Ain't No Rest For The Wicked (IC)

[Nettlekid]

Without.

This is a realm of that which is without. In a hall without light, darkness looms. But those without eyes see as they ever can. In air without heat, a chill sinks through to the bone. But those without breath do not see it hang in the air. And for a domain without a god, the scraps of the forgotten remnants will have to do. But those without faith do not mind.

In this ancient tomb, this decrepit citadel, a congregation gathers. There is a quiet shuffling of footfalls, the rubbing of skin against skin, and the muted clattering of bone on bone. But there is no breath, nor a single heartbeat. This cavern, broken by the ages, was once a temple to The Keeper of Secrets Under the Mountain, the god Dumathoin, who taut Dwarves to mine deep and blessed the Urdunnir with the power to swim through stone. It was over four thousand years ago that Dumathoin's name was praised in this place, and the crushing weight of the mountain has pressed it deep within the earth. This is a place of solitude. It shall not be disturbed.

This is the place that Kyrish Duskwatcher has guided the congregation to, though he knew not the way through the Underdark. But with sigils extinguished and darkness fallen, the most tenebrous passages guided safe passage through the labyrinth of earth. There are now hundreds gathered here, all with what pass for eyes cast upward to the flat wall at the front of the chapel. Ghouls with pungent rotting flesh grind their teeth, hoping for this ceremony to soon be over and that they may return to their banquets. Dripping with ichor from their barely enclosed viscera, Mohrgs lash their paralytic tongues in fervent frenzy as their cadres of Zombies stand close by. Shadows and Wraiths anxiously flit around the cavern, passing soundlessly through their compatriots or into and out of the walls. At the foreground of the horde stand three figures, silent and solemn: A skeleton whose upright and proper stance betrays a sense of mindfulness, a stone-faced old man with a sturdiness despite his apparent age, and an enigmatic shroud of darkness with malevolent sapience folded into its gloom. Standing above these three, facing away from the crowd and toward a dais, kneels the Vampire Kyrish. As bidden, he is finishing marking the dais with the symbol, not unlike a melting shield marked with an inverted templar's cross. And the Vampire's voice cuts into the silence.
"Tenebrous, The Shadow That Was."

There is now no sound from the crowd as they stand by, awestruck. Deeper than darkness, a human's shape lifts itself from the seal and presses against the wall, rising in the shadow until its head reaches the ceiling. Impossibly gaunt and stretched like a human's shadow on the ground at the last moment of sunset, with limbs broken at the joints and hanging at any angle, The Shadow That Was surveys the surroundings. It sees none but Kyrish, yet knows the presence of the Undead in the hall.

"Well done."
The voice is so faint that it could easily be mistaken for not having spoken at all, and it pauses long enough to cause wonder if it will continue.
"The time is nearly upon us. There is a stirring in the void. I am not alone. Memories ache to be remembered, promises to be kept. There is soon to be the changing of an age. Divinity will die, cut through the stem and left to wither. Yet nature abhors a vacuum.

Orcus. The name known better on the Wheel than mine own. My father, and my son. It was Orcus whose will shaped mine and guided me, who made me what I am and left me what I am not. And it is Orcus to whom I returned, in whom I instil my legacy. My shade is cast from his light, though once I was greater than he ever became. When the gods are slain...Orcus shall take their place, and the Wheel will know Undeath as life in a way it never could under the single minded Nerull, Wee Jas, or Vecna. The goal of all life is death. We shall see it done.

You. Those living true life, who responded to my call. It is not often that a Binder listens so closely to the words of their Vestige, but the Duskwatcher has held true and brought you before me. Your work is far from over. The seed of divinity that allowed me to rise is currently without form, distorted. The Demon Princes Graz'zt and Demogorgon are the two shackles that hold Orcus back, for he cannot know divinity when equal peers wish him not to. The minds of mortals are weak but numerous, and their worship combined grants succor to the divine spark - without this, there is no hope. The Wheel too resists the change, for the Devils of Baator hold to their Law, and all the angels from Celestia to Arborea delight to see the struggle of the Blood War unhindered. The wills that oppose mine are great and numerous. But in time they will only become ours. For all that lives will die, and all that dies belongs to me."

Tenebrous pauses again, even longer this time.

"The Unnamed among you, know your place as the brick and mortar that builds my name anew. Your job is not to lead, but serve. What the Named ask of you, you do without thought or hesitation.

You. The Named, who stand by my feet. Your ties to the Negative Energy Plane are strong, and I knew of you even with my limited sense of my portfolio. You four are the keys to usher in the age of a new god. There will be many tasks ahead of you that you may pursue with your own means. Be it the corruption of the churches of Pelor, Heironeous, and Nerull. Be it spreading the worship of Orcus to man and beast, the Minotaurs of Kyros and the Gnolls of Thar. Be it deposing the Graz'zt-worshipping dictators who rule the kingdoms of Kathzek or Echoes Vale, using the gifts of that Demon Prince to spread his name. Be it recovering the Angelwing Razor or the spiteful harlot Kiaransalee's Claw of the Revenancer. These things and more must be done before Orcus can rise, and before the body meets the mind and ushers in the new age. As much as possible I will be with you, speaking within my Apostate's animating spirit, but my mind will be partitioned and my foresight limited. Prove yourselves to me, and see that my will is done."

The thin humanoid shadow that was Tenebrous begins to spread, until the darkness of his body is indistinct with the darkness of the room. His presence is gone, save for the weight in Kyrish's mind where the Vestige sits, though this mind is not equal to what the horde had just witnessed.

The rest of the Undead masses stay, hesitantly and expectantly. The burden of leadership is not on them, and it looks as though they are eager to begin.

OoC Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?505438-Ain-t-No-Rest-For-The-Wicked-(OoC))

[Bad Wolf]

Kyrish kneeled for a moment more, composing himself. So much planning, so much had been done to bring this all together. He could not allow for one iota of it to be out of order. He stood up at last, turning to the strongest in the room.

"While our Lord Tenebrous may speak through me, he has deemed you three to be the strongest that have heeded his call. For this to succeed, we must not aim to set one of our selves up beyond the rest. All four of us are equal weapons of the Shadow That Was, and we must not forget that."

He paused for a moment, surveying the crowd of common undead.

"Now, onto the task at hand. This is a delicate situation of checks and balances, one that requires a dagger rather than a greatsword. If we strike too harshly against the forces of the Demon Prince, Graz'zt may see an opportunity to strike back at Orcus while we are looking elsewhere. If we seek to turn the blood war in our favor, Pelor and the like may grow concerned and take action. Whatever we choose to do, we must do it quietly and unnoticed."

[GnomishPride]

The ball of darkness gathers itself in for a moment, a deep hum emanating from within. Silently, it extends tendrils which arrange themselves into characters in Common. The words read:
"i concur that subtlety is key. however, these are a lot of factions to consider. do we bring them all down at once, or focus on one at a time? i'm of a mind to set them against the others while we chip away at them to make sure none gain too large of an advantage."

[Swami Monsoon]

Ivan had spent nearly a decade of unlife without seeing another undead. Now they surround him, all shapes and sizes. He can't help but feel a vestigial sense of dread. But there is no choice. However strong and clever he thought he was, there will always be greater powers in the living world who will see him as a tool to be used or an obstacle to be removed. No end of boots to lick and knives to dodge... If he is to gain any real control of his destiny, it will be with those who appreciate him for who and what he really is.

He watches as the shadow creature turns itself into a floating message board.
"If we were strong enough to fight everyone at once, we wouldn't be meeting in secret. We would be marching into the capital city with a conquering army. Maybe our first task should be finding out which of the factions is most vulnerable..."

[dascarletm]

Mort stands there, hand on chin pondering, over-exaggerating a "thinking man's" pose. After his comrades have said their piece he enthusiastically nods his head. He motions his hands as though he is bashing two objects together, implying he wishes to use factions against one another. He then holds his hand up open-palmed, the universal sign of "stop" or "wait."
Mort then devolves into a drawn-out game of charades, that if you are to pay attention to seems to say:
He thinks we should first focus our weakest enemy, then use that momentum to play any other enemies against themselves.

[Bad Wolf]

Not for the first time, Kyrish wondered about the logistics of having two powerful undead who couldn't speak. But that was not his choice to make, it was his master's. He nodded in thought as the others made their case.

"I think our first aim should be to increase worship of Tenebrous. Or Orcus. The Gnolls already follow a demon Lord, and are unlikely to abandon him for another. I think we will have more luck with the Minotaurs. At the same time, we should go on a general scourge of devil worshippers. It will weaken their standing in the Blood War, and increase our patron's power. Pelor and the like will likely intervene to keep it balance in their favour. Does anyone have any idea for keeping our more...excitable brethren in check?"

Seeing what deity Minotaurs tend to worship.


[roll0]

[dascarletm]

Mort shrugs and ponders for a moment. He grabs his adamantine sheet and some chalk. He writes::


Tell them we will be bringing back some snacks, they'll be fine. The Gnolls and Minotaurs are weak willed. I say we turn as many as we can to our cause. Those that resist will do nicely to feed the horde. A little furry for my taste, but I'm sure they aren't so picky.

[GnomishPride]

Wielki bobs in agreement, then rearranges its tendrils. It pauses for a moment in thought ("i did not expect another mute. this ought to be interesting"), then 'speaks': ""subverting the beasts seems a reasonable place to begin our operations. the most effective tactic may lie in creating an enemy for them, ideally the other group. claims that portray our master as the only one who can protect and aid them against the vile outsider. if we can't get them to follow our lord, perhaps we could set them in motion against each other.

[Swami Monsoon]

"We need to identify the weakest link and focus on it. Is it the Minotaurs? How can we be sure of that? It starts with intelligence. Just what kind of assets do we have?"

Ivan looks around at the bony and necrotic horrors that surround them.

"Not to be too critical, but I don't see many dashing master spies here. I'm good at stealing things, but I have no real network, especially after getting run out of town. Do any of us... anybody in our, uh, club... have real connections?"

[Bad Wolf]

Kyrish shrugged.

"Outside of the cults of Tenebrous and Orcus, no. Though we might want to keep a low profile, now that I think of it. Ruthlessly converting may not be the way to go for now. Perhaps the Angelwing razor or Kiaransalee's Claw would be a better first objective. Consolidate our power base first, and then move against the Minotaurs. They might be more receptive to us if we have an artifact of considerable power. And then move against the Gnolls, and then go out and strike against Graz'zt's worshippers."

[dascarletm]

Mort thinks, Those would be strong symbols for our kind to rally behind. A strong first move.
Mort give a wildly enthusiastic "thumbs-up" to Kyrish.

[Bad Wolf]

"Very well then. How about the Angelwing razor as our first objective? It should be useful for slaughtering the servants of the Celestial gods."

[Nettlekid]

The whispers of Tenebrous' vocal miasma seep through Kyrish's mind.
"The Angelwing Razor is a formidable tool of evil, elegant in simplicity, capable of fulfilling only one purpose but doing so incomparably. In need of a tool to shave through the armored scales of the Gold Dragons, the Elven General Urgaril honed its thinner-than-paper, sharper-than-spite edge. It was used to bring ruin to dragonkind, but the lowest of the low succeeded in vanquishing it when the highest of the high could not. A Kobold priest of Kurtulmak sprung its Enveloping Pit trap and dropped Urgaril and the Angelwing Razor both within. Urgaril's magic satchel erupted and broke a hole in space. The Razor was cast adrift into the Astral Plane, where it was recovered and claimed by the Githyanki. This is the limit of my knowledge. To recover the Angelwing Razor, you must find the Githyanki."

[dascarletm]

If mort could smile he would. Mort draws his blade and his whetstone. Usually a useless task for a magical blade, but it helps Mort focus on that which is coming. Githyanki, he knew very little about them, but he was sure they bleed like anything else...

Mort begins to run his stone slowly and deliberately along the blade, the screech rings out against the deadly silence of the ancient hall. It stands out even starker that this is most likely neither the time nor the place to be sharpening a blade. Mort stares intently off into the horde of undead as he contemplates, that is until he realizes the uncouthness of his actions, and he abruptly stops.

[Swami Monsoon]

"Getting control of a force multiplier does sound appealing. It would make every task going forward a bit easier. Do we know the best route there? Are any of us skilled in planar magic?"

[GnomishPride]

"the angelwing razor is a good choice; a useful rallying tool and weapon. in terms of getting there, i have some experience with planar matters but not enough to traverse the planes yet. i imagine using an enveloping pit and a magic satchel would not be a viable method, however." At the last bit, Wielki buzzes something akin to a chuckle.

[Bad Wolf]

"I have the capacity for plane-walking. There are two drawsides. One, I can only transport up to eight subjects. We will have to leave a signficant part of our forces behind. I suggest we each take one of our servants, if you gentlemen have any. Two, I'll have to prepare my magic, which will take about an hour. I sugest you all take care of any pressing matters before we leave."

Kyrish knelt on the floor before the dais, clearing his mind and embracing the shadows.

I'm going to get a list of my prepared spells together. If anybody has anything they want to do, now would be a good time. Otherwise we can just timeskip an hour.

[dascarletm]

Mort gives an over-exaggerated salute, and realizes he doesn't have a servant. He looks to the nearest "unnamed" undead around, and grabs him/her by the forearm dragging him/her up to where the others are.

Mort turns to the creature and points at his eyes, (where they would be at least) with his index and middle fingers, and then points at the undead's quickly exchanging who he is pointing at. He then takes stock of his random follower assessing their capability
[roll0] Perception
[roll1] Sense Motive
[roll2] Knowledge (Religion) Untrained

[Nettlekid]

Mort's beckoning grabs a gaunt creature with withered flesh, loosely clinging hair, and tightly bound skin. It resembles a Wight, with needle-like teeth and long claws, moving with greater precision than a Zombie, but its body is unusual in that its lower torso has split open and its intestines have spilled out. They're cut at many ends, writhing and baring what look like small fangs like a Hydra's heads. You don't immediately recognize what it is beyond being a Wight of some kind, but it seems decently strong and holds itself well. It seems a little surprised and confused to have been called over. Five more average-looking Wights are trailing behind it.

[dascarletm]

Mort shoo's the followers away and keeps but one of the unnamed whites to take with him, and is ready for transit.

[Swami Monsoon]

Ivan watches the strange wight for a moment, realizing that he has no idea what those tentacles are for. He still has so very much to learn about his new condition and his new people...

"I have no, uh, servants. Any of you are welcome to use the extra space for yourselves."

[GnomishPride]

Wielki notices that it has no servants itself, and beckons the coolest-looking shadow from the crowd to come over, then inspects it closely.
Perception: [roll0]
Sense Motive: [roll1] (untrained)
Know (religion): [roll2] (untrained)
Appraise: [roll3] (untrained)

[Nettlekid]

Though not the most attentive, eventually one of the Shadows flitting through the room responds to Wielki's request, and hovers in the Vasuthant's extended penumbra. It seems like a standard member of its kind, its vaguely skeletal silhouette passing in and out of the ground. It seems quick, but not extremely intelligent.

[Bad Wolf]

Kyrish opened his eyes again, his mind refreshed a Nd full of magic. Noting that his companions had selected their companions (except for Ivan), he beckoned his two Vampire Spawns from the crowd, directing one to carry his coffin.

Very well, it looks like we are all ready to go.

He cleared his voice and turned to address the crowd.

"Scions of darkness, lend me your ears. Our time to rule this plane is almost upon us. For now, consolidate your forces. Convert the dredges of society, those who will not be missed. In time, we will march upon the clerics of the light and snuff out their accursed gods. For now, we wait."

Kyrish directed everyone to join hands (or various appendages), and they then departed for the Astral Plane.

[Nettlekid]

The group of Undead blink away from Tenebrous' subterranean domain and are accosted with the bright, silvery non-light of the Astral Plane. It is an expanse of emptiness that superficially resembles a realm where Undead like you might feel at peace, with a stagnant stillness hanging in the air even as a faint wind blows. While most everything around you is blank, you can see movement in the distance. Shards of floating islands of stone drift across the horizon, and there are two colorful pools at far reaches of your vision that suggest a portal to another plane. Far below you there is a winding, twisting gray worm of a conduit connecting two planes through the Astral. Beyond the stone island, a colossal shape moves with living precision, with a tail that fades into the distance. The gray monotony is broken by the bright red color of a phoenix, flying with innate precision from somewhere far away to somewhere farther still.

[dascarletm]

Mort seems slightly uneasy with his surroundings, as he begins to tumble in a very slow rotation. As he rotates backwards, he begins writing on his sheet, and as he finally faces his allies again he shows them:




I sure am glad I don't have any eyes... that must have been jarring.
Also who can fly? My cape only lasts about 10 minutes or so...












He then slips his chalk back into his haversack, and rights himself, stopping his rotation, making swimming-like motions.

[Bad Wolf]

"I don't think that will be needed. On this plane, you are in control of your own gravity. You need only to merely visualize a 'floor'."

Kyrish pointed towards the closest stone island.

"I suggest we travel towards that island. While I doubt we will find the Angelwing razor in the hands of some simple Githyanki living there, we'll have a place to start."

[Swami Monsoon]

Ivan feels dizzy with no ground under him. He looks longingly at the stone island.

"I can't fly, precisely, but I can move..." He flickers out of existence and reappears about 40 feet closer to the drifting rock. "..like this. Although it will take a while."

Using Flee the Scene invocation.

[dascarletm]

Mort tilts his head at Kyrish inquisitively, and begins trying his suggestion. He falls around briefly and looks to him nodding in approval. He then begins to fall towards the stone island, looking around the planescape as he does.

After a moment he draws his blade, looking back to ensure his companions are also on their way, and beckons any that are not following.

Oh, I suppose that phrasing is filtered. My mistake

[GnomishPride]

Wielki swivels around a bit and floats around as normal, not affected by (subjective) gravity as usual. It follows the rest of the group to the island. "interesting. this is a strange place." it signs along the way.

[Nettlekid]

Following Kyrish's lead the party drifts by power of thought alone toward the island. The Wight catches on, and while the Shadow hasn't quite gotten the hang of it it's able o fly under its own power.
"Sso, anyone want to let uss know what we're doing here?" the Wight remarks on your way, a little snippy in its tone and gesturing to the Shadow with its gut-snakes. "You called uss over after you made your planss, but we're flying blind here. Thiss issn't the greatesst place to be for no reasson."

Powered by thought alone, you make your way to the floating island. Your flight takes longer than you feel like it should have, but you arrive unhindered. This stone island is several hundred feet wide and at first glance seems entirely barren, though on closer inspection you can see slashes in the stone that seem to mark missed weapon strikes, and small patches are darkened as though burned.

The long figure in the distance is a little more distinct as you've gotten closer to it, but it's still too far to make out clearly.

[dascarletm]

Mort looks at the wight, tilting his head, and puts a finger up to its mouth, "shushing" it.

He pantomimes, "You. Follow. Me." Then Mort gestures to his group, "We. Think." "You. Fight. You. Rewarded."

He tries to do this in the nicest, least condescending, and most reassuring way possible, patting it on the shoulder.

Mort diplomacies the wight to make it feel better about the situation. (I'm sure not being able to talk will have some sort of penalty applied)
[roll0]
Sense Motive on the Wight to see his reaction
[roll1]

He gives the Wight a thumbs-up, and examines the battle scarring trying to ascertain if it was recent, or to see if he can learn anything about the battle that took place here.
Perception
[roll2]

[Bad Wolf]

Kyrish glanced briefly at the very vocal Wight, before returning to study the marks.

"Our Lord Tenebrous has informed us of a powerful relic that may be found somewhere on the Astral Plane, most likely with the Githyanki. You would not recognize the name of the relic."

He looked back up at the monolithic creature in the distance. He didn't like the odds of their group against it, but he couldn't help feel that it was somehow linked to their search.


Knowledge: the Planes for the creature [roll0]

Perception check to study the marks: [roll1]

And another to clearly make out the creature: [roll2]

[GnomishPride]

Wielki looks around a bit, then its gaze alights on the colossal creature distant. "ooh..." it signs distractedly, intrigued immensely. "i'm gonna go check that out..." It begins drifting over to the towering silhouette.

Perception to see it better: [roll0]
Knowledge (planes) to figure it out: [roll1]
"Ooh a shiny" flaw: roll = 16 --> 5-(16/4)=5-4=1 rounds fascinated, assuming the DC is 15+ (which it almost certainly is).

[Nettlekid]

The Wight does not seem mollified, and begins to sulk.

Kyrish spends some time looking at the marks left on the rock. There are a few cuts and slashes that look like sword strikes, but no shards of metal fragments that might suggest a chipped blade. The majority of the cuts face one direction. Upon closer examination, the scorches on the stone seem to be of two distinctly different sources. Nearer to the cuts in the stone the scorches are wider and circular, and there's one conspicuous spot that has an odd right angle stenciled out. Across the rock from the cuts and wide scorches are other scorches that are much smaller and tighter circles, but a little darker. You can't really determine the source of any of these marks from observation alone.

Kyrish is unfamiliar with the enormous creature in the distance, but Wielki's study of planar phenomena has included this rare creature. It's an Astral Dreadnought, betrayed by its apparently infinite serpentine tail that fades into the mist of the Astral before it clearly ends. From this distance you can see its two enormous pincers, and you know that it has a formidable maw as well. Its most fearsome feature however is that its gaze suppresses magic, trapping astral travelers with no means of escape, and it eagerly snips the silver cord that binds an astral traveler to its real body. Its primary food source are incorporeal spirits like ghosts and those astral travelers, which in theory seems to suggest it wouldn't be as interested in your party of solid-bodied creatures. But it's famously far more belligerent than intelligent.

[Swami Monsoon]

Ivan studies the 'sky,' looking for any other floating islands. Then he looks down at the marks on the stone. Do they lead anywhere?

"This place appears to deserted. We might want to follow these, uh, tracks. Carefully."

He winces as he sees Wielki dart off towards the giant creature.

"I don't think that's anything we want to be playing with..."

[dascarletm]

Mort finishes up his examination of the island wondering how he is going to find these "Gith" without any land to track them on. Even if these battle-scars were left by them, and even if they were recent, they could have gone virtually anywhere, any direction. He couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed.

At a loss for what to do, Mort looks at Wielki, then to Kyrish and Ivan, then back to Wielki, and again back to Kyrish and Ivan. He points at the floating ball of energy and tilts his head at Kyrish and Ivan expectantly.

[Bad Wolf]

"I don't suppose anyone has any spells of divining nature? I prepared my spells with combat in mine." Kyrish looked in the direction that the sword-like marks came from. Perhaps there was something in that direction that would narrow their search.

With no other information available to him, Kyrish retreated inwardly to ask Tenebrous.

"I beg your forgiveness my lord, but the Astral Plane is vast indeed. Would you care to point us in the direction of a Githyanki settlement?"

[Nettlekid]

There is a sense of dejection from within Kyrish's mind.
Such a thing is unknowable to me. The affairs of the world as it has turned since my passing are enigmatic, too transient to seep through to my realm. Cities that rise and fall, pacts forged and broken...such things span the lifetimes of mortals, and are but dust in the wind for eyes as ours. Seek my aid to learn the darkness hidden in the hearts of men or the wisdom of an age, for these things are written in the stars and predictable as day turning to night. No, your mission is your own, but I trust in your resourcefulness.

[Swami Monsoon]

Ivan is happy for the stone under him, although its presence here is only a shadow of what it would have been back home. He listens for voices in the rock...

"I may be able to gain some insight as to what happened here, but I can only ask once. Do any of you have a specific question that you would like to ask?"

[dascarletm]

Mort ponders for a moment thinking if he had a specific question. He begins moving as if laughing, though lacking any sort of respiration system to make the accompanying noises it looks more like small spasms. He goes to write on his board, but sees that the moment may have passed to make a joke and erases what he wrote before showing anyone.

He then looks to Wielki and wonders if he'll eventually come back. Mort's posture moves from a jovial, joking sort of stance to one more serious in nature. He then writes:





If this big chunk of rock doesn't feel talkative I can see what we can find in the nearest settlement. That is, if any of you know where that is.

This lack of ground really makes finding your way here difficult.

If you find me some people I'll get as much information as I can from them...

[Bad Wolf]

The vampire paused for a moment, contemplating Tenebrous's words.

"Hmm? Oh, I suppose the best question would be asking where the nearest settlement. And then we try and find the nearest wizard or Sorcerer, and see what they know."

Kyrish looked over at Mort, taking a moment to quickly read his board.

"I must say, there's a certain implication in your message that would suggest....a souring of relations with the locals here. Torture, I mean. Let's save that for later."

[Nettlekid]

While the rest of the team of Undead discuss their plans on the floating island, Wielki has been allowed to continue its flight out to where it can see the snaking, serpentine body of the Astral Dreadnought in fuller form. It is a hideous creature when viewed with scrutiny. What appeared at a distance to be scales turn out to in fact be layers upon layers of calloused skin forming a tough, tessellating hide. Rippling veins bulge from under its skin and seem to collect in its jawline, running around its gums and between its teeth while pumping alien ichor that is undoubtedly not blood. Its massive size belies its speed, for while it isn't precise by any means in its motion and flight it tears through the sky as fast as a dragon might. It makes great loops and dives, no gravity to hinder its motion, and Wielki can understand how those callouses developed as the Dreadnought's impossible tail wraps and coils against itself, sliding a knot down its entire length and into oblivion.

It is at this time that the Astral Dreadnought notices not precisely Wielki, but the shroud of darkness surrounding the spherical creature. The Astral Plane has no sun and stars, it is lit with a dim and all-permeating illumination that under usual circumstances does not allow for a shadow to be cast. Upon seeing then this peculiar patch of sky that seems off from all others for reasons that the Astral Dreadnought with its subaverage intelligence cannot quite put into thought, it begins to scrutinize the area with its gleaming, pitch black eye laced with patterns of constellations. Sight alone does not help it understand what it is witnessing, and so Wielki may be startled with one of the monster's enormous pincers, each claw the size of a horse, gnashes with shuddering force about fifteen feet off from the edge of Wielki's body, catching nothing in the darkness.

[GnomishPride]

Wielki, abruptly realizing that this isn't a good place to be, hightails it away. perhaps another time... It returns to the group at high speed, and signs, "Sorry about that. Astral Dreadnoughts are absolutely fascinating creatures. What'd the group conclude to do?"
Assuming it is filled in, Wielki responds "Sounds like a good plan. Any sort of local guide would help immensely, I imagine. If we could glean the location of one, that would be excellent. If not, I suppose we'll have to rely on spells to guide our way."

[dascarletm]

Mort bows with acceptance to Kyrish's wisdom. He then turns to Wielki and puts his hands on his hips sassily. He holds up his index finger and wiggles it back and forth sarcastically. He defers to his companions on what to do next, seeming to listen intently to their plan.

This is assuming Wielki gets away from the dreadnaught. If he seems to be needing help Mort will instead have rushed to his aid.

[Swami Monsoon]

"I'm going to ask for the direction and distance to the nearest settlement of intelligent creatures..."

Ivan listens to the stone, hoping for an answer.

Using Earth Dream
Success chance is 70% + 2% per 'class level' (not sure if PRC or total)
[roll0]

[Nettlekid]

The Dreadnought takes a few more snips and snaps at Wielki, but unable to see the creature in the haze of darkness it soon loses track and subsequently interest. It remains not far from the stone island.

Ivan spends ten minutes attuning to the stone. He understands that it is non-native to the plane, but not to the Material either. It appears as normal stone, but is deeply alien at heart. At its deepest core, it feels like it is screaming but not in pain. Furthermore, being a smaller landmass than he is used to when communing with spirits of earth, the voice of the stone is more muddled and less capable than he is usually used to.
~There...there is no settlement of intelligent creatures connected from stone to stone...~ the island mutters in meek response to your request. You might surmise that the isolated island would be unable to respond to a divination about any landmass not contiguous with itself, either due to distance or more likely due to the stone's confusion at being surrounded by empty space.

[Swami Monsoon]

Ivan shakes his head and turns to the others...

"This island appears to be uninhabited... by intelligent creatures at least. I have no way of sensing what might be on islands not connected to this one."

[dascarletm]

Mort snaps his fingers in a manner seeming to say, "aw shucks!"

He looks around and points off into the distance, seeming to suggest if we should just start searching.

He shrugs and tilts his head looking to the others for input.

[Bad Wolf]

Kyrish shrugged.

"To be honest, I have absolutely no idea what to do now. We might want to try following whatever that monolithic creature is. It must have a nest or something near other living creatures."

[GnomishPride]

Wielki moves side to side in a motion akin to a person with a head shaking their head. "perhaps patience is an asset in this case. we have the luxury of time with which for those spellcasters to prepare a more informative set of spells, and we can remain here repeating the process for as long as it takes. right now, with no plans in motion and no age limit, we have literally no time restraints."