Time of the Dragon Kings IC

[paradox26]

This will be the IC thread for the Time of the Dragon Kings thread. Feel free to introduce yourselves IC. We will be starting in the most famous inn in the world, the legendary Inn of the Last Home, in the treetop town of Solace. The inn itself, and most houses in the town, rests in the branches of mighty vallenwood trees.

[Tansia]

Her cowl pulled low, obscuring her face and hiding the pale blue glow of her eyes from the other patrons of and visitors to the Inn of the Last Home, Elspeth sits at a corner table with her back to the wall. One arm on the table holding a glass of watered wine the other idly fondling one of the shifting patterns on the strange staff she had recovered from the former Keeper, Almastor.

What am I even doing here?. She said she would send someone, said I must wait here for them. The familiar cycle of thoughts running through her mind as she sits, on her third day of waiting. A grimace flickers over her face as the memory of the Keepers fall follows - the claws gesture rending his protective magics asunder. The teeth tearing him apart how she had taken his staff as it fell from slackening hand. Looking into the dragon kings maw and seeing the glow. Then the agony as flesh melted and sloughed away from her. The wounds can be healed, flesh repaired and replaced but the memories, the price of failure. Eternal.

[trysted]

Julia saunters over to the bar with a swish of the hips and a look that shows that she is aware of the eyes all over her, and she doesn't care.

With a flip of a coin and a wink to the bartender, she orders a medium vintage wine points to an empty table. "I'll be sitting there if anyone is looking for me and actually using my name to do so".

She then goes and sits and sips. A few guys glance in her direction with an optimistic smile, but get shot down in flames before they even approach. A roll of the eyes, and a look of seriousness is enough to say "I'm waiting for someone, and that someone isn't YOU".

[Hackulator]

What am I even doing here?. She said she would send someone, said I must wait here for them.

A voice suddenly blooms within your head.

"Our lady sent me to find you. The Dragon Kings affront to Wee Jas cannot be allowed to go unpunished. If you will allow,
I will make make a stronger connection with your mind so that we can converse."


My character will attempt to activate lesser telepathic bond with you. Assuming you don't try to resist, we can converse telepathically. My character is currently incorporeal and invisible which is how he generally moves around, and he hasn't interacted with people in a normal manner much over the past few centuries so it will be a bit before he remembers general social conventions.

Also, Paradox, where do you want me to list my current set of buffs? ll my persisted psionic buffs are lsited on my character sheet, they are all up except for greater metamorphosis which I generally won't be persisting.

[Tansia]

The presense in her mind causes Elspeth to stiffen, the hand toying with the staff grips it tightly as her head spins back and forth. The cowl having slipped back her glowing eyes trace across the room until they linger on a shifting kaelodiscope of aruas a few feet to her side. After a few seconds focusing on the dizzying cloud of magic she understands. The grip on her staff lessens slightly and she nods once, slowly.

[Hackulator]

The presense in her mind causes Elspeth to stiffen, the hand toying with the staff grips it tightly as her head spins back and forth. The cowl having slipped back her glowing eyes trace across the room until they linger on a shifting kaelodiscope of aruas a few feet to her side. After a few seconds focusing on the dizzying cloud of magic she understands. The grip on her staff lessens slightly and she nods once, slowly.

"Simply think to me and I will hear you now. For now we should communicate this way, the Dragon Kings could have ears anywhere. Do you know of any others who might join us and are strong enough to contribute to the fight?"

[trysted]

Julia notices the familiar twitch in her left hand. She drains her glass in one gulp, and pulls her cowl down as her eyes begin to glow blue. She then stands up, and scans the entire room. and then walks the perimeter of the room.

To the casual observer she would appear to be merely a halfling taking a stroll, but lets face it it. There are no casual observers in here, and if there were, they wouldn't stay long. Merely observers who know better than to be seen to be looking too long.

Julia is not one of those, as she continues to walk confidently from one wall to the opposite one, finally triangulating where she wants to be next.

She finally walks confidently up to a table where another beautiful woman, this one a human, appears to be sitting alone and waiting patiently.

Julia pulls up a chair and looks the human straight in the eyes. "I suppose it is polite to ask if there is something wrong", she hints, "but we both know that there is. Tell me about it".

Triangulation by virtue of combination of ring of spell-battle and detect magic

[Tansia]

Eyes closed as she focuses on the link Elspeth makes a concious effort to think clearly. Hand... if thoughts could have a tone of voice these would be shaded heavily with reverence and regret. I am sorry...I failed.

With her eyes closed Elspeth doesn't fully notice the halfling woman moving to sit at the table though some of the strange marks on her robe seem to be tracking the movement. "So much is wrong, so very wrong"

[Hackulator]

Eyes closed as she focuses on the link Elspeth makes a concious effort to think clearly. Hand... if thoughts could have a tone of voice these would be shaded heavily with reverence and regret. I am sorry...I failed.

With her eyes closed Elspeth doesn't fully notice the halfling woman moving to sit at the table though some of the strange marks on her robe seem to be tracking the movement. "So much is wrong, so very wrong"

"The fault is no more yours than mine or anyone else's. No one was prepared for the fury or the power of the Dragon Kings. The time for self-recrimination is long past."

As the stranger suddenly sits down across from you, you feel a sense of heightened awareness coming through the telepathic bond.

"See what this one wants, if anything goes wrong, I am here for you."

A few moments later, you notice a somewhat nondescript gray elf with a discreet symbol of Wee Jas on his cloak enter the inn and sit down at a table near you.


My psicrystal is outside hiding and keeping watch for us. I use channel power to channel Persisted Fission through my psicrystal, causing my duplicate to appear outside. My duplicate then manifests persisted schism, and metamorphosis to change into a gray elf (its normal form is incorporeal), and enters the bar through the door to provide additional backup if this new person is a threat. The symbol on its cloak is very hard to notice for normal people, but you have a 51 in spot so you see it easily lol.

[Tansia]

With that her eyes snap open and Elspeth meets the halfling womans own eyes with a steely, if glowling, gaze of her own. No traces of the internal crisis of confidence in her expression or gaze.

"Many things are wrong with the world, but we do only what we can, where we can, when we can. *Knowing* our limitations is as important as *knowing* our strengths. May I *know* your name?"


I won't channel Dak'kon again but I couldn't resist doing it once.

[trysted]

Julia meets the womans gaze head on and raises her eyebrows.

I am Julia, she says, Arknes if that matters. And while I know many things are wrong, and many things are right. And I know that some of those can be righted. Some of those things, I have even righted in the past. But that isn't what I'm wondering about now.

What I'm wondering about now, is the specific wrong that has someone of your obvious stature, so very upset?

[Tansia]

Elspeth's voice is soft, cast to not carry beyond the table "The dragon 'kings'" the last word pronounced with vehemence "They are wrong, that we bow to their caprice is wrong. Their very existence is an affront to the gods themselves. Yet we do nothing except bow and scrape and consider ourselves thankful that we live. Or die as they please."

[trysted]

Julia lowers her voice as well, Not everyone bows. Perhaps we should be somewhere else right now. Or are you waiting for someone? .

[Tansia]

"You are right I think, to be in the open and speak of such things is unwise. and I am no longer waiting for anyone"

For you are here with me now Hand.

Leveraging her staff to rise from her seat, Elspeth raises the glass and drains what is left of her wine.

[trysted]

Julia gives Elspeth a confused, but still confident stare (which, mind you, can be quite tricky to pull off).

"Oh, are they now? You know, if there is any kind of supreme being it is up to all of us to become her moral superior"

[Hackulator]

Hey all, sorry I haven's posted in a while I was away at GenCon and between seeing friends from all over the country and working a booth I just didn't have much free time.


A relatively plain looking middle aged elvish man walks over to the table and stands beside you.

"I think we should probably find a more private place to talk if we want to be able to continue this conversation without having to dance around each other."

In her head Elspeth hears "Let's step out and we'll figure out if this one can be trusted."

[trysted]

Julia gives the elf the old "once over", looks him up and down and makes a decision.

Sure, I'm game. I'm following you.

[paradox26]

An old man sits in the corner of the room, telling stories to the travelers who have settled in for the night. He wears grey robes, and looks like a stereotypical wizard, from the long beard to the simple quarterstaff he bears. It is almost comical, just how much he has apparently tried to look like a mage. His blue eyes flash as he tells the stories of the time some years ago, when the dragonarmies of the Dread Queen Takhisis, the five-headed dragon goddess, attacked the lands of Ansalon, in an attempt to rule the world for their queen. Known as the War of the Lance, it was reputed to have strong ties to this inn. In fact, one of the heroes of that period was the current owner of the inn, a giant of a man named Caramon, and his wife, a still feisty redheaded woman named Tika.

As he wraps up a story of a knight who sacrificed himself upon a tower battlements in a fight against a dragon somewhere in Solamnia, the mage drained the dregs of his mug, and rose to his feet. He approached the table where the newcomers gathered, and took a seat, totally uninvited. "You can speak here," he said, his voice gruff but kindly. "There is no place in Ansalon as secure as the Inn of the Last Home. I believe it to be a last parting gift of the owner's brother. He was a mighty archmage, and had a soft spot for this place. He used to sit over there in the shadows. Of course, he was completely devoted to evil, unlike his brother. But he redeemed himself in the end. I think he wasn't really as evil as most think, he was just misunderstood."

The old man seemed to catch himself rambling, and he shook himself slightly, as if resetting himself. "As I was saying, this place is safe, if nowhere else in this world is. The only thing that could bring down this Inn is a dragon. Happened during the War, but it was rebuilt later." His eyes came into sharp focus, and he locked gazes with each of the group in turn. "My name is Fizban. Fizban the Fabulous, if you prefer longer titles. And you are the heroes this world has been waiting for. You are needed, and I believe the gods have sent you here to save Ansalon. Dragons are an inherent part of this world. They were created at the same time as the very world itself. But the dragon kings are different. They are not a part of this world's fabric. They are too powerful to reside on this plane. They come from another realm, and their very existence here is damaging the world. You must bring down the dragon kings, before the damage is irreversible."

[trysted]

Julia is quick to respond, "I can only speak for myself, but I can tell you that you don't have to try so hard to sell water to the people dying of thirst. It only needs to be available for purchase. The only question that remains, is how?"

[Hackulator]

The Elvish man immediately drops into a deep bow before the newcomer, turning his eyes to the floor. Simultaneously, a ghostly figure wearing gleaming armor and carrying a bejeweled scepter appears on the other side of him and does the same. The two speak in eerily perfect unison.

"My Lord, you honor us with your counsel. We will of course do everything in our power to free these lands from the Dragon Kings. We would appreciate any wisdom or advice you can provide us with." Neither figure rises from their bow nor do they look Fizban in the eye.

[trysted]

Julia glances at the two kneelers and shrugs, and mutters "the devout" under her breath with a just a slight hint of contempt before looking Fizban in the eye and pauses expectantly.

[Tansia]

Elspeth is a little slower than the avatar of the hand but then it catches and her eyes widen slightly. With a heavy thud she grounds her staff and kneels down in turn one hand holding the staff up as she makes obseciance.