Who let the big dogs out? [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

rockdeworld

2014-12-09, 02:16 AM

Shivierah looks around in shock. Pelor's Omroth's chair was empty, and the back was missing from the arms up. One of Moradin's Luohum's statues had been turned to rubble. Ehlonna's Meroca's seat was covered in blood. Shivierah swallowed, remembering the goddess...

Shivierah stood in the main hall of his palace, the Hundred Gardens. He bowed before the Green Goddess with a smile, keeping his eyes on hers. She smiled back at him.

"Welcome back." He said. He knew she liked his energy, and he wanted to remain simple and strong for her.

"I adore the performances you hold." She answered. "The planes are growing well, so of course I have come."

"I think you'll love tonight's performance. The prima donna is half-elven, but her voice is angelic. Her bel canto will stop your heart."

"Then I had best refrain, for fear of losing my life."

"Don't worry." Shivierah answered, playing his part. "If that happens, I'll take you out into my gardens to restart it."

"I think I would like that." She said with another smile, and made her way into the auditorium.

Now she was gone. Gone so far he couldn't even sense her, even though he could sense everything in creation on one level or another. He found himself in front of Ehlonna's Meroca's chair, putting his hand on it and feeling the blood-stains splattered across its surface. Though temperature had no effect on him, he felt cold.

Neither could he sense any of the other intermediate or greater deities. So far as Shivierah could tell, they were all gone. In the mortal realms, chaos was emerging. Clerics prayed for spells without receiving any. Ceremonies were carried out with no effect. Requests for miracles and communication were going unanswered. And people were dying because of it.

And the deities' power over their portfolios had simply vanished. The portfolios of elves, gnomes, and halflings were gone. Not transferred to another power: gone. And the remaining responsibility had fallen on the remaining deities. It was as though the strong man of the group, who had been helping to carry one corner of a heavy chest, had disappeared. Where Hextor Shykel had once one side or another of a battle, or Fharlanghn Serran the people setting out on a journey, or Garl Glittergold Delill the comedians going on stage, the strongest lifter now was Shivierah himself. He struggled to cope with the sudden change, and could see on his fellow gods faces varying levels of the same ordeal.

"How did this happen?"

"I don't know." Shivierah answered, scaring even himself with his own words.

"Does anyone have any divining magic to find what caused this?"

"Yes." Shivierah closed his eyes, and when he opened them he saw two copies of himself, as though he were looking into a split mirror.

SLA Miracle -> Body Outside Body
Not a spell I expected to use immediately, but this seems like this situation calls for multitasking.

"I'll speak to the worshipers." One said.

"I'll check the godly realms." The second said.

"I'll search for information here." Shivierah replied.

The first clone sat down and closed his eyes, communicating with his priests. In the chaos, people would expect answers from a god of knowledge, and Shivierah's first clone aimed to provide both answers and comfort. At least as much as he had to give. With his remote communication, he told his priests to spread the word that some of the gods had disappeared for the moment, but that the remaining ones would accept worshipers and grant spells until they returned. He told them who was left, and what they offered.

If needed: Diplomacy [roll0]

The second clone began plane shifting to the various godly realms in order to find out from the beings still there what they knew. He knew the good and neutral outsiders would be unhappy to see him intruding into their gods' realm without invitation, but would tell him what they knew, if only to get a clearer picture themselves. The evil ones would likely be too busy fighting each other to care about helping him, but he knew he could persuade them to help.

If needed:
Daze aura 10', Will DC 37
For particularly unhelpful people (i.e. attackers): Miracle -> Charm Monster, Will DC 36
Diplomacy [roll1]
Gather Information [roll2]

Shivierah looked around the room for anything that could help him - a focus, material component, anything. Regardless of the outcome, he focuses his mind on learning what happened, and looks into the past.

Listen [roll3]
Search [roll4]
Spot [roll5]

Also, use SLA Miracle -> Hindsight (https://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20030103a) (bard version, days only) on this place to try and find out what happened.

He also reached out with his portfolio sense, searching for some clue that would help him.

Edit: replaced God names from Greyhawk with new ones. Possible change later. Also I remembered our portfolio sense doesn't extend into the past.

WebTiefling

2014-12-09, 05:15 PM

Alistair faded into view with the understated entrance that was his wont, though standing at nearly 80 feet tall, understated was a bit tough. His layers of ripped robes fluttered around him, before settling down. A tiny mouse-like being, visible virtually only to someone with a god's senses, scampered up from under some robe folds over his chest and sat next to his neck.

He had already started a kneeling motion to the expected inhabitants before the surroundings registered. His eyes widened. He spun around in a flurry of robes, taking in everything.

The extra Shivieras gave him a moment of pause as they blinked away.

"Shiviera! Tor! What happened? How ... ?"

The shock roils through him - he had come to this place to seek the guidance of those far, far greater than himself. To see that the greater ones had been destroyed shook him - surely anything that could destroy them would barely slow down for a lesser deity. It had been centuries since he had felt so insecure. Not a pleasant feeling.

He takes a moment to examine the room, feeling for anything that might have touched on his portfolio ... but nothing. Perhaps he could arrange for something involving his portfolio to happen here ... well, he could see about that later. He had plenty of time for the moment.

He settled down to his more common state of emotion - quiet and considerate. "It seems unbelievable that any force could have possibly wiped out a host of greater deities, no matter how great the battle foe. A dozen deities, any of which controlled swathes of reality? And yet it certainly seems ...."

Alistair flicked his fingers, and scores of invisible servants popped into existence and went about gathering up bits of blood, cloth, and other debris from the fight that looked like they had come from the combatants.

"Divinations, using the blood of the gods and maybe their attackers as well." The bits of fluid and scraps floated out to the other gods as well as floating to himself.

"But ... am I wrong in noticing that there are no bodies here? No corpses at all?"

Jormengand

2014-12-09, 08:03 PM

Kayros walked into the room. It could, it supposed, have flown, but it didn't want to waste time uttering while not all of its fellows abounded, feeling that they might benefit from its power. "Well, let's have a look and see what we can find, shall we?"

It hefted its unlit torch in one hand, and looked about with magical vision. Everything in the room was a mess, and Kayros highly doubted that it would find what it was looking for. This was mainly because it didn't have the first clue what it even was looking for. It irritably flicked open the book of true names, not because it cared about the true names of the deities but because it cared where they were and why they were there, if any were still even alive. Meroca... Shykel... Serran... Omroth... Luohum... Dellil... It thought of the gods, and their true names flickered up on the page, and Kayros could barely look at the right of the page, which would detail their location. It looked at the page, snapped the book shut, and then looked up.

"Cass'lei na jileth zi rylieth no garan de zelai bei Kara!"

A gate opened in front of him, and a Solar Angel, larger than Kayros by far, moved out of the gate. Kayros nodded to the angel, and she spoke. "Why am I here, Kayros?"
"Look around, Kara. The stronger gods fought a great battle here, and I intend to find out exactly what happened and why."
Saint Kara nodded, and started searching, flying around the room and examining everything - she was as devoted as Kayros was to finding out what had happened, and anyway she was under Kayros' orders for the day.

"If anyone finds anything useful or interesting, I'll have a look at it. Otherwise, I'm going to keep looking around and see what exactly went on here."

If Kayros or Kara can see anything with Detect Everything, True Seeing and lolhuge skill checks, it will Analyse Item to find out everything (yes, everything. Even that) about said item. It will then find the locations of all of the major deities, assuming that its honestly ridiculous K (R) is enough to know all their names.

If any gods are alive their locations should show up in the book, and Kayros will act on that information once I have it.

Saint Kara is a 62 HD Paragon Solar.

greenpotato

2014-12-09, 10:13 PM

Shivierah:
Everything is in chaos, the priests you contact have little time to convert worshipers to your faith as they flee for their lives. Nevertheless they are comforted by the fact that you at least are still answering prayers. In one city your plan backfires as a huge mob becomes convinced that you have murdered the other gods to usurp their power and a number of your preists are about to be publicly executed for your crimes.

Another avatar finds little comfort in the other godly realms, all are devoid of their divine masters and only lesser servants remain, some confused, some angry at the disappearance of their masters. Knowing that you are still around they seek answers, unfortunately you don't have any to give them.

No to hindsight as an allowed spell, but you find a few strange reptilian scales among the flotsam of the battle that you do not recognize as belonging to any of the gods.

Alistair is correct, though there are signs of a great battle no bodies can be found.

Kayros and Kara also find one of the rainbow scales that Shiverah discovered, they analyze the object and determine that it must come from a serpent greater than collosol in size. Although neither of them have ever seen such a creature they can only guess at it's nature from the scales it has left behind. Amidst everything here the scales are the one thing that cannot be attributed to one of the major dieties.
The book shows nothing when the names of the greater gods are spoken, could they really be dead?

rockdeworld

2014-12-10, 01:15 AM

Ok on Hindsight. Shivierah just took that time to look around then.

In one city your plan backfires as a huge mob becomes convinced that you have murdered the other gods to usurp their power and a number of your preists are about to be publicly executed for your crimes.
Of course that would happen. The clone thinks. He tells the others what is happening, and that he's going to calm people down. He plane shifts to the city and attempts to sort things out.
Quick-talking (full round instead of 10 rounds), as much as needed.
Diplomacy [roll0]
Diplomacy [roll1]
Diplomacy [roll2]
Diplomacy [roll3]
Diplomacy [roll4]

Meanwhile, Shivierah looks at the rainbow scales with Kayros.

"But ... am I wrong in noticing that there are no bodies here? No corpses at all?"
"I think you're right. I don't see any either. What happened to everyone, and why can't I see it? Does anyone else know what happened here?"

the rainbow scales... must come from a serpent greater than colossal in size.
"What leviathan did these come from?" Shivierah wonders. "Is there a living creature I don't know about?"

"Do any of you recognize these?" He asks the others. When they reply in the negative, he looks back at the scales. "There must be someone or something who knows what these belong to. We just have to find them."

Jormengand

2014-12-10, 10:36 AM

"Hang on. I'm sure there must be a way of working this out... hmm...

Dra'sei kitaki neite ha'lopeth sei tela ra Kayros!"

The Lord of Words smirked. "Let's have another look at these. Kara, if you would?"

Kayros strummed its bow idly while Kara muttered a spell. Then Kayros took a scale in its hand, and wondered what exactly these might have come from...

Doomsong-Improvisation->Kayros
Kayros-Persisted Universal Aptitude->Kayros
Saint Kara-Guidance of the Avatar->Kayros

Knowledges:

If it's Arcana: [roll0]
If it's anything else: [roll1]

Starmage21

2014-12-10, 12:18 PM

Kaloth pops into existence in the hall, where the other deities are, and begins speaking as if he was already part of the previous conversation as he approaches one of the larger pools of ichor.

"If the elders area dead, there would not be corpses. ...Not here anyway. Perhaps you've forgotten that our remains will come to reside in the Astral Plane. I've already dispatched an avatar to parley with the guardian and seek out those corpses."

Kaloth kneels down at the pool, sticking his fingers in it and then slicking back and forth with thumb and fingers as he checks the consistency.

"The scales are also a clue. There are those things which are locked away and not even we are told about by our elders, and then there are enemies to the pantheon. If you all will humor me for a moment: who, exactly are our enemies?"

Elsewhere, in the Astral Plane...
An Avatar of Kaloth searches the dead gods for the remnants of the elders, taking a moment to stop and admire the corpse of Aoskar and another that a bunch of mortals and their Lich Queen have inhabited.

Create an Avatar, Avatar goes to Astral Plane using Plane Shift and Greater Teleport to the field of dead gods and begins chatting up this campaign's equivalent to Anubis

Take 10 on Knowledges to know where the scales come from

drack

2014-12-10, 01:36 PM

The ancient stones that had stood for eons untouched now lay in shambles, deserted and quiet. Slowly a yawn emanates from the rubble. "So you've finally decided to wake up have you?" "It's about time, look, everything's in shambles!" "This is all your fault you know..." "Mine? Why is it my fault, all I did was take the man where he wanted to go, you're the one who was supposed to protect him!" Oh so now it's my fault? Typical, you just can't take responsibility can you? Do we really have to listen to this again? I mean come on guys, it's been two millenia, can't you just get over it? Just as soon as he admits he's wrong. The two voices finish in unison as the rubble begins groaning. "Mmmmmuuuuhhhh. Just five more minuets...." "You heard him, keep it down."

WebTiefling

2014-12-10, 03:28 PM

Alistair purses his lips at the initial discoveries about the godly beings and their apparent attackers.

Another feeling of hope begins to boil up within him too. The source of his eternally continuing personal redemption was his role in the death of a deity while he was still mortal. What can redeem a person for an act of eternal evil, such as wiping out a deity of righteousness and hundreds of thousands of his followers? Perhaps restoring the greater deities from what would otherwise be eternal deaths, and stopping an eternity of suffering for all beings everywhere!

"I would like to try some things. They will likely not work, considering the power of the ones who attacked here, but it is important to rule out all the potentially easy solutions. I would ask you please be on the alert for anything I might have missed with my questions. I will seek for clues as to the fate of the gods. Would someone bend your powers toward discovering more about their attackers?"

With bursts of his deific power, he took the bits of blood from the gods and began working on them. Without the bodies, it was possible the deities weren't dead, but instead somehow locked away. Where were the gods? What happened to their bodies? What happened to them? What was happening with their portfolios?

Commune. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/commune.htm) True Resurrection. Freedom. Vision. Discern Location. Hypercognition. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/hypercognition.htm) Metafaculty. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/metafaculty.htm)

As he bent his godly will to seek the multiverse for answers to the mystery, he tried to pay attention to any clues that might arise from whatever might block his queries. Even failed investigations could answer some questions.

He had begun his investigations with the least likely to succeed, and moved toward the greater abilities the universe had to offer, eventually delving into the bizarre realm of psionic abilities which queried the very fabric of the cosmos itself.

Surely something! His Redemption, something he had long decided would never happen, might actually be possible!

He tried everything he could think of, trying tangental queries, hoping to discover anything.

He mustn't fail!
Alter Reality to cast those I don't have as SLAs.

Emphasis on Hypercognition and Metafaculty as those are the strongest at discovering information. Alistair will try questions like, "What was the last being who killed them?", "Where did the killers of the gods go after killing them?", "Where are the bodies of the gods?", and "Who knows where the bodies of the gods are?"

drack

2014-12-10, 03:43 PM

Somewhat more energetically the voice resumes its emanation from the rubble. "OK, OK, I'm up, I'm awake, now can someone get me out of here? These rocks are heavy you know."

Batpope Scott

2014-12-10, 07:43 PM

"If we cannot find the greater gods soon, we must take matters into our own hands. The planes are in shambles and we are running out of time." The voice from the rubble is a surprise, but it would be hard to say it's the strangest thing that happened today.

Tor waves his hand toward the rubble, calling a number of Apes into existence to help sort out the rubble. "Are you alright in there?"

Using Silent Image heightened to 4th level to summon six fiendish apes. And they're made of shaaaaadoooooow. :smallwink:

And do we have a better idea of what's going on other than things are just going crazy?

drack

2014-12-10, 07:57 PM

"Oh, oh my!" The ancient god exclaims as a massive slab of stone is lifted off him by monkeys comprised of shadow-stuffs. Somehow it seems that several other chunks of stone had caught it just right as it fell sparing the old god's life. Old and disheveled in a raggedy and otherwise simple brown robe, one could hardly look less divine if they tried. ...and there he lay curled up in a ball with his head propped up on a fallen tapestry. Slowly, mindful of his old bones, Old Man Oofamar rises to his feat. "Oh, now that's new, are all the other gods about here somewhere too?"

rockdeworld

2014-12-10, 10:11 PM

I've been assuming we're all here already, since that was in the OP.

And while I'm at it, Shivierah uses SLA Miracle -> Legend Lore on the scales, since I realized Analyze Item does not duplicate that.

Shivierah adds his magic to Kayros's power to discern the scales' secrets. In response to Kaloth, he looks up.

Yes, we are our own enemies. He thinks, but decides not to say that out loud, as no one would enjoy hearing it. Then again, the gods didn't always kill their enemies, and some couldn't be killed at all.

"Nothing living. Wait, the elders bound some of their enemies rather than killing them. But as far as I know, those things are still bound. And no one else held a candle to the elders."

Then, seeing Oofamar climb out of the rubble, he calls out to him.

"Hey, old man! Have you ever seen these before?" He holds up the scales.

drack

2014-12-10, 10:24 PM

Scratching his beard Old Man Oofamar asks "What's this about holding candles to the elders?" "They've been talking about them while you slept." a voice replies "Yes, something about them vanishing." "...or how they died..." nobody seems to know what happened. Wait, aren't you the god of death? "Yeah, real spooky god of death he is, just watch while he sleeps you to death. A small chorus of laughter and angry retorts follows. "Oh, they're not dead." Old Man Oofamar reassured... his pants... or at least that's what it looks like he's addressing. Scratching his head Old Man Oofamar stared into space as if trying to think of something, trying to recall something long forgotten. "Nope, defiantly not dead."

greenpotato

2014-12-11, 01:13 AM

Shivierahs legend lore revels a few things about the rainbow scaled creature:
"Kunmanggur moved along the earth, and wherever his body went that became the rivers and gullies of the world and they filled with water"
"Wanamangura can be seen in the sky moving from one water hole to the next"
"Great Tulloun came from beneath the ground and created huge ridges, mountains, and gorges as it pushed upward"
"When the drought comes Julunggul keeps some waterholes full so that the animals and people can survive"
These are legends that you have never heard of before, which surely can't be possible can it?

The knowledge of Kayros, vast as it is, reveals a few hints about the scales, the creature they come from is an outsider with the water subtype of a size greater than collosol. Unfortunalty that is all you can determine, the creature is far more powerful than you and it's nature is shrouded by its power (DC=HD+10)

Kaloth finds no guardian or watch keeper in the graveyard of the deities, nor does he find any of the corpses he seeks, but he does find a great sphere of organic tissue, 300ft to a side. As he watches the sphere drifts towards the corpse of a god and slowly slides over it, like an ooze devouring it's prey.

The only one of Alisters spells that reveals any information is the hypercognition, from minute clues he is able to determine that the gods were performing some sort of ceremony to which you were not invited when the assault occurred and that the scaled attacker acted alone. The rest of his attempts are held back by some divine force that you cannot trace.

Tor is aware of many ongoing conflicts on various planes that involve one or more abominations bent on destroying cities and slaughtering living creatures, or at least thats what the simple brutish ones are doing, who knows what the more cunning abominations are up to without the watchful eyes and warding hand of the greater dieties to stop them.

Starmage21

2014-12-11, 09:48 AM

Kaloth relays the information he sees to the group as his Avatar experiences it:

"I have searched the field of the dead. There is no guardian to be found, but there is a great mass of flesh there, seemingly devouring the dead. It is sometimes said that divine remains retain some semblance of their former divinity. Whatever this mass of flesh is, it may be capable of absorbing those remnants of power, and we should destroy it."

Kaloth's avatar keeps his distance, but continues to observe the mass of flesh, taking it in with all 5 of his senses.

Knowledge Check to know what it is?
Take 10 on Arcana, The Planes, Religion, Nature, or History for total of 103

Any other knowledge, I can make DC 30 as a free action. Its portfolio related

WebTiefling

2014-12-11, 11:53 AM

Alistair sighs, "Well, that went about as well as I expected in some ways, and certainly not as bad as I might have feared - no hostile forces sensed the interrogations and came to clean up. What I was able to find out was ..."

Alistair relayed on what he had learned of the gods here doing some sort of ceremony at the time of the attack. "It's certainly possible that something about the ceremony attracted the attacker, possibly even summoned it, though summoning something that could wipe out a dozen greater deities at once .... Sheesh.

"Shiviera. Kayros. Have either of you seen any clues about the ceremony they were doing before the attack?"

Kaloth's description of what is happening in the Graveyard of the Gods makes Alistair wince. He put one of those corpses there himself, long ago, and has made frequent pilgrimages there ever since he ascended. The thought of some sort of creature desecrating the remains is painful. He's not entirely certain that it's the thing that takes priority at the moment.

On the other hand, it might be something related to what has happened here. The Graveyard is very, VERY well protected to guard against something just like that happening. That something made it through those protections could certainly be related to the strike on the gods.

"Kaloth, I would join you in dealing with the ... thing at the Graveyard. That it has pierced the protections of that place at the same time the greater gods have been slain is certainly not mere coincidence."

He turns to the others, "The creature in the Graveyard may provide insights as well as studying this area. Shall we go see about the abomination in the Graveyard?"

Jormengand

2014-12-11, 12:15 PM

"I have some bad news. Whatever this scale came from is multiple times as powerful as all of us combined - not surprising, given it almost certainly had a hand in this."

"Shiviera. Kayros. Have either of you seen any clues about the ceremony they were doing before the attack?"

"No. But Kaloth's discovery is interesting, and I feel that we should, perhaps, stop it before it can do any more?"

With that, Kayros' eyes glow, and it speaks.

"Hei t'rilleth La'kaii!"

Knowledge of that eating thing: [roll0] (+12 if Arcana)
Truespeak to Persist Reversed Inertia Surge to stop it from moving today, SR no, Save none: [roll1] (And if the bastard has more than three hundred hit dice I will be very unimpressed).

Mokou-tan

2014-12-11, 01:51 PM

WebTiefling

2014-12-11, 03:03 PM

"A single, massive being of legends. A being I haven't heard of before today."

Sometimes Alistair really felt like the new kid on the block. In the timescales of deities, his 300 years had barely been the blink of an eye. There was SO MUCH he just didn't know about.

"There is some unknown thing that has entered the Graveyard of the Gods and is eating their bodies, we go to stop it, for it is very likely related to whatever did this. There is some more to tell, but the rest will wait a little. Will you join us, for I suspect that anything related to what happened here will be a most formidable challenge."

Perhaps it looked odd for a 80' tall giant to be requesting the aid of a six-inch being, but Alistair had finally gotten that through his thick skull - actual shape meant nothing.

Even Oofamar ....

"Your aid, respected Oofamar, will also be much appreciated in whatever way you wish.

"For myself, I go to the Graveyard of the Gods to face this thing."

A faint vibration passed through the air as deific power was again exercised, and the massive being in shredded robes faded from view, leaving for the Graveyard.

Using Alter Reality to Wish transport to the tomb of Vaelemon, Hope of the Downtrodden - the deity whose death Alistair had orchestrated while still a mortal. I'll presume that a 300' blob of some sort will stand out and Alistair will be able to quickly spot it.

rockdeworld

2014-12-11, 04:51 PM

While relaying what he has learned, Shivierah is contacted by his clones, who tell him in turn what they've seen and done. Judging that they'll need more time, he re-casts his spell as the old one expires, producing 2 new clones that leave to continue the work the first two started.

Persistent SLA Miracle -> Body Outside Body

When Kaloth makes his report, Shivierah activates Remote Sensing on the graveyard to see the sphere for himself.

"You're right! I can see it!" He says.

When Shivierah sees the sphere absorb a god's corpse, the stress and confusion of the situation combine into rage. He expands his aura out to its maximum range, mixing in the fire of his anger so that everyone around can feel it.

"Get ready!" He says to the others, and grants them each the power of luck.

Power of Luck on: Alistair, Kaloth, Kurenai, Kayros, Tor, Xyrgon
Basically, everyone who needs +10 to-hit, let me know if you do and I missed you.

Power of Luck: +10 luck bonus on attack rolls, saves, and checks for one day

Edit: And Shivierah has used it 7 times today, so has 3 left.

"it is very likely related to whatever did this."

"Then what are we waiting around for? Let's go!" He cries. He lets WebTiefling transport him to the graveyard, then, once the creature is in sight, yells at it.

"Stop!"

Should it ignore him, he draws his weapons and attacks, singing a ditty as he does so.

"It's a brand new day
And the sun is high
All the birds are singing
That you're gonna die"

Edit: forgot the ditty. Added now.

If the sphere isn't in sight when they arrive, he uses Greater Teleport together with 6 of the others who are Medium size or smaller. They should arrive within 60' of the blob. Then he yells at it. It has to make a Will save (DC 50) or be dazed by his divine aura.

Note: Shivierah goes first because of Supreme Initiative. In case another deity has the ability also, [roll0]

If the sphere ignores Shivierah, he does the following in the next round:
-Swift: activate Inspire Courage (Dragonfire) with Words of Creation for +22d6 sonic damage on the weapons of everyone who can hear him (pretty much everyone on the same plane, due to our deific Senses)
-Free: use Free Move to move up to 160' to get adjacent to the sphere. If it's in the air, Shivierah flies up to 150' instead.
-Free: If he's still not in range, he takes a 10' step.
-Full-round: Activate Time Stands Still, full-attack twice

[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]
[roll11]
[roll12]
[roll13]
[roll14]
[roll15]
[roll16]
[roll17]
[roll18]

Damage rolls for those that connect:
[roll19] + [roll20]
[roll21] + [roll22]
[roll23] + [roll24]
[roll25] + [roll26]
[roll27] + [roll28]
[roll29] + [roll30]
[roll31] + [roll32]
[roll33] + [roll34]
[roll35] + [roll36]
[roll37] + [roll38]
[roll39] + [roll40]
[roll41] + [roll42]
[roll43] + [roll44]
[roll45] + [roll46]
[roll47] + [roll48]
[roll49] + [roll50]
[roll51] + [roll52]
[roll53] + [roll54]

In case of crits (18-20):
[roll55]
[roll56]
[roll57]
[roll58]
[roll59]
[roll60]
[roll61]
[roll62]
[roll63]
[roll64]
[roll65]
[roll66]
[roll67]
[roll68]
[roll69]
[roll70]
[roll71]
[roll72]

If the sphere is actually on a god at the moment, he finishes his last attack with Brutal Surge (bull rush, provoke AoO). I forgot about this ability and so don't have a roll, but it should be 1d20+15 on Shivierah's side.

greenpotato

2014-12-11, 05:56 PM

Kaloth realizes the creature is some sort of enormous abomination, an outsider with some ooze like abilities. It also appears to have smaller organisms within its transparent flesh moving independently. Your knowledge of biology tells you that these moving shapes within must be separate creatures but the vague opacity conceals them too well for you to determine what exactly they are.

Alistair's question about a ceremony sparks thoughts in the others and though they now see elements of a ceremony as well none can determine it's nature or participants beyond that some of the greater gods were doing something that involved magic... maybe?

(Assuming you meant to say that you teleported, maybe?) Kayros appears within 60ft of the spherical monster and it immediately stops what it's doing. Without moving any part of it's round body you can feel it shift it's focus towards you. (please roll initiative before you attack it, you failed to achieve surprise) It senses your hostility and it's slick surface hardens in anticipation of attack. "Attack!?" it rumbles at a volume that would be painfully loud for a mortal to endure.
It rolls initiative: [roll0]

Shivierah and Alistair appear further from the sphere than Kayros, but they soon move closer. Despite it faceless preoccupation with it's attacker it does vibrate a questioning tone at Shiverahs order to stop although it appears unfazed by the might of his Aura. "Why!?"

WebTiefling

2014-12-11, 06:14 PM

"This place is not for you. You must not be here. The final remains of gods are not for you. If you are able, give them up or be struck down."

It didn't seem actively hostile, and so honor demanded that he give it a chance to repent for its wrongdoing.

Jormengand

2014-12-11, 08:13 PM

(Initiative: [roll0])

Batpope Scott

2014-12-11, 08:48 PM

Tor accompanies the group, but only looks on grimly at the abomination before him.

(Initiative [roll0])

rockdeworld

2014-12-11, 09:01 PM

Shivierah stops as the creature responds to his demand. He nods in agreement with Alistair's answer.

"And who are you and why are you here?" He asks. His swords aren't drawn yet, but his anger still flows out in his aura.

Mokou-tan

2014-12-11, 09:06 PM

Kurenai flits over to Oofamar's shoulder, taking a seat with her tiny figure. "Would you do me a favor, Elder? I'm actually still not used to this whole teleportation thing. I haven't even been walking among you for a century, after all."

greenpotato

2014-12-12, 12:25 AM

Shiverahs speed gave him the opportunity to act first but by showing restraint he gives Kayros a chance to attack. Just as Kayros true speaks the sphere reacts with lightning speed; a shell of Iron envelopes it in the flash of an eye. The creature used Anticipatory strike followed by a temporal acceleration before line of effect is cut off by the Iron sphere
The sphere of Iron is mundane and not a magical effect, though it totally blocks line of effect to the creature within. It moves 20ft closer to Kayros and he can feel the pull of gravity that radiates from it (Fort save please). Ten green rays spring forth from the iron shell at stab towards Kayros these are energy ray powers ([roll0][roll1][roll2][roll3][roll4][roll5][roll6][roll7][roll8][roll9] all vs touch AC)

Shiverah and Alistair do get a response to their questions, the creature projects its deep powerful voice from within the sphere and tells them; "I am a simple peasant woman under attack from a brigand! I was tending to my crops when the villain struck, help me please! Ahhh! Help!"

drack

2014-12-12, 01:41 AM

Kurenai falls from high above the other deities. While she had the ability to teleport unerringly, she often fouled up the location she chose to go to as she rarely used this power. This was common occurrence when she was asked here. Once again I messed up. Oh well, they can laugh if they want. With a hum she stopped falling just before hitting the ground, shrinking to no bigger than a kitten as she does.

"Have you all figured out what's caused this, yet? From what I saw as I fell, I can surmise something killed the bigger ones." Her scarlet wings shivered in excitement. "I haven't smelled this much blood in quite some time."

Killing? No, no, there hasn't been any-
Perhaps it looked odd for a 80' tall giant to be requesting the aid of a six-inch being, but Alistair had finally gotten that through his thick skull - actual shape meant nothing.

Even Oofamar ....

"Your aid, respected Oofamar, will also be much appreciated in whatever way you wish.

"For myself, I go to the Graveyard of the Gods to face this thing."

A faint vibration passed through the air as deific power was again exercised, and the massive being in shredded robes faded from view, leaving for the Graveyard.

Using Alter Reality to Wish transport to the tomb of Vaelemon, Hope of the Downtrodden - the deity whose death Alistair had orchestrated while still a mortal. I'll presume that a 300' blob of some sort will stand out and Alistair will be able to quickly spot it.

Old Man Oofamar, caught off guard by so many impressive deities talking to him at once, stares up at the massive deity with awe. No matter how many times he saw them he still couldn't get used to the fact that he was surrounded with gods. "Um... er..." He begins before the voices begin once more. Of course it would. You know, at least this one's respectful. Oh my god, he's sooo gonna kick ass! As the giant deity vanishes Old Man Oofamar manages to stutter out "Wa-wa-wait!"

Kurenai flits over to Oofamar's shoulder, taking a seat with her tiny figure. "Would you do me a favor, Elder? I'm actually still not used to this whole teleportation thing. I haven't even been walking among you for a century, after all."

"Oh no-no-no-no-no" the Old Man mumbles. "Sorry, could you hold on, we've got to...

In an instant the world kicks up underneath the two of them and everything reels. Old Man Oofamar himself even looses his balance, quite nearly falling forward, then backward, then to the right. Steadying himself he calls out "Please let that poor peasant girl go!"
In response a chorus of voices seem to pick up. "Peasant girl?" "Have you gone mad Old Man Oofamar?" "Peasant girl? Where?" "We are looking at the same giant oozie monster right?" Hanging his shoulders in defeat Old Man Oofamar replies. "That's not what I meant and you know it. This one is... this one knows... that is..." Giving up Old Man Oofamar begins panting. Rocking back on his feet he falls into a sitting position, taking the opportunity to rest.

"Oh my, nobody listens to an old man these days do they?"

Lifting his hand the ancient god erects a quick barrier shielding the creature from the next 100 points of damage, Area Divine Shield, mobile.

"Can't we just talk for a time?" He telepathically asks the creature. He'd be no help in a fight and couldn't tell if this creature was friend or foe, but he'd certainly do more good getting what answers he could from it then fighting it with the others.

WebTiefling

2014-12-12, 01:08 PM

Alistair wracks his brain even as the massive ... thing begins its attacks. Such strikes weren't likely to destroy gods, so there was still time. So ... what god might have had a history of starting as a girl - was this just one of the gods remnants speaking from within the abomination? Had a woman been a part a disaster that left her as a ... god-corpse-eating blob?

Knowledge[religion] to know if such a story is related to any gods: [roll0]
Knowledge[planes/dungeoneering/religion/arcana] to know anything about the blob: [roll1] (whichever is appropriate)

I have Mindsight - what's the being’s type and Intelligence score?

Also, True Sight - anything visible to True Seeing now that I'm close enough for it to see things?

Regardless, it did need to be stopped, though hopefully deadly violence wouldn't be necessary. No violence wasn't likely, but perhaps 'deadly' violence could be avoided.

The old man's shield sprang up around it, "Well thought, Old Man!"

He quickly prepared himself for combat, just in case, though, and launched into the air to go between Kayros and the Blob.

In the past Alistair had sometimes wondered if his preference for being so large - 80' tall - might not be some sort of subconscious attempt to feel like he really was a true deity. The size helping him feel more powerful. He thought he had long gotten past those hangups of size - gods came in ALL sizes.

Facing a being that dwarfed him a hundred times over made him realize maybe he hadn't gotten over all those mortal size-comparison-feelings.

But nothing would keep him from his duty of protection and serving even a being such as this if it needed a chance for redemption.

He sent several beams of Disentigration at the Iron Shell and then began putting disabling spells in through the opening, trying a variety of spells, not knowing for certain what would have an effect. The spells, no causing damage passed through the wise old man's Divine Shield.

A Colossal Centipedes appeared next to the blob and began trying to subdue it, though Alistair realized its efforts were unlikely to succeed against such a massive being. Even the centipede's 110' length paled against the vast bulk of the Blob.

"Halt, woman! We may yet settle this without further bloodshed!"

He prepared himself to countering or redirecting any spells from the massive creature.

I'm not 100% clear if the thing is still inside its iron sphere and is moving with it and casting through it. As that is the most inconvenient option (for us), I am going with that assumption.

I can Immediate Action redirect a spell. If the blob casts something I can counter this way, I will redirect the spell back onto itself.
I can Immediate Action counterspell a spell. If the blob casts something I can counter this way I will.

I have a 20' radius Antimagic Field surrounding me. I can cast inside it.

I have End to Strife - 80' radius that deals 20d6 to anyone who harms me. And they know it.

All allies have a +2 morale bonus to attacks and saves.

Flying up and hovering immediately next to the creature, maybe 100' up in the air. (300' speed shouldn't be a problem)

Activate Permanent Emanation: Selective Antimagic Field on myself. I can cast inside the Antimagic Field. (free action)
Use Bead of Karma: +4 CL.

Quickened Twinned Split Chain Disintegrate at the iron sphere to remove 112 10' squares from the shell.
Quickened Twinned Mage's Disjunction on the Blob. (CL 33)

Quickened Twinned Reach Irresistible Dance on the Blob. (CL 32) (No save. SR: Yes. Can do nothing but dancejiggle in place.)

Quickened Rapid Summon Monster IX to summon [roll2] Colossal Fiendish Monstrous Centipedes right next to the blob. They will immediately grapple it. Grapple Rolls: [roll3] .. [roll4] .. [roll5]

Twinned Ray of Exhaustion on the Blob. (CL 32) Blob is exhausted even if it makes both of its saves. SR: Yes. Exhausted: no run, no charge, move at 1/2 speed. -6 penalty to Str & Dex.

"Stand down woman!" Alistair roars again. "The gods command you!"

greenpotato

2014-12-12, 04:54 PM

Each ray that hits Kayros deals 270 Fire and 270 Cold damage (Half of which ignores energy immunity) all the rays hit and Kayros takes a total of 2700 damage due to his energy immunity.

It's too late, meet me in the place where the egg was born, alone!

Alistair blasts enough holes in what turns out to be a hundred wafer thin iron layers to get to what is inside only to find nothing. The Iron shell is empty.

WebTiefling

2014-12-12, 05:12 PM

Alistair kicked the massive iron dome, ripping through the layers.

"Well there goes that lead, unless ....."

He looks at the others, "Just a moment and hopefully I'll be able to get an idea of where this thing came from. The Temple of the Gods is likely shielded from this, but there is no reason that the Graveyard should be so shielded."

Alistair flies to the top of the mound of iron and concentrates for a moment. Once again, the universe bends to the power of the gods as he attempts to peer back in time a few days, using a powerful spell, Hindsight (https://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20030103a) and Hypercognition.

Between Hindsight and Hypercognition, hopefully he'll be able to learn something useful.

drack

2014-12-13, 02:02 AM

Old Man Oofamar sighs... heavily. This had not gone as well as it could ha- Suddenly reality lurches out from beneath him once more as the giant deity's head appears beneath him, only this time the old god fails to catch himself, falling face first onto Alister's head only for the younger god traveling with him to land heavily on his back. "Oof." The ancient god exclaims dully.
Waving the shimmering scale from the fortress of the gods in front of the giants eyes (potentially breaking his concentration), the Crafter of Fates begins lecturing. "You know, it's quite rude to just leave after asking a question. What sort of shortsighted irresponsible kind of-" The scale. A voice reminds him.
"Oh, this?" He asks waving the scale once more. "Yes I've seen it before, but no, we'd rather go off after giant blobs of corpse-eating flesh." At this the Ancient One Harrumphs loudly signaling the end of his lecture.

sorry, haven't had a chance to be as active as some this time about. :smallsmile:

Mokou-tan

2014-12-13, 02:23 PM

Kurenai flits up near Oofamar, her tiny stature making her seem more a familiar than a deity herself. "A corpse-eating blob? I don't see what's so wrong about consuming the fallen. As a mortal, if you don't eat them, the beetles will. Why should we be any different? It's when it goes after living ones that there's a problem." She suddenly zips over to the scale in her senior's hands to take a good look at it. "I personally don't have any idea what this is. Is it strong?" With her it was hard to tell if she was speaking of the creature or the scale's material, as she'd even gone as far as attempting to temper swords in her own blood to see if it made stronger blades.

drack

2014-12-13, 03:09 PM

"It's been different with different pantheons, but like mortals some preserve the dead, others worship them, and some leave them floating about as litter. That we keep them is just the way things are done. There is after all a fare bit of power in the corpse of a god, capable of becoming a true threat to the gods even through a process as simple as reanimation, not to mention..." The Ancient one trails off. "Excuse me dear, is what strong again?"

rockdeworld

2014-12-13, 04:40 PM

I think this was missed in the OOC thread: I forgot to mention using Know Secrets when Shivierah first saw the creature - may I get the results of that? I suspect it will fail (since it's also a DC 50 Will save, but not mind-affecting), but Shivierah will use it on everyone he sees anyways. Also, were we able to make on-sight knowledge checks to identify it?

Also, I'm guessing Kayros's shield deflected the rays?

Onto Shivierah's next turn. I just remembered the ethereal plane is the only plane coexistent with most other planes, so my OOC idea of searching the others is out.

When the sphere fires at Kayros, Shivierah's anger turns back into rage, but he is unable to act before the creature disappears behind the sheet of metal, and then apparently from the plane altogether.

"Kayros, are you ok?" He asks, glancing at the other god with concern. Assuming Kayros is uninjured, he looks back at the metal shell, now permeated with holes from Alistair's counterattack. He notes the number of layers of metal with interest, and the empty shell with dismay.

"Don't drop your guard yet, it could still be close."

He flies inside the shell, looking for the creature in case it shrank. If he sees nothing, he casts divining magic to find out where it went.

Free action: fly 150' to and into the sphere, close to the ground.
Move action: Fly to the center of the sphere.

This should give Shivierah a view of most of the inside of the sphere from the bottom to the top on both this plane and the ethereal plane, due to his 120' true seeing.

Standard action: SLA Discern Location

Next turn, he'll use SLA Legend Lore on the sphere.

If both fail, he'll return to where the others are.

drack

2014-12-13, 04:49 PM

greenpotato

2014-12-13, 06:49 PM

Alistair begins casting a spell, he will be here a while with it's hour long casting time.

Shivierah realizes that the sphere is indeed empty and learns nothing from his discern location, he begins casting legend lore a process that will take [roll0]x10 minutes. It must have resisted his attempts to know its secrets.

rockdeworld

2014-12-13, 07:20 PM

Shivierah... begins casting legend lore a process that will take [roll0]x10 minutes.
Please excuse me, for some reason I was thinking SLAs always took 1 standard action, regardless of casting time. If you don't mind, I'd like to cancel Legend Lore and move back to the others.

Edit: I remembered why: I usually use SLA Miracle -> Legend Lore to speed up casting time. Oh well, it's fine to use regular LL now and then so as not to lean too heavily on the magic Miracle machine.

Batpope Scott

2014-12-13, 08:48 PM

Tor flies about with a sigh, but answers Kurenai with a tired smile. "The reason this could be so bad is because the creature might gain power from such consumption. There would be no other reason to raid the graveyard of the gods unless it requires divine corpses to sustain itself and that's an even worse thought."

He looks at the iron shell and says aloud, to no one in particular, "There's abominations across the multiverse and we need a plan of action."

Mokou-tan

2014-12-13, 09:00 PM

Kurenai looks up to Oofamar. "The creature the scale came from. I can figure out the scale's strength after I carve a bunch from the creature." She quickly whips around to look at Tor, preferring to look people in they eyes when speaking to them. "Then why leave corpses around? If I could gain more power by eating a god's dead body, I'd have done that instead of becoming a legend. Do you know just how bad Pit Fiends taste?! And don't get me started on the texture! I didn't even gain much from that!"

drack

2014-12-13, 09:05 PM

"Hows about we pick one of those more actively killing and confront it. No, no, don't look for it, it may feel your gaze. Let us make our plans and then go all together. You see this looks to be a coup of some sort, and I don't think they're randomly killing, It looks... strategic..." The Ancient one let that word hang in the air for a moment, his tone having been tentative yet grim.

rockdeworld

2014-12-14, 12:00 AM

After completing his search to a reasonable level of satisfaction and finding nothing, Shivierah returns to where the others are talking, quieting his aura as he does so.

"It looks like the thing really is gone." He says, crossing his arms. "I tried to find out where it went with Discern Location magic, but it resisted my attempt. Whatever that thing is, it's annoying. But at least it's gone for now. On another note, one of my clones is returning to tell us what's happening in the other gods' realms."

Said clone pops into being next to Shivierah. The two are identical in features, but are distinguished by the glow of magic that only comes from Shivierah.

"Hello everyone." The clone says. "I visited the realms of the other gods. All the intermediate and greater gods have disappeared, but no one could tell me where or how. There's a lot of chaos in those realms right now, and it looks like we're on our own."

"I need to fill you in on what you've missed here, then ask you to find some information." Shivierah says to his clone. "Will you accept my memory spell?"

"Sure." The clone says with a nod.

Shivierah uses his magic to give the clone a copy of his memories since the clone left. Then he asks the clone to find out as much about the sphere as possible. The clone agrees, and sits down to begin using his own magic.

Reduce divine aura to 0'.

Clone #2 returns, clone #1 is still on the prime material plane keeping priests from being lynched.

Shivierah uses SLA Modify Memory to implant his memory in the clone.
The clone begins SLA Legend Lore as Shivierah was doing in the previous post (I'm ok with the same 40 minutes to cast, if you don't want to reroll)

Then Shivierah returns his attention to the group.

"I don't think this is a safe place to talk. That creature just now was strange and new, and for all we know it could be watching this place just as well as we are. I invite you all to my home, if you're willing to come." He sets one hand on the clone's shoulder and holds the other out in invitation.

If everyone accepts, Plane Shift + Greater Teleport to the Hundred Gardens throne room.

drack

2014-12-14, 01:24 PM

Old Man Oofamar accepts the teleportation, stumbling upon arrival. "So..." He begins, disoriented with all these rapidly changing conversations and all this teleporting about. "... what was I telling you all about?"

rockdeworld

2014-12-14, 07:02 PM

Assuming the rest of the party agrees, Shivierah communicates with his servants, notifying them of his impending return and that he needs chairs brought to the throne room for each of the gods coming with him.

Then they teleport, Shivierah taking as many as he is able, trusting the rest to either follow or await his return for a second trip. They arrive first in the fields of his realm, then in the familiar room where Shivierah's throne.

In contrast to the graveyard they just left, the throne room is made to be visited. Sunlight streams in through great windows, illuminating the marble floor and pearl-white walls with the soft, natural light that is ever present in Shivierah's domain. The room is only 30 feet to a side (Shivierah doesn't meet many visitors in it, preferring to use the auditoriums or dining rooms), but has a high, vaulted ceiling gives the impression that there is plenty of space. The center of the floor is adorned with an intricately-patterned version of Shivierah's symbol in gold leaf. More gold leaf adorns the walls, just enough to be tasteful and add flavor to the room. Although the room is a show of wealth and power, it is also made to evoke feelings of shelter and peace. Like Kayros, Shivierah hates waste, and does nothing just for show.

As soon as the group appears, several servants hurry forward, carrying chairs for them to sit on if they desire. One approaches the Shivierah clone and helps him to one of the chairs that line the edge of the walls, so that he can concentrate on his magic without disruption. A last one, a handsome man in a suit, approaches the group and bows low.

"Welcome back, my lords. Please allow me to serve you anything you need."

Seeing Oofamar stumble, Shivierah catches him. He helps the old god regain his footing, and offers him a chair.

"Sorry, I know tthat was fast." He says. Once the old god is comfortable, he continues. "Before I left, you said something about the scales. You've seen them before?"

drack

2014-12-14, 07:22 PM

Taking a seat Old Man Oofamar lapses onto thought for a moment longer before... "Oh yes, that's it. I didn't speak with it, only just saw it really, but I could tell it's never killed anything in the whole of it's existence. Not even a fly or a blade of grass. No, whatever it did it didn't kill the gods. No, no, but it does have an agenda, you see it made some eggs intrusting them with aberrations the greater gods had confined. Those born of truly epic events or, in more cases then not, by pettiness or foolishness of the gods themselves, cast aside as mistakes. These aberrations seem to be tasked with hatching the eggs, though I could only fathom what they may hold. Personally I'd quite enjoy collecting and studying them if it's all the same. Oh yes, and it seems we were spared because we're not viewed as any true threat to this overthrow." Dimly a smile can be seen on the old man's face, a smile of accomplishment for having finally mannaged to finish his thought without interruption.

Mokou-tan

2014-12-15, 06:01 PM

Kurenai flits about Shivierah before regrowing to her natural size. "Wow, this place is rather fancy. My realm is just a battlefield with blades everywhere. I was told it resembles my soul's terra, so I haven't bothered to change it." The fey swordswoman floats upside-down as she processes what Oofamar says. "So, you're saying it's killed less things than I have, but could probably eat me without much of a struggle? I suppose that makes sense, in an odd way. If you're strong enough, you never have to show that you're strong." With a small noise, she rights herself and takes a seated position in the air. "So, what's the plan here? I'm not much good at group work, but this situation seems a bit too dire for me to not lend my blades."

WebTiefling

2014-12-15, 06:42 PM

Alistair, having been left behind casting his divinations, pops into existence a dozen yards back and covers the distance in a few steps, plopping down with a less-than-deific grunt. He interrupts.

"Well, the divinations worked a bit better out there in the Graveyard. Whether it's the protections of this particular location or the protections of the being that assaulted the gods, I have learned a bit about that ... beast. Let me give you a picture of what I saw happen before we arrived there."

With that, he cast some basic illusions, creating a miniature picture of the grounds of the Graveyard.

There are the guardians, mostly astral devas, and the tombs in perfect repair. Suddenly the massive blob appears and coats itself in iron just as they had seen before. Then a slaughter begins, the astral devas being no match for the being's power. Rays of energy lash out, summons rip devas apart, magical waves of Blasphemy instantly slay others.

The Blob then goes on to consume the corpses, rolling over the bodies and leaving empty memorials behind.

"That's what the divinations showed happening there not long before we arrived. My other divinations were less precise, but I strongly got the impression that it wasn't exactly eating the bodies so much as ... storing them. And there are living bodies within the thing as well, able to swim about, but as to their nature I was able to determine nothing."

He sighs.

"There's just too much going on. Were nothing else going on, I would instantly raise the standard to gather allies to smite down this foul monstrosity, but ... well, with the gods having been slain and the multiverse in chaos, I know not how to proceed. I can feel my worshipers requesting and utilizing spells of battle, and ... " Alistair pauses, eyes becoming unfocused for a brief moment, before returning his gaze to the other deities.

"Surely you can all sense the raging conflicts. What shall we do? What can we do?"

drack

2014-12-15, 11:13 PM

"Speaking of him..." Old Man Oofamar adds, as if as an afterthought. "I think we should post a few guards at the graveyars and keep an eye on it. He's got an egg which should hatch once he feeds it the corpses of the gods. I may have convinced him to wait a few decades or centuries, but if not it's best we be alert." Somehow, while he spoke of the potential end of the world Old Man Oofamar seemed quite calm, perhaps even cheerful.

rockdeworld

2014-12-16, 02:19 AM

Not being called on by the other gods, the handsome man in the suit approaches Shivierah.

"My lord, is all well? You rushed out so suddenly, we had no idea what the matter might be."

Shivierah automatically relays to him the events of the day. By the end of it, the manservant seems short of breath.

"M-my goodness. Is there anything we can do to help?"

Shivierah responds in the negative, dismissing the man. He takes a few steps back, then leaves the room. Meanwhile, Shivierah listens to the others speak. He takes in their news without interruption, learning as much as he can.

So that sphere was one of the aberrations, and it was storing the gods' corpses for some reason, maybe to hatch the egg it's carrying. But if it was in the graveyard, it couldn't have been the one to attack the gods. And did they really die...?

For the first time, it strikes Shivierah that the greater gods won't be returning soon. His heart shudders. Meroca's absence pierces him with such agony he wants to cry out. At the same time, Shykel's disappearance fills him with so much joy he almost bursts out laughing. His goal to get rid of the evil greater gods is fulfilled. He can finally go out and save the realms from slavery and oppression without fear of reprisal. Except perhaps from Kaloth.

At least we have equal rank. I don't have to worry about him crushing me like a mortal, the way Shykel would. But...

Shivierah's thoughts are interrupted by an odd shape at the edge of the doorway. Practically invisible, part of a head and an eye are trying to see into the throne room unnoticed.

"Hydenk, what are you doing there?!" Shivierah calls out, turning his full attention on the door. The part of the face jumps, and then comes into full view as its owner enters the doorway with a smile. It turns out the onlooker is a young man covered in dirty rags. Behind him, a woman steps into view as well. She wears full plate armor and has a large sword slung across her back just like Shivierah. Unlike the man, she has a guilty expression on her face.

"Rosen, you too?" Shivierah sighs.

"Hey, we heard you need someone to go to the gods' graveyard!" Hydenk says. "Let us do it! If that monster comes back, we'll kill it and get back the egg thing too!" He grins, as though he has offered the perfect solution to the gods' problems. Meanwhile Rosen has a mixed expression on her face, like she isn't sure if she wants to apologize for Hydenk or agree with him. Shivierah's expression hardens.

"No! Absolutely not!" He says. "Do you even know what kind of creature we're talking about? Look!"

He points toward the back wall, and a life-size 3-dimensional replica of Alistair's earlier show appears, followed by the gods' own encounter with the creature, displaying its awesome speed and power. After reaching the end, it goes dark for a few moments, then starts up again.

"You see? A single one of those rays would be enough to kill you, even if you were immune to its elements! There's no way you could stand up to it."

"Eh, we're tougher than some astral-"

"And then there's this!" Shivierah says, cutting him off. He holds up the scales. "This is all we found of whatever slew the gods. The greater gods themselves! Do you think mortals like you can stand up to that?! You'd die immediately!"

"Look!" Hydenk shouts in defiance, pulling back rags and magic equipment on his left arm to reveal a sword-and-music-note symbol. "You gave us this because you believed in us, didn't you? We know what danger is!"

"This is completely different!" Shivierah shouts. Before he can go on, Rosen puts a hand on Hydenk's shoulder and speaks.

"Hey, Hydenk, it's okay." She says. Hydenk whirls around in confusion to face her, but she continues. "Just calm down. Isn't Iyaris waiting for us back downstairs? We promised we'd meet up with her and Rist."

"Oh. Yeah!" Hydenk says. He dashes out of sight, and the gods can hear him running down the hall.

"Sorry." Rosen says with a bow, then runs after Hydenk. After the two are gone, Shivierah sighs and sits back down.

"Sorry about the interruption." He says, motioning for one of the servants to shut the doors. "Good work kid, old man. Our avatars and priests can handle the chaos in the material plane. So basically, we just have to beat up the monsters and take their eggs, right?"

Edit: whoa, longer post than I expected!

Btw, the gods who know Shivierah know he seemed more stressed than normal when talking towards his subordinates.

The image was Persistent SLA Miracle -> Persistent Image.

And for the record, Shivierah currently has 2 remote senses locations active:
1. The Hundred Gardens
2. The graveyard of the gods

So he should be able to see if anything happens in either. I've added them to my character sheet for easy viewing.

WebTiefling

2014-12-16, 09:59 AM

Alistair looks at the old man with surprise as Shiviera speaks with his followers.

"Oofamar, Old Man, I bow to your wisdom. When too many threats seek to hit us at once, you have delayed at least one until we have time to deal with it.

"Then I believe our remaining threats are the immediate assaults happening across the planes, and the greater threat of whatever this is," Alistair gestures to the scale, "that destroyed the greater gods.

"I might suggest that we work to deal with the lesser threats as quickly as possible, before seeking what we may do about the greater threat. Perhaps in the passage of time we will learn more about it, for it is likely all these events are linked."

Alistair takes a few moments of unfocused eyes, looking at all the places he can sense his followers are calling on his name, seeing what disasters are befalling the multiverse. He needed to know where the greatest threats were.

In most situations, the gods stayed out of direct intervention except in relatively subtle ways or in great emergencies. This probably counted as a great an emergency the multiverse had seen in untold millennia. He was ready to start stepping in. A LOT.

drack

2014-12-16, 11:10 PM

gods battling the aberration]
After the non-divine exit Old Man Oofamar comments "Though we didn't all fight the creature, not by a far cry. Whomever they be I simply suggest we have some bodies on the ground to better observe them."

Well Old Man Oofamar's watching the graveyard too (god of death, likely a sacred site, which is kind of cool because it changes the area of the ability a bit), but without worshipers there dare I ask how you are too?

"Then I believe our remaining threats are the immediate assaults happening across the planes, and the greater threat of whatever this is," Alistair gestures to the scale, "that destroyed the greater gods.
Once more Old Man Oofamar sighs. Youngsters these days truly weren't mindful of the words of their elders. "They're not dead." He replies once more, wondering how many times he'd said it already. He manages to count to three before dismissing the thought. Why bother counting? Still, it wasn't worth tracking them down, chances were... "I don't think we can face that creature, especially not walking in blind. Best we not walk into any traps and ignore both the serpent and the greater deities for the present."

rockdeworld

2014-12-17, 07:11 PM

"Not dead?" Shivierah asks, turning his whole attention to Oofamar. "What do you mean? And how do you know?"

drack

2014-12-17, 07:38 PM

Old Man Oofamar shrugs. "How do I know any of what I've been telling you all, it just comes to me as if by magic..." "Oh boy..." "Here it is again." "The same old meandering every time..." "Why'd you even ask that huh?" "Aren't you the god of knowledge? Shouldn't you have known this would send him into one of his fits?" "Actually that's our... territory..." "Shut up Henry." "Yeah, shut up Henry."

This has always been one of the old man's problems keeping him from making it big-league though few truly understand it. He's never fully accepted his divinity as a part of himself (...and all his levels with it, he was after all a commoner originally.) why honestly he doesn't even seem to understand how he does any of it, scrying, divining, teleporting, viewing locations thousands of miles away, lifting heavy things, speaking tongues, even creating such odd and wondrous machinery. Why half the time he'll use a magical item and never even notice he'd activated it.

rockdeworld

2014-12-17, 10:22 PM

"Ok." Shivierah says. "So do you know where they are? Can you lead us there?"

drack

2014-12-17, 10:41 PM

"...like magic only... not like magic... it's like it's a part of me and yet it's so alien! I mean you'd think someone hearing billions of voices in their head every day and understanding them all must be mad right? I mean..." "Yup, he's toast." "Well maybe he could have found them, but he certainly hasn't told me where to find them." "Nor should he you ungrateful snitch!" "Hay, all I'm saying is that he could." "Chances are he always knew, but you heard the man, 'I doubt we'd stand any chance against such a creature so it's best we ignore their existence', what's the point of all dying just to say we found them?" "Well I'm a bit curious myself but..." "Come off it guys, we all know he... hey, HEY, snap out of it, forget about what it is, you're here among your peers, at least try to be composed. Slowly Old Man Oofamar trails off "I mean, it's not like everyone hears voices, or at least it didn't... used to be..."

Taking in the odd stares from the group Old Man Oofamar settles back into his seat. "Has anyone seen it, I seem to have misplaced my tea... Perhaps that young lad with the humble servant attitude stole it." "good recovery" "Yeah, now just act naturally." "You totally got this man. "Like a gentle mist baby, like a gentle mist, just hover there."

rockdeworld

2014-12-18, 02:00 AM

Oomph, those light text colors are impossible to see without highlighting.
"Oh yeah!" Shivierah says. "Albert should be back with some shortly."

As he finishes speaking, there's a knock on the door. Shivierah waves it open, and the manservant who greeted the gods earlier enters the room with a pot of tea and cups on a tray. He offers tea to each of the gods, starting with Oofamar. After serving everyone, he lines up at the wall with the other servants.

"Anyway, if you can lead us to them, then let's go!" Shivierah says to Oofamar. "If we can save even one of the greater gods, it'll bring a bit of stability to the planes. Plus, facing our enemy will give us a better idea of their strengths."

"And you don't have to worry about dying. I swear, on this sword..." Shivierah unsheathes his great sword from his back, and sets it on the ground point-first. "I'll keep everyone safe."

drack

2014-12-18, 06:41 AM

Old Man Oofamar gives the god a quizzical stare. "You believe yourself more mighty then a pantheon of greater gods?

Never let little things like being the only gods left fool you into believing you're one of them." The old man sagely councils.

Deities and demigods makes their divinity strictly better, and knowing green I'd expect them to have excess of 10 levels more then us.

rockdeworld

2014-12-18, 08:45 AM

But they're all commoner levels (assuming you're talking about the greater deities). Anyway, you're the only one who can advance the plot right now, since Greenpotato hasn't been doing anything except to tell us our divinations are blocked.

"Trust me." Shivierah says, looking Oofamar in the eye with a confident expression. "I am the bladesinger, and when I say I'll keep people safe, I mean it. Besides, the greater gods were taken unawares. We know there's something out there, so we're on a more even footing."

WebTiefling

2014-12-18, 01:29 PM

Alistair nods to Shivierah's proposal.

"I agree that we must rescue the greater deities if at all possible. Their portfolios are unattended and vulnerable to all sorts of disaster; I am less sanguine about our chances of survival. While your abilities are not in doubt, anything that is able to take out an entire collection of greater deities, even if it was by surprise, is well beyond our power to directly challenge."

Alistair shrugs, and sips the tea which had grown in size to match Alistair's frame, even as he had lifted it from the tray.

"I don't say this to withdraw. I caused immeasurable harm before becoming a deity, and rescuing other deities while stopping great harm is what I will do as part of my redemption.

"However, there are other issues at hand that also need our actions. I'm sure you can all sense other disasters befalling the planes - great abominations loosed and wreaking destruction. Phanes, Infernals, Atropals, and more are either loosed or are taking advantage. We must stop these beings as well as mount a rescue."

Alistair turns to Shivierah.

"You gave me the idea by multiplying yourself. There are spells to multiply a Body Outside a Body. A focused assault by these duplicates should stop many of these abominations while allowing us to focus on rescuing the greater gods."

With that, Alistair's godly powers exerted themselves and ten streams of light came off his body and coallesced into copies of himself, each of a normal-sized person.

"Shall you join me in this effort?" Alistair asks the others even as the smaller versions of himself begin casting spells on themselves and each other, buffing themselves for battle.

Instead of posting it all IC, greenpotato sent me the results of my divinations in the Graveyard. There are a variety of Abominations (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/abomination.htm) smashing around. I was able to sense a couple of them because some of my followers are fighting them. This is what I'm describing here. Probably you guys can sense the same sort of thing by looking at what your followers are doing.

(or maybe not - my followers are rather aggressive in going to face great evil so they can seek redemption, so I might have an above average number of followers who are in the general area of these abominations)

Body Outside Body is in Complete Adventurer. Lasts 1 minute. I'm using Alter Reality to cast it. That makes it CL 50, so 10 copies. All their equipment is mundane, but they have all our abilities.

With a few of these per Abomination, they should be able to make very, very short fights. Maybe even off-screen fights.

The other divination result from the Graveyard was the whole Blob-killing-the-guards thing.

drack

2014-12-18, 07:41 PM

Old Man Oofamar shakes his head in disappointment. "No, no, these..." he waves his hand vaguely at the extra bodies of the god "...manifestations, they lack the power of the original, and even the creature we faced just a moment ago, weakened as it was, believed us little more then a nusince that it could easily crush. I fear this is more serious a threat then you imagine. Let us try pooling our might against a little one before we begin to dream any higher then that."

rockdeworld

2014-12-19, 03:51 AM

"Give me a few minutes." Shivierah answers, and breathes. 4 clones appear around him, and the group begin be-spelling themselves for battle.

At the same time, Shivierah communicates with his worshippers and priests. He tells them to spread the word that they are looking for the missing gods, and will pay a reward of 5,000,000 gp to anyone who can cast 10th level spells and leads them to the greater gods.

When they hear Oofamar's remarks, they frown at him.

"Ok, let's go." One of the clones says. "Which way?"

"Go ahead without me." Shivierah says. "Call me if you find any we can make into allies."

Then he directs his attention to Oofamar.

"I understand, old man. I once saw a house cat roaming around its home. After rounding a corner, it found itself face-to-face with a riding dog. Its owner had brought it in for a treat without knowing the cat was inside. The riding dog was trained to obey its owner, but it had never seen a cat before, and it didn't like the little creature. So it growled, baring its teeth. The cat got the message. So what did it do?"

He pauses for a moment to let Oofamar respond.

If Oofamar gets it wrong: "Nope..."
If Oofamar gets it right: "Yep..."

In either case: "It bared its own teeth, hissed at the dog, and scratched it right on the muzzle. Surprised and hurt, the dog backed away. Then the cat went on roaming the house unmolested."

"Now, do you know where do we fit into that story?"

Being in the same game as Alistair had me worried my character is going to die, so I added a few buffs to Shivierah (that he will also add to his morning routine).

Standard action: Plane Shift to this universe's version of Xoriat Shiv does the buffs during regular turns.
X.1 Standard: Persistent SLA Miracle -> Body Outside Body at CL 20 for 4 clones
X.2-35 Standard: Shivierah and his clones buff themselves with SLA Persistent Miracle duplicating:
3x Beastland Ferocity (Planar Handbook)
3x Delay Death (SpC)
3x Favor of the Martyr (SpC)
2x Dolorous Blow (SpC) (one on each Kukri)
Lion's Charge (SpC)
Sirine's Grace (SpC)
Fortunate Fate (SpC)
Death Pact (SpC) (not in the morning buff routine because it's permanent)
Renewal Pact (SpC) (not in the morning buff routine because it's permanent)
Greater Spell Immunity (Blasphemy, Dictum, Word of Chaos, Word of Balance, Dimensional Lock)
Transformation of the Deeps (Stormwrack)
Arcane Sight
Dragonsight (SpC)
Ebon Eyes (SpC)
Tremorsense (SpC)
Essence of the Raptor (SpC)
Spellcaster's Bane (CM)
Snowsight (Frostburn)
Battlemagic Perception (Heroes of Battle)
Xorn Movement (Spc)
Pass Through Ice (Frostburn)
Lightfoot (SpC)
Stormrage (SpC)
2x Ruin Delver's Fortune (Far Corners of the World) (Reflex, Will)
Zone of Revelation (SpC)
Ray Deflection (Spc)

Which adds the following effects (that I'll add to his character sheet):
-keen weapon + crits auto-confirm
-pounce
-breathe water, swim 60'
-contingent heal if killed by damage
-contingent panacea
-immune to Blasphemy, Dictum, Word of Chaos, Word of Balance, Dimensional Lock, damage from temperature and pressure of deep water, snow glare/whiteout, natural or magical wind
-water breathing, darkvision
-see magical auras within 120'
-blindsense 100'
-tremorsense 30'
-scent, +8 Hide, Jump, Listen, Spot, and Survival
-Automatically recognize spells being cast in line of sight, and know caster level
-Automatically detect all spellcasting (including SLAs) within 100' with line of effect & can counter a spell as a free action at the cost of ending buff
-invisible and ethereal creatures within 100' are visible
-burrow 20'
-move through ice and snow
-Don't provoke AoOs for moving
-easily able to hold position and not subject to other adverse effects of extreme wind, 1/round can discharge a bolt of electricity from eyes with a ranged touch attack for 10d6 electricity damage
-add Cha to Ref/Will saves, gain evasion
-auto-deflect rays
(X.36 Standard: the clones use Power of Luck on themselves if they don't already have it)
X.36 Standard: SLA Miracle to teleport without error Shivierah and his clones back to the place he was standing before.

And then storytime for fun :smallsmile: Shivierah doesn't actually have to convince Oofamar of anything, I'm just doing it because I've got nothing better to do.

drack

2014-12-22, 08:55 PM

"Um... I don't suppose it properly explained the situation or walked away now did it? I seem to recall a good number of these instances ending with the cat dead..."

Old Man Oofamar pauses to gulp down his tea as vierah tells him the answer.

"Where do we... OH. OK, I think I've got it. Lets see." The Old Man's Eyes glaze over for a moment as if he were thinking very hard, or perhaps remember something, or even peer through the future to find the true answer to the question.
"Oh... Oh my."

The Old Man pauses for a moment considering before returning his eyes to vierah.

"We're the dead cat aren't we? I mean, not dead dead, but as good as all the same. Why it seems almost as if the house were purchased by a new owner and the cat had picked a fight with them only to be hit with twenty exterminators, cat-catchers, and crazy ladies hopping to add to their collection, or I suppose it'd be twelve for us... or was it fourteen... and then... and then... and then..."
"Woah woah, easy there, calm down big guy..." "Yeah, we don't want you to blow a... well anything you may need." "Come on with me in... out... in... out..."

With some help the old man's breathing becomes steady once more and he moves to drink more from his empty tea cup only to frown and set it aside.

"What are you trying to say?" He asks vierah "State it plainly for you are neither the dog who stands stronger of the two, not a beast so fortunate as that which you portray."

greenpotato

2014-12-22, 09:37 PM

Shivierah sends out the word to find a high level spellcaster, but it will take time in all this anarchy for word to get back to him.

All those who are remote viewing the graveyard of the gods get their remote viewing blocked. They could see various followers and copies of their fellow remaining dieties performing various tasks around the site before any sense gets cut off without warning.

rockdeworld

2014-12-23, 05:27 PM

Since greenpotato probably won't reply for a few days, I'd like to continue this for another post or 2 before that happens.

Also Shivierah is just vierah now? I guess the forum omitted the 'Shi' out of dislike :smalltongue:
As Oofamar gets worked up, Shivierah grins. He puts his hand to his mouth to cover it, but it's clear he's trying to keep from laughing.

"No, we are the dog." He answers. "We saw an intruder, and something that we'd never seen before, and growled at it. It lashed out, but didn't really hurt any of us, including Kayros, who its attack aimed at. And in the end, it was the one that ran away. It told you that we weren't a threat, but I think it's scared of us, just like a cat would be scared of a riding dog.

"And it's right." Shivierah continues, crossing his arms. "It's a big Gelatinous Cube, feeding on the dead, and we're gods. Plus, we know it couldn't have been the one that took down the greater gods, because it didn't have any of those scales we found at the Grand Chamber, nor did we find any pieces of it there.

"Besides, you yourself said the greater gods aren't dead. That means whatever attacked them couldn't kill them. I don't know your entire history, but you were born a god, right? So you might not know that one way to get a god's power is to kill them. To an enemy, there's no disadvantage to killing a god, and everything to gain. So whatever we're up against, it's weaker than the greater gods. And I think it's weaker than us too. So don't worry about the blob or the serpent or the 4 we learned about earlier. We're strong, and we'll deal with them." He finishes with a smile crafted to inspire confidence.

And never mind that meta-game logic that says that the final boss is stronger than the heroes when they first start out :smalltongue:

On that note, if any of the abominations attacking people right now are phanes, hecatoncheireses, or xixecals, I'd like Shivierah's clones to diplomacy those abominations; maybe sing too (soothe the savage beast and whot). I.E. use Diplomacy, taking 10, and fast-talking at -10, for 70 to auto-succeed turning a monster from Hostile to Friendly. Then convince it to become Shivierah's ally and follower. Can we do that, greenpotato?

And just to be clear, Shivierah isn't looking for a high-level spellcaster. He's looking for anyone with information on the disappearance of the gods who also happens to be a high-level spellcaster.

And after greenpotato's post happens:
"My perception of the graveyard has been blocked. Something's happening there again! Let's go." Those who are willing, he miracle-transports to the graveyard.