The Astral Ship (Achim's Demiplane)

[Deadly]

Somewhere on the astral plane, always moving, is a strange ship. For someone on the astral plane it looks oddly indistinct and always somehow out of reach. This is Achim's demiplane and lifelong project. It can only really be reached by Achim and those who he brings with him.

[Deadly]

Achim arrives on the deck of the ship along with Aeri and Nazgul. Looking around it looks like any other large ship, except that it is surrounded by a seemingly endless mist and a clear silvery sky above. Nearby there's a strange shimmering hole of blackness. Achim gestures around Welcome to my ship. It's not quite done, and I haven't found a name for it yet. he sighs and glances at the black hole And, uh, don't mind the hole in reality. I'm... working on that.

[Kyrian]

Nazgul looks around.

[Deadly]

Aeri smiles and leans against Nazgul a bit

Achim walks across the deck to a door I guess you just want to be moving on, so just follow me.

[Kyrian]

Moving on....time speeding up just a bit...certain ceremony.... Nazgul smiles at Aeri as he lists several things he wants at the moment.

[Deadly]

Aeri grins at Nazgul and follows Achim through the door. Stepping through the door you get a strange sensation as it's obvious that the interior of the ship is many times larger than the exterior. The door leads to a small hall and further into a huge library in 5 stories. Aeri looks around at the bookcases all around as she follows Achim to a door on the far end of the library.

[Kyrian]

Nazgul follows alongside her, not about to let go of her anytime soon.

[Deadly]

Achim sighs and opens the door, which appears to be heavily warded for some reason. Behind the door is a small room, mostly empty except for an extremely complex magic circle and portal in the center. Achim turns to Nazgul This is the portal my master built. It leads to Aeri's home world. It is not pleasant at all. Expect to feel extremely cold as you step through, just a warning.

Aeri frowns Yeah, you just reminded me why I don't return home very often. I wish you would make it a bit more pleasant

[Kyrian]

Nazgul pulls Aeri a bit closer. Ready whenever you are.

[Deadly]

Achim nods and turns to the portal, casting a complex spell to activate the magic of the circle. The web of runes begins to glow brightly as a deep black disk appears in the center of the circle. As Achim warned, it doesn't look nice at all, certainly not something you would get near if you had to choose.

Achim turns and looks at them, making sure they are ready, then steps through first. Aeri sighs and kisses Nazgul, then follows through the portal.

((And... new thread in a moment.))

[Wukei]

Mikhail steps through a portal onto the ship. He puts the collar on around his arm right above the shackle. He loos around at the place, curiously, his tail swishing like a cat.

[Fenric]

Inuk walks in warily, his bow ready and an arrow knocked.

[Deadly]

As the group arrives on the deck of the ship, it at first looks empty and actually fairly peaceful. Then they spot a man, his silver skin and armor as well as completely white hair makes him difficult to spot against the misty background. He turns and looks at them, a large stone tablet under one arm. Seeing the intruders he smiles and throws something which shatters against the deck in a shower of released energy. Keep them busy. As the energy fades the man is gone and in his stead stands a huge demon.

It stands atleast 12 feet tall and wields a massive axe with jagged runes and a glittering red ruby set into the base of it's shaft. The demon has crimson skin, clawed hands, and the head of a demonic hyena with silver eyes and great fangs. A writhing snake protrudes from the side of the demon's neck, coiling and hissing menacingly. ((Molydeus from Fiendish Codex I, should you be curious))

The demon howls and casts Dimensional Lock over the area ((That's after everyone have entered)).

[Wukei]

Mikhail smirks and takes off the shackles, transforming into a very similar demon in size and color. He draws out a flaming sword and whip. Let's party.

[Fenric]

Inuk full attacks: two arrows the first attack, two arrows the second.

(( Same stuff as his arena character, with Bless added so they count as holy. ))

[Deadly]

Tenshin lets loose a wave of fire at the demon as it charges Mikhail, the axe swinging at him while the snake strikes out to bite him ((The poison works even against demons or others who are otherwise immune normally)).

One of Inuk's arrows manages to pierce it's hide, but does little to stop the demon.

[Wukei]

Mikhail stands ready and at the last moment attempts to duck under the other demon's attack, stabbing forward with his sword.

[Fenric]

Inuk mutters a prayer to Inari, and full attacks again, but aiming carefully with one arrow per attack this time: trying to hit the demon in the eyes.

[Deadly]

The demon howls at the fire of both Tenshin and Mikhail's attack, though piercing it's hide proves very difficult indeed. It casts a lightning bolt at the opposing demon while both the axe and snake attack on their own again.

Tenshin tries a disintegrate, which fails against it's resistance.

Two of Inuk's arrows hit, but not the eye. Only one of them causes actual damage.

[Wukei]

Mikhail, being so close, is unable to use his whip nor avoid any of the attacks. He slams the other demon twice, and his movement makes the poison take him, quicker. He winces at the dizziness, not used to such an attack.

[Fenric]

Inuk takes out a bottle of Universal Antidote, and dips an arrow in it after breaking the cold-burst point off.

Sorry, Mikhail: No time for drink.

He shoots the "arrow of antidote" at Mikhail.

[Deadly]

The demon, seeing his enemy begin to falter, continue to attack viciously. It might be quite disturbing to note that the damage it's taken appear to heal at an alarming rate.

Tenshin frowns and casts Greater Dispel to remove the Dimensional Lock, hoping others might be free to join somehow.

[Wukei]

Ow, what the?! Mikhail looks back at Inuk. You shot me! What the fudge?! He's struck again by the other demon and he jumps back, bringing up his whip and lashing at it.

[Fenric]

You not poisoned anymore

Inuk points out, then returns to trying to shoot the other demon's eyes out.

[Deadly]

The demon growls as the whip burns it's flesh, and casts a lightning bolt at Inuk while the axe slashes at Mikhail. The snake turns to Tenshin but is too far away to reach her.

One of Inuk's arrows hit the demon in the eye and it howls angrily. Another arrow hits it's neck but doesn't pierce.

Tenshin casts a quickened Haste and Bears Endurance on Mikhail.

[Wukei]

So that's what poison feels like...

He feels the quickness take affect and attempts to catch and entangle the other demon's foot in his whip, slicing at it with the sword.

[Fenric]

Inuk desparately tries to dodge the lightningbolt, but still takes half of it and is jolted pretty thoroughly. He tremblingly drinks a healing potion as he struggles back to his feet.

[Deadly]

The demon dodges the sword but it's leg is entangled as it casts Blindness/Deafness on Inuk. The axe and snake still focus on Mikhail, attacking on their own.

Tenshin manifests two disintegrates at it, causing it to growl in pain, but remain standing.

[Wukei]

Mikhail grimaces as he's poisoned again, but attempts to tie the creature up with his whip. Someone...grab my shackles...they're a power limiter for demons...

[Fenric]

Poor Inuk finds himself blind and deaf as a portal opens beside him and Krystal pads out.

Thanks for dispelling that stupid lock, Tenshin.

Krystal releases a Telekinesis on Mikhail's shackles, and attempts to catch the other demon with them.

[Deadly]

Tenshin smiles at Krystal and casts Neutralize Poison on Mikhail. No problem at all.

The demon growls at the flaming whip and does it's best to untangle itself. It counters Krystal's attempt to bind it with a telekinesis of it's own, trying to keep the shackles at a distance.

Whatever wounds it get seem to heal too quickly

[Wukei]

Mikhail strikes down twice with his sword as he attempts to keep the other demon bound with the whip.

Don't miss with those. I'd hate for me to go down, considering the rest of you seem to be spellcasters...

[Fenric]

Krystal scowls at the demon's counter-kinesis.

Ugly, dog-faced, stinky...

Krystal augments her Telekinesis with psionic energy, increasing the spell's power as far as she can manage.

[Deadly]

Which seems to be enough, especially since Mikhail manages to distract it quite a bit with his attacks. The demon screams angrily at the shackles and tries to claw them off. At this point the axe drops, while the snake continues to try and bite Mikhail.

Tenshin tries a heavily augmented disintegrate.

[Wukei]

Mikhail attempts several attacks with his vorpal sword, hoping to get the crit necessary to cut it's head off.

[Deadly]

((What would the shackles do to it?))

[Wukei]

(Y'know how Mikhail looks mostly human when he's wearing those things? It's because they basically strip him of all of his powers. But you can adjust it to your own desires...the shackles are a bit too powerful when you're up against something like this, probably.)

[Fenric]

Krystal turns and dispells the blindness/deafness on Inuk

Thanks, Lady Krystal.

This makes Krystal giggle. She begins an Ephemeral Swarm for the demon.

[Deadly]

((Okay, I'll adjust it a little :)))

As the demon is shackled it's wounds seem to stop healing, atleast not as quickly as they did before. This obviously doesn't please it, especially not when it's hit by Tenshin's disintegrate. It lets out a shriek and grabs it's axe, blocking Mikhail's attacks except one, which cuts deep into it's shoulder.

Tenshin tries a bolt of fire as the demon casts Blasphemy (CL 19).

[Wukei]

Mikhail keeps on with his constant attacks with the vorpal sword. Die already!

[Exachix]

A small circular Portal Appears in the air around Krystal and Inuk, It's rim glows slightly blue and red occassionally, and the center is purple-coloured.

[Fenric]

Krystal couldn't care less about the Blasphemy, but Inuk dies.

Krystal releases her Ephemeral Swarm, and the myriad of tiny sharp things fly out at the demon.

[Deadly]

The demon focus all it's attention on blocking Mikhail's attacks, causing it to get shredded quite badly by the shadows. Since it's healing is negated it now looks to be in a bad condition.

Tenshin casts Heal on Mikhail.

[Wukei]

Ignore me. Offense, offense. He states, striking each time he says 'offense.' Though he does seem a bit relieved to get the healing.

[Exachix]

A Sphere of what seems like a Fireball but is not just fire... is also infact water, flies out of the portal, towards to the demon at some velocity.

((Basically a fireball that does half of it's damage as Water and Half as fire.))

[Fenric]

Krystal psionically enhances a twinned magic missile. (( 10 missiles doing 2d4+2 each ))

Inuk lies there.

[Deadly]

The fiery waterball hits but only does about half the damage it should. The magic missiles all hit, as such things do, causing the demon to stumble back as it calls a Marilith to it's side. This gives Mikhail a chance, and his blade cuts through the demon's neck. It falls over as the Marilith steps through a portal. Unfortunatly for the poor marilith, the demon never finished it's summoning and the portal snaps shut just then, cutting the snakey demon in half. :smallbiggrin:

Tenshin blinks and shakes her head, then walks over to resurrect Inuk

[Exachix]

mLorrian and normalExy teleport in, Exy's right ear noticible burnt. Exy shifts to fox form and stands by Krystal as mLorrian looks at the half a demon.

[Wukei]

Mikhail pulls his shackles off the dead demon, puts his sword and whip away, and puts his shackles back on his own arms. Pff...had to call in a buddy, and couldn't even do it right. At least when my kind dies we take our enemies with us...

[Fenric]

Inuk sits up

Ow... told Fenric I not good for fight demons. Thank you, Lady Tenshin.

Krystal gives the multicolored portal an appraising glance, but addresses the others

I traced that funny looking guy to the abyss. He tried to block my scrying, but forgot to shield his shadow.

Krystal looks around

So... what is this place, anyway?

[Deadly]

Tenshin smiles at Inuk You're welcome. before looking around A ship... on the astral plane. We should probably find this Achim, though, if that man and his demons didn't take him.

[Wukei]

I should probably lead the way just in case something's hiding and decides to jump out in the open and attack.

Everyone alive and healthy?

[Fenric]

Krystal's eyes widen

This is Achim's famos "ship of magic"?

She looks around as if she expects it to explode at any moment.

Um... let's find him fast...

Inuk nods at Mikhail

Yes, I am alive again.

[Exachix]

Fox-Exachix smiles to Mikhail.

"I think I am ok..."

mLorrian nodds and smiles.

[Deadly]

Tenshin smiles and nods at Mikhail.

There's only really one place to go, and that's below deck.

[Wukei]

Mikhail grins like a kid in a candy store. Great, let's get this done, then. He makes his way toward the direction Tenshin indicated.

[Exachix]

mLorrian shifts to a wolf and smiles, before following Mikhail.

Exachix looks slightly startled at this, but looks up at Krystal.

[Fenric]

Krystal shrugs

Not a clue.

Krystal and Inuk follow the group below

[Deadly]

As the group makes their way into the ship, they find that the interior is much larger than the exterior of the ship. Stepping below deck the group finds themselves in a small hall leading to a huge library. There are many signs of battle and the library is a pretty big mess. On the floor of the library lies Achim, surrounded by a globe of force. He appear to be alive, but barely concious. As he looks up at them, the globe fades slowly.

[Exachix]

Fox-Exy smiles to him as he follows Krystal down.

wolf-mLorrian looks at Achim.

[Fenric]

Krystal grins at Achim

Hey there, Achim. Why'd that funny looking guy beat the crap out of you?

[Wukei]

Mikhail looks around, carefully, not allowing the casters to pass him (by force, if necessary) until he's sure there's no one else here.

[Deadly]

Aside from Achim and a big mess, there's noone in sight.

Tenshin runs over and casts Heal on Achim. He blinks and slowly stands, still a bit shaky. Thank you. he says slowly, then turns to Krystal I do not know. There were three of them, two necromancers, one a vampire the other a lich I believe, and... some kind of demon I think he must have been. he sighs and looks around at his ruined library Cursed things came here to get something. I'm not sure what, but I think it was one of the many artifacts Arslan had collected in his travels. I don't know what half of it is.

[Fenric]

Krystal nods

The funny looking guy is the only one I saw, but he had a tablet of some sort. He toook off to the abyss, though by the time I found him he didn't have the thing anymore.

Inuk looks around in wonder at the place.

[Wukei]

Mikhail bows to Achim. Forgive me for stalling anyone from healing you. I was given an important responsibility, and I didn't want them to injure themselves so that they could not heal you.

[Exachix]

Wolf-mLorrian smiles to Mikhail, before looking at Achim.

Fox-Exy lays down and listens, before trying to bat his ear.

[Deadly]

Achim thinks, going through his memory of what random artifacts Arslan had lying around that would fit such a description. He sighs a bit I can't think of what it might have been, though I have no doubt it's in very wrong hands now. Arslan collected a lot of powerful and dangerous things while searching for a way home. I need to find Arslan, he's the only one who might know what it could be.

He nods at Mikhail It is quite understandable, caution is always a good thing

[Fenric]

Krystal shakes her head at Exachix

Can't you cast Regeneration on that? It's a bit unsettling.

[Exachix]

Fox-Exachix shift to Hybrid and casts Regeneration.

It seems to heal slightly, so it doesn't look burnt, but doesn't actually recover the whole ear.

"Aww... Must have been burnt bad. Sorry Krys..."

[Wukei]

Mikhail steps back, leaning against the wall, since he's not exactly the kind of person to work on plans of what to do next.

[Fenric]

Krystal blinks, then hugs him

You need to be more careful, dear.

Then she looks around

I think these guys seem to be about stable now... shall we be getting back to our own thread now?

[Deadly]

I will go find Arslan, the mess here can wait. If you could try and figure out who these attackers are it would help a lot. But thank you again for aiding me.

[Fenric]

Krystal nods as she heads to a blank section of wall.

Sure thing... though the Abyss isn't really my strong point. I'll ask Yoshi if he can find anything.

Mind if I use your wall here?

Krystal taps a small crystal ring on her pinky finger.

[Deadly]

Achim shakes his head No, go ahead. and sighs at the ruin I was just about done with the ship, and now this...

[Fenric]

Krystal points at the wall, and the ornate oaken door appears.

Best thing Dad ever stole. Coming, Exy?

Krystal opens the door and looks at him.

Or anyone else, for that matter: doesn't look like there's much to do here.

[Exachix]

Exachix smiles.

"I will..."

He makes a mental note to get other people to open doors, and smiles, before following Krystal.

[Wukei]

Mikhail sits up straight. I suppose if there's nothing left to do... He follows Krystal.

[Deadly]

Tenshin shakes her head I'll just go get some rest. she says, bows and disappears.

Achim just waits.

[Fenric]

Inuk shrugs and heads through, and Krystal does at last as well. The door disappears behind her.

[Deadly]

As they leave Achim takes a final look around at the mess, sighs deeply and goes to find Arslan

[Exachix]

Wolf-mLorrian yelps and dives through the portal some floors up.

It shuts.