What price Immortality (IC)?

[Jack_Simth]

It's been a long time since the Order of Shalmara subdued you, separated your gem-body from your host, and put you in a small box. It's a very solid box - cushioned on the inside, built out of adamantite, and lined with lead. It's even decorated... on the outside, and the 'decorations' consist of writing in something like a dozen languages that all say essentially the same thing: "Lethal magic, do not open." It's rather difficult to tell how long it has been - you're stuck in your gem, with no way to make a mark, and no way to tell day from night even if you could. It's very, very boring, and very, very quiet.

Until one day it isn't. You hear a rather lot of severely muffled noises outside your box, and then there's a period of intermittent jostling... the box is well padded, and your gem is quite durable, so you're not harmed... but with the padding, nor can you make out the noises. It's unclear how long the jostling lasts, but after a while, your box is set down. What is probably a few minutes later, your box is opened and you can see the sky... until you are pulled out of your box with tongs, placed into a sling, spun around, and then fired. You get a brief view of the person who fired you (a halfling with sandy brown hair, a dark complexion, and green eyes wearing a dark brown leather jerkin) before briefly experiencing uncontrolled flight... which ends when you crash into the hide of a beast on the arena floor. You instantly bond with the beast, and watch from the beast's eyes as several other similarly dressed halflings finish putting their own slings away. You're in a large oval arena, about two hundred and seventy two feet long by one hundred and fifty seven feet wide at the longest points of the dimensions, surrounded by a series of raised platforms with seating that goes up about a hundred and fifty seven feet to a ceiling of canvas that shades the stands. There appears to be open sky well above your heads, and a tunnel with a closed gate behind you.

The stands are essentially empty, save for the half-dozen halfling slingers, and one halfling dressed from head to toe in black cloth - including a face mask - who seems to be balancing a dagger on one finger. Observing the results of the volley, he says "You know, I honestly didn't think that would work." and shouts to you "Welcome back to the land of the living; are your minds intact?" He also takes a moment to signal to someone you can't see, and a moment later, the closed gate behind you starts slowly lifting.

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda is so excited to see the sun once again that the fact she is being flung through the air doesn't even register until the moment her gem collides with something. She is suddenly seeing things through some creature's eyes... and its build is one that she finds extremely disorienting for some reason.

She stumbles as she tries to get her bearings in this new body. She had to get her front legs on the ground... but why did doing so result in her face hitting the arena floor? Why were the creature's hind legs so much longer - and more powerfully built - than the front legs? After a deep, calming breath, she thinks over the features that she can feel on the creature.

Scaly skin, so I'm some kind of reptile... extremely large... a big mouth full of teeth, and talons on the hind legs... Are these claws on the front legs? Yes, yes they are. So that would mean I'm... A dinosaur of some kind? Oooh, I see now, these are arms, not legs. With the existential crisis of what she was resolved, Esmeralda straightens up, though her legs still shake a little; how long had it been since she was in a two-legged body other than a bird's? So... how long had it been since she was in her original body?

The halfling's words draw her attention, and she nods. "For the most part, yes. How long was I in that box?"

[Necroticplague]

As the large peice of onyx hits the giant snake in the flank, the creature suddenly begins the start writhing as its body undergo changes. While the gem sets itself deeper into its skins, two arms grow out of it, while a tentacle burst out of the 'back' between them. The giant serpent rears back up its coil to try to respond to the halfling, but its new form finds itself unable to form any words properly. Glad xi learned the various signs from xir dealings with the drow, the snake then tries to use the hands that follow it around in all its forms to communicate. {Yes, just bored. Who do I have the pleasure of thanking?}

[trysted]

So foreign and yet...famiar? Then he hears the voice. COLOR="#4B0082"]Yes, I'm here[/COLOR]
. Kznitinzk says, but it comes out:

Growl.

[roll0]

[trysted]

I may look and sound like a bear, but my mind is fine. Where is it? And more importantly, when is it?

The ghostly sound echoes.

[Mousedigits]

The emerald stone flew though the air, out of its box for the first time in years. Or, what the one inside assumed to be years. For all he knew, it could have been mere months. Hell, it could've been a couple days. It sure felt like years, though. It felt like centuries. Time feels so much longer in a box.

A second or two later, the emerald fell on a beast.
A griffon? No... A Roc? At least it's not a human... I couldn't live with that again. Not again.
The bird visibly shudders. Then it looks about at its surroundings.
An arena, eh? Looks like I'm part of a bloodsport.
Upon hearing the voice from above, the bird glances up and releases a shrill SQUAAAAAAK!
Of course I can't talk. What was I thinking?
Then, he notices one key word that fell from the halfling's mouth: minds.
Wait, I'm not the only one? There were others?
Looking around, he sees that the others all have gems on them, too.
Huh, this should be interesting. I don't want to fight them. They're like me. Hopefully, we're all against whatever's coming out of that gate.

[Failed Phantasm]

There was an inexplicable finality about the deafeningly whisper-quiet *click* that came when the Order of Shalmara closed the little prison-box a lifetime ago. His mind exploded with the frenetic fervor of a caged animal to touch the thoughts of his captors, even in the last moments of their sealing the vault behind them as they left him to never die, but the lead with which they had lined his cage now caged his consciousness within itself in turn, shutting out even this last, desperate link to the world he had once known. He didn't even have the naïve babble of his psicrystal to keep him company, to trade riddles, to question him—accuse him!—to do anything whatsoever; he could tear out the memories and the knowledge as easily as he burned all his notes and books, but the deed itself and the burden it lay on him could not be so easily erased. All he had now were his own thoughts and an eternity of silence and darkness spiraling out before him to the rhythm of the *click* that would echo forever inside the tiny padded box of his mind until he went mad with the noise and the shame and the self-loathing and the abject terror that he never be able to run away from what he had become.

There was an inexplicable finality about the soothingly cacophonous *click* that came when someone inserted what must have been a very rusty key into a very loud and ancient lock and, with no small complaint on the part of the mechanism, opened the little prison-box to sun and sky and clouds and all the world and a LIFE when he tried to leave life behind. His thought-self burst forth from the box like a bird out of its cage, but the interminable march of years had atrophied his talent just as surely as if it were a physical part of the body he no longer had, and touching the minds of others again was like staring into the sun after an eternity of living in the darkness: it was blinding, and he didn't care. He didn't care who or what had found him, nor whether or not now would be the moment he met death at last—being smashed into a million pieces would be infinitely preferable!—because here was a taste of freedom, of hope! He felt as if he were soaring. Only he was soaring, launched by a halfling's sling, a little sphere of moonstone twirling through the air as the world whirled around him. Then the flight ended against something solid yet pliant and, after a moment of being drawn inward, it was like looking into a mirror for the first time in his life: he could see what he had become.

A heart pounded in his chest, blood pumped through his veins, breath flowed through his nose and lungs, his ears swiveled to catch the sound of the wind as it wafted past, the sun warmed his fur and skin, and he saw light through his own eyes for the first time in forever. Crouching low, he could feel the earth beneath his paws as he dug his claws into the soil to grip the world for dear life, as if he would be sucked back into the box and locked away again if he didn't hold on. Were his newly-acquired feline eyes equal to the task, he would have broken down in tears; his thoughts obliged him anyway, as his unbound consciousness emitted spastic, incoherent pulses of his ecstatic joy and the mental equivalent of unabashed weeping to every thinking being he could sense.

'I'm free!?' came Garrick's first, woefully inadequate thought.

"Welcome back to the land of the living; are your minds intact?" The masked halfling's salutation caught his attention and he looked up to see the face of the one who was, presumably, his liberator. Speaking—that is, using a mouth and vocal cords and other such banal bits of one's biology—was not the telepath's first impulse, but the long disuse made it difficult to focus on mentally addressing a single person again. So he broadcast in flawless, if antiquated, Common and with all the presence of mind he could muster: «There are no words in the tongues of thy people, or that of men, or that of the angels of the Upper Planes, or in any other I know by which I could thank thee for my freedom, most esteemed sir!» His mental voice was as uncertain as a physical one would have been given equal stretches of disuse, but Garrick could still add a(n admittedly unsteady) mellifluous flair and resonant clarity to his telepathic communication. It was what he had wished his real voice sounded like. «I cannot, as thou wishest, speak to the intactness of my mind, for thou dost ask the lunatic to counsel the physician in his craft. But I forget my manners. I beg thou callest me Garrick. Pray, good halfling, what is the year?»

[Jack_Simth]

The black-clad halfling seems relieved, and whispers to himself "That's another ten crowns I owe him. I was fully expecting at least one of them to have gone violently insane. Still, it is better this way." and shouts to you "Right now I am the Speaker for the Guild of Acquisitions, and while doing so I am to go by my title: Speaker. However, I'm getting a little horse, and as all'y'all seem to be fine..." the halfling leaps the twenty feet down off of the podium he had been standing upon, lands lightly on the sandy floor, and walks over to you so that he can continue in a normal voice "Officially, it's currently year 349 Temporibus Kang. I'm afraid that won't help you much, though. Three hundred and twenty-seven years ago, Kang the Conqueror declared a year zero based on when he was born. Based on what we were able to piece together when digging all'y'all up, that was the second or third time someone had futzed up the calendar since you'd gotten yourselves caught. It would have taken longer than we had to piece together an exact date, so we didn't bother trying. It's probably safe to say you're not going to run into anyone you knew, though."

"But we don't have much time, so down to business. You'll have noticed that the door behind you is most the way open by now. That's the exit. You'll notice you're not chained down. Official policy of the Guild of Acquisitions is that we don't do slavery. We'd like you to do a job for us, but we had no way to obtain your agreement prior to letting you out, so if you walk away, right now, you get to keep your payment for having done squat... and if I do anything about that, the Guildmaster will have my head - well, my skull, anyway; he's got a rather gruesome set of wine cups I'd be joining. If you stay, though, we've got a very big, very hard job for you to do... for which we can't offer any more payment than you've already received. Because of that pesky 'opsec' stuff, though, I can't give you details until after you've agreed. Now, as I understand it, most of all'y'all won't be able to talk directly... so a simple sign: If you agree, stay; if you do not, leave." The halfling pulls out a small hourglass, and flips it over to start it "As I said: We don't have much time here, so you've got until the sand runs out to give me your answer - about five minutes. Do be aware though that if you do agree, we will hold you to it. You are free to discuss it amongst yourselves, such as you are able."

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda considers the halfling's words. It didn't seem fair that they'd have to agree to something that he admitted was difficult (and likely dangerous as well) without being allowed to know what they were agreeing to. At the same time, though, he had freed them from their prisons, and it wouldn't be right to run off to freedom without repaying that debt to him.

She turns to the others. "I think we should agree to help him. His group freed us from our imprisonment, and it wouldn't be right of us to not repay this debt."

[Tempestfury]

To say Karliah had been pissed at this ‘Order of Shalmara’, for trapping her in a box was to be an understatement. She was nothing more than an alchemist that had found a willing soul to share her body with theirs in order to learn more about alchemy. Makoto the elf, a very polite gentle sort, who was very good company in all honestly. Karliah could teach Makoto what she knew, and in turn Makoto taught her. Until those brutes came along for no reason and just tore her away! Talk about the height of injustice!

This anger had a very long time to shimmer as well, as Karliah didn’t have too much left to do in all honestly, except for recall memories, fond or small. She wasn’t one to spend long lengths of time contemplating alchemy... though admittedly she did spend a bit of time on it and had a few enlightenments about it. It was mostly her memories, and her anger. So... when Karliah was freed, she was not happy about used as a freaking sling-stone!

After adjusting to her new body, Karliah was angry to realize she was in some animal, with no way to talk. No matter, she had learned that her alchemical abilities still worked, no matter what her host was... and there was plenty of animals to take clippings from. A bit of fur here, a bit scrapin from a claw there, a plucked feather here... and by the time the halfling had jumped down and was talking to them, Karliah was already mixing it all together. When he had finished his little speech, down the hatch it went and hey pesto! The bug was now a gargoyle.

“First of all mister Speaker, I would like to state my strong displeasure at being treated with such little respect. Being flung around as if I was a simple stone is extremely rude and I have been angry for a very, very long time as some even ruder people.” Karliah growled out, the gargoyle’s voice low and gravelly, hiding her actual sex... though she lost those parts long ago. She didn’t have any intention of hurting him, and just wanted to make him sweat...

[roll0]

“Still, as it seems to have been time immemorial since we have been freed from those boxes, there is little reason for us to disagree with this venture at all. Plus, I am curious about this ‘Guild of Acquisitions’, as well as just what has driven you to such insane lengths for this venture of yours. So I will accept this quest... on the condition that I’m not treated with such disrespect again!”

Used the Monstrous Physique I Level 3 Extract.

[Jack_Simth]

The Speaker visibly starts sweating as he stammers out "Ye-yes, of course. Well, as you can imagine, we were rather short on options; we had to put you in some rather dangerous beasts so that you could make full use of your own talents, had no way to determine who was actually in there, and can you imagine how you'd have reacted to waking up in cages? None of my men wanted to be anywhere near that. As to the guild itself... I can't really divulge too much in the way of detail, you understand, but our members don't exactly see eye to eye with the local law, if you catch my drift."

[Mousedigits]

They want us to do something... The question is, what? I guess I won't find out unless I help them, and I AM indebted to them...

The Roc nods, then screeches again.

[Necroticplague]

The snakes seems to stand motionless for a second as the onyx on it contemplates its decision. On one hand, the whole sound of this makes it sound like a suicide mission. On the other, It's not exactly as if xi can lead a normal life now. At the very least, having some task would give her a way to ease into the new time. So the snake merely moves the onyx on its side into its mouth, so that his nature is not as easily visible. Than, it coils its body and rests its head, not moving an inch towards the door.

[Failed Phantasm]

'What manner of speech is this? How long have I laid in my box beneath the earth?' Garrick stretched idly in feline fashion, as much to appease his host as satisfy a long-unfulfilled urge of his own, while he considered the other gem-prisoners as they acclimated to their new condition and spoke, signed, squawked, or otherwise scared their rescuers; 'and how have they come to possess the knowledge to bind themselves into jewels as I have?' He straightened out and shook himself briefly from head to stubby tail. 'It cannot have come from me. I destroyed all I owned to make it so.' Satisfied, he began to lick his forepaw in feigned disinterest as the insect-turned-gargoyle addressed the masked halfling in a most irate tone, but found that he could not share in the indignation. He had his freedom again, with all the existential dilemmas and fascinating opportunities that came with it; wherefore should he be angry? Garrick's heart was still soaring aloft with unbridled joy.

He stood up and began to prowl slowly and thoughtfully along the edge of the arena nearest the now-open gate—how tempting it was to simply run through it and not look back!—carefully considering the proposition before him with great care. Wherever and whenever he had come to be free, and whatever he would decide to do henceforth, he would need resources and not simply or solely the monetary kind. If this "Guild of Acquisitions" were true to its name, they might make for useful contacts; moreover, it was highly unlikely they had brought him back out of some notion of unconditional goodness. Refusing them might be dangerous, even if they were currently presenting a façade of graciousness. As he paced and pondered, he began to patiently practice his psionic powers once again, as being trapped in a lead-lined box did not provide one with many opportunites to exercise one's mental "muscles", such as it were. He wreathed himself in a suite of protective energies, taking great care to hide the fact that he was manifesting, as a small measure of insurance against any unexpected unpleasantness that may arise.

By now, the halfling and gargoyle had finished speaking, and so Garrick took the opportunity to broadcast his thoughts once more to all present: «There is much to thy tale that remains unspoken and I think it neither unwise nor unexpected that we should question thy motives in this matter. Yet it is equally true that thou canst scarcely know the depths of gratitude and jubilation one might have in our position, after not less than three hundred seven-and-twenty years of being buried beyond the knowing of the world. If thou or thy master hath such great faith in we whom thou knowest not, so shall I give thee that selfsame courtesy though I know thee not. But ere all the sands fall through thy trinket, I would beg thee but answer one question of mine: knowest thou aught of the Order of Shalmara?»


Actions taken
Garrick manifests conceal thoughts (www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-powers/c/conceal-thoughts), extended detect hostile intent (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-powers/d/detect-hostile-intent), and extended inertial armor (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-powers/i/inertial-armor), expending and regaining his psionic focus as necessary and regaining it once more when finished. At the time of gaining psionic focus, the energy type he selects for the appropriate power(s) is electricity.


Conceal thoughts is manifested at ML 12th, with a duration of 12 hours (1 hour/level) and a power point cost of 0. Garrick auto-succeeds on the Concentration roll to suppress the power's Mental display, with a minimum check result of 21 vs. DC 15.

Extended detect hostile intent is manifested at ML 12th, with a duration of 4 hours (20 minutes/level) and power point cost of 5. Garrick expends his psionic focus to gain the benefit of the Extend Power metapsionic feat. He auto-succeeds on the Concentration roll to suppress the power's Olfactory display, with a minimum check result of 21 vs. DC 17.

5 PP = 3 PP (base cost) + 2 PP (Extend Power)

Extended inertial armor is manifested at ML 12th, with a duration of 24 hours (2 hours/level) and a power point cost of 9. Garrick expends his psionic focus to gain the benefit of the Extend Power metapsionic feat. He auto-succeeds on the Concentration roll to suppress the power's Visual display, with a minimum check result of 21 vs. DC 16.

9 PP = 1 PP (base cost) + 2 PP (Extend Power) + 6 PP (+3 Armor AC, granted at a rate of 2 PP:1 AC)


I also roll a preëmptive Sense Motive check, in the event that Garrick needs to oppose the masked halfling's attempt to Bluff him: [roll0].
If the halfling makes no such attempt, assume the roll instead is used to gather a Hunch about the halfling's character or trustworthiness.


Condition
HP: 105/105, PP: 160/174, Psionic Focus? Self: ☑, Psicrystal: ☐


conceal thoughts -- (12 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
extended detect hostile intent -- (4 hours remaining) Within a 30-foot radius of himself, Garrick: can sense the presence of any creature with actively hostile intent, cannot be caught surprised or flat-footed by a creature susceptible to [mind-affecting] powers, and can make Sense Motive checks as free actions.
extended inertial armor -- (24 hours remaining) Gain +7 Armor AC that incorporeal creatures cannot bypass.

[trysted]

I'm willing to listen, and yes, I do acknowledge that I owe you a debt. But be careful that you don't try to extract more payment from those than is actually owed.


(5+2+4)+(5-5)*1=11

[Jack_Simth]

The halfling in black waves dismissively at the question about The Order "Order? Bah. Remnants of a cult, more like. There was a big purge about a thousand years ago, they lost big time. Everyone's heard the stories of their atrocities, we found you lot when looking through the ashes of one of their strongholds that the guard razed. Pretty cleverly hidden; one of our more skilled searchers really only found it by chance. Hidden vault, some pretty serious locks, warning signs all over the place once past the entrance, including some dusty old book our scribes could barely make any sense of." The halfling pauses for a bit, and tilts his head sideways for a bit "Now that I think about it, though... I've never actually seen any of their atrocities, nor do I know of anyone who has... and there wasn't any evidence of blood sacrifices, necromancy, or the summoning of demons in their vault. Hmm. Come to that, I've run smear campaigns myself a time or two... I'm going to have to have a closer look at that at some point."

The Speaker shrugs at the mention of relative worth "Eh, not my call. I'm the messenger."

[Failed Phantasm]

«A thousand years?»

Garrick's astonished utterance reflected the hushed and disbelieving tone with which he would have spoken it aloud were he able. «I fear, then, that is the more accurate accounting of our ages than three hundred.» He sat on his hindquarters and then stared up at the sun and sky for a moment. Somehow, hearing it said it aloud made the gravity of it more real, more inescapable: he'd spent—no, lost—at least a thousand years trapped in a box, and for what? Immortality had never been his desire, merely a happy side-effect, and though it was perhaps the lens of ages that made him think so, suddenly his true reason for doing what he had seemed so terribly petty. There could be no "making up" for a millenium of lost time, only accepting the consequence of a foolhardy and desperate act. But he was again part of the here and now, and free besides, and he was not so solemn a soul as to stay somber for long. '"Be not without hope." Mayhap there is a way to be free of this jewel that I have but to discover.'

His composure thus regained, Garrick addressed the halfling again: «I can speak of them with neither insight nor verity nor fairness, for I knew them only as I knelt at the edge of their swords and stood before the judgement of the highest of their tribunals. But wherefore wouldst thou or thy master release us from the vaults of a society thou hadst thought to be comprised of demon-summoners and necromancers? What cause hadst thou to ignore such warnings? Is thy need truly so great?» Garrick paused for a moment as if finished, but after a brief instant of thinking about what he had said, he added, with the unmistakable sound of laughter coloring his thoughts: «But pray, take thou not my musings for ingratitude. Would that I could thank thee a thousand times for each of the thousand years I have spent in the darkness! But I do protest thee my thanks again, with deepest and most profound sincerity.»


Condition
HP: 105/105, PP: 160/174, Psionic Focus? Self: ☑, Psicrystal: ☐


conceal thoughts -- (12 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
extended detect hostile intent -- (4 hours remaining) Within a 30-foot radius of himself, Garrick: can sense the presence of any creature with actively hostile intent, cannot be caught surprised or flat-footed by a creature susceptible to [mind-affecting] powers, and can make Sense Motive checks as free actions.
extended inertial armor -- (24 hours remaining) Gain +7 Armor AC that incorporeal creatures cannot bypass.

[Jack_Simth]

The halfling watches as the sands run out, and then starts to say "Well, seeing as how you're all still here..." as he gets interrupted by what sounds like a small flock of pigeons suddenly scattering... a few of which fly into the arena through the open doorway well behind you. The halfling continues in a hurried tone, saying "He's early, drat, need to cut this short..." as he quickly tosses each of you a small wrapped package, points at the exit he'd mentioned earlier, and says "Your orders are in the bags; to get out of here, head that way, take the second passage on the right. Straight ahead would lead to an exit, yes, but it goes onto a fairly busy street, and that's the way the bloke what owns this arena will be coming from. Your bodies weren't exactly what you might call purchased. Second passage to the right dead-ends, but the unused torch bracket there's a doorknob for a door that'll let even the largest of you through. Push, do not pull, after turning. Clockwise, not counterclockwise. Mission details, such as we have, are in the package. Good luck, you'll need it." With that, the halfling scurries to a particular unmarked spot in the sand, reaches through, and pulls up a hatch just barely big enough for the halfling to squeeze through... which he does, closing the hatch behind him with enough shaking that the sand fills back in to the point where it's rather difficult to tell there was ever a door there at all.

The man's minions similarly scatter, although as they're up in the stands, they're much sooner lost to sight and it's unclear where they go. The pidgeons that flew into the area circle around and fly out the open roof.

[Mousedigits]

Upon hearing that company was on the way, the huge bird jumped forwards, towards the exit, spread its wings, and flew.

EDIT: After picking up the package in his beak, of course.


Fly speed 50, if I can fly through the passage I'll use the run action, moving 150 feet until I reach the turn. Otherwise, I'll land at the entrance of the exit.

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda looks down at the package at her feat. "I guess we'd better get going, then." She takes a deep breath and shifts, taking on the form of a corgi. She picks up the package with their "orders" in her mouth and begins carrying it through the tunnel, following after the roc.


Spending first round to wild shape into a normal dog (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/dog/dog) and pick up the package, then going to start heading down the passage at running speed each round until she reaches the second passage on the right.

[trysted]

The bear pauses, and then takes off down the proffered direction. A force gathers up his box, and any of the boxes that aren't picked up already, and follows him.


((4X4)+3+4+6)x1=29 (Sacred geometry for still/silent)

Full round action to cast unseen servant. Having servant gather boxes, then heading down the hall and taking the second passage to the right, and having servant turn torch clockwise and I will push.

[Necroticplague]

The giant snake takes the halfling's disappearance as an ominous sign to get moving, and makes haste, quickly picking up the box before trying to bolt down the hall. Trying being the operative word, because running without any feet in a body this massive is a somewhat difficult affair. Being the main member of the current entouraged blessed with thumbs, xi quickly opens the massive passage on her own account as she slips her serpentine body through it.

1st round:Move action:Manipulate Item to pick up box (with Tentacle, if it becomes relevant)
Move: Move 20 feet towards exit
Next Rounds: Run action, moving at 80 feet per round.
Last round: Move action to open door, another move to go through it.

If it becomes relevant, the entire process should take about 5 rounds.

[Tempestfury]

“Talk about cutting it close.” Karliah muttered when the halfling had to quite hurriedly send them on their way... how nice of him to know reveal that the exit would of been into a main-street. Typical really, giving them options when they weren’t actually true... still, Karliah was committed now, and whilst she had no problems with breaking the law, she wanted to ensure that they weren’t doing anything to nefarious... picking up the package, Karliah turned and made her way down the tunnels, knowing that her form would allow her to open the secret tunnel if her new allies were unable to.

[Failed Phantasm]

As the halfling disappeared beneath the arena sands and the small package he threw slid to a halt at Garrick's paws, he couldn't help but bare his teeth and snarl at the annoyance. Would that they had just a few more minutes of uninterrupted conversation! He had to accept on faith that the man who was coming wouldn't be in a reasonable mood, or maybe even a helpful potential ally or contact, but neither did he want to take any chances with his newfound freedom. Down into the darkness it was, then. 'Damnation! Of all the times to not have thumbs,' he grumbled to himself. Crouching down low, he turned his head and gingerly picked up the wrapped orders with the side of his mouth. Once he was satisfied that he would not drop, bite, or swallow the thing out of reflex, he then sprinted off as fast as his feline legs would carry him.


Actions taken
See this post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19046326&postcount=46) in the OOC thread for the original dice rolls.

Round one

Move action: Garrick picks up the wrapped package containing his orders.
Move action: Garrick moves 40 feet towards the objective.

Autohypnosis: (1d20+19)[25]
Perception: (1d20+15)[29]


Round two

Full-round action: Garrick runs 200 feet (at ×5 speed; host has the Run (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/run---final) feat) towards the objective, turning down the second passage on the right as indicated by the masked halfling.

Autohypnosis: (1d20+19)[25]
Perception: (1d20+15)[26]


Round three
If the door is unopened upon arrival:

Move action: Garrick moves the remaining 10 feet to the objective.
Standard(?) action: Garrick inserts one of his saber-teeth in the unused bracket, turns it clockwise, and pushes the door open.

Autohypnosis: (1d20+19)[33]
Perception: (1d20+15)[29]


If the door is open upon arrival:

Move action: Garrick moves the remaining 10 feet to the objective, and another 10 feet through the open door.

Autohypnosis: (1d20+19)[33]
Perception: (1d20+15)[29]


Condition
HP: 105/105, PP: 160/174, Psionic Focus? Self: ☑, Psicrystal: ☐


conceal thoughts -- (12 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
extended detect hostile intent -- (4 hours remaining) Within a 30-foot radius of himself, Garrick: can sense the presence of any creature with actively hostile intent, cannot be caught surprised or flat-footed by a creature susceptible to [mind-affecting] powers, and can make Sense Motive checks as free actions.
extended inertial armor -- (24 hours remaining) Gain +7 Armor AC that incorporeal creatures cannot bypass.

[Jack_Simth]

As most mirror the halflings and rush off, Kznitinzk takes some time to summon a helper rather than suffer the indignity of grabbing the package by mouth. Unfortunately, this delay means that Kznitinzk encounters the arena master and his guards alone in the dimly-lit hallways of the arena as everyone else is already through the secret door.

The arena master doesn't look like a nice guy. He's a five-foot six human, slightly pudgy, carrying a dagger and a light crossbow at his belt, and wears stylized chainmail over his silken clothes. He wears a few rings, as well as a headband and a silver symbol of some deity or another. The guards appear to be semi-retired gladiators; also human, six feet tall, with bulging muscles. They're identically equipped in studded leather armor, a belt with several potions, and quite a few weapons including a masterwork shortsword and light mace, a net, a trident, and several darts.

While it may feel like an eternity, it doesn't take anyone long to react, and the arena master shouts "I'll have the head of whoever let it out! A hundred crowns each if you can subdue it alive, fifty each if it's dead!"


The guards form a triangle around the arena master; two preceding him, one behind, all adjacent to him. Starting distance is 30 feet to the nearest guard, due to the bent nature of the tunnels.
Kn(Religion) to ID the holy symbol if you'd like.
Also: Roll combat initiative.

Guards: [roll0]
Arena master: [roll1]
You make it down the dimly-lit brick passageway, open up the secret door, and even get through it without incident. The area beyond seems to be the city's stormwater system; you can hear rats scurrying about, and the area smells of decay.

However, shortly after you're through, you hear a shout from well behind you.

[Jack_Simth]

The battle-hardened arena guards react first, and move to capture what they believe to be a simple arena beast that they've fought before. Knowing that capture is more profitable to them than is a kill, here, they try to use capture tactics, rather than kill tactics.

The first one draws a net as he moves up, throwing it at the bear from ten feet away to try and slow it down. The other two charge, drawing their weapons as they go.

The arena master, however, notices the floating package and changes his mind, shouting "Forget capture; kill the beast now!" and joins in himself with a quick spell.



First guard: Move: to 10 feet away from you, drawing the net while moving. Standard: Throw net: [roll0] (touch). If that passes your AC, you're Entangled. Opposed Strength to control the rope and keep you from moving this round: [roll1] (not much hope, but eh, you never know)
Second guard: Charge, drawing the Trident and shortsword as he goes, attacking only with the trident: Attack: [roll2], damage: [roll3]
Third guard: Same as second: Attack: [roll4], damage: [roll5]
Arena master: Move in, cast Slay Living. Touch: [roll6], Fort DC 21. SR penetration (if applicable): [roll7]

Let's see... flat-footed touch AC is 11, so that net hits. -4 to Dex, -2 attack for you. Fortunately, your Dex mod is still in the positives, so that Slay Living is still going after a touch AC of 11. So all you have to worry about is the one crit and the fact that you might not be able to move from your spot for now.

[Tempestfury]

Karliah heard a shout from outside after they had left, and looked around, counting who was here and who was not. After coming up one short, she sighed, before saying outloud. “As much as I might like to leave the idiot who got themself seen by the arena master for being such an idiot, he has the orders so we can’t leave them. Does anyone have a way to quickly extract them from the first, without any guards following?” It was rather annoying that already things were going wrong because someone didn’t understand the urgency of the situation... hopefully they could just get that person out and go without any fighting.

[Necroticplague]

Listening to the dog, the giant snake stops in its tracks. It's probably for the best it can't actually talk right now, otherwise it would be busy swearing at the moron. It hesitates for a moment before turning around and exiting back out the tunnel. Normally, It wouldn't try to fight unless it had been hopped up on chemicals that turned it into an animalistic/atavistic abomination. But this time, she's already the monster, even without her potions. So she goes back through that tunnel to try and see how much trouble the idiot already got himself into.

Move action to re-open door, then move again to move 20 feet back the way I came.
Initiative if necessary:[roll0]

[trysted]

Kznitinzk recognizes when he is outnumbered and makes a run for it as fast as he can. Casts dimension door to teleport him to the other side of the party, and then runs toward the door to go through it and hopefully not be outnumbered.


Sacred Geometry Still, Silent (6x4x3)-(4+2)+1=67
Using Metamagic adept for shortened casting time
Using Dimensional Agility to run after going through Dimensional Door.


Edit: To be clear, "other side of party" is "the turn for the second passageway"

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda skids to a stop as she hears the arena master's yelling. "Oh, 'ammi' a'!" She drops the package with her orders and turns around, reverting back to her host's true form. She lets out a deafening roar and charges back toward the arena.


Reverting back to Allosaurus form and moving toward the arena.

[Jack_Simth]

The arena master and the guards stare a bit as Kznitinzk vanishes from inside the net. However, with Kznitinzk out of range, the Unseen Servant spell dissipates, and the small package it was carrying falls to the ground with a slight thud. This draws their attention, but not for long, due to the sounds of things racing at them down the hallway...

OK, now the rest of you can arrive on the scene; anyone who has an initiative check above 16 - which is most of you - can act before the arena people make their next move, hence why I'm not giving them any actual actions just yet

[Failed Phantasm]

Garrick tore back down the passageway from which he had just come, snarling as much as he could considering that he was still holding his orders in his mouth. He had been one of the first to make it to the secret door, behind only the roc, and followed by the funny little dog, the gargoyle, and the snake. When the sixth member of their impromptu group failed to appear, and a shout echoed down to them from the main passage, it wasn't a particularly difficult stretch of the mind to infer what had happened. He had started sprinting back almost immediately, not completely sure of what he was going to do when he got there. 'Sluggard bear! The halfling said to make haste!'

As he rounded the curved section that separated the main passage from his field of vision, he could see a small cluster of men staring dumbfoundedly into the space in front of them — they didn't seem to have noticed him yet. A few options quickly flitted through his mind, among them charming the group or psionically persuading them to go further on to the arena proper, but he was ultimately more concerned with letting as few people as possible learn about his freedom or discover the circumstances surrounding his existence. Best not to explain, or even lie about, how a "dire tiger" learned to speak telepathically. Concentrating deeply, he attempted to wrench the entire group out of space-time and fling them into the near future.


Actions taken
Garrick manifests time hop (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-powers/t/time-hop) on the arena master and his bodyguards.


Free action: Garrick converts the enhancement bonus from his +3 merciful guardian bite to a +3 bonus to saves that stacks with all others. This effect persists until the start of his next turn.

Standard action: Garrick manifests time hop on the Cleric, Fighter A, Fighter B, and Fighter C at ML 14th, with a duration of 14 rounds (1 round/level) and a power point cost of 11. A Will save at DC 21 negates the power; additionally, each target is allowed a DC 15 Wisdom check each round to prematurely end the effect. Garrick expends his psionic focus to gain the benefit of the Talented feat and avoid taking damage from Overchannel. He auto-succeeds on the Concentration roll to suppress the power's Auditory and Visual displays, with a minimum check result of 21 vs. DC 18.

11 PP = 5 PP (base cost) + 6 PP (add 3 additional targets, all within 15 feet of each other)

Move action: Garrick meditates to regain his psionic focus.


Condition
HP: 105/105, PP: 149/174, Psionic Focus? Self: ☑, Psicrystal: ☐


conceal thoughts -- (12 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
extended detect hostile intent -- (4 hours remaining) Within a 30-foot radius of himself, Garrick: can sense the presence of any creature with actively hostile intent, cannot be caught surprised or flat-footed by a creature susceptible to [mind-affecting] powers, and can make Sense Motive checks as free actions.
extended inertial armor -- (24 hours remaining) Gain +7 Armor AC that incorporeal creatures cannot bypass.
guardian weapon -- (1 turn remaining) Gain +3 untyped bonus to all saves.

[Mousedigits]

[roll0] Initiative.

^^^^ Of course...

Welp, I'm getting there late.

[Necroticplague]

Watching the bunch of brutes disappear into thin air, the snake goes over to where they stood before trying to gesture to the bear to get a point across. With one hand, the alternates between pointing at the bear and the package that it dropped, while gesturing down the hall rapidly with its other. It watches for if the humans come back with its teeth at the ready. Just as preperation, it gives a moment's focus before a dark smoke seems to pour forth from the onyx in its mouth. While the smoke is actually rather easy to see through, it seems to make the snake more menacing as as waits.

Move action to move to where the arenamaster was.
Standard to ready an action to bite the first one to re-appear within my reach.
Free action to activate Fear Aura (DC 18 vs. panicked, those who pass are shaken, extends 20 feet)

[trysted]

Kznitinkz takes the hint, grabs the package in his mouth, and heads towards the door.

[Tempestfury]

Karliah... was impressed by the reaction times of her new team-mates. After everyone had realized what was happening, there wasn’t much hesitation in returning to go and get their friend, by the time she had arrived, the enemy were vanishing in a shimmer of light. ‘Time Hop huh? That should keep out of the way’ The current gargoyle rather impressed at how quickly the psion of their team managed to react, and called out to the snake who was waiting for their return. “Don’t bother, they won’t be back for a whilst, lets just skedaddle.”

[Jack_Simth]

Garrick's mental might rips all four of the men out of existence in a shimmer of silver energy... and as people are starting to leave, just after Karliah assures everyone that they won't be back soon ... the arena master and one of his guards appear exactly as they were, unharmed, but apparently slightly disoriented from seeing everyone appear.

[Diachronos]

Upon returning to the arena, Esmeralda roars and charges at the nearest guard in a flurry of claws and teeth.


Swift action to change Animal Focus back to Bull for +4 Strength
Charging and using pounce, so she gets a full attack.

Bite:
* Attack/Confirm: [roll0]/[roll1]
* Damage/Crit: [roll2]/[roll3]
* Grab attempt if the bite connects: [roll4]

Claw 1:
* Attack/Confirm: [roll5]/[roll6]
* Damage/Crit: [roll7]/[roll8]

Claw 2:
* Attack/Confirm: [roll9]/[roll10]
* Damage/Crit: [roll11]/[roll12]

I also need to pick up Power Attack, Cornugon Smash, and Intimidating Prowess at some point.

[Failed Phantasm]

Garrick had taken all of a half-step backwards down the passage as he waited for the rest of the group to come back, so they could finally get out of the arena and see about what the halfling had wanted them to do. Unfortunately, either he was more out-of-practice than he had first thought or the two men who had just reentered the normal time stream had found their willpower faster than he'd hoped. Neither was a particularly desireable outcome, but the mélange of animals still outnumbered the humans for the time being; it was time to seize the advantage for however long it lasted. However, he would use none of his psionic powers for this second attempt. He'd already expended a great deal of effort for negligible effect not ten seconds ago, and there wasn't any cause for secrecy now that they'd all been spotted anyway.

Garrick opened his mouth and let the wrapped orders fall to the ground — in the passageway, where neither of the two men would be getting at them easily — and then took a brief moment to gather his legs beneath him and prepare to explode forward. 'Hark, mangy cat! I know not if thou canst hear me, but I shall mangle a man with thy fangs and claws as surely thou hast desired since our joining. Lend me thine aid!' Loosing a powerful, bellowing roar, he charged forward at the portlier, softer-looking of the two targets.


Actions taken
Free action: Garrick drops the orders he is carrying to the ground so he can make a bite attack.

Full-round action: Garrick attempts to charge the arena master and make a full attack.
+3 merciful guardian bite:

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] nonlethal damage
Critical confirmation (threatens on 19 or 20): [roll2]
Critical damage: [roll3] nonlethal damage

+3 merciful guardian claw #1:

Attack: [roll4]
Damage: [roll5] plus [roll6] nonlethal damage
Critical confirmation (threatens on 20): [roll7]
Critical damage: [roll8] plus [roll9] nonlethal damage

+3 merciful guardian claw #2:

Attack: [roll10]
Damage: [roll11] plus [roll12] nonlethal damage
Critical confirmation (threatens on 20): [roll13]
Critical damage: [roll14] plus [roll15] nonlethal damage

+3 merciful guardian claw rake #1:

Attack: [roll16]
Damage: [roll17] plus [roll18] nonlethal damage
Critical confirmation (threatens on 20): [roll19]
Critical damage: [roll20] plus [roll21] nonlethal damage

+3 merciful guardian claw rake #2:

Attack: [roll22]
Damage: [roll23] plus [roll24] nonlethal damage
Critical confirmation (threatens on 20): [roll25]
Critical damage: [roll26] plus [roll27] nonlethal damage

Free actions: If any of Garrick's bite or claw attacks land successfully, he attempts to initiate a grapple against the arena master.

Bite: [roll28]
Claw #1: [roll29]
Claw #2: [roll30]
Rake #1: [roll31]
Rake #2: [roll32]


Condition
HP: 105/105, PP: 149/174, Psionic Focus? Self: ☑, Psicrystal: ☐


conceal thoughts -- (12 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
extended detect hostile intent -- (4 hours remaining) Within a 30-foot radius of himself, Garrick: can sense the presence of any creature with actively hostile intent, cannot be caught surprised or flat-footed by a creature susceptible to [mind-affecting] powers, and can make Sense Motive checks as free actions.
extended inertial armor -- (24 hours remaining) Gain +7 Armor AC that incorporeal creatures cannot bypass.

[Mousedigits]

Hearing the scream from behind him, Altyan let out a screech of his own. Like it or not, these were his companions, and he had to protect them. Even if they foolishly chose luxery over speed.


Raging
Using Arcane Bloodrage (Arcane Bloodline Ability) applying Haste to myself.
Applying Shield to myself via Greater Bloodrage.
Charging down the hallway at the closest enemy, or moving as close to an enemy as I can without provoking if I can't charge. (110ft fly speed)
Fly check if required: [roll0]
Power Attacking
Not using Demonic Bulk, as I don't wanna get trapped in the tunnel.

[roll1] to hit.
[roll2] to confirm (19-20x2 Crit)
[roll3] damage
add [roll4] damage on a crit

[Necroticplague]

Arknid watches both of the re-appeared enemies fall under her companion's might. Then, noting that the master was only knocked down, and still breathing, Arknid leans over to change that. Alive witnesses can tell there's something unusual about the animals. Dead bodies only tell that they were torn to sheds by angry gladiatorial beasts either broken or set free. Her good knowledge of the body lets her improve the force of her strong jaws with a good placement to get both coronary and jugular.
Full-round action: Coup de Grace Arenamaster with +3 Agile Bite.
Damage:[roll0]
Sneak Attack:[roll1]

[trysted]

Seeing the two guards pop into view, Kznitinzk (Kit for short) charges at the closest guard, with a roar that would be mighty if it were not somewhat muffled making it a bit more of a growl.



Full round, charge at guard 3,

Attack [roll0]

Damage [roll1]

[Tempestfury]

“No, stop!” Karliah called out as her ‘allies’ struck. Karlaih was surprised when the guards managed to reappear so soon... for them to be able to gather themselves so quickly meant they had strong will, or were very lucky... either way, the gargoyle was unable to do anything but watch as the first was ripped to shreds... but luckily, the psion was not one to kill, as he took the arena master out without killing him.

Then one of their own stepped forwards, bringing her mouth down to slay the arena master regardless, and Karliah exploded, the weighty, stone body of her gargoyle form smashing hard into Arknid in order to stop and disrupt her attempt. Karliah would not stand by and let someone be murdered in cold-blood!

[Mousedigits]

The Roc screeches at his allies who seem to have gotten into a brawl among each other.

We need to be able to work together if we're to last any amount of time as a group...

[Jack_Simth]

The Huge Allosaurus that is Esmeralda rips into the bodyguard, and between the claws, talons, and teeth, tears him into four different chunks, splattering him across the walls of the hallway; the man dies much as he lived: Quickly, brutally, and with weapons in his hands. His armour and weapons survive the encounter.

The large hunting cat, Garrick, on the other hand, has far better control, and turns the master of the arena into ground round... which, thanks to powerful enchantments, survives and collapses into an unconscious heap on the ground at his feet. The man does not survive for much longer than that, however, as the giant anaconda Arknid carefully and deliberately slays him with an exceptionally precise blow. The human-looking insect Karliah doesn't quite arrive in time for it to matter.

The two remaining guards pop back into view, and almost immediately take some nasty blows from the Roc and the Cave Bear... together bloodying one of the guards very severely, but leaving him standing... barely.


20 check for the Fort save vs. CdG: [roll0]
Hope all'y'all don't mind too much, delayed the charges slightly so they wouldn't be doing nothing. The remaining guards are very much outnumbered at this point, and their charge is slain.

[Failed Phantasm]

Garrick barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief before his reason for doing so evaporated in a spray of blood and gore. In the same instant that he had brought down one human, the dinosaur killed the other. And before he could so much as express his surprise, the grossly-oversized serpent killed the unconscious man who lay helpless before Garrick's paws. He did not know how to manipulate a feline's features to express what he was feeling, so he resorted to the method with which he was most familiar.

«You murdered them.»

It was the sort of quiet, disbelieving statement that a child might make when witness to a terrible crime, when the reality of the events that had just unfolded was at once perfectly clear and utterly incomprehensible. It had happened so fast: one swift rip of those wicked claws, one snap of those distended jaws, and two men were dead. He had attacked with fang and claw too, yes, and thrown four men through the timestream with almost careless abandon before that, but both times with the fullest confidence that he was incapable of doing lasting harm to his victims. Worse, he was party to it now. Worse still, he had enabled these events to occur as they had. Perhaps once, a very long time ago, Garrick might actually have reveled in the carnage, exulted in the sheer, savage killing power that could turn a living, breathing person into bloody giblets with little effort and less thought. But even if a thousand years, as the halfling so casually and off-handedly suggested, had not passed between then and now, a seeming-lifetime in the silence and darkness did much to make a man reexamine his life. Now all he could feel was a very ancient and deep-seated shame welling up inside himself, compounded by a very visceral horror at the scene that was unfolding before him.

He had little time to think about or reassess the current situation, however: the second pair of men reemerged from their little journey outside of normal space-time, also far earlier than expected. A moment later, and the roc and bear had nearly killed a third man. And Garrick, finally abandoning his calm and careful considerations, decided that if these people around him were willing to take matters into their own (figurative) hands and damn the consequences, then so would he. Not one more death.

By some twist of fate (or active effort on the part of the halfling who slung it), Garrick's soul-jewel had come to rest on the forehead of the dire tiger. The uninjured guard was close enough for Garrick to touch without difficulty. Enough of the man's skin was exposed for contact to be made. The Order of Shalmara had, when they first captured him, revealed that the bond need not be permanent, that it could be broken!

Garrick sprung forward towards the uninjured guard, pressing the cat's forehead — and consequently, the attached gem — to the man's exposed flesh. The moonstone emitted a brief, brilliant flare and he felt his soul withdrawing from the dire tiger's body as if he were a tree being uprooted: slowly and painfully and as if he were taking infinitesimally tiny bits of his host with him. For a brief moment, Garrick was only aware of himself within the gem.

In the next instant he felt himself forcing his way into the guard's body, roughly shoving the man's consciousness aside so that Garrick could assume control. It took a few seconds for both new and former host to overcome the disorientation, but that was precisely the opportunity he had wanted to create, and now he was going to seize it while he had the chance. He grabbed the other guard's wrist, slick with the poor man's own freshly-spilled blood, and summoned up the clearest mental image that he could of the particular spot in the arena stands from where the masked halfling had been observing them not ten minutes ago. Space existed as much in the mind as in concrete reality; wanting desperately to be somewhere else could bring you there, if you knew the trick of doing it. And then both men vanished from the passageway, leaving the corpses and the menagerie of animals behind.


Actions taken
Standard action: Garrick attempts to change hosts. The guard is allowed a Will save at DC 20 to negate the transfer.

Move action: Garrick manifests fold space on himself and Guard 2 at ML 13th and a power point cost of 13. Garrick takes (1d8)[2] damage (See OOC thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19079752&postcount=109) for original roll) to overchannel the power and manifest it at one (1) higher ML. He auto-succeeds on the Concentration roll to suppress the power's Visual display, with a minimum check result of 21 vs. DC 19.

13 PP = 7 PP (base cost) + 6 PP (Augment: manifest as a move action)

Condition
HP: 73/75, PP: 136/174, Psionic Focus? Self: ☑, Psicrystal: ☐

[Jack_Simth]

As Garrik vanishes with his new host and the injured guard, the tiger comes back to itself... and the first thing it thinks of is it's belly. Surrounded by other, larger predators, it skips the already downed prey, and starts running to where it can smell a whole herd of unclaimed meat... directly down the passageway you were told leads to a major street.

In the stands, the other guard says to Garrik "How'd you... you know what, nevermind Sam, we can discuss that later. Need to get to a healer first..." as he puts his weapons back on his belt, and pulls out one of his potion bottles, which he leaves corked for the moment, but keeps in hand.


I settled on assigning a few possible motives to the tiger and rolling a die. It landed on "hunger". Now-unclaimed Dire Tiger is running towards a crowd just out of line-of-sight, and will get there next turn if not stopped. Most of you threaten it; feel free to take an AoO for movement if you like before you choose your actions this round.

Still-living (barely) Bodyguard: Move to stow weapons, move to draw potion bottle.

[Diachronos]

The adrenaline from the fight is still pumping, and she lunges for the tiger as it runs past her.


Bite:
* Attack/Crit: [roll0]/[roll1]
* Damage/Crit: [roll2]/[roll3]
* If the bite connects, CMB to Grab: [roll4]

[Tempestfury]

Karliah was very, very disgusted by just how bloodthirsty and moraless her companions where... not only was the guard torn to shreds, but the cleric was murdered in cold blood. He was no threat, yet the raptor killed him anyway. The others were all so eager to dive in and wet their claws with blood themselves... so when the tiger stepped forwards, taking the bodies of one of the guards, and dragging the fourth away from the fight, she could only be relieved.

Then the Dire Tiger tried to run away... towards the exit. Quickly, Karliah lashed out with her maw, glad of the poison she now possessed that would slow the tiger down and make it easier to put down... such a feral animal could not be let to run amok unfortunately.

[roll0], [roll1]
[roll2], [roll3]

DC 19 Fort, or take 1d6 Dexterity damage.

[Jack_Simth]

The tiger growls as the Allosaurus puts a dent in the Tiger's hide and grabs it for a fight... which makes it heavily distracted by the addendum of the bite from the giant bug sinks it's paralitic poison into the tiger's veins...

...

Apparently, I need to be clearer on round breaks. Take your actions, folks!

Tiger Fort (not taking actions yet because nobody else did): [roll0]

Tiger status: 5 points of Dex damage, 30 points of HP damage, Grappled.

[Mousedigits]

Altyan takes his attack of opportunity, then savagely attacks the Tiger so that it can't harm the crowd it was running to.


Power Attacking.
[roll0]
[roll1] to confirm (Crit 20x2)
[roll2]
Add [roll3] if crit.

If, after the Tiger moves, it isn't within 15 feet of me, I charge it. Otherwise, full attack.
Power Attacking.
[roll4], +2 if charging
[roll5] to confirm (Crit 20x2), +2 if charging
[roll6]
Add [roll7] if crit.

If full attack, add:
Power Attacking.
[roll8]
[roll9] to confirm (Crit 19x2)
[roll10]
Add [roll11] if crit.

[roll12]
[roll13] to confirm (Crit 19x2)
[roll14]
Add [roll15] if crit.

EDIT: Wow, those rolls. Too bad my bite doesn't crit on a 19...

[Necroticplague]

As the tigeer tries to wander away, arknid notes the gem no longer on its head. Good, make the act all the better, they'll find one of us down as well. Makes the scene more convincing. The giant snake gives a well aimed strike as it wanders away, then another when the tiger is grabbed, focusing as much power into her fangs as she can for this one.

attack:[roll0]
damage[roll1]+[roll2](Merciful)+[roll3] (sneak attack)
Crit Confirm:[roll4]


Standard: Attack with Bite, augmented by Power Attack and Arcane Strike
attack:[roll5]
damage[roll6]+[roll7](Merciful)+[roll8] (sneak attack)
Crit Confirm:[roll9]

[trysted]

With the tiger dead, Kznitinzk grabs the bodies of the arena master and guard and heads towards the secret passage.

I think we should hide the bodies on our way out of here....and any other evidence other than the body of the tiger.

(5x5)-3+1+5-5=23

[Failed Phantasm]

The enormity of what Garrick had done hit him like a sack of bricks as he and his passenger stumbled onto the arena stands: he had willingly and deliberately taken a new host. Even though he had probably just saved the man's life and that of his friend, was that just? Even though he knew beforehand that the right spell could undo the bond, did that make the interim any less nightmarish for his victim? He had rationalized the decision well enough in the moment, but the shock of changing hosts came with a new perspective, and it was one far more sympathetic to the man whose body he'd just stolen. As his consciousness better seated itself in its new host, Garrick's mind was awhirl with impressions of Sam's knowledge and life experience. Hell, he was even beginning to grasp Common as it was spoken in the modern day! ('Why and when did everyone stop using "thou"? How stiff and formal.') He had vague sensations of how Sam learned to fight, brief flashes of a lifetime of combat on the bloody sands, but Garrick did not understand the significance of why he needed to move his body this way instead of that, or why he had to grip a shortsword just so — only that doing so yielded results. It was knowledge that he knew he could not keep unless he remained bonded to Sam. However, being in a human body again (especially a male one) made some things easier. It was certainly a more comfortable fit, so to speak, than the body of a great cat of indeterminate sex.

"How'd you... you know what, nevermind Sam, we can discuss that later. Need to get to a healer first..." The other guard's voice drew Garrick out of his thoughts, but perhaps that moment of having an unfocused, dazed look in his eyes would work out well for him. Apparently having lost his protections when switching hosts, he summoned up the familiar warding he had almost never been without since first discovering that he was well and truly a Psion. His mind thus shielded, he addressed the other man.

"D- did I do that?" Garrick shook his head and diverted his gaze to the floor beneath him, an appropriately disbelieving look on his face reflected by the slightly hushed tone that he used. It was acutely uncanny to be able to physically speak again, only for the words to be coming out in the voice of a complete stranger; still, he couldn't let that feeling distract him from making a convincing performance. He sheathed his weapons, but made a deliberate-fumble-that-looked-accidental with the mace on the first attempt. "I- I remember we were all together when we charged that bear. Then it disappeared and suddenly we were surrounded, only it was just the two of us. All those bloody pieces on the ground. Was that...? And the huge cat was charging at me — I could swear it was about to tear into me just like they did to you! — and then I saw a burst of light, and... and then we were here. I can't believe they're dead." He looked at Sam's companion in the eye and said slowly and with the distinctly pleading sound of a person trying to convince himself as much as his listener: "I didn't do that. That was magic! I- It had to be. I couldn't have done that. I could have saved them if I could do magic." [Bluff] He drew a sharp breath to steady himself and continued, steering the "uncomfortable" conversation in a less distressing but equally relevant direction: "I'm rambling. Let's get you to a healer. You look like it's taking all you've got to stay standing. We can talk more on the way, and- and you can have my healing potion if you need it."

As he approached the injured guard to offer him a shoulder to lean on, it occured to Garrick that he should inform his... associates... of his plans. Of course, he didn't really owe those people anything, being complete and utter strangers to the last. Then again, Irate Gargoyle-Bug was the only other one who seemed bothered by the slaughter, so perhaps he could risk contacting just that one person. He singled out her presence from among those in the passageway and spoke: «Be not afraid. 'Tis I.» For whatever reason, it was easier to focus upon and communicate with just one mind now; perhaps because the cat's psyche was too preoccupied with base needs to focus on something that was not a prey animal. He continued with a series of short, clipped sentences: «I imagine you lot won't wait for me to catch up. I'll smooth things over as best I can up here in the city while you attend to the halfling's task. If you would kindly pick up the set of orders I dropped in the passageway, I would be most appreciative. I'll contact you again as soon as I'm able.»

Lastly, he turned his attention inward, towards the mind of the person who had just become a prisoner in his own body: «Hello, Sam. I know you're still in here, and I've no intention of leaving you in the dark. Once I've helped your friend to a healer, I imagine you and I are going to have a very long conversation, indeed.»


Actions taken
Move action: Garrick sheathes Sam's weapons.

Standard action: Garrick manifests conceal thoughts at ML 12th, with a duration of 12 hours (1 hour/level) and a power point cost of 0. He auto-succeeds on the Concentration roll to suppress the power's Mental display, with a minimum check result of 21 vs. DC 15.

Free action: http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-words.gif

Given the nature of the Bluff skill and the numerous modifiers the DM can apply when appropriate, the following roll is merely the tentative result: [roll0]

Condition
HP: 73/75, PP: 136/174, Psionic Focus? Self ☑, Psicrystal ☐


conceal thoughts -- (12 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.

[Jack_Simth]

The tiger is ripped to shreds and collapses into a pool of blood: It's own, the arena master's, and two of the guards'. For now, all is still.

End combat, as nobody's trying to kill anyone at the moment.

The currently-unnamed injured guard shakes his head at you, a little confused, and says "You must be pretty rattled... those are for when we're in immediate trouble. Most the time we'd just go to the Boss... part of our contract as bodyguards. He's dead, though... cheaper to pay off a couple of acolytes from one of the temples, I think. We're well away from the threat at the moment - those halls don't lead up here except through some pretty thick, locked, and most importantly small doors. We just go out the other side of the building, head off to a temple, and get ourselves healed... after that... Boss is dead, so I'm thinking maybe the town guard? Doesn't pay much... eh, whatever. I've got enough stocked away that it's not a rush item. I'll think about it after I'm feeling better." With that, he starts walking under his own power through the stands, towards one of the crowd entrances.

All you get from Sam is at the moment is a string of mental profanity.

Sense Motive: [roll0] (with those respective modifiers, he'd have to roll a 20 when you roll a 1, unless you get a little too out there with your bluffs)

[Diachronos]

The rush of combat begins to fade, and Esmeralda is able to think a bit more clearly now. The first thing she notices is the bits of tiger fur and flesh in her mouth, as well as...

She gags and nearly vomits as she recognizes the taste of human blood. Why had she bitten the man? Why had she killed him? And why wouldn't the infernal taste leave her mouth?! Out of desperation she gouges up a pit in the sand covering the arena floor and conjures some water into it, which she promptly uses to rinse the taste of human out.

[trysted]

After the time it takes to cast the spell to speak with and taking a single step, Kit decides better of taking the bodies with, and leaves them, only stopping to try to pull off the potions from the arena master (and his box of orders).

[Jack_Simth]

Arena master is carrying (before attempts to ID):
Masterwork chainmail
Dagger
light crossbow with 20 bolts
Cloak
Headband
Pearl
Ring
A carved symbol
One vial
onyx gems
silver dust
162 gp

Dead guard was wearing (likewise):
Three vials
studded leather
Masterwork short sword
darts (10)
net
masterwork light mace
trident
belt
ring
240 gp

[Tempestfury]

“Don’t.” Karliah said, her voice coming out as a low growl as she stepped forwards, stopping Kit from trying to plunder the bodies of the murdered arena master and his guard. Karliah was completely and utterly pissed, and she was going to broke no more disgrace from her comrades. “Don’t even think about it. Bad enough that I am surrounded by a collection of murderers, I will not brook the disrespect of their bodies. We leave, now. And we will have a long, long discussion about your actions here today, and how they will NEVER be repeated.”

[roll0]

[Necroticplague]

Arknid notes the gargoyle's petty complaints towards the bear and begins to produce a low hissing before remembering that it can't actually speak. Chances aren't particularly good any of them speak vegepygmy, so it looks like she's stuck with relative silence for now. The creeping shadows around the snake receded back into the piece of onyx in the roof of its mouth while it looks around and picks up the spare packages some had dropped in the fight. Then, she slinks back into the hidden passage, annoyed that her companion would be disagreeable to looting. Their bodies could have served for enough material to make enough mixture to give arknid legs and a voice for 2 days straight. And then he would be able to tell off the bear for taking its time, and the former tiger and gargoyle for apparently not understanding the concept of 'alive people provide more info than dead ones'. In this case, that living guard knew that they weren't just ordinary animals, and could report it as such.

[Jack_Simth]

Let's see... no meaningful world-interaction notes since my last post, so delaying.

[trysted]

Kit does the bear equivalent of *shrug* and heads to the secret passageway with is box of orders.

[Mousedigits]

The adrenaline of battle fades, and Altyan falls out of rage. He tiredly looks about at the carnage he had caused, distraught. He had almost killed a man. He didn't mean to actually do enough damage to severely hinder the man... All he saw was an enemy that needed to be stayed before it hurt an ally: Kit. A little more damage, and he may have actually killed the man. Enough carnage had been wreaked today. The Roc turned about and flew sullenly with its allies to the door.

[Tempestfury]

Karliah made sure that everyone was leaving, or at least that no one was going to try and loot the bodies. Staying for a few moments as she watched everyone leave... and only once she was satisfied did she follow as well. The spy very uncertain about this group currently, and they would have to have a long discussion once they had a look at their orders... and they regrouped with their psion. Hopefully he could handle himself.

[Jack_Simth]

After a bit, you get back to the secret door with no further interruption... only to find that it apparently has some form of self-closing mechanism, and has sealed itself up again. Otherwise, it seems much as you left it.So... now that you've all gone through a nice chaotic combat, does anyone remember the instructions for opening the door?


The currently-unnamed injured guard leads you outside through another exit (he seems confused that you don't know your way around, but you placate him readily enough) and eventually to a small temple, where the man talks to a few of the acolytes for a while, hands over some coins, and receives his healing. He does this a couple of times with different acolytes, and fades almost all of his injuries this way.

[Tempestfury]

“Right, of course it locked itself.” Karliah muttered, not that surprised by the fact, but a little disgruntled nonetheless. Still, she easily remembered how to open it and reached for the torch. Turn it clockwise like a doorknob before pushing forwards to have it swing back. At least, that was her intention. If she got it wrong, nothing would happen.

[Jack_Simth]

The door opens readily enough, and on the other side, you find a crudely-carved area which goes a short distance and ends with another door, this one having a large circular ring, clearly attached to a few poles that seem to go into the ceiling and floor. It's pretty obvious which way it goes, as turning it the wrong way would also pull on a cord (currently slightly slack) that goes into a hole in the wall and out of sight. The way it is arranged, if you you were to turn it counter-clockwise, then the cord would go taut. Likewise if someone were to open the door by pushing it out from the small chamber into the area beyond, the same cord would also lose all slack. When you check the door you just came through, you see the same arrangement. What the two cords trigger is not immediately apparent.

The walls of the chamber seem to be earthen, dug out of the ground and shored up as needed with wooden posts. They seem fairly fresh, as though this was completed within the last few weeks at most. The ground appears to have been carefully raked to remove footprints. The ceiling is about thirty feet up, the chamber is about thirty feet wide, and about sixty feet long, sloping downwards rather noticeably. There's no source of light in here.

After you are no longer holding the door open, it slowly drifts back into place with a quiet click.
After the door clicks back into place, you hear what sounds like a bit of sand falling onto the floor of the hallway you just left.

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda follows the others and carefully picks up her dropped orders, still trying to forget the taste of human blood in her mouth.

In the room, she sets the package down and speaks a brief incantation, before lightly touching one of the posts and imbuing it with light. "This seems like a safe spot to take a look at our orders and decide what our next move will be."


[roll0]

[Tempestfury]

Karliah noted that the two doors were extremely similar to one another, and in fact had some type of cord that would be pulled tight if they were turned the wrong way. It made her wonder just what would happen if the cords were pulled taunt, though she suspected it was something akin to a pit-door underneath... well, a trap at least to punish the one making the mistake. “Bit of a squeeze.” She noted when one of her comrades noted that this seemed to be as good a place as any to stop...after lightning up the room a bit. “I think before the orders we should share our names.”

[Failed Phantasm]

Garrick found a comfortable section of wall against which to lean and observed with an air of casual indifference the as-of-yet-unnamed guard while he went about the business of being healed by the temple acolytes. Meanwhile, he alternated between enduring Sam’s profanity in the hopes he’d finally run out of curses, and ignoring his (understandably) furious invectives when it was clear he hadn’t. ‘Don’t I deserve it, though?’ He sighed quietly, crossing his arms and shifting his weight as he tuned Sam out for what must have been the tenth time since leaving the arena. ‘All right, you can curse me out however much you want later. Right now, I need your help and you need mine.’

«ENOUGH!»

«Fine. Clearly, you’ve got me by the short hairs right now.»

It took a trained and disciplined mind to utter so mighty a psychic shout without alerting everyone else in the immediate vicinity, but Sam had finally yielded and Garrick seized the opportunity to finally get a word in edgewise. His telepathic voice was without its usual vigorous clarity and whimsy, instead resounding with a very genuine and profound sense of regret, pleading, and weariness: «I know it isn’t much comfort to you now, but I did this to save your life and the life of your companion.»

«Look, we both know that when it comes down to it, you can’t just let me go - at least, not until after you’re ready to leave entirely - as you can’t trust me not to go blabbing to the pigs who might be able to track your sorry soul down and banish you to the nine hells from whence you came. So what do you want, you bloody possession demon?»

Garrick stifled his urge to burst out laughing at the outlandish accusation, instead managing a soft chuckle. «HA! A demon, he calls me. Were that true, I wouldn’t actually give the slightest care about your well-being, much less bother listening to your violent ranting. Unfortunately, I do and I am.» He briefly rubbed the bridge of Sam’s nose and sighed quietly before continuing: «My name is Garrick. Garrick Athulf. I may be cursed, yes, but I’m as human as you are, Sam. Or would you rather I call you something less familiar?»

«Call me whatever you want. Nobody cares, not really. The priest wants your gold, the Boss wants your sword. You’ve got an angle of some kind. Everybody does. Just ‘cause I don’t know it yet don’t mean you ain’t got one. Yer probably after where the Boss keeps the safe, or something. What other reason for the bloody hit squad?»

‘Safe? I wonder if that’s what the halfling wanted,’ he mused. «Calling them a “hit squad” implies they had a reason for trying to kill you and your boss.»

«Oh please. Like it wasn’t a hit. Seriously, one guy to draw attention out in the middle of the hallway while everyone else attacks from behind? Abyss, you even popped him out of there, and slit the boss’ throat while he was not only out of it, but there were still people around holding weapons! Seriously. THAT WAS A HIT.»

«AS IF THE LIFE OF A MAN IS WORTH NOTHING MORE TO ME THAN GOLD! EVERYTHING I DID WAS TO SPARE YOU, TO NOT LET IT COME TO BLOODSHED IN THE FIRST PLACE! DON’T DARE PRESUME TO LAY BLAME FOR THAT ON ME!» Garrick let out a heavy sigh and unclenched his fists, unaware of when he clenched them in the first place. «I’m sorry. I’m still quite shaken by what I saw.»

«OK, so you’re the patsy of the group. Maybe you are a good guy. Doesn’t change what happened. One guy distracted the boss, everyone else whaled on the guards and the boss, last guy slit his throat. What does it look like to you?»

«It looks like two men are dead, and even if I didn’t kill them myself, I did far too much to make it possible. You are more willful than I first thought you’d be.»

«Gotta know life & death to work the arena. Yeah, I’m retired. Don’t mean I don’t know the score. Abyss, the pigs are gonna know this was a hit, too. Animals or no, witnesses or no. You guys are all idiots. Animals EAT their prey, bakka. You guys weren’t doing that. Only thing that’ll fit’s a hit squad. Boss pays his taxes, cleans up his own messes; they’ll be looking. Heh. You ain’t got long. OK, yeah, I may be going down wit’ ya, but ya’s going down.»

«The lot of them are complete strangers; I don’t owe them anything. You, I owe a great deal. This may be the start of a rather unfortunate trend in my life, but I don’t let people take the blame for acts that they bear no responsibility for. You’re not “going down with me”. I promise you that.»

«Hmm. Well, if you really are just a patsy… tell you what: You let me go, and as a token of faith in YOU, I’ll smooth things over with Joe, convince him it’s better to wait and see which way the wind blows, maybe skip town, and that’ll cut down a bit on how much info the pigs got to track you with. Shouldn’t be too hard; easier to get a job as a guard when people don’t know you killed for entertainment, eh?»

«And what happens to you if something goes wrong?»

«You don’t work the arena without knowing risk. Yeah, there’s things that could get me killed… but we’ve got the guard contract, Joe’s an INJURED witness to say I was throwing my arm against the attackers, so the odds of repercussions against me are… rather low. If nothin’ else, I can just say I was scared of reprisa… repri… grr.. » — «Reprisal.» — «Yeah, that. Revenge against the guy what squealed. Given the blood and gore, it’ll be understandable. Might skip town myself anyway - I’m not joking when I say it’s hard to get a job when people know you killed for entertainment at some point. As for any other risks of getting loose of you… well, if I’m ever to get free, those will come up sooner or later anyway, now won’t they? Better sooner than later, I think.»

«Why don’t we work together on this? I don’t want to leave knowing you could end up dead because of this whole stupid mess. You know all the people we’ll be dealing with. I know how to smooth-talk my way out of all kinds of situations; I’ve been doing it since I was a child. More than that, I have magic and you know it. Maybe I can even help get you a job.»

The voice curses in the negatory. «No. NO. I need to get out of here. Something’s… gah. No words. I don’t got the words. It’s like I’m being eaten here, but not. It’s… no. I want out. Can’t stay here long. There won’t be anything left.»

«You don’t need words, Sam.» Garrick summoned to mind the memory of the half-minute (did it really happen that fast?) fight in the passageway, seen from Garrick’s perspective, with every last iota of visceral horror he felt at the carnage. «Let me show you.» He invited Sam to witness the vision, carefully, tentatively; he knew better than to forcibly cram something into an unprepared psyche.

Sam replies with an impression. A feeling of fighting against a current, with no shore in sight, in cold water. Sure, you can keep going… but there’s nowhere to GO. And sooner or later, you’ll lose. The water slowly draining the life out of you as you swim to keep from freezing and drowning. It’s a slow, crushing despair, not tied to anything. And the only way to continue is to fight on when you know you’ll lose. But the only alternative is to just die.

Garrick drew a sharp, strangled breath, overcome by the sheer, profound hopelessness of Sam’s situation. After a moment, he blinked away the tears and muttered, more to himself than anything: «Dammit, this just keeps getting worse and worse.» He then quickly addressed Sam again. «All right, there are two ways to break the curse binding me to you: we can either find a priest who can cast a fairly powerful spell without asking questions, or you can find me an animal. Knowing what you’ve shown me, I’m not too keen on making even an animal suffer through that, but it looks like I’m damned either way.»

«Oh, pfft. Animals are easy. I work at an arena, for crying out loud. Slavery’s banned, well, cept for people convicted of the bad stuff, so da boss had to keep getting more bought. Gotta keep ‘em all somewhere. Sure, you got the stars of the show already, but the second stringers? They’re gonna still be in the pens. Boss is dead, we can grab one of those easy-peasy. How close we gotta get?»

«Remember when the tiger headbutted you?»

«Oh. This’ll be some kinda fun. Hmm… we got sleep darts in stock for when one of the beasts is feeling onry. That work?»

«If it doesn’t, I have… other methods. Animals are easy.» Garrick smirked ever so slightly.

«Ah… lets try those first, then. Better if the handling stock’s not missing. That’ll get the pigs worried that somebody’s out for a kidnapping. Boss always kept clear records for the pigs on those.»

«Easy enough. What about your friend Joe over there?»

«Eh, we each do our own thing in off hours. I know where he hangs his hat, and he pays his racket. He’s walking, he’ll be fine, and he’ll want to go home and think for a bit. Or a bar and drink for a bit. Whichever.»

«You sure you don’t want a stiff drink before we go?»

«Never before something that might go sour. Beer slows reactions. Every fight is stone-cold sober if you want to live. After, sure. Not before.»

«I wish I could buy it for you. There’s only been one other person who had the misfortune of being stuck with me, and I swore to him that I’d at least leave him better than when I came along. I don’t know how I could do that for you, but the least I can do is check up with you tomorrow, OK? If you’re in any trouble because of this, you’d be surprised how fast I can get to you.»

«Yeah, sure. But as I said: I know the score. I’ll be fine. Big trick is avoiding the stuff that’ll bring the pigs down with a vengeance. Not saying much after losing a job the hard way? Not on the list.»

«All right, then. Let’s get moving. But if at all possible, let's try not to go in the same entrance, what with all the blood and gore splattered around.»



Actions taken

Diplomacy: [roll0]

Condition
HP: 73/75, PP: 136/174, Psionic Focus? Self ☑, Psicrystal ☐


conceal thoughts -- (12 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.

[Necroticplague]

Arknid tries to stare at Karliah as she mentions the possibility of orders and names. With several short taps and and hisses, she tries to emphasize how right now, she's not really fit to talk about herself. She tries to ignore the odd feeling of taking up so much room here.
{Hey, do you understand this? Nobody responded last time, so I assume not. Don't really think I can introduce myself.}(OOC:In vegepygmy)

[Jack_Simth]

Having worked at the arena for quite some time, Sam directs Garrick to the animal pens without trouble. All of the beasts are carefully caged, and no trouble at all... at least, until someone picks one and unbars the door.

[Diachronos]

"Esmeralda." She settles down against the wall to read her orders, struggling with it for a bit before growling and morphing into a small monkey. "Much better, at least now I've got thumbs again..."

[Jack_Simth]

On opening the small pouch containing the orders, you find that the parchment is wrapped around a set of lockpicks and two small glass vials, corked, of a green liquid; both vials seem identical other than one has one band tied around it, and the other has two.
Pardon me if I go over something I already went over here. The plan to get you into a body is a little on the tight side, and I'm not quite sure how much time I'll have to explain... nor what you'll have asked already in what time we ended up having. Fortunately, I've got a while to complete this letter.

First, a quick note on your bodies: Nobody should be coming after you for them. While what goes on is legal, the arena is in a precarious position. Slavery isn't allowed, and nor is pitting man against man in a battle to the death - well, except when one of them is already sentenced to death for other reasons, and there's a rather heavy slant against him. However, the crowds want blood. So the arena master has to gather lots of simple beasts; anything that can say "Why are you doing this?" or similar would get him shut down fast. Of course, in order to get his crowds, he has to be in the city that grew up around the place. But if a big, angry beast gets out in the city... well, the guard does seem to have the public good in mind, and they'd shut the arena down pretty quick if word got back to them. No system is perfect, though, so occasionally one of the beasts get away. When that happens, the arena master quiets it down. He sends out scouts to track down the beast, hunters to take it down, and spends gold like water to quiet the witness and fix up any damage. He's a bright boy, he knows he can't be the cause of too much fuss. But at the same time, the kind of people he needs to do that are expensive. So if a beast gets out of town and stays out of town? Well, it's just another beast in the wilds, now isn't it? Not his fault. Cheaper to get a new beast than to track down the old, as anything it does won't fall on his head anymore. He has to track down anything that causes a problem inside the city, but that's where his interest ends. So really, all you need to do to have no repercussions from your origins is just get out of town without killing anyone. We've set up a secret passage for the purpose, so this should be pretty trivial for you. I'm sure I've given you verbal directions, but just in case something went sideways: Down the door we opened after waking you up, second passage to the right, go to the dead-end, and the unused torch bracket there is a knob. Turn it clockwise, then push to open. If you turn it counterclockwise, or if you pull, you'll trigger a cave in.

As to the mission: Kang - who rules this area - wants to conquer the neighbouring city-state of Santaki. However... he's a student of history. Santaki has been conquered many times. You know the old saying: "Out goes the old boss, in comes the new boss, same as the old boss" - but this place kicks it up a notch. In very short order, the new ruler is handing out exactly the same laws as the old ruler. Has the same priorities. Trains the army the same way. Kang has ordered us to solve this problem. It gets better: You're far from our first attempt. The same thing that happens to the conquerors happens after an assassination. Baator, the girl on the throne right now is an assasin that we sent that killed the old king. But she's not her. She doesn't respond to the call signs. She had the old king's spies track down her local contact - she didn't just tell them where to find him. To all appearances, she has no memory from before she took the throne. Abyss, she didn't even know her own name (Amareth, by the way). Sound familiar? After running across references to you lot, we thought so too. So before Kang goes after the place, he needs the problem solved. That's the job we've tasked you lot with: Making sure that after Kang conquers Santaki, Kang will not fall for the same trap that every other person who has "conquered" the place fell into.
You notice that the document appears to have been punctured repeatedly by a needle immediately under certain letters to mark them. At a glance it looks random, but the punctures are in the same place relative to the letters in all cases.

Pardon me if I go over something I already went over here. The plan to get you into a body is a little on the tight side, and I'm not quite sure how much time I'll have to explain... nor what you'll have asked already in what time we ended up having. Fortunately, I've got a while to complete this letter.

First, a quick note on your bodies: Nobody should be coming after you for them. While what goes on is legal, the arena is in a precarious position. Slavery isn't allowed, and nor is pitting man against man in a battle to the death - well, except when one of them is already sentenced to death for other reasons, and there's a rather heavy slant against him. However, the crowds want blood. So the arena master has to gather lots of simple beasts; anything that can say "Why are you doing this?" or similar would get him shut down fast. Of course, in order to get his crowds, he has to be in the city that grew up around the place. But if a big, angry beast gets out in the city... well, the guard does seem to have the public good in mind, and they'd shut the arena down pretty quick if word got back to them. No system is perfect, though, so occasionally one of the beasts get away. When that happens, the arena master quiets it down. He sends out scouts to track down the beast, hunters to take it down, and spends gold like water to quiet the witness and fix up any damage. He's a bright boy, he knows he can't be the cause of too much fuss. But at the same time, the kind of people he needs to do that are expensive. So if a beast gets out of town and stays out of town? Well, it's just another beast in the wilds, now isn't it? Not his fault. Cheaper to get a new beast than to track down the old, as anything it does won't fall on his head anymore. He has to track down anything that causes a problem inside the city, but that's where his interest ends. So really, all you need to do to have no repercussions from your origins is just get out of town without killing anyone. We've set up a secret passage for the purpose, so this should be pretty trivial for you. I'm sure I've given you verbal directions, but just in case something went sideways: Down the door we opened after waking you up, second passage to the right, go to the dead-end, and the unused torch bracket there is a knob. Turn it clockwise, then push to open. If you turn it counterclockwise, or if you pull, you'll trigger a cave in.

As to the mission: Kang - who rules this area - wants to conquer the neighbouring city-state of Santaki. However... he's a student of history. Santaki has been conquered many times. You know the old saying: "Out goes the old boss, in comes the new boss, same as the old boss" - but this place kicks it up a notch. In very short order, the new ruler is handing out exactly the same laws as the old ruler. Has the same priorities. Trains the army the same way. Kang has ordered us to solve this problem. It gets better: You're far from our first attempt. The same thing that happens to the conquerors happens after an assassination. Baator, the girl on the throne right now is an assasin that we sent that killed the old king. But she's not her. She doesn't respond to the call signs. She had the old king's spies track down her local contact - she didn't just tell them where to find him. To all appearances, she has no memory from before she took the throne. Abyss, she didn't even know her own name (Amareth, by the way). Sound familiar? After running across references to you lot, we thought so too. So before Kang goes after the place, he needs the problem solved. That's the job we've tasked you lot with: Making sure that after Kang conquers Santaki, Kang will not fall for the same trap that every other person who has "conquered" the place fell into.
Fairly simple puzzle for you.

[Mousedigits]

Squaaakkk, the Roc says, in response to the idea of introductions.


The bird then unfurls the package with his claws, and reads the letter, eager to get his orders.

[roll0] perception.

The Roc's keen eyes see that the note has some holes poked under some of the letters. He quickly uses his razor-sharp claws to cut them out of the paper (assuming the GM says it's OK. :smalltongue:) and puts them out on the ground in order of appearance:

sexathtiwniurotecalpehtgniarddnaSugniliamKcalBsie hgnaKlliKro

Then, with some thinking, he mentally decodes the puzzle, then rearranges the slips of paper:

Or kill Kang, he is blackmailing us and Draing, the place to ruin with taxes.

Or, at least, he hopes this is the correct translation. He can only think that Draing is a city.

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda unfurls the orders and begins reading.


[roll0]


She notices the pin marks in the paper, and after reading over them again begins scratching the letters into the dirt floor of the cavern with her nails.

[trysted]

Kznitinzk transforms himself into a halfling. There, that's better he says in common. "It's good to have hands again!!". By the way everyone, my name is Kznitinzk, but you can call me "Kit" instead of "stupid bear".

He reads over the orders and then does some quick castings.

Well, any one want a couple of potions? Cuz I'm not carrying these around with me. This one's invisibility, and this one's acid arrow. I'm just setting em down here, so take em if you want em.


5x4x3+1+1-1=61 (still, silent adjustable polymorph)

Followed by two castings of identify (one for each potion), and one detect magic (on general principle).

[Necroticplague]

Arknid had spent the couple minutes after opening the package looking over the potions. After a short time, she manages to self-confirm that the halfling who used to be a moronic bear said. Seeing it continue its poor planning by wasting resources, the giant snake adds the vials to its own collection. The instructions were briefly looked at, with the code easily enough deciphered after a moment of looking. And mild irritation at the typo. Either go figure out/kill the local ruler-of-the-moment, and nab the soul-gem they probably have like we do, or instead, go off the one who who wants us to do that. Getting an idea, she tries writing in the dust with her finger so they can at least get her name in Common

'Arknid.'

[Jack_Simth]

Back to my normal schedule.

And... perfectly fine to cut the parchment up. It's not specially protected or anything, and it's not like the party doesn't have six copies.

[Failed Phantasm]

Garrick maintained a casual stride — with some insistent prodding by Sam about how to do so in his body — until they entered the arena pens, at which point he faltered for just a moment. Scanning the cages and cells, there was an unmistakable sense of misery, of boredom, of hunger, of longing for freedom; it was so pervasive and powerful that it took no effort on Garrick’s part to sense the deeply-ingrained psychic impression. In that instant, he remembered the utter, inescapable hopelessness that pressed down all around him in the form of a hunk of crystal, and he couldn’t help but feel a surge of sympathy welling up inside. ‘Would that I could free you all myself,’ he thought. As he passed a pack of dire wolves pacing irritably in their tiny pen, one of them looked up and Garrick could swear that it knew because it was giving him the most desperately pleading look its lupine features could manage. He looked away with a pained grimace, but he still addressed it in the vain hope it would understand: «No. No, no, no. I- I can’t. Please don’t look at me that way. I can’t do this to you, and I can’t let you out. The pack will never make it out of the city alive.»

In return, you receive a vague impression of a pack twice the size, slowly picked off one by one over the course of time.

He could only reply with a quiet «I'm sorry. I promise I'll come back for you when I can.» Hoping to stave off Sam’s potential questions or irritated comments at the delay, Garrick immediately focused on him and asked: «I’d have to do a lot less explaining if I took another dire tiger. Do you have any others?»

Sam seems confused and replies with «A what? I know we’ve got a lot of cats...»

«The one I headbutted you with. The kind with the huge teeth?»

«Oh. Yeah. They’re kinda popular. Lots of roaring, good for blood splatters. The fights with those things tend to be over quick-like, though, and few of the gladiators will take ‘em on. So the pay’s good when they do show. Catch, of course, bein’ that it’s a bad choice unless you’ve got a lot of patsies with you to soak the thing’s claws before it gets to you.»

«Because they go for the throat first and don’t let go until they’ve crushed your windpipe, I know. But that doesn’t help us right now.»

«Oh, right. You want to know where. Sorry, professional hazard. Yeah, they’re stored individually, in the tight quarters. Cramped space so that the beast can’t dodge the sleepy-darts. Takes a lot of them to get one of those critters napping for transport. They’re away from the dogs, for obvious reasons. It’s about minute’s walk… that way… oh, right. Can’t point. Umm… left from here.»

Without too much trouble, Sam guides Garrick over to the “tight quarters” where the desired beast is held. Not a happy place at all. Pretty much all of the cats are growling to one degree or another. They’ve actually got several different varieties of cats, from the size of a halfling on up; the smilodon being the largest. Again, the pen is barred, although here there’s also a path to get above the beast and look down at it through an area blocked off with bars - small enough of a spacing that the beast has no hope of getting through, but wide enough so as to not interfere with fired shots.

The claustrophobic pens made Garrick even less comfortable than he had been before, but there was nothing to be done for it right now. Not in Sam, and not without some way of getting the animals far enough away from civilization. Rather than risk offending Sam with his indignation, he opted to try the lighter touch: «How long has this arena been here, by the way? Someone must have paid serious coin to have it built, and I doubt it just sprang up overnight.»

Sam replies with a mental shrug. «Eh, before my time. It was here when I arrived about a decade ago after Kang conquered this city. The rulers he put in place don’t like the place, but some policy or other about not disrupting the locals too much kept them from shutting her down. I don’t much follow politics.»

Garrick chuckled audibly, in spite of himself. «Who can blame you? But let’s see about getting you free.» As he approached one of the smilodons, he added: «Uh, by the way… if me moving into your body is any inclination, my leaving is gonna hurt a little. In the metaphysical sense, mind.»

«Ain’t gonna be worse than keepin’ things as they are. Needs to happen. I work an arena, I know pain. Let’s get it over with.»

«Right.» He stared the creature in the eye for a few moments, and it seemed to return the favor. He had the distinct impression that it was sizing Sam up, wondering just how filling a meal the man would make, but Garrick was long past being shaken by a simple predatory stare. Attuning himself to its thoughts, he commanded it mentally: «Lie down and remain still until I leave.»

The beast follows instructions as best it’s able… not that it can move much right now anyway… as the mental might of Garrick overwhelms the creature’s good sense.

‘All right. Now comes the tricky part.’ Garrick unbars the door holding the smilodon in its enclosure and tentatively opens the door. The tiger dutifully remains still. Assured that it won’t try to kill Sam — at least for the time being — Garrick reaches up for his soul-jewel from where it rests on his head, covered by Sam’s hair, and takes it in hand. ‘Now, what exactly did it sound like, again? ...ah, yes. Like it fell straight out of one of tales my uncle used to tell me.’

A clarion voice rang out, seemingly from nowhere, with a timbre that spoke of heroism and compassion and a valorous heart… like, and yet very unlike, Garrick’s own: «NO! GARRICK, YOU MUSTN'T DO THIS; YOU KNOW HOW THOSE BONDED TO YOU SUFFER! BETTER THAT YOU GO TO A TEMPLE AND FREE HIM OF YOU THAT WAY! DO NOT WILLFULLY CAUSE AN INNOCENT CREATURE TO SUFFER YOUR CURSE!»

Sam replies to the voice. «Oh, please. It’s just an arena beast. Used to man and violence. Not like it’s murder or anything. Abyss, can’t even let ‘em go; they’ll turn on people not ready for ‘em. When an arena beast gets too old, it’s killed in the arena or poisoned, usually. Didn’t know there was a third person in here. Huh. So what’s your name? Not that I’ll care in a few minutes.»

«THAT IT SHOULD CONTINUE TO EXIST ONLY AT YOUR SUFFERANCE IS NO REASON TO— «Enough! I don’t recall asking for your advice.» Garrick sighed in frustration; inwardly, however, the awkward humor of the situation was not lost on him. He held his gem aloft in Sam’s open palm so that his host could see it plainly. «This is my psicrystal. Unfortunately. It’s… well, it’s me in a way. But the part of me that’s still a naïve child who listens to his parents’ stories. Gods, why was I so gullible as a boy?»

«Ah. Wizardly stuff. Magic. Too confusing. Blech. Can barely stand the boss at it.»

«YOU WERE A BETTER PERSON AS A BOY! THERE WAS A TIME WHEN YOU BELIEVED THE THINGS I SAY NOW; YOU WERE NEVER CONTENT TO LET THE WORLD MAKE YOU ITS VICTIM! YOU BELIEVED IN BETTER AND GREATER PURPOSES FOR YOUR LIFE!» Garrick interjected before Sam could interrupt his… talking to himself. «I said enough. We’ll have this discussion much later.» He then addressed Sam, almost as an aside: «Unfortunately, wherever I go, he goes. Don’t suppose you’d take him off my hands? Can’t say he’d even sell for very much, though.»

«Eh… no. Let’s just get you out of me so we can both get out of here. Maybe you could drop him in a box somewhere and bury the box later?»

«If only. Now hold on, Sam. This is going to be… interesting. And painful, like I said. Let’s not forget that.» Garrick put his free hand on the tiger’s neck and closed his eyes, as if focusing. He fed Sam a slight telepathic jolt, as if touching the cat did something, and then, bracing himself, quickly pressed the gem to the animal. The moonstone emitted a brief, brilliant flare and he felt his soul withdrawing from Sam's body as if he were a tree being uprooted: slowly and painfully and as if he were taking infinitesimally tiny bits of his host with him. For a brief moment, Garrick was only aware of himself within the gem.

Upon being freed, Sam shouts “I’m me again! YES!!!” at the top of his lungs… before realizing he’s being an idiot. Looking abashed, he backs away slowly from the tiger, and says aloud “So… are you in there now?”

Garrick moaned groggily, both telepathically and aloud. «Aye. But what about you? Are you feeling all right? I couldn’t exactly ask my last host if he were suffering from the transfer.» «I SUPPOSE THAT SHOULD BE SOME SMALL COMFORT TO YOU.»

Sam replied “I’ve been worse. Think I made it out in time.”

Garrick’s voice was full of genuine relief when he said: «Good. Knowing that you’re all right is… more of a relief than you know. But before you go, could I ask you something?»

“Yeah, I suppose.”

«Did you really mean what you said? About taking care of things for me. I didn’t think I had any right to question your motives, and I can’t say I’d blame you if you wanted to change your mind about it now that you’re free.»

“You mean smoothing things over with Joe, keeping him from blabbing? Yeah. Not gonna delay things for you much, but it’ll be easy enough and will get you a little time. Slow down the discovery of the body by a few hours, at least, and make it so they’ve got a harder time getting a good description.”

«Thanks. I… I’m honestly surprised. You’d be entirely within your right to hate me.»

“Eh, nothing in it for breakin my word. You do seem like you mean well. Maybe you’ll learn and not be the patsy next time, eh?”

«Heh, not likely: I’m a slow learner. But I owe you for this. And… well, it’s easiest to say that I’ve recently gotten out of prison and I’ve got plans in the making. Once I’m settled and have some coin to send your way, I could use someone who can pass me information, keep an ear to the ground. Might take a while to get on my feet, though. Interested?»

“Eh, sure. Look me up once you’re settled in, I guess. Pelor knows you’ll probably be wearing a different face by then… but it’s not like you won’t be able to tell me what’s what. Not sure where I’ll be, though.”

«Don’t worry. I’ve got a bit of a knack for finding people. But since you’ve shown me what it’s like on your end, I’m not going to be switching bodies again if it can at all be helped. You really do have a stronger will than I thought, to not have given in.»

“Anyway… I best be off. Arena opens proper in about an hour or so. You’ll probably want to be gone by then.”

«Godspeed, Sam, and good luck.»

Sam takes off, making sure to leave doors open behind him as he goes.

Garrick visualized the entrance to the secret passage that he would have gone through had it not been for this entire series of events and, lazily putting one paw forward, found himself standing in front of the hidden door again. He’d have to trust Sam’s ability to do what he said he would — Garrick would have liked to attend to the matter personally, but he wasn’t about to fight Sam or risk the man’s sanity in order to do it — and so, he projected his thoughts through the wall for the benefit of anyone who may or may not have been on the other side of it: «’Tis I, Garrick. The authorities should be off our trail for the near future and neither witness will be telling them anything of much worth; we have a few hours of breathing room. I shall be opening the door now.». Garrick then opened the door according to the halfling’s instructions (turn the torch bracket clockwise and then push the door open) and waited a moment to allow visual confirmation of his identity before stepping through.



Actions taken
We’re not in combat rounds per se, but the actions Garrick takes are recorded as such for the purpose of tracking PP cost and saves for his targets (e.g., repeating Round 1 if necessary, should the tiger succeed on both attempts at its Will save)

Garrick attempts to bluff Sam about the nature of his soul gem, passing it off as his psicrystal instead: [roll0]


Round 1 (prior to transferring hosts)


Standard action: Garrick manifests persistent compelling voice at ML 12th, with a maximum duration of 12 hours (1 hour/level or until completed) and a power point cost of 5. He expends his psionic focus to gain the benefit of the Persistent Power metapsionic feat, and auto-succeeds on the Concentration roll to suppress the power’s Auditory display, with a minimum check result of 21 vs. DC 17.

5 PP = 3 PP (base cost) + 2 PP (Persistent Power)
Move action: Garrick meditates to regain his psionic focus.


Round 2


Standard action: Garrick transfers from Sam to the dire tiger. It is not allowed a Will save to resist, having an Intelligence score ≤ 2.

Move action: Garrick stands up from his prone position.


Round 3


Standard action: Garrick manifests echoing fold space at ML 12th, with a range of 880 feet and a power point cost of 11. He expends his psionic focus to gain the benefit of the Echoing Power metamagic feat, and auto-succeeds on the Concentration roll to suppress the power’s Visual display, with a minimum check result of 21 vs. DC 19.

11 PP = 7 PP (base cost) + 4 PP (Echoing Power)


Post-*bamf* rounds

Garrick meditates to regain his psionic focus, and manifests conceal thoughts. Then, he opens the secret passage by inserting one of his saber teeth into the bracket, turning it clockwise, and pushing the door open.


Condition
HP: 105/105, PP: 120/174, Psionic Focus? Self: ☑ Psicrystal: ☐


conceal thoughts -- (12 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
echoing fold space -- Until he next regains his daily allotment of power points, Garrick can manifest fold space once more without paying its cost.

[Tempestfury]

The gargoyle easily discovered the code herself as well, and deciphering it was a piece of cake. It was amusing that this even managed to get through, the halfling’s superior’s must not have taken much time in examining what the orders where... or he gave them one without the bolded words. Either way, it gave them their option, and something to discuss. First things first through... “Karliah.” She introduced herself with a nod.

Not too long after everybody had introduced themselves, the potions identified and the secret message discovered... and they got a mental message, revealing that their erstwhile ally was returning, which made her smile. “Ah, its good to see you return Garrick. A relief to know that I have someone else of strong moral fortitude with me, and not one that would needlessly kill people. Its a shame that you time-hop didn’t work as it should of done. Our orders revealed that killing them was completely unnecessary if we had just managed to run away in time.” Yes she was still mad about the deaths... she had full right to be.

[trysted]

Welcome.....errr...back? Nice to meet you Garrick. I'm Kznitinzk, but you can call me Kit for short. Not sure why you went back to a body without hands, but I'm not going to question. I was the bear by the way, and I will be again back in a little while.

Also, it's a little dark in here. I'm not a big fan of the dark when I'm someplace I don't know.

Waves his hand around a little and 4 glowing spheres appear to give the room a little better illumination.

Dancing lights cantrip

[Diachronos]

The mention of the dead guards brings the taste of blood back to her mouth, and Esmeralda covers her mouth with a gag. "I was trying to protect the one who got left behind, I didn't mean to kill the guy! I mean... you understand what it's like when the fight-or-flight instincts kick in, don't you?"

[Jack_Simth]

And... no particular world-interactions to adjucate since my last post.

[Failed Phantasm]

Garrick listened to each of the speakers in turn — the gargoyle, the halfling, the monkey — and when they were done, he stood still and remained quiet for a moment, letting the silence fill the chamber into which they had all crowded.











Then he padded over to one of the last of the unclaimed packages, since it didn’t seem to matter which one was “his” per se; who knows how they’d been mixed up during the fight, and they all appeared to have identical contents anyway. Gingerly picking it up in his mouth, he turned and started to head deeper into the passageway that presumably led out. «I’ll scout ahead.»


Actions taken

If there are any recent tracks to be found in the raked earth that's concealing the older ones, Garrick attempts a Survival check to determine their number and freshness: (1d20+20)[31] (See this post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19141818&postcount=150) for original result.)

I also forgot to roll his Perception (1d20+15)[27] and Stealth (1d20+15)[24] check for his little scouting adventure. He'd be moving at half speed while following any hypothetical tracks, so may as well do it as sneakily as a f***huge cat is capable of. (See this post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19141855&postcount=151) for original results.)


Condition
HP 105/105, PP 120/174, Psionic Focus? Self ☑ Psicrystal ☐


conceal thoughts -- (12 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
echoing fold space -- Until he next regains his daily allotment of power points, Garrick can manifest fold space once more without paying its cost.

[Mousedigits]

Altyan will nod his head, and wait a good while (until he's sure that Garrick is 150-200ft ahead) before following Garrick, hoping the others will follow, keeping his ears open for anything that sounds out of place, and keeping his eyes peeled.

[roll0] Perception
Moving, on foot, at 30ft/round.

[Tempestfury]

“Hey, where you going?” Karliah called out as the psion said he would scout on ahead, the gargoyle standing up with a rather confused frown on her face. “There’s not exactly much to scout, just a door at the end of this small passageway, and we have something very important to discuss. Mainly, a plan of action, as our orders carry a secret message.” The worst secret message EVER... but secret message nonetheless.

[trysted]

Kit dismisses the dancing lights and then casts a spell with no noticeable affect. Then asks Karliah Whats on your mind?

2+3+6+6+1-1=17
Mage armor should be good for 24 hours from now

[Jack_Simth]

On the other side of the door, you find yourself in a brick-reinforced hallway; there's a root sticking out of the false wall behind you that lines up with the wheel on the side you came in - clearly the lever to open it from this side, given the context. The area is very damp, and only a small amount of light gets in, seemingly from the various side passages... all of which are smaller than the one you are in. whoever set this up seems to have covered their footprints well... although there is a trail of what appears to be white confectioner's sugar laid down to mark a particular path - down the large hallway, which curves a bit but is largely both straight ahead and slightly downhill. There is a little reflection on the walls up ahead that suggests the tunnel reaches outside somewhere further on. You don't hear anything larger than a rat, and don't see anything that seems particularly threatening.

[Failed Phantasm]

Ignoring the query for time being, Garrick pushed through the door and briefly peered down all the small side corridors that branched off from the main passageway, ears swiveling as he strained to listen for anything worth hearing. ‘I don’t hear the sound of conversation or the bustle of crowds… we must be too deep beneath the city. We can’t have gone far enough to be outside the walls yet,’ he thought after a few moments of this. Aside from the faint scratching of the rats and the trail of indeterminate white powder, he was satisfied that nothing seemed to require his immediate attention.

He then addressed the others all at once, with his first remark directed at the gargoyle in particular: «I hardly need be present to hold a conversation. Even assuming you aren’t all familiar or comfortable with telepathy, I would imagine this medium is preferable given that physical speech is beyond some of you at the moment. I can easily relay messages from — “Arknid” is what you wrote, I believe? — and…» He abruptly stopped and spoke only to the roc who had been following him: «Your name, please? If you don’t know how, just think very clearly and willfully about whatever it is you’d like to tell me.»


Condition
HP 105/105, PP 120/174, Psionic Focus? Self ☑ Psicrystal ☐


conceal thoughts -- (12 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
echoing fold space -- Until he next regains his daily allotment of power points, Garrick can manifest fold space once more without paying its cost.

[Mousedigits]

«Altyan. My name is Altyan.».

[Failed Phantasm]

«Altyan. Thank you.» Without missing a beat, he resumes broadcasting his thoughts to the rest of the impromptu group: «I can relay messages to and from Arknid and Altyan easily enough, so let's get right to the point: what are we going to do now?» Garrick pondered the matter for a moment and then, having just thought of it, added: "«That, however, presupposes that "we" are even going to work together in any capacity from now on. Perhaps that should be addressed first?»



Condition
HP 105/105, PP 120/174, Psionic Focus? Self ☑ Psicrystal ☐


conceal thoughts -- (12 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
echoing fold space -- Until he next regains his daily allotment of power points, Garrick can manifest fold space once more without paying its cost.

[Necroticplague]

The giant snake gives a thumbs up as their advanced scout recognizes the writing as the serpent's name. Pointless given their lack of prescence, but it at least should indicate things to those with her. <<Thank heavens. The ability to talk is one of those things where you don't really know what its worth till its gone, indeed. Anyway: to the topic at hand. Why not cooperate? We're all stuck in this boat together, and all agreed to do this for the halflings.>>

[trysted]

Kznitinzk messages in common to everyone We should work together. They woke this many of us up for a reason. Also, I think we should depose the oppressive rule. It matters not whether you personally care about the oppressed people or not. Even if you don't, you don't want to BECOME an oppressed person. Which is pretty much the only option you have if the ruling party is oppressive and you aren't one of them.

Message cantrip.

[Tempestfury]

Karliah grumbled under her breath when Garrick chose to ignore her, a his telepathy meant that he didn’t actually have to be there in order to take part of the conversation. Whilst this was a valid and logical point, the gargoyle felt that he could of made the effort to appear polite to everyone at least. Still, the subject changed, and Karliah had to speak herself once more. “I’m completely fine with working with everyone here. As long as everyone swears, here and now, to not kill anyone unless it is solely in self-defence. I am no shining paladin, but I was not work with murderers.”

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda nods and picks up her bundled orders. "I've killed people in defense before, but I only went into a murdering bloodlust once... and that's not a place I want to go again.

[Mousedigits]

«I can agree to that. I don't like killing, either. That, back there... That was an animalistic urge, borne from instinct....»

[trysted]

Kznitinzk replies, I think we can all agree that none of us want to do any killing unless it is absolutely necessary to protect the group. For the killing that has occurred so far, that stain is on me, as it it was my delay that caused it to be necessary. The rest of you are blameless for it, and I can shoulder that blame alone.

But lets look forward. I say we go follow Garrick now that we have established our priorities.

Kit starts heading towards where Garrick is.

[Jack_Simth]

OK, as there are no more replies in over 24 hours, I'm going to assume that everyone's leaving the area now, and moving on.

The trail of powdered sugar is quite easy to follow, and in fact leads you in the obvious direction if you're wanting to get out of the city: Downstream. On your way, you don't see anything more threatening than the occasional rat scampering away from the noise of your passage. As more of the smaller side-passages join the main one, the main passage slowly grows. After about a mile, the tunnel opens up to the outside world; specifically a river, flowing away from the city, in the midst of a forest (although you're currently in a clearing, with a decent amount of grass right around the river). You can hear the hustle and bustle of the city you just left off in the distance, upstream. It looks like the local animals are used to it, though; you can hear some squirrels in the trees, and a hawk circles lazily overhead.

[Tempestfury]

Karliah was glad to get such a unanimous agreement from everyone about no more murdering others... with how her current companions had been so eager to throw themselves at the guards and shred them apart, she had been concerned that she had been stuck with a group of great bloodthirst. As it, the current gargoyle was wrong in her assumption, and could now move on to more important matters, as she followed the others in walking through the tunnel. “I think the next appropriate plan of action should be two fold. First, find and establish a ‘campsite’, or a place in which we can stay, however temporarily. Secondly, we should investigate the city, and see if it is being ‘taxed to death’ as the secret message claims.”

[Jack_Simth]

The sky starts to cloud up.

[Failed Phantasm]

Garrick cast a wary eye up at the darkening sky and breathed in deeply, wondering if he would catch the scent on coming rain on the wind. Being caught outdoors in a storm would hardly bother him, especially as it would be far from the first time — and absolutely nothing compared to a thunderstorm on the Plane of Air — but it would probably drive the townsfolk indoors and reduce visibility. 'Both would be good for scouting, but,' he shot a quick glance in the direction of Altyan; 'would do little to conceal the silhouette of a massive bird against the sky.' He briefly addressed the rest of the group, in response to the gargoyle: «I have no objection to that. If we've no one more acquainted to living in the wilderness than I, I ought to be able to find us a campsite nearby. As for investigating the city, I think it would be more prudent of me to avoid going back for the time being.»

He looked back up at the gathering clouds and growled softly. «We should move quickly. It's going to start raining very hard soon.»


Actions taken

Garrick uses his Survival skill to predict the weather (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/survival#TOC-Survive-in-the-Wilderness): [roll0]

Condition
HP 105/105, PP 120/174, Psionic Focus? Self ☑ Psicrystal ☐


conceal thoughts -- (12 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
echoing fold space -- Until he next regains his daily allotment of power points, Garrick can manifest fold space once more without paying its cost.

[Diachronos]

"I'll find a campsite for us. I'm better in the wild than I am in the city, and I don't want to have to take over a person's body just to be able to help out."

[Necroticplague]

<I'm probably a bit too slow and groundbound to try and do the scouting. However, our bodies were likely kept fairly hungry to encourage them to fight. Therefore, I'll go search for food.> With her color-changing skin blending into the background, the giant serpent then tries to go hunting, it's serpentine tongue flicking into the air to try and find something.
Survival to follow any possible scent trails: [roll0]

[Jack_Simth]

As Arknid goes off to hunt, the rain really starts coming down. The water quickly finds its way into the storm drain system of the city... and you quickly find out why they built such large tunnels, as tunnel floods to a few feet of fast-moving water over the course of a few minutes. The water is cold and the current is quite intense, and threatens to throw anyone who doesn't get out of its way downstream very roughly and painfully... and gemstones sink in water.

After a several hours of hunting in said rain, Arknid manages to track down and catch a wild rabbit. However... it's not a very big rabbit. Arknid is pretty sure he can feed himself OK for today, and probably one other person... but quite a few people are liable to go hungry today if they're stuck with just the results of the snake's hunt.


Per Survival, it's DC 10 to get along in the wilderness while moving at half normal speed. As normal travel would be eight hours a day, this pretty much means four hours or so of actively looking around for food. But that DC is for one person. For each two points by which you exceed the DC, you can cover one other person. So 13 is self + one other. Fortunately, you can go a few days without eating if you really need to do so without harm. It's just uncomfortable.

The water is cold, but the damage from the cold is not enough to get past your energy resistance.
It's very much bludgeoning, however. Anyone who doesn't specifically get out of the way (you do have plenty of warning, as the water doesn't come as a wall, but a rapid increase) takes [roll0] nonlethal bludgeoning damage (DR applies), and must make a strength check (DC 25) to avoid being washed downstream. Someone washed downstream also gets banged up on the rocks, and takes another [roll1] lethal bludgeoning and slashing damage from impacts with the rocks (again, DR applies). Mostly this is just a roll call to see who's still paying attention to the thread, as a few people haven't posted in nearly a week.

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda moves away from the drain pipe as the rain picks up, and sets to locating a good place for them all to hole up for the night, or hopefully set up a more long-term base of operations. While doing so, she keeps an eye out for any reliable sources of food. For now she remains in the monkey form she'd assumed while reading over the orders they'd been given in order to draw less attention to herself from anyone who happened to be in the woods.


Survival to locate a good campsite. Long-term if possible, but temporary works as well: [roll0]
Also, Survival check to locate food sources while searching: [roll1]

[Mousedigits]

Altyan looks around, feeling fairly worthless. Everyone else was looking about for food, or a good place to set up camp. Unfortunately, he was trained in nothing that would be particularly helpful right now. As the water starts coming from above, and the drain pipe starts rushing, he's move aside and wait for someone to tell him to do something.

[Jack_Simth]

After several hours of careful search, Esmeralda has no difficulty finding both a suitable campsite and a meal for everyone:
It seems a bit downstream, there is a cave that housed a bear up until about five minutes before Esmeralda arrived; the bear had been injured in a fight with some other wild animal, and had come home to recover, only to finish bleeding out instead. The cave is large enough for everyone, but the entrance is well overgrown by hanging vines and it is difficult to tell that there is a cave present. The smell of bear is expected to keep away most creatures until the place finishes airing out in a few weeks, and the bear corpse is sufficiently fresh and sufficiently large to feed the several large carnivores that are hosting the party without ill effects... for today, at least.

[Tempestfury]

By the time they had found a cave to settle in, with a handy dead bear corpse to munch on, Karlaih’s alchemical extract had faded, allowing her to return to her insectile form. Through, this wasn’t too much of a worry, as she didn’t exactly need hands or the common tongue currently. Not with the telepathic abilities of their psion... or to feast on the bear herself. Hell, she could actually eat and talk now. ’So, does anyone know what I am? Its hard to tell what I am as there’s no handy mirror’s around’ Karliah questioned, hoping she might be able to slip into the city.

[trysted]

Kznitink follows everyone to the cave. But being now back in bear form, he takes a look at the proffered bear meat, and passes on it. Arknid's rabbit, on the other hand, seems to be just what the doctor ordered.

<Arknid, mind if I have some of that?>, he asks.

[Necroticplague]

<Sure thing.> Arknid passes along a portion that he hadn't eaten himself, admittingly a a rather sizable one, due to the food needs of her massive body. Looking over the one who seemed unaware of what she was with unblinking serpentine eyes, she replies in a cold, medical tone of mental voice. <An interesting example of mimicry. Read a bit about this while figuring out how to make myself change colors. They hunt humanoids, and look vaguely like one to blend in at night. Probably ended up in the arena after getting caught. Would have some interesting novelty value. Secretes a paralytic poison, fights to the very last breath if cornered. Can settle for hemophagery until prey is completely killed.>
Taking 10 on my Know: nature to know about xenopterids. Since the DC to know about them is 12, and I get a 28 by taking ten, I know the basics (which would be the 'hunt humanoids' part, and 3 special abilities they have. To which I go with Poison, Ferocity, and Blood Drain.

Once she's done, she starts turning her medical knowledge on herself, trying to find a cure for her lack of voice. While she does appreciate th psion's act as a go between, being able to actually have a voice would be nice. Oh, and legs, so that she's not stuck at the slow pace she can slither at. Tearing out one her fangs, she hollows it out to use as a syringe before beggining her operation. Taking some parts from the meals, and some from herself, dissolving in some of the water from the rain, she mixes a volatile brew in the fang before using it to carve some of her own flesh, injecting the mixture in. Her flesh begins crawl around her a bit as she grows yet another pair of arms and finally some legs, trying to stand up before realizing her size prohibits this in the cave. "Testing, testing...voicebox appears working."

Of course, her work isn't finished yet. Taking the hollowed fang, she puts a rock in it to act as a new bottom while she creates a a new concoction from combining some further scraps. It's crude work, but it should do for now.
Mixing up two Anthropomorphic Animal on myself so that I can speak Common and have two more arms+legs for 24 hours. Also making my mutagen (which will give +6 STR and +4 DEX for -2 int and -2 wis, two claw attacks, a bite attack, in addition to granting Pounce, 60 foot fly (good), Trip with my Bite (the bigger one from Anaconda), 30 foot climb speed, and a bunch of other stuff I already have).

[Failed Phantasm]

Loping along casually behind the rest — animals didn’t usually move quite so purposefully as the others were — Garrick took up the rearguard as the troupe followed Esmeralda’s lead. The tunnel through which they’d escaped had easily been a mile long, but the sounds of the city could still be heard even from that distance. He hadn’t invasively scoured Sam’s mind for details, but it was clear from their journey to and from the temple that it was a city of considerable size, and such settlements did not spring up overnight. Perhaps it had even been built over the site of an older town or village that had been destroyed or abandoned in centuries past? Now that he could see the contours of the city’s surroundings, there was something vaguely familiar about it all, but perhaps that was nothing more than wistful longing. He remained deep in his reverie until Esmeralda discovered a cave, at which point he vigorously shook the rainwater out of his host’s fur and quickly got out of the storm.

The smelly of recently-dead bear assaulted his nose as he entered, and after having switched back and forth between bodies, he was suddenly made aware of how hungry his newest host was. After a few moments of careful sniffing and pawing, Garrick was satisfied that it was fresh enough to eat; digging his host’s large fangs into a choice bit of hindquarter, he tore off a hunk of meat and started feeding. ‘Huh. Never had bear before,’ he thought to himself. ‘It’s not the most interesting taste, but it’ll do.’ As he chewed thoughtfully, he focused his mind and manifested one of the protective wards he’d lost in his first transfer; he’d been without his armor for so long, he was starting to feel naked.

At Karliah’s request, he gave the insectoid-thing an appraising once-over, and then tried to recall whatever he could about what he might have seen or heard about such creatures as he continued eating. When he was finally sated on bear meat, and once he’d wracked his brain for everything he could remember, he decided to go back outside the cave and scout the perimeter. He would relay his knowledge telepathically, once he’d had a quick drink and had washed the blood off his face.


Actions taken
Garrick makes a Knowledge (geography) check to see if he can identify what part of the world he is currently in (because, dammit, geography is not a useless skill.): [roll0]

If and only if Garrick fails the above roll, he manifests call to mind at ML 12th, with an instantaneous duration and a power point cost of 1. He auto-succeeds on the Concentration roll to supress the power’s Mental display, with a minimum check result of 21 vs. DC 16. Reroll to follow in the OoC thread if necessary.

1 PP = 1 PP (base cost)

Garrick manifests extended inertial armor at ML 12th, with a duration of 24 hours (2 hours/level) and a power point cost of 9. He expends his psionic focus to gain the benefit of the Extend Power metapsionic feat and auto-succeeds on the Concentration roll to suppress the power’s Visual display, with a minimum check result of 21 vs. DC 16. He then meditates immediately afterward to regain his psionic focus.

9 PP = 1 PP (base cost) + 2 PP (Extend Power) + 6 PP (Augment: +3 armor AC)

Garrick makes a Knowledge (nature) check to identify the kind of creature Karliah is currently inhabiting: [roll1]

Garrick makes a combined Perception ([roll2]) and Stealth ([roll3]) check to scout the area immediately surrounding the cave, in case there are any dangers, locations, items, creatures, etc., of note in the vicinity that he can find.

Condition
HP 105/105, PP 111/174 (64%), Psionic Focus? Self ☑ Psicrystal ☐


conceal thoughts — (8 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
echoing fold space — Until he next regains his daily allotment of power points, Garrick can manifest fold space once more without paying its cost.
extended inertial armor — (24 hours remaining) Gain a +7 bonus to armor AC that incorporeal creatures cannot bypass.

[Jack_Simth]

When Garrick returns from scouting, the large feline is much wetter than one would expect simply from the rain.

[Tempestfury]

It took a few moments of pondering and reflection of her knowledge, but after a few minutes of quiet contemplation, Karliah managed to piece together the animal that she had taken. ‘So, I am a Xenopterid. Would of been easier if you told me directly’. Still, it pleased her that she still had her good memory and knowledge. It would certainly come useful in the future.

[Failed Phantasm]

Garrick shook the water out of his fur for the second time in as many hours, rather vexed at what had happened outside. However, there was little time to kick himself for the error; there were more important matters at hand. «We’re being followed.» he announced. «It’s too deep underground for me to get a good read on its thoughts, but its movements were definitely not random.» He tilted his head sideways and continued: «I’m not sure I’d trust the rocky floor of the cavern to keep a burrowing creature out. What would the lot of you like to do next?»


Actions taken
Assuming he has enough information from previous rolls (Know: Geography and Perception) to make a reasoned guess about the local fauna, Garrick makes a Knowledge: Dungeoneering check to see if he can identify the burrowing creature: [roll0]

Condition
HP 105/105, PP 111/174 (64%), Psionic Focus? Self ☑ Psicrystal ☐


conceal thoughts — (8 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
echoing fold space — Until he next regains his daily allotment of power points, Garrick can manifest fold space once more without paying its cost.
extended inertial armor — (24 hours remaining) Gain a +7 bonus to armor AC that incorporeal creatures cannot bypass.

[trysted]

Kit looks interested. How far down do you think it is? I can glide down for about 30 feet or so. Problem is, I'm not sure I'll be able to see anything, unless it is making it's own little cave. You guys want me to give it a shot?


(5+5+1+3-3)x1=11

[Tempestfury]

The fact that they were being followed made Karliah pause in shock and surprise. They had only just gained their freedom back... and now they were being followed by some sort of underground creature? Whatever was its desires? They had little chance of chasing it off, unless it came to them... and it could have many different purposes. Karliah was worried, but she shook her head, thinking. ‘Best to simply wait for it to come after us then chase after it. A place like this wouldn’t be to bad to fight’

[Jack_Simth]

While you are sitting there discussing things, a long-winged lizard with brown mottled scales digs up into your cavern. The dragon is about the size of a man, and has a crest of horns on its head. It starts speaking in common "Ah, you found me! Mother will be annoyed... oh well, at least that means we get to talk for a while." The dragon perks up at that thought, and continues "Do you have any stories?"

Female Brass Dragon, Juvenile. They love to engage in conversation above almost all else.
Fire dragon, so immune to fire, paralysis, and sleep.
Vulnerable to cold.
Has both fire and sleep breath, 60 foot line of fire or a 30 foot cone of sleeping gas.
Can move sand (as move Earth) as a supernatural ability.
Can cause the wind to gust, and drive sand into people's eyes to blind them (even if there's no sand around...)
Can cast Endure Elements and Speak with Animals at will.
Standard set of draconic senses - Blindsense 60, Darkvision-120, sees four times as well as a human in dim lighting and twice as well in normal lighting.
Wow, did you actually get here? Crazy! PM me. If you actually get this far, you've got something interesting coming your way.

[Failed Phantasm]

«Apparently, we don’t have to wait long,» he quipped as the dragon dug itself up out of the ground, seemingly in response to Karliah’s comment. Were he capable of it, he would have laughed at the sight of a man-sized reptile just popping up out of the cavern floor, apropos of nothing. As a private aside to himself, he thought, ‘Better that it reveal itself now, I suppose, before they have a chance to attempt anything foolish.’ Then it started speaking (in Common, no less) and Garrick cocked his head to one side curiously; he’d never encountered anything quite like the creature that was in front of him now. He wasn’t entirely sure what to do, so he paused for a moment and assessed the situation.

‘How much information do we want to volunteer, I wonder? It, like Sam, can probably deduce from our behavior that we’re not the average troupe of escaped animals, but how much does it really know about us?’ he thought. Addressing the rest of the group, he said: «It doesn’t appear to be hostile.» — ‘However long that lasts,’ came the retort from the more cynical part of him — «Perhaps one of you who are physically capable of speech should attempt to negotiate with it first? That’s what it appears to be expecting.»



Condition
HP 105/105, PP 111/174 (64%), Psionic Focus? Self ☑ Psicrystal ☐


conceal thoughts — (8 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
echoing fold space — Until he next regains his daily allotment of power points, Garrick can manifest fold space once more without paying its cost.
extended inertial armor — (24 hours remaining) Gain a +7 bonus to armor AC that incorporeal creatures cannot bypass.

[trysted]

Kit's thoughts sound concerned, and not just because he realizes that his vocalization is what brought the little dragon to the surface.

<Is it just me, or anyone else bothered by the phrase "Mother will be annoyed">

[Jack_Simth]

As the group mentally discusses what to do about the beast, the burrowing lizard goes from perky to crestfallen, and says "... you must not have any stories. Oh well..." and starts to sullenly and slowly head back into the ground.

[Necroticplague]

<Hmmmm......It seemed to want something more than just stories. Probably just a tactful way of asking 'WTF are you people?' I mean, this many apex predators aren't typically found in the same territory, much less the same cave.>

[Failed Phantasm]

Garrick briefly flirted with the option of letting the lizard go, but something about its manner didn’t seem quite right. It was hard to know if he was determining its emotional state with any degree of accuracy — he had no idea how to interpret its body language — but perhaps his telepathic powers gave him a slight edge in the matter. ‘I wonder what it could have been referring to when it mentioned its “mother”? Somehow, its responses seem… distinctly off.’ Replying to Arknid’s supposition, he replied: «Possibly. But regardless of its desires, I have the distinct impression that it’s being disingenuous with us.» He reached up to stroke his chin thoughtfully, but upon remembering that he was once again in the body of a great cat, he had to quickly correct the motion into a lick of his paw. «I’ll see if I can hold its attention for a few minutes. One of you try to think of something relevant to ask it.»

He stared intently at the retreating figure and quickly directed a thought at it and hoped that the telepathic contact wouldn’t unduly startle the creature: «Wait! Please don’t go.» Uncertain of whether it had stopped or not, he pressed on tentatively while it was still in range. «What kind of story would you like to hear? I only know the ones my un- er, mother used to tell me, but I don’t know if you’d like them.» At this point, he was hoping to tempt it with whatever means he had at his disposal, so he added: «Or maybe you’d like to see a trick of mine first?»


Condition
HP 105/105, PP 111/174 (64%), Psionic focus? Self ☑ Psicrystal ☐


conceal thoughts — (8 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
echoing fold space — Until he next regains his daily allotment of power points, Garrick can manifest fold space once more without paying its cost.
extended inertial armor — (24 hours remaining) Gain a +7 bonus to armor AC that incorporeal creatures cannot bypass.

[Jack_Simth]

The creature pauses at the contact from Garrick, and replies "Tricks can be fun, but I really like stories... comedies, tragedies, histories, romances, war stories, travel stories, coming of age... every story has it's own special flavour. It doesn't much matter what the story is... maybe one I haven't heard before? You're not like the locals, so there's pretty good odds most of your stories are new to me. You can pick one. Of course, Mother always taught us to be fair, and if I'm getting your stories, you should get something too... hmm... you do seem new here... maybe you need answers to questions about the area? Hmm... that seems fair... for each story you give me, I'll answer you a question about the area we're in. Does that sound fair?"

[Tempestfury]

A brass dragon? Female one, and rather young at that. Or at least what was considered young amongst dragons at least... and potentially young compared to them as well. Now that was a rather... disturbing thought. Still, the suspicious comments from the others distracted her and made Karliah roll her eyes, nearly scoffing at their response. ’Oh come on, it's obvious. This ‘mother’ isn’t actually its mother, and the desire for stories is actually an attempt to learn more about us. That’s as clear as day... and as the saying goes. Keep your allies close, but your enemies closer’ Admittedly, it likely would like a good story anyway.

[trysted]

<Well, someone better tell this dragon a story, and it's my mouth that got us into this so...>

I can tell a story! Once upon a time in a land, a rather reasonable distance from here, there lived six average men. While I'm sure you are expecting a story about heroes, with bravery and cunning, I'm sad to say that this isn't the story for you. Because this six men, well, they weren't either of those. They werent' bad people or stupid people, they were just people.

One was a butcher, and another a baker. And because it rhymes, there was a candlestick maker. Their was messenger and farmer and another guy who said he worked with money. No one believed him, because from what they saw, he didn't touch money, he simply wrote numbers in books and called it a ledger.

One day these six men were having ale at tavern (because the best stories go that way, and so this one will as well). Another man came up to them, and said that he knew a place where they could get their ale for free. Being men of not above average intellect, and certainly not above average coin, they decided to go with him. He led them to a place they had walked past before, but had never known was a tavern.

They went in, sat at a table, and their new friend brought them drinks. And drink they did. And that was where things got a little woozy for our not quite so intrepid, not quite heroes. Because the next they they knew, they were waking up.

They woke up in cages! They didn't know why they were in cages but they objected to it. There were things this men liked, but being in cages wasn't one of them. But there wasn't anything they could do about it, cuz lets face it, these were ordinary men, not heroes.

The man that they thought was their friend brought food when they were hungry, and offered it to them. "But first" he said, ".you have to drink this". And he showed them a glowing potion.

Now although these men were not the smartest, they had kinda figured out that it isn't exactly brilliant to drink what this guy who was absolutely NOT their friend gave them. So they refused. Well, they refused for the first few days. But hunger is a strange master and thirst is an even stranger mistress, so eventually one of them gave in.

When he woke up, he was a huge snake. The "not quite friend" was extremely happy about that. "It works!! Lets see what it does to the rest!!.

Seeing that their friend hadn't died, and they were extremely hungry and thirsty, the rest of the group joined in. And eventually, they in turn, turned into animals. But at least they didn't starve.

Now I'd like to say our intrepid animals devised a cunning plan of escape, but that wouldn't be true. One night, the man simply dropped a key by accident, and they unlocked their cells and let themselves out. The one that could talk yelled for the others to hurry, hurry up!! And they beat the rain, and ran and ran and ran.

And now we want to know what stories YOU know. I hope it's better than mine, because I know that isn't saying much.


6+5+((3-3)*(4+1))

[Jack_Simth]

The lizard seems to think a bit, and says "Oh, I get it... six of them, six of you... the only thing that might do something like this that could fit in a potion bottle would be Bestow Curse... and of course, something in the curse keeps you from talking about it directly... that's grand! I know how to fix curses. Here...." The lizard begins casting a spell and reaching for the bear...



Casting Remove Curse


Init: [roll0]
If nobody beats her on initiative and interrupts her - and statistically, someone really should as four of you have higher initiative modifiers:

Touch: [roll1]
Caster level check vs. your DC (which should be 23): [roll2]
The spell is Will (harmless), and DC 21 in her case.

[Mousedigits]

[roll0] Init
[roll1] Spellcraft

<<WAIT! A Remove Curse won't do anything for us... We didn't take potions, we did something else entirely.... Something that should probably have never been done...>>

[Tempestfury]

’Woah there! We ain’t the six in the story, sorry to disappoint. Not only are we not actually dumb, but we aren’t all males either' Karliah thought, hoping that Gerrick’s psychic network would allow her to speak to the dragon, otherwise her thought would be absolutely useless... damn her for not having a mouth. Still... only way to get a mouth was to get a sentinent creature under her control, and Karliah was rather... leery about doing so.

[roll0]+[roll1]

[trysted]

Kznitink turns and runs out of the range of the dragon's touch. "No!!!".

[Jack_Simth]

The dragon seems a little disconcerted at the bear running away screaming from what most would consider a beneficial spell. She shrugs it off, though, discharges the spell harmlessly against the cavern floor, and says "Oh. Sorry. I guess I just got caught up in the story. Strange that you ran away from a remove curse spell, though. As to stories... mostly just the classics. I've practically memorized Grimm's work, for instance. On my patrols I also pick up a lot of things, if you're after more recent happenings."

[Tempestfury]

’Sorry about my companions reactions. But we’ve been trapped for a long time, and we are a little leery around strangers’ Karliah explain as an apology, mixing truth with lie once more. After all, they had been trapped for quite a long time... without waiting for the dragon to talk however, Karliah went on, as her curiosity had been roused. ’If I may put a question forth however... the spell you just cast was a divine spell, but it seemed to have the difficulty that most arcane casters have to replicate it. Why is that?’ When you get trapped for eons... you tend to build up a hungry curiosity. 'Through, I would not be averse to learning about the classics'

[Jack_Simth]

Garrick is still telepathically relaying, correct?

The beast looks amused, and says "One story, one answer. I can be an open book for anything not classified, and can cheerfully tell you all about how that works... but conversation is supposed to be both directions."

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda settles down against the cavern wall. "I'm guessing your mother is going to be back sometime soon? If that's the case, we might not want to be here when she gets back. I don't know if dragons are the same, but I know most animals don't like coming home to find strangers hanging around their shelter."

[Failed Phantasm]

‘Curious.’ Garrick warily eyed the creature’s attempt at spellcasting (and Kznitinzk’s exceedingly unsubtle and cringe-worthy reaction), but couldn’t suppress a bit of academic curiosity both at its using divine power to cast an arcane spell and the unusual ease with which it did so. ‘I should hope that display alone will deter any thoughts of provoking or attacking it.’ He shot an ever-so-brief sideways glance in the direction of the snake. ‘I’m not fond of the idea of fighting a spellcaster, much less one whose abilities I can’t reasonably guess at.’

«I’m not sure I can compete with my highly touch-averse associate for length,» he said after the lizard had replied to the insect; «but perhaps I shall make the attempt regardless. Is there any particular kind of story you would be interested in hearing… honored traveler?» he trailed off, hoping to prompt the creature into giving its name, though because he could not expect it to be immediately forthcoming and since he did not want to offend, he quickly appended a reasonably polite title.

Then, in a private aside to Esmeralda, he says: «While I do not think your caution ill-advised, I’m reasonably certain that the “mother” it refers to is not its biological parent, as such.»


Condition
HP 105/105, PP 111/174 (64%), Psionic focus? Self ☑ Psicrystal ☐


conceal thoughts — (8 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
echoing fold space — Until he next regains his daily allotment of power points, Garrick can manifest fold space once more without paying its cost.
extended inertial armor — (24 hours remaining) Gain a +7 bonus to armor AC that incorporeal creatures cannot bypass.

[Jack_Simth]

The oversized lizard raises an eyebrow at Esmeralda "Why would you guess that? I'm on patrol, this isn't my home - although that is nearby. What story doesn't much matter; I just want to hear them."

She just made an untrue statement (and flubbed the bluff roll, so the 'what's the lie' DC is only 21. Roll Sense motive if you'd like a hint as to... well, her motives.

Oh yes, and if you're just stuck on stories? Just roll an untrained perform(oratory) check, and dig up something that's public domain - like, oh, a rather lot of translations of Hans Christian Anderson's work (http://hca.gilead.org.il/). I'm pretty sure we don't have to worry about a guy who's been dead for more than a century getting annoyed with us.

[Tempestfury]

’Well, we gave you one story, so how about hearing about your spellcasting then? Then of course, we can trade the classics for another story’ Karliah ‘said’ at the dragon, in response to its amusement. Though, she had to admit she was rather happy that Garrick had some stories in mind to share himself, as KArliah wasn’t entirely sure what she could share story wise that wasn’t her own story... and she didn't really wanna tell that to anyone.

[Jack_Simth]

The dragon considers, and then shrugs, saying "I suppose asking me what stories I know barely counts as a question... and it's not a big secret; I've got a bit of a connection the spirits: a guide that can hook me up with the ones that are eager to cut a deal. There's something of a bargaining process, but I get the service of a wandering spirit for a day. Each spirit knows something different, and there's a rather lot of them. The one I'm working with today happens to be able to enlighten me about arcane spells, which is also my favourite type for the flexibility they offer. The energy exchange is sufficiently similar to that of divine spellcasting that I don't need to worry overly much about the particularly fine details like a wizard would... which is useful when I take on human form; the armour I wear doesn't get in the way. Meanwhile, I get to have many of the spells a Wizard would, and adapt for specific situations; if a siege was expected, for instance, I might spend a day Fabricating armour and weapons for those who wish to help in defending their homes. After a particularly bad storm, I might spend a day putting up stone housing for people to shelter in. I can usually arrange to handle... well, pretty much whatever's needed, with a bit of thought."

[Failed Phantasm]

Garrick scoffed inwardly at the creature’s reply to Esmeralda’s supposition. ‘Surely it can’t expect us to believe such a flimsy lie! That’s basically begging us to scrutinize its motives, though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that it doesn’t trust us. Even so, I wonder what it’s trying to hide and why.’ He waited for the dragon to fall silent before commenting to his associates: «Quite the garrulous one, isn’t it? Would that it were so easy for the rest of us to dabble in other magical styles.».


Actions taken

Garrick opposes the dragon’s Bluff with Sense Motive: [roll0]


Condition
HP 105/105, PP 111/174 (64%), Psionic focus? Self ☑ Psicrystal ☐


conceal thoughts — (8 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
echoing fold space — Until he next regains his daily allotment of power points, Garrick can manifest fold space once more without paying its cost.
extended inertial armor — (24 hours remaining) Gain a +7 bonus to armor AC that incorporeal creatures cannot bypass.

[Jack_Simth]

The beast watches Garric stumble through the story (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19258999&postcount=975), and replies "Well, that's a story I think so what's your question to go with it?"

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda chimes in. "Do you know anything about what's been happening with the nearby city? With the ruler or any mistreatment of the citizens, I mean?"

[Jack_Simth]

The beast tilts her head and thinks a moment before answering "That depends on your perspective. He did conquer the place, after all, and killed a rather lot of people doing it. He also severely upset the order of things, and continues to do so, making one or two major changes every year to get the laws in line with those of the rest of the Empire. For example, a few years ago, he banned 'private slavery' and freed everyone. Of course, this was a major upset - everyone who was anyone had several slaves doing their labour for them... and few slaves wanted to continue to serve under their former masters, not that many of the former masters were willing to pay for what they used to get for free. As a result, the farmers didn't have enough farmhands for the harvest; the merchants didn't have their mules for moving goods; the mines were left empty. A rather lot of the former slaves - and quite a few of the former masters - ended up turning to theft to try to make a living. The catch, of course, being that Kang had quite a few enforcers on patrol. His enforcers seem supernaturally good at catching lawbreakers - I'm not going to call 'crook' when a large portion of the current set of lawbreakers are stealing food because there simply aren't any paying jobs available that they can do - and Kang doesn't do prisons. About six out of nine lawbreakers get Dominated by the enforcers on patrol, and handed over to unwilling tradesmen as 'apprentices' paid only in food, lodging, and training... which the tradesmen are compelled to provide. The enforcers check in on these 'apprentices' every ten days and renew the mind control, as well as reminding the tradesmen that they're required to train, feed, and shelter the 'apprentice' in question. Nobody has any choice in the matter. The apprentices do eventually graduate to journeymen, at which point they are given a few weeks' worth of preserved foodstuffs, the basic tools of whatever trade they were trained in, a backpack, a tent, a bedroll, and are sent on their way, with the enforcers no longer mind-controlling them. Most of them make out OK after their sentence is complete. As to the other three of nine? Well, one is executed on the spot, one is turned into a harmless animal, and the third is sent to Kang's mines and not seen again. To many it looks pretty arbitrary, but there is a pattern: The enforcer sizes up the lawbreaker, mostly looking at motives. Laws broken out of desperation result in a forced apprenticeship, laws broken out of greed or malice are punished with death, loss of humanity, or permanent public slavery. Yes, things are worse right now than they were the year before Kang conquered the place... but things in general are on an upward swing when they weren't before he came hunting, and indications are that in a decade or so this will be a thriving metropolis again. But in the meanwhile, there's the occasional gory public execution, in the middle of the street, with little warning. People are terrified. So yes, from a certain perspective, he's oppressing people rather sorely... but from another, he's something of a surgeon cutting into flesh to remove an infection. Historically, the other areas he's done this sort of thing turn out well... after a decade or two. I'm afraid you'll need to decide for yourself whether or not you consider his tactics and methods worth the result."

"Of course, as I can't really give you a definitive answer to your question, I suppose you have a retry coming, don't you?"

[Tempestfury]

That... was rather interesting actually. A dragon, that had a connection with spirits, and used them for magic? As far as Karliah knew, dragons had their own innate magical ability, and more often than not focused on that instead of any other type of magic... so to hear a dragon having a connection spirits, and calling on them for aid was very curious for Karliah, and made her want to ask more herself... through she was distracted by Garrick’s... story... and had to wince in response. Through, Esmeralda was very clear in jumping in to ask about the situation of the nearby city...

And uh, well. That was a complicated situation. It seemed Kang was the kind of guy that believed in the ‘greater good’... the person who would simply bulldoze their way into a situation, kill all those who oppose him, and then create a regime of fear and strength... that was focused on improving the lives and liberty of many and those around him... through it was slow going, if what the dragon said was completely and utterly true. When a retry was granted to them. Karliah spoke up about an important subject which was raised by the dragoness in her explanation. ’So... this isn’t the first time Krang has done this? How many times has he done this? How long does he stay? Questions about the Empire would come later.

Sense Motive: [roll0]

[Jack_Simth]

The dragon shrugs, and says "His title is "The Conqueror" for a reason. He didn't give it to himself; a few people just started calling him that one day, and it spread. He annexes new territory about every five years, and once he has it, he never lets it go. He started 329 years ago, and is looking at taking over Subject State #99 soon ... although only sixty five of those were conquered by direct force; thirty three different city states pre-emptively surrendered when Kang conquered some of their neighbours, rather than wait for a formal declaration of war. That always annoys the guy."

[trysted]

<That's a lot about Krang. What do you know of Baator, and her predecessor?> Kit projects, more than mildly curious.

[Jack_Simth]

The dragon tsks "Ah ah! Another story first!"

"Baator", in that context, was a substitute curse word. The girl's name is "Amareth". Sorry that wasn't clearer.

[Tempestfury]

'Three hundred and twenty nine years ago? What is he?' Karliah asked curiously when the dragon answered her question about Krang... and that he had been conquering for a very, very, VERY long time... through then again, Karliah had no idea how old she actually was not... that was a rather disturbing thought. When the dragon admonished them for another story, Karliah nodded, saying. 'I... should be able to recall a story or two...' Or at least, myths and legends of her own time...

History Check: 24+[roll0]

[Tempestfury]

Thinking back on what she knew of history, Karliah decided it was best for her to take a myth, or legend from her times and share it as a story. It took a few moments for her to recall one that would be sufficient for their needs, as well as think it over to ensure she had all of the correct details, but in the end Karliah spoke.

In Ancient Times there was a cruel king called Polydectus who wanted to marry a woman called Danae. Danae had a brave son called Perseus, who was not fond of Polydectus. The king decided to send Perseus away on a dangerous quest, hoping that he would not return.

Perseus’ quest was to kill the Gorgon Medusa and bring back her head. Medusa was once a beautiful but vain girl. She made the mistake of boasting that she was the most beautiful girl in the land, better looking than any goddess. The gods heard this and as punishment they turned her into a Gorgon – a monster with snakes for hair. Worst of all, anyone she laid eyes upon immediately turned to stone.

Knowing that his quest was impossible, Perseus visited the Temple of of the Goddess of Wisdom to pray for help. The gods heard his prayer and granted him 5 gifts. These were a helmet of invisibility, a sword, a shiny shield and a magic pouch. The final gift was a pair of winged sandals from the God of Messangers, which gave Perseus the ability to fly.

Perseus flew to the cave where Medusa lived and bravely walked through the entrance. But how could he defeat a creature he could not look at? Perseus remembered his gifts from the gods and used his shield to look at Medusa’s reflection. He shut his eyes, swung his sword and with one swoop cut off Medusa’s head. He placed it in the pouch and set off back to King Polydectus.
The king grabbed the head and, before Perseus could warn him, looked in to the Gorgon’s eyes, instantly turning to stone. Perseus had succeeded in his challenge and now his mother was safe.

[Jack_Simth]

The lizard replies to Karliah "To all appearances, Kang is a human male, a touch taller than average, brown hair and eyes, slight of build, a little too fair for the desert but dark by this land's standards. He tends to wear a lot of jewellery, and is never seen in public without his crown. Mind you, humans don't live that long, and he very much predates me... and has the same appearance now that he did the first time I laid eyes on him - well, discounting clothing and specific jewellery, of course. Appearances are most assuredly deceptive in his case. Exactly what he is? There's rumours that he's an elf, vampire, angel, demon, lich, dragon (my favourite, if you're curious), and a host of other things, but beyond "Older than me", I can't really give you much of certainty."

[Tempestfury]

’Appears human, but is not humans due to longevity, and no one actually knows what species he is? Typical.’ Karliah sighed to herself, annoyed that she would expect anything different about Krang... if the dragoness had proven to have known something about him, then perhaps she couldn’t of been trusted at all... regardless, Karliah didn’t want to ask anymore questions herself currently, and waited to see if anyone else would have any more stories to tell and ask questions as well.

[Jack_Simth]

With nobody offering up any more stories, the giant lizard considers a moment, and says "Well, you definitely pass both sentient and conversational sanity tests, so if you want to get back into the city, let the gatekeeper know that 'enforcer three four seven dash one two six' gave you code 'delta five niner echo'. They'll set you up with the fitted collars to flag beings that aren't obviously intelligent as sentient, which will cut down on certain troubles. You'll still need to make the entry tax, but that's just two coppers a head. Code's good until the next rotation a month from now. Note that it's tied to your descriptions in records, so if you're using that code, you'll want to make sure to show your current appearances, and stick together as a group. Anyway, I need to get back to patrolling..." and with that, the giant lizard digs back underground and vanishes from view.

[Necroticplague]

"Huh. Not much of a tax. We might be able to pay it if some people didn't suddenly feel so sentimental."

[Tempestfury]

’It shouldn’t be that hard to pilfer some coppers for the tax’ Karliah said casually, looking at where the dragon had vanished from. the insect having hoping that she would of been able to get some more information and stories from her... but sadly her own lack of knowledge and desire to tell stories worked against her in that regard. ’Still... its surprising to hear that this dragon is apparently an enforcer for Krang... maybe we should of been more discrete in our questioning

[Jack_Simth]

Karliah notices a little something about the spot where the dragon left.
And... no particular world interactions, so....

[Tempestfury]

Karliah scowled as what she saw... as best as she could actually scowl with an insect face as shook her head in annoyance. Turning to the others, the investigator was rather blunt about her findings. ’We got duped completely. That dragon was a blue dragon with an illusion to look brass, and even then I’m pretty sure she was shifted into that shape, and not actually born to it. I should of guessed something was up when we learned about her magic using the spirits.

[Failed Phantasm]

After the dragon departed, Garrick lay down on his side and stretched languidly, yawning as he did so. When the insect had finished speaking, he replied: «And you’re surprised by this turn of events… why, exactly? Did you fail to notice its blatant attempt at lying to us earlier?» He rested his head on his paws and stared at the patch of disturbed earth into which the creature had made its exit. «It can’t have gone far, if you’re of a mind to chase after it.»


Condition
HP 105/105, PP 111/174 (64%), Psionic focus? Self ☑ Psicrystal ☐


conceal thoughts — (8 hours remaining) Gain +10 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks opposing another's Sense Motive, and a +4 bonus to saving throws to resist any power or spell used to read Garrick's mind.
echoing fold space — Until he next regains his daily allotment of power points, Garrick can manifest fold space once more without paying its cost.
extended inertial armor — (24 hours remaining) Gain a +7 bonus to armor AC that incorporeal creatures cannot bypass.

[trysted]

<I don't think chasing after a dragon is the best idea. Just saying. At this point, it doesn't seem like it means us any harm, and I think we have bigger fish to fry. Also, I hope that fish is salmon. I believe I really, really like salmon. I'm just sayin.>

[Jack_Simth]

With nobody seeming to have immediate plans, the group settles down to rest for the evening. As they are doing so, Garrik takes a bit of time to see what he can Divine about their plans, and after concentrating for ten minutes, mentally chants to the party:

«The Fickle of Form are Fearless but Fickle»
«The Fixed of Form are Faint of Heart»
«The Puzzle to Placate is quite the Pickle»
«Being Fickle of Form is how to Start»

He leaves everyone to mull over the cryptic rhyme as he rests.

In the well-chosen spot, the night passes uneventfully, with no further interruptions.

Arena master and his guards: 3,200 xp each.

[Tempestfury]

When the moon sank down beyond the horizon, and the sun began to climb up. Karliah was already out. Sitting outside of the cave and watching the sun rise up... having been used to getting up at dawn, Karliah had long since stopped watching the sun rising up... but after countless years of darkness and imprisonment, Karliah swore she would do all she could to never miss a sunrise, and to take advantage of every day granted to her...

It was one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen.

[trysted]

Kit is slow to wake. He's even slower to think. But think he does.

<I know that no one is a fan of what it does to hosts, but I don't think we should stay in animal forms. At least some of us should get forms so that we can pass as humanoid. Thats how I'm interpreting Garrick's words. And from my understanding of what Krang is, it seems he does the same thing.

Maybe it would ease our conscience if the bodies we took were those slated to die anyway, gladiators perhaps?>

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda moves off to the side before reverting back to her original dinosaur form.

In the morning, she's noticeably displeased at Kit's suggestion. "I've taken control of a human body once in my life. I swore never to do it again."

[Mousedigits]

<<For the most part, I agree with Esmerelda. I'm not too keen on trapping a person again... Even if they were slated for death, I would think death preferable to eternal imprisonment. I'd be willing to do it to someone who deserved it, after all there are some wicked people in this world. But, even so, I kinda like this body. It's strong.>>
Filler Text

[Necroticplague]

There's an audible crack throughout the cave as the 5-armed snake stretches out upon waking up to the sound of telepathetic voices. "Likewise. Regardless of how I feel about taking new bodies, I like this one. It's massive and powerful. There are ways to be fickle of form that don't involve stealing someone else's body. I've had years to think of several while i was stuck."

[Tempestfury]

Karliah turned and headed back into the cave when everyone began waking up and talking amongst themselves, planning what was necessary next. The fact that no one desired to take hold of a being, even if they were slated to die was pleasing for Karliah to hear. As it further told the investigator that perhaps her group could be trusted, despite the murder they started with... however, there was one thing that Karliah had to say currently. 'It is not imprisonment if we give them an offer and they accept it.'

[trysted]

Kit shrugs. <I will defer to the decision of the group on this. To be quite honest, to say that I find it distasteful, is quite a bit of an understatement. But that still leaves us with the question of how we are going to negotiate the town and find information. I can change forms, but not for long enough to be meaningful. And while we are there, we should totally get some salmon.>

[Mousedigits]

<<Hmm, well. If one of us were to get a humanoid form, from someone willing, we could be a traveling circus group of sorts, at least to the public eye.

Also, salmon sounds great.

[Necroticplague]

"Define 'humanoid'. I'm currently in a humanoid form, as much as I may never be mistaken for a normal one." Two legs, standing upright, head on top of shoulders, arms, technically right.

[Jack_Simth]

Let's see... I don't see any particular world-interactions of note at the moment that need adjucation.

Oh yes, and don't forget to check Garrik's Sheet (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=121414) for things he could reasonably add to help. Keep in mind, too, that his Psicrystal should have reformed at about this point.

[Tempestfury]

’Instead of humanoid, I believe the best term would be ‘sentient’ Karliah said, a little annoyed by Arknid’s nitpicking... but honestly understood where they were coming from with that reply. ’We will only need one person at most... and if anything, it should be the most charismatic of us all, the one that is best at quick talking. Both truth and lie.' The investigator knew that whilst not charismatic naturally... she had learned how to use her intelligence in a charming matter, and wondered if people would think she was saying she should be the one to take the sentient role.

[Jack_Simth]

Hmm. Two days, no IC posts, and no particular world interactions. OK then.

[Mousedigits]

<Well, then, if that is our plan, how are we going to find a willing person to cram one of our minds into?>
Filler Text

[Diachronos]

"I'm going to stick to the dinosaur, if you don't mind. It's amazingly helpful if we get into a fight, I can change shape into another animal if we need something less noticeable, and... can any of you honestly say that you'd be happy with letting this thing loose right in the middle of our campsite?"

She stands and moves out of the cave before stretching. "I'm not much of a talker anyway, so I'm a poor choice for our group's face. The 'traveling circus' idea sounds like it could be fun, though."

[Necroticplague]

"Well, no matter what we do, we'd have to pay the tax, so I'll go check out to see how much it actually is. Be back in but a few moments." The snake walks out of their small (relative, most things are small when you're this massive) cave, taking the chance to stretch herself out. She mutters to herself about the psion mangling of medical terminology as she looks for a path towards the city. Sentient means 'can detect its environment'. That's a considerably lower bar than 'humanoid'. The term you're looking for is 'sapient'. Looks like I'm the only one here with an education. How did those dolts manage this transformation with such a clear lack of knowledge?. The snake giant slips its now-hollow fang back into its mouth for safekeeping; wouldn't want the guards to see anything that looks even remotely like a weapon.

[Jack_Simth]

The giant snake doesn't have much trouble locating one of the city gates; it's a simple matter to travel along the wall until he finds one. Moreover, there's a decent amount of noise, what with people going in and out. The gate itself is ornate, but seemingly mundane, at least at first. Two Large stone cats flank either side of the gate, and two Large humanoid statues stand ready besides; above, two brass statues of angels stand atop the wall. It does not take long for all six to subtly shift position, however, making it clear that they are more than they seem. There's a pretty long line of people, horses, and wagons coming into the city, bearing all kinds of loads for those wishing to sell in the morning markets, although it does move fairly quickly. A few beautiful women, clad head to toe in black, walk back and forth up the line, looking at everything, and occasionally stopping to talk with someone in line. You can't see what goes on beyond the gates, but there's some sounds of annoyance coming from the direction, and people tend to pull a few copper coins out of their pockets just as they're going in and out of sight.

[trysted]

<I'm feeling cooped up, and I want some fish. I'm going to see if I can find a stream and fish it
I'm genuinely interested in some fish, but I'm also wondering what is going on outside this cave. I need to get a little feel for the lay of the land, before I enter the city as a captive bear....again. >


Survival if necessary

[roll0]

[Tempestfury]

'I’m sure if we use the tunnel, we’ll be able to slip back into the arena... and I would not be surprised if there are people there who are about to die, people willing to trade their freedom for their live... a trade I will happily accept' Karliah said, seeing the lack of volunteers for anyone else to take up someone else’s live... though the investigator made sure to give the snake a nod of acceptance as they slithered off to go and do some investigating.

'I will require some assistance on that matter. Especially in ensuring that the insect doesn’t harm to many when its freed. But until then, the ideas of hunting, and getting the lay of the land is a good one... fish would not hurt at all.' Whilst Karliah was not as obsessed with salmon as some of the others, the investigator would not at all dislike some fish right nor... even if the novelty of eating it against would grow short swiftly.

[Jack_Simth]

The bear spends several hours not finding anything of note. It appears that, being right next to the city, the area has been hunted out. He explores a bit, but gets a little lost and has trouble remembering what was which direction. Still, he makes it back to the cave OK, and it is clear that there's a river, a busy roads, and woods... somewhere nearby. Unclear how many of each.


And... Wis check for the guy on break: Garrik: [roll0] vs... oh, DC 10. He'll also need Kn(Nature), which he has: [roll1]
Edit: Ah well. Very knowledgeable, but not all that grand with connecting the dots today. Pity.

[trysted]

<I'll go with you back through the tunnel. I may be of use, especially if it is closed off, and the salmon don't seem to be leaping at me today. anyway>

Kit follows Karliah to the Tunnel.

[Jack_Simth]

Finding your way back up the tunnel isn't an issue - the trail of confectioner's sugar is still present, and easy enough to follow. When you get there, however, you discover a problem: While you can get into the small area between the stormwater system and the arena tunnels... it looks like someone turned the torch scone the wrong way on the other side. The cord's been pulled taught.

[Necroticplague]

Looking at the interesting sculptures that seem to double as decoration and guards, the snake tries to look to see if she could recall anything about such constructs. Sure, it's been years since she was at school, but tha basics of golemaking couldn't have changed too much, right?
Knowledge (Arcana) to see if I know anything about these:[roll0]

[Tempestfury]

Seeing the cord having been pulled tight made Karliah curse rather venmously... though of course, she couldn’t actually talk right about now, so there was no one around to hear her... which was likely good as Karliah would of made a sailor blush with the insults spewing out of her mouth currently. There was absolutely nothing for them to do, but turn around and stalk back to camp... hoping some of the layabouts were up to moving some rubble. Karliah wanted this escape route cleared.

[trysted]

Kit stops Karliah before she takes off with his paw. He and uses dimension door to bring them both to the other side.


Silent Still Dimension door (5x6X2)-2+4-3=59

[Jack_Simth]

You get to the other side of the "accidental" cave-in without incident. However, once you're there, it becomes fairly clear that the place is occupied. There's light dancing on the walls from around the bend, and you think you can make out voices. Additionally, the rubble behind you blocking the exit seems disturbed; there's a hollowed section in the middle, with extra off to the sides; it looks like someone simply brute-force pushed their way out from under a few tons of sand.

[Necroticplague]

Hmmm.....some notable guardians. Nice to know that at least the classic stone is still around. The 'dragon' earlier had said there was an entry tax, but the others had revealed he hadn't exactly been forthright, so it doesn't hurt to double check. With this in mind, the serpent twised into a shape like a man walks up to a gaurd. "Um, excuse, I seek entrance into this city, but heard from a fellow there was a tax for such. Is there?" Hmmmm.....if there is, this could be tough. No money, nothing to try selling (though both wouldn't be issues if the bleeding hearts hadn't forbid looting).

[Jack_Simth]

The black-clad woman looks the anthropomorphic snake up and down, and says "Yes; two coppers per person, plus a small percentage of any goods intended for trade. Much of it goes towards expenses related to maintaining the health and security of city: arming those who guard the wall; supplying the patrols that look for pickpockets, shoplifters, muggers, and such; supplying the investigators that avenge murders; maintaining the city wells; that sort of thing. While it's not much, it does appear that you might have some trouble covering it immediately... you might consider seeking employment. There's usually a merchant or two who's eager for an extra set of eyes to watch for trouble, if nothing else."

[Necroticplague]

Blah, blah, what entry taxes are for is pretty self-evident. You receive the benefit of safety in the city, so you're expected to pay for it. Most notably, however, is the voice. Or the seeming identical nature of the guards. Either there's some weird inbreeding or cloning going on, or these people have the excellent idea of using identical disguises on the job (presumably, so as to not allow any single one to be singled out by any external party). The use of numbers in the name, recalling the dragon, seems to imply one of the latter two.
"Thanks for the tip and your time." Heh, this snake was once an academic, and is no stranger to having to scrounge around for funding. Test subjects and components don't come cheap, after all. Instead of trying to go for the lowly job of a gaurd, she walks along the side of the road on the way to the city, trying to advertise her own service as a doctor. While she might be short of tools and supplies,hopefully she might be able to manage to scrounge a silver or two treating some minor complaints.

[Jack_Simth]

Profession(Healer) or similar?

[Necroticplague]

Profession(Healer) or similar?

Hmm....no, I don't have any profession trained. Could I try just using Heal (representing what I can treat), taking some kinda penalty to account for being crap at the 'advertising' part (similar to a nonprofeciency penalty)?

[Jack_Simth]

Hmm....no, I don't have any profession trained. Could I try just using Heal (representing what I can treat), taking some kinda penalty to account for being crap at the 'advertising' part (similar to a nonprofeciency penalty)?
Not when you look like a monster from a bad horror flick, no. I would have applied a pretty steep penalty to the right skill for that, as well as an ad-hoc adjustment to the results for the considerably reduced time investment (just a few hours vs a week).

As Arknid tries to ply the healing trade, the gargantuan bipedal snake with four arms and a tentacle very quickly discovers a problem: About the only ones who don't answer via screams of terror and running away when asked if they have need of medical services are the constructs and the black-clad Enforcers... none of whom seem to have anything of note in terms of medical needs. Not only that, but after the first scream, Arknid quickly finds himself with an escort: One of the black-clad enforcers, flanked by two Large humanoid stone constructs, two of the stone cats as outriders, and a pair of the bronze angel statues flying overhead. A quick glance makes it clear that they weren't pulled from the gate, and their presence actually seems to reassure people slightly - at least, they don't run screaming anymore - but still nobody seems to be buying what the reptile is selling. The Enforcer makes no threats, and says not a word; no expression can be made out through her mask. She just follows at a modest distance, and doesn't let you out of her sight.

[Necroticplague]

They have enough copies of those golems they can afford to have a couple spares following someone who's made not a single aggressive action? This place is starting to seem more and more suspicious by the moment. The snake turns around to the guard trailing her, trying to get any clue what she's doing wrong. "Excuse me, is there some wrong? I would think there is no reason to trail a simple doctor trying to earn a few silver. Is there a statute against solicitation I'm unaware of?"

[Jack_Simth]

The black-clad woman replies calmly "Your actions so far have been highly frightening and disruptive to the local citizens, irrespective of whether it's out of ignorance or idiocy. You appear to have done nothing malicious, nor caused any lasting harm, so no action is being taken against you. Regardless of intent, however, and irrespective of whether or not the fear is justified, your presence is frightening and disruptive, and that must be dealt with. The obvious presence of a standard patrol has a calming influence, as it serves as a pointed reminder to everyone that unsanctioned violence will not be tolerated by anybody. You are being followed not because you did anything specifically wrong, but because assigning a patrol to you makes several other issues significantly less likely to become problems. Or to put it another way: Do you disagree that the citizens in line at the gate reacted badly to you approaching them, and do you disagree that my shadowing you eased their apprehension?"

The woman considers for a moment, and then adds "Oh yes, and even if you overcome your appearance, you'd likely find it difficult to ply a trade as a healer anyway. All enforcers are trained in several curative magics, and are under standing orders to mitigate medical problems as we are able whenever the problem is neither deserved nor reasonably voluntary. We won't help with hangovers, for instance, but if someone breaks a leg loading a cart they need only cry out for help. Part of why enforcer three four five dash one six three suggested guard work: a frightful aspect is helpful, there, as it passively discourages aggressive actions, and you've got the 'frightful aspect' covered very well."
Make another Kn(Arcana) check with your newfound suspicion, please. DC 28.
Also, another Perception check, as well as any other rolls you feel might be useful.

[Necroticplague]

"While she listens to the guard, the snake also fiddles around with its mouth, fishing some things out of its teeth. Some of its previous meal had been stuck in there, bits or rabbit fur. Probably should have peeled that off before getting at the meat, but it turned our to be useful now. She makes a crude mixture of the fur and her own scales from near the eye in her mouth, before swallowing the mixture. Taking on the sensitive senses the creature uses to watch for predators, she feels far more aware of the area around her. "Thank you. Looks like I'll have to, if i want to get in." While she loiters near a place where she can see caravans coming out to try and look for this more likely line of work, she takes a moment to try and observe the guards more closely, her modified senses noticing sharper details as she goes over what she might know.

Mixing and consuming an Acute Senses extract (level 2, leaves me with 6 more slots left) and Identify extract(level 1, leaves me with 6 more slots): +20 enhancement to perception, seeing magic.
Know(arcana):taking 10 on this to meet the DC of 28 barely.
Perception:Also taking 10 to result in a check result of 40.

And some other 'roll to know' skills just in case any of them are relevent.
Spellcraft:Taking 10 for total 28
K(nature):take 10, total 28

[trysted]

The bear shimmers and shifts into an large humanoid, and turns to Karliah.

(In a whisper) I'm going to turn us both invisible so that we can scout around. We only have ten minutes, and then we will need to meet back here before we both become visible again.

Kit waves his hands and whispers, and Karliah fades. He does it again, and then they are both invisible. Kit then quietly pads off to poke his head around the corner and see who/what is there.



Sacred Geometery Adjustable Polymorph Still/Silent
[5][1][1][4][6][1]
4x6x(1+1+1)-5=67
Followed by Invisibility (twice)

Stealth (If needed)
[roll0]

[Jack_Simth]

Kit & Karliah
As you round the bend, you see two beautiful women, dressed entirely in black, standing where the bodies fell. The bodies appear to be mostly undisturbed. One of the women is carefully making notes with a pen in an open book, and putting various things she decides are of note in small bags. She mutters a bit to herself the whole while. The other seems to be in something of a trance, writing things down in a different open book without looking at the pages. The one collecting samples stops, looks straight at you, and says "It is rare for someone with good intentions and a clean conscience to hide in a city, and this area has been cordoned off until we complete our investigation into the death of the proprietor and his guards. You are trespassing. Show yourselves plainly. If you cooperate, you will be interviewed and punishment for your transgressions will be meted out in accordance with Kang's Law."
Perception:[roll0] - yeah, even if you're still for the +40 stealth bonus, which you're clearly not as you are moving around the bend, you're still a spotted bear with that flubbed roll. There's a few reasons they've got the Guild of Acquisitions over a barrel.

Arknid
The Enforcer and her entourage of constructs does not interfere with your actions, but does continue to dog your steps.

Looking over the line of merchants, almost all of them seem to have guards already. You do manage to find a suitable grain merchant towards the end of the line that's likely a good choice; she's not herself injured, but she's got two respectfully wrapped bodies in the back of her horse-drawn wagon, as well as some armour and weapons that haven't quite been cleaned well enough to prevent your enhanced senses from noting that the armour has the scent of the blood of the two dead men in the back. Additionally, the merchant herself seems to be a little on-edge, repeatedly glancing around quickly, and shaking slightly all the while, despite it being a warm day.

There are quite a few other merchants about; most have guards. If you wish to go after a merchant of a particular type of mundane goods (other than slaves), feel free to assume they're there attempt to do so. However, your senses tell you she's the most apt to say yes.

Regardless, declare your target, make your pitch, and roll diplomancy diplomacy or Bluff for bargaining.

[Jack_Simth]

OK, well, 48 hours without a reply from Kit or Karliah on how to react to the guard, so...
Kit & Karliah
After waiting a few moments and noting that you are not revealing yourselves, the black-clad enforcer takes action herself by casting a spell; she chants and gestures, and a glowing red bead launches from her fingers and stops at a point between you, where it detonates explosively.

Init: [roll0]
Standard: Cast a spell: Fireball (you both make the ID DC on a roll of 1, so....)

Reflex DC 20 Half of
Damage:[roll1] Fire

[trysted]

Kit attempts to dodge the fireball.

[roll]1d20+12[roll]

Deciding that battling the local authorities is not the best way of being surreptitious, Kit turns, grabs Karliah and dimension doors back to the other side.

[Jack_Simth]

The bear and the bug successfully bug out, but not before taking the brunt of the blast.Spellcraft: [roll0]In a blink, they're back in the bridge between the arena's underground and the storm water system, in the complete darkness that doesn't bother them at all.

[Necroticplague]

Finding someone who looks like they might actually be shorthanded enough to need a helping hand, the gargantuan serpent tries to see if the somewhat suspicious grain saleswomen. "You look a bit shorthanded. Don't look in to good condition yourself. Need someone to help you watch to make sure you manage to bring these two home?" Simple, and maybe a bit too direct. But hey, lets see how your social skill function after several thousand years in a box.
Diplomacy[roll0]

[Jack_Simth]

The woman seems to be a pretty shrewd negotiator, despite being quite rattled, and quickly picks up that not only is your main goal to get into the city, but that you don't have much in the way of other prospects. She takes advantage, and after a somewhat lengthy negotiation session, the final offer is ... quite small: "All right... so I'll pay your entry fee, you'll escort me and my cargo safely to the traders' guild headquarters - I know the way - and once there, I'll pay you a silver coin."

That's with a noticable ad-hock bonus for circumstances. Seriously, you ended up with a five before ad-hocks....

[trysted]

Kit waits for the polymorph to wear off and become a bear again before heading back to the bear cave to get some rest, regain spells and wait for the sun to go down again before his next attempt to access the city.

[Necroticplague]

Hmmm....tough bargain. A silver isn't much, but it could pay to get the rest in. Plus her own free passage. Might get to learn something while travelling as well. The snake tries to put on an agreeable smile as its facial muscles allow while sticking its hand down to shake "Got yourself a deal."

[Jack_Simth]

Blech. Overtime at work. 11 hour days are annoying when you're used to 8.
Arknid
The woman looks up at the fingers that rival her arms in thickness, and gingerly shakes the giant snake's hand. She says "All righty then... " and the two of you begin the trek into the city. The line actually moves fairly quickly; about ten minutes after the deal is struck, you're through the gate's heavy wooden doors, through the granite gatehouse with a portcullis on each side and murder holes throughout, through the other heavy wooden doors, and into an area where black-clad women briefly inspect cargo, levy taxes, and count heads. There's quite a few of the enforcers about doing these tasks. After a brief whispered conversation between one of the beautiful black-clad enforcers and your current employer, the Enforcer takes four coppers from the woman, as well as two sacks of grain weighing one hundred pound each (which she lightly tosses to another enforcer twenty feet up on top of the wall of the city, who sets it aside with a lot of similar goods).

The enforcer looks you up and down for a brief moment, and pulls out a brightly-colored (http://www.tartanandclan.com/tartan-finder/J/jac_mr.jpg) sash from a hidden pocket in her robe, which she hands to you, and quietly says "Did the others not want to come in? Enforcer three four five dash one six three mentioned there were six in your group... ah, right. Funds. None of you had ought more than a small bag to your name, by her listing. No matter. Wear this somewhere easily visible for as long as you stay within a settled area within Kang's borders. Enforcer three four five dash one six three reported that she mentioned why, but just to reiterate: It's intended as a marker for those who do not recognize that you're a person just from looking at you, and cuts down on certain misunderstandings that are annoying to clean up. Do you have anything to declare?"
Note that wearing the sash gives people a +2 on visual Perception checks to notice you, because it's very brightly coloured with contrasts and patterns that will attract the eye... not that it likely matters much.

Kit & Karliah
You have no particular problems finding your way back to the cave where the more passive members of your party shelter.

[Diachronos]

While the others see to the task of gathering information on the city, she sets herself to locating a suitable place for them to stay other than their current campsite, as well as a reliable source of food. To avoid suspicion, she takes on the form of a falcon.


Sorry for the lack of activity, Esmeralda just... she has next to nothing that's even remotely useful for city interactions.

Wild shaping into a falcon, duration is 12 hours.
Skill checks:
Survival to locate potential campsites/food supplies: [roll0]
Perception to observe the area: [roll1]
Knowledge geography if needed: [roll2]

[Jack_Simth]

Esmeralda
You're not alone in the sky; there are plenty of birds about. Additionally, there's quite a few rabbits to be had on the ground; more than most places, it would appear something is keeping the local predators in check, and the rabbits have boomed as a result. You have no problems at all catching more than enough rabbits for the entire party to feast upon. There's also quite a few potential campsites, depending on exactly what you're after.So what are you after in terms of a campsite?

Also: If you think you can't contribute to city exploration, then you're really not thinking very creatively. Would you like some suggestions based on your character's abilities?

"Diachronos has exceeded their stored private messages quota and cannot accept further messages until they clear some space."

Perception:
You notice that there are quite a few hawks in the sky; you are far from the only one. A closer inspection, however, reveals something interesting: Most of them are also wildshaped creatures. You can see that their feathers are just slightly off from what a natural hawk's would be. Additionally, they're not as skilled at flying as a natural hawk would be, and they're not bothering to go after the abundant rabbits... and it quickly becomes clear that they recognize you, as well: One of them winks at you. Interestingly, all of the wildshaped hawks in the sky are female (except yourself, at your option); the only male hawks you see are naturally born.

Knowledge(Geography)
You don't really know the current name of the place, but you recognize the area well enough from the less-changing terrain features. It's natural that there's a city here; two rivers converge here, and that's always good for trade due to the relative ease of transportation by boat. There's a major road that goes back into some mountains - which had decent amounts of iron and coal, at least back when you were learning your maps, although it's possible that they've been mined out since then - and a good-sized forest that looks deliberately tended for timber. From your vantage point, you can also see a military buildup of stone and metal creatures, along with many beautiful black-clad human women, along the road towards the mountains not far from the city gate. Presumably, 'Santaki' refers to the lands along that road.

Their disguise check result was 46. You had a Perception result of 47.
Your disguise check is +3. With Wildshape, it's +10. If you rolled a 20, that result would thus be 33. Their perception modifier is higher than that, so I didn't bother rolling.
I pre-emptively rolled physical dice. I got a nat-15 on your Bluff; with your +3 mod, that was an 18. I rolled their Sense Motive, and got a final result of 21. So they also know that you know.
They're not bothering to conceal that they know that you know, so I didn't bother rolling your bluff vs. their Sense Motive, and thus, you know that they know that you know.
Their Wildshape functions as Beast Shape II, rather than Beast Shape III as yours does.

[Necroticplague]

The snake looks slightly annoyed at this before taking the sash in hand and loosely tying it at about her waist level.
"The rest of my party has decided to not enter as of yet. I have nothing to declare for now. Any other questions?"

[Jack_Simth]

Arknid
The woman in black nods, and says "That should be it. Enjoy your stay," before walking off to deal with another merchant.

Your patron signals for you to follow and starts heading off herself. Before you get very far, however, you hear one of the enforcers say to a different traveller "Do you have anything to declare?"

To which the traveller replies "Nope, I'm good, thanks."

The enforcer seems somewhat sad as she intones "Scour has long since passed from the warning list to the strict list. This is a border town, and it is within reason that you might not be aware. If you hand over the contraband, you will be sent away and refused further entry into Kang's Empire, but you will otherwise not be reprimanded."

The accosted traveller doesn't skip a beat, and immediately replies "Lady, you're crazy; I wouldn't touch that stuff with a ten-foot pole."

To which the enforcer replies very quietly "And that's your final word on the matter?"

The traveller pauses a moment, and turns to run... and while he reacts faster than does the enforcer, the traveller wasn't nearly fast enough to actually get away. In the blink of an eye, the enforcer transforms into a cat the size of a horse, and charges through the crowds that started parting as soon as the traveller started running... and the entire scenario ends as quickly as it began as the beast rips the traveller limb from limb in a shower of blood and gore.

In the silence that follows, quite a few onlookers become violently ill. The large cat strips what's left of the body, putting the clothing, weapons, backpack, and other items into a pile. The cat then licks the blood off of itself, and shifts back to human form. She then calls down one of the flying bronze statues, writes a note on a piece of paper, and places it with the goods. After a few short whispered orders to the bronze statue, the bronze statue picks up the pile of stuff, and flies off out of sight. The Enforcer then continues about her business, leaving the body in the middle of the road.

All the other enforcers, and a few of the more jaded locals coming through the gate, continue on as though nothing had happened, simply stepping around the body. After a few minutes, two people come by, scoop up the various naked body parts into a wheelbarrow, and leave the city to dispose of them properly.

For now, the blood remains soaked into the ground, splattered on the walls, and splashed on the unfortunate few who didn't get far enough away in time.

Rolls noted in OOC thread.
Combat time actions:
Actions: Traveller: Full-round: Withdrawl
Actions: Enforcer: Swift: Wildshape into Dire Tiger (female). Full-round: Charge and Pounce for a full attack. Charge was necessary, so those attack rolls were net 30/36/38.
- thus endeth the combat.


Esmeralda
You do manage to find a nice little grove of trees that's at least as well concealed as your cave, and is near the river. You do, however, feel eyes on you the entire trip.
The other hawks are watching. Also, be sure to check the edit, if you haven't already.

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda lands in one of the trees and takes a look around. This spot likely wasn't going to work; with how many other wild-shaped animals were flying around, the chances that they weren't allied with the city's rulers were extremely slim.

With nothing else to work off of, she looks up at one of the passing wildshaped birds. "Nice to see the druidic arts aren't lost in these lands."

[Necroticplague]

Arknid notices the whole ordeal, and makes some passing conversation with her ward while they walk towards whatever trading guild they are supposed to be moving to. "Scour?What's that? Must be some nasty stuff, if smuggling it is an offense worth instant death." Huh. So not only are they all nigh-identical, but they're pretty strong, and possess some manor of shapechanging abilities. This may very well be the most overqualified guards Arknid has ever seen

[Jack_Simth]

Esmeralda
The other falcon caws at you, and points her beak to a nearby tree, which she then heads towards, and lands upon.
When you arrive, the bird shifts into the form of a black-clad human woman of extreme beauty, dressed entirely in black, including gloves and a mask. She politely says "While I do shapeshift, I am not a druid. Regardless, how can I help?"

Arknid
The grain merchant sighs, and replies "Oh, it is nasty stuff to be sure, but that's not why he died. Had he declared the illicit goods when she asked him to, the Scour would have merely been confiscated under the 'honest mistake' border policy. Had he handed over the stash when she called him on it, he would have merely been exiled like she said. Had he decided to come clean when she asked him if that was his final answer, he would have been mind controlled into a more productive profession ... probably. Sometimes they turn them into pidgeons or rabbits or something, instead, and occasionally they're killed anyway at that point. That idiot died because he was too stupid to live. Yes it's brutal, but she gave him quite a bit of rope, which he promptly used to hang himself. The people who cleaned up after? They were caught at something-or-other and have had their free will revoked for the duration of their sentence. All such are put on cleanup duty for a little while prior to being assigned as apprentices to an unwilling master. I had the displeasure of hosting such an 'apprentice' for a while. " She shudders briefly before continuing "They're mind-controlled and then ordered to observe, learn, and obey any lawful order. The assigned master is required to feed, clothe, shelter, and train the 'apprentice'. The master gets no compensation for this beyond the unwilling but utterly loyal service of the 'apprentice'. An Enforcer checks in with the 'apprentice' at least once every ten days, both to make sure that the master is living up to the requirements, and to renew the mind-control. After the assigned sentence is up, the 'apprentice' is given a backpack containing the basic tools of the trade, a change of raiment, some camping gear, and a month of travel rations as their repatriation. That at least comes out of Kang's coffers. It makes an amount of sense but those dead eyes..." she shudders again.
Note: As an alchemist that's done some seedy work, you'd know All about Scour (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/mastery/drugsAndAddiction.html#scour).

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda lands on the branch, a few feet away from the woman. "I'm not overly familiar with these lands, so I'm a bit unsure of what everything is... The city doesn't hold my interest all that much, but the group along the road caught my attention. What's that all about, if you don't mind my asking?"

[Jack_Simth]

This may very well be the most overqualified guards Arknid has ever seenGiven that you're a 12th level character who hired out as a guard for a little while for what amounts to 12 coppers, you're not really in a good position to talk.


Esmeralda
The woman blinks once, and replies "It is a staging area for some military exercises. It's actually why there are so many of us in the area at the moment. Normally, Kang keeps the number of enforcers down to about one percent of the local population. That's far more than is actually needed to keep most areas safe for law-abiding citizens, of course, but we also serve as healers, arbitrators, and if necessary guardians of Kang's borders. The seige golems help with that last one, of course."
There's exactly one half-truth in that mess of info. Feel free to roll sense motive if you'd like to know for sure which thing is half-true, and possibly get more information about it if you roll well.
Bluff: [roll0]

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda decides against voicing her suspicion of the woman's description of what she'd seen on the road. Instead, she decides to address one of her other questions. "If you're not a druid, how are you able to change your form? Is it ordinary magic of some sort?"

[Jack_Simth]

Esmeralda
The black-clad woman shrugs, and replies "Oh, don't get me wrong. Much of my shifting is the same essential form of magic that Druids use, I'm just not a Druid. I have a connection to the divine to be sure, but I answer to no deity, demon, devil, or fey; I am answerable only to Grandfather and my own conscience... well, plus Mother and Grandmother, but that's just because they're proxies for Grandfather as he is a very busy man. Some of my shifting is racial, some of my shifting is the not-quite-Druidic magic, sometimes one of us is gifted with a form by Grandfather so we can take on a specific task or role. What about you? You clearly have Druidic training."

[Diachronos]

"I was... well, I was born with a strange trait that caused me to take on animal features seemingly at random. A tribe of skinwalkers took me in as a child, and my adoptive father was a druid. I didn't take to the craft as well as he did, but it was enough to grant me the ability to take an animal form at the very least." She tilts her head. "Who is 'Grandfather'?"

[Jack_Simth]

Esmeralda
The woman giggles "I'm using it as a title, just like I'm using Mother and Grandmother. Think of it in terms of a military ranking system, and you're not too far off. Grandfather, Grandmother, Mother, me, then the siege golems assigned to me. Under some circumstances we make finer distinctions on a temporary basis, but those are just conveniences. I last saw Grandfather a little over three years ago, when I was inducted, if that helps. I spent all of about ten minutes in his presence." She pauses for a moment "Well, at least I think it was Grandfather. He's pretty good with body doubles, it can be difficult to be sure if you're dealing with Grandfather or not. If it wasn't... then the last I saw him was about four years ago, shortly before The Games." She considers "I suppose it's my turn for a question... why so stingy with your shifting? It's clear your current form isn't your natural one, but you haven't done me the courtesy of showing your nature."

[Diachronos]

"I feel more comfortable when in an animal shape than in my true form. It helps for others to think I'm an animal of some sort in any case... much easier than dealing with the stigma of people thinking I'm a lycanthrope or some kind of monster."

[Jack_Simth]

Esmeralda
The enforcer rolls her eyes "Oh please. I've been shapeshifting since before I can remember clearly. I'm really not hung up on appearances. But if you're not comfortable, you're not comfortable. Is there anything I can help you with before I get back to patrolling?"

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda thinks for a moment. "I haven't been in these lands for very long. Are there any areas or groups that a newcomer would need to be concerned about or avoid?"

[Jack_Simth]

Esmeralda
The black-clad, masked woman considers, and replies "Hmm... well, a lot of the merchants in the market district are rather canny and will convince you to part with your money for something that's not worth nearly as much as they make it seem. Don't buy any pickles... but thanks to the staging area, right now there's a visible Enforcer on every other street corner, so it's unlikely anyone will try anything. We take malice pretty seriously. The last 30 days of crime is down 90% from the same measure 30 days ago... oh, sorry, 88%. I just got an update; seems there was an attempted smuggling today, although that case is closed for now... supplier's in Santaki, outside Kang's empire, and the courier is rather unlikely to repeat his mistakes. So the tally for the last month is... one apparent hit, two attempted smugglers, one attempted shoplifter, one attempted mugging, and one purse snatching (temporarily successful, purse restored to it's owner). Not too bad for a city with ten thousand adults. Only ones we haven't caught yet are the people from yesterday's hit. We're getting some odd results on the divinations... just a matter of finding the right questions, though, and with the number of Enforcers about right now, we've got a lot of tries available. It's a bad idea to get into open cases with someone not cleared, though."

[trysted]

Kit sleeps until dusk, and then sets out towards the city walls.

[Diachronos]

"I see. It's amazing that crime is so low. How does the local ruler do it?"

[Jack_Simth]

Esmeralda
The woman sighs, and says "Oh, it's simple enough. For crimes born out of desperation - which is most of it at this point, although it's not that way when we first move in to an area - the 'punishment' is an enforced apprenticeship. Snatch a purse because you need the money to pay rent? Congratulations. While you're going to be Dominated the whole time, for the next few years you're going to be fed, clothed, sheltered, and apprenticed to some craftsman or tradesman. You'll almost certainly lose the apartment, but by the time your sentence is over, you'll have the tools, skills, and habits to earn your keep honestly... plus your repatriation will include camping gear, a month's worth of supplies, and the basic tools of your trade. I will admit that the 'master' seldom likes the deal... but they do get the service of what amounts to a completely loyal apprentice for a time. Those who try to evade justice, or those who commit crimes born of malice or greed? For those we take a hard line. The smuggler this morning is in three pieces this afternoon because he tried to run when confronted. Distasteful, but it gets the job done. We really don't like doing it, but such public spectacles do serve a purpose; people know we do not bear the sword for nothing. Lots of enforcers handling swift justice, said justice designed to remove the underlying cause of the crime, backed by overwhelming force and strong divinations. This is how you keep people safe from each other. There's a lot less going on this month than last month, but that's mostly because there's a much larger number of us around at the moment. When we're not doing military exercises, we go on extra patrols. When there's a cop on every corner, people avoid trying the crime in the first place."

The Enforcer considers, and continues "Odd that you don't know this... anyone who's spent any significant amount of time within any of Kang's borders is going to have the general idea... where are you from?"

[Diachronos]

"Oh, it's been so long since I've been home that I'm afraid I don't recall the name. It was outside the borders, I know that much for fact. It was... um..." She looks around, suddenly realizing that she had no idea what direction her original home would have been in. "Wow, for someone with nature magic I have a bad sense of direction..."

[Jack_Simth]

Esmeralda
The black-clad judge, jury, and executioner with whom you are having a polite chat misses the deception, and replies "Heh. I know how that goes. I could teleport home in a blink, but I'd have trouble walking there. Regardless, though, if you don't need anything, I should probably get back to patrolling. Do remember: While we do occasionally eviscerate someone in public, we are fundamentally here to help. If you run into trouble, don't hesitate to request aid."

With that, she turns back into a hawk in the blink of an eye, and flies off.


Uh-oh... [roll0]
The dice apparently like you today.

Note that she changed forms as a swift action this time around, although it was a standard when she turned from bird to human.


Arknid
The rest of the trip with the grain merchant to the merchant's guild is uneventful, although you do not go a single block along the way without seeing at least one of the black-clad enforcers, always with an entourage of six constructs flanking her wherever the physical space permits the four Large stone creatures, and just the two bronze angels where space doesn't allow. When you arrive, the woman pays you the promised silver coin, and hires a few human guards in full plate from the nearby Guardian's Guild to escort her to the marketplace.

You find yourself now unaccompanied, successfully in the city, and marked with a rather garish sash around your waist that lets people know you're officially recognized as a person.
Been three days real-time, so I'm pushing things along in the route the NPC would go.

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda nods. "Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, ma'am." She waves to the enforcer with her wing as the woman flies off, only to let out a weary sigh of relief when she's out of earshot. That was nerve-wracking. Maybe some of the others are back, we can decide whether to move in here after talking it over.

[Jack_Simth]

OK, been a few days with little else in terms of world interactions, so time marches on...
Kit
The nap goes without an issue, and it doesn't take long to reach the wall of the city; the city wall is about twenty feet tall, made of stone, with parapets, and towers every hundred feet or so. There are some of the ever-present black-clad enforcers walking the top of the wall. It does not take long to notice that they don't carry torches. The hawks have gone to bed, but there's a surprising number of owls flying around this night. Just like the hawks, though, they don't seem to be interested in the field mice....

[trysted]

Looks like the enforcement squad never sleeps, Kit mumbles to himself, but it comes out as a growl. Last time I checked, owl's that aren't hunting at dusk, are not likely to be owls at all. Especially when you consider that at least one of those people looked right through my invisibility, and wasn't even slightly phased by it.

Getting tired of the "stupid bear" references from the rest of the group, and observing the obvious security that is in place, Kit decides to retire his plan of just flying over the wall at dark.

Perhaps there's another way in. He thinks to himself. If the guards are going to pace the wall from the top, there's no reason I can't pace it from the outside. Maybe I can can find an unguarded locale to slip in, or a place where I'm not watched and I can just teleport in. Either way, I'm interested in doing a circuit of this damn city.

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda returns to the cave, intending on sharing her findings with the others.

[Jack_Simth]

Kit
The city is fairly large, and it takes quite some time to walk around it. The entire place is walled, although there are a few drains and overpasses in various spots as is necessary for any city. You do find three waterways - two flowing towards the city, one flowing away - as well as a few roads. There's even what appears to be an aqueduct, drawing water from one of the rivers into the city in a controlled manner.

Still walking around with the burn damage, other than what would have healed from an 8 hour rest?
Oh, and roll Perception, please.

[Jack_Simth]

Kit
You manage to find what appears to be a drainpipe from the city stormwater system that's gotten overgrown. It's down in a ditch, under the shade of a tree, so the immediately surrounding area for the drain pipe is out of sight of sky and wall. Even better, you can smell a wiff of a bakery floating down the pipe; it appears to empty out somewhere into the city.

Esmeralda
You get back to the cave without issues.

[Mousedigits]

The Roc gets up as Esmerelda enters the cave.

<<What happened while you were out?>>

[trysted]

Kit climbs into the drainpipe to see where it leads.

[Jack_Simth]

Kit

There are a lot of smaller splits off of the main pipe - or rather, a lot of smaller pipes empty out into the one you're in, but that's just a matter of perspective considering you're going upstream. The pipe is pretty empty, other than some rats that tou don't notice the rats until they come into your blindsense.

The main pipe seems to run straight through the town; you find some drain grates into the road every here and there - notably in the market district, where the bread smell was from. However: All actual access doors appear to be sized for medium humanoids. You do get the impression, though, that with a bit of work mapping the place out, you could get very close to almost any place in the city without being seen.

[trysted]

Well, I'm here for recon, Kit thinks, and it doesn't get much better than this. Although I do wonder who uses these other than the rats and myself.

Kit begins the process of making a mental map of the area and scouting it out to find major locations and the pathways to get there. Making special note of the palace and deserted back alleys as well as marketplaces.

When he is satisfied he can get to the major locales, he decides to head back and let the rest of the group in on the info. To make sure he isn't spotted while exiting, he uses dimension door while still in the drainpipe to teleport several hundred yards away, before heading back to the cave with the others.

[Diachronos]

Esmeralda lands on the cavern floor. "Well, most of the birds in the sky are actually those enforcers, and they've got some kind of training exercise going on along the roads. There's more to it than she was letting on, but I don't know what."

[Jack_Simth]

Kit

The singed bear has no real problems mapping out the underground for the city. Oddly, despite how useful such things would be, the Sorcerer finds no concealed doors or secret passages in the entire labyrinth. Additionally, Kit finds no evidence of anyone else having been in the place recently, besides rats and regular maintenance crews. The lack of such is very strange.

[Jack_Simth]

OK. Four days OOC with no responses, and it's been about two days since the murder, IC, AND I've given fair warning about the investigation into it, so....

At the cave hideout
While most of the party is discussing what to do next, two women dressed entirely in black walk into the cave, flanked by four stone statues of horse-sized cats. The two women say, in perfect synchronization with monotone voices "You are under arrest for the murders of the arena master, Frank Blood, as well as his bodyguard Carl Cutter, in their place of business. Indications are that our standard mind-control methods will not function in your cases. How do you plead?"


They're aware of you, so in case you choose to fight or run:

Init:
Enforcers: [roll0]
Seige Cats: [roll1]

[Mousedigits]

The Roc look up, surprised.

<<Ooh crap. Oooooh crap. Do we go with them, or try to escape and get new bodies? Though I do really like this one...>>

[trysted]

We are innocent by reason of self defense. I'm not pleading at all, I'm merely telling you this as a courtesy. A net was thrown over me, nonviolent-escape was attempted, and I was attacked by both sword and spell. The two deaths are a result of that, and no one here is guilty of murder. As speaking this way expends an undue effort, I will not go into details, but I affirm that all of the above is true.

Do you understand what you have been told, or do you not understand what you have been told?

<<Yes, I'm stalling them with the truth. I have doubts whether they care about our innocence or not.... Your thoughts?>>

Sacred Geometry (Ghost Sound)

(6d6)[2]+[3]+[2]+[2]+[1]+[1]=(11)

[Jack_Simth]

The two Enforcers reply in unison "It was Frank Blood's place of business, during non-operating hours. While we have not identified specifically what, we have confirmed you were leaving with something that we'd recognize as being his, that he recognized as being valuable. Under such circumstances, force is authorized to private citizens engaging in legal business. He initiated a fight, as was his right in his place of business against people engaged in illegal activity against him, even if it clearly wasn't a very bright move. During said fight, Frank Blood was rendered unconscious. What removes any possibility of a self-defence claim is that after Frank Blood was rendered unconscious during the fight, rather than leaving, one of your number executed him with a single, precise blow. This is confirmed by examination of the body, the scene, and our divinations."Congrats: They didn't catch that you're stalling.

[trysted]

Kitz sighs loudly.

You didn't answer my question, but apparently you did not understand understand what you have been told. Please wait a second while I shift into a form more appropriate for giving more than the barest facts, and be aware that although I am not questioning your divinations, I am questioning your interpretation of such.

Kit polymorphs into a human.

5X4X3-(4/(2*2))=59



Now, first, you are correct. We were leaving with something that the Arena master considered to be his property. That would be ME. As a sentient being, I have the right to escape my captor in most of the civilized world. I'm not quite sure where I am, but as you used the term "arrest", I'm assuming that you consider this a part of the civilized world.

He initiated a fight against a person who was attempting to flee his captor. This removes any possibility of it being anything OTHER than self defense, including the final blow.

Please cite me whatever laws you have in place that specify exactly what is, and is not permissable, in the event of a person attempting to escape a person who has illegally captured him?

And now, I must ask..........why do you two speak in unison? Are you both the same person?

[Jack_Simth]

It quickly becomes clear that, for the moment, they are ignoring questions. The two (?) beings pause for a bit, their lips twitching for a while in unison, as though they were used to thinking things through verbally but suppressing the instinct for now. After a bit, they look at each other, and then nod in unison. They then reply in unison "So you're Bound, then. Technically theft of the host, but due to the nature, not a theft you would have had a choice in, and no ready way to restore the property, and integrated enough that you consider the host to be you. That scenario covers the coroner's report, prints, and the unusual results from the divinations - we've yet to have reason to cover this scenario in Law. That last aspect will be rectified by noon tomorrow. For reference, private citizens are not permitted to execute an incapacitated opponent in regions where Kang's Law holds sway. That's our job when warranted. Your doing so goes beyond the realm of reasonable force in self-defence; you have a duty to retreat under such circumstances. However, as this region is not fully integrated, that rule is not universal among all nations, this is a border town, and this is the first offence of record, leniency is called for. Were you subject to such, protocol would have us mind-control you into community service for a time. The community service sentence is called for, but standard enforcement is ineffective... will you submit to a one-month sentence of community service according to law, enforced by a Mark of Justice to be applied by the hospital staff?"

Roll Perception (DC 30) if you'd like to determine the internal dialog (they're not fully mouthing). Note that the situation counts as stressful, so no taking ten here.

[trysted]

You are not comprehending. First, as I have mentioned not once but twice, nonviolent escape was attempted. My duty of retreating from combat was met with force.

Second, although I do not know your local laws, I have been around a bit, and there is no civilized place in the world where a person is not justified in using lethal force against those who are attempting to kill him. That is a natural right that, while respected by all civilized governments, is a basic right that preempts any local laws, although in most CIVILIZED places, it is that basis of those local laws.

Third, you have a jurisdictional issue on your hands. I am not a subject of Kang, and therefore not subject to those laws. Normally, this isn't an issue, as willyingly entering an area where those laws are in force, is the same as consenting to them. However, as I did not willingly enter this area, that does not apply. By all inter-regional treaties from the beginning of civilizatin, your ruler is limited to one and only one sentence that can be passed on someone who was not brought into that monarch's region willingly: Exile. And even that sentence must be from the monarch personally, it can not be delegated. If you are willing to take me to see your monarch so that they can hear my words personally, I will be ok with that, as I've found that most people in positions of power tend to have the capability of using reason and respecting reasonable actions such as mine for what they were.

Fourth, and most significantly: Are you seriously, and in good conscience, suggesting that as a punishment for the violence that I was forced to inflict to escape slavery at the hands of your Mr. Blood, that instead I should go straight to slavery as designated by you? Is this how your Kang rules his subjects? If so, I'm glad I am not one of them. I have, and shall continue, to be courteous and resolve your questions without violence; but I do think I have made it very clear that I shall not be a slave, not to your Frank Blood, and not to your unspecified mysterious people who refuse to even answer relatively innocuous questions.

And what, exactly, IS a Mark of Justice?

[Jack_Simth]

The two black-clad women seem to diverge just slightly on their behaviour at this point. The one on the left seems a bit sad as she quietly whispers "So that's your final word, then?"

[Necroticplague]

Arknid has been musing over her own situation for a little. While she may be inside, and have the money to get the rest in, she has the problem that she has no way to contact them to tell them of such. I mean, she could leave, but then she couldn't pay her way back in. Hmmm... Well, it looks like her best option would be to wait for them to come check themselves. Thus, she starts heading towards the gate she came from to try and wait for the rest to try and enter.

Sorry for the significant lag in doing anything, I ran face-first into a brick 'soooo.....what now?' wall. Hoping I can set the water in motion.

[Mousedigits]

As Altyan is looking at the two enforcers, he realizes something: They appear to be in a three way communication with someone else. He relays the conversation to everyone in the cave.


Left Enforcer: How many times have we seen this tactic?
Right Enforcer: Simply insisting that they're in the right? Too often. 'All men are clean in their own eyes' as it is said.
Left Enforcer: Hence why we don't answer questions at a formal arrest, yes.
Right Enforcer: And he pretty much has admitted to everything we'd determined. The way he's talking though...
Left Enforcer: Right. Just like we are. Probably mostly legitimate confusion...
Right Enforcer: ...but we can't just let him get away with what is, by the law of the land, murder. If he'd killed the guy while he was still on his feet, we could have let him go, but he was down for the count by all indications... so he just went too far.
Left Enforcer: Agreed, death isn't really justified, here. It was at least perceived self-defence, even if it did go too far, but we can't just let him break laws because he doesn't agree with them.
Right Enforcer: Yeah, that could work. How do we enforce it, though, without killing him? We're all immune to most forms of mental manipulation.
Left Enforcer: None of us know Mark of Justice, though.
Right Enforcer: Oh, right. The dedicated healers should be able to pull it off, just like they do the more esoteric healing spells. We'd have to make sure they mark the Focus directly, of course. Can't have them wiggling out just by switching hosts. We'll also have to integrate bodysnatching into the list of official rules, if there's more than just us out there.
Left Enforcer: So we're in agreement, then? 30 days as a lesson, and we can reasonably let them live?
Right Enforcer: Looks like. OK. Last bit of the formalities, then it's just business as usual. Hopefully they'll accept the lieniency.
Left Enforcer: Haven't cornered the snake just yet, eh? OK.
Right Enforcer: We can work with what we've got.



<<So, it looks like if we don't go with their month of community service, they'll attack. Do we want that?>>

[trysted]

<For those of you who don't know, a "mark of justice" is essentially a curse used to control people. And I can't dispel it, either. So, you guys should pretty much ready up for a fight, I'm going to do my best to keep them talking, and if at all possible, talk my way out of this. Also, just for the sake of negotiations.....can any of you remove curses?>

Is that my final word? Laugh, it can not possibly be my final word, I thought we were having a discussion. Are you guys that unfamiliar with the principles of diplomacy? And when you have someone like myself, you'll see that I will always attempt to find the peaceful solution, unless it is absolutely denied to me. Yes, that is a point I'd like to reiterate, as it is pretty darn relevant to the topics at hand, pursuant to the death of your criminal Blood.

You ask me to willingly submit to community service, but I don't know what kind of community service you are asking me to submit to. As a general rule, in my own environs, I tended to do things that benefit the community because I wanted to. It is the duty of the citizen after all. So what exactly, are you asking me to submit to?

You as if I will submit to a Mark of Justice. What is that, precisely, and how would it be used? Again, when you ask me to submit to something, what is it you are asking me to submit to?

And when you say "Is that your final word", are you asking if I'm refusing to accede to any of your demands, or are you agreeing that on the basis of the old universal laws, that you intend to take me to your monarch so that your monarch can hear my words and decide for him or herself whether or not he thinks I deserve exile?

You see, when you ask if I will do something....to get an appropriate answer, I need to be informed about what you are asking me to do. Otherwise the request, is merely a deception. And since you know that I have been honest with you-yes, I know you have ways of being able to tell that- then it is only fair and ethical that you are not deceptive with me. Otherwise you would be guilty of trying to arrest me under unlawful pretenses. I know not what your ruler thinks of that sort of thing, but most rulers who care about the rule of law, tend to frown on that sort of thing. As I've said, I've been about quite a bit.

[Jack_Simth]

The answer they give, such as it is, is the one on the left starting to shift while the one on the right begins to cast.

Wow, you're really itching for a fight. Seriously, holding that hard to arguments that weak?

Roll for initiative.
Enforcers: [roll0]
Stone cats: [roll1]

[trysted]

Kit attempts to counterspell the casting of the enforcer on the right using dispel magic.

[roll0]

He then follows up by speaking loudly, There is no need for that. I will submit to your month of community service as it is. I won't have my friends battlescarred by my actions, as justified as I believe them to be. Consider yourself as having won. I surrender

<Guys, I'm not kidding. I told Karliah before that the arena master's death is on me, and I'm going to take their month of community service. I'm hurt, I'm tired, I'm hungry, and at least this will let me learn the city and what this culture is really like.>

[Mousedigits]

The Roc stands for a moment, looking concerned.

<<I'm not one to leave my friends to face things alone. Do you want me to come along, or simply go by yourself? It can get lonely out there, I'd think.>>