to complete that plan. It would result in mass slaughter as the community of our world finds themselves unable to fight back against their attackers. Unfortunately, most people this day and age just aren't cut out for a world of magic like you and I are." Ortega looks grim thinking of the prospect, and although you're unsure, you think you see his originally dark green eyes start to fade in color just a little.

[Man on Fire]

"Yeah, I was about to say that - how it is only few people can still have magic powers when the protal opens? Like, cannot we find and recruit more like us so we can go and storm the demon lord? Or maybe, cannot we just beat demon lords? Without them there will be no attacks right?"

[meemaas]

"Everyone has magic in their heritage, but most need study to be able to do even the simplest of tricks. Years of study. Others, however, find it come to them, perhaps their ancestors were powerful mages. Perhaps they are descended from ancient dragons, maybe they just have a natural affinity. It's hard to tell exactly why." He pauses for a second, coughing in what sounds like a painful manner. "As for defeating the Demon Lords, that would be nearly impossible. They possess power far beyond the scope of any human. No, only another Demon Lord is powerful enough to fight against one."

[Man on Fire]

"And what would happen if we would get them to fight each other? It wil lat least weaken them, right?"

[meemaas]

"They fight plenty as is. Turf wars, Superiority. You name it. It'd be a risky tactic. If we wish to avoid a war before trying to reconnect the worlds, we'd have to eliminate all of them. But we'd be at great risk. I've avoided going against the Demon Lords so far for that very fear." He stops for a second, and thinks. "Did you have some idea as to how to manage that?"

[Man on Fire]

"Mblglbl..." Neji was in the middle of consuming a toast when she started talking, so she had to stop, swallow and then continue. "You know them probably more than me, but I guess we could always play on their mutual dislikes and whatever character flaws they have, and then, when they are busy fighting each other, we can kill one of them, shoot him i nthe back, you know. Others will probably jump to teach his territory and then we will just take them down one after another."

[meemaas]

"I didn't really know them, to be honest. You don't really get to know the people trying to eliminate all mankind and the like, after all. But I can't be involved in this directly. They'd see me coming a mile away. You on the other hand..." Ortega steps away from the table without finishing his sentence. After a few minutes, Helen and the other engage the two of you in idle chit chat, nothing important, until Ortega returns almost an hour later. He seems a little paler than he did before, and is carrying two pairs of cufflinks. He places them on the table in front of Neji and Dreiya and sits back in his seat. "I'm sorry about that. This is a present for you, if you are willing to support me. If you think your plan can work, you can use these to infiltrate the Demon Lords hideouts to discover how to turn them against each other." He coughs a little and sits back up to smile at you.

[Man on Fire]

"Thanks but....you don't look okay, you know?" Neji takes the gift, but gives Ortega a worried look. "Maybe you need something, like water or cup or tea?"

[meemaas]

"Forcing power where it doesn't belong takes it out of a guy. I'll be fine." He smiles and coughs again, sounding a bit more painful than before. "Are you ready to give this idea a chance?"

[Man on Fire]

"Of course, we shall move right ahead!" Neji says and stands up, ready to go for her stuff and heads for the mission. Then she hesitates. "But maybe we can finish the breakfeast first?" She asks, like if she was an innocent kid.

[meemaas]

"Of course, help yourselves. When you finish, Helen and Helt will teach you how to open a portal both from our world to theirs, and back. I'm going to excuse myself. I should head back in myself and see what I can ferret out. If you need my help, feel free to call." Ortega quickly leaves the room, and after a few minutes, you recognize the feeling of magic as he escapes through a portal he forms on his own.

The four of you finish eating and take a short rest through the day before the two Defenders teach you the art of making a portal. It takes a lot out of them, but they form a portal for the two of you to go back to the world of magic. You two both step in and find yourselves in yet another new locale. This one appears to be a bereft of buildings, wherein as far as the eye can see, there are what appear to be four armed ogres. You see no sign of what might be the local Demon Lord, but you know you stand out like a sore thumb. Before the portal closes, you hear Helen suggest you put on the cufflinks.

First and foremost, you can now open a portal. This is a special spell that is always available, but takes at least 10 minutes to cast.

Secondly, your cufflinks. Should you try them on, you will find them the source of a Disguise Self spell that you can key to take the image of anything necessary. It also grants you a Comprehend Languages effect.

[Man on Fire]

After eating a lot and lot of food and long goodbyes and best wishes for their host, Neji was ready to go. Though ending up next to a bunch of Ogres was not what she had envisioned. She quickly puts on the cufflink and turns herself into a similar looking one. And then she uses her power to read the mind of the most important-looking Ogre to know at least some basics where they are and what's up.
Using mind-reader abbility on the orge who looks to be of highest rank.

[meemaas]

You take on the image of the ogres you see around you without incident. A quick survey of the area has you following what appears to be the leader, standing a full head taller than the rest, he stands out pretty well. Focusing on him, you sort through his thoughts, finding mostly simple things, and a cause. This group is searching the area for a lost artifact, which their master seems to have lost in this area. Unfortunately, this is fairly hard to figure out, given your time, since he is clearly lacking in intelligence.

[Man on Fire]

Neji sighs. Looks like she's going to have do it hard way. She approaches the leade, trying to look very typical for an ogre. And dumb.
"Heya. Me new guy. They send me to help you. Are you the boss here? You look strong. So me thought you have to be the boss. Me sma..sma...not dumb. What we do?"
She asks, putting her best "dumb stupid creature" face.

Bluff [roll0]

[meemaas]

"We look. Master lost staff. We search or Master kill us. You help?" The Ogre boss grunts, before moving to push a few piles of leaves to search under them like a dunce. Assuming you play along and help him search, he goes on to talk about his master, telling you about all the Ogre's he's killed for failing him. You learn among other things that the Ogre's are the shock troopers for this Demon Lord, and he sends them on trips that he wouldn't trust any properly intelligent beings to do.

[Man on Fire]

"Boss. Me though...what if somebody stole the staff?" Neji asks, after some time spent looking for the staff. "How we find them? We have tracker to find them?" She asks.

[meemaas]

"Uhhhhh...." The lead Ogre seems clearly stumped by the suggestion. After a moment the others come and join him, asking for direction. He finally recovers and looks stupidly at Neji. "We report to Master. Maybe he know."

[Man on Fire]

"Won't Master kill us?" Neji asks, trying to look still dumb and confused. "Any town here? We find a tracker. He find the staff. Masters says we were good and won't kill us." She tries to convince them to her plan. "Me can go to the town." She also offers.

[meemaas]

The Ogre thinks for a second (you think you can hear rusted gears moving as he does) and finally nods in agreement. "You move fast. Find tracker and bring here. We search while wait."

He points you in the direction of the nearest town, and you head off that way alone. After what feels like it could have been half an hour, trying to judge time of day by the sun seems to be impossible, you come up on the town, which appears to be one of many breeds.

Diplomacy check please? And let me know if there's anything else you want to look for while in town.